10 books for the romance lover on your holiday gift list
If you're shopping for someone who loves to read romance novels, we have 10 suggestions for you.
Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali
Love from A to Z is a YA novel about two teenagers who unexpectedly meet and end up changing each other's lives. When Zayneb gets suspended for standing up to a xenophobic teacher, she's sent to her aunt's house in Doha, Qatar for an early spring break. She ends up meeting Adam, a teenager trying to hide his multiple sclerosis diagnosis from his grieving father.
Love from A to Z is S.K. Ali's second book, following Saints and Misfits.
The Chai Factor by Farah Heron
In The Chai Factor, Farah Heron's debut novel, Amira Khan is dedicated to her career and finishing grad school. But when her grandmother rents out the family's basement apartment to a barbershop quartet, Amira can't focus. And when she begins to clash with the group's leader, Duncan, things only get worse.
The Chai Factor is a romantic comedy about opposites colliding and how little inconveniences can become life-changing if you open up.
Comics Will Break Your Heart by Faith Erin Hicks
In Comics Will Break Your Heart, Miriam's grandfather co-created the iconic superhero series TomorrowMen, but doesn't get a dime for his work because he sold the rights for a pittance to his co-creator. Now the family's struggling to stay afloat and the future looks grim for Miriam. Things get complicated when heir to the TomorrowMen fortune moves to town — and, worse, he happens to be pretty cute.
Comics Will Break Your Heart is for YA readers and is Faith Erin Hicks' first novel.
The Matchmaker's List by Sonya Lalli
The Matchmaker's List is a romantic comedy. Caving to family pressure, Raina Anand has reluctantly consented to let her grandmother play matchmaker. Raina endures a series of terrible blind dates with "suitable" bachelors, all the while hatching a plan to thwart her tight-knit family's plans.
The Matchmaker's List is Sonya Lalli's first book.
Starlight by Richard Wagamese
Starlight is the final novel of beloved Indigenous writer Richard Wagamese. The novel was not completed before Wagamese died in 2017, and includes a note from the publisher. Set in 1980 in the B.C.-based interior, Starlight is about an Indigenous farmer named Frank Starlight whose quiet life is dramatically changed by the frantic arrival of a woman named Emmy and her young child. Emmy and her child have escaped an abusive home and end up forming a bond with Frank.
Reproduction by Ian Williams
Reproduction is Ian Williams's debut novel, following his Griffin Poetry Prize-nominated poetry collection Personals and award-winning short fiction collection Not Anyone's Anything. When Felicia and her teenage son Army move into a basement apartment, they bond with the house's owner and his two children. But strange gifts from Army's wealthy, absent father begin to arrive at their doorstep, inviting new tensions into the makeshift family's lives.
Reproduction won the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
At the Mountain's Edge by Genevieve Graham
At the Mountain's Edge is a Canadian historial fiction romance. The Yukon gold rush of 1897 holds the promise of a fresh start for Constable Ben Turner, a haunted recruit from the North-West Mounted Police, and Liza Peterson, whose family plans to move their general store from Vancouver to Dawson City. But the journey north proves to be far more dangerous than either of them realizes. Together they face off against the natural elements, forming a deep bond along the way.
At the Mountain's Edge is Genevieve Graham's fourth novel.
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth
Celestial Bodies is a coming-of-age story about the country Oman, told through the perspective of three sisters as they witness waves of great change. Mayya, the eldest, is married to a devoted man named Abdallah, to whom she feels little attachment. Asma dreams of a marriage much different from Mayya's, while Khawla refuses proposals and remains steadfastly in love with a man who has emigrated to Canada.
Celestial Bodies won the 2019 Man Booker International Prize and 2010 Best Omani Novel Award. Jokha Alharthi is the first female Omani writer to be published in English. She has also published two other novels, two short story collections and a children's book.
A Delhi Obsession by M.G. Vassanji
M.G. Vassanji's latest novel, A Delhi Obsession, is about an unexpected love affair. Munir Khan lives in Toronto and was born in Kenya, but his family was originally from Delhi. After becoming a widower, Munir decides to travel to India for the first time and ends up meeting a charismatic, married newspaper columnist. Their differences fuel a passionate affair, but the couple is being watched by a fanatical nationalist group.
M.G. Vassanji is a two-time Scotiabank Giller Prize winner. He is also the author of the novels Nostalgia, The Book of Secrets and The In-Between World of Vikram Lall.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Told in a series of transcribed interviews, Daisy Jones & The Six tells the story of a legendary 1970s rock group that mysteriously broke up at the height of their fame. The two central characters of the book are Billy Dunne, the leader of The Six who has a drug problem, and Daisy Jones, a singer with a soulful voice and a gift for songwriting. Daisy Jones and The Six make it big together, but a power struggle over creative control creates tension in the group.
Taylor Jenkins Reid, a writer based in L.A., is also the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Film and television rights for Daisy Jones & The Six have already been acquired by Reese Witherspoon, who is producing a 13-episode adaptation for Amazon.