I'm not in the mood for romance these days, but what the hell-it's Valentine's Day.
Some of you may crave love stories that dig deeper, twist darker, or pull you apart before stitching you back together. If your vibe isn't predictable romance arcs and you want something stranger and more honest, here are six books to mess with your heart:
1. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
What happens when love gets tangled in ambition, family loyalty, and the circus? Dunn’s cult classic explores the grotesque and beautiful in a carnival family where parents purposefully engineer their children into “freaks.” The love here is twisted and loyal to a fault, with sibling devotion that veers into obsession. It's tender, horrifying, and oddly affirming.
2. The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill
This one will seduce you and leave you gutted. Set in Depression-era Montreal, it’s the story of two orphans whose love for each other is as fierce as their ambition. But dreams come with a price. Their love is achingly beautiful but raw with betrayal and loss—definitely not a hearts-and-flowers affair.
3. Possession by A.S. Byatt
This isn’t just a love story—it’s a literary obsession wrapped in a historical mystery. As two modern-day scholars uncover the secret relationship between two Victorian poets, the boundaries between past and present blur. Byatt weaves a dual narrative of passion and restraint, showing how love, in any era, is often bound up with what we cannot have.
4. Under a Pole Star by Stef Penney
Set in the Arctic wilderness, this novel captures the icy, unforgiving terrain of love and conquest. It follows a pioneering explorer, and her turbulent romance with a fellow adventurer. Their love is as raw and treacherous as the frozen landscape they traverse, proving that love can survive extremes—but not without scars.
5. The Book of M by Peng Shepherd
In a world where people lose their shadows—and with them, their memories—love becomes a question of how much you can hold on to before you disappear. This lovely speculative book is equal parts love story and apocalypse. It will leave you wondering if love is the one thing we can hold onto when everything else falls apart.
6. The Man Who Fell In Love with the Moon by Tom Spanbauer
This book is a style of writing called dangerous writing. I read it when I was 18, and it shattered every assumption I had about storytelling and how far a writer could push. It's wild, unapologetic, and unflinchingly raw. Some of you will hate me for this one, and that’s fine. This story of a bisexual boy in the Old West grappling with identity, sex, and love is messy and transgressive. If you like your books safe, skip this one. If you don’t, well… you’ve been warned.
These aren’t stories about perfect love—they’re about beauty and heartbreak and imperfection. Now, I’m curious: who are your favorite literary couples? Write me and tell me, will you? Maybe I’ll discover something new to obsess over.
