4 books to warm your hearts on valentines day
warm kisses, soft hugs, sweet caresses
Happy Valentine’s Day! 🫀 💌 🏹 💋 🧸
I’m sure many people have plans for today—from hanging out with their partner to having dinners with friends to chilling alone at home watching rom-coms. Whatever it is, I wanted to offer something that will warm your hearts, hence I have four books for your hearts and minds on this fine day. The four books are:
Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare
The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Happy reading, and enjoy Valentine's Day! (with some chocolate)
Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare (4.5/5)
Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story written by William Shakespeare in the early stages of his career. It is about the romance between two Italian youths, Romeo being a Montague and Juliet being a Capulet—and how their feuding families’ ongoing conflict ultimately leads to their demise.
My thoughts: I’ve read this story too many times and every time it proves to be a solid piece of literature. I think people tend to judge this story harshly because of how it has been over-told and the ongoing debate about whether it is a love story or not. I do not view Romeo & Juliet as the love story of the century, if anything I believe that Shakespeare was warning families about the dangers of restricting freedom for their children and how it will lead to their doom. I also thought that Shakespeare was warning young people to be careful of what they call love because if you go back and read through Romeo & Juliet carefully, analysing and annotating it, you’ll see it was not true love but rather lust and the escape for freedom.
I still included this story because of the tenderness of their supposed romance and how it does make you swoon and sigh at some parts. I would recommend it as a challenge to read the original Romeo & Juliet script rather than a modern version because you’ll be able to appreciate the beauty of Shakespeare’s writing and his puns.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (5/5)
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a young adult fiction novel that tells the story of a 16-year-old girl, Hazel, who is diagnosed with cancer. She then joins a support group where she meets Augustus. From there, the two bond over their shared experiences of facing mortality and cancer and the rollercoaster of emotions throughout their relationship.
My thoughts: I first read this book back when I was 12 and re-read it again when I got to high school and both times I cried so much. The effortless blend of trying to make sense of life after death, legacy, finding one’s purpose in their life and how death impacts loved ones was wrapped together so well in a love story that broke my heart so much. I have a very soft spot for this book as I had a close friend back then who lost her life to cancer but she was a bookworm before me and was always trying to convince me to get into books because at the time I still wasn’t a big fan of reading books but I remember she recommended The Fault in Our Stars to me and she would say, “You know T, any day now so you better read it otherwise I’ll haunt you when I’m a ghost.”
When she made comments like that, I would usually scold her about those jokes while she was laughing her head off, telling me to loosen up. But the reason I did it was mostly because my preteen self did not want to fully accept the fact that she would die very soon. When I did eventually finish the book and was excited to share my thoughts with her, I got the news that she already passed away. I will always have an emotional attachment to this book and always recommend it to people.
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch (5/5)
Love & Gelato written by Jenna Evans Welch follows our protagonist, Lina, a high schooler sent to spend her summer in Italy with her father, because that was her mother’s wish before she passed away. Lina who was very scornful and reluctant about this trip, leaving her best friend and grandmother back in Seattle, sets out on a journey of discovery and coming-of-age. Lina who finds her mother’s old journal experiences a different side of Italy, a place of love and gelato, with the charming Ren to accompany her.
My thoughts: If you need something to romanticise one’s life, this is it! It is so well-written and the main plot intertwines with the subplots and by the end you’ll be left breathless. This book can tell a light, whimsical love story while handling heavy themes and that is beautiful. From start to finish, I could not put the book down and was completely enamoured by every character and their tender flaws—it was truly romantic.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (4/5)
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is a retelling of the love story between Achilles and Patroclus, set during the Trojan War. The story is during the Greek Heroic Age and is told from the perspective of Patroclus.
My thoughts: A very rich book that explores the themes of loyalty and sacrifice very well in a scathingly tragic yet beautiful love story. I’m a Greek mythology enthusiast so I’m always super picky about retellings of Greek mythology or stories because often authors get a lot of details wrong or completely miss the point in some stories but this retelling was spot-on and all the details were correct it made my heart very pleased.
Although this book is good, everyone around me told me that I would be in tears. No doubt it is sad but it didn’t make me cry. I think Madeline Miller’s best work for me is Circe.
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” — Helen Keller