5 Best Books to Read in Celebration of Valentine's Day

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, there's never been a better time to curl up with a good romance novel. I've always been obsessed with love stories that stuck with me long after I read them, ones that fill me with joy, are impossible to put down, and genuinely make me fall in love. From accidentally sending out love letters, fake dating gone wrong, and even being stuck in a Valentine's Day time loop, these are the best clean, young adult romances that will make you fall in love all over again this Valentine's Day.

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To All The Boys I've Loved Before - Jenny Han

This classic young adult romance follows Lara Jean Song, a girl who pours her feelings into letters she'll never send. Each letter is written to a boy she once loved and tucked away into her mother's hatbox, allowing her to let go of these feelings. But when those secret letters are somehow sent out, her love life spins out of control. Now all of those boys know how Lara Jean truly feels about them, including her older sister's ex-boyfriend and next-door neighbor, Josh.

While this story is a cute and cozy romance to read this Valentine's Day, it's also a heartwarming story about friendship, the ups and downs of high school, and the unbreakable bond between the Song sisters.

"Maybe it was fate. Maybe this was all supposed to happen just like this, because... because it was always gonna be you and me."

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Today Tonight Tomorrow - Rachel Lynn Solomon

Ever since their freshman year of high school, Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been academic rivals, vowing to compete with each other ever since. Every score, vote, and even pull-up in gym class was a competition. Now that it's the last day of high school, Rowan is determined to beat Neil once and for all by winning valedictorian... until he wins it instead.

Rowan has one last chance to beat him, though, at their senior class game of Howl, a scavenger hunt that takes them all around Seattle. But when she overhears a group of kids who are plotting to take Rowan and Neil down, she decides to team up with him and tolerate him one more time.

What begins as a rivalry slowly turns into a love story about honesty and the realization that maybe the person you hate the most is the one who understands you best.

"But if this were an essay, here's the thesis statement: I am in love with you, Rowan Roth."

Better Than The Movies - Lynn Painter

Liz Buxbaum fell in love with rom coms when she was just seven years old, and ever since, she's been waiting for her own love story to unfold. Ten years later, her senior year is coming to a close, and she needs to plan for her perfect prom night. Her childhood crush, Michael, just moved back from Texas, and she falls for him all over again. But in order to get him to be her prom date, she needs help from her infuriating next-door neighbor, Wes Bennett.

But the longer Liz hangs out with Wes, the more she realizes that maybe he isn't the same annoying kid who put frogs in her Barbie Dreamhouse and that he might be better than she thought. She starts to question if Michael is the one she really wants, or if the one has been there all along, right next door. Her own happily ever after might actually be better than the movies.

“I fell in love with teasing you in the second grade, when I first discovered that I could turn your cheeks pink with just a word. Then I fell in love with you.”

The Do Over - Lynn Painter

Emilie Hornby has planned out the perfect Valentine's Day. She has the perfect boyfriend, Josh, a perfect gift, and a perfect outfit; she's finally ready to say "I love you" to him on their perfectly scheduled 3-month anniversary.

However, her seemingly perfect day turns into a disaster. Her journalism internship gets revoked, she catches her boyfriend kissing another girl, and accidentally crashes into Nick Stark, her annoying, enigmatic lab partner. That night, she goes to her grandma's house as an escape and falls asleep — just to wake up at home again. And somehow, it's Valentine's Day... again.

Now trapped in a Valentine's dumpster fire time loop, Emilie has to figure out how to stop the cycle while discovering that the best love isn't planned but comes in the most unexpected of ways.

“I love you, Nick Stark... It won't count tomorrow, and it'll be like I never said it, but on this Valentine's Day, I fell in love with you.”

Tweet Cute - Emma Lord

When Big League Burger steals his grandmother's recipe for her famous grilled cheese, Jack Campbell turns to Twitter to call them out, sparking an online battle that has the whole city of New York tuned in. On the other side of the war is Pepper, Jack's overachieving classmate and the one in charge of Big League Burger's Twitter account. She's determined to hold her own and win the Twitter battle.

While they clash on Twitter, they are unknowingly talking to each other on an online chat under the aliases Wolf and Bluebird, where what starts as an innocent connection turns into flirty banter. But when Jack finds out who Bluebird really is, he begins to realize that the girl he's been fighting with might be the one he falls for.

“This may have started with a war, but whatever it is now, there isn't an end in sight — not as long as we're both still winning.”

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Takeaway

Whether you're a hopeless romantic or just want a cute love story this Valentine's Day, these books are bound to give you butterflies in the best way possible. Regardless of if you're spending the day with someone you love or one of these stories, remember to make time for yourself this season.

Happy Valentine's Day!