Get in the mood for romance with these literary love stories, selected by Charlotte Griffiths
Risky Business by Annabelle Slator
Risky Business by Annabelle Slator
Now this is a romance novel. Our scrappy hero Jess is CEO and founder of Wyst, a fem-tech start-up in desperate need of funding. As a final resort, she enters a prestigious competition for new ventures and wins a place in the first round, to be held in Rome. In a hurry, she realises she’s accidentally ticked ‘Mr’ instead of ‘Ms’, so she recruits her twin brother Sebastian, a jobbing actor, to step in, solving his lack of experience by posing as his ‘assistant’ Violet and feeding him lines from offstage.
As Violet, Jess can finally relax and let her hair down with the other assistants, including – after a truly Hollywood-worthy meet-cute – the devastatingly handsome Oliver, who takes her under his wing. But of course, it transpires that Jess/Violet isn’t the only one with secrets. Sebastian is a hit with the tech bros, and Jess and Oliver are getting on famously, but how long can they both keep this facade in place?
If you recognise the names, you’re right: the book is loosely inspired by Twelfth Night and early-noughties rom-com She’s the Man. There’s a lovely moment when Jess and Sebastian watch the film while sharing a hotel room to save her company’s dwindling finances, which are shown, along with expenses, at the start of each chapter as a reminder of Jess’s precarious situation.
Laugh-out-loud funny yet also thought-provoking, fast-paced and simmering with tension throughout, this second book from Peterborough-based author Annabelle Slator is a real unicorn of a novel – and well worth your investment.
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
Towards the end of 2025 you couldn’t enter a bookshop or open #bookstagram without bumping into Heart the Lover, Lily King’s newest novel, which hugely deserves its flurry of attention and should absolutely go on your list for this year. However, it’s King’s earlier work that we’re pointing you towards this February. Set in 1997 in and around Boston, this is a nostalgic, totally immersive will-they-won’t-they romance following the 31-year-old aspiring author Casey Peabody as she juggles the challenges of making rent while working through grief for her late mother and fresh heartbreak from the demise of a relationship.
She’s entering her adult years waiting tables and still working on a novel she’s carried around for the majority of a decade, hoping against fading hope that the creative career she’s longed for will bear fruit.
Despite everything, you’ll be on her side within pages, keeping your fingers crossed throughout for this whip-smart protagonist who struggles on despite the odds. And when two very different romantic prospects appear in Casey’s life, you’ll find yourself just as stuck as she is.
Which version of herself should she embrace, and which possible future should she let sail away? King’s immaculate writing is devastating, wistful, unforgettable and well deserves all of its many accolades: if this is your first experience of her novels, don’t let it be your last.
This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell
This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell
With Hamnet scooping awards in cinemas and Land, her newest novel, due to arrive on shelves this summer, this is definitely Maggie O’Farrell’s year. So, what better time to acquaint yourself with her brilliant back catalogue, including this beautiful tale of life-long love in all its complex and frustrating glory.
Wife and husband Claudette and Daniel are at an impasse: their carefully constructed peace, deliberately isolated deep in the Irish countryside, is shattered by a revelation from academic Daniel’s past. For Claudette – once the most famous movie star alive before vanishing from set and seemingly disappearing from the outside world – everything is upended. In light of the news, Daniel is moved to reconnect with his estranged family in New York and California – but it’s not like Claudette to wait around, especially not for a man. Perhaps this isn’t the place after all.
Like all of O’Farrell’s work, This Must Be the Place is profoundly moving and deeply rooted in the gorgeously depicted rural setting: you’ll feel right there with Claudette and Daniel as they open and close the 12 gates that lead to their cottage’s front door. This novel takes breathtaking leaps through timelines, narrators and versions of events from the past to the present until the truths emerge and these deeply flawed characters find their way back to each other – and to the love woven throughout their stories.
New releases
Add these titles to your reading pile while they’re hot off the press
The Barbecue at No.9 by Jennie Godfrey
It is 1985 and the inhabitants of Delmont Close are getting together to watch Live Aid – but as everyone gathers, so do their secrets and stories, and just 12 hours later, nothing will ever be the same again. Fantastic, deeply human tales from this star author: not to be missed.
Nonesuch by Francis Spufford
Superb magical realism blended with historical fiction: Spufford’s books are must-reads. It’s late 1930s London, on the brink of war, and headstrong Iris is ‘out-out’ with new acquaintances, hoping for her life to change. However, you should always be careful what you wish for.
Love by the Book by Jessica George
A romance, but not as you may know it. This book follows two different protagonists with more in common than they think. But, when novelist Remy realises Simone’s life story could become the novel she owes her publishers, can their platonic yet deeply romantic friendship survive?
Check out January 2026’s Book Club and the coffee table reads
