The Best Romantic Reads For Your Book Club In February

With Valentine's season upon us again, love is in the air. It's also on the page — meaning there's no better time to fill your TBR list with stories that explore romantic love in all its forms. Love can be messy. It can also be magical. But one thing remains certain: it makes for some brilliant reading material.

Seasonal reads amplify the moment, and February calls for books that capture the beauty (and complexities) of romance. You might be in the mood for a heartwarming rom-com, a sweeping tale of star-crossed lovers, a modern work with a twist, or even an ancient myth. No matter what your book club prefers, this month's literary line-up has been tailored to the spirit of the season. If you're planning a toast to romantic love on Valentine's Day, hosting a Galentine's celebration, or enjoying some solo reading time, these book club picks are guaranteed to sweep you off your feet and have you falling in love at first read.

If you stumbled upon a shop where you could sell your regrets, would you surrender the weight of your past or hold on to it? In "Water Moon," Samantha Sotto Yambao asks exactly that. Hana Ishiwaka inherits a seemingly ordinary pawn shop in the heart of Tokyo's kaleidoscopic sprawl. But this is no typical shop: within its walls, customers can barter their regrets, trading fragments of their past for a chance to rewrite their futures. When Hana's shop is mysteriously looted and her father vanishes, she finds an unlikely ally in an enigmatic stranger.

Samantha Sotto Yambao's prose glimmers with a quiet magic. With tender precision, she crafts an intricate world of wonder and whimsy. Rain puddles mirror hidden truths, and paper cranes work as celestial steeds offering aerial rides. "Water Moon" unfolds like an intricate origami creation, a fitting parallel to its jacket, which cleverly transforms into an origami boat. It's a thoughtful, tactile delight to relish as your book club chats over the layers of this beautiful work of romantasy.

If there's one thing everybody craves, it's what they can't have. No one quite knows this like Feyi Adekola, the Brooklyn-based artist and protagonist of Akwaeke Emezi's "You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty." Five years after surviving the accident that claimed her husband's life, Feyi decides it's time to reenter the world, in all its messiness. The novel opens with graphic immediacy, as Feyi orchestrates her first tentative step into intimacy. What begins as a calculated, almost clinical attempt to reclaim her agency, spirals into a tempestuous journey of desire, creativity, and self-restoration — with a love triangle in between.

Emezi's prose is as simmering as the book's title, borrowed from Florence + the Machine, to blend vivid sensuality with raw emotional depth. This is her first foray into romance writing, but she was determined to flip the genre on its head. Done so through a queer lens and teeming with narrative vigor, this is perfect for a book club that might not gravitate toward traditional romance, or for seasoned romance lovers craving something truly different. As an extra lovely treat, "You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty" is slated for cinematic treatment under Amazon Studios and Michael B. Jordan's production company, Outlier Story — promising to reaffirm why Emezi earned so much acclaim for this seductive story.

Some lover stories would never pass the pitch meeting. "Romantic Comedy" by Curtis Sittenfeld takes those odds, flips the script, and makes you root for the improbable. On the surface, the premise reads like something protagonist Sally Milz — a TV writer — might satirize: a jaded, sharp-tongued writer for a late-night sketch show finds herself entangled with a pop star whose life is a glossy carousel of fame and beauty. Noah Brewster's reputation precedes him when he becomes a musical guest on the show, but suddenly the lines between Milz's carefully managed reality and something much messier begin to blur.

This is not your average rom-com, and Sally is not your average lead. With a style that's both incisive and deeply human, Sittenfeld dissects romantic tropes and reconstructs them with wit and emotional clarity. "Romantic Comedy" is a love story for skeptics, a comedy for realists, and a read for book clubs with a thirst for humor and honesty. Reese Witherspoon agrees with us, too, as she picked it for her own readership. 

The reigning queen of the romance novel strikes again with "Funny Story," a book that proves love can blossom in the most unlikely of places. Daphne's love story with her fiancé Peter was the kind that people envy — until it wasn't. When Peter leaves her for his lifelong best friend, her world shrinks to the tiny lakeside town of Waning Bay in Michigan, and a precarious new life as a children's librarian. The only person who truly understands her predicament is Miles, the heartbreak-stricken ex of her ex-fiancé's new fiancée.

Miles is scruffy and chaotic. Daphne is buttoned-up and practical. Their friendship begins as a fragile, reluctant truce, but deepens into something infinitely more meaningful. In her dry humor and surprising emotional clarity, Henry shows how healing can often be found in the unexpected. This book is a jolly little read, with just the right amount of steam for those who enjoy it. Overall, it's perfect for romance readers who want more than just a happy ending.

For centuries, the myth of Orpheus has cast him as its central hero: the musician who dared to challenge the underworld in a bid to reclaim his lost love, Eurydice. But in "Orphia and Eurydicius," the story takes a refreshing, re-gendered turn, with author Elyse John breathing new life into one of Greek mythology's most enduring love stories.

As the daughter of Apollo, Orphia grows up in the shadow of her father's divine expectations, stifled by his insistence on martial prowess over her creative ambition: writing poetry. But her encounter with a dashing, young shield-maker named Eurydicius awakens courage in her to pursue her art form. What follows is a lyrical odyssey of love and self-expression, set against the ever-alluring backdrop of deities, heroes, and epic sagas. This book confidently joins the burgeoning trend in publishing that seeks to reclaim mythological narratives. If, in the past, your book club has enjoyed the works of Madeline Miller and Natalie Haynes, prepare to find yourselves ensnared by this gracefully written tale.

Since February is the month of Valentine's Day, it felt only right to bring to the fore works of romantic fiction that celebrate love. To make sure all kinds of book clubs were catered for, we chose titles that stretch across a variety of genres, from contemporary rom-coms to ancient retellings. These are not only well-written, but they offer distinctive premises that stand out from the crowd. They are also books that are as enjoyable to talk about as they are to read. We focused on recently published titles to reflect the tastes of today's romance fans. All these choices feel fresh, modern, and relevant. Every book on this list has been well received, both critically and commercially — making them must-reads for the season of love.