Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love

A Wind in the Door, a science-fiction novel published in 1973, was written by renowned American author Madeleine L’Engle. L’Engle is the author of more than 60 books and winner of numerous awards, including the Margaret A. Edwards award for her lifelong contributions to teen readership. A Wind in the Door is the second novel of the Time Quintet and sequel to the acclaimed A Wrinkle in Time. While A Wind in the Door did... Read A Wind In The Door Summary

A New York Times bestselling novel, Bared to You by Sylvia Day chronicles the relationship between independent Eva Tramell and successful Gideon Cross. Published in 2012, Bared to You explores the impact of trauma as Eva and Gideon navigate their past experiences with childhood sexual abuse. The first book of the Crossfire Saga, Bared to You precedes four novels that document the turbulent relationship of Eva and Gideon. Classified as erotic fiction, Day’s novel features... Read Bared To You Summary

Pat Conroy’s 1995 novel Beach Music is a work of historical fiction. Set primarily in South Carolina, the novel follows a community fractured by memories of the Holocaust and the social upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s. Beach Music explores the nature of generational trauma and the way our pasts shape our futures. The power of forgiveness and the differences between duty and loyalty are also prominent themes. The setting and culture of the American... Read Beach Music Summary

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Beautiful Creatures (2009) is a young adult paranormal romance novel written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Garcia and Stohl combine their interest in Southern Gothic literature with supernatural romance. Beautiful Creatures is the first book in the four-part Caster Chronicles. The novel follows the romance between Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes as Lena comes to terms with the supernatural powers that make her a Caster. Lena and Ethan struggle to find a way to... Read Beautiful Creatures Summary

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire is a new adult romance first published in 2011. The book became an international bestseller and was made into a feature film released in 2023. The book is part of McGuire’s Beautiful Disaster series; several of the subsequent books also became New York Times bestsellers. This guide refers to the Atria paperback edition published in 2012.Content Warning: The novel depicts and romanticizes character traits that are often precursors of abusive... Read Beautiful Disaster Summary

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Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanna Barbot De Villeneuve first appeared in her collection of fairy tales La jeune américaine, et les contes marins (The Young American and Marine Tales) in 1740 and was abridged into a Christian moral tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756. As a fairy-tale classic, Beauty and the Beast has been retold around the globe and in several mediums, including books, film, theater, and opera. The most well-known adaptations... Read Beauty and the Beast Summary

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast (1978) is author Robin McKinley’s debut novel. It’s an adaptation of the original Beauty and the Beast fairy tale written in 1740 by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, with genre elements of fantasy and romance and marketed for a middle grade readership. McKinley’s version of the story maintains an 18th-century setting while modernizing thematic explorations of outer versus inner beauty, ideals of faithfulness and selflessness... Read Beauty Summary

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Before I Die is a young adult novel by Jenny Downham published in 2007. The narrator is Tessa, a 16-year-old British girl who has terminal leukemia. The novel’s title refers to the things that Tessa would like to experience and accomplish before she dies: having sex, taking drugs, and breaking the law.Plot SummaryTessa lives with her patient and devoted father and her younger brother Cal; her mother, who left the family when Tessa was twelve... Read Before I Die Summary

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Behind Her Eyes, a psychological thriller, was written by Sarah Pinborough and published in 2017. The book has sold over 1 million copies worldwide and was adapted for a TV series by Netflix. While clearly a best seller, there is great divergence of opinion on the book’s very unexpected twist at the end, with the publishers using the hashtag #WTFThatEnding to promote the book.Plot SummaryLouise is a single mother living in London and working as... Read Behind Her Eyes Summary

Ann Patchett’s 2001 novel, Bel Canto, tells the alternately life-affirming and heart-wrenching story of a disparate group of people who are taken hostage in the Vice Presidential mansion of an unnamed South American country. The group has gathered to celebrate the birthday of Mr. Hosokawa, a Japanese businessman and passionate opera lover. Mr. Hosokawa has requested that Roxanne Coss, a renowned soprano from America, sing at his party. She is captivating, but at the end... Read Bel Canto Summary

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Between the Acts (1941) is Virginia Woolf’s final novel. It was published posthumously, four months after the writer’s death. It is a modernist novel that takes place on one June day in 1939, on the eve of World War II. Set in the English countryside, the novel focuses on the residents of a village who are preparing for their annual pageant at a time of looming international tension and domestic unease. Since much of the... Read Between The Acts Summary

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