Books to Give to or Read with Your Valentine
Valentine’s Day is all about love, but if you’re not in a romantic relationship, you often feel left out. That shouldn’t be the case — love comes in all forms, like romantic, platonic, familial, and self-love. Anyone you care for can be your Valentine: your partner, your best friend, your parent or child, and yes, even yourself! Here are some books that teach about Valentine’s Day, about love, and about caring for others.
For the Kids and teens
From one bear hug to twelve pretty red roses, 1-2-3, You Love Me will foster lots of hugs, kisses, and affection between parent and child while teaching young ones to count from one to twelve. With charming love-filled illustrations, sturdy pages, and clever rhyming text, this is the perfect gift for baby for Valentine’s Day or any time of year. Sipping on yummy shakes, cuddling puppies, counting the colors in a rainbow, and making music with friends are all ways that children can express their love for their friends and family with Jill Howarth’s delightful board book.
When a polar bear leaves the safety and warmth of her cave to travel all over a frozen wonderland, she must be looking for something very important. Could it be delicious silver salmon? A view of the swirling winter sky? A bit of gold? Of course, she is in search of the most precious thing of all: her lost little cub. In this touching story, readers will instantly be enamored with the sweeping illustrations of winter landscapes, endearing polar bear characters, and the resonant message that a mother’s love matters most.
In this funny and paw-some story, lifelong rivals Molly and Oscar are forced to team up and brave the great outdoors and help their families before it’s too late.
Wilderness adventurers and expert trackers Molly the katt and Oscar the dogg go camping with their families: parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles. One big reunion! It would be fun if there weren't so many rules to follow at the campsite. ATTENTION KATTS AND DOGGS: No crossing the border, or you'll be asked to leave the Eastern Wilderness Reserve. If you're still alive.Molly and Oscar must outsmart the rule-makers when they discover that their katt and dogg cousins have run away together—for reasons only Molly and Oscar will understand. Now the clever pair must find and warn their cousins before all four of them are in need of a serious rescue mission.
High school junior Michie is struggling to define who she is for her scholarship essays, her big shot at making it into Brown as a first-generation college student. The prompts would be hard for anyone, but Michie's been estranged from her mother since she was seven and her concept of family has long felt murky.
Enter new kid and basketball superstar Derek de la Rosa. He is very cute, very talented, and very much has his eye on Michie, no matter how invisible she believes herself to be.
For the parents
Love yourself unconditionally.
There are days when we all need it, an empowering reminder to nurture our spirit and encourage growth. With over 200 meditations, mantras, affirmations, and inspirations and with beautiful illustrations throughout, Love Notes to My Self offers the gift of meaningful positive change. Its goal is to help you with crucially important work of finding greater and deeper self-love—so that you can be kinder, gentler, and more caring with yourself and ready to share your compassion with the world.
A second try at love becomes more than one woman bargained for in this "timeless, enchanting" rom-com from the author of The Rehearsals (Rachel Lynn Solomon, New York Times bestselling author).
Can one little lie lead to a big second chance?
Layla’s chaotic life transformed when she met Ian Barnett. Ambitious, committed, and thoughtful, Ian has been everything she'd dreamed of, and she knows he'd say the same of her. So when he breaks up with her out of the blue, Layla is stunned. What went wrong?
But then, Layla gets a call from the local hospital. Ian's had a biking accident. He's okay, but he needs someone—his someone—to get him home safely. As it becomes clear Ian doesn't remember he ended things, it also becomes clear that the accident has given him a new outlook on life . . . and Layla a second chance to get things right.
That is, until Ian’s younger brother comes to town. Matt is restless, unpredictable, and threatens to upset the careful balance Layla and Ian have rebuilt. As things get more complicated both at home and at work, Layla realizes she might lose her chance at real love—and real happiness—if she doesn’t come clean about the stories she's been telling: to Ian, to Matt, to her family, and most importantly, to herself.
Always a matchmaker, never a match…
Olivia Huang Christenson is excited-slash-terrified to be taking over her grandmother’s matchmaking business. But when she learns that a new dating app has made her Pó Po’s traditional Chinese zodiac approach all about “animal attraction,” her emotions skew more toward furious-slash-outraged. Especially when L.A.’s most-eligible bachelor Bennett O’Brien is behind the app that could destroy her family’s legacy . . .
Liv knows better than to fall for any guy, let alone an infuriatingly handsome one who believes that traditions are meant to be broken. As the two businesses go head to head, Bennett and Liv make a deal: they’ll find a match for each other—and whoever falls in love loses. But Liv is dealing with someone who’s already adept at stealing business ideas . . . so what’s stopping him from stealing her heart too?
In Daily Gestures, author Leslie Koren encourages readers to prioritize and appreciate their partners—not just on Valentine’s Day or their anniversaries, but each and every day. Maybe you’ll deliver a cup of coffee to your wife in bed each morning, or have cocktail hour with your boyfriend every night after work to catch up with each other and talk about your days.
In Date Nights, she suggests “Yes Day” (where one partner plans the whole agenda, from the breakfast menu to a late-night movie), and going on a trip down memory lane by taking turns telling each other the story of your courtship.
In Intimate Encounters, readers will be encouraged to connect both physically and emotionally, with rituals like eye gazing and giving one another massages. There are also rituals for vacation, anniversaries, and even periods when you’re long-distance. Just flip open the book and voilà—romance is in the air!