RPL offers some recommendations on what to read on Valentine’s Day

When people think about plans for Valentine’s Day, they often think of taking their partner out for a romantic dinner or spending a romantic evening with them at home.

One thing people often overlook is going to the library to check out a romantic book.

Jessica Cammer, children’s and young adult collections lead at the Regina Public Library, told the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Tuesday a lot of people go to the library looking for romance novels.

“The romance genre is actually one of the most popular genres of book out there,” Cammer said. “People just love their romances (because) they’re optimistic (and explore) personal relationships and emotions.”

She says people also love reading them because they always end with a “happily ever after” or a “happy for now.”

According to Cammer, there is a key difference between a romance novel and a love story.

“A romance is a book that will follow a relationship and has one rule: Love always triumphs,” she said. “A love story, on the other hand, is a highly emotional book. It doesn’t always end happily. Sometimes the characters aren’t even together at the end.”

Cammer said love stories often make people cry and recommends checking out anything by Nicholas Sparks, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and The No Show by Beth O’Leary.

“(The No Show) is … about three women who are stood up by the same man on Valentine’s Day and it really teeters between a romance novel and a love story,” she said. “I recommend this one because I was second-guessing the entire way through who would get a happily ever after and it was even possible for the book to end happily.”

A lot of new readers are being drawn to the romance genre because of Bridgerton on Netflix, Cammer says.

For those interested in that style of reading, she recommends taking a look at The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan.

“It’s got clever dialogue and a true representation of diversity,” Cammer added.

For a story that takes place in a more modern setting, she suggests reading Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn.

“It’s about (someone) reluctantly returning to (their) hometown, coming to terms with who (they’re) meant to be and falling in love along the way,” Cammer said.

She says one of the biggest trends in romance right now is that there’s a lot of 2SLGBTQIA+ content being created.

“We have authors like Alexis Hall who wrote Boyfriend Material … Cat Sebastian who wrote The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes and … there’s also a new book by Meryl Wilsner called Mistakes Were Made,” Cammer said.