On Valentine’s Day, there are two different types of people: the cute couples who hold hands and go out to a fancy dinner, and the single people who eat self-bought boxes of chocolates while reading a book about two people in love. I am the second person in that scenario.

Since I love to read books that fit the setting, I have found some amazing novels that will change the way readers view this month of love. These stories represent the many varied ways people can fall in love,whether it be with someone they just met, someone of the same sex, someone they have been friends with for years, or learning to love themselves.

• Promposal by Rhonda Helms: This book takes readers on a journey about the lives of high school students during prom and the stresses that follow them. “Who will get asked to prom? What if they do not like me? Can I say no?” are just some of the questions these characters are left asking. 
• Hold Me Closer by David Levithan: This book is the sequel to Will Greyson and is about Tiny Cooper’s life and his quest for love. Readers are brought through the story of his childhood and ex-boyfriends through the best way to tell it: a musical!  
• Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina: This novel takes place in New York during the summer of 1977. Nothing seems to go right for the main character, Nora Lopez. The city that she lives in is dangerous, holding blackouts, arsonists, and a serial killer who only murders young people at random. At the same time, her family is falling apart from her mother not being able to pay rent, her father deciding to spend all his time with his new family, and her brother who is growing more uncontrollable by the day. 
• Song of the Crimson Flower by Julie C. Dao: After Lan, a wealthy nobleman’s daughter, rejects Bao, the poor physician’s apprentice who loves her, Lan finds Bao’s flute floating in the river near her house. She takes this in, not knowing that Bao’s soul has been trapped inside by an evil witch. Only love will set him free, and after Lan promises to help, both travel across the continent trying to rid themselves of the evil surrounding them before it is too late. 

These books can all be found in the LHS library, and students can ask library specialist Maureen Bertolini for any advice on what other books to check out.