Our expectations for love are set extremely high because of the media we consume on a daily basis. Grand gestures and boys pining for girls are what most people think of when it comes to love. The reality is that the boy you like probably won’t build you a house like Noah in The Notebook, or profess his undying love for you on a hill like Laurie from Little Women. This can be discouraging, especially when we are faced with the reality of dating in your 20’s. Here are some books that will give you a new perspective on the concept of love and how it is not always “easy” but is very rewarding no matter the outcome.
1. The light we lost by jill santopolo
This book follows two characters, Lucy and Gabe, throughout their senior year of college and thirteen years into their adult lives. They meet on September 11th, 2001, and from that day on they decide they want their lives to mean something. When they run into each other a year later they believe that fate has brought them together, until their dreams and aspirations get in the way. Readers follow the journey of both their lives through loss, desire, and jealousy, and most importantly find out if they were meant to be together all along.
This book gives an accurate look into how love can alter your life forever. Although this book is heartbreaking, it will change your perspective on the fine line between pursuing your dreams and career and staying with the one person who is right for you.
2. maybe in another life by taylor jenkins reid
Hannah is lost in her life; she has lived in multiple different places and has held countless jobs but never seems to settle down. When Hannah is back in her hometown of Los Angeles she is faced with two options: leave with her best friend Gaby after a night out or leave with her ex from high school, Ethan. In two alternating timelines throughout the book, you see how these different decisions drastically change and affect Hannah’s life forever.
This book will make you realize all the choices you did and did not make have led you to this moment in your life. Throughout this book, you realize that love will follow you wherever you go, so there is no need to worry about finding the right person because they will always come your way.
3. people we meet on vacation by emily henry
This book is the perfect spring break beach read especially if you are a fan of the friends to lovers trope. Poppy and Alex are complete opposites; she is a wild child and he is a homebody. They never expected to be friends until they both shared a car to go home after college. Ever since then they have been best friends and take a trip together every summer for 10 years, until two years ago when everything was ruined and they have not talked since. Poppy invites Alex to go on one last trip in hopes to fix everything. This book will keep you smiling and will give you all the good feels.