{"id":160785,"date":"2022-02-14T12:18:34","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T01:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/?p=160785"},"modified":"2022-02-15T16:11:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T05:11:18","slug":"read-my-valentine-8-essential-reads-for-valentines-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2022\/02\/14\/read-my-valentine-8-essential-reads-for-valentines-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Read my Valentine: 8 essential reads for Valentine’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"2022<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What better time is there than Valentine’s Day to talk about love? Or, better yet, read<\/em> about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all those wanting to celebrate the international day of love, we’ve put together a reading list full of fiction and non-fiction. Whether you’re looking for a relationships guidebook or you want to dive headfirst into the romance phenomenon Ice Planet Barbarians<\/em>, we’ve got you covered. Scroll down to discover our top reads for Valentine’s Day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Non-Fiction<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Love Stories<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Trent Dalton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781460760932\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by a personal moment of profound love and generosity, Trent Dalton, bestselling author and one of Australia’s finest journalists, spent two months in 2021 speaking to people from all walks of life, asking them one simple and direct question: ‘Can you please tell me a love story?’ The result is an immensely warm, poignant, funny and moving book about love in all its guises, including observations, reflections and stories of people falling into love, falling out of love, and never letting go of the loved ones in their hearts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Sex Ed You Never Had<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Chantelle Otten<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781760878863\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For too long, talking about our anatomies and our experiences has been taboo. Normal functions have been deemed embarrassing and even shameful, impacting people’s mental and physical health. In this amazing and comprehensive guide, filled with accurate facts and helpful illustrations, Chantelle refuses to leave these conversations languishing on the fringes any longer. From breaking myths about reproductive health to exploring ideas of consent, The Sex Ed You Never Had<\/em> will teach everyone something, if not many things, about their body, and fun and pleasurable ways it can be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ladies, We Need To Talk<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Yumi Stynes and Claudine Ryan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781743797518\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The ABC podcast Ladies, We Need To Talk<\/em> has been tearing open the sealed section on life for years, but host Yumi Stynes and co-creator Claudine Ryan know there\u2019s still way more to say. In this book, they dive further into the podcast topics that resonated most with sensitivity, hilarity and serious smarts, and open the conversation further to include personal stories from listeners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Ex-Girlfriend of My Ex-Girlfriend is My Girlfriend<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Maddy Court and Kelsey Wroten (Illustrator)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781797201825\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This illustrated book of advice on love, dating, and friendship \u2014 written by and for queer women and people of marginalised genders \u2014 is the new go-to queer relationship handbook. Fix yourself a cup of non-caffeinated herbal tea and prepare to laugh, cry, reminisce, and feel your feelings as you read through these quintessentially queer dating dilemmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Reminders of Him<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Colleen Hoover<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781542025607\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter\u2019s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself. The only person who hasn\u2019t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Seven Days in June<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Tia Williams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Seven<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Eva Mercy is a single mother and bestselling erotica writer who is feeling pressed from all sides. Shane Hall is a reclusive, enigmatic, award-winning novelist, who, to everyone’s surprise, shows up unexpectedly in New York. When Shane and Eva meet at a literary event, sparks fly, raising not only their buried traumas, but also the eyebrows of the Black literati. What no one knows is that fifteen years earlier, teenage Eva and Shane spent one crazy, torrid week madly in love. While they may be pretending not to know each other, they can’t deny their chemistry – or the fact that they’ve been secretly writing to each other in their books through the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Custom Love<\/a><\/strong><\/em> <\/em>(Fasty & Fury: Book 3)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Chantal Fernando<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9781922598356\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Nadia has always been in charge of her life. As a private investigator, she makes her own hours and only takes on cases that she wants to work on. But when a family friend asks her to look into a case, she instantly regrets it. The last thing she wants to do is rip open old wounds. Especially Trade’s, the single father she’s been spending time with. It isn’t long before she’s falling not just for him, but for the kids he’s trying so hard to protect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ice Planet Barbarians<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Ruby Dixon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"9780593546024\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Fall in love with the out-of-this-world romance between Georgie Carruthers, a human woman, and Vektal, an alien from another planet, in this expanded edition with bonus materials and an exclusive epilogue!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy it here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Books by Colleen Hoover, Chantelle Otten, Ruby Dixon and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":160813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[12812,13626,14339,8516,14342,8772,14336,14345,14338,3362,13848,14341,4464,14216,4577,14337,14343,14340,13625,14344,8715,6354,8575],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/2022ValentinesDay-Social.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160785"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160956,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160785\/revisions\/160956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}