Five Spring Romance Novels

Emma Castle
1st Sep 2016

The flowers are blooming, the hemlines are rising. Ahhh! Spring – the season for love (or at least frenetic procreation).

Here are five love stories to put a spring in your step and dew in your eye.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

If you have ever wondered if you may be a tad unlovable, worry no more. There is no one more unlovable than the central character of this novel, geneticist Don Tillman. It is never explicitly stated but the reader can assume that Don has at least one, if not numerous, personality disorders so when he decides to try and find a wife using scientific methods, the results are both amusing and dismal. There is one woman, however, who can see past his dysfunction. Her name is Rosie and she is as prickly as her name suggests. If you like quirky love stories, this one is for you.

One Day by David Nicholls

If you don’t have the time or the inclination to slowly rip your own heart out, this book will do it for you, page by page. The story follows the friendship of Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley, uni friends who have one drunken night together after graduation. Dexter has always run with the cool crowd, a journey takes him in the opposite direction from Emma, who falls into a mediocre live-in relationship with a man she doesn’t particularly like. The following decades sees the friendship bloom and wither repeatedly. Without ruining the ending, it’s fair to say that love wins but everyone loses.

PS, I Love You by Cecilia Ahern

Another total tear jerker, this story begins with a young couple – Gerry and Holly – who are deeply in love until Gerry up and dies from a brain tumour. From beyond the grave (or so it seems) Gerry sends Holly love letters reminding her about the good times they shared and telling her of his hope that she will move on. As part of Gerry’s post-mortem planning, he sends Holly and her friends to his home country of Ireland for a holiday where Holly meets William, a man who spookily reminds her of her ex-husband. Things get complicated when Holly finds out that William was Gerry’s childhood bestie.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Ahhh young love. Ain’t it sweet? Well, it would be if it weren’t for the fact that both of the protagonists in this book have cancer. Say hello to Hazel and Augustus who meet at a cancer support group and form a bond based on their mutual love of reading. The pair swap favourite books and in the course of the story, become fascinated by the blunt and inexplicable ending of An Imperial Affliction, a book authored by an ornery Dutch alcoholic named Peter Van Houten. The pair travel to Amsterdam to meet with Van Houten, a move that proves to be a turning point in their relationship and a disaster in terms of their health.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Everyone loves an underdog and Jane Eyre is quite the Cinderella story. Our eponymous Jane starts out life as an orphan after both of her parents die of typhus. She is sent to live with her uncle and his wicked wife and children where she is subject to all kinds of emotional and physical abuse. She makes a lucky escape when she is sent to school in order to become a governess. She later finds employment with wealthy estate holder named Edward Rochester. During her time there she has to dodge the earnest attentions of a local clergyman, while trying to suppress her increasing ardour for her employer. If you like cold, dark country houses filled with mystery, you will love Jane Eyre.