Books for the most romantic month of the year, even if you don’t LOVE love 💞

It’s February, and love is in the air. Love, that cherubic little infant psychopath with the bow and arrow… you know the drill. This month, we’re highlighting some of our most romantic Arcadia projects. But I’d also like to take a little time to shine a spotlight on our anti­-Valentine’s Day titles: books you can be sure to read for action, adventure, and not a hint of love.

Let’s start with the pro-Valentine’s titles: if you love Uprooted and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, and The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, then North is the Night is the book for you. Two friends, separated by a tremendously ferocious monster, who will do whatever it takes to find each other again. I can’t recommend this sweeping novel of love and friendship highly enough. The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silva Moreno-Garcia is another sweeper; Vera Larios is cast as the infamous Salome in a big-budget, 1950s Hollywood spectacle. We watch her fall in love… and we see Salome herself fall in love, too. This being a Moreno-Garcia novel, however, things don’t go quite according to plan. (There are no Hollywood endings in sight.) Finally, The Scandalous Confessions of Miss Lydia Bennett, Witch, by Melinda Taub, is a witty, witchy reimagining of the story of Lydia, the most scandalous Bennett sister, and her love affair with the, well, scandalous Mr Wickham.  If you love Pride & Prejudice and Practical Magic, this is the book for you.

But what about those of you who don’t want to read sweeping romances this Valentine’s Day? Start with Sebastien de Castell’s The Malevolent Seven; the entire point is that it’s the anti epic-fantasy. And anti-Tolkien. And anti-Sanderson. Dark, funny and extremely moreish, this one’s for everyone who took reaction videos of their friends watching The Red Wedding for the first time. James Logan’s The Silverblood Promise doesn’t have a single love-story in sight, but main character Lukan does get into a lot of trouble, in part because he’s (secretly) a big, squishy romantic at heart. And last but not least: Nick Cutter’s The Queen, which does have a lovely story of friendship at its heart. But also wasps. And ants. And that friendship is, honestly, pretty fraught.

Anne

Publishing Director, Arcadia Books