When we talk about Valentine’s Day in Brazil – celebrated on June 12th, right before Saint Anthony’s Day – the air is filled with red roses, chocolate boxes, candlelit dinners, and picture-perfect declarations of love. But beyond these familiar scenes lies something far more magnetic: the complexity of love as it truly is messy, imperfect, transforming.
In celebration, we’re inviting you to dive into six unforgettable books that depict couples not as ideals, but as human. These are not your typical fairytale romances. They are about people who fall in love while healing old wounds, navigating trauma, crossing cultural divides, or simply surviving the chaos of being themselves together.
Whether you’re in a relationship, recovering from one, dreaming of the right person, or rediscovering yourself, this list has something to move you, shake you, and remind you that love is more than a happy ending; it’s a story in motion.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA – GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ
In this classic of magical realism, Gabriel García Márquez takes us through the life of Florentino Ariza, a man who falls hopelessly in love with Fermina Daza in his youth. After a romance cut short by social and familial circumstances, she marries another man and moves on with her life. Meanwhile, Florentino decides to wait for over fifty years. During that time, he lives through various experiences, fleeting loves, and losses, but never gives up hope for a reunion. The story spans decades, weaving together politics, aging, unfulfilled desires, and time itself as an inevitable force in the construction of love and memory.
Few stories are so deeply rooted in the power of love that endures or transforms over the years. This book does not speak of perfect love, but rather of a stubborn love at times uncomfortable that challenges social conventions and even time itself.
Including it on this list is an invitation to think of love not as a momentary explosion, but as a construction filled with memory, obsession, waiting, and survival. The lingering question is provocative: is what we feel truly love, or merely an attachment to the idea of it? Reading Márquez is to dive into a love that is not idealized, but eternal and perhaps, for that very reason, profoundly human.
THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE – AUDREY NIFFENEGGER
Henry is a librarian who suffers from a rare genetic disorder: he involuntarily travels through time. Amid unpredictable time jumps, he meets Clare, an artist who grew up knowing that one day she would marry him. The narrative alternates points of view and timelines, creating a delicate dance between meetings and separations, youth and aging, presence and absence. Even though time is never on their side, Henry and Clare build a love story that is both epic and ordinary, marked by longing, anticipation, and vulnerability.
This book earns its place here because it metaphorically captures everything we feel about romantic encounters in real life: sometimes they arrive too early, sometimes too late, and almost always with a dose of uncertainty. Clare and Henry’s relationship isn’t defined by stability, but by the desire to stay, even when everything around them is unstable.
It’s a story that reminds us of the finiteness of moments and the infinity that can exist within them. By proposing a love that defies time, Niffenegger invites us to rethink what it means to love someone who is never fully present, yet still worth every fragment.
LOVELY WAR – JULIE BERRY
Narrated in an utterly original way by Greek gods such as Aphrodite, Ares, and Hades, Lovely War tells the interwoven story of two couples during World War I: Hazel and James, a young pianist and a British soldier, and Aubrey and Colette, a Black American musician and a Belgian woman scarred by deep trauma. These four protagonists experience love while confronting the fear of death, grief, racism, sexism, and the limitations of their era. The divine voices interfere, comment, judge, and reveal that even the gods themselves do not fully understand human love. It is a narrative that is both epic and intimate, where the battlefield and the heart become one.
Lovely War is a powerful reminder that love can bloom even in the harshest conditions. The book doesn’t simply tell romantic stories, it complicates them, grounds them in real contexts of oppression and suffering, and yet, still celebrates them.
Julie Berry suggests that love is a form of resistance, of beauty, and of healing in times of war. The couples here face not only distance or time, but also the unequal structure of the world around them. As moving as it is thought-provoking, the novel asks the reader: is being in love an act of courage? Is true love always a battlefield? To enter this book is to emerge transformed.
SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE – TIA WILLIAMS
Eva Mercy is a bestselling writer of erotic fiction and a single mother. Shane Hall is a reclusive, critically acclaimed author. When the two cross paths again at a literary event in New York City, the past resurfaces: fifteen years ago, they shared seven intense, chaotic, and unforgettable days. Seven days that shaped their personal, artistic, and emotional journeys.
Now, as adults marked by trauma, addiction, memories, and longing, they are forced to confront not only what they feel for each other, but everything left unsaid, everything they never allowed themselves to become. Tia Williams’s sharp and sensual prose delivers a love story layered with pain, humor, and emotional maturity.
This is the kind of romance that shows how loving again takes more courage than loving for the first time. Seven Days in June brings representation, desire, and depth and refuses to romanticize suffering. Eva and Shane’s relationship pulses with the energy of unfinished love stories, of reunions that make us wonder: what if? It’s a story about open wounds and barely healed scars, but also about the possibility of rewriting a past we thought was already closed.
This book earns its place on this list because it celebrates adult love, imperfect yet committed, a love that doesn’t deny who we’ve been but believes in who we can become together.
JUST FOR THE SUMMER – ABBY JIMENEZ
Vanessa is coping with the pain of grief when she meets Adrian, a workaholic lawyer who doesn’t believe in love. What was supposed to be just a practical and temporary arrangement, a convenient solution to their individual problems, ends up becoming an unexpected journey of connection, intimacy, and emotional healing.
Abby Jimenez skillfully balances humor and sensitivity, creating honest dialogues, realistic characters, and moments that melt even the most cynical hearts. As summer progresses, their lives begin to intertwine delicately, and what was meant to be fleeting turns into a real opportunity for a fresh start.
Not every love begins with a spark – some start quietly, almost by accident, and yet grow immense. This book is here because it speaks of love as a daily choice, not an irresistible impulse. It is about being willing to love someone who is still learning to trust, to breathe without pain, to smile again.
MIND GAMES – NORA ROBERTS
Thea, an artist with psychic abilities, lives in isolation after a past trauma. When a series of murders seems connected to her, Detective Brody initially follows his path out of duty, then for something deeper. As they work together to unravel the crimes, a growing tension builds between them, both emotional and physical.
Nora Roberts, a master of romantic suspense, weaves mystery, paranormal powers, and desire into a plot that keeps the reader hooked until the last page. Thea and Brody must face external danger, but also the ghosts they carry within.
Not all love is gentle. Sometimes it is born amid chaos, distrust, and self-protection. This book is here because it shows that trust is one of love’s hardest and bravest acts. Mind Games goes beyond traditional romance by proposing a connection based on vulnerability, courage, and mutual surrender. It is a story that understands true love begins when we let someone see our cracks and that person still chooses to stay.
The suspense serves as a backdrop for something even more compelling: the mystery of falling in love with someone who, despite everything, truly sees us.
A new proposal for Valentine’s Day
Love is never just one thing, it’s messy, unpredictable, sometimes painful, and always transformative. These six books invite us to look beyond the clichés of romance and dive into the real, raw, and beautiful journeys that couples go through. Whether it’s waiting for a love that lasts decades, battling the constraints of time, or learning to trust again after heartbreak, these stories remind us that love is as complex as it is powerful.
So, in this Brazilian Valentine’s day, instead of searching for the typical love story, why not explore these unique tales? They don’t just tell you about love, they make you feel it, question it, and believe in its endless possibilities. Because at the end of the day, love is less about perfection and more about courage, patience, and the magic of connection.
————————————————
The article above was edited by Mariana do Patrocínio.
Liked this type of content? Check out Her Campus Cásper Líbero home page for more!