This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is a Valentine’s Day/Love Freebie. I decided to approach this in the same way as my Halloween Top Ten Tuesday and simply list ten words that are often associated with love or Valentine’s Day and find a book I’ve read with each of those words in the title.
Here are the ten books I’ve chosen.
1. The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna – I think this is still the only book I’ve read set in Sierra Leone. I found it too slow, but beautifully written and a fascinating glimpse of a country I would otherwise have known nothing about.
2. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh – This novel tells the story of a girl who grows up in foster care before getting a job as a florist’s assistant and discovering the ‘language of flowers’ – the secret meanings of different types of flower and how they can be used to communicate.
3. The Red Sphinx by Alexandre Dumas – This is a sequel to The Three Musketeers, but with a different set of characters. I loved it – it was one of my books of the year a few years ago!
4. A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe – I have read several of Ann Radcliffe’s novels and although this one, published in 1790, is not my favourite, it’s still fun to read and has everything you would expect to find in an early Gothic novel!
5. The Obscure Logic of the Heart by Priya Basil – This novel follows the story of two students who fall in love but face obstacles due to their different cultural and religious backgrounds. I enjoyed this book, which I found to be much more than just a love story.
6. Passion by Jude Morgan – I love Jude Morgan’s writing and in this fascinating novel he explores the lives of four women and their relationships with the Romantic poets, Byron, Shelley and Keats.
7. The Fourteenth Letter by Claire Evans – This historical mystery set in 1880s London sounded like exactly my sort of book, but I was disappointed by it and felt that there was no real sense of time and place.
8. Elizabeth the Beloved by Maureen Peters – A short and entertaining novel about Elizabeth of York, Henry VII’s queen. It lacked the depth I prefer in my historical fiction but would probably be a good introduction to the period.
9. Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart – The least suspenseful of Mary Stewart’s romantic suspense novels, this is a lovely, gentle book but not one of my favourites.
10. The Valentine House by Emma Henderson – This enjoyable family saga set in the French Alps is the perfect way to finish my Valentine-themed Top Ten Tuesday!
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Have you read any of these books? Which other books with love-related words in the title can you think of?
She Reads Novels 
Great list! I don’t tend to reach for classics at all nowadays, but Alexandre Dumas is an author I’d still love to try.
I love Alexandre Dumas! The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favourite books.
The only Ann Radcliffe I’ve read is The Mysteries of Udolpho, for the bit about the Venice Carnival. Jane Austen makes fun of it so much in Northanger Abbey that I thought it was going to be utterly ridiculous, but I liked it!
Yes, I really liked The Mysteries of Udolpho too, despite the impression Jane Austen gives of it! If you ever want to try another one, I think my favourite of Ann Radcliffe’s books is probably The Italian.
Thanks – I might try it some time 🙂 .
Fun idea for a list!
I enjoyed putting this list together!
I’ve only read Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance but of course you knew this is a ‘romance’ only in the archaic sense, a fiction in the style of an antique Roman story or narrative in Vulgar Latin! But very clever of you to have uncovered so many different titles with those key words you’ve chosen, especially ‘Valentine’!
I could also have included Radcliffe’s Romance of the Forest, another romance in the archaic sense. And yes, there can’t be many books with Valentine in the title, so it was a bit of luck that I’d read that one!
That was a really fun way to approach the Valentine’s topic! Well done!
Thanks! I approached the Halloween topic the same way, so thought I’d try it again!
I’m so glad to see that you liked The Red Sphinx — that’s another book I want to try for 2021 Cloak & Dagger mystery reading challenge. I love bumping into co-incidences like this! And I’ve read Jude Morgan’s An Accomplished Woman — it reminded me a bit of Austen’s Emma and Heyer’s Bath Tangle. I haven’t come across too many readalikes to Austen and Heyer, so it was lovely.
Great spin on this week’s TTT!
I found The Red Sphinx just as entertaining as The Three Musketeers – I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! I haven’t read An Accomplished Woman so still have that one to look forward to.
This post gives me some more ideas of things to read. Thanks!
I enjoyed all of them, apart from The Fourteenth Letter.
Fun way to do this list! I’ve read both A Sicilian Romance and Rose Cottage, and I want to read The Language of Flowers. 🙂
I think you might enjoy The Language of Flowers.
I do like Jude Morgan but have not read this one yet although I have it somewhere.
I have read Rose Cottage but I agree it is not one of her best. But a weak Mary Stewart is still quite enjoyable. I have three copies of Madam, Will You Talk, which is my favorite. Once it is safe to travel again, my mother and I are supposed to go to Provence and I look forward to tracing Charity’s steps.
Passion is a great book, especially if you have any interest in the Romantic poets.
Madam, Will You Talk? is one of my favourite Stewart novels too, along with Nine Coaches Waiting. Tracing Charity’s steps in Provence should be fascinating – hope it’s safe to go before too much longer!
Very creative list!
Thank you! I enjoyed putting it together.
Wonderful list, Helen. I don’t think I will ever forget The Language of Flowers.
It’s been ten years since I read The Language of Flowers but I remember it quite clearly too.
Great choices! Hmm… how about Misery by Stephen King? Followed by The Split by Sharon Bolton? Clearly I need more Valentine chocolate… 😉
Sounds as though you definitely need more Valentine chocolate! 🙂
Oh what a cynic you are 🙂
I put up my post on this theme yesterday but it was nowhere near as creative as yours.
In addition to the ones I listed and those you have already, there is Love is Blind by William Boyd
Thanks – I’ll have a look at your list. I still haven’t read anything by William Boyd. I was put off reading Love is Blind by some negative reviews, but I might try one of his others.
I would say to give Love is Blind a miss definitely. His earlier novels are far better – like a Good Man in Africa and Brazzaville Beach