If You Like Friends Falling in Love, Then Read….

If You Like, Then Read is a feature where we offer reading suggestions based on books you already like, scheduled once a month. If you have more suggestions, feel free to tell us in the comments! You can check out the rest of these lists here. 

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

L. M. Montgomery loves when friends fall in love–or at least the myriad of times it happen in her novel implies she does.  Definitely check out her other series, beginning with Pat of Silver Bush and Emily of New Moon, if you enjoy her style.  Of course, her protagonists tend to start young.  Anne of Green Gables is an eleven-year-old orphan looking for a family to love her when her story begins, so you’ll have to keep reading the series to see her grown up and married.

The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce

Protagonist Alanna is a young girl disguised as a boy and training for knighthood when readers meet her in Alanna: The First Adventure.  As her story progresses, she must overcome physical disadvantages and prejudice.  She must also face her fears, including becoming vulnerable and falling in love.  Tamora Pierce has written other series where friends fall in love, including the Wild Magic series and the Daughter of the Lioness books.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

Gail Carson Levine is known for her imaginative and spunky middle grade fantasies, and The Two Princesses of Bamarre is one of her most original.  When Princess Addie’s adventurous sister falls victim to the Gray Death, Addie must fill her role as the “brave one” in the family and set off on a quest fraught with danger to find a cure.   Along the way, Addie discovers something else: someone she is close to has fallen in love with her.

Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

In this sequel to Eight Cousins, Rose Campbell is all grown up and returning home after two years of travel–and the would-be suitors are lining up.  Will she choose someone suave and debonair or a steady bookish fellow?  Also check out Alcott’s other books if you want to see more of her characters fall in love.

The Crimson Thread by Suzanne Weyn

In this retelling of “Rumpelstiltskin,” Bridget and her family move from Ireland to New York in 1880 in search of a better life.  Bridget ultimately takes up work as a seamstress, but she needs a friends help to deliver the incredibly unique dresses that her father has promised her new employer.  Read my review.