Well it’s that time of year again! You know when Hallmark dictates that you should shower your lover with hearts and flowers. Well you could try a little something different this year and watch a movie with friends or your partner. If you prefer reading, you could snuggle up on your own or with a special someone and read together. I have put some obvious and maybe not so obvious titles together that will make for a great Valentine’s Day. 

Book Lovers

The Fault in Our Stars 

16 year old Hazel has cancer and at a support group she is forced to go to at the behest of her mother, she meets Augustus Waters a cancer survivor who’s upbeat and quirky personality draws Hazel out of herself and they quickly develop a deep love like no other.

The Fault in Our Stars is a beautiful love story despite some some very serious undertones and heartwrenching tragedy.  Be prepared to laugh and cry.

The Notebook 

I’m not sure if there is a single person left on this planet that aren’t aware of who Noah and Allie are but just in case you have been living off planet for a while, here is the gist of perhaps the greatest fictional love story of our generation.

At the onset of her dementia, Allie wrote their love story in a notebook with instructions for Noah to “read this to me, and I’ll come back to you.”

Rewind back to their teenage years and read about how the most ill matched couple became a decades long love affair. Have boxes of kleenex at the ready and don’t wear mascara.

Fifty Shades of Grey

This is the story of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. Steele is a college graduate who begins a sadomasochistic relationship with young business magnate Grey.

This book, while perhaps not the best  piece of literature ever written, is sexy! No scratch that! It is Sex!  Toe curling, heavy breathing, skin tingling sex!  I highly recommend that you pour some wine and read this aloud with your partner. You will not be disappointed 😉

Movie Fans 

The Princess Bride

A cult classic and a goofy love story that tells the story about a farmhand named Westley, accompanied by befriended companions along the way, who must rescue his true love Princess Buttercup from the odious Prince Humperdinck. The story is presented in the film as a book being read by a grandfather.

The movie is neither sexy nor especially romantic but it is sweet and hilarious and a hit amongst the boys and Mel Brooks fans alike.

Garden State 

Like I previously mentioned I have included not so typical romances and the story of Andrew and Sam definitely falls under the catagory of atypical.

Andrew travels home for the funeral of his mother and reconnects with some of the people he used to know growing up. They have become somewhat more eccentric over the years and have a taste for drugs and cons. Through all of this meets Sam who has issues of her own but manages to reach Andrew through the haze of his depression and they grow to love each other.

An underrated film and definitely not hearts and flowers but it is a love story nonetheless.  Bonus: Grammy winning soundtrack.

Warm Bodies

Last but certainly not least, Warm Bodies a movie that created it own genre,   Rom-Zom. My Sweetie knows me well so when this movie was released on Valentine’s Day he made sure we were there. 

A  oddly introspective zombie named R saves a girl named Julie from a horde of his flesh eating brethren. He doesn’t know why, he just feels protective of her. The more time they spend together the more his humanity returns to him and they slowly develop a strong connection in a post apocalyptic world.

Can’t get more romantic than that huh? Julie literally brings R back to life and then of course more zombie antics ensue. This is also a hit with the boys and zombie fans like yours truly.

No matter what you do on Valentine’s Day this year, I hope you are doing exactly what you want to be doing even if that’s ignoring the day itself. 😘