Books We Loved, Feb. 2026

Ah, February. Valentine’s Day is just behind us, and in celebration, we at Five Directions Press have come up with three books we loved that get into the spirit of romance, although they approach it from very different directions. Read on to find an angle that we hope will be just right for you.

Melissa Baron, Twice in a Lifetime (Alcove Press, 2022)

There aren’t many books that manage to dance so gracefully between speculative romance and deeply human emotion as Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron.

Isla is a graphic designer who’s fled the chaos of city life and her heartbreak over the loss of her mother with plans to start fresh in a small Missouri town. But just when she thinks she’s laid the past to rest, the future comes calling—in the form of a text from Ewan, a man who claims to be her husband. And he’s not joking. He sends photos of their wedding day, knows things about Isla that no stranger should, and is texting through time to prevent a tragedy he’s desperate to undo.

What makes this story truly stand out isn’t just the clever time twist but the way Baron handles the very real, very vulnerable inner life of someone struggling with chronic anxiety, grief, and the thorny work of self-acceptance. Isla isn’t just swept off her feet by an extraordinary circumstance; she’s learning what it means to be loved for exactly who she is, with all her imperfections and the inner voice that isn’t always kind to her.

While the time communication mechanic isn’t exhaustively explained, I found it served the emotional stakes perfectly: the mystery keeps you turning pages, but it’s the character journey that stays with you.

Twice in a Lifetime is a story about love that refuses to be constrained by the linear passage of time, about second chances that require courage, and about learning to inhabit your own life fully before you can ever truly connect with someone else. I’d recommend it to anyone who loves an emotional romance with a touch of the extraordinary.—CJH

Colm Tóibín, Long Island (Scribner, 2024)

Long Island is the sequel to Tóibín’s 2009 novel Brooklyn, which unfolds in the 1950s and tells the story of Eilis, a passive young Irish woman who yet has the mettle to escape the social confines of her small-town life in Enniscorthy for the prospect of a larger life in America. When she receives news that her beloved older sister Rose has died, Eilis returns to Ireland, but not before marrying her Italian-American boyfriend, Tony. Keeping their marriage a secret, she takes up with Jim Farrell, the son of a pub owner, for a time before going back to Brooklyn.

Twenty years later, in Long Island, we meet Eilis once again. She is still married to Tony and they are raising their two teenage children in an Italian-American neighborhood in the town of Lindenhurst, where they are surrounded by Tony’s parents and his three brothers and their wives and children. Eilis, who has matured since we met her in Tóibín’s earlier novel, does her best to ignore the constant intrusions these living conditions engender. But one day something that cannot be ignored occurs: a man knocks on her door to tell her that Tony, who is a plumber, has impregnated his wife and that he will be dropping off the baby on Tony and Eilis’s doorstep the moment it is born. He wants no part of it. Well, neither does Eilis.

Eilis does not confront Tony about his indiscretion right away, but the hive that is their extended family begins buzzing nonetheless. In family members’ minds, Eilis has no choice but to accept the baby once he or she is delivered and carry on. Meanwhile, Eilis’s mother back in Ireland is turning eighty and, in Eilis’s opinion, in need of some help. Eilis decides to visit her and arranges to have her two children meet her there so they can get to know their Irish grandmother and see the place where she grew up.

What a wonderful kick-starter of a plot. Surely I’m not the only novelist whose first reaction was, Why didn’t I think of that? The ride thereafter is equally exhilarating. Eilis may have gained more life experience, but once she sees her old flame Jim Farrell, she can’t help but ask herself what would have happened if she had never left him. There are moral dilemmas galore in this book, some having to do with the woman who was once Eilis’s best friend and, having lost her own husband, has now become Jim Farrell’s secret lover. Tóibín’s understated narrative style only intensifies the highly dramatic challenges to which he sets his characters. Long Island is a great read by a great writer.—JS

Evie Woods, The Lost Bookshop (One More Chapter, 2023)

The Lost Bookshop is a paean to reclaiming narratives, both literally and metaphorically. While the bookshop of the title is more hidden than lost, the three characters are all struggling to find their place in life—and more importantly, acceptance and love.

The novel has two timelines, echoing author Evie Wood’s interest in history. Opaline Carlisle, who comes of age in the twenties, flees an arranged marriage and finds work in Paris. Under the tutelage of Sylvia Beach, a real historical person, she expands her knowledge of books and hones an instinct for finding rare manuscripts. Her idyllic existence is interrupted when her tyrannical older brother tracks her down. This time she flees to Dublin, where a unique curiosity shop waits for its new proprietor.

You read that correctly. The shop is a personality in this novel. Much like the Gothic mansion in Alix Harrow’s Starling House, Opaline’s future bookstore, once a mysterious library in rural Italy, is a presence that may even have a whimsical human embodiment, depending on your reading. What is certain is that the store acts as a transformative element for lost souls, giving them direction and confidence.

Thus Martha, an abused wife with no schooling, is welcomed into the world of the bookstore, despite her initial aversion to reading. Hapless Henry, a floundering academic, is granted access only through Martha, which gives their attraction a little push in the right direction.

The bookstore does not exist to sell books, it is there to provide a refuge for seekers. And love can be the best haven of all.—GM