Top 5 books with a heart on the cover

Maybell Parrish lives with her head in the clouds, which is the sensible choice because her fantasy life is wonderful. She runs a cosy coffee shop, surrounded by friendly colleagues and delicious baked goods, and is together with the man of her dreams — the one she’s now certain doesn’t exist. In real life, she works in a thankless job surrounded by screaming children, blocked toilets and work frenemies who pity her, whilst trying not to think too hard about her absent mother and doing her best to deal with debilitating panic attacks. So, when Maybell inherits a stately old manor from her eccentric Great Aunt Violet, it’s as though a piece of her dreams has finally come true…

But when she arrives at her new home, nothing is as she’d hoped. Not only is the magical manor she remembers falling apart, but Great Aunt Violet had plans. Enter Wesley Koehler, the handsome-yet-surly groundskeeper. Wesley turns out to be the co-inheritor of the property — and seems determined to avoid speaking to Maybell completely, which is just fine with Maybell. Yet, as the pair begin to tackle Violet’s long list of demands, it becomes clear that Wesley’s brooding exterior hides a shy, kind nature that has also found the real world a difficult place to be — in fact, could it be that Wesley and Maybell are better matched than even Maybell could ever have dreamed?

Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions — like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better — that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.

As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working… but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.

With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.

Can you plan happiness?

It’s been a year since Paige’s first boyfriend died in a swimming accident and it’s time she rejoined the real world.

So she makes a plan:
1. Date a boy (long standing crush Ryan Chase seems like the perfect choice)
2. Attend parties (with best friends by your side: doable)
3. Join a club (simple enough, right?)
4. Travel (might as well be a dream)
5. Swim (terrifying. Impossible)

But when she meets Ryan’s sweet (but so nerdy) cousin, Max, he opens up her world and Paige’s plans start to change…

Is it too late for a second chance at life?

Jack Rothman is seventeen and loves partying, makeup and boys — sometimes all at the same time. His sex life makes him the hot topic for the high school gossip machine, but who cares? Like Jack always says, ‘it could be worse’.

And then it is. After Jack starts writing an online sex advice column, the mysterious love letters he’s been receiving take a turn for the creepy. Jack’s secret admirer loves him, but not his unashamedly queer lifestyle. And if Jack won’t curb his sexuality voluntarily, they’ll force him.

As the pressure mounts, Jack must unmask his stalker before their obsession becomes genuinely dangerous…