February is the month of love, and here at Well Read Women, we’ve chosen six brilliant reads, with most exploring the complexities of love and human connection in all its different forms.

Our Hardback Picks

Chosen Family by Madeleine Gray

Books about friendship are not often described as love stories, but this is one. At the age of twelve, Nell has accepted that hers will likely be a friendless existence. She's not interested in boys or makeup or competing to see who can eat the least – so fitting in at her all-girls' school feels impossible.

But then, a new girl arrives at school. Eve has short hair, like a boy, a wicked sense of humour and an unshakeable confidence that she will find her place in the world. The moment they meet, Nell begins to rethink the whole friendless existence thing.

As they grow into themselves, Nell and Eve will love each other and hurt each other – through the chlorine-scented savagery of adolescence; long, drunken nights in sharehouses and gay bars; and the highs and lows of parenthood. And always, despite unspoken feelings and sexual confusion, they will choose each other. Again and again.

Why we chose it: It has a brilliant, relatable depiction of girlhood, explores queer love, and strikes a perfect balance of emotion and humour. We loved Madeline’s debut novel, Green Dot. She's a fantastic writer, and we know you will love it just as much as we did.

Paper Cut by Rachel Taff 

EVERYBODY KNOWS THE STORY. NOBODY KNOWS THE TRUTH.

Lucy Golden is a true-crime icon, infamous for killing someone as a teenager while escaping a California cult.

Twenty years later, still coasting on the success of the memoir she wrote after her acquittal, Lucy knows that her story is always just one news cycle away from obscurity, even as online trolls ask questions that threaten to tear her life apart. So when a hot-shot documentary filmmaker decides to make her case his next subject, Lucy sees a chance to silence her doubters once and for all. But just how far will Lucy go to protect the story she's been telling – and selling – all along?

Why we chose it: It's a new buzzy 2026 release with a gripping and emotional plot exploring identity, trauma, true crime and the true cost of fame (and infamy). You'll be glued to the pages.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Every morning, Sybil Van Antwerp sits down to write letters - to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to attend a class she desperately wants to take, to her favourite authors to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter. At seventy-three, Sybil has used her witty and wise correspondence to make sense of the world.

But beyond the page, Sybil has spent the last thirty years maintaining a distance from the people who love her. Until letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life. Now, Sybil must send the letter she has been writing for all these years – and find forgiveness within herself to move on.

Why we chose it: Sybil is one of the most memorable characters we’ve read in a long time! The format is refreshing, and it has such gorgeous prose. This story is a firm online favourite, and it’s easy to see why it is so loved.

Paperback Selections

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas

A provocative, razor-sharp, and timely debut novel about a beloved English professor facing a slew of accusations against her professor husband by former students – a situation that becomes more complicated when she herself develops an obsession of her own...

“When I was a child, I loved old men, and I could tell that they also loved me.”

One evening, a fifty-something literature professor invites her new and beautiful young colleague, Vladimir, to join her for a drink. Her husband is out a lot these days, having been suspended from their college amid accusations of inappropriate relationships with his former students. However, as the professor attempts to disentangle herself from her husband's behaviour, it becomes clear that her desire for the new arrival might bring the couple's tinderbox world dangerously close to exploding.

Why we chose it: Published back in 2022, Vladimir explores desire, obsession and ageing in a provocative and engrossing way. The TV series adaptation comes to Netflix in March, starring Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall. We can't wait to watch it!

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

If I Had Your Face plunges us into the mesmerising world of contemporary Seoul – a place where extreme plastic surgery is as routine as getting a haircut, where women compete for spots in secret 'room salons' to entertain wealthy businessmen after hours, where K-Pop stars are the object of all-consuming obsession and ruthless social hierarchies dictate your every move.

Navigating this cutthroat city are four young women balancing on the razor edge of survival: Kyuri, an exquisitely beautiful woman whose hard-won status at an exclusive 'room salon' is threatened by an impulsive mistake with a client; her flatmate, Miho, an orphan who wins a scholarship to a prestigious art school in New York, where her life becomes tragically enmeshed with the super-wealthy offspring of the Korean elite; Wonna, their neighbour, pregnant with a child that she and her husband have no idea how they will afford to raise in a fiercely competitive economy; and Ara, a hairstylist living down the hall, whose infatuation with a fresh-faced K-Pop star drives her to violent extremes.

Why we chose it: Published back in 2020, this unpacks the pressure of appearance and cosmetic culture in South Korea and the strength and solidarity found in female friendship. 

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

A novel about a Malayan mother who becomes an unlikely spy for the invading Japanese forces during WWII, and the shocking consequences that rain upon her community and family.

Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara’s family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter, Jujube, who works at a tea house frequented by drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day.

Cecily knows two things: that this is all her fault and that her family must never learn the truth.

A decade prior, Cecily had been desperate to be more than a housewife to a low-level bureaucrat in British-colonised Malaya. A chance meeting with the charismatic General Fujiwara lured her into a life of espionage, pursuing dreams of an “Asia for Asians”. Instead, Cecily helped usher in an even more brutal occupation by the Japanese. Ten years later, as the war reaches its apex, her actions have caught up with her. Now her family is on the brink of destruction – and she will do anything to save them.

Why we chose it: it's a beautiful, but brutal, novel following the Alcantra family living in Malaya under British colonialism until the Japanese occupation. It made us bawl at the end of the book. One that will stay with you for a long time.

This does have trigger warnings (violence, sexual assault, child abuse, addiction).

We hope you love our picks this month! Which one are you choosing?