This book is a complex interweaving of theory and memoir that’s written like poetry. It’s a a love letter to (queer) partnership, to motherhood, to desire, to language itself. It’s approachable in its style but challenging in its thought process, and it has stayed with me long beyond the turning of the final page.

Every time I try to recommend this book, I find myself at a loss. It defies a simple explanation. The love that Drager focuses on spans definitions - from family (particularly sibling) love to queer desire to love of storytelling, she examines what it means to chose to love one another in the face of overwhelming hardships.

Space Opera isn’t a love story as much as a thoughtful consideration of what it means to be human and whether we’re, on the whole, worth saving. The reason I included it on this list is because it tells the greatest love story of all - one of humanity. Seeing our human foibles through the eyes of the aliens who are deciding whether or not to save us made me remember that while things can feel bleak, love is the reason that maybe we’re worth it after all.

Some of the most profound relationships I’ve had over the course of my life have been not with romantic partners but with my friends. Yanagihara explores this love as she tells the story of four college friends and the love that they have for one another. This book moved me to tears multiple times over. (Please note: trigger warnings for this book include depictions of sexual assault (including childhood assault) and self-harm.)

What if love were about desire itself rather than a single person? That’s what Winterson examines in this book that tells an entire love story without using pronouns for the narrator. Love here is not about a particular sexuality as much as it is a consideration of what it means to desire, to be faithful, to love. Beautifully written and ultimately heartbreaking, this story is as universal as it is unconventional.

The Night Watch is the story of four people whose love is all “unconventional” for 1947. In addition, you can always count on Sarah Waters to provide a narrative twist that changes how you approach the story. Here the story starts with the ending and then progresses back to its beginning in 1941. Everything changes as you read back through the story and realize how the pieces fit together. I love a good unconventional love story told unconventionally, and this satisfies both of these.

This highly imaginative enemies-to-lovers story imagines two separate utopias for humankind - one highly technological and one that's back to nature. Told in letters that Red and Blue exchange, it is a celebration of finding someone to love, even if you shouldn't. The language is almost painfully beautiful at times and is a real treat to read.

We do not get enough stories about what it means to age gracefully and come to the end of our lives, at least not in mainstream US publishing. Our Souls at Night is a rare exception to that rule. Haruf meditates on what it means to have a second chance at love late in life and how we can connect with people at a traditionally lonely part of life.

It seems almost ridiculous to call a love story between two teens “unconventional.” YA publishing is inundated with books that examine what it means to fall in love for the very first time. Somehow, though, Yoon manages to take this tale and make it feel fresh and exciting again. Most of that is in the way that The Sun is Also a Star is told. Rotating narrators include side characters (for example, one scene is narrated by the MTA conductor who kicks everyone off a broken down train) and the universe itself. It’s a lovely example of how our lives intersect in ways both profound and also completely incidental.

In some ways, this is an all-too-conventional love story. Our protagonist, the titular Evelyn Hugo, has to choose between her career as an emerging Hollywood star and the love of her life. This story examines what it means to choose life over love and then change your mind. Plus, if you’re anything like me, you’ll scream out loud when Evelyn reveals who the person she loved most was.