LITERATURE
February Book Club Get in the mood for romance with these literary love stories, selected by Charlotte Griffiths
Risky Business ANNABELLE SLATOR
Now this is a romance novel. Our scrappy hero Jess is CEO and founder of Wyst, a fem-tech start-up in desperate need of funding. As a final resort, she enters a prestigious competition for new ventures and wins a place in the first round, to be held in Rome. In a hurry, she realises she’s accidentally ticked ‘Mr’ instead of ‘Ms’, so she recruits her twin brother Sebastian, a jobbing actor, to step in, solving his lack of experience by posing as his ‘assistant’ Violet and feeding him lines from offstage. As Violet, Jess can finally relax and let her hair down with the other assistants, including – after a truly Hollywood-worthy meet- cute – the devastatingly handsome Oliver, who takes her under his wing. But of course, it transpires that Jess/Violet isn’t the only one with secrets. Sebastian is a hit with the tech bros, and Jess and Oliver are getting on famously, but how long can they both keep this facade in place? If you recognise the names, you’re right: the book is loosely inspired by Twelfth Night and early-noughties rom-com She’s the Man . There’s a lovely moment when Jess and Sebastian watch the film while sharing a hotel room to save her company’s dwindling finances, which are shown, along with expenses, at the start of each chapter as a reminder of Jess’s precarious situation. Laugh-out-loud funny yet also thought-provoking, fast-paced and simmering with tension throughout, this second book from Peterborough-based author Annabelle Slator is a real unicorn of a novel – and well worth your investment. This second book from Annabelle Slator is a r eal unicorn of a novel and well worth your investment
Towards the end of 2025 you couldn’t enter a bookshop or open #bookstagram without bumping into Heart the Lover , Lily King’s newest novel, which hugely deserves its flurry of attention and should absolutely go on your list for this year. However, it’s King’s earlier work that we’re pointing you towards this February. Set in 1997 in and around Boston, this is a nostalgic, totally immersive will-they-won’t-they romance following the 31-year-old aspiring author Casey Peabody as she juggles the challenges of making rent while working through grief for her late mother and fresh heartbreak from the demise of a relationship. She’s entering her adult years waiting tables and still working on a novel she’s Writers & Lovers LILY KING
carried around for the majority of a decade, hoping against fading hope that the creative career she’s longed for will bear fruit. Despite everything, you’ll be on her side within pages, keeping your fingers crossed throughout for this whip-smart protagonist who struggles on despite the odds. And when two very different romantic prospects appear in Casey’s life, you’ll find yourself just as stuck as she is. Which version of herself should she embrace, and which possible future should she let sail away? King’s immaculate writing is devastating, wistful, unforgettable and well deserves all of its many accolades: if this is your first experience of her novels, don’t let it be your last.
32 FEBRUARY 2026 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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