Five books that talk about self-love & social issues

There are a lot of books that are considered romance or fantasy books that, according to the popular opinion, are about the plot or the romance between two or more characters. Well, in this post I'm going to explain my point of view about how some books should be considered more books about self-love, about how to heal, than fantasy/romance books. 

1. Las alas de Sophie, by Alice Kellen (The Wings of Sophie)

I must put this book on top of the list. I have to.

This book is about healing, is about learning to live by yourself without the love of your life, without your partner. It is about trying to get over the mourning, about learning how to move on with someone else who could make you happier, who could add more happiness to yourself, not to give you all the happiness. It is lovely to have a person by your side who cares about you, who loves you, who admires you. It is a wonderful and gratifying experience to be loved by someone, but first, you must learn how to love yourself to fill the space left with that kind of love. I am not saying that you should not love at all. 

Sophie is a woman from Amsterdam that has lost the love of her life. She feels lost. She doesn't know how to recover from that. Is she even prepared to feel happiness again? Can she be able to smile again? To laugh again? And... Will she ever be capable of moving on with someone else? Is she prepared? Will she be ever ready for that? 

2. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This book is considered fiction and romance. And it is. 

Be careful, there could be some spoilers. 

In my opinion, this book talks about many topics: love, heartbreak, racism, LGBTQ+, success, domestic violence, etc. 

Evelyn Hugo is the most famous actress from the 70s, and now she wants to write her memoirs. For that job, she chooses Monique Grant, a journalist in her 35s who is not going through her best moments as a writer. 

Who is the iconic Evelyn Hugo? Which was her story? How she became one of the most famous actresses in Hollywood?

The author explores topics like love, racism, LGBTQ+,... It also gives importance to the issue domestic violence. It shows us how the victim can be affected by that, how the victim fights every day to remind themselves that "maybe" is all their fault, that someday, perhaps, their agressor will stop. This is a social issue that we all as a society need to work on more, to help them, and to try to prevent it. If we don't work on it together, as a united society, not a divided one, we will never get over this issue.

3. El día que dejó de nevar en Alaska, by Alice Kellen (The day it stopped snowing in Alaska)

This book is one of the books that touched more my heart. It treats a lot of issues and topics I've wanted to read in books. 

It talks about mental health, self-love, mental illnesses, second opportunities, inner development, etc. 

Heather has been through a lot. She is constantly running from herself. And also, from her family, in the most literal way. She goes to live to Alaska, far away from them. 

Heather has always held onto someone else: lovers, friends,... She has never ever known how to live by herself, only for herself. In the past, she was trying to please most of the people. She was always immersing herself on someone else. 

In this book, we can read an inner development of our main character, Heather, and how she behaves with other people, who she interacts with new people, and how afraid she is of screwing everything up between her and her new friends. Friends? Can she even call them friends? She doesn't know. She always wants, deep in her heart, to be loved, to feel loved. 

4. One True Loves, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I have talked about this book a few days ago. So, I suppose you already know what I am going to be talking about. 

Emma has lost her husband. She feels lost, and disconnected from the world outside her own mind. She doesn't know what to do with her life, with herself. She's never lived alone, or even did something alone. She always has Jesse, her husband. But when, suddenly a voice call from Jesse saying he's alive comes, her world changes again and she's more confused than ever. 

As I've said in the last post, this book made me cry a lot, made me feel a lot. This book talks about many important topics, many things that should be talked more about, but I'd say the more important two: self-acceptance, self-love.

Emma feels how pain leaves her empty, how life comes out of her. She feels nothing. She feels like a void. She has no one to fill that void anymore. After Jesse's disappearance, she's been left with a vessel of herself. She doesn't know who she is. And when Jesse comes back to her life, she starts to asking herself who was she when she was with him, and who she is now. 

When she was young, she was usually the girl no one ever noticed. They always noticed her big sister. Not her. It created a lot of insecurities for her. Her relationship with her parents and sister resented because of this. She didn't feel loved. Until Jesse, who came and gave her an unspoken purpose: to live. With him at her side, she feels alive, she feels wanted and loved. But who is she when no one is looking? Who is she when Jesse is not around? A shadow. A shadow of herself. She needs to work on her for her, to be the person she wants to be, or to become the person she wants to be. Is she ever going to achieve it?

5. Todo lo que nunca fuimos, by Alice Kellen (All we never were)

This book is about mourning, pain, sorrow, heartbreak, love, happiness, friendship, self-love, inner development.

Leah is mourning, and has been mourning for over a year. She lost her parents in an accident. 

She feels empty, like a white canvas, without any color. People say she doesn't look as herself anymore. She looks like a fake illusion of her old self. She's an artist, but she doesn't paint anymore.

Her anxiety and panic is making her looking, feeling, even worse than ever, like a ghost. She feels nothing and everything at the same time. 

Through this book, we can read how far this trauma and loss is still affecting her, and why she can't move on and let herself be happy. She doesn't let herself even feel something good.

Axel, her brother's best friend, starts to try to help her to get over the mourning, to accept that they are gone, to learn to live like that. He tries to push her gently to walk short steps. Step by step, can she learn how to live again? Is she ever going to be able to let her be happy again? Is she prepared for that, or is she only denying herself it? 

I highly recommend you all these books. I am sure I've left something because there's too much to talk about of this every book. So, I highly recommend you to read them, to find the stories behind these covers and authors. You won't regret it, I promise. 

I really hope you enjoyed this new post! Don't forget to share or comment if you liked it! ♡