There is a good chance you're sick of seeing things about Valentine’s Day by this point and we’d have to agree. So instead we’re taking a cue from the amazing Leslie Knope and celebrating Galentine’s Day! We’ve rounded up a selection of books about some pretty fantastic characters that we’d love to be friends with. And guys, we haven’t forgotten you; we’ve included an equal dose of testosterone-filled books as well.

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Bestie’s Forever!

The Girls of Piazza d'Amore
by Connie Guzzo-McParland
(Linda Leith Publishing)

Set in southern Italy in the 1950s, The Girls of Piazza d’Amore brings the reader into the lives of three young women. Accompany them on their evening passeggiates as they dream of the future and pass notes to the boys they love.

Mirror on the Floor
by George Bowering
(Anvil Press)

Vividly evoking Vancouver of the 1960s, Mirror on the Floor follows UBC roommates Bob and George through a summer of studying, carousing, and tedious summer jobs.

Fictional Characters You Wish Were Real So They Could Be Your Friend With All The Crazy Stories

Bunny and Shark
by Alisha Piercy
(BookThug)

Retired Playboy playmate, Bunny, has survived the ‘bastard’ pushing her over a cliff into the Caribbean but now she wants revenge. Used to a life of privilege, she must find an inner strength to endure the loss of a limb so she can make her triumphant return to her former world.

Edgar Gets Going
by Trevor Strong
(Now or Never)

Washed up 80s one-hit wonder Edgar Martin is out of work and desperate for cash when his old manager gets him a new gig – as a children’s musician. Dressed as a bee. Edgar agrees to just one show but things soon get more complicated with bribery, substance abuse, and even attempted murder.

Inspirational Friends

Rose's Run
by Dawn Dumont
(Thistledown Press)

Single mom Rose is determined to claim back some self-respect and decides that the fastest way to do that is to run in the annual local marathon. Fate intervenes and throws a demon that feeds off the strength of women in her path.

Waiting for the Man
by Arjun Basu
(ECW Press)

Joe is searching for meaning beyond his life as an advertising copywriter in New York. He begins on a surreal journey to find something more in life when he dreams of a mysterious man who speaks to him and tells him to “go west”.

Friends Who Could Use Some Support

Hat Girl
by Wanda Campbell
(Signature Editions)

Pertice is bequeathed a cottage by the sea from a secret benefactor. Needing a change in her life, she sets off out east to discover just what she has been gifted. Deciding to stay in the cottage, Pertice is gradually changed by the locals and the hats that come with the cottage.

New Tab
by Guillaume Morissette
(Vehicule Press)

Thomas is a twenty-six year old videogame designer who wants to do anything but design a new version of Scrabble for your phone. He attempts to reset his life, starting with new roommates and new surroundings.

Parental Friends

A Sudden Sun
by Trudy Morgan-Cole
(Breakwater Books)

The bond between mother and daughter is both timeless and complicated. Grace, who is immersed in the campaign for women’s right to vote in early 1900s St. John’s, learns of her mother’s earlier involvement in the suffrage cause. The woman she learns about is nothing like the mother who raised her so Grace sets out to discover just what changed her.

Sons and Fathers
by Daniel Goodwin
(Linda Leith Publishing)

Sons and Fathers follows the lives of three men and how their relationships with their fathers shape them, all against the backdrop of national politics, journalism, and spin.

Travelling Buddies

Cadillac Couches
by Sophie B. Watson
(Brindle & Glass)

Road trip! Annie and Isobel are two music-smitten twentysomethings on the look out for love and purpose. They set out cross-country in Annie’s Beetle to Montreal to see a Hawksley Workman concert. A year later both Annie and Isobel meet up again at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, where it all begin, in much different positions.

Cadillac Cathedral
by Jack Hodgins
(Ronsdale Press)

When Avro and his buddies learn that one of their oldest friends has died they set off for a road trip down Vancouver Island to pick up the body and give it a decent send-off. The friends encounter adventures along the way but end up back in Portuguese Creek for the wake to end all wakes.

Discuss