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MICHELLE PARK LAZETTE is a writer and journalist in Cleveland, Ohio. She is the co-owner of Story of Your Life, a company that interviews for and designs front-page newspaper stories about engaged couples and their relationships.

From breaking the news to your friends to planning the ultimate bachelor party to melting cold feet, this pocket-sized manual is packed with tips to get smoothly from “yes!” to “I do.” Plus lists, dos and don’ts, and reference charts that make this stylish handbook the perfect gift for guys about to tie the knot. Author Eric San Juan provides plenty of tips to help grooms navigate the big day and beyond.

Eric San Juan is the author of Stuff Every Husband Should Know and editor of a seven-newspaper chain in central New Jersey. A decade into marriage, he is delighted to find that his wife and son still seem healthy and well fed.

Wilhelm Staehle’s Silhouette Masterpiece Theater (silhouettemasterpiecetheater.com) is the rare Web comic that deserves to be printed. Each panel in the popular weekly strip features a painstakingly detailed etching carved from a beautiful painting; the results are gorgeous and very funny.

These two postcard books feature some of Staehle’s finest work. Hugs and Misses is a terrific Valentine’s Day gift, full of lovelorn ladies, roguish gentlemen, renegade Cupids, and indecent proposals. Stars and Swipes offers a hilarious vision of classic Americana, with farcical frontiersmen, prattling presidents, and other all-American oddities.

WILHELM STAEHLE is the pseudonym of Will Staehle, a Seattle-based artist and designer. A former art director for HarperCollins, he has designed and illustrated numerous jackets for Michael Chabon, Michael Crichton, and a host of best-selling authors. Print magazine named him one of the Top 20 Under 30 New Visual Artists, and he exhibited a solo show of work at the Type Directors Club.

You keep your action figures in their original packaging. Your closets are full of officially licensed Star Wars merchandise. You’re hooked on Elder Scrolls and Metal Gear but now you’ve discovered an even bigger obsession: the new girl who just moved in down the hall.

What’s a geek to do? Take some tips from The Geek’s Guide to Dating. This hilarious primer is jam-packed with cheat codes, walkthroughs, and power-ups for navigating the perils and pitfalls of your love life with ease. Geeks of all ages will find answers to the ultimate questions of life, the universe, and everything romantic, from First Contact to The Fellowship of the Ring and beyond. Full of whimsical 8-bit illustrations, The Geek’s Guide to Dating will teach fanboys everywhere to love long and prosper.

Based on the hugely popular blog of the same name, Born This Way shares more than 100 different memories of growing up LGBTQ. Childhood photographs are accompanied by sweet, funny, and at times heartbreaking personal stories. This intimate little hardcover is a wonderful gift for all members of the LGBTQ community as well as their friends and families.

Like Dan Savage’s It Gets Better Project, Born This Way gives young people the courage to say, “Yes, I’m gay. And I was born this way. I’ve known it since I was very young, and this is my story.”

PAUL VITAGLIANO is DJ Paul V., a club and radio DJ, events promoter, music-reviews writer, blogger, and self-titled “promosexual.” His blog (bornthiswayblog.com) has achieved more than 3.9 million views since its debut in January 2011. He lives in Los Angeles.

One enchanting romance. Two lovers keeping secrets. And a uniquely crafted book that binds their stories forever.

When Evelyn Morgan walked into the village bookstore, she didn’t know she would meet the love of her life. When Brendan Thorne handed her a medieval romance, he didn’t know it would change the course of his future. It was almost as if they were the cursed lovers in the old book itself…

The Thorn and the Blossom is a remarkable literary artifact: You can open the book in either direction to decide whether you’ll first read Brendan’s, or Evelyn’s account of the mysterious love affair. Choose a side, read it like a regular novel—and when you get to the end, you’ll find yourself at a whole new beginning.

THEODORA GOSS won the World Fantasy Award in 2008 for her short story “The Singing of Mount Abora” and has been repeatedly showcased in the Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror series. She lives in Boston, where she teaches literature at Boston University. Illustrator SCOTT MCKOWEN lives in Stratford, Ontario