Books like Behind Closed Doors — picked by fans

This book grabbed my attention from the beginning and had me locked in. It was written with so much detail that I felt there was no way the characters were made up. The main characters, Nate and Monica Kenny go through the toughest times after they marry. They quickly face challenges centered around miscarriages and premature menopause that make Nate’s long-time dream of becoming a father impossible.

I love how the story takes many twists and turns and introduces new characters like bad boy, low-income earning barber, Lewis, and adds him into the world of the rich and happy Nate and Monica. 

This book will remain on my list of favorite books of all time. I love how the author begins the story of the promiscuous doctor by jumping straight into the drama. Immediately, you are made aware of the well-respected cardiac surgeon’s character and how he loves women and plenty of them! Dr. Makkai Worthy is referred to by his many sex partners as Dr. Feelgood.

I became wrapped in the four women’s stories as they were introduced throughout this book. I found each character interesting, and there was never a dull moment as their disdain grew for the once-beloved doctor. I also found it interesting how the story takes you back to the place where it all began to explain the doctor’s love for sex and his inability to commit to just one woman. This page-turner is one that I plan to read again and again.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Regina Everette has never been a risk taker. She has always gone with the flow and done what everyone else wanted her to do. I admired the author’s work, especially how she described in great detail how this need-to-please mentality took over Regina’s life.

One day, she decided to risk it all and step out on faith, leaving her comfort zone behind. During this turning point, I couldn’t get enough of the new Regina and how she went from a people-pleaser to an independent woman, no longer depending on her husband, mother, and friends.

It was inspiring to read about a woman getting out of her own way and living out her dreams. She left her husband, stood up to her mother and friends, quit her job, and opened up her own bookstore. She even met a new man along the way. This book inspired… show more.

I grew more and more anxious to read this book each day. The drama in this page-turner was a great escape from the stresses of a long day at the office. I couldn’t get enough of Dominic Jones, a married man who spends his free time in the arms of his mistress, Tera Larou.

He’s consumed by greed and more concerned with his next fix than tending to the needs of his wife, Donna Jones. No amount of money is enough, and neither is the traditional life of having one woman. I enjoyed getting to know Donna and witnessing how she dealt with discovering her husband’s cheating ways, insecurities about her weight, and accepting that her dreams of becoming a famous choreographer may never come true. 

I love realistic romantic passion with an accent mark on true-to-life spiritual lessons, and believe it or not, that’s not necessarily an easy find in the Christian market. So when I judged Denise in an American Christian Fiction Writers contest, I knew she was definitely an author for me.

This is a powerful memoir.

As a reader, we follow Paul first as a doctor and then as a patient. He reminds us of our vulnerability when seeking medical care. He questions, “Why was I so authoritative in a surgeon’s coat but so meek in a patient’s gown?”

When Breath Becomes Air is a deep meditation on life and the dying process. Written in the first person, this is a courageous and emotionally charged read. Kalanithi is a courageous pilgrim who documents first-hand his own uncharted territory: death.

Confronted with his end of life, this 37-year-old neurosurgeon reflects on the fundamental universal questions that we will all ponder when facing mortality. Even though the reader is led graciously to death’s door, it remains an abrupt and emotionally devastating shock when, in fact, Paul Kalanithi’s breath simply becomes air.

Who knew that the life of a prim and proper midwestern suburban housewife could be so riveting and moving? Written by a man (!) and told in vignettes that act like facets to a many-sided gem that is this novel, Mrs. Bridge is a mind-blowingly beautiful book that centers on the invisible forces of patriarchy that restrict a woman, wife, and mother.

Although this book is many years old, it is forever timely. With humor and clear, satisfying, and exquisite writing, this is a book that I return to often since, like a glittering jewel, it is surprising at every turn.

Many readers knowledgeable about the Jazz Age know about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s many novels, as well as his life.

This fictionalized account gives keen insight into his wife, Zelda. Read to discover the difficulties faced by a creative woman married to a celebrated man. In many ways, Zelda was a woman of her times, yet like so many women overshadowed by her husband.

Read about their scandalous lives—hers in some ways even more so than his.

Anyone who reads one Peter Cameron book will read them all. In his latest novel, a married couple ends up at a grand hotel in a strange European country of fading glory, amid guests who are both eccentric and troubling. At times it’s hard to know whether what is happening is really happening; at times it’s all too acid and real. I hesitate to call this book a comedy, because it’s unsettling. But it’s also magical and memorable, and you won’t want to check out and depart its pages.

Paris in the 1920s and Hemingway—what more could I want?

I'll admit I'm not a devoted fan of Hemingway's prose, but I've always been captivated by the man himself, and this novel more than satisfied that fascination. What unfolds is a love story as beautiful as it is devastating: Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, set against the glittering, restless backdrop of 1920s Paris.

The author's prose is quietly stunning, and her historical rendering of the era feels fully alive. But it's Hadley who stayed with me. Watching her fight to hold her marriage together, to hold him together, is at times almost unbearable. She's drawn with such sympathy and complexity: a woman of real intelligence and grace, loving someone who was always partly beyond reach.