Here are 100 books that Freefall fans have personally recommended if you like
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I’m a complete bookworm and romance addict. I love to see the old tropes being written with a fresh feel, and I’m a true believer that romance is so hard to write because everyone knows the end, but it’s up to the writer to bring you on a worthy journey. After reading countless friends-to-lovers novels, I can say with certainty I have the list with the best books written by the contemporary romance rock stars. Let’s get to it!
This is a pen pals turned to best friends turned to enemies turned to lovers story. And no one could write this mess better than Penelope Douglas. Punk 57 follows the friendship of two kids who only talk through letters until Misha transfers to Ryen’s school and discovers she’s nothing like in the letters. You can blame the hormones, but this book has the same amount of angst as it has of pure goodness.
From New York Times Bestselling Author, Penelope Douglas, comes the latest standalone love-hate romance.
We were perfect together. Until we met." MishaI can’t help but smile at the lyrics in her letter. She misses me. In fifth grade, my teacher set us up with pen pals from a different school. Thinking I was a girl, with a name like Misha, the other teacher paired me up with her student, Ryen. My teacher, believing Ryen was a boy like me, agreed. It didn’t take long for us to figure out the mistake. And in no time at all, we were arguing…
My two passions in life have always been music and reading. I was a punk rock girl, with wildly colored hair and a plethora of tattoos, who has never missed a chance to lose herself in a romance novel. I love it when my two favorite things collide in wonderful ways. I still read whatever I can get my hands on, but now I write some of those beloved books as well. Several of them have been bestsellers and many are published in various languages. My mosh-pit days are long gone, but you can still find me at a Social Distortion concert whenever they come to town. If you’ve got a rebellious heart and an ear for music that isn’t as mainstream, I’m sure you will love these books I recommended as much as I do.
A Rush of Wings has literally so many different types of romance in it. Technically, it's an Urban Fantasy romance, but really, it has romantic suspense elements, paranormal romance elements, contemporary romance elements, rockstar romance elements. It is so freaking good. And the reason it fits this list so well is that the hero is not only a moody, mouthy vampire who looks like someone in his early twenties, he is 100% based on Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails. Complete with leather pants, boots, and torn t-shirts. Plus allllll the goth accessories.
I love the dichotomy of having a grungy-goth rockstar and an FBI agent as the protagonist. I love that it’s set in New Orleans and the club scene it portrays. The overall vibe is very dense and dark, which fits really well with the main character and his band. I also loved that the heroine is an…
Special Agent Heather Wallace is a strong, compassionate woman who believes in justice and being a voice for the dead. When she trails a serial-killing sexual sadist to New Orleans, an unexpected twist leads her to a man who goes by the name Dante. Dante is a gorgeous, talented rock star, and a vampire. He's also the killer's next target.
Heather soon finds herself in a deadly world of vampires, fallen angels, and secret government-funded experiments in sociopathology. Caught in a web of deception stretching to the FBI and beyond, Heather runs a desperate race against time, against other agents,…
My two passions in life have always been music and reading. I was a punk rock girl, with wildly colored hair and a plethora of tattoos, who has never missed a chance to lose herself in a romance novel. I love it when my two favorite things collide in wonderful ways. I still read whatever I can get my hands on, but now I write some of those beloved books as well. Several of them have been bestsellers and many are published in various languages. My mosh-pit days are long gone, but you can still find me at a Social Distortion concert whenever they come to town. If you’ve got a rebellious heart and an ear for music that isn’t as mainstream, I’m sure you will love these books I recommended as much as I do.
The writing is lyrical and lovely. This is a different kind of rockstar romance. It’s haunting and super emotional. This is another book that I feel would benefit someone having a hard time and another one that reinforces that music can be powerful and healing. Alyson is a musician herself and wrote all the music in the series. I think that makes it extra special. This is also a tamer type of romance so a wider audience can enjoy it.
I love that it clearly shows you can have everything at your fingertips but still be unhappy and unfulfilled. It’s a great story that normalizes anxiety and depression, even for those who seem to be on top of the world. I also adore how open and accepting the heroine is. Not that she’s a pushover, she’s just very understanding of the hero's struggles.
His name is Luke. But nobody knows that. He was an iconic musician before he gave up music. But nobody knows that either. They also don’t know he’s twenty-seven, that he used to have an infectious laugh, and that he’s way too young to be widowed. They certainly don’t know the rest of his tragic story. All they know is that he comes into their café at the same time every morning and stares at the same chair at the same table. They know he’s strange. They know he interrupts their breakfast with a cold blast of air as he…
Since the ripe old age of four, I’ve loved the DJ. The first? My father, whose in-demand mix of music became the staple party starter in our Jamaican-American community on 176th Street in the Bronx. I’d be at his knee watching him spin vinyl records on his turntables at home or carrying album crates for a club party. I have three loves: music, books, and romance. It seemed preordained that I'd become a writer and incorporate music. I wrote my first book in 2005. Twelve titles later, music, books, and anything romantic still top my list. I hope you enjoy the one I’ve cultivated just for you.
I cannot resist a man who loves poetry, much less Pablo Neruda's poetry. Grip, a songwriter/musician, and Bristol his manager, have room-melting-attraction. I agonized over the unrequited love story and the push-pull of a destined-to-be-together love that stands the test of time, as well as social commentary, thoughts, and feelings that cannot be avoided when love crosses different cultures.
Did I say this novel is chock full of sugar and spice? I haven’t even discussed all the things trying to pull them apart as they cling together for dear life. This story gives tension, release, and satisfaction until the very last lyric.
Grip Trilogy Reading Order: Flow, Grip #1, Grip, Grip #2Still, Grip #3 Resisting an irresistible force wears you down and turns you out.I know.I’ve been doing it for years.I may not have a musical gift of my own, but I’ve got a nose for talent and an eye for the extraordinary.And Marlon James – Grip to his fans – is nothing short of extraordinary.Years ago, we strung together a few magical nights, but I keep those memories in a locked drawer and I’ve thrown away the key.All that’s left is friendship and work. He’s on the verge of unimaginable fame,…
I used my first chemicals at age nine. Why? To change the way I felt about myself and my life. It was the beginning of using externals to fix an internal problem.
A 74-year old Native American found me at ten months in recovery. He showed me a path to follow, including opening a house of healing for other women. His teachings, spiritual principles, and a lot of work helped me achieve 32 years in recovery.
In 1992, Mishka Shubaly survived a mass shooting at his school, his parents divorced, his father abandoned him, and he swore he would right all the wrongs for his mother. Instead, he began a love affair with the bottle and barely crawled out, but he did, and we cheer him on at each twist and turn in his journey.
An odyssey of family, heartbreak, violence, punk rock, brokenness, broke-ness, sex, love, loss, drinking, drinking, drinking, and an unlikely savior: distance running.A misfit kid at the best of times, Mishka Shubaly had his world shattered when, in a twenty-four-hour span in 1992, he survived a mass shooting on his school's campus, then learned that his parents were getting divorced. His father, a prominent rocket scientist, abandoned the family and their home was lost to foreclosure. Shubaly swore to avenge the wrongs against his mother, but instead plunged into a magnificently toxic love affair with alcohol.Almost two decades later, Shubaly's life…
When I think of what it means to come of age, I think of the sacrifices one makes to be the best at what he/she enjoys doing against the challenges of life to experience the joy of living. When I failed not being successful as an actor after studying it for ten years in New York City, I came back home and finished college to become a writer. Now, I write the thrill of young characters with a talent to confront society to fulfill a dream, and if they fail, how to overcome it with the help of others, prayer, and hard work.
One book that I really recommend reading is the novel The Midnights by Sarah Nicole Smetana. The main character, Susannah, is a seventeen-year-old girl who plays a mean guitar like her former rock star father whose attention she craves very much. She is driven with passion to pursue her dream even after her father suddenly dies unexpectedly, and must uproot to a new city where she eagerly takes on the challenge. The story is an emotionally charged coming-of-age novel involving loss, creativity, and feeling confident in your voice, while feeling confident in your choices to define who you are.
This voice-driven coming-of-age YA novel is perfect for fans of Katie Cotugno and Playlist for the Dead.
Susannah Hayes has never been in the spotlight, but she dreams of following her father, a former rock star, onto the stage. As senior year begins, she's more interested in composing impressive chord progressions than college essays, certain that if she writes the perfect song, her father might finally look up from the past long enough to see her. But when he dies unexpectedly, her dreams--and her reality--shatter.
While Susannah struggles with grief, her mother uproots them to a new city. There, Susannah…
I’ve been playing and singing music since I was six, and my childhood dream was to become an orchestral cello player. Over the years, I learned a number of other instruments and studied music around the globe, yet I was always intrigued, even intimidated, by those who were able to compose. This list of books helps readers like me really get inside the heads of some of the greatest composers (and performers) of popular music in the 20th and 21st centuries. While many of my questions were answered, there remains a sense of mystery and wonder that even the artists themselves can’t always explain.
I always knew there was something special, even mystical, about Led Zeppelin’s lead guitarist Jimmy Page. As a high school student, there was something about the band that drew me in, as if I didn’t have a choice.
I now know that I love their music, and Page’s playing in particular, because of the vision Page had for the band’s music, lyrics, and iconography on their album covers and artwork. Light and shade, light and heavy, clear and murky, simple and epic—how better to sum up Led Zeppelin?
This “oral autobiography” of Jimmy Page, the intensely private mastermind behind Led Zeppelin—one of the most enduring bands in rock history—is the most complete and revelatory portrait of the legendary guitarist ever published.
More than 30 years after disbanding in 1980, Led Zeppelin continues to be celebrated for its artistic achievements, broad musical influence, and commercial success. The band's notorious exploits have been chronicled in bestselling books; yet none of the individual members of the band has penned a memoir nor cooperated to any degree with the press or a biographer. In Light & Shade, Jimmy Page, the band’s most…
I’ve been playing and singing music since I was six, and my childhood dream was to become an orchestral cello player. Over the years, I learned a number of other instruments and studied music around the globe, yet I was always intrigued, even intimidated, by those who were able to compose. This list of books helps readers like me really get inside the heads of some of the greatest composers (and performers) of popular music in the 20th and 21st centuries. While many of my questions were answered, there remains a sense of mystery and wonder that even the artists themselves can’t always explain.
I’ve never read an autobiography by anyone as humble, funny, reflective, poetic, and oftentimes downright scary as the bass player Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers.
I’ve always been in love with his sound and sense of timing, a groove master who has few equals. With this book, I discovered the love, boredom, synchronicities, intelligence, and madness that made up his life, and because of it, I admire Flea and the band like almost no other.
With "virtuosic vulnerability" (The Atlantic), the iconic bassist and Red Hot Chili peppers co-founder pens a New York Times bestselling love letter to his wild Los Angeles youth in his raw and riveting coming-of-age memoir, now in paperback.
In Acid for the Children, Flea takes readers on a deeply personal and revealing tour of his formative years, spanning from Australia to the New York City suburbs to, finally, Los Angeles. Through hilarious anecdotes, poetical meditations, and occasional flights of fantasy, Flea deftly chronicles the experiences that forged him as an artist, a musician, and a young man. His dreamy, jazz-inflected…
As a Gex Xer who came of age in the 80s, I haunted record stores, collected albums, and listened to music to gain insight into the bands I loved. As a musician I’ve always been fascinated by the creative process of songwriting. I’m intrigued by the interpersonal dynamics that make and break bands. I’m drawn to the business side of the music industry and the way iconic bands and music were marketed to us. The five books I’ve recommended are my personal favorites for highlighting how the music so many Gen Xers love was created and how years later it can still move us and give meaning to our everchanging lives.
The first time I heard Two Hearts Beat As One by U2 was glorious! I was entranced by the driving drums and the bass line and inspired by Bono’s lyrics, which spoke to my burgeoning interest in how to be cool. And U2 was cool in the 80s. And Bono was one of the coolest musicians I looked up to back then.
His memoir goes deep into explaining where his bravado and “cool” come from. It was a darker and more complicated place than I expected. Having recently endured the death of my own mother, shortly before I read this book, I was moved to read about how the death of his mother impacted him and motivated him.
I came away with even more respect for Bono’s life philosophy and his commitment to his family, his bandmates, and his ongoing craft as a musician.
One of the greatest rock memoirs ever written and a Sunday Times bestseller now out in paperback - the honest, irreverent and powerfully entertaining life story of the U2 front-man.
Bono - artist, activist and the lead singer of Irish rock band U2 - has written his autobiography- honest and irreverent, intimate and profound, Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he's lived, the challenges he's faced and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him - now out in paperback.
'When I started to write this book I was hoping to draw in detail what I'd…
I was born in 1954, the same year as rock and roll. I am a product of the era that spawned me. I was that kid at school who would rather read his music mags than his school books. Over a rich and varied career, I have turned those passions into my profession. I have been a singer in a band, a music journalist, a broadcaster with the BBC national radio network, and have had several music related books published by major publishers. I have also been an academic specialist in my field and have managed to turn all those lifelong interests into a Ph.D. and an M.Phil.
I grew up with the Beatles. I went from 8 to 16 in the time it took the band to go from Love Me Do to Let It Be. I measure my own growth from infancy to adolescence during their lifespan.
The Beatles were more than a band to anyone of my age. They were a planet we all lived on. There have been hundreds of books about them, but few are more insightful than this one by their suave and urbane press officer.
Derek started off his career as a hard-bitten newspaper hack of the old school. Working with the Beatles changed his life. I can relate to that. The Fab Four changed all our lives.
'The sharpest memoir written by one of the Beatles' inner circle.' Observer
Derek Taylor's iconic memoir is a rare opportunity to be immersed in one of the most whirlwind music sensations in history: Beatlemania. As Time Goes By tells the remarkable story of Taylor's trajectory from humble provincial journalist to loved confidant right at the centre of the Beatles' magic circle. In charming, conversational prose, Taylor shares anecdotes and reminiscences so vivid and immediate that you find yourself plunged into the beating heart of 1960s counterculture. Whether watching the debut performance of 'Hey Jude' in a country pub or hearing…
