100 Books Like Glimpses of Wilderness

Talia Hibbert’s characters have so much depth; this book is no exception. I saw myself in the curvy lead, Dani Brown, as she’s always looking for signs to lead her in the right direction.

It was great to see her warm relationship with her sisters, even though they are all so different. But I absolutely loved seeing her flirtatious friendship turned fake relationship with former rugby player Zafir Ansari grow into true love. Plus, the spice was top-notch!

I loved this book because it is another time-slip novel, but mostly because of the characters that Gabaldon has created. Claire is a strong woman both in the present time zone–post-war Britain–and the Scottish Highland time zone of the seventeenth century and the uprising. You sense immediately that she is in danger as the story is told from her point of view. 

I loved learning about the lives of the Scottish highlanders, how the story moves from one-time zone to another, and how the characters overlap.

Nowhere have I seen Cold Magic categorized as a romance, but as a reader, my experience of the book (and the rest of the trilogy) was definitely centered around the epic love story. But that's what places this book in the "off the beaten path" category for me – it could sit on several different sections in a bookstore or library: science fiction, fantasy, Steampunk, mystery, action/adventure, romance, or all of the above! Books like this are a gourmet feast for the imagination, particularly when they're handled by a masterful writer and builder of worlds like Kate Elliott. If you love discovering new series that will delight and surprise you while entertaining all the different parts of your brain, you will love The Spiritwalker Trilogy.

In a genre where "happily ever after" so often means marriage and children, it is definitely unconventional to start a romance novel with themes of relationships ending and infertility. (I feel safely in non-spoiler territory, here, since these themes are introduced in the first two pages.) It's an intense start to a deeply emotional and richly layered contemporary romance set against the glitz and grit of the Las Vegas strip. This is my favorite kind of romance, in which two wonderful but wounded souls redeem and heal each other by courageously embracing the deep power of love. Add in Rosanna Leo's smooth, masterful writing and perfectly timed razor-sharp wit, and you have an incredible read ahead of you!

I can only speak from my experience and, wow, this book hooked me right at the end of that first chapter, “but it’s happening faster.” Now to go into what that means, I will remain spoiler-free, but my jaw dropped. And the story only ramped up after that.

I love stories where the protagonist finds themselves in genuine peril, and Claire puts Harry August in a particular type of peril that truly had me terrified for his well-being in every chapter. The best type of suspense escalates in every chapter and it escalates here in this book in the best possible ways.

The first science fiction book I ever read was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. This book began my lifelong passion for watching sci-fi movies and reading books. It wasn’t until the end of high school that I would discover The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel, an epic novel that combines romance, spirituality, and science fiction.

The story weaves eternal themes of love, destiny, reincarnation, and human interconnectedness juxtaposed against a futuristic society where time and space travel, telepathy, and access to the mystical Akashic records (every person’s thoughts, emotions, experiences, and actions) are accessible to all.

While the author’s book Like Water for Chocolate received widespread attention and a Hollywood movie adaptation, it was The Law of Love that to this day shapes my romantic ideals and titillates my sci-fi and philosophical curiosities.

This is another tale that starts with a fortune-teller—but this time it’s teenage Jo who gets her future told. The clairvoyant tells her that there is only one true love for her—but the last time Jo saw him was in a past life! Now she needs to find him in this life. Jo doesn’t believe a word of this, but events start to unsettle her. Could reincarnation possibly be true? But what if she can’t recognize her soul-mate when she finds him again in this life? I love the suspense elements in this book as well as the romance.

This book had me at, “Don’t worry dishes, no one is doing me, either.” And it just got better from there. This author has a fresh, funny, irreverent voice that flies off the page and made me laugh out loud. This is a fast-paced, romantic, sweet, and spicy story about soul mates connecting despite the barrier of time. Definitely pick it up and start following this talented new author! I’m glad I did!

Evangeline Anderson writes steamy, swoony Alien romance. A lot of it. And I’ve read most of it with gusto. When she tossed in a story with an unconventional take on time travel, I grabbed it up the second it hit the ebook stores. As per usual for Evangeline, her hero and heroine leap off the page and the steamy bits made me tingle in all the right places. Pick this one up for a steamier, sci-fi take on time-travel romance.

I adore Karice Bolton’s ability to weave romance and women’s fiction—a genre focused on telling the woman’s story.

I loved that these characters are mature and well-developed and found this to be a comfortable world for me to walk into. The emotions run high in this one, and it’s absolutely perfect. I liked the balance of character development mixed with romance.