Here are 100 books that Lady Sunshine fans have personally recommended if you like
Lady Sunshine.
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It’s open, honest, and really helps you get inside the head of someone who wants to play guitar, maybe more than anything. There’s great insight into addiction, too. And, of course, it has the gossipy rock and roll stuff that can’t be avoided when you’re a member of The Rolling Stones.
The book covers many decades; it’s an intimate look at a long, creative life.
As lead guitarist of the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the riffs, the lyrics, and the songs that roused the world. A true and towering original, he has always walked his own path, spoken his mind, and done things his own way.Now at last Richards pauses to tell his story in the most anticipated autobiography in decades. And what a story! Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records in a coldwater flat with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, building a sound and a band out of music they loved. Finding fame and success as a bad-boy band, only…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
Hoffs is one of the founding members of The Bangles, and one can’t help but imagine that it is all true in one way or another. There’s a character who is an awful lot like Prince and...well, that makes the story particularly fun for me.
A delightfully funny and romantic debut novel from Susanna Hoffs, the celebrated performer and co-founder of The Bangles
'A little bit romance, a little bit rock-and-roll-this isn't just a book, it's a love song, and it should come as no surprise that Susanna Hoffs has crafted the perfect one to put on your playlist.' Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners
'...the smart, ferocious rock-chick redemption romance you didn't know you needed' New York Times
Jane Start is thirty-three, broke, and recently single. Ten years prior, she had a hit song-written by world-famous superstar Jonesy-but Jane hasn't…
You’re thrown into the world of grunge music here with a couple, Jane and Elijah, who meet in a chat room (historical fiction!).
Soon enough, the couple is worldwide famous, something Jane had always wanted. Jane, who writes the songs, is misunderstood and underappreciated, while Elijah takes center stage. That’s okay with Jane until Elijah disappears, and Jane is heartbroken and lost while also being demonized by their fans.
This is a wonderfully compelling page-turner with likeable characters and some dislikeable ones, too.
The author of New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club pick Lucky, a “fiercely visceral and exquisitely written” (People) story of rock ‘n’ roll and star-crossed love—about grunge-era musician Jane Pyre’s journey to unravel the secrets behind her husband’s mysterious disappearance.
He was the troubled face of rock ‘n’ roll…until he suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Jane Pyre was once half of the famous rock ‘n’ roll duo, the Lightning Bottles. Years later, she’s perhaps the most hated—and least understood—woman in music. She was never as popular with fans as her bandmate (and soulmate), Elijah Hart—even if Jane was…
Dr. Power is promoted to a chair of forensic psychiatry at Allminster University and selected by the Vice Chancellor for a key task which stokes the jealousy of the Deans, and he is plunged into a precariously dangerous situation when there is a series of deaths and the deputy Vice…
This book takes place in Baltimore, which always fascinates me (I lived there for a couple of decades).
There’s a fan (a father, who’s a music teacher), a kid (his son, who wants his dad to be happy), and a female rockstar (the drummer from the music teacher’s favorite band) who’s been in hiding for decades. Of course, they all come together (what more could you want?!).
In the end, this is the sweetest love story I’ve read in years.
When a single dad meets the former rock-star crush of his youth, everything they thought they knew about happiness and love is thrown into chaos in this hopeful, heartwarming romantic comedy.
“Bound to charm readers from page one . . . You’ll root for everyone in this sweet love story.”—Elissa Sussman, bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask
Billy Perkins is happy. And why wouldn’t he be? He loves his job as an independent music teacher and his apartment in Baltimore above a record shop called Charm City Rocks. Most of all, he loves his brainy teenage son, Caleb.
As a former school counselor, I helped students navigate the ups and downs of friendships daily. As I mended relationships as part of my day job, my nights consisted of listening to true crime podcasts, reading murder mysteries, and watching enough thrillers on the Lifetime network to write a book about it. So, I did. Well, not literally, but I am the author of YA thrillers where friendships take centerstage. Now, I help fictional characters navigate friendships—this time, with disastrous results.
Monday Charles is missing, so why is only her best friend looking for her? The answer had my jaw dropping to the floor. Tiffany D. Jackson is the queen of twists and turns, and this thriller is her twisty-est yet.
I love a thriller with heart, and the friendship between Monday and the protagonist, Claudia, definitely broke mine.
"Jackson's characters and their heart-wrenching story linger long after the final page, urging readers to advocate for those who are disenfranchised and forgotten by society and the system." (Publishers Weekly, "An Anti-Racist Children's and YA Reading List")
From the critically acclaimed author of Allegedly, Tiffany D. Jackson, comes a gripping novel about the mystery of one teenage girl's disappearance and the traumatic effects of the truth.
Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable-more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn't turn up for the first day of school, Claudia's worried.…
Here's my confession—I am a closet sadist. IRL, I carefully catch beetles and spiders in a jar to take them outside when I find them in the house. But at the keyboard? Mr. Hyde. I torture my major characters. A half dozen in Saturn Run look death in the face. Some die. In my second novel, Ripple Effect, it's way over a dozen and the carnage starts in the very first chapter. What can I say? I am a very nice and kind person, just not a nice and kind author!
This is a YA with a unique perspective. The teenage protagonist lives on a “seastead,” which is, frankly, a seriously wacko idea some libertarians have… ummm… floated (sorry, couldn’t resist) for creating their own independent countries in international waters.
But unlike every other novel I've read that’s set in a libertarian culture, this one isn’t some annoying political screed promoting libertarianism. Seasteads are simply the “alien” culture that Naomi chose to write about and to set her story in. Smart, clever, and… at times… disturbing.
Beck Garrison lives on a seastead - an archipelago of constructed platforms and old cruise ships, assembled by libertarian separatists a generation ago. She's grown up comfortable and sheltered, but starts doing odd jobs for pocket money.
To her surprise, she finds that she's the only detective that a debt slave can afford to hire to track down the woman's missing sister. When she tackles this investigation, she learns things about life on the other side of the waterline - not to mention about herself and her father - that she did not expect. And she finds out that some…
The Whale Surfaces follows a daughter of Holocaust survivors who tries to deal with trans-generational trauma.
From the age of eleven to 22, she struggles to be ‘normal’ and to conceal the demons haunting her. Her sensitivity to her parents’ past and to injustices everywhere prevents her from enjoying life.…
As a mystery author, I’ve long been drawn to stories about missing persons, particularly novels featuring missing mothers. I suspect the special appeal of books about missing moms is because my own mother was M-I-A during my childhood. Whereas my older sisters lost our mother to mental illness at the tender ages of four and seven, in some ways, I was fortunate because I was an infant when our mom was institutionalized and, thus, had never fully bonded with her. And yet, the longing for my mother was ever-present. She left behind a large empty space in our family.
I loved this book for its exploration of shock, grief, and denial on the part of two adult daughters whose mother inexplicably ends her own life by drowning in the sea. At odds for many years, the two very different women slowly mend their relationship as they discover a long-buried secret their mother had been keeping.
I especially related to the healing of their relationship as it was in adulthood that I drew much closer to my own sisters. As children, they associated my arrival with the loss of their mother, which did not make for an easy relationship.
CAN TWO SISTERS SOLVE THEIR MOTHER'S DISAPPEARANCE?
'This may be the perfect staycation read' THE TIMES, Thriller of the Month 'Brilliant, compelling, heart-wrenching writing' PETER JAMES
One perfect summer day, mother of two Alice walks into the sea . . . and never returns. Her daughters - loyal but fragile Lily, and headstrong, long-absent Marietta - are forcibly reunited by her disappearance.
Meanwhile, with retirement looming, DI Fox investigates cold cases long since forgotten. And there's one obsession he won't let go: a tragic death twenty years before.
Can Lily and Marietta uncover what happened to their mother? Will Fox…
I love reading stories that are a good mix of reality and fantasy, just as much as I like to write them myself. And I guess that comes from my background as a journalist. But perhaps not so, as the first stories I wrote in my teens that were published in a Dutch women’s magazine were retellings of Biblical stories. I recounted those from the point of view of women: the (future) wives of Joseph (with the ten brothers) and of Moses. I was a writer long before I became a journalist, a profession I needed to gather the knowledge I could then use to write my books, so it seems.
A story that I did not know about, and it shocked me to find out it is based on reality. It is the story of Ozjorks, a Russian town where, in 1957, during a nuclear explosion, enormous amounts of radiation ended up in the air.
It was shocking to read how the inhabitants became like lab rats. And how a scientist arrives to work on research there and has not been told of the risks. I have great respect for how the writer must have researched the story and then mixed it with fantasy to make a book that kept me entranced from beginning to end.
**Shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize**
A SUNDAY TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2022
The Times Historical Fiction Book of the Month
The truth must come out.
In 1963, in a Siberian gulag, former nuclear specialist Valery Kolkhanov has mastered what it takes to survive: the right connections to the guards for access to food and cigarettes, the right pair of warm boots to avoid frostbite, and the right attitude toward the small pleasures of life. But on one ordinary day, all that changes: Valery's university mentor steps in and sweeps Valery from the frozen prison camp to a…
I’ve been fascinated with historical fiction, especially the World War II era, ever since I listened to my mother playing her Big Band Records. I’ve also loved mysteries since I picked up my first Nancy Drew book. Once I discovered historical mysteries, I haven’t been able to separate the two. I’ve recently expanded my interest to include the first world war. There are so many great stories that I’m afraid I’ll never get to read them all. It was really hard to narrow down my list to five books and I hope you’ll love the ones I’ve chosen for you.
This book is the first in the Verity Kent series set just after World War I in England.
Verity is a war widow and had worked for the Secret Service during the war. After declining an invitation to attend a party on a secluded island, she changes her mind when she receives a letter intimating that her husband had been a traitor. The partygoers are mostly former soldiers who had served under her husband.
This book has it all—a secluded island, many secrets, a storm, and a huge surprise. And I mean huge. Verity doesn’t know who she can trust but somehow manages to figure it all out. I’m way behind on reading this series but I mean to catch up soon!
A WWI widow investigates murder—and her late husband’s secrets—in “this engrossing series launch” by the Daphne Award-winning author (Publishers Weekly).
England, 1919. Verity Kent’s grief over the loss of her husband pierces anew when she receives a cryptic letter suggesting her beloved Sidney may have committed treason before his untimely death. Determined to dull her pain with revelry, Verity’s first impulse is to dismiss the claim. But the mystery sender knows too much—including the fact that during the war, Verity worked for the Secret Service, something not even Sidney knew.
Lured to Umbersea Island to attend the engagement party of…
The Year Mrs. Cooper Got Out More
by
Meredith Marple,
The coastal tourist town of Great Wharf, Maine, boasts a crime rate so low you might suspect someone’s lying.
Nevertheless, jobless empty nester Mallory Cooper has become increasingly reclusive and fearful. Careful to keep the red wine handy and loath to leave the house, Mallory misses her happier self—and so…
When I first visited Scotland, I drove north from Edinburgh, driving through much of the country to catch a ferry to Orkney. This northern archipelago is certainly one of the most magical places I’ve ever been to; the steep sea cliffs and standing stones, windblown grasses, and violent waves put me in a gothic state of mind. I moved to Scotland a few years later to live by the sea. Since that first visit to Orkney, I’ve written my own Scottish gothic novels, as well as presented research on the gothic at various academic conferences. It’s a topic that I’m certain will compel me for a long time to come.
This book is so atmospheric; when I read it, I could taste the Scottish sea air and smell the black peat of the island.
It has the pace of a thriller but does not compromise on rich language and complex characters. Like Johnstone’s first book, Mirrorland, the twists are absolutely brilliant and unexpected; I couldn’t put this one down!
A remote village.
A deadly secret.
An outsider who knows the truth...
'ATMOSPHERIC AND COMPELLING' CATHERINE COOPER
'ENGROSSING, EVOCATIVE AND CHILLING' C. J. TUDOR
'DELICIOUSLY UNSETTLING' OBSERVER
'SPLENDIDLY CREEPY' DAILY MAIL
Maggie Mackay has been haunted her entire life. No matter what she does, she can't shake the sense that something is wrong with her. And maybe something is...
When she was five years old, without proof, Maggie announced that someone in the remote village of Blairmore in the Outer Hebrides had murdered a local man, sparking a media storm.
Now, Maggie is determined to discover what really happened and…
