Books like Party of Two

I absolutely love Amber as a comedian, so when I found out she and her sister were writing a book about racism, I was all kinds of intrigued. This book is hilarious, of course, but it also highlights the inherent ridiculousness of racism in a way that can be difficult to show in fiction. I mean, how else can you be mistaken for a prominent historical figure who has been dead for centuries at the bank?

This book made me laugh, made me angry, and made me feel so seen. Sometimes, I need a spoonful of sugar to help the hard lessons go down, and this book offers a whole lot of humor to really drive home important messages about how society treats us as Black women. 

Grumpy/Sunshine is one of my favorite romance tropes, and this book does it absolutely perfectly. The chemistry between the main characters had me kicking my feet and squealing the entire time.

Talia Hibbert’s books, especially this one, just make me smile. They bring me so much joy and are funny, sweet, sexy, and oh so swoon-worthy. I’m also obsessed with the idea of running an adorable bed and breakfast, and I love seeing neurodivergence and autism spectrum being portrayed in literature in a more nuanced and positive way.

The banter is top-notch, and the relationship is one of my favorites in modern romance. 

A secret underground book club, small-town kooky characters, a main character trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life, and a book-loving, star-crossed love interest, how could I not love this book?

Shauna Robinson has such a warm and inviting writing style (and she’s sharply witty to boot). Her characters leap off the page, and I know that this book totally made me want to start an underground book club to stick it to the people who think that they should dictate what everyone in a community can read.

Breaking the rules and societal norms is the way to go with this read. 

This book made me want to scream at the main characters (in the best way!) most of the way through. There’s a perfect meet-cute, the kind that had me wondering why no one has ever thought to approach me in that way.

Plus, as a recovering grad student, I totally relate to having a quarter-life crisis and trying to figure out if the career I thought I wanted was really where I wanted to go.

The dialogue is whip-fast (even when the main character, Angie, is decidedly NOT getting her s*** together), and the romance combined with the growth that Angie experiences over the course of the book makes the ultimate payoff totally worth it. 

I loved this book because Kathleen Woodiwiss’s ability to stir emotion from the very first page is impressive. I’m also drawn to the conflict between actual enemies on the battlefield.

The Civil War is always a perfect setting for enemies-to-lovers because the emotions are high and the conflict deep. Also, I love plots with the heroine dressing as a boy and being discovered.

In a near-future world where one can purchase emotionally intelligent androids or “artificial friends” (AFs) to keep children company, we take the AF’s perspective. Klara, who begins as a display item in a department store, is adopted by Josie, a girl with what seems to be a fatal illness, and dedicates herself to trying to save Josie’s life.

Like all AF's, Klara has been programmed to observe and learn, and she seems to have exceptional abilities in this regard. She also possesses an especially kind disposition, keen emotional intelligence, and a number of other qualities that make her feel more human than most of the actual humans in the story.

For me, Klara is one of the great characters in recent literature, and her unique perspective is one of the things that make this immersive speculative novel such a pleasure to read. 

I love adventure stories, and who doesn’t love a few conspiracies thrown in with intriguing setting and characters?

Sophie Williams is a professional art forger…well, maybe not a pro—she secretly paints forgeries to protect the real art. But she becomes a target when she uncovers a series of portraits that had been lost.

I love unique settings, and don’t read too many stories that are set in Europe. The story blends action and suspense with heartwarming characters who try to do the right thing, but life seems against them. Sophie is the Robin Hood of the art world, and I found her to be an intriguing character. 

Historical romance set in the world of C.S. Lewis at Oxford University: what’s not to love?

I am a fan of historical fiction and love to live history vicariously through the experiences of well-crafted characters, and in this case, real people. This thoroughly researched and masterfully written novel tells the story of the unlikely friendship turned marriage of Christian apologist and author C.S. Lewis to an American Jewish divorcée, Joy Davidman. 

This poignant love story has been told before in play and film versions, but this is the first time I experienced the story from Joy’s POV.

I found myself simultaneously sympathizing with and being exasperated by Joy. She was a complex and brilliant woman, and I’m very impressed with Patti Callahan’s own brilliance and chutzpah in writing, most convincingly, Joy’s story in a first-person narration.

I’ve enjoyed every Johanna Lindsey book I’ve read, so it’s unsurprising this made my list!

This novel is set in 1192, and I loved that Reina is a very strong heroine in an age where women were generally downtrodden and devoid of legal rights. Her father was forward-thinking as he’s ensured she can choose her own husband, and he’s left capable Reina in charge to defend his people and his keep, which she is serious about defending.

The hero, Ranulf, is quite an ill-mannered boor, but I loved how he changed for his sassy, strong, and independent heroine. It was hilarious that he visits the local whore for lessons in lovemaking! (That alone made this book memorable!) It’s a true love story.

The greatest pleasure of an enemies-to-lovers romance? Witty banter. Which you'll find in droves in Brockway's Victorian-set epistolary romance. A conservative Englishman leaves his estate to 19-year-old suffragette Lillian Bede—not because he admires Lily, but because he’s sure she’ll fail to make the estate profitable in five years.

The letters between Lily and her benefactor’s peripatetic explorer nephew Avery Thorne, the man who will inherit the estate if she falls flat, charmed me as they gradually move from competitive satirical banter to mutual tolerance, and then to something more: friendship, affection—and perhaps even love?