82 Books Like Scene of the Grind

This was one of the first books I read in which the older women were not just the main characters but were the kick-butt heroes of the day.

I read it while in the middle of a messy draft of my own book and felt inspired to stop diluting the age-related experience of my own main character.

Nora is a character I wish I’d known in the past. She runs the Miracle Bookstore and has the knack of choosing just the right book each of her hurting customers need for healing. I found that to be such an amazing talent. The problem is that she is hurting herself and feels isolated. When a death occurs in the town that involves Nora, three of her customers band with her to form a secret club to help solve the crime.

At first, I found some of the women dislikeable but when they start sharing their deepest and darkest secrets with each other, I began to warm to them, as does Nora. As they unravel their hurts, they work together to solve the crime, and forge close friendships. I liked the way the author built to a suspenseful conclusion, and I loved the literary references that begin each chapter, some… show more.

This is another fun cozy. When Kelly returns to her hometown after her aunt’s murder, she quickly becomes embroiled in the unfolding mystery. Much of the narrative centers around her aunt’s knitting shop, which serves as a gathering place for a group of women who share their love for knitting. I found these characters fun and lively and their gossip during knitting breaks to be particularly enjoyable.

They also provided Kelly with crucial clues which helped in unraveling the case. It was fascinating to see how Kelly ultimately solved the crime by leveraging personal relationships and the strength of her community. Although I don’t knit myself, this book nearly inspired me to pick up some knitting needles, so consider yourself warned!

This book isn’t as light-hearted as most cozies, but I found the premise intriguing. Charley will do anything to make her vintage clothing store a success, even if it means joining The Agathas Book Club, whose members she can hardly stand. But they are her most prominent customers, so what else can she do but grin and bear it?  

It turns out she’s not the only one who dislikes the members, for one by one, they start turning up dead. Charley notices something odd that the police have overlooked; the murders are made to look like the ones in the books the club members are reading. I love how Charley puts her personal feelings aside to work with the difficult Agathas members. It’s the only way she can hope to find the killer before they all turn up dead.

My favorite part is the way her perspective shifts, and she… show more.

Jonathan, with whom I worked on an earlier book on coffee with authors from around the world, presents the history of coffee in a wonderfully readable way. His book is filled with charming and informative photos and graphics. A professor at the University of Hertfordshire and a truly nice guy, Jonathan is an expert above all on Italian coffee. He is in demand, particularly for talks on coffee’s past and present in Europe.

This short story is one of those that has always stuck with me. There is so much story within these few pages that center around a meeting in a simple café. It explores how meetings can cause submerged feelings to arise within us and provoke us to react out of character. I was struck by the sense of loneliness and how the protagonist places certain constraints on themselves, fearful of exposing who they really are and how they feel in case of mockery. 

This story is filled with observations, judgments, and highlights the awkwardness of being a foreigner, something I know well. But it also entices the classic conundrum of what if we did say the thing we wanted, what if we had stayed instead of running away.

The Curvy Girl Can series are short reads. Like my series, they can be read in any order and all have a guaranteed happily-ever-after. They’re a great choice to read on a lunch break, but they’re also as binge-able as a box of chocolates (nom nom nom). This first book is a great place to start but honestly, you can dive in anywhere. Layla is one of my favorites because I love the idea of the heroine’s reading cafe: who wouldn’t want a cozy place with beanbags, great coffee, and freshly-baked cookies to curl up with a book? Kane makes for a great flirty, rough hero and his chemistry with Layla will have you hooked.

I read this with a book club, and it did generate a lot of discussion. But I did appreciate the author’s tenacity to write about living and working in Afghanistan and base it in a coffee shop that was filled with an incredible array of figures. I loved how the characters interacted with each other, and even though the story was told through a Western perspective it highlighted important issues that affected women in Afghanistan.

I enjoyed the idea of the coffee shop being used as a refuge for those who were in danger and exploring the idea that despite our location, we can come together to help each other and make the best out of life. 

This book is by a friend of mine, so holds a special place in my heart, because she’s so good. I also helped edit and format her book. She’s an artist and an author and her poems are mostly written in a coffee shop called Revel. They’re short, with deep and true images of everyday life—love, coffee, and everything in between—as seen by an artist.

Set predominantly in London, this is a cracking psychological thriller about a woman who offers a room in her flat to a waitress she sees in her local coffee shop every morning. Valerie brings a realism to her books and this was a fabulous page-turner. It touches upon relationships, explores how well do we really know the people we’re closest to, and how one innocent deed can lead to a catastrophic chain of events. Valerie is another automatic buy author for me.