Here are 55 books that Small Miracles fans have personally recommended if you like
Small Miracles.
Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I grew up in a family of readers who valued humor above all else. I’ve always sought out novels that weren’t full of themselves or too serious. For example, I don’t actually like literature for the most part (sacrilege?) As a result, I’ve veered toward upmarket genre books that amuse me. My list reflects what I discovered as I explored this realm. It also led me to write mysteries and thrillers that are infused with my version of humor, which I must admit will never match the authors on my list. These guys are amazing.
Fforde takes literary characters and brings them to life in a mystery format. Inside jokes about them and well-constructed absurd situations kept me amused. I admire the creativity and imagination a book like this requires. The plot is also ingenious, with unexpected twists and turns.
I’d say I never read a book like it, but I’ve read others by him, and he continues to create fun novels with literary and fairy tale characters. I recommend all of them.
Meet Thursday Next, literary detective without equal, fear or boyfriend
Jasper Fforde's beloved New York Times bestselling novel introduces literary detective Thursday Next and her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England-from the author of The Constant Rabbit
Fans of Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse will love visiting Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, when time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously: it's a bibliophile's dream. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic…
The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.
On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…
I’ve never been a fan of polemics or schmaltz. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to learn or see new perspectives or feel deep feelings; I just think humor is the best way to get past people’s defenses. (All the better to sucker punch them in the feels.) I also think the world can be a pretty dark and scary place. I love books that give us hope, enough hope to have the courage to change what we can to make the world a little brighter.
I loved this book because it combines three of my favorite things—humor, fantasy, and baking. What’s not to like about a wizard whose familiar is a sourdough starter?
There’s a small army of hilarious gingerbread men, to boot. T. Kingfisher manages a weird balance between humor, horror, and heart. Her world, like ours, has some really dark stuff in it, but she has such a deft touch that I felt cozy even during murder, political scapegoating, and siege.
Fourteen-year-old Mona isn't like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can't control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt's bakery making gingerbread men dance.
But Mona's life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona's city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of…
I’ve been a Pratchett fan since I first read The Colour of Magic in 1986. I was nine and suddenly obsessed. When he died, I cried; when I found out he left me – us – one last gift, I cried again. The best satire doesn’t just make you laugh through the tears and cry with laughter; it makes you think. Over the decades, Pratchett perfected this art. Nobody can replace him, although many authors, including myself, try to follow. Searching for them between the rock and the trying-too-hard place, sometimes I find diamonds. May they shine as brightly in your eyes as they do in mine.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that someone with a name like Miss Mildred Percy, a noted spinster living under her overwhelmingly generous and loving sister’s roof, does not inherit dragons’ eggs. Or bump into helpful and – one can’t help but notice – broad-shouldered, hat-wearing, single vicars. She’d swoon herself into dehydration if she knew what was still to come: raising a baby dragon (named Fitz); a proper Bad Boy villain with little money and relentless motivation (named Belinda); and, perhaps the most difficult, finding her own agency. Agnes Nitt would never. Perdita X Dream, however, might…
Miss Percyis the best book I’ve read in 2021 – it felt as if I inherited a manuscript signed by three of my favourite authors. Couldn’t recommend it more.
Miss Mildred Percy is a spinster. She does not dance, she has long stopped dreaming, and she certainly does not have adventures. That is, until her great uncle has the audacity to leave her an inheritance, one that includes a dragon’s egg.
The egg - as eggs are wont to do - decides to hatch, and Miss Mildred Percy is suddenly thrust out of the role of “spinster and general wallflower” and into the unprecedented position of “spinster and keeper of dragons.”
Jake Sledge, a rugged ex-cop turned private eye, teams up with his colossal partner Bobo to navigate the gritty streets of River City.
A murdered lawyer drags them into a web of political intrigue, neo-Nazi thugs, and bloody showdowns. With sharp wit and hard-hitting action, Jake tackles scumbags the only…
I’ve been a Pratchett fan since I first read The Colour of Magic in 1986. I was nine and suddenly obsessed. When he died, I cried; when I found out he left me – us – one last gift, I cried again. The best satire doesn’t just make you laugh through the tears and cry with laughter; it makes you think. Over the decades, Pratchett perfected this art. Nobody can replace him, although many authors, including myself, try to follow. Searching for them between the rock and the trying-too-hard place, sometimes I find diamonds. May they shine as brightly in your eyes as they do in mine.
Only a real genius of a bard could give justice to the heroes who saved the village city of Skendrick from Dragonia the Dragon. Due to a sudden shortage of geniuses Heloise the Bard, who’s never met a run-on sentence she didn’t like, tells you (mostly) all about herself the battles, the riddles, Heloise, the magic, pooping in swamps, Heloise, the flatulent minotaur… oh yes, the dragon! Almost forgot. And if there’s one thing she knows, it’s that facts will ruin the truth every. Single. Time.
Black’s ‘Friday’ is a song so infinitely horrible it creates a space-inverting portal that makes it an eternal classic. So is this book. Read it with your eyes closed. In hiding. With mushroom powder at hand.
The #1 humorous fantasy bestseller! Sure, you think you know the story of the fearsome red dragon, Dragonia. How it terrorized the village of Skendrick until a brave band of heroes answered the noble villagers' call for aid. How nothing could stop those courageous souls from facing down the dragon. How they emerged victorious and laden with treasure.
But, even in a world filled with epic adventures and tales of derring-do, where dragons, goblins, and unlicensed prestidigitators run amok, legendary heroes don't always know what they're doing. Sometimes they're clueless. Sometimes beleaguered townsfolk are more hapless than helpless. And orcs?…
I've always been fascinated by the idea of the war in Heaven. As a storyteller, the eternal struggle between angels and demons fighting for the fate of creation has been a source of perpetual inspiration for me. But finding stories about angels that aren't YA or paranormal romance can be challenging. So, channeling my love of historical fiction and action-packed adventure, I set out to craft a thrilling, realistic tale that puts the reader right on the front lines beside a peaceful angel forced into becoming a warrior fighting against his former brothers. This list reflects my favorite books that paved the way and inspired my own work.
One of the key references I used in writing The Sabrael Confession, this book is a comprehensive list of all the named angels throughout history, good or bad, complete with their rank in the angelic host and all mentions of them across the world's religions. My copy looks like it's been through a war with dog-eared pages, sticky notes protruding from the sides, and little scribbles in the margins. Whenever I needed a new angel in my book, I scoured this amazing resource to find the perfect fit. All my fallen angels are fallen angels found here. All my good angels are listed here. It's a truly fascinating read, and does well to point out inconsistencies where an angel has been listed as good by some, evil by others.
Gustav Davidson's classic text, A dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, is the result of sixteen years of research in Talmudic, gnostic, cabalistic, apocalyptic, patristic, and legendary texts. The classic reference work on angels is beautifully illustrated and its reissue coincides with the resurgence of belief in angels in America. This well researched and exquisitely illustrated dictionary is a wonderful collectable for all those who believe in angels, miracles, lore, and faith.
I’ll admit I’m a terribly picky reader. My specific taste doesn’t seem to fit in one genre and is sometimes hard to nail down—literary prose with genre tropes, softly-integrated worldbuilding, adventure that leaves room for reflection, and a love story subplot that’s more mental than physical. I love anti-heroes and angst and stories that get a bit dark—but not too dark. When I find it, I’m hooked and obsessed, and I feel like I’m twelve years old again, reading late into the night with a flashlight under the covers. That exprience is what I’m always hunting for, and what I attempt to recreate in my own writing.
I love books that start in the world we know and gently transport the reader into the supernatural. The magic in The Scribe is ancient and the war is underground, but everything feels so natural and real. And how the hero and heroine interact—the reluctance, the tension, the life-or-death alliance. This isn’t instalove, it’s the inescapable love that connects them soul to soul. And when it’s not just the hero who’s haunted but also the heroine, there’s an added dimension to the story that feeds what I crave. The dialogue feels true to life, and the characters come alive on the page. The blend of these elements—fantasy, adventure, and romance—is perfect here, and how they play off one another is like magic.
"Sexy, well-written, and suspenseful." Hidden at the crossroads of the world, an ancient race battles to protect humanity, even as it dies from within.
To the outside world, Ava Matheson is a successful travel photographer from a privileged background. But Ava's spent a lifetime battling voices in her mind she can't understand, and her fractured family has convinced her she'll never belong.
Malachi is an Irin scribe, descended from an angelic race and sworn by blood and magic to defend humanity from the Grigori, the sons of fallen angels who could ravage the world. A chance meeting in Istanbul will…
Caroline Herschel has always lived in the shadows. Beholden to her wildly popular older brother, William, who rescued her from servitude, she's worked hard to build a life for herself – one where she can go unnoticed and repay the debt she believes she owes him. But when her brother…
As we watch the news–the increasing number of earthquakes, volcanoes, wars, inflation, the rapid progress of AI, unelected elites deciding they know best for the world, and more–we don’t know how to process it all, and it leaves us feeling anxious. My passion for helping my readers not just escape but actually live better fuels me. I created this retelling of the Book of Revelations from the POV of celestial warriors and fallen angels in the unseen realms of our world to allow my readers to “make more sense” of the world and be at peace.
Ee, the author, presents a very different image of angels, which is what I love about it. We usually see angels as protective of humans, willing to help us out of jams. In this series, Ee puts angels in the role of destroyers who hunt humans down to kill them.
I fell in love with the main characters. The story features a courageous girl raised by a “whacko” mother who must rescue her wheelchair-bound sister from angels who have abducted her. She encounters a fallen angel who has had his wings hewn off, and together, they form an unlikely alliance, overcoming their own inner demons on the way to “saving the world.” I loved both of their defiant spirits and unwillingness to quit despite the odds.
I grew up in northern Wisconsin, where a love of books set my imagination on fire as I waited out the long, cold winters. Southern writers were my favorites because they took me from the plains of my northern home to a landscape vined in lushness, where people had names like Scout, Calpurnia, and Battle Fairchild; where places had names like Yoknapatawpha, and where a streetcar was named Desire. I got lost in that place of different constellations with its mint julep and velvet evenings, and its readiness to accept magic. It wasn’t until my children were grown that I finally earned bachelor's and master’s degrees, and determined that I would be a writer.
This one is all about the enchantment and disenchantment that comes with love. In it, women fall for the wrong sort of man and a grieving mother grows “belladonna, thorn apple, hemlock, black nightshade...everything poisonous” in her garden. The story is told in reverse until it comes to 12-year-old Lucy Green in 1952 who blames herself for a tragic accident, then spends forty years looking for the angel she hopes will renew her faith.
This haunting, poignant and addictive story travels effortlessly across time, telling the tale of three generations of women who make the wrong choices and have to live with the consequences.
It opens in London in the present day, when an envious sibling comes to her sister's wedding. Back in the Swinging Sixties, the bridegroom's conventional English mother, Freida, behaves in a wholly unconventional way while working in a Knightsbridge hotel. Even before that, the seeds of tragedy are sown in the Fifties, when twelve-year-old Lucy first visits London and the same hotel. Precocious, impatient, wise beyond her years, Lucy becomes…
Being a petite person, I can’t move furniture by myself or lift heavy boxes. It’s freaking annoying. I dream of having a magic wand or some sort of power that would make me stronger. If there was a potion to turn me into a Buffy the Vampire Slayer, kick-butt type of girl I’d drink it in a second. Since there is no such potion, I write and read books about supernatural girls who don’t take crap from anyone, especially the guys in their lives.
I love Academy series where the reader discovers the world along with the main character. At the Fallen Academy you’re either Demon Cursed or Angel Blessed. Of course, Brielle is a little of both, which shouldn’t be possible and confuses everyone and makes her life a mixture of heaven and hell.
Family is everything to Brielle, so when she learns about an opportunity to free her mother from Demon City, she takes it. No matter how dangerous, Brielle will do anything to unite her family in Angel City. All is going according to plan, until her brother's awakening ceremony. What he is… it shocks everyone, and he's sent away until he can get his powers under control. Then Brielle loses someone precious to her and goes to great lengths to get them back, lengths Lincoln doesn't agree with. He thinks Brielle is too much of a risk taker, too wild, and…
Rodney Bradford comes into Lindsay's restaurant, offers to buy her small house for double its value, eats her brownies, and drops dead on the sidewalk in front. Next, her almost-ex-husband offers to sign the divorce papers, but only if she'll give him her small,…
I am a gay, neurodivergent, Mexican American, who grew up in a poor family riddled with domestic violence, in a small mid-western town. I’ve always been proud of my identities, but I’ve been particularly fascinated by their intersections. For example, a white gay man will face certain prejudices and discrimination, but a gay man of color, or a neurodivergent gay man, will have compounded challenges . . . and distinct joys . . . resulting from their combination. One of my writing goals is to include intersectional characters in all of my stories. When I read a wonderful, similar story, I like to herald the accomplishment.
I love everything about this book: the writing, the story, and the characters.
The audiobook narrator, Donald Corren, is phenomenal; it’s hard to believe that one person can voice so many varied characters. There is terrific queer and gender representation. There are many fascinating examples of Jewish customs and folklore that add to the rich storytelling that is at times historical, and other times fantastical. Brilliant!
In publishing-speak, here's what we at the LQ office sometimes describe as the Queer lovechild of Sholem Aleichem and Philip Roth:
Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying Talmud together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn the young people from their village to America. And suddenly a murder forces the study partners to follow them.
