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Book cover of The Lovely Bones

P.F. Roquelaure Author Of The Malevolent

From my list on ghosts with intentions.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been fascinated with ghosts since an early age (Casper the Friendly Ghost was a favorite childhood cartoon) because this is the supernatural being that could be in your home right now! I have read numerous ghost stories/novels and have learned all the nuances that spirits can present from poltergeist activity to seances to spiritual possession. I zoom in on those ghost stories where the past is critical to the intent of the haunting spirit, whether it be beneficial or malevolent in nature. As a neuroscientist and author of paranormal fantasy novels, my distinctive background also allows me to approach this genre in a unique way.

P.F.'s book list on ghosts with intentions

P.F. Roquelaure Why P.F. loves this book

This ghost story is in many ways the inspiration for my book.

I love that the ghost of Susie Salmon has a quest from the very beginning that not only deals with an earthly injustice but reveals her prior human nature. It is heart-wrenchingly sad and beautiful at the same time, a dichotomy of emotions that I sought to capture in my book.

By Alice Sebold ,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked The Lovely Bones as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The internationally bestselling novel that inspired the acclaimed film directed by Peter Jackson.

With an introduction by Karen Thompson Walker, author of The Age of Miracles.

My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.

In heaven, Susie Salmon can have whatever she wishes for - except what she most wants, which is to be back with the people she loved on earth. In the wake of her murder, Susie watches as her happy suburban family is torn apart by grief; as her friends grow up, fall in…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

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…

Book cover of To Kill a Mockingbird

Donald McPhail Author Of The Guest From Johannesburg

From my list on modest heroes.

Why am I passionate about this?

Success isn’t about money. It’s about character and personal experiences. I accept Viktor Frankl’s conclusion that fulfillment comes from having a purpose, caring for others, and living life with love. From my earliest movie heroes like Lash LaRue, Tom Mix, and Roy Rogers, to John Wayne, Cary Grant, and George Clooney, my favorite heroes have been modest and kind. Book heroes like Donna Leon’s Inspector Guido Brunetti, Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache, and John Le Carre’s George Smiley are modest and kind. This returns us to Lou Gehrig, my authentic, real-life hero. His early influence is clear in my heroic Duff Malone character.

Donald's book list on modest heroes

Donald McPhail Why Donald loves this book

I related to Atticus Finch.

He was the dad everyone wished they had. He was also a lot like my old high school football coach. There is authentic love and warmth when he and Scout are together. And there is honesty and spine when Atticus is in the courtroom, defending those who have been wrongly accused.

This beloved book has inspired generations of readers around the world. It is a morality tale about a rough and imperfect country, written in a way that has inspired idealists to stay the course in our fight for justice. We may be flawed, but we can still be strong.

By Harper Lee ,

Why should I read it?

46 authors picked To Kill a Mockingbird as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'

Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this classic novel - a black man charged with attacking a white girl. Through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Lee explores the issues of race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s with compassion and humour. She also creates one of the great heroes of literature in their father, whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped…


Book cover of Fifty Shades of Grey

Kathryn C. Kelly Author Of Savage Suit

From my list on billionaire romances on my keeper shelf.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been reading romance since I was a teenager and writing them just as long. I have given workshops and panels, written a chapter on romance novels in a Kathryn Falk book, and was once the VP of SOLA. I have read thousands of books but few are memorable enough to become my favorites.

Kathryn's book list on billionaire romances on my keeper shelf

Kathryn C. Kelly Why Kathryn loves this book

Fifty Shades of Grey was recommended to me on Amazon. It took me a full year before I finally gave in and bought Fifty Shades. And this happened because I was taking part in a radio show discussing the books because of one of my recent releases.

It took me 30 hours to read all three books. It was compelling with Ana, her Inner Goddess, and Christian Grey. I personally have always found the books great escapism from daily pressures.

The book is incredibly polarizing and the vitriol directed at its fans can get exhausting. But in my reading life, Christian’s over-the-top existence and manic living epitomizes rich boys and their toys.

By E L James ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Fifty Shades of Grey as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"And in this quiet moment as I close my eyes, spent and sated, I think I'm in the eye of the storm. And in spite of all he's said, and what he hasn't said, I don't think I have ever been so happy."
When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana's quiet beauty, wit, and independent…


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Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of Shuggie Bain

Sinéad Heap

From my list on children fighting for their life in a confronting adult world.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am passionate about this topic for two main reasons. The first is the narrative skill required to write a story with or from the perspective of a fully-formed, believable child character. I admire this skill, and I think it is deeply important, which leads me to my second reason. Stories about children in need, danger, and overwhelming burden are deeply moving and are a quick way into another person’s perspective. While one may be able to brush away the experiences of adults, and, importantly, justify this dismissal, the child begins in a position of sympathy and vulnerability, which automatically triggers a reader’s care. 

Sinéad's book list on children fighting for their life in a confronting adult world

Sinéad Heap Why Sinéad loves this book

I loved the Glaswegian (quasi-Irish!) voice of Shuggie Bain, but what I will always remember it for is its gut-wrenching depiction of the consequences of poverty and alcoholism for the titular child character. 

There were times when I was reading this novel that I literally flinched from it. It’s one of the most poignant times that I can remember having such a visceral reaction to a book. 

What I found truly remarkable was the book’s sense of simultaneous inevitability and hope. At once, I felt that there was only one possible end for Agnes and Shuggie, and yet I also somehow believed that both characters would escape their miserable situation.

This idea, that hope sustains even against the most improbable odds, accesses something fundamentally human. A book that can do that is one I would recommend any day.

By Douglas Stuart ,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Shuggie Bain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD



A stunning debut novel by a masterful writer telling the heartwrenching story of a young boy and his alcoholic mother, whose love is only matched by her pride.



Shuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh “Shuggie” Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher’s policies have put husbands and sons out of work, and the city’s notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings.



Shuggie’s mother Agnes walks a wayward path: she…


Book cover of Dear Aaron

L.J. Evans Author Of Branded by a Song: A Small-town, Rock-star Romance

From my list on romance with slow burns you’ll feel for days.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been reading and writing romance for most of my life, and I found the stories I was truly drawn to were the ones where I got to know the characters deeply and personally before they got their hard-earned happily ever after. I want to feel like not only the main characters are my new best friends, but also their friends and families. I want to live beside them as they go through this wild ride called life. So, those are the books I set out to write...stories telling about life’s ups and downs, dreams cast aside and remade, and families found along the way. Achingly heartfelt romance with resilient characters readers will adore.

L.J.'s book list on romance with slow burns you’ll feel for days

L.J. Evans Why L.J. loves this book

Anything―and I mean anything―by Mariana Zapata is an outstanding slow-burn read. Every book gives you not only a gorgeously written HEA but also laugh-out-loud humor, incredible secondary characters, and stories you’ll physically miss when you’re done. Dear Aaron is a unique read that starts with letters and ends with a heat you’ll feel in your bones.

By Mariana Zapata ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dear Aaron as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

If you loved From Lukov with Love - the sensational TikTok hit that is captivating readers all over the world - then you don't want to miss Ruby's story in Dear Aaron! No one writes slow burn like Mariana Zapata and her millions of fans agree!

'I swooned, I laughed and I loved!' reader review

'Zapata's books get better each time I read one!!' reader review

'OMG I wish I could rate this more than 5 stars I absolutely LOVED this story' reader review

'Sweet, funny and adorable' reader review

'Wow! I couldn't put this book down, yet I never…


Book cover of Making Faces

L.J. Evans Author Of Branded by a Song: A Small-town, Rock-star Romance

From my list on romance with slow burns you’ll feel for days.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been reading and writing romance for most of my life, and I found the stories I was truly drawn to were the ones where I got to know the characters deeply and personally before they got their hard-earned happily ever after. I want to feel like not only the main characters are my new best friends, but also their friends and families. I want to live beside them as they go through this wild ride called life. So, those are the books I set out to write...stories telling about life’s ups and downs, dreams cast aside and remade, and families found along the way. Achingly heartfelt romance with resilient characters readers will adore.

L.J.'s book list on romance with slow burns you’ll feel for days

L.J. Evans Why L.J. loves this book

Amy Harmon is another author who you can read anything and love it! The emotions drip from her pages in the full range of laughter to anger to tears. It’s an incredible journey! Even though I read this book years ago, I still feel like I know these characters personally. They are, quite literally, part of the fabric of my life.

By Amy Harmon ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Making Faces as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ambrose Young was beautiful. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She'd been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have...until he wasn't beautiful anymore

Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken…


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Book cover of Head Over Heels

Head Over Heels by Nancy MacCreery,

A fake date, romance, and a conniving co-worker you'd love to shut down. Fun summer reading!

Liza loves helping people and creating designer shoes that feel as good as they look. Financially overextended and recovering from a divorce, her last-ditch opportunity to pitch her firm for investment falls flat. Then…

Book cover of The Air He Breathes

L.J. Evans Author Of Branded by a Song: A Small-town, Rock-star Romance

From my list on romance with slow burns you’ll feel for days.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been reading and writing romance for most of my life, and I found the stories I was truly drawn to were the ones where I got to know the characters deeply and personally before they got their hard-earned happily ever after. I want to feel like not only the main characters are my new best friends, but also their friends and families. I want to live beside them as they go through this wild ride called life. So, those are the books I set out to write...stories telling about life’s ups and downs, dreams cast aside and remade, and families found along the way. Achingly heartfelt romance with resilient characters readers will adore.

L.J.'s book list on romance with slow burns you’ll feel for days

L.J. Evans Why L.J. loves this book

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I love emotional books. Books where I can feel every heartbeat and every laugh and every smile. Brittainy Cherry always brings this to her stories. The Air He Breathes was one of my first reads by her, so it has an extra special place in my heart.

By Brittainy C. Cherry ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Air He Breathes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

I was warned about Tristan Cole. “Stay away from him,” people said. “He’s cruel.” “He’s cold.” “He’s damaged.” It’s easy to judge a man because of his past. To look at Tristan and see a monster. But I couldn’t do that. I had to accept the wreckage that lived inside of him because it also lived inside of me. We were both empty. We were both looking for something else. Something more. We both wanted to put together the shattered pieces of our yesterdays. Then perhaps we could finally remember how to breathe.


Book cover of Dear Mr. Brody

L.J. Evans Author Of Branded by a Song: A Small-town, Rock-star Romance

From my list on romance with slow burns you’ll feel for days.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been reading and writing romance for most of my life, and I found the stories I was truly drawn to were the ones where I got to know the characters deeply and personally before they got their hard-earned happily ever after. I want to feel like not only the main characters are my new best friends, but also their friends and families. I want to live beside them as they go through this wild ride called life. So, those are the books I set out to write...stories telling about life’s ups and downs, dreams cast aside and remade, and families found along the way. Achingly heartfelt romance with resilient characters readers will adore.

L.J.'s book list on romance with slow burns you’ll feel for days

L.J. Evans Why L.J. loves this book

Beautifully written words with a lyrical like feel are what I know I’ll always find within the pages of an A.M. Johnson book. The emotions she wrings from me every time are astonishing, and yet I never feel like I’ve been banged over the head with them like you sometimes get in some heartfelt stories. This is a male-male romance, and even if you don’t think this is your sort of thing, I still highly recommend it because it’s just gorgeous.

By A.M. Johnson ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dear Mr. Brody as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Parker,

I never meant for any of this to happen, to fall for you. It doesn't matter that we're both adults, or how much we want this to work. The college policy is clear. I can't see a way around this without one of us getting hurt. If I would’ve known who you were when we met online, I would have never pursued a relationship. I'm new to all of this, and besides my daughter, getting to know you has been the best thing to ever happen to me. But I can't make you hide again. I won't. It's not…


Book cover of A Whisper Of Solace

Alaina Erdell Author Of Off the Menu

From my list on sapphic romances to make you swoon.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been reading sapphic or lesbian romances ever since I got my hands on Touchwood and Curious Wine decades ago. When not writing contemporary sapphic romances, I’m always reading them. Happily ever afters haven’t always been the case for two women in love, least of all in fiction. I write sapphic romances to provide for other women like me what I hoped to find in bookstores when I was younger. It wasn’t easy to find a romantic story between two women, let alone have choices. Representation matters, and writing–and reading–books about two women in love is important to me and women like me, especially as states ban such books.

Alaina's book list on sapphic romances to make you swoon

Alaina Erdell Why Alaina loves this book

It’s cruel to recommend a book with Whisper in the title because this romance hits like a hurricane. Lovers of angst will appreciate the depth of this book.

In one swoop, McKay crushes all that’s cherished until only wreckage and devastation remain. At times, I marvel at the main character’s redemption arc because it hardly seems likely. For a while, I wondered if McKay would be one of those authors who didn’t give her readers a happily ever after, but she seems to have as much love for Neve and Audrey as they do for each other. 

Talk about a book hangover. This book will wreck you, but in a good way. I walked around dazed for days. I recommend taking two Kallmakers and washing them down with a Beers. Call me in the morning.

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Book cover of Pinned

Pinned by Liz Faraim,

“Rowdy” Randy Cox, a woman staring down the barrel of retirement, is a curmudgeonly blue-collar butch lesbian who has been single for twenty years and is trying to date again.

At the end of a long, exhausting shift, Randy finds her supervisor, Bryant, pinned and near death at the warehouse…

Book cover of First to Fall: A Sweet Romantic Comedy

Annah Conwell Author Of The Golden Goal

From my list on romcoms without spice.

Why am I passionate about this?

I don’t read books with explicit scenes, and I don’t write them either. I’ve read hundreds of novels in this genre and written several of my own. I believe closed-door romances can be just as tension-filled and fun as those with spice. I love the closed-door romance community and have a passion for sharing books that make me laugh, cry, and swoon.

Annah's book list on romcoms without spice

Annah Conwell Why Annah loves this book

The banter in this book is unmatched. I could say more about this book, but really, the only thing that you need to know is that the banter is perfection. Every line of dialogue elevated the humor and the tension. I’m certain I binged this whole book in less than a day. 

By Jenny B. Jones ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked First to Fall as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When I woke up this morning, I became aware of two things:
One, I felt hungover, and I knew I hadn’t had a drop of liquor.A
nd two, I was pretty sure I had accidentally married someone.

I, Olivia Sutton, have a Ten Year Plan. It’s air-tight and written in permanent ink. You know what’s not on the plan? Getting married to the man I used to love to hate. But when my sister’s pre-wedding trip goes horribly wrong, I find myself legally bound to my old nemesis, tech sensation Lachlan Hayes. Lachlan pitches a plan to temporarily stay married.…


Book cover of The Lovely Bones
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