100 Books Like The Unwanted Wife

This was the book that inspired me to write. I loved it so. Even though it was a quick, easy read, Slow Hands made me want to step into the pages and take the heroine’s place. As I consumed it for the third time, I decided to analyze why I enjoyed it so. One of the reasons was that Maddy wasn’t perfect. I could relate to her. Also, the sex was steamy, fun, and very re-readable. Lastly, the hero was to die for. To me, the hero makes the book and Jake was one I wanted to grab onto and never let go. Slow Hands made me want to be an author and pen stories that made other people feel the same way I did – and I hope I have. 

My God, this book ripped my heart out and put it back together again. I love stories that make me cry and I’ve made that a goal in my own writing. I want to make the reader laugh, weep, and swoon – then I know I’ve done my job. This book fulfills those requirements in spades. I adored this story. I’ve reread this book a dozen times or more. The characters, Nathan & Bella, will be with me forever. 

Wow. This book almost broke my kindle. I cried so much, I nearly shorted it out. Talk about flawed characters – this story has two of the best. Alyssa had been through hell and back and come out stronger for it. Ironically, she is a stripper and a virgin. I ate this stuff up! Plus, Luc, the hero was such a hard head. I enjoyed his come to Jesus moment when he realized what he was letting slip through his fingers. Merciful heaven, this book set a standard for me that I have strived to attain as far as weaving an emotional roller coaster tale. Shayla Black is a master.   

Promises Prevail turned me inside out. This is another book I’ve read more times than I can count. The plot took me to places I’d never been before. I learned to love historical westerns when I inhaled this whole Promises series. Jenna is such a sweet heroine and strong beyond measure. Yet – when her vulnerabilities emerge – I melted in sympathy. The hero, Clint, is scary as heck but gentle as a lamb. My favorite kind of man. And…the sex was surprisingly hot and opened my eyes in more ways than one. All in all, I would recommend anything Sarah McCarty writes – she’s that good.  

The Unwanted is perhaps the best all-around book explaining the crisis faced by Jewish refugees trying to escape to the United States. Dobbs merges the intimate histories of members of the Jewish community in the small German town of Kippenheim, the work of the US State Department officials in Germany and France, American refugee aid workers, and President Roosevelt. By utilizing both personal and official sources, Dobbs allows all the people he writes about to speak for themselves. It’s beautifully written and heartbreaking, and whatever you think about this history when you start the book, those thoughts will be more nuanced and complicated when you’re finished.

This is a powerful book that I devoured over three days, deeply engrossed in both the Antarctic storyline and a back story about McNeil’s extraordinary childhood in another cold place–the Maritimes of eastern Canada. McNeil travels to Antarctica on the British survey and supply ship James Clark Ross then spends the summer at a British base on an island off the Antarctic Peninsula.

She explores Antarctica–with the help of a friendly Twin Otter pilot–but travels inward too, and the story becomes more and more personal as the Antarctic days shorten, and she is hit by a sudden and intense anxiety. Although our Antarctic experiences were very different, I identified deeply with this story, and learned so much from this brilliant writer. 

One of the best science books I know, at the same time profound, stimulating and accessible. Pollock describes discoveries made in his own laboratory and by others about a highly ordered state of liquid water that can be revealed in very simple experiments, that can lead to the generation of energy in new ways, and that plays a major role in all living cells. Pollack also opens extraordinary new areas for investigation through imaginative speculations, each with an “out on a limb” index to indicate how far it goes beyond established orthodoxy.

Facts matter to kids, of course, and library shelves groan with attempts to distill climate causes and effects down to child-sized volumes. For middle graders, visual encyclopedia-style nonfiction can work well, covering broad ranges of information from atmospheric chemistry to statistics on carbon emissions sources in photo-rich chunks. 

But I’ve seen younger readers wince at graphic pictures of bleached coral or violent wildfires. Pen and acrylic drawings soften this book’s approach, supporting student learning by avoiding traumatic imagery. The polar bear theme draws readers in yet gradually widens to encompass people and places affected near home.

My special kudos for spreads that explain scientific concepts, like the greenhouse effect, with accurate prose and illustrations abounding with life. 

Another great title! When all the other ices and lollies get chosen by the children, Icecream feels sad and unwanted. “No one wants me!” she cries.

It gets so bad for Icecream she has a meltdown! “I give up!” she cries, flopping to the floor! Will Icecream be stuck in the freezer forever? Will no one choose her?  Find out in this funny tale, with a kind-hearted message, that all children will be able to identify with.

Super illustrations with lots of fun detail.

Ice ice ice. The Arctic region of the world is heating much faster than the rest of the planet. That means that ice is melting fast and radically changing this delicate polar region. Going through a history of ice on the planet, the cycle of ice ages, the impacts of greenhouse gases, and the consequence of rapidly melting ice, Wadhams warns us of the looming death spiral of climate change from methane gas release from permafrost and from self-reinforcing feedback loops that take us deeper and deeper into climate collapse. This is a must-read if you are a climate activist, a scientist focusing on climate change, or if you simply want to learn about how climate change is completely destabilizing our planetary ecosystem. He ends with a list of actions that we can take to slow this process down and stabilize our climate.