Books like Voyager

House arrest in a hotel, and a man raises a daughter in it.

The Count can give Sofia nothing—no country, no freedom, no future he can guarantee—so he gives her manners, music, attention, and wit, and most of all love. It turns out those are not nothing. They're the inheritance.

I love it for the opposite reason I love McCarthy: same question, no apocalypse, just a man with four walls deciding what to pass on. If you're a parent who feels you have less to give your kids than you'd hoped, this one's a gift.

I’m a fan of Dune because it feels larger than science fiction and more enduring than almost any genre label can contain.

I admire the depth of Frank Herbert’s worldbuilding, the strength of his prose, and the narrative weight carried by his characters and ideas. I return to books like this because they helped define what speculative fiction could become.

I also value Dune as a work of its own time. I do not want foundational novels rewritten to imitate modern language or contemporary storytelling habits. I want them preserved, studied, and experienced as they were written. To me, the best way to keep a genre alive is not to alter its past, but to let new authors build upon it with voices of their own.

James Clavell’s Shogun is the granddaddy of epic historical adventure.

From the moment I stepped into feudal Japan, I was captivated by the intricate political maneuvering, ruthless power struggles, and cultural clashes between East and West. Clavell created unforgettable characters whose loyalties shift constantly, making every alliance feel fragile and every conversation dangerous.

I especially loved how strategy often proved more powerful than the sword, with victories won through patience, deception, and psychological warfare. The novel also offers a richly authentic look at samurai honor, religion, trade, and the complexities of navigating an unfamiliar world.

By the final pages, I felt as though I had lived another life. It's an unforgettable adventure that rewards every minute invested.

I love the main character, the strongest woman in literature, who, in late Paleolithic times, literally invents the modern world. She is strong but thinks herself weak. She is beautiful but thinks herself ugly. She circumvents and overcomes every instance of adversity thrown her way. I want to be her, and the book permits me to wear her shoes.

I have been highly influenced by Jean Auel’s storytelling, especially the graphic scenes of Ayla’s loss of innocence, growth into sexuality, and descriptions of lust, love, and completion.

This book is not erotica, yet the love scenes are the best I’ve ever read and are a roadmap to create tension and heat in my writing. With her influence, my audience laughs, cries, and cheers their way through my books.

I know this is 'another’ Scottish time travel historical romance – but I’d been looking for a novel in this genre and this one was great. There are also touches of humor throughout that were reminiscent of Gabaldon’s writing style. Single and pregnant (yes pregnant!) museum-worker, Melanie gets transported to 16th Century Scotland when she examines an ancient wooden box. There, she meets Darcy – a brave yet innocent young man who becomes her unlikely protector when she’s accused of witchcraft. This novel grips you from the first page. Gage evokes the setting and time period brilliantly, and the romance is realistically portrayed and emotional. 

Although Finding Fraser features an older character, Emma, her youthful quirks and adventure are relatable to a younger audience. The travel to Scotland in search of Jamie Fraser (a character from a popular series) makes this book a dose of fun. I like the adventure and mishaps along the way due to being in unfamiliar territory. The friendships and relationships bring about both the good and worst of Emma’s behavior. It’s a nice balance for this chic-lit. 

The true test of a good novel, for me, is if I finish it with a certain sense of wistfulness, a lingering emotional aftertaste.

With The Ministry of Time, that was definitely the case for me. I found the book frustrating at first for various reasons, but it definitely grew on me as I read on. Very smart and beautifully written, with an attention-grabbing premise and sympathetic characters that really stay with you.

I can see why it's been so popular, and I look forward to reading the next one from the brilliant Kaliane Bradley!

I came across this book via the film Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. Then I discovered that this heart-achingly romantic story of love across the ages was based on a book by science fiction writer Matheson, who also wrote I Am Legend. As with Kindred, the main character goes back in time from the 1970s.

What I especially loved was the mechanism for the time travel–immersing yourself in everything about the time you wanted to go back to, including clothes, money, and even the furnishings and decoration of the room in which you’re in, and then imagining yourself there. I spent many hours as a teenager trying to enact the same method to go back in time. Sadly, I wasn’t successful.

I love historical fiction that adds an element of fantasy, magical realism, or time travel. I like the expansion of the mind that accompanies appreciation of these novels. (Yes, I admit that appreciation guided me in writing one of my series in the historical/romance/fantasy blended genre.) A Stitch in Time is a time travel novel of romance in which the heroine slips through time to the Victorian English countryside. She moves back and forth from the present to the past. The story is complete with a haunted manor house, ghosts, mystery, and love unbounded by time.

If my description seems banal, I apologize, for this is an intelligently crafted story. The author's sentences are beautifully written, leading the readers into the inner thoughts of the character. I just recently discovered this prolific author, and I'm a big fan!

Sometimes I want to be emotionally destroyed and when I do, this is the series I return to. Kenyon has a way of developing her fantasy world and those who inhabit it so fully that reading this series feels less like an escape and more like an immersion. This series is a different take on the vampire genre, bringing in Greek mythology to expand the lore of Kenyon’s world. The heroines are strong, the heroes are perfectly flawed, and this is the series I turn to when I want to feel every emotion on the spectrum.