Here are 94 books that Welcome to the Neighborhood fans have personally recommended if you like Welcome to the Neighborhood. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of For the Love of Friends

Annie Cathryn Author Of The Friendship Breakup

From my list on humorous reads about adult female friendships.

Why am I passionate about this?

When writing about friendships, it was important for me to highlight the highs and the lows of friendships. This approach takes the reader on a journey with the main character as she remembers the good times while she navigates through the tough times. By sprinkling in humor, a story that could sway to the serious side and stay there is suddenly entertaining and balanced, giving the main character’s plight depth and the reader an engrossing experience.  

Annie's book list on humorous reads about adult female friendships

Annie Cathryn Why Annie loves this book

For the Love of Friends is a fun and humorous book that delves into friendships and how the dynamics shift when friends become bridesmaids.

Throughout the years, I’ve been a bridesmaid in numerous weddings and this story rang true for me, especially trying not to get caught up in any drama. I remember some friends of the brides taking strides to prove who is the better friend.

I couldn’t put this book down with all the jaw-dropping scenes, snark, and the lengths friends will go for love

By Sara Goodman Confino ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked For the Love of Friends as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A sharp and hilariously relatable novel about the business of weddings, the toll they can take, and the lengths one exasperated bridesmaid will go to for the love of friends.

Lily Weiss is her mother's worst nightmare: thirty-two and single-the horror! She's also a talented writer but hides behind a boring job at a science foundation. To her friends, she's reliable and selfless, which is how she winds up a bridesmaid in five weddings in six weeks. Anything for her three best friends and two (younger) siblings, right? Even if her own love life is...well, she'd rather not talk about…


If you love Welcome to the Neighborhood...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Book cover of Firefly Lane

Katie K. May Author Of You're on Fire, It's Fine: Effective Strategies for Parenting Teens with Self-Destructive Behaviors

From my list on healing family dynamics and generational trauma.

Why am I passionate about this?

My journey from a teen struggling with self-harm, drug use, and overwhelming emotions to a DBT-Linehan Board of Certification Clinician™ and director of Creative Healing, Teen Support Centers, uniquely positions me to understand the deep emotional challenges teens face. Having navigated my own tumultuous youth and now parenting a "Fire Feeler" teen, I use my personal and professional insights to guide thousands of teens and their parents. I am passionately committed to creating environments where teens are supported while the entire family learns skills to improve and work together.

Katie's book list on healing family dynamics and generational trauma

Katie K. May Why Katie loves this book

I was deeply moved by Firefly Lane because it captures the essence of lifelong friendships transcending family dysfunction. I cherished how Tully and Kate's relationship reflects the idea that sometimes, the family we choose holds the key to our healing.

This book resonated with me on a personal level, reminding me of my bond to my best friend, which has been a cornerstone through life's tumultuous phases.

By Kristin Hannah ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Firefly Lane as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . . now a #1 Netflix series!

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a…


Book cover of The Restoration of Celia Fairchild

Annie Cathryn Author Of The Friendship Breakup

From my list on humorous reads about adult female friendships.

Why am I passionate about this?

When writing about friendships, it was important for me to highlight the highs and the lows of friendships. This approach takes the reader on a journey with the main character as she remembers the good times while she navigates through the tough times. By sprinkling in humor, a story that could sway to the serious side and stay there is suddenly entertaining and balanced, giving the main character’s plight depth and the reader an engrossing experience.  

Annie's book list on humorous reads about adult female friendships

Annie Cathryn Why Annie loves this book

I loved every minute of this book.

This is the type of book you read with tabbies and attach them to all the amazing lines that strike a chord with you.

Set in charming Charleston, this story is about community, friendship, and self-discovery. It’s heartwarming, endearing, and packs an emotional punch.

By Marie Bostwick ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Restoration of Celia Fairchild as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"The Restoration of Celia Fairchild is wise, witty, and utterly compelling." -Jane Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Friends We Keep

Evvie Drake Starts Over meets The Friday Night Knitting Club in this wise and witty novel about a fired advice columnist who discovers lost and found family members in Charleston, by the New York Times bestselling author of The Second Sister.

Celia Fairchild, known as advice columnist 'Dear Calpurnia', has insight into everybody's problems - except her own. Still bruised by the end of a marriage she thought was her last chance to create a family,…


If you love Lisa Roe...

Book cover of A Forgivable Indecision

A Forgivable Indecision by Shawn Jennings,

In 1913, a 15-year-old pregnant girl was found dead of apparent suicide. Dr. James Wilson, a new graduate and the first doctor ever to start a practice in this rural town, feels guilty over her death because of his delayed intervention.

He knows Bessie was raped by one of her…

Book cover of Brunch and Other Obligations

Annie Cathryn Author Of The Friendship Breakup

From my list on humorous reads about adult female friendships.

Why am I passionate about this?

When writing about friendships, it was important for me to highlight the highs and the lows of friendships. This approach takes the reader on a journey with the main character as she remembers the good times while she navigates through the tough times. By sprinkling in humor, a story that could sway to the serious side and stay there is suddenly entertaining and balanced, giving the main character’s plight depth and the reader an engrossing experience.  

Annie's book list on humorous reads about adult female friendships

Annie Cathryn Why Annie loves this book

This book has such an intriguing and powerful premise.

Molly is best friends with three women who are seemingly different. These three frenemies have only one thing in common and that is their mutual friend Molly.

When Molly passes away, her last wish is for these women to meet for brunch once a month for a year.

It’s the mysterious gifts Molly leaves each of them that leads them on a journey of self-discovery and exhibits how much Molly understood each of her friends.

And a standing brunch date may be more beneficial than they think.

By Suzanne Nugent ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Brunch and Other Obligations as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Poignant, funny, and smart, Brunch and Other Obligations is a must-have for contemporary women's fiction shelves. Readers will want to watch for what Nugent does next."
-Booklist

"A thoroughly upbeat and fully entertaining novel from cover to cover."
-Midwest Book Review

"Brunch and Other Obligations is women's fiction at its finest! A tender, witty, heartfelt novel that had me laughing out loud in one chapter and reaching for tissues in the next. With humor, heart, and hope, Nugent reminds us that, once in a lifetime, if we're very, very lucky, we just might find a friend who knows us better…


Book cover of Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation

Jason Dearen Author Of Kill Shot: A Shadow Industry, a Deadly Disease

From my list on mysterious disease outbreaks.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am drawn to stories that grip, teach, and hold power to account. Some of my favorite writers have the ability to do all of it in one go–Lawrence Wright, David Grann, Dan Fagin, etc. I just try to write stories I want to read. So, when I started looking into a pharmacist who made drugs in a dirty lab outside Boston and who shipped his fungus-plagued vials throughout the U.S., I saw an opportunity. As an investigative journalist, I seek stories that shine light on dark corners of government and industry, as well as those that have the chance to better things while entertaining and educating the reader.

Jason's book list on mysterious disease outbreaks

Jason Dearen Why Jason loves this book

I grew up in Los Angeles in the 1970s and 1980s, when toxic pollution hung in the air and tainted the drinking water, ocean, and soil in ways much more plainly evident than today. Because of this, I am drawn to investigative journalism that holds industrial polluters to account. 

This is a towering work of narrative journalism that explains the causes of a mysterious cancer cluster in a bucolic town on the New Jersey shore. Fagin unspools the knotty science of epidemiology with the on-the-ground reality of a small town coming to grips with a rising, mysterious cancer epidemic. 

It’s an easy read for such a weighty topic, showing how science and the hard work of regulators and journalists can change the world by exposing the truth.

By Dan Fagin ,

Why should I read it?

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


Book cover of Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey

Joseph G. Bilby Author Of The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey

From my list on New Jersey history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in New Jersey and my paternal ancestors have lived here since 1732. My ancestors served in the Civil War, my father served in World War II and I also served in the military. From an early age, I wanted to be a writer, and that ambition, as well as my experience as an army officer in the Vietnam War, provided the sparks that ignited my writing career.

Joseph's book list on New Jersey history

Joseph G. Bilby Why Joseph loves this book

Folklore is not history, nor is history folklore, but they often intersect. Henry Charlton Beck, a journalist who became an Episcopal priest and who wrote a series of New Jersey folklife classics, began his career with this volume, stories of abandoned iron forges, villages, and forgotten legends in the state’s iconic Pinelands. Rutgers University Press reprinted Beck’s books, beginning with this book in 1961.

By Henry Charlton Beck ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Composed, for the most part, from sketches that were published in the Courier-Post newspapers of Camden, New Jersey, Beck provides us with a series of stories of towns too tiny or uncertain for today's maps. Together, these sketches help to create a more complete picture of the history of New Jersey. A connecting skein of untold or little known wartime history--the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the conflict of North against South--runs through most of the sketches. Many of the sketches concern the pine towns and their people, ""the pineys"" who lived in the Jersey pine barrens.


If you love Welcome to the Neighborhood...

Book cover of USS OBAMA 2130

USS OBAMA 2130 by John. H Sibley,

Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977, and Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977. Both began a historic journey with unique 'time capsules' on board intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record 12-inch gold-plated disk…

Book cover of New Jersey and the Rebellion: A History of the Services of the Troops and People of New Jersey in Aid of the Union Cause

Joseph G. Bilby Author Of The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey

From my list on New Jersey history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in New Jersey and my paternal ancestors have lived here since 1732. My ancestors served in the Civil War, my father served in World War II and I also served in the military. From an early age, I wanted to be a writer, and that ambition, as well as my experience as an army officer in the Vietnam War, provided the sparks that ignited my writing career.

Joseph's book list on New Jersey history

Joseph G. Bilby Why Joseph loves this book

There are a lot of legends regarding New Jersey and its role in the Civil War, including bogus stories that the state was considering joining the Confederacy. This book was the first attempt at relating the actual story of the state and the war. While it can be criticized in some respects, it is largely correct, and details the history of each of New Jersey’s units in the conflict. It is an invaluable starting point and a resource for anyone writing about the state and its role in the Civil War.

By John Young Foster ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked New Jersey and the Rebellion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been…


Book cover of Ghostman

Lia Matera Author Of The Good Fight

From my list on details of legal and definitely illegal professions.

Why am I passionate about this?

Before I wrote crime novels, I was a lawyer. Legal mysteries back then were mostly set in traditional firms, with just enough lawyering to set up final courtroom scenes. I preferred novels that showed more of the nitty-gritty, the conflicts, and temperaments peculiar to different workplaces. I’d been binging Dick Francis, with his deep dives into jobs connected to racing, and I wished there were books with his level of detail in settings I knew—students scrabbling to make law review, firebrand litigators in labor firms, double-crosses in corporate practice, the horrors of bank law retreats. When I finished Francis’s excellent Whip Hand, I decided to try writing one myself. 

Lia's book list on details of legal and definitely illegal professions

Lia Matera Why Lia loves this book

What is it like to be a thief? I picked up Ghostman after writer Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed) joked on Facebook that the book taught her how to rob a casino. This exciting story does that and much more. The protagonist is forced to untangle a caper gone FUBAR and then disappear without a trace. Through multiple twists and backstabbings, readers learn the fine points of pulling off grand thefts and long cons, the tricks and trials of becoming a permanent “ghost.” The information is offered seamlessly, with no jarring breaks from action or characterization. In my opinion, there’s never been a better heist novel, though its sequel, Vanishing Games, comes close. (Sadly, Hobbs died when he was only 26, leaving behind no additional manuscripts.) 

By Roger Hobbs ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

'Fast, hard and knowing: this is an amazing debut full of intrigue, tradecraft and suspense. Read it immediately!' Lee Child

________________

I make things disappear. It's what I do. This time I'm tidying up the loose ends after a casino heist gone bad. The loose ends being a million cash. But I only have 48 hours, and there's a guy out there who wants my head in a bag.

He'll have to find me first. They don't call me the Ghostman for nothing...

________________

'Brilliantly clever, gripping and action-packed. Utterly original and bound to become a big-budget movie.' SUNDAY MIRROR


Book cover of Hot Six

Susie Black Author Of Rag Lady

From my list on female protagonists with jobs usually performed by men.

Why am I passionate about this?

Before I became an author, I was a sales exec. As a female ladies’ apparel rep in a traditionally male-dominated industry in the Deep Southern states, I had to prove myself every day. When I started, there were no other women road reps in the region. No one, except my mentor father, thought I’d last a season. Grit and stubborn perseverance to prove the industry wrong kept me going. I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. I took a sledgehammer to every glass ceiling I encountered and smashed it to smithereens.

Susie's book list on female protagonists with jobs usually performed by men

Susie Black Why Susie loves this book

I absolutely adore the hilarity of physical comedy. So, I was immediately drawn to the slapstick antics of calamitous Trenton, NJ, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.

In Hot Six, a homicidal maniac has selected Stephanie as his next victim. Nothing tickles my funny bone more than a hapless heroine who stumbles and bumbles her way into and out of messes. I love that Stephanie never has to look for trouble…it always finds her.

I laughed out loud when Stephanie’s eccentric grandmother set up housekeeping in her granddaughter’s apartment at the same time that Stephanie adopted a dog with an eating disorder. I love the story’s frantic pace and the surreal spots Stephanie gets herself into. 

By Janet Evanovich ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Big-haired bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is back - and, boy, has she got man trouble . . .

First there's fellow bounty hunter Ranger, currently on the run from a murder rap and requesting Stephanie's help. Trouble is she can't decide if she should turn him in or keep him for herself.

Then there's sexy vice cop Joe Morelli - the man her heart says she's in love with (even though her head says otherwise). He's after Ranger too - but for less romantic reasons . . .

And now there's another male in her life. He's big, he's orange,…


If you love Lisa Roe...

Book cover of Deadly Revenge

Deadly Revenge by Patricia Bradley,

Deputy Jenna Hart has only been working in her sleepy hometown of Pearl Springs for seven months when city officials begin to be targeted by a killer. Twenty years ago, the construction of a dam caused people to lose their land to eminent domain. That wound has not healed with…

Book cover of 16 Words: William Carlos Williams and the Red Wheelbarrow

Ronni Diamondstein Author Of Jackie and the Books She Loved

From my list on inspire young people to be readers and writers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been a reader and a writer for as long as I can remember, so books about reading, writing, and storytelling have always interested me. As a school library media specialist for over 30 years, I have read thousands of picture books and placed wonderful books in the hands of thousands of young people. Several of these books were mentor texts when I wrote my picture book biography. I want young people to be inspired to read and write, and I hope these books will do that for the adults who select them and the children who read them.

Ronni's book list on inspire young people to be readers and writers

Ronni Diamondstein Why Ronni loves this book

I found this book to be the perfect illustration of how writers get their ideas and inspiration. This “oh-so-simple picture book” emulates the simplicity of William Carlos Williams’s beloved poem, The Red Wheelbarrow.

I found it to be a very thoughtful and thought-provoking book. The gentle illustrations complement the lyrical text, and the prose is as lovely to read aloud as William Carlos Williams’s poem. It’s such great inspiration for writers of all ages.

By Lisa Rogers , Chuck Groenink (illustrator) ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked 16 Words as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This simple nonfiction picture book about the beloved American poet William Carlos Williams is also about how being mindful can result in the creation of a great poem like "The Red Wheelbarrow"--which is only sixteen words long.

"Look out the window. What do you see? If you are Dr. William Carlos Williams, you see a wheelbarrow. A drizzle of rain. Chickens scratching in the damp earth." The wheelbarrow belongs to Thaddeus Marshall, a street vendor, who every day goes to work selling vegetables on the streets of Rutherford, New Jersey. That simple action inspires poet and doctor Williams to pick…


Book cover of For the Love of Friends
Book cover of Firefly Lane
Book cover of The Restoration of Celia Fairchild

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