Books like What a Bride Wants — picked by fans

This is a wonderful story about romance, a touch of suspense, and second-chance love. The heroine, Gianna, comes home after three failed engagements, suffers the gossip of the town, and runs into her childhood boyfriend, Zach. She’s gun-shy about getting involved with him again but can’t deny her feelings.

He’s thrilled to see her, and intense feelings ignite between them while he is recovering from a tragedy of his own. The story is beautiful and touching as they help each other heal. I loved this book and recommend it.

I loved this "later in life" romance with the main characters being in their fifties and early sixties.

A novel filled with plenty of steam, humor, and passion. Widow Andi McDermott retreats to her mountain cabin at Christmas and runs into her grumpy neighbor, Wolf Enders. An instant attraction sparks between them neither can ignore.

Wolf is a military veteran who is intimidating and has a soft spot for the widowed Andy, as well as an aversion to committing to a woman. Intensely emotional, this novel focuses on family issues, love, and learning to trust again. A well-written novel I recommend.

Making life choices is difficult for all of us, as it is for the hero in this book. Andy thinks the job he holds defines him and finds out that because of his job, he has no life. He’s living a hollow existence, and when he least expects it, he meets the love of his life.

The heroine has her own problems to deal with when she meets Andy. They are opposites drawn together, as many of us are in real life. A twist at the end has him having to choose between love and his career. Another beautiful second-chance love story I enjoyed reading and recommend to pull at the heartstrings.

What a fun read about a doctor and a rodeo cowboy who find love on the side of the road when she gets a flat tire. Of course, life is never simple. She’s older than him and has reservations about getting involved with a younger man.

Love me an age-gap romance! I love this author’s writing and will read anything of hers. The steam factor is off the charts in this spicy love story. The characters are likable and engaging, and they have great chemistry. I would recommend this novel to those who love humor and steamy romance.

This is another book that I consider to fall under the romance category first. However, I absolutely adored this book because the main character is a morally gray character. I love seeing morally gray characters! I love writing them. It makes the story so much more interesting. It also makes the characters unpredictable, keeping them from falling into the “Mary Sue” category. 

Kestrel’s father is the fierce general who won the Herran War and enslaved its people. When she buys a Herrani house slave named Arin at the market, Kestrel gets more than she bargained for – a challenge to her privileged, sheltered life, an epic love, and a part in the revolution. This is the first in the trilogy, and it is a genuine pleasure to watch Kestrel, from the beginning a character with an independent streak, navigate impossible choices as she grows into the person she wants to be. A lush and detailed world full of intrigue, politics, and gripping romance. 

This one is specifically aimed at singles, though I believe it’s an interesting read for anyone – single or not! In Keeping the Love You Find, Harville Hendrix provides an insightful look into how our experiences through childhood can affect our ability to form healthy relationships as adults and what we can do about it.

What I found particularly interesting was the explanation of the different developmental objectives of each stage of childhood and what can happen when those goals are disrupted. Of course, all insights are backed up by research and personal experience, making them both informative and very relatable. Additionally, Hendrix provides readers with exercises that can be used to help them better understand their own needs and form more meaningful connections with others.

Overall, I found this really insightful and interesting to reflect on, particularly in its relevance to my own childhood as well as how I… show more.

Wow, it is nearly impossible to choose just one of my faves from Holly Black’s faerie stories. They are all amazing! Seriously…. Every. Last. One. But what grabbed me with this book was the way it started. This story has an eerie feel to it from the very first page. I love how Holly weaves reality into her fantasy and the way the Fae are already known and accepted in their world, but also feared (because hello, they’re Fae!). There's everything in this story, romance, adventure, and coming-of-age badassery, which again bodes well if you ever find yourself face to face with the Faire Folk.

I fell into and out of love all the time. It just never worked for me. It turns out that falling in love and loving are not the same. According to Helen Fisher, lust, romantic love, and long-term committed love are different states. She scanned the brains of people in love to find out which regions were active when someone was madly in love and mapped that state to brain chemicals. Romantic love, she found, is literally an addiction, activating the same brain systems and chemicals as opioids. I was hooked on romance, falling into it over and over instead of moving to the stage of deep and long-lasting love.

Fisher explains the role of three brain chemicals in lust, romantic, and committed love: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Understanding what’s going on in my brain in romantic love helped me look beyond that crazy feeling to find a deep connection.

The characters in Exposure are well developed and likable, and the story was captivating from beginning to end. It had the right mix of tension and humor. Readers who enjoy spicy romances with some family drama thrown in will love this book. Loyalty is a double-edged sword, especially when dealing with family.