Why am I passionate about this?

When my children were 1, 3, and 5, my husband and I adopted two teenage boys. Suddenly, I was a mom to five, trying to keep my head above water. I turned to other women for advice, friendship, and compassion. While bonding over our chaotic lives, I found stories. My friends offered new perspectives on my world. I learned that every woman is living life on her own terms, and no two tales are the same. This is the magic of listening to another woman. I'm passionate about telling these stories so we can all see the world from a unique perspective and look at our situations with new understanding.


I wrote

The Club

By Jacquline Kang,

Book cover of The Club

What is my book about?

Ireland Jacobson is desperately trying to survive the death of her fiancĆ©, one day at a time, one breath atā€¦

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

The books I picked & why

Book cover of City Girl

Jacquline Kang Why did I love this book?

I love this book because it features three vastly different women in three very different family environments. Devin, a soon to be single mom, Caroline, a wife of an abusive husband and Maggie, a wife and mother in a family where she holds no value.

Even though these women and their situations couldnā€™t be more different, they find solace in one another, proving that sometimes family is what you make. I read this book while in my high school years, and it captured my attention and turned me into a devoted womenā€™s fiction reader. 

By Patricia Scanlan,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

They're back and stronger than ever! Pre-order CITY GIRLS FOREVER, the new Patricia Scanlan novel, out Spring 2025.

*** THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR ***

Whatever life holds, friends come first...

Devlin: Blonde, beautiful, rich and spoilt. The world is hers for the taking until she encounters the suave, seductive and very married Colin Cantrell-King. A rat, who lies, cheats and uses women until he tires of them. Her life is turned upside down and then the unthinkable happens. Caroline: Fat, frumpy, needy and terminally shy, she's terrified of being left on the shelf. The she meets Richard cold, reservedā€¦


Book cover of The Me List

Jacquline Kang Why did I love this book?

This book had one basic message, and it came down to this: Take time to put yourself first because you matter too. I love this message so much because it took me years (and Iā€™m still working on it) to learn the importance of self-care.

Challenging relationships within my own family structure have taken a toll over the years. However, reading this book reminded me that I can take control of my own happiness and that it is not selfish to make a ā€œMe Listā€ and make myself happy, too. 

By Julee Balko,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

"Balko's writing is pure magic and it's a must-read for today's divided world." ā€“J.D. Greyson, founder of Move Me Poetry

Ziplining despite being scared of heights. Learning yoga when you're afraid of downward anything. Facing your strained relationship with your mother.

When Olivia writes a ME List, she picks 10 things to get her out of her suburban mom funk. But what she really needs is to figure out how to deal with her next-door neighbor, nemesis, and new boss-Patricia. Patricia is the top realtor in their town and has the perfect life. But when Olivia agrees to be Patricia'sā€¦


Ad

Book cover of Feral Maril & Her Little Brother Carol

Feral Maril & Her Little Brother Carol by Leslie Tall Manning,

Winner of the Literary Titan Book Award

Bright but unassuming Marilyn Jones has some grown-up decisions to make, especially after Mama goes to prison for drugs and larceny. With no one to take care of them, Marilyn and her younger, mentally challenged brother, Carol, get tossed into the foster careā€¦

Book cover of Recipe for a Charmed Life

Jacquline Kang Why did I love this book?

I love this book for a few reasons. 1.) I love a book where the location becomes a character in and of itself. This book takes place in the San Yuan Islands of Washington State, a location that is near and dear to my heart as I grew up in the area. I spent most of my childhood roaming the shores and popping into the little boutique shops dotting the islands.

The vivid descriptions of the landscape brought me back to those days. 2.) I loved the way this story focuses on a mother/daughter relationship that isnā€™t the typical ā€œhappy familyā€ dynamic. A sprinkle of romance and a touch of culinary had me turning the pages until the very end. 

By Rachel Linden,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Recipe for a Charmed Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

ā€œHeartfelt, heartwarming, joyful, and uplifting. You can't go wrong with a Rachel Linden book.ā€ā€”#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

After a day of unrivaled disappointments, a promising young chef finds every bite of food suddenly tastes bitter. To save her career, she travels to the Pacific Northwest to reconnect with her estranged mom, and discovers a family legacy she never suspected in this delicious novel from the bestselling author of The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie.

American chef Georgia May Jackson has one goalā€”to run her own restaurant in Paris. After a grueling decade working in Parisian kitchens,ā€¦


Book cover of Hello Beautiful

Jacquline Kang Why did I love this book?

I loved the similarities between this book and the book Little Women. The layers of the relationships between the four sisters attributed to an unexpected family drama. There were times I wanted to crawl inside the pages and give the girls a good ā€œtalkinā€™ toā€ as some of the choices they made were indeed cringe-worthy.

But this is the mark of a truly talented writer, evoking such emotion in the reader that you think about the book well after finishing the final pages. 

By Ann Napolitano,

Why should I read it?

17 authors picked Hello Beautiful 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 of Dear Edward comes a poignant and engrossing family story that asks: Can love make a broken person whole?

ā€œHello Beautiful is exactly that: beautiful, perceptive, wistful. Itā€™s a story of family and friendship, of how the people we are bound to can also set us free. I loved it.ā€ā€”Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace

William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love himā€”so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshmanā€¦


Ad

Book cover of Stormwalker Series Connections In Time Bain's Story

Stormwalker Series Connections In Time Bain's Story by S.G. Boudreaux,

Finding Family, Discovery, Destiny. This is what nineteen-year-old Bain Brinley is searching for.

In his homeland, far in the mountains, he stepped into what he could only describe as a time-portal and landed in a strange land known as Egypt. Then he falls through another portal during a storm, onlyā€¦

Book cover of Blush

Jacquline Kang Why did I love this book?

Here is another book where the setting acts as a main character in the novel. I gobbled up the references to wine, cheese, and the Napa Valley as though I was sitting on the sun-soaked porch with the characters. But the backdrop of the Napa Valley, as stunning as it is, pales in comparison to the lessons three generations of women learn from each other as the story unfolds.

This story made me want to understand women's roles as heads of families and how those roles are changing from generation to generation.

By Jamie Brenner,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

From acclaimed author Jamie Brenner comes a stunning new novel about three generations of women who discover that the scandalous books of their past may just be the key to saving their family's future.

For decades, the Hollander Estates winery has been the premier destination for lavish parties and romantic day trips on the North Fork of Long Island. But behind the lush vineyards and majestic estate house, the Hollander family fortunes have suffered and the threat of a sale brings old wounds to the surface. For matriarch Vivian, she fears that this summer season could be their lastā€”and thatā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

The Club

By Jacquline Kang,

Book cover of The Club

What is my book about?

Ireland Jacobson is desperately trying to survive the death of her fiancƩ, one day at a time, one breath at a time, while working for her cold, controlling mother. When a shocking secret about Ireland's father comes to light, she makes an impromptu trip to find answers. But rather than finding answers, Ireland stirs up painful complications with the man's current family.

Ireland returns home and attempts to resume life as it was before. With her job and security on the line, she must make difficult choices, rely on people she has just met and hurt those she has known for years in order to heal, forgive and find her own personal inner strength.

Book cover of City Girl
Book cover of The Me List
Book cover of Recipe for a Charmed Life

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

2,007

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

šŸ“š You might also likeā€¦

Book cover of Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles

Courting the Sun by Peggy Joque Williams,

Can a free-spirited country girl navigate the world of intrigue, illicit affairs, and power-mongering that is the court of Louis XIVā€”the Sun King--and still keep her head?

France, 1670. Sixteen-year-old Sylvienne dā€™Aubert receives an invitation to attend the court of King Louis XIV. She eagerly accepts, unaware of her motherā€™sā€¦

Book cover of Up the Down Escalator: Medicine, Motherhood, and Multiple Sclerosis

Up the Down Escalator by Lisa Doggett,

2024 Gold Winner, Benjamin Franklin Awards, Health & Fitness Category

2024 International Book Awards, Winner, Autobiography/Memoir Category and Health: Women's Health Category

A memoir of triumph in the face of a terrifying diagnosis, Up the Down Escalator recounts Dr. Lisa Doggett's startling shift from doctor to patient, as she learnsā€¦

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in family secrets, murder, and murder mystery?

Family Secrets 212 books
Murder 1,086 books
Murder Mystery 573 books