The best books on the pleasures and perils of family ties

Picked by Jacquline Kang

What did I love about each book?

List by Jacquline Kang

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.

The books I picked & why

City Girl

By Patricia Scanlan,

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 couldn’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 women’s fiction reader.

City Girl

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, reserved…

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The Me List

By Julee Balko,

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 I’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 “Me List” and make myself happy, too.

The Me List

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." –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's…

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Recipe for a Charmed Life

By Rachel Linden,

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 isn’t the typical “happy family” dynamic. A sprinkle of romance and a touch of culinary had me turning the pages until the very end.

Recipe for a Charmed Life

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?

“Heartfelt, heartwarming, joyful, and uplifting. You can't go wrong with a Rachel Linden book.”—#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 goal—to run her own restaurant in Paris. After a grueling decade working in Parisian kitchens,…

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Hello Beautiful

By Ann Napolitano,

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 “talkin’ to” 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.

Hello Beautiful

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?

“Hello Beautiful is exactly that: beautiful, perceptive, wistful. It’s a story of family and friendship, of how the people we are bound to can also set us free. I loved it.”—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 him—so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman…

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Blush

By Jamie Brenner,

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.

Blush

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 last—and that…

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