Growing up with a severe disability and being an advocate from a very young age has taught me a lot of hard lessons. I struggled and endured a tremendous amount of bullying and discrimination, so I tend to pick books that I can relate to such as the Dresden Files where the character also struggles with difficulties in his life. I also pick books that make me laugh or are truly magical that help lift my spirits.
"Jennifer Gibson’s young adult coming of age/social issues novel, Hope, is the fourth book in the series that features Jessie McIntyre, a young, hearing disabled woman. I had not read any of the previous books in the series but found myself smoothly integrated into the story of this engaging character. Gibson’s story gives the reader a sobering look into the challenges faced on an everyday basis by people who are seen by the rest of the world as disabled.
And yes, I finished the book thinking that the world needs a few more heroes like Jessie McIntyre. Hope is most highly recommended." - Jack Magnus, Readers’ Favourite
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Tonya is a very talented young adult writer who has written two trilogies and currently working on her third series now. She weaves a magical tale that will leave you wanting more as you turn the pages, they are gripping and fun to read! These books have had a special place in my heart since I designed her book covers.
Janet has a penchant for coming up with the craziest and most outrageous scenes with her characters who go around investigating strange cases as bounty hunters. This is a short and sweet holiday version based on the original Stephanie Plum series. Every book features explosions, mishaps, romantic hookups, and epic failures. She makes me laugh every time, and I don’t feel as bad about having an old car, small apartment, empty fridge, or lack of romance. Totally worth it.
I am currently reading this book and enjoying it. I have been a big fan of the Dresden Files series for a long time and admire the strength it takes to be a wizard in the modern world. Jim comes up with the wildest and imaginative stories featuring battles with the supernatural. The author is also a fencer and martial artist just like me!
I was fortunate enough to attend Chris’s book launch a few years ago while he was on tour in Canada and I was immediately taken in by his incredibly humble personality. He was far more down-to-earth than I expected and very informative. His book takes you on this amazing journey from his childhood all the way to NASA where he had to overcome a lot of challenges. It was a truly captivating read.
This novel was written by two sweet authors who live not too far from me and they have a wonderful sense of humour. It’s an intriguing mystery that is worthwhile picking up! They also have another series called the Dorothy Dennehy Mysteries and I have designed those book covers as well!
5,215 authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about private investigators, astronauts, and Illinois.
We think you will like Eleven on Top, Runner, and Some Buried Caesar if you like this list.
From Sharisse's list on to smash patriarchy and still enjoy your vacation.
I love Janet Evanovich’s writing and the entire Stephanie Plum series, but this book is my favorite. I laugh-cried more than once (making family members back out of the room slowly, sure I’d finally lost my mind), ignored all other obligations as I read it in one sitting, and developed a real crush on a fictional character (Team Ranger). I love that Stephanie Plum is such an endearing and well-rounded character. She does some badass things, makes a lot of (often gross) mistakes, has a big heart, and gets to have an enviable love life all while figuring out how to be an independent woman who, however blundering, saves herself. It’s fun, sexy, and hilarious.
From Delia's list on featuring Black private eyes.
I grew up on the great South Side of Chicago, so Tracy Clark’s vibrant portrayal of the bitter cold of my city’s winter struck home with me. The icy conditions form a perfect setting for PI Cass Raines’ increasingly desperate hunt for a missing girl. Raines battles corrupt city officials, suspicious teenagers, indifferent cops, and the brutal blizzard to find her client’s daughter. This is the latest in the series, but it’s a deft and polished novel that stands on its own.
From Chuck's list on crime fiction with a droll sense of humor.
Back in 2012, I had the honor of being a luncheon speaker at New York’s annual “Black Orchid Weekend” gathering of fans – and I mean fanatics – of Rex Stout’s iconic Nero Wolfe detective novels. I was among my tribe, having cut my teeth on the Wolfe canon as a nerdy teenager to whom Stout’s books were a revelation: compact tales of crime and punishment starring a corpulent, agoraphobic gourmand and orchid fancier whose formidable (and unabashedly Sherlockian) powers of deduction were wielded from behind a desk in his brownstone on West 35th Street with the aid of a two-fisted Boswell named Archie Goodwin. While the yarns themselves are feasts, it’s Archie’s decidedly arch humor that provides the special sauce. Forced to choose, I’ll recommend Some Buried Caesar, Stout’s sixth Wolfe installment (of 33 novels and 39 novellas), originally published in 1939. It finds Wolfe in unfamiliar territory, outside his brownstone and en route to an orchid show, when an auto accident thrusts him between two feuding rural families and one prize Guernsey bull. But as with all the Nero Wolfe novels, it’s the interplay between the pompous Wolfe and the needling Goodwin that takes the action to a higher level.
