82 books like Behind Closed Doors

By Kimberla Lawson Roby,

Here are 82 books that Behind Closed Doors fans have personally recommended if you like Behind Closed Doors. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Million Dollar Divorce

Christine EM Cooper Author Of His Lies, Her Secrets

From my list on get lost in someone else’s drama.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have enjoyed writing and creating stories based on fictional characters since my writing assignments in elementary school. I can remember my teachers telling my mother that my stories were very captivating and that I would take my simple assignments to a level that they hadn’t expected. This love for writing led to a love for reading fiction books and a deeper love for urban fiction, women’s fiction, and erotic fiction. I enjoyed books so much that I became a bookseller at a local bookstore and moved up to a specialist who introduced customers to their next favorite book. 

Christine's book list on get lost in someone else’s drama

Christine EM Cooper Why did Christine love this book?

This book grabbed my attention from the beginning and had me locked in. It was written with so much detail that I felt there was no way the characters were made up. The main characters, Nate and Monica Kenny go through the toughest times after they marry. They quickly face challenges centered around miscarriages and premature menopause that make Nate’s long-time dream of becoming a father impossible.

I love how the story takes many twists and turns and introduces new characters like bad boy, low-income earning barber, Lewis, and adds him into the world of the rich and happy Nate and Monica. 

By RM Johnson,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Scheming to obtain a divorce without losing half of his millions by exploiting an infidelity clause in his prenuptial agreement, business entrepreneur Nate Kenny blackmails a down-on-his-luck man into seducing his wife, a plan that backfires in unexpected ways. 30,000 first printing.


Book cover of Dr. Feelgood

Christine EM Cooper Author Of His Lies, Her Secrets

From my list on get lost in someone else’s drama.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have enjoyed writing and creating stories based on fictional characters since my writing assignments in elementary school. I can remember my teachers telling my mother that my stories were very captivating and that I would take my simple assignments to a level that they hadn’t expected. This love for writing led to a love for reading fiction books and a deeper love for urban fiction, women’s fiction, and erotic fiction. I enjoyed books so much that I became a bookseller at a local bookstore and moved up to a specialist who introduced customers to their next favorite book. 

Christine's book list on get lost in someone else’s drama

Christine EM Cooper Why did Christine love this book?

This book will remain on my list of favorite books of all time. I love how the author begins the story of the promiscuous doctor by jumping straight into the drama. Immediately, you are made aware of the well-respected cardiac surgeon’s character and how he loves women and plenty of them! Dr. Makkai Worthy is referred to by his many sex partners as Dr. Feelgood.

I became wrapped in the four women’s stories as they were introduced throughout this book. I found each character interesting, and there was never a dull moment as their disdain grew for the once-beloved doctor. I also found it interesting how the story takes you back to the place where it all began to explain the doctor’s love for sex and his inability to commit to just one woman. This page-turner is one that I plan to read again and again.

By Marissa Monteilh,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

From the author of MAKE ME HOT comes a steamy tale of a popular heart surgeon and his four women, told in their own voices. They call him Dr. Feelgood . . . One woman would never be enough to satisfy noted cardiologist Dr. Makkai Worthy, better known by his sex partners as Dr. Feelgood. Womanizer extraordinaire, he's a chip off the old block of his rolling-stone papa and commitment isn't an option. At 37 and single, he's happier than he's ever been, living the lifestyle of the rich and fine. A gifted surgeon, Dr. Feelgood knows how to operate…


Book cover of If I Could

Christine EM Cooper Author Of His Lies, Her Secrets

From my list on get lost in someone else’s drama.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have enjoyed writing and creating stories based on fictional characters since my writing assignments in elementary school. I can remember my teachers telling my mother that my stories were very captivating and that I would take my simple assignments to a level that they hadn’t expected. This love for writing led to a love for reading fiction books and a deeper love for urban fiction, women’s fiction, and erotic fiction. I enjoyed books so much that I became a bookseller at a local bookstore and moved up to a specialist who introduced customers to their next favorite book. 

Christine's book list on get lost in someone else’s drama

Christine EM Cooper Why did Christine love this book?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Regina Everette has never been a risk taker. She has always gone with the flow and done what everyone else wanted her to do. I admired the author’s work, especially how she described in great detail how this need-to-please mentality took over Regina’s life.

One day, she decided to risk it all and step out on faith, leaving her comfort zone behind. During this turning point, I couldn’t get enough of the new Regina and how she went from a people-pleaser to an independent woman, no longer depending on her husband, mother, and friends.

It was inspiring to read about a woman getting out of her own way and living out her dreams. She left her husband, stood up to her mother and friends, quit her job, and opened up her own bookstore. She even met a new man along the way. This book inspired…

By Donna Hill,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Tired of her old life, Regina Everette divorces her husband and the father of her two children, quits her unfulfilling job, scandalizes her family and friends, and sets out to rebuild her life by finding a new career and entering into a dynamic new relationship. Original.


Book cover of Wives And Girlfriends

Christine EM Cooper Author Of His Lies, Her Secrets

From my list on get lost in someone else’s drama.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have enjoyed writing and creating stories based on fictional characters since my writing assignments in elementary school. I can remember my teachers telling my mother that my stories were very captivating and that I would take my simple assignments to a level that they hadn’t expected. This love for writing led to a love for reading fiction books and a deeper love for urban fiction, women’s fiction, and erotic fiction. I enjoyed books so much that I became a bookseller at a local bookstore and moved up to a specialist who introduced customers to their next favorite book. 

Christine's book list on get lost in someone else’s drama

Christine EM Cooper Why did Christine love this book?

I grew more and more anxious to read this book each day. The drama in this page-turner was a great escape from the stresses of a long day at the office. I couldn’t get enough of Dominic Jones, a married man who spends his free time in the arms of his mistress, Tera Larou.

He’s consumed by greed and more concerned with his next fix than tending to the needs of his wife, Donna Jones. No amount of money is enough, and neither is the traditional life of having one woman. I enjoyed getting to know Donna and witnessing how she dealt with discovering her husband’s cheating ways, insecurities about her weight, and accepting that her dreams of becoming a famous choreographer may never come true. 

By Nishawnda Ellis,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Rich playboy Dominic Jones, splitting his time between his wife and his many girlfriends, finds his extracurricular activities taking a deadly turn when his latest fling demands something more and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Original.


Book cover of Sweetbriar Cottage

Julie Lessman Author Of Isle of Hope

From my list on romance with spiritual and romantic passion.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a CDQ (caffeinated drama queen) who does everything passionately, whether piping company’s initials into twice-baked potatoes or writing Christian romance. Dubbed the CBA’s “Kissing Queen,” I fell in love with romance at age twelve after reading Gone With the Wind. Today I write Irish-family sagas that evolve into 3-D love stories: the hero, the heroine, and the God that brings them together. As American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Author of the Year, I’ve garnered 21+ romance awards, was Family Fiction magazine’s #1 Romance Author 2011, 2012 Reader’s Choice Awards, Best of 2014, 2015, and Essential Christian Romance Authors 2017-2021. So, I know passion—and these authors have it!

Julie's book list on romance with spiritual and romantic passion

Julie Lessman Why did Julie love this book?

love realistic romantic passion with an accent mark on true-to-life spiritual lessons, and believe it or not, that’s not necessarily an easy find in the Christian market. So when I judged Denise in an American Christian Fiction Writers contest, I knew she was definitely an author for me.

By Denise Hunter,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

They thought their love story was over. They thought their divorce was final. They were wrong.

Following his divorce, Noah gave up his dream job and settled at a remote horse ranch in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Georgia, putting much-needed distance between himself and the former love of his life. But then Noah gets a letter from the IRS claiming he and Josephine are still married. When he confronts Josephine, they discover that she missed the final step in filing the paperwork and they are, in fact, still married.

Josephine is no happier about the news than Noah.…


Book cover of When Breath Becomes Air

Leonard L. Berry Author Of Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic: Inside One of the World's Most Admired Service Organizations

From my list on enhancing kindness and dignity in healthcare.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a University Distinguished Professor at Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, and a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. I have devoted my career to studying service quality and ways to improve it, first in the commercial sector and, since 2001, in healthcare. I started my healthcare journey studying at the Mayo Clinic, and I have since done in-residence research at other health systems, most recently, Henry Ford Health in Detroit. My work includes research on improving the patient and family experience in cancer care. Kindness and dignity are vitally important in healthcare – and too often missing. I am on a personal mission to enhance healing in all its forms.

Leonard's book list on enhancing kindness and dignity in healthcare

Leonard L. Berry Why did Leonard love this book?

I loved this book because it builds from the sadness of a life taken far too young to the beauty of deep reflections on the meaning of life, love, and loss. Paul Kalanithi was a brilliant neurosurgeon just completing his years of training when he was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer.

Kalanithi, a new father, wrote much of this book while he was dying. As a writer myself, this book caused me to wonder if I could be so open about my reality, in a book or any other form, while dying. I do not know the answer, but I treasure the experience of having read a book that raised such a powerful stirring in myself. Like the other books I recommend, Kalanithi’s memoir is a gift from the book Gods.

By Paul Kalanithi,

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked When Breath Becomes Air as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

**THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER**

'Rattling. Heartbreaking. Beautiful.' Atul Gawande, bestselling author of Being Mortal

What makes life worth living in the face of death?

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, the next he was a patient struggling to live.

When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a medical student asking what makes a virtuous and meaningful life into a neurosurgeon working in the core of human identity - the brain - and…


Book cover of The Unlikely Master Genius

Kathleen Buckley Author Of By Sword and Fan

From my list on navigating family and romance in the Georgian/Regency period.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve loved history and historical fiction since childhood and have been writing historical fiction/historical romance for about ten years. To give readers a sense of what life was really like almost three hundred years ago, I do extensive research: the weight of a 1717 French musket, the terrain where my story is set, and guardianship law, among other details. Titled men, gentlemen smugglers, and ballrooms are mostly absent because although they’re the stuff of daydreams, our most common problems center around family relationships. Making ends meet, difficult relatives, loyalty to family versus honor, or one’s own best interests or duty offer plenty of scope for conflict (and excitement and romance, too).

Kathleen's book list on navigating family and romance in the Georgian/Regency period

Kathleen Buckley Why did Kathleen love this book?

I loved that the hero of this book was illegitimate, raised in a workhouse, is a naval hero and a genius who remembers everything he has read, and is also incapable of tying his neckcloth neatly.

It’s a compelling story with good writing, humor, and a believable love interest, and it’s not populated almost exclusively by the titled and wealthy. All those things appeal to me very strongly.

Teaching at St. Brendan the Navigator’s School for workhouse boys intended for the navy, Sailing Master Six and his bride turn frightened, deprived children with no experience of kindness or affection into a family. That made a heartwarming novel that enchanted me—and I’m not easily enchanted. I’ll be re-reading it.

By Carla Kelly,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Sailing Master Able Six, Royal Navy, is a man like no other. To call him a mere polymath is to sell him short. Someone with his extraordinary gifts should rise to the top, unless it is the 1800s, where pedigree and money govern Regency society, as sure as Napoleon seeks world domination. A bastard raised in a Scottish workhouse with nothing in his favor except his amazing mind, Able must navigate life ashore on half-pay during the uneasy Truce of Amiens, and find a way to provide for his charming bride Meridee Bonfort, a gentlewoman to be sure, but lacking…


Book cover of Behind Closed Doors

AJ Wills Author Of The Warning

From my list on why readers love psychological and domestic thrillers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been passionate about psychological thrillers since my mind was blown by Gillian Flynn’s 2012 seminal thriller, Gone Girl, and that twist that I never saw coming. I’ve since written six of my own psychological thrillers and I’ve become fascinated to understand why we’re so drawn to ordinary characters propelled into extraordinary worlds. A mash-up of the crime, thriller, and horror genres, psychological and domestic thrillers often feature husband and wife couples in ordinary neighbourhoods where children and adults go missing, serial killers lurk among us, and real evil lurks behind the front door of innocent-looking homes.

AJ's book list on why readers love psychological and domestic thrillers

AJ Wills Why did AJ love this book?

One of the most compelling aspects of the psychological or domestic thriller genre is the exploration of the horrors that go on inside the lives of ordinary people and this thriller is no exception.

It’s even called Behind Closed Doors! It’s a great title and perfectly captures the theme of the book – how a seemingly ordinary couple are caught up in a horrifyingly abusive relationship. It’s unsettling from the first chapter and only gets worse.

But like driving past a motorway pile-up, you can’t stop looking, desperately hoping there’s a happy ending in sight.

By B.A. Paris,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Behind Closed Doors as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLING DEBUT PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER YOU CAN'T MISS!

The perfect marriage? Or the perfect lie?

“A hair-raising debut, both unsettling and addictive...A chilling thriller that will keep you reading long into the night.” ―Mary Kubica, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Good Girl

“This is one readers won’t be able to put down.” ―Booklist (starred review)

"A can’t-put-down psychological thriller.” ―Library Journal (starred review)

“This debut is guaranteed to haunt you...Warning: brace yourself.” ―Bustle (10 New Thrillers to Read This Summer)

“The sense of believably and terror that engulfs…


Book cover of Véra: Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov

Megan Marshall Author Of Margaret Fuller: A New American Life

From my list on women’s writing on women’s lives.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the grown-up little girl who loved to read. I loved novels and children’s biographies—Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie, Annie Oakley. I imagined that if I could learn to write books that inspired readers and moved them to tears like my favorite books, I would have accomplished a great good. My first biography, The Peabody Sisters, took twenty years and won awards for historical writing. My second biography, Margaret Fuller, won the Pulitzer. But what matters more than all the prizes is when people tell me they cried at the end of my books. I hope you, too, will read them and weep over lives lived fully and well.    

Megan's book list on women’s writing on women’s lives

Megan Marshall Why did Megan love this book?

Stacy Schiff is a master biographer. Any subject she chooses (Cleopatra, Benjamin Franklin, Antoine de St. Exupéry, the accused witches of Salem) is elevated by the passion and persistence she brings to research and writing. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Véra Nabokov, the wife of Vladimir, is another pioneering work that proves you don’t have to be at center stage to be worthy of a book. What did Véra do for Vladimir, and he for her? This is no take-down, not the kind of exposé that reveals the great man’s wife as the true genius, exploited and forgotten. It’s a love story of equals, two against (and for) the world.

By Stacy Schiff,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the award–winning author of The Revolutionary and The Witches comes “an elegantly nuanced portrait of [Vladimir Nabokov’s] wife, showing us just how pivotal Nabokov’s marriage was to his hermetic existence and how it indelibly shaped his work.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
 
ONE OF ESQUIRE’S 50 BEST BIOGRAPHIES OF ALL TIME

“Monumental.”—The Boston Globe
“Utterly romantic.”—New York magazine
“Deeply moving.”—The Seattle Times

Stacy Schiff brings to shimmering life one of the greatest literary love stories of our time: Vladimir Nabokov, émigré author of Lolita; Pale Fire;…


Book cover of Mrs Bridge

Eliza Minot Author Of In the Orchard

From my list on elevating the overlooked experience of moms.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am passionate about this topic because patriarchy has generally told us that raising babies and kids is a mundane, even vilified, topic that’s hardly worthy of artistic attention, which is ridiculous. It is the richest of topics, underlines the mysteries of being alive, and so many wonderful books that explore it are either overlooked, unwritten, or admired for how they address something else. I have a hard time saying “Best” of anything, but these are great books that contribute to the respect and reverence that the experience deserves.

Eliza's book list on elevating the overlooked experience of moms

Eliza Minot Why did Eliza love this book?

Who knew that the life of a prim and proper midwestern suburban housewife could be so riveting and moving? Written by a man (!) and told in vignettes that act like facets to a many-sided gem that is this novel, Mrs. Bridge is a mind-blowingly beautiful book that centers on the invisible forces of patriarchy that restrict a woman, wife, and mother.

Although this book is many years old, it is forever timely. With humor and clear, satisfying, and exquisite writing, this is a book that I return to often since, like a glittering jewel, it is surprising at every turn.

By Evan S. Connell,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Evan S. Connell's Mrs Bridge is an extraordinary tragicomic portrayal of suburban life and one of the classic American novels of the twentieth century.

Mrs Bridge, an unremarkable and conservative housewife in Kansas City, has three children and a kindly lawyer husband. She spends her time shopping, going to bridge parties and bringing up her children to be pleasant, clean and have nice manners. And yet she finds modern life increasingly baffling, her children aren't growing up into the people she expected, and sometimes she has the vague disquieting sensation that all is not well in her life. In a…


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