Here are 100 books that Blackberry Summer fans have personally recommended if you like
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At the close of World War II, I was born into the peace and prosperity of mid-twentieth century America, but I longed to be transported to an earlier era and a simpler time. I grew up living in an apartment building in New York City, but my spiritual home was Central Park, which served as my wilderness. Clumps of bushes were my woods. Rock outcroppings were my mountains. Books like Heidi and Little House on the Prairie captured my imagination and warmed my heart. But when my beloved father died in my eleventh year, a shadow fell that changed the emotional landscape of my life.
I wasn't an orphan, I wasn’t raised on a farm, and no one teased me for my ordinary brown hair, but my identification with “carrot topped” Anne Shirley was immersive and all consuming. I could smell the flowers and taste the russet apples she delights in, and I could feel the unrelenting joie de vivre that, despite life’s many slings and arrows, courses through her childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.
This book may date from 1905, but this beloved story of an orphan girl who comes to live with an aging brother and sister on their farm on Prince Edward Island has lost nothing of its irresistible charm. An awkward outsider looking in upon a world she longs to join, outspoken, feisty, wildly imaginative Anne came alive for me and won my heart from the moment I met her on the page.
Anne of Green Gables is the classic children's book by L M Montgomery, the inspiration for the Netflix Original series Anne with an E. Watch it now!
Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert are in for a big surprise. They are waiting for an orphan boy to help with the work at Green Gables - but a skinny, red-haired girl turns up instead. Feisty and full of spirit, Anne Shirley charms her way into the Cuthberts' affection with her vivid imagination and constant chatter. It's not long before Anne finds herself in trouble, but soon it becomes impossible for the Cuthberts to…
I’m a romance writer who moved around often as a child. Whenever I started a new school, I’d bring a book with me. Even now, I always run errands with a print book and my Kindle as I’m a writer, wife, and mother of four. Two of my children have medical conditions, and I’ve spent time in various doctor and hospital waiting rooms. I’ve taken books into MRI booths where I’d read while my daughter underwent an MRI. I gravitate toward emotional romances that keep me entertained while possessing a thread of humor or something unique about them so I can lose myself in their world anytime, anywhere.
I love books featuring strong chemistry between the two leads, and Nora and John’s chemistry leapt off the page. I also love series that have a strong family connection, and this is the first in a series with three sisters.
John enlists Nora’s help to uncover the identity of his birth mother, and this inspirational romance pulled on my heartstrings. I loved John, especially as he was the type of hero who was silent and impactful. The book was well-written and had enough scenes revolving around food to make me hungry. John and Nora’s story stayed with me long after I finished turning the last page.
After a devastating heartbreak three years ago, genealogist and historical village owner Nora Bradford has decided that burying her nose in her work and her books is far safer than romance in the here and now.
Unlike Nora, former Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient John Lawson is a modern-day man, usually 100 percent focused on the present. But when he's diagnosed with an inherited condition, he's forced to dig into the secrets of his past and his adoption as an infant, enlisting Nora to help him uncover the…
I’m a romance writer who moved around often as a child. Whenever I started a new school, I’d bring a book with me. Even now, I always run errands with a print book and my Kindle as I’m a writer, wife, and mother of four. Two of my children have medical conditions, and I’ve spent time in various doctor and hospital waiting rooms. I’ve taken books into MRI booths where I’d read while my daughter underwent an MRI. I gravitate toward emotional romances that keep me entertained while possessing a thread of humor or something unique about them so I can lose myself in their world anytime, anywhere.
I love books that cross romance genres, and Lovely Digits qualifies as it’s a historical romantic suspense. I was hooked from the first page where the heroine, Lucy, deals with a particularly unruly case. I read this book while waiting to pick up my twins from school and at all times of day.
The book revolves around two murders committed in the sleepy Victorian town of Clun, England, where an unlikely partnership forms between the new constable and the quirky heroine. Can they combine forces and prevent a third murder?
I liked how Lucy was ahead of her time as well as relatable and likeable. She cared for her sister and her cat while still proving her intelligence to the town and the hero while winning his heart.
When two murders strike the sleepy Victorian town of Clun, England, an unlikely partnership forms. But can the killer be found before there is a third?
Lovely Digits is the town oddity . . . Quirky spinster Lucy Wycliffe prefers to ignore gossip and embrace her position as the town’s layer out of the dead, despite how her parents’ deaths thrust her into such unlikely work. Lovely Digits, as she’s known to the local townspeople, no longer dreams of marriage, but takes pride in providing dignity to the dead. Desperate to hold on to her family’s cottage and support her…
I’m a romance writer who moved around often as a child. Whenever I started a new school, I’d bring a book with me. Even now, I always run errands with a print book and my Kindle as I’m a writer, wife, and mother of four. Two of my children have medical conditions, and I’ve spent time in various doctor and hospital waiting rooms. I’ve taken books into MRI booths where I’d read while my daughter underwent an MRI. I gravitate toward emotional romances that keep me entertained while possessing a thread of humor or something unique about them so I can lose myself in their world anytime, anywhere.
I’m fortunate that I can read as a passenger on car trips or on an airplane, but I gravitate to shorter romances that I can read in one sitting while I’m traveling. For me, Tina Radcliffe is my go-to writer for these type of journeys.
I loved Lucy and Jackson’s story in Claiming Her Cowboy as Lucy is the director of Big Heart Ranch for orphans and Jackson is the attorney sent to evaluate the funding. Can he stay objective or will he fall for the beautiful woman who gives her all to the orphans on the ranch? I found myself reading at gas stops and caught up in the story as I got closer to my vacation destination. This was the perfect book while traveling: short, emotional, and thought-provoking.
Attorney Jackson Harris regularly goes toe-to-toe with the world’s toughest lawyers—but none of them compare to Lucy Maxwell. The feisty director of Oklahoma’s Big Heart Ranch for orphans is as stubborn as she is pretty. But Jack must stay focused; he’s only there to evaluate the ranch’s funding. Falling for Lucy and the sweet children she protects is out of the question. Though Lucy is determined to keep the ranch, she’s not about to give control to a city slicker—even a devastatingly good-looking one. But as they bump heads, Jack…
I’ve floated on the water next to many alligators. They’re actually quite nice. I know this because I have an obsession–one that takes me often to the South Carolina Lowcountry. It motivates me to research and experience and write. Books were my escape as a child, and now, I get to create the kind of novels I love–ones with an element of romance and a satisfying ending. I grew up in Alabama and now live in California, so maybe it’s nostalgia, but Southern culture is fascinating, and when you throw romantic relationships into the (well-seasoned cast iron) pot, there are infinite stories to be told.
I used to think JFK Jr was better looking than Brad Pitt.
He had everything going for him–true love, wealth, and a family that was as close to American royalty as it gets.Meant To Be by Emily Giffin rewrites his real-life tragedy.
She gives those of us who hopefully and jealously gawked at him and his wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, a new ending–one that doesn’t involve their deaths in the cold waters outside of Martha’s Vineyard. It’s part romance, part fiction, part history, and all escapism.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - He's American royalty. She comes from a troubled past. Is their love story meant to be? This "lively page-turner" (The New York Times) offers a nostalgic, hopelessly romantic escape--from the author of Something Borrowed and The Lies That Bind.
"I'm a sucker for an iconic, against-all-odds love story, and Meant to Be truly delivers."--Tia Williams, author of Seven Days in June
"A chic, history-inspired summer read [that] strikes a careful balance between simply retelling the true story of JFK Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette, and crafting an entirely new one."--Bookreporter
I spent a decade as a single mom, so stories featuring solo parent protagonists make my book antennae perk up. A happy ever after is a must for a relaxing read, and I prefer stories that don’t slam the door in your face when things heat up between the couple. So much character work can happen between the sheets—especially when you’re dealing with people who have been hurt by love before. While there are closed-door or chaste romances out there that feature single parents, those are less likely to end up in my TBR, and thus less likely for me to push them into your hands.
This one is part of her Lucky Harbor series, which takes place in a fictional small town. Shalvis has a loyal following of readers who love the small town trope, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, and half the residents are related to each other. If you like interconnected books that read as standalones, give it a try and see if you like her particular flavor of Americana! Forever and a Day focuses on a doctor and a woman rebuilding her life after losing everything.
Grace had a great life in New York, until it shattered. Finding out at age 30 that you're adopted will do that to a person. With everything she once believed in yanked out from beneath her feet, Grace travels across the country to find herself. She goes looking for roots, but what she finds is much, much more. Some of that comes in the form of Dr. Josh Scott, an ER doc working nights. He's tough and jaded when Grace first shows up at his place looking for his employee - whom she believes is her birth mother. But she's…
Having spent most of my life in the Midwest, I know a little (or a lot) about growing up in a small-town environment. When I was younger, I was annoyed by all the things I now find charming about this genre of romance books. The nosy neighbor, the know-it-all jock, the downtrodden wallflower? Stereotypical but oh-so-real. I have written several series set in small towns and have come to love them all. It’s now my go-to genre when I want to sit and relax.
I think so many of us can relate to the day-to-day life of Charlie, a single mom just trying to make it one more week. Charlie is charming with the perfect level of quirky.
One of the things I love about small-town romance is how the community comes into play. I love that his book has an amazing balance of that as well as a steamy romance between Charlie and Reid.
Like Thomas Jefferson, I cannot live without books. And, while I read in a variety of genres, from early childhood on, my favorite stories were the ones that began with “once upon a time.” My fascination with historicals started with one of my father’s few books from his childhood, The Cave Twins, which introduced me to a world far different from suburban America. For me, the appeal of historicals is the opportunity to learn about another era and to escape from the modern world. And so, if you want to escape from what seems like an endless pandemic, I invite you to explore the worlds six talented authors have created.
Like many authors, I’m a very picky reader and frequently abandon books after reading less than 10 percent. Over the past year or so, I’ve found myself abandoning more and more historicals because of poor writing, anachronisms, or unrealistic characters. I was beginning to despair of finding a book that met my standards, and then I opened A Cowboy for Keeps. Not only did Hedlund’s story meet my standards, it exceeded them. Her beautiful writing and vivid descriptions immersed me in the Old West, and the story itself was so riveting that while I wanted to see what happened next, part of me hated the idea of turning the last page. This is an outstanding historical romance.
Greta Nilsson's trip west to save her ailing little sister, Astrid, could not have gone more wrong. First, bandits hold up her stagecoach, stealing all her money. Then, upon arriving in Fairplay, Colorado, she learns the man she was betrothed to as a mail-order bride has died. Homeless, penniless, and jobless, Greta and her sister are worse off than when they started.
Wyatt McQuaid is struggling to get his new ranch up and running and is in town to purchase cattle when the mayor proposes the most unlikely of bargains. He'll invest in a herd of cattle for Wyatt's ranch…
I’ve loved, I’ve lost, and everything in between! Just like my protagonist, Jenna, in Just Call Me Confidence, life imitated art and I took a page from her “book,” having to begin anew. I’ve been the friend who has entertained all sorts of stories—sex, love, and rock n’ roll (wink, wink)—all without judgment. That role in my life continues, and what I’ve discovered in my “research” is this: Sex is wonderful, but there’s no greater joy than loving someone, even if it’s only for a little while. Read more about my take on sex, love, and rock n’ roll on my blog “Bone Up.”
This book was a perfect combination of on-the-edge-of-my-seat sexy and tug-at-my-heartstrings romantic.
The author created phenomenal dialogue between Fisher and Reese, so good, in fact, that their flirting was almost as hot as their eventual hookups. I really did adore this story for the plot twists that seemed to come out of nowhere.
Reese’s growth into a confident young woman who stopped thinking about how things were just happening to her and took control to make the things she wanted to happen was remarkable; their second-chance love story with all the sexy feels was exactly the heart-mind turn-on I had hoped it would be.
The best part? The effortless way Fisher and Reese not only fell in love with each other but loved their tribe, too. It made me feel just really good to be a part of this story.
USA Today & Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Jewel E. Ann returns with an addictive new adult romance about a young woman who discovers years of Sunday sermons didn’t prepare her for the many lessons of the crude and sexy man who is now her boss.
It's official.
I'm eighteen and a young woman with endless possibilities on my way to reunite with my mom in Colorado after five years apart—she had a little weed incident in Nebraska.
At the airport, she springs the news on me ... she's leaving for a month of job training. And me? I'm left…
I grew up on the high plains of eastern Montana. Like most rural folks, we lived close to the bone, even in the best of times. Then, when I was nine, my father died—and things got even harder. We finally had to put our acres up for lease, and I made a goal to leave that hard place. Though I worked hard for this new life I find myself leading—I studied, won scholarships, earned an MFA, and became a professor—ever since I left Montana, I’ve been trying to understand the distance between there and where I find myself now. I’ve been trying to understand rural America.
This book is a straightforward, heartfelt, astonishingly moving novel set on the Colorado plains. The viewpoint switches back and forth from character to character, and as it does, I found myself falling ever more deeply in love with each of these admirable, flawed, fully realized men and women, boys and girls.
I’ve read it many times over the years, and the characters seem like old friends to me now. They’ve taught me about growing up and growing old and doing right, even when it’s hard, by one another.
A heartstrong story of family and romance, tribulation and tenacity, set on the High Plains east of Denver.
In the small town of Holt, Colorado, a high school teacher is confronted with raising his two boys alone after their mother retreats first to the bedroom, then altogether. A teenage girl—her father long since disappeared, her mother unwilling to have her in the house—is pregnant, alone herself, with nowhere to go. And out in the country, two brothers, elderly bachelors, work the family homestead, the only world they've ever known. From these unsettled lives emerges a vision…
