100 books like Blush

By Jamie Brenner,

Here are 100 books that Blush fans have personally recommended if you like Blush. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Hello Beautiful

Jacquline Kang Author Of The Club

From my list on the pleasures and perils of family ties.

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.

Jacquline's book list on the pleasures and perils of family ties

Jacquline Kang Why did Jacquline 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. 

By Ann Napolitano,

Why should I read it?

16 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…


Book cover of City Girl

Jacquline Kang Author Of The Club

From my list on the pleasures and perils of family ties.

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.

Jacquline's book list on the pleasures and perils of family ties

Jacquline Kang Why did Jacquline 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. 

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…


Book cover of The Me List

Jacquline Kang Author Of The Club

From my list on the pleasures and perils of family ties.

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.

Jacquline's book list on the pleasures and perils of family ties

Jacquline Kang Why did Jacquline 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. 

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…


Book cover of Recipe for a Charmed Life

Jacquline Kang Author Of The Club

From my list on the pleasures and perils of family ties.

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.

Jacquline's book list on the pleasures and perils of family ties

Jacquline Kang Why did Jacquline 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. 

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,…


Book cover of The Most Fun We Ever Had

Shawna Holly Author Of The Stories We Keep: A Novel of Motherhood, Mental Health & Hope

From my list on capturing the power of friendship and family.

Why am I passionate about this?

Realistic, contemporary fiction is my jam. I’m in love with the genre for many reasons, but the most significant is this: In life, we often find it difficult to reveal our struggles to others, for fear of being exposed, seen as weak, “crazy”, or incapable. However, in the magical world of contemporary fiction, we allow ourselves to relate without fear of judgment or shame and because how we relate is different for all of us, these raw, emotional stories are some of the most powerful ones to be told. Why? Because it is in these stories that we see ourselves, and in them, we find hope.

Shawna's book list on capturing the power of friendship and family

Shawna Holly Why did Shawna love this book?

This story is a work of family saga art, honestly. In discovering the ins, outs, ups, and downs of Marilyn and David’s loving relationship, we come to know their four adult daughters who are each experiencing life-changing events of their own.

It is both a beautiful and heartbreaking depiction of family dynamics, coming of age, parenthood, and finding one’s way. It’s reconciliation with the past and finding the courage to face the future. It’s a love story, in the traditional sense, but also one between parents and children and among the sisters themselves…all intricately woven into one truly intriguing family story.

No skipping pages for me in this one: I didn’t want to miss a thing!

By Claire Lombardo,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Most Fun We Ever Had as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • “A gripping and poignant ode to a messy, loving family in all its glory.” —Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe

In this “rich, complex family saga” (USA Today) full of long-buried family secrets, Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson fall in love in the 1970s, blithely ignorant of all that awaits them. By 2016, they have four radically different daughters, each in a state of unrest.
 
Wendy, widowed young, soothes herself with booze and younger men; Violet, a litigator turned stay-at-home-mom, battles anxiety and self-doubt; Liza, a neurotic and newly tenured professor, finds herself pregnant…


Book cover of Revelator

Devri Walls Author Of Magic Unleashed

From my list on not requiring a genealogy chart to track the story.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a bullied teenager I wanted to escape and fantasy was my drug of choice. (My parents may have grounded me from the library, which by the way—not cool.) I love working within fantasy worlds and magic systems but my true passion lies in the story itself. I write character based books focusing on the inner workings of all of us. Occasionally when writing a battle scene in a gladiator arena with three levels, multiple characters with magical abilitiesm and a secondary magical system in the background, I wonder why I can’t just tell a story in freaking Chicago for goodness sake! But fantasy is where it's at for this girl! 

Devri's book list on not requiring a genealogy chart to track the story

Devri Walls Why did Devri love this book?

This book took me by surprise. I thought I might like it—thus why I bought it—but from the first sentence I was hooked and in awe of the writing. Revelator is rich and dark and feels so real you can almost taste the food they're eating. But then, just when you’re feeling comfortable, you realize what this story is actually about. Revelator will blow your mind in the best way possible. 

By Daryl Gregory,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • The dark, gripping tale of a 1930’s family in the remote hills of the Smoky Mountains, their secret religion, and the daughter who turns her back on their mysterious god—from the acclaimed author of Spoonbenders.
 
“Gods and moonshine in the Great Depression, written with a tenderness and brutality … this is as good as novels get.” —Stephen Graham Jones, author of The Only Good Indians

In 1933, nine-year-old Stella is left in the care of her grandmother, Motty, in the backwoods of Tennessee. The mountains are home to dangerous…


Book cover of Oh William!

Joan D. Heiman Author Of Life with an Impossible Person: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Transformation

From my list on by women grieving the loss of a quirky partner.

Why am I passionate about this?

My mom handed me one of those little girl diaries with a lock and key when I was in third grade. I wrote my heart into those diaries until I needed more space and shifted to regular-sized notebooks. Writing is my way to know myself and make sense of my life. The journal I kept in the last months of my husband’s life helped me reassemble the trauma-blurred memories of his dying, and then, it supported my emotional rebirth during the year of intense grieving. It is with surprise and delight that I hear from readers who say I articulate their innermost emotions related to love and loss.

Joan's book list on by women grieving the loss of a quirky partner

Joan D. Heiman Why did Joan love this book?

Even though the marriage in Oh William! ends in divorce while my marriage ended (without my consent) in my husband’s untimely death, the book brought me back to the unconventional nature of my marriage. Elizabeth Strout’s uncanny ability to say much in a single sentence had me traveling back in time and heart to the many moments that made our marriage. The tendernesses and fears, the deep trust and insecurities that quietly but forcefully bound us together made up the subtle mysteries of our uncommon relationship. What makes people move apart yet remain forever close, as in Lucy Barton and her ex-husband, William, or what holds two people together when there are many factors that might drive them apart, as in my marriage? These questions made reading this book a thought-provoking and enriching experience.

By Elizabeth Strout,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Oh William! as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

The Pulitzer Prize-winning, Booker-longlisted, bestselling author returns to her beloved heroine Lucy Barton in a luminous novel about love, loss, and the family secrets that can erupt and bewilder us at any point in life

Lucy Barton is a successful writer living in New York, navigating the second half of her life as a recent widow and parent to two adult daughters. A surprise encounter leads her to reconnect with William, her first husband - and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante. Recalling their college years, the birth of their daughters, the painful dissolution of…


Book cover of Of Bees and Mist

Ruth Fox Author Of New Eden

From my list on fantasy that break the pattern.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up reading books, and when I was around 10 years old I discovered science fiction and fantasy. What hooked me about these genres was the imagination and skill that would go into building an entire world which only exists between the covers of that book. But I also found that there was an intense enjoyment to be had from books that sat within those categories, but which were more unusual; books that push the boundaries of their genre or introduce something new.

Ruth's book list on fantasy that break the pattern

Ruth Fox Why did Ruth love this book?

Of Bees and Mist is a mix between fable and fairy-tale. It tells the story of Meridia, whose home is infested with perpetual mist, and her marriage to a young man that puts her in the sights of Eva, her new mother-in-law, who whispers to bees and is quite evil.

The juxtaposition between the two women is what makes this book so fascinating. I love books about family secrets, and the setting of crumbling houses and collapsing dynasties is what drew me into this story, but what kept me reading was the delicious conflict between Meridia and Eva. I had no idea where this story was going to take me, but I loved every second of it.

By Erick Setiawan,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Erick Setiawan's richly atmospheric debut is a beautiful, engrossing fable of three generations of women in two families; their destructive jealousies, their loves and losses, their sacrifices and deeply rooted deceptions, and their triumphs.

Of Bees and Mist is a fable of one woman's determination to overcome the haunting magic that is created by the people she loves and the oppressive secrets behind their broken lives. Raised in a sepulchral house where ghosts dwell in mirrors, Meridia spends her childhood feeling neglected and invisible. Every evening her father vanishes inside a blue mist without so much as an explanation, and…


Book cover of The Faraday Girls

Helen McKenna Author Of The Beach House

From my list on an ensemble cast of characters.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a lifelong bookworm, I have always loved curling up with a book, especially one that takes me on an emotional journey through the characters within. I especially love stories with an ensemble cast of characters linked through one common thread and always knew my first novel would be of this format. A fascination with the stories that lie beneath the surface of everyday life keeps me constantly inspired to create new characters that can bring comfort and familiarity to readers but still explore important life lessons in a gentle way.

Helen's book list on an ensemble cast of characters

Helen McKenna Why did Helen love this book?

I love how perfectly The Faraday Girls captures the dynamics of being part of a big family, in all its messy glory. It is a story that is hilariously funny in some parts and quite dark in others, but ultimately the strength of family ties is what shines through. Being part of a big family myself, there is a wonderful familiarity about The Faraday Girls that kept me engaged right until the last page.

By Monica McInerney,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

BONUS: This edition contains excerpts from Monica McInerney's Lola's Secret, At Home with the Templetons, Family Baggage, The Alphabet Sisters, Greetings from Somewhere Else, and Upside Down Inside Out.

From internationally bestselling author Monica McInerney comes a captivating and charming new novel of family secrets, the loyalty of sisters, and the power of redemption.

As a child, Maggie Faraday grew up in a lively, unconventional household with her young mother, four very different aunts, and eccentric grandfather. With her mother often away, her aunts took turns looking after her–until, just weeks before Maggie’s sixth birthday, a shocking event changed everything.…


Book cover of The Children's Crusade

Katie O'Rourke Author Of Finding Charlie

From my list on deeply lovable dysfunctional families.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was born and raised in New England, growing up along the seacoast of New Hampshire. I went to college in Massachusetts and graduated with a degree in gender and sexuality. I live in Tucson, Arizona with my sweet yellow lab and even sweeter boyfriend. I’m a hybrid author. My debut novel, Monsoon Season, was traditionally published along with A Long Thaw, which I later rereleased on my own. Finding Charlie was chosen for publication by KindleScout in 2015. My fourth book, Blood & Water launched in 2017. I write the kind of fiction I like to read: character-driven, relationship-focused, and emotionally complex.

Katie's book list on deeply lovable dysfunctional families

Katie O'Rourke Why did Katie love this book?

The major drama in The Children's Crusade revolves around four adult children deciding whether it's time to sell their childhood home. Each sibling tells their own story in first-person narratives and these chapters are interwoven with omniscient narratives that describe their earlier lives. Each character is such a fascinating individual and while their adult voices are distinct from each other, they're also completely recognizable in their portrayal as children. This book explores the unique bond between people you’ve known your whole life.

By Ann Packer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Children's Crusade as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Ann Packer, a “tour de force family drama” (Elle) that explores the secrets and desires, the remnant wounds and saving graces of one California family, over the course of five decades.

Bill Blair finds the land by accident, three wooded acres in a rustic community south of San Francisco. The year is 1954, long before anyone will call this area Silicon Valley. Struck by a vision of his future family, Bill buys the property and proposes to Penny Greenway, a woman whose yearning attitude toward life appeals to him. In less than a…


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