Here are 100 books that Cat. Freya North fans have personally recommended if you like
Cat. Freya North.
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I read lots of different genres, but my greatest passion in both writing and reading is romance. Though I am picky! I need humour in the stories. They don’t have to be funny on every page but I do like to smile occasionally when I’m reading. The ability to weave a plot, create interesting characters, and include humour is something I admire greatly. Even in the thrillers and suspense novels I read, it’s those touches of humour that bring the story to life for me. In the 50+ books I’ve written, none are without that spark of fun. Throw in a happy ever after – and you have a perfect romance, guaranteed to brighten the darkest of days.
This book was the first I read by Alice Winters and it is laugh-out-loud funny. I see a lot of books that claim to be that, but this one really is. Alice has a great turn of phrase and you can’t help but fall in love with her characters. Leland is truly one of a kind. I went on to read every book she has ever written! That doesn’t happen very often for me.
What happens when a snarky hitman and a by-the-book PI cross paths? Leland Being a hitman has its perks, but I never thought getting an accidental mooning by an attractive PI while he’s caught on a fence would be one of them. While it’s not exactly love at first sight, he’s captured my interest and won’t let go.Suddenly, I find myself caught in a game of cat and mouse, determined to attract the attention of Jackson, the PI who should be my enemy. He pretends like he’s not flattered by my flowers and the mentions of my totally-not-fictitious blow-up doll…
What makes a good sex scene for you? Long and drawn out, fast and furious or an unusual location? Perhaps the interesting use of accessories is your jam. And that’s before we get to angry sex, makeup sex, unexpected sex, or sex with the fear of discovery. I’ve loved steamy romance novels for as long as I can remember, and when I look for books with sex scenes, I have high expectations. I’m a fan of something unusual. Not tacky or totally unrealistic, just something surprising and interesting. But have all the best ideas been written? No way. I’m a firm believer that the best is yet to come.
This is an older book, but Jennifer’s sizzle is unsurpassed. A movie assignment brings Sophie Dempsey to Temptation, Ohio. From the moment she drives into town, she has a bad feeling: Everything is a little too right. And when she has a run-in with the town's unnervingly sexy mayor, Phineas Tucker, making her little movie morphs into something downright dangerous.
Choosing the hottest scene out of several scorchers in this book was hard. There’s the sex scene on the table in the kitchen, but the scene where Phin decides that Sophie is turned on by discovery fantasies—so when her friend arrives at her house he makes increasingly louder noises until they are discovered—mmm hmm, that’s a masterpiece.
Sophie came to Temptation, a small town in Ohio, to help her sister make a movie. Now she's making trouble for the town council, love with the mayor and lemonade for a murderer. Welcome to Temptation - population 2158. And falling. This is a humorous tale of scandal, gossip and murder.
I read lots of different genres, but my greatest passion in both writing and reading is romance. Though I am picky! I need humour in the stories. They don’t have to be funny on every page but I do like to smile occasionally when I’m reading. The ability to weave a plot, create interesting characters, and include humour is something I admire greatly. Even in the thrillers and suspense novels I read, it’s those touches of humour that bring the story to life for me. In the 50+ books I’ve written, none are without that spark of fun. Throw in a happy ever after – and you have a perfect romance, guaranteed to brighten the darkest of days.
This book has great warmth and humour. The characters feel so real. It’s set in Yorkshire in the UK, which happens to be where I spent most of my life, so that made it extra enjoyable. I feel not enough people know about Jane Lovering and her books deserve more readers. This is not just another romance, but a romance with heart and depth. I defy anyone not to fall in love with Phinn.
"Maybe he wasn't there because of the lights - maybe they were there because of him..." It's been over eighteen months since Molly Gilchrist has had a man (as her best friend, Caro, is so fond of reminding her), so when she as good as stumbles upon one, lying comatose, on the moors one bitterly cold morning, it seems like the Universe is having a laugh at her expense. But Phinn Baxter, (that's Doctor Phinneas Baxter) is no drunken layabout, as Molly is soon to discover; with a PhD in astrophysics and a tortured past that is a match for…
What's the point of having it all when you have no one to share it with?
Brandon Miller has everything—except a commitment from the woman he loves. Angela Cooper has deep scars from a previous marriage. She's not interested in a do-over with Brandon or anyone.
I learned to read at four and have been telling stories ever since. Books were my escape from unhappiness into a new and endless world. Left to myself, I’d read ten or so weekly, and my mind was packed with characters, dialogue, jokes, prose, and poetry like an over-brimming literary reservoir. Words are my thing, and I am an avid collector of them. I was reading David Copperfield at eight and specialised in 18th and 19th-century literature at university. I’ve written five books and am working on the sixth. I love writing humour but have also authored Jane Austen Fan Fiction and poetry. Without books, my world is nothing.
To my knowledge, no one has written a main character like Don Tilman before. A tall, handsome genetics professor who’s never had a second date, he approaches his need for a wife with typical precision and the use of a complex spreadsheet. Don navigates the unfamiliar world of feelings and unplanned activities with his customary efficiency, but what is this strange new emotion he’s feeling?
I simply adore this book and often read it twice a year. It’s an absolute delight, funny, poignant, and so incredibly life-affirming. You’ll be cheering Don and Rosie on and hoping that everything works out for them. I do every time, and I know what happens!
The international bestselling romantic comedy “bursting with warmth, emotional depth, and…humor,” (Entertainment Weekly) featuring the oddly charming, socially challenged genetics professor, Don, as he seeks true love.
The art of love is never a science: Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.
Rosie Jarman possesses all these qualities. Don easily disqualifies her…
I’m a cyclist and a cycling fan. I’ve commuted through the Surrey countryside by tricycle and explored the cycling city of Cambridge by bike. I’ve stood at the side of the road to cheer on the Olympic road race, the Tour de France and the Tour of Britain, and the World Road Cycling Championships. I kept on cycling until I was eight and a half months pregnant and was reading a biography of Beryl Burton when I went into labour. There aren’t a lot of cycling novels out there, but I’m proud of having added one to that small number.
I wasn’t following professional cycling in the bad old days of systematic doping, but this book made me feel like I was there—not just at the roadside, but in the peloton.
The characters—the good, the bad, and the downright repulsive, are all caught in a system that grinds down the best and brings out the worst, and I couldn’t look away. I wanted integrity to prevail, I wanted justice done, but most of all, I wanted to know what happened next.
Then there’s the prose, which is so bright and vivid that I found a new favourite line in almost every chapter. It’s compulsive, stylish, and cynical—rather like the sport itself.
'Waddington employs a cheerful surrealism to convey the superhuman status of his cyclists and the designer violence of his killer. The encounters with death are funny rather than frightening and the narrator is omnipotent, stylish and amused. Waddington's descriptions of racing, and they are many and enthralling, have the rhythm and intensity of poetry. You're riding with your wheel an inch from the author's, carried along by the surge of the pack, normal life and normal people no more than a muted clamour on the roadside. It's exhilarating stuff.' Joe Cogan in The Independent on Sunday
Until recently, my lovely in-laws kept a home in southern France near where my father-in-law grew up. Their hilltop village was everything my summer-in-France fantasies could imagine: red-tile roofs, overflowing flower boxes, croissants on every corner (or at least four), bustling markets, and palm trees framing a snowcapped peak. Downsizing in their eighties meant selling the house, but some of my fondest memories will always reside there. This summer most of my travels will take place from my garden in Colorado. I plan to trek the world through books. These are some of my favorite reads for an armchair trip to France through romance, mysteries, exploration, and cooking.
This book is a delicious food memoir, travelogue, and two-wheeling adventure around France. London-based food writer Felicity Cloake sets out on her own Tour de France: a cycling tour to taste France’s iconic regional delicacies. Now, I’m an ardent Tour de France fan—from my sofa!
As for cycling, I stick to quiet bike paths. I’m in awe of Cloake’s tour and bravery. She cycles long distances on motorways. She crests mountains. She lugs camping gear. She camps! I felt right there with her, rolling through gorgeous places, struggling uphill, savoring stunning meals, and envying every croissant, even those she rated less than ten out of ten.
I enjoyed the audio version so much that I bought a paper copy for the included recipes.
'Joyful, life-affirming, greedy. I loved it' - DIANA HENRY
'Whether you are an avid cyclist, a Francophile, a greedy gut, or simply an appreciator of impeccable writing - this book will get you hooked' - YOTAM OTTOLENGHI
The nation's 'taster in chief' cycles 2,300 km across France in search of the definitive versions of classic French dishes.
A green bike drunkenly weaves its way up a cratered hill in the late-morning sun, the gears grinding painfully, like a pepper mill running on empty. The rider crouched on top in a rictus of pain has slowed to a gravity-defying crawl when,…
I’ve been writing about cycling for 30 years and over that time I’ve become increasingly fascinated by the exploits of bike racers in the mountains and, above all, by this magnificent terrain itself. This ultimately led to my family leaving our home in the north of England and moving to the French Pyrenees, to a tiny hamlet that’s close to nowhere but is surrounded by mountains, where we can walk and ride endlessly through stunning countryside. I may not be French, but this is where I feel most at home.
Tim has long been one of the funniest writers to cover the cycling scene and its many quirks.
All of his books are very readable, but this one stands out for me because it gets to the heart of the horrendous difficulties and dangers that riders in the early 20th century faced when racing in the mountains.
Tim follows the route of the 1914 Giro d’Italia, and does so on a bike from that era. His tales of how he came by bike and then builds up are hilariously recounted, then lead into the ride itself on what is widely recognized as the toughest multi-day race the sport has ever seen, only eight of 81 starters finishing the event. It’s laugh-out-loud funny.
The 1914 Giro d’Italia: The hardest bike race in history. Eighty-one riders started and only eight finished after enduring cataclysmic storms, roads strewn with nails, and even the loss of an eye by one competitor. And now Tim Moore is going to ride it. And he’s committed to total authenticity. . .
Twelve years after Tim Moore toiled around the route of the Tour de France, he senses his achievement being undermined by the truth about 'Horrid Lance'. His rash response is to take on a fearsome challenge from an age of untarnished heroes: the notorious 1914 Giro d'Italia. History's…
I’ve been writing about cycling for 30 years and over that time I’ve become increasingly fascinated by the exploits of bike racers in the mountains and, above all, by this magnificent terrain itself. This ultimately led to my family leaving our home in the north of England and moving to the French Pyrenees, to a tiny hamlet that’s close to nowhere but is surrounded by mountains, where we can walk and ride endlessly through stunning countryside. I may not be French, but this is where I feel most at home.
Written by my oldest friend within the cycling press corps, this book focuses on the most feared and infamous mountain in professional bike racing.
The Ventoux literally stands apart, located right at the end of a chain of peaks that runs from the Alps to the very edge of the Rhône valley. Its lunar surface is raked by the violent Mistral wind that blows down the valley from the north and baked by blistering heat in the summer. It’s seen death, heroics and always produces a gripping contest.
Jeremy’s book has a personal side too, as he’s long had a home just to the south of the mountain and he offers an insider’s perspective on this unique peak.
'They're all scared. Everybody's afraid' - Eddy Merckx 'Nothing compares to the Ventoux' - Lance Armstrong 'Heart-stirring and jaw-dropping in equal measure' - Tim Moore 'A really excellent book' - Richard Williams
The French call Ventoux 'the killer mountain' and in 1967 it claimed its most famous victim, as former world champion Tom Simpson died near the summit during that year's Tour de France. The terrible ascent of Ventoux's south side encapsulates both the brutality and beauty of this cruel sport, but also highlights cycling's ongoing battle to distance itself from its demons.
I have always tried to find books that explain and explore my life stage. When I was a young mother of little babies, I read many books about early motherhood. When I was studying and travelling and working as a waitress, those topics were represented in my reading too. Now that I’m a woman writer in midlife, with growing children and an art practice, I’m keen to read books by and about women writers who evoke the joys and struggles of this period: aging, the tensions between freedom and responsibility, marriage and separation, ambition and desire.
This is the diary Australian writer Helen Garner kept during a difficult period of her life: the period when she was married to (and eventually separated from) her third husband.
The writing is exquisite, which is why I love this book. Garner records the intricacies and intimacies of the marriage in such exacting terms. Her observations about marriage and the world leave me breathless.
Bold, original and never one to shy away from the truth, Helen Garner's writing has shaped Australian literature. The author has kept a diary for almost all her life. But until now, those exercise books filled with her thoughts, observations, frustrations and joys have been locked away, out of bounds, in a laundry cupboard. Finally, Garner has opened her diaries and invited readers into the world behind her novels and works of non-fiction. Recorded with frankness, humor and steel-sharp wit, these accounts of her everyday life provide an intimate insight into the work of one of Australia’s greatest living writers.…
As a young doctor, Carl Holman has experienced the horrors of World War I and the death of his lover, a fellow officer. Back home after the War, he befriends a young jazz musician who he hopes will become a companion he can share his life with. But this is…
I’ve been a reader and writer of historical fiction for as long as I remember. As a writer, my goal is to bring these figures from the past alive again. These were real people and I want my readers to see that they are not just photos or stories in a history book.
Juliet Gray brought Marie Antoinette to life in this book. We got to understand her from such a young girl who had so much pressure put on her. We see her as kind and childlike but we also see how Marie does mature into a woman who strives to have a loving marriage with her husband while they rule France.
This enthralling confection of a novel, the first in a new trilogy, follows the transformation of a coddled Austrian archduchess into the reckless, powerful, beautiful queen Marie Antoinette.
Why must it be me? I wondered. When I am so clearly inadequate to my destiny?
Raised alongside her numerous brothers and sisters by the formidable empress of Austria, ten-year-old Maria Antonia knew that her idyllic existence would one day be sacrificed to her mother’s political ambitions. What she never anticipated was that the day in question would come so soon.
Before she can journey from sunlit picnics with her sisters in…
