100 books like Dreamland

By Nicholas Sparks,

Here are 100 books that Dreamland fans have personally recommended if you like Dreamland. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Book cover of The Last Thing He Told Me

Kendra Broekhuis Author Of Between You and Us

From my list on impossible choices that will rip your heart out.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom and author for the past decade, and during that time, I went through the stillbirth of my second baby. Grief taught me a lot about compassion, including the importance of being able to see the nuance of difficult subject matters. I learned it’s easy to theorize what to do in a situation until you're in that situation. For that reason, I love books in all sorts of genres that are layered with characters’ past griefs, impossible scenarios, and tensions regarding the choices they make. I picked five of my favorite books with a heart-ripping plot that sparks interesting discussion and leaves readers pondering, "What would I have done?"

Kendra's book list on impossible choices that will rip your heart out

Kendra Broekhuis Why did Kendra love this book?

This book was a very bingeable read. I got caught up in the mystery of Hannah’s missing husband, and I also loved the layers of complicated family relationships shown with her stepdaughter.

I’m a sucker for the “he isn’t who he said he was” storyline, and this book masters that through Hannah’s husband, Owen. The entire story is weaved with surprises and plot twists, including the impossible choice Hannah faces at the end.

By Laura Dave,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Last Thing He Told Me as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

* SOON TO BE A MAJOR TV SERIES STARRING JULIA ROBERTS *

'Brilliant. Pacy tense and twisty' - LISA HALL

'I adored this beautifully written thriller' - JO SPAIN

IT WAS THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME: PROTECT HER

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his new wife, Hannah: protect her. Hannah knows exactly who Owen needs her to protect - his sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. And who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As her increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, his boss…


Book cover of Layla

Judy Prescott Marshall Author Of Still Crazy

From my list on later in life romance.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an avid reader. I still love to hold them in my hands. Not long ago I went dumpster diving for an entire set of encyclopedias. To say I love books is an understatement. Books have always been my passion, destination, and my closest friend.

Judy's book list on later in life romance

Judy Prescott Marshall Why did Judy love this book?

Sometimes, love is not all it takes to help the ones you love. Sometimes, love pulls you in different directions. If you enjoy reading psychological thrillers with twists, turns, and ultimately engrossing, uncomfortable, and an unpredictable storyline full of paranormal romance. Then I recommend reading Layla. Not my normal genre, but I will say this the writer had me turning pages and I had to read to the end.

By Colleen Hoover,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Layla as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover comes a novel that explores life after tragedy and the enduring spirit of love.

When Leeds meets Layla, he's convinced he'll spend the rest of his life with her-until an unexpected attack leaves Layla fighting for her life. After weeks in the hospital, Layla recovers physically, but the emotional and mental scarring has altered the woman Leeds fell in love with. In order to put their relationship back on track, Leeds whisks Layla away to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met. Once they…


Book cover of The Best Is Yet to Come

Molly Jebber Author Of Rachael's Decision

From my list on escaping into a world of inspirational Amish romance and suspense.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve visited Amish communities for years as a tourist. An agent suggested I write it because of my faith in God. The Amish base their lifestyle and traditions on their faith in God, and she felt the books would be more authentic if the author felt the same. I’ve never been Amish, but the topic is fun to research, and some of the Amish are forthcoming in helping me. I love the fried chicken, homemade butterscotch pie, corn pudding, and beautiful quilts they have available when visiting the different Ohio and Indiana communities. They are not my typical audience.

Molly's book list on escaping into a world of inspirational Amish romance and suspense

Molly Jebber Why did Molly love this book?

Debbie Macomber is unique in her writing with pulling women together, making you feel like the friends you’d want to have. You’ll emphasize with them, laugh with them, and relate to them. The title alone drew me in. And Debbie puts you right into the story. You can see the surroundings, feel for the characters, and enjoy the character's triumphs.

By Debbie Macomber,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Best Is Yet to Come as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • When a woman alone in the world bravely chooses to open her heart, two lost souls have a new chance at belonging, in this intimate novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber.

A new beginning in charming Oceanside, Washington, is exactly what Hope Godwin needs after the death of her twin brother. There are plenty of distractions, like her cozy cottage with the slightly nosy landlords next door, and a brewing drama among her students at the local high school.

Even having settled quickly into the community, Hope still feels something is…


Book cover of Golden Girl

Robin Jay Author Of Sunny’s Secrets

From my list on life (and death!) with an element of fantasy.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I finally accepted that I’m analytical, it was surprisingly liberating. I think that’s why I enjoy trying to figure out a story and its characters and what will happen next. Because of this, it’s delightful when a story genuinely surprises me. I especially appreciate magical elements that defy reality. I’m also a motivational speaker and filmmaker, two powerful story-telling mediums, so I love books that inspire me in some way, challenge my perspectives, and leave me thinking about them for days. When a book is so well written that I can turn off my brain and lose myself in the story, it’s a fabulous escape for me. 

Robin's book list on life (and death!) with an element of fantasy

Robin Jay Why did Robin love this book?

Ever since my mother passed away on her favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, I’ve been obsessed with how much control we might actually have in life and beyond. So, Golden Girl’s story of Vivian getting to watch her children and even make some changes after her passing was right up my alley!

I found myself identifying with her as she watched, worried, and decided when and how to alter the course of events. And who doesn’t have a few secrets they want to keep hidden? I saw what happened to my family after losing my mother and wondered what mom would say or do differently if she could have seen us and manipulated events from beyond!

By Elin Hilderbrand,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Golden Girl as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this #1 bestselling page-turner from "the queen of beach reads" (New York Magazine), a Nantucket novelist has one final summer to protect her secrets while her loved ones on earth learn to live without their golden girl.

On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket. She ascends to the Beyond where she's assigned to a Person named Martha, who allows Vivi to watch what happens below for one last summer. Vivi also is granted…


Book cover of Life Without Water

Susan Emshwiller Author Of Thar She Blows

From my list on first-person narrators navigating screwed-up lives.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am fascinated by first-person points of view. In writing plays and screenplays, I couldn’t write the inner thoughts of my characters. Now, in novels and short stories, I do that almost exclusively, even if the stories contain multiple narrators. I love the Unreliable Narrator—whether it is someone too young to understand what they are witnessing, someone who is in denial, or mentally ill, or a non-human experiencing the world in an odd way—the discrepancy between their view and mine delights me. I love discovering all those inner thoughts, fears, anxieties, and desires. These first-person stories let me into another’s experience and allow me to empathize with a whole new perspective.  

Susan's book list on first-person narrators navigating screwed-up lives

Susan Emshwiller Why did Susan love this book?

This book immersed me in a ramshackle house, a group of hippies, the smell of bread, the feel of weeds, and the sounds of fighting— through the eyes and heart of Cedar, a young girl.

All the confusion of growing up play out in her unique home life. The writing, through her point-of-view, is truly magical. I kept jotting down incredible phrases as I read and identified with all the longing, anger, loving, and coming-of-age-pains this child experiences.

By Nancy Peacock,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Life Without Water as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is the kind of book that you read, love and then give to a friend saying, "You have to read this...

In a powerful and acute debut, highly acclaimed author Nancy Peacock gives us a young narrator who is both knowing and innocent, trusting and fearful: a girl named Cedar, who reflects on her childhood in the wake of the Vietnam war. As she and her young mother Sara both come of age, Cedar explores the intense bond--and discovers the boundaries--of their mother-daughter relationship. Living as hippies in an abandoned farmhouse in North Carolina, Sara and Cedar survive a…


Book cover of Book Lovers

Christina Ford Author Of In Search of Mr Darcy: Lessons Learnt In The Pursuit of Happily Ever After

From my list on believing in the existence of love.

Why am I passionate about this?

I write about life, love and being single in my blog, A Broad In London, and I am a semi-regular guest on a Week In Review on BBC Radio London. 

Christina's book list on believing in the existence of love

Christina Ford Why did Christina love this book?

I love a great, happily-ever-after love story that makes you work for it. And that is what this book does. It is not so much the groundbreaking story of boy meets girl—girl hates boy—and then girl finds she has misunderstood boy all along.

It's a little like Pride and Prejudice meets When Harry Met Sally. I love that this book does for me what a great rom-com does: you know how it is going to end, but you lean in and thoroughly enjoy the journey.

By Emily Henry,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Book Lovers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“One of my favorite authors.”—Colleen Hoover

An insightful, delightful, instant #1 New York Times bestseller from the author of Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation.

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by Oprah Daily ∙ Today ∙ Parade ∙ Marie Claire ∙ Bustle ∙ PopSugar ∙ Katie Couric Media ∙ Book Bub ∙ SheReads ∙ Medium ∙ The Washington Post ∙ and more!

One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming...

Nora Stephens' life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream…


Book cover of The Lucky One

Elizabeth Bromke Author Of Home to Brambleberry Creek

From my list on women’s fiction with gorgeous heartland settings.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love drawing gorgeous, interesting settings. Ever since my parents drove my brother and me across America to visit our cousins in Michigan, I have found myself enchanted by everything from sweet small-towns to pit stops with lots of potential for drama. I have always felt that setting can be its own character. With its bright, sunny suburbs and its dark, shadowy back-alleys, the setting is the centerpiece of any great story.

Sarah's book list on women’s fiction with gorgeous heartland settings

Elizabeth Bromke Why did Sarah love this book?

You might not think about Sparks as a go-to for sweeping countryside settings… and yet his treatment of the North Carolina lends itself so sweetly to this romance, that I bet the story wouldn’t be the same without it. There is something so sexy about a handsome man in blue jeans ambling down a country lane.

By Nicholas Sparks,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A U.S. Marine's brush with death leads him to the love of his life in this New York Times bestseller of destiny, luck, and the redemptive power of romance.
After U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman buried in the dirt during his tour of duty in Iraq, he experiences a sudden streak of luck -- winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph -- his lucky charm.

Back home in Colorado, Thibault can't seem to get the woman…


Book cover of The Secret Ingredient of Wishes

Jennifer Moorman Author Of The Baker's Man

From my list on magical realism to enchant you and lift your spirits.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated with the extraordinary ever since I read Madeleine L ’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time in middle school. I was also enchanted by Dorothy’s trip from black-and-white Kansas into colorful Oz. I once heard Neil Gaiman mention the “hyperreality” of life, and I thought, Yes! That’s how I want to see the world—the magic everywhere. I voraciously read not only magical realism books but also fantasy. These stories heighten my awareness of the wonder in everything and in everyone, and they deepen the richness of the stories I tell and write.

Jennifer's book list on magical realism to enchant you and lift your spirits

Jennifer Moorman Why did Jennifer love this book?

I love the idea that secrets can be baked into pies and that there’s a chance I could stumble upon a place where wishes come true.

The gift of second chances is highlighted in this story, and as someone with a romantic, hopeful heart, I want to live in this story while eating a slice of Catch’s famous peach pie.

By Susan Bishop Crispell,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

26 year old Rachel Monroe has spent her whole life trying to keep a very unusual secret: she can make wishes come true. And sometimes the consequences are disastrous. So when Rachel accidentally grants an outlandish wish for the first time in years, she decides it's time to leave her hometown and her past behind for good. Rachel isn't on the road long before she runs out of gas in a town that's not on her map: Nowhere, North Carolina also known as the town of "Lost and Found." In Nowhere, Rachel is taken in by a spit-fire old woman,…


Book cover of First Frost

Tina Wainscott Author Of Until I Die Again (Love and Light)

From my list on to escape into another world.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been fascinated by things paranormal and supernatural. There is so much in the “real” world that we don’t understand and can’t prove their existence, but there is enough video and photos, as well as stories, that I don’t see how we can say there’s not more beyond our five senses. Many of my own books center on paranormal abilities and events, and I do love reading about them as well!

Tina's book list on to escape into another world

Tina Wainscott Why did Tina love this book?

This book is also set in an ordinary world in a small Georgia town (I think it’s Georgia!), with an extraordinary family whose lineage has women with magical powers. The townsfolk know about the “odd” family, but they aren’t wholly shunned. Each woman has her own vulnerabilities and life journey. I loved the magic and cranky apple tree!

By Sarah Addison Allen,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Readers fell in love with Sarah Addison Allen's debut novel, GARDEN SPELLS. Now the tale of the Waverley women is to be revisited with a magical sequel.

Autumn has finally arrived in the small town of Bascom, North Carolina, heralded by a strange old man appearing with a beaten-up suitcase. He has stories to tell, stories that could change the lives of the Waverley women forever. But the Waverleys have enough trouble on their hands. Quiet Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley's Candies, but it's nothing like she thought it would be, and it's slowly taking over…


Book cover of Where the Crawdads Sing

Jill Paterson Author Of The Celtic Dagger: A Fitzjohn Mystery

From my list on mystery that hold you in heart pounding suspense.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love to read. I always have. I also love to write mysteries that, hopefully, keep my reader guessing until the end of the book. I look for books that not only provide me with a mystery to solve but also inform me of situations and/or places I would otherwise never learn about. I have found all the books on my list to fill that need. They are just an example of the many I have found and read.

Jill's book list on mystery that hold you in heart pounding suspense

Jill Paterson Why did Jill love this book?

A murder mystery and so much more. Set in the marshlands of North Carolina in the United States, it’s an unusual read with the emotional content tugging at my heartstrings. It describes life in the marsh and a child’s heartbreaking struggle to survive.

Nevertheless, I found the author’s description of the natural world in the marshlands brilliant and the haunting tale stayed with me long after I finished reading the book.

By Delia Owens,

Why should I read it?

53 authors picked Where the Crawdads Sing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

OVER 12 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
A NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

For years, rumours of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in romantic love, farmers, and North Carolina?

Romantic Love 938 books
Farmers 21 books
North Carolina 133 books