Fans pick 100 books like Lavender's Blue

By Jennifer Crusie, Bob Mayer,

Here are 100 books that Lavender's Blue fans have personally recommended if you like Lavender's Blue. 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 Heartburn

Jeannie Zusy Author Of The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream

From my list on middle-aged women taking on mid-life things.

Why am I passionate about this?

Mid-life for women is many things, including greatly underrepresented in the stories around us. I am forever in awe of the women around me as they continue to rise to each crazy occasion that life presents, managing and coping with wisdom, humor, and strength. This is why I am recommending these books about kickass middle-aged women. I wrote a novel inspired by some of my own challenges in mid-life. It was published by Atria Books, Simon & Schuster. I hope you love the recommendations as much as I do and that you’ll be inspired to check out my book as well. 

Jeannie's book list on middle-aged women taking on mid-life things

Jeannie Zusy Why did Jeannie love this book?

I am a fan of Nora Ephron’s films (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, Julie/Julia…, etc.), but I hadn’t read any of her books. I started with this one—a slim one, as I remembered the movie from years ago.

Our protagonist, Rachael Samstat, seems to have an enviable life: a successful career as a cookbook writer, happily married to a dynamic man, a baby with another on the way, and a calendar of social events with equally lucky people. However, her husband’s betrayal while she is pregnant sends her spinning and onto a painful, witty, sometimes petty, and ultimately empowering journey.

I listened to the book, and Meryl Streep’s narration is relatable. It made me laugh out loud numerous times.

By Nora Ephron,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

If I had to do it over again, I would have made a different kind of pie. The pie I threw at Mark made a terrific mess, but a blueberry pie would have been even better, since it would have permanently ruined his new blazer, the one he bought with Thelma ... I picked up the pie, thanked God for linoleum floor, and threw it'
Rachel Samstat is smart, successful, married to a high-flying Washington journalist... and devastated. She has discovered that her husband is having an affair with Thelma Rice, 'a fairly tall person with a neck as long…


Book cover of Dog On It

Molly MacRae Author Of Come Shell or High Water

From my list on mystery with sidesplitting sidekicks.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started reading mysteries as a way to avoid studying for final exams as an undergrad. Nemesis by Agatha Christie was my gateway mystery. That was fifty-plus years and many, many mysteries read ago. I managed an independent bookstore for several years and then worked in a public library for twenty more. I especially liked introducing readers to my favorite mysteries in the store and the library. Why mysteries in particular? Because they do something that doesn’t often happen in real life—they restore order. But the best mysteries, to my mind, are the ones that include humor. We need humor in our lives because it restores hope.  

Molly's book list on mystery with sidesplitting sidekicks

Molly MacRae Why did Molly love this book?

I’m more likely to read mysteries with cats than with dogs, so when I enthuse over one of the latter, my recommendation can be trusted. I listened to this book, and it was love at first bite. It was my first earful.

The book is narrated by Chet, a failed police dog trainee. He partners with Bernie, a failing private eye, whom Chet sees as the best, bravest, smartest PI ever. Except for maybe where money is concerned or when it comes to things like Hawaiian shirts. Or Hawaiian pants. I’m with Chet on the Hawaiian pants. What was Bernie thinking? But I’ve never met a more loyal dog or well-meaning PI, and no matter what trouble they have along the way, Chet and Bernie win the day.  

By Spencer Quinn,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Dog On It as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first book of the New York Times bestselling Chet and Bernie mystery series, an “enchanting one-of-a-kind novel” (Stephen King) that is “nothing short of masterful” (Los Angeles Times).

Chet, the wise and lovable canine narrator of Dog on It, and Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private investigator, are quick to take a new case involving a frantic mother searching for her teenage daughter. This well-behaved and gifted student may or may not have been kidnapped, but she has definitely gotten mixed up with some very unsavory characters. With Chet’s highly trained nose leading the way, their hunt for clues takes them…


Book cover of One for the Money

Maria Schneider Author Of One Good Eclair: A Nutrition Mafia Mystery

From my list on humorous, non-paranormal, cozy mysteries.

Why am I passionate about this?

Cozy mysteries tend to exist in a simpler world, one without extreme violence and heavy swearing. They are often set in bucolic settings, but they deal with murder! I love many of the cozy tropes—tea, cats, dogs or other pets, family shenanigans, food. I think it’s family nuances that draw me the most to cozies. Whether it’s a romantic comedy or just one full of capers and laughter, cozies are my favorite genre.

Maria's book list on humorous, non-paranormal, cozy mysteries

Maria Schneider Why did Maria love this book?

One of the first modern cozy mysteries I have ever read, Stephanie Plum is zany, ridiculous, and laugh-out-loud funny. Basically, she’s a bounty hunter, and she gets her man and solves mysteries despite herself. Her Grandma Mazur is quite possibly one of the best sidekick characters ever invented. Funerals may or may not involve dead bodies, but Granny Mazur will be there anyway, even if it means stealing a corpse. Especially if it means stealing a corpse! Stephanie has a habit of losing cars and getting stuck driving a very old boat of a car (Big Buick), which deprives her of looking as cool as she’d like. Well, she isn’t exactly a put-together gal, so that’s okay. 

The initial books in the series are almost a coming of age—a chance at a career, a chance or two at romance, and family shenanigans that almost kill her with good intentions. This…

By Janet Evanovich,

Why should I read it?

15 authors picked One for the Money as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Stephanie Plum is down on her luck. She's lost her job, her car's on the brink of repossession, and her apartment is fast becoming furniture-free.

Enter Cousin Vinnie, a low-life who runs a bail-bond company. If Stephanie can bring in vice cop turned outlaw Joe Morelli, she stands to pick up $10,000. But tracking down a cop wanted for murder isn't easy . . .

And when Benito Ramirez, a prize-fighter with more menace than mentality, wants to be her friend Stephanie soon knows what it's like to be pursued. Unfortunately the best person to protect her just happens to…


Book cover of Louisiana Longshot

Rhonda Blackhurst Author Of Shear Deception

From my list on mysteries with strong flawed female protagonists.

Why am I passionate about this?

I retired from a district attorney’s office as a victim witness specialist and a paralegal, where I saw a disturbing side of humanity with too many female victims. There were rarely any winners on either side. Reading mysteries with strong female leads gave me hope. A dash of humor didn’t hurt, either. After a long day of vicarious trauma, it was a treat to hide behind my computer in the evenings and write cozy mysteries, where I tied up the end of the story with a pretty pink bow and where there was a winner. I’m hooked!

Rhonda's book list on mysteries with strong flawed female protagonists

Rhonda Blackhurst Why did Rhonda love this book?

This book had me laughing out loud in the first chapter and several times thereafter. The female lead is a CIA assassin in hiding in Sinful, Louisiana, where she meets two older woman, Gertie and Ida Bell, who the town has dubbed the “Geritol Mafia” and who were in Viet Nam together.

The author creates characters—and relationships between those characters—that stayed in my mind long after reading the book. Again, I eagerly wait for each new release in the series so I can be part of Fortune, Gertie, and Ida Bell’s adventures. 

By Jana DeLeon,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Louisiana Longshot as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It was a hell of a long shot....


CIA assassin Fortune Redding is about to undertake her most difficult mission ever-in Sinful, Louisiana. With a leak at the CIA and a price placed on her head by one of the world's largest arms dealers, Fortune has to go off-grid, but she never expected to be this far out of her element. Posing as a former beauty queen turned librarian in a small bayou town seems worse than death to Fortune, but she's determined to fly below the radar until her boss finds the leak and puts the arms dealer out…


Book cover of Savor the Moment

Meg Benjamin Author Of The Pumpkin Butter Murder

From my list on when you’re feeling peckish.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love cooking, almost as much as I love eating. One of the great advantages of writing a series where the heroine is a jam maker is that it gives me a chance to experiment with jams, as well as other dishes Roxy shares with her family and friends. I live in a place where fresh fruit comes tumbling onto the market all summer: raspberries, peaches, apricots, blackberries, and cherries. You’re hardly through with one before the next appears on your plate. Making it into jam is fun, but writing about it is even better. And reading about someone else’s food loves is a special kind of pleasure. Bon appétit!

Meg's book list on when you’re feeling peckish

Meg Benjamin Why did Meg love this book?

This book about a creator of wedding cakes may well send you to the nearest bakery.

This is the third book in Roberts’s Bride Quartet series about four women who run a wedding and event center. But the heroine here is Laurel McBane, creator of sublime cakes, candies, and pastries for both weddings and hungry friends. The plot is charming (it’s Roberts in romance rather than thriller mode), and the cake descriptions are mouth-watering.

The entire quartet is a great example of contemporary romance, and I recommend them all. But it’s Savor the Moment that will have you dreaming of butter cream frosting.

By Nora Roberts,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

New Love takes the cake in the third novel in #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts's Bride Quartet-in a stunning French flap edition

Wedding baker Laurel McBane is surrounded by romance working at Vows wedding planning company with her best friends Parker, Emma, and Mac. But she's too low-key to appreciate all the luxuries that their clients seem to long for. What she does appreciate is a strong, intelligent man, a man just like Parker's older brother Delaney, on whom she's had a mega-crush since childhood.

But some infatuations last longer than others, and Laurel is convinced that…


Book cover of Earthly Delights

Meg Benjamin Author Of The Pumpkin Butter Murder

From my list on when you’re feeling peckish.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love cooking, almost as much as I love eating. One of the great advantages of writing a series where the heroine is a jam maker is that it gives me a chance to experiment with jams, as well as other dishes Roxy shares with her family and friends. I live in a place where fresh fruit comes tumbling onto the market all summer: raspberries, peaches, apricots, blackberries, and cherries. You’re hardly through with one before the next appears on your plate. Making it into jam is fun, but writing about it is even better. And reading about someone else’s food loves is a special kind of pleasure. Bon appétit!

Meg's book list on when you’re feeling peckish

Meg Benjamin Why did Meg love this book?

Greenwood’s Corinna Chapman books will make you long for some scrumptious whole-grain bread and a crock of creamery butter.

Not only do you get descriptions of Corinna’s bakery and its products, there are also the delectable meals she prepares for herself and her beloved. And, of course, the mysteries she solves along the way. That’s not to mention Corinna herself, a former lawyer and accountant, now happily baking bread in Melbourne as an unashamedly full-figured woman and resident of a delightfully quirky apartment building.

By Kerry Greenwood,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

"Put on the coffee pot, whip up a batch of muffins (yes, two recipes are included), and enjoy this thoroughly original tale. Strongly recommended for fans of offbeat mysteries." ―Library Journal STARRED review

One day, Corinna Chapman, high profile accountant and banker, walked out on the money market and her dismissive and unpleasant husband James, threw aside her briefcase, and doffed her kitten heels forever. Now she is a baker with her own business, Earthly Delights, in Melbourne, Australia, living in an eccentric building on the Roman model called Insula with a lot of similarly eccentric people.

She and her…


Book cover of Miss Delectable

Meg Benjamin Author Of The Pumpkin Butter Murder

From my list on when you’re feeling peckish.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love cooking, almost as much as I love eating. One of the great advantages of writing a series where the heroine is a jam maker is that it gives me a chance to experiment with jams, as well as other dishes Roxy shares with her family and friends. I live in a place where fresh fruit comes tumbling onto the market all summer: raspberries, peaches, apricots, blackberries, and cherries. You’re hardly through with one before the next appears on your plate. Making it into jam is fun, but writing about it is even better. And reading about someone else’s food loves is a special kind of pleasure. Bon appétit!

Meg's book list on when you’re feeling peckish

Meg Benjamin Why did Meg love this book?

Burrowes’s Mischief in Mayfair series of regency romances specializes in strong heroines with unusual occupations (unusual for the regency period, anyway). For Ann Pearson it’s cooking.

Her luscious pastries attract the attention of Orion Goddard, a Waterloo veteran with a troubled past. Burrowes’s descriptions of Ann’s pies and tarts will send you to the kitchen, longing for some apple pie with lots of spice. And, of course, in the end Ann and Orion both triumph over the social forces opposing them, like any good romance couple.

By Grace Burrowes,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Miss Ann Pearson has spent years learning the difficult art of the professional cook, and carefully guards her position in the kitchen of the fancy Coventry Club. When Colonel Sir Orion Goddard asks her to take on a young apprentice, Ann would rather refuse. But Orion is respectful, gruffly charming, and looking out for a girl whom others have neglected, and that is a combination Ann cannot resist.

Lingering scandal has taught Orion to make his way along the fringes of polite society without allies or entanglements. Then he meets Ann, who is fierce, passionate, and warm-hearted, and also worth…


Book cover of Dark Needs at Night's Edge

Avalon Griffin Author Of Unbound by Shadows

From my list on romance for empowering escapism.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started reading romance because I wanted to drown myself in stories of women stepping into their power and getting everything they wanted. Romance is a genre often looked down upon because of the happy-ever-afters, but I think that’s part of why it can be so deliciously subversive. Most (but not all) romance novels are centered on women, their voices, their sexuality, their desires, and their victories. In a world that’s often cruel, escaping into a world where dreams and fantasies are possible can be liberating. I started writing romance because I wanted to be a part of these stories and craft a world for others to escape into.

Avalon's book list on romance for empowering escapism

Avalon Griffin Why did Avalon love this book?

I’m a sucker for stories about two outcasts who find belonging together, and this book does that beautifully.

It’s about a ballerina who haunts her beloved home after being murdered in the 1920s. She’s bored and desperately lonely until a crazed vampire becomes imprisoned in her mansion.

Because he’s not human, the vampire can see the beautiful ghost, and sparks fly.

This book is a master class in writing sexual tension since the characters can’t touch initially. Once they could touch, I loved how the heroine was fully comfortable in her sexuality and assertive with her less experienced vampire partner.

The author also does a great job of showing how the two progress and change through their own character arcs, with love being the catalyst for their growth. 

By Kresley Cole,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dark Needs at Night's Edge as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

On the night lovely Neomi Renate, a famous ballerina at the turn of the century, was murdered, an evil force turned her into a spectre - a phantom that's neither alive nor dead - and cursed her to relive her harrowing death every month during the full moon. Unable to leave her home, she has managed to scare away any trespassers, until she encounters an inhabitant even more terrifying than Neomi herself.

When Conrad Wroth, a vampire warlord who's been half-mad for centuries, first beholds Neomi, he knows nothing will stop him from claiming the ethereal beauty as his own…


Book cover of The Ivy Tree

Muna Shehadi Author Of The First Wife

From my list on knocking you off your ass-umptions.

Why am I passionate about this?

People either love or hate surprises, but in a book, done well, they’re always welcome—whether we race to the last page to find them or they hip-check us along the way. I started my career writing comedy romance—comfort reads but with few surprises. Now in my novels, I make sure to give readers plenty they don’t expect, whether it’s a character who isn’t what s/he seems, a contradictory situation gradually made clear, or a jaw-dropping twist. Pulling off a successful surprise is one of my favorite parts of writing—therefore my love of books that take me somewhere I didn't expect.

Muna's book list on knocking you off your ass-umptions

Muna Shehadi Why did Muna love this book?

This is the only book I reread regularly (life is short, so many titles!) because it is gobsmackingly brilliant. The story is about a woman visiting an English country town who’s mistaken for a former resident and convinced to take that person’s place. It’s beautifully written, with great characters, typically compelling plot, but the twist! I gasped out loud the first time and have never failed to get chills on every reread. You don’t see the surprise coming, and yet it is absolutely logical and perfect. I keep trying to find someplace where Stewart trips up or gives it away, and there’s nothing. I bow down.

By Mary Stewart,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Mary Stewart, one of the great British storytellers of the 20th century, transports her readers to rural Northumberland for this tale of romance, ambition, and deceit - a perfect fit for fans of Agatha Christie and Barbara Pym.

'There are few to equal Mary Stewart' Daily Telegraph

'Mary Stewart is magic.' New York Times

Whitescar is a beautiful old house and farm situated in Roman Wall country. It will make a rich inheritance for its heirs, but in order to secure it, they enlist the help of a young woman named Mary who bears remarkable resemblance to missing Whitescar heiress,…


Book cover of Until I Met Her

Jamie Millen Author Of You Did This

From my list on psychological thrillers to keep you up all night.

Why am I passionate about this?

Human psychology – particularly the “abnormal” kind – has always fascinated me, enough to study the topic at university. What makes us tick? Why do seemingly ordinary people commit terrible crimes? Psychological crime thrillers allow me to explore our dark side further, and I sprinkle nuggets from that research throughout my novels. Memories and relationships may appear in disguise. Stories are our way of sharing our experiences – the ones too intense and intimate to express in other ways. Born and raised in South Africa, I now live in Israel with my wife and daughters. When I’m not writing my next thriller, you’ll find me writing computer code and generally being curious about the world.

Jamie's book list on psychological thrillers to keep you up all night

Jamie Millen Why did Jamie love this book?

I don’t like blood. That may surprise readers. My novels don’t dwell on gore, but I’ve written my share of grisly murders. (Maybe it’s just my blood that disturbs me?)

Anyway, a few years ago I found myself hospitalized overnight and in desperate need of a distraction. Barelli’s book caught my attention. (A writer who’s just killed her mentor/friend? Perfect!) The story transported me from that miserable ward to a murderous character’s fictional world. Who said crime doesn’t pay?

The book taught me the allure of a criminal protagonist and the healing power of thriller escapism. And it sparked an idea for another book. (Hm. Can you see a pattern developing here?)

By Natalie Barelli,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

If you were asked to put your name to a novel you didn’t write, would you?Meet Emma Fern, celebrated author of a literary best-seller, adored by legions of fans everywhere, shortlisted for the prestigious Poulton Prize. But it wasn’t always this way, a year earlier you would have met Emma Fern, unremarkable beige wife, running a small housewares store, thinking of starting a family. And maybe it wasn’t the perfect life, but to Emma, it was pretty close.But when Emma meets Beatrice, the doyenne of crime fiction and Emma’s favorite writer, life suddenly becomes a lot more exciting. Then Beatrice…


Book cover of Heartburn
Book cover of Dog On It
Book cover of One for the Money

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