70 books like Moonshine and Magnolias

This is a wonderful story about romance, a touch of suspense, and second-chance love. The heroine, Gianna, comes home after three failed engagements, suffers the gossip of the town, and runs into her childhood boyfriend, Zach. She’s gun-shy about getting involved with him again but can’t deny her feelings.

He’s thrilled to see her, and intense feelings ignite between them while he is recovering from a tragedy of his own. The story is beautiful and touching as they help each other heal. I loved this book and recommend it.

This is one of my all-time favorite novels.

It's a very funny take on a small Southern town. The characters could be people I know or grew up with, and that made me laugh all the harder. Not that you can't enjoy the book if you aren't Southern. The story is one about community and friendship. And it'll also give you a taste of being Southern.

It's a book I definitely recommend.

I first heard about this author when she was interviewed on the Self Publishing Author podcast.

During the interview, she said her books were set in small towns in the South, which caught my attention. Then she shared that she'd gotten comments from readers pointing out grammatical errors in the dialogue of characters in her books. As soon as I heard this, I knew I had to read one of her books.

You see, my characters don't always speak proper English either. So I read this book, loved it, and quickly read more. Set in my home state of Tennessee, When You Got a Good Thing was exactly what I hoped it would be, and more. The characters were well written and realistic and their story touched my heart. 

This book took me on a journey that was both heart-wrenching and heart-warming.

Once I started reading, I was hooked. This romance is not what I expected. Both the heroine and hero had faced tragedy, and the book took me back in time as they remembered the things that completely changed the course of their lives.

By each asking the other just one thing at a time, the story took shape. Slowly, painfully, together they took the road forward and found comfort in each other. As comfort turned into love it was a gift neither ever expected. This small-town novel is absolutely unforgettable.

This book breaks all the rules by being the sweetest, most empathetic, and heartfelt romance I’ve read in a long time, but without the romance. It portrays the importance of platonic love between two aromantic and asexual students who crave community, friendship, and understanding and find it in each other.

The social media posts and comment threads make it such an immersive reading experience. As I was reading, I truly felt like I was in their world. I had a smile on my face the entire time and a feeling of warmth, love, and acceptance. When I was done, I immediately called my best friends to tell them I loved them.

Peter Pan has always been a bit of a dark story, I remember as a child being quite concerned about how easy it was to kill Tinkerbell and why Peter needed his shadow stitched back on! Second Star is a modern but dark retelling of this children’s fable, set in sunny California and amongst the surfing community, we follow a 17-year-old Wendy as she searches for her missing brothers. Stepping into a dark world, she finds herself drawn to the Cove’s enigmatic leader Pete but she is also pulled towards his dangerous and drug-dealing nemesis, Jas. This novel shows how a classic can be used as inspiration but the author is still able to make the story their own and I always enjoy reading that.

Like me, Wendy’s parents weren’t paying close enough attention to her during her formative teenage years. This makes us vulnerable and, therefore, good targets for teachers or coaches to prey upon our availability and eagerness to be seen. This combination of parental absence and the betrayal of innocence and trust by an adult ‘friend’ who seduces us into a sexual relationship has a huge impact on our later years.

In Wendy’s case, their shared love of writing makes their relationship more complex. In my case, the 1970s was a time of ‘free love’ and sexual liberation, which added further confusion to my limited understanding of right and wrong.

Wendy Plump’s VOW is the only memoir I have ever read that reveals what it is like to be the “cheating” partner (there are many books that address being cheated on). This is NOT a book touting infidelity or polyamory. It is simply an extremely honest accounting of a marriage riddled by affairs (both partners), how the author coped with the fallout, and grew into a more mature and insight-driven version of herself. This very topic activates so much judgment by so many people (just read some of the seething, scathing reviews on Amazon), but the truth is, human beings DO cheat, they DO commit infidelity, and Wendy Plump, who is a terrific, elegant writer and storyteller, has addressed this topic with great candor. It takes an extremely brave person to tell this type of story; hence, this book is brave and beautiful.

I can not recommend this series more. I absolutely love Kate Daniels's post-post-apocalyptic world of Sifters and Vampires. The magic system is so creative and not so blatant like some urban fantasies.

I personally loved the idea that this era of urban fantasies took off with the “The world ended, and now this is what became of society” trope; it became a huge influence on me and my own world-building. 

I recently met the author at a writing workshop. He was my facilitator—he did an excellent job! What’s more, after the week of reading and critiquing each other’s fictional stories I decided to read this book. Wow! Beautifully written. The stories are sometimes shocking, sometimes sad but always worth the time! I feel lucky to have met this author and have had him help me improve my first novel which I'm completing now.