Here are 100 books that One Hot Summer fans have personally recommended if you like
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I am, have always been, and always will be a realist. Therefore I find ‘Faction’ books, biographies, and memoirs more interesting, as I can learn from them and know that some or all of the events are true. They say ‘write what you know’ and so when it came to writing A Rather Unusual Romance I did just that. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 thyroid cancer back in 2005, and decided to weave the 15-year journey back to health I undertook into the pages of a fictional romance, with Alan and Erin similarly affected by thyroid cancer. Every procedure they had to endure was true because I had to go through it as well (without the romance)!
This coming-of-age memoir takes me back to my early years living in the East End of London in the 1960s, where people were hard up and renowned for ‘ducking and diving’ and dodgy dealings. Joe’s boss Roy had many such deals going on in the back of his butcher’s shop. Over time Joe became aware that Roy sold much more than just meat, and in fact was raking in more money doing shady deals than selling the usual beef, pork, and lamb. Very entertaining!
Joe is a typical 14 year old growing up in Londons East End. His mum gets him a job as a Saturday boy at the local Butchers shop. His life will never be the same again. A story of friendship, loyalty, violence, crime and betrayal. Imagine Goodfellas set in East London. Welcome to THe East End Butcher Boy.
I am, have always been, and always will be a realist. Therefore I find ‘Faction’ books, biographies, and memoirs more interesting, as I can learn from them and know that some or all of the events are true. They say ‘write what you know’ and so when it came to writing A Rather Unusual Romance I did just that. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 thyroid cancer back in 2005, and decided to weave the 15-year journey back to health I undertook into the pages of a fictional romance, with Alan and Erin similarly affected by thyroid cancer. Every procedure they had to endure was true because I had to go through it as well (without the romance)!
Because it is another ‘Faction’ novel. Martha found the inspiration to write this book from dreams, from watching a TV show featuring Oprah Winfrey interviewing various men suffering from an addiction to pornography, and from information given to her by 8 wives whose marriages were affected by their husbands’ addictions. Addiction to porn is a very real problem in these modern times.
Inspired by an episode on Oprah from years ago that dealt with men addicted to porn, a dream, and 8 women's lives, Portrait of Our Marriage, a fictional memoir, is one woman's story you don't want to miss. Nicky, embarks on a journey to find herself and become her own person despite the legacy of a domineering father and an emotionally—and often physically—distant husband. Reminiscing events from her life, she looks at pictures and remembers the romance, falling in love, marriage, and her family. When her husbands interest in pornography becomes an obsession. She wonders how she will compete? Some…
I am, have always been, and always will be a realist. Therefore I find ‘Faction’ books, biographies, and memoirs more interesting, as I can learn from them and know that some or all of the events are true. They say ‘write what you know’ and so when it came to writing A Rather Unusual Romance I did just that. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 thyroid cancer back in 2005, and decided to weave the 15-year journey back to health I undertook into the pages of a fictional romance, with Alan and Erin similarly affected by thyroid cancer. Every procedure they had to endure was true because I had to go through it as well (without the romance)!
This book is based on fact and is more of a memoir. Pete Springer takes us, sometimes with humor, through the ups and downs of his 30-year teaching career. In doing so he gives much advice suitable for new recruits to the teaching profession. My son Leon, once labelled by teachers as ‘distracted and distracting’, would have benefited from Pete’s superior teaching skills I’m sure.
Who Will You Inspire Today? Teachers face this challenge and responsibility each day, but in the process, the author discovers that his students can also have a profound influence on him. Pete Springer takes you on his memorable thirty-one-year journey in education as an elementary school teacher and offers the many valuable life and teaching lessons he learned along the way. Get ready to laugh out loud at some of the humorous and memorable experiences that all teachers face, feel inspired by the inherent goodness of children, and appreciate the importance of developing a sense of teamwork among the staff.…
I am, have always been, and always will be a realist. Therefore I find ‘Faction’ books, biographies, and memoirs more interesting, as I can learn from them and know that some or all of the events are true. They say ‘write what you know’ and so when it came to writing A Rather Unusual Romance I did just that. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 thyroid cancer back in 2005, and decided to weave the 15-year journey back to health I undertook into the pages of a fictional romance, with Alan and Erin similarly affected by thyroid cancer. Every procedure they had to endure was true because I had to go through it as well (without the romance)!
This is another book for fans of ‘Faction’. This focuses on the lives of several Victorian Scottish miners and their families. The author based her book on research gleaned from her own McMurdo ancestors, and you are transported immediately to the two-roomed cottages where large families lived cheek-by-jowl and TB, miner’s lungs, and many other diseases were rife and women were worn out by the time they were 40. Fascinating glimpses of times past.
An historical novel based on real people and places in the period 1861 to 1913, set amidst the poverty and overcrowding in the miners’ rows of Ayrshire Scotland.The author has put words into the mouths of her ancestors to create a picture of life for large mining families and how they battled sickness and disease, and barely eked out a living.The story begins with Thomas and Margaret McMurdo and their growing family and describes their simple lives crowded into a two-room dwelling in a miners’ row. There are many highs and lows for the family. You will be introduced to…
I have been a published indie author since 2011, and I enjoy reading and studying the craft to make my work the best it can be. I have a passion for indie authors and indie publishing, and I love the flexibility this type of authorship gives me while I homeschool my two young boys, run a non-profit organization, and volunteer at my church.
This book gets down to the nitty-gritty of planning your novel and explains the difference between scenes (where the action happens), and sequels (where the reactions happen). Great for meticulous planners and haphazard pantsers alike, this book will help any writer learn some tried and true techniques to organize their story in a professional way.
Craft your fiction with scene-by-scene flow, logic and readability.
An imprisoned man receives an unexpected caller, after which "everything changed..."
And the reader is hooked. But whether or not readers will stay on for the entire wild ride will depend on how well the writer structures the story, scene by scene.
This book is your game plan for success. Using dozens of examples from his own work - including Dropshot,Tiebreaker and other popular novels - Jack M. Bickham will guide you in building a sturdy framework for your novel, whatever its form or length. You'll learn how to:
The theme of this list is so important to me as an independently published author. Ever since I was about 14 years old I knew I wanted to tell stories, and my way, so even then I was looking into indie publishing. The idea of offering my books up to the traditional publishing chopping block, to be edited and mulled into what’s most marketable, scared me so much! I didn’t want to tell my stories another person’s way. So here we are, and I’m giving you guys a list of indie recommendations whose authors feel very much the same way. We just want to tell our stories. And have control over how that’s done. ;)
Ilahara is actually written by a sister duo that share a pen name, but you could never tell by the intricate way they’ve woven their styles together. Tolkien is one of my favorite authors, so I love a deep fantasy, and Ilahara gives that with some heavy Game of Thrones flavor. They’ve got dragons, magic, platonic soul bonding, and layers of political intrigue that somehow manage to never feel dense or overbearing. I am utterly dying for the sequel, and you will too!
Princess Asharaya Myrassar lost everything on the night of the Coup of Fire when the usurper queen, Aerella Argarys, slaughtered the royal family and claimed the throne of the fae kingdom of Ilahara. After seeking refuge on the human continent and leaving her magical past behind, Asharaya takes on a new identity: Shara, an assassin blessed with dark powers.
Prince Derron Argarys owes his royal title to his mother’s coup, and although he has all the status and power one could wish for, he cannot escape the memories of the brutal death of the former prince he once called friend.…
As host of ImmerseOrDie, I've tested over 600 indie novels so far, searching for books that can hold me in their spell for at least 40 minutes. Unfortunately, self-publishing is rife with the quirks and gaffs that burst such glamours: bad spelling, bad formatting, ludicrous dialogue... Even allowing three failures before bailing, only 9% survived. And reading those to completion whittled the herd still further.
So here then are the surviving 1%. A glittering few, plucked from the muck so that you don't have to. I don't promise you'll love them, but I do make one guarantee: they do not suck.
And in the Swamps of Indie, that is high praise indeed.
What would you get if Stephen King fathered a love-child on the corpse of HP Lovecraft? You'd get Rust, a full-throated scream of confusion and despair expressed in the chaotic afterlife of one Kimberley Archer. Is she single and dead? Or is she trapped in a living hell populated by the devoted husband and loving child she cannot remember knowing? This one creeped me out completely.
After being pushed in front of the subway C-Line, Kimberly Archer finds herself in an impossible town with a husband she's never seen before and a life she can't remember. The rain never stops, the phones don't work and the doctors think she's delusional.
Kimberly only wants to get back to her fiance in New York. But for that, she needs the help of Fitch, a madman who believes something dark lives at the heart of Rustwood. He'll help her, so long as she joins him on his mission to burn…
The theme of this list is so important to me as an independently published author. Ever since I was about 14 years old I knew I wanted to tell stories, and my way, so even then I was looking into indie publishing. The idea of offering my books up to the traditional publishing chopping block, to be edited and mulled into what’s most marketable, scared me so much! I didn’t want to tell my stories another person’s way. So here we are, and I’m giving you guys a list of indie recommendations whose authors feel very much the same way. We just want to tell our stories. And have control over how that’s done. ;)
Jesikah Sundin is one of my absolute favorite indie authors. Not only are her pages rich with easter eggs and factual knowledge, she weaves them together in a magical way that makes her stories utterly impossible to put down. Of Heart and Stone is technically the second book in the Ealdspell Cycle, but as they’re standalones, you can read them out of order just fine. And this Snow White retelling is so worth the read. Not only does she intermingle a world of technology and magic, she does it so seamlessly it feels completely natural. Add in that she writes delightful slow-burn romance, and add in the feminist vibes that make her stories deeper still, and truly, you’ll inhale the whole series.
She has a heart of stone. A heart he is fated by the faeries to break.
Eirwen Blackvein grew up in a dwarven mining camp at the edge of the map. A perfect place to hide an elven princess destined to destroy a queen and save a kingdom at war, as foretold in a seer’s magic mirror. Except, Eirwen doesn’t know she is the lost princess. Only that she was found as a newborn with her heart carved out. And why she now possesses a heart of stone in her chest.
I am an indie horror author from Yorkshire, England. I grew up on a steady diet of Stephen King and horror films and developed a love of all things spooky and/or creepy. Supernatural horror has always been my favorite genre. When it’s done well, it has the capacity to be absolutely terrifying. It took me writing a couple of books before I finally jumped headfirst into writing supernatural horror. To me, there’s nothing scarier than the unknown, and that’s what I want to explore in my writing, and also my reading. I am also a huge advocate of indie authors, and I am thrilled to share these recommendations with you.
Horror lovers know Justin Boote by his alternative extreme horror pen name–J Boote–and many don’t necessarily realize that he writes supernatural horror, too. This is one of those books that has you thinking, ‘Oh God, what on earth would I do in that situation?’
I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest the entire time I was reaching it. It is dark and creepy and had me sleeping with the lights on.
Described as, "Insidious meets Paranormal Activity!" Susanne Hill has witnessed tragedy first-hand; her six-year-old daughter, Sally, died in a car crash years before. Having been plagued her whole life by ghostly visitations, Susanne decides to use her abilities to help others after being visited several times by Sally. Thanks to some ethereal friends, the Soul Searchers, Susanne dedicates her life to helping lost and trapped souls move on to a better place. But there are other, darker spirits that lurk in the netherworld. Spirits that want those souls for themselves… When John and Cathy Richwood move into their new home,…
I’ve been obsessed with fantasy since my grandmother bought me the entire Dorothy and the Land of Oz series as a kid. I love discovering new types of fantasy characters, spins on characters, new lore in genres, and mythology woven in creative ways. For my fantasy group, I’ve researched many interpretations of fae, witches, elves, vampires, and shapeshifters. I’m always looking to add to my list, and I love finding Indie authors new to their niche. I feel so privileged to interview many authors like these and Jennifer L. Armentrout (squeal) for my podcast, The Finding the Magic Book Podcast. I hope you love these books as much as I did.
This book is a solid paranormal YA read with lots of great twists and surprises. I liked that this book shared a new type of paranormal being, at least to me, and that the plot wasn't predictable.
Wren, a sasayakimasu who can see departed souls, is damaged, and that aspect of the book is hard to read. I liked that we got two sides of the story from Wren and Jordan, her ghost. I loved that it’s hard to tell who saves who in this one.
The residents of the old Victorian are killing themselves. Or are they?
The girl in the bathtub didn’t kill herself for no reason. The guy by the lake didn’t drown by accident. But Wren has bigger questions than why they’re dead. Like why she can see them… and shatter lightbulbs with a scream. As if she’s not self-destructive enough, now she has feelings for one of them?
Someone is pulling Wren’s strings. She needs to find out why and soon, or there may not be an after-life for anyone. Ever again.
