88 books like Ruby Red

By D. L. Croisette,

Here are 88 books that Ruby Red fans have personally recommended if you like Ruby Red. Shepherd is a community of 10,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Patrick

Estelle Pettersen Author Of Rainbow Desire

From my list on romance with a thrilling plot.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a big fan of romance books with thrilling plots. It’s partly how I remember the stories years later. When I wrote Flowers for Kate in the Rainbow Desire anthology, it started as a pure romance, but I added a supernatural thrill. One reader admitted checking over her shoulder in case a spectral being was there while reading the story. I love writing stories with twists and turns, and surprising readers. Maybe it comes from my childhood days of being a Scooby-Doo fan—I loved the thrill of guessing the mysteries behind each character and the villain being unmasked. I’m an ex-journalist who has published romance stories from erotic to sweet.

Estelle's book list on romance with a thrilling plot

Estelle Pettersen Why did Estelle love this book?

A sexy romance, a strong female lead, a hot hero…and a psychopathic serial killer. What more can a romance reader with a craving for thriller plots want? Patrick, book one in the Risking Love series by Callie Carmen, covers all the above elements that make a great thrilling romance. I’m a huge fan of strong women, and though Jaq, the protagonist, is being pursued by a serial killer, she never lets her guard down. She is a woman with a strong voice, which does not falter, and Patrick makes a great love interesthe’s a protective man who gives us plenty of sizzle. The author did a great job at giving readers a spine-chilling view into the mind of a serial killer. 

By Callie Carmen,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Jaq had no interest in a serious relationship because life at an early age had taught her that men weren't to be trusted. But she met Patrick who soon had her thinking about risking her heart. For Patrick the time for Jaq dating other men had ended. He wanted her all to himself. But would she stay if she knew the secrets of his past? Patrick wasn't the only man who wanted Jaq, and the other man was willing to kill to have her. Patrick is the first novel in the Risking Love series. The stories chart a group of…


Book cover of Her Lover's Face

Estelle Pettersen Author Of Rainbow Desire

From my list on romance with a thrilling plot.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a big fan of romance books with thrilling plots. It’s partly how I remember the stories years later. When I wrote Flowers for Kate in the Rainbow Desire anthology, it started as a pure romance, but I added a supernatural thrill. One reader admitted checking over her shoulder in case a spectral being was there while reading the story. I love writing stories with twists and turns, and surprising readers. Maybe it comes from my childhood days of being a Scooby-Doo fan—I loved the thrill of guessing the mysteries behind each character and the villain being unmasked. I’m an ex-journalist who has published romance stories from erotic to sweet.

Estelle's book list on romance with a thrilling plot

Estelle Pettersen Why did Estelle love this book?

This book is surrounded by a shroud of mystery from the start. Laryssa Mitchell reclaims her life after the death of her abusive husband. She starts taking back what was lost – her independence and her old job. But she finds herself in a living nightmare when she meets her new boss. Who is the man standing in front of her with her dead husband’s face? Alexander Richards is the spitting image of Laryssa’s ex, but instead of darkness, she finds light in this caring man in the midst of danger. The passion is hot and there are plenty of thrills in this novel.

By Patricia Elliott,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Her Lover's Face as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Laryssa Mitchell is one of the lucky ones. The death of her abusive husband finally allows her to live again on her own terms, making her own choices. Her first official decision is to take back what was lost – her independence and her old job. But she soon finds herself in a living nightmare when she meets her new boss. If her husband is rotting in hell, then who is the man standing in front of her with a dead man’s face?Alexander Richards doesn’t expect to catch an unconscious woman in his arms on his first day of work,…


Book cover of Wildfire

Estelle Pettersen Author Of Rainbow Desire

From my list on romance with a thrilling plot.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a big fan of romance books with thrilling plots. It’s partly how I remember the stories years later. When I wrote Flowers for Kate in the Rainbow Desire anthology, it started as a pure romance, but I added a supernatural thrill. One reader admitted checking over her shoulder in case a spectral being was there while reading the story. I love writing stories with twists and turns, and surprising readers. Maybe it comes from my childhood days of being a Scooby-Doo fan—I loved the thrill of guessing the mysteries behind each character and the villain being unmasked. I’m an ex-journalist who has published romance stories from erotic to sweet.

Estelle's book list on romance with a thrilling plot

Estelle Pettersen Why did Estelle love this book?

Wildfire starts with the protagonist Stephanie Fournier working as an assistant in a boring 9 to 5 job. Yet, this book is anything but boring. Things heat up very fast when gorgeous CEO Robert Quinlan notices her, and the two become passionate. There’s a catch…she’s a virgin. Will his sudden disinterest in Stephanie mean the end of a romance? Or, can experts be seduced by amateurs? And, there is trouble brewing when another woman’s jealousy bubbles over Quinlan. Wildfire is book one in the Smoke Chaser series. It’s packed with great dialogue, a ruthless female antagonist who drops nasty surprises in Stephanie’s path, and a fiery romance that honors the story’s title. 

By Annabel Allan,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Stephanie Fournier is an assistant at a law firm in Toronto, Ontario. Her boring 9 to 5 starts to heat up when Robert Quinlan, the gorgeous CEO of the company, takes a special interest in her. At first she responds to his obvious interest with glee... and then he finds out she's a virgin.

His sudden disinterest is not only embarrassing, but awkward around the workplace, especially with an undeniable heat still present between them. Stephanie sets out to prove she's unshaken, only to entice him back into her thrall. But can an amateur really win over an expert in…


Book cover of Michael

Estelle Pettersen Author Of Rainbow Desire

From my list on romance with a thrilling plot.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a big fan of romance books with thrilling plots. It’s partly how I remember the stories years later. When I wrote Flowers for Kate in the Rainbow Desire anthology, it started as a pure romance, but I added a supernatural thrill. One reader admitted checking over her shoulder in case a spectral being was there while reading the story. I love writing stories with twists and turns, and surprising readers. Maybe it comes from my childhood days of being a Scooby-Doo fan—I loved the thrill of guessing the mysteries behind each character and the villain being unmasked. I’m an ex-journalist who has published romance stories from erotic to sweet.

Estelle's book list on romance with a thrilling plot

Estelle Pettersen Why did Estelle love this book?

Michael by Bonnie Rose is an exciting mafia romance novel with plot twists I didn’t see coming. I love her writing style—it’s straightforward, clear to read, and it touched a spectrum of emotions, from elation to tears. The protagonist, Emily, has known her love interest, Michael, since they were children. Told from her perspective, the story takes readers on a journey of entangled love, family drama, and crime. A sweet boy grows up and evolves into a dominant and frightening mafia boss. Yet, Emily’s desire for dangerously handsome Michael becomes stronger in this gripping story.

By Bonnie Rose,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Michael was my best friend since elementary school. He was the weird kid, the quiet one, and no one understood him. But I did. I was sweet sixteen when I realized I was in love with him. Turns out, he loved me, too. But there were too many secrets that surrounded his family, lies that slowly tore us apart…until the day I had no choice but to leave.Now, six years later Michael stumbles back into my life, and the connection between us is still as strong as ever. But the deceptions that tore us apart in the first place is…


Book cover of The Rose Garden

Jody Hedlund Author Of Come Back to Me

From my list on time-traveling back to the past.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always loved reading time travel stories and gobbled up most of what I could find. Over the past few years, I decided that I wanted to try writing one for myself. After reading the books I’ve recommended along with others (including some having to do with the physics of time), I finally took up the challenge and wrote the Waters of Time series which combines my love of the Middle Ages, romance, and time travel all into one.

Jody's book list on time-traveling back to the past

Jody Hedlund Why did Jody love this book?

The main character of this novel travels back in time to 18th century Cornwall. The time-travelling element is beautifully done and swept me from the present to the past seamlessly and with such intrigue that I felt like I was struggling to adjust to the differences of the past with the heroine. The ambiance of medieval times stays with me and helped inspire me as I wrote my time travel book.

By Susanna Kearsley,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

When Eva's film star sister Katrina dies, she leaves California and returns to Cornwall, where they spent their childhood summers, to scatter Katrina's ashes and in doing so return her to the place where she belongs. But Eva must also confront the ghosts from her own past, as well as those from a time long before her own. For the house where she so often stayed as a child is home not only to her old friends the Halletts, but also to the people who had lived there in the eighteenth century. When Eva finally accepts that she is able…


Book cover of The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England

T.M. Rowe Author Of A Viking Moon

From my list on transporting you back through time.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have three lifelong passions, the first was reading, then writing, and then archaeology/history. To this end I studied and trained as an archaeologist before I sat down and decided to write stories set in the past as a way of bringing it to life. Of course, there had to be an adventure, a bit of a mystery, and a dash of magic to bring it all together. The books on my list are just a few of those that I have enjoyed reading during my hunt to get to know the past in intimate detail – on my own time travelling journey.

T.M.'s book list on transporting you back through time

T.M. Rowe Why did T.M. love this book?

I have read a lot of history and archaeology books and more often than not they can be a little dull, dry and in some cases work better than a sleeping tablet.

Not with this book, here you learn about parts of medieval England you just wouldn’t think about, written from a more personal point of view its less about political stuff like kings, queens, and those pesky archbishops and much more on the practicalities of living in medieval England.

Would you know what to eat, wear, or where to go to the toilet? Would you know how to address a lord or lady? Would you know what to do if you got sick? This is a vital guide for all time travelers!

By Ian Mortimer,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The past is a foreign country. This is your guidebook. Imagine you could get into a time machine and travel back to the fourteenth century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? Should you go to a castle or a monastic guest house? And what are you going to eat? What sort of food are you going to be offered by a peasant or a monk or a lord? This radical new approach turns our entire understanding of history upside down. It shows us that the past is not…


Book cover of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Tyler R. Tichelaar Author Of Odin's Eye: A Marquette Time Travel Novel

From my list on time travel with characters who try to change history.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an author of historical fiction set in Upper Michigan and a seventh-generation resident of Marquette, I’ve always wished I had a time machine so I could travel back to see what Upper Michigan looked like when my French voyageur ancestors traveled the Great Lakes in the 1600s and when my Marquette ancestors helped found the town in 1849. Since I haven’t learned how to invent a time machine yet, the next best thing was to write a time travel novel. To begin, I tried to pick one Marquette history event I wanted to change—the dramatic 1903 move of the Longyear Mansion from Marquette to Massachusetts.

Tyler's book list on time travel with characters who try to change history

Tyler R. Tichelaar Why did Tyler love this book?

This novel may seem an odd choice since King Arthur is likely more fictional than historical, yet Mark Twain, for all his humor, uses the novel as a satire upon the wrongs of capitalism and his late nineteenth-century society.

Hank Morgan, the Connecticut Yankee, intentionally tries to change history by making medieval England a better place. He does this by trying to rid the land of superstition and the hold that charlatans like Merlin have over the country, but he is also a complex character who is not unwilling to use medieval superstition to his advantage.

By the end of the novel, he has turned medieval England into a medieval version of the nineteenth-century complete with modern inventions including the bicycle and telephone. However, the most memorable scene occurs when Hank and King Arthur travel the country in disguise and end up enslaved and nearly hanged.

The experience causes King…

By Mark Twain,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this classic satiric novel, published in 1889, Hank Morgan, a supervisor in a Connecticut gun factory, falls unconscious after being whacked on the head. When he wakes up he finds himself in Britain in 528 — where he is immediately captured, hauled back to Camelot to be exhibited before the knights of King Arthur's Round Table, and sentenced to death. Things are not looking good.
But Hank is a quick-witted and enterprising fellow, and in the process of saving his life he turns himself into a celebrity of the highest magnitude. His Yankee ingenuity and knowledge of the world…


Book cover of The Girl from Bletchley Park

Gill Thompson Author Of The Child on Platform One

From my list on World War Two featuring strong women.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a teacher, I spent forty years at the chalkface before finally achieving my ambition to be a published writer. My first novel was about a child migrant to Australia; my second about a little girl on the kinder transport. I wanted to write about strong women in world war two. All three of the mothers in my stories are separated from their children and have to make some tough decisions. I hope my readers will remember them for their courage and tenacity and that they’ll enjoy reading about them as much as I’ve enjoyed creating them. 

Gill's book list on World War Two featuring strong women

Gill Thompson Why did Gill love this book?

I’m fascinated by the way the code breakers at Bletchley helped to shorten the war. In Pam, McGurl has created a strong woman, who makes key choices, sometimes at the expense of her own happiness, to support the war effort. But what I really enjoyed was the time slip nature of the novel, where Pam is contrasted to her granddaughter Julia, a modern woman, who, when let down by the men around her, becomes empowered by her own freedom. It’s interesting to see how women’s roles have changed between the 1940s and today. 

By Kathleen McGurl,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Girl from Bletchley Park as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The latest unforgettable timeslip novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Secret of the Chateau.

Will love lead her to a devastating choice?

1942. Three years into the war, Pam turns down her hard-won place at Oxford University to become a codebreaker at Bletchley Park. There, she meets two young men, both keen to impress her, and Pam finds herself falling hard for one of them. But as the country's future becomes more uncertain by the day, a tragic turn of events casts doubt on her choice - and Pam's loyalty is pushed to its limits...

Present day.…


Book cover of Wander Dust

Christy Sloat Author Of The Wordsmith

From my list on time travel you probably haven’t read.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been a sucker for a good time travel novel. So when I started writing my Librarian Chronicles I quickly learned that there is just so much you can do with the theory of time. My characters have gone to many places and times and in order to perfect these locations and eras that required tons of research. For my first novel, The Librarian, I researched for nearly a year before I wrote the book. I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy my Librarian Chronicles and I look forward to writing more in the series. Each novel is unique and they can all be read in any order.

Christy's book list on time travel you probably haven’t read

Christy Sloat Why did Christy love this book?

I was lucky enough to read this book when it was first released in 2011. I had just gotten my first eReader, a Nook, and downloaded this book based on the cover. I won’t lie, I am a cover fanatic. Once I read it though, I quickly realized this book was more than the cover. It is well-written and pulled me out of a pretty deep reading slump.

Even better, it's an independently published book and I love to support Indie’s. But let’s get into why I love this book so much. Wander Dust dances that line between fantasy and time travel, and has all the allure of romance that I just love about a book. There is a lot of information thrown at you from the very beginning about the society in which our young character is thrust into, which for me is just what I need when I…

By Michelle Warren, Pam Berehulke (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Ever since her sixteenth birthday, strange things keep happening to Seraphina Parrish.

The Lady in Black burns Sera’s memories.

Unexplainable Premonitions catapult her to other cities.

The Grungy Gang wants to kill her.

And a beautiful, mysterious boy stalks her.

But when Sera moves to Chicago, and her aunt reveals their family connection to a centuries old, secret society, she is immediately thrust into an unbelievable fantasy world, leading her on a quest to unravel the mysteries that plague her. In the end, their meanings crash into an epic struggle of loyalty and betrayal, and she’ll be forced to choose…


Book cover of A Thief in Time

Christy Sloat Author Of The Wordsmith

From my list on time travel you probably haven’t read.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been a sucker for a good time travel novel. So when I started writing my Librarian Chronicles I quickly learned that there is just so much you can do with the theory of time. My characters have gone to many places and times and in order to perfect these locations and eras that required tons of research. For my first novel, The Librarian, I researched for nearly a year before I wrote the book. I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy my Librarian Chronicles and I look forward to writing more in the series. Each novel is unique and they can all be read in any order.

Christy's book list on time travel you probably haven’t read

Christy Sloat Why did Christy love this book?

I am most excited to talk about this book since Cidney Swanson became one of my favorite authors. I’ll admit a lot of people don’t know who she is, but she’s a very sweet and talented author more people should know about.

Halley, our main character, ends up house-sitting for a well-to-do scientist. As she’s sitting for him in his fancy house, an earthquake hits and Halley is now face-to-face with an earl definitely not from this time period. The earl is confused to say the least, but Halley and her friends are now responsible for helping him get back to where he belongs. Turns out the scientist has secrets in his fancy house, and he’s not willing to share. When Halley and her friends find themselves involved in the scientist's mess, they are now trying to help the earl and save themselves. This book has danger, intrigue, and sweet…

By Cidney Swanson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Thief in Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

8 BOOK SERIES - EACH A COMPLETE TALE!
Halley, who covers house-sitting jobs for her self-absorbed mom, has Hollywood dreams but no real life. Until the day a job for her mom leads to a tumble back to London, 1598, where Halley meets a hot, rich earl named Edmund. And accidentally brings him to the 21st century.

Her dull summer just got a whole lot more interesting as she tells Edmund to keep his hands off tech he doesn't understand and a deadly sword he can't use in public. All while trying to keep from falling in for him, which…


5 book lists we think you will like!

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