69 books like Seven Sisters

Okay, you've almost certainly heard of this one. You might even be thinking that The Husband's Secret is a more obvious choice for this list. But I'm including BLL anyway because I couldn't believe how enthralling it was (even though I've been a Liane Moriarty fan since The Hypnotist's Love Story).

Many of the entries on this list have depicted a marriage that looks perfect from the outside but is rotten within. This book inverts this formula, or at least complicates it—Celeste thinks her marriage is perfect (or is telling herself she thinks that), but it's obvious from the reader's outside perspective that her husband is an abuser.

There are many intriguing threads woven through this story (all coming together in a showdown so satisfying that I read it several times), but the scenes with Perry are the most impressive. They left me sick with fear.

This is a story about women who are afraid to report rape and a female detective who is determined to change this.

Detective Antigone Pollard arrives at her small Australian hometown and is the victim of an attempted rape. She discovers that her boss and the other men in the town are protecting her assailant, as they have protected wife-beaters and rapists in the past.

I loved Antigone’s determination to change the poisonous town culture and to ensure her assailant is charged. One of the best moments in the story is when the browbeaten women of the town turn on their abusers. 

I had the opportunity to listen to Karin Slaughter speak at the Bouchercon Conference in St. Pete, Florida and this was her new release.

The book sounded wonderful, and my signed copy is on my keeper shelf. Pieces of Her has a crazy, explosive opening and breakneck pace with questions that pile on questions, and we hold on for dear life. I was so enthralled by this story that I bought a second copy for a friend and put it in her hands saying, “You have to read this.” She loved it and so did Netflix because it is now a series. 

Holly appears to have a perfect life, living in a beautiful house, lunching with friends, married to handsome Zach, a hospital doctor.

But gradually we discover that Holly’s life is one of fear: she is a victim of gaslighting. If Holly dares to cross Zach, the cruel, sadistic narcissist shows itself. One of the chapters that sent shivers down my spine was when Zach punishes Holly when she is at her most vulnerable – in the birthing suite.

He sabotages the delivery of their daughter, causing Holly to need a C-section, all because, earlier, Holly left some shoes on the floor and Zach tripped over them.

For much of the book we wonder if Holly will ever be free of her abusive husband, but the author creates a wonderful ending which had me clapping my hands with delight.

Much of the Western approach to yoga views it as a fitness activity and focuses primarily on the physical body. Yet authentic yoga practice is rooted in the reality that the body is not separate from the psychospiritual forces that animate it. In this book, Tias Little who is one of the foremost yoga instructors in North America—offers a guided tour of the body’s physical anatomy, then uses this awareness to explore the fascinating and mysterious arena of the subtle body. Drawing on ancient texts and modern science, Little explains the yogic view of the energetic body (prana, nadis, and chakras), explores the esoteric subtleties of the mind-body connection, and provides thought-provoking insights into the secrets of our innermost being.  

To say that Dr. Lincoln is eccentric understates the case. His interpretations of varied symptomologies can be truly harsh. Make sure you feel strong enough when you use him as a reference to push away what doesn’t resonate for you. His book is the one I return to over and over again because it meets at the crossroads of Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life (the original classic in the field, if a little glossed-over) and Taber’s Encyclopedic Medical Dictionary, both of which I also use. The point is this: human bodies are remarkable, first and foremost, because they don’t lie. They don’t lie because they can’t lie. When we learn to listen to our bodies, we are that much closer to health and healing.

Finally, the mechanisms that undergird the transformation of consciousness in all mystical traditions, whether East or West, are explained in language that is easy to understand. In this ground-breaking work, Motoyama combines the psycho-spiritual wisdom of Chinese medicine, Kundalini Yoga, and Esoteric Japanese Buddhism to create a model of spiritual evolution that can be utilized to good effect by anyone. 

The first edition of this book is visually stunning, and I like it, first, for that reason—chakras need color and beauty and imagery and vitality, not black and white prose. They are, after all, the animation of the life force itself viewed through a prism. How that could possibly ever translate into just words on a page, I’ll never understand. Second, her practices are simple and exemplary with Archetypes, Altars, Physical Exercises, Crystals, Meditations, Daily Questions/Journaling, and Affirmations. They touch on all four aspects of each of us: Body, Heart, Mind, Spirit. Information about chakras is fine but useless. Working with your own chakra system is the entire point as far as I’m concerned.

This is a beautifully produced book, as the chakras deserve, and full of many different practices as a great supplement to the Liz Simpson book. I particularly liked her teaching on yoga asanas. As chakras are frequencies of light, they are of course ephemeral. They are also grounded in the human body by the endocrine system. Those who are inclined toward physical and/or exercise types of healing will benefit here. She’s an expert. Her history section, whilst brief, is also hugely informative. This is a great beginner book for people at the outset of their chakra journey. Her emphasis is all on healing, wholing, and well-being.

Cyndi Dale is perhaps the doyenne of the chakra experts. I’ve read a lot of her books, and she’s quite knowledgeable. However, I completely disagree with much of her chakra system. It’s too complicated for my taste, but then I am most interested in the whole population knowing how to work with their own chakras in an everyday way just like we brush our teeth. She’s training experts. Her work is valuable to know what others have discovered, and… her section on the history of the chakra system as well as how it has been a part of health and healing in cultures from the Incas to the Taoists to the Hindus to the Sufis to the Maori and more throughout time is quite simply the best.