Fans pick 100 books like Sister, Sister

By Eric Jerome Dickey,

Here are 100 books that Sister, Sister fans have personally recommended if you like Sister, Sister. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of The Coldest Winter Ever

Kai Storm Author Of That One Voice

From my list on fiction novels that will make you believe they’re real.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m Kai Storm, author of reality-based urban fiction and erotica, erotica blogger, YouTuber, and Podcaster. I love reading books that feel real, that make you feel, and that teach you something as they entertain you.

Kai's book list on fiction novels that will make you believe they’re real

Kai Storm Why did Kai love this book?

Another great read of my teens that had me looking for real versions of the people described in this book, aka I wished I lived in this book!

It was like an action-packed movie; all the details of the story came to life in my head at the time I read it. Books like this one made me wish I could tell stories like this.

By Sister Souljah,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In a stunning first novel, renowned hip-hop artist, writer and activist Sister Souljah brings the streets of New York to life with a powerful and utterly unforgettable tale. Ghetto-born, Winter is the young, wealthy daughter of a prominent Brooklyn drug-dealing family. Quick-witted, sexy, business minded and fashionable, Winter knows no restrictions. No one can control her. She's nobody's victim. Winter knows the Brooklyn streets like she knows the curves of her own body. She manoeuvres skilfully, applying all she has learned to come out on top, no matter how dramatically the scenes change. But a cold winter wind is about…


Book cover of Addicted

Joylynn M. Jossel Author Of The Root of All Evil

From my list on an urban spin on love, romance, and erotica.

Why am I passionate about this?

Not only am I an avid reader of the urban love/romance/erotica genre, but I'm an award-winning, bestselling author in the genre, having written under multiple pen names. I've worked with enough traditional editors and freelance editors to know a well-crafted, entertaining, engaging read of this nature when I not only write one—ha!—but read one. As an author, I rarely offer book reviews—you'll only find one review from me on Amazon—but that's because I'm brutally honest and hard to win over, and I respect my relationship with my fellow literary artists too much to risk it on a not-so-favorable review. So, you know when I say it’s good, it’s good.

Joylynn's book list on an urban spin on love, romance, and erotica

Joylynn M. Jossel Why did Joylynn love this book?

Zane was one of the first to be so bold as to own the art of sex and mix it with the art of literature. Doing more than writing about sex just to be writing about sex, she provides you with a storyline so enthralling that even before all those 50 shades, Addicted was adapted to film and can be watched on national networks and streaming platforms worldwide, making it one of the first erotica novels of our time to have mainstream success.

By Zane,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Addictedis the story of Zoe, an African American arts dealer. It traces her life from the time she first meets her husband, Jason, in the fifth grade, falls in love with him over a game of Twister in the eighth grade, loses her virginity to him in high school and eventually marries him. Everything seems perfect in Zoe's life to her friends and family as she secretly deals with serious problems in her marriage.

After failing to get Jason to open up to her sexually, Zoe becomes involved in not one, not two, but three extramarital affairs. By the time…


Book cover of He Had It Coming

Omar Scott Author Of Loyal To A Fault

From my list on sexy, suspenseful urban inspired crime.

Why am I passionate about this?

I had a friend that I knew since junior high. He was a straight-A student. He had both parents in the home. His future was bright. He spent the last minutes of his life hiding under a car after being shot several times during a drug deal gone wrong. He made poor decisions that cost him his life. I wanted to write about people who took the wrong path and found their way out. Growing up in a single-parent household, I turned to the streets and gangs. After incarceration I decided to not only turn my life around but to write fiction inspired by criminal activity that I had engaged in during my youth. 

Omar's book list on sexy, suspenseful urban inspired crime

Omar Scott Why did Omar love this book?

This is one of the craziest, most imaginative stories I ever read. I truly enjoyed He Had it Coming. I would love to see it made into a movie. It’s about this an accomplished author name Marcus Brooks. He has got to be the most arrogant man alive. No respect for women at all. Well, a group of professional ladies who are part of a book club decided to teach him a lesson. They kidnap him, and hold him, hoping to change his ways. I promise if you pick this up you won’t be able to put it down.  

By Camika Spencer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked He Had It Coming as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Five Women. A Man. And a Plan.

Meet Marcus Brooks. He's gorgeous. He's successful. He's the bestselling author of African American fiction. He's also the most obnoxious male alive....

Meet Raylene, Naomi, Thelma, Gwena, and Latice. They are five women who belong to a reading group, strong women with strong opinions. They don't take any grief from anyone (well, not if they can help it), and their friendships have stood the test of time. One night they meet up with bestselling author Marcus Brooks. At first they are in awe. Then they are puzzled. Next they're enraged. How can a…


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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest By Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Book cover of White Man's Justice, Black Man's Grief

Omar Scott Author Of Loyal To A Fault

From my list on sexy, suspenseful urban inspired crime.

Why am I passionate about this?

I had a friend that I knew since junior high. He was a straight-A student. He had both parents in the home. His future was bright. He spent the last minutes of his life hiding under a car after being shot several times during a drug deal gone wrong. He made poor decisions that cost him his life. I wanted to write about people who took the wrong path and found their way out. Growing up in a single-parent household, I turned to the streets and gangs. After incarceration I decided to not only turn my life around but to write fiction inspired by criminal activity that I had engaged in during my youth. 

Omar's book list on sexy, suspenseful urban inspired crime

Omar Scott Why did Omar love this book?

This was the first book I read about street culture. It was real. It was graphic. It was intense. I could relate. Goines is known for capturing the urban struggles and the challenges of young men and women growing up in the ghettos. The main character Chester Hines gets caught up in one bad decision after another until he ends up in jail trying to survive. It’s a fantastic story and Goines himself is a classic storyteller who paved the way for endless black authors to pen their street-life experiences. 

By Donald Goines,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked White Man's Justice, Black Man's Grief as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The godfather of urban lit, Donald Goines knows life on the streets is a one-way ticket to life behind bars, where suffering is the one and only daily bread. For the first time in over a decade, his classic White Man's Justice, Black Man's Grief is now repackaged and reissued with a whole new look to attract new listeners, as well as long-time fans of the legend himself.

Barely out of his 20s, Chester Hines knows the score. He's just another bug crawling through the streets of Detroit, waiting to be squashed under the heel of a system meant to…


Book cover of Cwen

Una Mccormack Author Of Star Trek: Picard: Second Self

From my list on speculative fiction crackling with feminist themes.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a science fiction writer who loves my chosen genre for the promises it makes for the worlds that we can have—and the warnings that it offers for the worlds that might be ours if we don’t take care. I’ve picked books for people who like their thinking to be challenged, and who also long for the world to be a much better place. These are the kinds of books I love to readand the kinds of books I try to write. 

Una's book list on speculative fiction crackling with feminist themes

Una Mccormack Why did Una love this book?

Imagine an island off the coast of Britain, where a miracle has happened. A community run entirely by womenbusinesses, education, government. But now disaster has struckthe founder, Eva Levi, has disappeared, and forces are gathering that want to dismantle her life’s work. But someone else is watching, someone who has been there longer than anyone can remember, and Cwen will not let any harm come to the people of her islands… A subtle and intelligent novel, inclusive and wise. 

By Alice Albinia,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

'Fantastic - a wonderful book' Lily Cole
'Magical, rich and magnificent' Maxine Peake
'A wild ride! She sees Graves' White Goddess and raises 50 with female magic and transformations' Margaret Atwood
'A rare book, bold and powerful' Xiaolu Guo
'Wild, original...a beautiful work' Neel Mukherjee

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2022
NOMINATED FOR THE OTHERWISE AWARD 2022

A storm, a disappearance, a band of women and a remote island where anything is possible.

On an unnamed archipelago off the east coast of Britain, Eva Levi has made it her life's work to build a community truly run…


Book cover of Women of Ideas: And What Men Have Done to Them

Chris Wind Author Of This is what happens

From my list on what it's like being female in a sexist society.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started keeping a journal when I was fifteen. Ten years later, I had the raw material for Fugue, a portrait of the artist as a young woman (I had read Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) that ends in celebration, rather than suicide (I had also recently read Plath's The Belljar). It did not get published. Thirty years later, I had so little, far too little, to celebrate.  The portrait had become one of relentless frustration and persistent failure, despite my continued effort ... so much effort ... And so I wrote This is what happens, dedicating it to all the passionate, hard-working, competent women — it's not you. 

Chris' book list on what it's like being female in a sexist society

Chris Wind Why did Chris love this book?

Feminist theorist Dale Spender wrote, in Women of Ideas and What Men Have Done to Them, “We need to know how women disappear….”  Although she spoke of women who disappear from the historical record, all too many women seem to disappear from any sort of public life as soon as they leave high school: so many shine there, but once they graduate, they become invisible. What happens?  

Marriage and kids is an inadequate answer because married-with-kids straight-A boys are visible.  Everywhere. Even the straight-B boys are out there. So what happens?

This is what happens.

By Dale Spender,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Book by Spender, Dale


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Book cover of Ferry to Cooperation Island

Ferry to Cooperation Island By Carol Newman Cronin,

James Malloy is a ferry captain--or used to be, until he was unceremoniously fired and replaced by a "girl" named Courtney Farris. Now, instead of piloting Brenton Island’s daily lifeline to the glitzy docks of Newport, Rhode Island, James spends his days beached, bitter, and bored.

When he discovers a…

Book cover of What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Amika Kroll Author Of Strut, Baby, Strut

From my list on encouraging girls to pursue self determination.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love getting lost in books because I get to experience more adventures than I could possibly fit into one lifetime. Books invite the exploration of limitless possibilities—for everyone. When a book can fire my imagination, make me feel a connection, or just make me think deeplythat’s magic, whether it was meant to be fiction or not. I want to write books that do that for others. For this list specifically, I wanted to pick books that encourage girls to embrace the notions that they are allowed to dream really big dreams, that the goals they set for themselves are worth pursuing, and that we all deserve room to be our authentic selves.

Amika's book list on encouraging girls to pursue self determination

Amika Kroll Why did Amika love this book?

I found that many of the nursery rhymes in this book are very familiar, except…something is a little different. Georgie Porgie is no longer kissing the girls and making them cry, Little Miss Muffett is a heck of a lot tougher, and Mary, Mary quite contrary is embracing her right to change her mind. That’s right, these classic mini-stories have been revamped to have the female characters taking charge and living their best lives. Some nursery rhymes can be outdated and upsetting, but I say "don’t throw the baby out with the bath water." I think keeping the things about nursery rhymes that promote early literacy but changing up the words to reflect our values is a very cool way to carry the old rhymes into this century.

By Jeanne Willis, Isabelle Follath (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked What Are Little Girls Made Of? as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 7, 8, 9, and 10.

What is this book about?

Think you know your nursery rhymes? Then think again! In this witty reworking of some nursery rhymes, Georgie Porgie doesn’t dare to make the girls cry, Little Bo-Peep’s sheep are all present and accounted for, thank you, and it’s a female doctor, of course, who fixes Humpty Dumpty. With the combination of clever rhymes and charming, witty illustrations, this remixed nursery rhyme collection is the perfect gift book for any child (or adult!), to read aloud or enjoy alone.


Book cover of Can I Get A Witness? Reading Revelation Through African American Culture

Roland England Author Of Worthy Is the Lamb: The Book of Revelation as a Drama

From my list on Christian on Revelation for a general audience.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a huge fan of Revelation which tops my list of favorite books of the Bible. I recently retired after 47 years as a pastor in the United Church of Christ. How many times have I read Revelation and preached on this marvelous book? How many times have I read and heard interpretations, and misinterpretations? The answer, a lot! I finally decided I had to write my own book. I study Revelation like digging in a field for buried treasure. The more digging, the more riches I find! I am a graduate of Eastern Mennonite University where I majored in Bible, and a graduate of Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA., with a Master of Divinity.

Roland's book list on Christian on Revelation for a general audience

Roland England Why did Roland love this book?

I was intrigued by Blount's comparison between the African American experience and the situation of the first-century church. I gained better understanding of Revelation’s purpose, which I state in my book: “To enable and empower the church’s resistance.” I want this book sung and accompanied by a marching band. I want to hear, “we shall overcome” and “nothing will turn us around.” I want to clap my hands and add my voice in witness to the good news of Jesus! That’s what this book does for me!

By Brian K. Blount,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Can I Get A Witness? Reading Revelation Through African American Culture as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this accessible and provocative study, Brian Blount reads the book of Revelation through the lens of African American culture, drawing correspondences between Revelation's context and the long-standing suffering of African Americans. Applying the African American social, political, and religious experience as an interpretive cipher for the book's complicated imagery, he contends that Revelation is essentially a story of suffering and struggle amid oppressive assimilation. He examines the language of "martyr" and the image of the lamb, and shows that the thread of resistance to oppressive power that runs through John's hymns resonates with a parallel theme in the music…


Book cover of Transforming Scriptures: African American Women Writers and the Bible

Joy Schroeder Author Of Voices Long Silenced: Women Biblical Interpreters Through the Centurie

From my list on women who interpreted the Bible.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a historian with expertise in the early church, Middle Ages, and Reformation, I am obsessed with finding the writings and stories of women of the past. Whenever we discover works written by an unknown or forgotten woman in an archive or historical record, my co-author Marion Taylor and I excitedly email one another: “We rescued another woman!” I study the history of biblical interpretation and the history of women in religion. In most of my books, these two interests intersect—as I write about men throughout history who viewed stories of biblical women through patriarchal lenses and how women themselves have been biblical interpreters, often challenging men’s prevailing views. 

Joy's book list on women who interpreted the Bible

Joy Schroeder Why did Joy love this book?

Drawing upon her expertise in African American literature, Katherine Clay Bassard writes about the ways Black women poets, novelists, preachers, and orators from the 1700s through the 1900s used biblical themes and images to challenge the dominant culture’s oppression of women and people of color. African American women used a variety of scriptural images, including the Queen of Sheba and the “black but comely” female speaker in the Song of Songs, to argue for Black women’s dignity. Bassard celebrates African American women’s creativity and their shrewd employment of scriptural passages to engage in resistance to racism and sexism.   

By Katherine Clay Bassard,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Black women writers reclaim the sacred text. ""Transforming Scriptures"" is the first sustained treatment of African American women writers' intellectual, even theological, engagements with the book ""Northrup Frye"" referred to as the 'great code' of Western civilization. Katherine Clay Bassard looks at poetry, novels, speeches, sermons, and prayers by Maria W. Stewart, Frances Harper, Hannah Crafts, Harriet E. Wilson, Harriet Jacobs, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Sherley Anne Williams and discusses how such texts respond as a collective 'literary witness' to the use of the Bible for purposes of social domination. Black women's historic encounters with the Bible were,…


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Book cover of Return to Hope Creek

Return to Hope Creek By Alyssa J. Montgomery,

Return to Hope Creek is a second-chance rural romance set in Australia.

Stella Simpson's career and engagement are over. She returns to the rural community of Hope Creek to heal, unaware her high school and college sweetheart, Mitchell Scott, has also moved back to town to do some healing of…

Book cover of This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us

Terra McDaniel Author Of Hopeful Lament: Tending Our Grief Through Spiritual Practices

From my list on grieving without getting overwhelmed by despair.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been to hell and back over the years. After experiencing childhood abuse, I lived through a succession of traumas with my family including fraud, painful experiences in church ministry, a death threat, and a catastrophic house fire accidentally started by my mother-in-law. While I was helped by counseling, prayer, and caring friends and mentors, something was still missing. I needed to process all that pain and loss but didn’t know how. I had to learn how to grieve. Over years of rebuilding, I’ve lived the lessons of lament and know the healing that is possible when pain is metabolized. 

Terra's book list on grieving without getting overwhelmed by despair

Terra McDaniel Why did Terra love this book?

I discovered Cole Arthur Riley through her breath prayers and curated wisdom around liberation through her Black Liturgies account on Instagram. Her words in this book are poetry and good medicine for my soul.

Her story of learning to love her physical body as she lives with chronic pain is wise and freeing. I didn’t know how much I needed her wise reimagining of the story of the garden, the fall, and what it means to find home. 

By Cole Arthur Riley,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked This Here Flesh as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In her stunning debut, the creator of Black Liturgies weaves stories from three generations of her family alongside contemplative reflections to discover the “necessary rituals” that connect us with our belonging, dignity, and liberation.

“This is the kind of book that makes you different when you’re done.”—Ashley C. Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Somebody’s Daughter

“Reaches deep beneath the surface of words unspoken, wounds unhealed, and secrets untempered to break them open in order for fresh light to break through.”—Morgan Jerkins, New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing and…


Book cover of The Coldest Winter Ever
Book cover of Addicted
Book cover of He Had It Coming

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