Here are 100 books that Sustained fans have personally recommended if you like
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I spent a decade as a single mom, so stories featuring solo parent protagonists make my book antennae perk up. A happy ever after is a must for a relaxing read, and I prefer stories that don’t slam the door in your face when things heat up between the couple. So much character work can happen between the sheets—especially when you’re dealing with people who have been hurt by love before. While there are closed-door or chaste romances out there that feature single parents, those are less likely to end up in my TBR, and thus less likely for me to push them into your hands.
As a reader, I adore Alexis Hall. As a writer, his pitch-perfect prose and wonderful characters give me a bad case of Holy-Crap-I-Could-Never-Write-This-Well. Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake straddles the line between Women’s Fiction and Romance. Yes, there’s a happy ever after, but the story is about more than the romantic relationship. Rosaline truly goes through a period of growth and healing, with a focus on her versus the couple that is reminiscent of Women’s Fic. She’s a single mother and a baker on a show inspired by The Great British Bake-off. A racially and sexually diverse cast of characters entertain and sometimes challenge you to think differently as Hall deftly maneuvers everyone to their happy place.
'A dizzyingly talented writer' Entertainment Weekly
'Joyfully queer, absurdly funny and swoonily romantic' K J Charles
'Brilliance on every single page' Christina Lauren
LGBTQ Reads: Most Anticipated Adult LGBTQAP Fiction 2021 We Are Bookish: Spring Releases to Have on Your Radar _____________
A delicious romantic comedy by the bestselling author of Boyfriend Material, perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston, Christina Lauren, and Abby Jimenez.
As an expert baker, Rosaline Palmer is a big believer in always following the recipe. She's lived her life by that rule - well, except for when she dropped out of college to raise her daughter,…
I spent a decade as a single mom, so stories featuring solo parent protagonists make my book antennae perk up. A happy ever after is a must for a relaxing read, and I prefer stories that don’t slam the door in your face when things heat up between the couple. So much character work can happen between the sheets—especially when you’re dealing with people who have been hurt by love before. While there are closed-door or chaste romances out there that feature single parents, those are less likely to end up in my TBR, and thus less likely for me to push them into your hands.
There’s a reason those in Romancelandia call Beverly Jenkins Ms. Bev. The woman is a queen. Jenkins is a trailblazer in the genre and writes unforgettable historical romances. So many historicals take place in England (mine included), but she prefers an American setting. Catnip tropes in this one include a mail-order bride and a single dad. The heroine makes you care about her personal love story while upending the usual power dynamic. Ms. Bev will always make the path to the happy ever after worth it.
What kind of mail-order bride greets her intended with a bullet instead of a kiss? One like Regan Carmichael-an independent spirit equally at home in denims and dresses. Shooting Dr. Colton Lee in the shoulder is an honest error, but soon Regan wonders if her entire plan to marry a man she's never met is a mistake. Colton, who buried his heart along with his first wife, insists he only wants someone to care for his daughter. Yet Regan is drawn to the unmistakable desire in his gaze.
Regan's far from the docile bride Colton was expecting. Still, few women…
As a long-time expat in France, a creative and a Black woman, I get othered and rejected a lot. I’ve had to learn how to own my story – of starting over, of building something from nothing, of remembering where I’ve been, and reminding myself of where I’m going. I had to learn to reject the labels that others want to put on me and draft my own personal hype mantra – then embellish it with a little bombshell sparkle. The books I’ve chosen are meant to entertain while giving you the chance to remind yourself of who you are and who you can choose to be.
Sometimes you just gotta move far away and start all over.
That’s what Karim, my male lead does in my book, and what Dr. Sloan, the female lead does in Rafe. Neither is looking for love, but as luck would have it…
What I loved about Rafewas the reversal of a common trope – male nanny hired by well-to-do single mother. A bearded, muscular, tattooed nanny who cooks and can fold a fitted sheet? Sign me up!
This book is a fun, spicy ride and poses the question, “why not?” Why can’t a woman killing it in her field come home to a man taking care of the home front, ready to meet all of her needs?
All Dr. Sloan Copeland needed was someone to watch her kids. What she found was the man of her dreams…After a nasty divorce and a thousand mile move, Dr. Sloan Copeland and her twin daughters are finally getting the hang of their new life in Los Angeles. When their live-in nanny bails with no warning, Sloan is left scrambling to find a competent caretaker to wrangle her smart, sensitive girls. Nothing less will do.Enter Rafe Whitcomb. He's all of those things, not to mention good-natured and one heck of a whiz in the kitchen. He's also tall, and handsome, and…
I spent a decade as a single mom, so stories featuring solo parent protagonists make my book antennae perk up. A happy ever after is a must for a relaxing read, and I prefer stories that don’t slam the door in your face when things heat up between the couple. So much character work can happen between the sheets—especially when you’re dealing with people who have been hurt by love before. While there are closed-door or chaste romances out there that feature single parents, those are less likely to end up in my TBR, and thus less likely for me to push them into your hands.
This one is part of her Lucky Harbor series, which takes place in a fictional small town. Shalvis has a loyal following of readers who love the small town trope, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, and half the residents are related to each other. If you like interconnected books that read as standalones, give it a try and see if you like her particular flavor of Americana! Forever and a Day focuses on a doctor and a woman rebuilding her life after losing everything.
Grace had a great life in New York, until it shattered. Finding out at age 30 that you're adopted will do that to a person. With everything she once believed in yanked out from beneath her feet, Grace travels across the country to find herself. She goes looking for roots, but what she finds is much, much more. Some of that comes in the form of Dr. Josh Scott, an ER doc working nights. He's tough and jaded when Grace first shows up at his place looking for his employee - whom she believes is her birth mother. But she's…
I am a Minnesota writer of cozy mysteries and contemporary fiction. I love the magical and care deeply about nature, the environment, and what is happening due to climate change. My novel was a chance to combine both interests. I wrote the first draft of Up There during the pandemic. While we were locked down, I spent time with a character who could fly. But while she was free, I discovered she was still lost. I spent so much of that year walking in the woods—thinking about how our world is changing, how confusing it is, and how we all are a little lost in these times.
I am a sucker for characters who find themselves through books.
In this novel, a girl enters a contest to meet her favorite author and win the only copy of his latest book. But first, she has to go to a mysterious island and compete with a band of ruthless opponents. I was never quite sure of anyone in this book, but that is a good thing when you are going after your greatest wish. It keeps you on your toes.
This is not a story of “be careful what you wish for”; it is a “keep wishing” story.
Years ago, a reclusive mega-bestselling children’s author quit writing under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly he resurfaces with a brand-new book and a one-of-a-kind competition, offering a prize that will change the winner’s life in this absorbing and whimsical novel.
“Clever, dark, and hopeful . . . a love letter to reading and the power that childhood stories have over us long after we’ve grown up.”—V. E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Make a wish. . . .
Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who…
In my years on the crime beat, I often met good people who did bad things and criminals with good intentions and good hearts. We tend to draw a line between good and evil, putting ourselves on the good side. From that perspective, we sit in judgment, believing we are incapable of evil because it’s “over there.” Inaccessible. Unfathomable. But that line is fictional. We redraw it constantly to feel good about ourselves and avoid empathizing with the worst of human nature. What I love about these five novels is that they expose that truth. The twists remind me that even my own line is blurred and ever-shifting.
I love historical fiction, especially when authors throw in a touch of crime. So, that’s what first drew me to this book.
What kept me reading and what made me rank this novel so highly is the gradual unlayering of the main character as the story progresses. Sure, Kya is a victim and a survivor, but she is so much more, and she is capable of more than I could have anticipated. As in some of my other favorite novels, it’s that loyalty to human nature, the understanding that circumstances can make good choices wrong and poor choices right, that pulled me in.
If I had known the ending when I started the book, I might not have believed it possible, but Delia Owens made it work.
OVER 12 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE A NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
For years, rumours of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be…
I was an English major in college. In pursuing my love of books and language, I fell into a love of history. The passion for history began with author biographies as I tried to understand how the culture affected various authors’ writings. This is why my history strength resides in European history, because most of my favorite authors come from Europe. The more I read of the biographies, I often came across historical events I wasn’t knowledgeable about and so fell down a rabbit hole of historical research. The more I learn, the more I love history!
I loved this book! It’s about a lacemaker who escapes to America from Revolutionary France. Green is a recent find for me, but I want to read everything she writes now!
The prose was so beautifully written with such lush detail. As an author it was a wonderful study in setting. I learned through this book that lace was banned in Revolutionary France because of its association with the aristocracy. I was so fascinated with the idea that I had to research it further and write a blog about it.
Lacemaker Vivienne Rivard never imagined her craft could threaten her life. Yet in revolutionary France, it is a death sentence when the nobility, and those associated with them, are forced to the guillotine. Vivienne flees to Philadelphia but finds the same dangers lurking in the French Quarter, as revolutionary sympathizers threaten the life of a young boy left in her care, who some suspect to be the Dauphin. Can the French settlement, Azilum, offer permanent refuge?
Militiaman Liam Delaney proudly served in the American Revolution, but now that the new government has imposed an oppressive tax that impacts his family,…
I’m a romance writer who moved around often as a child. Whenever I started a new school, I’d bring a book with me. Even now, I always run errands with a print book and my Kindle as I’m a writer, wife, and mother of four. Two of my children have medical conditions, and I’ve spent time in various doctor and hospital waiting rooms. I’ve taken books into MRI booths where I’d read while my daughter underwent an MRI. I gravitate toward emotional romances that keep me entertained while possessing a thread of humor or something unique about them so I can lose myself in their world anytime, anywhere.
I’m fortunate that I can read as a passenger on car trips or on an airplane, but I gravitate to shorter romances that I can read in one sitting while I’m traveling. For me, Tina Radcliffe is my go-to writer for these type of journeys.
I loved Lucy and Jackson’s story in Claiming Her Cowboy as Lucy is the director of Big Heart Ranch for orphans and Jackson is the attorney sent to evaluate the funding. Can he stay objective or will he fall for the beautiful woman who gives her all to the orphans on the ranch? I found myself reading at gas stops and caught up in the story as I got closer to my vacation destination. This was the perfect book while traveling: short, emotional, and thought-provoking.
Attorney Jackson Harris regularly goes toe-to-toe with the world’s toughest lawyers—but none of them compare to Lucy Maxwell. The feisty director of Oklahoma’s Big Heart Ranch for orphans is as stubborn as she is pretty. But Jack must stay focused; he’s only there to evaluate the ranch’s funding. Falling for Lucy and the sweet children she protects is out of the question. Though Lucy is determined to keep the ranch, she’s not about to give control to a city slicker—even a devastatingly good-looking one. But as they bump heads, Jack…
I am a British writer and avid reader of a wide range of genres who’d harbored a life-long ambition to be an author. It wasn’t until I became addicted to seductive romance that I found my own writing flow. I love books that have the power to transport you. Indulging in an adult ideal for a few minutes (or hours) in a day, when your body reacts viscerally to the words on a page, makes you swoon, your cheeks flush and your heart race is my reading and writing heaven. I hope you will experience the same delicious escapism in my book choices as I have.
Alessandra Torre (in my opinion) is at her best when writing sexy romance. Julia is an ambitious law intern who, on her first day at work, is warned to keep away from sexy, alpha Brad de Luca. The writing is fast-paced, addictive, and seduced me into barrelling straight into book 2 in the series. I particularly loved the massage scene involving Julia, which juxtaposed into a scene with Brad –illicit tension heaven!
"I'm not sure what you have been told about me, but I'm not nearly as bad as they make me out to be." His deliciously deep voice carried a little bit of ego.
I'm sure you are exactly as bad as they make you out to be….
Brad De Luca is used to getting whatever and whomever he wants. The premier divorce attorney in town, he's a playboy who's bedded half the city—including his own clients. And when the newest intern at his firm poses a challenge, his seductive prowess goes into overdrive.
My first books were little Golden Books. I loved reading those stories of the sleepy little puppy and the engine that could. I moved on from there to all kinds of books and I remain a very happy reader. I have channeled my love for reading to a love of writing. My writing career started with a focus on journalism and writing for magazines, newspapers, and radio. About 18 years ago I began writing romance novels. I read all kinds of different genre but I thoroughly enjoy following the expanding relationships that make up the core element of all romances. That’s the thing about romance novels. There’s something for everyone.
Sophie Bellamy has lived an exciting life as an international lawyer working to protect human rights. But it came at the cost of having little time to be with her children as they grew up.
Her childhood memories of times spent at Willow Lake in Avalon bring her back to the small town where she hopes to make up for the time she spent abroad. Sophie was determined to repair her relationships with her children, but a twist in the story brings a happy surprise when she meets veterinarian Noah Shephard.
Their immediate attraction is at first unwanted, but prompts her life to take another turn. I like to piece together stories so I loved the unexpected twists.
The romance in this is story is lovely, and is mixed with intrigue and hope in the darkest hours. I like stories I can snuggle up with, and this story gave that…
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs
Revisit the tranquil shores of Willow Lake and the Bellamy family in this heartwarming tale of a woman who discovers that small moments can end up being life’s most cherished memories.
International lawyer Sophie Bellamy has dedicated her life to helping people in war-torn countries. But when she survives a hostage situation, she remembers what matters most—the children she loves back home. Haunted by regrets, she returns to the idyllic Catskills village of Avalon on the shores of Willow Lake, determined to repair the bonds with her family.
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