Here are 88 books that The Fortunes of Jaded Women fans have personally recommended if you like
The Fortunes of Jaded Women.
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I’ve always had a soft spot for books on sisterhood. Perhaps it’s because I have a sister, but it’s partly because I’ve also lucked out on wonderful girlfriends who’ve taken the role of sisters at various stages of my life. There is an immense power in female relationships, and it’s a theme I often explore through my writing. Both my novels, The Marriage Clock and The Retreat center around strong women who consistently and generously show up for each other. I’ve compiled a list of books to celebrate the many sisters in our lives—through blood and friendship. I hope you find them as enjoyable to read as I have!
As someone perpetually in search of a good romcom, I found this story of three sisters who have inherited their family’s wedding planning business delightful.
While there is no shortage of spats and disagreements as each sister attempts to define her role within the business and family, when disaster strikes, it’s lovely to see them rally together and help each other find her own happily ever after.
One of BuzzFeed's "Books Coming Out This Summer That You Need to Seriously Read" * One of Bustle's "New Romance Novels to Make Your Spring Reading Even Dreamier Than You Imagined"
A charming romantic comedy about three sisters who are struggling to keep the family wedding planning business afloat-all the while trying to write their own happily-ever-afters in the process.
All's fair in love and business.
The de la Rosa family and their wedding planning business have been creating happily ever afters in the Washington, DC area for years, making even the most difficult bride's day a fairytale. But when…
I’ve always had a soft spot for books on sisterhood. Perhaps it’s because I have a sister, but it’s partly because I’ve also lucked out on wonderful girlfriends who’ve taken the role of sisters at various stages of my life. There is an immense power in female relationships, and it’s a theme I often explore through my writing. Both my novels, The Marriage Clock and The Retreat center around strong women who consistently and generously show up for each other. I’ve compiled a list of books to celebrate the many sisters in our lives—through blood and friendship. I hope you find them as enjoyable to read as I have!
My husband is a native Bostonian, so when I discovered this novel takes place in the historic Back Bay neighborhood of the city, I was immediately intrigued.
The story follows Meena Dave, an orphan who has inherited an apartment from a woman she has never met. As she attempts to figure out their connection, she forms an unexpected friendship with a trio of meddling aunties who also live in the building and have been in each other’s lives since birth.
Through these women, Meena learns not just of her past, but of the importance of community, culture, and the sacrifices of sisterhood.
A woman embarks on an unexpected journey into her past in an engrossing novel about identity, family secrets, and rediscovering the need to belong.
Meena Dave is a photojournalist and a nomad. She has no family, no permanent address, and no long-term attachments, preferring to observe the world at a distance through the lens of her camera. But Meena's solitary life is turned upside down when she unexpectedly inherits an apartment in a Victorian brownstone in historic Back Bay, Boston.
Though Meena's impulse is to sell it and keep moving, she decides to use her journalistic instinct to follow the…
I’ve always had a soft spot for books on sisterhood. Perhaps it’s because I have a sister, but it’s partly because I’ve also lucked out on wonderful girlfriends who’ve taken the role of sisters at various stages of my life. There is an immense power in female relationships, and it’s a theme I often explore through my writing. Both my novels, The Marriage Clock and The Retreat center around strong women who consistently and generously show up for each other. I’ve compiled a list of books to celebrate the many sisters in our lives—through blood and friendship. I hope you find them as enjoyable to read as I have!
This novel shows us how the sisters in our lives aren’t always connected by blood. That sometimes, our chosen sisters are the ones who carry us through life’s difficult moments.
Malek, Kees, and Jenna have been lifelong friends, but when a single argument threatens to pull them apart, can they find their way back to one another? Alternating between each woman’s story, the novel explores deeper themes of love, family, and faith while also shedding light on both the strengths and fragility of female relationships.
A *Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club pick* and razor‑sharp debut novel of three best friends navigating love, sex, faith, and the one night that changes it all.
It’s always been Malak, Kees, and Jenna against the world. Since childhood, under the watchful eyes of their parents, aunties and uncles, they’ve learned to live their own lives alongside the expectations of being good Muslim women. Staying over at a boyfriend's place is disguised as a best friend’s sleepover, and tiredness can be blamed on studying instead of partying. They know they’re existing in a perfect moment. With growing older…
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.
Grief is now an unwanted travel companion and a friend to me. At times, I find myself incapable of understanding it. Even so, it has helped me view myself through a different lens. When I wrote my book, my mother was still alive. Grief had yet to announce itself as my lifelong companion, but I was aware of its menacing presence. That amazing prescience spilled into my book. After my mother died, I discovered that there was a lot more to discover about death and grief. For months, I reviewed books on these topics for various publications. I'm still on this enlightening journey.
I enjoyed Balli Kaur Jaswal's light-hearted take on how a woman's death affected her three daughters in unpredictable ways.
I admired how the author didn't allow the narrative to become a lamentation of death but instead showed how it can liberate us from the shackles of pain and alter our perceptions of people, situations, and places.
Apart from that, I found the book to be heartbreaking yet hilarious—a reminder that not all books about death have to be depressing.
Grab your passport and let the Shergill sisters take you on a journey...
Meet the Shergill Sisters.
The know-it-all, Rajni. The drama queen, Jezmeen. The golden child, Shirina.
They have never been close. But their mother's dying wish was for them to take a pilgrimage across India together, to carry out her final rites. And so, the sisters are thrown together for one last (and very strange) family holiday.
The three women seem to have nothing in common, apart from the fact that each of them has a secret she would prefer to keep hidden. But as one unlikely adventure…
Two of my favorite things to read about are horror stories and mental health. I have a Master’s Degree in mental health counseling and have worked with kids and adults with various mental health challenges. I’m passionate about talking about mental health to help demystify and destigmatize some of the conversations around these issues. It’s been frustrating to me how often, in the past, books have gotten mental health “wrong.” So whenever I find books with an accurate picture of mental health challenges, told in speculative fiction, I get super excited. I most enjoy stories when they’re entertaining but also mean something and have strong characters with challenges I can relate to.
The first time I read this book, I was blown away by how twisty and creepy it was.
Silla is a wonderfully complex heroine. Is she paranoid, or is the manor really cursed? How much is she imagining and how much is real? Every time I thought I knew where the book was going, I was wrong. It just gets weirder and more unsettling as the book progresses.
As I read it, I just kept thinking that things didn’t make sense. But it was so compelling that I couldn’t stop, even when I was very confused. The ending pulls it all together with a completely satisfying ending that explained every question I had. It goes darker than most YA, but I loved it for going all in.
When Silla and Nori arrive at their aunt's home, it's immediately clear that the "blood manor" is cursed. The creaking of the house and the stillness of the woods surrounding them would be enough of a sign, but there are secrets too--the questions that Silla can't ignore: Who is the beautiful boy that's appeared from the woods? Who is the man that her little sister sees, but no one else? And why does it seem that, ever since they arrived, the trees have been creeping closer? Filled with just as many twists and turns as The Dead House, and with…
I have been writing for years and reading forever. Fantasy books have always been my number one go to as far as genres. I loved how they would teleport me to a new world, allowing me to leave behind reality. The characters became my friends. The worlds became my homes. I couldn’t get enough and still can’t. As I got older, my imagination never stopped. I was constantly creating dreamworld and character plots in my head. Eventually, I started writing, needing the characters to stop talking. The only way to do that was to get them on paper. Since then, I haven’t been able to stop.
I am not a huge YA reader, but this one was super fun and kept me guessing around each page. The love story was intense, and you were constantly questioning if they were going to make it or not. The political side of the story was what really hooked me.
This book starts off with the FMC completely devastated and feeling like she’s lost everything. I loved watching her rebuild herself and her confidence while kicking some a** along the way as she conquered every fear and challenge, she came across.
Morally gray characters, plot twists, curses, and war created a captivating tale I couldn’t put down.
GOODREADS BEST FANTASY YA 2020. The intoxicating and bloodthirsty finale to the New York Times bestselling The Cruel Prince, nominated for the CARNEGIE MEDAL, and New York Times bestseller The Wicked King, Best YA Fantasy in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2019.
After being pronounced Queen of Faerie and then abruptly exiled by the Wicked King Cardan, Jude finds herself unmoored, the queen of nothing. She spends her time with Vivi and Oak, watching reality television, and doing odd jobs, including squaring up to a cannibalistic faerie.
When her twin sister Taryn shows up asking a favour, Jude jumps at the…
Ava Winston likes her life of routine in Lexington, Kentucky. Then a tornado blows it away. Ava is safe in the basement, but when she emerges, only one corner of her home stands. Rather than crumbling under the loss, she feels a load lifted. Maybe something beyond the familiar is…
I’ve been a lover and reader of the romance genre ever since I graduated high school and borrowed one of my mother’s paperback novels during our annual beach vacation (which may have been twenty years ago... Yikes!). While I read everything from contemporary to historical, paranormal to fantasy, I’ve always had a particular fondness for stories with a touch of magic—specifically the cursed kind. There’s something extra angsty and tragic about cursed love that makes overcoming obstacles that much sweeter. I hope you fall in love with the books on this list as much as I have.
The author describes this book as Pretty in Pink meets Stranger Things—and I must agree! The story takes place in the 80s, and as a child of the 80s myself, that makes me love it even more. Lyrics & Curses is the perfect balance of romance and mystery (and epic 80’s music) that will keep you guessing until the very end. If you’re looking for something quirky and dark, this book may be the perfect fit for you. L&C is the first in a YA duology suitable for younger readers.
Lark Espinoza could get lost in her music—and she's not so sure anyone in her family would even care to find her. Her trendy, party-loving twin sister and her mother-come-lately Beth, who's suddenly sworn off men and onto homemaking, don't understand her love of cassette tapes, her loathing of the pop scene, or her standoffish personality. For outcast Lark, nothing feels as much like a real home as working at Bubble's Oddities store and trying to attract the attention of the cute guy who works at the Vinyl shop next door—the same one…
I love mythological creatures! I grew up gravitating toward fantasy books but because I have a narcissistic parent, I got teased for reading them. To avoid the teasing, I ended up reading a lot of mythology because that was a “safe” fantasy option; reading mythology was “educational” rather than “silly.” When I got older, I discovered that there’s a whole category of fantasy books that retell myths from alternative points of view. This subgenre opened new doors of understanding and empathy for me. Reading old stories from new perspectives opens my eyes to a myriad of different types of people and broadens my view of the world. And I’ve been reading them ever since.
The myth of Medusa as told by her and her two Gorgon sisters. I’ve read many versions of Medusa’s story but I particularly like this one.
She’s typically treated just as an obstacle for the hero Perseus but in this book, she’s a given a voice—as an assault survivor, as the unjust victim of a god’s anger, as the baby sister of two immortal “monsters.”
The Gorgons completely rearrange their lives to accommodate the needs of their mortal sister who they love more than anything in the world. And Medusa, though she’s called a monster, makes the conscious decision to live in solitude rather than endanger others with her deadly gaze.
The definition of “monster” gets so blurry it becomes meaningless after reading this book.
** Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023 **
In Stone Blind, the instant Sunday Times bestseller, Natalie Haynes brings the infamous Medusa to life as you have never seen her before.
'Witty, gripping, ruthless' - Margaret Atwood via Twitter 'Beautiful and moving' - Neil Gaiman via Twitter
'So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.'
Medusa is the sole mortal in a family of gods. Growing up with her Gorgon sisters, she begins to realize that she is the only one who experiences change, the…
I have long been fascinated by what makes us human. Great art is about the human condition. We are very quick to reject art that gets that human condition wrong. I’m a poet, a playwright, and a scientist. While my science has found itself at the center of fields such as computational psychiatry and neuroeconomics, I find myself turning again and again to the insights from great novels to understand the subtleties of the human condition. So to complement the scientific questions of morality (because morality is all about the human condition), one should start with great novels that ask who we are and why we do what we do.
The best description of sainthood I have ever found. In The Curse of Chalion, Bujold starts from a world of visceral reality with a new religion based on family archetypes.
In her world, these gods are real and play very specific roles within the society, and well-constructed prayer opens up a space for the gods to use one for their purposes. As the main character learns what it means to be a saint, to allow miracles to flow through him (as he says, “like a mule being whipped up the mountain pass”), we see the difference between supportive and unsupportive roles, how failure can lead one astray and how the journey home can be long and difficult.
Warning: This book contains scenes and situations not suitable for children.
A man broken in body and spirit, Cazaril returns to the noble household he once served as page and is named secretary-tutor to the beautiful, strong-willed sister of the impetuous boy who is next in line to rule. It is an assignment Cazaril dreads, for it must ultimately lead him to the place he most fears: the royal court of Cardegoss, where the powerful enemies who once placed him in chains now occupy lofty positions.
But it is more than the traitorous intrigues of villains that threaten Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle here, for a sinister curse hangs like a…
On the run from her abusive husband, Kyra Smith hits the road. Destination unknown. With a dog she rescued in tow, she lands in the peaceful California mountain town of Gold Creek and is immediately befriended by an openhearted group of women who call themselves the Tattooed Ladies. They’re there…
I’m a science fiction and fantasy author with a love of fairytales. I enjoy genre-bending, genre-blending, and new takes on old stories. As a child, I had a book of fairytales illustrated with embroidered illustrations. In high school and college, when I had the opportunity, I always chose to read fairytales—I've even taken classes that exclusively explore fairytales. Now as an author, I’ve leaped feet first into fairytale retellings. My first series, Rove City, features fairytale retellings set in an intergalactic spaceship, and my second series is made up of collections of original fairytales. Next, I’m planning to take the original fairytales and turn them into my own retellings.
This classic retelling of Cinderella is the one that first got me into fairytale retellings. We see El as a young woman living with her stepmother, stepsisters, and godmother who can only do small magic. El is cursed with a spell of obedience, and she must do anything if someone else commands it. She keeps her curse a secret to the best of her ability, with only the aid of her godmother to keep her safe. The story spans several years of El’s life and features a slow, sweet romance with the prince, whom she gets to know throughout the entire story. My favorite part is the ending, where we see how her strength of character has grown to the point that she is able to stand up and do the right thing, despite the power of the curse.
ELLA ENCHANTED is a witty, refreshing take on the popular fairytale, Cinderella which preserves the spirit of the original but adds plenty of humorous twists and a spunky, intelligent female protagonist. "If you've read HARRY POTTER, try ELLA ENCHANTED" Publishers Weekly
Ella is given a blessing at birth by a very stupid fairy: She gets the gift of obedience! but the blessing turns into a horror for Ella who literally has to do what anyone and everyone tells her, from sweeping the floor to giving up a prrecious necklace! She has to battle with ogres and wicked stepsisters, make friends…
