Fans pick 100 books like The Man from Stone Creek

This author is great at setting a scene. It was a fast-paced romance that concentrated on the man's determination and satisfied my craving for a strong flavor of the period with plenty of historical backdrop. I was enthralled, captivated, and entertained by the dialog and the maneuvering of the characters' exchanges.

The plot was simple and straightforward but it never lagged or ceased to keep me reading.

The story plopped me down into the plot within the first few pages. I love this Victorian time period. It’s dark and moody without being threatening. You can almost smell the grungy, wet streets and the smog. Lots of twists and turns and characters that are both menacing and charmingly deceptive.

I wasn’t given the answer to all the questions right away, but I liked that, even though I probably could have guessed where it was going. I like a strong plot and strong female characters with their own agenda. And men who can admire, fall in love with, and not be threatened by smart women.

It’s been a while since I read this one, but one thing I do remember is that it was full of descriptions of places I could see in my mind’s eye because I had lived near places that were similar in their remote, ruggedness. I could be there in my head as the story progressed.

She’s great at painting a picture or a situation with words. The splashes of historical fact ran through the story; I admire that. And I look for it when I’m searching for something to read that will keep me interested until the end of the story.

This author is new to me, but she won’t be for long. As Western romances go, it was different. I liked that there was a quest. I also liked that the female character was intrepid, strong-willed, and fierce. And the man had to accept that.

Both of them were tough; they had to be, and yet both of them were soft-hearted, and they recognized that they were equal. It was a delight to read. It even brought forth a giggle or two as they spared and rangled like a really good John Wayne movie.

I was and remain a big fan of Judith Rossner’s 1975 bestseller (the 1977 movie version starring Diane Keaton and Richard Gere, not so much). The book was inspired by a headline-making murder that took place in New York City two years before the book’s publication. Its victim was twenty-seven-year-old Roseann Quinn had rejected the traditional roles her parents expected of her. Though a quiet, sedate schoolteacher by day, she turned into a boisterous party girl at night, picking up disreputable-looking strangers at neighborhood bars and taking them back to her apartment for bouts of rough sex. One of those strangers was a deeply troubled drifter named John Wayne Wilson, who ended up killing her in a fit of frenzied savagery in early January 1973. What I admire about Rossner is the way that she takes an inherently sensational subject and turns it into a serious, very moving character study… show more.

This book was my first experience with Mary Balogh and I instantly became a fan. She is now one of my favorite romance authors. This book broke my heart in the best of ways. Sydnam is injured from the war. He is missing an eye and an arm. Still, he managed to easily make me, and Anne, swoon over his artistic soul. Anne is a single mother with a background just as heartbreaking as Sydnam's but I never doubted for a moment they would end up happily ever after. I rooted for them all the way. 

I’m always excited when a new Kortney Keisel book comes out.

Compared is the first in her closed-door romcom series, and it’s a brilliant debut. This book follows Meg and Tyler in a single dad, teacher/parent romance that is completely swoon-worthy and hilarious.

Kortney does a fantastic job dealing with some harder subjects while keeping the material light-hearted and fun. I always turn back to this book if I want to read something deep and meaningful, but woven with funny scenes and banter.

I also love this book for the close connection between Meg’s siblings and dad. They’re exactly what a family should be.

This was an unforgettable series that captured so much of the heart. The characters were incredibly real with the main characters playing an integral part throughout the series. All seven books are worthy of your time. It’s emotionally crafty and gut-wrenching at times with a powerful message weaved into the story. 

This is really terrible–if highly moreish–stuff: a thin, junky, first-drafty picaresque. But it formed the basis of a film starring Jackie’s sister, Joan. The film even had a tie-in aftershave (heavy on the ginseng), promising all kinds of advantages for the wearer. The film and the book both try to suggest a deluxe, upmarket, classy melding of disco culture with the post-permissive society sexual freedoms now available to the 1970s bachelor and (as an ill-informed nod to feminism) the businesswoman.

This imagined milieu was a million miles from the sleazy, criminal experience of London’s Soho, which had traditionally been where all this erotic access was clustered. The aspiration was shared by Paul Raymond, who worked to translate the risqué stage shows of the 1960s (think pre-fame Christine Keeler) to more contemporary fare for the proto-Thatcherite managerial class, keen to see what secular society had to offer them and their new… show more.

This book had a main character who had a major flaw – she couldn’t allow herself to feel emotions otherwise she’d be outcast from her own kind.

She was a strong female lead but strong in a way that almost destroyed her. It was a great premise for a book with a romance at the centre. But it wasn’t only romance, there was a big mystery to solve making this an addictive read.

I loved following the development and evolution of the characters and their relationship throughout the book and was so sad when it ended. Singh is such a talented writer, I love everything she writes!