78 books like The Nest

It’s always refreshing to read portrayals of unconventional female relationships, something I’m particularly interested in when writing my own novels. Because our relationships are rarely straightforward or predictable, are they?

As the title suggests, the relationship between Korede and her serial killer sister, Ayoola, is far from conventional…and while the story delves into some dark and gruesome places, it is a thriller that had me laughing as much as covering my eyes in horror. This accomplished debut goes firmly on my ‘couldn’t put it down’ list – it’s warm, funny, and page-turningly good!

I adore quirky characters, and the author nails it with the main character, Fern Castle. (Fern immediately reminded me of Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant.)

The author dropped hints of a super-dark secret between Fern and her sister, Rose, in the very first chapters, and I was hooked from that moment on. I love complex relationships in the middle of a flashback mystery.

Just a great novel – you will fall in love and empathize with the characters.

As always, Irving mixes in life and death making the fiction feel real. Irving has a way of surprising the reader. Each plot turn will bring out a new emotion. The reader will feel sorrow, anger, and love while identifying with the characters.

Most importantly, Irving has a real touch with making me laugh at the twists and turns of life.

I laughed a lot reading Eligible. Yes, it’s silly, but this version of Pride and Prejudice had me hooked from the outset, probably for no other reason than that it forced me to consider the Bennet family and the sisters, in a new, twenty-first century light.

Liz, late 30’s, magazine writer, and her older sister, Jane, a yoga instructor, live in New York, whilst youngest sisters Kitty and Lydia, are busy with their CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets to consider careers. Mary, the middle sister, is earning her third online master's degree. And, yes, Mrs Bennet just wants to marry off her daughters.

I loved the five sisters’ dynamics: at times sweet, bitchy, caring, dismissive, rude, and compulsively dishing out home truths. I also appreciated the women were trying to break away from family expectations and controls. After reading this, I was very glad I only have one sister… show more.

Fans of Schitt’s Creek, Crazy Rich Asians, and Little Miss Sunshine will delight in Chang’s debut. At turns bawdy and brilliant, The Wangs vs. The World tells the hilarious story of Charles Wang, a Chinese immigrant who achieves the American Dream by turning waste into wealth only to get hit by the financial crisis and lose his dazzling Bel Air home and everything he holds dear—everything, that is, except his quirky but lovable family. Chang’s razor-sharp humor and bold writing style have made me an instant fan.

First off, let me say that this is one of the few books where I watched the movie AND STILL read the book because I didn’t want the experience to end.

That said, this story starts off with two siblings (older brother Byron and younger sister Benny) at odds after their mother’s death. Simple enough premise. But the flashbacks, the food, the Caribbean history, and the secrets their parents kept from them made it so much more than a book about burying the hatchet after Momma leaves.

I love a good family secret in a book, and this one is bursting with several. This novel brought together several genres that I enjoy: historical fiction, fictional commentary on race relations, family drama, and food. 

This was a feel-good read about a 3-generation rivalry between two sisters in a small town involving fried chicken. (You cannot go wrong with southern food in a novel, I’m just saying.)

What I thoroughly enjoyed about this book was how the plot got thicker and thicker, revealing the backstory throughout the story in a way that made me #TeamAmanda one minute and #TeamMae the next. I like digging deep into a character’s life, and this one did so in a way that made me sympathetic to both sisters, rooting for their reunion until the very end.

I’m trying my best not to give away the ending…suffice it to say; it helped me reframe my thinking around getting to the heart of a long feud that started before you even got here.

Whew–this family took me through some changes! This was my first novel by Sunny Hostin, which lived up to all the hype.

First of all, Martha’s Vineyard. The setting alone is intriguing because of the history of the elite Black inhabitants of the land. Secondly, I knew some secret would come out when these three goddaughters were called to the property for one last summer together.

The setting and plot alone had me hooked from the beginning, and I kept reading to learn more about each character’s pain and promise. 

Tamara Alexander is a prolific writer, any of her novels could have made this list. They are all rich in history, full of character development, and feature sweet romances. The Inheritance stands out to me for a couple of reasons. One, the main theme of this book is tough love. An older sister who is forever rescuing her brother has to learn that love can look a lot of different ways and sometimes love requires letting consequences follow actions. This message is rarely featured in a book! It’s not an in-your-face moral, but a gentle thought-provoking takeaway. Another reason this book is exemplary in its well-crafted love story. Alexander expertly weaves her story threads together, giving you bits of history and romance like a weaver of a great tapestry.

This is fantasy right up to date: for 8 to 12-year-olds, it was published in 2021. Its castle setting immediately defines it as fantasy: "Beyond the castle’s moat, the deep, dark forest was shot through with trails of sunlight, tracing golden paths of possibility…. The dark-haired girl… sat, bare feet dangling against stone, on the windowsill of her tower bedroom." It’s a vivid picture, instantly engaging us in a world where family is very important. The heroine, Cordelia, is one of three triplets. Their task is to use their magical powers to find and mend the Raven Crown so that the parched land beyond the forest can be healed of the fighting that rampages across it, and people and the natural world live in peace—themes I feel very much in sympathy with.