Here are 65 books that Three Women in Paradise fans have personally recommended if you like
Three Women in Paradise.
Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I started writing sweet romance during the COVID pandemic. At the time, it was the perfect antidote to all of the heaviness, grief, and sadness that everyone was experiencing around the world. When I began publishing my stories, and eventually moved into the sweet romcom genre, I was beyond happy to learn that my books were bringing smiles to peoples’ faces during these challenging times. I’ve always loved romcom movies, and discovering romcom books–not to mention beginning to write these stories myself–opened an entirely new world of possibilities. I pretty much only read romcoms now, and I hope you enjoy the books I’ve recommended here as much as I have!
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.
When I was a queer teen in the early 2000s, I didn’t have sapphic books or media available to me aside from anime, and even then, the dubbed versions on TV were scrubbed of queerness (I’m looking at you, Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura). I did have Revolutionary Girl Utena, and it was everything to me: fantasy, ballgowns, and girls dancing together. I wrote my book for that me who craved to see herself in beautiful, fantastical stories, and it’s why I love the fact that we have so many more out there right now that I can recommend to all of you!
Fairy-tale retellings are my favorite subgenre, and this book hit every right note for me. I loved the incorporation of stories, known and unknown to me, with art so beautiful there are days I pick this book up just to marvel at it.
The last one brought tears to my eyes, a feat that doesn’t happen often, superseded only by the end of the novel. I cannot recommend it enough.
Tiến loves his family and his friends…but Tiến has a secret he's been keeping from them, and it might change everything. An amazing YA graphic novel that deals with the complexity of family and how stories can bring us together.
Real life isn't a fairytale.
But Tiến still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It's hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiến, he doesn't even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word…
I was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, but inherited ‘travelling DNA’ from my sailor father which has led to a life of work and travel around the globe. In addition to being an audiologist and teacher, I am also the author (and sometimes illustrator) of 15 children’s picture books. Many of my books have been inspired by the special children I have had the privilege to work with as both an audiologist and teacher. My books are on a variety of topics including childhood hearing loss, dysgraphia and writing challenges, bullying and forgiveness, learning English as an additional language, and positive self-image. Some of my books are written to evoke giggles and belly laughs.
Cute story about a little seed named Purpose who wants to be a tree. I love the picture where he looks so tiny next to the flower and he is holding a leaf in each hand with a sprout coming out of his head. He is oblivious to the fact that what he longs for is already growing inside him. The author has done a wonderful job incorporating the special “talents” of nature to counsel Purpose about the true potential that dwells within him. A great story for children who are trying to figure out who they are and what they want to be. This story would also be great for adults who doubt their abilities or question their potential. A source of inspiration for all ages
I am Purpose is a fictional children's book that uses nature to share in the journey of a seed, Purpose, in hopes of becoming a tree. Purpose must navigate his way, while expressing emotions in a manner that teaches children to do the same. In addition to helping children develop and expand their emotional vocabulary, I am Purpose illustrates how to persevere until the end.
I am an independent author, photographer, wildlife advocate, paranormal enthusiast, and cat mom living in Dallas, Texas. In 2012, I earned my Master's Degree in Art and Performance from the University of Texas at Dallas and have been pursuing my writing career ever since. I published my first book, Cemetery Tours, in 2013 and it will forever be the book that changed my life.
It’s easy to find books about vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and witches… but very rarely do you stumble across a young adult book about sirens. Not the mermaid kind (we’ve already covered mermaids), but still sinister, manipulative, and dangerous. Despite this threatening presence, this book is absolutely hilarious and a fantastic adventure. It’s also an LGBT story written by an LGBT author who has always said that this was a book he wrote for his younger self. To let him, and kids like him, know that he’s not alone. And I just love that.
Came out of the closet by accident? Check.Sent off to a pray-away-the-gay school? Miserable check.Shenanigans ensued? Mega-quadruple check.
Blaize Trales’s world falls apart when he’s dragged to Sanctuary Preparatory Academy, a boarding school that claims to fix gay teens. The place sucks so much they even serve food like “Cleansing Corn.” Blaize’s misguided parents eat it up and hand him over for brainwashing.
But things at Sanctuary aren’t what they appear. Blaize soon discovers the school’s antics are all a lie. They’re also at war with an ancient enemy. Between surviving bullies, rescuing students from mysterious attacks, and passing algebra,…
As a kid, I didn’t identify with the gender I was assigned at birth. Even without the language to describe who I really was, I was always on the lookout for stories about other people who felt like I did—for stories, in other words, like the ones on this list. But I never found them. As the books below beautifully illustrate, the spectrum of transgender experience, and our childhoods in particular, are so rich and diverse. My hope is for these and other books like Cactus Country to encourage more trans and queer people to tell their stories so that kids like us can find characters that represent them.
Maia Kobabe’s book is the book I wish I could’ve read growing up. I was struck so many times by the similarities Kobabe’s story shared with mine, as a kid with many of the same questions and feelings about my gender that e did.
With immersive and evocative illustrations that I couldn’t help but linger over, Kobabe’s graphic memoir took me on a refreshingly frank gender journey that was never afraid to delve into the uncomfortable.
It is also the most challenged and banned book in the country at the moment, which I think speaks volumes about the story’s capacity to change lives.
In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns,
thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical
comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable
with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia's intensely
cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the
mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come
out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and
facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears. Started as a way to
explain to eir family…
I’ve been gay for half my life; the other half I was confused, questioning, and considered a pathologic deviant by the American Psychiatric Association. I am no longer confused, or considered pathologic or deviant. I’m a father, psychiatrist, and author who grew up in Nebraska. I was a good boy, followed all the rules, and lived the life that was expected of me. I fit in but I never felt like I belonged. I took back control of my life and threw off expectations of what I should be. I want others to believe that they can have a richer life by living the life they were meant to live.
When I explored coming out in my forties, I was lonely and searched for answers. I found nothing. So, I wrote my own book.
Gay people who’ve been in heterosexual marriages, especially those with children, face a predicament: a bad choice and a worse one. The Lie is a story of hope for anyone caught in the dilemma of either living a lie or leaving a family they love. Many consider suicide; many have attempted it.
The Lie is an emotional and honest story of Dameron’s coming out to live the life he was meant to live. He owns up to his past, sheds the shame and guilt, and seeks and finds forgiveness as he begins to live his life honestly.
A candid memoir of denial, stolen identities, betrayal, faking it, and coming out.
Do you know me?, the email began, sparking tremors of fear that turned into a full quake of panic when William Dameron discovered that his selfie had been stolen by strangers. On social networks and dating sites, his image and identity-a forty-year-old straight white male-had been used to hook countless women into believing in lies of love and romance. Was it all an ironic cosmic joke? Almost a decade prior, William himself had been living a lie that had lasted for more than twenty years. His secret?…
I remember how it was to be an awkward teen, misunderstood, questioning, and having nowhere to turn. I remember living in a violent world where I had to grow up to survive. The world was a scary place for a neurodivergent who lived more in her head than in real life. I want to be able to bring stories to our young people where they might see themselves and not feel so alone because we all are a bit awkward, a bit misunderstood, and filled with stories that deserve to be told.
Coming out to the people you love is difficult enough. Julian comes out to the world in a tweet–and has to live with it the following day when he remembers. Oops.
This is a heartfelt story of a boy trying to find his place in the world despite not being understood by the people who matter most. For Julian, it’s his dad. Funny, heartfelt, and much deserving of a HEA.
A poignant, funny, openhearted novel about coming out, first love, and being your one and only best and true self.
Julian Luna has a plan for his life: Graduate. Get into UCLA. And have the chance to move away from Corpus Christi, Texas, and the suffocating expectations of others that have forced Jules into an inauthentic life.
Then in one reckless moment, with one impulsive tweet, his plans for a low-key nine months are thrown-literally-out the closet. The downside: the whole world knows, and Jules has to prepare for rejection. The upside: Jules now has the opportunity to be his…
Having grown up in snowy Scandinavia, my passion for Christmas has always been with me. Nothing beats a good romantic holiday novel, and especially one containing all those themes we know and love. A little bit of loneliness. A pinch of festive fun. Add that special meet-cute. Sprinkle magic over the pages and a comfort-read for years to come is born. As an author I hope my readers enjoy my festive romps, and that perhaps even they, can become a well-read yearly comfort read.
Not everyone loves a festive romance, when it involves everything we ourselves may neither want or need.
For Rob and Evan, their Christmas has been mostly hell, and as Evan crashes his car outside Rob’s remote farm? Well, it’s a classic opener. Add a snowstorm, a bull named Watermelon and a dislocated shoulder? You have the setup for a very happy end of the festive season indeed.
Fearne Hill writes stories full of warmth and British charm, and if you feel hungover on the festive season already? This might just be the book for you.
Two snowed-in men. 300 cows. And a mangy dog. Tucked away down a rutted dirt track lives a grumpy dairy farmer.
He’s firmly in the closet. And he’s desperately lonely.
That farmer is me—Rob Langford. I have more meaningful conversations with my prize bull than people. Except, one snowy night, I stumble across a fancy car wedged into a ditch.
The driver needs my help.
He’s injured. Stranded. The snow lies two feet deep.
And over the next few days, I discover this quiet, thoughtful man doesn’t mind my run-down cottage and my lumpy old sofa. He's even quite tolerant…
It’s often been said of musical theatre that the point when the characters begin to sing is the point their emotions become too much to express in words alone. I think that’s one reason I’m so obsessed with books about people connecting over music, art, and performance—it allows for so much passion and intensity. Having sung and played instruments over the years, I know how powerful it can feel to make music with other people, even when you’re not in love! These days, though, I spend more time reading and writing about music than I do playing it.
This Young Adult romance takes place over the course of a single weekend, and it captures the urgency of young love perfectly. Sure Olivia and Toni fall hard and fast, but it’s no wonder—a great music festival can pull you far enough from your day-to-day that you feel as though you’ve been there a lifetime, even as an adult. And this book captures that so clearly, bringing you right into both girls’ perspectives, letting you feel every triumph and every moment of despair as they chase their dreams, musical and otherwise, and figure out who they are.
A stunning novel about being brave enough to be true to yourself, and learning to find joy even when times are unimaginably dark. Three days.
Two girls.
One life-changing music festival.
Toni is grieving the loss of her roadie father and needing to figure out where her life will go from here - and she's desperate to get back to loving music. Olivia is a hopeless romantic whose heart has just taken a beating (again) and is beginning to feel like she'll always be a square peg in a round hole - but the Farmland Music and Arts Festival is…
“Everyone’s got something,” my mom used to say about my cerebral palsy. I knew kids who wore glasses or had mouthfuls of metal, but those somethings seemed normal compared to my leg brace, my limp, and my inability to run. When Judy Blume’s Deenie came out on my eleventh birthday, it was the very gift I needed: the story of a girl, a diagnosis, a brace. Reading it, I felt seen and understood, which led me to believe I might have a story to tell. Now, I’m thrilled to share these books by disabled authors about disabled kids leading authentic, relatable lives. I had Deenie. Today’s lucky young readers have these.
The candor and vulnerability of seventh-grader Al Schneider grabbed me from the start. Her best and only friend is drifting away, she hasn’t told anyone she likes girls, and a constant urgent need to poop has taken over her life. When Al learns she has Crohn’s disease, she is terrified at first, but then the unexpected happens.
Her diagnosis brings a new group of friends into her life. They call themselves the Bathroom Club, and they’re warm, funny, understanding, and, above all, welcoming. What a gift to a kid who, until now, has found it “mortifying just to be alive and have a body.” What a gift to readers who have yet to discover that, if you let it, disability can offer entry into a rich, vibrant, and accepting community.
Twelve-year-old Al Schneider is too scared to talk about the two biggest things in her life:
1. Her stomach hurts all the time and she has no idea why. 2. She's almost definitely 100% sure she likes girls.
So she holds it in... until she can't. After nearly having an accident of the lavatorial variety in gym class, Al finds herself getting a colonoscopy and an answer - she has Crohn's disease.
But rather than solving all her problems, Al's diagnosis just makes everything worse. It's scary and embarrassing. And worst of all, everyone wants her to talk about it…
