100 books like To Have and To Hold

Judith Ivory has one of the most distinctive voices in historical romance. I wish she was still releasing new work! The Proposition is a fun take on My Fair Lady, where Henry Higgins is a down-on-her-luck duke’s daughter and Eliza Dolittle is a charming rat catcher. Yes, you heard that right. We’re a long way from the usual historical romance fare of dukes and rakes. Not only that, Mick Tremore, the rat catcher in question, has the most wonderful dog Win who threatens to steal the show every time she’s on the page. Charming, clever, witty and full of delicious sexual tension, this is a compelling read – and it has a serious message about how often the greatest barriers to our dreams are those our minds place on us. 

Set in Victorian England, this novel begins where romances often start—with a beleaguered heroine. She is a brilliant cook with a questionable past. Her patron dies. His brother takes over the estate where—let’s say—she’s been multi-tasking. The brother has perversely cut all pleasure from his life. But oh, that food. Complications develop, including his desire to not desire the food or the cook. There are dark secrets and dark hungers including a hunger for revenge on both the hero’s and heroine’s parts. I love a sexy, twisty story that I can’t put down. This one meets all of my marks. 

Mary Balogh is truly the grand dame of modern historical romance. Not only is she a reader favorite, but she has done her share of pushing the envelope when it comes to writing new and unusual romances. Dancing With Clara tackles a couple of taboos in romance—addiction and infidelity. The hero in the story is riddled with faults, and you will rip out your hair as you watch him undermine himself—and his marriage to Clara—over and over again. 

I’ve read criticisms of Clara—that she is a doormat—but I think Ms. Balogh accurately represented a Regency woman when she wrote Clara’s character. Especially a woman who was confined to a wheelchair and without even the meager options wealthy women had during the era. Don’t worry! There’s a happily ever after, but Clara and Freddie will bleed on the pages before they get it.

I’ve read this m/m romance multiple times for many reasons. First, it takes place in NYC. Second, both characters are working men (no dukes or millionaires!!) and Third, it is a hot, hot, hot enemies to lovers romance that gives the reader a vibrant picture of both the banking business at the end of the nineteenth century, but also tons of fascinating details about daily life and work culture. 

My favorite part of this story is the development of the relationship between the two leads. Both Jonah and Reid practically leap off the page. I love having an anal-retentive control freak paired with a charming, easy-going rogue.

I loved the novel’s unforgettable narrator, Perry L. Crandall, who has an IQ of 76.

A masterpiece of narrative voice, Lottery is easily the most engulfing book I’ve read in ten years. (I had a beloved sister with developmental disabilities and expected to be reduced to mush by page 5, but instead I was filled with joy.) The story follows Perry and his loathsome, money-grubbing sibs after Perry wins a boatload of dough in the state lottery.

This book is not what you think it will be, in about a million ways, and the ending is a heart-filling surprise. It made me want to be a better person. Everyone I’ve recommended this to adored it. (P.S. I’m not related to the author but I wish I were.)

Wrecked is the third book in Joe Ide’s Isaiah Quintabe series, but really any one of the six books (so far) could have made this list.

Isaiah, IQ to those who call on his services, is an East Long Beach native. He uses his Sherlockian intelligence to solve crimes in his neighborhood that the LAPD won’t touch. He gets paid whatever his clients can afford, sometimes a freshly baked pie, sometimes money, usually nothing.

But, because IQ frequently finds himself out of his depth with local gangsters, and in Wrecked’s case, a dangerous paramilitary organization, he has found an accidental sidekick in the ex-drug-dealing, whip-smart, streetwise Dodson.

Together, these two wannabe Holmes and Watson, Forrest Gump their way through a series of poignant, funny, but very rewarding adventures. 

Claire and Brandon Avery live in a world pretty much like ours but with surveillance notched up to a point where there is very little privacy. It is also a world in which the government is very suspicious of high intelligence, and the Averys’ son Harrison is very intelligent indeed. But how do you teach a six-year-old child, who hasn’t learnt how to lie, that he must hide his genius?

It’s amazing how much is packed into this short story. I was weak with apprehension when I realised what was at stake. If the man from the government discovers just how clever Harrison is, he will be taken away from his parents and neutralised. The Averys’ agony as they make plans to escape is palpable. And the ending knocks you sideways.

I came upon this little gem relatively recently and just read it again to check that it was as… show more.

The insights in this groundbreaking book apply across the board, from social and family life to interacting and managing others in organizational life.

What factors are at play when people of high IQ flounder while those who are more modestly endowed succeed? Goleman argues that the difference is Emotional Intelligence, which, as he explains, comprises empathy, effective social skills/communication, self-awareness, self-regulation, and motivation.

I’ve watched too many of the allegedly best and brightest, tough-minded executives flame out because they failed to rein in emotional impulse, read others’ feelings, or handle interpersonal relationships. The skills are learnable, and in today’s asymmetric, hybrid, matrixed organizations, they are essential for success.

This contemporary romance touched me deeply. The heroine is coming back from an abusive marriage. We find her leaning heavily on her family as she re-established herself personally and financially, having left the high life of the city – and the mess of her divorce – behind.

The domestic abuse issues are mostly handled off-page. The protagonist’s internal dialogue resonated with me a lot. Same goes for her hero, who’s going through a rough time with his family as well. I liked how insecure they both were in parts – and how leaps of faith were made on either side.

Mostly, this novel reminded me that learning to trust intimately again takes time and patience. It helped me reflect on my own situation and to be kinder to myself.

This book has more than stood the test of time.

Goleman played a key role in popularizing the notion of emotional intelligence. It’s a key skill for any executive but one I find is often misunderstood. Goleman makes a strong case that one’s emotional intelligence is rooted firmly in self-control and self-mastery. That is, you can’t really tune into others in a deep way unless you are in control of yourself and your emotions. I use this book often in my coaching, and it’s a revelation to many senior leaders and aspiring executives.