|
|
Isabel Allende draws deeply on South America's turbulent history and personal experience to craft magical multigenerational sagas, novels, short stories, and memoirs. Known for her vibrant characterization of women and lyrically descriptive prose, Allende subtly combines the traditional with elements of the fantastic in a magical realist style. Blending the social, political, romantic, and historical she produces engrossing stories that linger with her readers. |
|
|
|
Jennifer Chiaverini is best known for writing the heartwarming, sweet quilting series Elm Creek Quilts as well as intricately plotted and well-researched historical fiction, often based on real historical figures. Whether it is her long-running series or a standalone novel, Chiaverini evokes specific places and eras through atmospheric details that create a fully formed picture of the settings and the relatable people who populate them. Female friendship and the strength it brings to the protagonists is an underlying theme throughout many of her novels. |
|
|
|
Rachel Hanna is a Georgia-based author who writes southern romance fiction often set in small, coastal towns. Recommended for those looking for cozy, clean romances with a small town feel. |
|
|
|
Kristin Hannah began her writing career with romances but has since changed her focus to stories of women's lives and relationships. She writes character-driven novels that focus on relationships, particularly in families. Hope and determination in the face of adverse circumstances is an important part of her appeal. Her female characters are multi-faceted and relatable; they wrestle with universal issues surrounding parenthood, marriage, infidelity, and loss. How they deal with the consequences, however, is what makes Hannah's characters so real and their stories so appealing. |
|
|
|
Colleen Hoover is an American author of new adult fiction and contemporary romances where women fall hard for enigmatic and sensitive male characters who hide their vulnerabilities. Hoover has a knack for creating heartwrenching narratives where relatable characters juggle the highs and lows of first love with conflicts they encounter in family relationships and inner turmoil within themselves. Readers can expect lots of intricate plots and high drama to go along with the steamy romance in moving and unforgettable love stories. |
|
|
|
Lisa Jewell's mainstream fiction, set in England, explores family, romance, identity, and coming into one's own. Her frequently eccentric characters are complex and have real emotional depth. She has a deft touch when it comes to writing from multiple perspectives, and does a wonderful job tying the characters' stories together. She has a sense of humor that often manifests as wit and lively banter in books that are at the same time emotionally intricate and truly moving. Her prose is engaging, and she tells a great story. |
|
|
|
Abby Jimenez writes funny, moving, and sexy contemporary romance novels whose likeable characters not only experience new relationships but also how family trauma or mental health issues affect those relationships. Jimenez's thoughtful stories balance uplifting romance with heavier issues. Both female and male characters are well-developed and authentic. Loose connections between characters often unite her novels, as does a Minnesota setting. Romance and relationship fiction readers will find much to love in Jimenez's witty, warm stories. |
|
|
|
Susan Mallery, who also writes as Susan Macias, is the author of many character-driven contemporary romances, set across the Western United States, from Seattle to small town California. Mallery's characters are also quite varied, with unconventional heroes and heroines as clearly-imagined as the more familiar. Secondary characters are also well-described. No matter the locale, Mallery adeptly captures everyday life and the emotional journeys of her characters–intelligent people still learning about life and love. While tonally breezy and often humorous, Mallery's writing is voluptuous and emotionally involving, and she writes sensitively and thoughtfully of difficult topics. |
|
|
|
Jan Moran writes both historical and contemporary fiction, ranging from 1950s Napa Valley to a modern-day beach town. Her flawed yet sympathetic characters and high drama mixed with romance and suspense make her writing richly detailed and atmospheric. Recommended for fans of Mary Kay Andrews, Elin Hilderbrand, and Mary Alice Monroe. |
|
|
|
Australian author Liane Moriarty writes sharp, insightful novels about women's lives and relationships, creating intricately plotted, gripping stories which unfold unhurriedly as her characters' secrets are revealed. Her novels feature relatable and flawed people who face everyday problems such as raising children, social cliques, and marital disagreements, but who also must confront more serious issues including domestic abuse, divorce, bullying, and sexual assault. |
|
|
|
|
British novelist Jojo Moyes writes character-driven fiction featuring women on the path to self-discovery. Their journeys take them through family issues and forgotten pasts, leaving them within reach of love, romance, and self-acceptance. Moyes's work is warm, moving, and insightful without overt sentimentality or cloying simplicity. Her parallel narratives lend nuance and depth to her intricate plots. Moyes's charming settings in the English countryside are perfect for observing the nuances of human behavior. |
|
|
|
|
Jodi Picoult's stories take controversial newsworthy issues and examine them through the eyes of ordinary people. Through her intelligent presentation of both sides of an issue, Picoult allows readers to feel sympathetic towards characters on opposing sides of a conflict. Despite Picoult's straightforward, warm writing style, she nevertheless builds suspense quickly. Readers identify with and care about her characters while swiftly turning pages to a finale that delivers one last satisfying twist. |
|
|
|
Irish author and screenwriter Sally Rooney is celebrated for her witty, character-driven literary fiction. Rooney made Time Magazine's 2022 list of 100 Most Influential People in the World, and her novels are perennial book club best bets. Exploring themes of grief, unlikely friendship, connection, and the complexities of human relationships, Rooney's stories offer well-crafted dialogue, multiple perspectives, and some explicit sex. Rooney has successfully adapted her work to television as well. |
|
|
|
In her historical fiction, mysteries, and nonfiction, Lisa See explores China and the Chinese American experience. See peppers her novels with details about politics, both past and present. Readers love her imaginative storylines, rich details of everyday life, accurate settings, and engrossing pace. However, her depictions of strong women who dare to question their place in society and strive for more is at the heart of what brings readers back. |
|
|
|
Nicholas Sparks is a master of poignant love stories. In his novels, there is no great love without some loss and his characters frequently are faced with a difficult challenge before proving they are worthy of true love. Sparks' characters are honorable and loyal, and they place a lot of importance on family and sometimes religious faith. The pace of his stories is leisurely, quickening for rapid action and dialogue. Sparks' writing is not dense and he aims for easy-to-read prose with a romantic tone. |
|
|
|
Best-selling novelist and short story writer Elizabeth Strout writes quiet domestic tales that resonate with readers long after the books end. These emotionally powerful and timeless novels raise sobering issues and explore uneasy relationships–mother/daughter, husband/wife, friendships–through familiar characters and serious themes involving suicide, depression, poor communication, and dark secrets. Small town life forms the backdrop for these lyrical but provocative novels that offer stunning portraits of prickly characters and satisfying, polished glimpses into ordinary lives. |
|
|
|
Abbi Waxman writes compelling mainstream fiction centered on women who face relatable and realistic problems. Whether the topic is moving forward from grief, discovering unknown relatives, or grappling with suburban restlessness, Waxman treats her characters with compassion and kindness as they navigate the thorny path to contentment and self-discovery. |
|
|
|
Tia Williams is a former magazine beauty editor whose page-turning novels focus on African American characters and feature plenty of glitz and glamour. Her character-driven novels are steamy and atmospheric and feature intricately plotted storylines and complex characters using a tell-it-like-it-is writing style. |
|
|