Around this time last year, I did an If You Like post about books involving weddings. It seemed appropriate now to do an If You Like, as a follow up, as it were, about books with pregnant heroines. So, if you like books where the heroine is enceinte for all or most of the novel,…

I’ve been revisiting some of my old YA adventure novels this past week. They’re a very specific subset of novels: they’re all about a young woman’s coming of age in a mysterious kingdom far away (no real historical places or time periods need apply). If you like young adult fantasy/adventure stories, you’ll probably like: —…

I have just learned that there’s a name for the types of books I’ve been writing, the ones that go back and forth between two time periods: they’re called “time slip” novels. (Which you would think has something to do with time travel, but doesn’t.) If you like time slip novels, you’ll probably like…. —…

In last week’s Weekly Reading Round-Up, Ashley and Joanne had a great suggestion: books about books. (Not like we’re a little book obsessed over here or anything.) So, if you like books about books, you’ll probably like…. — A.S. Byatt’s Possession, in which a letter stuck in a book starts a scholar off on a…

Apologies for the lack of “if you like” recently. It’s been a rather busy few months. Since my first family saga comes out very soon (just two more weeks until The Ashford Affair!), this seemed like a good time to do an “if you like” about those old sweeping, family sagas. All of these are…

After the blizzard this past weekend, I started thinking about favorite books involving snowstorms. If you like snowstorms as a backdrop/plot device, you’ll probably like…. — Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter. I remember being enthralled by this book, about a whole winter snowed in with dwindling supplies, when I was little. — There’s also…

The author apologizes. I found myself flat out of “if you like” inspiration this week. SO– do you have any particular tropes or types of books you’d like to see explored in an “if you like”? If so, let me know in the Comments section below! Also, if it will help to make it up…

With the New Year, I’ve been thinking a lot about fresh starts and new beginnings. There’s a mind-boggling array of books devoted to this theme: — In some cases, the fresh start is internally driven, like L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle or Colleen McCullough’s The Ladies of Missalonghi, in which the downtrodden spinster heroines decide…

Season Three of Downton Abbey started last night here in the States– or Series Three, if we’re going to be British about it– moving from World War I into the postwar period. If you like books set in England during the early part of the interwar period, you’ll probably like…. — The Ashford Affair! A…

Something about the holiday vacation week makes me think of long, snowy afternoon reading childhood favorites. The phrase that came immediately to mind was “classic contentment reads”, the sorts of books you read when the blackberry has stopped buzzing, the final paper has been turned in, the smell of good baking things permeates the house,…