Books like 'Joy for Beginners'
Readers who enjoyed Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary action / adventure psychological friendship realistic family literary-fiction female-mc drama season-summer
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The Light Through the Leaves by Glendy Vanderah
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsOne unbearable mistake at the edge of the forest.In a moment of crisis, Ellis Abbey leaves her daughter, Viola, unattended—for just a few minutes. But when she returns, Viola is gone. A breaking point in an already fractured marriage, Viola’s abduction causes Ellis to disappear as well—into grief, guilt, and addiction... -
![Still Alice by Lisa Genova]()
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsStill Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience from Harvard University...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc grief literary-fiction realistic 21st-century action-adventure -
![In an Instant by Suzanne Redfearn]()
In an Instant by Suzanne Redfearn
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 61 ratingsLife is over in an instant for sixteen-year-old Finn Miller when a devastating car accident tumbles her and ten others over the side of a mountain. Suspended between worlds, she watches helplessly as those she loves struggle to survive.Impossible choices are made, decisions that leave the survivors tormented with grief and regret... -
![What Now?: New for 2021! The hilarious sequel to the bestselling What If? by Shari Low]()
What Now?: New for 2021! The hilarious sequel to the bestselling What If? by Shari Low
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe hilarious sequel to the bestselling What If? from Shari Low.Twenty years ago, Carly Cooper went on an epic quest to track down all the men she’d ever loved and lost in the hope that one of them was her Mr Right. Now, two decades and two teenage sons later, she thinks she might have got it all wrong... -
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![Saturday by Oge Mora]()
Saturday by Oge Mora
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn this warm and tender story by the Caldecott Honor-winning creator of Thank You, Omu!, join a mother and daughter on an up-and-down journey that reminds them of what's best about Saturdays: precious time together. Today would be special. Today would be splendid. It was Saturday! But sometimes, the best plans don't work out exactly the way you expect... -
![Our Stolen Pieces by James Hunt]()
Our Stolen Pieces by James Hunt
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen the morning after a slumber party reveals two missing girls, a newly minted Detective and a young veteran are assigned the case. Recently partnered, the pair of detectives must set aside their troubled pasts to recover the pair of girls who may have been coerced by a stranger who had kidnapped before... -
![Jabari salta by Gaia Cornwall]()
Jabari salta by Gaia Cornwall
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsJabari is definitely ready to jump off the diving board. He's finished his swimming lessons and passed his swim test, and he's a great jumper, so he's not scared at all. "Looks easy," says Jabari, watching the other kids take their turns. But when his dad squeezes his hand, Jabari squeezes back...Categorized as:
family realistic season-summer action-adventure black-mc book children children-books -
![Anxious People by Fredrik Backman]()
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 51 ratingsA poignant, charming novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imaginedLooking at real estate isn't usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage...Categorized as:
drama family friendship grief literary-fiction realistic 21st-century action-adventure -
![Missed: Rafael and Lisa by Tess Thompson]()
Missed: Rafael and Lisa by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsReturn to the beloved beach town of Cliffside Bay, where USA Today bestseller Tess Thompson spins another emotional, intriguing tale about overcoming adversity and finding strength in love in this standalone story about Lisa and Rafael. After years of struggling as a starving actor, Lisa Perry's dreams are finally coming true...Categorized as:
drama female-mc literary-fiction family contemporary womens-fiction psychological sad -
![The Woman at 72 Derry Lane by Carmel Harrington]()
The Woman at 72 Derry Lane by Carmel Harrington
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTake the warmth and wit of Maeve Binchy and the secrets and twists of a Liane Moriarty and you get the utterly original and compelling voice of Carmel Harrington, a voice that has captured the hearts of readers around the world. Set on a beautiful leafy street in Dublin, the novel explores the unlikely friendship between two neighbours... -
![You'd Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow]()
You'd Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces comes a breathtaking story about a town, its tragedies, and the quiet beauty of everyday life.For all of Emory's life she's been told who she is. In town she's the rich one--the great-great-granddaughter of the mill's founder. At school she's hot Maddie Ward's younger sister... -
![The Moonlight Child by Karen McQuestion]()
The Moonlight Child by Karen McQuestion
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsA gripping and emotional novel that will leave you wondering about the neighbors next door...On a cold January night, Sharon Lemke heads outside to see a lunar eclipse when she notices something odd at the house behind her backyard. Through her neighbor's kitchen window, she sees what appears to be a little girl washing dishes late at night... -
![Ruining Him by Kylie Kent]()
Ruining Him by Kylie Kent
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJoshEmily came crashing back into my life, bringing with her everything I was missing.But she’s not the same girl I knew years ago. Gone is the girl who was always happy and eager to please everyone. The one who didn’t let life get her down.She’s conquered her demons but they still haunt her whenever she closes her eyes. Her screams tear through the darkness night after night... -
![The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin]()
The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsWhen a blizzard strands them in Salt Lake City, two strangers agree to charter a plane together, hoping to return home; Ben Payne is a gifted surgeon returning from a conference, and Ashley Knox, a magazine writer, is en route to her wedding... -
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![The Star Outside My Window by Onjali Q. Raúf]()
The Star Outside My Window by Onjali Q. Raúf
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMy mum is up there somewhere. She's waiting -- I can feel it. I just have to find her in time, that's all ... Because when I do, I'll know the truth about who stole her. ' Told through the innocent voice of a child, this is a story that celebrates the power of hope and resilience, from the author of The Boy at the Back of the Class.On her tenth birthday, Aniyah makes a wish -- a wish for her mum...Categorized as:
family realistic friendship grief middle-grade action-adventure fiction children-books -
![The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith]()
The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsIn the tradition of Speak, this extraordinary debut novel shares the unforgettable story of a young woman as she struggles to find strength in the aftermath of an assault.Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didn’t change who she was. But the night her brother’s best friend rapes her, Eden’s world capsizes.What was once simple, is now complex... -
![Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabó]()
Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabó
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Ettie's husband dies, her daughter Iza insists that her mother give up the family house in the countryside and move to Budapest. Displaced from her community and her home, Ettie tries to find her place in this new life, but can't seem to get it right... -
![Home Front by Kristin Hannah]()
Home Front by Kristin Hannah
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsIn this powerhouse of a novel, Kristin Hannah explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war.All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . -
![To Provence, with Love by T A Williams]()
To Provence, with Love by T A Williams
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEscape to the south of France with this perfect feel-good summer romance! Anything is possible… Struggling writer Faye Carter just can’t believe her luck... -
![Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow]()
Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsCharlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people lose in a lifetime. But she’s learned how to forget. The thick glass of a mason jar cuts deep, and the pain washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don’t have to think about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you... -
![Deception in Paradise by Deborah Brown]()
Deception in Paradise by Deborah Brown
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMadison Westin is back with her never-say-no style; smarter and packing an attitude not to mention her Glock. This time, trouble rolls into Tarpon Cove in the form of Madison's ex-husband, Jackson Devereaux, whom she hoped to never see again. His arrival brings unparalleled chaos and an uninvited corpse... -
![Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano]()
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsOne summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles... -
![A Virgin River Christmas by Robyn Carr]()
A Virgin River Christmas by Robyn Carr
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsLast Christmas Marcie Sullivan said a final goodbye to her husband, Bobby. This Christmas she's come to Virgin River to find the man who saved his life and gave her three more years to love him. Fellow marine Ian Buchanan dragged Bobby's shattered body onto a medical transport in Fallujah four years ago, then disappeared as soon as their unit arrived stateside... -
![All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven]()
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsThe Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.Soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning! Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him... -
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![Lies We Tell Ourselves by Steena Holmes]()
Lies We Tell Ourselves by Steena Holmes
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLies. They twist and taunt and tear apart every aspect of your life.Are you ready?Paige Fischer is not. She hates lies and how destructive they can be and yet, she's living the biggest lie of them all. In fact, she's barely hanging on...One missing sister...Twelve years ago, her identical twin, Jessica was kidnapped and Paige is to blame.One devoted fiancé.. -
![The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh]()
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 70 ratingsThe Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc friendship literary-fiction realistic 21st-century action-adventure -
![Chasing River by K.A. Tucker]()
Chasing River by K.A. Tucker
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsArmed with two years' worth of savings and the need to experience life outside the bubble of her Oregon small town, twenty-five-year old Amber Welles is prepared for anything. Except dying in Dublin. Had it not been for the bravery of a stranger, she might have. But he takes off before she has the chance to offer her gratitude. Twenty-four-year-old River Delaney is rattled...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc friendship literary-fiction realistic action-adventure alpha-mc -
![The Disoriented by Amin Maalouf]()
The Disoriented by Amin Maalouf
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAfter 25 years in exile, Adam travels from France to his homeland in the Middle East to bid farewell to his dying childhood friend.One night, a phone rings in Paris. Adam learns that Mourad, once his closest friend, is dying. He quickly throws some clothes in a suitcase and takes the first flight out, to the homeland he fled twenty-five years ago... -
![What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges]()
What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsJust about everything in Endora, Iowa (pop. 1,091 and dwindling) is eating Gilbert Grape, a twenty-four-year-old grocery clerk who dreams only of leaving. His enormous mother, once the town sweetheart, has been eating nonstop ever since her husband's suicide, and the floor beneath her TV chair is threatening to cave in...Categorized as:
drama family literary-fiction realistic season-summer 20th-century action-adventure book -
![Trespassing by Brandi Reeds]()
Trespassing by Brandi Reeds
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn a novel of mounting psychological suspense, a young mother follows a dangerous path to find her missing husband.Veronica Cavanaugh’s grasp on the world is slipping. Her latest round of fertility treatments not only failed but left her on edge and unbalanced. And her three-year-old daughter, Elizabella, has a new imaginary friend, who seems much more devilish than playful... -
![The Program by Suzanne Young]()
The Program by Suzanne Young
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsIn Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive... -
![The Midnight Library by Matt Haig]()
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 94 ratingsBetween life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . .Categorized as:
drama family female-mc grief literary-fiction realistic 21st-century action-adventure -
![The Rise by Shari King, Shari Low]()
The Rise by Shari King, Shari Low
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen we bury our secrets, they always come back to haunt us...Their rise was meteoric.Only a few years before, they had been three friends from Glasgow, just trying to survive tough lives of danger and dysfunction.But on one Hollywood evening in 1993, they were on the world’s biggest stage, accepting their Oscar in front of the watching world.That night was the beginning of their careers... -
![The Years After by Leanne Davis]()
The Years After by Leanne Davis
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEighteen-year-old Olivia Lindstrom is ready to start the rest of her life in a world she sees as wide-open to accomplish her limitless dreams. A gifted musician, she wants nothing more than to study music, improve her skills, and later pursue a dedicated career. Her biggest concerns about starting college are missing her parents and worrying about her grade point average... -
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![Tell Me Something True by Katherine Owen]()
Tell Me Something True by Katherine Owen
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTell Me Something True is the third book in the Truth In Lies series and cannot be read as a standalone. Please read This Much Is True and The Truth About Air & Water, books 1 and 2 in the Truth In Lies Series, first... -
![The Princess of Greektown by Suzanne Jenkins]()
The Princess of Greektown by Suzanne Jenkins
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThirty years ago, Terry Smith was Detroit’s top news anchor. She set the standard for excellence in investigative journalism, staying at the news desk long after her time should have been over. Just as Terry’s son-in-law is murdered in the city, Detective Jill Zannos faces upheaval in her own life... -
![The Realtor by Sonya Bateman]()
The Realtor by Sonya Bateman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsI’m a single mom. I provide for my little girl by selling people their dream homes. But one moment will shatter everything I’ve built.It’s my daughter’s first day of kindergarten and she’s a bubble of excitement as I drop her off. All I can think about is how our little life is finally on track.But then I bump into an old friend at the school gates...Categorized as:
friendship female-mc family action-adventure serial-killers crime contemporary heist -
![Everything She Ever Wanted: A Different Kind of Love Novel by Liz Durano]()
Everything She Ever Wanted: A Different Kind of Love Novel by Liz Durano
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHer perfectly-planned life is off-kilter.... His is off the grid. I was never into fairy tales. But discovering a real live princess in my house reminds me of the story of the three bears and some chick who breaks into their pad, eats all their food, and sleeps in their beds. Just like the one that’s in mine right now... -
![The Blue by Lucy Clarke]()
The Blue by Lucy Clarke
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the tradition of Alex Garland’s The Beach, a spine-tingling adventure novel about a group of friends whose journey around the world on a yacht turns from a trip to paradise into a chilling nightmare when one of them disappears at sea.A group of friends. A yacht. And a disappearance-at-sea that turns paradise into a chilling nightmare...Categorized as:
drama family female-mc friendship literary-fiction season-summer action-adventure audiobook -
![Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center, Marguerite Gavin]()
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center, Marguerite Gavin
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA year after getting divorced, Helen Carpenter, thirty-two, lets her annoying, ten years younger brother talk her into signing up for a wilderness survival course. It’s supposed to be a chance for her to pull herself together again, but when she discovers that her brother’s even-more-annoying best friend is also coming on the trip, she can’t imagine how it will be anything other than a disaster... -
![The Wrong Daughter by Dandy Smith]()
The Wrong Daughter by Dandy Smith
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe phone starts vibrating in my hand. It's my father. He never calls. Pulse racing in trepidation, I sit up in bed and answer. 'Caitlin,' he says. 'You need to come to the house. Right now. It's Olivia. She's back.'On the night when Caitlin and Olivia's parents leave them to go to a dinner party both girls are full of excitement about being old enough to stay home alone... -
![The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion]()
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsAn international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date...Categorized as:
drama family friendship literary-fiction realistic season-summer 21st-century action-adventure -
![The Dry by Jane Harper]()
The Dry by Jane Harper
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsIn the grip of the worst drought in a century, the farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily when three members of a local family are found brutally slain.Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk reluctantly returns to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend, loath to face the townsfolk who turned their backs on him twenty years earlier... -
![The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent]()
The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsTwo sisters raised in fear are about to find out why in a chilling novel of psychological suspense from the author of The Thinnest Air.Ignorant of civilization and cautioned against its evils, nineteen-year-old Wren and her two sisters, Sage and Evie, were raised in off-the-grid isolation in a primitive cabin in upstate New York... -
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![When All Is Said by Anne Griffin]()
When All Is Said by Anne Griffin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsA tale of a single night. The story of a lifetime.If you had to pick five people to sum up your life, who would they be? If you were to raise a glass to each of them, what would you say? And what would you learn about yourself, when all is said and done?This is the story of Maurice Hannigan, who, over the course of a Saturday night in June, orders five different drinks at the Rainford House Hotel... -
![One Door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz]()
One Door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsMichelina Bellsong is on a mission. She is following a missing family to the edge of America...to a place she never knew existed--a place of terror, wonder, and shattering revelation.What awaits her there will change her life and the life of everyone she knows--if she can find the key to survival... -
![The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle]()
The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA young widow raising two boys, Sarah Laden is struggling to keep her family together. But when a shocking revelation rips apart the family of her closest friend, Sarah finds herself welcoming yet another troubled young boy into her already tumultuous life.Jordan, a quiet, reclusive elementary school classmate of Sarah's son Danny, has survived a terrible ordeal... -
![Larger Than Life by Jodi Picoult]()
Larger Than Life by Jodi Picoult
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Storyteller and My Sister’s Keeper, comes a gripping and beautifully written novella, now available exclusively as an eBook. Set in the wilds of Africa, Larger Than Life introduces Alice, the unforgettable character at the center of Picoult’s anticipated new novel, Leaving Time... -
![Girl Underwater by Claire Kells]()
Girl Underwater by Claire Kells
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn adventurous debut novel that cross cuts between a competitive college swimmer’s harrowing days in the Rocky Mountains after a major airline disaster and her recovery supported by the two men who love her—only one of whom knows what really happened in the wilderness. Nineteen-year-old Avery Delacorte loves the water... -
![The Turning Point by Freya North]()
The Turning Point by Freya North
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThere are moments in life that define us. What matters is how we choose to carry on. Two single parents, Scott and Frankie, meet by chance. Their homes are thousands of miles apart: Frankie lives somewhat chaotically with her children on the shoreline of North Norfolk, while Scott’s life is in the mountains of British Columbia...
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