Books like 'Down Sand Mountain'
Readers who enjoyed Down Sand Mountain by Steve Watkins also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn 1960, a young woman discovers a freedom she never knew existed in this exhilarating, funny, and emotional novel by the bestselling author of She’s Up to No Good . When Marilyn Kleinman is caught making out with the rabbi’s son in front of the whole congregation, her parents ship her off to her great-aunt Ada for the summer... -
Boy Underground by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDuring WWII, a teenage boy finds his voice, the courage of his convictions, and friends for life in an emotional and uplifting novel by the New York Times and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author.1941. Steven Katz is the son of prosperous landowners in rural California. Although his parents don’t approve, he’s found true friends in Nick, Suki, and Ollie, sons of field workers...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century audiobook book coming-of-age family -
Betsy Was a Junior & Betsy and Joe by Vera Neville
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBetsy Was a Junior: It's the best school year ever, especially now that charming, funny Tib Muller is back in Deep Valley. But when her crowd gets into trouble, Betsy's best year could turn out to be her worst...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction humor 20th-century book children classics coming-of-age -
The Children Of Lovely Lane by Nadine Dorries
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe second book in the Lovely Lane series from Nadine Dorries. Lily hates the sound of children playing - the ceaseless shouting and laughter and kicking of balls to and fro in the street outside the rough Liverpool tenement where she lives... -
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The Lost Letters of Aisling: A Novel by Cynthia Ellingsen
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA woman faces the past she fled in a heart-stirring novel about unforgettable love and indomitable courage by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Lighthouse Keeper.Rainey’s grandmother makes a startling Take me home. To Ireland, the country she fled post–World War II. Though they’re inseparably close, Rainey knows few of her grandmother’s secrets...Categorized as:
historical-fiction friendship fiction historical ww2 family 20th-century coming-of-age -
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsAn alternate cover edition for ISBN 978-1492671527 can be found here.In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction north-america realistic usa 20th-century abuse action-adventure -
Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt's 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing.Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He's terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he's gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media's images of men dying of AIDS... -
Betsy's Wedding by Maud Hart Lovelace
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBetsy returns from Europe to marry Joe Willard—and soon learns that beloved friend Tacy is expecting a baby! It's wartime in America, but Betsy, Joe, and their wonderful circle of friends brave their hardships together... -
The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsSteeped in history and filled with heart-wrenching twists, The Stolen Marriage is an emotionally captivating novel of secrets, betrayals, prejudice, and forgiveness. It showcases Diane Chamberlain at the top of her talent.One mistake, one fateful night, and Tess DeMello’s life is changed forever. It is 1944...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction north-america realistic usa 20th-century adult audiobook -
Mulberry Lane Babies by Rosie Clarke
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratings1941 Mulberry Lane, London. War rages but new life brings new hope. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Cathy Sharp. Times are hard for all on Mulberry Lane as the war rages into yet another year. Desperate times push people into dangerous situations, and the residents of Mulberry Lane are not exempt...Categorized as:
bullying friendship historical-fiction humor 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Complete Poems of Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDorothy Parker, master of the short story, dramatist, screenwriter, and sharp-tongued critic, was also an accomplished poet. At the center of the famed Round Table at New York's Algonquin Hotel, Parker distinguished herself among a circle of urbane literati with her excoriating quips and wonderfully realized epigrammatic poems... -
Betsy and Joe by Maud Hart Lovelace
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMade for Each Other? Betsy Ray has always thought that she and the fascinating Joe Willard would make the perfect couple. Now, in her senior year at Deep Valley High School, it looks as though she'll get her wish. As soon as Joe returns from his summer job in North Dakota, he's on the Rays' porch with sweet words for Betsy...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century book children christian classics -
The Road to Bittersweet by Donna Everhart, Amy Melissa Bentley
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSet in the Carolinas in the 1940s, The Road to Bittersweet is a beautifully written, evocative account of a young woman reckoning not just with the unforgiving landscape, but with the rocky emotional terrain that leads from innocence to wisdom.For fourteen-year-old Wallis Ann Stamper and her family, life in the Appalachian Mountains is simple and satisfying, though not for the tenderhearted...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction north-america usa 20th-century audiobook book coming-of-age -
By Her Own Design: The Story of Ann Lowe, Society's Best-Kept Secret by Piper Huguley
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe incredible untold story of Ann Lowe, Jackie Kennedy's wedding dress designer, a Black woman who made some of the most famous dresses of all time, only to be forgotten by history.1953, New York CityLess than a week before the society wedding of the year where Jacqueline Bouvier will marry John F... -
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Lilac Ink: The Knocknashee Story by Jean Grainger
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratings1937.Two lives.Thousands of miles apart.One in Dingle, Ireland, the other in Georgia, USA.Grace Fitzgerald and Jacob Lewis are drawn together as the world seems to be on the brink of destruction.They should have nothing in common. Except they do. More than anyone could ever imagine or understand...Categorized as:
historical-fiction friendship fiction historical audiobook 20th-century ww2 female-mc -
Daughters of War by Lizzie Page
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAn emotional tale of wartime love and sacrifice, inspired by an incredible true story… As a teenager in Chicago, May always dreamed of travelling the world. So when she meets handsome George Turner, she jumps at the chance to return to London as his wife. Ten years later, May is wondering if she’s made a terrible mistake. It’s 1914 and war has been declared in Europe... -
The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsInspired by the real team of female pilots who trained World War II soldiers, The Flight Girls is a stunning debut novel about friendship and its power to make us soarAudrey Coltrane has always wanted to fly. It's why she implored her father to teach her at the little airfield back home in Texas. It's why she signed up to train military pilots in Hawaii when the war in Europe began...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction north-america usa 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Keeper of The Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe very last novel that Gene Stratton-Porter wrote before her death. The tale of a wounded World War I veteran, a beekeeper and an impish tomboy all helped by each other...Categorized as:
historical-fiction north-america usa 20th-century action-adventure book california children -
Between Earth and Sky by Amanda Skenandore
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOn a quiet Philadelphia morning in 1906, a newspaper headline catapults Alma Mitchell back to her past. A federal agent is dead, and the murder suspect is Alma’s childhood friend, Harry Muskrat. Harry—or Asku, as Alma knew him—was the most promising student at the “savage-taming” boarding school run by her father, where Alma was the only white pupil... -
Walking My Baby Back Home by Joan Jonker
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEver since Dot Baker lost her husband in the war she's tried to keep his memory alive. But when John Kershaw turns up on her doorstep, she can't blame her kids, Katy and Colin, for wanting another man about the house. John's the boss of a local factory, and a kind and caring man who can't seem to do enough for the Bakers and their friends and neighbours... -
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsCasey McQuiston meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in this mid-century romdram about a scrappy reporter and a newspaper mogul's son--perfect for Newsies shippers. Nick Russo has worked his way from a rough Brooklyn neighborhood to a reporting job at one of the city's biggest newspapers. But the late 1950s are a hostile time for gay men, and Nick knows that he can't let anyone into his life... -
Along a Storied Trail by Ann H. Gabhart
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsKentucky packhorse librarian Tansy Calhoun doesn't mind the rough trails and long hours as she serves her Appalachian mountain community during the Great Depression. Yet she longs to find love like the heroines in her books...Categorized as:
historical-fiction north-america usa 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
We'll Meet Again by Lily Baxter
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIt is April 1939 and unaware that the German war machine is advancing towards the Channel Islands, seventeen-year-old Meg Colivet and her sister are enjoying a holiday in Oxford with their aunt. Here Meg meets charismatic German undergraduate Rayner Weiss and the couple fall passionately in love... -
Five Windows by D.E. Stevenson
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhere does David belong? David Kirke’s childhood is sheltered, his nature is gentle and peaceable; he is no hero of romance but a human being with faults and failings which lead him into trouble when he adventures into the world to seek his fortune... -
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The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIt's never too late for new beginnings.On the cusp of turning eighty, newly retired pharmacist Augusta Stern is adrift. When she relocates to Rallentando Springs—an active senior community in southern Florida—she unexpectedly crosses paths with Irving Rivkin, the delivery boy from her father’s old pharmacy—and the man who broke her heart sixty years earlier...Categorized as:
north-america usa florida historical-fiction friendship urban new-york-state romance -
Anne's House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsAnne's own true love, Gilbert Blythe, is finally a doctor, and in the sunshine of the old orchard, among their dearest friends, they are about to speak their vows. Soon the happy couple will be bound for a new life together and their own dream house, on the misty purple shores of Four Winds Harbor. A new life means fresh problems to solve, fresh surprises...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction humor north-america realistic 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
Katherine Wentworth by D.E. Stevenson
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA pretty, courageous young widow, faced with the task of bringing up three children and making her way alone in the world, is the appealing heroine of this touching love story executed with D.E. Stevenson's characteristic freshness and charm... -
RNWMP: Bride for Kendall by Kirsten Osbourne, Mail Order Mounties
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJoAnn Becker, a wealthy socialite from Ottawa, has devoted her life to music and teaching others. She is content with her unmarried status, still living at home with her parents. That is until one of her closest friends moves west to marry the Mountie of her dreams. Once her friend is gone, she feels a bit lost and confused... -
Destination Unknown by Bill Konigsberg
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom Stonewall Award winner Bill Konigsberg, a remarkable, funny, sexy, heartbreaking story of two teen boys finding each other in New York City at the height of the AIDS epidemic.The first thing I noticed about C.J. Gorman was his plexiglass bra. So begins Destination Unknown. It's 1987 in New York City, and Micah is at a dance club, trying to pretend he's more out and outgoing than he really is...Categorized as:
historical-fiction realistic friendship romance lgbtq young-adult historical fiction -
All That We Have Lost by Suzanne Fortin
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPapa always told us that to be brave doesn't mean you have no fear.It just means you can move forwards in spite of that fear.2019. When Imogen Wren's husband dies, she must realise their dream of moving to France on her own. She finds a beautiful abandoned chateau and starts to rebuild her life among its ruins. But she soon notices that the locals won't come near... -
Things We Didn't Say by Amy Lynn Green
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHeadstrong Johanna Berglund, a linguistics student at the University of Minnesota, has very definite plans for her future . . . plans that do not include returning to her hometown and the secrets and heartaches she left behind there. But the US Army wants her to work as a translator at a nearby camp for German POWs.Johanna arrives to find the once-sleepy town exploding with hostility...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction north-america usa 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTucker Shaw’s When You Call My Name is a heartrending novel about two gay teens coming of age in New York City in 1990 at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Named "this summer's most powerful LGBTQ+ novel" by GAY TIMES, this book is perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Mary H. K. Choi.Film fanatic Adam is seventeen and being asked out on his first date—and the guy is cute...Categorized as:
historical-fiction realistic friendship romance lgbtq young-adult historical fiction -
Where Home Is by Karen J. Hasley
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe year is 1910. Katherine Davis, M.D. is an intelligent, self-assured, and attractive woman whose confidence perfectly reflects the confidence of a new century overflowing with scientific, medical, and technological breakthroughs. Without a moment's hesitation, young Dr... -
The Peach Rebellion by Wendelin Van Draanen
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA historical tale of friendship, family, and the power of sisterhood to help heal the wounds of the past and step boldly into the future of post-WWII America.Ginny Rose and Peggy were best friends at seven, picking peaches on hot summer days. Peggy’s family owned the farm, and Ginny Rose’s were pickers, escaping the Oklahoma dust storms...Categorized as:
historical-fiction friendship realistic romance young-adult fiction historical audiobook -
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Shadows in Heaven by Nadine Dorries
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTarabeg is a small village on the West Coast of Ireland. In the aftermath of the Second World War, two women are waiting there for ambitious Michael Malone to return home. Rosie is the local schoolteacher and most people think she is promised to him. Just a few have guessed that he has secretly begun to woo Sarah, whose brutal fisherman father would kill her if he knew... -
Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRandi Pink's The Angel of Greenwood is a historical YA novel that takes place during the Greenwood Massacre of 1921, in an area of Tulsa, OK, known as the "Black Wall Street."…Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Wilson is, on the surface, a town troublemaker, but is hiding that he is an avid reader and secret poet, never leaving home without his journal. A passionate follower of W.E.B...Categorized as:
historical-fiction poc-mc realistic bullying friendship romance young-adult historical -
A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratings"So it is that Vine, Cherokee-born and raised in the early 1900s, trains her eye on a young white man, forsaking her family and their homeland to settle in with Saul's people: his smart-as-a-whip, slow-to-love mother, Esme; his brother Aaron, a gifted banjo player, hot tempered and unpredictable; and Aaron's flightly and chattery Melungeon wife, Aidia... -
Betsy Was a Junior by Maud Hart Lovelace
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Best School Year Ever That's the kind of junior year Betsy Ray has planned for herself. And when her childhood friend Tib Muller moves back to Deep Valley, Betsy's sure her perfect year is off to a grand start. With charming, funny Tib around, Crowd doings are more fun than ever -- especially after Betsy starts Okto Delta, the first -- ever sorority at Deep Valley High...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction realistic 20th-century book children christian classics -
A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA spellbinding novel of dark family secrets and a young woman’s rise and revenge set against the backdrop of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake.The eve of destruction. After her mother’s death, penniless May Kimble lives a lonely life until an aunt she didn’t know existed summons her to San Francisco. There she’s welcomed into the wealthy Sullivan family and their social circle... -
Indian Paintbrush by John A. Heldt
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsArizona, December 1943. After surviving perilous six-month journeys to 1889 and 1918, the Carsons, five siblings from the present day, seek a respite in their home state. While Adam and Greg settle down with their Progressive Era brides, Natalie and Caitlin start romances with wartime aviators and Cody befriends a Japanese family in an internment camp...Categorized as:
historical-fiction north-america usa 20th-century action-adventure adult book california -
The Wings of Morning by Murray Pura
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLovers of Amish fiction will quickly sign on as fans of award-winning author Murray Pura as they keep turning the pages of this exciting new historical romance set in 1917 during America's participation in World War I. Jude Whetstone and Lyyndaya Kurtz, whose families are converts to the Amish faith, are slowly falling in love...Categorized as:
historical-fiction north-america usa 20th-century action-adventure book christian fiction -
A Quilt for Jenna by Patrick E. Craig
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsJerusha Springer has spent months making the most beautiful quilt anyone in Apple Creek, Ohio has ever seen, and she knows it is going to take first prize at the Quilt Fair in Dalton. The prize money will be her ticket out of the Amish way of life—away from the memories of Jenna, the daughter she lost a year ago and Reuben, her tormented husband, who has been missing since Jenna’s death... -
Dakota December by Lauraine Snelling
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings“Help.” A weak voice moaned from the horse’s back. Sheriff Caleb Stenesrude climbs over the gate in a blizzard and reaches up in time to catch the woman as she falls. To his astonishment, a small child, hanging on for dear life, falls with her.Under his breath he thanks the good Lord for bringing them this far and for a dog with a nose and ears to beat all... -
Betsy by Kirsten Osbourne
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBetsy Sanders loves her life. She has a wonderful and often boisterous family. She has a job for a man who makes her a bit crazy, but it’s good honest work, and she makes a decent wage. When a new man starts working for the auction house, she feels immediately drawn to him. Charles Brooks has been left with the burden of four younger siblings to raise...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor romance christian historical western 20th-century spirituality -
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Gertrude by Kirsten Osbourne
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsGertrude Sanders is completely devoted to her family and her job as the librarian of the Nowhere, Texas library. When a man starts parking his book wagon outside the library, she makes it her business to force him to leave town. It doesn’t take her long to discover that most of the people in town are happier to go to the book wagon than go to the library...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor christian western romance 20th-century historical spirituality -
Friends Forever by Lyn Andrews
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBest friends Bernie and Molly are just seventeen when they set off from Ireland in 1928, heading for Liverpool. They quickly find jobs and rooms; soon both women are in love with local men. Tragically, though, Bernie is widowed when she's still barely an adult, while Molly has chosen a bad 'un and faces the deepest shame when he deserts her... -
RNWMP: Bride for Theodore by Kirsten Osbourne, Mail Order Mounties
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsJessica Sanderson knows what it means to love unconditionally. She has doted on the same man for over a decade, and she’s in her early twenties. When that man’s mother asks her to be her traveling companion, she gladly accepts. She doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life sitting in a bank, after all... -
Broken Strings by Eric Walters, Kathy Kacer
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA violin and a middle-school musical unleash a dark family secret in this moving story by an award-winning author duo. For fans of The Devil's Arithmetic and Hana's Suitcase.It's 2002. In the aftermath of the twin towers -- and the death of her beloved grandmother -- Shirli Berman is intent on moving forward... -
A Taste of Shine by Addison Cain
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“Prohibition. Gangsters. Moonshine. A badass heroine and a hero who’s alpha enough to make you swoon. You won't be able to put this book down! ” He’s in love at first sight. The new girl in town is nothing but trouble. And deep in trouble in every possible way. Chicago’s reigning kingpin wants Charlotte back under his wing. Radcliff’s right-hand-man wants her in his bed... -
While Love Stirs by Lorna Seilstad
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter graduating from Fannie Farmer's School of Cookery in 1910, Charlotte Gregory is ready to stir things up. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to travel, lecture, and give cooking demonstrations on the very latest kitchen revolution--the gas stove--and certainly doesn't mind that the gas company has hired the handsome Lewis Mathis to perform at her lectures...
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