The Unwanted Wife

Books like The Unwanted Wife

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October 18, 2022
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#1 Books Like Reminders Of Him

In Colleen Hoover’s tragic yet upbeat novel, which is the #1 New York Times bestselling author, a disturbed young mother longs for a chance at atonement. In an effort to reconcile with her 4-year-old daughter, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where everything went wrong after serving five years in jail for a catastrophic error. But it seems difficult to repair the bridges Kenna burned. No matter how hard Kenna attempts to establish herself, everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to keep her out. Ledger Ward, the proprietor of a nearby tavern and one of the few people still connected to Kenna’s kid, is the only person who hasn’t totally shut the door on her.

But if anyone were to find out how Ledger is gradually taking over Kenna’s life, both would run the risk of losing the respect of everyone who matters to them. Despite the pressure they are under, the two connect, but as their romance develops, the risk increases. In order to create a future based on healing and optimism, Kenna must discover a way to put her past transgressions behind her.

#2 Books Like Heart Bones

Beyah Grim’s parents only ever gave her two things: life and a terrible last name. Beyah is well on her path to greater and better things because of the route she carved out for herself. A sudden death leaves Beyah with nowhere to go in the meantime, only two short months dividing her from the future she’s created and the past she’s desperately trying to leave behind. Beyah is made to spend the rest of her summer on a peninsula in Texas with a father she hardly knows after being forced to use her final line of defense.

Beyah had intended to keep a low profile and let the summer pass without incident, but her new neighbor Samson threw a spanner in the works. On the surface, Samson and Beyah appear to have nothing in common. He comes from a wealthy and privileged family, while she came from a life of deprivation and neglect. They do, however, share the tendency to gravitate toward depressing things. Which implies that they are drawn to one another. Beyah and Samson decide to stay in the deep end of the pool of a summer affair after experiencing an almost immediate connection that was too strong for them to keep ignoring. Beyah is about to have her heart dragged out to sea by a rip current, but she isn’t aware of it.

#3 Books Like 28 Summers

By Summer of ’69’s #1 New York Times bestselling author: They have been having a covert relationship for many years, but this summer could be the turning point. Link Blessing, Mallory Blessing’s son, is unsure of what to anticipate when his mother gives him instructions on his deathbed to phone a number on a slip of paper in her desk drawer. He does not, however, anticipate Jake McCloud responding. Jake DeGournsey’s wife, Ursula, is the front-runner in the forthcoming presidential election in the late spring of 2020.

Link speculates that there must be a mistake. How are Mallory and Jake acquainted? Recall the delightful summer of 1993: Mallory accepts the invitation to host her brother’s bachelor party at the beachside property she recently inherited from her aunt on Nantucket. Jake McCloud, Cooper’s college friend, also attends, and the two develop a relationship that will last until Mallory hears that Ursula is dying. This relationship will endure through marriage, having children, and Ursula’s meteoric political climb.

#4 Big Stone Gap

In disguise as a housemaid, Margaret Macy leaves London with a plan to marry her off to an unethical guy. She will inherit money and independence if she can avoid getting married until her next birthday. She had no intention of actually working as a servant, though. And definitely not in the house of Lewis and Nathaniel Upchurch, two past suitors.

When suspicions are raised and nosy onlookers arrive at Fairbourne Hall, Margaret struggles to conceal her identity while she stumbles through the first meaningful work of her life. Can she evade a trap that will draw her out of hiding? Big Stone Gap is a jewel of a book with a large heart, brimming with humor and sensible views of small-town life.

#5 The Soulmate Equation

Jess Davis is a single mom and a data and statistics whiz, but no amount of math can persuade her to enter the dating scene again. In addition, her ex-husband decided he wasn’t “father material” before her kid was even born, her father never showed up, and her hard-partying mother left when she was six. Jess keeps her loved ones near, but it’s difficult—and lonely—to labor nonstop to survive.

Jess then learns about GeneticAlly, a hot new DNA-based matchmaking business that is expected to revolutionize dating. Using DNA to find your soul mate? The accuracy of numbers Jess has a grasp on this. She believed she did, at least, until her test revealed an improbable 98 percent match with another person in the database: Dr. River Pea, the founder of GeneticAlly. She is unable to comprehend this particular number because she is already familiar with Dr. Pea. She can be sure that the arrogant, unyielding man is not her soul mate. However, GeneticAlly is offering a reward if you get to know him. Despite her doubts about the initiative and her distaste for River, Jess—who is barely getting by—is unable to refuse it. Jess starts to suspect that maybe there is more to the scientist—and the science underlying a soulmate—than she first imagined as the two are pushed from one event to the next as the “Diamond” pairing that might send GeneticAlly’s worth sky-high.

#6 The Giver Of Stars

In an effort to leave her oppressive existence in England, Alice Wright marries the charming American Bennett Van Cleve. However, life in small-town Kentucky rapidly proves to be cramped, especially when she lives with her controlling father-in-law. Alice readily agrees to help when a request is made for a group of ladies to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new mobile library.

Margery, the group’s leader and soon to be Alice’s biggest ally, is a witty, independent woman who has never sought a man’s approval for anything. Three further unusual women who take on the moniker “Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky” will join them.