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Next Chapter Moms

Books, Travel, Cooking, Adventure & The Empty Nest

November 1, 2018

What Should I Read Next?

Stuck in a rut and don’t know what to pick up to read next? Here are some of my favorite books that I have read over time. All of these are considered 4 or 5 stars, or as I like to say:🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

There are links in here, and as noted elsewhere, I am a participant in the Amazon Services affiliate program and if you do happen to buy from my affiliate links, I will earn a VERY small commission at absolutely no cost to you.

Favorite Books & Recommendations

Best of the Best – A harmonious blend, a luxurious flight 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
These favorites are books that were un-put-downable and I either devoured and loved or savored every last word, much like the very best wines. Read ’em and weep. Or laugh. Or smile. But you will feel something – I would bet my 🍷 on it!


Sandwich – Catherine Newman
Summer Romance – Annabel Monaghan
Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon
First Lie Wins – Ashely Elston
Atomic Habits – James Clear
These Silent Woods – Kimi Cunningham Grant
Hidden Potential – Adam Grant
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett
The Seven Year Slip – Ashely Boston
The Quiet Tenant – Clemence Michallon
Know My Name – Chanel Miller – I ❤️ed it on audio – Every human being should read this book.
The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne
A Quiet Life – Ethan Joella
Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America – Cody Keenan –  I ❤️ed it on audio
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption – Bryan Stevenson
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story – Bono – I ❤️ed it on audio
Look Closer – David Ellis – very dark & twisty – read author bio, fascinating!
Notes on an Execution – Danya Kukafka
Our Missing Hearts – Celeste Ng
The Happiest Man on Earth – Eddie Jaku
The Lies I Tell – Julie Clark
Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus
The Violin Conspiracy – Brendan Slocumb
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – Robert Dugoni
When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi
More Than You’ll Ever Know – Katie Gutierrez
Clap When You Land – Elizabeth Acevedo
The Lincoln Highway – Amor Towles
Taste – My Life Through Food – Stanley Tucci – I ❤️ed it on audio
11/22/63 – Stephen King
Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
Dear Edward – Ann Napolitano
The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides
Long Bright River – Liz Moore
Heft – Liz Moore
The Unseen World – Liz Moore – I ❤️ed it on audio
We Were The Lucky Ones – Georgia Hunter
Oona Out of Order – Margarita Montimore
The Things We Cannot Say – Kelly Rimmer
The Dutch House – Ann Patchett – I ❤️ed it on audio
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Daisy Jones & The Six – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Maybe In Another Life – Taylor Jenkins Reid
One True Loves – Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 – Garrett M. Graff – I ❤️ed it on audio
The Stationery Shop – Marjan Kamali
This Tender Land – Willian Kent Kreuger
Ordinary Grace – Willam Kent Krueger
We Begin At The End – Chris Whitaker
The Island of Sea Women – Lisa See – I ❤️ed it on audio
Watching You – Lisa Jewell
The Kind Worth Killing – Peter Swanson – very dark & twisty
Between Two Kingdoms – Suleika Jaouad
Ask Again, Yes – Mary Beth Keane
What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism – Dan Rather
A Place for Us – Fatima Farheen Mirza
Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens – I ❤️ed it on audio
The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah
The Invention of Wings – Sue Monk Kidd – I ❤️ed it on audio
The Humans – Matt Haig
How to Stop Time – Matt Haig
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah – I ❤️ed it on audio
The Life We Bury – Allen Eskens
The Heavens May Fall – Allen Eskens
The Guise of Another – Allen Eskens
Forsaken Country – Allen Eskens
The Secret Wife – Gill Paul
Things You Save in a Fire – Katherine Center
The Dry – Jane Harper
Beartown – Frederik Backman
Before We Were Yours – Lisa Wingate
Small Great Things – Jodi Picoult
Need to Know – Karen Cleveland
A Higher Loyalty – James Covey
I Let You Go – Clare Macintosh
Beneath a Scarlet Sky – Mark T. Sullivan – I ❤️ed it on audio
The Sea of Tranquility – Katjay Millay – I ❤️ed it on audio
I Liked My Life – Abby Fabiaschi
On Living – Kerry Egan – I ❤️ed it on audio
Pope Joan – Donna Woolfolk Cross
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith
Women of the Silk – Gail Tsukiyama
The Language of Threads – Gail Tsukiyama
The Samurai’s Garden – Gail Tsukiyama
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey
Why Do They Act That Way – David Walsh
Tattoos on the Heart – Gregory Boyle
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood – Rebecca Wells
The Choices We Make – Karma Brown
The End of Alzheimer’s – Dale Bredesen
Untangled – Lisa Damour
The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch

Like a Fine Wine 🍷🍷🍷🍷
Loved these books too, and highly recommend. All kinds of genres here. Pour yourself a favorite beverage, cozy up and read away!


All the Dangerous Things – Stacy Willingham
A Flicker in the Dark – Stacy Willingham
Hidden Pictures – Jason Rekulak – I recommend the physical book for this one.
Count the Ways – Joyce Maynard
Other Birds – Sarah Addison
A Good Neighborhood – Therese Anne Fowler
Nora Goes Off Script – Annabelle Monaghan
Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt
One Step Too Far – Lisa Gardner
From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home – Tembi Locke – I ❤️ed it on audio
I’m Glad My Mom Died – Jennette McCurdy
Carrie Soto is Back – Taylor Jenkins Reid
After I Do – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Big Lies in a Small Town – Diane Chamberlain
The Bodyguard – Katherine Center
Two Nights in Lisbon – Chris Pavone – I ❤️ed it on audio
Book Lovers – Emily Henry
Beach Read – Emily Henry
Goodnight Beautiful – Aimee Molloy
Scandalized – Ivy Owens – much steamier than my other selections
The Night Shift – Alex Finlay
For Your Own Good – Samantha Downing – dark & twisty
Local Woman Missing – Mary Kubica
Falling – T.J. Newman
The Guncle – Steven Rowley
The Plot – Jean Hanff Korelitz
The Last Thing He Told Me – Laura Dave
Writers & Lovers – Lily King
Pretty Things – Janelle Brown
The Last Flight – Julie Clark
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet – Jamie Ford
Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators – Ronan Farrow – I ❤️ed it on audio
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone – Lori Gottleib
The Banker’s Wife – Cristina Alger
The Family Upstairs – Lisa Jewell
Then She Was Gone – Lisa Jewell
I Found You – Lisa Jewell
Before She Knew Him – Peter Swanson – very dark & twisty
Eight Perfect Murders – Peter Swanson
The Shadows We Hide – Allen Eskens
The Family Next Door – Sally Hepworth
Force of Nature – Jane Harper
The Lost Man – Jane Harper
The Wife Between Us – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman
The Art of Racing in The Rain – Garth Stein
An American Marriage – Tayari Jones
News of the World – Paulette Giles – I ❤️ed it on Audible
Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng – I ❤️ed it on Audible
Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng
All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr
The Mountain Between Us – Charles Martin – I ❤️ed it on Audible
Born a Crime – Trevor Noah – I ❤️ed it on Audible
One Perfect Lie – Lisa Scottoline
What Alice Forgot – Lianne Moriarty
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood – I ❤️ed it on Audible
What She Knew – Gilly Macmillan
Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell
Friend Request – Laura Marshall
Sister Sister – Sue Fortin
The Red Tent – Anita Diamant
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
Year of Wonders – Geraldine Brooks
Fortune’s Rocks – Anita Shreve
Big Stone Gap – Adrianna Trigiani
Tears of the Giraffe – Alexander McCall Smith
Morality for Beautiful Girls – Alexander McCall Smith
Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
Girl With A Pearl Earring – Tracy Chevalier
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms – Gail Tsukiyama
A Map of the World – Jane Hamilton
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

Filed Under: Books, Read Next Tagged With: best books, books, favorites, read, read next, recommendations

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about me

About Me...
I am a married mom of 2: both are now recent college graduates, carving their own paths. One lives out of state, the other nearby. We love to travel but don't do it often enough and generally find our adventures close to home.
I've had many chapters from New Mom, Working Mom, Stay-At-Home Mom, Sports Mom, School Volunteer Mom, Business-Owner Mom, Back-To-Work-Mom. I will always be a mom - but they now havetheir lives independent of mine. What is next besides mom in the title? Oh, and I read a lot.

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