I’m not one to wiz through books, but I always have a stack on my nightstand ready to read. I read for about 30 minutes before bedtime every night as a way to unwind and for longer periods on slow weekend mornings. I mostly enjoy fun, fiction novels, but every once in a while I like to mix in a non-fiction read too! Today I thought I’d share 15 book recommendations from my recent reads!

15 Book Recommendations

The Proposal

You’ll notice I’m a huge Jasmine Guillory fan. I love all of her books. They’re all fun, easy reads, and the characters are ones that I can always see myself being friends with in real life!

When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn’t the hard part—they’ve only been dating for five months, and he can’t even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans…

One Day in December

A great read to cozy up with once the weather starts turning colder!

Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic…and then her bus drives away.

Modern Love, Revised and Updated: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption

If you watched Modern Love on Netflix, you have to read this book! It includes stories from the Netflix show plus tons more. The stories are from a long running New York Times column about love stories. They’re all short stories and really heart warming. Stories that restore your faith in humanity! 🙂

A young woman goes through the five stages of ghosting grief. A man’s promising fourth date ends in the emergency room. A female lawyer with bipolar disorder experiences the highs and lows of dating. A widower hesitates about introducing his children to his new girlfriend. A divorcée in her seventies looks back at the beauty and rubble of past relationships.

These are just a few of the people who tell their stories in Modern Love, Revised and Updated, featuring dozens of the most memorable essays to run in The New York Times “Modern Love” column since its debut in 2004.

The Idea of You

This is easily the trashiest read on my book recommendations list, but it’s so good! If you’re looking for a steamy read, trust me, you won’t be able to put this one down!

Solène Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of an art gallery in Los Angeles, is reluctant to take her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band. But since her divorce, she’s more eager than ever to be close to Isabelle. The last thing Solène expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things.

American Royals

If you’re even remotely into the royal family, you’ll love this read! It’s set in modern day America but in a world where we have a monarchy similar to England! It’s a fun read. I’m already looking forward to the sequel – coming out September 1st!

When America won the Revolutionary War, its people offered General George Washington a crown. Two and a half centuries later, the House of Washington still sits on the throne. Like most royal families, the Washingtons have an heir and a spare. A future monarch and a backup battery. Each child knows exactly what is expected of them. But these aren’t just any royals. They’re American.

So You Want to Talk About Race

I recently read this book, and it was really eye opening. It also has great tools that I found really valuable and easy to put to use in real life situations when discussing race with friends and family.

In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to “model minorities” in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.

The Wedding Date

Another Jasmine Guillory pick! Just as fun and cute as all of her others!

Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn’t normally do. But there’s something about Drew Nichols that’s too hard to resist.

Becoming

I absolutely loved Michelle Obama’s memoir. The book takes you all the way back to her childhood growing up on the south side of Chicago through the Obama presidency.

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

Where the Crawdads Sing

This is one of my favorite books I’ve read in the past year. I couldn’t put it down!

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens.

Love and Other Words

A great, emotional roller coaster read! I really enjoyed the storytelling – A reminder that I need to read more Christina Lauren books!

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away. But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother…only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

From the Corner of the Oval: A Memoir

I LOVED this inside look at the Obama administration told from the point of view of his stenographer, a 20-something year old that happened to live on the same street I lived on when I lived in DC!

In 2012, Beck Dorey-Stein is working five part-time jobs and just scraping by when a posting on Craigslist lands her, improbably, in the Oval Office as one of Barack Obama’s stenographers. The ultimate D.C. outsider, she joins the elite team who accompany the president wherever he goes, recorder and mic in hand. On whirlwind trips across time zones, Beck forges friendships with a dynamic group of fellow travelers—young men and women who, like her, leave their real lives behind to hop aboard Air Force One in service of the president.

Party of Two

Jasmine Guillory’s latest book! This one might be my favorite one yet! I flew through it.

Dating is the last thing on Olivia Monroe’s mind when she moves to LA to start her own law firm. But when she meets a gorgeous man at a hotel bar and they spend the entire night flirting, she discovers too late that he is none other than hotshot junior senator Max Powell. Olivia has zero interest in dating a politician, but when a cake arrives at her office with the cutest message, she can’t resist—it is chocolate cake, after all. 

Educated: A Memoir

A must read! I had to keep reminding myself that this is a memoir, a non-fiction book. It’s an incredible story of how Tara Westover lived such a confined life until the age of 17 and then went on to attend Harvard and Cambridge University.

Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?: And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House

I’m a big Alyssa Mastromonaco fan! She’s smart and really funny. She seems so down to earth but has held high profile positions like Obama’s deputy chief of staff and other high profile political positions. She includes hilarious behind the scenes stories from her time working with Obama like her encounter with the Queen of England at Buckingham Palace. Definitely worth a read!

Alyssa Mastromonaco worked for Barack Obama for almost a decade, and long before his run for president. From the then-senator’s early days in Congress to his years in the Oval Office, she made Hope and Change happen through blood, sweat, tears, and lots of briefing binders.

When Life Gives You Lululemons

A fun, easy read. A glimpse at what I imagine life to be like in the suburbs of NYC. 😉

Welcome to Greenwich, Connecticut, where the lawns and the women are perfectly manicured, the Tito’s and sodas are extra strong, and everyone has something to say about the infamous new neighbor.

Next on My List

The Vanishing Half

I’ve heard rave reviews on this one! It’s definitely next on my list!

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?

American Royals II: Majesty

The follow up to American Royals! It’s out September 1st. You can pre-order it now!

As America adjusts to the idea of a queen on the throne, Beatrice grapples with everything she lost when she gained the ultimate crown. Samantha is busy living up to her “party princess” persona…and maybe adding a party prince by her side. Nina is trying to avoid the palace–and Prince Jefferson–at all costs. And a dangerous secret threatens to undo all of Daphne’s carefully laid “marry Prince Jefferson” plans.

Have any book recommendations to add to the list?! Drop them in the comments below!