I used to mostly read plot-heavy thrillers or sci-fi, but lately I’ve found myself drawn to books with a more emotional, introspective tone — often by or for female readers. The writing feels more delicate, the character work deeper, and the emotions more nuanced. It’s been a refreshing shift.
Would love to hear any recommendations from others who’ve gone through a similar change in reading taste!
by Jalen_youngforever
11 Comments
The haunting of Alejandra – V castro
Oryx and the crake,
Patricia highsmith’s ripley novels
Just finished The God of the Woods and it was incredible. It has well written characters and their stories hold so much value and detail.
S.A. chakraborty is one of my faves. The women protagonists she writes are so great
Karen Rose.
I used to read a lot of stuff like Tom Clancy, Jack Reacher, John Grisham, etc, and stuff like that. Karen Rose writes mysteries/suspense that have those action elements, but also uses the “romance” part of the romantic suspense to let you really see inside the heads of her characters, who are often broken by some past trauma, and are pretty consistent with real psychology.
The villains can be dark, beyond serial killers and other sadists to organized trafficking of kids, so I have to give that warning for people who aren’t comfortable with that. But once you get past that and see her characters face their demons and heal, she’s one of my favorite authors.
So you shifted genres but attribute everything to the sex of the author?
Earth Sea is a foundational work in the fantasy genre by Ursula K L’Guin. The first book in the series has a male protagonist though and is mostly a critique of traditional strong male main characters in fantasy. In subsequent books women characters get the spotlight though. Ursula’s prose are unique – beautiful but without flourish.
This just in – man discovers that women have things worth saying
Join us in the wonderful world of MM romance by women authors 🙂
Sounds like you’d enjoy The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
If you haven’t gotten there already, Ursula K. Le Guin is essential not just for readers of Sci Fi, not just for readers of female authors, but for readers, period.