Can’t find any book I like

[DreamerIzzy]

i keep looking for recommendations but can’t find any for me? Can anyone help?

I like fictions that are mystery/thriller style a bit of fantasy but on fb and tiktok it’s just Colleen hoover books I am in 40s and find these too young for me

i hate chick lit / nauseating predictable books, if it has romance in it then it can’t be corny

Crime is ok but nothing really upsetting involving kids or animals

i like books with well developed characters that are medium/fast paced with dark twists and turns

please recommend

Can you name some titles you’ve enjoyed?

American Dirt.

Second american dirt

if you crime try jo nesbo - they are quite grisly though…….

Have you heard of The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman? There are magical librarians, dragons, fae, alternate worlds… not sure if that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for but I’ve really enjoyed those.

Also, Rivers of London series, by Ben Aaranovitch - PC Peter Grant finds he has magical powers, ends up fighting all sorts of different enemies

Theres also The Stranger Times series by C K McDonnell - again, things like vampires, ghosts, mysterious agencies etc.

Look up Elly Griffiths , she has a couple of series with different characters , out of them all I prefer the Ruth Galloway ones.

Stephen booth writes crime stories set in the peak District and Derbyshire......its got very likeable characters and a good story line

there is loads of Japanese and Korean fiction being translated at the moment that would fit the bill.

Lucy Foley
Elly Griffiths
Lisa Jewell

So my Dd is now at the age where she's reading things that are more grown up, and I tend to monitor by reading them first, so I'm reading stuff I wouldn't usually.

I've just finished The Song of Achillies, and really enjoyed it. Never would have picked it in a million years, but stayed up half the night to finish it.

I'm reading The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner.
Has a crime/mystery plot to it and keeps you guessing. It was a bit of a random find but I've not been able to put it down.

I loved the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, not my normal kind of book but I am sad it's over!!

The Strike series by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling).

I cannot recommend them highly enough.

I've just finished Magpie by Elizabeth Day.

Found it a bit hard to get into but loved it in the end!

Some of these are good, but the later ones are actually incredibly violent, particularly Troubled Blood, and OP has specified nothing too extreme wrt violence against children.

Anthony Horowitz 'Hawthorne' series or Magpie Murders
Christopher Fowler 'Bryant & May' series, particularly off you are interested in London history

Ooh yes these are both really good clever mystery series! Not a lot of “fantasy” in them but really good concepts / twists. Properly compelling reads.

Susanna Clarke Piranesi

Dorothy Koomson

Another one for the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo I just loved it. Just finished the Lincoln Highway buy Amour Towels also a good story. Think I will read A Gentleman in Moscow next by the same author.

Maybe you'd do better to read reviews instead of asking for recommendations.

One of the few books that I recommend rather broadly is Possession, by A. S. Byatt.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/22383/possession-by-a-s-byatt-introduction-by-philip-hensher/

The Strike Novels are fantastic

Oh and I met Louise Minchin in Waterstones last week and she recommended one by one by Ruth Ware, so I'll recommend that on her behalf!

I like thrillers , some good authors are -

Mark Edwards
Shari Lapena
Ruth Ware
Claire Mackintosh
Claire Douglas
Alice Feeny
Catherine Cooper
Lucy foley

I loved this so much!