7 Best Authors Like Nicholas Sparks To Add to Your Reading List

Searching for a romance author that can hold a candle to the stories of Nicholas Sparks? Take a look at our guide with authors like Nicholas Sparks below.

If you love stories like The Notebook and Dear John, it makes sense that you’re on the hunt for more stories by authors who write similarly to Nicholas Sparks. Sparks was born in Nebraska in 1965 and has enjoyed an outstanding career as a romance novelist. Readers often enjoy returning to the towns Sparks brings to life in his novels, allowing them to visit familiar scenery repeatedly.

He got his start in 1985 while at home for the summer between his first and second years at Notre Dame. His mother noticed that he needed something to occupy his time and suggested he take up writing. Without the need for writing prompts romance, Sparks quickly got to work.

From there, his first novel, entitled The Passing, was written but was never published. He followed this story with The Royal Murders in 1989, also unpublished. In 1990, the author co-wrote Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding, which sold 50,000 copies.

In 1995, Sparks received a $1 million advance for The Notebook from Time Warner Book Group. In addition to his most well-known hit, Sparks has written several other best-selling novels, including Message in a Bottle (1999), Nights in Rodanthe (2008), The Last Song (2010), and The Choice (2016). Here, we’ll look at some of the other romance authors best sellers who can keep up with the intricate stories Sparks is known for.

1. Jojo Moyes

Known for her book Me Before You (made into a major motion picture), Jojo Moyes is famous for creating stories that tug at the heartstrings of her audiences, with characters who seem to come to life as the readers get to know them. The author often creates stories set in small-town and rural America and celebrates themes of friendship, romance, family, and taking risks.

Readers often find that they’re better able to relate to the characters Moyes creates than the typical big-city protagonists of standard romance novels. You might be interested in exploring more romance books, check out our list of the best Danielle Steel books.

“Behind the glowing windows of the McCarthy house, the mourners had shown little sign of leaving. In fact, they had shown little sign of mourning. As the drink had slipped down, the stories of Samuel Pottisworth had become steadily less reverential, until the greyed woolen long johns he had worn even into summer and his rather fruity suggestions to the pretty young health visitor had become conversational currency.”

Jojo Moyes, Night Music: A Novel

2. Josie Silver

Number 1 New York Times Bestseller Josie Silver is known for creating deeply emotional stories that allow readers to feel what it’s like to be at a crossroads in life. The Two Lives of Lydia Bird presents the protagonist with a choice: to move forward after grief or continue holding on to the love she lost. Lydia goes back and forth between life with her deceased fiance and life with her new beau and struggles with the choice that so many of us have to make, whether to do the hard thing and continue living despite overwhelming grief.

“The human brain is wired to cope with grief. It knows even as well fall into unfathomably dark places, there will be light again, and if we just keep moving forward in one brave straight line, however slowly, we’ll find out way back again.”

Josie Silver, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird

3. Tif Marcelo

Tif Marcelo is known for writing heartfelt stories that also involve a bit of lust, and Once Upon A Sunset is no exception. In this romance novel, readers travel to Portugal with Diana Gallagher-Cary as she begins to make the journey to connect with her family. While getting to know her relatives, Diana finds a box of letters left behind by her grandmother, leading her to discover family secrets that could change the course of her life and the lives of her family members.

“If this had been last week, she would have taken a picture of this closet and then slumped into a chair and spent too much time composing a message to accompany it. Now, she had neither the time nor the emotional bandwidth to do it.”

Tif Mercelo, Once Upon a Sunset

4. Leesa Cross-Smith

Perfect for travel and romance enthusiasts alike, novels by Leesa Cross-Smith have the perfect combination of love and art, allowing readers to join characters on their travels worldwide.

In Half-Blown Rose, the female protagonist loves strolling the streets of Paris and is interested in a new man, Loup. The problem is that she’s in Paris to escape drama from her husband, Cillian, an author who recently published a book sharing secrets about both Vincent and his past. Readers love how Cross-Smith brings readers on a journey as her characters grow and as they move from place to place, experiencing different areas of the world.

“Vincent knows the man can’t see them because he always keeps his eyes closed, sometimes thrashes his head back and forth like he is under a spell, shakes his hair like a tree shedding leaves. The frenetic drumming is thunder echoing across the air, slipping up and storming those rooftops Vincent can’t unlove; on lucky nights she dreams she is a French cat, hopping them in lambent light.”

Leesa Cross-Smith, Half-Blown Rose: A Novel

5. Rebecca Serle

Author of In Five Years and The Edge of Falling, author Rebecca Serle is known for taking human experiences and making them jump off of the page. Readers love how Serle can take emotions like sadness and grief and use character relationships to illustrate how they play out in real life. In addition to being known for her novels, she also co-developed the TV adaptation of her series Famous in Love. Looking for more romance books? You might also enjoy our list of the best Kristin Hannah books.

“I understand, now, that your own identity, your past, has nothing to do with the way others see you. Being a hero isn’t about someone else’s definition. Not Abigail’s and not Constance’s. Not the Post’s. Not even Claire’s. Being a hero is about one thing: the way you see yourself.”

Rebecca Serle, The Edge of Falling

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6. Jodi Picoult

Picoult’s novels span a wide range of settings and characters, all while creating characters readers can easily relate to. The author has published 27 novels and received the American Library Association’s Margaret Alexander Edwards Award for her novel My Sister’s Keeper. Picoult is known for her unique ability to deliver high-quality literary works that appeal to the masses.

“In the space between yes and no, there’s a lifetime. It’s the difference between the path you walk and the one you leave behind; it’s the gap between who you thought you could be and who you really are; its the legroom for the lies you’ll tell yourself in the future.”

Jodi Picoult, Change of Heart

7. James Patterson

James Patterson is known for novels that keep his readers on edge. Impressively, he holds the Guinness World Record for the most New York Times bestsellers by any single author. Today, Patterson has sold more than 300 million copies and was also awarded the Edgar Award in 1977.

“One of the nice things about books as opposed to television and movies to some extent is it’s not a passive entertainment. People really do get involved, and they do create, and they do have their own visions of what different characters look like and what should happen. It’s great – it means their brains are working.”

James Patterson

FAQs About The Best Authors Like Nicholas Sparks

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