12 Best Authors Like Taylor Jenkins Reid: You’ll Want To Throw These Novels In Your Beach Bag

You’ll love these top women’s fiction authors like Taylor Jenkins Reid when you’re looking for a book to transport your imagination.

Women’s fiction author Taylor Jenkins Reid is known for countless New York Times bestsellers, including The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones & the Six, Carrie Soto is Back, Maybe in Another Life, and One True Loves. Reid is known for captivating prose that’s the talk of book clubs worldwide. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books aren’t just beach reads—they’re contemporary fiction that transports readers into the lives of her heroines.

The bestselling author’s novels explore the complexity of love and relationships, but her literary fiction goes far beyond the standard love story that comes with typical romance novels. Book lovers appreciate Reid’s commitment to tackling women’s daily challenges. Suppose you’re searching for book recommendations that offer a similar style to Reid. Keep reading and add books by the authors like Elin Hilderbrand and more to your Amazon wishlist.

Best Authors Like Taylor Jenkins Reid Ranked

1. Colleen Hoover, 1979 –

Colleen Hoover (born Margaret Colleen Fennell) is known for her young adult romance novels. Her 2016 hit, It Ends with Us, is one of her most popular works. The author has sold 20 million copies around the world. She started in literature by self-publishing her first novel, Slammed, in 2012. Hoover published the novel so her mother could read it on her Kindle, and a book blogger unexpectedly gave it a five-star review. Sales skyrocketed, and within a few months, Hoover was a New York Times bestseller. According to Alexandra Alter of The New York Times, Hoover is currently the bestselling novelist in the U.S.

“Don’t take life too seriously. Punch it in the face when it needs a good hit. Laugh at it.”

Colleen Hoover, Slammed

2. Brigid Pasulka

Brigid Pasulka rose to fame after winning the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for her 2010 novel A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True. The book also awarded the writer a spot in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. While Pasulka was born in Illinois, she spent a year in Poland writing A Long, Long Time Ago. Her second novel, The Sun and Other Stars, was published in 2014 and received wide critical acclaim. The author continues writing new material and runs a writing center with her husband at a public high school. 

“It was just after the war. There was nothing left in Warsaw for me. He and his brother were coming to Krakow to make a fresh start. And he loved me so. He would have done anything for me.”

Brigid Pasulka, A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True

3. Jodi Picoult, 1966 –

Jodi Picoult has published 28 novels and sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. Her fiction books are often classified as family sagas–they follow a moral or procedural issue that makes it hard for family members to function as a cohesive unit. Often characterized as a chick-lit author, Picoult tackles various tough subjects, including eugenics, abortion, the Holocaust, the death penalty, school shootings, and more. Picoult’s 2007 novel, Nineteen Minutes, detailed happenings in a small town after a school shooting. The controversial work debuted at the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

“You don’t love someone because they’re perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they’re not.”

Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper

4. Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren is a duo of writers–Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings–who work together to create bestselling young adult fiction books. Together, the pair have created 18 New York Times bestsellers. Readers are anxiously awaiting The Honeymoon Crashers‘ release in August 2023. The story follows a best man and a maid of honor who work together to plan a wedding – all while breaking a family curse. The book follows the pair’s typical formula of combining humor and romance and will keep readers laughing and swooning until the last paragraph.

“If only he would keep his mouth shut, he’d be perfect. A piece of duct tape would do the trick. I had some in my desk that I’d occasionally pull out and fondle, hoping someday I could put it to good use.”

Christina Lauren, Beautiful Bastard

5. Candice Carty-Williams, 1989 –

Candice Carty-Williams‘ work Queenie takes readers on a journey as they follow the story of Queenie Jenkins, a 25-year-old woman who, as a British-Jamaican citizen, is forced to handle racism on a daily basis. Time Magazine states, “Carty-Williams has taken a black woman’s story and made it a story of the age.” The book hit the Sunday Times bestseller list at the number two spot. In 2020, Queenie won the Book of the Year award at the British Book Awards, and the novel was shortlisted as the Waterstones Book of the Year. Currently, the story is under development for a Channel 4 eight-episode TV series.

“The road to recovery is not linear. It’s not straight. It’s a bumpy path, with lots of twists and turns. But you’re on the right track.”

Candice Carty-Williams, Queenie

6. Andrea Dunlop

Andrea Dunlop started as a publicist for Random House, then became a publicity manager for a book event company. Today, Dunlop writes full-time and is known for several novels, including Losing the Light, She Regrets Nothing, We Came Here to Forget, and Women Are the Fiercest Creatures. Readers love Dunlop’s well-developed characters and the ingenious ways they deal with real-life situations, including parenting, divorce, relationships, jealousy, financial issues, etc. 

“The thing about tragedy is that it isn’t about just getting through it, it’s about getting on with your life when the dust has settled but the landscape is bombed out, smoke in the air, charred remains at your feet.”

Andrea Dunlop, We Came Here to Forget

7. Laura Nowlin

Laura Nowlin is known for several novels, including If He Had Been with Me, This Song Is (Not) For You, and If Only I Had Told Her. After earning her BA degree in English from Missouri State, Nowlin dove into writing full-time. The New York Times bestselling author writes both young adult and adult fiction. Some of her work touches on the lighter subjects of young adult life, but her more recent adult work delves into the darker side of humanity. 

“I love him in a way I cannot define, as if my love were an organ within my body that I could not live without yet could not pick out of an anatomy book.”

Laura Nowlin, If He Had Been with Me

8. Chanel Cleeton

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Chanel Cleeton is a Florida native who grew up hearing tales of her family’s immigration to the United States from Cuba. The stories she heard as a child influenced both her educational path (she earned her undergraduate degree in international relations and her master’s degree in global politics) as well as her writing. Her most popular works include Next Year in Havana, When We Left Cuba, The Last Train to Key West, and The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba. Next Year in Havana was named a Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine book pick. 

“To be in exile is to have the things you love most in the world – the air you breathe, the earth you walk upon – taken from you. They exist on the other side of a wall – there and not – unaltered by time and circumstance, preserved in a perfect memory in a land of dreams.”

Chanel Cleeton, Next Year in Havana

9. Melanie Benjamin, 1962 –

Melanie Benjamin started by writing short stories in The Adirondack Review and the In Posse Review. Her first novel, Confessions of a Super Mom, was published in 2005, and her second novel, Super Mom Saves the World, was published in 2007. After her chick-lit debut, Benjamin made a shift to historical fiction. Her third novel, Alice I Have Been, was published in 2010 and solidified Benjamin as a New York Times bestselling author. In 2013, she published The Aviator’s Wife, which was optioned as a feature film.

“Wonderland was all we had in common, after all; Wonderland was what was denied the two of us. I had denied him his; he had denied me mine.”

Melanie Benjamin, Alice I Have Been

10. Shana Abe

Shana Abe is an American romance author. She took a bit of time to pick up steam as a writer. It wasn’t until her second novel, The Promise of Rain, took third in a writing contest that publishers began to take notice. Abe decided to shift her focus to historical romance. Abe wrote the love story between her and her husband as a tale set in medieval times in her other 1998 novel, A Rose in Winter.

In discussing her love for writing literature set in the medieval period, Abe said that the time offers a “great sense of dichotomy….It inspires thoughts of grandeur, of courtly grace and chivalrous knights — but at the same time there’s a gritty, raw aspect to the period that just cannot be denied.”

“She was spirit and presence, as rare and brilliant as snowflakes in sunlight, and he could not bring himself to harm her.”

Shana Abé, The Smoke Thief

11. Glenn Dixon

Glenn Dixon is known for several novels, including Tripping the World Fantastic, Juliet’s Answer, and Bootleg Stardust. Stardust isn’t a standalone novel – it follows the story of a 1974 rock band, and Dixon created a full soundtrack to accompany the novel. Dixon got the chance to have the soundtrack mastered at Abbey Road Studios. As both a musician and a writer, Dixon loves to meld his two talents together, and he tends to include musical themes in his books. You might also be interested in our list of authors like Nancy Thayer.

“Languages can be powerful things. The stronger ones quite simply bulldoze the weaker ones, assimilating whatever is useful and discarding the rest. It doesn’t take long. Even the speakers of the weaker language, or their children, anyway, soon start conversing in the more powerful tongue.”

Glenn Dixon, Pilgrim in the Palace of Words: A Journey Through the 6,000 Languages of Earth

12. Emily Henry

Emily Henry is a New York Times bestselling author known for her chick-lit beach books, including Beach Read, People We Meet on Vacation, and Book Lovers. She’s known for entertaining readers with far more than summer romances – her books are witty and, according to fans, laugh-out-loud funny. Henry’s books are heralded for their ability to transport readers to her fictional vacation spots – the author herself refers to her books as “mini-vacations.”

“I still have a lot to figure out, but the one thing I know is, wherever you are, that’s where I belong. I’ll never belong anywhere like I belong with you.”

Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation

Looking for more? Check out our round-up of the best books for beach reading!