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Novels With Characters Becoming Part of the Story
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.For this prompt of our Book Lover’s Reading Challenge, we wanted to capture the clever nature of books that involve other books in a unique way that directly affects the main character’s life.
This can happen in several different ways:
-The character literally enters the world of a book (magical realism)
-There is a story within a story that mirrors the character’s past, present, or future life
-A book acts as a portal to different versions of life
-Real life begins to mimic a book read or written by the author
While we all know that any book we pick up can profoundly impact the way we see the world, we love that these books demonstrate the interactions and impacts of reading or writing in such creative ways.
Novels with Creative Interactions between Characters and Their Books
Jane and Dan at the End of the World
Book Summary
Jane had dreams of being a writer, but feels like her whole life is in flux as her one published work only sold 500 copies. She also believes her husband of 19ish years, Dan, is cheating on her. When they go to an upscale restaurant for their anniversary, it seems like a good time to tell him she wants a divorce.
But before the second course arrives, an underground climate activist group bursts into the dining room, taking the whole restaurant hostage…but in a bumbling sort of way. Jane is shocked. Not because she’s suddenly a hostage, but because everything the activists say and do is straight from the pages of her novel. This means she knows what is going to happen next, and it’s up to her to stop it.
The Book Girls Say…
We can’t wait to pick up this 2025 release, in which Jane’s book turns into her real life, from the author of The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise & The Invisible Husband of Frick Island! It’s classified as both a mystery and a romance, with some readers comparing it to Anxious People by Fredrik Backman.
Book Summary
Margot is a romance author who doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Her disbelief isn’t even limited to real life; she secretly writes alternate endings for her characters in a “Happily Never After” document. When her computer is hacked, and her true feelings are revealed, she’s canceled by both her readers and her publisher.
Margot’s sister, Savannah, has a chronic illness and depends on Margot financially, so she needs to pivot quickly. Maybe she can trade writing meet-cutes for writing about murder? She heads to a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first mystery novel, but things go much differently than she expects.
It feels like she has landed directly in a romance novel instead of in rugged Alaska as she finds herself in one romance trope after another.
The Book Girls Say…
This book is a great example of life imitating art as the main character finds herself in similar situations to those she has written about in her past novels again and again.
NOTE: This one includes an abundance of adult language and scenes, so skip it if you’re looking for a Hallmark-esque read.
Four Seasons in Japan
Book Summary
Flo is an American translator working in Toyko, but she lost her confidence as work dried up, and her relationship ended. Everything changes when she finds a book on the Tokyo Subway. As soon as she starts reading, she knows she needs to translate the novel, which is about a strict old woman, Ayako, who has just taken guardianship of her grandson, Kyo.
As Flo reads through the characters’ year in rural Japan, she feels compelled to track down the author. The protagonists in the book have much in common with Flo’s life, blurring the lives between the original text and translation.
The Book Girls Say…
This quirky book within a book is a beautiful look at community, connection, and humanity. The story alternates between Flo’s life and the story of Ayako and Kyo. It will transport you to Japan as you read and teach you about culture and tradition along the way.
Entitled
Book Summary
This humorous and warm-hearted novel follows the adventures of an extraordinary book titled The Serendipity of Snow. This book IS the narrator of the story as it makes its way around the world, including stops in San Francisco, Paris, London, and New York.
The Serendipity of Snow is misplaced, loaned, and abandoned as it and its reader experience love, heartbreak, loneliness, and friendship. You’ll also see fun interactions between the personalities of other books throughout the story.
The Book Girls Say…
In this very unique book, the characters who read The Serendipity of Snow become the story of the book itself. One reviewer called it the “Toy Story” of books.
If you can, pick up a paper copy of Entitled vs audio or Kindle because there are some fun margin notes included throughout. You will still get these as part of the main body of the text in ebook and audio form, but seeing them in the margins adds charm to the print copy.
The Echo of Old Books
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Ashlyn Greer is a rare-book dealer who loves the smell of old paper, ink, and leather. Old volumes appeal to all of her senses, including a sense the rest of us don’t have. She is gifted with the unique ability to feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners.
When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound, unpublished volumes with no evidence of how they came to be, she gets wrapped up in a decades-old literary mystery. Each volume bears a curious inscription, as well as the emotional fingerprints of the authors, Hemi and Belle. The books tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the closer she comes to bringing closure to their love story, and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.
The Book Girls Say…
This one is perfect for book lovers and those who love a story within a story. This novel also delves into deeper historical issues, including anti-Semitism and the roles of women in society in the 1940s.
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Death of the Author
Book Summary
When Zelu is dropped from her university job at the same time her latest novel is rejected, she devasted. This situation is made worse because she has a nosy, high-achieving, and judgmental family that she can’t avoid becaue her sister is getting married.
In an effort to shake up her life, she decides to jump into an entirely new genre of writing for her – a science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity.
As she writes, her life evolves. The lines between fiction and reality blur as extraordinary events happen in both her real world and in her writing.
The Book Girls Say…
This story within a story novel is an incredibly unique blend of literary fiction and science fiction, with a seperate sci-fi book contained within a non-sci-fi contemporary family drama. Throughout the book, the story of the author’s life alternates with the story about robots.
The Secret Book of Flora Lea
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
When bombings began in London in 1939, 14-year-old Hazel and her 5-year-old sister, Flora, were evacuated to a rural village in the English countryside. Living with a woman and her teenage son in a charming stone cottage, Hazel comforts Flora by telling her stories of a magical fairy tale land. It provides the sisters with a fictional place where they can escape the fears and hardships of war. One day, while playing near the banks of the River Thames, Flora disappears. Hazel blames herself and carries the guilt into adulthood. Twenty years later, Hazel’s life looks ideal from the outside – charming boyfriend, a nice flat in London, and a good job at a rare bookstore. But on the eve of her new career at Sotheby’s, she unwraps a package that changes everything.
It’s an illustrated first-edition book called “Whisperwood and the River of Stars.” It’s the imaginary world that she created for Flora – one that she never wrote down and never told anyone else about. What does it mean? Is Flora still alive? And does this fairy tale hold the truth about her disappearance? Hazel embarks on a feverish quest for answers. Along the way, she’ll reconnect with people from her past and put her future in jeopardy.
The Book Girls Say…
Centered around the fairytale world created by Hazel for her sister, this novel blurs the lines between the real and the magical in the most wonderful way. The book focuses on the relationship between the sisters while also showing the realities of Operation Pied Piper and its long-lasting impacts on the families who were faced with such difficult choices during the war.
It’s hard to say too much without spoilers, but Angela loved the book from the first page to the last. Told in dual timelines, the mystery is unraveled bit by bit through beautiful prose.
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The Book-Lovers’ Retreat
Book Summary
Emily, Rachel, and Tori are great friends and are all obsessed with a book called Hope Falls. They can’t wait for the summer vacation at the Lake District cottage where the movie adaptation of the book was filmed. When Tori has to drop out, and another fan they haven’t met before, Alex, takes her place, the dynamic changes.
During their six weeks together, they will find love in all its forms and, as a result, their lives will change course forever.
The Book Girls Say…
Throughout the book, you’ll find many examples of the character’s lives reflecting the characters in Hope Falls as the trio spends time in the book’s setting.
Reviews say that the characters are not necessarily likable, but they evolve through the book as they make transformative life decisions.
The Book of Doors
Book Summary
Cassie is a NYC bookseller who receives an unusual book as a gift from one of her favorite customers. Filled with strange writing and mysterious drawings, the book even includes a handwritten message to Cassie in the front. It states that this is the Book of Doors, and that any door is every door.
Cassie will soon discover that the Book of Doors can transport her anywhere in the world that she can imagine. She also learns that there are other books in the world with magical powers – some wondrous and others dreadful, especially in the hands of dangerous individuals.
When Cassie and her best friend, Izzy, are confronted by violence and danger, they need help. It appears that the only person who can help them is Drummond Fox, who possesses his own secret library of magical books. His books are hidden for protection, but someone is hunting them all.
The Book Girls Say…
This book straddles the line between magical realism and fantasy, with elements of time travel and epic battles between good and evil. This book has a large cast of characters, but early reviews say that all are well-developed.
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Book Summary
Opaline, Martha and Henry are strangers, but they share one thing in common. They’ve been acting like side characters in their own lives.
When a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, they will discover that their own stories can be just as extraordinary as the ones on the pages of the books they love. By unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they are transported to a world where nothing is as it seems.
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The Enigma of Room 622
Book Summary
Years ago, there was a murder in Room 622 of the Hôtel de Verbier, a luxury resort in the Swiss Alps. The murder was never solved.
Now, years later, a famous Swiss writer named Joël Dicker has arrived at the same hotel. He’s getting over a bad breakup, mourning the death of his longtime publisher, and he needs to begin his next novel. But before he knows it, he finds himself investigating the old cold case. Playing Watson to his Sherlock is the beautiful aspiring novelist in the room next door.
The Book Girls Say…
As you may have already noticed, Joël Dicker is both the author and the main character of this whodunit novel. He breaks the metaphorical “fourth wall” between the author and reader, directly addressing his audience and using his expertise as a thriller writer to investigate the murder mystery. What results is described by many as a multi-layer masterpiece—an unraveling of the story in the first-person perspective while, at the same time, Joël creates a full novel in the third person.
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Winter Garden
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Sisters Meredith and Nina have little in common other than their love for their dear father. They’ve spent most of their life feeling like they didn’t really know their mother, but when their father falls ill, his final wish is for his daughters to get to know their mother better. In their younger years, Anya sometimes tells the girls a Russian fairy tale, and their father makes her promise that she will tell the story one last time – all the way to the end.
The story alternates between past and present as Meredith and Nina hear the fairy tale and learn the harrowing story of the mother’s life five decades earlier in war-torn Leningrad, Russia. They will ultimately learn something so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.
The Book Girls Say…
Many WWII historical novels focus on the region of France and Germany, but The Winter Garden illuminates the experiences of those in Russia and the Eastern Front. But this is more than just another WWII story, it’s a moving family story as well. It is a bit slow to start, and the characters aren’t immediately likable, but you’ll find yourself pulled in as the lines between fairy tale and reality begin to blur.
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Writing Mr. Right
Book Summary
As a child, Georgia realized that if she wrote a wish on paper, it would come true. This has continued through adulthood in every area except her desire to find her romantic happily ever after.
Her romance writing career is booming, but behind the scenes, she’s having trouble getting over her ex, who just got married. She just needs to find someone like her main character, Douglas MacCready, and then she’ll be happy.
When Georgia meets bookseller Garrett at a book signing, she’s smitten with his Scottish charm. But then she starts noticing similarities to Douglas, down to the scar on his right hand. But Douglas can’t be real, can he?
The Book Girls Say…
This steamy novel relies heavily on the miscommunication trope, so if that frustrates you as a reader, we’ll recommend picking a different rom com from the list!
The Wishing Game
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
92% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Lucy is a 26-year-old teacher’s aide hoping to adopt her student, seven-year-old Christopher. He tragically lost his parents, but she needs to be in a better financial situation for both the actual adoption process to be approved and to take care of Christopher long-term.
She’s always found comfort in books, especially the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. The author stopped writing and became reclusive years ago, but she still regularly re-reads his work. Just when Lucy is about to give up on adopting Christopher, Jack Masterson re-emerges and announces a new book. However, it’s not a standard release. Four contestants will get to come to the real Clock Island and compete for a chance to win the single copy in existence, which is worth at least six figures.
The Book Girls Say…
This adventurous story is full of heart with a side of magic!
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This Is How It Always Is
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Claude is the youngest son in a family with five brothers. And he firmly knows that when he grows up, he wants to be a girl. His parents see his sincerity and opt to move out of their smaller town to Seattle, where they expect people to be more accepting of others. However, despite being okay with Claude being whoever he is, they don’t want themselves or Claude to be targeted as weird.
In their new city, Claude is Poppy. The entire family keeps the secret until everything explodes one day.
The Book Girls Say…
Poppy’s dad is a writer, and throughout the book, he is working on a fairytale-like story that he shares with Poppy along the way, as it has parallels to her life.
This story is a timely look at the inner workings of a family with a transgender child. While the book is about a fictionalized family, the author has first-hand experiences with the topic, giving authenticity to the parents’ perspectives.
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A Novel Love Story
Book Summary
Literature professor Elsy loves to lose herself in a fictional happily ever after. She feels safest in the world of romance novels because those men never leave you at the altar.
When her car breaks down on her way to her annual book club retreat, she finds herself stranded in a quaint small town straight out of a book. Literally. Somehow, she seems to have ended up in Eloraton, the fictional town from her favorite romance series. Everything is perfect – from the candy store to the local bar and the afternoon rain.
The author passed away before finishing his last story in the Eloraton series, and Elsy is beginning to think it’s up to her to write the final happy ending. The only problem is the town’s grumpy bookstore owner. He’s the one character that Elsy doesn’t recognize from the series, and it seems that he doesn’t want Elsy to finish the book.
The Book Girls Say…
While Melissa didn’t rate A Novel Love Story quite as highly as much as Posten’s other work, The Dead Romantics, we couldn’t skip this fun read in which the main character literally becomes part of the story.
Harry’s Trees
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Harry has always loved trees, but he spends his days behind a computer as an analyst in a treeless US Forest Service office. After his wife dies suddenly and tragically, Harry can’t seem to move forward. One day, he decides to follow his wife’s advice – he quits his job and escapes to the remote woods of northeastern Pennsylvania to be with the trees.
There, he meets Oriana, a young girl who has suffered a significant loss of her own. She spends most of her time in the forest with her book in the treehouse her father bought for her. They bond over their love of the forest and the trees.
The octogenarian librarian in town gives Oriana a strange, handwritten book called The Grum’s Ledger. With this book as their guide, Oriana helps Harry believe in the magic, if only he’s willing to open his eyes and see it.
The Book Girls Say…
Because of its thread of magical realism, some describe this book as a fairy tale for adults. But it’s more than that. It’s a story of grief, sadness, and the power of friendship and connection set against the beauty of Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains. This story is told from many points of view, including Harry and Oriana’s, as well as numerous others – but it’s written in a way that it’s easy to follow and understand.
No Two Persons
Book Summary
Alice is a gifted writer who struggles to include her full self in her work. However, when her heart is ripped open after a devastating event, the words finally flow freely onto the page. She turns the tragedy into a stunning debut novel called Theo.
This novel demonstrates the power of books as we watch Alice’s novel find its way into the hands and hearts of nine very different readers. From a teenager hiding that she is experiencing homelessness to a bookseller looking for love and a widower experiencing grief, Theo connects each reader with a new pathway in their life.
After the introduction to Alice and her backstory, the chapters walk through the nine readers affected in different ways by Theo.
The Book Girls Say…
No Two Persons explores the sentiment that no two people ever read the same book because we each bring our unique background to a reading. We’ve witnessed that time and time again with our readers, as we’re sure you have during prior book clubs when opinions varied, and the same book was viewed differently by different members of your group. We can’t wait to get our hands on this one!
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
90% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
January Scaller is the ward of wealthy Mr. Locke. She lives in his sprawling mansion filled with artifacts and curiosities. Everything in the mansion is carefully maintained despite being largely ignored and utterly out of place.
Among the treasures, January finds a strange book. Within its pages, she discovers a tale of secret doors as well as love, adventure, and danger. With each turn of the pages, January discovers a story that seems to be increasingly entwined with her own.
The Book Girls Say…
This debut fantasy novel received more than a dozen book award nominations, and the audio version won an Audie award for Best Fantasy Novel. If you enjoy audiobooks, this could be a great pick.
Book Summary
Renowned author J. R. Alastor has hired a former aspiring writer, Mila, to host a writing retreat at his private manor off the coast of Maine. She’s quickly on board because she’s upset at one of the six thriller authors on the guest list and welcomes the chance to confront them.
The retreat includes a week of games, driven by trope-filled riddles. But, when a real murder occurs, the authors find themselves entangled in a deadly plot that mirrors the suspenseful narratives they create, blurring the lines between their fictional works and reality.
The Midnight Library
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
93% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Nora has decided she is done. Done with the way her life is going. In a moment of darkness, she attempts suicide, but she finds herself in the Midnight Library between life and death. The shelves go on and on, and inside each book is a life that she could have lived, had she made just one different choice somewhere along the way – from following dreams to pursuing different careers to undoing old breakups.
Each time she opens a book, she finds herself living that alternate life, and she is faced with the decision of whether she wants to permanently exchange her life for a new one. As she visits these alternate realities, she’ll have to decide not only which life she wants, but also what makes life worth living in the first place.
The Book Girls Say…
Some find this book to be too predictable – and it’s true that the synopsis of the book tells you exactly what to expect. However, this is a book that will really make you think – not just about Nora’s choices and regrets, but also about your own.
As mentioned, this book does deal with suicide contemplation. However, we believe by the end, you’ll be left positively contemplating life.
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It Started With a Book
Book Summary
Leighton was sworn off dating in real life after yet another Tinder match ghosted her. Why would she need to deal with that when she can escape into the pages of romance novels where the men are perfect?
One night, she finds a second-hand book in her TBR pile and is transported to Lakeville Hills. As she falls asleep, she has dreams of the male lead, cowboy Killian St Clair.
Each day, she finds it easier to deal with the annoyances of her daily life, knowing she can return to Lakeville Hills every night. One morning, she wakes up, and Killian St. Clair is inexplicably in her apartment. She has to help him navigate his entrance into the real world, but can she remain committed to not dating, or can she risk dating her book boyfriend in real life?
The Book Girls Say…
This is a light and funny book about what could happen if the male lead in a romance you were reading was suddenly part of your real life. Reviewers agree that it’s entertaining as long as you’re willing to suspend your disbelief and sink in to enjoy it as magical realism rather than trying to find missing details of “how”.
If you never enjoy things happening without a logical explanation, skip this one.
Book Summary
When Zoe moved to Los Angeles three years ago to pursue her writing career, she quickly fell for Zach, an aspiring actor. He ended up ghosting her before he became famous. Sadly, like her relationship, her debut novel (a thriller) failed, and now she’s turning thirty and works at a flower shop.
When she makes a floral delivery one day, Zach answers the door. It’s instantly like they were never apart. When they quietly start dating again, her writer’s block disappears, and she hopes Zach can inspire her second novel like he did her first.
Instead, a photo of the couple is leaked and goes viral. This propels her original novel to success, and now everyone knows her name. Unfortunately, this includes a mysterious stalker obsessed with Zach…who begins reenacting violent events from Zoe’s book.
The Book Girls Say…
This thriller highlights the dark side of Hollywood fame, including drugs. It’s a slow-burn thriller with unlikable characters, but readers who are okay with those aspects of a novel enjoy the creepy concept of Zoe’s thriller turning into her real life.
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