Play 2026 Book Bingo
2026 Reading Challenge Crossover Books
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.If you’re participating in our 2026 Reading Challenge Bingo, this crossover list highlights the books that fit the monthly Bingo “Surprise Prompt” AND one of the monthly prompts for our other yearlong reading challenges. We hope this helps during those months that you need to double-dip and provides a quick shortcut to stay on track with the challenges, even when life gets busy.
If you are looking for the 2025 Reading Challenge Crossover list, you’ll find it here. This list identifies books that fit more than one of the monthly reading prompts, allowing you to count one book for two challenges.
We will update this page each month after curating the recommended reading list for the Bingo “Surprise Prompt,” and you’ll always find the most recent month at the top of the page. Use the table of contents above if you’d like to jump directly to a specific past month.
We wish we could identify all crossover books for the various challenges, but with seven total yearlong challenges, there are far too many possible combinations each month. Not only does it feel overwhelming for us to check for all potential crossovers each month, but the resulting list would also be overwhelming and confusing for you. However, you are always welcome to count any crossovers you find between the existing challenges.
April Crossover Books
The following books specifically satisfy the March Bingo Prompt as well as a reading prompt for one of our other challenges. To be consistent with the books on our bingo prompt list, and to keep the length of this crossover list manageable, all of the crossover debut books are also published in 2020 or later. However, there are some older debut titles on various lists that you are welcome to count if you would like.
- Bingo Surprise Prompt – Books by Debut Authors
- Book Lover’s Challenge – Characters Becoming Part of the Story
- In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) – Books Published in 2016
- Read Around the USA – Books Set in IA, KS, KY, MO, NE
- Decades Challenge – Books Set in the 1930s
- Book Voyage – Books Set on an Island
- Lifetime – Books with 30-Something Main Characters
*We’ve used asterisks below to note which challenge list(s) the book originally appeared on
Grace of the Empire State
Book Summary
When the patriarch of the O’Connell family died in a workplace accident within months of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Grace’s family lost nearly everything. But she was at least making money as a dancer while her twin brother had a well-paying, but dangerous, job on the beams of the Empire State Building.
Life threw them another twist when Grace’s club closed, leaving her without income, and her brother was injured on the job. And if he can’t work, his entire four-person crew would be out of a job.
But Patrick has an idea. Could Grace use her time in the circus to take his role on the beams? She’ll have to pretend to be him, but they are twins…Could it work?
Why This Was One of Our Favorites
We’ve both been lucky enough to visit the top of the Empire State Building and see photos of the construction process, but reading this book gave us new perspectives on both the Empire State Building.
We were both very impressed with this debut novel, and Angela, who is a huge fan of musical theater, hasn’t stopped thinking about how wonderful it would be to see a stage production that combines the ballet of Grace’s past with the intricate choreography of the steelworkers for whom every move is a matter of life and death precision.
What Makes It a Crossover
This debut is set in the 1930s and provides interesting insights into this pivotal time in NYC history.
Southern by Design
Book Summary
After her husband sent an unsolicited personal photo to another woman that quickly went viral among every mom group in Charleston, thirtysomething Magnolia “Mack” Bishop is facing divorce and single motherhood. But she’s determined not to let her personal life get in the way of her professional interior design ambitions.
Mack is close to securing the prestigious Historic Preservation Design Fellowship, but after a series of calamities at a house tour, her shot at the fellowship goes up in flames. Her mom – the original Magnolia Bishop, who enjoys her perch at the top of the Southern social ladder- swoops in with a lead on a big project to save Mack. But it comes with strings attached, which is of no surprise to Mack, given how much her mom likes to control her life.
Mack dreads working for her mom until a television network puts out a call for local designers, and she sees the opportunity to pitch the project and potentially win the renovation and historic preservation TV pilot of her dreams. But she’ll have to keep it secret to avoid her mother’s interference.
Just when she’s starting to get her professional life back on track, the man who got away starts unloading a moving truck next door. Fifteen years earlier, she had a summer romance with Lincoln Kelly, but then he followed his dreams to New York and left Mack broken-hearted.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
This debut novel has a good mix of mother-daughter drama and second-chance romance, and it completely transports you to Charleston, where the streets and homes come alive like characters. If you enjoy audiobooks, the narrator’s accent definitely adds to the story.
We are both huge Gilmore Girls fans, and while Angela didn’t start making the connections until later in the novel, it definitely gives Southern “Gilmore” vibes. As the grandmother-mother-daughter storyline continues to unravel, you’ll start to see more and more similarities.
What Makes It a Crossover
This was the first novel by Grace Helena Walz, who went on to publish Good Hair Days in 2025, and who has a new novel coming in July of 2026 titled Pretty As a Peach.
Under Water
Book Summary
Marissa was just five years old when she lost her mother. Her father, determined to complete his wife’s marine biology research, moves he and his grief-stricken daughter across the globe to an island off Thailand. There, she becomes good friends with Arielle, a young girl whose parents own a resort. During the week, the girls live at the resort, and on the weekends, they join the community of researchers on the nearby island, where they learn about the fragile wonders of the reefs, forests, and beaches.
Together, they learn to dive deep, swim their way out of danger, hold their breath for minutes at a time, all as effortlessly synchronized as the manta rays they come to know by name. But when there is a wave that Arielle can’t outpace, Marissa is gutted by the loss.
Years later, Marissa is back in New York but still haunted by the memory of her friend. Over the course of two fateful days, as with a hurricane approaching, the past comes flooding back to her. She’ll have to discover how to sustain herself in a precarious world.
More About This Book & the Author
The majority of this novel takes place on an island off the coast of Thailand, while the 2012 timeline unfolds in New York City.
Author Tara Menon was born in India, grew up in Singapore, and frequently vacationed in Thailand. She was living in this region of the world when the Indian Ocean tsunami hit in 2024. Everyone she knew knew someone affected by the tragedy. She later spent a decade living in NYC, including during Hurricane Sandy. She drew on those experiences in writing Under Water.
What Makes It a Crossover
While Under Water is her first published fiction, her prior academic writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review and the Paris Review.
Lessons in Chemistry
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Elizabeth Zott is a quirky, brilliant female chemist working on an all-male team at the Hastings Research Institute. But her scientific qualifications don’t stop the “good old boys” from being frustrated that she won’t get coffee or make copies for them. When Elizabeth meets Calvin Evans, another scientist at the Institute, another type of chemistry results.
Fast forward a few years. It’s 1961, and Elizabeth is a 30-year-old single mother, and her career has been detoured. Instead of working for Hastings, she’s now (somewhat reluctantly) the star of a much-loved cooking show called Supper at Six. Her cooking methods are unusual (“combine one tablespoon of acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”). As her popularity grows, it turns out she’s not just teaching women to cook, she’s also daring them to change the status quo.
What to Expect in This Novel
This novel is funny, but not in a laugh-out-loud sort of way – more in a way where you sometimes have to laugh so you don’t cry. The descriptions of the misogyny that Elizabeth faces (and specifically some of the language that is directed at her) offend some readers, but it’s an accurate representation of what she and so many women faced in the 1950s and 1960s.
By no means is our struggle for equality over, but this book gave us so much respect for the women who paved the way.
What Makes It a Crossover
In the 1960s timeline, Elizabeth is a 30-year-old single mother.
The Flower Sisters
Book Summary
As they grew up, identical twins Violet and Rose Flowers could only be distinguished by the tiny mark on Violet’s neck. But by 19, their temperaments were clearly different. Although they were the best of friends, Violet was wild and outgoing, while Rose was more reserved.
In 1928, on what should have been a fun night out, an explosion rocked Lamb’s Dance Hall in Possum Flats, Missouri, engulfing it in flames. Only one of the sisters survived.
Fifty years later, fifteen-year-old Daisy Flowers is sent to live with her grandmother for the summer. She’s a bright, motivated girl and talks herself into an internship at the local paper. Through her work, she discovers the history of the fire and her connection to it. While Daisy is determined to find the truth, Possum Flats may not be ready for that.
What Makes It a Crossover
Michelle Collins Anderson grew up on a farm in the Missouri Ozarks, in the same town as the 1928 dance hall tragedy. The Flower Sisters, her debut novel, won the Missouri Library Association Literary Award in 2025.
The Book of Doors
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
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.
What to Expect in This Book
This book straddles the line between magical realism and fantasy, with elements of time travel and epic battles between good and evil. It has a large cast of characters, but reviews say they are all well-developed.
What Makes It a Crossover
The Book of Doors was Gareth Brown’s debut novel. In 2025, he published his second book, titled The Society of Unknowable Objects.
The Moonflowers
Book Summary
Tig’s grandfather, Benjamin, is a local hero in his rural Appalachian town because of his unimpeachable war service. But, he’s a stranger to Tig, as he was murdered 50 years earlier by Eloise Price.
When Tig is commissioned to paint a portrait of Benjamin in Darren, Kentucky, she wants to talk to Eloise, who is still alive in a state institution. And Eloise is ready to tell a lifetime of stories about herself, Tig’s grandmother, and the other brave and desperate women who passed through Benjamin’s orbit.
As Tig pieces her mysterious family tree together, she must reconcile her own painful past.
What to Expect in This Book
This dual-time novel features both the 1940s and 1990s, along with multiple points of view.
NOTE: Please check trigger warnings if needed. The book includes some difficult topics, but we’re not sharing them here as one in particular is a spoiler.
What Makes It a Crossover
The Moonflowers was the author’s debut novel, and her sophomore book will be published this summer.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Big Burr, Kansas, like many small towns, is a place where everyone seems to know everyone else. It might appear that everyone shares the same values, but in reality, those who don’t may simply keep their opinions to themselves.
When a national nonprofit labels Big Burr as “the most homophobic town in the US,” a task force of queer volunteers is sent in as an experiment. Their role is to live and work in the community for two years in an effort to broaden hearts and open minds.
Teenager Avery is uprooted from her home in Los Angeles when her crusader mom relocates them to Big Burr. Some in the town – like Linda, who is still grieving the loss of her son – welcome the new arrivals. Others, like Christine, see the newcomers as a threat to her town’s way of life.
Thoughts on This Book
This novel is said to be ultimately hopeful and heartwarming, with a message that reminds us we are all more alike than we are different.
While this is published as an adult novel, some feel that it reads a bit more like a YA because a portion of the story is told from the point of view of a teenager.
What Makes It a Crossover
Under the Rainbow was Celia Laskey’s first novel. She has since published So Happy for You (2022) and Cover Story (2025), but her debut remains the highest rated of her books.
Black Cake
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
96% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This novel opens in present-day California shortly after Eleanor’s death. She has left behind a voice recording for her two adult children – Byron and Benny. She’s also left them a traditional Caribbean black cake that she tells them to share “when the time is right.”
Her children, it turns out, only know a small part of their mom’s life story. Posthumously, Eleanor is finally ready to share her truth so that Byron and Benny can truly know and understand their family history.
As the story unfolds, everything that her children thought they knew about their lineage and themselves will be rocked to the core, and by the time they finally share the black cake, another person will be joining them at the table.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Although Eleanor has already died when this novel begins, through her voice recordings, it traces the story of her life and shows how the choices she made over the years impacted not only her future but also those of everyone in her family.
Angela rated this book five stars and highly recommends the audiobook version because the accents really bring the story to life.
Black Cake has been adapted into a streaming television series on Hulu.
What Makes It a Crossover
This debut novel tells the story of Eleanor’s early life on an island in the Caribbean.
Florence Adler Swims Forever
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
93% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Each summer, the Adler family rents out their Atlantic City home to vacationers and moves into the cramped apartment above their Jewish bakery. Their daughters are now young adults, with Florence home from college and Fannie on bed rest during pregnancy following the loss of a baby. Florence plans to spend the summer training for her plan to swim the English Channel.
The small space becomes even more crowded when the father, Joseph, takes in a woman he helped emigrate from Nazi Germany. When a tragedy strikes, mom Esther begins a web of lies to protect her daughter, Fannie, but will it really help in the long run?
Our Thoughts on This Book
This book has more grief than Melissa expected when picking it up, so don’t judge it as a light read by the swimming theme.
What Makes It a Crossover
This was Rachel Beanland’s first novel. She is also the author of the 2023 book, The House is on Fire, and she has a forthcoming novel titled The Half Life, which we are looking forward to reading.
The Collected Regrets of Clover
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Clover had an unusual childhood, with her Kindergarten teacher passing away during a reading of Peter Rabbit. Then, her parents passed away while traveling, and she started a new life with her grandfather in New York City. She continued to be fascinated by death and was studying different cultural traditions abroad when she received the terrible news that her grandfather had passed away alone in his office.
Clover commits to preventing others from dying alone by becoming a death doula. She only takes one patient at a time, so she can be more present for her clients than hospice workers. Whether she’s only holding their hand or hearing their regrets about life, she is present to honor them in their last moments. Her only friend is actually her grandfather’s friend, Leo, who is very concerned that when he is gone, Clover will be alone. Between his friendship-matchmaking and a fiesty new client, can Clover shift her life focus outside of work from the dying to a new life of her own?
Our Thoughts On This Book
Melissa highly recommends this book for anyone who loves the heart of Fredrik Backman and characters like Eleanor Oliphant or Albert Entwistle, who have been loners for much of their lives.
While the book’s concept sounds heavy on death and grief, the novel is very much about life. It’s a rare book that Melissa wanted to read again immediately, while also wanting to give it a hug.
What Makes It a Crossover
While we learn a bit about Clover’s childhood, she is 36 during the timeline of the novel.
Book Summary
Owen is an aspiring writer who must return to his home state of Kentucky to live with his vocal Trump-supporting uncle and grandfather. For work, he takes a job as a groundskeeper at a local college, which lets him exchange some of his hours for admission to a writing course.
In the writing class, he meets Alma, a Bosnian immigrant who is already a successful writer with an Ivy League education. As Alma and Owen’s relationship grows, she struggles to understand his fraught relationships with his family.
What to Know Before Reading
This Read with Jenna pick deals with the 2016 election, but Jenna Bush Hager says it conveys a message of unity rather than division. We were excited to put it on our list, but the reviews have been mixed.
55% of readers really enjoy it, giving it 4 or 5 stars, but another large group finds it more of a 3-star read. Those who don’t enjoy it have issues with the lack of quotation marks (WHY DID THIS BECOME A THING?!?) and that the book is told all from Owen’s perspective, and much of the book is his observations about the world and himself. Those who love it praise the beautiful writing and insight into today’s world.
What Makes It a Crossover
This is Lee Cole’s debut novel, followed by his second book, Fullfillment, in 2025.
Meet Me in Paradise
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Marin has lived life as safely as possible, never even setting foot outside Tennessee. Her concern started after her journalist mother was killed on assignment, but the tragedy had the opposite effect on her sister, Sadie, who travels the world as a photographer.
After returning from a tough assignment, Sadie convinces Marin to join her in a spa weekend on the island of Saba. She’s skeptical about leaving home, even for a girls’ weekend, but agrees. Her long-time fear of travel is confirmed when Sadie misses the flight, a stranger steals her sister’s seat, and Marin’s luggage is mixed up with another passenger’s.
Luckily, the seat-stealer is handsome! Lucas ends up being the perfect travel mate around Saba, and Marin begins to discover more about herself through each adventure.
Deeper Than the Cover Suggests
Although the cover of this book looks like standard rom-com fare, this book is a blend of romance with heavier themes. Reviewers describe this book as an enjoyable rollercoaster of emotions, but warn that you’ll want to keep the tissues within reach!
What Makes It a Crossover
This was Libby Hubscher’s debut novel, and remains the highest rated of her books. She has since published three additional novels, including If You Ask Me (2022), Play for Me (2023), and Heart Marks the Spot (2025).
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In this charming debut novel, Widower Tova works at the Sowell Bay Aquarium to occupy her mind and time. She takes pride in cleaning perfectly every night, even though she doesn’t need the money. She loves all the aquarium life but forms a special bond with the intelligent (and curmudgeonly) octopus named Marcellus.
He’s just as surprised to feel friendly toward this human who visits him nightly. Soon, he connects the sadness he sees in her with something he saw in the ocean long ago. Can he help her solve the mystery of her son’s disappearance 30 years ago?
Why We Loved This Book
Neither of us expected to have a book partially narrated by a giant Pacific octopus on our best books of 2022 list, but Marcellus stole our hearts. Beyond that, we loved each of the human characters and their struggles in different phases of life. Young or older, so many people deal with loneliness and loss. Watching characters process and evolve through that was a heartwarming treat.
What Makes It a Crossover
This novel is told from three perspectives, one of which is that of 30-year-old Cameron, who also takes a job at the aquarium.
For the Love of Friends
Book Summary
Lily is a great writer, has a reliable job, and has great friends. But she’s also 32 and single… which is all her mom can seem to focus on. It’s especially hard to ignore her relationship status when everyone else around her is getting married – she’s scheduled to be a bridesmaid in five weddings in a period of six weeks.
She’ll go to any length for the love of her friends, but she also needs a place to vent. Lily starts an anonymous blog called Bridesmania where she dishes on mom-zillas, wicked bridesmaids, body-shaming dress clerks, and even her 88-year-old Granny (who she’s recently been deemed the guardian of), who prefers to enjoy her morning mimosas in the nude.
Of course, we all know that secrets are hard to keep on the internet…
What Makes It a Crossover
Sara Goodman Confino has become one of our favorite authors in recent years, and this novel, featuring a 32-year-old main character, was her debut novel back in 2021.
Book Summary
In 1932 Berlin, Bertie worked for the renowned Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld at the Institute of Sexual Science. As a trans man, working to improve queer rights was especially important to him. Before Hitler’s rise to power, he was free to spend carefree nights at the Eldorado Club. Everything changed when Nazis raided the Institute, shuttered the Eldorado, and began rounding queer people up.
Bertie barely escaped from Berlin, but he and his girlfriend, Sofie, were able to move to a farm, where they assumed the identities of an elderly couple and lived in isolation for more than a decade. As the war was finally winding down, they faced a new threat. The Allied forces, who were liberating others, were arresting queer prisoners. Bertie’s only hope is to flee to the US.
What Makes It a Crossover
This extremely high-rated novel set partly in the 1930s was a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for both Debut Novel and Reader’s Favorite Historical Fiction in 2025. While it is a work of fiction, it is inspired by true history and artifacts the author found in his research. Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld was a real Jewish German physician and LGBTQ advocate whose Institute was raided in 1933.
Entitled
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
91% Would Recommend to a Friend
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 travels 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.
Thoughts on This Book
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 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.
What Makes It a Crossover
This is the only book published by author Cookie Boyle. Goodreads lists a forthcoming second book, but it does not yet have a publication date listed.
Hula
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Spanning three generations in Hilo, Hawaii, this expressive literary work explores the tradition, culture, family, and history of Native Hawaiians. Hi’i is the youngest daughter of the Naupka dynasty. Her grandmother, Halali, is the Hulu matriarch on the Big Island. Hi’i mother, Laka, disappeared when Hi’i was a child.
As the youngest member of the family, Hi’i struggles with her identity and connection to the past, but hopes to heal the rifts within her family by becoming the next Miss Aloha Hula, just like her mother was. Hula is the perfect way for her to demonstrate that she still has a devotion to her culture. But people still want to know why Laka disappeared. Then, a revelation about Hi’i comes out and leaves the community with a huge decision that will impact the course of Hi’i’s future.
What to Expect in This Novel
Readers say the writing is beautiful and steeped in history, but at times, this book can be difficult to follow and a slower read, especially in the first half. Hula has been referred to as a blend of There, There and Sharks in the Time of Saviors, so if you love literary dives into the meaning of heritage, it could be a great pick. The novel is partially told from the collective tribal “We” point of view, so don’t pick it if you’re looking for more standard historical fiction.
Some reviews recommend the audiobook so you can experience the accents and cadence of the Hawaiian pidgin language.
For an excellent historical fiction set in Hawaii, we also recommend Moloka’i by Alan Brennert, which tells the tragic history of a real leper colony in the 1890s.
What Makes It a Crossover
Hula was Jasmin ‘Iolani Hakes debut novel. Her sophomore novel, The Pohaku, a family saga that is also set in Hawaii, was published on February 3, 2026.
River Sing Me Home
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
93% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Newly freed from slavery in Barbados in 1834, Rachel embarks on a courageous journey to find the five children who were taken from her and sold across the Caribbean. Though emancipation has been declared, Rachel realizes true freedom remains elusive, and she refuses to accept the possibility that her children are lost forever.
Her journey takes her from Barbados’s sugarcane fields to British Guiana’s forests and Trinidad’s canals. Along the way, Rachel encounters fellow survivors, uncovers deep scars of colonial oppression, and finds strength, love, and resilience in unexpected places.
What Makes It a Crossover
This is Eleanor Shearer’s debut novel. Her sophomore novel, Fireflies in Winter, was published earlier this year.
Any Trope but You
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
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.
What to Expect in This Book
This book is a great example of life imitating art, as the main character finds herself in situations similar to those she wrote 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.
One to Watch
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Bea is a plus-sized fashion blogger tired of watching casts full of size 0 models. After a drunken post about the unrealness of the reality dating show, Main Squeeze, she gets a shocking call asking HER to be the next star of the show.
Can she trust the male contestants with her heart, or is it safer to remember she’s on the show for her career?
Why We Loved This Book
We both loved this one and enjoyed that the story alternated between the actual narrative/standard book format and epistolary snippets of podcast dialogue, emails, etc., about the show as fans watched. All the aspects came together to serve as a great way to help your brain fully engage with the story.
The storyline blends reality TV, blogging, and the push to stop judging based on traditional beauty standards. It is fun and an excellent representation of the 2010s!
What Makes It a Crossover
This book, about a 30-something looking for love, was a 2000 Goodreads nominee for Readers’ Favorite Debut Novel.
Light to the Hills
Book Summary
In this novel, Amanda is a packhorse librarian bringing books to rural Kentucky amid the nation’s economic collapse. Along with books, she brings hope and courage to her clients, including the MacInteer family. As she grows closer to the family, she tells them a secret from her past, leading their lives to intersect in unexpected new ways.
What Makes It a Crossover
Light to the Hills was Bonnie Blaylock’s debut novel, and it is also set in the 1930s, making it a crossover for three of our April challenge prompts.
The God of Good Looks
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Bianca Bridge has always dreamed of becoming a writer, but an affair with a married government official has derailed her prospects. It’s not the career path she envisioned, but she nonetheless accepts when she’s offered a job at a magazine run by a notoriously tyrannical entrepreneur in the island’s beauty scene.
Bianca begins to suspect that Obadiah may not be the elite tyrant everyone believes. But Obadiah, who was born in one of the poorest parts of Trinidad and has clawed his way up society’s ladder, doesn’t want anyone to see past his facade.
When Bianca’s ex threatens to jeopardize the career she’s rebuilt, she’s determined to fight back and finds support from the most unlikely ally.
More About This Book
This novel alternates between Bianca’s diary entries and Obadiah’s first-person narrative. Beyond providing an inside look at the beauty scene, this book portrays the rigid class system in Trinidad. It balances elements of romance with heavier topics, including prejudice and patriarchy.
What Makes It a Crossover
While Breanne Mc Ivor had previously published a collection of short stories in 2019, The God of Good Looks is her debut novel.
Debut Novels Published in 2016
For purposes of our Debut Novel prompt for the Bingo Challenge, we focused on debut novels published between 2020 and 2026. But when we reviewed the 2016 ICYMI list, we discovered that a great deal of those titles were also debut novels. It’s actually quite impressive that 1/3 of our picks for the best books from that year were written by first-time novelists. Here’s a bulleted list of debut titles from the 2016 ICYMI book list that you can use as crossover picks:
- Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson (finalist for the ABA’s Best Debut Novel award)
- Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
- The Charm Bracelet by Viola Shipman
- The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis
- The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
- Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley
- The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
- The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman
March Crossover Books
The following books specifically satisfy the March Bingo Prompt as well as a reading prompt for one of our other challenges:
- Bingo Surprise Prompt – Books About Art & Artists
- Book Lover’s Challenge – Modern Retellings of Classics
- In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) – Books Published in 2015
- Read Around the USA – Books Set in AL, FL, GA, SC, TN
- Decades Challenge – Books Set in the 1920s
- Book Voyage – Books Set in Africa
- Lifetime – Books with 20-Something Main Characters
*We’ve used asterisks below to note which challenge list(s) the book originally appeared on
Demon Copperhead
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This is a modern retelling of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield. Like Copperfield, Copperhead examines institutional poverty, but in contemporary Appalachia.
Born to a teenage single mother, Damon (soon to be known as Demon) braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, opioid addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Angela was hesitant to read this 500-page book because it sounded quite depressing, but once she picked it up, she was immediately hooked. While it is heartbreaking throughout, it’s also an incredibly touching story that somehow feels both meandering and fast-paced at the same time, thanks to Kingsolver’s gorgeous writing.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Demon is very talented at drawing, and his artistic ability serves as a form of self-expression throughout the novel.
Memphis
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
93% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This novel spans over seventy years while tracing three generations of a Southern Black family.
In the summer of 1995, 10-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister escaped her father’s explosive temper by fleeing to her mother’s hometown of Memphis. Here, half a century earlier, Joan’s grandfather built a majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass. He was then lynched just days after becoming the city’s first Black detective.
As she gets older, Joan finds comfort in art and begins painting portraits of the community in Memphis. One of her subjects is their mysterious neighbor, Miss Dawn, who holds secrets to the past. Her stories will help Joan discover how her passion, imagination, and relentless hope are part of a long family tradition. With a paintbrush in her hand, Joan comes to understand that her mother, her grandmother, and the women before them made impossible choices to allow her more choices of her own.
What to Expect in This Book
Reviewers say that the city of Memphis is described in such detail that it becomes a character in the novel. Told in a non-linear timeline, this story blends real historical events into the fictional narrative. It’s described as heartbreaking and engrossing.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Jane is a talented artist, and painting is connected to her identity and her personal journey.
Book Summary
Misia Sert was a brilliant pianist and one of the most influential patrons in Parisian artistic circles. She is married to renowned muralist José María “Jojo” Sert, who prizes his wife’s iconoclastic vision and independence. And her closest confidante was none other than the iconic Coco Chanel. Together, these two women are unstoppable: bold, unconventional, and fiercely loyal to each other.
But even the most powerful women have their vulnerabilities, and when a captivating newcomer enters their world, a Russian émigré sculptress with ambitions that reach further than anyone suspects, Misia’s carefully built life is suddenly on uncertain ground.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Misia Sert was born in 1872 in the Russian Empire. In 1892, she played in her first public concert as a pianist. Art was in her blood; her father was a renowned Polish sculptor and art professor.
In Paris, she hosted salons in her homes and was well-known for both financial and creative contributions to many forms of art.
Book Summary
One spring, Theo, an 86-year-old Portuguese man with a gentle manner and a past he won’t discuss, arrives in the town of Golden, Georgia. A chance stop at a coffee shop introduces him to a display of ninety-two framed pencil portraits of local residents. Compelled by the faces on the wall, Theo begins purchasing the drawings one by one, then tracking down each subject to return their portrait.
As deliveries multiply, Theo befriends the shop’s regulars, the artist behind the sketches, and a widening circle of townspeople whose lives intersect in unexpected ways. Meanwhile, curiosity about his identity and motives spreads through Golden, and Theo’s careful routine is tested by practical obstacles, community skepticism, some eager to help, others wary, and the risk of being discovered.
More About This Book
This book was originally self-published back in October of 2023 before being republished by Atria Books in the fall of 2025.
While faith plays an important role in this novel (including church attendance, quoted Scripture, and discussions of Christianity), many readers (including those who describe themselves as “not religious”) view religion as a light theme that focuses more on being a good person.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
Our readers voted this one of their favorite books of 2025. One of our readers describes the book this way: “Theo of Golden is a slow-down and make-you-think kind of book. It’s a book with a simple but profound message about serving others through small acts of building community and simply taking the time to get to know each other. I have not stopped recommending it since I finished it and have purchased several copies to hand out to friends.”
What Makes It a Crossover?
This novel is set in the small, fictional town of Golden, Georgia. This setting provides the cultural backdrop for the story.
The Masterpiece
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
For most New Yorkers, Grand Central Terminal is a masterpiece of architectural design, but for Clara and Virginia, it represents something entirely different.
For Clara, in 1928, teaching at the Grand Central School of Art was the stepping stone to her future. In a time when there was public disdain for a woman artist, Clara is determined to succeed in her dream of creating cover art for Vogue. But she and her friends will soon be blindsided by the looming Great Depression that may destroy the entire art scene.
By 1974, Grand Central had declined to a dangerous place full of pickpockets and drug dealers, and it was at the center of a lawsuit that would decide if the terminal should be preserved or demolished. Virginia, who had recently taken a job in the Grand Central information booth, stumbles upon an abandoned art school within the terminal and discovers a striking watercolor that opens her eyes to the elegance beneath the decay. She sets out to find the artist and finds herself drawn into the battle to save Grand Central.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
We both LOVE New York City, the beauty of Grand Central Station, and art, so it’s like Fiona Davis wrote this book for us. We enjoyed the combination of history, mystery, and even a little romance. The characters are based on real people, and it was interesting to walk in the shoes of a female artist in the 1920s. We think those who enjoy reading about art history, 20s Manhattan, or women’s equality will all love this one.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Art plays an important role in this dual-timeline novel that is set half in the 1920s and half in the 1970s. Clara, the artist, is 25 in the 1920s timeline.
The Venice Sketchbook
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
92% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In 2001, Caroline Grant’s marriage was falling apart when her beloved great-aunt Lettie passed away, leaving Caroline a sketchbook, three keys, and the request that her ashes be spread in Venice. Key by key, Caroline will learn the secrets that Lettie kept for more than 60 years – secrets of impossible love, loss, and courage.
In her younger years, Lettie traveled to Venice numerous times as an art teacher, providing a wealth of art history to her students and allowing her to visit the man she loves, even though his future cannot include her.
What Makes It a Crossover?
As the story unfolds, this novel is filled with beautiful descriptions of Venice’s narrow footpaths, canals, architecture, and food, both in the 1928-1944 timeline and in the 21st century. Art plays an important role throughout this novel.
The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo
Book Summary
Inspired by several notebooks discovered at Frida Kahlo’s Mexico City home, this novel provides a fictional account of the famous artist’s life. The author begins with the premise that, after Frida nearly died in a streetcar accident, she received a notebook as a gift from her lover, Tina Modotti, and used the notebook to collect memories, ideas, and recipes.
This reimagined tale of Kahlo’s passionate life and the development of her art also details her relationships with many famous characters, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Nelson Rockefeller, Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller, Salvador Dali, and more.
What Makes It a Crossover?
This novel spans multiple decades of Frida Kahlo’s life, but a significant portion of the novel is set in the 1920s.
Oil and Marble
Book Summary
At fifty, Leonardo da Vinci is at the peak of his career, but in this novel, his personal life is falling apart. He loses the David commission, can’t finish projects, obsesses over his flying machine, and watches his engineering designs fail. Then he becomes fixated on Lisa, a merchant’s wife, and paints the Mona Lisa.
Meanwhile, twenty-six-year-old Michelangelo is a temperamental sculptor desperate to prove himself. When he wins the David marble statue commission, he must work against an impossible deadline.
Leonardo despises Michelangelo for his youth and lack of sophistication. Michelangelo both loathes and worships Leonardo’s genius. Their rivalry pushes them to create their most famous masterpieces.
Historical Context
According to the author, this novel was written as fiction with a foundation of historical fact, filling in the gaps where history is silent in order to “make history human.” That means while events like the rivalry between Leonardo and Michelangelo and their work on masterpieces are based on real history, the specific conversations, personal dynamics, and some imagined moments are products of the author’s creative license.
What Makes It a Crossover
Michelangelo is twenty-six-year-old during the time frame of this novel.
The Secret Life of Sunflowers
Book Summary
This historical fiction novel is based on the true story of Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law who inherited his paintings. They weren’t worth anything at the time, but despite barely speaking French, she managed to introduce Van Gogh’s legacy to the world.
Hollywood auctioneer Emsley comes across an old diary while cleaning out her famous grandmother’s New York brownstone. But it turns out that the diary didn’t belong to her grandma. It was written by Johanna, and it provides Emsley the inspiration she needs at just the right time.
Thoughts on This Book
Reviewers say this book is a real page-turner that you’ll be so emotionally invested that you won’t be able to put it down until the stories of Johanna and Emsley finally come together.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Johanna was a 28-year-old widow with a baby living in Paris when she inherited Van Gogh’s paintings.
A Non-Fiction Alternative
If you are interested in learning more about the life of Vincent van Gogh, you may also like Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman. This meticulously researched nonfiction tells of the deep friendship between artist Vincent van Gogh and his brother, Theo, throughout the 1870s and 1880s.
Hello Stranger
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Sadie is a talented portrait artist who is finally getting the recognition she deserves as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition. Before her death, her mom was a finalist in the same competition, so Sadie is full of emotions about the new painting she must produce as part of the contest.
However, in one moment, everything changes for Sadie. The only constant is her beloved dog, Peanut. With both her work and her family in chaos, how will Sadie overcome the hardest period in her life?
Why We Think You’ll Love It
If you’ve been a Book Girls’ Guide reader for a while, you know that we always seem to connect with Katherine Center books, and Hello Stranger was no exception! We kept our summary more vague than the publisher’s, so you can be as surprised as the main character by some of her experiences. It’s rare that a book provides a real surprise, and this one does it well.
Like Center’s other books, you get a mix of a main character with internal struggles, family drama, and some romance. However, these common pieces do not make her books predictable. They each have their own unique characters and settings. Hello Stranger is no exception!
Don’t miss the author’s notes at the end for her thoughts on romance novels and the reasons they are so delightful!
What Makes It a Crossover?
Sadie is 28 years old in this novel, making this the perfect crossover read if you are participating in both the Bingo Challenge and the Lifetime of Reading Challenge.
More Romance Books About Artists
If romance and rom-com are your preferred genres, we also recommend checking out the following titles: The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren; The Happily Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez; The View from the Top by Rachel Lacey, and Lease on Love by Falon Ballard (just trust us on this last one, as you won’t find any mention of art in the synopsis).
Woman on Fire
Book Summary
Jules Roth is a rising young journalist who persuades a famed investigative reporter named Dan Mansfield to give her a job at the Chicago Chronicle. He assigns her to the secret and urgent task of locating a painting stolen by the Nazis more than 75 years earlier.
The artwork, “Woman on Fire,” was created by a fictional German Expressionist painter and depicts a woman engulfed in brilliant color; it has become a legendary lost masterpiece.
Shoe designer Ellis Baum has deeply personal reasons for wanting the painting found before he dies. Jules and Dan pursue leads across the US and Europe, but they find themselves contending with Margaux de Laurent, a powerful and cunning gallery owner who also wants the painting for herself.
As the search for the looted artwork intensifies, Jules gains unexpected help from Adam Baum, Ellis’s grandson, who is also a struggling contemporary artist.
Genre Notes
Readers say this novel is a great mix of historical fiction and psychological thriller.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Jules is 25 at the start of the novel – a young, ambitious journalist trying to establish herself in her career.
The English Masterpiece
Book Summary
Lily has been waiting her whole life for a chance to make an impact in the art world, and that opportunity comes when she is promoted to assistant to the keeper of the Modern Collection at the Tate Museum in London, just in time to help plan a world-class exhibit to honor the passing of Picasso. The opening of the exhibit is going perfectly – the lighting, the champagne, and the glittering crowd – until Lily notices that one of the Picassos on display appears to be a forgery. Her declaration shocks everyone in the gallery.
Lily’s boss, Diana, has worked hard to become one of the most trusted voices, both in London’s modern art scene and across Europe. The Picasso exhibit that she’s curated is supposed to be her crowning achievement, topped off by the newly discovered Picasso painting that she’s advised an investor to purchase. But Lily’s accusation that the painting is a forgery throws the art world into chaos amid already swirling concerns about post-war acquisitions.
With just one comment, Lily has jeopardized her career and that of her mentor. The clock is ticking for her to prove that she’s right, but clues are starting to stack up against her.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Lily is in her mid-twenties and at the start of the novel. Her youth is important to the narrative because she is early in her career, still defining her professional identity, and navigating trust, ambition, and belonging within the high-stakes art community.
The Personal Librarian
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This historical fiction novel is based on the remarkable true story of J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian, a Black woman who became one of the most powerful women in NYC at the turn of the century.
Belle da Costa Greene was working at Princeton University Library when J.P. Morgan’s nephew recommended her for a position curating a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artbooks for his uncle’s newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. This position of prominence made her one of the most influential people in the art and book world. She became a fixture on the New York social scene.
But Belle had a secret that could change everything. She led people to believe that her dark complexion was the result of her alleged Portuguese heritage. In truth, however, she was born Bella Marion Greener – the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard University.
Our Thoughts on This Book
We both rated The Personal Librarian five stars. The writing duo of Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray put together a seamless story that educates and entertains. From learning about the progress and recession of the civil rights movement in the decades surrounding the turn of the century to literary and art history, the book introduces several aspects that left us eager to do more research. However, that education was wrapped in a page-turning story full of romance and intrigue.
The book manages to move gracefully between lighter and heavier storylines. We were always on the edge of our seats, wondering if Belle’s secret would be revealed.
If you ever find yourself in NYC, be sure to plan time for The Morgan Library! Angela and Melissa have both visited and were awed by the architecture and grandeur of each and every room, including Belle’s private office.
Book Club Resources For This Novel
We have a free online book discussion guide for The Personal Librarian, along with a printable Personal Librarian book club guide available on Etsy, including discussion questions, 7 pages of bonus contextual information and photos, a printable bookmark, and more!
What Makes It a Crossover?
Bella is 26-years-old when she is hired for her position as the personal librarian to J.P. Morgan.
Veridian Sterling Fakes It
Book Summary
Freshly graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, aspiring painter Veridian (Veri) Sterling arrives in New York City ready to show her own work in galleries, but instead lands a job as a personal assistant at an art gallery that rejected her paintings.
Struggling financially and hoping to help her mother realize her own business dreams, Veri overhears her boss discussing a large finder’s fee for a lost Van Gogh. Her own artwork might go unappreciated, but maybe she can put her copying skills to use instead.
Veri becomes increasingly involved with a famous art dealer and his circle, and she soon realizes that she might be in over her head. Can she clean up the mess she’s made before she goes down for someone else’s crimes?
What to Expect in This Novel
While this novel fits into the category of art heists and forgeries, it’s shorter, lighter, and more humorous in style than others in this section.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Veridian has recently graudated from the Rhode Island School of Design at the star of the novel, placing her age in her early to mid-twenties.
The Indigo Girl
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In 1739, when she was 16, Eliza’s father left his three plantations in her hands as he pursued military ambitions. However, he also spent all the money from the estates, leaving her in a terrible position. Failure would have been fine with her mother, who would prefer they leave South Carolina behind and return to England.
Eliza finds hope for the plantations in an unlikely place. She has heard that the French will pay exorbitant amounts for indigo dye, one of the state’s largest exports. However, the process of making the dye is a closely guarded secret. Eliza will do just about anything to gain the knowledge she needs to save her family’s finances.
Historical Context
This historical fiction novel is based on the real story of Eliza Lucus, a very prominent figure in Charleston. She played a pivotal role in South Carolina’s agricultural history. When she passed away in 1793, President Washington was one of her pallbearers. The export of indigo dye was the foundation of extreme wealth for several South Carolina families, who continue to live in prosperity today.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Because indigo is used as a pigment and textile dye, this story meaningfully connects to material art and design history even though none of the protagonists in the book is an artist.
February Crossover Books
The following books specifically satisfy the February Bingo Prompt as well as a reading prompt for one of our other challenges:
- Bingo Surprise Prompt – Books About Matchmakers
- Book Lover’s Challenge – Books About Bookstores
- In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) – Books Published in 2014
- Read Around the USA – Books Set in AZ, CO, NM, UT, WY
- Decades Challenge – Books Set in the 1900s and 1910s
- Book Voyage – Books Set in Western Europe
- Lifetime – Books with Teenage Protagonist
*We’ve used asterisks below to note which challenge list(s) the book originally appeared on
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
96% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Even as a child in 1910, Sara recognized that she was a gifted Jewish matchmaker and a seeker of soulmates. But on New York’s Lower East Side, this profession is dominated by devout older men who see a talented woman as a threat to their traditions and livelihood.
Two generations later, Abby is a successful Manhattan divorce attorney with some of the city’s wealthiest clients. When her beloved Grandma Sara dies, Abby inherits her collection of handwritten journals in which Sara recorded details of her matches. The pages seem to provide Abby with more questions than answers, including why the work she once found so compelling suddenly feels inconsequential and flawed.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
When we saw this novel described as “a captivating, exhilarating, feel-good, heartwarming, and magical historical fiction with the loveliest characters,” we immediately added it to our TBRs.
Another Title to Consider
Loigman is also the author of The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern, which, while not about traditional matchmaking, features magical herbal remedies (elixirs) for love. In this novel, the main character, Augusta, is a retired pharmacist who uses her great-aunt Esther’s elixirs in an attempt to win back her first love.
What Makes It a Crossover?
This is a dual-timeline novel, with the story of Sara’s teen years taking place throughout the 1910s.
The Matchmaker
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
88% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Dabney has always had a gift for matchmaking. Some call it mystical, while others (like her husband and her daughter, who is clearly engaged to the wrong man) simply consider it meddlesome. But her results don’t lie. She’s successfully matched 42 happy couples – all of them still together.
She’s never been wrong about romance, except in the case of Clendenin Hughes. He was the boy who stole her heart many years ago and then moved away to pursue his career in journalism. Twenty-seven years later, Clen is back, and Dabney is feeling very confused.
When tragedy threatens Dabney’s future, she is determined to use her remaining time to line up the perfect matches for everyone she loves. She’s also forced to confront painful secrets and answer for her choices in this heartbreaking story of losing and finding love.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Not only did Elin Hilderbrand publish this novel in 2014, she also wrote a short-story prequel to The Matchmaker that same year. The prequel, The Tailgate, is included with the current paperback and Kindle versions of the novel, or it can be purchased separately. The Tailgate provides a backstory for the characters in the novel and will enhance the primary story if it’s read first.
Match Me If You Can
Book Summary
As a matchmaker at an elite agency in London, Poppy spends her days finding perfect matches for everyone but herself.
Her newest client is going to be quite a challenge. Tristan is a bachelor who has no interest in falling in love, but he must find a wife before he turns 35 to receive his massive inheritance. He’s a typical, arrogant bachelor type, so why is he getting under Poppy’s skin?
What Makes It a Crossover?
The matchmaking journey takes place in dreamy locations across Europe, from London to Scotland to Greece.
Is She Really Going Out with Him?
Book Summary
Anna is a 38-year-old divorcee with two kids, a cat, and a career as a columnist for a local magazine. But her office rival is vying to take over her column because “According to Anna” isn’t attracting the younger demographic anymore. While she firmly believes that she doesn’t need a man, she definitely needs her job.
To attract attention to her column, Anna has a crazy idea. She’ll go on a series of seven dates set up by her children, twelve-year-old daughter Jess and seven-year-old son Ethan. Her competitor, Will, pitches a similar series, but with dates he’s been matched with on dating apps. Her boss loves both ideas and turns them into a His and Hers column to face off each week to recap their dates.
Thoughts on This Book
If you haven’t read Sophie Cousens, this would be a great book to start with. She blends humor and unlikely scenarios with very believable characters. Her books strike the perfect balance between light and heavy, never being too superficial, while also providing depth without darkness.
What Makes It a Crossover?
The entire novel is set in the city of Bath, which is located about 100 miles west of London in the United Kingdom.
The One
Book Summary
Match Your DNA is a company that promises to do just that – use your DNA to match you with your perfect, genetically matched partner. They claim to have found the gene that pairs each person with their soulmate, and they’ve already successfully matched millions of people worldwide.
The downside, however, is that the test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships. And the introduction of genetic matching has upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance, and love.
Now, five very different people have received notifications of matches, but that doesn’t guarantee happiness, because even soulmates have secrets.
More About This Novel
Blending elements of sci-fi, thriller, and romance, readers describe this book as riveting, entertaining, and, at times, darkly humorous.
What Makes It a Crossover?
The majority of the novel takes place in London and the surrounding suburbs.
The Transatlantic Marriage Bureau
Book Summary
In the Gilded Age of the 1890s, wealthy American heiresses began crossing the Atlantic to marry cash-poor British aristocrats. Julie Ferry chronicles this fascinating era when ambitious American families leveraged their industrial fortunes to purchase titles and social prestige through strategic marriages, while financially strapped British nobility traded ancestral names for desperately needed capital.
These transatlantic unions were often facilitated by social intermediaries who functioned as informal matchmakers. The phenomenon reshaped both American and British high society.
Ferry explores the lives of the women who became duchesses, countesses, and ladies, examining their motivations, the cultural clashes they faced, and the complex dynamics of marriages built on pragmatic exchange rather than romance. Through meticulous research, we see how these “dollar princesses” navigated two worlds, the price they paid for their titles, and their lasting impact on both sides of the Atlantic.
Alternate Title & TV Tie-ins
This book has also been published under the title Million Dollar Duchesses.
Fans of Downton Abbey will recognize this trend, as Cora was the American who saved Downton and the Crawley family, while fans of The Gilded Age saw Gladys married off and sent to England to secure a higher social standing for her family back home.
What Makes It a Crossover?
The majority of the “husband-hunting” action, including the parties, social maneuvering, and wedding preparations, takes place in the UK.
Emma
Book Summary
Emma Woodhouse is an intelligent, pretty, and wealthy young woman living in the English countryside who has taken up matchmaking as her favorite pastime. Convinced of her superior judgment in matters of the heart, Emma arranges romantic connections for those around her, beginning with pairing her governess with a local gentleman. After her first success, she’s determined to improve the romantic prospects of her new friend Harriet.
As Emma schemes and plots various matches, she remains smugly certain of her matchmaking abilities, despite warnings from her friend Mr. Knightley about the dangers of meddling in others’ affairs.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Matchmaking is also a central theme in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
January Crossover Books
The following books specifically satisfy the January Bingo Prompt as well as a reading prompt for one of our other challenges:
- Bingo Surprise Prompt – Page-to-Screen Adaptations (Movies | TV)
- Book Lover’s Challenge – Characters Connecting Through Books
- In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) – Books Published in 2013
- Read Around the USA – Books Set in MA, ME, NH, RI, VT
- Decades Challenge – Books Set in the 1880s and 1890s
- Book Voyage – Books Set in the Arctic & Antarctica
- Lifetime – Books with a Child Protagonist
*We’ve used asterisks below to note which challenge list(s) the book originally appeared on
The Life List
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
96% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Brett seems to have it all – a good job, a spacious loft, and a handsome boyfriend. Her life checks all the boxes of where she thinks she’s supposed to be at thirty-four years old. But according to who?
When her mom passes away, Brett is surprised to learn that her inheritance comes with one major stipulation. She must first complete the list of life goals that she penned at the young age of fourteen. She can’t understand what her mom was thinking. Her teenage goals certainly don’t line up with her adult ambitions, and some of them seem downright impossible.
How can she have a relationship with her father, who passed away seven years ago? And how can she become an awesome teacher when she picked a completely different career path?
She reluctantly sets out on the journey her mother has laid before her, and along the way, she’ll discover that sometimes the best things come from unexpected places, and it’s never too late to reinvent your life!
What Makes It a Crossover?
Angela really enjoyed this 2025 movie adaptation of this 2013 novel, which reached #1 on Netflix. She felt that while some of the story had to be condensed for film, it stayed true to the novel’s heartfelt message about pursuing dreams and finding yourself.
Crazy Rich Asians
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Rachel is a New Yorker who agrees to spend the summer in Singapore, her boyfriend Nick’s home country. He just failed to mention one crucial aspect of his life. He is considered Singapore’s most eligible bachelor, and his family is crazy rich. The family is essentially royalty, with younger generations expected to comply with the older generations’ wishes for their life (and spouse) choices.
This book is rich with descriptions of Singapore’s sights, sounds, and tastes. It gives a very entertaining look at the lifestyle of the 1% from both the inside and outside perspectives. According to Angela’s Singaporean friends, these crazy stories are actually not so far-fetched.
Our Thoughts on the Series
We both laughed through this whole series, and it is an excellent pick if you want something entertaining. Just be ready to pay attention because there are a lot of characters!
Angela recommends the audiobook because the accents add to the stories, while Melissa enjoyed the print version because she’s a visual learner and could mentally keep track of the broad character list better when seeing the names in print.
Our most significant caveat is that if you don’t enjoy escaping into a world of the richest of the rich, you should skip this one. We both tend to find other lifestyles fascinating, but could see how it could be a turn-off to others.
What Makes It a Crossover?
Melissa, Angela, and both of their husbands really enjoyed this movie, which instantly felt like a classic rom-com with the same mix of humor and family drama that made the 2013 novel so much fun. It’s one of our favorite films on this page-to-screen list!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
As London is emerging from WWII, Juliet Ashton, a writer, is looking for the subject of her next book. She begins exchanging letters with a man she’s never met – a native of the island of Guernsey. Through their letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of the man and his eccentric friends. Though they range from pig farmers to phrenologists, they are all literature lovers.
As Juliet learns about their tastes in books, she also comes to understand the impact that the German occupation has had on their lives.
This is a great choice for those who love epistolary novels, which are told through written correspondence between the characters.
About the Adaptation
Those who love historical fiction will enjoy the 1940s setting and costumes in this 2018 romantic drama.
What Makes It a Crossover?
In both the book and the film, the characters bond over a shared love of literature.
Destiny of the Republic
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Less than four months after taking office, US President Garfield was shot twice in a train station in Washington, DC, by a disgruntled man with political aspirations. Doctors tried to save his life, but life-saving attempts led to infections as his surgeon, Dr. Bliss, didn’t believe in sanitizing hands or equipment.
A bullet remained lodged in his body, but it needed to be removed for the best chance of survival. Inventor Alexander Graham Bell thought he could develop new technology to locate the bullet, but it was a race against time and against a doctor who didn’t embrace evolving medical practices.
Thoughts on This Non-Fiction Book
Melissa’s husband originally recommended this book to us after rating it five stars. He said that, rather than reading like standard nonfiction, it reads like a movie or modern thriller, with multiple storylines involving Garfield, his assassin, his doctor, and Alexander Graham Bell as he raced to save the President.
What Makes It a Crossover?
While the book is non-fiction about the events of 1881, the four-episode Netflix limited series adaptation, called Death by Lightning, is a dramatized version of the real-life events, which uses invented dialogue and compressed timelines to make the story fit the screen. Both Melissa and her husband enjoyed this series and highly recommend it.
Wonder
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Ten-year-old Auggie has a facial deformity that previously prevented him from attending a traditional school. In his own words, “I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.”
Wonder begins from Auggie’s point of view as he starts 5th grade, but soon switches to include his classmates. While there are also chapters told from the perspective of his teenage sister, her boyfriend, and others, Auggie remains the focus of the story throughout. The multiple perspectives create a beautiful portrait of Auggie’s community as they struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance.
Why You Should Pick This Book
In a time when the world could use more kindness, listening to this book that inspired the Choose Kind movement is a wonderful family experience and can lead to meaningful conversations. Of all the audiobooks that Angela has listened to with her sons, this one ranks #1 as everyone’s favorite!
What Makes This a Crossover?
In the 2017 movie adaptation, Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson are perfectly cast as the parents and Jacob Tremblay delivers a remarkable performance as young Auggie, the child protagonist of the story. While some of the plot is condensed, the film captures the book’s beautiful heart and resonates with viewers of all ages.
This would be a great one to watch with your kids or grandkids!
My Sister’s Keeper
Book Summary
Sixteen-year-old Kate has been fighting leukemia since she was very young. Thirteen-year-old Anna is the healthy one, yet she’s undergone countless surgeries and transfusions. That’s because Anna was conceived, by way of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, to be a bone marrow match for Kate.
Most teenagers begin to question who they really are, but for Anna, this question is much more complex. That leads her to a decision that has the potential to tear her family apart, and may even have fatal consequences for Kate.
About the Adaptation
The 2009 film adaptation, directed by Nick Cassavetes, features a strong ensemble cast including Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, and Sofia Vassilieva.
While the film captures the emotional intensity and moral complexity of Jodi Picoult’s novel, it makes a significant change to the ending that alters the story’s impact. Fans of the book should be prepared for this departure from the novel.
What Makes It a Crossover?
While this book is set in the fictional town of Upper Darby, Rhode Island, making it a crossover with the regional version of the Read Around the USA Challenge in January, keep in mind that the movie is set in California. It would be interesting to consider what impact the change of location has on the telling of the story.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Bernadette lives with her husband and her teenage daughter in Seattle, a city where she’s never felt she fits in. She was once a renowned architect, but now spends most of her time in the house, hiding from the other moms of her daughter’s elite prep school.
Unlike her Microsoft employee husband, Elgie, who has fully embraced the granola-eating, public transport-using, bike-riding culture of 2010s Seattle, Bernadette spends her days at home, relying on a virtual assistant in India for many of her daily tasks. This becomes a real problem when her daughter’s stellar report card earns her a family cruise to Antarctica, and Bernadette becomes overwhelmed by the planning and preparations. When Bernadette disappears before the trip, her daughter Bee is determined to track her down, unraveling a web of secrets.
Much of this book is told in epistolary form, including notes from Bee’s school, email exchanges between Bernadette and her virtual assistant, and catty moms communicating about Bernadette’s eccentricities.
Our Thoughts on This Book
If you’re drawn to quirky and eccentric characters, you might love Bernadette as much as we do! This satirical novel was a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for “Best Humor” when it was released in 2012, and it’s one of our favorite laugh-out-loud reads. But it’s more than just that. Maria Semple managed to create an enjoyable, witty, smart, and emotional novel!
About the Adaptation
Angela and her husband both enjoyed the audio version of this book, and this is one of the rare instances where we felt like the 2019 movie was almost as good as the book!
Keep in mind that the movie streamlines the novel’s epistolary format into a more traditional narrative, losing some of the humor in the email exchanges and catty notes, but it preserves the heart of the story—a woman’s journey to rediscover herself.
What Makes It a Crossover?
While not enough of this book is set in Antarctica for us to include it on our list of books set on that continent, it could definitely count as a crossover pick if you are doing both Bingo and Book Voyage.
The Good Lord Bird
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
The Good Lord Bird is a unique work of historical fiction that offers a fresh and sometimes humorous perspective on the abolitionist movement and the notorious John Brown. The novel tells the story of Brown and Henry Shackleford, a young slave who is nicknamed “Onion” by Brown after he is mistaken for a girl.
Onion joins Brown’s ragtag army, which is preparing to raid the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in 1859. Along the way, Onion witnesses the horrors of slavery and the violence of Brown’s abolition campaign firsthand. Despite its serious subject matter, The Good Lord Bird is also a coming-of-age story that follows Onion’s journey of self-discovery.
More About This Book
Readers note that the audiobook narrator is fabulous, so be sure to listen if you have a chance!
What Makes It a Crossover?
There is also a Showtime TV adaptation of the book, starring Ethan Hawke & Joshua Caleb Johnson.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Jack and his mother live in a single room. To five-year-old Jack, the room is his entire world – where he eats, sleeps, reads, and plays – he knows nothing else. But for his mother, the room is a prison where she’s been held captive for the past seven years. She is devising an escape plan, but are they prepared for what comes next if the plan actually works?
This book is told entirely from Jack’s pragmatic perspective, and it’s also a beautiful celebration of the parent-child bond.
Keep This in Mind
While this book is about a five-year-old boy, it is very much an adult novel. Room contains ample adult language and themes, including sexual assault.
What Makes It a Crossover?
After reading, consider streaming the award-winning movie version.
Out of My Mind
Book Summary
Melody, a nearly 11-year-old girl, is different from other 5th graders. She has a photographic memory, so she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She also has cerebral palsy, which has caused her to be unable to speak, move, or communicate with anyone, and she is constantly frustrated with trying to tell people what she wants.
Despite being smarter than her classmates (and the adults trying to diagnose her), they treat her as mentally challenged. Still, Melody refuses to be defined by CP, and she’s determined to make sure everyone knows it.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
When we asked our readers what books they would recommend adding to this list, Out of My Mind was the top recommendation.
What Makes It a Crossover?
The book was also made into a 2024 Disney movie of the same name.
Little House in the Big Woods
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This is the first book in the Little House on the Prairie series, based on the real-life adventures of author Laura Ingalls Wilder. Little Laura is just four in this first book, and she grows up throughout the nine books of the series (not reaching age 13 until the 6th book).
Little House in the Big Woods takes place in Wisconsin in 1871, where Laura lives in a log cabin with her Pa, her Ma, and her sisters. This first book introduces readers to the challenges of pioneer life, and in later books, the family travels by covered wagon from Wisconsin to Kansas, where they establish a homestead.
Consider This Before Reading
We recommend each of these books with a major caveat. These books are considered classics, but due to their age, they include inappropriate attitudes and language that are unfortunately reflective of the times. We don’t condone these elements of the books, but we also believe that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. We’ve included these books on the list in hopes that you’ll enjoy the overall stories, but also in hopes that they will challenge you to think critically about what we can continue to learn from the problematic elements.
What Makes It a Crossover?
If you are participating in both the Lifetime of Reading Challenge and Book Bingo, consider reading one or more of the books in this series and then watching some of the TV series from the 1970s. All nine seasons are available to stream free on Amazon with Prime.
