,
Top Romance and Romantasy of the Year So Far
Kim van Alkemade
509 ratings | 103 reviews | avg rating:4.76

more photos (2)

Kim’s Year In Books

year in books
Kim’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Kim’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Go to Kim’s 2025 Year in Books

Kim van Alkemade’s Followers (468)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo

Add New
Videos

Counting Lost Stars Book Trailer
Add a comment
Bachelor Girl Book Trailer
Add a comment

More videos…

Kim’s Bookshelves

to-read (65)
currently-reading (6)
read (530)
did-not-finish (0)
all (0)

Kim’s Friends (31)

Dawne W...
Dawne Webber
483 books | 73 friends

Mariel
Mariel
399 books | 83 friends

Pam Webber
Pam Webber
113 books | 390 friends

Kimberl...
Kimberly (kimmerthebooknerd)
2,472 books | 226 friends

H
H
1,120 books | 84 friends

Susan P...
Susan Perabo
191 books | 220 friends

Kyle Ge...
Kyle Gearity
23 books | 58 friends

Emily T...
Emily Taylor
5,054 books | 632 friends

More friends…

Kim van Alkemade

Goodreads Author


Born
in New York, NY, The United States
Website

Genre
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Gay and Lesbian

Member Since
March 2013


Kim van Alkemade is a New York Times bestselling author whose work has been translated into eleven languages. After a career teaching writing at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, she now works at an independent bookstore in upstate New York where she lives with her partner, their rescue dog, and two feisty backyard chickens.

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Kim van Alkemade questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

Hi! I just read your book Orphan #8 (finished it about an hour ago actually). I feel the impact of your novel has greatly changed the way I look at people of the LGBTQ+ community who are Jewish. I'm a leader of my school's Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA). I was wondering if you'd be comfortable sharing your experience as a Jewish LGBTQ+ woman and as an author and how that has impacted you? Thank you so much!
Kim van Alkemade Hi Celeste, thanks so much for reading my novel! I'm not sure my personal experience is all that interesting or useful, but there are so many great re…moreHi Celeste, thanks so much for reading my novel! I'm not sure my personal experience is all that interesting or useful, but there are so many great resources through the American Library Associations LGBT Roundtable I'm sure you can find some great reading for your students. http://www.ala.org/rt/glbtrt
It is really important for me, though, to have LGBT characters in my historical fiction as I think it reclaims a historical space for us that is often invisible since so much was hushed up in the past. I'd also recommend that you check out the book Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, it's a fantastic resource.(less)
flag
Hi Kim, are was there currently research that caused you make this a into a novel- is it a personal experience for you?
Kim van Alkemade Hi Velvet, I wrote an essay for the back of the novel, the PS section, called "True Stories" that really goes in depth in answer to your question. Aft…moreHi Velvet, I wrote an essay for the back of the novel, the PS section, called "True Stories" that really goes in depth in answer to your question. After you read it let me know if you have any other questions!(less)
flag
See all 17 answers from Kim van Alkemade…

Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.73 · 26,971 ratings · 2,820 reviews · 4 distinct works • Similar authors
Orphan Number Eight
3.72 avg rating — 21,619 ratings — published 2015
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Bachelor Girl
3.65 avg rating — 3,774 ratings — published 2018 — 9 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Counting Lost Stars
4.08 avg rating — 1,567 ratings — published 2023 — 11 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Upstate
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 11 ratings — expected publication 2026 — 5 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Kim is Currently Reading

Charity and Sylvia
Kim van Alkemade is currently reading
bookshelves: currently-reading
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars

 
Jun 19, 2026 10:27AM
The Three Lives o...
Kim van Alkemade is currently reading
by Kate Fagan (Goodreads Author)
bookshelves: currently-reading
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars

 
Jun 14, 2026 10:15AM
Vladimir
Kim van Alkemade is currently reading
by Julia May Jonas (Goodreads Author)
bookshelves: currently-reading
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars

 
Jun 14, 2026 10:15AM

rss
Kim’s Recent Updates

Kim van Alkemade rated a book it was amazing
We're So Lucky to Live Here by Rachel Pastan
We're So Lucky to Live Here
by Rachel Pastan (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
This wonderful novel drew me into the innermost lives of a tender cast characters navigating life's transitions with varying degrees of grace. I loved how a family forms in an inherited old house given new life by a daughter who wishes she'd been clo ...more
Jul 03, 2026 09:09AM  ·   · see review
Kim van Alkemade rated a book it was amazing
Venus, Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell
Venus, Vanishing: A Novel
by Rebecca Birrell
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
This luscious novel drew me into the glamorous yet precarious world of Jewish artists in Weimar Germany where sexually adventurous painters, writers and dancers form loving bonds that become crucial to their survival as the inevitable noose of Nazism ...more
Jun 25, 2026 12:26PM  · 1 like ·   · see review
Kim van Alkemade rated a book it was amazing
The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer
The Collected Regrets of Clover
by Mikki Brammer (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Jun 25, 2026 12:24PM  · 1 like · 
Kim van Alkemade finished reading
The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer
The Collected Regrets of Clover
by Mikki Brammer (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Jun 25, 2026 12:24PM  · 
Kim van Alkemade rated a book it was amazing
Gone Before You Knew Me by Renate Wildermuth
Gone Before You Knew Me
by Renate Wildermuth (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Jun 25, 2026 12:24PM  · 
Kim van Alkemade started reading
Charity and Sylvia by Tillie Walden
Charity and Sylvia
by Tillie Walden
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Jun 19, 2026 10:27AM  · 
Kim van Alkemade wants to read
Bright Monday by David Leavitt
Bright Monday: A Novel
by David Leavitt
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Jun 14, 2026 10:34AM  · 
Kim van Alkemade started reading
The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan
The Three Lives of Cate Kay
by Kate Fagan (Goodreads Author)
Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Fiction
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Jun 14, 2026 10:15AM  · 
Kim van Alkemade started reading
Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
Vladimir
by Julia May Jonas (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Jun 14, 2026 10:15AM  · 
Kim van Alkemade started reading
Surrender by Jennifer Acker
Surrender
by Jennifer Acker (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Jun 14, 2026 10:15AM  · 
More of Kim's books…
Quotes by Kim van Alkemade  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“I was so used to pretending to be something I wasn't, it shocked me to be seen for what I was.”
― Kim van Alkemade, Orphan Number Eight
tags: crying, kiss, lesbian, lgbtqia, librarian, loneliness, rachel, romance
5 likes
Like

“What makes you think I ever got married? Married women work themselves to death, all their money goes to husbands who gamble it away. Why would I ever do that to myself?”
― Kim van Alkemade, Orphan Number Eight
tags: businesswoman, chinese-american, equal-pay, feminism, marriage, marriage-equality, mrs-hong, wig-maker
3 likes
Like

“Sometimes I ask myself if there’s any limit to the harm people can do to each other.” “No,”
― Kim van Alkemade, Orphan Number Eight
3 likes
Like

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics posts views last activity  
Book Nook Cafe: What I read October 2015 59 38 Nov 21, 2015 02:46PM  
Reading with Style: This topic has been closed to new comments. FA 2015 RwS Completed Tasks - Fall 2015 1016 104 Nov 30, 2015 09:00PM  
The Seasonal Read...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Fall Challenge 2015: Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE POSTS) 3254 608 Nov 30, 2015 09:01PM  
A Million More Pages: POFM November 2015 190 123 Dec 02, 2015 12:37PM  
Book Nook Cafe: Carol's 2015 Reads & Reviews 167 92 Jan 07, 2016 09:37AM  

Kim’s Friend Comments

No comments have been added yet.