Stepping Out of My Reading Comfort Zone, Need Book Recs! > Likes and Comments

I usually stick to romance and soft thrillers, but this year I really want to read outside my comfort zone and try something completely new! 💫✨

Has anyone got recommendations for books that are a little different from that?

I’m open to all recs, surprise me! 📖🌟

Thanks so much! 💕📚

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Caryl wrote: "I usually stick to romance and soft thrillers, but this year I really want to read outside my comfort zone and try something completely new! 💫✨

Has anyone got recommendations for books that are a ..."

Hi Caryl -

If you're looking for an interesting, powerful, and compelling memoir, check out my book, Clearly Lies Are True.

Clearly Lies Are True
Pamela Nickel Williams

I stayed away from non-fiction for the longest time, as anything "real" felt too depressing. However, I cannot recommend Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America enough. This is an AMAZING book! The chapters are relatively short and each chapter focuses on a different era or aspect of black history in America - which is great if you want to put the book down and pick it up in a week or two. Also, the writer, Michael Harriot, includes personal narratives between each chapter which are absolute gold.

Seriously - you should add this to your TBR... ASAP!

Fahrenheit 451 is also a great book and short read if you're in the mood for a classic.

hello!
i think you should definitely give reverse harem books a chance!
starting with Broken Bonds by J. Bree is an excellent choice!

Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist (horror) - stand alone

My Friends by Fredrik Backman (fiction) - stand alone

Spellbound by Margit Sandemo (fantasy romance & historical fiction) - the series have 47 books in it though

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel (historical fiction) - series of six

The Vampire Knitting Club by Nancy Warren (mystery & fantasy - also super cozy) - so far the series have 15 books in it but can be read as a standalone (I think?)

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/93bd293hzz

I’ve just published the first 2 parts of a Kindle Unlimited series and I’m trying to figure out who this book is actually for. It’s post-collapse (no government, no recovery fantasy) and starts intimate rather than epic. The story follows a man who’s deeply uncomfortable with attachment, falling for a woman who is not what she appears to be. The early focus is psychological tension, mistrust, and emotional control, not action. As the series progresses it becomes heavier on politics, power structures, and survival, while the relationship itself starts to fracture under pressure. This is not a comfort romance and not fast-paced dystopia. It’s slow, tense, and character-driven. If you like things like: – dark slow-burns – morally uncomfortable relationships – post-collapse worlds without hope-porn – politics creeping in after intimacy I’d love to know if this sounds like your kind of read — or if it doesn’t, that’s useful too.

This was originally an AO3 fanfiction but after 950 pages I decided to try to make it work on its own. The first part is just 150-200 pages.

This Is How You Lose the Time War
El-Mohtar, Amal - Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange letters—and fall in love
Prey - Micheal Critchton
Micro - Micheal Critchton
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
The astonishing tale of a gene that passes down through three generations of a Greek-American family and flowers in the body of a teenage girl.
The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern
Dry - Neal Shusterman, Jarrod Shusterman
Any book by Andy Weir (he only wrote four anyway)
Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus!!!!!!!!!
James - Percival Everett
Memoir from Antproof Case -Mark Helprin
Fairy Tale - Stephen King
Pet Sematary - Stephen King
Elevation - Stephen King
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War - Max Brooks
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab
Einstein’s Dreams - Alan Lightman
The Frozen River - Ariel Lawhon
Babel - R.F. Kuang
Percival Everett by Virgil Russell - Percival Everett

If you enjoy stories with the themes of art, art forgery, memory, fate, life choices we make (and the ones we escape from) I recommend A Gap In The Sky beautifully written, psychological depth and yet houmours, witty and adventures. Reading it now and truly enjoying

a handmaidens tale
hell followed with us(if your fine with LGBT rep)
I am legend
farenheit 451
are all books I rec

So awesome!! I love switching up genres.

I would say - grab a memoir! Someone you really like perhaps. If you like audiobooks, these are great options because often times they are read by the author/subject and I think it’s a great addition to the story. One’s I particularly enjoy are World Travel by Anthony Bourdain and I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy.

Try a classic! The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is short and sweet. The Count of Monte Cristo is long but excellent. Pride and Prejudice!

Perhaps you would also like historical fiction! Kristin Hannah is a powerhouse in the genre. Try The Nightingale, The Women, or The Great Alone.

If you want recommendations closer to your preferred genre of romance I would suggest magical realism! I absolutely love this subgenre. Ashley Poston and Becky Hunter are great.

Becky Hunter

Two If By Sea by Richard McCann an adult thriller you will love!

A Gap In The Sky I think someone mentioned is here already. If you like stories that have emotional intelligence and insight but also fast pace (especially the second part), it's about a woman moving to an lighthouse cottage on a little island, very good read

If you’re open to stepping a bit outside your comfort zone in an emotional way, you might consider my new book Monsieur Monster.
It’s a very character-driven story that explores a relationship that slowly unravels—not through big dramatic twists, but through subtle emotional shifts and the quiet loss of self that can happen over time.

It’s reflective, psychologically focused, and meant to make you sit with the feelings rather than rush through them—so it can feel different if you’re used to plot-heavy or lighter reads.

And now for something completely different ~Monty Python

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G4GFL9D3

why don't you give this poetry book a shot. It explores themes around loss, healing, heartbreak, womenhood, inner peace, self awareness. Peace by Piece

Caryl wrote: "I usually stick to romance and soft thrillers, but this year I really want to read outside my comfort zone and try something completely new! 💫✨

Has anyone got recommendations for books that are a ..."

why don't you give this poetry book a shot. It explores themes around loss, healing, heartbreak, womenhood, inner peace, self awareness. Peace by Piece

Crime and punishment

The Parable of the Sower knocked me out.

Just tried to finally read A Clockwork Orange. Incredible language but couldn’t get through it.

Not a fan of The Vegetarian but loved Clara and the Sun

My Just Remember the Happy Hours.

If you’re stepping out of your reading comfort zone, you might want to try the wolf and the moon: Wicked Grace (Kindle Unlimited). It’s intense, emotionally charged, and very chemistry-driven… the kind of book that pulls you in slowly and then doesn’t let go.