Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Addie is waiting for normal. But Addie's mom has an all-or-nothing approach to life: a food fiesta or an empty pantry, jubilation or gloom, her way or no way. All or nothing never adds up to normal. All or nothing can't bring you all to home, which is exactly where Addie longs to be, with her half sisters, every day. In spite of life's twists and turns, Addie remains optimistic. Someday, maybe,... (more)

Someone Like You (reissue)

by Sarah Dessen

There is this girl named Halley who has a best friend who name is Scarlett and Scarlett is the one who is good with the guys and more out going and Halley is the more laid back and if in need asks Scarlett for advice. But a couple months ago Scarlett's boyfriend died in a motorcycle accident and a couple months after he died Scarlett found out she was pregnant with his baby. Her mother was trying to convince her... (more)

Madapple

by Christina Meldrum

THE SECRETS OF the past meet the shocks of the present. Aslaug is an unusual young woman. Her mother has brought her up in near isolation, teaching her about plants and nature and language—but not about life. Especially not how she came to have her own life, and who her father might be. When Aslaug’s mother dies unexpectedly, everything changes. For Aslaug is a suspect in her mother’s death. And the more her... (more)

Everything Is Fine.

by Ann Dee Ellis

Stuck at home caring for her severely depressed mother and abandoned by her father, Mazzy has only the day-to-day dramas of her neighborhood to keep her busy. But between flirting with the boy next door and worrying about the fact that she's flat-chested, Mazzy has to face the fact that her mom is emotionally paralyzed by a family tragedy. As readers delve into the story, they'll eventually discover what it was... (more)

Orange Mint and Honey: A Novel

by Carleen Brice

“A wonderful, jazzy, exciting read.” –Nikki Giovanni, author of Acolytes Broke and burned-out from grad school, Shay Dixon does the unthinkable after receiving a “vision” from her de facto spiritual adviser, blues singer Nina Simone. She phones Nona, the mother she had all but written off, asking if she can come home for a while. When Shay was growing up, Nona was either drunk, hungover, or out with her latest... (more)

Sweeping Up Glass

by Carolyn D. Wall

1938: Olivia and the boy, Will’m, run Harker’s Grocery and live in the cold-water kitchen behind the store. Money is scarce; business is bad. Out back, Pap is buried near the outhouse, and Olivia’s crazy mother Ida is living in a tarpaper shack. For 30 years, Olivia has loved Wing Harris, who plays a mean trumpet and owns the Kentuckian Hotel. For decades, they’ve shared only howdies at Ruse’s Café. This may be... (more)

Outside Beauty

by Cynthia Kadohata

"My mother had four daughters by four different men." There's only one way Shelby and her sisters can describe their mother: She's a sexpot. Helen Kimura collects men (and loans, spending money, and gifts of all kinds) from all over the country. Sure, she's not your typical role model, but she's also not just a pretty face and nail polish. She is confident and brave; she lives life on her own terms, and her four... (more)

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies

by Mick Cochrane

For an eighth grader, Molly Williams has more than her fair share of problems. Her father has just died in a car accident, and her mother has become a withdrawn, quiet version of herself. Molly doesn’t want to be seen as “Miss Difficulty Overcome”; she wants to make herself known to the kids at school for something other than her father’s death. So she decides to join the baseball team. The boys’ baseball team.... (more)

The Writing on My Forehead: A Novel

by Nafisa Haji

From childhood, willful, intelligent Saira Qader broke the boundaries between her family's traditions and her desire for independence. A free-spirited and rebellious Muslim-American of Indo-Pakistani descent, she rejected the constricting notions of family, duty, obligation, and fate, choosing instead to become a journalist, the world her home. Five years later, tragedy strikes, throwing Saira's life into... (more)

Missing Mom: A Novel (P.S.)

by Joyce Carol Oates

Nikki Eaton, single, thirty-one, sexually liberated, and economically self-supporting, has never particularly thought of herself as a daughter. Yet, following the unexpected loss of her mother, she undergoes a remarkable transformation during a tumultuous year that brings stunning horror, sorrow, illumination, wisdom, and even&#8212from an unexpected source&#8212a nurturing love.

Home Again: A Novel

by Kristin Hannah

At the center of Home Again is Madelaine, a brilliant cardiologist, a loving mother, a tender friend, a woman full of self-doubt. It is the story of her daughter, Lina, a confused and angry rebel and of the two very different men Madelaine loves: Francis, a priest searching for his faith, and Angel, a talented, but cynical man. When tragedy brings them together again, they must learn to forgive the betrayals of... (more)

Seaside

by Terri Blackstock

Two grown daughters are together with their mother on a secluded Florida beach in search of the perfect photograph of the three of them, but the daughters discover that their mother has much more than that to share with them.

Hot Shot

by Elizabeth Phillips, Susan Elizabeth Phillips

SHE JUMPED ON THE BACK OF A BAD BOY'S HARLEY AND FOLLOWED HIS RENEGADE DREAM.... In a single, impulsive act, Susannah Faulconer, the daughter of one of the country's most powerful industrialists, follows her heart and finds herself severed from her family and everything familiar. As a cool San Francisco socialite, she'd known exactly how to behave, but now she's a lone woman in a world of men...and there's no... (more)

The House at Sugar Beach: A Memoir

by Helene Cooper

Helene Cooper is "Congo," a descendant of two Liberian dynasties -- traced back to the first ship of freemen that set sail from New York in 1820 to found Monrovia. Helene grew up at Sugar Beach, a twenty-two-room mansion by the sea. Her childhood was filled with servants, flashy cars, a villa in Spain, and a farmhouse up-country. It was also an African childhood, filled with knock foot games and hot pepper soup,... (more)

Takeoffs and Landings

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

A journey to the center of their hearts Ever since their father's sudden death eight years ago, Chuck and Lori's mom has spent most of her time on the road as a motivational speaker, leaving them and their younger siblings in the care of their grandparents. But this trip is different; this time, their mother has invited Chuck and Lori along in an attempt to reconnect with her eldest -- and now most distant --... (more)

Far from the Tree

by Virginia Deberry, Donna Grant

Celeste English and Ronnie Frazier are sisters, but they couldn't be more different. Celeste is a doctor's wife, living a perfect and elegant life. But secretly, she is terrified: her marriage is falling apart and her need to control the people around her threatens to alienate her entire family. And Celeste allows no one to see how vulnerable she really is. Ronnie is an actress, living in New York. Her life,... (more)

Passin'

by Karen E. Quinones Miller

Shanika Ann Jenkins is the pride of her African-American family; smart, beautiful, and born with blue eyes and blonde hair. Though her grandmother and father are happy because she represents years of passing down light skin and marrying well, Shanika's mother insists on her name reflecting her African-American heritage so that she will always be proud of who she is. When Shanika gets the opportunity to work for... (more)

The Mother-Daughter Book Club

by Heather Vogel Frederick

The book club is about to get a makeover.... Even if Megan would rather be at the mall, Cassidy is late for hockey practice, Emma's already read every book in existence, and Jess is missing her mother too much to care, the new book club is scheduled to meet every month. But what begins as a mom-imposed ritual of reading Little Women soon helps four unlikely friends navigate the drama of middle school. From... (more)

The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them (Thorndike Basic)

The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them (Thorndike Basic)

by Amy Dickinson

" The Mighty Queens of Freeville is great American storytelling at its best. A tale of promise postponed and scrappy survival, Amy Dickinson's glorious triumphs are like rabbits pulled out of a hat, one after another after another. Full of hope and humor and big simple truths, it is a story told with grace and without a trace of cynicism. This is a book you will love and one you will be truly sad to finish." ... (more)

Stretch Marks: A Novel

by Kimberly Stuart

An earth-conscious, yoga-practicing twenty-something is forced to face her estranged relationship with her mother in this comic yet poignant novel about moms and daughters. Mia Rathbun is an overworked and underpaid Chicago social worker who belongs to PETA and recycles the tops of pizza boxes. Her boyfriend, Lars, is a free-spirited freelance writer (read: mooch) who disdains the conventions of marriage but is... (more)

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Tags: mother/daughter relationships

by Leslie Connor