This post was originally published on Audible.com.
Nicholas Sparks is a bestselling and widely beloved author of contemporary fiction—23 novels and counting! His stories about complicated relationships, unexpected love, loss, sacrifice, and rediscovery are written in a descriptive, emotional, and earnest style. There’s no other author exactly like Sparks, but if you’ve already made your way through his catalog and you’re looking for more listens of similar appeal, here are eight other outstanding fiction authors you might enjoy.
Leesa Cross-Smith
Nicholas Sparks deals with difficult subject matter through empathetic writing, and the same can be said of Leesa Cross-Smith, an author who self-identifies as an INFJ (an Introversion, iNtuition, Feeling, and Judging personality type). Her acclaimed works of fiction, including This Close to Okay, explore grief, loss, family, and most importantly, hope.
There's no better introduction to Cross-Smith's signature themes and style than her award-winning debut novel, Whiskey & Ribbons. Evi, a classically trained ballerina, was nine months pregnant when her husband, Eamon, a police officer, was killed on the job. Looking to heal from this incredible loss and rebuild her family, Evi invites Eamon’s adopted brother, Dalton, to move in with her and help raise her son. The story is told through three interwoven narratives, and each narrative gets its own narrator (Larry Heron, Joe Bearor, and Tunisia Hardison) to bring the characters to life.
Josie Silver
In his stories about true love and tragic loss, Nicholas Sparks explores these sensitive subjects with tenderness and hope. Josie Silver, a British author who previously wrote rom-coms under the name Kat French, brings a similar warmth and hopefulness to her exploration of the emotional aftermath of loved one's death in her novel The Two Lives of Lydia Bird.
At 28, Lydia is devastated when her fiancé, Freddie, is killed in a car accident. After months of holing up and sobbing, she takes the first tentative steps to try to embrace life again—partly because she knows Freddie would want her to be happy. But just as she begins to move on, Lydia is pulled through a mystical doorway into the life she could have had with Freddie. Praised by listeners as "beautifully sensitively written" and "inspiring," The Two Lives of Lydia Bird blends fantasy elements with a full range of genuine emotions.
Jojo Moyes
Another author who excels at complicated and bittersweet love stories is Jojo Moyes. A British novelist, Moyes credits Jane Austen and Jonathan Tropper as major influences on her work. But with stories that tug at the heartstrings and offer an optimistic perspective on seemingly hopeless situations, it’s easy to make the comparison to Nicholas Sparks as well.
While Moyes has written several successful novels, the one she’s best known for is Me Before You. It revolves around the challenging relationship between Louisa Clark, a small-town girl craving adventure, and Will Traynor, the acerbic, newly wheelchair-bound ex-Master of the Universe who hires her to take care of him. The audiobook is narrated by a full cast of actors, including Susan Lyons, Anna Bentink, Steven Crossley, Alex Tregear, Andrew Wincott, and Owen Lindsay, and it's the first in a trilogy.
Tif Marcelo
If you’re more in the mood for a heartwarming story like the ones Nicholas Sparks does superbly, you might just fall for Tif Marcelo. A veteran army nurse, Marcelo writes novels about love and relationships that also focus on the strength of family and friendship. As she has shared, her strong bond with her military hero husband and her four children has been a major inspiration for her work.
The perfect starter, The Key to Happily Ever After follows three sisters who run a wedding planning business. While all three are working very hard to keep their business up and running, they’re also pursuing their own happily-ever-afters. Earphones Award-winning narrator Cynthia Farrell skillfully captures Marcelo's gift for pairing laughter and romance with a story that affirms the importance of family.
Rebecca Serle
An American novelist, Rebecca Serle is also a television writer, whose notable work includes co-developing the Freeform series Famous in Love. While Serle's writing tends to be a bit more surreal, her subject matter should appeal to fans of Nicholas Sparks.
Serle’s latest release, In Five Years is a love story with an unexpected twist. Dannie Kohan is a planner. In fact, her entire life has been planned out, and that makes her perfectly happy. She’s got the job she wants, she’s engaged to the man she chose, and everything seems to be going according to her carefully laid-out plan. She falls asleep content, but the next morning she awakes to find herself five years in the future—in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a different man. Megan Hilty narrates and, despite the fantastical circumstances, makes Dannie feel very real.
Audrey Niffenegger
While we’re on the subject of time travel, we have to also acknowledge author Audrey Niffenegger. Like Nicholas Sparks, Niffenegger’s works focus on love, both romantic and familial, with an emphasis on emotion.
Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife is a beloved bestseller for a reason. Clare and Henry have known and loved one another since Clare was six. However, Henry met Clare when he was 36. And when they married, Clare was 23 and Henry was 31. How is this possible? Henry has something called Chrono-Displacement Disorder, which means that he often finds himself misplaced in time. Fred Berman and Phoebe Strole narrate this moving love story, and Audible listeners have praised their performances as fully embodying the characters, as if it were Henry and Claire telling their own story in their own voices.
Terry McMillan
For those who love the joyous and hopeful moments of Nicholas Sparks's novels, you’ll also fall for Terry McMillan. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, McMillan is well-known for her ability to get deep into her characters' thoughts and emotions and for celebrating the transformative moments in life.
While Terry McMillan has many wonderful novels to choose from, try her latest, It’s Not All Downhill From Here. Loretha Curry has an amazing group of friends, a booming beauty-supply business, and a husband who still surprises her. But on the eve of her 68th birthday, Loretha finds herself needing to prove to the world around her—and to herself—that her life still has meaning. Then an unexpected loss shatters her world. As Loretha struggles to find the determination to pursue joy in the face of seemingly insurmountable grief, she draws on the strength of her friends. The audiobook is narrated by the author herself.
Helen Hoang
In some of his novels, Nicholas Sparks explores how relationship are particularly complicated for people living with a disability. If you have a soft spot for his uniquely challenged characters, then you’ll love Helen Hoang's novels too. Hoang was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in line with what was previously known as Asperger’s Syndrome. Her personal journey and her passion for love stories inspired her first novel, The Kiss Quotient.
The Kiss Quotient is about 30-year-old Stella Lane, a woman who thinks in algorithms and mathematical equations. And yet no equation has helped her figure out love and dating. So to get in a little bit of practice, Stella hires escort Michael Phan to help educate her in the ways of love. This quirky love story is delivered perfectly through the lively narration of Carly Robbins, an accomplished narrator of contemporary fiction who knows just how to make humorous scenes funnier and sexy scenes steamier.
