Books like “North and South”

What to read after “North and South” by Elizabeth Gaskell: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Boyfriend Material
Alexis Hall · 2020
Similar plot moves: “Grumpy Sunshine” and “Slow Burn”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Slow Burn
Disgraced rock star's son Luc needs a respectable boyfriend to save his job, and buttoned-up barrister Oliver needs a date for his parents' party. They agree to fake a relationship for a few weeks, but the arrangement keeps blurring into real affection.
2
Get a Life, Chloe Brown
Talia Hibbert · 2019
Similar plot moves: “Grumpy Sunshine” and “Slow Burn”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Slow Burn
Chloe, who lives with chronic pain and a careful routine, draws up a list of things she wants to do to get a life. To tick off the first item she asks Red, the tattooed handyman who looks after her building, for help, and their cautious friendship deepens into more.
3
Gone with the Wind
Margaret Mitchell · 1936
Same genre: “Romance”
Spoiled Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara sees her world torn apart by the American Civil War. Determined to rebuild her family's plantation and her fortune, she schemes and marries her way through the ruins of the Old South, chasing a man she cannot have.
4
Twice Shy
Sarah Hogle · 2021
Similar plot moves: “Grumpy Sunshine” and “Slow Burn”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Slow Burn
Maybell inherits her great-aunt's crumbling house in the Smoky Mountains, only to learn the grouchy groundskeeper Wesley is a co-inheritor with very different plans. Forced to renovate together, the dreamer and the shy, scowling loner slowly find in each other the safety they have always wanted.
5
Bet Me
Jennifer Crusie · 2004
Similar plot moves: “Grumpy Sunshine” and “Enemies to Lovers”
Minerva overhears her ex-boyfriend bet the charming Cal that he can get her into bed within a month, so she accepts his dinner invitation to turn the tables. The sceptical actuary and the commitment-shy businessman keep colliding through meddling friends and sheer bad luck, resisting an attraction neither of them wants.
6
The Hating Game
Sally Thorne · 2016
Similar plot moves: “Grumpy Sunshine” and “Enemies to Lovers”
Lucy and Joshua are assistants at the same publishing house, forced to share an office while competing for one promotion. Their open hostility and elaborate office games hide an attraction neither will admit, until a single reckless moment changes the rules between them.
7
Written in the Stars
Alexandria Bellefleur · 2020
Similar plot moves: “Grumpy Sunshine” and “Enemies to Lovers”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Enemies to Lovers
Astrologer Elle sets her sceptical friend Darcy up on a blind date that ends in disaster. To appease Darcy's brother they pretend the evening went well, then keep fake-dating through the holidays, even as real feelings complicate the act.
8
Two Wrongs Make a Right
Chloe Liese · 2022
Similar plot moves: “Grumpy Sunshine” and “Enemies to Lovers”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Enemies to Lovers
When their mutual friends keep scheming to set them up, prickly artist Bea and reserved doctor Jamie decide to fake a whirlwind romance to teach the matchmakers a lesson. The plan works too well once genuine attraction gets involved.
9
Beach Read
Emily Henry · 2020
Similar plot moves: “Grumpy Sunshine” and “Slow Burn”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Slow Burn
Romance writer January and literary novelist Gus become summer neighbours in a lakeside town, both blocked and both skeptical of each other's genre. They make a bet to write in the other's style and slowly trade barbs for late-night talks, discovering the grief and hope behind their different worldviews.
10
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen · 1813
Similar plot moves: “Enemies to Lovers” and “Slow Burn”
- Enemies to Lovers
- Slow Burn
Elizabeth Bennet has little patience for the proud Mr Darcy, whose fortune and manners make him an easy target for her wit. Their sparring slowly gives way to a truer understanding as family scandal and society threaten to keep them apart.
11
Fangirl
Rainbow Rowell · 2013
Similar plot moves: “Grumpy Sunshine” and “Slow Burn”
Cath starts college separated from her twin sister for the first time and takes refuge in writing fan fiction. Between a new roommate, a classmate who keeps showing up, and her father's struggles, she slowly learns to live beyond her stories.
12
Things We Never Got Over
Lucy Score · 2022
Similar plot moves: “Grumpy Sunshine” and “Slow Burn”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Slow Burn
Naomi arrives in the small town of Knockemout to help her estranged twin, who promptly robs her and leaves her stranded with the young niece she never knew she had. With no car, job, or home, she turns for help to Knox, the town's grumpy, bearded barber, who claims he wants nothing to do with anyone but keeps turning up as she starts over.