Some links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you choose to follow them—at no extra cost to you. It helps keep Growls & Grimm running.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Books About the People We Choose to Keep
Some stories take the word family and turn it into something different, sometimes something more palatable than what the word traditionally means. Family can be found. It can be built from the people we choose to surround ourselves with or discovered in a sense of belonging we didn’t know we were missing.
However, these characters find their way there, each story asks something similar: when given the choice, who do we choose to keep?
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
Vanja knows better than to believe anything is freely given, including love. When the otherworldly mothers who raised her demand a terrible price for their care, she decides to take control of her own future by stealing someone else’s life.
Unfortunately, that decision comes with a curse, a deadline, and an increasingly strange collection of people complicating her escape. Vanja has spent a long time believing she is better off looking out for herself. She doesn’t realize that some of the people she has to fool, evade, and reluctantly work beside may also be exactly what she has been looking for.
Add this one to your shelves through Better World Books or Amazon.
Bonfire and Bliss Bookstore by Brittanee Nicole
After a very public failed engagement, Penny Darling is done with love. She has Bonfire and Bliss Books, plenty of fictional boyfriends, and very little interest in adding another messy human relationship to the equation.
Then there is Monty. What begins with pretend kisses starts becoming something considerably harder to dismiss. For Penny, choosing someone again means risking the possibility of being hurt again. Sometimes the people we keep aren’t the ones who simply appear in our lives; they’re the ones we decide are worth making room for when keeping everyone safely outside would be easier.
Add this one to your shelves through Better World Books or Amazon.
A Curious Kind of Magic by Mara Rutherford
Everyone in Ardmuir knows Willow Stokes is a charlatan, and Willow isn’t exactly arguing with them. Her father’s shop hasn’t contained real magic in decades, and she’s been keeping it alive with fake charms, questionable magical objects, and a considerable amount of nerve.
Then Brianna arrives carrying the very thing Willow has been pretending to sell: real magic. Their bargain sends Willow, Brianna, and a printer’s assistant searching for something Willow believed she needed, while putting her beside people capable of seeing more than the charlatan everyone expects her to be. Sometimes finding where you belong begins with finding the people who see you differently.
Add this one to your shelves through Better World Books or Amazon.
Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig
Elspeth and Ravyn have nearly everything they need to cure the dark magic infecting their kingdom. What they don’t have is the final Providence Card or much time to find it. Getting there means relying on the Nightmare, the monster sharing Elspeth’s mind, who would very much prefer not to share anymore.
This is the darker edge of choosing who we keep. Alliances aren’t always comfortable, companions aren’t always chosen under ideal circumstances, and sometimes moving forward means trusting the people or monsters beside us anyway.
Add this one to your shelves through Better World Books or Amazon.
These stories approach belonging from very different places, but each comes back to choice. Who we trust. Who we make room for. Who we allow to see us. And sometimes, who we choose to keep is the very thing that gives us a reason to keep moving forward.
Turn this list into your next reading ritual → Seasonal Tracker
Explore more curated reading rooms → Library
Looking for more like the list
Explore more books in this theme:
Better World Books | Amazon | Book Outlet
Loved the feeling these books created?
Explore a curated collection of books, décor, stationery, and cozy finds inspired by this list.
Explore the Inspired Collection
The Letter
A seasonal note from Growls & Grimm
Join the letter
If you’re building your next reading stack, you can follow along with everything I’m reading (and what’s actually worth it) here:
→ Goodreads + StoryGraph
And if you want to wander the shelves a little longer, the seasonal reading rooms and themed stacks live here:
→ Pinterest