14 Captivating Novels about Weather, Hurricanes, and Blizzards
Is it just me or have there been a slew of novels about weather recently? From dystopian stories about climate change to thrillers that use blizzards as plot devices, authors are centering more of their books around weather events!
Frankly, I love to see it.
I’ve long been a fan of the weather channel, blame my years growing up waiting to see if school was canceled from the ticker tape of closures running below the news. Or maybe it was the various Babysitters Club Super Specials set against blizzards or hurricanes.
Regardless of why novels about hurricanes, blizzards, and the like are all the rage, I’m happy to see the trend continue! Below you will find thriller books about blizzards, historical fiction hurricane novels, and even a romance about a weather girl!
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Novels about Blizzards and Avalanches
The Sanatorium
Author: Sarah Pearse
Year: 2021
Genre: Mystery
More info: Detective Elin Warner #1 , February 2021 Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
Plot
Oh boy, was this a creepy haunted house book! I wish I had chosen to read it during the wintertime instead of the summer because seeing snow while reading it would have made it that much creepier.
With dead bodies piling up, and a blizzard keeping the guests of the fancy sanatorium-turned-hotel stuck inside, will Elin be able to solve the mystery before she becomes a victim herself?
Why Kirsten loves it
This is such a great blizzard book for mystery book lovers. It is creepy and everything else you want in a thriller and it’s an iconic book to read during a snowstorm!
Find this book in: Fiction Serial Killer Books / Locked Room Mystery / Isolation Book
One by One
Author: Ruth Ware
Year: 2020
Genre: Thriller
More info: #1 New York Times bestselling author
Age Range: 16+
Plot
You would not think getting snowed in at a ski chalet in the French Alps would be bad. After all, there is a beautiful view and full-service food and housekeeping. But when you are stranded with co-workers who each have a reason to want someone dead, the Hotel may no longer be a relaxing place to be stranded. As a creepy thriller, this book is fast-paced and heart-thumping as one person after another winds up dead.
Why Kirsten loves it
As a mystery, I had a problem with the fact that I knew who the killer was from the very beginning. Although there were no surprises for me, this survival thriller had me cringing throughout. If you love novels about blizzards, check this isolation novel out!
Find this book in: Novels about Weather, Hurricanes, and Blizzards / Isolation Books and Thrillers/ Halloween Thriller Books / The Best Winter Books
Cover Your Tracks by Daco S. Auffenorde
The action starts on page one of this wilderness survival story featuring an ex-army officer and a woman who is 8.5 months pregnant.
After an avalanche takes out their train car, they are the last survivors fighting for survival in the snowy mountains. We get to learn more about their backstory and what might actually be drawing them together. My heart was pumping the entire time! I couldn’t put this isolation book down.
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
This is a classic and a must-read on our list of detective books. It’s one of those books that unless you know the ending, you would never guess it. So well-devised, this book is a definite favorite and it all takes place on a train in the middle of a snowy tundra.
Will you be able to guess who the murderer is in this locked room mystery before the famed Hercules Poirot? This is one of my favorite adaptations of the Hercule Poirot books.
Tornado Novels
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Author: Gregory Maguire
Year: 2000
Genre: Fantasy
More info: New York Times Bestselling Author
Tony Award-winning musical, soon to be a major motion picture
Age Range: 14+
Plot
Everyone knows the Wicked Witch of the West but not everyone knows how she became that way. She wasn’t always bad. This is the story of a girl who would grow up to become one of the most hated villains in history. Elphaba is born with green skin and is treated with superstition and dislike. When she enters Shiz University, she is eventually able to make friends
When Elphaba realizes that Animals are being threatened with exile, she tries to protect them. After all, they have voices, minds, thought and opinions as well. Soon she finds herself in a was with the mysterious wizard.
Why Kirsten loves it
I think of Professor Snape from Harry Potter in the same way. If you love witches and root for the bad guys, this book is for you. Like the Broadway play, the movie adaptation of this will be a must-see.
Why Jackie loves it
I grew up watching The Wizard of Oz and could not imagine the Wicked Witch of the West as anything else, until I read this book. This is a brilliantly written book that shows there are always two sides to the story. This is a message that is so strong and remains relevant in our society.
Find this book in: YA Books About Witches / Books Becoming Movies or TV Series / Books Like the Lunar Chronicles / Classic Book Retellings / Adult Books Similar to Harry Potter
Where the Heart is by Billie Letts
December 1998 Oprah Book Club Pick
This book was all the rage in my youth, especially when the movie adaptation came out starring Natalie Portman. It’s about a pregnant young woman who is abandoned by her boyfriend in the middle of nowhere. She ends up having a baby in the Walmart she’s been living in and is welcomed by the whole town.
I read this when I was still a teenager, yet I remember connecting with Novalee over her struggles and fight to protect her daughter. Truly a wonderful story about how your family might just be the community you live in.
Novels about Weather
Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon
I’m an avid weather lover, so this was one of my most anticipated Winter 2022 new releases!
In this romance novel, weather girl Ari teams up with sports anchor Russ to get their feuding bosses back together Parent-Trap style. This sweet and hilarious office romance novel is perfect for a list of books like The Love Hypothesis as well.
Along the way, they kindle sparks of their own! There are lots of fun weather puns, adorable scenarios for both romantic pairs, and love scenes that aren’t for the faint of heart🔥🔥🔥.
The best part of all is that the book deals with REAL life issues like depression, body image, teen pregnancy, and complex families.
L.A. Weather by MarĂa Amparo EscandĂłn
September 2021 Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
This family drama covers a year in the life of the Alvarado family, consisting of Oscar, Keila, and their grown daughters.
So much happens in this book including, infidelity, divorce, fertility issues, kleptomania, a brain tumor, hidden secrets, job losses, and climate change issues. It’s like a full-on telenovela.
The best part for me was the Jewish-Mexican representation. I honestly think this might have been the first Jewish Mexican-American family I have ever read about and I loved it.
The Fury
Author: Alex Michaelides
Year: 2024
Genre: Thriller
More info: Instant New York Times Bestseller
Spice Rating:đź’‹
Age Range: 16+
Plot
While you know within the first chapter that a murder has been committed, the book’s first half is a slow-paced development of the characters, the relationships, and their motives for being the murderer or the victim.
By 60%, the pacing changes into a non-stop action plot with twists and turns around every corner. It reached a furious crescendo that I did not see coming, but Alex’s books tend to do that to me!
Why Kirsten loves it
I loved the settings – mostly gorgeous Greece, sometimes rainy London. I loved the characters (and by loved I mean loved to hate them all.) The book is in journal format and has stellar storytelling. #gifted by Celadon Books
Why Jackie loves it
The audiobook narrator’s reading of this book breathed life into this already fast-paced book. I adored that the book is written like a journal, it makes the story that much better because you are never sure how much to believe!
Find this book in: Isolation Books / Novels About Weather / Best New Thriller Books of 2024/ Epistolary Novels
Novels about Hurricanes
The Night of the Storm by Nishita Parekh
I finished this multi-genre book in one day. I simply couldn’t stop listening (the narrator is tops!). It was a fast-paced ride the entire time – from the hurricane to the family secrets, to the death, it was a shock and surprise around each corner.
Jai is forced to head to her sister’s family home with her son due to Hurricane Harvey. As she hunkers down with her sister Seema, her brother-in-law, his mother, and his brother and sister-in-law, family secrets come out in the most dangerous ways.
From potential affairs to the shocking reason Jai is divorcing her husband, it was a never-ending thrill ride. Add in the tensions between the sisters, Jai’s relationship struggles with her preteen son, and the brother’s drama and you’ve got one hell of a story.
Why we Love it: I love that the author was inspired to write a thriller that starred an Indian family like her own, and that her family and their experience during Hurricane Harvey was the inspiration for this story. #Gifted by PRH Audio
Find this book in Hurricane Novels / Locked Room Mystery / Family Drama / Best New Thrillers of 2024
The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
December 2022 GMA Book Club Pick
Set in the not-so-distant future, this dystopian novel describes a world where climate change is wreaking havoc on our planet.
Wanda is born during her namesake hurricane, to a mother who dies on the same night. As Wanda grows, she has to deal with the worsening landscape of a world dying around her. As she tries to survive, she also navigates relationships with loved ones and the surrounding community.
Why I Like it: I’ve never read a dystopian novel that hit so close to home. With the climate crisis at a breaking point, this felt like reading about an inevitable future.
Find this book in Thought-Provoking Books / Best Books for Book Clubs / Dystopian Novels
Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
The Little Beach Street Bakery #2
The continuation of Jenny Colgan’s Little Beach Street Bakery series is another hit. I loved the continuation of Polly, Huck, and Neil’s story. Polly gets fired from the bakery and needs to figure out a new business plan.
We get to catch up with all the lovable characters in the small Cornish town, see inside Polly’s new lighthouse home and have delectable bakery items described throughout. This is one of the novels about weather that use a climate event as a major plot point.
No Judgments by Meg Cabot
This is one of the novels about weather that uses a hurricane as a major plot focus. Bree has gotten over her ex, so she thinks riding out a hurricane will be no problem until she learns about all the pets separated from their owners on her little island.
It was so easy to read with the perfect amount of love story and animal rescue.
The writing isn’t deep but has more to it than I thought it would when I picked it up. This book is the perfect “rom-com” and is a perfect example of a forced proximity trope.Â
Historical Fiction Novels about Hurricanes
The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton
Book 3 of the Perez family series was different from the rest, because there wasn’t a particularly big Cuban storyline. Instead, it’s the story of three women impacted by a fierce Hurricane that hit the Florida Keys.
One woman, Mirta Perez, is on her honeymoon, one is a local, and one is in the Keys to save her family fortune. Their lives intertwine throughout the disastrous holiday weekend.
My Thoughts: Well, I was not expecting this doozy of a book. Chanel Cleeton’s Cuba book series is wonderful, but this one left me with mixed feelings.
I love the Florida Keys setting of this story and the elements of the hurricane in this novel. I was not expecting the domestic abuse one woman experiences (I mention this as it might be a trigger for some,) and while I liked most of the plots, I wasn’t a fan of the mobster storyline. Still, it was a fun read for a stormy summer day at the beach.
Find this book in Hurricane Novels / Beach Reads 2021 / Chanel Cleeton Books
Montauk by Nicola Harrison
I anticipated a lighthearted read, but this book had more soul than I was expecting! Set in 1938 in Montauk among the glamorous world of Manhattan’s summering elite, it was full of secrets and romance.
It’s like a historical fiction version of an Elin Hildebrandt book with romance and personal growth as our heroine discovers true love in a sleepy beach town.
Why I Like it: I shed a few tears at the ending, which surprised me! There is a short, not-so-graphic rape scene – so if that’s a trigger for you, steer clear. Otherwise, I applaud this debut and recommend it for your beach bag!
Find this book in Seaside Books / Hurricane Novels / Books Like People We Meet on Vacation / Books Set in New York
The Levee by William Kent Krueger
This novella, exclusively done as an audiobook, brings to life a dangerous few days at a home on the Mississippi River during an epic flood in 1927. As the river swells around them, the inhabitants of the home and those sent to save them fight for power, money, love, and survival.
Why I Liked it: The audiobook narrators swept me into the story so thoroughly, I was convinced that I too was living through a hellish rainstorm. Krueger’s writing is magnificent and the fast-paced story had me finishing the tale in one sitting.
