My Favorite Authors for High School Girls - by Ann Weaver

Hi friends! This week I am super excited to share a post by my friend Ann from the blog Where Brook and River Meet! I personally love the blog she co-writes and was honored to write a post for them about organization and mental health. If you would like to read that post, click here.

With that being said, I hope you enjoy this great post about books from Ann! I know I personally got some great ideas of books to add to my TBR.

Ever since I can remember, I have adored reading. I learned to read when I was three, and have never stopped since. My favorite books are fiction, and today I’m going to share with you my top four authors of “girly” books!

Though I have many authors I enjoy, most of them write books suited for both boys and girls. The authors who I will talk about here write specifically for (or from the point of view of) women or girls.

My taste in books is pretty straightforward. For one thing, none of these books really have a big, intriguing plots. They’re sweet and simple, with good endings and a nice story. As you can see in this list of authors, I tend to like books set in bygone eras- I love the culture, manners, and even the outfits in those times!

At the end of each section I did add a little warning about any elements you might want to avoid. (I didn’t mention alcohol use or slight flirting though. Just beware that there is some of that in some of these books.) 

Now, on to the authors, beginning with my top favorite! ​

Janette Oke

Janette Oke is the only living author on this list. She has written over 75 books! Her stories are sweet, simple, and very Christian-based. I really like her style, and love how her books are set in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in the Canadian West. I don’t know much about that setting, and I’ve learned many things from them!

Her most famous work is the Love Comes Softly series, which features a young woman named Marty. The first book deals with her marriage to a man after her first husband was suddenly killed, and the books following are about her life afterward. Some of the books also focus on her daughters. (Also, there is a movie adaptation of some of the books, but I have not watched them and they do not seem to follow the books very well.)

​My favorite books of hers are the Women of the West series. They don’t have to be read in order, as they are each in different settings with completely different characters.

My favorite book from that series is Roses for Mama, a story of a young woman struggling to provide for her younger siblings after her parents died several years before. In each of her stories there is usually some sort of romance- I can only think of one that does not include it in some way.

​However, romance is usually not the main focus of the book; the books often cover a couple of years or focus more on the girl’s life and inner struggles.

Content Warning: In Julia’s Last Hope, there is an unmarried young woman she meets who she later learns is in the middle of an unwed pregnancy. That may be something you may want to avoid. Other than that all of her books are clean. 

Martha Finley

A notable author from the late 1800’s, Martha Finley’s books are based fully on Christian values and beliefs.

For over forty years she sold more books than any other author for young people besides Louisa May Alcott, but she was ignored by many critics and magazines because of how strongly Christian she was. 

Her most popular books are the Elsie Dinsmore books, a series of twenty-eight books. They are about a beautiful 1800s Southern heiress named Elsie Dinsmore and her life as she grows up. By books eight and nine, the story shifts to one of her step-daughters, and continues from her perspective with Elsie still very much in the story. 

She also wrote books that go along with the above series, titled the Mildred Keith series. The books follow Elsie’s distant relative, Mildred Keith, and contain scenes “missing” from the original series that include Elsie.

One thing that some people dislike, however, is that the last book barely mentions either Mildred or Elsie at all. It instead follows a young girl who eventually becomes Mildred’s daughter-in-law. Though this is a bit disappointing, it’s still a very good story.

One thing you have to keep in mind about this series is how confusing the family tree is! It’s based in the 1800s, and many people’s spouses/other family members died, with them having remarried afterwards and causing some confusing relationships. For example, Elsie and Mildred’s relation is that Mildred is Elsie’s father’s mother’s stepsister’s granddaughter! Make sense? No? Good luck! XD

Thankfully, it’s not all dumped on you at once! ​

Content Warning:  Since Elsie is a rich plantation owner, some people may have a problem with the way she or the other characters associate with, talk with, or talk to the slaves/later servants. I personally understand and accept it, as this was how things were at that point of history, and she is always kind to them. However, some may find it difficult and controversial, and I wanted to put that out there. 

Jane Austen

I had to laugh when I read Belle’s recent post where I learned that she doesn’t like Jane Austen, because I already knew that Austen is one of my favorites! I’m glad to hear that she’s been “converted” though! :)

I’ve only read three of her books so far (Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility), but I’ve loved them all.

Pride and Prejudice is my favorite of her books. It’s a definite classic, one that’s been read and revered for over 200 years. The story is about a young woman in a family of five girls who are supposed to marry for money, but is determined to marry for love. 

​Emma is a wonderfully fun book, about a young woman who determines to become matchmaker for her friend despite never wanting to marry herself. In the end, she falls in love, forcing her to realize that love isn’t always how it seems.

Sense and Sensibility is a story of two sisters, practical Elinor and passionate Marianne. The story follows them as they fall in love and become separated for various reasons from the men they have become attached to. In the end, Elinor learns to be a little more open with her feelings, and Marianne learns to slow down and be more sensible. I am very much like Elinor and know people much like Marianne, which, for me, makes the book even more interesting than it already is. 

 Content Warning: As for things to watch out for, in Pride and Prejudice, someone runs off with a man without being married to him, but she marries him later. In Sense and Sensibility, a man is found to have had a child with a woman without having married her, but other than that, these three books are pretty clean.

Isabella MacDonald Alden 

Published under the name Pansy originally, Isabella MacDonald Alden wrote many Christian stories in the 1800’s. She is the aunt of the famous author Grace Livingston Hill, whose books are apparently very good as well.

My favorite book of hers that I’ve read is New Graft on the Family Tree. It’s a story of a young woman named Louise, who marries a young man and goes to live with him at his parent’s home. His family is a very apathetic, hard-hearted sort of family, and she struggles to fit in and follow the Lord’s leading as she attempts to witness quietly to the family each day. 

​Another wonderful story of hers is Ester Reid’s Awakening, a story about a young woman who says she is a Christian, but realizes that she has really just been a Christian in name alone. Her trials are many, and I will tell you that the ending is not at all what I’d expected, but it’s a really good book!

Content Warnings: I cannot think of anything to warn about in either of these books, which are the only two I’ve read so far.  

Have you read any of these author’s works? What did you think of them? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

{all photo credit goes to Ann}

Ann Weaver

Ann Weaver is a homeschooled high-schooler and the head author at the blog Where Brook and River Meet. When she's not reading or writing, she may be baking, spending time with her niece, or scrolling Pinterest for beautiful floral pictures.