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Top 9 Biggest Movie Franchises Based on Books!
Belle Burden has the goop scoop about Gwyneth Paltrow’s newest role.
Just three months after Burden’s memoir Strangers was released, it was confirmed that her best-seller about the sudden end to her two-decade marriage and her journey through heartbreak would be coming to life on Netflix—with Paltrow stepping in to play the author. And that is a reality Burden is still wrapping her head around.
“We met in person, and we also met over Zoom, and I just think she's wonderful,” she told E! News in an exclusive interview at Amazon Books’ Literary Lounge event celebrating Amazon’s Best Books of the Year So Far on June 10. “She really understood the book, she really connected with it emotionally, and I think she'll take great care of it.”
That the Strangers movie also marks Paltrow’s first starring role in well over a decade—her last lead role was 2010’s Country Strong—is not lost on her.
“I think it's so exciting that she's returning to acting,” Burden emphasized. “I thought she was amazing in Marty Supreme, so I'm really excited about her playing the part. It's a great honor, really. I can't quite believe that she is playing me.”
For the 56-year-old, this whole experience surrounding Strangers has been a whirlwind—and not just because she had anticipated a “quiet” release. In fact, there was a time when detailing her painful breakup in a 2023 New York Times Modern Love essay was the furthest she expected to share her story.
“After it came out, two editors contacted me and said, ‘This should be a book,’” recalled Burden, noting that, at the time, a confidante’s reaction was, “‘Well, you're not going to do that. The Modern Love is enough, right? You're stopping now.’”
Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
In this New York Times bestseller, author Belle Burden revisits the love and loss of her 20 marriage and subsequent heartbreak. Read it before it hits the small screen.
@Oprah/TikTok; Photo by Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
“I was like, ‘No, actually, I'm going to write a book. I have so much more to say,’” she continued, “and I realized in that moment that I really, really wanted to write a book—a full-length piece about this experience.”
And the timing ended up being kismet for the mom of three.
“I think I started writing at exactly the right point, because I had some distance from it to have some perspective,” she noted, “but I also was close enough that I could feel the emotions and remember the details and the sort of texture of that time.”
Beyond diving deep into “how you structure a book, and how you build suspense and create characters,” Burden found a way to articulate her truth without letting the outside noise in.
“I think the hardest part of it really is to write without fear and not think so much about how individual people are going to receive it—especially people who are in the book—and worry about that later,” she explained. "So, I really tried to put fear aside, and it was emotional—the whole process was emotional—but I also enjoyed it.”
The Oprah Podcast/YouTube
In the six years since her then-husband—the pseudonym James in the book is for her ex Henry Davis—abruptly announced during the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown that he wanted a divorce, Burden has been able to turn over the devastating events and find a cathartic point of clarity.
“It was so painful, and I wanted more than anything in life to have an intact family,” she told E!. “I was very much in love with my husband, so it feels really surprising to say this, but I am glad it happened, because I would never be in this place.”
And, Burden shared, “I would never have discovered myself as a writer again. I would never be in charge of my life in the same way—having financial autonomy, just feeling very sure in my personality, having this strength that I really did not know was there. So, I'm grateful for it now.”
Although it may be a cliché, she emphasized that it’s true, “Sometimes everything has to fall apart in order to really create something new.”
Among that something new for Burden is a place at No. 4 on Amazon’s Best Books of the Year so Far list. “It's really humbling and exciting and wonderful to hear from readers around the world that they see themselves in the book in some way,” she said. “And to be added to this list in the company of other authors on this list is so wonderful. I'm really honored.”
That fans can’t get enough of her memoir means even more as Burden admitted there was one key element that left her worried about people feeling “unsatisfied.”
“I don't find an answer, really. My ex-husband does not provide one, and I don't find one, and we worried about that,” she explained, adding how she now sees the benefit in that lack of a clean conclusion. “I think that's a piece that people really connect to, because I think in life, often in relationships or friendships, you don't get an answer as to why they end, and I think that that resonates with people.”
For more books that are making waves, keep reading...
Avon
The Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker
Release: May 19
Raeve and Kaan’s story continues in the second installment of Sarah J. Parker’s Moonfall series.
While everyone’s favorite bristly, assassin-with-a-cause has more memories at her disposal in the sequel to When The Moon Hatched, whether she utilizes them is up to Raeve and Raeve alone. But as ghosts—remembered and new—from her and Kaan’s pasts begin to threaten their future, she’ll need to embrace her most painful moments in order to secure the life she’s always deserved.
Plus, there’s the threat of a moonfall—the biggest and most devastating Raeve’s world has ever seen—looming on the horizon.
Crown
Phoebe Berman's Gonna Lose It by Brooke Averick
Release: May 26
After captivating TikTok with her candid pop culture takes and love of romance, Averick is officially shifting into BookTok with this heartfelt love story. On the cusp of her 30th birthday, Phoebe Berman has just one objective: Lose her virginity. The obsessively organized teacher must confront the debilitating anxiety that has prevented her from dating—and untangle her dynamics with three men in her life.
Berkley
The Open Era by Edward Schmit
Release: June 2
Is it too on the nose to say Schmit has aced this debut? Still, the sentiment stands. Austin Hardy is under enough pressure making his US Open debut. Being the first openly gay man to play in a Grand Slam only ups the stakes. Further complicating the dynamic is his new friendship—or something more—with no. 2 in the world Diego Cruz. This sweet queer love story set in the world of tennis is the perfect addition to the sports romance genre.
Harper
Whistler by Ann Patchett
Release: June 2
Patchett’s reputation precedes her enough that just seeing her name on the cover means you’re in for a moving, captivating work of literature. And The Whistler is no different. When Daphne and her husband visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she has a chance encounter with Eddie, her former stepdad whose presence loomed large on her life. After reconnecting, they look back at their time together, the catalyst for his divorce from her mom and how it shaped the years that followed.
Berkley
The Summer Girlfriend by Kristina Forest
Release: June 9
Get ready to fall in love in a sweet a New Jersey beach town. Noelle Lewis is ready to take her love for books to the next level and become a librarian. That is, once she earns enough money to go back to college and then get her Master’s. Until then, she’s hustling in every way she can, including as a bridesmaid for hire. Jeremiah Smith, however, needs a girlfriend to bring to his family beach home for his first visit since his grandfather’s death. So, they strike a deal: She’ll pretend to be his girlfriend for a weekend, and he’ll make a massive contribution to her tuition fund. What could go wrong?
Grand Central Publishing
The Missed Connection by Tia Williams
Release: June 9
Williams’ is ready to have you dreaming of first-class and that coveted airplane meet-cute. After meeting the perfect man on the flight to Paris but forgetting to exchange names before casting director Sasha Cruz sets out on a journey to track him down. And beyond inadvertently enlisting the company she’s leading a new campaign for, she hires Wes, a private detective from her past help her find her probable soul mate. That is, until sparks begin to fly between her and Wes.
Berkley
The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston
Release: June 16
Sophie moves to coastal Maine to take on the role of head gardener of the eccentric, once-storied Lilymoor House. However, she soon discovers an odd, intriguing and new feature of the house in the form of a door leading to a secret garden. The catch: The door never appears in the same place twice and there is a man stuck there. With the future of Lilymoor in the balance, she must team up with the trapped man, not to mention the Lilymoor owner’s newly arrived nephew to help it thrive once more.
Tiny Reparations Books
Names Have Been Changed by Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
Release: June 23
Keeping her real identity hidden, international thief Ophir launches a podcast, where she details her life of crime. But beyond regaling listeners with tales of crisscrossing the world, snatching up one priceless item at a time, she also details the more vulnerable side effects to living a life on the run.
St. Martin's Press
Crash Into Me by Robinne Lee
Release: July 7
Lee’s novel The Idea of You has been a must-read for romance writers—not to mention a movie starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine. And now, the author is back with a different kind of story. In the novel, Cecelia Chen is at a crossroads in her life as a wife and mom when she reunites with a woman from her past. As they revisit their time together, Cecelia must reckon with all that has been weighing on her—her career, family, experience as a middle-aged Jamaican Chinese woman in America.
Random House
Country People by Daniel Mason
Release: July 7
North Woods firmly put Mason on the map—even landing him on the Pulitzer Prize short-list. Now, he’s back, with Country People which follows Miles and his wife Kate as they relocate to Vermont for her visiting lecturer role at a prestigious college. Looking to find a place for himself, he soon becomes enmeshed with a group of odd locals who seem straight out of his beloved folktales. And after learning about some local lore, it becomes clear that maybe his reality is stranger than fiction.
Scribner
Helpless by Jessica Knoll
Release: July 7
After her beloved film teacher dies, actress-turned -producer Faye Heron returns to her college town for the funeral, where she reunites with her ex-boyfriend Henry Spalding, who broke her heart and inspired her star-making episode of TV. So, it’s no surprise when a seemingly cordial encounter ends with her being drugged and kidnapped to his remote family cabin, giving them a chance to relitigate their past—and get to the bottom of the secrets that have been lurking under the surface for more than a decade.
Del Rey
The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Release: July 14
In the latest from the mastermind behind Mexican Gothic, a con artist with a penchant for robbing lonely women out of their fortunes in 1940s Mexico hits a roadblock with his latest mark when he meets her niece. Desperate to flee the confines of her aunt’s home, she proposes they join forces. However, as feelings get in the way, their plan goes increasingly more complex—until it threatens to spiral out of control.
Dutton
The Unknown by Riley Sager
Release: August 4
It’s not a summer reading list without a little scare. Actress Marin Keene has landed her breakout role. Except there is a caveat: The role requires her to spend a week on a remote island where a group of women vanished a century ago.
And, it just so happens that she is starring in a movie based on those events told through the diary of one of the women. Unnerved yet? Well, so Marin is, and it only takes a turn when just like before, people start going missing.
Avon
The Magic We Made by Meg Cabot
Release: August 11
Cabot’s latest Witches of West Harbor love story will put a spell on you—quite literally. Frankie and Ash couldn’t be more opposite. She’s a therapist who is annoyed with her town’s increasing popularity as a witchy destination. Ash has magical abilities that sometimes go awry. After witches flocking to their town begin disappearing, the pair team up to find them, and, well, some magic may just happen.
Crown
Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty
Release: August 25
Not only is Liane Moriarty back with her first ever sequel, but she’s serving up another dose of the most chaotic mom group in fiction. Set a decade after Big Little Lies, the book catches readers up with Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie as they face their latest challenge: parenting teenagers. However, old secrets are threatened when someone begins asking about the past, and they must contend with whether the truth can really stay hidden. If that isn’t thrilling enough, Big Little Truths is the source material for season three of Big Little Lies, so time to start preparing those cold little hearts.
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