I’ve officially read 100 books this year. Staggering, right? Looking back through the list, there are a few I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. But then there are the amazing ones. The ones everyone should read. Get your TBR lists ready. I’m breaking down the 15 books I rated 5 stars this year.
Random by Tom Leveen
- Genre: Young Adult Fiction
- Year of Publication: 2014
Late at night Tori receives a random phone call. It’s a wrong number. But the caller seems to want to talk, so she stays on the line.
He asks for a single thing—one reason not to kill himself.
Goodreads.com
Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison
- Genre: Mystery
- Year of Publication: 2017
They built a life on lies
Goodreads.com
Sutton and Ethan Montclair’s idyllic life is not as it appears. They seem made for each other, but the truth is ugly. Consumed by professional and personal betrayals and financial woes, the two both love and hate each other. As tensions mount, Sutton disappears, leaving behind a note saying not to look for her.
Room by Emma Donoghue
- Genre: Realistic Fiction
- Year of Publication: 2010
To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world….
Told in the inventive, funny, and poignant voice of Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience—and a powerful story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible.
Goodreads.com
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
- Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
- Year of Publication: 2016
Thou shalt kill.
A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.
Goodreads.com
Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman
- Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
- Year of Publication: 2018
Rowan has gone rogue, and has taken it upon himself to put the Scythedom through a trial by fire. Literally. In the year since Winter Conclave, he has gone off-grid, and has been striking out against corrupt scythes—not only in MidMerica, but across the entire continent. He is a dark folk hero now—“Scythe Lucifer”—a vigilante taking down corrupt scythes in flames.
Goodreads.com
Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody
- Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
- Year of Publication: 2018
Welcome to the City of Sin, where casino families reign, gangs infest the streets…and secrets hide in every shadow.
Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school—and her reputation—behind to follow her mother’s trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted.
Goodreads.com
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
- Genre: Inspirational Fiction
- Year of Publication: 2003
From the author of the phenomenal #1 New York Times bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie, a novel that explores the unexpected connections of our lives, and the idea that heaven is more than a place; it’s an answer.
Goodreads.com
Book of Shadows by Cate Tiernan
- Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
- Year of Publication: 2007
Something is happening to me that I don’t understand.
I see things, feel things in a new way. I can do things normal people can’t do. Powerful things. Magical things. It scares me.
I never chose to learn witchcraft. But I’m starting to wonder if witchcraft is choosing me.
Goodreads.com
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
- Genre: Psychological Fiction
- Year of Publication: 2015
In a dark, dark wood
Nora hasn’t seen Clare for ten years. Not since Nora walked out of school one day and never went back.
There was a dark, dark house
Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare’s hen do arrives. Is this a chance for Nora to finally put her past behind her?
And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room
But something goes wrong. Very wrong.
And in the dark, dark room….
Some things can’t stay secret for ever.
Goodreads.com
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
- Genre: Young Adult Fiction
- Year of Publication: 2014
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.
Goodreads.com
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
- Genre: Literary Fiction
- Year of Publication: 2018
If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?
It’s 1969 in New York City’s Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes.
Goodreads.com
The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
- Genre: Mystery
- Year of Publication: 2017
On a cool June morning, a woman is walking her dog in the idyllic coastal village of Salten along a tidal estuary known as the Reach. Before she can stop him, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick, but to her horror, turns out to be something much more sinister…
The next morning, three women in and around London—Fatima, Thea, and Isabel—receive the text they had always hoped would NEVER come, from the fourth in their formerly inseparable clique, Kate, that says only, “I need you.”
Goodreads.com
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
- Genre: Young Adult Romance
- Year of Publication: 2009
It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.
Goodreads.com
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
- Genre: Mystery
- Year of Publication: 2016
It all started at a dinner party. . .
Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all–a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.
Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they’ve kept for years.
Goodreads.com
Mercy Rule by Tom Leveen
- Genre: Young Adult Fiction
- Year of Publication: 2018
Danny can’t get a fair shake from teachers or his parents, or even Cadence, the wide-eyed bundle of energy he’s falling in love with. Brady pretends to want to be an NFL quarterback, but really just needs a square meal and a roof over his head. Drea knows only one way to make the pain of neglect go away; Vivi feels under siege by girls who don’t like her type; and football star Donte has to quell his affection for the one girl in the entire school he absolutely cannot have while trying to protect Brady from Brady’s own worst impulses.
That’s just the first day.
Mercy Rule follows this diverse cast of authentically drawn teens as they ask the question somehow unique to modern American culture: Can you see me?
Do you see me? Will you see me?
Because if you won’t . . . I’ll make you.
tomleveen.com
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