Top 5 All-Time Favorites

In no particular order, here are my all-time favorites, of all the books I've ever read. Not surprisingly (at least to me), they are all YA Fiction, a genre in which I basically spend all my time, although I'm finding that Neil Gaiman's fantasy is something I really enjoy, so maybe I'll read more of his work and pieces like his. Without further ado . . .

1. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Summary: Cath, an avid Simon Snow fanfiction writer, is crushed when her twin sister wants to have a different college experience than she does. So Cath gets a roommate who doesn't want a roommate and she blindly goes throughout college at the beginning. Then Cath and her roommate Reagan realize that the other isn't so bad so they start hanging out, including Reagan's boyfriend Levi. Trying to balance her new friends, her twin sister's freshman year drinking problems, her dad's empty-nest syndrome and finishing her Simon Snow fanfiction story before the last book in the series is published proves hard for Cath until she realizes that she's just one person.

I loved this book because I related to it a lot as a writer and as a reader. I loved how Cath loved her sister because I love my sister just as much and would do everything Cath did because I felt like Cath was my fictional counterpart.

I would recommend this book to any fangirl or fanboy (you know who you are!), especially those who love Harry Potter because Simon Snow is sort of the Harry Potter of Cath's world. Also, I would say readers of Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor and Park might like Fangirl if they liked Rainbow Rowell's writing in Eleanor and Park.

 2. The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry
 Summary: Natalie is about to graduate from her small Kentucky high school and is going to be off to college in just three months, but once she gets an ominous message from a visitor she's had since she was young called Grandma about having only three months to save "him", Natalie starts to wonder who she needs to save instead of how much more money she needs for college tuition. A week or so after this message, she sees a boy that nobody else can, named Beau. Between trips to NKU to talk to psychologist Alice Chan about seeing the wrong things, including Beau and Grandma and seeing Beau, Natalie and the boy she's supposed to save start to piece together that they don't live in the same world. After this realization, Natalie's confused as how to save him. Combining her knowledge of the stories Grandma's told her when she was younger with what she knows now, she realizes that saving Beau could lead to something fatal for her.
I loved this book because I like the fantasy that was woven into the story, and all the authentic stories told within it. I also loved the setting, a small town in Kentucky but also an alternate dimension of that small town, because I liked what each side offered. It was also written so whimsically it was hard to not fall in love.
I would recommend this book to readers who like a fantasy element to a realistic story. I would also recommend this book to people who like Anna-Marie McLemore's works because I think the concept of their blending magic into a realistic setting are similar. (See my review of Anna-Marie McLemore's The Weight of Feathers below!)

 

 3. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Summary: Where to begin? This book is written from two point of views: 12-year-old Noah's and his twin counterpart four years later, 16-year-old Jude. Except at Jude's point in time, they aren't "counterparts." Something has happened in the four year period and Jude doesn't elaborate, so throughout the book, the reader is trying to figure out what happened that would make Jude and Noah behave as they do when they're 16. Hints are given at 12-year-old Noah's parts of the story and even in Jude's parts the reader can guess, but it's really the reader that's going through and trying to find out what happened to Jude and Noah and how they reacted to it which brought them to where they are now. 

I loved this book because I loved the mystery of it from beginning to end and the "fairytale ending" of it. Also, I loved the writing and how poetic and beautiful it was. I liked how as soon as one of twin's chapters became interesting and when I felt on the brink of something, the point of view switched so I was sitting on top of something I was guessing while trying to figure out if that guess was correct. 

I would recommend this book to readers who like poetic language and a bit of mystery. I also recommend to people who don't mind POV changes, and can keep track of what happens between switches. People who like LGBT+ protagonists might also enjoy this. Overall, I recommend this book to people who want a little mystery in their life and then a nice "tied up with a bow" feeling at the end.

4. The Start of Me and You: Emery Lord
Summary: This book is a starting over story. Paige's boyfriend died two years before and she finally feels ready to get back on her feet. Before the start of the new school year, she decides to make a list of all the things she wants to accomplish that she thinks will make her feel okay. Two of the most important things are swimming again (her late boyfriend drowned and ever since Paige has been afraid of the water) and dating someone new, namely Ryan Chase, her longtime, and now single, crush. With the help of her oldest and best friends, and Ryan Chase's new-to-town cousin, she accomplishes all the things on her list . . . kinda.
I loved this book because whenever I think about it, I remember loving all the characters. The whole book felt real to me, like it could have happened to my sister, and the best friends of the book felt like they were my own. Ever since reading this, I've been trying to replicate the best friends feeling in some of my own writing because that's what I think the book did the best at: making the best friends feel like they're the readers. There's no crazy backstabbing or anything like that, which makes the best friends more real to me, because no true friend would betray Paige in a time when she's starting over. That's what I really loved most about this book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who's read other Emery Lord books because I personally think this one is her best. I also recommend to people who like starting over stories and feel-good stories.

5. The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore

Summary: This book is a Romeo-and-Juliet love story. The Palomas and the Corbeaus have been competing with each other for as long as Lace and Cluck have been alive. Both entertainers and both looking for a way to get the most audience attendance and money, they've raised their children on the basis that the other family has dark magic and if they ever touched a member of the other family they'd be cursed forever. When Lace Paloma is left in the forest between the two families' residences, she's caught in an acid rain storm and Cluck, without knowing who she is or what she's doing, saves her, but that leaves her cursed. When her family finds out, they kick her out of the Paloma family, so Cluck takes her in, without letting his family know that she's a Paloma. Trying to hide a secret that big while battling internally about why the families are really competing sets Lace and Cluck on a journey they had no idea they were going to go on.

I loved this book because it is magical realism, which is sort of what Emily Henry's The Love That Split the World is. Magical realism is where elements of magic are blended with a very real setting and story to make a different sort of reality. It was a really different reading experience and I found that I really liked it. I think having read this lead to reading The Love That Split the World. I also liked the Romeo and Juliet aspect of it, because I really love that story. The way it ended was also great, so even if someone starts reading this and they don't like it (and that person would be CRAZY), I think they should just keep going because of how great the ending is. 

I would recommend this book to people who like magical realism and people who like the idea of it. I also recommend to people who've read The Love That Split the World or want to.