Clean, Fast-Paced Novels with Action and Romance

Try these books if you're looking for:

  • clean reads
  • fast pacing
  • some action
  • some romance
Princess of the Midnight Ball 
Jessica Day George
YA F GEORGE
A retelling of the tale of twelve princesses who wear out their shoes dancing every night, and of Galen, a former soldier now working in the king's gardens, who follows them in hopes of breaking the curse. The first in a series.

Ruby in the Smoke 
Philip Pullman
YA F PULLMAN
In nineteenth-century London, sixteen-year-old Sally Lockhart, a recent orphan, becomes involved in a deadly search for a mysterious ruby.

Princess Bride 
William Goldman
YA F GOLDMAN
A classic swashbuckling romance retells the tale of a drunken swordsman and a gentle giant who come to the aid of Westley, a handsome farm boy, and Buttercup, a princess in dire need of rescue from the evil schemers surrounding her.

Grave Mercy 
Robin LaFevers
YA F LAFEVERS
In the fifteenth-century kingdom of Brittany, seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where she learns that the god of Death has blessed her with dangerous gifts--and a violent destiny.

Longbourn 
Jo Baker
F BAKER
Using Pride and Prejudice’s familiar setting and characters, Baker tells a very different story of family, love and self-discovery. Bold and intelligent, Sarah is an orphaned housemaid whose days are filled with hard, body-punishing work.

Sabriel 
Garth Nix
YA F NIX
Sabriel, daughter of the necromancer Abhorsen, must journey into the mysterious and magical Old Kingdom to rescue her father from the Land of the Dead.

Modern Boy YA with Magic

Try these books if you're looking for:

  • teen reads
  • male protagonist
  • good characterization
  • modern settings
Ship Breaker 
Paolo Bacigalupi
YA F BACIGALU
In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl.

Midnight for Charlie Bone 
Jenny Nimmo
YA F NIMMO Charlie #1
Charlie Bone's life with his widowed mother and two grandmothers undergoes a dramatic change when he discovers that he can hear people in photographs talking.

Insignia 
S.J. Kincaid
YA F KINCAID Insignia #1
Tom, a fourteen-year-old genius at virtual reality games, is recruited by the United States Military to begin training at the Pentagon Spire as a Combatant in World War III, controlling the mechanized drones that do the actual fighting off-planet.

Human Interest Nonfiction

Try these books if you're looking for:

  • nonfiction
  • human interest (like Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert)
  • not super sad
  • not explicit
The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels 
Ree Drummond
BIO DRUMMOND
American blogger and food writer Ree Drummond relates the real life story of how she met and married her "Marlboro Man." Her stories about her husband, family, and country living paint a humorous and poignant picture of life on an Oklahoma ranch. This book is one of my favorites (and, yes, I've read it more than once). Humorous writing style and just a good, true story.

Dad Is Fat 
Jim Gaffigan
814.6 GAF 2013
Stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan, who's best known for his legendary riffs on Hot Pockets, bacon, manatees, and McDonald's, expresses all the joys and horrors of life with five young children.

The Answer to the Riddle Is Me: A Memoir of Amnesia 
David MacLean
BIO MACLEAN
"In 2002, at age twenty-eight, David MacLean "woke up" in a foreign land with his memory wiped clean. No money. No passport. No identity. Taken to a mental hospital by the police, MacLean then started to hallucinate so severely he had to be tied down. Soon he could remember song lyrics and scenes from television shows, but not his family, his friends, or the woman he loved. All of these symptoms, it turned out, were the result of the commonly prescribed malarial medication he was taking. Upon his return to the States, he struggled to piece together the fragments of his former life in a harrowing, absurd, and unforgettable journey back to himself." While this does have some sadder elements, the entire journey is fascinating and the writing is beautiful.

Wish You Happy Forever: What China's Orphans Taught Me About Moving Mountains 
Jenny Bowen
362.734 BOW 2014
The founder of Half the Sky Foundation, an organization dedicated to transforming Chinese orphanages and the lives of the neglected girls who live in them, details her relentless perseverance and unwavering commitment to this cause. This seems like it would have the potential to be really sad, but it was actually really inspiring. It made me want to go start a non-profit organization. And adopt Chinese orphans.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress 
Rhoda Janzen
BIO JANZEN
A hilarious and moving memoir--in the spirit of Anne Lamott and Nora Ephron--about a woman who returns home to her close-knit Mennonite family after a personal crisis. This book had a lot to say about personal faith and growth that was very interesting. The first book has a lot of language in it. The second book (Mennonite Meets Mr. Right) does not and details her conversion to evangelical Christianity.

The Boys in the Boat 
Daniel Brown
797.123 BRO 2013
Daniel James Brown's robust book tells the story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. Super inspiring. I listened to this on a road trip and had to keep driving around so I could finish it.