Clean Romantic Suspense

Read these books if you're looking for:

• romantic suspense
• clean read
• strong plot
• female protagonist

Rebecca 
By Daphne Du Maurier
F DU MAURIER
A classic novel of romantic suspense finds the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter entering the home of her mysterious and enigmatic new husband and learning the story of the house's first mistress, to whom the sinister housekeeper is unnaturally devoted. 

Pride and Prescience 
By Carrie Bebris
MYSTERY BEBRIS Mr & Mrs #1
Just after their wedding, the newlywed hero and heroine of Pride & Prejudice become involved in a bizarre mystery involving wedding guest Caroline Bingley, who has become engaged to wed a wealthy, charismatic American. 

My Brother Michael 
By Mary Stewart
MYSTERY STEWART
Camilla Haven and her mysterious companion are plunged into a deadly adventure as they search Delphi for the truth implied in a letter Simon’s brother, Michael, had written before his death. 

A Killing Frost 
By Hannah Alexander
ROMANCE ALEXANDE
Haunted by a terrible secret, Dr. Jama Keith returns to her hometown of River Dance, Missouri. After the young niece of her former fiancé Terell Mercer is abducted, the search puts Terell and Jama in peril. 

All Through the Night 
By T. Davis Bunn
F BUNN
A young lawyer named Tatanya hires Wayne Grusza, who has a background in special-ops, to investigate whether her wealthy employer has been visited by an angel or is the target of a hoax, and, as he attempts to solve the mystery, Tatanya and her boss battle unknown enemies.

Three Memoirs and Three Westerns

Try these books if you're looking for:

• memoirs
• westerns

A Natural Woman: A Memoir 
By Carole King
BIO KING 2012
This book is a memoir by the iconic singer-songwriter chronicling her story from her beginnings in Brooklyn through her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed musical talents, to her present day as a leading performer and activist. 

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--A Love Story 
By Ree Drummond
BIO DRUMMOND 2011
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 warm and touching picture of life on an Oklahoma ranch. 

The Glass Castle: A Memoir 
By Jeannette Walls
BIO WALLS 2005
The child of an alcoholic father and an eccentric artist mother discusses her family's nomadic upbringing, during which she and her siblings fended for themselves while their parents outmaneuvered bill collectors and the authorities. 

Close Range: Wyoming Stories 
By Annie Proulx
F PROULX
Annie Proulx is an award winning author and a journalist. Her "westerns" are not typical at all--nevertheless they are evocative and beautifully written stories of the West featuring compelling characters, bleak landscapes, and interesting storylines. 

All the Pretty Horses 
By Cormac McCarthy
F MCCARTHY
McCarthy is a literary Western author whose psychological stories focus on characters. The stories are invariably set in the Southwest and are often both picturesque and bleak. This story features John Grady Cole and a friend who head across the Texas border into Mexico looking for adventure. 

Cold Mountain 
By Charles Frazier
F FRAZIER
Frazier skillfully captures the landscapes and mindset of 19th-century America, with evocative details of the mountains, farmland, and frontier wilderness of rural North Carolina and its inhabitants' rough, melodic speech. This story, winner of the 1997 National Book Award, tells of Inman, a Civil War soldier who escapes from a war hospital in 1864 and starts walking to Cold Mountain.

Adventurous historical fiction/escape to other worlds

Try these books if you're looking for:

• adventure
• historical
• romance
• new worlds

Maid of Fairbourne Hall 
By Julie Klassen
ROMANCE KLASSEN
Margaret is set to receive an inheritance on her next birthday. Her stepfather wants to make sure the money stays in the family. In desperation, Margaret disguises herself as a maid and runs away. She finds work at Fairbourne Hall, the home of not one but two of her former suitors. Can she manage not to be recognized until her birthday and what will her heart tell her to do? Likeable characters and an enjoyable plot. 

Violins of Autumn 
By Amy McAuley
YA F MCAULEY
Lying about her age, Betty, alias Adele, becomes a Special Operations Executive and parachutes into France to serve as a courier for the French Resistance. Adele is well-trained but nothing can prepare her for the dangers of spying. There’s a good mix of adventure, suspense and a bit of romance. Adele is a well-developed protagonist and she is accompanied by good supporting characters. 

The Summoning 
By Kelly Armstrong
YA F ARMSTRON
When teenaged Chloe starts seeing ghosts, she is sent to Lyle House, a group home for mentally disturbed youth. Making both friends and enemies there, she discovers there is something strange about the home and its inhabitants. Fast moving and twisty plot with solid characters. First in the Darkest Powers series. 

Inspirational Magical Realism

Try these books if you're looking for:

• inspirational
• magical realism

Kafka on the Shore 
By Haruki Murakami
F MURAKAMI
Murakami is a master storyteller, capable of blending the real and surreal with ease. In this specific story a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, runs away from home in order to escape a prophesy and finds that his fate intertwines with that of an old simpleton, Nakata. Murakami is known for his intricate plots, incredible imagination, and ability to play with reality. 

Midnight’s Children 
By Salman Rushdie
F RUSHDIE
In Rushdie’s now classic tale, Saleem is born on the stroke of midnight as India gains its independence. Part of a band of children endowed with exotic magical powers, Saleem’s winding saga mirrors that of his country. Rushdie’s creative, evocative language and epic storylines will appeal to fans of other magical realism heavyweights, such as Marques’ One Hundred Years of Solitude. 

All the Names 
By Jose Saramago
F SARAMAGO
Senhor José works as a clerk in his city’s central registry and lives an insipid life until he becomes obsessed with a mysterious record of an anonymous woman. His obsession takes him on a journey of metaphysical and personal discovery. Saramago has perfected the skills of telling strange, uplifting tales in sparse, beautiful prose. 

Like Water for Chocolate 
By Laura Esquivel
F ESQUIVEL
In this inspiring story of love and family, Esquivel bends reality around the feminine arts of cooking and housekeeping. Through reading about the romantic tragedy of the main characters, the reader unconsciously learns about turn of the century Mexican culture. 

Life of Pi 
By Yann Martel
F MARTEL
Pi finds himself a lone survivor of a shipwreck with a 450 pound Bengal tiger as a traveling companion. His 227 day trip across the sea is recounted twice: once as an irrational, impossible tale, and again as a mundane story of survival. The reader is left to find the real story for himself.

YA Action Fantasy

Try these books if you're interested in:

• YA action fantasy
• male hero
• good vs. evil

Hero 
By Mike Lupica
YA F LUPICA
Fourteen-year-old Zach learns he has the same special abilities as his father, who was the President's globe-trotting troubleshooter until "the Bads" killed him, and now Zach must decide whether to use his powers in the same way at the risk of his own life. 

Mister Monday 
By Garth Nix
YA F NIX Keys #1
Although Arthur Penhaligon is supposed to die, he is saved by a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock, and now some bizarre creatures--including Mister Monday, his avenging messengers, and an army of Fetchers--will stop at nothing to get the key. First book in the Keys to the Kingdom series. 

The Amulet of Samarkand 
By Jonathan Stroud
YA F STROUD Bartiame #1
Nathaniel, a magician's apprentice, summons up the djinni Bartimaeus and instructs him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful magician Simon Lovelace. First book in the Bartiameus Trilogy. 

The Hunchback Assignments 
By Arthur G. Slade
YA F SLADE Hunchbac #1
In Victorian London, fourteen-year-old Modo, a shape-changing hunchback, becomes a secret agent for the Permanent Association, which strives to protect the world from the evil machinations of the Clockwork Guild. First book in the Hunchback Assignments series. 




You might also like to try these titles of heroes that fight against evil without powers:

• The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen 
• Dark Life by Kat Falls
• Foundling by D. M. Cornish 
• Keeper of the Grail by Michael P. Spradlin.

Fantasy with Strong Female Characters/Mysteries

Try these books if you're looking for:

• strong female lead characters
• other worlds
• unpredictable endings
• lyrical writing styles
• mysteries

A Great and Terrible Beauty 
By Libba Bray
YA F B RAY Gemma Do #1
After the suspicious death of her mother in 1895, sixteen-year-old Gemma returns to England, after many years in India, to attend a finishing school where she becomes aware of her magical powers and ability to see into the spirit world. The book involves a mysterious world with unpredictable characters and the series has been listed as having an unpredictable ending as well. Definitely involves adventures in other worlds as well as time. The main character is a strong female lead and is involved in just enough romance to be intriguing. 

The Language of Flowers 
By Vanessa Diffenbaugh
F DIFFENBA
Like Jamie Ford’s, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, this is an adult novel written for the enjoyment of young adults as well. This book weaves past and present, creating a portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past. It is listed as a psychological fiction book and has elements of surprise and is written with a lyrical style. 

Her Forbidden Knight
By Rex Stout
MYSTERY STOUT
Rex Stout writes intricate plots with character driven mysteries. A motley gang of gentlemanly ne'er-do-wells hangs about in the lobby of Manhattan's Lamartine Hotel, casting ardor-filled glances at beauteous Miss Lila Williams and regaling each other with tales of their impressive -- and mostly fictional -- exploits. “Stout transports readers back to a time when the world seemed more innocent, a man's good name was a valuable asset, and happily-ever-after was a reasonable goal ” (Booklist).

Great adventure stories

Try these books if you're looking for:

• adventure stories
• great plot
• read like Jack London

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower 
By C.S. Forester
F FORESTER Hornblow #1
Young Horatio Hornblower leaves his home at seventeen to begin a life in His Majesty’s Navy, learning the trade while serving his country in the French wars and the Spanish wars. 

Sitka 
By Louis L’Amour
LP F LAMOUR
Jean LaBarge, drawn by the beauty and strength of Sitka, the gateway to Alaska, takes on the dangers of the distant land, but the men who control Sitka move to destroy him, sparking a fight in which Jean attempts to win Alaska for America. 

Pirate Latitudes 
By Michael Crichton
F CRICHTON
English Captain Charles Hunter and his crew of ruffians sail from colonial Jamaica to infiltrate a Spanish-controlled port, commandeering the galleon El Trinidad and its fortune in gold after a bloody battle. 

Captains Courageous 
By Rudyard Kipling
F KIPLING
Harvey Cheyne, the son of a millionaire, learns lessons about life, responsibility, determination, and self-reliance when, saved from drowning by a fishing schooner, he is forced to share the life and hard work of his rescuers. 

King Solomon’s Mines 
By H. Rider Haggard
F HAGGARD
A bold elephant hunter journeys to an unknown land in search of fabled lost treasure. But terrible dangers threaten anyone who approaches the wonderful diamond mines of King Solomon. This great African adventure novel is an enduring favorite among those who love excitement and romance.

Teen Action/Thriller Novels

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Teen novels
• Action/thriller reads
• Harry Potter/Hunger Games-type reads

Witch & Wizard 
By James Patterson
YA F PATTERSO Witch #1
Torn from their parents in a society increasingly controlled by the government, 15-year-old Wisty and her older brother, Whit, are incarcerated in a totalitarian prison where they discover they have incredible supernatural powers. 

Paranormalcy 
By Kiersten White
YA F WHITE Paranorm #1
Evie, the only known human with the ability to see through supernatural "glamours," works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency tracking down dangerous creatures. But when a mysterious shape-shifter invades the IPCA and brings news of a string of paranormal murders, things start to heat up. 

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You 
By Ally Carter
YA F CARTER Gallaghe #1
As a sophomore at a secret spy school and the daughter of a former CIA operative, Cammie is sheltered from "normal teenage life" until she meets a local boy while on a class surveillance mission. 

Sabriel 
By Garth Nix
YA F NIX Abhorsen #1
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. 

Graceling 
By Kristin Cashmore
YA F CASHMORE
In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

Contemporary Adult Romance/Mystery, Witty, with Happy Endings

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Contemporary adult romance
• Contemporary adult mystery
• Books with witty banter
• Books with believable love stories
• Intriguing/humorous reads
• Good character development
• Happy endings
• Reads like: Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Sophie Kinsella, Tami Hoag
• e-books

Manhunting 
By Jennifer Crusie
ROMANCE CRUSIE
After three failed engagements, successful businesswoman Kate Svenson comes up with a definitive plan for finding the man of her dreams by snaring an eligible bachelor at The Cabins resort, but as her would-be swains begin to drop around her, Jake Templeton decides to save the world of men from this dangerous femme fatale. 

All Night Long 
By Jayne Ann Krentz
ROMANCE KRENTZ
Irene Stenson returns to her hometown to find that her best friend has died suddenly, compelling her to extend her stay at a local lodge, where she and the hazel-eyed owner risk far more than local gossip to uncover the truth. 

Austenland 
By Shannon Hale
F HALE
Because her obsession with Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice," is ruining her love life, Jane Hayes is delighted when she gets the chance to take a trip to a n English resort catering to Austen-crazed women. 

The Surgeon 
By Tess Gerritsen
MYSTERY GERRITSEN Rizzoli #1
A female heart surgeon, terrorized by a serial killer in Boston using the same MO as a killer who attacked her during her internship years in Savannah, works with a detective to solve the crime while trying to stay alive. 

The Face of Deception 
By Iris Johansen
MYSTERY JOHANSEN Eve Dunc #1
Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan is persuaded by billionaire magnate John Logan to reconstruct the face of an adult murder victim. It turns out to be a very dangerous job as she is left in a specially equipped lab in rural Virginia. Surveillance cameras are everywhere, the phones are tapped and Logan himself acts at once ruthless, charming and desperate.

Meaningful/Thought-Provoking Books

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Meaningful books
• Thought-provoking books

Peace Like a River 
By Leif Enger
F ENGER
The quiet 1960s midwestern life of the Land family -- father Jeremiah, and children, Reuben, Davy and Swede -- is upended when Davy kills two teenage boys who have come to harm the family. On the morning of his sentencing, Davy escapes from his cell and the Lands set out in search of him. Their search is at once a heroic quest, a tragedy, a love story, and a haunting meditation on the possibility of magic in the everyday world. 

Kira-Kira 
By Cynthia Kadohata
YA F K ADOHATA
Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill. 

Homeless Bird 
By Gloria Whelan
YA F WHELAN
When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it. 

Sold 
By Patricia McCormick
F MCCORMIC
When she is tricked by her stepfather and sold into prostitution, thirteen-year-old Lakshmi becomes submerged in a nightmare where her only comfort is the friendship she forms with the other girls, which helps her survive and eventually escape. 

Charms for the Easy Life 
By Kaye Gibbons
F GIBBONS
A tale of three generations of North Carolina women that has charmed readers from coast to coast. Their men may come and go -- but for Margaret, Sophia and Charlie Kate, the hopes, hurts, large losses and small victories are the stuff that bind family together.

Character-driven, Plot-focused Downloadable E-books

Try these books if you're looking for:

• compelling plot
• focus on characters
• available as downloadable audiobook

The Night Circus 
By Erin Morgenstern
F MORGENST
A fierce competition is under way between two young magicians who have been trained since childhood to compete in "a game," where each must use their powers of illusion to best the other. As they begin to fall in love they don’t realize that the game is actually a duel to the death. 

Caleb’s Crossing 
By Geraldine Brooks
F BROOKS
Growing up amid a band of pioneers and Puritans, Bethia yearns for an education that is closed to her due to her gender. At twelve, while out exploring the island, she encounters Caleb, the young son of a native chieftain . The two forge a friendship that draws each into the world of the other. 

Kabul Beauty School 
By Deborah Rodriguez
305.4869 ROD 2007
Deborah went to Afghanistan in a humanitarian aid group but felt her skills as a hairdresser weren’t as useful as those of others. Yet she had a gift for befriending Afghans, and once her profession became known she was sought out by Afghan women . These women shared with Rodriguez their lives, giving her the strength to leave her own unhealthy marriage and allow herself to love again. 

Wild: FromLost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail 
By Cheryl Strayed
BIO STRAYED 2012
A powerful, blazingly honest, inspiring memoir: the story of a 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe -- and built her back up again. 

Eat,Pray, Love 
By Elizabeth Gilbert
BIO GILBERT 2010
Traces the author's decision to quit her job and travel the world for a year after suffering a midlife crisis and divorce, a journey that took her to three places in her quest to explore her own nature and learn the art of spiritual balance. Audiobook narrated by the author herself.