Some Well-Crafted Fiction

Try these books if you're looking for:

• fiction with well-crafted plots and characters
• stories that don't feel rushed but have a planned pace
• inspiring fiction
• YA fiction
• clean reads

Dragon's Milk 
By Susan Fletcher
YA F FLETCHER Dragon_C #1
Kaeldra, an outsider adopted by an Elythian family as a baby, possesses the power to understand dragons and uses this power to try to save her younger sister who needs dragon's milk to recover from an illness.

A Wizard of Earthsea 
By Ursula Le Guin
YA F LE GUIN Earthsea #1
A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world as an apprentice to the Master Wizard.

Dragonsong 
By Anne McCaffrey
YA F MCCAFFRE Harper #1
Forbidden by her father to indulge in music in any way, a girl on the planet Pern runs away, taking shelter with the planet's fire lizards who, along with her music, open a new life for her.

Shadow Spinner 
By Susan Fletcher
YA F FLETCHER
This historical novel takes the reader back to Persia during the Middle Ages. It is the story of Marjan, forced to join the Sultan’s harem as she helps Shahrazod gather new stories to entertain the Sultan, thus saving Shahrazod’s life. The story introduces the reader to the fear-filled lives of women during the time, focusing on those kept behind the harem’s closed doors.

Realistic Fiction

Try these books if you're looking for:

• realistic stories from everyday life
• focus on characters and relationships
• Read like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and How to Be an American Housewife

The House I Loved 
By Tatiana de Rosnay
F ROSNAY
Determined to protect her historical family home from Emperor Napoleon's orders to renovate 1860s Paris, Rose Bazelet establishes a defense in the basement of her house on rue Childebert and records her experiences in letters to her late husband. Also available as a downloadable eAudiobook.

The Language Inside 
By Holly Thompson
YA F THOMPSON
Raised in Japan, American-born tenth-grader Emma is disconcerted by a move to Massachusetts for her mother's breast cancer treatment, because half of Emma's heart remains with her friends recovering from the tsunami.

I'll Be Seeing You 
By Suzanne Hayes
F HAYES
With their husbands away fighting in the war in January 1943, Rita Vincenzo and Glory Whitehall have only their cross-country correspondence to keep them going.

Gilead 
By Marilynne Robinson
F ROBINSON
As the Reverend John Ames approaches death, he writes a letter to his son revealing uncomfortable family secrets. Also available as a downloadable eAudiobook.

Young Adult Adventures

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Teen reads
• Adventure books
• Clean reads
• Read like J.K. Rowling, Rick Riordan, Orson Scott Card, Lois Lowry, Madeleine L'Engle, Suzanne Collins

Hero and the Crown 
By Robin McKinley
YA FICTION MCKINLEY
Aerin never knew her mother, who passed away shortly after Aerin’s birth. The Kingdom needed a new hero, but there was no male heir. No one suspected that Aerin was destined to be the true hero who would earn her place in her father’s court by defeating dragons and battling evil sorcerers. Well-wrought epic fantasy.

Peter and the Starcatchers 

By Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
YA FICTION BARRY
This terrific story is a prequel to Peter Pan. The reader is introduced to Peter—an orphan—who sails from England on the ship Never Land. On board he meets Molly, a young Starcatcher, whose mission is to guard a trunk of magical stardust from a greedy pirate and the native inhabitants of a remote island. A fast, fun read.

I Hated Heaven: A Novel of Love After Death 
By Kenny Kemp
FICTION KEMP
Tom and April are a young, married couple. Tom is a religious believer but April is not. Tom suffers an accident at work and on his deathbed he promises that he will somehow let April know if there is life after death. Heaven turns out to be nothing like he expected: he’s issued a cell phone, a day planner, and sent to classes such as “basic paradise skills”. Tom risks his soul to keep his promise to April. This is a delightful read with some unexpected twists and turns.

Graceling
By Kristin Cashore
YA FICTION CASHORE
Throughout the Seven Kingdoms are Gracelings—persons with special abilities ranging from the mundane to the magical. Katsa is a Graceling with a dangerous and exploitable grace—a gift for killing. Struggling to find her place in the world, Katsa learns that the Graces are not always what they seem. Part fantasy and part romance, Graceling features a vivid world and meticulously crafted characters.

Modern, Urban Lit

Try these books if you're looking for:

• chick lit
• urban lit
• modern settings
• some mystery

Still Life 
By Joy Fielding
F FIELDING
Casey Marshall had everything, a successful business, great husband, friends, until...a car smashes into hers. Waking up in a hospital unable to move or speak, she observes some curious things. Is it possible her "friends" are not whom they claim to be and maybe her accident was not actually an accident. Joy Fielding has the ability to create well defined relatable characters plus keep the plot twisting and the reader in suspense.

After All These Years 
By Susan Isaacs
MYSTERY ISAACS
Rosie Meyers, 47 is a high school English teacher. The day after her 25th wedding anniversary party, her husband announces that he is leaving her for another woman. Later Rosie finds him dead in the kitchen stabbed with a butcher knife. Rosie becomes prime suspect. In hopes of proving herself innocent, Rosie goes on the lam before police can arrest her. Friendships and characters are believable, especially the feisty and witty Rosie.

Crossing Places 
By Elly Griffiths
MYSTERY GRIFFITH Ruth Gal #1
Thirty-something forensic archeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway lives in remote Norfolk, England along with her 2 cats. When the bones of a child are found in a marsh, Galloway is called in to help. Are the bones from the decade old cold case that the Chief still gets taunting letters about or are they ancient bones? Outspoken Galloway gets drawn into the case when another child goes missing.

Coldest Winter Ever 
By Sister Souljah
F SOULJAH
This urban novel is the first for Hip-hop star Sister Souljah. Laced with the ruthlessness and tragedy that the drug world can bring, it tells a rough coming of age story about Winter Santiaga and her family.

Teen Reads, Fantastic Worlds

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Teen books
• Fantasy worlds
• Recent publications

The Winner's Curse 
By Marie Rutkoski
YA F RUTKOSKI
An aristocratic girl who is a member of a warmongering and enslaving empire purchases a slave, an act that sets in motion a rebellion that might overthrow her world as well as her heart.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown 
By Holly Black
YA F BLACK
When seventeen-year-old Tana wakes up following a party in the aftermath of a violent vampire attack, she travels to Coldtown, a quarantined Massachusetts city full of vampires, with her ex-boyfriend and a mysterious vampire boy in tow.

Death Sworn 
By Leah Cypess
YA F CYPESS Deathswo #1
When a young sorceress is exiled to teach magic to a clan of assassins, she will find that secrets can be even deadlier than swords.

The Rithmatist 
By Brandon Sanderson
YA F SANDERSO
As Wild Chalklings threaten the American Isles and Rithmatists are humanity's only defense, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice.

These Broken Stars 
By Amie Kaufman
YA F KAUFMAN Starboun #1
"Two star-crossed lovers must fight for survival when they crash land on a seemingly uninhabited planet"-- Provided by publisher.

Fast-Paced Fantasy Fiction

Try these books if you're looking for:

• fast pacing
• fantasy fiction
• emphasis on character building
• emphasis on world building

Finnikin of the Rock
By Melina Marchetta
YA F MARCHETT Lumatere #1
Now on the cusp of manhood, Finnikin, who was a child when the royal family of Lumatere was brutally murdered and replaced by an imposter, reluctantly joins forces with an enigmatic young novice and fellow-exile, who claims that her dark dreams will lead them to a surviving royal child and a way to regain the throne of Lumatere.

A Wizard of Earthsea
By Ursula K Le Guin
SCI - FI LE GUIN Earthsea #1
During a spell recalling the dead, the boy Sparrowhawk, a sorcerer's apprentice, unwittingly unleashes evil on the land. He grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world.

Graceling
By Kristin Cashore
YA F CASHORE Gracelin #1
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.

Mortal Engines
By Philip Reeve
YA F REEVES Hungry C #1
In the distant future, when cities move about and consume smaller towns, a fifteen-year-old apprentice is pushed out of London by the man he most admires and must seek answers in the perilous Out-Country, aided by one girl and the memory of another. 

The New Policeman
By Kate Thompson
YA F THOMPSON New Poli #1
Irish teenager JJ Liddy discovers that time is leaking from his world into Tir na Nog, the land of the fairies, and when he attempts to stop the leak he finds out a lot about his family history, the music that he loves, and a crime his great-grandfather may or may not have committed.

New Chick Lit

Try these books if you're looking for:

• chick lit
• new releases (last 2 years)
• female characters

Great Aunt Sophia's Lessons for Bombshells 
By Lisa Cach
F CACH
Agreeing to be a companion to her elderly former actress great-aunt, frumpy Ph.D. student Grace becomes the center of her great-aunt's Pygmalion-style project to transform her into an empowered and desirable woman.

Chose the Wrong Guy, Gave Him the Wrong Finger 
By Elizabeth M. Harbison
F HARBISON
Running away with her fiance's brother after he convinces her that he loves her more and that the man she was about to marry has been unfaithful, Ashley Barton takes a job at a bridal shop when the ensuing relationship also fails, a situation that leads to an explosive confrontation 17 years later.

Beautiful Day 
By Elin Hilderrand
F HILDERBR
Gathering on Nantucket for a wedding planned to the letter by the bride's late mother, the Carmichaels and the Grahams hide their scandal-ridden, crumbling lives from the blissfully unaware, happy couple.

Don't Go 
By Lisa Scottoline
MYSTERY SCOTTOLI
Fleeing home from his military service in Afghanistan when his wife dies in an apparent freak household accident, Dr. Mike Scanlon struggles with the tragedy, his inability to bond with his new baby daughter and a downsizing in his medical practice only to discover a shocking secret that changes his understanding of everything.

Home Safe 
By Elizabeth Berg
F BERG
After the death of her husband, Helen Ames is shocked to discover that he spent their retirement savings before he died, but what he did with their money leads Helen and her twenty-seven-year-old daughter Tessa to embark on new adventures.

Books that Suck You In!

Try these books if you're looking for:

• well written
• engaging
• adventure
• Adult/YA fiction

Unbreakable 
By Kami Garcia
YA F GARCIA
Kami Garcia is the author of descriptive, world-building urban fantasy books for teens. Garcia paints vivid pictures of worlds in which evil forces threaten good, and magic exists in the form of supernatural powers, including witches. That romance is an additional thread is part of the sizzle which makes these books irresistible. Hopefully this meets your criteria to not want to put the book down!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone 
By Laini Taylor
YA F TAYLOR
Laini Taylor writes deliciously dark urban fantasies that are mysterious, unconventional, seductive, and have a way of seeming both ancient and new. Mostly writing for teens (but also tweens, as in her Dreamdark novels about the fae), Taylor takes great care in describing her settings, whether they are real, entirely invented, or a combination of the two. Taking her time to tell complex tales of fierce, outsider heroines, she's an author who equally satisfies fans of artistic imagery and vivid action scenes.

The Thousand Dollar Tan Line 
By Rob Thomas
F THOMAS Veronica #1
The first book in an original mystery series featuring twenty-eight-year-old Veronica Mars, back in action after the events of Veronica Mars: The Movie. With the help of old friends--Logan Echolls, Mac Mackenzie, Wallace Fennel, and even Dick Casablancas--Veronica is ready to take on Neptune's darkest cases with her trademark sass and smarts. The narration and main character or reminiscent of Stephanie Plum in Janet Evanovich's books.

Impossible 
By Nancy Werlin
YA F WERLIN
Nancy Werlin writes taut, nail-biting thrillers. At the center of a suspenseful Werlin novel is a teenager isolated and in peril. Whether it involves murder, kidnapping, family secrets, or parental abuse, her protagonists move through imminent danger to self-discovery and understanding. Along the way, she keeps her readers on the edge of their seats. She has dark plots and strong characterizations.

Teen Action Thrillers

Try these books if you're looking for:

• action
• thrillers
• YA books

The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die 
By April Henry
YA F Henry
She doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know where she is, or why. All she knows when she comes to in a ransacked cabin is that there are two men arguing over whether or not to kill her. And that she must run. Follow Cady and Ty (her accidental savior turned companion), as they race against the clock to stay alive.

Insomnia 
By J.R. Johansson
YA F JOHANSSO Night Wa #1
Sixteen-year-old Parker Chipp spends his nights experiencing other people's dreams and getting no rest, so when he discovers that new friend Mia's dreams are different he becomes fixated on her until memory blackouts lead him to question exactly what their relationship is.

Grave Mercy 
By Robin LaFevers
YA F LAFEVERS His Fair #1
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.

Coming of Age Stories

Try these books if you're looking for:

• coming of age stories
• action
• adventure
• heart
• relationships

Touching Spirit Bear 
By Ben Mikaelsen
YA F MIKAELSE
After his anger erupts into violence, Cole, in order to avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based on the native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan Island where an encounter with a huge Spirit Bear changes his life.

Code Talker 
By Joseph Bruchac
YA F BRUCHAC
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.

Power of One 
By Bryce Courtenay
F COURTENA
Follows Peekay, a white British boy in South Africa during World War II, between the ages of five and eleven, as he survives an abusive boarding school and goes on to succeed in life and the boxing ring, with help from a chicken, a boxer, a pianist, black African prisoners, and many others.

Across the Nightingale Floor 
By Lian Hearn
F HEARN Tales of #1
Takeo, brought up peacefully in a remote Japanese mountain village, learns that his father was a celebrated assassin, and that he, too, possesses extraordinary skills. To resolve split loyalties and his conflicted nature, Takeo embarks on a journey that will lead him to his destiny.

Mystery & Adventurous Sci-Fi

Try these books if you're looking for:

• mystery
• adventure
• sci-fi
• crime
• reads like Stephen King, James Patterson, Stephen R. Donaldson, and J.K. Rowling

The Last Policeman 
By Ben H. Winters
MYST WINTERS Last Po #1
When the Earth is doomed by an imminent and unavoidable asteroid collision, New Hampshire homicide detective Hank Palace considers the worth of his job in a world destined to end in six months and investigates a suspicious suicide that nobody else cares about. This title is also available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Naked in Death 
By J. D. Robb
MYSTERY ROBB
Eve Dallas, a New York police lieutenant, is in over her head when she breaks the rules and falls in love with Roarke, an Irish billionaire and a suspect in her most recent case. Being a cop in the twenty-first century should not be as violent as being one in the twentieth was, since all guns are banned and have become collectors' items, but Lieutenant Eve Dallas is stunned to be called to a crime scene where the victim was killed by a gun. This title is also available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Steelheart 
By Brandon Sanderson
YA F SANDERSO Reckoner #1
At age eight, David watched as his father was killed by an Epic, a human with superhuman powers, and now, ten years later, he joins the Reckoners - the only people who are trying to kill the Epics and end their tyranny. This title is also available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Teen Boy Adventure Books

Try these books if you're looking for:

• adventure
• mystery
• reads like Rick Riordan and Margaret Peterson Haddix

Skulduggery Pleasant 
By Derek Landy
YA F LANDY Skuldugg #1
When twelve-year-old Stephanie inherits her weird uncle's estate, she must join forces with Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton mage, to save the world from the Faceless Ones. 

Stormbreaker 
By Anthony Horowitz
YA F HOROWITZ Alex Rid #1
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.

Fiction with Complex Characters and Situations

Try these books if you're looking for:

• complex characters and situations
• focus on characters and relationships

The Kitchen God's Wife 
By Amy Tan
F TAN
This novel begins and ends in California, but most of the story is set in mid-twentieth century China. Winnie tells her life story to her grown daughter—a story of a lonely childhood followed by an arranged marriage to a self-centered, second-rate businessman lacking honor and integrity. By her own wits and sense of values, her friendships, and more than a bit of luck, Winnie survives her marriage and Japanese bomb raids to go on to marry an American soldier and immigrate to the United States. This is an inspiring, triumphant story of one woman’s courage. 

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake 
By Aimee Bender
F BENDER
This bittersweet, offbeat novel is the story of Rose Edelstein who discovers in her childhood a supernatural ability to taste the emotions of others in their cooking . She grows up regarding food as a curse when it reveals everyone's secret realities. 

Like Water for Chocolate 
By Laura Esquivel
F ESQUIVEL
Tita is the youngest of three daughters and is expected to serve her mother for the rest of her life . Her sister is engaged to Pedro and from the moment Tita & Pedro meet they’re attracted to one another. In order to show her love to Pedro, Tita cooks for him. Eventually, Tita's culinary wizardry unleashes uncontrollable forces, with surprising results. Fanciful, earthy, and sublime, this is a joy to read.