The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I remember reading this book in two days, often taking breaks so that I wouldn’t finish it, because I didn’t want this book to end. This book was also the first book that made me cry. I also probably let five people read this book.

This book is told from the point of view of Hazel, a teenager who has terminal cancer and falls in love with a boy named Augustus Waters. It’s hilarious, inspiring, and romantic. What I loved so much about book is how incredibly cheesy this book was, but John Green has the ability to bring humor and wit as a way to mock the idea of love. Hazel and Augustus constantly tell each other, “Okay?” “Okay.” Within this book, okay has become a metaphor for the couple to mock the idea of forever. They say it to each other to remind each other that they love one another, and also as a way to flirt with each other. A book I will never forget.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

The first book that actually made me laugh out loud. And also the first book I read outside of young adult fiction. I remember reading this book and having the chance to give 20 copies away as part of World Book Night.

This book is put together through letters, blog posts, emails, and text messages. It tells the story of Bernadette who goes missing and it’s the daughter’s mission to find where she goes. This book is hilarious for portraying the insanity of white privileged women who having nothing to do, and that nothingness is what leads to the events in the book. This book has themes of self-acceptness, happiness, and hope.

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

This is another book that has made my laugh out loud. I love Mindy Kaling for her wit and humor.

In this book she discusses how she made lemons out lemonade without dealing with a huge loss in her lifetime. She discusses how she became a Hollywood star despite the fact that she was a minority. She talks about her love for cake, her love for The Office star, B.J. Novak, and, “Mindy turns the anxieties, the glamour, and the celebrations of her second coming-of-age into a laugh-out-loud funny collection of essays that anyone who’s ever been at a turning point in their life or career can relate to.”

All The Light We Cannot See by Antony Doerr

I loved this book. This book was a reminder of why historical fiction is important. It was so interesting and the way in which Doerr tell’s the story, makes my mind travel 600 miles per minute.

This book is a historical fiction that tells two separate stories of a blind girl in Paris and a man in Germany who are trying to survive the devastation during World War II. This book has themes of light, loss, and haunting.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

This is probably one of the few books that will have a lasting memory inside my brain. I will never forget how twisted the plot is and how I reacted to it. I remember reading the plot twist and taking a five minute break to reflect. I had to go as far to going back to the pages that I read to connect the puzzle pieces, something I never do when I’m reading my book.

This book is about a married couple that explores the dynamics of how they met, why they love each other, and the risks they had to take for one another. Then suddenly, the wife goes missing, the news outlet start covering the story, blame the husband for murder, and ruin both of their reputations. This book is a must read.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

I read this book in one of my english literature classes and I was surprised I loved this book. I’m only surprised because professors choose random and, in my opinion, boring modern literature novels. But! This book was so interesting and has one of the biggest plot twists that I did not see coming.

For the summary for this one, I’m going to cheat because I feel like I’d ruin the plot so here is the summary from the publisher: “Meet the Cooke family. Our narrator is Rosemary Cooke. As a child, she never stopped talking; now that she’s started college, she has wrapped herself in silence: the silence of intentional forgetting, of protective cover. Rosemary is now an only child, but she used to have a sister the same age as her, and an older brother. Both are now gone—vanished from her life. Her once lively mother is a shell of her former self, her clever and imperious father now a distant, brooding man. And there was something unique about Rosemary’s sister, Fern.
You’ll have to find out for yourself what it is that makes her unhappy family unlike any other.”

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

This book is probably the best YA Fantasy novel that I’ve read this decade. Period. I always struggle pushing through reading the first 100-200 pages of a Sarah J. Maas book, but with this book, I loved every single page, chapter, and dialogue. I cried, laughed, was on the edge of my seat, threw this book across the room, picked it up and repeated it all over again. I love this book so much, it’s bringing me tears as I’m writing this.

This book is a continuation to the first installment of the series, A Court of Thorns and Roses. This series is filled with Farries, action, magic, and love. I totally recommend this trilogy.

Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

A book that will forever stay inside my heart. (For those wondering, of course the book was better than the movie). This book was full of thoughts and relatable in terms of what it was like for me in high school. I read this as a college student and I read this book, I was brought back into high school, but weirdly enough, the memories that were brought up in my mind, were the good ones.

This book is what inspired the movie, Love Simon. This book is about a 16 year old boy named Simon closeted in high school and has an online relationship with another boy in his school. But then another boy finds those emails, black mails and everything else goes crazy. “Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.”

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

A book that will also forever be stuck inside my head. This book was so interesting and different than anything I’ve read before.

This book is about a Clare in 1945, and is taken back in time out of nowhere into 1753 in the middle of a war where she is declared an outlander and finds herself in the arms of Jamie. This book is a romance book more than anything, but it also has a lot of history, mystery and action filled into this book. I can’t wait to continue reading this series in 2020.

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

I loved this book so much. First of all, I’m a huge fan of her Shadowhunter series and the fact that those characters were going to be in this book along with new characters, based in Los Angeles, I was excited!!! It was so much fun to read this book and having a clear picture of where the book was taking place.

This young adult fantasy book is the first in it’s trilogy where it follows Emma in Los Angeles as a shadowhunter where she is on a mission to discover what killed her parents. This book is filled with demons, magicians, fairies, and romance. A must read for those who want to read YA Fantasy.