My Ultimate Book Recommendation List

Once again I’m linking up with Shay and Erika for Let’s Look and today’s topic is favorite reads so I thought it was the perfect time to share my master list of book recommendations!

I frequently get asked for recommendations for books and I have been wanting to make a giant list for some time now (and even put it on my 19for19 list this year!) I do want to first to share this disclaimer though: I realize everyone’s preferences are different. These books are my personal favorites and the ones I find myself going back to again and again when others ask for recommendations. I think most are well-written, enjoyable reads. Some are on here even if they covered difficult topics that weren’t necessarily “enjoyable” but were thought-provoking or challenged my mind in some way. Some are included because they gave me a book hangover and I just could not stop thinking about what I read! I love them all for different reasons. You may not! I think what is most helpful is to read through my previous book reviews and see if you agree with my take on books that you have also read. If you find yourself nodding along to my reviews because you felt similarly when reading, we likely have similar taste. If you find yourself frequently saying “what was so great about that book? I thought it was boring” or “she’s crazy – how did she not enjoy that book? I thought it was brilliant” then maybe we just have different styles and you might not like my recommendations.

I didn’t have time to include a review of every book but did sometimes add a little note with a quick thought or two. I also tried to somewhat categorize these into basic genres just for ease of searching. I hope you find something here to enjoy! Without further ado, here are my top recommendations!

MY VERY FAVORITES

–Cancel the Wedding by Carolyn T. Dingman (easy to read yet captivating and meaningful. As my fellow book lover friend Kaitlin described – “a beach read with depth”)

-ANYTHING written by Kate Morton. The Lake House, The Forgotten Garden, The House at Riverton, The Secret Keeper, The Distant Hours  – she is brilliant and I LOVE her books (I still need to read her most recent one – The Clockmaker’s Daughter). They are just phenomenal historical fiction – if I had to choose one to start I’d say The Secret Keeper but you honestly can’t go wrong with any.

General Fiction

–It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (This one is haunting. It stayed with me a looooong time)

–A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams (read first)

–The Secret Life of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams (read second; they aren’t technically sequels but I would still read them in that order)

–Defending Jacob by William Landry

–One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid (very thought provoking in a what-the-heck-would-I-do-if this-happened-to-me way)

–Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

–Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

–The Dry by Jane Harper

–The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

–Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

-My Grandmother Asked me to Tell you She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman

–The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

–Castle of Water by Dane Huckelbridge

–The Violets of March by Sarah Jio (read first)

–Morning Glory by Sarah Jio (read second)

“Beach” Reads

–The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

–If You Only Knew by Kristin Higgins

–Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy by Kevin Kwan (the last one is my favorite!)

–My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan

–The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (cute little fictionalized William + Kate story)

Psychological Thriller

–Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins (I feel like everyone has read it by now, but when it came out it blew my mind!)

–The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond (creepy and cult-like)

–The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

–Final Girls by Riley Sager (part psychological thriller, part homage to campy-slasher movies)

–Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

–The Girl Before by J. P. Delaney

–The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (if you’ve read Gone Girl or Girl on a Train, it’s similar and may feel overdone but it comes with a HOT DANG twist)

Historical Fiction

–The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

–Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

–The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

–Stella Bain by Anita Shreve

World War Two Historical Fiction

–The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

–Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly (this book does get very heavy and difficult to read at times)

–Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosay

–All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

–The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

Young Adult

–Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

–Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein

–The Fault in our Stars by John Green

–The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

–The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

–Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko (this is a series!)

–Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements

-And I’d be remiss if I didn’t include that Harry Potter is among my very favorite series 😉

Nonfiction

–The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin

-Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

–Bossypants by Tina Fey

–Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

–The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee

–The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

–Educated by Tara Westover

 

And that’s my list (for now!) What are some of your go-to book recommendations?