Once again, I am coming to you all with an extraordinarily important request: it’s my sister’s birthday on the 25th this month, and I want to get her a big stack of books! That being said, I want to get the right ones, so I need some help picking them out!
Help a girl out?
She likes:
- Sarah Dessen – has read Lock and Key and What Happened to Goodbye, but didn’t like The Truth About Forever
- Entwined by Heather Dixon
- Twilight and The Host by Stephanie Meyer
- The Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter
- Gale Carlson Levine (Fairest, especially)
- Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
- The Faerie Path by Allan Frewin Jones
- Shannon Hale (Goose Girl, in particular)
- Fairy tale retellings
- Romance
- Feel good books
- Oh, and as Angie from Disquietus reminded me, Brooke LOVES mermaids!
She does not like:
- Too much sex. Anything more than one or two passionate kisses is too much
- Cursing. No F-bombs especially. Keep it clean!
- Too heavy subjects. Dessen’s Dreamland would be one of them.
- A lot of science fiction – I think The Host is the most sci-fi she’s gotten. And yes, I have Cinder, so I might try to get her into that one.
Oh, and she’ll be turning 16! I’ll probably end up buying a collection of Dessen novels, but I want to get her some variety and I don’t know all the best authors yet!
So pleaseeee take some time and suggest some of your favorite books that fall in the categories above! If they deviate a bit, just explain why! I may have forgotten a bullet point or two 🙂
I’m taking suggestions all the way through to the 21st or 22nd (Saturday/Sunday) – so spread this around if you can!
HUGE thanks from the bottom of my heart in advance!!!
The Thousand Lives 
You already know that I recommend Along For The Ride and This Lullaby for Dessen books.
Have you considered Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door? Those would definitely be good choices.
I would also recommend The Distance Between Us, Golden, Of Poseidon, Unearthly, the Paranormalcy series by Kiersten White, Time Between Us, and the Heist Society books by Ally Carter.
The Boy Next Door sounds familiar… I’ll take a look at it!
I can’t believe I forgot Of Poseidon!!! She loves mermaids! (See, this is why I made the post. Everyone else can make up for my lack of a brain!)
Thanks for the help!
She might like Jane Eyre, which with those gothic tones, kind of feel fairy-tale-esque. If you choose to get that classic novel, you could also purchase Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale, which makes many allusions to JE. Another gothic/fairy-tale feeling novel is Northanger Abbey, which also has a parody element to it.
Ohh I didn’t consider Jane Eyre! She saw me reading it a few weeks back and did seem interested… Thanks!
Has she read any of Rick Riordan’s books? The Percy Jackson series used to be one of my favorites. The Kane Chronicles are pretty enjoyable too, and they don’t have movies. I also HIGHLY suggest the Study series by Maria V. Snyder (starts with Poison Study) and the Heroes series by Moira Moore (starts with Resenting the Hero). They’re a bit heavier on the fantasy side than most of this list, but not too far—not exactly retold fairytales either, but they’re really fun reads. And they’ve got romance, but it’s not sex and it’s not terribly in your face. They both have the romance develop at least somewhat in the first book, so there’s not too much stringing you along throughout the entire series, and both of those series are completed already (Study has 3 books and a spinoff series called Glass; Moira Moore has 7 shorter ones)
Also, and this one is really random, John Moore has some entertaining reads that take some of the cliche storylines and makes parodies of them: Heroics for Beginners, for example, has a character carrying around a book called Handbook of Practical Heroics trying to learn how to be a hero, and archvillain who lives at the Fortress of Doom and has a Diabolical Device. I read it in a day and laughed on almost every page. Some of the humor is a little more mature, but nothing a high schooler couldn’t handle. Again, not exactly fairytale retellings, but kind of along that vein. These are a bit more unique 🙂 (And I think my mom had to get creative to find several of his, but I got my copy of Heroics for Beginners at B&N last year)
For straight-up fairytales, there’s always Julie Kagawa and Melissa Mar. I might also suggest the Trylle trilogy by Amanda Hocking and Truthseeker (and its sequel whose name I can’t remember) by C. E. Murphy. On the note of mermaids, is it safe to assume she’s already read Wake by Amanda Hocking? If not, that’s a great series about sirens.
(I’m going to stop looking at my bookshelves now—I could do this all day if I’m not careful)
Oh my goodness thank you SO much!!! This is way more than I expected and I hadn’t even considered anything by Amanda Hocking. I’m not a huge fan, but I think Wake (she hasn’t read it) would be perfect for Brooke!
If she likes fairy tale retelling type stories she might like the Princess Novels series, by Jim C. Hines. Of course, I enjoyed his Goblin series better, but that’s just because it was hilarious without taking anything serious. 🙂 Hope she enjoys whatever you end up getting her though! 😀
I haven’t heard of either of those, but I’ll check them out for sure!
Thank you so much for the help!
I would recommend Return To Me by Justina Chen, Eleanore and Park by Rainbow Rowell, Beholding Bee by Kimberly Newton Fusco, He’s So Not Worth It by Kieran Scott, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, and If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Oh Delirium would definitely work! I haven’t heard of the others except for E&P and If I Stay (which might be a bit depressing for her now that I think about it), but I’ll have to check them out!
Thanks for the suggestions!
Also Delirium has Pandemonium and Requiem following it.
Ohhh a series! Fantastic!
How about the Matched Trilogy by Ally Condi? If she liked the Hunger Games she might like this. I enjoyed them.
She actually hasn’t read The Hunger Games yet! I keep trying to get her to but she’s afraid there’s too much violence. Is Matched like that?
No there isnt much violence like Hunger Games. It took a different spin on it by matching people to keep society from revolting. But one happens but its hidden in mystery and unfolds thru all three. And a bit of a love story too that I enjoyed. You also might want to try The Host by Stephanie Meyers. If I think of anything else I will post.
Thanks for the explanation! I’ll look into them!
Oh and Wicked. I read it 3 times. I loved the whole back story of the Wicked Witch of the West. Amazing book. Basic Wizard of Oz feel to it.
Who wrote Wicked? She’s always wanted to see the play so maybe she’ll enjoy the book!
Gregory Macguire. There are 3 more books in the series but I havent read them and really Wicked can be a stand alone as well. I think she would like this.
Great! Thank you SO much!
Maguire sorry spelled the last name wrong
Looks like you have a lot of suggestions already, but I’ll give you another (if nothing else, you might read them!) Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult (and her teenaged daughter Samantha) is a darling story about a blossoming romance between a young girl and a fairy tale Prince. If you want to check out the synopsis: http://jodipicoult.com/between-the-lines.html
I hadn’t even considered Picoult – I’ve only read the depressing (but amazing) My Sister’s Keeper and Handle With Care. Thanks for the suggestion!
Cinder, For Darkness Shows the Stars, What’s Left of Me, and Pivot Point I think would all appeal to your sister. And her birthday’s two days before mine!
After looking at the comments I thought I would note that Delirium has at least one f-bomb… I didn’t finish the book so I’m not sure if there’s more or not.
Thanks for the heads up 😉
Thanks! I’ve heard that For Darkness Shows the Stars is pretty good 🙂 Happy birthday in advance!
I suggest Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen, Getting Over Garrett Delaney by Abby McDonald, Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik (This is a romance book with like a kiss or two. I really love it because it’s like a modern day Pride and Prejudice. I really liked it.) Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler. Suite Dreams by Rachel Hawthorne is another really cute fluffy romance. The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper. Hope my suggestions help. I tried to keep in mind books that do not have bad words and there is no heavy kissing or too much or it. 🙂
Thank you for keeping that in mind! And a modern day Pride and Prejudice? Awesome! Maybe after that one I could get her to read the real thing 😉
First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your sis! And for books.. it seems like she likes contemporary books. I would recommend:
The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan
The Paradox of Vertical Flight by Emil Ostrovski
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanive Perkins
-leigh
Thanks!!! I’ll let her know when I tell her all about how all these amazing people had a hand in her birthday! I haven’t heard of The Tragedy Paper or The Paradox of Vertical Flight, but I’ll look into them!
What about some Jennifer E Smith. She writes YA contemporary romance that’s fairly light. This is what Happy Looks Like AND The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight were cute reads. And I second whoever said Anna and the French Kiss AND Lola and the Boy Next Door both by Stephanie Perkins. They were great contemporary romance YA books.
I haven’t heard of Jennifer Smith, but the titles sound really sweet! I’ll definitely check them out!
And I’m thinking a poll is in order now that everyone’s thrown their two cents in. So many to choose from!
Oh and just to add another – the newest Sarah Dessen “The Moon and More” is great. It’s not too heavy but full of Sarah Dessen goodness.
Awesome!
She should definitely try out Rick Riordan’s books.
Timeless is one that I loved….it’s about time travel, would she like that or no? Here’s the summary: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8100422-timeless It’s a really good romance, too, but nothing that goes further than kisses. 🙂
I keep telling her that! I’ll check out Timeless too – thanks!
No problem! 🙂
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