There is no better time of year to curl up with a hot cup of coffee and your favorite book than Fall and sometimes, getting suggestions for a good book can be tough. Here are some must-reads that will have to get your hands on for the chilly seasons ahead.
Girls in White Dresses – Jennifer Close
A coming of age book for any girl in her twenties, Entertainment Weekly called Girls in White Dresses “Remarkably relatable. . . . Close’s debut is an addictive, thoughtful, slice of life.” Isabella, Mary and Lauren feel like everyone they know is getting married, even their friends they never dreamed of walking down the alter. Bridal shower after bridal shower, they play meaningless games, drink champagne and squeal over less than exciting gifts at each event. Through all of this, the reader gets a look into each of these girls lives, situations that are all too relatable to many twenty something’s today: Isabella is stuck at a job she hates, Lauren is waitressing at a midtown bar, watching her life pass before her eyes and Mary is dating a nice guy with an awful mother. Jennifer Close does a marvelous job of giving us an inside look of the joys and woes of early adulthood by pulling us into a circle of friends that you can’t help but relate to.
Doctor Sleep – Stephen King
Just in time for Halloween, Stephen King returns to bring us the sequel to one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining. The book follows the story of middle-aged Dan Torrance (the young boy from The Shining) and a very special twelve-year old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals. The True Knot tribe seem harmless – mostly older folk and married to their RVs. However as Dan Torrance knows and twelve year old Abra Stone learns, the True Knot are quasimortals, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death. The novel is an epic war between good and evil and when Dan sees Abra’s spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, it reignites his own turmoil and summons him to battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This book is a must read for Stephen King fans everywhere.
Wish You Were Here – Daisy Whitney
This book will have you crying at page one. After Danny’s mother loses her five year battle with cancer three weeks before his graduation, he uproots his life to Tokyo, where his mother was going for treatment, when he gets a letter from his mother’s property manager. Danny travels to Tokyo to connect with his mother’s memory and make sense of her final months, which seem to be filled with more joy than Danny was ever aware of. He begins to understand how it may not have been the ancient magic or mystical treatments that his mother was receiving, but maybe the secret of how to live life was in how she died. Wish You Were Here combines the two most powerful forces known to man – death and love along with humor, raw emotion and a strong voice.
Eleanor and Park – Rainbow Rowell
Funny, hopeful and a complete tear jerker, Eleanor and Park is set over the course of one school year in 1986 when two star-crossed misfits meet.. The two have an awkward first encounter but initially bond over their love of comics and 1980’s alternative music. Eleanor comes from an abusive home life, where she seeks refuge in Park’s companionship as a friend and love interest. Through Eleanor and Park’s alternating voices, readers get a glimpse and will be reminded of the romantic yet hilarious aspects of first love. It will be extremely difficult for the reader to not get nostalgic about his or her own first love and how hard it pulled them under.
The Fault In Our Stars – John Green
As one of my favorite authors, John Green goes above and beyond with The Fault In Our Stars. The novel is written in the perspective of 16-year-old Hazel Lancaster who suffers from terminal lung cancer. When she meets gorgeous and charming Augustus Waters at a Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s life is unexpectedly turned upside down for the better. It is hard not to fall in love with both characters as Green makes them feel like they are both real people, not fictional characters. Readers get an inside look at what its like to live with cancer, but the author celebrates life and love consistently throughout the book. It is filled with heart-swelling emotion, raw honesty, and even an irreverent sense of humor.
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