22 Books To Read Before You Die

If you’re a bookworm like me, you’ve probably seen lots of those books to read before you die lists. I’ve seen plenty, and they always seem to focus on the classics. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good classic, but I think there are a lot of contemporary books that deserve a spot on those lists too. These books cover a wide range of themes and take us on emotional journeys. So, I’ve put together a list of 10 contemporary books that I think everyone should read before they die. These are some of my all-time favorites, and I hope you’ll love them as much as I do.

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The Women by Kristin Hannah

The Women  is the perfect book if you want to read powerful, character-driven books. It’s about a young nursing student  named Frankie. She joined the Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War. Once in combat, every day is a test of courage. But the real battle starts when she returns home to a country that wants to forget the war. I loved the mix of historical detail and individual hardships. This is one of the best historical fiction novels about the aftermath of war and how it affects the lives of people involved in its atrocities.

 From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah’s The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

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The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

The Three Lives of Cate Kay is a lot like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. The story, pacing, and main character were amazing. The main story follows Cate Kay, a bestselling author living under a fake name. The book takes us  into her messy, secretive past, and why she had to hide who she really is. There is drama, and a bit of mystery, plus a fast-paced plot. This was a great audiobook.  It’s also one of my favorite Reese Witherspoon Book Club picks. If you are a fan of books that feature female friendships, ambition and mystery this is a must-read books to read before you die. 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.

Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.

As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.

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Isola by Allegra Goodman

Isola is an inspiring historical fiction inspired by real events. It’s the story  of Marguerite, a young woman who is left behind on an abandoned island. You will love the richly detailed writing. It’s the perfect book that describes the hardships of survival and resilience, and finding faith in the harshest conditions. This book should be in your list of the most compelling historical fiction books ever written.

A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in this epic saga of love, faith, and defiance from the bestselling author of Sam.

Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian—an enigmatic and volatile man—spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian’s servant and the two develop an intense attraction. But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished and abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue.

Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she’d never before needed.

Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola is the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.

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We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

This debut horror book was really creepy. The story follows a couple who flip houses. They just secured a killer deal on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. But things turn dark when a family stops by claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. Soon strange things start to occur, ghostly presence, weird disappearances, and a constant sense of dread. If you are looking for new horror books with a psychological twist, you need to read this one. 

From an author “destined to become a titan of the macabre and unsettling” (Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author), a haunting debut—soon to be a Netflix original movie—about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.

As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

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James by Percival Everett

I don’t usually read classic retellings because I’m not that interested in hearing another take on a story I already know. But James really surprised me. When I first read Huckleberry Finn, I always wondered what the story would be like from James’s perspective, and this book delivered exactly what I hoped for. I absolutely loved that the author gave James a rich, complex voice and a powerful story of his own. It’s thoughtful , deep character-driven storytelling that Everett is known for. Also check out book club questions for James.

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

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Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney’s books can be deep and a little slow-paced, but I really like how she captures the raw, messy parts of real life. Intermezzo was such a book. It tells the story of t two brothers, Peter and Ivan, who are dealing with their father’s death in very different ways. Peter is a successful lawyer, struggling to manage his life. While Ivan is a socially awkward chess player trying to find his place. Their worlds collide when Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman with her own turbulent past. It’s a beautifully written, introspective read that captures grief, love, and the messy ways we connect.


An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love—from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.

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The Wedding People by Alison Espach

The Wedding People is a perfect book for you if you’re into quirky, character-driven novels. The main character, Phoebe, is at rock bottom, so she decides to have one last splurge at a glamorous hotel. But unbeknownst to her, she is mistaken for a wedding guest. When she accidentally meets the bride, they end up having a bittersweet encounter that soon turns into a special connection. It’s funny, sweet, and full of unexpected moments.


A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe’s plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

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Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a darkly funny novel about a young mother trying hard to juggle her new life as a single mom. Margo is struggling to make ends meet, and when her estranged dad shows up, things get even crazier. She ends up starting an OnlyFans to support her kid. I love this kind of writing that doesn’t shy away from the realities of motherhood and the messy, complicated choices women often have to make.


A bold, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartwarming story about one young woman’s attempt to navigate adulthood, new motherhood, and her meager bank account in our increasingly online world—from the PEN/Faulkner finalist and critically acclaimed author of The Knockout Queen.

As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet’s always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?

Blisteringly funny and filled with sharp insight, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a tender tale starring an endearing young heroine who’s struggling to wrest money and power from a world that has little interest in giving it to her. It’s a playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative, and an empowering portrait of coming into your own, both online and off.

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By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is my favorite author who writes inspiring pieces of literature. There is so much research involved in her books, which makes me fall in love with her descriptive writing. By Any Other Name is another great book that I absolutely devoured in one sitting. This story takes us into the lives of two women who live remarkably similar lives, but centuries apart, both fighting to have their voices heard. One is a modern playwright, the other an Elizabethan writer who might have actually penned Shakespeare’s plays. This was a clever book, full of powerful moments, and a must-read for fans of historical fiction with a feminist twist.



From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mad Honey comes an “inspiring” (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.

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Appetite for Innocence by Lucinda Berry

Appetite for Innocence is a deeply disturbing thriller. It’s dark, intense, and full of jaw-dropping twists. It follows the story of Ella, a girl who escapes a kidnapper. I couldn’t put this book down. There are so many disturbing details in this book. If you like thrillers with a psychological twist, this one is a must-read.


Be careful what you post online. Your next check-in might lead him right to you…

A serial rapist is kidnapping teenage girls. But he’s not interested in just any teenage girls—only virgins. He hunts them by following their status updates and check-ins on social media. Once he’s captured them, they’re locked away in his sound-proof basement until they’re groomed and ready. He throws them away like pieces of trash after he’s stolen their innocence. Nobody escapes alive.

Until Ella.

Ella risks it all to escape, setting herself and the other girls free. But only Sarah—the girl whose been captive the longest—gets out with her. The girls are hospitalized and surrounded by FBI agents who will stop at nothing to find the man responsible. Ella and Sarah are the key to their investigation, but Sarah’s hiding something and it isn’t long before Ella discovers her nightmare is far from over.

Fans of The Butterfly Garden and The Girl Before will devour Appetite for Innocence.

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Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy

If you are a fan of feel-good books with a simple story that is both heartwarming and inspiring, this book is for you. Sipsworth is about finding joy in our daily lives, discovering connection. We follow Helen, who has lost her sense of purpose in life. After the loss of her husband and son, she returns to her childhood village. An unexpected encounter with a small, lost creature sets her on a path of unexpected friendship. It’s beautifully written and full of quiet moments that really make you think. This was such an uplifting book that everyone should read at least once in their lifetime.


Over the course of a single week, a woman who is ready to die discovers an unexpected reason to live.

Following the deaths of her husband and son, Helen Cartwright returns to the English village of her childhood after living abroad for six decades. Her only wish is to die quickly and without fuss.

Helen retreats into her home on Westminster Crescent, becoming a creature of routine and habit. Then, one cold autumn night, a chance encounter with an abandoned pet mouse on the street outside her house sets Helen on a surprising journey of friendship.

Sipsworth is a reminder that there can be second chances. No matter what we have planned for ourselves, sometimes the world has plans of its own. Simon Van Booy’s lyrical storytelling is a delight even as it will fill your heart.

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The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

The Good Daughter  was my first ever Karin Slaughter book, and it’s definitely not the last. I’ve always loved fast-paced mysteries, but this book made me fall in love with slow-paced thrillers with drama and gore. It’s about two sisters who survive a brutal attack as kids. That horrible incident tore their lives apart, and now, decades later, they come together to solve a case. It’s twisty, intense, and full of the kind of edge-of-your-seat drama that keeps you hooked. This was such an immersive thriller that stuck with me for a long time.

The stunning new novel from the international #1 bestselling author — a searing, spellbinding blend of cold-case thriller and psychological suspense.

Two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. One is left behind…

Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn’s happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father — Pikeville’s notorious defense attorney — devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night.

Twenty-eight years later, and Charlie has followed in her father’s footsteps to become a lawyer herself — the ideal good daughter. But when violence comes to Pikeville again — and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatized — Charlie is plunged into a nightmare. Not only is she the first witness on the scene, but it’s a case that unleashes the terrible memories she’s spent so long trying to suppress. Because the shocking truth about the crime that destroyed her family nearly thirty years ago won’t stay buried forever…

Packed with twists and turns, brimming with emotion and heart, The Good Daughter is fiction at its most thrilling.

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A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Follow the lives of four friends, Willem, JB, Malcolm, and Jude as they navigate their post-college years in New York. Their bonds are tested by success, addiction, and dark secrets, especially Jude’s traumatic past. A Little Life is one of the saddest books I have ever read. The themes of friendship, pain, and resilience were incredibly heartbreaking.

When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they’re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity.

Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.

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Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Set in a quiet village, Where the Crawdads Sing revolves around Kya, the mysterious “Marsh Girl.” When a local man is found dead, Kya is suspected. This book beautifully blends a murder mystery with Kya’s coming-of-age story and her connection to nature. Also check out 26 Unputdownable Books Like Where The Crawdads Sing

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life’s lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.

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The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 

Nora Seed finds herself in a magical library where she can explore different versions of her life. With each book, she sees how her choices could have led her down various paths. The Midnight Library feels almost like non-fiction, filled with nuggets of wisdom and life lessons. Also check out 42 The Midnight Library Book Club Questions and Snack Ideas.

Between life and death there is a library.

When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?

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Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

In the 1960s, chemist Elizabeth Zott battles sexism at her research institute. After a series of events, she becomes the star of a cooking show, where she teaches women more than just recipes. Lessons in Chemistry is one of the saddest and most humorous books I have ever read. I really loved the setting and characters too. Also check out Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: Review & Summary.

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.

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Yellowface by R.F. Kuang 

June Hayward, a struggling author, steals a manuscript from her deceased friend, Athena Liu, and publishes it under a new identity. As June’s success grows, she must deal with the moral and legal consequences of her actions. It’s a sharp, satirical look at identity and ambition. This book was such a surprise! I didn’t expect it to be so good. The satire, ambition, and the life of a writer were all really well done. Yellowface is a fantastic read with a great mix of mystery and thriller.

White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel.

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice.

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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 

This novel follows the lives of Sam and Sadie, who start as friends and become successful video game designers. Their partnership faces highs and lows, personal challenges, and creative disputes over decades. What I loved most is the friendship and the life of gamers. There’s a sense of melancholy throughout the book that I really enjoyed. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is not a happy and feel good novel. You will not forget about this for a long time.

In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn’t heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won’t protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Hollywood legend Evelyn Hugo opens up about her glamorous and scandalous life to an unknown reporter, Monique. As Evelyn recounts her journey through seven marriages, Monique discovers unexpected connections between their lives. It’s a captivating tale of love, fame, and secrets. If you ever want to find out what it takes to be a Hollywood icon, this book is what you need. I absolutely loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo . Reid is an amazing storyteller, and I really enjoyed her fast-paced yet descriptive style. Not many authors can write so quickly without missing details, but she nails it. There are so many characters, but you never feel like you’re missing out on any of them. You get to know each one so well, and it feels like you’ve known Evelyn Hugo from her teenage years to adulthood. Check out my review of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

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The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Set in 1970s Alaska, this story follows the Allbright family as they move to a remote area to escape their troubles. Leni, the teenage daughter, deals with her father’s volatility and the harsh Alaskan wilderness. The Great Alone is a powerful tale of survival, love, and the wild beauty of Alaska.Kristin Hannah is fantastic at drawing you into her characters’ lives, making you feel everything they experience. You’ll find yourself constantly feeling sad, happy, and joyful for them. She really makes you fall in love with the setting, plot, and her writing. Even though the book is long, it never felt slow to me. I loved the pace. Check out Best Books by Kristin Hannah.

Alaska, 1974.

Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.

For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.

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Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Nora Stephens, a successful literary agent, goes on a trip to a small town with her sister. There, she keeps running into Charlie Lastra, a brooding editor she knows from the city. Their repeated encounters lead to unexpected sparks and self-discovery. Book Lovers is a charming romance about finding love and oneself. I wasn’t sure why everyone was so obsessive over Emily Henry, but this book is the answer. I really loved her writing; the smart, funny, and emotional elements are combined so seamlessly and make it super fun to read. Also check out Emily Henry Books In Order: The Complete List

One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming….

Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.

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The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Alicia Berenson, a famous painter, shoots her husband and then stops speaking. Her silence and the mystery of her actions captivate the public. Theo Faber, a determined psychotherapist, tries to unravel her secrets, leading to a gripping psychological thriller full of twists. The Silent Patient will forever be one of the best books that helped me fall in love with psychological thriller genre. Also check out The Silent Patient Book Review & Summary.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him….

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

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