A few of my favorite things… (Part 2)

I posted part 1 a few days ago, and that post was about my favorite YA series so I thought I’d follow it up with my favorite YA standalone books.

Honestly, I don’t read a lot of standalone books but I give more credit to the author because I think there are some difficulties fitting an entire story into one book. (Or maybe that’s just my mode of thought?) Some YA authors that come to mind are John Green and Rainbow Rowell. NA authors like Colleen Hoover also write standalone novels as well, building whole careers around it.

Initially, I wasn’t sure I would be able to find enough books for this list but I went through Goodreads to sort through my shelves (my excitement for day) and found that I have read more than a handful, although they aren’t the biggest selection on my shelves.

This was such a fantastical magical journey! It’s brilliant and beautiful written and the whole concept is unique and Morgenstern executed it well. I haven’t read a novel like this before so it’s a bit more endearing to me. Besides if that cover doesn’t get you interested, I don’t know what does. If you like magic, magicians, and circuses, give this book a try. You can read my review for it on Goodreads here.

Okay, so I have a love/hate relationship with Rainbow Rowell. I didn’t like Fangirl at all but I gave her another chance and read this, and wow, I loved it! Park and Eleanor are two 16-year-old teenagers who share a love for music. They both feel out of place in their small town. I like the pacing of their relationship, how their friendship blossoms into something more. Another great contemporary read. You can check out my review on Goodreads here.

I read this when I was a senior (maybe a junior?) in college. I took a world literature class and we read a lot of African and South African novels. Outside of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, I had never read anything else by an African writer. I fell instantly in love with Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and I’ve read the rest of her works, too. She’s popular for her TED Talks and also for We Should All Be Feminists. This particular novel is a “coming-of-age ” story about a young girl torn between the love she has for her family but also the restraints she faces being a part of that family. I recommend this book to anyone, young or old.

I read the book last year and was absolutely blown away. It teeters on “magical realism” and I haven’t exactly had the best time reading but this was enchanting yet heartbreaking. It tells the story of a girl who was born with wings. Yes, wings. She has a quirky and sad family history and her own childhood is wrought with problems but she grows and she makes friends. This is truly a lovely story.

Well, I find these incredibly fun! I think my next post on the same subject will be about my favorite classic novels. I could really go on and on with those… 😉

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