A Girl’s Bookshelf

Welcome back! 

As promised, I wanted to talk about five books that would be great if you want to start reading. 

1. Anything Colleen Hoover, even though she is a little bit controversial right now because of cancel culture, but that’s another story…

Hoover writes mostly in the romance genre, with the exception of a few mystery/thriller novels. “It Ends With Us” was the first novel I read of hers, and I’ve read several of her stories. They are easy to read and filled with drama and spicy scenes, so I always recommend them to beginner romance readers. 

“It Ends With Us” is a story about a girl named Lily who moves after college to start a new life. She meets a man named Ryle who is seemingly perfect and falls for him fairly quickly. Her first love, Atlas, comes back into the picture and complicates her new life. 

This story is about domestic abuse, which could be triggering for some people, and Lily is a strong female character. 

Regardless of how you feel about Colleen Hoover’s writing style and choices, her books are easy to read and provide readers with some satisfying drama. 

2. “Daisy Jones and the Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid 

I will take any chance I can to talk about this book! The story takes the form of an interview, and we get a complete inside look of a fictional band who rose to fame in the 1970’s. 

We get the band’s backstory and their experiences of being in the biggest band in the world to breaking up shortly after. I’m still a little sad that this band was not real…

There are six band members who are interviewed in the present day, Daisy, Billy, Graham, Eddie, Karen, and Warren. We also get to hear from Camilla Dunne, Billy’s wife, who is a crucial character because of the love triangle she gets caught in. 

Secondary characters like their tour manager and other friends are also important to the rise and all of the band.  

Each person’s point of view is accounted for, and the switching between their voices never gets confusing or obnoxious at any point. The whole book is super easy to read because the interview style paragraphs are short and keeps you engaged throughout the story! 

The emotions are high in this story, and the drama is just top tier. If you like music, this is a great book for you! There is also a show that was based off the book (I’ve seen the show twice because it was so good). Love triangles, music, jealousy, drama: what more could a girl want?! 

3. “In Five Years” by Rebecca Serle 

This was a nice short and sweet story; I read this one in a day or so. The chapters were short which I always appreciate. This story is about a successful lawyer who keeps her life to a fairly strict schedule, and wants every detail to go according to her plan. 

One second she is relaxing on her couch after she and her new fiancé got engaged at a high-scale restaurant in New York City, and the next, she is waking up in a new apartment with a different man. 

We find out this was a dream, but five years go by of her real life, and we find that several devastating things sort of derail her set of plans. 

This story is great to read if you are in your twenties, like me, and worry frequently about where you will end up in the near future after college, or even when you’re well into your professional career. It was a sweet story of friendship, true love, and destiny/fate. 

4. “The Drowning” by J.P Smith

Uplifting title, I know, but hear me out! 

I thought I’d throw a mystery/thriller in here for people who are not big fans of romance or the other novels I picked in general. My good friend Emma lent me “The Drowning,” and I thought it was a great thriller read for someone who usually gravitates towards the cheesy love stories.

This story follows a successful man who hides a dark secret from when he was in college. He worked as a camp swimming counselor for a few summers, and one summer, a little boy disappeared on his watch. No one ever found the poor kid, that’s not a spoiler, I promise it’s important that you know that. Several decades pass, but all of the sudden, the man starts receiving haunting messages from his past.

The story flips back and forth between the present and the past, and the twists and turns in this one are enough to keep you hooked (and a little freaked out)!

5. “Me Before You” by Jojo Moyes 

Don’t hate me for this one, I know it’s a tear-jerker, but the story is just so beautiful. 

Louisa Clark is a small town girl in her twenties who lives with her family, who rely on her for her income. When she loses her job, she needs to find another very soon. 

The job center she seeks help from tells her about a personal care aid for a paraplegic man who was in a road accident. She interviews, gets the job, and works with Will Traynor, the man who was severely injured. This was a huge challenge for Louisa, as at first, Will wants no part of her. However, the love story that unfolds is so beautiful.

The story that follows is heartbreaking, but Moyes’s writing is so captivating that this is a must read! 

These five are some of my top picks when someone asks me where to pick a book! Next week I will be ranking my all-time favorite romance novels, so stay tuned for that!