So in the grand scheme of everyone who has ever read books or started blogs, I probably haven’t read a lot in comparison. I can imagine this list is going to change over and over and over again. These are also not in any particular order, it’s just my top five!
The Hate U Give
Title: The Hate U Give
Author: Angie Thomas
Publication Date: 28 February 2017
Pages: 444 pages
Start Date: 26 March 2017
Finish Date: 28 March 2017
Rating: ★★★★★
The Hate U Give is about Starr Carter, a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in a dominantly black, poor neighborhood but attends a posh suburban prep school. Starr is driving home from a party with her childhood best friend, Khalil when they get pulled over by a white police officer. Khalil ends up getting shot and killed when he is unarmed. Khalil’s death makes headlines and protests break out all around Starr’s neighberhood. Starr is deciding between staying silent and only talking to the police or dealing with joining on the public outrage at the decisions of all the authorities around her.
I loved the issues that this book addressed, it is based on the black lives matter movement. Police brutality needs to be spoken about more and is a huge issue in America. I think this novel should be read by everyone to see the aspect from Starr’s point of view.
I loved the family dynamic in this novel so much and the character’s and relationships just felt so real. I will 100% reread this book multiple times in my life and Angie Thomas has been an auto-buy author from the moment I started to read this novel!
More Happy Than Not
Title: More Happy Than Not
Author: Adam Silvera
Publication Date: 2 June 2015
Pages: 304 pages
Start Date: 24 February 2017
Finish Date: 25 February 2017
Rating: ★★★★★
More Happy Than Not is about 16-year-old Aaron Soto. Aaron’s father committed suicide in the previous months to when this novel takes place and Aaron is finding it hard to be happy. His girlfriend and his mum are trying to help him and he’s slowly seeing progress, but with his smile-shaped scar on his wrist, it is proving difficult. But when his girlfriend leaves for a few weeks, Aaron meets a new guy, Thomas. Aaron is starting to feeling something for Thomas, and he is thinking about getting a memory-alteration procedure from the Leteo Institute to get rid of his feelings for this new guy.
Okay so the first thing I want to say is this story has a lovely science-fiction aspect to it. It isn’t overwhelming, and coming from someone who doesn’t usually gravitate towards science-fiction storylines, I loved this aspect to the plot.
So as it says above, I read this in about a day and I just loved it so much. Adam has a way with words that just makes me love everything I’m reading. I have his second novel on my tbr just now and I’m planning on reading it soon but I am waiting for his third novel to release later on this year and I want to space them out so I can enjoy his writing!
My Life Next Door
Title: My Life Next Door
Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick
Publication Date: 14 June 2012
Pages: 394 pages
Start Date: 3 July 2016
Finish Date: 21 July 2016
Rating: ★★★★★
My Life Next Door is about Samantha Reed and her noisy, messy neighbours, the Garretts. The Garrett’s are the opposite of Samantha’s family and they don’t speak, Samantha just watches. That’s until one night when Jase Garrett climbs up next to her on her rooftop perch. The two start to fall for each other but Samantha has to keep it a secret from her family and their judgements. Then one night everything changes and Samantha is forced to make a decision on what family she should choose, her own or the Garretts?
The only reason this book took me so long to read is because I was in the biggest reading slump ever. I read a couple of chapters the first day, didn’t read anything for about two weeks then read the rest of this in one sitting!
I really loved the family dynamic with the Garretts and think that Jase was such a good character to read about. I bought a couple more Huntley Fitzpatrick books after reading this but just haven’t gotten round to reading them yet, I’m definitely excited though!
Fangirl
Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publication Date: 10 September 2013
Pages: 445 pages
Start Date: 20 March 2016
Finish Date: 24 March 2016
Rating: ★★★★★
Fangirl is about Cath, the biggest fan of the Simon Snow series. Along with her twin sister, Wren, they used to dress up as the characters, reread the books and write fan fiction. Wren has grown out of her Simon Snow loving phase as the twins go to college but Cath doesn’t want to let it go. Wren has told Cath that she doesn’t want to share a room when they go to college and that means Cath is on her own dealing with this experience that is completely out of her comfort zone. Cath’s surly roommate has a charming friend, Levi, who Cath becomes fond of. She has a professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the world, when Cath’s Simon Snow fan fiction is something she loves to do. She is also worrying about her sister and dad. Cath is all around stuck in a situation totally out of her comfort zone and this is all about her dealing with her first year at college and everything that comes along with it.
This is a fun book with a main character that deals with anxiety. This is a really popular novel with people who want to get into reading or just want a quick and easy read. It was definitely a novel I read when I was first getting back into reading and it totally helped me want to read more. Rainbow’s writing was so much fun and the characters were really relatable.
Faceless
Title: Faceless
Author: Alyssa Sheinmel
Publication Date: 29 September 2015
Pages: 352 pages
Start Date: 3 June 2016
Finish Date: 4 June 2016
Rating: ★★★★★
Faceless is about Maisie Winters, when she is out for a run in her neighbourhood a storm gathers and lightning hits a powerline when she is running past. The burning electrical fire consumes her and leaves her without nose, cheeks and a chin. Everyone around Maisie is telling her she is lucky as she qualifies for a face transplant, but she doesn’t feel lucky. She feels like someone else is staring back at her in the mirror. Nothing in her life feels normal, she can’t even live the life she used to have, the life that she was promised by the doctors. Maisie was someone who ran track, loved her boyfriend and her best friend and now she can’t even recognise herself in the mirror.
I read this book in a day. Maisie’s story captivated me and just made me read more and more. I felt for her and her situation and I cared about what happened to her. I loved all of the characters and Maisie was a truly inspiring character to read from. This story was truly amazing, unique and an honour to read, even though it is fictional.
So that is my top 5 favourite contemporaries right now! I can imagine this list will change multiple times throughout my life but I highly recommend all of these stories! I am very much in a contemporary mood right now so will probably be rereading some of these soon!
christy's library 