Recommended Books!

[Guest thefantasyexpress]

TITLE: The Perks of being a Wallflower.AUTHOR:Stephen Chbosky
WHY YOU'RE RECOMMENDING IT: I'm a teenager so kind of obviously, I read books mainly for teenagers. Perks, I believe lives up to its hype, some things are quite unbelievable (A 15 year old boy not knowing what masturbation is?) but it is a story which you don't want to put down. The main character, Charlie, just writing about his day to day life to a mysterious person is just compelling and heartwarming and there are a lot of quotes you could use in this book which may relate to you in every day life.

[[hF9]]

Title: The sweet Gum TreeAuthor: Katherine AllredIf you're intense romantic stories, then i guess it's the perfect book.I starting reading it at 11pm and i couldn't put it down, so i read it till i finished it (which was 6am)Apart from being very well written, it is a very real story and that's why i had an emotional turmoil!

[Guest AAgurl789]

TITLE: Seduced in the Dark
AUTHOR: CJ Roberts
Just finished it and it's an amazing story about love, forgiveness, redemption, and loyalty. The author has crafted a perfect story between two people who are the same and yet so different at the same time. Their emotions are so raw, unfiltered, and we, the readers, are taken on an emotional roller coaster! Easily, one of the best books I've read this year!!! It's a continuation of Captive in the Dark (so read that first) and tells more about Caleb and Livvie's story where he has to use and enslave her to fulfill his revenge. I HIGHLY recommend this book if you're not afraid of darker themes such as enslavement, violence, and the price of loyalty vs love in a chaotic world.

[xXMzSmilesXx]

All bookworms should have a Goodreads account. It really helps with selecting books to read & finding new ones.

Adult Fiction (which means it contains explicit & very descriptive sex scenes)

TITLE: Dark Lover (Black Brotherhood Series #1)Genre: Paranormal Romance, Vampires
AUTHOR: J.R. Ward
WHY YOU'RE RECOMMENDING IT: It is such a phenomenal series. Every book is about a different character. I really don't know how to describe it. 

TITLE: Beyond the Highland Mist (Highlander, #1)Genre: Highlanders, Historical Romance, Time Travel
AUTHOR: Karen Marie Moning
WHY YOU'RE RECOMMENDING IT: She's my favourite author & that is my favourite book of all time. No matter how many times I read it (which is ALOT) it still has the same, heart constricting, squealing effect. LMAO I love my highlanders. 
The female protagonist is beautiful & well hates men. She gets send back to the past and to make matter worse, she's force to marry. Lucky for her, this man is Hawk (male protagonist), whose basically is a bachelor who all unmarried  married women want. She hates him and his the first one to slowly fall in love. It's hilarious how they fight over every little thing.
Young Adult 
TITLE: Divergent (Divergent, #1)Genre: Dystopia, Romance
AUTHOR: Veronica Roth
WHY YOU'RE RECOMMENDING IT: I think every book worms heard of Divergent. The amount of hype its getting, you expect to be good. And boy was it good. I love Dystopia & Post Apocalyptic genre books because the female protagonist are really kick richard simmons. Tris is no exception. The relationship between Four & Tris reminded me of Vampire Academy (we shall get to that series soon). Yup, that's what I'm talking about: mentor & student *fans herself*. It was a progressive relationship which blossomed as each chapter went by. 
TITLE: Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy #1)Genre:Paranormal Romance, Vampires
AUTHOR: Richelle Mead
WHY YOU'RE RECOMMENDING IT: This is one of those books where you do an all nighter because you can't put it down. I thank my gorgeous from Taylor for introducing this amazing series to me. After reading these books I had this massive thing for Russian men (Dimitri who in my mind looks like Ben Barnes *dead*) & also there's Adrian (A way hotter version of Chase Crawford) *double dead*. The female protagonist Rose is a strong headed character. She protects the one she loves. Mentor & Student (Dimitri & Rose) are pure awesomeness in this book. To add to the awesomeness, their relationship is forbidden.
Other books:

• Last Song By Nicholas Sparks: A real tear jerker. Never cried so much in a book.
• Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles: I still don't know if I really hated it or loved this book. Your morals are seriously challenged. 
• Delirium by Lauren Oliver: In a society where love is considered a disease. A girl & a boy fall in love. 

Enjoy reading~ X

[Guest b2stbaaby]

I know xXMzSmilesXx recommended the first book above, but I would like to recommend the rest of this series. I totally agree with her on saying that you cant put these books down because well, you seriously can't!
TITLE: Vampire Academy Series (Vampire Acadamy, Frostbite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, Spirit Bound, Last Sacrifice)Genre:Paranormal Romance, Vampires, Young Adult (BUT many, and I mean MANY, people have considered this book as 'adult fiction' since it's not like your typical young adult story.)
AUTHOR: Richelle Mead
WHY YOU'RE RECOMMENDING IT: In my opinion, the name and synopsis of the books slightly put me off reading these for a few years. I finally decided to give them a go and I cannot tell you how great these books were! The characters within the books are so unique, funny and strong, and you get to see them grow throughout the six books. When people think of 'vampire' books, I find that a lot of them expect a story which is similar to Twilight. This book was so different! The 'vampire' world in this series actually reminded me of the Harry Potter series - as the vampires lived amongst humans but still had their own schools, court system, laws etc. (just like the wizarding world in HP!) The protagonist also had a great personality (in comparison to Bella from Twilight) and you find yourself really admiring her and respecting her.
I was seriously kicking myself for judging these books by their names & plot summaries as this was truly an addicting, heart breaking (at times), funny and action packed series. Probably one of my favourites!

[Guest rosejasmin56]

Must read the twilight series book which is too interesting book..Have read all the parts of this movie..which is too interesting & book is much better then movies..

[Guest Najaira]

Title: The HostAuthor: Stephanie Meyer (author of twilight)Why You're Recommending it: Well, that's simple, because this is a GOOD BOOK. I mean it. This psychological thriller sort of book will leave you hanging for more and some parts are funny. You should try reading it, it's not all just about romance, but as well as surviving even in the midst of alien invasion on earth. One must never judge a book by its cover. )

[Guest Dollic]

TITLE: Shug
AUTHOR: Jenny Han
WHY YOU'RE RECOMMENDING IT: It's a very cute book about growing up in a shitty family.I love the protagonist, a 12 year-old girl named Annemarie.She is just LOVELY.There's also some innocent love in there and the whole theme reminds me of some of the movies based on Nicholas Sparks' books.Anyway, the book's very adorable.I've reread it like...maybe 100 times or more by now.That's how good it is! And pay no attention to the fact that the girl is very young.It's still so easy to relate to her because she's rather mature for her age...and has this great spunk to her that makes you fall in love with her character. ~

[Guest safelittlethoughts]

Bless this thread. I've been wanting to read more books this winter break.

TITLE: Beautiful Disaster
AUTHOR: Jamie McGuire
WHY YOU'RE RECOMMENDING IT: It's what the reviews said: IT'S ADDICTING. I finished this book during the weekend and I couldn't keep my eyes off of it. I love how the author didn't rush the love story between the two main characters but she gave you an edge off your seat feeling as they developed their feelings. There were so many times when I went "OMG, I HATE YOU! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!" to Abby, the main character. The emotions are just raw and they match the characters. There is a lot of back stories but they are useful throughout. The story is based in college but it deals with relationships, fights, and bets. Warning though: there are a couple sex scenes if you're not used to that yet

[Guest domodore]

TITLE: looking for alaska
AUTHOR: john green
WHY YOU'RE RECOMMENDING IT: definitely one of the best books i've read recently. there's humor, drama, and a bit of your average teenage school-life

[cutiek028]

Title: The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend)

Author: Cody Keplinger

Why You're Recommending It: I decided to post about books that I have just recently read and were good or entertaining. This book falls more into the entertaining category. I wanted to ready it just to know what happened next. I liked the scenario of the book. Something I would never condone in real life, but is very exciting to read in fiction. It's pretty much a bubblegum book, YA with cursing and mature themes. Maybe a bit older than your average YA. I would definitely go for the e-book version and not the paperback version of this book. The book is a pretty fun read if you don't take it personally. I liked the drama.

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn't think she's the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-richard simmons and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "Duffy," she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren't so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Other Books Like It: Girl v. Boy by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout

[Guest Hello! Project]

warning//shameful self promo. m(__)m
My book Requiem for Blood (yep, a vampire book-.-; is coming out Feb 7th to kindle, nook and kobo. Mar 7th in paperback! Want to share the 99ct (reg 3.99) promo with my soompi family<3 Will last for one day which I will come back and say when that is.^^If you want one reason to read it, I`ll give you two: NINJA VAMPIRES.Recommended for 15+ because I kill people in brutal ways with ponies.
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I want to recommend....-Shatter Me-Tahereh Mafi-I`m not done yet but it`s definitely an interesting read. It`s about a girl with a death touch and <gasp> a hot guy who is impervious to it.

[Sho]

Title: Me Before You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Why You're Recommending It: I recommend this book because this book tells a story of romance between two main characters: Lou (short for Louisa) and Will as well as dealing with the concept of Euthanasia. Lou had recently lost her job as a waitress in a cafe and applied for a job as a private nurse to a patient from a rich family. Will is someone who lost the zest of life after he was injured in an accident (two years ago) that rendered him as a quadriplegic. At the beginning, Lou and Will had their differences with each other but gradually started to get along in time until Lou finds out the real reason of her being hired as a nurse.

This story had many funny moments or romantic moments between Lou and Will and there were some parts that also made me cry when I got into half way of the story. This was the best book I have ever read in 2012 and will guarantee to make you laugh, love and cry a lot than you never have before in your life. =)

[orangeman]

• [*]Bill McKibben's

Deep Economy. A short accessible read, relatively inexpensive and most likely available at the local library. With the whole sustainability movement, what the media and merchants of guilt-alleviating products fail to criticize are our habits that contribute to the problem. McKibben does not go too deep into it but he does meander around what the reader can further explore on their own.[*]Ozzie Zehner's Green Illusions. Another accessible work and he tries to put some analysis and reason behind flaws in the green movement. [*]Daniel Quinn's Ishmael. Read this first then flip through the others. 
[*]Stephen King's It. The Wikipedia article best describes the plot: "power of memory, childhood trauma, and the ugliness lurking behind a façade of traditional small-town values." 
[*]Dan Kulick's Fat. Looking at fat, thinness, social status, and wealth across cultures. If you're interested in people and global perspectives, this is a pretty simple read with interesting essays based around one central focus.[*]Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow. Accessible enough to grasp the theories. There are other books out there working off the same line but I would start with this one just because he and Amos Tversky (and others of course) made great strides in studies on behavior, judgment, biases, and the like. Haidt's The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided By Politics and Religion. Goes into morality and its variations, emotions setting the stage for reasoning, and the dominance intuition (or gut feeling) in society that likes to think of itself as basing all thought on reason. 

[Guest xosandy]

I just wanted to recommend these two books! The books were originally self-published but have been picked up by major publishers and will be released in retail stores this year. They top my list for my favorite reads of 2012 and I have been reading quite a bit. I've already pre-ordered paperback copies for my collection. I would classify the books in the "new adult" category but I personally think everyone should give it a try! Let me know if you read it and what you think!

TITLE: The Sea of Tranquility
AUTHOR: Katja Millay
WHY I RECOMMEND IT: The story is beautifully written and characters are so well developed! The book is a refreshing page turner and keeps you constantly guessing to the very end. I won't recap the synopsis but it is a story about love, tragedy and redemption. I really enjoyed the dialogue and banter between Nastya and Josh. Honestly, I don't even have words to describe how amazing the story was. Just read it!!
TITLE: The Edge of Never
AUTHOR: J.A. Redmerski
WHY I RECOMMEND IT: Oh my goodness! This book is such an emotional, heartwrenching read! I can't remember the last time I've actually cried reading after reading a book. Not just teary-eyed crying but BAWLING-MY-EYES-OUT crying. Sorry but I didn't cry reading The Fault In Our Eyes or The Notebook like most people did so no I'm not that big of a sap. This book will make you question why you do the things you do. I know that sounded a bit crazy but that's exactly what the book did to me.

[Guest barbarafox]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BC9I3SY
Can I recommend a romance novel I wrote?  Is that okay?  It's $.99 on Amazon Kindle.
Title: Blogging4Romance. . .or how I became anonymously famous
Author: Barbara Black Fox
Why I'm recommending it? I wrote and published short stories in SEVENTEEN magazine years ago as a teen. When my youngest daughter was 15 she started reading for pleasure. I wasn't too thrilled with the quality of romance novels she brought home and stated, "I can do better than this crap."
Here is my proof.

[sebsob]

Heads up: I tend to love books with detailing and heart as well as written with a unique style. 

Title: Thirteen reasons why by Jay Asher
I loved this book so much that I finished it in one day! Very interesting with an innovative structure.  I think most people can relate to wanting to end all the pain, reboot the system to end the mess we make of things.  Unfortunately life is hard because of people and this accentuates how the smallest things we do affects people in a tremendous way. 

Title: This is water by David Foster Wallace
Genius and very endearing personality. I love all his works and though some people find his style difficult I love getting lost in them.  This short piece is a concise yet comprehensive way to look at the world.  Inspirational.

Title: The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Because sometimes you just need to laugh and see good conquer evil in the most fairy tale way.

[Guest tainted.skies]

I think I'm in love with this thread. Why aren't there most posts in here?! D:

Title: Water for Elephants
Author: Sara Gruen
Why I Recommend It: (Paraphrased from a review I wrote about this book). This is a bittersweet story about Jacob Jankowski, who is old man at the age of ninety, or ninety-three. He can't remember which one. It's a story about both his life during the time he worked as the veterinarian with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, and his current situation at the nursing home. During his time with the Benzini Brothers, he befriends a lovely elephant named Rosie. This novel talks about grief, friendship, love, jealousy, and death. It is such an incredibly emotional story. I definitely cried while reading the novel, and I absolutely loved the ending.

Title: Ellis Island
Author: Kate Kerrigan
Why I Recommend It: (A review I wrote about this book). Ellis Island is a story about the struggle between choosing between love and "better life" that so many people look for. Ellie Hogan left Ireland to go to the United States in order to earn money for for her husband's operation. During her time in America, her views on life changes. She has to choose between staying in the US and living what she deems a "better" and more lavish life, or return home to Ireland to her husband and her family. The novel has brought many tears, and the ending was very heartwarming.

Title: The Time Traveler's Wife
Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Why I Recommend It: Henry DeTamble is a time traveler. No, he does not hop in a time machine and pick which time he wants to travel to. He time travels involuntarily (he can't choose when or where), and can never take anything with him when he is forced to travel through time. Through his time traveling, he has come across Clare Abshire (the wife). This is about the love story and the adventurous relationship between the two of them. This novel is about friendship, love, and grief. This is a book I read over and over again. It has made me cry so many times. I have to admit that it was a bit hard to read through the first third or so when I first read the book. But strive through! It is a truly incredible story.

If you are a fan of zombies and the apocalypse, I highly recommend the Newsflesh Trilogy.
Titles: (1) Feed, (2) Deadline, & (3) Blackout
Author: Mira Grant
Why I Recommend It: This story takes place 20 years after the zombie apocalypse occurs in 2014. This story follows Georgia and Shaun Mason, two bloggers that take on a job of following the biggest story of their lives (why the zombies exist!). They will risk their lives to find out the truth. This series is such an emotional rollercoaster! Since I followed the series from the release of the first book, I was always on the edge of my seat waiting for the next book to come out. It is an incredible story about friendships, love, death, lies, betrayal, and conspiracies.

[Guest barbarafox]

For the next three days, March 14-17 2013, until 11:59 Pacific Standard Time, my short story, "Cleopatra, a Pickle, and Birdlegs" (click on title) will be available for FREE to download to your Kindle, Nook, or any other electronic reader (or to a computer.) After March 17th it will still be available, but will cost $.99.

[Chaii]

One Litre of Tears. I've watched the series. It was really painful. You can also buy the book. You'll learn a lot about life. :|