Life is messy, unexpected, and it surprises you every step of the way. I recently turned 19 a couple of weeks ago and everything is changing for me. I like my life right now. It gets even better when you read these five books that will change your perspective on everything.
1. "Maybe in Another Life" by Taylor Jenkins Reid
At the age of 29, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. Shortly after moving back to her hometown of Los Angeles, she goes out to a bar with her best friend, Gabby, and reconnects with her high school boyfriend, Ethan. Just after midnight, she is offered a ride home by each of them.
What happens if she leaves with Gabby?
What happens if she leaves with Ethan?
This amazing novel is by far the best book I have read in my life. It's all about decision making and how one choice can change you or change your future. Decisions are hard to make. If you're interested in finding yourself and knowing more about how to react to real-life situations and make the best out of everything, you're going to love this one!
2. "The Japanese Lover" by Isabel Allende
In 1939, as Poland falls under the shadow of the Nazis, young Alma Belasco’s parents send her away to live in safety with an aunt and uncle in their opulent mansion in San Francisco. There, as the rest of the world goes to war, she encounters Ichimei Fukuda, the quiet and gentle son of the family’s Japanese gardener. Unnoticed by those around them, a tender love affair begins to blossom. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the two are cruelly pulled apart as Ichimei and his family—like thousands of other Japanese Americans—are declared enemies and forcibly relocated to internment camps run by the United States government. Throughout their lifetimes, Alma and Ichimei reunite again and again, but theirs is a love that they are forever forced to hide from the world.
If you're a hopeless romantic like myself, you should get your hands on this book right away!
3. "Everything I Never Told You" by Celeste Ng
So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.
Tragic family stories are one of my favorite kinds of books. If you can relate to the pressure of being the 'perfect daughter', this one will make you cry and understand why parents do the things they do.
4. "Forever, Interrupted" by Taylor Jenkins Reid
When Elsie Porter meets Ben Ross on a rainy New Year’s Day, their chemistry is instant and electric. Within weeks, the two are head over heels in love. By May, they’ve eloped.
Only nine days later, Ben is out riding his bike when he is hit by a truck and killed on impact. At the hospital, Elsie must face Susan, the mother-in-law she has never met—and who doesn’t even know Elsie exists.
Interweaving Elsie and Ben’s charmed romance with Elsie and Susan’s healing process, Forever, Interrupted will remind you that there’s more than one way to find a happy ending.
Another love story. Another novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I love her writing. It's beautiful, honest, and relatable! If you like the idea of reinvention and moving on during the hardest of times, read this one.
5. "Luckiest Girl Alive" by Jessica Knoll
As a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancé, she’s this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve.
But Ani has a secret.
There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything.
With a singular voice and twists you won’t see coming, Luckiest Girl Alive explores the unbearable pressure that so many women feel to “have it all” and introduces a heroine whose sharp edges and cutthroat ambition have been protecting a scandalous truth, and a heart that’s bigger than it first appears.
The question remains: will breaking her silence destroy all that she has worked for—or, will it at long last, set Ani free?
Secrets. They're the worst. If you like a story about a struggling with friendships, identity, and life in general, you will grow fond of Knoll's writing in this book!
