Lately my TBR pile has been getting filled with paranormal, afterlife, time travel, reimagining, and dystopia books. When I read and get in the mood for a certain genre, that’s normally what I binge-read and binge-add to my Goodreads shelves. I just finished September Girls, which basically killed my paranormal mood. Before I move along to other genres, I wanted to share a list of some of my favorite books that fall into this category. Some of them are series; some are standalones. I’m also including three books I haven’t read yet but am DYING to get my hands on.
Which of these have you read? Which of these are you adding to your TBR pile?
Read and Loved
- Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
- The land of Elsewhere is a mix between earth and heaven, where a fourteen year old girl ends up going after she dies. She will age backwards until she is a baby again, and then return to earth. This was a great book with a really cool concept; I think I’ll be rereading this one soon!
- The Looking Glass Wars (series) by Frank Beddor
- This is a reimagining of the Alice in Wonderland books…except this time, young Alyss of Wonderland is stuck in the human world, fighting to get back and claim her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts. I normally am not a huge fan of reimaginings, but this concept was really cool.
- A Great and Terrible Beauty (series) by Libba Bray
- Even if you aren’t a fan of historical fiction (which I’m not), I demand that you read these books immediately. I can’t do these books justice with my own synopsis; they’re so complex and magical and I just wish there were a trillion more of them.
- The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
- Most people have probably read this one already, but this is the first book that comes to mind when I think of the afterlife. An old war veteran dies on the job and ends up in heaven, where he meets five people who help him find the meaning of his life. This was a beautiful story that shows how lives are connected without us even knowing it.
- Class of 98 by AL Player
- This book was randomly recommended to me by Amazon and I’m so glad I decided to read it. It was a cool time travel story where two adults at their high school reunion get transported back into their senior year. They have to try to keep everything the same, to avoid messing up their adult lives, while attempting to get back to the present.
- Sweet 16 by Kate Brian
- A mean girl at her sixteenth birthday party is in for a rude awakening when she falls and blacks out. She awakens to a random woman, who is there to share her all of the mistakes she’s made in her past. This book is one of the many, many reasons I love my girl Kate Brian.
- Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
- [Review] I recently finished this one and it really left an impact on me. A girl who dies in a car accident ends up reliving the day of her death seven times before learning her greater purpose. I really enjoyed seeing what changes she would make each day, and couldn’t stop reading.
Dying to Read
- The Art of Wishing (series) by Lindsay Ribar
- A girl ends up with a genie’s ring and is able to make three wishes. The genie happens to be someone from her high school, who is on the run from a murderer. This book sounds like a cool twist on the standard “three wishes” type of book; hopefully it’s successful!
- (Don’t You) Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn
- A creepy town where no one gets sick or dies… except, a supernatural force makes the teenagers do unthinkable things like murder their own friends. After her sister was locked away for being forced to kill 16 people, Skylar has to try to stop the murderous cycle and get her sister back.
- Dissonance (series) by Erica O’Rourke
- Words can’t express how perfect of a book this is for me. I’ve always been extremely fascinated by the concept that each action we take creates another separate world; every single decision we make could affect our future in unthinkable ways. This book is about those parallel universes we create and the girl whose job it is to keep all the dimensions in harmony.
I read Elsewhere, A Great and Terrible Beauty, the Five People… and before I fall- I really enjoyed them all!
All great books!
I’ve only read Before I Fall, thought it was really good! I’m also interested in A Great and Terrible Beauty and Elsewhere 🙂
A Great and Terrible Beauty was such a great series. I really need to reread them sometime soon.
Elsewhere was a quick read! So cute, too.
I won Dissonance from a contest on the pubs website. Honestly, I have the absolute worst luck winning anything in this world. When I received the email I thought it was a joke or a mistake. I have seen this book and felt drawn to it. The cover is absolutely gorgeous and I love this subject. I cannot wait to get it. I will stop everything I am doing and read it right on the spot.
“Don’t you forget about me” sounds brilliant!!
I just added that on my good reads. I’m going to reorganize my good reads. I am planning on only reading books off of my good reads list that way I can get caught up on everything I’ve been adding to the list, but have not been reading.
You have a great list of books. I have to check out if you’ve the other titles you listed.
I’m so excited for dissonance I saw it at Barnes and noble tonight and it was hard to resist..the hardcover made it too expensive. I’m trying to work through all the books I have sitting on my shelves before my “to read” list and it’s not easy! I always wanna buy new ones instead.
A Great and Terrible Beauty was fantastic! I haven’t read it since junior high and at that time the rest of the series wasn’t out yet, but I am definitely going to be giving it a re-read. Elsewhere and Before I Fall have been on my TBR list for forever and I need to get around to reading them.
Definitely recommend those highly! I need to reread A Great and Terrible Beauty (and Elsewhere for that matter) because it was so long ago.