My twenty-five favorite books
Discover my top 25 favorite books of all time! From timeless classics to modern masterpieces, explore the must-read titles that have shaped my reading journey.
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Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë
Retells the classic story of an orphaned young woman who accepts employment as a governess and soon finds herself in love with her employer.
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Hawksong
by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Danica, an avian shapeshifter, must marry Zane, a serpent, in order to end the war that has ravaged on forever.
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Blood and Chocolate
by Annette Curtis Klause
Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf? Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meat-boy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He's fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would. Vivian's divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really--human or beast? Which tastes sweeter--blood or chocolate?
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Trickster's Choice
by Tamora Pierce
When you gamble with kingdoms, all bets are off. Legends are born in this thrilling and New York Times bestselling spy saga from the fantasy author who is legend herself: Tamora Pierce. Aly is from a family known for great deeds. She is the daughter of Alanna, the famed knight and King’s Champion of Tortall. But even though she is bold and brave, like her mother, her true talents lie on her father’s side, in the art of spying. When Aly is captured by pirates and sold as a slave to an exiled royal family in the faraway Copper Isles, she strikes a bargain with the trickster god. If she can keep young noblewomen Sarai and Dove safe for the summer, then he will return Aly to her family. The task should be simple, but Sarai and Dove are anything but. It’s a time of murderous plotting at court, and Aly will need to rely on her training and the insights of a strange young man named Nawat to survive in a world where trust can cost you your life. “Tamora Pierce’s books shaped me not only as a young writer but also as a young woman. She is a pillar, an icon, and an inspiration. Cracking open one of her marvelous novels always feels like coming home.” —SARAH J. MAAS, #1 New York Times bestselling author “Tamora Pierce didn’t just blaze a trail. Her heroines cut a swath through the fantasy world with wit, strength, and savvy. Her stories still lead the vanguard today. Pierce is the real lioness, and we’re all just running to keep pace.” —LEIGH BARDUGO, #1 New York Times bestselling author
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Zel
by Donna Jo Napoli
High in the mountains, Zel lives with her mother, who insists they have all they need -- for they have each other. Zel's life is peaceful and protected -- until a chance encounter changes everything. When she meets a beautiful young prince at the market one day, she is profoundly moved by new emotions. But Zel's mother sees the future unfolding -- and she will do the unspeakable to prevent Zel from leaving her..."Will leave readers spellbound."-- Publishers Weekly, starred review
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The Raging Quiet
by Sherryl Jordan
Suspicious of sixteen-year-old Marnie, a newcomer to their village, the residents accuse her of witchcraft when she discovers that the village madman is not crazy but deaf, and she begins to communicate with him through hand gestures.
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Sloppy Firsts
by Megan McCafferty
Devastated when her best friend moves away, sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling feels isolated at school and at home, as she struggles to deal with her father's obsession with her track meets, her boy-crazy peers, and her own nonexistent love life.
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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
by Elizabeth George Speare
A young girl's rebellion against bigotry culminates in a terrifying witch hunt and trial.
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A Coal Miner's Bride
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Sent from Poland to Pennsylvania to be married to a coal miner, thirteen-year-old Anetka lives a totally new life in a harsh environment she doesn't understand, in this latest addition to the Dear America series.
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Bound
by Donna Jo Napoli
From the award-winning author of "Beast" and "Breath" comes this thrilling and haunting retelling of the Cinderella story that returns the much-loved fairy tale to its Chinese roots.
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Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” So begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s witty comedy of manners—one of the most popular novels of all time—that features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues. Renowned literary critic and historian George Saintsbury in 1894 declared it the “most perfect, the most characteristic, the most eminently quintessential of its author’s works,” and Eudora Welty in the twentieth century described it as “irresistible and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be.”
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Keeping the Moon
by Sarah Dessen
Fifteen-year-old Colie is spending the summer with her eccentric Aunt Mira while her mother travels. Formerly chubby and still insecure, Colie has built a shell around herself. But her summer with her aunt, her aunt's tenant Norman, and her friends at the Last Chance Diner her some important lessons about friendship and learning to love yourself.
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Time Enough for Drums
by Ann Rinaldi
Sixteen-year-old Jem struggles to maintain the status quo at home in Trenton, New Jersey, when the family men join the war for independence. There are signs of rebellion in the Emerson household several years before the actual American Revolution hits in 1776! Brought up in a relatively liberal household, Jemima Emerson is quite a challenge for her tutor, John Reid, who is known as a Tory with strong ties to England. How could Jem's parents be friends with a man who opposes American freedom? Jem longs for freedom on every level, in the home and her homeland--and John represents the forces that restrict her. Jem and her family soon find themselves fighting for freedom in whatever ways they can in the Revolutionary War. Before long, Jem discovers that there is much more to Mr. Reid than she ever imagined. Her feelings about him change when Jem realizes that John shares her love of freedom--and will risk his life to defend it.
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Pirates!
by Celia Rees
This powerful and thrilling novel presents the story of the inspiring journey of two 18th-century women who break the bonds of gender, race, and position to find their own way to glory.
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The Year of Secret Assignments
by Jaclyn Moriarty
Three female students from Ashbury High write to three male students from rival Brookfield High as part of a pen pal program, leading to romance, humiliation, revenge plots, and war between the schools.
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Victoria and the Rogue
by Meg Cabot
From the bestselling author of "The Princess Diaries." Growing up in India, 16-year-old heiress Lady Victoria Arbutnot is unceremoniously shipped off to London to find a husband.