This week's question:
Recommend some of your favorite back-list books
(books that are at least a few years old, 5-10 year range rather than classics)
For this question, I'm trying to recommend a few beyond my obvious favorites (such as the likes of, oh say the Harry Potters), so here are a few:
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry
(2009)
When Lucinda Chapdelaine was a small child, her parents left for
the royal ball and never returned. Ever since, Lucinda has been stuck in
perpetual servitude at her evil aunt’s jewelry store. Then, on the very same
day, a mysterious visitor and an even more bizarre piece of jewelry both enter
the shop, setting in motion a string of twists and turns that will forever
alter Lucinda’s path. In this magical story filled with delightful surprises,
Lucinda will dance at the royal ball, fall under the Amaranth Witch’s spell,
avenge her parents’ death, and maybe—just maybe—capture the heart of a prince.
Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella (2005)
Meet Emma
Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few
little secrets:
Secrets
from her boyfriend: I've always
thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.
Secrets
from her mother: I lost my virginity in the
spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur.
Secrets she wouldn't share with anyone in the world: I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is. Until
she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he
was a stranger. Until Emma comes face-to-face with Jack Harper, the company's
elusive CEO, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her...
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (2003)
Anidori-Kiladra
Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, spends the first years of her
life under her aunt's guidance learning to communicate with animals. As she
grows up Ani develops the skills of animal speech, but is never comfortable
speaking with people, so when her silver-tongued lady-in-waiting leads a mutiny
during Ani's journey to be married in a foreign land, Ani is helpless and
cannot persuade anyone to assist her.
Becoming a goose girl for the king, Ani eventually uses her own
special, nearly magical powers to find her way to her true destiny. Shannon
Hale has woven an incredible, original and magical tale of a girl who must find
her own unusual talents before she can become queen of the people she has made
her own.
Secret Society Girl by Diana
Peterfreund (2007)
In a
fabulous blend of the bestselling traditions of Prep and The Devil
Wears Prada, Secret Society Girl takes us into the heart of the Ivy
League’s ultraexclusive secret societies when a young woman is invited to join
as one of their first female members.
Elite Eli
University junior Amy Haskel never expected to be tapped into Rose & Grave,
the country’s most powerful—and notorious—secret society. She isn’t rich,
politically connected, or…well, male.
So when
Amy receives the distinctive black-lined invitation with the Rose & Grave
seal, she’s blown away. Could they really mean her?
Whisked
off into an initiation rite that’s a blend of Harry Potter and Alfred
Hitchcock, Amy awakens the next day to a new reality and a whole new set of
“friends”—from the gorgeous son of a conservative governor to an Afrocentric
lesbian activist whose society name is Thorndike. And that’s when Amy starts to
discover the truth about getting what you wish for. Because Rose & Grave is
quickly taking her away from her familiar world of classes and keggers, fueling
a feud, and undermining a very promising friendship with benefits. And that’s
before Amy finds out that her first duty as a member of Rose & Grave is to
take on a conspiracy of money and power that could, quite possibly, ruin her
whole life.
A smart,
sexy introduction to the life and times of a young woman in way over her head, Secret
Society Girl is a charming and witty debut from a writer who knows her
turf—and isn’t afraid to tell all....
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher (1999)
Every
night, Shahrazad begins a story. And every morning, the Sultan lets her live
another day -- providing the story is interesting enough to capture his
attention. After almost one thousand nights, Shahrazad is running out of tales.
And that is how Marjan's story begins....
It falls to Marjan to help
Shahrazad find new stories -- ones the Sultan has never heard before. To do
that, the girl is forced to undertake a dangerous and forbidden mission: sneak
from the harem and travel the city, pulling tales from strangers and bringing
them back to Shahrazad. But as she searches the city, a wonderful thing
happens. From a quiet spinner of tales, Marjan suddenly becomes the center of a
more surprising story than she ever could have imagined.
Size 12 is Not Fat (Heather Wells
Mystery 1) by Meg Cabot (2005)
Heather Wells Rocks! Or, at least, she
did. That was before she left the pop-idol life behind after she gained
a dress size or two — and lost a boyfriend, a recording contract, and her life
savings (when Mom took the money and ran off to Argentina). Now that the
glamour and glory days of endless mall appearances are in the past, Heather's
perfectly happy with her new size 12 shape (the average for the American
woman!) and her new job as an assistant dorm director at one of New York's top
colleges. That is, until the dead body of a female student from Heather's
residence hall is discovered at the bottom of an elevator shaft.
The cops
and the college president are ready to chalk the death off as an accident, the
result of reckless youthful mischief. But Heather knows teenage girls .
. . and girls do not elevator surf. Yet no one wants to listen — not the
police, her colleagues, or the P.I. who owns the brownstone where she lives —
even when more students start turning up dead in equally ordinary and subtly
sinister ways. So Heather makes the decision to take on yet another new career:
as spunky girl detective!
But her new job comes with few benefits, no cheering crowds, and
lots of liabilities, some of them potentially fatal. And nothing ticks
off a killer more than a portly ex-pop star who's sticking her nose where it
doesn't belong . . .
Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot (2002)
Gossip columnist and single New York City girl Mel lives lives
in the most exciting place in the world, yet she's bored with her lovelife. But
things get interesting fast when the old lady next door is nearly murdered. Mel
starts paying closer attention to her neighbors—what exactly is going on with
the cute boy next door? Has Mel found the love of her life—or a killer?
Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness) by Tamora
Pierce (1983)
"From
now on I'm Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I'll be a knight."
And so
young Alanna of Trebond begins the journey to knighthood. Though a girl, Alanna
has always craved the adventure and daring allowed only for boys; her twin
brother, Thom, yearns to learn the art of magic. So one day they decide to
switch places: Disguised as a girl, Thom heads for the convent to learn magic;
Alanna, pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to
begin her training as a page.
But the
road to knighthood is not an easy one. As Alanna masters the skills necessary
for battle, she must also learn to control her heart and to discern her enemies
from her allies.
Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and
evil, Alanna's first adventure begins -- one that will leard to the fulfillment
of her dreams and the magical destiny that will make her a legend in her land.
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie
Perkins (2010)
Anna is
looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a
loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she
is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in
Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne
has it all...including a serious girlfriend.
But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will
a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?
Thanks for stopping by my blog, I'm excited to see what back-list books everyone else has shared. Please feel free to comment below and leave a link to your #FF or to your most recent post. Happy Reading!
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