Helping You Find a Book for Everyone on Your Christmas Shopping List!

10 blind dates by ashley elston i would say that romance is more the main plot but she's being set up on these dates by her extended family... i do think family was one of my favorite parts of this actually

a blade so black by ll mckinney is one that i enjoyed and i feel like i haven't recommended that much but that one is like a mix of buffy the vampire slayer and an alice retelling so that's really cool

in alex approximately surfing is a main thing and also a love of classic movies

especially in y a like all the bright places the therapist is not helpful and it's just it gets like a really bad representation

among the beasts and briars by ashley poston for sure fits this it's about a utopic kingdom that is surrounded by this cursed forest and our main character has a special connection to that forest it's a supernatural light fairy tale

beach read by emily henry you follow the main character who is a writer and she's experiencing writer's block and her father died recently... there's definitely a lot more than just the romance going on here

this is i think the only book that i've read that has a pre-established relationship that ends up like they're trying to fix it and it is a marriage actually so that is the main topic of this romance is that they are trying to fix what is broken in their marriage and it is such a fun read and i just really love this series

this really does fit that prompt it is a romance that kind of has a timeline on it's about the main character who is a transgender boy... they end up striking up a relationship that will honestly tug out your heartstrings and definitely will break you into a million pieces and then put you back together again

clap when you land by elizabeth acevedo is about siblings who one lives in the dominican republic the other is in new york city they don't know that the other exists until their father dies in a plane crash

the cure for the common universe by christian mckay high ticker this deals with the main character who is going to video game rehab so definitely got video games there kind of in a way

daughter of the burning city by amanda foodie is kind of a twist on the typical circus story because you're following the circus and the main character she has the ability to create illusions that's her circus thing so kind of a paranormal twist on it

dear haiti love elaine by micah mouli and maritza mulit is a story written by sisters actually and you follow the main character as she goes to haiti and learns more about her haitian heritage... this is told in like a multimedia format

my most recent read actually which is dreamland burning by jennifer latham this is a dual timeline so part of it is set in the 1920s and then the other part is set in present day... both of those timelines kind of team up to piece together this mystery

everything leads to you by nina lacour features a lesbian main character but it's not like her accepting her gender identity or her sexuality rather it's more so her like it's just a story that's about her as she lives in hollywood and she wants to make it as a set designer

far from the tree by robin benway is about siblings who were adopted out and they are discovering each other for the first time meeting each other for the first time rather and building a relationship

felix ever after by case and calendar is set at an art school which i didn't know going into it but that is a main topic of it and it's such a great setting for the story... this is a book that hits so many levels and it's just absolutely amazing

get a life chloe brown by talia hibbert because this definitely has some steamy scenes in there but despite being an enemies to lover story it's also super fluffy because the characters are both just like really sweet and easy to love

the one that i think i talk about the most in terms of mysterious historical fiction would be the girl in the blue coat by monica hesse because it is a mystery story that is set in amsterdam during world war ii where the main character is trying to find the jewish girl that her neighbor was hiding

this is my go-to cookbook whenever i want to make something i always pick up this one i've made so many recipes from it... all her recipes are super quick and easy

house of salt and sorrows by aaron a craig i definitely thought of this is a 12 dancing princesses retelling that is set at this creepy seaside manner it's super creepy

in the shadow of black birds by kat winters i really haven't talked about all that much i feel like but it is a paranormal mysterious historical fiction set during the spanish influenza outbreak world war one

josh and hazel's guide to not dating by christina lauren this one i think is really great for an intro to the adult romance genre it's the one that got me into adult romance

kingdom of the wicked by carrie maniscalco i think it's the perfect blend of historical romance and fantasy and it has the angst and everything it was just really good

let's talk about love by claire kahn follows a main character who is asexual and by romantic... she goes to therapy and her therapist is competent and actually like helps out... this had a really good positive representation of therapy

when you say community this is the first one that i think of because it really is as described by the author a love letter to the lgbtq plus community and it is set during the aids crisis

long may she reign by rhiannon thomas is kind of a lighter fantasy in that way because it doesn't have a magical element to it... definitely a very interesting fantasy with the royalty element but no magic to it

same with 11 other words by christina lauren this is kind of similar to beetroot in a way but you have this exploration of the past and everything and it's a relationship that completely fell apart but there's like there's just something about it is very emotional

love about taipei by abigail hing when the main character really wants to be a dancer and her parents are very against that so that is kind of what spurs on the entire book

you know i had to talk about lovely war again by julie berry because this just that's literally what this book is it's a world war two love story following two different couples but it's narrated by the gods... it's so good

master of one by jada jones and danny bennett is perfect for this one it is written by a married couple which is so lovely and it also does have such a great queer romance... so much action in this fantasy straight from the beginning

this one is my lady jane who's the nine days queen but mixed with characters who turn into horses like they just sound so weird but they're a ton of fun to read and i have a blast with them

the second book my plain jane that is jane eyre but mixed with ghosts... they just sound so weird but they're a ton of fun to read and i have a blast with them

finally in her first book that i read night owls which this is the uk edition the canadian slash us edition is called the anatomical shape of the heart but that line follows a character who likes anatomical drawings she's an anatomical artist so that's definitely a very unique one

when i think of a university-based book the first one that comes to mind now is ninth house by leigh bardugo because this entire story is centering around the fact that it is set at yale university and it deals with yale university secret societies

we have queen of hearts by colleen oaks this follows princess dinah and it's definitely a different take on the traditional alice story focusing more so on a royalty aspect in an actual wonderland and the royal family there

super central to save the date by morgan matson is family it's like all of her siblings and this really big family... they're all coming together again for the first time in a long time

the perfect one for that prompt is anything by jen bennett... in serious moonlight the one character really loves mystery novels and then the other is a magician

slay by brittany morris this has a character who has coded her own video game that is celebrating blackness and black people... my favorite part about it was really cool

in starry eyes the character is into astrology no astronomy i always say the wrong one like i know the difference but i always say the wrong one she is into astronomy

the astonishing color of after by emily xrpan definitely a trigger warning for suicide with this one but it is once again actually a really great book about mental health

the black flamingo by dean ada is a book that is really all about discovering who you are... it is actually a novel in verse and it's also like a drag queen origin story so it's really great

the final one i want to talk about is kind of lighter on the mystery scale but the fountains of silence by rudis of pettis i think is pretty mysterious because you're trying to piece together what is going on and what is happening in the time period

the kiss of deception by mary e pearson is definitely one where you are kept guessing because even the main character is kind of kept guessing... you don't know who's who the entire book so you're also kept guessing which is so much fun

there's also the night circus by aaron morgenstern of course which is this circus that shows up every night and that one is really cool i didn't love that one as much as i wish i had but it definitely does fit the circusy element

the nightingale has a multiple timeline sort of thing where it's present i think it's kind of present day but part of it and most of it is set in the past in nazi occupied france

the paper girls of paris by jordan taylor is perfect for that because it mixes contemporary with historical elements... definitely a very powerful story as well

the simple wild by k.a tucker this follows a main character whose father was estranged and she ends up going to alaska to see him because he's dying of lung cancer... obviously that one is going to have a deeper meaning to it

chaos of standing still by jessica brody is set in one day at the denver airport there's been a giant snowstorm and the characters are stuck there

obviously the diviners story by libba bray is one of the main ones for that

the first one that came to mind was the unexpected everything by morgan matson because the main character she was expecting to have this really prestigious internship as her summer job but instead she ends up being a dog walker so lots of dogs in here

tiny pretty things by danielle clayton and sona chairipotra they actually just released the trailer for this netflix show i haven't gotten the chance to watch it yet but it is set at manhattan ballet school... dance is like 100 what this book is about

truly devious by maureen johnson this is set at is it called ellingham academy... there also was a murder there so that definitely adds a creep factor to it

turtles all the way down by john green definitely centers around our main character's mental health and her journey of like i don't want to say accepting it but understanding it more so... it is a really great and accurate representation of mental health

under a painted sky by stacey lee is a western set story and one of my favorites that i've read like i kind of struggle with western said stories but this one was really good

war cross by marie lu this is set in the future where there's this virtual reality game that everyone is super obsessed with... that game oh it totally sold me on this book it was really cool just such a vibrant and inventive story

wicked fox by cat cho i didn't particularly love this book but i have heard a lot of people say that it reminds them of anime so i think that one would be worth checking out

your welcome universe by whitney gardner is dealing with a deaf main character and has a main focus on the deaf and hard of hearing community... it also has an art element to it too which is fun