Five Must-read Books That I Couldn't Put Down

The following five books in this list are ones that I have recently read or re-read, they're just so good.  We've got stories of love and romance, poetry and a thriller.  I'm all for books that just hook you at the start and these are no exception.  I could not put them down.  You could easily read most of these in a day if you have the time.  As a stay-at-home mom, that doesn't always happen for me, but I definitely spent whatever time I did have reading these books.  Hope you find one that piques your interest! 

Unfollowing You by Komal Kapoor is a love story in poetry form.  If you're a fan of Rupi Kaur I don't doubt you will enjoy this book.  It did seem a little "high school" to me, if I'm being honest, but even as someone well out of high school, I found myself relating to this book, maybe a little too much.  

This story starts off with the telling of how two people met (names are never mentioned).  The highs of being in a new relationship and how great everything is in that "honeymoon" phase.   But as we know all too well, that only lasts for so long.  Kapoor takes us through this story of love and the beginnings of what seems like a relationship that can last but ultimately doesn't.  The narrator of this story goes through these feelings of not being enough for the partner they are no longer with, wondering what happened to the relationship, why it ended and how they are moving on.

As mentioned earlier, this seemed a little high school but was decently written.  It's definitely not for everyone but I really enjoyed how this story was told in poetry form.  It was different and still told a story you could follow and understand.  If you enjoy poetry, or even if you don't, this book is definitely worth checking out.  We have all been in this situation before and this book is a good example of allowing ourselves to feel everything we do when in this situation.  How important it is to be able to feel the happiness of a new relationship, the grief of losing it and the joy in being able to move on from it after it has ended.

There is this myth that showing emotions is a sign of weakness, a myth I believed for many years.  This book is my way back to my feelings.  To be comfortable with them, around them, in them.  May it help you embrace yours as well. 

When Halsey's I Would Leave Me if I Could poetry book came out, I knew I needed to get my hands on it.  I, personally, love Halsey and her music.  Quite a few poems in this book were inspiration from songs you've heard like "Clementine," which is a favorite of mine.  Her poetry is incredibly raw and personal and really allows her talents as a writer and poet to shine.  

She definitely doesn't hold back in her writing.  She tells us about her childhood, her family, what her life was like before she became famous, her issues with her reproductive health, drug use, sexuality and even how she miscarried right before a show.  

With such heavy topics that she writes about, she does so beautifully.  You feel the pain she feels when she talks about how her aunts tenant basically molested her and her cousin, the curiosity she feels while having a sexual encounter with another woman and how she really feels about herself in all these situations and in life in general.  This is a very transparent book of poetry about someone who has been through a whole lot of, excuse my language, but shit.  She has really been through the ringer and has come out of it incredibly stronger than before. 

I have never really been a huge fan of poetry; I find that the way we are taught poetry in school doesn't allow us to really enjoy it as we would if we could just read it for what it is without constantly analyzing every bit of it.  I found Halsey's poetry incredibly well written, honest and inspiring.  If you only have time for one of these books right now, this one is it.  You can easily read it in an hour.  Even if you're not big on poetry, this is well worth the read.

These things they come and go

and I mean half of everything I tell you.

I'm half of everything I hate,

and half of everything I create

is you too.

So I start to hate the poems when I hate you. 

This is a book I had been seeing all over Instagram and was also featured on Reese Witherspoon's book club.  It's been out for almost a year and I finally bought it and read it.  

It's about a woman named Dannie Kohan who "lives her life by the numbers" (In Five Years).  She has everything planned down to the minute and has mapped out the next five years of her life.  After nailing an interview for a law firm that would be huge for her career, her boyfriend David proposes to her and she accepts.  After a great day and night, she goes to sleep.  When she wakes up, however, she is in a different apartment, the engagement ring is not the same, she is living with another man and it is five years in the future.  This "dream" lasts for an hour but she can't seem to shake it.  She tries to take her mind off it by busying herself with work and making sure she meets that five-year goal she has planned and then she sees him.  The man from the dream comes into her life and that five-year plan she had seems to be unraveling.

This is described as a love story and it definitely is but it is not your typical love story.  There are quite a few twists that come together at the end that I did not expect to happen.  This is also a love story between friends.  Bella and Dannie have been friends since they were children and due to a certain situation, things get difficult between them but their love and friendship bring them back together before it's too late. 

He shakes his head. "You mistake love. You think it has to have a future in order to matter, but it doesn't. It's the only thing that does not need to become at all. It matters only insofar as it exists. Here. Now. Love doesn't require a future." 

Definitely one of my favorites on this list.  I first read this book a few years ago and picked it up again recently.  What a great story about two people very much connected throughout their lives and despite being very much in love with each other, the timing just never worked out. 

Lucy and Gabe meet at Columbia University on September 11th, the day of the terrorist attacks.  That day they decide they want their lives to mean more.  "Perhaps they'll find love's meaning in each other" (The Light We Lost).  However, when Gabe takes a job as a photojournalist in the Middle East, Lucy decides to stay in New York City to pursue her career.  Throughout the thirteen years this book takes us, Lucy and Gabe always come back to one another in some way.  They are always in each other's lives.  Even when Lucy gets married and has kids, they still remain in contact with one another.  Until the end, they love each other and are bonded together by the events of the first time they met.

I absolutely loved this story.  Their romance was exciting and you wanted them to be together so much even though circumstances and situations never really allowed that.  I loved reading about their friendship and their love.  Jill Santopolo did a great job at bringing these two characters and their story together. Of course, it wouldn't be a true love story without some type of heart break right?  And let me tell you, it's quite heartbreaking! But such a good read and so worth it.

Last, but certainly not least, is The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.  This one was a trip!  I did not expect it to end at all the way it did, though I did have my suspicions.  

We are introduced to the main character Alicia Berenson through one of her diary entries where she tells us why she's writing; she's been depressed and her husband thought it might do her good to write her thoughts down and get them out on paper. And just like that, the first chapter starts off with her killing her husband.  At this point, we have no idea why she's done it but ever since she killed him, she has not spoken.  Because of her silence, this tragedy becomes big news and with her notoriety, prices for Alicia's artwork start to skyrocket.  She ends up being sent to a "secure psychiatric unit" where criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber comes to work with her and see if he can get her to speak to him. While trying to get through to Alicia, we get some background as to what is going on with Theo's life during this time.  Everything the author is telling us comes together in a big way at the end. 

This book seemed a little slow to start but stick with it.  The way this whole story unravels is quite the trip.  I mentioned earlier that I had my suspicions as to what happened with Alicia and how she came to murdering her husband and who this mysterious man she would speak of was and even I was a bit shocked at how it ended!  While it does start off a bit slow, it quickly becomes a novel you will not be able to put down because all you want to do is find out what is going on, what happened, who is this mysterious man Alicia keeps seeing and how in the world did she get to the point where she killed her husband. 

And that concludes my list of five books I just could not put down.  I hope some, or all, of these stood out to you and you decide to pick them up! 

Happy reading!

**All images from Amazon.com.