By Betty Morales Bravo, Staff Writer
Books. Pages filled with words. To some, reading could never be considered fun. However, it is fun to me because you get to escape reality for some time and live inside a world of fantasies. What could be better? If you say you hate reading, you just haven’t found the right book yet. Here are some different books I enjoy reading, and I think you will love them, too:
“The Inheritance Games”
By Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Avery Grambs is a normal teenager living a normal life. Her normal life changes, though, when she receives the fortune of a random billionaire who recently passed away. To gain the billionaire’s fortune, she has to live a year in the billionaire’s house, which is filled with mysteries, secret passages and even the four grandsons of the billionaire. She has so many questions, but the only way to find answers is if she solves them.
This book had me hooked from the beginning. It has plot twists you wouldn’t imagine, secrets within secrets, lies within lies. While reading this, it will make you feel like a detective, trying to solve the riddles and mysteries before the characters do.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty”
By Jenny Han
Summers are always the best time for Isabel “Belly” Conklin. Every year since she was born, she and her family have gone to Cousins Beach for the summer with the Fishers. What she looks forward to most is being with Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. When she arrives for the summer at the Fishers’ house, everything seems so different. It doesn’t feel like her normal summer. She also begins to regrow her feelings for Conrad Fisher, her childhood crush. Will this summer be the same for her, or will everything change?
This is something that should be only read in the summer or else you will terribly miss the season of beach days and ice cream. This book is something that everybody living here can relate to because of our proximity to the beach. This book is perfect for people who like teen romance books.
“Caraval”
By Stephanie Garber
Scarlett and Tella Dragna have always lived on an island and have never left it. With their very strict and cruel father, Scarlett still hopes for her wish to come true, which is to visit Caraval, a performance where you participate to win in a game. Everything becomes a disaster when her father forces her into an arranged marriage. And when she randomly receives tickets for Caravel, will Scarlett take her chance and escape with her sister and trust a random sailor to guide them?
From mysterious sailors to magic, this book has it all. It’s filled with adventure and mystery. This is a book that you won’t want to put back down once you start reading it. It is definitely worth reading and will entertain you from the beginning to the very end.
“I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”
By Erika Sanchez
Mexican-American Julia Rey is known as the “black sheep” of the family and her older sister Olga was known as the “perfect” daughter. When her older sister dies, she starts discovering secrets that might mean her sister was not the “perfect” daughter. Will she find what her older sister was hiding?
Finding a book you relate to is always a good feeling and this was the case for me. This is a great book for learning more about cultural diversity. It portrays Mexican culture and shows how it is portrayed in stereotypes.
“If He Had Been With Me”
By Laura Nowlin
Autumn lives in the suburbs of St. Louis. She is known as the “weird girl” at school, and her former childhood best friend is the opposite. Everybody at school wants to be friends with him and all the girls want to be with him. What will happen when she realizes she still has feelings for him after so long? Will she try to bring back the friendship they once had?
A tragic love story is what this book is described as. This book is something you know will end tragically, but forget by the end of the book because everything seems perfect. This book will give you a good cry if you are sentimental.
“Daughter Of The Pirate King”
By Tricia Levenseller
Adventure, fantasy, and even romance: Alosa has been traveling through the sea for as long as she can remember. When her father, the pirate king, sends her to find a map for a treasure, she forces herself to be captured by another group of pirates – their enemies. Will she help her father and get the map for him or will she take the map and treasure for herself? She also has her own secret that helps and protects her along her journey. Will someone find out about it?
This is something that makes you want to experience an adventure like this one. It has sword fights, sirens and even magic. This is definitely a book that will make you want to read more fantasy books.
“Divergent”
By Veronica Rothoth
One city, five factions: Candor (honest), Abnegation (selfless), Dauntless (brave), Amity (kind), and Erudite (intelligent). Sixteen-year-old Beatrice lives in futuristic Chicago city. She has to choose which faction she will be part of for the rest of her life; she can either choose the same faction as her family (abnegation) or a new faction. After choosing her faction, she has to pass multiple physical and mental tests. The hardest part of her new journey is making sure no one finds out her real secret.
Can our world turn into something like this in the future? This book made me realize that the choices we make can affect our future. This is a must-read for people who like futuristic and adventurous books.
Sophomore Betty Morales Bravo can be reached at 24moralesbe41@daretolearn.org.
