The following is a list of books that I have enjoyed, but find that very few others have read. Books that fall into this category are like finding money in a winter coat from last year–total jackpot! I spend a great deal of time scouring Pinterest, Goodreads, and book reviews trying to find the next book that I am going to love and champion. So in no particular order:

Title: Poison Study

Author: Maria V. Snyder

Published: March 2007

Rating: ★★★★

Summary: Yelena is about to be executed for murder when she is given a chance to instead live in a palace and eat the best food in the kingdom as the food taster for the Commander. She becomes immersed in the palace life and starts to discover new skills of her own. Note: This is the first in The Study series, but I can only recommend the first as I didn’t love the second and couldn’t finish the third.

Title: Fading

Author: E.K. Blair

Published: June 2013

Rating: ★★★★

Summary: This is the story of Candace, a senior fine arts major with aspirations of becoming a professional ballerina. Diligent and hard work has left her little time to experience the traditional rites of passage in college, until one night when she decides to let go. That night goes horribly wrong when she ends up beat up physically and emotionally after being attacked. The story follows her as she goes through the process of trying to heal and allow others into her fragile world. Note: This book has some graphic sexual violence in it.

Title: The Kitchen House

Author: Kathleen Grissom

Published: February 2010

Rating:★★★★★

Summary: Lavinia is an orphan found on a ship coming from Ireland. She is scooped up by a plantation owner and put in the care of the master’s illegitimate daughter, Belle, in the Kitchen House. There she learns along side the slaves how to cook and serve the family of the main house. Her skin color, however, gives her access to the main house and the family inside of it in a way different from the people she has come to know as family. She is torn between the two worlds.

Title: The Fever Tree

Author: Jennifer McVeigh

Published: April 2013

Rating: ★★★★

Summary: This book is very much in the vein of Gone With the Wind as it follows Frances from London to South Africa after her family’s fortune evaporates with her father’s death. Frances is journeying to South Africa to marry a Christian man as set up by a Christian service. Along the way to meet her promised husband, she falls for another man. Torn between her heart and what is promised she must live with the choices she makes. All set to the smallpox epidemic that wreaks havoc on her new country and her own life.

Title: Falling Home

Author:  Karen White

Published: June 2002

Rating: ★★★★

Summary: This is a family drama following the perspective of Cassie as she travels back home to Georgia when her sister (who married Cassie’s high school sweetheart) calls to let her know their father is ill. Cassie has to handle the small town she grew up in, the marriage of her sister and high school sweetheart, and a connection to an old classmate. The story has more depth that expected and provides a well-rounded and satisfying experience. There is a sequel called After the Rain that I have been meaning to read.

Title: One True Loves

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Published: June 2016

Rating: ★★★★★

Summary: Emma is at dinner with her family and her fiance when she receives a phone call that turns her world upside down from her husband. And so begins discovering how Emma got into this predicament and the heart-wrenching journey she must embark on to determine who she will choose. Click here to take a look at my book recommendation post for this book.

 

Title: Swear on This Life

Author: Renee Carlino

Published: August 2016

Rating: ★★★★★

Summary: Emiline begins to read a novel by the new novelist taking the literary world by storm, J. Colby, when she begins to discover that the story is her story. Emiline’s childhood was one of struggle and pain, except for her only lifeline, Jase. This book tells the real story of Emiline and Jase and also follow the book’s story of Emerson and Jackson. Click here to read what I wrote in my book recommendation post for this book.