All-Time Favorite Stand-Alones

Hello, all! It’s Superbowl Sunday, as known to me as, “Wait, that’s today?” Sunday, because I couldn’t care less about football (I know, I’m betraying my fellow Americans).

So, continuing on with the trend of talking about some of my favorite bookish things, I thought I’d talk about my favorite stand-alones (I realized I had a hell of a lot more favorites than I thought I’d have on this list, and not all of them are mentioned)!

Note that I don’t mention all of my favorite stand-alones, so books such as Gone Girl, Night Film, The Ice Twins, etc. didn’t make it onto the list because it was already so long, and I feel like I’ve talked about them to death, but I’m sure you guys know about the ones not listed on here, so it’s not too bad. If you want to see more of my favorites, feel free to check this super old post out here!

Simon vs the Homo-Sapiens Agenda

Um, of course I’m going to have this adorable book on this list. I actually read this book in one day (probably because I really needed to know who Blue was), and it’s so wonderfully fluffy and cute and funny. Also, it mentioned Drarry, so ten points to Gryffindor!

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Looking for Alaska

I don’t care what anyone else says, I’m a huge fan of John Green, and this book is still my favorites of his. Besides having a total girl crush on Alaska, I also love how this book dealt with a theme I didn’t think would be explored. Not to mention the quirky cast of characters, and the fact that this is probably one of Green’s best-written novel to date.

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Vicious

Of course, here’s the Obligatory V.E. Schwab mention! This is probably my favorite book of hers, and probably one of my favorite books dealing with anti-heroes and superpowers. And I’m definitely Team Victor.

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Every Day

This was my first book by Levithan, and it definitely wasn’t the last. This was such a beautiful, complex love story, and, yes, I want a proper sequel.

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Before I Fall

Even though Lauren Oliver is a hit or miss author for me, her debut novel is still one of my favorite books ever. The writing is stunning and the character development and original concept is what makes this book so great. And I teared up reading this book so many times.

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The Troop

This wonderfully disgusting book is still one of my favorites, and you can see its discussion here! I fell in love with horror last year, and this is probably still my favorite one out there (I haven’t read a Stephen King book yet; I’m sorry!). It’s gross and it’s violent, but it also gave me so many feels because I loved these boys (most of them, at least). And the ending was spot-on as well.

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Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

THIS BOOK IS AN UNDERRATED MASTERPIECE. I highly recommend going into this blind (I was unfortunately spoiled before I read this, of course), and just letting it take you on the journey because it’s so raw and real and so very sad. It’s definitely a dark book, and, warning: it doesn’t have a happy ending, but it’s so brilliant.

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Eleanor & Park

I actually read this book around the time it came out, and I absolutely loved it. It was such a beautiful look at first love between two awkward protagonists just trying to make I through another day. And that ending is still one of my favorites to this day.

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The Fault in Our Stars

What’s a “Favorites” list without this one on it? Of course I loved TFiOS. And to those saying Augustus was too pretentious and unreal, that’s the point. /rant over/

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Big Little Lies

Look at me; I finally read a popular book that came out years ago! I’m not too excited for the HBO show since it seems to have missed the entire point of the book, but I love how funny, but serious it is, especially since it deals with sexual abuse and domestic violence. Also, it’s highly addicting. I felt like I was a PTA mom myself reading this.

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All Is Not Forgotten

So many people don’t like this book, but I loved it. I read it in a day last year, and its such a powerful book that deals with the rape of a fifteen-year-old girl. Some of my favorite quotes came from this book, and I love how effed-up the entire novel was since we get it only from the perspective of Dr. Erskine.

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Ten

YA mysteries and thrillers sometimes tend to miss the mark, in my opinion, but this one really impressed me! It’s loosely based off of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (which I haven’t read) and managed to not only be tense, but really surprise me with its murderer, had a great, smart heroine, and a romance that I actually shipped and wasn’t cheesy!

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I’m Thinking of Ending Things

More of my thoughts on this weird book here!

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Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

This was actually the first book I ever read in one whole day, and I’m glad it has that standing. It’s such a touching novel about the friendship (and eventual romance) between two boys and it’s so sad but beautiful and cute and just asdfghjkl!

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More Happy Than Not

I’m sure you’re tired of hearing how awesome Adam Silvera is, but he’s freaking awesome, and his debut novel is fantastic. I just love how it talks about depression and the mash-up of a sci-fi and contemporary was so cool.

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Two Boys Kissing

And another contemporary penned by David Levithan! I actually consider this my favorite of his at the moment, and there are just so many fantastic quotes in it and it’s so poignant and all the feels!

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The Night Circus

Ah, yes, my first ever adult book! I actually bought this when I was twelve but read two pages of it and wrote it off as bad, but picked up again last year because my taste has changed since then, and fell in love. I know some people feel it’s too slow and boring and doesn’t live up to its premise, but to me, it was gorgeous.

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Draw the Line

Again, we have another cute, fluffy book with a gay protagonist that made my heart sing. I swear to God, I was smiling like a dork through the entire book. It also deals with the homophobia that gay people face in the South sometimes and how gross it is that people aren’t held accountable for it. It’s such a beautiful, underrated book. Plus, the main couple is ADORABLE.

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How to Repair a Mechanical Heart, Dark Matter, & The Song of Achilles

 

12book “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller

All three of these books made it to my Best of 2016 list, and I’ll just leave it here if you want to check out more of my thoughts on these beauties!

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Wonder

This is probably one of my favorite middle grade novels ever. I’m not really a huge fan of middle grade nowadays, but back when I read this, I was probably twelve or thirteen, and I devoured it in a day. It’s so heart-breaking to see how Auggie is treated, but I loved how his sister loved him and how he had fantastic friends that loved him. So good.

And that’s (mostly) it for my favorite stand-alones of all time! Who knew that I was obsessed with so many stand-alones of all different genres and age ranges?

What are some of your favorite stand-alones? Do we share any of the same ones?