Finished The Hunger Games...now what? About This Page:

[honeybee723]

Last week I finished the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy, and I can't begin to tell you how nice it was to have a really good story to read. I can honestly say I've never had a set of books consume so much of my life before. Maybe it's because I was reading them back to back, and if it had been that way with Harry Potter books, I probably would felt the same way, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really missed imersing myself in a good book.

I know this topic has been touched on before, but can any of you recommend a book or books that you just couldn't put down? I'm not into murder mysteries or trashy romance novels. I never thought I would have liked the theming of The Hunger Games, but I was completely proven wrong. We're leaving for Disney soon, and I would love to take a book along, but I would also love to have a few books to read during my lunch break at work. It would be a nice excuse to get outside and away from my desk for an hour.

I'm open to any and all suggestions.

[HiddenMickey]

Here's some recommendations for some series that are also YA Fiction:

By Scott Westerfield
Uglies, Pretties, Extras
(I haven't read, but highly recommended by my brother and SIL)

By James Dasher
The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure
(Loved the first book, not as hot about the other two)

By Jeanne Duprau
The City of Ember, The People of Sparks, The Diamond of Darkhold, The Prophet of Yonwood
(really good storylines) The City of Ember is also made into a pretty good movie.

By Patrick Ness
The Chaos Walking Series
#.05 The New World (novelette), #1 The Knife of Never Letting Go, #2 The Ask and the Answer,#3 Monsters of Men
(A bit of science fiction and dystopian society thrown together, I liked it)

[HiddenMickey]

Some adult books for you:

The Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Very Valentine by Adrianna Trigiani
Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand (or any of her books, really) Barefoot is my fav.
The Accidental Mother by Rowan Coleman (other good ones too)

[lexiemom]

Matched and Crossed (the third book Reached comes out Nov 2012) by Ally Condie. They are dystopian YA novels.

I also got really sucked into Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

[jlhill4444]

The Twilight Series is another great set that I could not put down.

I also recommend Diana Gabaldon and her Outlander series. These are really good books that I have read over and over!

[honeybee723]

Thanks everyone for your input so far! I've read the Twilight books and The Da Vinci code, but I'm definitely going to look into the others you've mentioned. I'm sure you all understand how hard it is to get back into a book after you've just finished a really really great one. You want the next one to be just as good or even better so you're not stuck comparing the two.

[unewillow]

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

I've also started to read Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, etc). They are kind of crime/murder mysteries, but they're very funny and easy page turners.

[Gin]

My children and I just finished Suzanne Collins's other series, the Underland Chronicles, and liked them quite a bit. The first one is Gregor the Overlander. You'll want to read them back to back, but when I did, I felt a little burned out by the end, so you may want to pace yourself.

[KMB733]

Originally Posted by unewillow

I've also started to read Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, etc). They are kind of crime/murder mysteries, but they're very funny and easy page turners.

I second this. My friend gave them to read and I devoured the first one, and now on the 4th!

Originally Posted by Gin

My children and I just finished Suzanne Collins's other series, the Underland Chronicles, and liked them quite a bit. The first one is Gregor the Overlander. You'll want to read them back to back, but when I did, I felt a little burned out by the end, so you may want to pace yourself.

I was wondering about these books. I've heard good things about them, so maybe I'll check those out.

[B.M.]

I also loved and could not put down the 3 Hunger Games Books! I just recently read The Maze Runner and liked it almost as well as the Hunger Games and am anxiously waiting for the second book to come out....

[HiddenMickey]

Originally Posted by B.M.

I also loved and could not put down the 3 Hunger Games Books! I just recently read The Maze Runner and liked it almost as well as the Hunger Games and am anxiously waiting for the second book to come out....

The second and third books are available. See my post above for the titles. The third one was published last year.

[B.M.]

Originally Posted by HiddenMickey

The second and third books are available. See my post above for the titles. The third one was published last year.

Thanks! After I read the Maze Runner, I looked it up online and I thought it said the second book was coming out this summer.... I must have misread.... I'll be getting those asap; my boys will be excited as well!

[honeybee723]

Okay...I think I'm going to start with either The Chaos Walking series or The Maze Runner series and then make a list of all the others to read over the summer. I need some beach reads for the future as well since I'm hitting up Myrtle Beach in August.

[HiddenMickey]

Elin Hilderbrand and Nancy Thayer are great beach read authors. Their books all take place at the beach on Nantucket Island.

[Ashli]

I love Jennifer Crusie's books. She writes basically chick lit, but it's always got a good main character who is relatable and they're funny too. Usually they involve solving a mystery of some kind. My two favorites of hers are Welcome to Temptation and Maybe This Time. Some sites qualify her books as "romance novels" but they are definitely not what I would consider that. I'd say romantic comedy, but even more than that because they have the mystery element too (especially Maybe This Time, which is almost part ghost-story).