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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Winthrop chapter.

The week is almost upon us, ladies. Yes, that’s right. Spring Break is almost here. It’s thrilling to think that in a mere collection of days, we’ll be crammed into cars heading out for some good (AND FREE) home cooking. Some might be planning to head out on a road trip with their BFFs. In which case, makes us wonder what are you going to do for a whole week?! I’m sure it’s absolutely impossible to think that every second of Spring Break is going to be sunny skies and swimming pools. It’s not that warm yet!

So, what are you to do when your eyes start aching from too much Netflix binging? (I know, I didn’t think there was such a thing). What can help you when all of the conversation in the road trip car has died down and you’re watching one of your friends drool on the backseat? Well, never fear, beauties, we have just the thing your wonderful minds will love!

Here’s a list of books you can check out for just these moments!

 

Romantic Fiction

1.      The Secret of Ella and Micha By Jessica Sorensen

 

 

Things had been going great for the outspoken Ella and her attractive, musical, best friend, Micha. But, a secret so awful and a mistake so heartbreaking tears Ella from her little bubble of happiness. In a fiery storm of tragedy and loss, Ella graduates from high school and runs as far as she can get from the crappy dying town she once called home. A year later, Ella is forced to come back and she needs to face the tragedy and emotional scars that rip open the moment she comes face to face with the one boy that saw her through everything. (warning: this novel is as real as real can get) 

2.      Beautiful Disaster: A Novel By Jamie McGuire

 

 

Abby is just looking for peace. All she needs is a new beginning—no more swearing, no more drinking. She’s a good girl now as she arrives, fresh, on her college campus with her best friend. Everyone is running from something and she is too. Travis, on the other hand, makes is a point to run toward everything at least once. One look at Abby—with her hardcore resistance and willpower—and he’s ready to play a game of challenges. Abby doesn’t want to see beyond this tattooed player, and her pride won’t let her back down from this game. A new test of wills begins as they place bets on who can beat the other. If she wins, Travis suffers a month without his streams of pretty faces. If he wins, she’s his next pretty face. 

Fantasy/Adventure

3.      Gregor the Overlander By Suzanne Collin’s

 

 

You may recognize Suzanne Collins as the author of the famous Hunger Games series. Well, before she wrote The Hunger Games, her Underland Chronicles made their debut. Gregor the Overlander begins with a young man, whose father has been missing for quite a while. As he falls into a world of impossibly large creatures, talking rats, and pale haired beauties with an attitude, he comes to understand that there is more in the world than anyone knows (Literally!). When Gregor realizes that his father might be alive and that he, too, may have fallen into this strange land, he must fight to protect his life and his sister’s. He heads off on a dangerous adventure with a strange prophecy that describes his circumstances to a T following him like a disturbingly dark cloud. 

4.      Howl’s Moving Castle By Diana Wynne Jones

 

 

Perhaps, you notice that this title sounds vaguely familiar? That’s probably because Howl’s Moving Castle has, since its launch in 1986, been adapted into a famous animated film with Christian Bale voicing Howl. While many may think they already know the story line, much of the film failed to shed light on the true characterization of the novel’s main protagonist, Sophie. As the eldest of three sisters, Sophie is completely content with her life as a mothering figure and the plainest of her siblings. So, when a mysterious and handsome wizard saves her from a moment of discomfort, she’s wary enough to try and avoid the spark of danger in his eyes. Unfortunately for our dear introverted Sophie, adventure has other plans. One curse later and even with war on the horizon, Sophie is determined to get back her simple life and she’s willing to go through the devil, himself, to make it happen. 

5.      Graceling By Kristin Cashore

 

 

Katsa is nothing if not special. Born with a special and rare ability called grace, this character comes alive in a whole new way. While some graces can be anything from swimming to dancing, her grace is nothing like the rest. Unfortunately for Katsa, her ability is killing, and as the King’s niece and tool, she is forced to play her part in his political terrorizing. Full of strength and compassion, Katsa must find a way to reverse this curse of a grace and use it for something good. Of course, no good book is complete without a little bit of romance and it splashes into the novel along with a few other twists and turns you’ll never see coming! 

Paranormal Fiction

6.      Don’t Die, Dragonfly By Linda Joy Singleton

 

 

This book, the first in The Seer Series, is certainly a quick read—something to take along on a day trip in case one gets bored, or is stuck in traffic. Readers will follow a young girl named Sabine after a horrible tragedy in her California town has her thrown from her home and her school. As Sabine runs from her mother and the town that now hates her, she also runs from the terrifying gift she was born with. Just as soon as she’s settled into her life with her grandmother, and her new best friend, head cheerleader, Penny-Love, a terrifying vision rocks her world, ruining her newfound popularity and any chance she has at a normal life. A strange boy and his hawk move onto her grandmother’s farm at the same time that more visions warn her that a new tragedy might make its presence known sooner rather than later. 

7.      Shadowland By Meg Cabot

 

 

Recognize the name Meg Cabot? You should. Meg Cabot is the author of the Princess Diaries series, which were the inspiration for Anne Hathaway’s role as Princess Mia in the film adaptation. Shadowland is the first in a different series, which follows ghost mediator Suze Simon as she moves from New York to California when her mom remarries. In the new inn turned house they move into, Suze is exasperated to find that yet another ghost is there to bother her. But, cute—murdered—Jesse is perfectly fine with giving Suze her space. But, a crazy accidently dead ex-girlfriend of a classmate wants revenge, Suze’s ghost father is worried about a boy ghost living in her room, and a myriad of other issues pop up out of nowhere leaving no time for Suze to worry about her new family which includes three very different stepbrothers. What’s next? 

Romantic Fantasy

8.      Hawksong By Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

 

 

Written by progeny Amelia Atwater-Rhodes who published her first novel at age fourteen, Hawksong follows avian shifter, Danica Shardae, the princess of her race, as she must find some way to stop the war between her people and the snake shifters. Danica and her fiancé, Zane Cobriana, a member of the royal family of her enemy, find each other in the less than sterling position as saviors and sacrifices. The couple needs to come up with some way not to kill each other and convince everyone in both of their prospective kingdoms that they really are in love and not at each other’s throats when an assassination attempt almost blows their plan to hell. With tempers rising, weapons unleashing, and blood boiling, keeping the snakes and avian tribe from wiping each other out is going to take a miracle. 

Young Adult Fiction

9.      I’d Tell You I Love You, But then I’d Have To Kill You By Ally Carter

 

 

Truer words have never been said, especially by Cameron “The Chameleon” Morgan. Stuck within the walls of Gallagher Academy with her mother as the headmistress, Cameron hasn’t really been in contact with boys for a long time. After her Dad went missing in action on some top secret mission, Cameron has been living her life as an average teenager. That is if the average teenager can speak fourteen different languages and toss a linebacker around like an untrained lapdog. Cammie isn’t known as “The Chameleon” because she likes lizards. No, blending in is in Cammie’s blood and spying is what she was made for. Still, though, martial arts and computer hacking can only keep a girl occupied for so long. What is she going to do, though, when having a boyfriend not only endangers him, but her friends and family too? 

Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

10.  The Forest of Hands and Teeth By  Carrie Ryan

 

 

The simple truth is that every time someone leaves the village, there is a chance that Mary might never see them again. She was always taught the three fundamentals of life: “The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent.” The fences are what keep her and everyone in her village safe. Outside, there is only the forest and the things that reside there. Mary’s been told the stories of what life was like before the dead opened their eyes, and she can’t help but want to travel and see the ocean—after all, she’s never been outside of the fences. A breach in those fence, though, is what starts her journey to the ocean where danger is at every turn and friendship can mean the difference between life and death. She’ll reach the ocean only to find that it isn’t anything like she expected. 

University: Winthrop Major: English, Literature and LanguageMinor: Professional WritingDream: Young Adult Novelist. University Professor. Female Version of Indiana Jones. Rich. Successful. Well-Traveled. Foster/Adoptive Mom. Life Motto: "To die would be an awfully big adventure, but to live would be an even greater one." --Peter Pan, J.M. BarrieLife Goal: To be happy and make other people happy. To do what I love. To help others find their passion.  
Winthrop University is a small, liberal arts college in Rock Hill, SC.