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Recommendations based on Salt to the Seaby Ruta Sepetys
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Between Shades of Gray
by Ruta Sepetys
A young girl's story of survival and resilience in the face of oppression during World War II.
Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family ... (Goodreads)
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
by Gabrielle Zevin
Life of an isolated bookseller is transformed when an unexpected visitor brings unexpected joy.
“Marvelously optimistic about the future of books and bookstores and the people who love both.”—, The Washington Post, A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his ... (Barnes & Noble)
An Ember in the Ashes
by Sabaa Tahir
A young woman's fight for freedom in a world of tyranny and oppression.
A Scholar girl by the name of Laia lives in the Martial Empire with her grandparents and brother Darin in the city of Serra. Their existence is a grueling one as they are seen as second-class ... (Wikipedia)
Before We Were Yours
by Lisa Wingate
Family torn apart is reunited across generations, revealing a powerful tale of resilience and hope.
Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the ... (Goodreads)
A Darker Shade of Magic
by V.E. Schwab
A thrilling adventure through multiple parallel universes with a mysterious magical force.
Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and ... (Goodreads)
Crooked Kingdom
by Leigh Bardugo
A gang of criminals must band together to take down a powerful adversary.
In the prologue, a Grisha man named Emil Retvenko is kidnapped by a winged Shu man. The book commences in a gambling parlor known as Club Cumulus where Jesper and Nina keep Jan Van Eck's lawyer, ... (Wikipedia)
Beartown
by Fredrik Backman
A small-town hockey team and its community grapple with the consequences of a traumatic event.
Peter Andersson, in his forties, is the general manager of the ice hockey club in Beartown, a small town located somewhere in Sweden. Peter grew up in Beartown and was a junior hockey star. He went ... (Wikipedia)
All the Bright Places
by Jennifer Niven
Two teens struggling to find hope in the face of depression and grief, discovering the power of love.
Theodore Finch and Violet Markey are two teenagers who badly want to escape from their small Indiana town. Violet is a popular girl who is secretly dealing with survivor's remorse, and Finch is a boy ... (Wikipedia)
Heir of Fire
by Sarah J. Maas
A young woman discovers her magical powers and embarks on an epic quest to fight evil.
Celaena has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak-but at an unspeakable cost. Now, she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth . . . a truth about her heritage that could ... (Goodreads)
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
by Becky Albertalli
A teenager's struggle to come to terms with his sexual identity while keeping a secret from his family and friends.
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the ... (Goodreads)
Mosquitoland
by David Arnold
After her parents' divorce, Mim runs away to find her mother. Along the way, she discovers herself and the true meaning of family.
I am a collection of oddities, a circus of neurons and electrons: my heart is the ringmaster, my soul is the trapeze artist, and the world is my audience. It sounds strange because it is, and it is, ... (Goodreads)
The Fountains of Silence
by Ruta Sepetys
A gripping historical fiction set in 1950s Spain, exploring the lives of locals under Franco's dictatorship and American tourists.
A portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship. Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and ... (Goodreads)
The Invention of Wings
by Sue Monk Kidd
A powerful story about a girl's journey to freedom, despite the limitations of slavery.
Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world—and it is now ... (Goodreads)
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
by Fredrik Backman
An imaginative quest to uncover the truth behind a beloved grandmother's mysterious stories.
The story takes place in Sweden and follows Elsa, a 7-year-old who knows she is different from other children her age. Elsa has a habit of correcting others' grammar, she is smart for her age, and is ... (Wikipedia)
Illuminae
by Amie Kaufman
Two teens fight for survival amidst a galactic war, set against a backdrop of espionage and deception.
This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded. The year is 2575, and two rival mega-corporations are at war over a ... (Goodreads)
A Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness
A young boy's journey of self-discovery, coming to terms with his mother's terminal illness.
Thirteen-year-old Conor O'Malley awakens from the same nightmare he has been experiencing for the past few months, "the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming". At seven minutes after ... (Wikipedia)
Long Way Down
by Jason Reynolds
A young boy's journey of grief and redemption, as he seeks retribution for his brother's death.
William Holloman is ready to exact vengeance on the person who murdered his older brother, Shawn. As Will rides the elevator down from his 8th-floor apartment at each floor a new person, who is dead, ... (Wikipedia)
Code Name Verity
by Elizabeth Wein
Two female spies' harrowing mission during WWII and the secrets they discover.
In 1943 Nazi-occupied France, a British Lysander spy plane crashes in the fictional town of Ormaie. On board are two best friends, a pilot (Maddie, code name: Kittyhawk) and a spy (Julie, code name: ... (Wikipedia)
Always and Forever, Lara Jean
by Jenny Han
A young girl navigates the ups and downs of first love and family.
Now in her final year of high school, Lara Jean Song Covey is excitedly looking forward to attending school with her boyfriend, Peter Kavinsky, at the University of Virginia (UVA). Peter has been ... (Wikipedia)
November 9
by Colleen Hoover
Two strangers meet on November 9th and agree to meet every year on the same day, but life keeps getting in the way.
Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life ... (Goodreads)
Small Great Things
by Jodi Picoult
A gripping story of racism and justice, exploring the intersections of power and privilege.
#1, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER • With richly layered characters and a gripping moral dilemma that will lead readers to question everything they know about privilege, power, and race,, Small Great ... (Barnes & Noble)
Queen of Shadows
by Sarah J. Maas
A young woman's quest for power and identity in a magical kingdom.
Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past… She ... (Goodreads)
Under a Painted Sky
by Stacey Lee
Two girls, a Chinese-American and a runaway slave, flee westward on the Oregon Trail in 1849. A story of friendship, adventure, and self-discovery.
Missouri, 1849: Samantha dreams of moving back to New York to be a professional musician—not an easy thing if you’re a girl, and harder still if you’re Chinese. But a tragic accident dashes any hopes ... (Goodreads)
Echo
by Pam Muñoz Ryan
A magical story of courage, hope and friendship, connecting three different generations.
The framing story is set in Germany circa 1889; , while playing hide-and-seek with his friends, Otto becomes absorbed in a book he had purchased from a Gypsy entitled The Thirteenth Harmonica of Otto ... (Wikipedia)
Station Eleven
by Emily St. John Mandel
Post-apocalyptic exploration of a world drastically changed after a pandemic.
An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse,, Station Eleven, tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Wrath and the Dawn
by Renée Ahdieh
A thrilling adventure of love and revenge in a mystical, ancient land.
One Life to One Dawn. In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new ... (Goodreads)
Burial Rites
by Hannah Kent
A woman awaits her execution in 19th-century Iceland, reliving her story of hardship, loss and faith.
Burial Rites tells the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, a servant in northern Iceland who was condemned to death after the murder of two men, one of whom was her employer, and became the last woman put ... (Wikipedia)
The Bronze Horseman
by Paullina Simons
A sweeping epic romance set in Stalinist Russia, exploring the power of love amidst tragedy.
Librarian note: alternate covers for this edition can be found, here, and, here, and, here,. During the summer of 1941 the Metanov family are living a hard life in Leningrad. As the German armies ... (Goodreads)
The Light Between Oceans
by M.L. Stedman
A lighthouse keeper and his wife make a heartbreaking decision that has lifelong repercussions.
Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found, here, Australia, 1926. After four harrowing years fighting on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns home to take a job as the lighthouse ... (Goodreads)
Behind Closed Doors
by B.A. Paris
Psychological thriller about a seemingly perfect marriage hiding a sinister secret.
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLING DEBUT PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER YOU CAN'T MISS! The perfect marriage? Or the perfect lie? “A hair-raising debut, both unsettling and addictive...A ... (Barnes & Noble)
