Recommendations: Standalones

Hey all, Dani here.

I am so sorry that I missed my regular recommendations post last week. It was actually supposed to be this post, but I didn’t have it completely written up and I was stressed out a bit and my muscles were sore from work so I ended up not getting on my computer at all.

It’s a horrible excuse, and I’m trying to do better.

Anyway, today I want to talk to you about some standalone reads. You know, books that don’t have sequels or spin-offs or companion novels. Just nice simple stories that begin and end in just a single tome.

Let’s get started.

Okay, so do you know what I learned while trying to come up with a list of books to recommend for this particular post? Well, I learned a couple of things. First, most of the standalone books I read tend to fall in the contemporary category. And second, most of the standalones on this list are books I’ve recommended before.

Obviously I find each of these books to be good to read, and if I have a review posted I will go ahead and link to the review so you can learn all of my thoughts and feelings on them, but I’ve talked about each of these books before so I’m sure you don’t want to hear me say the same stuff all over again.

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger

Invictus by Ryan Graudin

Heartstone by Elle Katharine White

Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

Kat and Meg Conquer the World by Anna Priemaza

Next I have a recent read, but it definitely deserves to be on the list.

I loved this book. It was so good, and you can find my review here, so I’ll try not to gush about it or rehash my thoughts in this post, but I think this one definitely set the bar pretty high for other contemporary and/or diverse reads in 2018.

Then I have a more classic recommendation to add to the list, and this is good in both novel or movie form. Actually, I’m feeling like I need to reread and rewatch this one because it has been quite some time since I last visited this world and these characters.

I just love the way that this one is written. The Princess Bride is a classic for a reason. This book is set up as if someone came through and pretty much edited the book. So you’ll have this editor make commentary about removing 8 pages of text about the items a character is packing for a trip, and then two pages later there is another comment about removing 6 pages that detailed unpacking the things that were just packed a few pages earlier. It is just a wonderfully amusing read. (From what I remember anyway…it has been several years since I last read it).

Finally, I personally don’t really consider these ones to be standalones, but they technically are, so I’ll just briefly mention them here.

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. Both of these (and the upcoming third book Record of a Spaceborn Few) take place in the same setting and may mention the same characters and such, but they are technically self-contained stories. They are listed as part of the Wayfarers series, but are marketed as standalones. Still, they are wonderful and diverse, and I do very much recommend them.

Then there’s Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (I can’t add the third book–Beneath the Sugar Sky–yet because I haven’t read it). These books are collectively part of the Wayward Children series, but they follow different characters and can be read as standalones.

So there you have it…my standalone recommendations. As always, thanks for reading, and if you have any books to recommend for this particular topic, feel free to tell me about them in the comments.

I’ll see you tomorrow with my January Wrap Up post.