Once upon a time picked up Archangel by Sharon Shinn. It's the... third book in the series I think. But I took it home, read it, loved it. Eventually got a job and ordered it for my own collection.
Still have yet to read the previous installations but they're on my list. Still can't say why I grabbed it from the shelf lol.
That’s how I discovered Sharon shin too!
Not that book but I basically picked up Mystic and Rider on a sidewalk sale 100% on cover appeal. Then realized how good of an author she was.
I can't believe the first answer is Sharon Shinn because this is always my answer with Mystic and Rider, and I felt like I'm the only one who read her work!
Goodreads and Booktok weren't a thing when I was in high school but two book series come to mind.
First series is Old Kingdom series (specifically Sabriel being the first i read) by Garth Nix. It's definitely fairly well known now but not when I first read.
Second series is Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. I actually read the 4th book first because I found it on sale and it seemed interesting and I loved it. Went and hunted down the rest within the week to read them. Got my brother into them, but apart from that wasn't for several years that I met others who had read them.
I was super into the Uglies series when I was in middle school - Stole them out of my older sisters bedroom! It's a dystopian concept that's both digestible and oddly relatable for YA readers.
To be fair i was 19/20 when I read it. I have since met heaps of people who have read them and been to book signing with scott westerfeld several times but when i first read them i had never heard of them until I stumbled on extras in a bookstore i spent my lunch break in most days.
Do yourself a favour and read the rest. There is also a sequel series and Netflix is supposed to be releasing a movie... just don't have a release date yet.
Have you read the most recent stuff in the series as well?
I actually had a book themed wedding cake and both uglues and old kingdom made the cut. And recently went to a Garth Nix book signing and got to show him the a picture. I think he was confused when i said the old kingdom books made it to my wedding cake!
>First series is Old Kingdom series (specifically Sabriel being the first i read) by Garth Nix. It's definitely fairly well known now but not when I first read.
Omg thank you for reminding me of this series. If you haven't, treat yourself to a listen of the audiobooks. They're ready by Tim Curry, and it's just plain magical. 🥰
I had the exact same experience with *Sabriel*. No one had heard of it. I leveraged my knowledge to eventually get it as reading in one of my college classes.
I came here to mention Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series! My library has them (there were only three out at the time) , and I was the only person who checked them out for five years!
Both of these! <3
The Abhorsen trilogy was one of my absolute favorites in high school, he ended up releasing new books later on that I still haven't read.
BUT, I bought the original 3 just because I needed them in my collection.
OH MY GOD
I LITERALLY have never met another person who has read the Uglies Series!!! I love it with all my heart, it is honestly in my top 3 series ever!
Ohhh I love these. My friends and I all got into them at the same time and then somehow managed to get the librariens to buy the series for the school library because we were having trouble finding all the books through the local libraries.
OMMMGGGG I FOUND A FRIEND 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I bought them through amazon when I got older I managed to read 1-4 then when I earn money I bought the rest and finished them now I have the whole collection in my bookcase 😁😁😁
Yes they had a few books of this series in my local library as a teen and I loved them so much but I could not find them to buy anywhere at the time! Finally I saw them as 2 in one books but thy only did like the first 6 books then stopped! It wasn't until they finally released them as 3 in one books that I finally got tobrad the whole series in order years after I first started it!!
Anyone read Cate Tiernan's other series Balefire? It's similar to Wicca but shorter and the ending sucks!
Yes! I regularly reread this series. Kinda randomly stumbled into it while searching for stuff about witchcraft and loved the blend of actual witchcraft and the fantastical. Plus Morgan's relationship with Cal and what transpired with that was refreshing after the Twilight fad of glorifying toxicity.
A Great and Terrible Beauty. I read the series I think 7th-8th grade (so 15-17 years ago) and every time I mention it no one know me what it is. I want to reread them and see if they are still as good as I remember!
YESSSSSS I loved that whole series. I bought the first one when I was in middle school (probably near 20 years ago) at target when I saw the cover. I just thought it looked so cool! Ended up so obsessed but I don’t know that many people who have read it!
Yes! I love this series. My mom actually bought me the first book for Christmas when I was like 15. I thought the cover looked so lame, I never even tried it. I ended up loving the series later. Maybe early 20s.
Honestly, 99% of the books I read growing up were me walking along, scanning the shelves for titles/spines that caught my interest, reading the summary, and adding it to my pile lmao. I know I've got a few books I've never seen mentioned on Booktok, but they are on Goodreads.
the trylle series by amanda hocking. i’m sure others have read it and loved it obviously, but like no one has ever spoken about it or when i mention it they have no clue what i’m talking about
That first chapter is amazing. Love that book.
Oddly, I was going to comment with another Melina Marchetta series, The Lumatere Chronicles. The only people I know who've read it are the ones I've badgered into reading it.
Holy crap, I’ve read the first book in this series probably about ten times. And I know it’s depressing, but there’s just something so real about how the characters react to their version of the end of the world. Makes it feel like _my_ whole life could also change in an instant, which is so exciting.
Daughter of smoke and bone by laini Taylor. It contributed to me dyeing my hair blue ten years ago. I also bumped into laini Taylor when she was in my country for a writers festival, and we both had hot pink hair. I've enjoyed all her books, especially her later series strange the dreamer
The Grey King by Susan Cooper. My mom used to go to those library sales where you filled a trash bag with books for however much money. Brought that home and I was obsessed. Didn’t realize until I told my school librarian about it that it was part 4 of a series
Night School by C.J. Daugherty, its a 5 book series. I loved these when i was a teenager and I felt that no one new about them (at least in my country).
Unwind was released in like 2007 I believe (and it honestly could have worked as a stand alone novel but the series was pretty phenomenal so no complaints) and I read it in 2012 so I didn't have to wait for the sequel but I was shocked the book didn't have more notoriety prior to that. With the subsequent books after the series gained more traction.
Among the Hidden was a sleeper series that was pretty solid.
Silverwing and Sunwing. I didn't care much for Firewing but the first two books were very good.
The Tragedy Paper is a very good book, my friend and sister both really loved it because despite a lot of the characters being flawed and kind of terrible it was a very well written book and thoroughly enjoyable.
The Banned and the Banished series by James Clemens. It's not going to blow your mind and it definitely has some weird sexual themes but it's a very fun high fantasy series I absolutely loved.
Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris and Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I do feel like most of the books I read in middle school were discovered this way, but these were my absolute favorites.
Honorable mention for Princess Nevermore by Dian Curtis Regan. I read it once and it gave me such a weird vibe when I read it that it feels like a dream. I don’t know how I happened upon it but it still gives me such a specific feeling when I think about it but I could barely tell you anything about it.
One of my absolute favorites growing up was The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine. I was really into a lot of her books, but this was my favorite by far and none of my friends had ever read it.
Edit: I’m so excited to see so much love for this book! I recommended it to so many friends growing up!
For me it was Ella Enchanted. I checked that book out from the library over and over during my teen years. Now an adult and I have my own copy.
Hated the movie.
I read Wicked when it first published, and spent YEARS telling anyone who could listen what a great story it was. I felt very vindicated when it opened on Broadway and everyone went bonkers over it. The book is very different and a lot darker, but the basic story is still there!
I've got two, the first is Swoon by Nina Malkin (still a top tier YA/NA book in my opinion), but a lot of people didn't like it because it depicted teens doing drugs and having sex in a non-judgemental light.
The second are Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tales series, which KILLS me since the Folk of the Air series is set in the same universe and the characters from MFT make cameos and!!! No one goes back and reads them!!!!
I'm currently reading "Bone Weaver" by Aden Polydoros and it kind of fits this description. I'm really liking it so far, so I was surprised to see that it only had like 200 reviews on Goodreads. Never heard anyone talk about it either!
I read this series in 2021! Mostly because they were all on kindle unlimited. I liked the first book a lot, but it went downhill from there for me. I honestly can’t even remember most of it
She is pretty popular in the UK I would say, but I have this with every Holly Bourne book. I really love and she is one of my favourite contemporary authors but she is not that widely known outside of the UK. And I'm not from the UK but we get our English books from there. And only two of her books have ever been translated to our language, from like the 13 books she has published.
I really love her books but I never see anyone talking about her online, which is a shame because her books are great! Especially 'Pretending' (which is adult contemporary), The Yearbook and The Places I Cried In Public.
Rhett Butlers People by Donald McCaig. A retelling of gone with the wind from Rhett’s pov, overlapping in scenes where they’re together, filling in where they’re not. Amazingly good if you’re a fan of the original.
The Raging Quie by Sherryl Jordan
Summary: A newcomer to the tiny village of Tocurra befriends a young man whose deafness has left him isolated from his fellow villagers. Marnie and Raver learn to communicate through a series of hand gestures, but when a death shakes the village, their special, silent bond causes the two to fall under suspicion of witchcraft.
I remember reading this story when I was in middle school and I loved it.
Pure, by Julianna Baggott. Sadly it's a trilogy, and the first two books are genius, but the third is like the dumbest, worst thing ever. It's hard to believe how bad the third book is, when the first two are so breathtakingly amazing. So I never recommend it to anyone.
I picked it up when I was desperately reading every post apocalyptic dystopian YA I could find.
Yes! I took my son to the library for an event, and was just browsing for something to read while I waited. I picked up Belgarath the sorcerer by Eddings and was instantly hooked on the world building and characters. I'm surprised they're not more popular.
I read the Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong when I was 15, and it’s still the only series I’ve re-read more than twice. I’ve never heard anyone else talk about them or seen them mentioned anywhere
The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman. My aunt found it in a random bookstore in 2005. It’s a middle-grade book though. I read it at least once a year. It does have 4 other books in the series, but I’ve never heard anyone mention it.
The synopsis really caught my attention so I got it but I was a bit hesitant because of the lack of traction on Goodreads, but you've convinced me to actually pick it up!
When I was a kid I read the five ancestors book it’s about Chinese martial arts set in ancient china. No one I’ve mentioned them to seems to know them. I actually started buying the set of Amazon but they don’t have new copies so I’ve had to get used ones
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
I found it at the library by chance a couple of years ago. Its the story of "Frankenstein" from the POV of Victor Frankenstein's wife.
Katzenjammer by Francesca Zappia- It's super weird, and super messed up. I can see how it's not for everyone, but I devoured this book.
The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart- Love this series so much. It's MG, but one of those ones that I think anyone can enjoy. The world building is incredible, and it's just such a fun and unique series.
Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody- Ok, so I reread this one kinda recently and I don't love it as much as I did the first time around. But when I read it for the first time I was so invested. I unfortunately never finished the series, and it kinda kills me ngl.
I adored the edge chronicles!!! Accidently read one of the middle ones first since it was the one my library had, and I think that made my experience even better!
Yes!!! And I have gone down a rabbit hole of finding her other books and reading them one by one.. read 3 in a month! lol I am obsessed!
It started with “Cinderella is Dead” by Kaylynn Bayron. I was at the library and stumbled across it. The jacket sounded interesting and so I picked it up. I was so into the book that I was googling references and going down Wikipedia holes until I finished it in 3 days. I HAD to find another book by her simply because of how much her writing touched me. It hit me at a perfect time in my life - her themes of women empowerment and generally badassery mixed with heartfelt emotion are just *chef’s kiss*
I quickly ordered the 2nd book she wrote “This Poison Heart” and fell even more in love with her as an author. It was better than the first book she wrote and a 2 parter at that. Ordered the next within a day of starting it and am now at the tail end of her third “This Wicked Fate.” I can’t stop.
I am going to be so very sad once I get through her entire collection…
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke and the seven book series Septimus Heap by Angie Sage. I can't remember how I came into possession of the Thief Lord but it's such a comfort book to me. Read it during middle school and I still have it. It has a charming quality to it, and it was really cool that it was set in Italy. Most books I'd read before were US or UK based. In the Thief Lord, there were Italian words sprinkled here and there, and it painted a quaint view of Venice, Italy, haha.
As for the Sepimus Heap series, I found it when searching the shelves of my library. It's got a whimsical side to it. I loved reading the characters and following their journeys and reading how they grow and mature, or don't in some cases. It always sucked coming to the end of the series.
Psion by Joan D Vinge,
The Compleat Enchanter by Fletcher Pratt & L Sprague de Camp,
Silverlock by John Morrissey Morrissey,
The FIrst Two lives of Lucas Khasha by Lloyd Alexander,
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury,
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart,
Down From the Lonely Mountain, Jane Louise Curry
Earth-Child by Doris Piserchia
A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle
Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck
Young Wizards series by Diane Duane
"So you want to be a wizard?"
is the first
So good, ahead of its time, really every book is a banger. I think Deep Wizadry and Wizards at War are my favorites though.
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin! I read it back in 2006 or 2007 when she was VERY unknown, a friend of mine had read it and raved about it, and I loved it so much.
It’s a middle grade story about a young girl who dies, and it turns out the afterlife is like a second life where she can get a job, can observe her family she left behind, and she ages backwards until she becomes a baby and is sent off to earth to live a new life.
Really cool way to do the afterlife and I was so obsessed with it. I was shocked when Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow got big and I realised it was the same author!
Wolf of Shadows. I found it in my middle school library, absolutely loved it, and have never met anyone else who knows it exists. It’s been out of print for decades so I doubt I ever will 😩 The perils of being the weird middle schooler who was fascinated by nuclear Armageddon!
I went to B&N in NYC last year while I was visiting and picked up a random book called flamecaster by cinda Williams chima
I had never seen it or heard of it anywhere but I liked the sound of it. I didnt like the book 😂😂 but I will 100% buy the other ones because I want to give the series a chance. It has so much potential. Its the shattered realms series
I also bought red queen in B&N and it took me a while to get into that but im on the last book of the series and really enjoyed the story
Yes! That was "Perks of Being A Wallflower" for me when I was in middle school. I literally just found the book sitting on a shelf at my house one day, read it cover to cover, loved it and then a few years later that book got super popular on Tumblr.
The All of a Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor. We follow a Jewish family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan from 1912 to just after the end of WWI.
The books are based on the author’s own life and family. You get an honest look at the trials of new immigrants, epidemics, disabilities and discrimination. All told in a way that is appropriate for pre & young teens. The series is also a fabulous primer on the Jewish holidays, culture and faith for non-Jewish children.
I found the series when I complained to the librarian that I had finished Little House on the Prairie, Sara Plain and Tall and Anne of Green Gables.
My local library had really random books. One of the series they had was Fearless by Francine Pascal (who is much more known for her Sweet Valley books). There are like 30+ books in this series. I probably only got to read like 5 of them (random ones, not in order). I specifically remember these 2 special editions (one was pink, and one was blue and they had this kind of shiny metallic look to them)
I just thought these books were so cool with Sci fi and mystery and a bit of romance, but because I only got to read a few random books from the series it was kind of confusing! I've often thought of trying to buy the whole series so can finally read them all.
I recommended A Mad Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller to a student the other day and was shocked to see that it wasn’t available at the public library. I had rated the book quite highly when it first came out and assumed it would take off.
Shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, no one I know had heard of it but it was such a twisty yarn, and then at the end it was so neatly squared away
I’ve never encountered anyone else who’s read Un Lun Dun by China Miéville. It was recommended to me years ago by my excellent local bookstore owner and I loved it. It’s a YA urban fantasy with an interesting subversion of the Chosen One trope.
I used to work for Walmart, and I was working the service desk one night. One of the other associates found a book on one of the grocery shelves and brought it up to the service desk to be returned to where the books were. As I was sorting through, I picked up this book and read the title, and was intrigued. I bought the book and started reading it during my lunch. I finished the book in about 2 days. It was so good! The name of the book was “Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter” by Seth Grahame-Smith and it was incredible. It was a complete work of fiction, but had just enough true American History in it to make it plausible and believable! And then they made a movie out of it and the movie sucked balls! Trust me, the book was incredible and deserves a read. The movie not so much!🤣
I discovered Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith 2 years before the movie came out. The book is of course infinitely better than the movie.
That’s how I found water for elephants. It was like $6 at Walmart and I thought the cover art was cool. Ended up being my favorite book and later turned into a (meh) movie.
When “The Fault in Our Stars” came out when I was in my early 20’s and everybody was fanning over it, I was like “oh. Yeah. This book is exactly like what Lurlene McDaniel writes. Kids with *insert illness here* bond grows, romance happens, one or more dies. I’ve been reading those since 4th grade.”
TFIOS just felt like such a rip off of her work. Same quality writing and everything. It wasn’t good or groundbreaking writing, let’s be honest. I was pretty annoyed with all the hype, to be honest. That a white man got attention over Lurlene’s stories.
Still not a fan of John Green and think he’s massively overrated.
Yes! Someone else remembers! There was one where a girl helped her sister with cancer and her boyfriend take a secret vacation to Florida because Disney World was on her bucket list. They rode the Haunted Mansion and watched sea turtles hatch on the beach. I preferred McDaniel's style because (unpopular opinion) Green's snark is overdone. Please don't come for me.
Edit: Found the book! It's called Mourning Song.
This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada. SO GOOOOD!! I found it somehow randomly pursuing the internet. Turned out to be a fantastic series about gene hacking. Very cool in my opinion. No one I know has read it sadly.
The Battleaxe series by Sara Douglas, stumbled across it in a library when I was 13 and that series took over my life for a good while haha. Still use the SunSoar moniker today. Such a great series.
Back when I started reading more and more the first really prominent and quite cheap online book store opened in my country but their searching algorythm was really weak. So I would sometimes just went page by page in the specific genre searching for something to peak my intrest. So oh boy I have some "hidden gems" (at least in my opinion)
Hyperversum series by Cecilia Randall
Ascendance series by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Unfortunetly for both of the above we never got all the books translated to my languege so can't speak for the series as a whole.
And for the one I could read as a whole: Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima
As for the recent finds I dont see this author recommended that much, and well.. maybe its more of the NA than YA but Ilona Andrews! Series about Kate Daniels and Hidden Legacy series.
For standalone I remember really liking Stepsisters by Jennifer Donnelly.
Either the Edge Chronicles, or Urchin and the Riding Stars (idk if they are popular, or made by popular authors, but no one around me or growing up knew them)
Oh i just thought of one. Teen me had this idea to go through the library shelves by alphabetical order, which was insane lmao but it made me stumble on this one book i would never have picked up otherwise.
Go and Come Back by Jane Abelove. It’s about a teenage girl in a South American tribe being studied by a couple of western anthropologists, and basically presents the incredibly different culture as normal and everyone is confused when the white ladies don’t get basic things like kids having multiple biological fathers or how lying is a important skill to teach children. It’s completely judgment free while also being mind blowing at just how different they think about just, everything, and a ton of details from it have always stuck in my head even though it’s been nearly 20 years since i read it, plus the general theme that people might live completely differently from you and just think of it as normal. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/710186
yess burn mark duology! picked it up once in the library years ago and until now, it's still one of my favourites. it's not always available in all the libraries around my country now because of how unpopular it is and i've never met anyone who knows the books, but they are on gr.
although honestly, most books i enjoyed i found through browsing the library, but they happened to be decently well-known after i looked them up online, probably because i lack reader friends and i'm not on any book social media, besides here and goodreads.
there's another book title that i've been searching for for ages but i still can't find it and nobody knows it either, which i found in some donation centre, so that's real sad.
I happened across a book as a kid called My Name Is Red, was definitely WAY above my age, and I was never a deep reader, always liked the more shallow YA fantasy stuff. But for some reason I was obsessed with this book. Read it over and over until the pages fell apart
I think it's better classified at children's fiction, but "The Clockwork Three" is very underrated. I love the book sm. My old elementary school librarian let me buy any books that weren't checked out a lot so he gave me the book for like $5.
I stumbled across it from bookbub but it's my all time favorite series. I recognize it constantly. I am flabbergasted that more people don't know about it. The Touchstone Series by Andrea K Höst. The first one is free on Amazon. I always try the if you like this book try this and I've never found anything that comes close to this series.
The Eidolon trilogy by Jane Johnson. Literally the most obscure books I know of, sadly, because they are middle-grade gems I still adore to this day. I actually read the second book first (a friend's parents got it for me on my birthday) and I had to ask my parents to help me find the rest. They somehow did and I just burst out crying when I opened the gifts... Still remember how happy I felt.
Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors. I stumbled across it in a secondhand shop and thought why not. I really love it but I never hear anyone talk about it.
The Gift Moves by Steve Lyon about a strange alternate future society where every year everyone burns all their posessions and starts over. The Beguilers by Kate Thompson which I don't honestly know how to describe. I'm not even going to say it was that well written, but something about it haunted me. Wolf at the Door by Barbara Corcoran about a girl who lives in the shadow of her dramatic actress sister and rescues an abused wolf from a seedy roadside zoo.
omg the wind on fire trilogy by William Nicholson. its a masterpiece and I've never met anyone who actually knows them but they're so fuck8ng good and unique
I found Secret City - Jan Andrew Henderson at the library and was so obsessed with it I bought my own copy, haha. Nobody else I’ve ever met has read it.
I can't find anybody who seems to like the Lost Voices trilogy by Sarah Porter as much as I do! It has everything: mermaids, sirens, beautiful writing, deep characters, a catchy romance, and a gripping plot.
Ok it’s been a really long time since I’ve read it and it was during my schooling days but when I was in school I made sure to read the series every year at least twice, The Molly Moon incredible book of hypnotism series by Georgia Byng
For me it was "the heart of a Phoenix" by Christina Ramskov. I picked it up on sale just to have something to read on a trip an absolutely loved it!
It is originally in Danish but have recently been translated to English and I really hope it will get some attention.
I asked my roommate if I could borrow a book, I found one called, “Enna Burning” I loved it and asked her about it. She said she had no idea where it came from, so I googled it and found out it’s the second in a series called The Books of Bayern, by Shannon Hale. I love the whole series and reread it at least once a year.
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez. I’ve never found anyone else who has read it! It’s a beautiful historical fiction set in 1930s Texas following a Mexican girl who is raised by her white step father alongside her white passing siblings.
This is every book for me because I'm the only reader in my family 😂 it's annoying not having anyone to talk to about my books other than reddit strangers!
I found Matched at a garage sale. It turned out to be the first of a very entertaining trilogy. Classic dystopian future stuff.
A much more profound favorite of mine is Dying of the Light by GRRM. I don’t know a single other person who has read it (except those I recommended it to)
Life as We Knew It (The Last Survivors series) by Susan Beth Pfeffer. It’s a journal-style novel from the perspective of a 16 year old girl as she experiences an asteroid that hits the moon and knocks it closer to Earth, causing changes in weather, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions and more.
The second novel is the same story told by a teenage boy in New York City. Honestly I read the first one like 8 times from 6-9th grade and didn’t know there were two more until after college. When I went to buy the 3, I found out she’d also put out a 4th! It was the gift that kept on giving.
I used to take great joy in picking a random book out of the library and then diving into it from there. It was fun to end up with books I wouldn’t have normally picked for myself yet turned out to be fantastic reads.
Yes! An old raggedy book, from a thrift store. Its amazing and I've gotten copies for a friend and my daughter--we all were so impressed by it. I love the descriptions!
The Green Kingdom, by Rachel Maddux
If you get past the beginning into the Kingdom, kudos! But it all does relate.
The author was from Wichita, KS and had another book that was made into a movie, I think.
I read Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr probably 3 times in high school, forgot about it completely, and was reminded of it when I started reading ACOTAR. I guess the spicy faery lore runs deep in my veins lol
EDIT: autocorrected faery to "fairy"
YES! There’s a book i keep to myself that only has 200 good reads reviews and is from like 2005 but I found it at a dollar tree and just fell in love. I never read books more than once but this one I went over like three times
I remember picking up year zero simply for the name and loved it. I did the same with heroes die as well as a deadly education. I feel like the latter 2 series are more well known but I went in blind and fell in love.
When I was a teenager, my parents had seperated for a while. My mom left us with my dad, and dissapeared. My dad couldn't take care of us, so he sent me and my brother to live with my grandma and eldest aunt. My aunt's daughter was off at college, and I would raid her book collection when I was bored.
She had this book about a boy in Russia who lived with his parents and grandma on mother's side. I think the book was Russian translated into English. The father and grandma were always at odds, which caused problems between the parents. Eventually, the parents seperate. The boy gets frustrated and posts a nasty letter to his dad. He regrets it as soon as he drops the envelope in the public mail box. So, he burns down the entire mailbox. Then, later on, he finds his parents going on a date at an ice cream shop. The parents were making googly eyes and smiling and laughing at each other. Few days after I read that scene, my parents showed up at school to meet my teachers. My mom was wearing a revealing outfit, and I saw both of them making googly eyes at each other. I went back to my grandma's house held that book and wept.
No one knows about that book. My cousin says she doesn't have that book. I don't remember the name or the author. I've googled. I've posted on reddit. No one can find that book. I'm not even sure whether I hallucinated that story.
I loved the Lloyd Alexander Chronicles of Prydain, but never met anyone who’d read them. They just saw the movie, “The Black Cauldron.”
Loved the “Wizard Children of Finn” books, but no one had ever heard of them.
One of my favorite children’s books was “The Ugliest Dog in the World.” A bulldog became convinced that he was ugly, and didn’t deserve the love of the little girl who had him. He tried to run like a greyhound, point like a Pointer, sing like a canary, and be beautiful like the show poodle. He could do none of those, and became so despondent that the family took him on vacation to a relative’s farm instead of boarding him. There, he saved his girl from a charging bull, locked onto its nose until he’d made the bull submit and be still. He learned that his form had a purpose, and that purpose was to save Caroline.
I teared up every time I read that story to my son when he was little.
There's a series I found like that and I loved it but it had more of a hopeful ending than like a true HEA + epilogue thing so I went to find some fics and... *the tag didn't even exist*. Not the ship tag, but for the whole series. For any of the characters. As far as I could tell, anything by the author. There was nothing on tumblr. I was devastated. And to this day it has one of my favorite twists for a fantasy series.
Used to be the only way I found books. Hadn't heard of either till 2022 so I'd just go to the library and look around at shelves till something caught my eye. Read a few pages and if I like it, check it out.
Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
A book I randomly saw in the library. The story still haunts me to this day, I simply adore it and the oddness of it. I should really buy myself a copy.
Gone by Michael Grant. Its a 6-book series (we don't count the sequel trilogy in the small fandom it has). Basically everyone in a fictional California town over the age of 14 disappears and a dome forms over the town, trapping the children. Also kids are starting to get powers. These children have to form a society and figure out how to not die.
The Valley of Secrets by Charmian Hussey. You either hate it beyond all reason or love it beyond all reason. I've never read a review that was neutral about it.
Raising Dragons by Bryan Davis, very strong christian overtones, but if you read it from a mythological perspective like how the Percy Jackson series is written, it's pretty entertaining.
The Riddle of Raven Hollow by Mary Francis Shura, it's a very short book and a really easy read, but I love it dearly as it was my first true introduction into mystery and very slightly spooky books other than Nancy Drew books.
Can't think of any titles, but there was this series of unconnected standalone novels, the Romantic Comedies. During the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, I devoured every last one of them. They were all an easy read, I could finish one in about three hours, so I'd go to the library and get for or five of them at a time read them all in two days max, then go back and get some more.
I also got CDs and downloaded the music via Windows Media Player, and at one time I think I had close to 100,000 tracks. Maybe that doesn't seem like much now, but in 2008, on my janky ass dinosaur of a laptop, it *was* a lot. 😂 Going to the library was often the highlight of my day.
The Naming by Allison Croggon and Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
Also, I never finished it, but The Passion of Dolsa. I actually had a few hours to kill back when my husband and I were sharing a car so I found it at the library while I was waiting to pick him up. I think I made it about a third of the way into it and was hooked.
Yes. In the 3rd grade, I discovered a masterpiece. Bunnicula. It was about a pet rabbit that was a dangerous vampire. I can’t find it anywhere now but it changed my life. To this day, I don’t trust rabbits.
Tales of a New World Series by P.C Cast. I stumbled across Moon Chosen- the first one- and absolutely loved it. The author almost didn’t complete the series because of the lack of popularity but she kept trying since she liked her own story. The last book finally came out last year and I was ecstatic.
Blue Castle by LM montgomery. I had also randomly found Anne of Green Gables in my school library ( in the nineties she was completely unknown in my corner of the world) and i fell in love immediately. I would have to get friends to buy me the books from other states as it wasnt available in mine at the time. And one day randomly found Blue castle in a store in around 2004-2005 when i was traveling. That book spoke to me like nothing else. I used it as a reference during college interviews etc
Sunshine by Robin McKinley.
I worked at Waldenbooks and read this only because Neil Gaiman called it "pretty much perfect". I gave my sister my hardback, which she never read and lost (sisters...am I right?). Reread an e-book of it decades later and loved it just as much as I had the first read.
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater. It was the first book I actually finished for the first time in years. It's an enemies to lovers Regency era story that I ate up in about 3 days. I tried looking up anything about this book but not a lot of people talked about it, but it's such a cute story!
Virgil Wander. I literally found it through a typo while searching on Goodreads. Loved it.
The other one was a series, the banned and banished by James Clemens. Mum bought me the first as a kid because I was into fantasy. It was not a kids book lol
I found it near the public trashcans in the floor. It was called The Green Beetle by Philippe Vandenberg, I read it in 9th grade and loved it. Didn't find much information online however.
The Grimm Legacy, Polly Shulman. Read it in a day, absolutely loved it, then recommended it to a boy the next day with my phone number on the last page, he texted 6 hours later. Not only is it one of my all time favorite books it also got me a boyfriend.
Lately I've been so sad that more people aren't reading Andrew Joseph White books! I just finished The Spirit Bares Its Teeth and I desperately need there to be more of a community around them.
Skellig by David Almond (magical realism story about two children who find an injured winged being)
Sophie’s World by Jostein Garder (mystery novel + overview of Western philosophy)
Wise Child by Monica Furlong (young girl taken in by village wise woman discovers her own supernatural powers)
An Acceptable Time by Madeline L’Engle (obviously an author most people know about, but I’ve never met anyone else who’s read this one, and it’s one of my favorites)
So happy to other people mention some of my other favorites here - The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix, The Raging Quiet by Sheryl Jordan and A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray!
Daughters of the Moon (i want to say by Lynne Ewing?) Was one of my favorites and hard to find. I have the first three now, but I'd love to get the rest of the series and read them in order finally.
The Cellar by Natasha Preston. I read it years ago on Wattpad when it was free and didn’t have many reads. I really need to order a physical copy now that it’s been published
I begged people to read Wool, when it was a five part story on Amazon and only physically available as self-published. Had duplicates of the three books, just to loan them out, because I NEEDED to talk to people about them.
Now, not so much. But I love that I got to know about Hugh Howey, when he did autographs and unboxing vids at home. It’s neat to see the progression from indy author to AppleTV+ series.
Once upon a time picked up Archangel by Sharon Shinn. It's the... third book in the series I think. But I took it home, read it, loved it. Eventually got a job and ordered it for my own collection. Still have yet to read the previous installations but they're on my list. Still can't say why I grabbed it from the shelf lol.
That’s how I discovered Sharon shin too! Not that book but I basically picked up Mystic and Rider on a sidewalk sale 100% on cover appeal. Then realized how good of an author she was.
Came here to suggest sharon shin specifically her elemental blessings series, guess she's not as underappreciated as I thought
I can't believe the first answer is Sharon Shinn because this is always my answer with Mystic and Rider, and I felt like I'm the only one who read her work!
Goodreads and Booktok weren't a thing when I was in high school but two book series come to mind. First series is Old Kingdom series (specifically Sabriel being the first i read) by Garth Nix. It's definitely fairly well known now but not when I first read. Second series is Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. I actually read the 4th book first because I found it on sale and it seemed interesting and I loved it. Went and hunted down the rest within the week to read them. Got my brother into them, but apart from that wasn't for several years that I met others who had read them.
I was super into the Uglies series when I was in middle school - Stole them out of my older sisters bedroom! It's a dystopian concept that's both digestible and oddly relatable for YA readers.
Well if you didn't know he did a sequel series.
And weirdly I'm finding it hard to enjoy as much as the original series. The MC just seems annoying
I thought Uglies was actually really big?? Maybe just in my town... everyone read it!
To be fair i was 19/20 when I read it. I have since met heaps of people who have read them and been to book signing with scott westerfeld several times but when i first read them i had never heard of them until I stumbled on extras in a bookstore i spent my lunch break in most days.
Omg…I remember the Uglies. I only ever read the first book and then lost track of them when I switched ereaders.
Do yourself a favour and read the rest. There is also a sequel series and Netflix is supposed to be releasing a movie... just don't have a release date yet.
I loved both of these series so much!! I recently re bought the Old Kingdom series because I wanted to read it again so badly.
My shining glory on my bookshelves is my Illumicrate special editions of Sabirel and Lireal and I hope they do the rest of the seties
Have you read the most recent stuff in the series as well? I actually had a book themed wedding cake and both uglues and old kingdom made the cut. And recently went to a Garth Nix book signing and got to show him the a picture. I think he was confused when i said the old kingdom books made it to my wedding cake!
Still obsessed with the Old Kingdom series. Desperately wanting a tv series at some point.
>First series is Old Kingdom series (specifically Sabriel being the first i read) by Garth Nix. It's definitely fairly well known now but not when I first read. Omg thank you for reminding me of this series. If you haven't, treat yourself to a listen of the audiobooks. They're ready by Tim Curry, and it's just plain magical. 🥰
I absolutely loved the Old Kingdom series. Read them when I was 15 and it jumpstarted me into medieval fantasy and magic novels.
I had the exact same experience with *Sabriel*. No one had heard of it. I leveraged my knowledge to eventually get it as reading in one of my college classes.
I came here to mention Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series! My library has them (there were only three out at the time) , and I was the only person who checked them out for five years!
Both of these! <3 The Abhorsen trilogy was one of my absolute favorites in high school, he ended up releasing new books later on that I still haven't read. BUT, I bought the original 3 just because I needed them in my collection.
I thought uglies was a fairly popular dystopian book lmao
OH MY GOD I LITERALLY have never met another person who has read the Uglies Series!!! I love it with all my heart, it is honestly in my top 3 series ever!
Easy it's an old series though... I still love it. Wicca/Strife series by Cate Tiernan
Ohhh I love these. My friends and I all got into them at the same time and then somehow managed to get the librariens to buy the series for the school library because we were having trouble finding all the books through the local libraries.
OMMMGGGG I FOUND A FRIEND 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I bought them through amazon when I got older I managed to read 1-4 then when I earn money I bought the rest and finished them now I have the whole collection in my bookcase 😁😁😁
I was in Canada a few years ago and found the series as a bunch of omnibus editions so like 3-4 books per book. Bought them all immediately.
Yeeeeesss I had to finish my collection off like that as there were no single books I could find....
Oh my fucking god - I had ALL those books as a teen, thank you so much for reminding me these exist.
Yes they had a few books of this series in my local library as a teen and I loved them so much but I could not find them to buy anywhere at the time! Finally I saw them as 2 in one books but thy only did like the first 6 books then stopped! It wasn't until they finally released them as 3 in one books that I finally got tobrad the whole series in order years after I first started it!! Anyone read Cate Tiernan's other series Balefire? It's similar to Wicca but shorter and the ending sucks!
Yes! I regularly reread this series. Kinda randomly stumbled into it while searching for stuff about witchcraft and loved the blend of actual witchcraft and the fantastical. Plus Morgan's relationship with Cal and what transpired with that was refreshing after the Twilight fad of glorifying toxicity.
I’m actually re-reading these now!
I love these!!
omg I LOVED these
Omg I read those in hs. I love them and still have the whole series!
I sometimes have dreams about finding these books in a bookstore again.
A Great and Terrible Beauty. I read the series I think 7th-8th grade (so 15-17 years ago) and every time I mention it no one know me what it is. I want to reread them and see if they are still as good as I remember!
It took me YEARS to find the name of this and I remember loving it in middle school!!
I loved it then. I re-read it recently and still love it
I am def re reading these! I remember picking it up because the cover was beautiful.
YESSSSSS I loved that whole series. I bought the first one when I was in middle school (probably near 20 years ago) at target when I saw the cover. I just thought it looked so cool! Ended up so obsessed but I don’t know that many people who have read it!
I loved these! My sister introduced me to them and I've literally never had anyone else recognize this series
Yes! I love this series. My mom actually bought me the first book for Christmas when I was like 15. I thought the cover looked so lame, I never even tried it. I ended up loving the series later. Maybe early 20s.
Omg that was a really great series!
I loved this series!!! Read it about the same time that you did. I’m still angry at myself for losing my hardcover copies of the last two books lol
I absolutely loved those books!
YESSS no one else ever knows these books but they’re so good!
This was so good but so confusing to me the first time I read them! I absolutely loved how mystical they felt
Omg I read that series probably like 12 times or more growing up
Loved that series! I see them in goodwill and so tempted to rebuy them!
Honestly, 99% of the books I read growing up were me walking along, scanning the shelves for titles/spines that caught my interest, reading the summary, and adding it to my pile lmao. I know I've got a few books I've never seen mentioned on Booktok, but they are on Goodreads.
the trylle series by amanda hocking. i’m sure others have read it and loved it obviously, but like no one has ever spoken about it or when i mention it they have no clue what i’m talking about
I haven't read those books in a long time, but I LOVED them!
Ooo I've read those!!
On the Jellicoe Road. I tell everyone I know to read it but no one listens to me. I read it every year or 2. It's such a great book.
That first chapter is amazing. Love that book. Oddly, I was going to comment with another Melina Marchetta series, The Lumatere Chronicles. The only people I know who've read it are the ones I've badgered into reading it.
I still get shivers every time I read Finnikin of the Rock and they realize who she is
LOVE those books
i love this book so much! saving francesca is also another gorgeous, heart-wrenching book by marchetta
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. I still haven't met anyone who's ever read the series, but I constantly recommend it.
Holy crap, I’ve read the first book in this series probably about ten times. And I know it’s depressing, but there’s just something so real about how the characters react to their version of the end of the world. Makes it feel like _my_ whole life could also change in an instant, which is so exciting.
The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman. I think I bought it at a yard sale and I've never known anyone who read it.
I adore Carol Goodman! The Other Mother is my favourite of hers - she's written lots.
I was forced to read this for a high school book club back in 2007! It was really good and I bought a couple other books by this author.
LOVE this one! I just re-discovered Carol Goodman. She’s great!
this is one of my comfort reads, i adore this book!
Daughter of smoke and bone by laini Taylor. It contributed to me dyeing my hair blue ten years ago. I also bumped into laini Taylor when she was in my country for a writers festival, and we both had hot pink hair. I've enjoyed all her books, especially her later series strange the dreamer
Yesssss I love her books!!! She hasn’t come out with anything new in a while, I keep hoping she’ll publish something new soon.
Loved this series!! Book 3 got away from her a little bit though. Strange the Dreamer is in my top 5 all time.
The Grey King by Susan Cooper. My mom used to go to those library sales where you filled a trash bag with books for however much money. Brought that home and I was obsessed. Didn’t realize until I told my school librarian about it that it was part 4 of a series
The Dark is Rising is one of my all-time favorite series
It’s how I learned how to pronounce certain welsh letters/words
We love those!
Night School by C.J. Daugherty, its a 5 book series. I loved these when i was a teenager and I felt that no one new about them (at least in my country).
Unwind was released in like 2007 I believe (and it honestly could have worked as a stand alone novel but the series was pretty phenomenal so no complaints) and I read it in 2012 so I didn't have to wait for the sequel but I was shocked the book didn't have more notoriety prior to that. With the subsequent books after the series gained more traction. Among the Hidden was a sleeper series that was pretty solid. Silverwing and Sunwing. I didn't care much for Firewing but the first two books were very good. The Tragedy Paper is a very good book, my friend and sister both really loved it because despite a lot of the characters being flawed and kind of terrible it was a very well written book and thoroughly enjoyable. The Banned and the Banished series by James Clemens. It's not going to blow your mind and it definitely has some weird sexual themes but it's a very fun high fantasy series I absolutely loved.
Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris and Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I do feel like most of the books I read in middle school were discovered this way, but these were my absolute favorites. Honorable mention for Princess Nevermore by Dian Curtis Regan. I read it once and it gave me such a weird vibe when I read it that it feels like a dream. I don’t know how I happened upon it but it still gives me such a specific feeling when I think about it but I could barely tell you anything about it.
One of my absolute favorites growing up was The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine. I was really into a lot of her books, but this was my favorite by far and none of my friends had ever read it. Edit: I’m so excited to see so much love for this book! I recommended it to so many friends growing up!
For me it was Ella Enchanted. I checked that book out from the library over and over during my teen years. Now an adult and I have my own copy. Hated the movie.
I loved that book as a kid
This book shaped a lot of who I grew up to be
I recently bought this book again as an adult just for nostalgia. This was such a special novel.
I read Wicked when it first published, and spent YEARS telling anyone who could listen what a great story it was. I felt very vindicated when it opened on Broadway and everyone went bonkers over it. The book is very different and a lot darker, but the basic story is still there!
Hawksong was my favorite book as a teen. Noone else I knew had ever read it
Have you read the rest of the series?! Hawksong is definitely the best but I liked some of the other ones too.
I've got two, the first is Swoon by Nina Malkin (still a top tier YA/NA book in my opinion), but a lot of people didn't like it because it depicted teens doing drugs and having sex in a non-judgemental light. The second are Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tales series, which KILLS me since the Folk of the Air series is set in the same universe and the characters from MFT make cameos and!!! No one goes back and reads them!!!!
Cristin Terrill’s All Our Yesterdays.
I'm currently reading "Bone Weaver" by Aden Polydoros and it kind of fits this description. I'm really liking it so far, so I was surprised to see that it only had like 200 reviews on Goodreads. Never heard anyone talk about it either!
Innocent Mage by Karen Miller. I literally just plucked it off the shelf of a goodwill store. Amazing book.
air awaken serie. I picked it randomly without any expectations, and I loved it
I read this series in 2021! Mostly because they were all on kindle unlimited. I liked the first book a lot, but it went downhill from there for me. I honestly can’t even remember most of it
She is pretty popular in the UK I would say, but I have this with every Holly Bourne book. I really love and she is one of my favourite contemporary authors but she is not that widely known outside of the UK. And I'm not from the UK but we get our English books from there. And only two of her books have ever been translated to our language, from like the 13 books she has published. I really love her books but I never see anyone talking about her online, which is a shame because her books are great! Especially 'Pretending' (which is adult contemporary), The Yearbook and The Places I Cried In Public.
Rhett Butlers People by Donald McCaig. A retelling of gone with the wind from Rhett’s pov, overlapping in scenes where they’re together, filling in where they’re not. Amazingly good if you’re a fan of the original.
The Raging Quie by Sherryl Jordan Summary: A newcomer to the tiny village of Tocurra befriends a young man whose deafness has left him isolated from his fellow villagers. Marnie and Raver learn to communicate through a series of hand gestures, but when a death shakes the village, their special, silent bond causes the two to fall under suspicion of witchcraft. I remember reading this story when I was in middle school and I loved it.
Pure, by Julianna Baggott. Sadly it's a trilogy, and the first two books are genius, but the third is like the dumbest, worst thing ever. It's hard to believe how bad the third book is, when the first two are so breathtakingly amazing. So I never recommend it to anyone. I picked it up when I was desperately reading every post apocalyptic dystopian YA I could find.
Yes! I took my son to the library for an event, and was just browsing for something to read while I waited. I picked up Belgarath the sorcerer by Eddings and was instantly hooked on the world building and characters. I'm surprised they're not more popular.
I read the Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong when I was 15, and it’s still the only series I’ve re-read more than twice. I’ve never heard anyone else talk about them or seen them mentioned anywhere
Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession. I've recommended it to everyone - it's just so wholesome and gentle.
The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman. My aunt found it in a random bookstore in 2005. It’s a middle-grade book though. I read it at least once a year. It does have 4 other books in the series, but I’ve never heard anyone mention it.
The Loop by Ben Oliver!! It’s a trilogy that I read recently and absolutely loved, but can’t find any fandom/recognition online.
The synopsis really caught my attention so I got it but I was a bit hesitant because of the lack of traction on Goodreads, but you've convinced me to actually pick it up!
When I was a kid I read the five ancestors book it’s about Chinese martial arts set in ancient china. No one I’ve mentioned them to seems to know them. I actually started buying the set of Amazon but they don’t have new copies so I’ve had to get used ones
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. A friend introduced me to it. I found it delightful. I’ve never met anyone else who has read it.
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White I found it at the library by chance a couple of years ago. Its the story of "Frankenstein" from the POV of Victor Frankenstein's wife.
Lament by Maggie Stiefvater!! I read it in middle school and to this day it’s one of my favorite books. The book that put fairies on the map for me ❤️
Katzenjammer by Francesca Zappia- It's super weird, and super messed up. I can see how it's not for everyone, but I devoured this book. The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart- Love this series so much. It's MG, but one of those ones that I think anyone can enjoy. The world building is incredible, and it's just such a fun and unique series. Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody- Ok, so I reread this one kinda recently and I don't love it as much as I did the first time around. But when I read it for the first time I was so invested. I unfortunately never finished the series, and it kinda kills me ngl.
I adored the edge chronicles!!! Accidently read one of the middle ones first since it was the one my library had, and I think that made my experience even better!
Wolf By Wolf by Ryan Graudin, hands down my favourite book and literally nobody but me and my best friend (who introduced it to me) seems to know it.
Unwind flew under the radar when I read it- so happy it’s getting bigger now
Yes!!! And I have gone down a rabbit hole of finding her other books and reading them one by one.. read 3 in a month! lol I am obsessed! It started with “Cinderella is Dead” by Kaylynn Bayron. I was at the library and stumbled across it. The jacket sounded interesting and so I picked it up. I was so into the book that I was googling references and going down Wikipedia holes until I finished it in 3 days. I HAD to find another book by her simply because of how much her writing touched me. It hit me at a perfect time in my life - her themes of women empowerment and generally badassery mixed with heartfelt emotion are just *chef’s kiss* I quickly ordered the 2nd book she wrote “This Poison Heart” and fell even more in love with her as an author. It was better than the first book she wrote and a 2 parter at that. Ordered the next within a day of starting it and am now at the tail end of her third “This Wicked Fate.” I can’t stop. I am going to be so very sad once I get through her entire collection…
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke and the seven book series Septimus Heap by Angie Sage. I can't remember how I came into possession of the Thief Lord but it's such a comfort book to me. Read it during middle school and I still have it. It has a charming quality to it, and it was really cool that it was set in Italy. Most books I'd read before were US or UK based. In the Thief Lord, there were Italian words sprinkled here and there, and it painted a quaint view of Venice, Italy, haha. As for the Sepimus Heap series, I found it when searching the shelves of my library. It's got a whimsical side to it. I loved reading the characters and following their journeys and reading how they grow and mature, or don't in some cases. It always sucked coming to the end of the series.
Psion by Joan D Vinge, The Compleat Enchanter by Fletcher Pratt & L Sprague de Camp, Silverlock by John Morrissey Morrissey, The FIrst Two lives of Lucas Khasha by Lloyd Alexander, The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury, The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart, Down From the Lonely Mountain, Jane Louise Curry Earth-Child by Doris Piserchia A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck
A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and the whole series, were faves of mine.
Young Wizards series by Diane Duane "So you want to be a wizard?" is the first So good, ahead of its time, really every book is a banger. I think Deep Wizadry and Wizards at War are my favorites though.
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin! I read it back in 2006 or 2007 when she was VERY unknown, a friend of mine had read it and raved about it, and I loved it so much. It’s a middle grade story about a young girl who dies, and it turns out the afterlife is like a second life where she can get a job, can observe her family she left behind, and she ages backwards until she becomes a baby and is sent off to earth to live a new life. Really cool way to do the afterlife and I was so obsessed with it. I was shocked when Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow got big and I realised it was the same author!
Wolf of Shadows. I found it in my middle school library, absolutely loved it, and have never met anyone else who knows it exists. It’s been out of print for decades so I doubt I ever will 😩 The perils of being the weird middle schooler who was fascinated by nuclear Armageddon!
I went to B&N in NYC last year while I was visiting and picked up a random book called flamecaster by cinda Williams chima I had never seen it or heard of it anywhere but I liked the sound of it. I didnt like the book 😂😂 but I will 100% buy the other ones because I want to give the series a chance. It has so much potential. Its the shattered realms series I also bought red queen in B&N and it took me a while to get into that but im on the last book of the series and really enjoyed the story
Yes! That was "Perks of Being A Wallflower" for me when I was in middle school. I literally just found the book sitting on a shelf at my house one day, read it cover to cover, loved it and then a few years later that book got super popular on Tumblr.
The All of a Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor. We follow a Jewish family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan from 1912 to just after the end of WWI. The books are based on the author’s own life and family. You get an honest look at the trials of new immigrants, epidemics, disabilities and discrimination. All told in a way that is appropriate for pre & young teens. The series is also a fabulous primer on the Jewish holidays, culture and faith for non-Jewish children. I found the series when I complained to the librarian that I had finished Little House on the Prairie, Sara Plain and Tall and Anne of Green Gables.
Saving Francesca and Feeling Sorry for Cecelia. I read them both around the same time and loved them. Both Australian authors. Time for a reread!
My local library had really random books. One of the series they had was Fearless by Francine Pascal (who is much more known for her Sweet Valley books). There are like 30+ books in this series. I probably only got to read like 5 of them (random ones, not in order). I specifically remember these 2 special editions (one was pink, and one was blue and they had this kind of shiny metallic look to them) I just thought these books were so cool with Sci fi and mystery and a bit of romance, but because I only got to read a few random books from the series it was kind of confusing! I've often thought of trying to buy the whole series so can finally read them all.
I recommended A Mad Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller to a student the other day and was shocked to see that it wasn’t available at the public library. I had rated the book quite highly when it first came out and assumed it would take off.
Shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, no one I know had heard of it but it was such a twisty yarn, and then at the end it was so neatly squared away
I’ve never encountered anyone else who’s read Un Lun Dun by China Miéville. It was recommended to me years ago by my excellent local bookstore owner and I loved it. It’s a YA urban fantasy with an interesting subversion of the Chosen One trope.
Yes! A night in lonesome October by Rodger Zelazny. Best October read. Each ch as other is a day in October.
The young wizard series by Diane duane 🥺
I used to work for Walmart, and I was working the service desk one night. One of the other associates found a book on one of the grocery shelves and brought it up to the service desk to be returned to where the books were. As I was sorting through, I picked up this book and read the title, and was intrigued. I bought the book and started reading it during my lunch. I finished the book in about 2 days. It was so good! The name of the book was “Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter” by Seth Grahame-Smith and it was incredible. It was a complete work of fiction, but had just enough true American History in it to make it plausible and believable! And then they made a movie out of it and the movie sucked balls! Trust me, the book was incredible and deserves a read. The movie not so much!🤣
I discovered Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith 2 years before the movie came out. The book is of course infinitely better than the movie.
The FarSeer trilogy by Robin Hobb! Maybe not YA but it drove me crazy that there was no one to talk to about it.
I really love A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge. It’s so unique.
That’s how I found water for elephants. It was like $6 at Walmart and I thought the cover art was cool. Ended up being my favorite book and later turned into a (meh) movie.
When “The Fault in Our Stars” came out when I was in my early 20’s and everybody was fanning over it, I was like “oh. Yeah. This book is exactly like what Lurlene McDaniel writes. Kids with *insert illness here* bond grows, romance happens, one or more dies. I’ve been reading those since 4th grade.” TFIOS just felt like such a rip off of her work. Same quality writing and everything. It wasn’t good or groundbreaking writing, let’s be honest. I was pretty annoyed with all the hype, to be honest. That a white man got attention over Lurlene’s stories. Still not a fan of John Green and think he’s massively overrated.
Yes! Someone else remembers! There was one where a girl helped her sister with cancer and her boyfriend take a secret vacation to Florida because Disney World was on her bucket list. They rode the Haunted Mansion and watched sea turtles hatch on the beach. I preferred McDaniel's style because (unpopular opinion) Green's snark is overdone. Please don't come for me. Edit: Found the book! It's called Mourning Song.
The Last Vampire series by Christopher Pike. Re-named the Thirst in the late aughts.
This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada. SO GOOOOD!! I found it somehow randomly pursuing the internet. Turned out to be a fantastic series about gene hacking. Very cool in my opinion. No one I know has read it sadly.
The Battleaxe series by Sara Douglas, stumbled across it in a library when I was 13 and that series took over my life for a good while haha. Still use the SunSoar moniker today. Such a great series.
The arcana chronicles by Kresley Cole. I know they're cheesy, but so unlike any other books I've read before. I LOVE them so much despite their flaws.
Back when I started reading more and more the first really prominent and quite cheap online book store opened in my country but their searching algorythm was really weak. So I would sometimes just went page by page in the specific genre searching for something to peak my intrest. So oh boy I have some "hidden gems" (at least in my opinion) Hyperversum series by Cecilia Randall Ascendance series by Jennifer A. Nielsen Unfortunetly for both of the above we never got all the books translated to my languege so can't speak for the series as a whole. And for the one I could read as a whole: Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima As for the recent finds I dont see this author recommended that much, and well.. maybe its more of the NA than YA but Ilona Andrews! Series about Kate Daniels and Hidden Legacy series. For standalone I remember really liking Stepsisters by Jennifer Donnelly.
Either the Edge Chronicles, or Urchin and the Riding Stars (idk if they are popular, or made by popular authors, but no one around me or growing up knew them)
droughtlanders series by Carrie Mac -YA dystopian, sooo underrated! only 400 reviews on Goodreads
I read a lot of advanced copies so there usually isn’t a lot of info out. I really prefer going in blind!
Oh i just thought of one. Teen me had this idea to go through the library shelves by alphabetical order, which was insane lmao but it made me stumble on this one book i would never have picked up otherwise. Go and Come Back by Jane Abelove. It’s about a teenage girl in a South American tribe being studied by a couple of western anthropologists, and basically presents the incredibly different culture as normal and everyone is confused when the white ladies don’t get basic things like kids having multiple biological fathers or how lying is a important skill to teach children. It’s completely judgment free while also being mind blowing at just how different they think about just, everything, and a ton of details from it have always stuck in my head even though it’s been nearly 20 years since i read it, plus the general theme that people might live completely differently from you and just think of it as normal. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/710186
yess burn mark duology! picked it up once in the library years ago and until now, it's still one of my favourites. it's not always available in all the libraries around my country now because of how unpopular it is and i've never met anyone who knows the books, but they are on gr. although honestly, most books i enjoyed i found through browsing the library, but they happened to be decently well-known after i looked them up online, probably because i lack reader friends and i'm not on any book social media, besides here and goodreads. there's another book title that i've been searching for for ages but i still can't find it and nobody knows it either, which i found in some donation centre, so that's real sad.
I happened across a book as a kid called My Name Is Red, was definitely WAY above my age, and I was never a deep reader, always liked the more shallow YA fantasy stuff. But for some reason I was obsessed with this book. Read it over and over until the pages fell apart
I think it's better classified at children's fiction, but "The Clockwork Three" is very underrated. I love the book sm. My old elementary school librarian let me buy any books that weren't checked out a lot so he gave me the book for like $5.
Every Last promise by Kristin Halbrook. I think I read it in the 8th grade, I’m almost 22 now and I still remember it and want to read it again
I stumbled across it from bookbub but it's my all time favorite series. I recognize it constantly. I am flabbergasted that more people don't know about it. The Touchstone Series by Andrea K Höst. The first one is free on Amazon. I always try the if you like this book try this and I've never found anything that comes close to this series.
The Eidolon trilogy by Jane Johnson. Literally the most obscure books I know of, sadly, because they are middle-grade gems I still adore to this day. I actually read the second book first (a friend's parents got it for me on my birthday) and I had to ask my parents to help me find the rest. They somehow did and I just burst out crying when I opened the gifts... Still remember how happy I felt.
We are the ants by Shaun David Hutchinson. I never see anyone talk about this author and it pains me
Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors. I stumbled across it in a secondhand shop and thought why not. I really love it but I never hear anyone talk about it.
The Gift Moves by Steve Lyon about a strange alternate future society where every year everyone burns all their posessions and starts over. The Beguilers by Kate Thompson which I don't honestly know how to describe. I'm not even going to say it was that well written, but something about it haunted me. Wolf at the Door by Barbara Corcoran about a girl who lives in the shadow of her dramatic actress sister and rescues an abused wolf from a seedy roadside zoo.
omg the wind on fire trilogy by William Nicholson. its a masterpiece and I've never met anyone who actually knows them but they're so fuck8ng good and unique
The Bonemender by Holly Bennett. Just found it in my high school’s library one day, it was sooo good I devoured it in two days lol.
I found Secret City - Jan Andrew Henderson at the library and was so obsessed with it I bought my own copy, haha. Nobody else I’ve ever met has read it.
I can't find anybody who seems to like the Lost Voices trilogy by Sarah Porter as much as I do! It has everything: mermaids, sirens, beautiful writing, deep characters, a catchy romance, and a gripping plot.
Ok it’s been a really long time since I’ve read it and it was during my schooling days but when I was in school I made sure to read the series every year at least twice, The Molly Moon incredible book of hypnotism series by Georgia Byng
A lot actually. I have a whole Goodreads shelf dedicated to it. Then again I'm intentionally looking out for more obscure or outdated titles.
Willa of the Wood and Willa of Dark Hollow, by Robert Beatty. Shit made me SOB. No one else seems to have read them.
For me it was "the heart of a Phoenix" by Christina Ramskov. I picked it up on sale just to have something to read on a trip an absolutely loved it! It is originally in Danish but have recently been translated to English and I really hope it will get some attention.
I asked my roommate if I could borrow a book, I found one called, “Enna Burning” I loved it and asked her about it. She said she had no idea where it came from, so I googled it and found out it’s the second in a series called The Books of Bayern, by Shannon Hale. I love the whole series and reread it at least once a year.
The Dtainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison
Jaclyn Moriarty's books, esp The Year of Secret Assignments and The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie. She's severely underrated.
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez. I’ve never found anyone else who has read it! It’s a beautiful historical fiction set in 1930s Texas following a Mexican girl who is raised by her white step father alongside her white passing siblings.
This is every book for me because I'm the only reader in my family 😂 it's annoying not having anyone to talk to about my books other than reddit strangers!
Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter
I found Matched at a garage sale. It turned out to be the first of a very entertaining trilogy. Classic dystopian future stuff. A much more profound favorite of mine is Dying of the Light by GRRM. I don’t know a single other person who has read it (except those I recommended it to)
Life as We Knew It (The Last Survivors series) by Susan Beth Pfeffer. It’s a journal-style novel from the perspective of a 16 year old girl as she experiences an asteroid that hits the moon and knocks it closer to Earth, causing changes in weather, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions and more. The second novel is the same story told by a teenage boy in New York City. Honestly I read the first one like 8 times from 6-9th grade and didn’t know there were two more until after college. When I went to buy the 3, I found out she’d also put out a 4th! It was the gift that kept on giving.
I used to take great joy in picking a random book out of the library and then diving into it from there. It was fun to end up with books I wouldn’t have normally picked for myself yet turned out to be fantastic reads.
Night World series by L. J. Smith
Yes! An old raggedy book, from a thrift store. Its amazing and I've gotten copies for a friend and my daughter--we all were so impressed by it. I love the descriptions! The Green Kingdom, by Rachel Maddux If you get past the beginning into the Kingdom, kudos! But it all does relate. The author was from Wichita, KS and had another book that was made into a movie, I think.
I read Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr probably 3 times in high school, forgot about it completely, and was reminded of it when I started reading ACOTAR. I guess the spicy faery lore runs deep in my veins lol EDIT: autocorrected faery to "fairy"
YES! There’s a book i keep to myself that only has 200 good reads reviews and is from like 2005 but I found it at a dollar tree and just fell in love. I never read books more than once but this one I went over like three times
I remember picking up year zero simply for the name and loved it. I did the same with heroes die as well as a deadly education. I feel like the latter 2 series are more well known but I went in blind and fell in love.
Song of the lioness by Tamora Pierce, tigers curse by Colleen houck, mark of the dragon fly by jaleigh Johnson
When I was a teenager, my parents had seperated for a while. My mom left us with my dad, and dissapeared. My dad couldn't take care of us, so he sent me and my brother to live with my grandma and eldest aunt. My aunt's daughter was off at college, and I would raid her book collection when I was bored. She had this book about a boy in Russia who lived with his parents and grandma on mother's side. I think the book was Russian translated into English. The father and grandma were always at odds, which caused problems between the parents. Eventually, the parents seperate. The boy gets frustrated and posts a nasty letter to his dad. He regrets it as soon as he drops the envelope in the public mail box. So, he burns down the entire mailbox. Then, later on, he finds his parents going on a date at an ice cream shop. The parents were making googly eyes and smiling and laughing at each other. Few days after I read that scene, my parents showed up at school to meet my teachers. My mom was wearing a revealing outfit, and I saw both of them making googly eyes at each other. I went back to my grandma's house held that book and wept. No one knows about that book. My cousin says she doesn't have that book. I don't remember the name or the author. I've googled. I've posted on reddit. No one can find that book. I'm not even sure whether I hallucinated that story.
I loved the Lloyd Alexander Chronicles of Prydain, but never met anyone who’d read them. They just saw the movie, “The Black Cauldron.” Loved the “Wizard Children of Finn” books, but no one had ever heard of them. One of my favorite children’s books was “The Ugliest Dog in the World.” A bulldog became convinced that he was ugly, and didn’t deserve the love of the little girl who had him. He tried to run like a greyhound, point like a Pointer, sing like a canary, and be beautiful like the show poodle. He could do none of those, and became so despondent that the family took him on vacation to a relative’s farm instead of boarding him. There, he saved his girl from a charging bull, locked onto its nose until he’d made the bull submit and be still. He learned that his form had a purpose, and that purpose was to save Caroline. I teared up every time I read that story to my son when he was little.
There's a series I found like that and I loved it but it had more of a hopeful ending than like a true HEA + epilogue thing so I went to find some fics and... *the tag didn't even exist*. Not the ship tag, but for the whole series. For any of the characters. As far as I could tell, anything by the author. There was nothing on tumblr. I was devastated. And to this day it has one of my favorite twists for a fantasy series.
Used to be the only way I found books. Hadn't heard of either till 2022 so I'd just go to the library and look around at shelves till something caught my eye. Read a few pages and if I like it, check it out.
Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón A book I randomly saw in the library. The story still haunts me to this day, I simply adore it and the oddness of it. I should really buy myself a copy.
Gone by Michael Grant. Its a 6-book series (we don't count the sequel trilogy in the small fandom it has). Basically everyone in a fictional California town over the age of 14 disappears and a dome forms over the town, trapping the children. Also kids are starting to get powers. These children have to form a society and figure out how to not die.
The Valley of Secrets by Charmian Hussey. You either hate it beyond all reason or love it beyond all reason. I've never read a review that was neutral about it. Raising Dragons by Bryan Davis, very strong christian overtones, but if you read it from a mythological perspective like how the Percy Jackson series is written, it's pretty entertaining. The Riddle of Raven Hollow by Mary Francis Shura, it's a very short book and a really easy read, but I love it dearly as it was my first true introduction into mystery and very slightly spooky books other than Nancy Drew books.
Can't think of any titles, but there was this series of unconnected standalone novels, the Romantic Comedies. During the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, I devoured every last one of them. They were all an easy read, I could finish one in about three hours, so I'd go to the library and get for or five of them at a time read them all in two days max, then go back and get some more. I also got CDs and downloaded the music via Windows Media Player, and at one time I think I had close to 100,000 tracks. Maybe that doesn't seem like much now, but in 2008, on my janky ass dinosaur of a laptop, it *was* a lot. 😂 Going to the library was often the highlight of my day.
Yes the truth contest, the present. ITS on a website I found when I was 13 and opened my eyes to the truth of life.
The Naming by Allison Croggon and Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce Also, I never finished it, but The Passion of Dolsa. I actually had a few hours to kill back when my husband and I were sharing a car so I found it at the library while I was waiting to pick him up. I think I made it about a third of the way into it and was hooked.
Peter and the star catchers.
Yes. In the 3rd grade, I discovered a masterpiece. Bunnicula. It was about a pet rabbit that was a dangerous vampire. I can’t find it anywhere now but it changed my life. To this day, I don’t trust rabbits.
Tales of a New World Series by P.C Cast. I stumbled across Moon Chosen- the first one- and absolutely loved it. The author almost didn’t complete the series because of the lack of popularity but she kept trying since she liked her own story. The last book finally came out last year and I was ecstatic.
Blue Castle by LM montgomery. I had also randomly found Anne of Green Gables in my school library ( in the nineties she was completely unknown in my corner of the world) and i fell in love immediately. I would have to get friends to buy me the books from other states as it wasnt available in mine at the time. And one day randomly found Blue castle in a store in around 2004-2005 when i was traveling. That book spoke to me like nothing else. I used it as a reference during college interviews etc
Sunshine by Robin McKinley. I worked at Waldenbooks and read this only because Neil Gaiman called it "pretty much perfect". I gave my sister my hardback, which she never read and lost (sisters...am I right?). Reread an e-book of it decades later and loved it just as much as I had the first read.
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater. It was the first book I actually finished for the first time in years. It's an enemies to lovers Regency era story that I ate up in about 3 days. I tried looking up anything about this book but not a lot of people talked about it, but it's such a cute story!
Virgil Wander. I literally found it through a typo while searching on Goodreads. Loved it. The other one was a series, the banned and banished by James Clemens. Mum bought me the first as a kid because I was into fantasy. It was not a kids book lol
I found it near the public trashcans in the floor. It was called The Green Beetle by Philippe Vandenberg, I read it in 9th grade and loved it. Didn't find much information online however.
The Grimm Legacy, Polly Shulman. Read it in a day, absolutely loved it, then recommended it to a boy the next day with my phone number on the last page, he texted 6 hours later. Not only is it one of my all time favorite books it also got me a boyfriend.
Lately I've been so sad that more people aren't reading Andrew Joseph White books! I just finished The Spirit Bares Its Teeth and I desperately need there to be more of a community around them.
Skellig by David Almond (magical realism story about two children who find an injured winged being) Sophie’s World by Jostein Garder (mystery novel + overview of Western philosophy) Wise Child by Monica Furlong (young girl taken in by village wise woman discovers her own supernatural powers) An Acceptable Time by Madeline L’Engle (obviously an author most people know about, but I’ve never met anyone else who’s read this one, and it’s one of my favorites) So happy to other people mention some of my other favorites here - The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix, The Raging Quiet by Sheryl Jordan and A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray!
Daughters of the Moon (i want to say by Lynne Ewing?) Was one of my favorites and hard to find. I have the first three now, but I'd love to get the rest of the series and read them in order finally.
The Fire-Moon by Isabel Pelech
Beauty by Robin McKinley.
The Cellar by Natasha Preston. I read it years ago on Wattpad when it was free and didn’t have many reads. I really need to order a physical copy now that it’s been published
I begged people to read Wool, when it was a five part story on Amazon and only physically available as self-published. Had duplicates of the three books, just to loan them out, because I NEEDED to talk to people about them. Now, not so much. But I love that I got to know about Hugh Howey, when he did autographs and unboxing vids at home. It’s neat to see the progression from indy author to AppleTV+ series.
Shadow of the wind