78 Books Like Aurora Rising

The humor in this book is delightfully… cheesy. Pun intended. Tweet Cute is about Jack and Pepper, son and daughter of the owners of a mom-and-pop deli and a massive fast-food chain, respectively, who get into a Twitter war once it is revealed that one has stolen the other’s secret family grilled cheese recipe. This book has three things that I absolutely adore: It’s set in New York City, the characters engage almost constantly in witty banter, and it’s packed with puns about—you guessed it—grilled cheese. But humor aside, Tweet Cute is a terrific story about tight-knit families, teenagers dealing with the pressures surrounding high school graduation, and ultimately, following your own path.

Talk about crazy experiments! Maze Runner is an epic quest combined with a nod to those who love solving puzzles on steroids. This is truly an end-of-the-world scenario, or I surely hope it is. While I can see some mad scientists excited about such an experiment today, it is still frowned upon. Thank goodness. But Maze Runner explores “science” gone rogue.

Indifference again plays a central role in the plot as those outside the experiment use a variety of psychological warfare techniques to keep the participants engaged in the game. The reader feels sorry for them having to overcome everything that’s thrown at them or die. I loved how the group of teens had to work together to figure out what was going on and then face the difficulty of extracting themselves from the maze. Ultimately, I loved that friendship and working together triumphed at the end of the day.

I believe you can choose to be kick-ass. Delilah “Lila” Bard eventually chooses to be kick-ass. Eventually, on the surface, this book is about Kell. But Lila has the true character arc. I love that Lila walks the edge: hero or anti-hero?

My own life has been defined by the choices I make. I wasn’t given a lot of opportunities. I didn’t have a lot of luck. I had to make my own luck. Lila makes her own ‘luck’. She turns surviving into an opportunity to thrive because of the choices she makes. She screws up several times, risking her life and others. Even at the end, I’m not sure if she’s a hero. She’s real and attempting to evolve out of a dim past into a bright future in her own unique way. I relate to that. 

Prepare yourself for a future where death no longer exists. In the world of Scythe, humanity is now governed by a computer system so advanced that poverty, illness, and mortality no longer plague the human race. Instead, a group of people known as Scythes decides who lives and who dies in an attempt at population control. 

Enter Citra…a young woman with a good head on her shoulders. She boldly accepts the opportunity to be trained as a scythe. Citra must decide just what kind of executioner she wants to be and if she has what it takes to judge the value of human life. 

I’m not the biggest Sanderson fan. I like his books, but I don’t have a wing of my library dedicated to him. But Skyward in particular stands out to me. It’s a much more personal story.

Spensa is socially inept, misunderstood, and hot-headed. I loved that because I got to see her grow through struggle and failure like a regular person.

I’m not usually a fan of stories told in the first person either, but seeing the world through her eyes as she learned what courage actually means made the story impossible to put down. It reminded me that growth doesn’t come from destiny; it comes from persistence and the willingness to change, often at great cost.

This book made me cheer for someone who felt real in all the best and most frustrating ways.

You know that question about being stranded on a desert island with only one other person and a spaceship? Oh, wait. I think that’s supposed to be a sunken ship. This story has a bit of a similar feel, only instead of an island, it’s a deserted planet, and no one is coming to save Lilac and Tarver—so they have to save themselves instead. This one is a good mix of the rich-girl/poor-boy dynamic, (think Pretty in Pink, flip-flopped) with a hint of mystery, all in the style of Survivor. The depth of feeling is strong in this one.  

This book feeds my Spider-Man obsession while asking the question, “How do normal folk fare during those cataclysmic superhero battles?” Answer: Not well, but Meg’s gut-busting adventures as a powerless human surrounded by heroes and villains had me laughing from page one. After finding a superhero murdered in a dark, creepy alley (as one does), Meg is dragged kicking and screaming (not literally, but this girl really doesn’t want to get involved) into a fight between good and evil. Luckily, she has an indestructible umbrella, a radioactive rat, and some snarky friends at her disposal. She’s going to need all the help she can get. Want a story that reads like your favorite Marvel movie? Then run out right now and buy a copy. Right. Now. 

This gender-swapped retelling of King Arthur showcases a female Merlin, Emry, who packs some serious girl power. Far superior at magic than her twin brother Emmett, Emry takes his place training as the new court wizard for the adorable, bumbling Prince Arthur. I knew I was going to love this book when chapter one began with Arthur and Lancelot sneaking out of the castle to have one too many drinks at a bar and ended with Arthur getting sick all over Sir Kay’s shoes. Witty banter among lovable characters, the occasional bit of bathroom humor, and lots of magic and heart made this book one of my favorites of 2021.

I’m a sucker for characters with poorly executed good intentions, which is why I loved M.K. England’s The Disasters. After getting booted out of an elite space academy, four washouts are the sole witnesses to the biggest crime in the history of space colonization and are turned into the perfect scapegoats. On the run and desperate to clear their names, the group orchestrates a dangerous heist to expose the truth of what really happened that night at the Academy. Diverse characters and non-stop laughs make this book a must-read for sci-fi fans of all ages.

This book is so underrated, it’s painful. A truly engrossing read. Han Alister must rise up from the slums of the city to embrace his magic, and find revenge for his innocent sister’s death. She was his heart, and when her life is extinguished, so is that part of himself. Or so he thought, until Raisa. A princess by birth, she’ll have to overcome her so-called privilege to have a chance at real happiness with someone less than a commoner—a reformed thief and gang leader. Or is he? Will revenge prove a more powerful conviction than love? Magical twists and surprises abound, and the depth of this world will suck you right in. If you’re not cheering for Han by the end, do you even like morally gray heroes?