Top Ten Contemporary Books I'd Recommend to a Fantasy-Lover

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I'm a fantasy girl. I like witches and wizards and princes in disguise. I like explosions and high-octane plots. I like science fiction and dystopians and worlds I've never been to. I like monsters and epic romances and life-or-death stakes. I like speculative fiction.

Which means a treacherous corner of my brain always thinks, "Ugh. Contemporaries? You mean more of our world? How... boring. There are no dragons! Or magic spells! Or sword fights! It's highly unlikely that anybody's going to get stabbed or blown up or forced to walk the plank. WHAT IS EVEN THE POINT?"

But I have discovered that there are some books that can be magic... without having magic.

 

Most of the contemporary books that grab me are ones with very high-concept plots, are known to be funny, or have a unique twist to them. Issue books intrigue me less, though I've loved a few (Speak, for instance).

I'm limiting this list to books that have ZERO bending of earthly rules, by which I mean no after-life, no magical realism, nothing. So no Before I Fall or If I Stay. I'm going for books that exist completely in our world. Also, I'm not the most well-read in this category, so I'm sure there are MANY MORE contemporaries that would appeal to fantasy girls and boy like me that I simply haven't read yet. If you think of more, please tell me in the comments!

1. An oldie-but-a-goodie with a twisty, turny, mysterious puzzle: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin



2. A book about someone as reluctant to leave a fictional fantasy world as you are: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

 

3. Where magic comes in the form of Paris and a hot boy: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins



4. False identies, take-charge heroines, maybe-madness, and laughs for days: The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty



5. Where revenge is a dish best served in knee-socks and a plaid skirt: Premeditated by Josin McQuein



6. Cynical, snarky, and real: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger



7. Nearly anything by Meg Cabot, whose books are funny, fluffy, and oh-so-fun:



8. Vair vair amusing and brills with knobs on: The Georgia Nicolson series

 

9. Absolute crazeballs with a side serving of intensity drizzled with stress: Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas



 10. Reality has no place in this spy-tastic, thief-ful place: either series by Ally Carter



11. Bonus: ALL THE SWOONS (and lots of laughs): My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick



Honorable Mentions: Find Me by Romily Bernard, Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta, Past Perfect by Leila Sales, The Distance Between Us by Kasie West, I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga.