Quick Reads For The Reader That Has No Time

The first book I ever read of Helen Hoang’s (and my favorite), The Bride Test is a quick read that you won’t soon forget.

My is a young mother, living in Vietnam. She’s always felt out of place, making her way by cleaning to provide for her family. One day, while working, she walks into an opportunity she know she can’t resist—go to America and make an American boy fall in love with her. Faced with nothing but pure determination and a new name, Esme (My) arrives in San Francisco realizing seducing a stranger is going to be harder than she thought—especially when she learns her betrothed is Autistic.

While I love all of Helen Hoang’s books, The Bride Test is a quick, easy read coming in at under 300 pages, and features little snippets of humor that would help any reader get through a book slump. You can check purchase The Bride Test by clicking here.

Lisa Jewell is one of my all-time favorite mystery writers (right up there with Tana French). Jewell has a way of crafting and weaving so the ending is always a surprise, and Then She Was Gone is no different.

Laurel Mack, mother of three, is trying to put her life together. 10 years after her daughter’s disappearance, her family has entirely broken up and she feels she’s the only one still holding out hope that her daughter is out there. Desperately trying to find peace with her daughter’s disappearance, Laurel meets Floyd, a charming man in a café. It’s not long before Floyd introduces Laurel and her family to his youngest, Poppy, who seems to be the spitting image of Laurel’s missing daughter.

Faced with questions she doesn’t have answers to, Laurel realizes she has to finish her daughter’s story. Where did Ellie go? Did she run away from home like the police said? Or does Poppy have something more than Ellie’s looks in common with Laurel?

While 350 pages might seem daunting when picking up a new book, Jewell will have any reader devouring Laurel’s story in days. You can purchase Then She Was Gone by clicking here.

A haunting academia ghost story, a reporter with a mysterious family history, and a school that is intended to be “refurbished”—these are just a few of the elements The Broken Girls has in store.

Fiona Sheridan is a reporter writing for a small newspaper that never seems to cover anything important. Instead, it’s readers are more interested in recipes and hometown sporting events. After the mysterious death of her older sister, Fiona is destined for more—she wants to write about murders—and not just any murders. After finding out the famous school where her sister died is to be renovated, Fiona is determined to find out what really happened. She knows that there’s more to the story and she’s convinced her sister’s boyfriend wasn’t the culprit, though he’s sitting in a cell serving the time for it.

As Fiona digs deeper into secrets that no-one wants to unearth again, she learns of the girls who lived at Idlewild Hall in the 1950s and the mysterious reasons they were brought there in the first place. In a world full of “troublemakers” and the “illegitimates,” Fiona knows there’s a diamond in the rough somewhere and Idlewild Hall is more than what the locals think they know.

At 336 pages, The Broken Girls is a quick read with a little bit of a murder mystery, a little bit of a ghost story, and a whole lot of intrigue. You can purchase a copy by clicking here.

Miranda Brooks grew up in a normal family home. Her mom and dad had the right jobs, the white picket fence, and they had Miranda to show for it. But, once a year on her birthday, Miranda had the opportunity to spend time with her eccentric Uncle Billy, a scientist and bookstore owner. Miranda looks forward to seeing her uncle every year—and the books he lets her pick out every year for her birthday. Until, on Miranda’s twelfth birthday, her mom and her uncle have a mysterious falling out and Uncle Billy suddenly disappears from her life. She doesn’t hear from him again until sixteen years later when she receives an unexpected letter in the mail to her Los Angeles apartment. It turns out Billy has died and he’s left her his infamous bookstore, which is one disaster short of closing it’s doors.

Left with a book-themed scavenger hunt, her uncle’s apartment, and the bookstore underneath it, Miranda might finally figure out what happened between her family, but it will take giving up everything she’s ever known to find the answers she may or may not want to hear.

The Bookshop of Yesterdays is a story that will make you question everything you thought you might have known about family, values, and forgiveness. You can purchase this 364-page novel from Amazon here.

Angela Jackson-Brown’s second novel, When Stars Rain Down, is the story of 18-year-old Opal living in Parsons Georgia in 1936.

Opal knows that the world is more separated than it should be, and in 1936 skin color has more to do with it than anyone would like. Though slavery has long been abolished, African Americans are still doing laborious work for whites and the town of Parsons is as segregated as it comes.

Opal has lived a quiet life, tucked away in “Colored Town” with her Granny Birdie. She hopes to live up to her grandmother’s expectations and that means working hard and keeping her head down. But, when the Ku Klux Klan unexpectedly descends on Opal’s neighborhood, the entire community is shaken. The entire town finds it hard to ignore the complicated racial inequities Parsons is home to, with Opal at the center of the story.

This coming-of-age novel comes in right over 350 pages and its natural dialogue and easy tone make this novel one of my top recommendations for getting out of a reading slump. You can check out this book on Amazon here.

It’s 1941 in Berlin and Hanni Kohn’s world is changing. The Nazi regime has begun rounding up Jewish inhabitants and her and her daughter will be forced into a short lifetime of misery if they’re caught. Left with nothing but hope, Hanni goes out in the night and breaks curfew to find a rabbi who is known for his mysterious gifts. When the rabbit turns her away, it is his daughter, Ettie, that offers salvation for Hanni’s daughter. Ettie creates a magical Jewish creature, a rare golem, who is sworn to protect Hanni’s daughter, Lea. Once Ava is brough to life, she, Lea, and Ettie, will become eternally entwined, no matter where they are.

Leaving her mother and life as she knows it behind, Lea travels with Ava seeking safety in a tumultuous world. The World That We Knew follows their unique journey and the sacrifices, courage, and love that the characters hold with them as they search for the life Hanni wanted Lea to have.

The World That We Knew is 364 pages and the hardcover version if formatted nicely for anyone that struggles with long chapters. This story is one that will stick with you and keep you reading until the very end. You can purchase this novel by clicking here.

While Kim Ligget has a few other novels, The Grace Year is the first of its kind (and let’s be real, I’m dying for her to release another YA!).

“The Grace Year” is the term given to girls in their sixteenth year. The girls are sent out into the wild to “release their magic” for the year and return to the town purified and ready to marry.

Tierney James is terrified to life her “Grace Year”, but she wants more than the life she has. As she treks out into the woods with the other girls, facing poachers and the brutal elements of the wild, Tierney is tested beyond what she ever expected.

Though the girls are never allowed to speak of The Grace Year upon returning, Tierney learns lessons that will stick within her memories long beyond the year she spends in the woods.

The Grace Year is 416 pages, and though the longest novel on this list, I can guarantee it will draw in readers in more ways than one—but you’ll have to read it for yourself to find out. You can check out this novel by clicking on this link.