Hi hi! I am actually here today to give you a T5W! Top 5 Wednesday was created by Gingerreadslainey on booktube and is now hosted by Thoughts on Tomes on booktube. You can join the Goodreads group for any and all future topics here. I haven’t done one in forever so I thought today I would tackle the topic.
So without further ado…
BOOKS WITH “HARD” TOPICS.
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
This book has some very hard topics woven into the story. It not only deals with depression, but the topic of euthanasia or assisted suicide. I see many people give this book a lot of hate because of the topics or how it was dealt with because one of the characters is handicapped, but I think it was handled perfectly. This book broke my heart and made me rethink many things and I am so glad I read it.
I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
I absolutely loved this book! This book follows a girl named Skylar who begins working at a small motel in her “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” town where she is thrown together with Josh who just returned home after serving in the Marines and is an amputee. Josh suffers from PTSD and my heart breaks for him. Every time he had nightmares of his time in service and his pain of phantom limb. This is a special book and I love Heather Demetrios for writing it. I have never read a book like this before I picked this book up and thought it was so important to show this side of PTSD.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about this book was that Skyler was straightedge. I don’t see many MCs in YA that are straightedge either. Some characters won’t drink or do drugs but they don’t label themselves straightedge and I thought that was kind of cool 🙂
Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
This is one of my favorite Colleen Hoover books. It was one of the first CoHo books I ever read and I fell in love with it. I know many probably don’t like this book because of the subject matter but I loved it. This book deals with infidelity and I honestly think it was dealt with in such a way that I couldn’t hate the characters. Ridge, our male swoon-worthy MC, is deaf. So we not only deal with infidelity but also the subject of one of our MCs having a “disability”.
Plus, all the music and lyrics within this novel just leaves a special imprint on my heart. ❤ ❤ ❤
Hopeless & Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover
I don’t really want to say what this book deals with because it would technically be a spoiler, but I will say it’s tough. If you’ve read it…you know. And in Losing Hope, we see another hard topic: suicide. In the first book, Hopeless we learn our male MC Dean Holder’s sister, Les, has committed suicide. In Losing Hope, we see the affect of her suicide has left on her family and how hard it hit Dean.
A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
Cancer. Two teens who are from separate circles fall in love and then that love goes through one of the toughest obstacles. The girl has cancer. I read this so long ago and it was one of the first books to ever break my heart.
Well there you have it. Just some of my choices, I am sure there are more, but I couldn’t think of anymore. I know TFiOS probably should have been on this list but I assumed everyone else would use it so I put A Walk to Remember instead 😀
Anyway, what are some of your favorite books with “hard” topics?
Until next time,
I’ve only read A Walk to Remember, but Sparks actually has a lot of hard topics in his books. Like in Dear John, the MC’s father has Aspergers or Safe Haven deals with domestic abuse and The Lucky One treads along the lines of handling PTSD. That’s why I still find his books heartbreaking, even when they have a repeating pattern in them.
And I will finally read Me Before You next month! Let the tear-fest begin.
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Right, right, right. I was actually going to include Safe Haven because of the domestic abuse but…i don’t know I didn’t 🙊 I love all his books even though they do follow the same pattern, like you said.
I will be here for you with open arms and tissues when you finish!
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Glad to hear you are a fellow Sparks-enthusiast. And I get it, A Walk to Remember was sort of more emotional for me, so maybe that’s why you tended more towards it as well?
Thanks! I have a feeling I will need it!
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Oh most definitely! I have been reading Nicholas Sparks since I was in middle school. I have read every single novel and have no regrets 😀
I think that must be it, yep. Safe Haven was intense and left me on the edge of my seat but AWTR was so emotional! *sigh*
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I haven’t read all his books, but I think I have almost all that have been made into a movie and 3 Weeks with my Brother as well 😀
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Three Weeks with my brother is the only one I haven’t read 😛 but I don’t count it since it was nonfiction lol
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I get it, but I think it’s really interesting!
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I plan on reading it someday 😊
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Great Post. Me Before You actually ruined me, I still cry every time I see the movie trailer remembering the book but its so good.
I really enjoyed Hopeless too, I read it quite a while ago but if I remember correctly the storyline kind of came out of nowhere and I was like thoroughly shocked!
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Thank you!! MBY ruined me too *falls on floor crying* I am not even excited for the movie because I know it’s going to be too much for me LOL
Hopeless was a little shocking. I kind of had a feeling what was going on very early on but I still still so shocked. Especially when we learn what happened to Dean’s sister and she was a victim too? Oh man. Tears for days.
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I absolutely LOVED Maybe Someday! She wrote it so well that you can’t help but love every single character, even after what they did (and they tried so hard not to go down that path).
It was my first CoHo book too, and I’ve got plenty more that I’ve added to my TBR since then 🙂
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Yes! I am so glad you agree! Maybe Someday is such a great book and the way it was handled, I couldn’t help but root for them you know? And they did try so hard not to give in but their connection was just too strong! 😀
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What a great topic! I just read Me Before You and yeah….hard topic indeed. I still get emo thinking about it. I haven’t read any of CoHo’s work YET but I’ve heard great things. Will definitely have to look into these
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Thank you! Yes, very hard and emotional book for sure. I still can’t stop thinking about it sometimes and I dread seeing the movie because it very well might kill me! LOL
Oh yes, CoHo is a must read for sure!
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To add to this list, Push by Sapphire. Now, that’s a truly hard read.
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Cool, I’ll have to check that out. I’ve never heard of it!
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I have been hearing so much about Me Before You and I’ll Meet You There! Cant wait to read it tbh. And I have never ever read Colleen Hoover and I am starting to think I really should. Which Colleen Hoover book should I start with?
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Slammed, Maybe Someday, November 9 are all excellent books to read first 😊
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Thanks! I’ll check them out 😊
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