Hi, Emily! Welcome back! It’s been four years since we last spoke for the release of Whistle. How have you been and what have you been up to?

Nice to be back! I just finished a very fun UK tour, and a highlight was the thriller panel at the YALC festival.  I spent a good part of my time working on the TV show of my book, We Were Liars (you can watch it now on Prime Video!) and I wrote We Fell Apart, book 3 in the We Were Liars universe. The rest is a blur.  I drank a lot of coffee.

We Fell Apart is the latest instalment in your We Were Liars series and it’s out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Beachy gothic enemies to lovers.

For those who haven’t picked up We Were Liars, what can readers expect?

Amnesia, a private island, intense summer friendships, a family full of secrets, a love story with terrible obstacles.

And for those who have, what’s to come in We Fell Apart?

It’s a new cast and a new kingdom, so to speak — the estate of a famous and reclusive painter who lives across the water from Beechwood Island (which is the setting for We Were Liars and Family of Liars.)  Eighteen-year-old Matilda comes to the estate to get to know the father she’s never met but instead finds herself swept into the world of the three teenage boys who live there, and all of them are lying to her.  There are lots of threads connecting We Fell Apart to We Were Liars and Family of Liars, but We Fell Apart is its own story.

Where did the inspiration for this new instalment come from?

I visited a beautiful, strange property on the island of Martha’s Vineyard that really sparked my imagination.  I began creating a story about it right away.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I loved writing the friendship between Matilda and the three boys — Brock, Meer and Tatum. My favorite scenes where when they were all four adventuring together — trespassing on Beechwood Island, digging clams, drawing on each other with Sharpie, cooking hangover breakfasts.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

Plotting a twisty thriller is always a big challenge for me. And it turns out plotting a satisfying romance is just as hard!  My first two books in this universe have love stories that don’t end happily, and for We Fell Apart I wanted the love story to be a line of sunshine that runs through the mystery of it all.

This year also saw the television adaptation of We Were Liars hit Prime Video! What was it like seeing your book to come to life 10 years after publishing?

It was completely surreal.  I was an executive producer on the show and worked a lot on casting. I wrote the finale. I spent ten weeks on set and then gave notes on episodes – and I learned a ton about making television from our showrunners, Carina Adly MacKenzie and Julie Plec. They have made so much popular, bingeable TV — they have a deep understanding of the form.

What’s next for you?

I have been writing for the screen a bit more (though there’s nothing I can share, yet!) and finishing The Pools, a standalone gothic love story that will come out in late 2026.

Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up in 2026?

I’m in the middle of Megan Abbott’s El Dorado Drive – she’s a brilliant literary thriller writer and her worlds are always admirably rich. I’m psyched about Tiffany D. Jackson’s The Scammer. That’s next on my TBR. She is a plot twist queen and also has so much emotional depth.

Will you be picking up We Fell Apart? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: E. Lockhart, Author of ‘We Fell Apart’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

About A Risky Game: The sequel to the USA Today bestseller! The Inheritance Games and One of Us is Lying for middle grade — beloved author Alyson Gerber’s new series is an unforgettable mystery featuring a secret society, a mysterious island, and dangerous family secrets.

I grew up in the shadow of the most influential New England boarding school. For most of my childhood, I believed that just beyond the entrance to the ivy towers everything was magic. Later, I had the chance to attend boarding school. While I didn’t always fit into this intriguing world with my undiagnosed ADHD and penchant for questioning the rules, the opportunity to attend and the experiences I had were life changing. I wanted to capture the fantastical aspects of a small New England private school in a relatable mystery-adventure for kids. And I was in a unique position to write both the insider and outsider perspective.

The Liars Society and the sequel—The Liars Society: A Risky Game—which will be in stores April 1, features a group of five kids at the prestigious Boston School. They are invited to play a high-stakes game. If they win, they’ll be selected to join the oldest, most powerful secret society in the world―and they’ll be Boston royalty forever. If they lose . . . well, they better not lose, because they all have life-ruining secrets that they will do anything to protect. 

While you wait for April 1 and the official launch of The Liars Society: A Risky Game, here is a list of iconic preppy reads to hold you over!

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

A few years after the Westing Game made me a reader—I was an angsty prep school teenager assigned to read the Catcher in the Rye. At the very first mention of phonies by Holden Caulfield, I was hooked. So much so that my daughter’s middle name is an ode to this book. To soak in all aspects of the boarding school experience, this story is a must.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

I’ve never been more excited, than when I first heard one of my publishers call The Liars Society—The Secret History for middle grade. I am still honored by the comparison. While the clever misfits in The Secret History are attending a New England college, and it’s an inverted detective story, this is the book that put modern, dark academia on the map in a big way. It’s a layered, psychological thriller that will leave you wanting to wear tweed and read the classics.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

E. Lockhart’s smart, twisty writing will pull you in and you’ll never want to leave Beechwood Island, just off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Luckily, We Were Liars, which centers around the Sinclair family and the summers spent on their private island, also has an incredible prequel—Family of Liars. And the TV show is coming soon. This clever, cunning story will make you even more curious about what these prep school kids are like the rest of the year.

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

The Cousins is one of my all-time favorite dark family mysteries. Told from the perspective of three cousins, who barely know each other, this is a smart thriller about family, inheritance, deception, and lies. Gull Cove Island is the perfect New England summer getaway and the Story family’s legacy is as iconic as it gets.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

There is nothing more iconic than the setting of A Separate Peace. Devon is a traditional, all boys boarding school, based on Phillips Academy Exeter during WWII. Phineas and Gene will do whatever it takes to be the best in both academics and athletics, and the internal hierarchies of the elite world are on full display.

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Releasing on January 30th 2024, Annie Cardi’s new release Red is a modern retelling of The Scarlet Letter for the #MeToo era where a Christian girl who is stigmatised by her peers after seeking an abortion.

When I was in high school, my favorite part of art class was working with found objects. I made a purse out of old neckties; angel wings out of wire hangers; a sculpture out of old lipstick tubes; a recycled paper book. Similarly, I love books that repurpose old, familiar stories into new tales that help the reader reexamine something they thought they understood.

I especially love this when it comes to retellings of classic English literature. I was an English major, so I love a lot of the classics, but they often frame stories around a particular (often white/cis/het/male) experience. That’s something that a lot of teen readers either can’t relate to or something they’ve already seen a lot of in many years of required reading. One thing I love about YA adaptations of classic novels is the opportunity to deconstruct these stories and reframe them in a way that’s both fresh and also touches something familiar in the reader’s own life.

When I first read The Scarlet Letter in high school, I was so pissed that Hester Prynne was shamed for getting pregnant outside of marriage while her romantic partner didn’t admit his involvement until the very end and kept on living his normal life. I wanted better for Hester. For my newest novel Red, I kept thinking of abuses of power in small religious communities, standing strong despite public shame, and stigma around sex and reproductive rights—all aspects of The Scarlet Letter that are part of teen readers’ lives today.

For readers looking for more fantastic spins on classic novels, here are a few of my favorite YA contemporary retellings. In no particular order:

As I Descended by Robin Talley

Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, so I was thrilled to read this queer take on the classic tragedy set at an elite boarding school. Talley weaves together the interpersonal intrigue and the supernatural creepiness to create a thrilling story of betrayal, desperation, and guilt.

Ana of California by Andi Teran

Like many readers who grew up with the Lucy Maud Montgomery series and the CBS miniseries, I am very protective of Anne of Green Gables and was therefore suspicious of a contemporary YA adaptation. But Teran handles the transition from late 19^th century Prince Edward Island to early 21^st century California with care as Ana deals with trauma from her past while moving forward with hope and love as she forms a new family.

The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig

When I was in high school, I dragged myself through Hamlet and was frustrated with the title character. Matt Haig’s The Dead Father’s Club gave me a deeper sympathy for the main character, torn between guilt and grief and loyalty and fear. It’s also a great exploration of toxic masculinity and the pressures sons feel from their fathers.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

This is more inspired by King Lear than a straight retelling, but Lockhart’s story of a rich family on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts pulls so much of the emotional core from Lear that I had to include it here. It’s a fantastic look at privilege, family trauma, and the cost of honesty. I also love this as an example of how an adaptation can veer so far from the source material and still connect so deeply on a thematic and emotional level.

Exit, Pursued by a Bear by EK Johnston

Johnston’s adaptation of The Winter’s Tale has so much I love to see in YA: a strong, smart main character, fierce female friendships, and a frank but supportive depiction of reproductive rights and surviving sexual assault. Readers will connect with cheer captain Hermione as she navigates what it means to live with and after trauma.

Where the Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass

Persuasion, Jane Austen’s novel of second chance romance gets an update in Dass’s Where the Rhythm Takes You, which centers on a seventeen-year-old who manages her family’s hotel in Tobago and an ex-boyfriend-turned-music-superstar. Reyna is relatable as someone who takes on more responsibility than most would at her age while also feeling the longing and heartbreak and hope of first love. It’s also great to see a YA set in the Caribbbean!

I, Claudia by Mary McCoy

It’s difficult to think of many contemporary YA political thrillers, but in I, Claudia, McCoy creates a sharp, dynamic retelling of I, Claudius centered around high school student government. Claudia is a smart, observant, wry narrator who draws the reader in while also keeps us guessing at her motivations and machinations. I need a mini-series of this.

The post Seven YA Books That Spin Classics For Contemporary Audiences appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

We had the pleasure of chatting with E. Lockhart about Whistle, along with working with Manuel, writing, book recommendations, and more!

Hello! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

I am a novelist. I am a New Yorker.  I buy most of my clothing used. I grew up reading Batman and Spider-man comics. I wrote a book that’s been  on the New York Times bestseller list for the past year (We Were Liars).  My father is Jewish and my mother is  in a new age religion.  I wrote Whistle about a secular Jewish kid who becomes a superhero partly as a way of exploring my own relationship to my heritage and my city — but also because inventing a superhero is my idea of a good time.

When did you first discover your love for writing?

In seventh grade I wrote a musical play and got all these kids to perform it in someone’s living room.  It was like an hour long and involved songs from Broadway musicals.  The whole experience was a pretty strong taste of  failure, actually, but it didn’t stop me wanting to write things that other people would watch or read.

Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!

I loved Sendak’s surreal In the Night Kitchen as a kid.  Drawn in comic book panels, by the way.

When I started writing my first novel, I took apart the opening chapters of Katherine Dunn’s weird and visionary Geek Love, to try to understand what had captured me so intensely.

Writing Whistle, I thought about G. Willow Wilson’s Ms. Marvel all the time. I was inspired by the way Wilson integrated Kamala Kahn’s Muslim identity  with her unique character and with existing superhero legend  — believable, relatable and heroic.

Your graphic novel, Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Jewish teenager fights Batman villains.

What can readers expect?

A superhero origin story, a talking Great Dane sidekick, new takes on several of Gotham’s most notorious rogues, a bit of romance, and a girl trying to save her neighborhood.

Where did the inspiration for Whistle and its main character, Willow, come from?

Willow is a bit like I was as a teenager — growing up with a single mom, not a lot of money — but she’s even more like young people I know now in New York City, as well as the kids I meet when I travel to book festivals and cons.  So many of them are activists — writing zines, going to marches, creating petitions, fighting for change.  And yet, sometimes they feel powerless to make difference.  I wondered what would happen to a kid like that who was gifted with superpowers, and how  a person with Jewish heritage and a deep connection to an historically Jewish neighborhood might think about heroism.

Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?

Artist Manuel Preitano and I had a huge and fun challenge creating a hero costume for Willow when she becomes Whistle.  The dog sidekick could just go naked — but a girl needs an outfit! I wanted her suit to be great for cosplay, practical and yet empowering, good-looking but not sexualized, teenagery, and like seventeen other things. I sent Manuel Pinterest pictures of speed skaters, Simone Biles, Rhianna, Gigi Hadid, Uma Thurman in Kill Bill – the poor man was inundated.  But he rose to the challenge and I love what she wears.  You can see some of the inspo pictures at pinterest.com/elockhartbooks.

Were there any favourite scenes or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

Poison Ivy.  She’s a fascinating villain — so much good in her and so much to admire, and yet she does terrible things.

Can you tell us a bit about the illustrative process and what it was like working with illustrator Manuel Preitano?

Manuel brings so much emotion to his characters . Over and over, he drew out the relationships — Whistle to her dog friend, to her mentor, to her mother, to her boyfriend, to her best friend. He really made Gotham City seem real and relatable.

What’s next for you?

I am sworn to secrecy about my next novel!  But I can say that it’s full of sand and crime. People  should hang out with me on Instagram @elockhartbooks if they want the earliest news on it.

Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

Two great graphic reads that address issues of heroism in radically different and thought-provoking ways:  Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers & Saints and  Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona.

Will you be picking up Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: E. Lockhart, Author of ‘Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Every dog owner or dog walker has fantasied about the idea of meeting their soulmate while taking their dogs for a walk, right? Well, that’s exactly what happens to Adelaide while walking her teachers’ dogs…but it also doesn’t; and it also kind of doesn’t work out quite right because her soulmate already has a girlfriend and Adelaide has not moved on from her ex. So many things happen in a single moment, but how is it possible, you might ask? Through Adelaide, we get a glimpse of all the universes in which she meets Jack.

Again, Again is E. Lockhart’s—author of We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud—latest novel. Through multiple parallel universes, the reader gets to follow Adelaide, who falls in and out of “love” again and again. Her relationships, though, vary depending on the universe she is at. In one version of reality, her infatuation is love at first sight; in another, she is never able to get over her ex. In other universes, her new crush never gets to bloom… The alternative realities show how relationships sometimes don’t work, because it simply wasn’t the right time. Sometimes, a person still has feelings for past partners, and, other times, a person might have already started a relationship beforehand. Romance in real life is never like the one in books and movies. In the case of Again, Again, romance is depicted astoundingly true to reality. Primarily, Lockhart’s latest novel is a story about how every single relationship can go wrong…and still be meaningful, key element in a person’s growth.

Apart from that, Again, Again stands out, first and foremost, because of its beautiful, mesmerising writing style that catches your eye from the very first line. Combining both prose and free verse, Lockhart manages to blend a thousand parallel worlds and emotions in a single book and storyline. The lyricism of her free verse combines perfectly with the delicacy of a prose that is plenty of gorgeous imagery. It’s undoubtedly, quite a fascinating, unique novel; not only because it combines verse and prose, but because it replicates scenes again and again, in a succession that shows how much a small detail can change. Nonetheless, through the use of a bold font, there is a clear differentiation between Adelaide’s main reality and its opposed worlds. Whether there is indeed a main plot around which the other alternatives revolve, however, is up for the reader to decide, as it ends earlier than the novel itself. A brilliant use of parallel plotlines and narrative devices, that is for sure.

Going back to its main topics, it is essential to make something clear: Again, Again is not a romantic love story. This is the story of Adelaide falling in love with her own life again. It is a story of self-reflection, of understanding love and learning to accept that life is no bed of roses. It’s essentially an exploration of how we are always doomed to idolise those we crush after. Love blinds Adelaide for the most part of the novel, not allowing her to see what it is truly happening between her and Jack, or her ex, Mickey Double L, for that matter. She is desperate to love and be loved in return, but also to be appreciated as an artist. For Adelaide, love only ultimately works when it is real. Her last relationship—which we will not spoil—works out because she doesn’t idolise her partner nor does she expect something that cannot happen. Lockhart shows that the best romantic stories happen unexpectedly, they are not grand or sparkly like a romantic novel or movie, they just are. You don’t search for them, they find you.

This is also a story that shows how difficult is to deal with negative feelings when we have learnt to hide our pain for our own sake and that of others. Adelaide hides behind a bubbly personality, in order to keep people away from the hardships her and her family have gone through as a result of her brother’s addition to narcotics. But as she comes to realise, a person does not have to be happy all the time to be worthy of love.

Again, Again is definitely the novel for those who wonder about all the possibilities that can come out of a single decision. For those who cannot decide their path straight away, E. Lockhart explores all the directions life can go and how these affect us, no matter the destination. It is a delight to know that more and more authors talk about relationships without sugar-coating them; and what’s more, they instead focus on the most important form of love: self-love.

Again, Again is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up Again, Again? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

From the New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud comes a complex novel about acceptance, forgiveness, self-discovery, and possibility, as a teenage girl attempts to regain some sense of normalcy in her life after a family crisis and a broken heart.

If you could live your life again, what would you do differently?

After a near-fatal family catastrophe and an unexpected romantic upheaval, Adelaide Buchwald finds herself catapulted into a summer of wild possibility, during which she will fall in and out of love a thousand times–while finally confronting the secrets she keeps, her ideas about love, and the weird grandiosity of the human mind.

A raw, funny story that will surprise you over and over, Again Again gives us an indelible heroine grappling with the terrible and wonderful problem of loving other people.

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The locked room mystery has been around for a long time, with a popular example being Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, where ten strangers are lured to an island, and start dying off one by one. The appeal is that the physical limitations of the story means that the person “whodunnit” has to be in the initial group of people. There is an indirect challenge to the reader to solve the crime before the final, satisfying reveal. It makes for a gripping, hair-raising read, requiring little effort other than sitting back and letting events reveal all the clues.

Here are a few modern “locked room” mysteries that will have you reading from cover-to-cover in a single-sitting. These are highly recommended for getting out of a reading rut, and escaping our very own global “locked room”.

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

Rowan Caine is a live-in nanny whose sole responsibility is the care of two little girls, who live in a “smart” home on the Scottish highlands, while their parents are away for work. Rowan has to contend with the emotional isolation of caring for young children, and the fact that her only adult contact with the outside world is the janitor, Jack. Add the eeriness of physical isolation, compounded by the malfunctioning technology of the house, and you have an eerie tale, told in Rachel’s desperate letters from prison to her lawyer. Something went seriously wrong, and there are only a handful of people who could have been responsible.

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin

Who doesn’t want to be stuck in a small, confined space with their work colleagues? And apparently as small as a Zoom meeting room might be, the confines of an elevator in an isolated construction site with three other people is much more stifling. Told from the alternating perspective of Sara, and one of her colleagues stuck in the elevator, things escalate quickly from what seems to be a team-building exercise, to an all-out struggle for survival. A team shares both it successes and its failures, and also the consequences of its behaviour.

They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall

Seven strangers receive an invitation to a private island under the pretense of a reality TV show competition. Told from the first-person perspective of Miriam, things quickly escalate, and they realise that they have each been brought to the island for a secret they’ve been harbouring, and it’s time for a reckoning. This one is directly inspired by, and is a modern retelling of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Liane Moriarty is best known for Big Little Lies and her empathy and insight into people’s motivations, which is reflected in Nine Perfect Strangers. Nine people arrive at a remote wellness resort to work on varying personal goals for ten days that are meant to change their lives. Their lives do change, but not as advertised in the brochures. There’s something not quite right about Tranquilium House, and ultimately the guests have to decide what their true values and priorities are.

An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

A weekend at a hotel in the snowy mountains sounds like the perfect cozy getaway, even if it means a storm has cut off the hotel staff and eight guests from civilisation. That’s until one guest dies mysteriously, and then another. As the body count rises, paranoia sets in and the accusations fly. By the time the police arrive, the guests and staff have been through a harrowing experience.

The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood

Three year old Coco Jackson goes missing at her family’s vacation home after her father’s 50th birthday party, and is never seen again. The mystery goes unsolved until the death of the father, Sean Jackson, many years later. Sean’s family and their friends finally meet for his funeral and attempt to bury the past, only to dig it up and have to face it first. There is no way anyone could see this conclusion coming!

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Set on a private island, the Sinclair cousins meet when their families visit in the summer. The relationships between their parents and their grandparents have an inevitable, lasting effect on their summers and the rest of their lives. It’s a beautiful, quiet, yet suspenseful read, that has you gasping at the conclusion, which again, you will never see coming!

The Last by Hanna Jameson

Set in a world that quickly unraveled after an apocalyptic nuclear event, twenty guests deal with their abrupt disconnection from life as they knew it. They also contend with each other as resources deplete and a body is discovered in the hotel’s water tank. Events are narrated through the eyes of Jon, a historian by occupation who is away from his wife and two kids, and describes how we cope when we are forced to deal with the unthinkable.

The Guest List by Lisa Foley

Set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, The Guest List is the tale of events that take place at a wedding. It’s told from the first-person perspectives of the wedding planner Aoife, Jules the bride, Hannah the “plus-one”, Johnno the best man, and Olivia the bridesmaid. The varying points of view make for a dizzying read, that digs into each of the characters personalities and motives. It’s a slow burn that will have you wondering who the victim was, who murdered them, and why.

Do you have any other recommendations? Tell us in the comments below!

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Sadie by Courtney Summers
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Sadie is the story of a young girl who’s missing and a podcast following the clues Sadie has left behind. Determined to find her sister’s killer, Sadie goes on a journey of revenge. As West McCray – a prominent radio personality – overhears part of Sadie’s story, he decides to follow up, resulting in his own podcast trying to find out where she might have gone. As America begins to follow Sadie’s story, McCray finds himself caught up in a story of abuse, neglect and pain, and you can’t help but pray to any gods out there that he will find Sadie…before it’s too late.

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

This book’s plot twist will hit you like a ton of bricks, I’m warning you. Spanning multiple years and following a tight-knit group of young thespians studying at an elite boarding school, If We Were Villains pulls you in with beautiful writing and the immediate feeling of being an outsider looking in while also belonging to a group of people who are pretentious, self-absorbed and more interesting than any human you’ve ever encountered in your life. As friendship turns into something more sinister, you will feel the dread coming…and then, in a very Shakespearian twist, there’s a murder. Now, ten years later, as Detective Colborne releases the man who confessed to the murder but never seemed all that guilty, he begs for the one thing that has haunted him this past decade: the truth about that night when friends turned to foes…

People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

People kill people. Guns just make it easier.

A tale spun with a sense of dread through every page, People Kill People chronicles one week in the life of six teens in a town in the throws of political and personal tensions. Then, a gun is purchased by someone for protection and it will fire before the week is out. The question is, who’s the one to pull the trigger? The member of a white supremacist youth organization? The teen who’s scared of being attacked because of the color of his skin? The married teenager who owns a gun to be able to protect his son if the need ever presented itself? Or the girl who lost everything in a devastating accident, throwing her into a deep depression? The ending will leave you scarred for life…and shows that no hands are ever the “right” ones to hold the responsibility of another’s person’s life in them.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Ah, yes. The OG of making teens lose their minds because of a plot twist. If you watch any booktube video made after 2012, chances are pretty good that you have already heard of this one. We Were Liars has it all – a beautiful private island setting, a group of friends whose friendship turns destructive, all the lies and drama you could ever want and a plot twist that will haunt you until your dying days. A novel about true lies and dishonest truths.

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Granted, this book doesn’t just have one plot twist; it’s more of an amalgamation of plot twists horrifying you in almost every chapter. But in a good way, I promise.

The Wicker King chronicles the story of two best friends, August and Jack, as Jack starts showing his first signs of a degenerative hallucinatory disorder that slowly take over their world. Jack’s visions of an elaborate, enchanting and yet terrifying fantasy world ruled by the feared Wicker King turn far too real as he and August embark on a quest to fulfil a prophecy in this magical world that will change your perception of what is real and what is imaginary. Lines become blurred, emotions heightened and your hands will be gripping the pages until the very last plot twist.

What plot twist made you completely use your mind? Tell us in the comments below!

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While we wait for the much-anticipated limited series to make its appearance, here are a few great books that just might help you deal with the small, blond, detective-shaped void that we all have.

If you miss the camaraderie of Veronica and Wallace back at Neptune High, try Brittany Cavallaro’s series, A Study in Charlotte. This charming series (which can be read as stand-alone’s, as well) imagines the great-great-great grandson of Dr. Watson attends a private school in Connecticut with the great-great-great granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes.

Charlotte Holmes is treated by her classmates very similarly to how Veronica was treated as the series opened, but bonds with Jaime Watson when he is treated much the same way Wallace was originally.

Fans of Sherlock Holmes will recognise various elements from his famous exploits. In the universe Cavallaro has created, the characters were all real, the adventures really happened, Dr. Watson wrote them all own, and Arthur Conan Doyle was their literary agent.

If you miss the chance to sit and solve a great, old-fashioned, Agatha Christie-style mystery, try Shari Lapena’s An Unwanted Guest.  More of a traditional “who-done-it” than a thriller, this mystery sees several guests at a secluded Inn in the Catskill Mountains. The weather turns nasty, isolating them all further as the electricity goes out and outside communication is cut off. One of the guests turns up dead in what could be an accident. But then a second guest dies.

It is easy to picture an episode where Veronica happens to be one of the guests and is the one to start snooping around to solve the mystery.

If you miss the drama involved in working with family AND trying to solve a mystery, try The Undertaker’s Daughter (also published as The Daughter) by Sara Blaedel. In this novel, Ilka Jensen, a school portrait photographer in Copenhagen who works with her mother, is suddenly summoned to Racine, Wisconsin with news that her father has died and left her his funeral home. As her father had left the family decades earlier, Ilka is desperate to find whatever answers she can about this parent she knows so little about. Hoping to go to Wisconsin, wrap up his affairs, get some answers, and return home, Ilka instead stumbles into a local mystery involving murder.

The parents are switched, but there are definite similarities to Veronica’s search for information and details about her mother and Ilka’s need for answers about her father and his secrets. We also get the interplay of working with family, but seeking independence, and how it feels to be pulled in two different directions with loyalty to two very separate parents.

If you miss Veronica’s costume and wig changes, under cover work, and near-misses, try Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart. The “hero” of this book (and boy is it a stretch to call her that) has almost nothing in common with Veronica, except for the ability to think on their toes. With very different motivations for doing so, they each have the gift of coming up with a story, explanation, or scheme on the spot. They both can keep their cool when things start to go bad, and somehow squeak out safely. This character might be who Veronica would have been in a universe without the amazing fatherly love and guidance of Keith.

If you miss the unpredictable dynamics between Veronica and Logan, try Trouble Is A Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly. It doesn’t happen right away, but as you get into this story, you almost can’t help but feel the Veronica/Logan vibe with the interaction of Zoe and Digby. He is rude and annoying, but brilliant, and maybe attractive. No matter what he gets involved in, or what story he tells her, she doesn’t know why, but Zoe just can’t say no.

If what you are really missing is everything about the series, then you are in luck as Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham have written two Veronica Mars novels that will immerse you right back into Neptune, California. The Thousand Dollar Tan Line (which the new series will “very loosely” be based on, according to Rob Thomas’s own twitter comments) and Mr. Kiss and Tell both give us the town, the characters, and the stories that we have all been missing!

Any other suggestions? Are you excited for the reboot? Tell us in the comments below!

The post 5 Books To Read If You Love ‘Veronica Mars’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Who doesn’t love reading a book that has the author’s hand snaking into their body with a knife and twisting it into their organs? If you do, then here are a list of few mystery/thriller books with plot twists that will make your jaw drop with shock!

Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson

Memories define us.
So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep?
Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love—all forgotten overnight.
And the one person you trust may be telling you only half the story.
Welcome to Christine’s life.

When Christine wakes up, she wakes up with the memory of her younger self and realises she had a one-night stand with a much older married man. And she is even more shocked when he –Ben, reveals that she cannot remember him and their life because almost twenty years ago, she had an accident that left her with hopeless brain damage. But a call from Dr. Nash, who claims she’s been seeing him for a few weeks and informs her about her journal that she’s been writing –and reading- each day makes her wonder about whether or not her husband is being completely truthful. With a very compelling writing style, Watson has the reader completely engulfed in the book and makes one wonder, who is Ben?

The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz

When Cooper McQueen wakes up from a night with a beautiful stranger, it’s to discover he’s been robbed. The only item stolen—a million-dollar bottle of bourbon. The thief, a mysterious woman named Paris, claims the bottle is rightfully hers. After all, the label itself says it’s property of the Maddox family who owned and operated Red Thread Bourbon distillery since the last days of the Civil War until the company went out of business for reasons no one knows… No one except Paris. 

In the small hours of a Louisville morning, Paris unspools the lurid tale of Tamara Maddox, heiress to the distillery that became an empire. But the family tree is rooted in tainted soil and has borne rotten fruit. Theirs is a legacy of wealth and power, but also of lies, secrets and sins of omission. The Maddoxes have bourbon in their blood—and blood in their bourbon. Why Paris wants the bottle of Red Thread remains a secret until the truth of her identity is at last revealed, and the century-old vengeance Tamara vowed against her family can finally be completed.

On her sixteenth birthday, Tamara Maddox, heir to the Red Thread asks Levi Shelby for a kiss. When her mother catches the stable boy and her daughter kissing, she is horrified and sends Levi away. Then, Tamara’s grandfather trying to force himself on her leads her to kill him and discover a letter from her late father stating that she is not a Maddox, but Levi is. With this shocking revelation, Tamara makes a plan. She was going to take revenge on the Maddoxes. Tiffany Reisz has produced an amazing tale revolving around racism, powerful family scandals and the deadliest secrets. The twists in this book are many and unexpected, that you will not see coming.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

Cadence Sinclair goes to Beachwood, an island owned by her grandfather, each summer, along with two cousins and Gat, a family friend. These vacations usually involve family troubles among parents of these ‘Liars’ as they are called, which makes them unhappy. During summer fifteen, an accident happens rendering a fifteen-year-old Cady mentally unstable. Summer sixteen comes by and she doesn’t go to Beachwood because her mother wanted her to spend time with her father, and during this summer, she emails the three other ‘liars’ but is ignored. The next summer, Cady goes to Beachwood determined to find why her closest friends ignored her and what exactly happened there two years ago. We Were Liars has the most unexpected twist by the end of the novel that you will not see coming.

My Sister’s Secret by Tracy Buchanan

Willow’s memories of her parents are sun-drenched and full of smiles, love and laughter. But a mysterious invitation to a photographic exhibition exposes a secret that’s been buried since a tragic accident years ago. Willow is forced to question everything she knew about Charity, her late mother, and Hope, the aunt she’s lived with since she was a child.

How was the enigmatic photographer connected to Willow’s parents? Why will Hope not break her silence? Willow cannot move forward in her life without answers. But who can she really trust? Because no one has been telling the truth for a very long time.

My sister’s secret is narrated by two point of views, Willow and her late mother, Charity some decades ago. When Willow discovers Niall Lane, twenty years after her parents’ death, she is determined to find out why her mother was carrying a necklace with his and her initials carved on it at the time of her death. This story is a gripping and emotional one and along with suffering the most unexpected plot twists, the reader is engulfed into the lives of the characters.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

Flynn did an amazing job in producing a masterful psychological thriller with great depth into each of the two main characters, Nick and his wife, Amy. When nick finds his wife missing, he does not know what went wrong in their relationship. Amy’s diary shows the story of her meeting nick and how his actions became detestable as their relationship progressed. Nick swears that it isn’t true, but the increasing evidence arising against him says otherwise. Maybe the perfect wife isn’t so perfect and the hated husband isn’t so lurid!

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all–a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they’ve kept for years. What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family–a chilling tale of deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.

One mistake. One mistake from Anne and Marco’s stead has their six-month-old daughter, Cora missing. To attend their neighbors’ party, they leave her at home. Sometime after midnight, Cora is taken. Detective Rasbach suspects the parents but what loving parents would kidnap or murder their own child? That leaves them wondering, who would take their lovely Cora? Don’t try to guess. You’ll be wrong!

Any other mystery or thrillers books you would add? Tell us in the comments below!

The post 6 Mystery Books With Heartwrenching Plot Twists appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

How many of us have struggled with our reading challenges? And how many of us have gone through reading slumps that interfere with our reading schedules?

The answer is, we all have! That’s why we’ve made a list of books that will help you get rid of that terrible reading slump, and make you feel like you’re one step ahead of your reading challenge too!

Read on to discover some great short reads to help boost your reading challenge!

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

You may remember this movie from your childhood, and guess what? There’s a book! The adventures of Jess and Leslie in their magical kingdom by the woods is  quick read with around 130 pages and a lot of nostalgia.

Animal Farm by George Orwell
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Some of us didn’t get the chance to read classics like Animal Farm while we were in school so why not start now? Animal Farm is about a society of mistreated animals and their mission to create a just environment.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
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A mystery novel about eighteen year old Mary Katherine Blackwood, who lives in an estate with her sister and uncle. There were more members of the Blackwood family until a tragedy struck, and only three members survived. The remaining Blackwood’s live in isolation, but Mary senses that danger is approaching.

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
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A feminist essay that discusses women’s right to an education, financial independence, and many other interesting topics.

The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas
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If you’ve read the Throne of Glass series, this is a collection of five short novellas surrounding the famous Celaena Sardothien, Adarlan’s most feared assassin. Here we sink into the many adventures of Celaena before we came to know her in Throne of Glass. Whether you’ve read the Throne of Glass series or not, this collection is a great place to start as it’s such an intriguing and fun read. Plus you’ll feel accomplished every time you finish a novella, especially since you can even mark each novella on Goodreads. What could feel more satisfying?

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
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I read this book earlier this year and loved it! The story is about a middle-aged man who goes back to his childhood home. Memories seem to return to him, and he remembers the farm-house that was at the end of the road and the peculiar girl who lived there. He hasn’t thought of her in quite some time, but just by sitting there he begins to remember the strange and frightening situations that happened to him as a little boy.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
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A story about a Shepherd boy who longs to travel and search for treasure. Although this book is fictional, it’s more known for teaching the readers about wisdom and following your heart and your dreams.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

We Were Liars is one of my favourite reads and it focuses on a group of four friends who stay on a private island during the summer. A fun story until devastation strikes and you’re hit with an ending you didn’t expect.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
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The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of fairytales that the Wizarding World grew up with, especially since we’ve all wanted to hear about these tales since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
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Who wouldn’t want to explore the magical world of Narnia? A land that can be found at the very end of a wardrobe full of magic and adventure that you’ll love no matter how old you are.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
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You might have heard about this book from your childhood or from the movie adaptation earlier this year, so I decided to read the book before seeing the movie. When Meg’s father disappears, it’s up to her, Calvin, and Charles Wallace to find out what’s happened to him, and rescue him from whatever is holding him captive. But can they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space?

Coraline by Neil Gaiman
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Coraline has just moved to her new home, and she’s decided it’s time to explore when she finds a strange door in her house that seems to lead to another apartment just like hers. However, this one has another mother and father who want Coraline to stay, and she needs to find a way out.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
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A twenty-three page book about society that will contribute to your reading challenge and teach you a thing or two about life. All about choices and justice and what we are willing to put up with if it means our happiness will continue.

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare
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If you’re a fan of Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters series then you’re bound like this one, which is a collection of eleven short stories about Magnus Bane. Through these stories you’ll get to know a little bit more about his life and his various adventures, as well as meet a few beloved characters.

The Boogeyman by Stephen King
Goodreads

A short story written by the king of horror himself. A quick twenty-three page read for those who would like to experience Stephen King’s stories and writing for the first time. The Boogeyman is about a man who is chased by memories of his past, and who remembers the murders of his three children.

Any other short reads you would add? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Short Reads To Help Boost Your Reading Challenge appeared first on The Nerd Daily.