Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature from The Broke and the Bookish. Happy February! This week we’re listing the books that make you cry. I don’t often cry from a book but I love books that make me feel. And I think you do too because one of my most popular posts ever is my top ten heart-breaking books list from two years ago. In no particular order, these are the books that tugged at my heartstrings:
1. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes – If any book on this list made me cry actual tears, it’s this one. A motorcycle accident leaves Will a quadriplegic and the will to live. His caregiver and friend Louisa hopes to change his mind. This is a heavy story that makes you feel and makes you think.
2. Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt – This book just killed me! It takes place in 1987 when a fourteen-year-old girl has just lost her beloved uncle to AIDS. She befriends his partner, changing both their lives.
3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – I read the book after seeing the movie (and bawling my eyes out.) Such an effecting story about the Holocaust, about loss, survival, and heart.
4. The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay – The ending of this book just guts me and gives me chills. This is about two lost and damaged characters who find each other, and their journey to heal. Hope Katja Millay writes another book- I’ve already reread this one!
5. Hopeless by Colleen Hoover – I think all of Hoover’s books are a little melancholy but Hopeless especially. It’s a raw and emotional love story / mystery that lingers with you.
6. When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney – This is a male POV book about Danny, a teen who recently lost his mother to cancer and is trying to heal. The author makes the grieving process in the book ring true, and the story is quite touching. I did shed a few tears with this one.
7. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira – Love Letters is an epistolary novel reminiscent of Perks of Being a Wallflower. A girl is grieving the loss of her sister and processing the death by writing letters to her sisters’ favorite dead celebrities. This book is moving and hopeful and made me feel so much. Look for Love Letters when it comes out in April.
8. If I Lie by Corrine Jackson – A sad book about friendship, morals, grief and love in a military community. Really powerful read that resonates.
9. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick – A teen plans to go to school and murder his ex-best friend and take his own life. This book takes place over 24 hours and tells the story of how he got to that place. He thinks “It gets better” is a joke and my heart ached for Leonard.
10. The Survival Kit by Donna Freitas – Rose’s mom dies of cancer and leaves behind a survival kit to help her move on. A lot of the survival kit contents lead to Will, someone else who’s dealing with loss. This story is touching and hopeful and has stayed with me since I read it a few years ago.
What books make you feel or cry your eyes out?
Great list Lucy! You listed so many books I still haven’t read but hope to get to soon:)
Great list! I really want to read Me Before You and Hopeless.
I just read your description of Love Letters to the Dead and that is definetely a book that I will cry over.
I really want to read Love Letter To The Dead. It looks brilliant. Great list 🙂
I’ve only read Me Before You and it made me sob. I’m making note of some of the other titles.
I loved Me Before You and it was quite heartbreaking, but I don’t think I cried. Maybe because I was pretty sure Will wasn’t going to change his mind? I don’t know. That was such a lovely book, I almost want to read it again.
Tell The Wolves is soooo good and heartbreaking. One of my favorites of 2013!
Haven’t been reading a lot of contemporaries lately but I’m looking forward to Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock and Love Letters to the Dead
Really great list. A majority of these books have been on my TBR shelf for a long time.
Oh I love your list! Tell the Wolves and Book Thief really could have been on my list too! And Sea of Tranquility didn’t have me shedding actual tears but it did make me have the feels. I want to read When You Were Here and Love Letters to the Dead… they both sound very good. And sad 🙁
If I Lie and Me Before You are both coming up on my TBR list and I’m a little petrified. I’ve put off reading Me Before You for a while because I’m afraid of the feelings! I agree about The Sea of Tranquility (and that she needs to write another book!) and Hopeless bringing the feels. I don’t remember if I cried at either of them, but they definitely tugged at my heartstrings, so to speak.
“Tell the Wolves I’m Home” sounds so good!
http://readinggoodbooks.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/top-ten-tuesdays-books-that-will-make-you-cry/
I should have probably guessed that Love Letters to the Dead would be tear inducing. Still, I can’t wait to read that one. And I COMPLETELY agree about ME BEFORE YOU. Such an amazing book, even if it made me sob. Great list!
This is a great list. I also included Tell The Wolves I’m Home on my top ten list. That book was absolutely beautiful.
I’ve only read the first few books on your list. Me Before You was definitely emotional and so was The Book Thief. I really want to read Tell The Wolves I’m Home, too. And Hopeless!
What a great list! I’ve only read one book Me Before You but several of these are on my must-read list.
I’m reading Me Before You right now and I’m dreading all the sad. I’m dreading it. I still really want to read WOLVES (Maybe I’ll buy it finally?) and also, I have Leonard Peacock and have been sort of giving it the cold shoulder. Time to get it off my shelf. Great list!!!!!
What a great list! I love The Sea of Tranquility! It’s one of my all-time favorites. I just got Letters to the Dead for review! I’ll have to check out the other titles, they all look so good!