Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (2025)
If you’ve been eagerly waiting to dive back into Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games universe, Sunrise on the Reaping does not disappoint. This prequel, set 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, brings us into the brutal world of the 50th Hunger Games, a pivotal moment in Panem’s history. For me, this book felt like revisiting the essence of the original Hunger Games novel, but with a twist. It’s almost as if we’re seeing what would have happened if Katniss hadn’t succeeded in rebelling during her own Hunger Games story. The story really tugged at my nostalgia, and the book’s pacing helped amplify that feeling, keeping me engaged from start to finish.
All Better Now by Neal Shusterman (2025)
Neal Shusterman’s All Better Now is a deeply moving and thought-provoking novel that continues to showcase his unparalleled ability to tackle complex emotional and social issues with nuance and heart. In his 2025 release, Shusterman takes readers on an unflinching journey through mental health, self-identity, and the pursuit of healing in a world that often feels broken.
The Toll Book 3 by Neal Shusterman (2019)
So!! This is a series I honestly haven’t been able to put down since i finished the first one. It was such a lively concept of a book from the first. A world struggling with overpopulation, not enough resources, and no where to go, so in come the scythes. My deepest appreciation for the final chapter of the series is the in-depth world building and all those missing layers from the first two books, finally colliding and giving us the full picture. The constant cycle repeating itself, and the only way out is to start your own cycle somewhere far above us
Thunderhead Book 2 by Neal Shusterman (2018)
So as I’m going through this series. One of the things I’ve enjoyed the absolute most is the world being slowly built up around me. Yes things are slightly touched on around the function of the thunderhead in the first book, but this book dwarfs the information we had in comparison. Even the lives of every day people have more life breathed into them, making the series feel much less like all the people being Gleamed are just slight foot notes in the lines. The building makes sense, her choice of Gleaming makes sense, the building up into book 3 makes sense.
Scythe Book 1 by Neal Shusterman (2017)
I have to say, I’ve started and fallen off of quite a few first books of certain series out there, leaving the rest of the story of those characters unknown and forgotten. This though, is not one of those books.