The Best Of: Standalones #2

If you’ve been reading Young Creative Press for a while, you will know that these posts are usually just about YA books. However, I’ve been venturing into NA/adult books more recently and I want to talk about those as well. This is why these posts are now called ‘the best of: standalones’. Don’t worry, no weird books with half-naked men on the cover will be popping up, I wouldn’t go anywhere near those. I am, however, excited to start talking about some of the NA standalones I’ve been reading lately.

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This was my second Taylor Jenkins Reid read and wow. Her ability to create situations and characters that feel real is incredible. I didn’t get the ‘is this something that really happened’ vibe as much, but you really do get pulled into this story. The feeling of being completely enraptured with a book is hard to describe, and my reasoning for loving this book isn’t something I can really put into words. The only thing I can say is, you have to read it for yourself.

Synopsis: Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.

Malibu: August, 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva.

The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud—because it is long past time to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.

Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.

And Kit has a couple secrets of her own—including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.

By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come bubbling to the surface.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

I can’t even explain just how much I loved this book. Going into it, I thought I’d enjoy it, but I didn’t expect to fall completely in love. I know there are a lot of mixed opinions and some of you will think I’m crazy for saying this was a five star read for me, but it made me feel something and that’s what matters most in my opinion.

I’m so freaking excited for the film, but where is it?! It’s been forever and we don’t even have a trailer yet.

Synopsis: First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince.

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

A Deal With the Elf King by Elise Kova

This isn’t my favourite Elise Kova novel, if I’m being completely honest, it’s probably my least favourite. However, I’m a big fan of series of standalones set in the same universe. This book in particular is loosely based on the story of Hades and Persephone and it includes arranged marriage (kind of) if that’s something you’re interested in.

Synopsis: The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death.

Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella’s village to be their Human Queen.

To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she’s dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town’s only healer.

That is, until the Elf King unexpectedly arrives… for her.

Everything Luella had thought she’d known about her life, and herself, was a lie. Taken to a land filled with wild magic, Luella is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save.

The magical land of Midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and people tug on another… but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted.