The L’Oréal Paris Book Club: The Books You Need to Read this Spring

Spring is in full swing, and there’s nothing we love more than opening the windows, letting the sun in, and getting lost in a new book. It’s easy to imagine that in between putting away your winter wardrobe and spring cleaning your makeup collection, you’ll find yourself browsing for your next read. Well, you can stop searching—we’ve done the work for you and put together a list of some of the best books to read this spring, with options from all your favorite genres.

1. THE CITY WE BECAME BY N.K. JEMISIN

They say every city has a soul, and The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin is all about the five souls that make up the one and only New York City. The first of her latest trilogy, this fantasy delves into the darkness beneath the city that causes each of its five parts to come together to save it.

2. THE GLASS HOTEL BY EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL

In The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, bartender Vincent befriends John Alkaitis, who happens to own the hotel he works at. But when Vincent’s half-brother Paul leaves a threatening note saying, “Why don’t you swallow broken glass” on a wall of the hotel, only for Vincent to disappear 13 years later, things can’t help but get tangled up.

3. IN FIVE YEARS BY REBECCA SERLE

Most of us have been asked, or have asked ourselves, where we see ourselves in five years. In Five Years by Rebecca Serle explores that concept, which we all know so well, through fictional character Dannie Cohan, who is a lawyer with her five-year plan set-in-stone. That is, until she has a dream that it’s 2025, and she’s married to a completely different man than she's engaged to in real life. While she thinks it’s just a dream that felt all too real, she finds herself running into her dream-husband four and a half years later. What happens next? You’ll have to read to find out!

4. WE RIDE UPON STICKS BY QUAN BARRY

If you love historical fiction, consider Quan Barry’s We Ride Upon Sticks as your next read. The book tells the story of the 1989 Danvers Falcons, a women’s field hockey team on their way to the state championship. With victory in sight, they have to turn to their Salem ancestors to find their true selves.

5. THE TWO LIVES OF LYDIA BIRD BY JOSIE SILVER

Looking to fall in love? Well, we can’t promise that, but we can promise you’ll fall in love with The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver. This love story will introduce you to Freddie and Lydia, who have been in love for more than a decade until Freddie dies in a car accident on Lydia’s 28th birthday. She starts to move on, only to find herself in an alternate world where Freddie is still alive.

6. A GOOD NEIGHBOR BY THERESE ANNE FOWLER

Have you ever thought about what it means to be a good neighbor? If not, A Good Neighbor by Therese Anne Fowler will certainly make you do so. In a small town in North Carolina, single mother Valerie has a biracial son who falls in love with the daughter of their white, wealthy neighbors. Told from different points of view, the story unfolds as people from different walks of life learn to put their differences aside.

7. ANNA K BY JENNY LEE

Looking for a young adult read? Consider adding Anna K by Jenny Lee to your list. Anna seems to have it all together thanks to having the perfect life, complete with the perfect boyfriend. While her friends and family struggle to get their lives on track, Anna is seemingly having no such problem—that is, until she meets Alexia “Count” Vronsky. The playboy is anything but her normal type, yet he makes her question whether she ever knew herself at all.

8. THESE GHOSTS ARE FAMILY BY MAISY CARD

Want to be left on the edge of your seat? Look no further than Maisy Card’s These Ghosts Are Family. Stanford Soloman—or, more accurately, Abel Paisley—faked his death and took the identity of his best friend. But as he nears the end of his life, he’s forced to give up his secret and meet his firstborn. The book tells the story of the Paisley family and how each person wrestles with their own ghosts.

9. MY DARK VANESSA BY KATE ELIZABETH RUSSELL

In My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell, Vanessa finds herself young, naïve, and in love with her 42-year-old English teacher, Jacob Strane. But 17 years later, she finds out that her first love is accused of sexual assault. Vanessa is left with the choice of whether should she speak out or not and is forced to accept the fact that her first love may not have been the fairytale she always thought it was.

10. DARLING ROSE GOLD BY STEPHANIE WROBEL

Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel is nothing short of a page-turner. For 18 years, Rose Gold Watts has thought she was ill—incapable of doing nearly anything and ridden to a wheelchair. Then, one day, she realizes she isn’t. Her mother had made it all up. After she serves five years, Rose Gold allows her mother to live with her, but it isn’t the act of forgiveness you might have thought. Rose Gold has been waiting for her mother to come home—she’s ready to get even.

Always on the hunt for more book recommendations? Once you blow through these, consider another from our L’Oréal Paris book club! Here's our review: The L’Oréal Paris Book Club: ‘Becoming’ by Michelle Obama.