Getting Into Adult Fiction
Getting into YA fiction was easy, leaving it for adult fiction is a lot harder and a little bit daunting. So, here are our ten adult fiction novels that kind of feel like a stepping stone between the two genres.
Descriptions taken from the back of the books and Goodreads.
If We Were Villains by M.L.Rio
Genres: mystery, thriller, contemporary, mystery thriller, adult, LGBTQ, crime
Oliver Marks has just served ten years for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day of his release, he is greeted by the detective who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, and he wants to know what really happened a decade before.
As a young actor at an elite conservatory, Oliver noticed that his talented classmates seem to play the same characters onstage and off – villain, hero, temptress – though he was always a supporting role. But when the teachers change the casting, a good-natured rivalry turns ugly, and the plays spill dangerously over into real life.
When tragedy strikes, one of the seven friends is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless…
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genres: historical fiction, romance, LGBTQ, contemporary
Reclusive Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant to write her story, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Determined to use this opportunity to jump-start her career, Monique listens in fascination. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to leaving show business in the 80s – and, of course, the seven husbands along the wat – Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. But as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
Alice by Christina Henry
Genres: fantasy, horror, retellings, adult, dark, fairy tales, magic, urban fantasy
In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo with the screams of the poor souls inside.
In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blonde, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place – just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood…
Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago.
Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful.
And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice.
Five Years From Now by Paige Toon
Genres: romance, chick-lit, contemporary
‘One day, maybe five years from now, you’ll look back and understand why this happened…’
Nell and Van meet as children when their parents fall in love, but soon they are forced worlds apart. Five years later, they find each other. Their bond is rekindled and new feelings take hold, but once again they must separate. For the next two decades, fate brings Nell and Van together every five years, as life and circumstance continue to divide them. Will they ever find true happiness? And will it be together?
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Genres: fantasy, romance, historical fiction
The circus arrives without warning. No announcement proceeds it… It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Genres: feminism, mental health, psychology, literature, poetry
A girl lives in an out-of-the-way town for nineteen years, so poor she can’t afford a magazine and then she gets a scholarship to college and wins a prize here and there and ends up steering New York like her own private car. Only I wasn’t steering anything. Not even myself.
Working in New York on hot summer, Esther Greenwood is on the brink of her future. Yet she is also on the edge of a darkness that makes her world increasingly unreal. In this vivid and unforgettable novel, Esther’s vision of the world shimmers and shifts: day-to-day New York living, her crazed men-friends, and hot dinner dances…
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Genres: fantasy, humour, urban fantasy
According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch – the world’s only totally reliable guide to the future, written in 1655, before she exploded – the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea…
People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. This time, though, the armies of Good and Evil really do appear to be massing. The Four Bikers of the Apocalypse are hitting the road. But both angels and demons – well, one fast-living demon and a somewhat fussy angel – would quite like the Rapture not to happen.
Oh, and someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist…
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, mystery thriller, suspense, contemporary
We can’t choose the strangers we meet.
As the guests arrive at the beautiful, remote Mitchell’s Inn, they’re all looking forward to a relaxing weekend deep in the forest, miles from anywhere. They watch their fellow guests with interest, from a polite distance.
Usually we can avoid the people who make us nervous, make us afraid.
With a violent storm raging outside the hotel, the group finds itself completely cut off from the outside world. Nobody can get in – or out. And then the first body is found … and the horrifying truth comes to light. There’s a killer among them – and nowhere to run.
Until we find ourselves in a situation we can’t escape.
Trapped.
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
Genres: fantasy, short stories, high fantasy
Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher. He uses his legendary power and lifelong training to protect the innocent by hunting the vile fiends that ravage the land.
But not all monsters are evil.
And not everything fair is good.
You by Caroline Kepnes
Genres: crime, horror, thriller, mystery, suspense
When Guinevere Beck strides into the bookshop where Joe works, he is instantly smitten. And so begins an attraction that quickly spirals into a whirlwind of deadly consequences.A chilling account of unrelenting, terrifying obsession, Caroline Kepnes’ YOU is a thriller more perversely clever and dangerously twisted than any YOU have ever read.
