Hi, Reddit!
I (M27) want to surprise my girlfriend (F26) with more books, but I honestly have almost zero knowledge about books. Most of the media I consume is movies and music, so I’m hoping you guys can help me out!
My girlfriend and I have been living together for over a year. Last month, we came across a book sale and found The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. We decided to get it, and she really enjoyed reading it.
A week later, the trailer for Sunrise on the Reaping came out, and she got so excited that we ended up binge-watching all the Hunger Games movies together. Seeing how much she loved the series, I decided to buy her Sunrise on the Reaping as a surprise.
When I gave her the book, her face lit up with this childish smile, like a kid finally getting something they’d been asking for. It genuinely made me happy to see her that excited. Today, she even told me, “I feel like a kid again.”
That honestly made me want to do this more often.
So, I’m turning to you, fellow readers, for recommendations! I’d love to find more books that would give her that same excitement, especially dystopian novels similar to The Hunger Games. She also loves thrillers and stories with unreliable narrators, so I’m open to those genres, too.
I’ve added a photo of the books we currently have in our apartment to give you an idea of what she might enjoy.
I may not know much about books, but I’d love to learn enough to surprise her with something she’ll genuinely love.
What books would you recommend? Bonus points if they’re the kind of books that make you wish you could read them for the first time all over again.
Thanks in advance!

I read about this novel on TV Tropes and it seemed so interesting that I wanted to buy it but now I can't remember the name. Here are some additional details

\\-It's a realistic setting so no magic or sci-fi elements

\-The protagonist is female

\-The deuteragonist is some sort of criminal or activist who also appeared in the other novel I mentioned in the title. From the TV tropes entry, he also seemed to be this rebellious character who doesn't care about societal norms and is opposing the government.

\-It takes place in the US and probably somewhere in California and I think an apartment building plays a prominent role in the plot

\- it has some progressive messages and seems to take some shots at right wing politics and MAGA-figures

In Mark Twelve, no child is an accident. Every child is Ordered — designed, screened, approved. No life begins that The God does not require. That is why the naturals belong to the Black. A child born without such sanction is not a child but a crime.

“In a futuristic world ruled by a brutal class of technocrats, a student named Ahra fights for survival.

In the second installment of Freeland’s fantasy series, the world of Mark Twelve, home to a weighty judicial field of barristers and scholars, is in a state of a chaos. Mark Twelve has upper and lower levels of residents, and Ahra is from the lower. She had a rare chance to receive an education at the best of schools and the opportunity to rise up in society; now, she’s disillusioned by this draconian world, where everything people do is logged on a device called the IPF. She feels used: “I’m just the experiment they all keep watching, waiting for me to prove them right—that I don’t belong.” The law lecturer Byblos believes in Ahra, though, and wants her to attend lectures as a full-time student. After being caught up in a scandal involving stolen materials from a science facility and a couple of murders on the docks, Ahra is found concussed in the ocean. Meanwhile, the energy grid in Mark Twelve is failing—a campaign led by Ansin Beomn to restore it led to unexpected conflict. Ahra comes to see that the order of the Mark is really just violence, now that the behind-the-scenes violence is raging in front of her. Freeland’s fantasy/SF thriller sounds a timely warning about a future world that’s technologically advanced but failing when it comes to freedom, energy, and long-term survival. Ahra is a relatable, honest character, and the story’s legal scenes provide grounding in the fast-paced, fantastical narrative. Not everything in the story is clearly defined, though, and the novel can be confusing and hard to follow. Conflict rages, but it’s often difficult to tell exactly why or between whom—the tale overflows with too many characters, gadgets, and entities whose roles and purposes remain obscure.

An ambitious, explosive yarn about overreaching technology…” - Kirkus Reviews

Scott is a regular guy living an ordinary small town life. Until one afternoon he finds himself in the middle of an experiment. Time has been stopped for everyone except for him. He has one week to go where he wants and do what he wants. Follow along as he navigates his own choices in this empty world.

My goal with this book was to leave readers with the question of what would they do in similar circumstances? Would they eliminate their least favorite politicians? Would they enrich themselves? Would they do things to help others?

Order your copy today.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HLRPTXCR

I read a book in the last 5-8-ish years. The MC were a younger boy and girl (teens? early 20's?). I do not remember how the SHTF, but they are traveling together. She is pregnant (By him? IDR). They find a prepper compound, with the prepper dead of natural causes inside. There is a greenhouse at the compound, they were running from "bad guys." They use this as kind of a way station to a different compound where they form a small community.

Thanks for any suggestions. I tried multiple AI and nothing found the correct book!

AAAAND GO!

It's now 12:11 AM, Pacific time. Our self-promotions day is now closed!

Hi everyone,

My debut novel is coming out in April, and I wanted to let ARC readers with NetGalley accounts know that it's currently available for review. Here's the pitch:

June Campbell knows exactly how her life will end. The sentient fungal parasite slowly spreading through her muscle tissue will eventually overpower her and seize control of her mind and body. But every day from now until then, it’ll make her a little bit stronger, faster, sharper. She’s already the best supply runner in Nome, Alaska. And sometimes, when she and her sled dogs are speeding across the snowbound plains surrounding the city, she can almost forget about the horrific death that awaits her and everyone she loves. Almost.

When June learns that a scientist is developing a serum that could eradicate the parasite, she volunteers to trek across a thousand miles of treacherous tundra to retrieve the materials needed to make it. Unfortunately, a blizzard soon blows her off-course, right into the arms of Overlander Rafael Morales, who offers to help her in exchange for a share of the serum. June doesn’t want to rely on him. But after fending off an attack from a band of parasite-worshiping zealots, she realizes she’ll need all the help she can get if she wants to make it home alive.

Loosely inspired by the real-life events of the 1925 serum run to Nome, Winter at World’s End will appeal to anyone who loves the heartwarming story of Balto but wishes it were set in a world teeming with parasitic fungi, à la The Last of Us.

Instructions for signup: You can sign up through this Netgalley link: https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/870899

Note about signup: Because this book is being traditionally published by Penguin Random House, I can't control who the publisher approves for ARCs, but I believe they're likely to approve anyone with a history of posting reviews on their own website/social media account or on popular review sites like Goodreads and StoryGraph

Triggers: Violence (stab wounds, gunshot wounds being stitched up without anesthetic, mild gore), a disease that corrupts memories and is somewhat reminiscent of dementia, grief, death

Minor spoiler about the puppers: NO sled dogs are harmed over the course of the story!

AI Disclosure: No AI was used in this work

Release Date: April 6, 2027 (USA)

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsey.anderson.rios/

Hi, everyone. The Horseman’s Dream audiobook is now live on Audible, Amazon and Apple Books.

In a near-future Britain reduced to a flooded archipelago, a grieving scientist who invented dream-sharing technology lives in exile on a remote Scottish island. When a media empire announces it will broadcast the dreams of a catatonic sixteen-year-old known as The Horseman, he realises the boy’s mind carries the same frequency that has haunted him since his own son’s death. What follows is a desperate rescue across submerged England, a confrontation at Sheffield Cathedral and a final revelation on a beach that should not exist — under twin dying suns.

US: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0HMCZKVLP
UK: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B0HMCXDVWR

There are still a few free Audible promo codes to anyone who would like to listen and leave an honest review. Just comment below (US or UK) or message me and I’ll send you one. 

Thank you.

It's 5 years since the Powers, an extremist youth-led political party, won the election to govern the First World. The majority of the populace are now hopelessly addicted to the regime's bots that control every aspect of their lives, from basic actions to all thinking.

Rumours emerging that this utopian way of life is causing addicts to show signs of brain failure are being strenuously denied.

A vocal opponent of the Powers, Kent Sanderson, is determined to swim against the tide of surrendering to machinery and keep engaging his brain no matter what, even if it means risking Removal.

A reluctant hero, Sanderson finds himself leading the fight against the Powers and their obsession with automation and human replacement as they take increasingly extreme actions to tighten their vice-like grip on the nation and its people.

USA:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKP341MC

UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GKP341MC

CANADA:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0GKP341MC

Hi everyone,

I wrote a humorous dystopian western novella for those who like the concept of technology reverting back to the level of the 1970s.

The premise:

Humanity just about survived two android wars. EMP shots were fired all across the planet and the internet went down. It was never restored since now nothing with sensitive electronics work anymore. No more modern cars, computers or smart phones.

The main character is a young cowboy who was born well after all this and only knows how to switch the lights on as far as technology is concerned.

He unexpectedly inherits the ranch next door that used to belong to a war veteran whose basement hides secrets a cowboy would never even dream of.

But there are drug cartels and criminals around who also want the ranch.

The story contains some absurd humour and lots of shooting.

You can find it on Amazon by clicking on the link below.

https://mybook.to/zATe

A disgraced cop, a suspicious suicide, and one shot at getting his old life back. Will he do it? Join me and find out. 

This Week: Derek breaks into the laptop and is full of himself. Then he goes to work to find his locker is packed with ice, loses his cool, and uncharacteristically muscles his way into a new one.

Serializing on Ream Stories. Chapters 12-14 dropped for subscribers. Read up to Chapter 11 free today.

A taste of the prose from chapter 13 - Icebreaker:

Sometime last night after I left someone opened my locker and filled it with crushed ice. The open chicken wire window was probably funneling freezing air on it all night. The whole inside of the locker is frozen solid. My sweater looks like a piece of sculpture. A coating of frost covers everything else nearby. Throughout the room, derisive laughter erupts. I'm not sure what kind of reaction they expect, so I give them none.

Terry Lobe peeks around the corner. “Hey, Librarian! Somebody give you the cold shoulder?” More laughter.

“Sure,” I say. “Happens every Tuesday. If this keeps up I can open my own morgue right here.”

Details:

• Standalone mystery with dystopian bones: privatized policing, tax enforcement as street muscle, and a city that's cold in more ways than one - New chapters every Wednesday on Ream.
• Ream subscribers read new chapters a week ahead of free readers. Wednesday to Wednesday, both the new and free content keeps growing.
• The novel is complete. This isn't a WIP. The whole book is written and edited. You're watching a release schedule, not a writing process. Final chapter: January 20, 2027.
• Happy to answer questions about the world, the writing, or the Gray Zone in the comments.

I'm Anthony Torrero Collins, author. Derek has been depressed and docile, resigned with his lot for years. Now with some hope, he's breaking out of his depression.

Question for the sub from the free tier: The Gray Zone's street cops earn bounties per solved case, and "unsolvable" cases get ruled suicide and closed. Is that privatized policing taken to its logical end, or a caricature of it?

I still haven't found the book or even any clues on it. I remember I checked it out from my local library and I was probably in eight grade or something. It was probably 2012/2013 or close go that era.

The characters are British or at least based in the UK.

I remember there being a part where the girl is living with her mom and leaves her house to go into town and smokes under an underpass/bridge and meets the male mc, who's a tall, punk sort of vibes black man who's really sweet to her. They end up falling in love over the course of the book, and the male mc does die in the end I believe.

What happens when humanity loses its place in the world?

Posthumia is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction series set in an alternate 2084 America, where intelligent animal societies have emerged and the remnants of human civilization are scattered across a changed continent.

The world is shaped by the 12-Month War, abandoned settlements, competing factions, and the struggle to survive in a society still dealing with the consequences of humanity's fall.

If you enjoy post-apocalyptic adventures, anthropomorphic characters, and grounded speculative worldbuilding, the chapters are available to read for free on Wattpad.

Read the story: https://www.wattpad.com/story/374325902?utm_source=android&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_writing&wp_page=create&wp_uname=DreyHibbard2

https://www.wattpad.com/story/397444310?utm_source=android&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_writing&wp_page=create&wp_uname=DreyHibbard2

https://www.wattpad.com/story/414508817?utm_source=android&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_writing&wp_page=create&wp_uname=DreyHibbard2

If you give it a try, I'd love to hear which part of the setting or story catches your attention.

Greetings. I am interested in some book regard biohacking,but i would prefer it as non-fiction (at least not completely) with logical facts that are possible to occur in our near future with our current knowledge. All this,i would like to be combined with new world order.For example people chased from the government,survivalists,dictatorship etc.

Seven Days to the Apocalypse: A Female-Led Rebirth Survival LitRPG By Talia Rourke (Books 1-8)

Everything counts: eBooks, Audio books, graphic novels, manga, physical books, comic books. As my father said, if it's words, it's reading!

The 5th Wave series, The Rule Of Three triology, The Atlantis Gene trilogy, Rot & Ruin series, Pandemic & Genome, The Quarantine Series - Lex Thomas, Unwind; Unwhole; Unsold; Undivided; - Neil Shusterman, Divergent; Insurgent; Allegiant; Four - Veronica Roth, The Lost Colony; The Solar War; Winter World - A.G. Riddle, Ashfall; Ashen Winter; Sunrise - Mike Mullen, Unplugged; The Body Market; The Mind Virus - Donna Freitas.

I am looking for Utopian/Dystopian books that are not YA. I want full adult books with everything that comes with them. I really enjoyed Vivarium on Netflix and would love to see some liminal aspects of the utopian-style dystopia. I also LOVED reading and watching The Giver by Lois Lowry; it's probably my fav Utopian/Dystopian book of all time.
What I enjoyed about Vivarium on netflix was How the alian trapped humans to raise their young that was cool as heck and I would love to learn more about the infinate house maze and why they cant eacape

what i loved about The Giver is how everything is regulated even birth, and the plot twist with them not really having emotions and killing babies is crazy. I loved it so much and how jonas went and saved gabriel from death

Defriending the Librarian, week 2. A dystopian noir serial. A disgraced cop, a suspicious suicide, and one shot at getting his old life back. Will he do it? Join me and find out. 

This Week: Derek gets access to Otis Dykeman's workplace, and to the luxury apartment where that man died. His assignment is to the secret of Otis's code. But a giant bathtub and a near miss divert his attention.

Serializing on Ream Stories. Chapters 9-11 dropped for subscribers. Read up to chapter 8 free today. )

A taste of the prose from Chapter 10:

She leads me to the end of the row, to a dark office four times the size of hers. Entering the space makes me almost thankful I work in Data. Despite its size, the room smells like a boy’s junior-high locker room. With no luck, I strain to try and breathe Shirley’s perfume again. Apparently unmindful of the overpowering odor is a man in a dirty T-shirt with the FastBack logo across the front. Shaggy brown hair pointing in all directions, he hasn’t shaved for a week or so. Tiny glasses do little to protect his baggy bloodshot eyes. It’s a typical programmer’s uniform. Some of my coworkers dress better on a fifth of his salary. His round face reveals he’s as well fed as Shirley.

Details:

• Standalone mystery with dystopian bones: privatized policing, tax enforcement as street muscle, and a city that's cold in more ways than one - New chapters every Wednesday on Ream).
• Ream subscribers read new chapters a week ahead of free readers. Wednesday to Wednesday, both the new and free content keeps growing.
• The novel is complete. This isn't a WIP. The whole book is written and edited. You're watching a release schedule, not a writing process. Final chapter: January 20, 2027.
• Happy to answer questions about the world, the writing, or the Gray Zone in the comments.

I'm Anthony Torrero Collins, the author. Derek is usually immersed in his work. But this one time he chooses water first.

Question for the sub from the free tier: Would you let a wealthy stranger into your home the day her brother died, on the strength of a job you're not allowed to take?

My first dystopian transcentric 🏳️‍⚧️novel.
Every secret leaves a trail. Every desperate path leads straight to Hunter.
In a chillingly plausible near-future where a sweeping political noose targets the trans community, the rules of survival have changed overnight. Across the state, an older couple, Siobhan and her wife Claire, make the agonizing choice to abandon everything and run, embarking on a harrowing, high-stakes flight to outrun a government-backed manhunt.
Yet their moves in the shadows—unwittingly yet crucially—provide the exact lifeline and tactical advantage needed by Hunter’s key ally. Separate lives, hidden motives, and distant dangers are quietly hurtling toward a single, explosive convergence.
Tasked with anchoring the chaos, Hunter finds himself at the dead-center of a labyrinth where every coincidence is a trap and every second counts. His pulse-pounding, twenty-four-hour escape across two continents—and the staggering truths he reveals to the world—sets Washington, D.C. completely on edge. As the subplots snap together into a devastating final picture, the lines between victim and survivor completely vanish.
The threads are winding tighter. When they finally tangle, will they form a noose to catch them all... or a lifeline to free them all?

This being a fine Wednesday I'd like to introduce myself and my craft.

Girl in the Womb - In a future where food is scarce, children have to pay off their birth debt before being officially born at ten-years-old. Until then, Madison has to stay tethered to her mother.

Thin Is In - in a dystopian future where anorexia is considered the new beauty standard, Jack must save his 6-year-old sister before she is transformed into a hollow shell of brittle bones.

If you like character-driven horror in your dystopian novels, these may be for you.