Books To Escape Into

When I am going through a period of stress, sometimes I need something specific to take my mind off it. As much as I love a contemporary romance, if I am obsessing about an event over which I have no control, sometimes I need a work of fiction I can channel my stress into. That means I want to read some adventure, rather than flirtatious banter, okay?

With that in mind, I present you with a list of books to escape into. They are almost as stressful as following live news updates.

The Fifth Wave series – Rick Yancey

This series is so traumatic you’ll forget about real world disasters for a while as you read about blood thirsty aliens who may or may not look like us. It’s hard to worry about who the next prime minister is going to be when you’re trying to figure out whether this stranger is a hot guy about to make out with you or an alien sent to murder you.

Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo

I don’t know about you, but during the long days working at each of the six jobs I have had in the year since I graduated (#killingit), I can’t help but be distracted by all the more interesting things I could be doing. During each mundane moment I can’t help but imagine being suddenly thrust into a dangerous adventure, YA style. So it makes sense that the story of an unfolding heist, told from multiple points of view (I can pretend to be like 5 different people!) would suit me down to the ground.

The Darkest Powers series – Kelley Armstrong

I imagine that waking up to the news that your country has made an insane and irreversible mistake is pretty similar to suddenly being able to see the dead, as happens to Chloe in this classic example of a YA paranormal. You walk around in a fog of disbelief, constantly trying to persuade yourself that what you’re seeing isn’t real. You must have gone crazy or something.

Yep. Exactly like being able to see the dead. Don’t question me on this. Just read the books. They are very distracting and feature one of my all-time favourite book boyfriends, Derek the werewolf.

Do you have go-to escape books? I’d love some recommendations.