Read to Escape
Books to help you escape the real world,
from fast-paced thrillers to fantastical adventures.
 
The inheritance games
by Jennifer Barnes

When a Connecticut teenager inherits vast wealth and an eccentric estate from the richest man in Texas, she must also live with his surviving family and solve a series of puzzles to discover how she earned her inheritance
Sabotage : the mission to destroy Hitler's atomic bomb
by Neal Bascomb

The author of the award-winning The Nazi Hunters chronicles the World War II efforts of heroic Allied forces to thwart the Nazi occupiers of Norway in their efforts to build a nuclear bomb. 
A song of wraiths and ruin
by Roseanne A. Brown

A first entry in a planned duology inspired by West African folklore finds a grieving crown princess and a desperate refugee on a collision course to destroy each other despite their growing attraction.
A phoenix first must burn : sixteen stories of black girl magic, resistance, and hope
by Patrice Caldwell

Black girls, including gender non-conforming individuals, star in this collection of sixteen stories of fantasy, science fiction, and magic
The disasters
by M. K. England

Expelled from the elite Ellis Station Academy on his first day, hotshot pilot Nax Hall boards a ship back to Earth with three other ejected students only to be framed for a terrorist attack on the school. 
Raybearer
by Jordan Ifueko

Raised in isolation by a mysterious mother known only as The Lady, lonely Tarisai is dispatched to become a member of the Crown Princes trusted council, whose members forge deep bonds with each other, before her mother directs her to commit an assassination. 
Aurora rising : Aurora cycle01
by Amie Kaufman

Relegated by a misguided act of heroism to a squad comprised of his school's hopeless misfits, a graduating cadet in a 24th-century space academy rescues a centuries-hibernating girl from interdimensional space only to be swept up in an interstellar war millions of years in the making. By the best-selling authors of the Illuminae Files. 
Reverie
by Ryan La Sala

While recovering from an attack that leaves him without his memory, gay teenager Kane Montgomery stumbles into a world where dreams known as reveries take on a life of their own, and it is up to Kane and a few unlikely allies to stop them before they spillover into the waking world
K-pop confidential
by Stephan Lee

Hiding a secret passion for singing beneath a veneer of an obedient straight-A student, Candace enters a K-pop audition on a dare before plunging headfirst into the grueling world of training and rehearsals, before a fellow trainee and a hot boy-band star challenge a strict no-dating rule. 
The Kingdom of Back
by Marie Lu

Forbidden by 18th-century restrictions to pursue her dream of becoming a composer, the musically gifted older sister of Wolfgang Mozart risks everything she cares about by accepting an irresistible offer from a mysterious stranger. By the best-selling author of the Legend series. Simultaneous eBook.
A song below water
by Bethany C. Morrow

Best friends, Tavia and Effie, struggle to hide their supernatural identities in a society that discriminates against people with their abilities
Everything sad is untrue : (a true story)
by Daniel Nayeri

"At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. But Khosrou's stories are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment his family fled Iran in the middle of the night with the secret police moments behind them, back to the refugee camps of Italy, and further back to Isfahan."
Beasts made of night
by Tochi Onyebuchi

Indentured by a ruthless organization of mages, a gifted young sin-eater uncovers a dark plot and must rely on his dangerous talents to save the kingdom and his own life.
Seafire
by Natalie C Parker

When her loved ones are killed by a corrupt warlord and his bloodthirsty armies, Caledonia Styx becomes the captain of a crew of women determined to bring the killers of their families to justice, a situation that is complicated when an enemy asks to defect to her ship. 
The barren grounds
by David Robertson

When two indigenous foster children find a secret portal to another reality, they encounter Ochek, the only hunter supporting his starving community of Misewa, and the three try to save Misewa before the icy winter freezes everything
The Athena protocol
by Shamim Sarif

As a member of the Athena Protocol, an elite organization of female spies who enact vigilante justice around the world but are prohibited from using deadly force, Jessie Archer is forced to go rogue after breaking the rules and must fight not only a dangerous human trafficker shes been hunting but also members of her former team who have been ordered to bring her down. 
All thirteen : the incredible cave rescue of the Thai boys' soccer team
by Christina Soontornvat

Combines firsthand interviews with scientific and cultural insights in a middle grade account of the 2018 Thai cave rescue of the Wild Boars soccer team and the critical, sophisticated engineering operation that saved the lives of 13 young people. 
The beast player
by Nahoko Uehashi

When her mother is executed for the mysterious deaths of their kingdom's protective water serpents, a girl with an inherited ability to communicate with magical beasts finds her talent ensnaring her in life-threatening war plots. 
On a sunbeam
by Tillie Walden

An award-winning cartoonist presents the graphic-novel story of a crew member who travels to the ends of the universe to find a long-lost love while helping her team rebuild beautiful, broken-down historical structures on faraway planets. 
For additional reading ideas, talk with your library staff
Pierce County Library System
3005 112th St. E • Tacoma, WA 98446
253-548-3300

piercecountylibrary.org/