The best books that make you wonder: will they or won’t they?

It’s no spoiler to reveal that Mateo and Rufus, the heroes of Adam Silvera’s heart-rending queer young adult romance, well, die at the end of the book; the real mystery lies in how they spend their last day together. Before their young lives end, will the two boys end up… together? This book thrilled me, moved me, and taught me—as a writer, a reader, and a human being—that the certainty of the destination takes nothing away from the wonder, the joy, and the gorgeous unpredictability of the journey.

By now, you’ve surely seen, read, or just heard enough of this book to ask yourself, what the #&$@ is a thriller—about a missing wife and the husband who may or may not have played a role in her disappearance—doing on a list of love stories? This brilliant novel may have invented or at least reinvigorated a genre of its own, but the question at its heart tells a tale as old as time (to quote another classic consistent with our broader theme): will Amy and Nick Dunne ever find each other again—and, if they do, could they live happily ever after? I savored every page of this sinister, relentless mystery, which showed me what dark magic is possible when you take a passionate love story and flip the central emotion upside down.

It might seem pompous and affected to recommend this masterpiece by one of the greatest deities in the literary pantheon (who’s no stranger to accusations of pompousness and affectation himself…)—especially when it’s not immediately clear who’s on the other side of Isabel Archer’s “will they or won’t they?” story. Is it the competent, hardworking Caspar Goodwood? The aristocratic, lovelorn Lord Warburton? Her kind, ailing benefactor Ralph Touchett? Or the uncaring art collector Gilbert Osmond? It is evidence of Henry James’ genius that I felt, at the end of the novel, that I had encountered every one of these characters at some point in my life (occasionally in myself)—and his brilliant heroine became the unhearing recipient of all the advice I’ve ever needed to give myself on how to choose a partner.

Twists on narrative forms and mind games and classics all have their places, but every once in a while, all you need is a pair of chest-meltingly lovable characters who can make each other (and us readers) whole. I read this lovely fantasy—about a meek bureaucrat and the fascinating caretaker of an orphanage for magical children—because of the blurb by bestselling author V.E. Schwab, who said, “it is like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket.” I can offer no better description; and if you’re not sure you’ll care about the odd, magical misfits who populate this story (you will), I promise you’ll be swept up by the love story hidden at the heart of the book—so subtle you won’t know until the end whether the two main characters even realize it’s there.

Is this choice off-topic? Or too obvious? I can’t tell, and I don’t care. I started this first book in the classic young adult dystopian series in the airport waiting to board my flight, and I can’t remember much else that happened in my life until I finished it, shortly thereafter, in another country. Even the twenty of you out there who never read the novel(s) or saw the movie(s) know that Katniss Everdeen must kill or be killed in the televised contest that bears the book’s name. But what kept me flying (like a mockingjay) through the pages was the seemingly inescapable question of whether Katniss should kill fellow contestant Peeta Mellark—or fall in love with him.