The most recommended books about suicide

Sierra Blue is the story of a girl sent to live with her aunt, who has a horse farm. I found this interesting because the main character can see the auras of people and animals, and it gives her insight into how they are feeling and how to help them. There is one scene that was gripping and kept me turning pages past my bedtime.

As a person who started reading because of her love of horses, this was a great read.

This book is a complex mystery revolving around a boy accused of a terrible crime, a boy who is currently unable to speak. It is solvable, as the protagonist is the detective character, though not every detail may be known until the explanation. What I love about this book are the difficult issues handled well for young readers, the excellent friendship between the protagonist and his sister, and the wisdom about interpersonal relationships and emotions that carries this novel into depths not usually seen in a young reader’s mystery. One observation about shame and anger continues to ring in my mind, reminding me that emotions seen on the surface often have deeper roots.

I loved this book. The concept is brilliant, and as a writer, I’m a little envious that I didn’t come up with it myself. Again, it’s a twisted mind that makes this story.

Laura is someone you hate more with every word that you read, but you can’t stop reading. We get a backstory as to why she is how she is, but regardless, witnessing how she acts as a result, and to people at their most desperate, is very dark. 

When I was pitching my book, I used this book as a comp: it’s like This Song Will Save Your Life, but at raves! There are definitely some similarities (credit to Leila Sales: hers came first). They both feature geeky girls, and Sales’ Elise Dembowski is one of the truest awkward-teen first-person voices I’ve ever read. They’re both set against the backdrop of underground music scenes, and the way Sales describes indie dance parties made me feel like I was back in the basement of NYC’s Lit trying to look cool while bopping around awkwardly to Joy Division. Both of our protagonists have weird relationships with older guys, and they both learn lessons that suck at the time but make them stronger. So is there room in the world for two girl-DJ books? Yes! Check out This Song Will Save Your Life and you’ll see exactly why. 

In Pieces is the first of a two-book series. The romance develops in this book while subplots thicken. I was quickly drawn to the characters and early American setting. I felt immersed in the ambience of the Boston waterfront during the Federalist years. Themes of redemption, forgiveness and understanding weave through the novel and affect more than the hero and heroine. For example, the hero’s family grapples with his growing interest in Catholicism. As the love story reaches resolution, another subplot deepens: a need for American spies to help protect the young country. I ended the book feeling as though the characters had become friends. In Pieces is subtitled Molly Chase Book 1 and fits the Christian historical fiction genre as well as Catholic historical romance.

This book “sat with me” heavily even when I wasn’t reading it. I love it when a book seems to haunt me, my thoughts turning back to some of the details of the last chapter or an errant thought going down the rabbit hole of a challenging topic related to the book. This was one of those books for me, and I cherish it.

I had the honor to interview Tom and his wife about the book, and their passion and dedication to helping heal our warfighters shines through in the book and in their lives. Being an Army Veteran and in the mental health field, the traumatic experiences Tom had and depicted in this book resonated deeply with me.

This memoir is a thoughtful reflection on the complications of war and the reverberations of trauma for those who make these sacrifices for our country. 

This was the first book I read by Joan Aiken, and I found after reading some of her backlist that this was the only one I liked. Some of the other historical fiction she wrote is much darker, but this book, while it does have a mystery subplot, is lighthearted and fun with a sweet romance.

It is a delightfully convoluted tale that will keep you guessing up until the very end when its downtrodden, capable heroine saves the day and gets her man. 

I loved this book from beginning to end and was completely absorbed by the author’s incredible world-building and rich descriptions.

While the book is a murder mystery, the author’s poetic writing style made this story strangely beautiful in the most horrific way. I devoured the book in no time at all, breathlessly turning pages to get to the end, which was both shocking and extremely satisfying. Packed with suspense, thrills, and a little bit of romance, this book did not disappoint me in the least. 

A girl from the past meets a boy from the present—cue the historical details and atmospheric settings. Not every love story ends with a happily ever after, yet sometimes the most impossible attractions are also the most compelling. This book left me captivated even after the last page.

This striking, intense, and beautifully meditative book offers a daughter struggling to understand her father in the wake of his suicide. It’s structured, yes, like an index, which does nothing to dilute its immense emotional power. There’s a lot of love and anger in this book, yet it’s told with extraordinary calm and exemplary clarity. Simply put, The Suicide Index is one of the most inventive, affecting memoirs I’ve ever read—a drop-everything-and-read-this-now book if there ever was one.