Top Ten Books to Read When You Need Something Light & Fun

This week's topic: Books for When You Need Something Light & Fun to read! 

This week seems like it'd be an easy topic, but I found it really difficult to find ten light & fun novels to recommend... I always tell my mum about the books I'm reading and today she asked me if I ever read anything fun. And I realized that I read a lot more dark, gritty, emotional novels than fun ones these days! Therefore, quite a few of the books on this list are a few years old. Still, I really appreciated this week's TTT because it reminded me how much I love light & fun books and that I really need to incorporate more of them into my reading rotation! Check out the titles below & don't let the fact that they're a few years old discourage you from picking them up!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the fabulous blog The Broke and the Bookish!

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1. The Gallagher Girls books by Ally Carter

I absolutely adore this entire series! They're absolutely hilarious. Be sure to check out Carter's Heist Society series as well!

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school-that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it's really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real "pavement artist"-but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?
Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she's on her most dangerous mission-falling in love.

2. The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

Laughed nonstop while reading Healy's first Hero's Guide book... super excited to read the second installment this week, The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle!

Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You’ve never heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming. But all of this is about to change.
Rejected by their princesses and cast out of their castles, the princes stumble upon an evil plot that could endanger each of their kingdoms. Now it’s up to them to triumph over their various shortcomings, take on trolls, bandits, dragons, witches, and other assorted terrors, and become the heroes no one ever thought they could be.

3. Kiss It by Erin Downing

The subject matter in this book is actually quite deep and sometimes emotional, but the main character is awesome and the love story is amazing, which qualifies it as a lighter read for me.

A girl’s gotta do who a girl’s gotta do. Chastity Bryan has never been shy about going after what she wants. And when sexy, mysterious, so-not-from-this-town Sebastian walks into Chaz’s life, she knows in an instant that what she wants next is him. Chaz has no intention of playing for keeps—but she most definitely has intentions. Who needs true love when you’ve got true lust?  Sebastian has no idea what he’s in for—but maybe neither does Chaz….

4. The Naughty List by Suzanne Young

It's been a super long time since I read this book, but I remember it being hilarious. The girls in it don't swear and come up with really funny substitutes!

As if being a purrfect cheerleader isn't enough responsibility! Tessa Crimson's the sweet and spunky leader of the SOS (Society of Smitten Kittens), a cheer squad-turned-spy society dedicated to bringing dastardly boyfriends to justice, one cheater at a time. Boyfriend-busting wouldn't be so bad . . . except that so far, every suspect on the Naughty List has been proven 100% guilty! When Tessa's own boyfriend shows up on the List, she turns her sleuthing skills on him. Is Aiden just as naughty as all the rest, or will Tessa's sneaky ways end in catastrophe -
The Naughty List. Is your boyfriend on it?

5. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Long time readers of my blog know how much I adore this book. Such an wonderful, feel good story and characters!

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend.
But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

6. Hex Hall series by Rachel Hawkins

I love this series! Rachel Hawkins is a great writer and I never fail to laugh when reading things she's written. If you've read this series be sure to check out the first in her new series, School Spirits!

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.
By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.
As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

7. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Just thinking about this book makes me smile. Plus, who doesn't love road trips... especially road trips with an adorable guy as a companion!?

Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew--just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road--diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards--this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself.

8. Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe

This book is so under-appreciated! It's honestly one of my all-time favorites... I don't think any book has made me laugh as hard as this one! I feel like the covers for this one scare readers off, but look beyond the cover, there's something amazing under that mess! :)

1Meet Jasmine, 2 forensic supersleuth, 3 aspiring Model Daughter, 4 and friend to animals. 5 One second she's trying to enjoy her Vegas Vacation, 6 the next she's tangled up in an outrageous adventure and has to outwit a crazed killer before he ends ten lives, one of them her own.
1 Hi! That's me!
2 I. Wish.
3 Emphasis on aspiring. Current status: failing.
4 If friend means "unsuspecting victim" and animals means "one very bad kitty."
5 And meet the cute guy at the Snack Hut. I have priorities.
6 Meep! But I guess it winds up okay since Kirkus Reviews says: "Inventive, witty, and laugh-out-loud funny, with an enjoyably twisty ending." They wouldn't say that if everyone died, right? Right?

9. Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

This is another that has some complicated and grittier themes, but features a fantastic love story and lots of funny, laugh-out-loud moments. Plus, it's a series (though this first one was always my favorite)!

A fresh, urban twist on the classic tale of star-crossed lovers.
When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created 'perfect' life is about to unravel before her eyes. She's forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for: her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect.
Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more.
In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.

10. The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson

I'll always count Johnson's earlier novels among my favorites and this one is no exception! I love it so much I still have my original arc copy! It's a touching, honest novel that made me laugh and cry. Plus, it furthered my somewhat secret love of redheaded boys (Rupert Grint, anyone??)!

The funny thing about stop signs is that they're also start signs.
Mayzie is the brainy middle sister, Brooks is the beautiful but conflicted oldest, and Palmer's the quirky baby of the family. In spite of their differences, the Gold sisters have always been close.
When their father dies, everything begins to fall apart. Level-headed May is left to fend for herself (and somehow learn to drive), while her two sisters struggle with their own demons. But the girls learn that while there are a lot of rules for the road, there are no rules when it comes to the heart. Together, they discover the key to moving on -- and it's the key to their father's Pontiac Firebird.