First Page Friday: Series to Read During Quarantine

Many of us have found ourselves with more time than usual on our hands due to physical distancing and shelter at home measures, so I figured instead of reviewing one book, why not share my top ten favorite series to keep you occupied while you're home. Is your top ten different from mine? (For the record, I hope it is) Share your list in the comments!

1. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Celaena Sardothian, the legendary and formidable killer for hire known as Adarlan's Assassin, is rescued from the slave mines of Endovier by the crown prince to compete to become the king's royal assassin - the same king who sent her to Endovier in the first place. On her way to claiming the position, Celaena discovers that the magic she thought had been crushed during the king's vicious campaign for control of the empire is not quite as dead as it seemed...and that this magic might have fallen into dangerous hands, leaving it up to her to save the world she loves. With seven books, plus a prequel compilation of short stories from Celaena's past, this series will keep you busy for quite a while, unless you're like me and can't put them down. If you're into her style of writing, you can also check out A Court of Thorns and Roses.

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Look, I'm reading this right now, so of course it HAS to go on the list! Every year in Panem, two children are chosen from each of its twelve districts to compete in a battle to the death known as the Hunger Games. When Katniss Everdeen's twelve-year-old sister is chosen for the games, she volunteers to fight in her place, finding herself entering the arena with Peeta Melark, a boy who saved her and her family from starvation after her father died when she was eleven and who (he claims) is in love with her. Honestly, I've read this book so many times, and I still cried reading the first chapter. I just...I love it. And three books, four movies? Should meet your content needs at least for a little while.

Plus, a Hemsworth brother? Come on.

3. The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Oh, did I enjoy this series? I know, I hardly ever talk about it, so it must come as quite a surprise. You can read my reviews for Illuminae, Gemina, and Obsidio if you're super curious about them, but if you're looking for an epic space adventure featuring some badass leading ladies, this might be the trilogy for you. I'm still waiting for them to make it into a movie, get a move on already! (CW, given the current state of the world: a pretty heavy feature in the first book's storyline is a highly contagious illness)

4. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

Clary Fray is just a normal teenager until the day she runs into a trio of Shadowhunters at a club with her best friend and has her first brush with the secret world her mom has spent the last seventeen years shielding her from. When her mother is taken hostage and her home left ransacked, Clary is plunged headlong into that world and has to learn to navigate her new life as a Shadowhunter, part-human and part-angel warriors who protect the world from demons. This series is fantastic, y'all, and I just want Jace to be happy! Is that too much to ask? Bonus: It's part of Clare's Shadowhunter Chronicles, so if the six books in this series catch your fancy, you can also enjoy trilogies The Infernal Devices and The Dark Artifices, short story anthologies The Bane Chronicles, Tales from Shadow Hunter Academy, and Ghosts of the Shadow Market, and the first books in her two newest series, The Red Scrolls of Magic and Chain of Gold. PLUS there's a movie version of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments series (excellent if you can forgive the ending) and a TV series (now canceled, it could have been better but was ok), so entertainment for weeks!

Look at him. He deserves to be happy.

5. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

So this is a duology, I'm not sure if that really counts as a series, but you can throw Two Can Keep a Secret in there if you'd like a third book to read. All three follow high school students who find themselves embroiled in mysterious deaths. In One of Us is Lying, a student dies from an allergic reaction after drinking from a cup coated in peanut oil while serving a detention . The four students in detention with him find themselves suspects in a murder case and must band together to prove their innocence, but, as the title suggests, is one of them lying? Could one of the classmates they've grown up with be capable of murder?

6. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Simon Snow, the Mage's Heir and the most powerful magical being ever to exist, is at war. Not only with the Insidious Humdrum, an evil entity who sucks the magic out of places, leaving "dry" areas behind where no magic can exist, but also with Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch, his roommate at Watford School of Magicks for the past seven years and his arch nemesis. Baz has spent their entire time at school trying to kill him, and Simon spends the bulk of his time thwarting Baz's evil plots and trying to prove that his roommate is a vampire. When they find themselves thrown together for a common cause, they find they aren't quite at each other's throats as they expected...but after seven years enmity, how long can that last? Technically at the moment there are only two books in this series (with a third on the way!), but you can also enjoy Fangirl, which is about Cath, the original author of Carry On, Simon. I know Rainbow Rowell says that Carry On shouldn't be read as Cath's fanfic, but I'm sorry...it's headcanon for me. And Fangirl is, in my humble opinion, the perfect book. PS I wrote all this out before I remembered that I had reviewed both Carry On and Wayward Son, so feel free to check out either of those reviews if you remain unconvinced that these are worth your time. (Spoiler alert: They are.)

7. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

Kendra and her brother are off to spend part of the summer with their mysterious grandparents while their parents go on a seventeen-day cruise (madness, have you ever been on a cruise? They're fucking horrible, I would murder everyone else on board if you trapped me on a boat for that long), and they are not thrilled about it. Then they discover that their grandparents' land is actually a hidden sanctuary for magical creatures and things that a lot more exciting. As it turns out, though, there are some pretty important rules to follow when you're living among magical creatures...and Kendra and Seth are about to find themselves in some pretty hot water. This is a middlegrade series with five books, so it may be a bit of a faster read than some of these others, but it should still do a pretty good job of filling a weekend! And if the last book doesn't make you cry...don't tell me about it, because it makes me sob.

8. Half Bad by Sally Green

Ok, for real this series will make you cry. You've been warned. In a world where Black Witches and White Witches are at war, Nathan is an abomination, born to a White Witch but fathered by the most terrifying and powerful Black Witch in existence. For much of his teenage years, Nathan is caged and tortured by the White Witches in power, believed to have some connection with his father that can lead their hunters to him. After he escapes, he falls in with a resistance trying to remove the corrupt White Witches from power, and his life, while still a never-ending struggle, changes in ways he could never have expected. Seriously, y'all, seriously? Have a box of tissues handy for the last book. Seriously.

9. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

When Lara Jean Covey has a crush, she writes them a letter. The idea is that this will help her get those feelings out of her system, but when her five love letters end up mailed to her former crushes, it turns out that may not have been the case. I'll be honest with you, this trilogy is pretty low-stakes in that not much of serious consequence happens in them, but that's the beauty of them, especially right now. Journey back with Lara Jean to a time where the biggest worry you had was what your crush thought of you and what other people at school were saying about you. Enjoy the purity and sweetness of Lara Jean and her love life. Then watch the movie versions of the first two on Netflix! The aquarium scene in the second movie is, in my opinion, the most perfect thing to ever be committed to film.

They're heartwarming.

10. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee

I reviewed The Gentleman's Guide way back in 2018, and I included the second book, The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy shortly after in a series of brief reviews. Now there is also a novella, The Gentleman's Guide to Getting Lucky, and a third book, The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks, slated to come out later this year. These books are the perfect blend of humor and heartache, and I love them so much. What better way to while away some afternoons than by reading about the Montague siblings and their adventures?

Bonus: The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer 

YEAH I SAID IT.

It's a fuckin home run!