If you know me, you know I love three things the most: Books, coffee, and Lush Cosmetics. However, this article is about my favorite books of all times that are not series. Let's be honest, the Harry Potter series would reign supreme. For me, a good book is the type of book that I cannot put down. It makes me feel strong emotions such as joy, sadness, and sometimes makes me cry or laugh out loud. From time to time, I like to learn something from it. So, here are my top five favorite books of all time.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

I have written about Wonder before. It's a book that truly spoke to me and there were times I felt that the author may have followed me around and listened to my conversations. This was recommended to me by my best friend because she wanted my opinion on it. It made me laugh, it made me cry and I saw the same thing from various people's perspectives. Have you ever wondered what people really think of you? How they see you? Why someone truly decided to become your friend? What your sibling has gone through even though you're the one going through something unimaginable, and yet the sibling is also going through their own crises? This book allowed me to talk to my best friend and I got to know what went through her mind when she met me. and I got to know my brother's perspective as well.

The Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi

For me, a good book grips me from the very first page or two. The writing of the author and the creativity is very telling This is what Abawi achieved in her book. Like The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Land of Permanent Goodbyes has a unique narrator: Destiny. Destiny presides over the whole novel and looks onto Tareq and his beautiful family before and after ISIS comes to power. After a bomb goes off in his neighborhood, Tareq, along with his little sister, father, and cousin have to leave Syria for a better life. What better book than this to humanize the Refugee Crisis in a world like we are living in right now? Destiny offers its own two cents here and there and really makes you think about the beauty and the cruelty that only we humans are capable of. We are capable of great love and destruction of epic proportions. Destiny has seen it all. Sometimes, it will meet you before your time come or just on time. This book was beautifully written and quite emotional as well.

Nowhere's Child by Kari Rosvall

I have always been interested in World War II and the Holocaust, namely the many stories that have been left behind by the people who have been persecuted and have had to live through the atrocities. However, there is another facet that not many people know about which is the Liebensborn program. This was a program in which high ranking German soldiers and Nazis "bred" with what they thought were good Aryan women of good stock to create a master race. This particular story is about a woman named, Kari Rosvall, who was born as a result of this program but was given up. She was then adopted by her loving father and very strict mother. Throughout her life, Rosvall had a feeling that she did not truly belong. She didn't, not really. She was born in Norway through a horrific program and raised in Sweden and found home in Ireland. One night, she decided to find out where she came from by sending a letter to the Red Cross and there, unfolded a story with many twists and turns. Her life unfolded in such a way that was emotional but at the end, really satisfying.

America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray

I have to admit, I picked up this book because of my love for Broadway's Hamilton. I first picked up Alex & Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz and I was thoroughly insulted by the god-awful writing and historical inaccuracy, despite it being historical fiction (emphasis on the fiction). However, I decided to give America's First Daughter a try and I was glad that i did. This story follows the daughter of President Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha "Patsy" Jefferson, who suffers the loss of her mother and young sister, and ultimately moves to France with her father. Patsy sees the American Revolution, partly, through her own eyes as well as the French Resistance which ultimately becomes a Revolution in itself. She also sees the life of Blacks in France as well as the United States, and questions why slavery even exists when her father famously coined, "All men are created equal." Patsy learns to balance, loyalty, love and duty. Duty to her father, the country, and to herself. A book that is actually fiction definitely made me wonder how it wasn't a historical novel. It was beautifully written and it was enriching to hear from a voice that often goes... ignored by history, a woman. Especially a woman who had a hand in subtly shaping our republic by trying to influence her father.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Okay, okay, I know I am a little late to this party because this book and movie came out a few years ago. I only read it in my final semester of college and I was blown a way. In this psychological thriller, the famous heiress wife of Nicholas disappears and all eyes are on him. As Nicholas tries to solve the disappearance of his wife, we go deeper into his mind and the relationship of the husband and wife. What really went on and why things unfolded the way it did. I do not always read thrillers often, but this was one book that I could not put down. It was a masterpiece by Flynn. The movie... was just as good. And that is a high praise coming from me because I am a purist when it comes to books to movies and books to tv shows. The important details must be kept in and very LITTLE changes should be made. Yea, that's right, My Sister's Keeper and A Walk to Remember, i am looking at you, you offensive and evil incarnation of Satan movies that had the disgrace of ever being produced.