Books That WIll Suckerpunch You Right in the Feels

Do you like to feel things? I do. I really do. In addition to essentially being a human laugh track, I also cry at just about everything (and in public). And you know what, I think that's a sign of healthily experiencing emotions. I'd even venture to say my overly expressive emotions border on therapeutic. Books, in particular, tend to provoke strong emotions. There are even certain sections of favorite books I will reread, even though I know they're going to make me cry. If you're looking for a similarly tear-filled experience, here's a list of books that will suckerpunch you right in the feels.

My Last Summer with Cass

by Mark Crilley

Megan and Cass grew up joined at the brush. Every year, their families vacationed together in Michigan, where the girls relaxed by the lake and created art - from scribbles as toddlers to sophisticated portraits in their teenage years. Megan was always cautious, and Cass was always rebellious. But together, each summer, they grew as artists and friends. The summer after her junior year of high school, Megan arranges to stay with Cass and her mother at their apartment in New York City. Suddenly Megan's world explodes into color. The girls begin collaborating on a piece that pushes both of their artistic boundaries, one that will be showcased in a local gallery show. But when a secret comes to light and one of them crosses a line, will their friendship be able to survive?

Indivisible

by Daniel Aleman

Mateo Garcia and his younger sister, Sophie, have been taught to fear one word for as long as they can remember: deportation. Over the past few years, however, the fear that their undocumented immigrant parents could be sent back to Mexico has started to fade. Ma and Pa have been in the United States for so long, they have American-born children, and they’re hard workers and good neighbors. When Mateo returns from school one day to find that his parents have been taken by ICE, he realizes that his family’s worst nightmare has become a reality. With his parents’ fate and his own future hanging in the balance, Mateo must figure out who he is and what he is capable of, even as he’s forced to question what it means to be an American.

The Astonishing Color of After

by Emily X.R. Pan

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird. Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.

We Contain Multitudes

by Sarah Henstra

Jonathan Hopkirk, a Walt Whitman fan, and Adam "Kurl" Kurlansky, a football player, are partnered in English class, writing letters to one another in a weekly pen pal assignment. With each letter, the two begin to develop a friendship that eventually grows into love. But with homophobia, bullying, and familial strife, Jonathan and Kurl must struggle to hold onto their relationship—and each other.

They Went Left

by Monica Hesse

Germany, 1945. The soldiers who liberated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp said the war was over, but nothing feels over to eighteen-year-old Zofia Lederman. Her body has barely begun to heal; her mind feels broken. And her life is completely shattered: Three years ago, she and her younger brother, Abek, were the only members of their family to be sent to the right, away from the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Everyone else--her parents, her grandmother, radiant Aunt Maja—they went left. Zofia's last words to her brother were a promise:Abek to Zofia, A to Z. When I find you again, we will fill our alphabet. Now her journey to fulfill that vow takes her through Poland and Germany, and into a displaced persons camp where everyone she meets is trying to piece together a future from a painful past.But the deeper Zofia digs, the more impossible her search seems. How can she find one boy in a sea of the missing?

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

by Laini Taylor

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out. When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

When the Stars Lead to You

by Ronni Davis

When Ashton breaks Devon's heart at the end of the most romantic and magical summer ever, she thinks her heart will never heal again. But over the course of following year, Devon finds herself slowly putting the broken pieces back together. Now it's senior year, and she's determined to enjoy every moment of it, as she prepares for a future studying galaxies. That is, until Ashton shows up on the first day of school. Can she forgive and open her heart to him again? Or are they doomed to repeat history?