5 Books to Read Before You're 25

1. 'She's Come Undone' by Wally Lamb

Get ready to go on an adventure from childhood to adulthood as Dolores Price. Her cynical, yet hilarious personality is almost shocking. She has a long, twisting road ahead of her. Lamb writes with so much passion it leaves his readers aching for Dolores as she stumbles through her many trials of tragedy. She goes through life losing, jobs, people, you name it. She can't seem to catch a break no matter what. Betrayed by anyone who gave half a damn, Dolores is basically on her own before even graduating high school. Dolores is a character who anyone could potentially love, one you won't be able to resist cheering for. Once you start, I bet you can't stop reading. Dolores will have you laughing and crying.

2. 'Speak' by Laurie Halse Anderson

Imagine, it's High School, the first day of ninth grade. None of your long time peers can stand you and it's all because of a party that turned into a hellish nightmare. That's Melinda Sordino. She doesn't speak afterwards. Not to her peers, or her "friends," or even her own parents. She hides out at school and at home, not doing much of anything. Then, it's art class that seems to be the place where she begins to find her voice, through the art. Melinda will break your heart and change your life forever.

3. 'Crank' by Ellen Hopkins

Meet Kristina. She's going to hang with her dad for a part of the summer, much to her mother's dismay. Everything appears to be going just fine until a boy comes along to introduce her to something that will change the game completely. Kristina transforms into a harder, dangerous version of the good girl she used to be and gives herself a new name to match: Bree. Under this influence she'll do anything to get it. Nothing is out of the question. You'll have mixed feelings about Kristina/Bree and her path of inevitable destruction.

4. 'The Murderer's Daughters' by Randy Susan Meyers

The Murderer's Daughters is a tale about two sisters, Merry and Lulu. We follow their life after one horrifying murder of their mother, an act committee by their own father. With him in prison and their mom gone, Merry and Lulu get bounced around from one uncaring relative to another until they end up in a home for orphaned girls. Being the eldest, Merry takes on the responsibility of looking out for younger, naìve sister Lulu. As they come up on adulthood, they try to move on from their horrid past. Dad seems to creep into their head whether they liked to admit it or not. Will their father affect every choice they ever make from inside the walls of the prison?

5. 'Breaking Beautiful' by Jennifer Shaw Wolf

Following a life-threatening car accident, Allie loses a lot; her rough boyfriend Trip, and seemingly all her memory from that night. With Trip dead, everyone in Allie's life begins to rely on her to give them some sort of explanation. Problem is, she has a deep, dark secrets of her own and she is trying to hide it within an inch of her life. Will she be able to tell the truth without letting go of her own troubled past? She can only hide it for so long before it unravels in front of everyone.