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I hate to admit it. But not all books are created equal.

There are the bad books: the ones you fight tooth and nail to get through, only to discard without another thought.

There are the "mid" books: the ones that are just fine. Read by the pool, on your commute, a few pages before bed. Just the vague memory of a title and a plot you struggle to remember when a friend asks for recommendations.

Watch: The Mamamia team share their beach read recommendations. Post continues below.

Then there are the good books. No, not the literary classics or the groundbreaking texts that rewrite what a good book even is. I'm here to talk about those books that are just…good.

The ones that yank you out of your reading slump. The ones where you have to keep reading "just one more chapter" as you fight against sleep on a Wednesday night.

These aren't necessarily the award-winning ones. They might not be literary gold as some critics might argue (I disagree, hence why they made my list). But they did the one thing nothing else could — they made me put my phone down.

And once I started, I couldn't stop.

From fast-paced thrillers to cosy fantasy and rom-coms, whether you're looking for your next holiday read, a gift for a friend, or the perfect story to get back into, well, reading, here are my top 9 book recommendations to get you off your phone.

1. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Starting with the newest and most divisive book on my list. This 2026 debut novel from Caro Claire Burke asks a very important question: What would happen if an ultra-conservative "tradwife" influencer unexpectedly found herself transported back to the 19th-century American frontier that she was trying so hard to romanticise on Instagram?

Mix zeitgeisty cultural anxiety with a time travel twist, and you get a perfect storm. Burke's debut became a media frenzy before anyone had even read page one, instantly getting snapped up for a film adaptation backed by Anne Hathaway.

I flew through this and then immediately started writing about it, which should tell you everything.

2. The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand

Choosing just one book from Elin Hilderbrand feels like choosing a favourite child. The author fans affectionately call the queen of the beach read will, without fail, get me out of a reading slump and away from my TikTok algorithm, especially in summer.

Her books include divine settings (usually Nantucket) and short chapters from a range of character perspectives, making them feel like the perfect amount of gossipy drama from your über-rich friends.

Her latest book, The Academy, is no different. Written in collaboration with her daughter, Shelby Cunningham, she trades her usual sun-drenched Nantucket harbour setting for a drama-filled year at a private boarding school in New England. I read it across two pool days. Which is either a glowing endorsement of the pacing, or a confession about how I spend my weekends. Probably both.

3. Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Although I try to read a broad range of genres, I know what I like…and that's not exactly science fiction.

But maybe I'm wrong. An attention-grabbing cover and an intriguing blurb hooked me into trying Starter Villain earlier this year, and I haven't shut up about it since. The pitch defies description, honestly. Sarcastic, funny, and deeply weird, it features both talking cats and talking dolphins, which is all the credibility it needs.

If you need more details, John Scalzi's novel follows a down-on-his-luck former journalist who winds up inheriting his uncle's supervillain business, which is way more complicated than you might think.

4. Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

I always believe in the power of the rom-com to snap someone back into reading, but there's no denying that not all rom-coms are created equal. This one, however, had me not replying to friends for 48 hours as I devoured the dreamy storyline.

Annabel Monaghan's book sounds like the perfect self-insert fanfiction we're all manifesting. Well, maybe without the divorce. It follows Nora Hamilton, a romance channel screenwriter who turns her marriage's collapse into the best script of her life. Who better to cast in the role of her ex-husband? Former "Sexiest Man Alive," Leo Vance, and he has an interesting proposition.

5. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Thrillers will always make me stop looking at my phone. There's nothing better than devouring a fast-paced, action-packed book that's equal parts twisty and juicy. The Last Thing He Told Me is exactly that, and its recently published sequel The First Time I Saw Him is no different.

Also turned into a delightful TV series starring the one and only Jennifer Garner, Laura Dave's novel follows Hannah Hall, who's left to protect her stepdaughter Bailey when her husband disappears, leaving only a note.

6. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

I think this may be my most recommended book and the one title I wish I could read for the first time again, since I devoured it so quickly. The characters in this book are so well-developed and real that I think about them often. It is truly a hug in a book.

Linus Baker is a lonely caseworker for a government department managing orphaned magical children who gets sent to assess a particularly unusual island orphanage. One where the charges include, among others, the literal Antichrist and a green blob who wants to be a bellhop… and soon everything he thought he knew quietly starts to unravel.

It sounds chaotic. It is not chaotic. It is, somehow, the cosiest, most quietly devastating book I've read in years and I recommend it to everyone.

7. Isola by Allegra Goodman

Historical fiction is also not a genre I usually reach for, but I couldn't stop thinking about Isola.

It's definitely heavier than my usual reads, but everything about this book was addictive, and I read it non-stop. It features a historical period and setting I knew nothing about, which, it turns out, made it completely impossible to put down.

Based on the true story of Marguerite de la Rocque de Roberval, it follows a 16th-century French noblewoman exiled to a remote Canadian island by her abusive guardian after a forbidden love affair. 

The pacing hits like a thriller despite being rooted in real history and is the kind of book that makes you furious on behalf of a woman who died 500 years ago — which is, I think, exactly the point.

8. The Running Man by Stephen King

Yes, it's old (ish)! But considering Glen Powell starred in a remake in 2025, I think it's okay to recommend it.

You may have read it already, but wow, I was a woman possessed on holiday when I decided to read this. It's short; I read it in one day, and then couldn't stop talking about it to anyone and everyone.

The Running Man follows Ben Richards, a desperate man who volunteers for a dystopian game show where contestants run for their lives on live TV, and the whole country tunes in to watch. It gives off major Hunger Games vibes, but also: did Stephen King time travel? Because the parallels between what he wrote in 1982 and the world we are living in today are terrifying.

9. The Guncle by Steven Rowley

Do you ever read those books that, as soon as you start, you can picture perfectly as a screen adaptation? For me, that's The Guncle.

Patrick O'Hara is a former sitcom star living alone in Palm Springs when his sister-in-law dies suddenly and his brother checks into rehab, leaving Patrick, unexpectedly and entirely unprepared, as the primary guardian of a nine-year-old and a six-year-old for the summer.

Equal parts laugh-out-loud funny and genuinely gut-punching, The Guncle is the book equivalent of that friend who makes you cackle at a funeral, and somehow that's exactly what you needed. It's currently being adapted into a film, which honestly tracks, because from the first chapter you can see it perfectly on screen.

Listen to Mamamia' Out Loud's episode on Yesteryear.

Feature image: Supplied.