What Are Some Books You Couldn’t Put Down? Trying to explore new genres

Here’s the thing

I’ve only ever really read romance books (with a few random non-fiction books here and there). Reading was always kind of an escape for me and I only read books that felt light and comforting when life didn’t feel… well very light.

At one point, I was reading constantly… maybe even too much. And then one day, I just stopped. I fell into a reading slump I genuinely didn’t know how to get out of. Every time I tried picking up another romance book, I realised I just couldn’t do it anymore. Romance was all I’d ever really known as a reader and I think I completely burnt myself out on it.

So recently, I’ve started branching out into different genres… basically anything that might spark my interest again.

Here’s some of what I’ve read lately:

• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine — Gail Honeyman

• The Miracles of the Namiya General Store — Keigo Higashino

• The Inmate — Sebastian Fitzek

• Then She Vanishes — Claire Douglas

• Brightly Shining — Ingvild H. Rishøi

• We Used to Live Here — Marcus Kliewer

• The Midnight Library — Matt Haig

• The House Across the Lake — Riley Sager

• Sharp Objects — Gillian Flynn

• Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir

• Lullabies — Lang Leav

Even if I didn’t love every single one of these books, they genuinely helped pull me out of my reading slump and they made me realise I actually enjoy exploring different kinds of stories now.

So I’m looking for recommendations… any genre, honestly. I’m open to everything at this point. Just no romance.

Basically, I’m asking for the kind of books you genuinely couldn’t put down. The ones that completely consumed you, kept you thinking about them when you weren’t reading and made you stay up way too late just to finish one more chapter