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Best Underrated Books

25 Underrated Books to Add to Your Shelves, According to Avid Readers

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Some books quickly capture the entire world's attention, while others need a little more help generating the buzz they deserve. Lucky for us, the voracious readers in our POPSUGAR Book Club offered up their favourite underrated reads, making those hidden gems a little easier to find. From fantastical sci-fi picks to steamy romance stories, check out 25 titles you might have missed on your reading lists, ahead. And before you get lost in one of these page-turners, don't forget to join the POPSUGAR Book Club, our community for book-lovers everywhere.

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1. Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen

"Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen ($20) is the best thriller I've read this year. The author is local to New Jersey, and I wouldn't have heard about it unless I saw it in a bookstore recently! It's a great nod to some of the state's history and Atlantic City as a whole." — Murphey M.

Image Source: amazon.com
Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen
$20
from amazon.com
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2. King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

"I keep bringing this one up, but my favourite read this year was King and the Dragonflies ($12). It is a middle school/older student book. King is a boy who questions his sexuality as he deals with other issues: racism, death in family, etc. It's [written] by Kacen Callender, a nonbinary author." — Laura C.

Image Source: amazon.com
King and the Dragonflies
$12
from amazon.com
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3. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

"Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger ($15). Everyone raves about The Time Traveller's Wife, and that is a great book, but her second novel doesn't get enough love. Maybe the ghost aspect turns people off? I don't know, but I loved it." — Nancy T.

Image Source: amazon.com
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
$15
from amazon.com
Buy Now

4. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland

"I recommend it everywhere, but I don't hear nearly enough people talking about The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland ($17). I feel like everyone should read it. It should be made into a movie and a TV series and get a million sequels." — Julia H.

Image Source: bookshop.org
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland
$17
from bookshop.org
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5. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

"The Wrath and The Dawn ($10) was amazing, but I don't see many talking about it anymore." — Caroline H.

Image Source: bookshop.org
The Wrath and The Dawn
$10
from bookshop.org
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6. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

"The Secret History by Donna Tartt ($15) is so much better than The Goldfinch!" — Jenn M.

Image Source: amazon.com
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
$15
from amazon.com
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7. Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis

"Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis ($17). It was my favourite novel of last year! The author created unforgettable characters with beautiful connections between them." — Lauren O.

Image Source: amazon.com
Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis
$17
from amazon.com
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8. The Host by Stephenie Meyer

"While Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series is hugely overrated in my opinion, her stand-alone novel The Host ($19) deserves more recognition." — Laura D.

Image Source: amazon.com
stand-alone novel The Host
$19
from amazon.com
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9. Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

"Words in Deep Blue ($8). I'd never heard of it before I read it, nor have I heard anybody mention it since. It has a gorgeous cover and is so much deeper than I ever expected when I picked it up. It devastated me when I read it (in a good way.)" — Jennifer H.

Image Source: amazon.com
Words in Deep Blue
$8
from amazon.com
Buy Now

10. As Many Nows As I Can Get by Shana Youngdahl

"As Many Nows As I Can Get by Shana Youngdahl ($15). It is one of the most heartbreaking and honest depictions of the interior lives of academically driven students, drug abuse, adoption, and grief that I've ever read." — Tricia C.

Image Source: amazon.com
As Many Nows As I Can Get by Shana Youngdahl
$15
from amazon.com
Buy Now

11. My Name Is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd

"My Name Is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd ($20). It's such a heartfelt, shocker of a story about a young girl who's just been released from jail and is trying to start her life over." — Jennifer H.

Image Source: amazon.com
My Name Is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd
$20
from amazon.com
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12. The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry

"Everyone raves about The Giver but few people talk about the other three books in the quartet ($28): Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son. One of my favourite series ever!" — Cindy W.

Image Source: amazon.com
the quartet
$28
from amazon.com
Buy Now

13. Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

"Dark Matter by Michelle Paver ($13)! This is a wonderful ghost story that I feel has been buried under talk about Blake Crouch's novel of the same name. But I've never seen better for a sense of dread, some truly scary moments, a character study (well-told through a journal format), and last but not least, a really great dog! (The audio version is also dynamite!)" — Christine L.

Image Source: amazon.com
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
$13
from amazon.com
Buy Now

14. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

"The Neverending Story ($9). Most people only know about the movie, which is vastly altered from the original novel. It's a wonderful fantasy story that goes way beyond the fantastical elements and is more about the power of stories and friendship." — Hayley C.

Image Source: amazon.com
"The Neverending Story
$9
from amazon.com
Buy Now

15. If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

"I recommended [If We Were Villains ($14)] to my Nanny, and the next I heard, she'd gotten her book club to read it, and they all loved it." — Kat S.

Image Source: amazon.com
If We Were Villains
$14
from amazon.com
Buy Now

16. Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories

"I've recommended Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories ($17) to anyone I can. With one exception, all of the writers are First Nations authors. The stories are set in Nunavut and draw on Inuk folklore and folkways. I found the writing more atmospheric than 'horror.' The characters are engageing, and the settings are gorgeous and austere. This book made such an impression on me that I'm now learning Inuktitut!" — Lilith P.

Image Source: amazon.com
Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories
$17
from amazon.com
Buy Now

17. Maus by Art Spiegelman

"Maus (parts one and two) by Art Spiegelman ($25). It's a graphic novel about the author's father's survival during World War II. Books about WWII seem to be a popular genre, and I would put this book at the top of the list with Elie Wiesel's Night. I read it about 15 years ago, and the way the author describes the train ride to the camp, along with the graphics, haunts me still to this day." — Hilary M.

Image Source: amazon.com
Maus (parts one and two) by Art Spiegelman
$25
from amazon.com
Buy Now

18. Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

"Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis ($11). He's so famous for the Narnia series that his sci-fi works get overlooked." — Jenny D.

Image Source: amazon.com
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
$11
from amazon.com
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19. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier

"Rebecca and Jamaica Inn hog the Daphne du Maurier limelight, and My Cousin Rachel ($29) gets largely ignored. And when people do talk about it, they just go back and forth about Rachel's guilt. But it's such a deep dive into gender roles and perspectives and so richly atmospheric that I don't understand why it gets almost no attention." — Christina P.

Image Source: amazon.com
My Cousin Rachel
$29
from amazon.com
Buy Now

20. The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood

"I never see anyone mention The One-in-a-Million Boy ($14), which I loved as well as The Hundred Year Old Man Who Jumped Out the Window (and Disappeared)." — Kathleen B.

Image Source: amazon.com
The One-in-a-Million Boy
$14
from amazon.com
Buy Now

21. My Tender Matador by Pedro Lembell

"Okay, so I've never seen ANYONE talk about this book, and it's absolutely fantastic: My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel ($13). It's set during Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile and is about a young revolutionary who befriends an older gay man in order to use his flat for clandestine meetings. It's beautifully written and very touching!" — Rebecca J.

Image Source: amazon.com
My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel
$13
from amazon.com
Buy Now

22. Cinder & Ella by Kelly Oram

"Cinder & Ella by Kelly Oram ($13) is one of my all time favourite reads and one of the best contemporary retellings I've come across. I've read it quite a few times now, and it never fails to make me cry." — Alison C.

Image Source: amazon.com
Cinder & Ella by Kelly Oram
$13
from amazon.com
Buy Now

23. The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence

"The Universe Versus Alex Woods ($16) [is] highly, highly underrated — I've encountered about a half dozen people who also read it, and I've been recommending it all over for ages (all the others I talked to loved it as much as I did.) Absolutely amazing. One of those books that's impossible to explain without it sounding totally insane . . . 'Young English boy with psychic mother, who is the second person in history struck by a meteorite, has an inauspicious encounter with a disabled, pacifist American Vietnam veteran with a passion for Kurt Vonnegut, and eventually winds up detained at border security with an urn and a lot of pot.' There's no way it should work as a coherent story, and yet somehow it does, and it's relatable and dryly hilarious and incredibly poignant — the book handles some very heavy issues in a very mature way. A bildungsroman like nothing else I've ever read, or probably will ever read. Everyone should read this book, and it frustrates me immensely that so few people have." — Kylie M.

Image Source: amazon.com
The Universe Versus Alex Woods
$16
from amazon.com
Buy Now

24. We Have Always Lived In the Castle by Shirley Jackson

"I don't know about 'underrated' but to me, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson ($14) is a work of absolute genius, and I am forever banging on to friends, acquaintances, and book clubbers about how good it is." — Lesley D.

Image Source: amazon.com
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
$14
from amazon.com
Buy Now

25. Second Person Singular by Sayed Kashu

"Second Person Singular by Sayed Kashua ($12) [is an] absolutely gorgeous Palestinian book with a Tolstoyan plot." — Melissa A.

Image Source: amazon.com
Second Person Singular by Sayed Kashua
$12
from amazon.com
Buy Now

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