From The Hunger Games and Divergent to Legend and The Testing, longtime YA fans and newcomers alike have recently been obsessed with dystopian trilogy after dystopian trilogy featuring heroic action and love triangles.
And why wouldn’t they? The protagonists-with-unique-names are accessible, and the unsettling dystopias are easy to get sucked into and satisfy the aspiring champion within us -- it can be nice to pretend we’re The Chosen One of our given world, if only for a few hundred pages.
But sometimes, we crave normal -- real life is complex enough. Where do you turn if you’re craving a plot without widespread human suffering or a Big-Brother-esque government (present day aside happenings aside)?
So here’s to all the Eleanor’s and Park’s, the Hazel Grace’s and Augustus's. Check out our recommendations below for the best non-magical books that have been (or will shortly be) published in 2014.