12 Cinematic Books So Good You’ll Forget You Aren’t at the Theater

AJ Graves is stuck working in a video rental store, with slim odds of escaping her small town. Then in walks Noah Drew, the heir of the Drew acting dynasty, and her life changes forever. The two forge a deep bond first as friends, then as acting partners—until one day, Noah disappears without a word. Seven years later in New York City, AJ finds herself cast in the same TV production as Noah, by then a well-known Hollywood heartthrob. Unable to stay away from each other, AJ and Noah are forced to confront the truth of what happened years ago—and the devastating secret that will send their lives careening apart, even as fate continues to draw them together.

When Zelu’s suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, judgmental family, she’s not sure what comes next. In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life—she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes. What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu’s life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission to save humanity and Earth. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name. All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very long time. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realises that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone. Or does he?

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

In the village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. She is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive. Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old, searching for purpose. But when her first love betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.

Odessa Cross has spent her life kneeling. As a princess, her only duty was to wear the crown and obey the king. But that all changed the fateful day she stepped into her father’s throne room. The day a legendary monster hunter sailed to their shores. Now, Odessa must cross treacherous lands beside a warrior who despises her as much as she despises him—bound to a future she didn’t choose and a husband she barely knows. Everyone wants her to be something she’s not—a queen, a spy, a sacrifice. But what if there’s power in being underestimated? And what if—for the first time—she reached for it?

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found. As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds, chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny weather-lashed island that is home to the world’s largest seed bank. As Shearwater risks being lost to rising sea levels, the island’s researchers have fled, and only the Salts remain. Until, during the worst storm in living memory, a stranger washes ashore. The family nurses the woman, Rowan, back to strength, but it seems she isn’t telling the whole truth about why she’s there. And when Rowan stumbles upon sabotaged radios and a recently dug grave, she realises that she’s not the only one on the island with a secret.

Despite being the host of Baltimore’s romance hotline, Aiden Valentine has fallen out of love with love. But when a girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight. Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life, she begins to question if she’s as happy as she thought. Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.

As a Diviner, Sybil Delling receives visions in her dreams. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom to learn their futures by her dreams. Near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil’s visions. But when Sybil’s fellow Diviners begin to vanish, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and only a heretic can defeat a god.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the smalltown of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing. When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake. Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

William Waters grew up in a house where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him—so when he meets the spirited Julia Padavano, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable. But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?