1. If you are gay (especially if you had a bad coming out experience, REALLY especially if you’re bi and stayed in the closet a little too long because it just felt easier)- I think you’d like Imogen, Obviously, by Becky Albertalli.

This book feels like it reached down into my 18-year-old, hadn’t-figured-stuff-out-yet soul and told me everything was okay. Yes, it was uncomfortable (and the reason for an actual therapy appointment at one point, lol). But it’s so well done.

2. If you have daddy issues- …this is just like, most romance novels, honestly… pretty much the whole industry is written and marketed for you! But you can do better than Colleen Hoover, I promise! I’m going to say that if you like historical fantasy, my recommendations for you are Babel, by RF Kuang, or maybe And I Darken, by the always-excellent Kiersten White.

3. If you have mommy issues- I think you might like the Kushiel’s Legacy series, though I should probably note that people attach a trigger warning to this series for a reason (definitely not for kids).

Please also note: is NOT MY FAULT if you find yourself having some feelings about Melisande.

4. If you have anxiety- listen, the best recommendation I have for anxious people who found themselves through books is Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl. I’m not kidding when I say it’s the book that helped me figure out that actually no, everyone’s brain doesn’t feel like that all the time, and that maybe sitting down and figuring it all out would be okay.

5. Depression- Okay, so you know those chapters of New Moon, where it’s just the name of the month followed by a blank page…

I’m kidding. My actual recommendation here is the Stormlight Archive, by Brandon Sanderson. Start with The Way of Kings.

If that feels like too much, which… fair, my recommendation for you is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin.

6. If you have ADHD - Listen, there’s a reason people really love the Percy Jackson series and recommend it for exactly this purpose. For a whole lot of people— a whole generation, really— those books were the first example of normalized, not villainized, ADHD. And they are, genuinely, great representation— Rick Riordan, as a middle school teacher, wrote them for his kid, who was struggling with figuring out his brain chemistry. But if you want a recommendation for adults, Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston is the book that gave me the best picture of what undiagnosed ADHD looks like in an adult, high-functioning, hyper-focus-oriented brain. So I’m going to go with that as my suggestion.

7. If you’re going for couples therapy- I quite like Funny Story by Emily Henry, specifically because it trains a reader (and the main characters) so well to notice red flags and patterns, and they learn to stand up for themselves and demand better of life.

On this note, I do not recommend Happy Place by the same author (at least, not for this purpose). Not a good one for learning communication skills or how to spot red flags.

8. If you’re going to learn how to parse through grief (especially as it relates to losing a parent)- Whalefall, by Daniel Kraus, is deeply weird and weirdly deep. Highly recommend.

9. If you’re going to therapy to sort out your feelings about codependent friendships- We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry is also weird and also good. I think more people should read this book, in part because it’s weird but mostly because it raises provocative conversations about team dynamics and teenage friendships and how those concepts do and don’t evolve into adult friend dynamics.

I hate to say it, but in our current times I think it’s a relevant reason to go to therapy… if you have child-making parts but aren’t sure if you want a kid, especially if everyone around you DOES seem to want one… then I recommend Nightbitch, by Rachel Yoder.

And that’s that! If you have other therapy-book-recs, or if you really strongly agree or disagree with my choices here, please do talk about it in the comments.

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Happy (or not so happy) reading!

~GT