Last week, I asked my Twitter followers about their favorite books that don’t get enough attention. And they pulled through! Because of this thread, I added quite a few books to my TBR. Let’s check out some of the amazing suggestions. Maybe you’ll find your next favorite book!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. When you click on and/or purchase from some links, I make a portion of the sale. This helps keep Bitch Bookshelf running.

The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley

suggested by @KateKrug1

The summary, from Amazon:

International Bestseller: A novel of youthful love and loss and “a powerful evocation of the war years” in England (The Guardian).

On a hot August evening in 1939, cousins Oliver, Calypso, Polly, Walter, and Sophy spent one last night together, celebrating the end of summer, at the home of their aunt and uncle. Now, forty years later, as the motley cast of characters drive to the funeral of one of their own, they recall how important that night truly was—and all that came after.

From Oliver, whose desperation to prove himself in war ended up as his downfall, to Calypso, whose flirtations landed her in an unlikely marriage with even less likely results, to Sophy, whose secrets from that night haunted her for the rest of her life, each of them recalls the twisted paths of love and betrayal they walked as the country came apart around them under the coming shadow of World War II.

Mary Wesley masterfully interweaves tragedy and humor in this “extraordinarily accomplished and fast-moving” novel, presenting a tale of both the world at large and the dalliances, allegiances, and losses of her expertly crafted characters (Financial Times).

Buy it here.

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

suggested by @not_a_bookmark

The summary, from Amazon:

“A storyteller without peer. He created worlds as colorful and exotic and memorable as any our genre has ever seen.” —George R.R. Martin

One of the most revered names in sf and fantasy, the incomparable Roger Zelazny was honored with numerous prizes—including six Hugo and three Nebula Awards—over the course of his legendary career. Among his more than fifty books, arguably Zelazny’s most popular literary creations were his extraordinary Amber novels. The Great Book of Amber is a collection of the complete Amber chronicles—featuring volumes one through ten—a treasure trove of the ingenious imagination and phenomenal storytelling that inspired a generation of fantasists, from Neil Gaiman to George R.R. Martin.

Includes:

Nine Princes in Amber

The Guns of Avalon

Sign of the Unicorn

The Hand of Oberon

The Courts of Chaos

Trumps of Doom

Blood of Amber

Sign of Chaos

Knights of Shadows

Prince of Chaos

Buy it here.

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

suggested by @not_a_bookmark

The summary, from Amazon:

With this extraordinary first volume in what promises to be an epoch-making masterpiece, Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century. As an added bonus, the e-book edition of this New York Times bestseller includes an excerpt from Stephenson’s new novel, Seveneves.

In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse—mathematical genius and young Captain in the U.S. Navy—is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Waterhouse and Detachment 2702—commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe-is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy’s fabled Enigma code. It is a game, a cryptographic chess match between Waterhouse and his German counterpart, translated into action by the gung-ho Shaftoe and his forces.

Fast-forward to the present, where Waterhouse’s crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a “data haven” in Southeast Asia—a place where encrypted data can be stored and exchanged free of repression and scrutiny. As governments and multinationals attack the endeavor, Randy joins forces with Shaftoe’s tough-as-nails granddaughter, Amy, to secretly salvage a sunken Nazi submarine that holds the key to keeping the dream of a data haven afloat. But soon their scheme brings to light a massive conspiracy with its roots in Detachment 2702 linked to an unbreakable Nazi code called Arethusa. And it will represent the path to unimaginable riches and a future of personal and digital liberty…or to universal totalitarianism reborn.

A breathtaking tour de force, and Neal Stephenson’s most accomplished and affecting work to date, Cryptonomicon is profound and prophetic, hypnotic and hyper-driven, as it leaps forward and back between World War II and the World Wide Web, hinting all the while at a dark day-after-tomorrow. It is a work of great art, thought and creative daring; the product of a truly iconoclastic imagination working with white-hot intensity.

Buy it here.

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray

suggested by @PhantomPaper

The summary, from Amazon:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Lost Stars, Bloodline, and Leia, Princess of Alderaan comes a thrilling sci-fi adventure that Kass Morgan, bestselling author of The 100 series, calls “startlingly original and achingly romantic…nothing short of masterful.”
She’s a soldier: Noemi Vidal will risk anything to protect her planet, Genesis, including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she’s a rebel.
He’s a machine: Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel’s advanced programming has begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he’s an abomination.
Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they’re not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they’re forced to question everything they’d been taught was true.
An epic and romantic adventure, perfect for fans of The Lunar Chronicles and Illuminae.

Buy it here.

Lamb by Christopher Moore

suggested by @lizdobson

The summary, from Amazon.

Everyone knows about the immaculate conception and the crucifixion. But what happened to Jesus between the manger and the Sermon on the Mount? In this hilarious and bold novel, the acclaimed Christopher Moore shares the greatest story never told: the life of Christ as seen by his boyhood pal, Biff.

Just what was Jesus doing during the many years that have gone unrecorded in the Bible? Biff was there at his side, and now after two thousand years, he shares those good, bad, ugly, and miraculous times. Screamingly funny, audaciously fresh, Lamb rivals the best of Tom Robbins and Carl Hiaasen, and is sure to please this gifted writer’s fans and win him legions more.

Buy it here.

Little, Big by John Crowley

suggested by @Stellina

The summary, from Amazon:

John Crowley’s masterful Little, Big is the epic story of Smoky Barnable, an anonymous young man who travels by foot from the City to a place called Edgewood—not found on any map—to marry Daily Alice Drinkawater, as was prophesied. It is the story of four generations of a singular family, living in a house that is many houses on the magical border of an otherworld. It is a story of fantastic love and heartrending loss; of impossible things and unshakable destinies; and of the great Tale that envelops us all. It is a wonder.

Buy it here.

The Mind of the South by W.J. Cash

suggested by @debbunny21

The summary, from Amazon:

Ever since its publication in 1941, The Mind of the South has been recognized as a path-breaking work of scholarship and as a literary achievement of enormous eloquence and insight in its own right. From its investigation of the Southern class system to its pioneering assessments of the region’s legacies of racism, religiosity, and romanticism, W. J. Cash’s book defined the way in which millions of readers— on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line—would see the South for decades to come. This fiftieth-anniversary edition of The Mind of the South includes an incisive analysis of Cash himself and of his crucial place in the history of modern Southern letters.

Buy it here.

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

suggested by @Nikki_theSNR

The summary, from Amazon:

The story of your life never starts at the beginning. Don’t they teach you anything at school?

So says 104-year-old Ona to the 11-year-old boy who’s been sent to help her out every Saturday morning. As he refills the bird feeders and tidies the garden shed, Ona tells him about her long life, from first love to second chances. Soon she’s confessing secrets she has kept hidden for decades.

One Saturday, the boy doesn’t show up. Ona starts to think he’s not so special after all, but then his father arrives on her doorstep, determined to finish his son’s good deed. The boy’s mother is not so far behind. Ona is set to discover that the world can surprise us at any age, and that sometimes sharing a loss is the only way to find ourselves again.

“Readers won’t be able to resist falling for Ona … The conclusion will leave them smiling through their tears.”—Shelf Awareness

​“Poignant … There is much to enjoy in this heartfelt tale of love, loss, and friendship.”—Express

“A must-read book … Whimsical and bittersweet.”—Good Housekeeping

Buy it here.

An Other Place by Darren Dash

suggested by @LilyLuchesi

The summary, from Amazon:

Get ready to enter the dark, disturbing waters of a dystopian sci-fi world in this widely-praised, mind-bending trip to An Other Place… where time and space are fluid… where the moon changes colour and savage beasts run wild… where teeth are used as currency and love-making is a perilous proposition… where cannibalism occasionally comes into fashion and the dead are swiftly forgotten… where strange sandmen offer sanctuary in times of danger and a mysterious Alchemist rules over all.

When Newman Riplan’s flight into the unknown turns into a nightmarish slide between worlds, he must explore an unnamed city where unpredictable terrors are the norm. By the end of his first day adrift, his life has spun completely out of his control, but the most mind-twisting and soul-crushing revelations are only beginning. As he desperately searches for meaning and a way out, he starts to realise that perhaps only madness can provide him with the answers, while surrender might offer him his only true hope of escape…

“This is, by far, the best book of 2016, possibly the best book of this decade… the bastard love child of Kafka and Rod Serling, throwing in a dash of Ray Bradbury for good measure. 5/5 — brilliant. Just brilliant.” Kelly Smith Reviews.

“An Other Place sees an imaginative writer at the top of his craft. It brings to mind The Twilight Zone, yet even Rod Serling himself would have struggled to come up with an alternate world so completely off-the-wall and yet oddly meaningful as Dash has here. 9/10 stars.” Starburst.

“Darren Dash has opened a new artery of terror… unlike any book I have ever read… hints of The Twilight Zone, Pines, and Station Eleven.” The Literary Connoisseur.

“Its luckless hero moves from ghastly scenarios to even ghastlier scenarios with such horrid reliability that his story reads like extreme black comedy. 4/5 stars.” SFX.

“Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and Brett Easton Ellis may have written some weird stuff, but An Other Place tops all of it, both in terms of re-readability and overall scope.” Dread Central.

“This book really did blow my mind… each page turn was both chilling and thrilling in equal measure… the conclusion left me with goosebumps. 5/5!” Rachel Hobbs, author.

“Dash’s surreal tale has its share of unsettling moments. There’s also an abundance of intriguing peculiarities. An often baffling tale, but its protagonist’s wry commentary is undeniably entertaining.” Kirkus — a Recommended Read.

“An Other Place is a deliciously quirky novel that is surreal and powerful in equal measure. This is by far Dash’s best work to date. It is challenging and absurd, artistically brave and politically conscious, but this abstract painting of a novel is one thing above all else… completely original.” Books, Films & Random Lunacy.

“This story had me hooked from the get go… an ending that sent my mind into a spin. 5 stars.” Reviews And Randomness.

“This book is utterly unique… I was amazed at how well Dash could create this baffling world from scratch and draw me into it so completely. 5 stars.” A Place In Which Jessie Writes.

“If Jonathan Swift wrote horror, he might have written An Other Place. Powerful, imaginative, and occasionally disturbing, An Other Place will linger in the reader’s mind long after the last page is turned.” Safie Maken Finlay, author.

Buy it here.

The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger

suggested by @SStegemeyer

The summary, from Amazon:

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire — and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London’s high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

The Parasol Protectorate is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

This bundle includes the whole series: Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless, and Timeless.

Buy it here.

A Sensible Life by Mary Wesley

suggested by @KateKrug1

The summary, from Amazon:

This “engaging and memorable novel,” set in post-WWI England and France, takes a wise, witty look at love, growing up, and class differences (Publishers Weekly).
For the British families who vacation there, the shore town of Dinard, France, is a getaway from the ills of modern life. But when Flora Trevelyan visits with her self-absorbed parents in 1926, it’s not an escape she finds—instead, it’s a doorway into a different world, a different life, that she never knew existed.

As the years pass, Flora embarks on a journey of discovery, from falling for three very different young men to understanding the follies of an upper class society of which she will never quite be a part to uncovering the difference between true friends and fair-weather companions. Along the way, her own life and those of her new acquaintances will be upended, and as the shadows of World War II fall over Europe, Flora will have to decide what kind of person she wants to be—and whether being sensible makes sense.

Praised by the Daily Telegraph as “delicious,” Mary Wesley’s sharply humorous coming-of-age story weaves a tale of an unloved, neglected child who turns into a fiercely independent woman, both an entertaining romp and an astute glimpse into British society between the two World Wars.

Buy it here.

Set This House in Order by Matt Ruff

suggested by @MeghanKavanaugh

The summary, from Amazon:

Andy Gage was born in 1965 and murdered not long after by his stepfather. . . . It was no ordinary murder. Though the torture and abuse that killed him were real, Andy Gage’s death wasn’t. Only his soul actually died, and when it died, it broke in pieces. Then the pieces became souls in their own right, coinheritors of Andy Gage’s life. . . .

While Andy deals with the outside world, more than a hundred other souls share an imaginary house inside Andy’s head, struggling to maintain an orderly coexistence: Aaron, the father figure; Adam, the mischievous teenager; Jake, the frightened little boy; Aunt Sam, the artist; Seferis, the defender; and Gideon, who wants to get rid of Andy and the others and run things on his own.

Andy’s new coworker, Penny Driver, is also a multiple personality, a fact that Penny is only partially aware of. When several of Penny’s other souls ask Andy for help, Andy reluctantly agrees, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens to destroy the stability of the house. Now Andy and Penny must work together to uncover a terrible secret that Andy has been keeping . . . from himself.

Buy it here.

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

suggested by @PhantomPaper

The summary, from Amazon:

Cloud Atlas meets Orphan Black in this epic dimension-bending trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray about a girl who must chase her father’s killer through multiple dimensions.

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite’s father is murdered, and the killer—her parent’s handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul’s guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is far more sinister than she expected.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores an amazingly intricate multi-universe where fate is unavoidable, the truth elusive, and love the greatest mystery of all.

Buy it here.

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

suggested by @lizdobson

The summary, from Amazon:

New York Times Bestseller * New York Public Library Best Book of 2016 * Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2016 * Kirkus Best Book of the Year

Fans of acclaimed author Kendare Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood will devour Three Dark Crowns, the first book in a dark and inventive fantasy series about three sisters who must fight to the death to become queen.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

Don’t miss Five Dark Fates, the thrilling conclusion to the series!

Buy it here.

What’s your favorite underrated book? Comment below!

And don’t forget to check out one of my favorite underrated historical romance series.