68 books like Vicious

This book came out on my birthday a few years ago and felt like a present specifically for me, and other superhero fans will feel the same.

This YA sci-fi trilogy features a world divided between those who either love or hate the Renegades, a group of superpowered humans.

If you enjoy the themes of “heroes aren’t always what they seem” present in superhero works like The Boys, then Renegades is a milder version of that, making it a great entry point for superhero fans and an action-packed, thought-provoking read about what is right or wrong.

Since the protagonist has some amnesia, I loved piecing together the threads of Jamie’s identity in this book.

Jamie isn’t exactly a villain, per se, but I’d classify him as morally gray; after all, he uses his memory-erasing abilities to rob banks and commit crime. When he meets arch nemesis and do-gooder Zoe in a support group for those who lost their memory, they realize their pasts might be more entangled than they think.

We Could Be Heroes is fun, fast-paced, and features great characters in a speculative world that’s easy to immerse yourself in. I personally really enjoy stories with amnesiacs, since it allows us to learn more about the characters right alongside them and feel the emotional punches of reveals, and Chen’s work balances that with fun and lighthearted moments seemingly effortlessly.

This coming-of-age YA/NA romance featuring college sophomore Astrid and her superhero boyfriend is a heartfelt read.

It features a woman learning to live with her PTSD while juggling being a superhero’s girlfriend.

As someone with PTSD, I found Astrid’s character especially relatable. This novel is full of heart and is also a great novel to dip your toes into if you’re new to the superhero genre, especially if you like dual timelines in your romances. 

If you’re a fan of Marvel’s Black Widow, then this book is a must-read.

This dystopian science fiction novel features a tough and snarky (yet lovable) protagonist and enemies-to-lovers romance in a cyberpunk setting. When the protagonist turns 18, she finds out the mind-control processor in her brain implanted by the corporation she’s worked for over the last decade will kill her by the time she turns 20.

Mindwalker is fast-paced, full of action, and great for those looking for a book on the cusp of YA and NA that blends action and romance to keep you on the edge of your seat. This sci-fi is friendly to genre beginners, making it a great read for everyone.

For generations, this book has been helping young readers turn their kitchens into laboratories. After introducing basic scientific concepts, kid chefs/scientists get to test scientific principles with edible results: beef jerky, cottage cheese, pudding, and more. Along the way, they learn that making a meringue is about denaturing protein and that mayonnaise is a simple emulsion. I love the way in which the text and illustrations pair to clearly allow readers to conclude that good cooks truly are good chemists.

This book was written by the former culinary director of the website Serious Eats, and it’s one of my most turned-to references on my cookbook shelf. A deep dive into the world of culinary science, I learn something new whenever I flip through its pages. I particularly love the informational photos, charts, and illustrations, based on painstaking experiments and tests. Take the section on boiled eggs: It was fascinating to see an illustration showing how eggs look at 30-second increments of cooking, and to read the explanation of what exactly is happening inside an egg as it heats up, which helped me fine-tune the cooking time for my idea of the perfect jammy egg. This book is full of similarly nerdy experiments and information, and useful tutorials on techniques both basic and advanced, like carving a chicken or turkey, making mayonnaise, and making homemade sausage. Read the book from cover… show more.

Your kiddo is excited about science… now what? Science experiments at home don’t have to be hard or hazardous. Chrystal Chatterton’s Awesome Science Experiments uses ordinary household products or items that are very easy to find. The instructions are step by step and simple to follow. Best of all the concepts are, well, real science. Chatterton explains the ideas in understandable but authentic scientific language—no dumbing things down here. Best of all these projects are a lot of fun!

Composite Creatures centers around a quiet apocalypse called “the greying,” a human disease linked to ecological collapse that’s never described outright but is unmistakenly real. Against this backdrop, the narrator, Norah, enters into an arranged marriage equal parts romantic and practical. The couple takes over the raising of an ovum organi, a bioengineered organism that both functions as a pet and serves another purpose connected to the greying that only becomes apparent near the end of the book. Beyond its slow-burn apocalyptic trappings, this book also has special relevance for me because the ova organi are clearly modeled on cats. While cats themselves are hardly a novelty in science fiction, the way that Hardaker develops the relationship between the artificial critters and their owners/exploiters is especially evocative.

I can’t think of a better way to close than with a book to inspire the next generation of people who love taking things apart! This brilliant compilation of easy makes sets out to cultivate curious young minds.

By using common things you can find around the house, it makes science and making accessible to all. The projects are all really straightforward and designed by Shaha, a dad and science teacher, to support the educational curriculum whilst having a lot of fun.

I practically inhaled this book when I first opened it!! The writing style of Kelly Oram is outstanding and what she does with her heroes is unique.

The book is about Avery Shaw who got dumped by her best friend since birth, Adrian Kennedy. To overcome her grief, she starts her own seven-stages of grief experiment, journaling every step of the way. But honestly, she would have never made it past step four without the wonderful help of Grayson Kennedy, Adrian’s older brother.

By spending time with Avery, he turns from a teenage heartbreaker to a determined lover. And while Avery stubbornly forges on with her experiment, Grayson gets on his own mission to win her heart.