Realistic fiction is my sweet spot. I never tire of reading about the complexities of the everyday world and the intricacies of human relationships. Fantasy and science fiction never seem to grab my attention or keep me turning the pages, but once in a while, I do indulge in speculative fiction. I love when the author changes the world in just one way and explores how that change affects the characters—recognizably our world, but one tick off. These three awesome reads all fall into that wheelhouse.

This riveting story focuses on four neighbors in a suburban area of Oregon. In the shadow of Broken Mountain, a dormant volcano, they all go about their lives until they each start seeing strange visions. Ginny, a general surgeon, keeps seeing her colleague, Edith, in her home and even in her bed. Ginny’s husband, Mark, sees an alternate version of himself, dirty, disheveled and stirring up trouble. Meanwhile, their neighbor Samara sees her recently deceased mother standing on the front lawn and another neighbor, Cass, who is struggling with caring for her newborn baby by herself, visualizes herself pregnant again. As the story progresses, we learn more about what these visions mean for each character and how they all tie together. Day’s writing is lyrical and descriptive and the plot is unique. The medical scenes are perfectly drawn, and I’m a stickler for that!

This is one of those books that leaves a lot to the reader’s interpretation. Not everything is clear and I often found myself confused about what was happening. Even at the end, many questions were left unanswered, leaving the reader to fill in the blanks. I like a book like this once in a while, but I know it may not be up everyone’s alley.

Nothing to See Here centers on Lillian, a twenty something woman who is going nowhere fast. Still living with her mother, she jumps at the opportunity to work as a nanny for her high school friend, Madison who has recently come to care for her husband’s children. The only problem is that the children spontaneously combust when they get upset.

This book is delightfully quirky, sometimes hilarious and completely enjoyable. Despite the far fetched premise, the characters are interesting and real. The heart of the book is Lillian’s developing relationship with the two combustible children. I loved watching this relationship deepen. I could have used a bit more backstory about Lillian’s relationship with Madison, but that didn’t decrease my enjoyment of this book. A must read for someone who wants something unusual and a bit off the beaten track.

The Dreamers centers around a fictional college town in California. College students begin falling asleep and do not wake up. The sleeping sickness soon spreads throughout the town leading to panic, chaos and quarantine. Walker does an amazing job with the narration, switching between different townspeople seamlessly and skillfully developing each character and what is at stake for each of them as the crisis escalates.

I knew before the end of the first page that this book would be something special. The first sentence alone if simple and perfect. “At first, they blame the air.” It’s so simple and yet tells the reader this is going to be an incredible and heartbreaking journey.

This book is about so much—dreams, consciousness, time, love, loss and so much more. The writing is nuanced, descriptive and enthralling. I literally couldn’t put this one down.