This week’s Road Trip Wednesday asks: What’s been your most surprising read of the year so far—the book you weren’t sure about going in that really swept you off your feet?

Because I’m wordy, I’m going to answer with THREE books:

TRINKETS by Kirsten Smith

Moe (the outcast), Elodie (the innocent new girl in town), and Tabitha (the most popular girl in school), are polar opposites. But they all have one thing in common – they shoplift. They’re caught. This is the story of them meeting at a shoplifters anonymous group, and learning that each girl is more than meets the eye. I was surprised with how much I really, really liked this book. The chapters rotate back and forth, narrated by each girl (Moe in diary entries, Elodie in verse, Tabitha in first-person narrative), and it’s really wonderful seeing them grow and change. It’s real, it’s fun, it’s lovely, and I’d recommend it to anyone.

WINGER by Andrew Smith

Ryan Dean West is a 14-year-old junior in boarding school who’s in love with his best friend, Annie, and living in the “bad kids” dorm due to hacking into a cell phone. This year, he wants to prove himself. Winger is hilarious, heartwarming, perverted, and just…wonderful. It’s long, but I wanted it to be longer. You get so wrapped into the lives of all the characters that you feel like it’s your school and your friends. And the twist ending is completely, heartrendingly, earned. Loved it.

WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE by Maria Semple

The premise of this book is fantastic – a mom, Bernadette, has disappeared. Her daughter compiled every e-mail, memo, letter from the days leading up to the disappearance, and that’s what you’re reading. You’re reading a woman’s struggle through her correspondence, through situations that she’s going through. The characters are beautifully brought to life, especially Bernadette who is absolutely hilarious, with her weird hatred of Seattle, her hidden past, her annoyance with neighbors. This received a 2013 Alex Award, and I can totally see why. Absolutely loved.