If your annoying cousin is in town, you’ve been banished to the attic after they ate the last slice of pepperoni pizza, and you may or may not have tripped them, you just need an escape! Here are four good reads to give you a holiday uplift—no matter your mood or situation!

 1: If you need to be transported to a new world:

The Unwanteds Series

The Unwanteds might be one of our favorite books. It’s a cross between Hunger Games and Harry Potter. It has the magic of Harry Potter mixed with the dystopian world of the Hunger Games. A boy named Alex Stowe and his twin brother Aaron live in a place called Quill, where every year 13-year-olds are sorted into 3 categories: Wanted, Necessary, and Unwanted based on how artistic you are. The Wanteds don’t have any artistic talent and are smart. The Necessarys have a little artistic talent but aren’t that smart. Finally, the Unwanteds are artistic as can be and love making art. The artistic Unwanteds would be killed, but when Alex and the other 13-year-old Unwanteds are sent into the oil pits to die, they get transported to a mythical and mysterious place, Artimè. Here, the artistic teenagers learn to cultivate their artistic and magic abilities, but Alex misses his twin brother and reaches out to him, starting a battle between two worlds that were never meant to meet.

2: If there isn’t enough drama in your life and you’re looking for some suspense to spice it up:

14 Ways to Die

Jessica Simons’ (Jess) mother was killed by the Magpie Man, a mysterious murderer, when she was seven. Ten years later, the Magpie Man has killed 13 people and is looking for his fourteenth victim. Nobody knows who they are even ten years later. In the meanwhile, Jess applies to air on a reality show. When getting elected, she thinks that this is her chance to remind the public of her mother’s death. Once the show starts airing, anonymous text messages start rolling in. She soon discovers that the Magpie Man is watching her. This nail-biting book is the book for you if you’re looking for a suspenseful novel.

3. If romance is on your mind, and the closest thing you have to cuddle is your pet:

XOXO

Heartaching, hilarious, romantic, and wonderful—XOXO is that in one book. This book contains a mix of a love story with a pinch of K-pop. Jenny Go lives independently in Los Angeles, playing the cello and accompanying her Uncle Jay at his karaoke bar. But one night, she meets a “gangster” looking man. She expects him to be a strange weirdo, but little does she know, he is one of the most famous K-pop idols, Jaewoo Bae of XOXO. Not long after meeting Jaewoo, she travels to Seoul due to family issues. There, Jenny unintentionally bumps into him yet again, and the following news is even more shocking. She is attending the same school, Seoul Arts Academy, as Jaewoo. Their time together in Korea bonds them more than they ever expected.

4. If you need something to distract you from opening presents:

 Displacement

Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco so she can see where her grandmother lived before World War II. On a bench near a mall, she gets thrown back to the past where she is sitting in a crowd at her great grandmother’s violin recital. She soon realizes that she is now living during World War II. During this  time, her role is to be a prisoner in the war. Kiku learns the hardships of being seen as an enemy. This suspenseful yet heartbreaking graphic novel explores how people of Japanese descent were treated, how they stood up for what they believed in, and how they should be treated. It’s a book that has you constantly biting your nails and sets shivers running up your spine.