31 books
—
5 voters
Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book
Predictable Books
Showing 1-50 of 13,968
Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1)
by (shelved 38 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.12 — 1,032,166 ratings — published 2012
Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)
by (shelved 29 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.97 — 1,214,445 ratings — published 2015
The Selection (The Selection, #1)
by (shelved 29 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.07 — 1,809,227 ratings — published 2012
Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)
by (shelved 23 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.18 — 2,642,732 ratings — published 2012
A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)
by (shelved 23 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.15 — 4,524,506 ratings — published 2015
The Fault in Our Stars (Hardcover)
by (shelved 23 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.12 — 5,857,010 ratings — published 2012
Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
by (shelved 22 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.56 — 3,892,112 ratings — published 2023
The One (The Selection, #3)
by (shelved 21 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.14 — 796,996 ratings — published 2014
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Board book)
by (shelved 21 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.27 — 194,023 ratings — published 1967
Kitten's First Full Moon (Hardcover)
by (shelved 21 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.10 — 25,473 ratings — published 2004
Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone, #1)
by (shelved 20 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.91 — 1,145,786 ratings — published 2012
Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes (Hardcover)
by (shelved 20 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.35 — 60,761 ratings — published 2010
Twilight (The Twilight Saga, #1)
by (shelved 20 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.68 — 7,478,878 ratings — published 2005
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (If You Give...)
by (shelved 19 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.30 — 318,701 ratings — published 1985
The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)
by (shelved 18 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.26 — 3,905,575 ratings — published 2022
The Love Hypothesis (Paperback)
by (shelved 18 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.09 — 2,065,231 ratings — published 2021
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)
by (shelved 18 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.06 — 2,208,460 ratings — published 2007
Divergent (Divergent, #1)
by (shelved 18 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.13 — 4,471,755 ratings — published 2011
Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, #1)
by (shelved 18 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.92 — 751,811 ratings — published 2009
Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss, #1)
by (shelved 17 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.95 — 467,109 ratings — published 2010
The Elite (The Selection, #2)
by (shelved 17 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.94 — 893,409 ratings — published 2013
The Midnight Library (The Midnight World, #1)
by (shelved 16 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.97 — 2,636,823 ratings — published 2020
To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #1)
by (shelved 16 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.04 — 1,095,559 ratings — published 2014
One of Us Is Lying (One of Us is Lying, #1)
by (shelved 16 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.90 — 1,104,295 ratings — published 2017
The Hating Game (Paperback)
by (shelved 16 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.85 — 855,123 ratings — published 2016
Fallen (Fallen, #1)
by (shelved 16 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.72 — 624,209 ratings — published 2009
The Napping House (Board Book)
by (shelved 16 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.27 — 47,413 ratings — published 1984
The Silent Patient (Hardcover)
by (shelved 15 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.16 — 3,554,847 ratings — published 2019
The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer, #1)
by (shelved 15 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.73 — 1,190,189 ratings — published 2009
Everything, Everything (Hardcover)
by (shelved 14 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.96 — 689,470 ratings — published 2015
A Flicker in the Dark (Hardcover)
by (shelved 13 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.96 — 641,693 ratings — published 2022
The Spanish Love Deception (Love Deception, #1)
by (shelved 13 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.79 — 841,658 ratings — published 2021
The Guest List (Kindle Edition)
by (shelved 13 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.79 — 1,349,387 ratings — published 2020
The Deal (Off-Campus, #1)
by (shelved 13 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.18 — 1,391,419 ratings — published 2015
Legend (Legend, #1)
by (shelved 13 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.15 — 572,655 ratings — published 2011
Obsidian (Lux #1)
by (shelved 13 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.12 — 299,158 ratings — published 2011
Goodnight Moon (Hardcover)
by (shelved 13 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.32 — 400,243 ratings — published 1947
Bride (Bride, #1)
by (shelved 12 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.99 — 767,817 ratings — published 2024
Love, Theoretically (Paperback)
by (shelved 12 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.08 — 725,744 ratings — published 2023
Book Lovers (Paperback)
by (shelved 12 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.08 — 1,670,421 ratings — published 2022
From Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash, #1)
by (shelved 12 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.21 — 898,828 ratings — published 2020
Then She Was Gone (Paperback)
by (shelved 12 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.03 — 1,080,359 ratings — published 2017
The Winner's Curse (The Winner's Trilogy, #1)
by (shelved 12 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.94 — 116,037 ratings — published 2014
Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful, #1)
by (shelved 12 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.00 — 712,041 ratings — published 2011
The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
by (shelved 12 times as predictable)
avg rating 4.35 — 10,218,967 ratings — published 2008
Love on the Brain (Kindle Edition)
by (shelved 11 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.90 — 683,316 ratings — published 2022
Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2)
by (shelved 11 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.89 — 167,250 ratings — published 2011
The Fill-In Boyfriend (Paperback)
by (shelved 11 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.89 — 70,376 ratings — published 2015
A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird, #1)
by (shelved 11 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.89 — 62,483 ratings — published 2014
If I Stay (If I Stay, #1)
by (shelved 11 times as predictable)
avg rating 3.91 — 978,416 ratings — published 2009
“... an artist should paint from the heart, and not always what people expect. Predictability often leads to the dullest work, in my opinion, and we have been bored stiff long enough I think.”
― Brushstrokes of a Gadfly
― Brushstrokes of a Gadfly
“Romance novels, rom-coms, non-tragic love stories—they all run on a blissful sense that we’re moving toward something better. Percentage-wise, the majority of clues writers drop in romance novels don’t give you things to dread. They give you things to look forward to.
This, right here—more than anything else—is why people love them. The banter, the kissing, the tropes, even the spice … that’s all just extra.
It’s the structure—that “predictable” structure—that does it. Anticipating that you’re heading toward a happy ending lets you relax and look forward to better things ahead. And there’s a name for what you’re feeling when you do that.
Hope.
Sometimes I see people grasping for a better word than predictable to describe a romance. They’ll say, ‘It was predictable—but in a good way.’
I see what they’re going for. But I’m not sure it needs pointing out that over the course of a love story … people fell in love. I mean: Of course they did! I don’t think it’s possible to write a love story where the leads getting together at the end is a surprise. And even if it were, why would you want to? The anticipation—the blissful, delicious, oxytocin-laden, yearning-infused, building sense of anticipation—is the point. It’s the cocktail of emotions we all came there to feel.
I propose we stop using the hopelessly negative word predictable to talk about love stories and start using anticipation. As in: 'This love story really created a fantastic feeling of anticipation.'
Structurally, thematically, psychologically—love stories create hope and then use it as fuel. Two people meet—and then, over the course of three hundred pages, they move from alone to together. From closed to open. From judgy to understanding. From cruel to compassionate. From needy to fulfilled. From ignored to seen. From misunderstood to appreciated. From lost to found. Predictably.
That’s not a mistake. That’s a guarantee of the genre: Things will get better. And you, the reader, get to be there for it.
It’s a gift the love story gives you.”
― Hello Stranger
This, right here—more than anything else—is why people love them. The banter, the kissing, the tropes, even the spice … that’s all just extra.
It’s the structure—that “predictable” structure—that does it. Anticipating that you’re heading toward a happy ending lets you relax and look forward to better things ahead. And there’s a name for what you’re feeling when you do that.
Hope.
Sometimes I see people grasping for a better word than predictable to describe a romance. They’ll say, ‘It was predictable—but in a good way.’
I see what they’re going for. But I’m not sure it needs pointing out that over the course of a love story … people fell in love. I mean: Of course they did! I don’t think it’s possible to write a love story where the leads getting together at the end is a surprise. And even if it were, why would you want to? The anticipation—the blissful, delicious, oxytocin-laden, yearning-infused, building sense of anticipation—is the point. It’s the cocktail of emotions we all came there to feel.
I propose we stop using the hopelessly negative word predictable to talk about love stories and start using anticipation. As in: 'This love story really created a fantastic feeling of anticipation.'
Structurally, thematically, psychologically—love stories create hope and then use it as fuel. Two people meet—and then, over the course of three hundred pages, they move from alone to together. From closed to open. From judgy to understanding. From cruel to compassionate. From needy to fulfilled. From ignored to seen. From misunderstood to appreciated. From lost to found. Predictably.
That’s not a mistake. That’s a guarantee of the genre: Things will get better. And you, the reader, get to be there for it.
It’s a gift the love story gives you.”
― Hello Stranger
