Reads I Must Have

*TBR Tuesday is the Oasis Team's meme for highlighting books each of us desire to read.*

My ginormous mountain of wanted reads grows with each and every passing day; I'm sure your pile does too. This fact always makes it so difficult for me to choose which book to share with you. I've decided to share two books with you, today. Both deal with death but in very different ways.  

The first is a book I saw highlighted somewhere in cyberspace. The main character takes the reader on a journey of her last months on earth. I have this book, but have yet found the courage to read it. I must...soon.

Tessa has just a few months to live.

Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It's her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is sex.

Released from the constraints of 'normal' life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up.

Tessa's feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa's time finally runs out.

BEFORE I DIE is a brilliantly-crafted novel, heartbreaking yet astonishingly life-affirming. It will take you to the very edge

My second choice is one that first caught my eye and ear, not because of the story, but because of the author. YA Author Bridget Zinn passed away before she saw her book see the light of the publishing world. Her personal journey is amazing, as is the book she's written. 

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.
But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart . . . misses.
Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?
Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she’s certainly no damsel-in-distress—she’s the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

Have you read either of these books? What book do you most currently covet?