Books to Make the Heart Beat Faster by Lynn Huggins-Cooper

I want to write books that make the hearts of readers beat faster. When people tell me how excited they were when they read 'Walking With Witches,' or how the story of Sydney Dobson, the boy soldier from One Boy's War moved them, it thrills me.

Which books excite and move you? For me, it's a long list. Some have followed me from childhood. Phrases from them shine in my mind's eye down the years. The Halloween Tree or The October Country by Ray Bradbury. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner. Practical Magic and Green Witch, by Alice Hoffman. Garden Spells, by Sarah Addison Allen. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. The Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin. Tithe, by Holly Black. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Brighton Rock or The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier. Anything by Robert Westall, or Meera Syal. So many books; so much stolen reading time when I 'should' have been doing something else. Pah!

So - what's on your list? Tell me a title I can rush off and relish it.