10. Ethan Hawke - The Hottest State
Sounds like Hollywood's Ethan Hawke modeled his lead character on himself: "William is sexy, confident and easy", drips the book's cover, although the clue is in the picture of a melting heart that accompanies it. For the Academy Award-nominated actor chose the classic love story format for his first novel and, despite laying on the cheese in the first few chapters, succeeds in developing the story until The Hottest State becomes a genuinely enthralling depiction of young love turned sour. Sex, lies and psychological breakdown followed by beautiful rebirth? No wonder it was turned into a movie starring - you guessed it - Hawke himself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZifyUOWc9Eo Following the success of this novel, Hawke wrote two more, Ash Wednesday and Rules For A Knight, both of which look likely to be turned into movies too.