Why am I passionate about this?

I tell stories for the page and the screen (and sometimes to bribe my kid to brush her teeth). The stories I tell have one thing in common – they transport the reader to another world. For me, building a new world starts with building a new character a narrator with strong opinions and a complicated past that will shape how the reader experiences their world. We don't experience the real world objectively no matter how hard we try, our past, our feelings, and even our bodies affect how we experience the world. That's why the worlds I build and the stories I tell are all filtered through the particular truth of a bold narrator.


I wrote

The Pioneer

By Bridget Tyler,

Book cover of The Pioneer

What is my book about?

The Pioneer is the story of Joanna Watson – a seventeen-year-old girl who has spent her whole life training to…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Fireborne

Bridget Tyler Why did I love this book?

Fireborne is the first book of a YA crossover fantasy series called The Aurelian Cycle trilogy.

The primary narrators – dragon riders Annie and Lee – are best friends born on opposite sides of a class uprising and civil war that ripped their lives apart. Annie and Lee’s world is complicated. There are no easy choices or untarnished heroes – including Annie and Lee.

By telling this story through two very different points of view, Munda forces us to draw our own conclusions about right and wrong. She doesn’t make it easy. I can’t promise you won’t throw the book across the room in outrage at least once, but you will chase after it and keep reading until the (not that bitter, I promise) end. 

By Rosaria Munda,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Fireborne as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

"Fireborne is everything I want in fantasy." -Rachel Hartman, New York Times bestselling author of Seraphina

Game of Thrones meets Red Rising in a debut young adult fantasy that's full of rivalry, romance . . . and dragons.

Annie and Lee were just children when a brutal revolution changed their world, giving everyone-even the lowborn-a chance to test into the governing class of dragonriders.

Now they are both rising stars in the new regime, despite backgrounds that couldn't be more different. Annie's lowborn family was executed by dragonfire, while Lee's aristocratic family was murdered by revolutionaries. Growing up in the…


Book cover of To Kill a Mockingbird

Bridget Tyler Why did I love this book?

Thanks to some, urm, interesting choices on the part of my high school American Literature teacher, I didn’t read this classic civil rights drama until college.

Lee turns the idea of the unreliable narrator on its head by creating an innocent narrator. There are many things that six-year-old Scout doesn't understand about her world, which allows her to observe it with unassuming clarity. But Scout isn’t just innocent. She’s funny. Her irresistible wit brings light to what could have been a very weighty and dark book.

Scout’s voice makes us want to keep reading a story that forces us to confront some very uncomfortable truths about the United States…truths that haven’t changed as much as we want to believe.

By Harper Lee,

Why should I read it?

42 authors picked To Kill a Mockingbird as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'

Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this classic novel - a black man charged with attacking a white girl. Through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Lee explores the issues of race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s with compassion and humour. She also creates one of the great heroes of literature in their father, whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped…


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Book cover of The Fornax Assassin

The Fornax Assassin By J.C. Gemmell,

In 2038 a devastating pandemic sweeps across the world. Two decades later, Britain remains the epicenter for the Fornax variant, annexed by a terrified global community.

David Malik is as careful as any man to avoid contact with the virus. But when his sister tests positive as an asymptomatic carrier,…

Book cover of Illuminae

Bridget Tyler Why did I love this book?

Illuminae is the first book in a YA science fiction series called the Illuminae Files Trilogy.

The story is told through intersecting first-person narratives constructed from journals, letters, texts, reports, and pictures. You want to absorb all that “found footage” goodness on paper. Trust.

There’s almost no exposition in Illuminae, especially in the first few chapters. That’s the beauty of these books – the narration is so visceral and urgent that you get invested in the story long before you really understand what’s happening. Putting the pieces of the world-building together is an addictive mystery in and of itself.

I don’t recommend cracking open this book the night before anything requiring a good night’s rest and lots of focus – your mind will be in 2575 until well after you’ve finished the last page. 

By Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Illuminae as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

'Never have I read a book so wholly unique and utterly captivating.' Marie Lu

'It certainly filled the Battlestar Galactica-shaped hole in my heart.' Victoria Aveyard

The internationally bestselling first book in a high-octane trilogy

Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the worst thing she'd ever been through. That was before her planet was invaded. Now, with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating craft, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But the warship could be the least of their problems. A deadly plague has…


Book cover of Rosewater

Bridget Tyler Why did I love this book?

Rosewater is the first book of the Wormwood Trilogy. This adult science fiction story takes place in the decades after a massive alien lifeform dubbed Wormwood lands on Earth and infects Earth (and humanity) with fungal artificial lifeforms that leave some people “sensitive” – able to read thoughts, find objects, and see the future.

Thompson’s narrator, Kaaro, is a sensitive who was once a thief but now works for a secret agency inside the Nigerian Government. Rosewater is non-linear – it jumps back and forth between different moments in Kaaro’s life. This lets Thompson directly contrast young Kaaro’s narration with that of older Kaaro, who knows more about the alien…and himself.

These striking shifts in voice and perspective make Kaaro’s emotional evolution just as delicious as the outrageously creative details of Thompson’s speculative future. 

By Tade Thompson,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Rosewater as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Rosewater is the start of an award-winning trilogy set in Nigeria, by one of science fiction's most engaging voices.

*Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, winner
*Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel, winner

Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome, its residents comprise the hopeful, the hungry, and the helpless -- people eager for a glimpse inside the dome or a taste of its rumored healing powers.

Kaaro is a government agent with a criminal past. He has seen inside the biodome, and doesn't care…


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Book cover of A Voracious Grief

A Voracious Grief By Lindsey Lamh,

My book is fantastical historical fiction about two characters who're wrestling with the monstrosity of their grief.

It takes you into London high society, where Ambrose tries to forget about how much he misses Bennett and how much he dreads becoming as cold as their Grandfather. It takes you to…

Book cover of The Last Queen

Bridget Tyler Why did I love this book?

The Last Queen is a totally addictive historical novel bursting with love, danger, political intrigue, and heartbreak.

The Last Queen is the story of an impoverished young woman named Jindan who is swept into the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh as his last and youngest bride. Eventually, Jindan becomes Regent for her young son and rises to the occasion, becoming an inspirational leader so formidable that she strikes fear into the hearts of the encroaching British Empire.

Exploring the world of pre-colonial Punjab through the eyes of Jindan is breathtaking – an experience you’ll enjoy even if you aren’t a history buff. The details of Jindan’s world are even more gripping because they’re real, and so is she. 

By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Last Queen as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'I am Rani Jindan, Mother of the Khalsa. That is my identity. That is my fate.' Daughter of the royal kennel keeper, the beautiful Jindan Kaur went on to become Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest and last queen; his favourite. She became regent when her son Dalip, barely six years old, unexpectedly inherited the throne. Sharp-eyed, stubborn, passionate, and dedicated to protecting her son's heritage, Jindan distrusted the British and fought hard to keep them from annexing Punjab. Defying tradition, she stepped out of the zenana, cast aside the veil and conducted state business in public. Addressing her Khalsa troops herself,…


Explore my book 😀

The Pioneer

By Bridget Tyler,

Book cover of The Pioneer

What is my book about?

The Pioneer is the story of Joanna Watson – a seventeen-year-old girl who has spent her whole life training to settle on a new planet with her family. Then, a tragic accident leaves Joanna badly wounded and completely upends her perspective on her life, her family, and their mission. Nothing feels right, and Joanna no longer feels like she belongs. But Joanna’s new-found lack of purpose also allows her to see her new planet with clear eyes. She discovers that Tau Ceti e is not the unpopulated world they expected…and its inhabitants aren’t interested in sharing. The Watson family is forced to choose between doing the right thing and completing their mission, with the future of the human species hanging in the balance.

Book cover of Fireborne
Book cover of To Kill a Mockingbird
Book cover of Illuminae

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