I am a debut author and avid reader of Urban Fantasy. Renewing the Arbors is my first published work, but I have many more planned to come. Like some of my recommendations, all of my works take place in the same urban fantasy world. Different characters have their own problems to solve and adventures to have. That’s why I love books with big, richly developed worlds. An open world leaves room for new characters and new adventures without becoming stale or overused. I hope the books on my recommendation list keep you as invested as they have kept me.
Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series is one of my absolute favorites. A quirky wizard detective working on a shoestring budget and always getting into trouble is always a fun read for me. The characters and the world building are well crafted with many depths and facets. These books are what really started my love for urban fantasy.
In the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series, Harry Dresden’s investigation of a grisly double murder pulls him into the darkest depths of magical Chicago…
As a professional wizard, Harry Dresden knows firsthand that the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most of them don’t play well with humans. And those that do enjoy playing with humans far too much. He also knows he’s the best at what he does. Technically, he’s the only at what he does. But even though Harry is the only game in town, business—to put…
I have always had a love for historical fiction, but not time travel. Gabaldon does both splendidly in her Outlander series. She had done some thorough research to fill her world with historical events and people and it shows. This series really shows that the best magic systems and world building come from the legends and myths we already think we know.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series.
One of the top ten best-loved novels in America, as seen on PBS’s The Great American Read!
Unrivaled storytelling. Unforgettable characters. Rich historical detail. These are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon’s work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured the hearts of millions of fans. Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and…
This book is an absolute five-star read. Maas has built such a beautiful and rich fae world with its own history and intricacies that really make the setting come alive. The characters are also artfully crafted with deep and rich relationships. This series has really rekindled my love for true fantasy with all new worlds to explore.
Experience Feyre Archeron's journey all over again with the beautiful collector's edition of A Court of Thorns and Roses, the seductive first book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series by Sarah J. Maas, featuring a deluxe new package, an updated map, ribbon pull, and more!
When nineteen-year-old Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin-one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.
As she…
A good story is not exclusive to adult fiction. Riordan proves that with his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Good books are for everyone. Riordan has built a huge urban fantasy world based on the ancient mythology we already know and has breathed new life into it. I love how the different series all exist in the same world. Sometimes they cross over and meet one another, but it’s not a forced meeting.
The Lightning Thief: the First book in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series.
The first bestselling book in Rick Riordan's phenomenally successful Percy Jackson series.
Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek God. I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher. That's when things started really going wrong. Now I spend my time fighting with swords, battling monsters with my friends, and generally trying to stay alive.
I love the richness of this fantasy world within our own. The magic system follows rules, but, like life, those rules are not absolute. The characters, as highly intelligent people, do a lot of research and experimenting to discover how to work around these non-absolute rules to, what else? Defeat evil of course.
In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.
The world has not seen druids for two hundred years. The demon lord, Mathias, has hunted them to extinction in pursuit of vengeance, leaving their cities and magical groves empty and unattended. Declan Arbor has been in hiding all that time, raising his apprentice, Alia. She’s a gifted druid who is ready to to take the last step in her training, but the ceremony that gives her access to those advanced powers will leave them exposed and vulnerable. Declan has been dragging his feet in fear of loosing another apprentice, just like so many others before her. To further complicate things, Galvin has arrived on their doorstep, seeking Declan’s help. As a half fairy in a strict matriarchal society, he looks to escape a life where his greatest expectation is to do as he’s told. Before Alia can get her new powers and before Galvin has any answers, Declan is captured. Now on their own with no mentor, the two discover a spell that could protect Declan and the long empty groves from Mathias’s vengeance, but the spell is more advanced then either of them. Only too late will they discover that it has altered them both forever.
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 the family's country manor house, where Mattie isolates and old ghosts start to come out of the woodwork.
It's a story about loss and depression; it's a story about friends who don't let you walk through the valley of death alone.
Ambrose Bancroft returns to London society with his younger sister, hoping they'll leave ghosts of memory behind. They have only each other left. While Ambrose attempts to draw Mattie out, dragging her to balls and threatening to seek suitors for her, his sister recoils from his meddling. Finally, when Ambrose compels her to attend art class before she's ready, Mattie paints something horrific enough to banish them from society in public disgrace.
At Linwood Manor, Mattie and Ambrose aren't as alone as they think. Taking advantage of Mattie's desperate need to find freedom, a vanishing room lures Ambrose's sister into…
