Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always loved mysterious and hidden places — and they often appear in my writing. My Summer (with Robots) is a great example, as both an underground desert fort and a mysterious house inhabited by robots play significant roles. Both were inspired by events from my childhood in Tucson, Arizona, but who hasn’t created secret places of their own? How about a blanket fort? Or a treehouse? Or maybe you were that kid who made a private den by pulling the covers up over your head and reading your favorite book by flashlight? I hope my selections help you recapture this simple thrill of discovering mysterious places!


I wrote

My Summer (with Robots)

By Marsh Myers,

Book cover of My Summer (with Robots)

What is my book about?

Quinton Wyatt's summer break before high school should be nothing but wall-to-wall fun. Instead, his best friend has stopped talking…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Raven Boys

Marsh Myers Why did I love this book?

This is by far one of my favorite YA series due to its strong characterizations and amazing world-building. Stiefvater takes a prep school in a small Virginia town and populates it with psychics, restless spirits, secret societies, menacing professors, and a professional assassin. The titular “Raven Boys” are three students pulled into the town’s supernatural intrigue either by design or necessity. Needless to say, this four-book series provides us with plenty of mysterious places, but Book 1 introduces us to one of the best: the boys’ off-campus home located in a long-abandoned warehouse. The old building is primarily uninhabitable, but the boys create a comfortable “apartment” in its midst — and it even comes with a resident ghost!

By Maggie Stiefvater,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Raven Boys as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 13, 14, 15, and 16.

What is this book about?

'There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve,' Neeve said. 'Either you're his true love ... or you killed him.'Every
year Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the
soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them - until this year, when a
boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.His name is Gansey,
a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy
of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only
mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a…


Book cover of The Egypt Game

Marsh Myers Why did I love this book?

As a kid, I was fascinated by the mysteries of ancient Egypt. My mother, an elementary school librarian, introduced me to this book when I was in the fifth grade — and I’ve loved it ever since. The story centers around April Hall, the daughter of a famous movie actress. When the girl goes to live with her grandmother, she and two neighbor kids amuse themselves by creating their own ancient Egyptian “society” based on a shared fascination with archaeology. They make costumes, devise rituals, and even choose a pharaoh to rule them. Their “Egypt” is located in the forgotten storage yard behind a creepy antique shop, but this secret world is threatened first by neighborhood bullies and later by a serial killer who’s stalking children.

By Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Alton Raible (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Egypt Game as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

The first time Melanie Ross meets April Hall, she's not sure they have anything in common. But she soon discovers that they both love anything to do with ancient Egypt. When they stumble upon a deserted storage yard, Melanie and April decide it's the perfect spot for the Egypt Game. Before long there are six Egyptians, and they all meet to wear costumes, hold ceremonies, and work on their secret code. Everyone thinks it's just a game until strange things start happening. Has the Egypt Game gone too far?


Book cover of The Secret Garden

Marsh Myers Why did I love this book?

Now over 100 years old, The Secret Garden may be one of the first true YA novels — and a model for those featuring secret and mysterious places. The book’s protagonist is 10-year-old Mary Lennox, a spoiled, neglected child whose parents died during a cholera epidemic in India. Sent to England to live with her cold and neglectful uncle, Mary is isolated in a vast manor house surrounded by sprawling gardens. Slowly, her demeanor softens, and she befriends a local boy named Dickon, who helps her discover and restore a mysterious garden walled up by her uncle years earlier. But her new home has other surprises — including a previously unknown cousin locked away in a secret room of his own.

By Frances Hodgson Burnett, Tasha Tudor (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked The Secret Garden as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a magical novel for adults and children alike

'I've stolen a garden,' she said very fast. 'It isn't mine. It isn't anybody's. Nobody wants it, nobody cares for it, nobody ever goes into it. Perhaps everything is dead in it already; I don't know.'

After losing her parents, young Mary Lennox is sent from India to live in her uncle's gloomy mansion on the wild English moors. She is lonely and has no one to play with, but one day she learns of a secret garden somewhere in the grounds that no…


Book cover of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Marsh Myers Why did I love this book?

Who wouldn’t want to spend a night alone in a natural history museum? Or maybe a week? Or a month? Claudia and Jamie Kincaid purposely choose the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City as their new home when they run away from their parents. Using their intelligence, guile, and a fair amount of luck, they manage to live successfully among the museum’s priceless artifacts and fascinating exhibits — all the while eluding museum security. The brother and sister become obsessed with a mysterious statue presumably carved by Michelangelo, leading them to the doorstep of the reclusive heiress who donated it — Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Their discoveries about the statue help reunite them with their family and bring the promise of unimaginable wealth.

Book cover of The Graveyard Book

Marsh Myers Why did I love this book?

Imagine your secret lair is actually a cemetery? For most of us, graveyards can produce very mixed feelings. They enshrine death but are also unintentional wildlife preserves, botanical gardens, and natural habitats. Neil Gaiman seemed acutely aware of this dual nature in his YA novel The Graveyard Book. Nobody "Bod" Owens is an orphaned boy who lives in an ancient English cemetery and has been raised by its resident ghosts and a benevolent vampire. For Bod, the cemetery is anything but a dreary place. It is a flourishing sanctuary that has protected and cared for him and may ultimately help him unravel the mystery of his parents’ brutal murder.

By Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked The Graveyard Book as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing his entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard? Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family. A stunningly original novel deftly constructed over eight chapters, featuring every second year of Bod's life, from babyhood to adolescence. Will Bod survive to be a man?


Explore my book 😀

My Summer (with Robots)

By Marsh Myers,

Book cover of My Summer (with Robots)

What is my book about?

Quinton Wyatt's summer break before high school should be nothing but wall-to-wall fun. Instead, his best friend has stopped talking to him; his fiendish older sister has filled his head with tales of a sadistic high school ritual called "The Freshman Stomp"; and his divorced father has started dating the city's most notorious barfly. Maybe a robot rabbit and a boy from his past can help salvage Quinton's vacation and launch him into the difficult — but often hilarious — world of young adulthood. This is Book 1 in the Quinton’s Curious Mind young adult series.

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An Heir of Realms

By Heather Ashle,

Book cover of An Heir of Realms

Heather Ashle Author Of An Heir of Realms

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

My favorite fantasy novels tend to be rather complex. Winding plotlines, mysteriously interconnected characters, whimsical settings, and intricate, thoughtful worldbuilding combine to create immersive stories that stick in the mind like overworn folklore. Time travel or interworld travel lend additional layers of intrigue and mystery, forcing the inescapable contemplation of a more thrilling, alternate reality. And if it’s all packaged in artful, breathtaking prose that breeds full-color images, audible noises, indelible flavors, nose-crumpling odors, and tangible textures, I will happily lose myself in the pages, truly forgetting about the strictures of everyday life… at least until I get hungry and remember I need to consume more than books to survive.

Heather's book list on adult fantasy that won’t make you grow up too much

What is my book about?

An Heir of Realms tells the tale of two young heroines—a dragon rider and a portal jumper—who fight dragon-like parasites to save their realms from extinction. 

Rhoswen is training as a Realm Rider to work with dragons and burn away the Narxon swarming into her realm. Rhoswen’s dream is to Ride, but her destiny will pit her against her uncle and king, who have scorned her since before her birth. 

In the Exchange, the waystation between realms, Emmelyn fights the G’Ambit, a gambling ring with members more intent on lining their pockets than protecting the realms—or their own lives.

Both…

An Heir of Realms

By Heather Ashle,

What is this book about?

Realm-devouring parasites threaten all existence. The Exchange is desperate to destroy them. But could their radical plans endanger the realms, too?

Soul-sucking parasites are overwhelming the realms.

Rhoswen of Stanburh is of age to train as a Realm Rider—a defender of the realms. Riders and their dragons work together to burn away infiltrating Narxon as they swarm in through tears in a realm’s fabric. But it’s not an easy battle: the mere touch of the smoky, dragon-like adversaries can reduce the lively winged beasts—and their Riders—to ash.

Becoming a Realm Rider is Rhoswen’s dream, but she carries far more responsibility…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in gardens, occult, and imagination?

Gardens 45 books
Occult 88 books
Imagination 106 books