I have always had a love for the YA Fantasy genre. Something about the fast pacing and the themes that are explored have a way of resonating with me more than any other. I think it’s because they’re centered around that weird but pivotal time in your life when you’re no longer a child but not quite an adult. It’s what keeps bringing me back, and I love immersing myself in that mindset.
If you want a book that balances lush worlds, well-developed characters, romance, political intrigue, and beautiful writing, this is the book I will always recommend.
After fleeing on her wedding day, Princess Lia begins a new life and identity as a tavern maid, but what she doesn’t know is that two young men who arrived also have their secret identities: one is the prince she jilted, the other an assassin meant to kill her.
The reader is left in the dark as to which young man is which, with each character getting their own point of view chapters labeled simply as “the assassin” or “the prince.” What results is a heart-pounding and unputdownable ride that will leave you racing through the pages to see if your guesses were right and how the story unfolds. The suspicion and uncertainty I felt while reading and trying to figure out who was who was a feeling I’ll never forget.
In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia's life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight - but she doesn't - and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighbouring kingdom - to a prince she has never met. On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive - and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an…
Within fifteen pages of picking up this book, I was stressed. The plot began on the first page and did not stop until the last.
While Elias is a soldier and Leia is a slave, neither are free. They are both servants of a cruel and brutal empire that shows no mercy on its people. A rebellion rises, and Leia and Elias find themselves thrown together while fighting on separate sides of the conflict.
There is no good stopping place within this book to break for food or change the laundry. Each chapter ends in such a way that you’re compelled to read the next to find out what happens. I still think about these characters and everything they went through.
'Keeps one reading long after the lights should have been out' - Robin Hobb
Read the explosive New York Times bestselling debut that's captivated readers worldwide. Set to be a major motion picture, An Ember in the Ashes is the book everyone is talking about.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death.
When Laia's grandparents are brutally murdered and her brother arrested for treason by the empire, the only people she has left to turn to are the rebels.
But in exchange for their help in saving her brother, they demand that Laia spy on the ruthless Commandant…
This was the book that I brought on vacation with me, and then it forced me to ignore my entire family.
It’s a dark and gothic medieval murder mystery with Criminal Minds vibes but in a YA Fantasy setting. A rare moon magic gives our protagonist Catrin, the ability to see through the eyes of victims as they’re claimed by a serial killer, and the suspect may be closer to her than she thinks.
This book kept me up late into the night, trying to figure out who the culprit was and leaving me to suspect almost the entire cast. It’s incredibly unique, and I’m not sure I’ve come across another book like it. It was just as riveting the second time through.
Rising above the city of Collis is the holy Sanctum. And watching over its spires is Catrin, an orphan with unique skills-for she alone can spot the building's flaws in construction before they turn deadly.
But when Catrin witnesses a murderer escaping the scene of his crime, she's pulled into the web of a dangerous man who will definitely strike again. Assigned to capture the culprit is the mysterious, brilliant, and enigmatic Simon, whose insights into the mind of a killer are frighteningly accurate.
As the grisly crimes continue, Catrin finds herself caught between murderer and detective while hiding her…
I happened upon a pristine hardcover of this book for $2 at the thrift store, and it was one of the best finds I have ever made. Magic is the best way to describe Stephanie Garber’s writing, and she delivers every time.
Tella receives an invitation to the magical game of Caraval, and the winner receives one wish. Only this game revolves around her sister, and she has to find her before the five nights of the event are up. Each chapter leads you deeper into the game, and it had me at the edge of my seat until all was revealed at the end.
I love the whimsical nature of this world that makes you imagine throughout its pages that maybe anything is possible.
WELCOME TO CARAVAL, WHERE NOTHING IS QUITE WHAT IT SEEMS . . .
Scarlett has never left the tiny isle of Trisda, pining from afar for the wonder of Caraval, a once-a-year week-long performance where the audience participates in the show.
Caraval is Magic. Mystery. Adventure. And for Scarlett and her beloved sister Tella it represents freedom and an escape from their ruthless, abusive father.
When the sisters' long-awaited invitations to Caraval finally arrive, it seems their dreams have come true. But no sooner have they arrived than Tella vanishes, kidnapped by the show's mastermind organiser,…
I love a good mystery, and this book provided me with that small-town creepy vibe with just a dash of fantasy. No matter how many other things I needed to be doing, I couldn’t put this book down.
It follows a girl named Ellerie as her world slowly falls apart. They’re trying to find the people who went missing from an attack on a supply wagon and are afraid the monsters that once lived in the woods have returned.
Every moment had me guessing, had me suspecting one person or another, and as it neared the end, I wondered how the author was going to resolve and explain everything. I loved it because it was a book that sucked me in but left me unable to figure it out until the very end.
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the critically-acclaimed author of House of Salt and Sorrows comes a mesmerizing and chilling fairy-talesque novel about Ellerie Downing, a young woman in a small town with monsters lurking in the trees and dark desires hidden in the shadows—in Amity Falls, nothing is more dangerous than a wish come true.
"Unique, enchanting, and haunting."—Brigid Kemmerer, New York Times bestselling author of the Cursebreaker series
“Sweet, dark, and complex as wildflower honey.”—Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf
“Small Favors is an eerie fairytale that I couldn’t put down.”—Alexis…
Taryn's life has revolved around two rules: Don't leave, and don't reveal your identity. Both are compromised when her father is killed, and she's the key to solving the murder.
Swept up into the corruption of court politics, Taryn teams up with the cocky prince and a despised healer to expose the killer before he assassinates her and becomes the most powerful man in the kingdom. But unraveling secrets reveals her father's death was only the beginning of a treasonous plot, one powerful enough to threaten the foundations of her world.
Curiosity is certain she saw fairies at the bottom of the garden. Little does she know . . . they saw her first.
Emotionally abandoned by her mother and infatuated by a figurine of a fairy ballerina she discovers in an old toy shop, eight-year-old Curiosity Portland steals the figurine, unleashing strange and frightening happenings around her home, which, in turn, reveals a disturbing family history.
Curiosity is certain she saw fairies at the bottom of the garden. Little does she know . . . they saw her first.
Emotionally abandoned by her mother and infatuated by a figurine of a fairy ballerina she discovers in an old toy shop, eight-year-old Curiosity Portland steals the figurine, unleashing strange and frightening happenings around her home, which, in turn, reveals a disturbing family history.
