85 books like The Atlas Six

Discovering Diana, the reluctant witch who must rediscover herself and her supernatural talents, makes this novel a page-turner of magick and mystery. And I loved how the weave of those two powers pulled in the romance between Diana and Matthew. An added spicy balance that mixes like a brew into the witch and vampire families that are here and from the Otherworld.

I am not a vampire fan, but the magick here is irresistible. It became rather addictive because the witchcraft spells were so illusory that I felt “invited in.” The vampire scenes were a bit nerve-wracking, creating real tension for me. Diana’s journey was perfect, as it kept growing with obsessive and fantastical suspense. I was in their witch-vampire world, which was as frightening as it was compelling. 

I loved The Rook for its amazing originality, the bizarre forms of magic shown by the various employees of the Checquy, and the true grit of the Rook, a young woman whose magic simply explodes when she's threatened. Though she's lost her memory, she's left herself notes in anticipation of that very thing! You have to admire her.

This book scratches my genre itch and is also “literary” at the same time. Cronin’s superb world-building is so subtle that you don’t realize that the book’s world and ours are separate until you are half-way through the book and see that there were clues all along the way.

My teen years were spent in the early 2000s, so Anne Rice was the OG to me for urban fantasy. Tale of the Body Thief is my favorite story of hers. Like my novel and current city, it also takes place in DC (Georgetown!) and I love retracing Lestat’s footsteps through the novel as he visited notable places like Martin’s Tavern. The plot focuses on Lestat body-switching with a human who ends up stealing the vampire’s body. If you’ve seen Interview With the Vampire, you don’t really need to have read the other books in the series to read this one. For me, I love that it’s a fun literary ride with familiar characters and setting. 

I love reading a book and knowing the other shoe is about to drop, and this book does it in a satisfying way. Greta lives in a house that is literally falling apart around her and transcribes sessions for a local sex therapist. There, she discovers the subject of her fascination: the cold, distant, and traumatized Big Swiss.

Despite the sometimes-heavy subject matter, the interplay between Greta and Big Swiss as they embark upon their affair is so much fun. This is the perfect train wreck in that it’s not a matter of IF, but WHEN Big Swiss discovers Greta’s duplicity, the fun is all in the journey.

Not only are Greta and Big Swiss nuanced, engaging characters, but their small town is populated with colorful side characters who make Big Swiss a book world you want to spend time in, even when you know things will go so spectacularly… show more.

Reading this book is like re-experiencing your worst breakup in the most winning way. Andy is going through it. His girlfriend, Jen, has broken up with him for reasons he STILL can’t understand, and he’s now spending his days drinking at the bar and calling up exes, which… who among us hasn’t?

I absolutely love how romantic this book about getting over a relationship feels. The audiobook is utterly charming and often laugh-out-loud funny as Andy drinks too much, tries on several new lifestyles, and pines over Jen. Eventually, the whole book is flipped on its head when you get the breakup from Jen’s point of view. And yes, Andy can feel like a real jackass, but that adds to the realism without his narration ever feeling grating.

I truly believe Kiley Reid is a national treasure. Her second book centers around a small southern college town, and as someone who attended one of those myself, I can tell you that it perfectly captures that spirit. Even though the book is more character study than plot-forward, the southern sorority girls, the writing professor, and the overworked RA all come together to make an absolute mess in the end.

Effortlessly weaving multiple narrators and storylines together, this book is everything I want satire to be. Each character is rich and fully realized, often dabbling in doing “bad” things but never making you quite dislike them. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun watching everything go tits up.

This is my most recent “can’t look away” read. The titular Piglet hits rock bottom and keeps digging after her idea of a perfect life with her fiancé Kit goes up in flames. Lottie Hazell really knows how to do a set piece with constant escalating tension. Every food-related meltdown in Piglet proved more anxiety-inducing than the last, particularly a scene of Piglet frantically trying to bake a croquembouche on the day of her disastrous wedding.

I always appreciate a book that refuses to give the reader breathing room and puts you in the scene with its characters. Piglet’s pages and pages of bad decisions–and the empathy Hazell’s narrative still manages to weave in for her characters–make this a gripping, satisfying read.

I still remember the first time I came across Heart of Mist.

It completely overtook my senses and propelled me into the Upper Realm of her universe. Bleak, the female lead, is unlike any other female protagonist I’d ever come across – being angry, brave, and dealing with trauma by playing with a piece of rope. She felt real. 

And the Upper Realms? I wanted to be there; discovering the forests of Valia and traversing their immense tree houses.  

Ninth House is a bit of a departure from my normal choice of genre. This is a fantasy novel, but it takes place at Yale.

Focusing on the well-known “secret” societies that have been an institution at Yale for generations, Bardugo asks the question, what if there was more to these groups than just influence? What if they actually trafficked in black magic? Narrated by Galaxy (Alex) Stern, we see the school through the eyes of an outsider - Alex, a high school dropout, who was recruited by Yale because she has a very special gift.

The way Bardugo writes, you can feel the cold, gray winter of New Haven as though you are living it. No spoilers, but if you haven’t read this novel because it falls into the fantasy genre, read it immediately.