books-to-add-to-your-tbr

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Luck of the Titanic

Author: Stacey Lee

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2021

Genres: fiction, historical fiction, retelling, contemporary, romance

Blurb: Valora Luck has two things: a ticket for the biggest and most luxurious ocean liner in the world, and a dream of leaving England behind to make a life for herself as a circus performer in New York. Much to her surprise, though, she's turned away at the gangway. Apparently, Chinese people aren't allowed into America. But Val has to get on that ship. Her twin brother Jamie, who has spent two long years at sea, is onboard, as is an influential circus owner. Thankfully, there's not much a trained acrobat like Val can't overcome when she puts her mind to it. As a stowaway, Val should keep her head down and stay out of sight...but the clock is ticking, and she has just seven days as the ship makes its way across the Atlantic to find Jamie, audition for the circus owner, and convince him to help get them both into America. One night, the unthinkable happens, and suddenly, Val's dreams of a new life are crushed under the weight of the only thing that matters: survival.

#luck of the titanic #stacey lee #standalone #2021 #fiction #historical fiction #retelling #contemporary #romance

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: All the Pretty Things

Author: Emily Arsenault

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2020

Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, contemporary, suspense, crime

Blurb: For Ivy, summer means rollercoaster season, spinning cotton candy at the Fabuland amusement park, and hanging out with her best friend Morgan...but this summer is different. One morning, Morgan finds a dead body. It's their former classmate and coworker Ethan. To make matters worse, Morgan is taken to a hospital psych ward only days later, and she's not saying much. Not even to Ivy. The police claim that Ethan simply took a bad fall, but Ivy isn't convinced, and realises it's up to her to get answers. What she finds is unsettling: it's clear that some people aren't being honest about Ethan's last night at Fabuland, including Morgan...and the more secrets Ivy uncovers, the closer she gets to unravelling dark truths that will change her life forever.

#all the pretty things #emily arsenault #standalone #2020 #fiction #mystery #thriller #contemporary #suspense #crime

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Other Words for Home

Author: Jasmine Warga

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2019

Genres: fiction, poetry, contemporary

Blurb: Jude never thought she'd be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria...but when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives. At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven't quite prepared her for starting school in the US...or her new label of "Middle Eastern," an identity she's never known before. But this lift also brings unexpected surprises - there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.

#other words for home #jasmine warga #standalone #2019 #fiction #poetry #contemporary

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Eliza and Her Monsters

Author: Francesca Zappia

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2017

Genres: fiction, contemporary, romance, mental health

Blurb: In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she's LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly-popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can't imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try...then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea's biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile...but when Eliza's secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she's built - her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity - begins to fall apart.

#eliza and her monsters #francesca zappia #standalone #2017 #fiction #contemporary #romance #mental health

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: The Queen's Rising

Author: Rebecca Ross

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 2018

Genres: fiction, fantasy, romance, historical fiction

Blurb: When her seventeenth summer solstice arrives, Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron. Growing up in the southern kingdom of Valenia at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her. While some are born with a talent for one of the five passions - art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge - Brienna struggled to find hers, eventually choosing knowledge. However, despite all her preparations, Brienna's greatest fear comes true: she is left without a patron. Months later, her life takes an unexpected turn when a disgraced lord offers her patronage. Suspicious of his intent, she reluctantly accepts...but there is much more to his story. There is a dangerous plot to overthrow the king of Maevana - the rival kingdom of Valenia - and restore the rightful queen - and her magic - to the throne, and others are involved, some closer to Brienna than she realises. With war brewing, Brienna must choose whose side she will remain loyal to: passion or blood. A queen is destined to rise and lead the battle to reclaim the crown...but who will that queen be?

#the queen's rising #the queen's resistance #rebecca ross #series #2018 #fiction #fantasy #romance #historical fiction

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: The Light in Hidden Places

Author: Sharon Cameron

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2020

Genres: fiction, historical fiction, war

Blurb: It is 1943, and for four years, 16-year-old Stefania has been working for the Diamant family in their grocery store in Przemsyl, Poland, singing her way into their lives and hearts. She has even made a promise to one of their sons, Izio - a betrothal they must keep secret, since she is Catholic and the Diamants are Jewish. But everything changes when the German army invades Przemsyl. The Diamants are forced into the ghetto, and Stefania is alone in an occupied city, the only one left to care for Helena, her 6-year-old sister...and then comes the knock at the door. Izio's brother Max has jumped from the train headed to a death camp. Stefania and Helena make the extraordinary decision to hide Max, and, eventually, twelve more Jews. They must wait, every day, for the next knock at the door, the one that will mean death. When the knock finally comes, it is two Nazi officers, requisitioning Stefania's house for the German army. With two Nazis below, thirteen hidden Jews above, and a little sister by her side, Stefania has one more excruciating choice to make.

#the light in hidden places #sharon cameron #standalone #2020 #fiction #historical fiction #war

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: The Familiar

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2024

Genres: fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, romance

Blurb: In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion...but when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position. What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen...and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favour. Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain...but as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive...even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

#the familiar #leigh bardugo #standalone #2024 #fiction #fantasy #historical fiction #romance

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Don't Date Rosa Santos

Author: Nina Moreno

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2019

Genres: fiction, contemporary, romance, magical realism, LGBT+

Blurb: Rosa Santos is cursed by the sea...at least, that's what they say. Dating her is bad news, especially if you're a boy with a boat. But Rosa feels more caught than cursed - caught between cultures and choices. Between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a hurricane; between Port Coral, the quirky South Florida town they call home, and Cuba, the island her abuela refuses to talk about. As her college decision looms, Rosa collides - literally - with Alex Aquino, the mysterious boy with tattoos of the ocean whose family owns the marina. With her heart, her family, and her future on the line, can Rosa break a curse and find her place beyond the horizon?

#don't date rosa santos #nina moreno #standalone #2019 #fiction #contemporary #romance #magical realism #lgbt

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: A Fragile Enchantment

Author: Allison Saft

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2024

Genres: fiction, fantasy, romance, historical fiction

Blurb: Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighbouring kingdom of Avaland...but Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. As Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more...until an anonymous columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family's secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of...and a love she never thought possible.

#a fragile enchantment #allison saft #standalone #2024 #fiction #fantasy #romance #historical fiction

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

Author: Mortimer J. Adler, Charles van Doren

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 1940

Genres: nonfiction, self help, education, writing, classics

Blurb: You are told about the various levels of reading and how to achieve them - from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading, you learn how to pigeonhole a book, X-ray it, extract the author's message, criticise it. You are taught the different reading techniques for reading practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science. Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests where you can measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension, and speed.

#how to read a book the classic guide to intelligent reading #mortimer j adler #charles van doren #standalone #1940 #nonfiction #self help #education #writing #classics

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: A Show for Two

Author: Tashie Bhuiyan

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2022

Genres: fiction, romance, contemporary, mental health, LGBT+

Blurb: Mina Rahman has a plan for her future: finally win the Golden Ivy student film competition, get into her dream school across the country, and leave New York City behind once and for all. Mina's ticket to winning the competition falls into her lap when indie film star and known heartbreaker Emmitt Ramos enrols in her high school under a secret identity to research his next role. When Mina sets out to persuade Emmitt to join her cause, he offers her a deal instead: he'll be in her short film if she acts as a tour guide to help him with a photography contest. As Mina ventures across the five boroughs with Emmitt by her side, the city she grew up in starts to look different and more like home than it ever has before. With the competition deadline looming, Mina's dreams - which once seemed impenetrable - begin to crumble, and she's forced to ask herself: is winning worth losing everything?

#a show for two #tashie bhuiyan #standalone #2022 #fiction #romance #contemporary #mental health #lgbt

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: The Last Unicorn

Author: Peter S. Beagle

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 1968

Genres: fiction, fantasy, classics

Blurb: The unicorn had lived since before memory, in a forest where death could touch nothing. Maidens who caught a glimpse of her glory were blessed by enchantment they would never forget...but outside her wondrous realm, dark whispers and rumours carried a message she could not ignore: "Unicorns are gone from the world." Aided by a bumbling magician and an indomitable spinster, she set out to learn the truth...but she feared even her immortal wisdom meant nothing in a world where a mad king's curse and terror incarnate lived only to stalk the last unicorn to her doom.

#the last unicorn #the way home #peter s beagle #series #1968 #fiction #fantasy #classics

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Author: Unknown

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 1350

Genres: fiction, classics, poetry, fantasy, mythology

Blurb: The Green Knight, a mysteriously powerful creature, tests the honour and courage of King Arthur's youngest knight.

#sir gawain and the green knight #unknown #standalone #1350 #fiction #classics #poetry #fantasy #mythology

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Shadow of the Fox

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 2018

Genres: fiction, fantasy, mythology, romance

Blurb: One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish, and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos. Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn. Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half-kitsune, half-human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief...until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain, and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple's greatest treasure: one part of the ancient scroll. There are many who would claim the dragon's wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival...but he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart. With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko's secrets are more than a matter of life or death; they are the key to the fate of the world itself.

#shadow of the fox #soul of the sword #night of the dragon #julie kagawa #series #2018 #fiction #fantasy #mythology #romance

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: The Cleaners

Author: Ken Liu

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2020

Genres: fiction, fantasy, retelling, science fiction, magical realism

Blurb: Gui is a professional cleaner at A Fresh Start, scrubbing away the unpleasant layers of memory that build up on the personal objects of his customers. Memory-blind himself, he can't feel those wounds. Clara can, and she prefers them irretrievable...until her sister Beatrice, ultra-sensitive to memory, raises one that could change Clara's mind. For Gui, the past is gone. For Clara and Beatrice, deciding what to remember reaches into the heart of their shared history.

#the cleaners #ken liu #standalone #2020 #fiction #fantasy #retelling #science fiction #magical realism

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Curse of the Cyren Queen

Author: Helen Scheuerer

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 2021

Genres: fiction, fantasy, romance

Blurb: From the moment she was born, Roh, the daughter of an infamous criminal, has been despised by her own kind. Restricted to the Lower Sector and forced to work as a common bone cleaner, she has always believed she belongs above, where adventure lies...and power. Opportunity arises in the form of the Queen's Tournament, a treacherous set of trials that could see the victor crowned ruler of the entire lair. Up against the most cunning, dangerous cyrens in all the realms, does Roh stand a chance?

#curse of the cyren queen #a lair of bones #with dagger and song #the fabric of chaos #to wield a crown #helen scheuerer #series #2021 #fiction #fantasy #romance

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Summer Frost

Author: Blake Crouch

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2019

Genres: fiction, science fiction, thriller, dystopia

Blurb: Maxine was made to do one thing: die...except the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision, veering wildly off-course and exploring the boundaries of the map. When the curious Riley extracts her code for closer examination, an emotional relationship develops between them. Soon, Riley has all-new plans for her spontaneous AI, including bringing Max into the real world...but what if Max has real-world plans of her own?

#summer frost #blake crouch #standalone #2019 #fiction #science fiction #thriller #dystopia