Hi right now I’m really into supernatural so I was wondering if you guys have any books recs similar to the series or anything paranormal but with little to no romance?

Thank you 📖

I feel like I’ve had a really good first quarter of the year and a lot more 5 ⭐️ than I normally do.

Would love to know what books you guys have rated 5 ⭐️ so far also! Since everyone’s taste can be different it’s interesting to see!

Mine so far: (might seem excessive but this is out of 80 books so far)

The Winners Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Cress by Marissa Meyer (book #3 of Lunar Chronicles)

The Wrath and the Dawn by Reneé Ahdieh

Tres of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Emily Wildes Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

The Wicked King by Holly Black

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (honestly almost all 4 books were 4 ⭐️ and up)

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

Powerful by Lauren Roberts

Hello, bookworms!

This is the weekly thread for discussion about what books you've recently read, books you're reading, and books you want to read. Tell us what you think about them! What did you like or dislike about them? Did you interpret any symbolism or themes you particularly liked? Would you recommend them? This discussion space is all yours!

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It was an ok book, but there was so much going on, and not enough written down if that makes sense. The world seems super interesting with these two countries? Currently in the midst of a war and that southern most part of Llyr (the country the story takes place in) is slowly sinking into the ocean and that apparently a huge par of Llyr has already sank into the ocean a 100+ years ago.

There's a religion that's briefly touched on featuring multiple different deities/patrons. They also believe that important authors can somehow provide protection to the entire country after they die and are referred to as Sleepers and are kept in a museum. The people who live in the southernmost part of Llyr are apparently very superstitious, believing in the Fairy king and Fairy folk.

There's so many concepts that are introduced that are criminally unexplored. It's also a bit of a let down that it's reviled that the Fairy King is real at the end of the book, which means there's this whole other world of Fairy folk and magic that will never be explored.

Effy was interesting. I enjoyed that she was an unreliable narrator, and I related to her anxiety. What I didn't enjoy was the clear prejudice she had, specifically the fact that she never had to truly confront it. The war going on was just there to serve as an explanation for why she treated Preston terribly. Her shitty behavior was just brushed off later on in the book, and it kinda pissed me off because that is a very real-world issue that people currently experience.

Preston was great. I like that he's a more bookish love interest instead of the usual mysteries asshole bad boy. I do think the synopsis was a little off labeling him and Effy as rivals. While they didn't instantly get along, they pretty quickly started working together. The one thing I didn't enjoy was the smoking. I hate the smell of cigarette smoke, so it really takes me out of the immersion of the book when a main character smokes.

I do really like that this book is about the exploitation of women and how women are treated in society. Usually, when people think of women being exploited, their minds usually go to their bodies being exploited. It unfortunately goes beyond that, with women throughout history and currently having their ideas and success stolen from them. Women have had to hide behind male pseudonym when publishing books, and any complements and praise for their work went to a man who didn't even exist. Women have also had their inventions and discoveries stolen, too. Their work would be brushed aside just for a man to use it years later without crediting the woman who found/made it.

Unfortunately, all the briefly touched on concepts kinda overshadowed the main message and plot of the book. Everything else was just grabbing my attention, and then I would be disappointed when it was never really mentioned again.

hi all!! once again begging this sub for a nice read.

i'm looking for ya only books whose world is fluffy/whimsical/magical that immerses me into its world. looking for contemporary fantasy but any fantasy is okay!

So I have recently kind of gone on a specific type of trope/theme binge. Middle East/Arabian retellings, fantasy or settings and have literally loved most of them so wanted to give some hype to these! (I’m going to list from favorite to least- but really enjoyed almost all of them)

1. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (4 books)

2. The Wrath & The Dawn by Reneé Ahdieh (duology)

3. This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi

(ongoing-5 books)

4. We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal (duology)

5. Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty

Just finished reading this, devoured it in a day. Surprisingly good read. Spooky magical, right up my alley. Anyone else read it yet?

hey everyone I’m new to ya/na genre, recently started reading cruel prince and fourth wing but frankly speaking neither seemed to hold my interest for too long. the characters lack charisma, the plot is kinda predictable and just in general these books seemed too shallow and superficial despite how much I like enemies to lovers trope and knew what I was getting myself into. another big issue for me was the fanfiction net writing style, like the speech was too primitive dunno how to explain properly

so, I’d be very glad to hear recommendations of enemies to lovers books that can actually hook a reader and have a speck of originality both in terms of characterization and author’s writing style, hope I am not asking for too much here haha 🙏🙏

(sorry for my English if anything, not my first language)

Hi guys, I'm (hopefully) starting teacher training in September, and my subject is English. However, I don't read YA, and I've realised that I have no contemporary YA book recommendations that I can give to the students. The fiction books that I read myself tend not to be age-appropriate, so I can't really recommend those. This is a secondary school in the UK, so we're talking about an age range of 11-16 (so any middle-grade book recommendations would also be great!).

I want books that cover a range of different genres and are ideally not set in the contemporary US. Thank you!

I'd prefer if it's fantasy but I'll also accept other genres

Hello,

My sister and I are looking forward to reading Children of Anguish and Anarchy (Tomi Adeyemi's third book in the Legacy of Orisha series) but we can't remember the first two books. We'd love to not have to reread the first two books - does anyone know of a good recap of the first two books so we can just jump into the third?

Thanks!

Has anyone else read or remember this series? I would consider them kinda fluffy and silly. Unlike everything else during the Twilight Craze, they were very lighthearted and less broody. Despite being a Vampire Love Story, it had themes of Gossip and Rumors, Bullying and Acceptance which is still very relevant now.

I honestly think it had/has HUGE potential for a TV Series at least.

What do you all think?

Basically what it says in the title. Bonus point if it’s enemies to lovers or if they’re on opposite sides.

Looking for Dark academia + romance + golden boy

Hello! I recently finished Alex Stern #2 ( Ninth House series ) and Im in for more dark academia readings. But i have some very particular tastes xd

It has to have some Romance ( like ninth house a tad more or equal )

Golde boy not a requisite but strongly desired. I know A deadly education has this so plz convince me :D

I love love interests like Darlington, Wemdel Bambleby from Emily Wilde and Rook from An Enchatment of Ravens.

It has to be a slow burn . It can be YA or NA bur i like morw thw tension than the act itself

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I've noticed recently that booktok seems to demand spices in every books they read, most of them are in YA section. Those explicit scenes don't really serve any purposes to the story as per the accepted genre's guidelines. Why is this happening? I've heard that female authors are de-aging their characters to be able to label them as YA. And it seems even funnier in the case of fantasy when their love interests are 200+ year olds. Since 50% of YA buyers are adults, why not label them as such already?

I accidentally spoiled myself who Sal's killer is (damn fricking google, you can't put that on the second line of a preview of a site! smh). The question is: Did I ruin myself all of the three books or does that trope end in the first one?

P.s. I currently finished the second part and i'm very much enjoying it apart from the spoiler, I just want to quantify the damage lol.

Pps. Please, please, PLEASE don't spoil anything, don't make me even more miserable. I'm asking here because I'm terrified of looking anything up on Google.

So, I'm what you might call a recovering Harry Potter fan. I still have a bit of a soft spot for the franchise, especially since it was the first fandom I was really part of as a kid, but I can't in good conscience enjoy it given the things that the author has said and done. If it were just a matter of finding a book that told a better story, I'd have done that a long time ago.

Truth be told, if I were to make a list of what I considered the greatest fantasy novel series of all time, Harry Potter wouldn't be on it, or at least it wouldn't be in the top ten. My favorite fantasy series ever, in fact, is The Dark Tower, by Stephen King. But, quality aside, there's a niche that Harry Potter fills that nothing else really does. That doesn't mean it's necessarily better than anything else, but it's different. And with the Harry Potter series now apparently taboo-- or at least now with more guilt attached to enjoying it than there was before-- I need something else that can fill that niche as closely as possible. You know, kind of like how an Impossible Burger replicates the taste and feel of a real hamburger.

What I'm ultimately looking for is a book, or preferably a series of books, that is what I call "self-insert-friendly." Specifically, I'm looking for four key criteria that should be met.

1. The setting should have a key appeal that exists independently of the main conflict, and which the reader can imagine themselves as part of. The two best examples of this I can think of are Harry Potter and, believe it or not, Pokémon.
2. The setting should feel "expandable", in such a way that there could be room for more adventures in it beyond the scope covered by the story itself, and more territory to the world of the story than what the plot focuses on
3. The setting should have some kind of "personalize-able element" through which the reader can identify themselves or express their personalities. To use the examples of the aforementioned franchises, Harry Potter has Hogwarts houses, Patronuses, and wand cores, while Pokémon has Starter Pokémon, favored Pokémon types, and the three Pokémon Go teams.
4. The setting should be somehow connected to the "real" world, or at least have the implication that it is something you, the reader, could experience. Kids who read the Harry Potter books fantasized about getting their own Hogwarts letter, for example.

One final note: Yes, I'm aware of the Percy Jackson series. No, I'm not interested in them. No disrespect meant to Rick Rioridan, but I simply can't stand his writing style. It has a sort of "early-2000s Disney Channel sitcom" cheesiness to it that grates on my every last nerve. So if you would please suggest something OTHER than those, that would be nice.

Even though I only read thrillers (which are supposed to make you feel scared), there are only two books that have made me genuinely scared. The only two are The Twin by Natasha Preston (which was kind of a low-effort book now that I look back on it, I still love it though), and The Reappearance Of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson (I finished it a few days ago, I liked it a lot). Are there books that have made you guys feel genuinely scared? They don’t have to be thrillers.

Does anyone know the difference between Faerie and Fairy?

I've been wondering for some time now and about why YA fantasy authors always choose faerie. Idk if its just another stylistic choice like how there are always Ys in peoples names, or something?

Like does "the fae" mean something specific or do authors make their own rules and bounds for it? I've seen some simalarites like not being able to lie, transforming, etc. But are there consistent rules or reason to go along with it or is it pure fantasy?

I got an ARC of The Merciless King of Moore High by Lily Sparks back in November. Since it’s officially out now, I thought I’d look it up and see what people were saying. I loved the post-apocalyptic setting, the courtly political drama, and the romances. But there weren’t any discussions and absolutely no fan art or anything that I could find.

It got me wondering what lesser-known books are out there that I might want to look into. What’s your favorite lesser-known book? What’s a recent release you’ve liked that didn’t get much attention?

I unintentionally do this especially with Jack's from Caraval Trilogy and aswel as OUABH. I know he's described blonde and all I even seen fanart of him, but I never really pictured him as blone I pictured him as the fox from zootopia as a human tho. I tried not to do it but once I read his character I always imagined him as that

I also did this with the character "The Ghost" from the cruel prince trilogy. I imagined him exactly like Mitsuki from Boruto

Anyone else have a habit of imagining characters with different physical appearance?

I read Caraval Trilogy and I have a habit of searching characters on Google so I can picture them better and I might have accidentally searched Dante since I loved his character and found out he was actually Legend whopsie

I just finished the cruel prince trilogy and Caraval Trilogy and I absolutely loved it. I never thought I would be into books this much. I finished a book and a half in one day, currently reading OUABH and I'm loving it so far

Does anyone have anymore book recs like these books? I would definitely want to give them a try

Hey, so I’m thinking about reading The Cruel Prince and starting the Folk of the Air series. Is it good? Is the romance cheesy? No spoilers please.

Idk it hits different when the characters in found family books are funny or at least when one of them is.

This book made me feel so seen in this aspect. As a kid, I didn't really know much about my home country but I never quite fit in in the U.S.. I was always reminded of how different I was even though I follow U.S. customs more than my home country's customs. Its needing that constant approval that I belong here and I deserve to be here, regardless of the cruel things done to me. Jude embodies these feelings so so well. Essentially, she went through all the things I did (with a fantasy aspect ofc). I never thought I would relate to a book in this aspect I was so surprised. I was wondering if others felt this way about Judes character. (BTW I read all the books)

Im currently in line on the Libby app for The Queen of Nothing, so my opinions of her might change after reading the book, but so far I hate her. She betrayed her sister for a piece of shit man, and then betrayed her again, yet Jude doesn't seem to do anything about it, she doesn't even stay angry at her.

Nearly every character in this book had done shitty terrible things to Jude. Cardan almost drowned her and has tormented her for years, but Cardan's treatment of her doesn't make me nearly as upset as Taryn's because Taryn is supposed to actually have loyalty to Jude. This is her own sister, the one who had been by her side since forever. They're the two humans in a world that despises them, and Jude was one of Taryns true allies yet she's willing to let Jude be played and made a joke of just to get with Locke.

In ways I'm also upset at Jude because she is such a strong character but when it comes to Taryn it's like she becomes a doormat. I know she had the sword duel with her, but soon afterwards they make up. The fact that they make up at all pissed me off because that seems like a bridge burning betrayal. Jude should not have any trust in Taryn and should not want anything to do with her yet she not only makes up with her, but also threatens Locke to treat her well and gets her a wedding gift. She does this just to get betrayed again by her at the end of The Wicked King (I honestly saw some kind of betrayal from her again coming a mile away).

I honestly don't see how anything could be done to change my opinion of Taryn and from the little I know of The Queen of Nothing, my opinion probably won't change.

SPOILER for ToG series ⚠️

I literally got 70 pages left of Heir of Fire and been so for probably 2 weeks now cause I can't get rid of my hatred of Rowan. I just don't understand how ANYONE could justify what he said to her - and did to her. What he said is what people with no layers say, one dimensional disgusting little pricks. As someone who's myself been through suicidal and dark thoughts in my past I can't ever wrap my mind around ever saying or doing what he did to anyone, especially since I know what it's like.

They say Rowan got a traumatic past but I think that should be even more reason why he'd never say and do any of what he did. I think his character goes against his actions and it bothers me. TikTok people also bothers me by them just brushing it away cause "he's so hot 🤪😍🥰", "he's just a lil precious guy 💞🥰", "he could tell me I'd be better of dead ANYDAY 😍🤪🥰" or something like that.

I think it's worse for the fact >!I know she's ending up with Rowan. It's making me even more mad to continue reading.!< I think Sam was the only one good for her but he's fucking dead and now I'm upset people thirsting over this dude who's just abusive. I don't understand how anything can justify this cause I think traumatic and tough past would just make you even less likely to ever want to say this to someone or do this to anyone..

For context: he hit Aelin multiple times making her bleed and bruise. Then he told her she's worthless and would be more useful if she died 10 years ago

It’s okay if it’s enemies to lovers, but that’s not necessary. Could be contemporary or fantasy.

Basically, I want the yearning and the we’re almost there and pretty much a couple already but noooo, I don’t like her/him (but please no death, iykyk)!

Thanks in advance!