Breanna, Business and Education Sales Coordinator
Favorite Genres: Middle grade, anything fantasy (especially epic, the larger the better), YA (but mostly fantasy), stories based in mythology or fairy tales, witchy books
Favorite Authors: Robert Jordan, Samantha Shannon, Brandon Sanderson, Rick Riordan, Margaret Owen, Natalie Goldberg
After Luz’s brother is run out of Denver by a white mob, she receives visions of her ancestors’ origins. As she struggles to navigate life in 1930s Denver, she understands how her Indigenous Chicano family flourished and how they were threatened. Fajardo-Anstine crafts an incredible generational saga—poignant in its realism, tragic in its circumstance, and absolutely beautiful in its resiliency.
What an amazing matriarchal fantasy! Scorpica has it all—warrior women, mysterious sorcerers, an ancient power rising, and a devastating Drought of Girls. The writing is rich and complex, building the layered world and epic conflict as each woman contemplates the ends she will go to in order to leave her legacy in the Five Queendoms. If you want epic fantasy written by and about women, this is absolutely the one.
Would you go back in time, even if you knew the present wouldn’t change? In this novelization of a Japanese play, a particular seat in this cafe lets you do just that. But you can’t change the present, you can’t leave the cafe seat, and above all—you must return before the coffee gets cold. I was captivated by this beautiful story, a simple yet touching look at how we choose to live the life we are given.
Helen Lambert doesn’t believe that she is cursed, but that’s before the demon arrives and she dreams of past lives that eerily echo her own doomed love affair. In this life, finally, Helen may be able to break the curse—if she kill the one she loves. My heart broke repeatedly as I read this book, unable to put it down. This is an incredible blend of fantasy and historical fiction perfect for fans of A Secret History of Witches.
This book utterly consumed me. When I wasn't reading it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. In Norse myth, Angrboda is only mentioned briefly as the giantess who births Loki’s three monstrous children. In The Witch’s Heart, she becomes a powerful tragic figure: a witch who has altered the course of the world, a mother devoted to her children, a woman betrayed by her lover. I can’t put this in your hands fast enough.
Red’s only purpose in life is to be sacrificed to the Wolf of the Wilderwood, but from the moment she steps into the woods, everything she knows is completely wrong. Fraught with sharp words, dripping in shadows and blood, driven by the love of sisters, this book will consume you. Familiar fairy tale elements are twisted into a dark, brilliantly original tale reminiscent of The Hazel Wood and Uprooted. I’m dying for the sequel!
Inspired by Chinese myth, Xingyin is the secret daughter of the imprisoned moon goddess, Chang'e. Determined to free her mother, our bold and driven heroine sets off on epic quests through a full and beautiful fantasy world, finding a gentle prince and a badass, magic bow along the way. If you're like me and want more epic fantasy written by women, you must absolutely be swept up in this dazzling, gorgeous adventure.
Saoirse Island was shattered fourteen years ago when August Salt was accused of murdering Emery Blackwood’s best friend. Now he’s returned, and as he and Emery rekindle their love, a haunted past and dangerous present tangle as the island goes to any lengths to preserve its secrets. Fans of Addie LaRue, let yourself be drawn into this beautifully haunting saga that will steal the breath from your lungs.
The Stardust Thief is simultaneously a thrilling and dangerous quest for a magic relic and a beautiful, lyrical story about found family and inner demons. While reading, I was transported to the desert land filled with jinn magic and could not read fast enough. Inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, this is the kind of storytelling you’ll want to luxuriate in.
