books-to-add-to-your-tbr

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

Title: Teach the Torches to Burn

Author: Caleb Roehrig

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2023

Genres: fiction, romance, LGBT+, historical fiction, retelling, fantasy

Blurb: 17-year-old aspiring artist Romeo dreams of a quiet life with someone who loves him just as he is...but as the heir to the Montague family, he is expected to give up his womanly artistic pursuits and uphold the family honour, particularly in their centuries-old blood feud with rival family the Capulets. Worse still, he is also expected to marry a well-bred girl approved by his parents and produce heirs...but the more Romeo is forced to mingle with eligible maidens, the harder it is to keep his deepest secret: he only feels attracted to other boys. In an attempt to forget his troubles for just one night, Romeo joins his cousin in sneaking into a Capulet party. During a fateful encounter in the garden, he meets the kindest, most beautiful boy he's ever seen...and is shocked to learn he's Valentine, the younger brother of one of his closest friends. He's even more shocked to discover that Valentine is just as enamoured with Romeo as Romeo is with him. So begins a tender romance that the boys must hide from their families and friends, each of them longing for a world where they could be together without fear. As the conflict between the Montagues and Capulets escalates out of control, Romeo and Valentine find themselves in danger of losing each other forever...if not by society's scorn, then by the edge of a blade.

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

Title: Persephone: Hades' Torment

Author: Allison Shaw

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2021

Genres: fiction, graphic novel, romance, fantasy, mythology, retelling

Blurb: According to the ancient legend, the Lord of the Dead kidnapped the innocent daughter of Demeter...or did he? The truth is, Persephone is no damsel in distress, but a spirited young lady with an overbearing mother. A failed scheme by Apollo leads Persephone to a chance encounter with the mysterious and handsome Hades, who is struck by love's arrow. Now, Hades must wrestle with his aching heart before he loses total control of his feelings...but desire is raging inside Persephone herself.

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

Title: The Moonlight Blade

Author: Tessa Barbosa

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2023

Genres: fiction, fantasy, romance

Blurb: Narra Jal is one of the cursed, cast aside her whole life, considered unlucky...but with her mother's life on the line, she will return to the city where she was born to face the trials: a gruelling, bloodthirsty series of challenges designed to weed out the weak, the greedy, and the foolish. Trials to select the next ruler of Tigang. Narra has nothing. No weapons. No training. No magic. No real chance of leaving with her life. Just her fierce grit and a refusal to accept the destiny she's been handed. Even the intense, dark-eyed guardian she feels a strangely electric connection with cannot help her. Narra is on her own...but she'll show everyone what the unlucky can do. Let the bloodbath begin.

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

Title: Not for the Faint of Heart

Author: Lex Croucher

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2024

Genres: fiction, romance, fantasy, LGBT+, historical fiction, retelling

Blurb: Mariel, a newly-blooded and perpetually grumpy captain of the Merry Men, is desperate to live up to the legacy of her grandfather, the legendary Robin Hood. Clem, a too-perky backwoods healer known for her newfangled cures, just wants to help people. When Mariel's ramshackle band of bandits kidnap Clem as retribution for her guardian helping the Sheriff of Nottingham, all seems to be going (sort of) to plan...until Jack Hartley, Mariel's father and Commander of the Merry Men, is captured in a deadly ambush. Determined to prove herself, Mariel sets out to get him back with her annoyingly-cheerful kidnappee in tow, but the woods are at war. Many believe the Merry Men are no longer on the right side of history. Watching Clem tend the party's wounds and crack relentlessly terrible jokes, Mariel begins to doubt the noble cause to which she has devoted her life. As the two of them grow closer, forced by circumstances to share a single horse and bed, one thing is clear: they must prepare to fight for their lives, and for those of everyone they've sworn to protect.

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

Title: Lose You to Find Me

Author: Erik J. Brown

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2023

Genres: fiction, romance, LGBT+, contemporary

Blurb: Tommy Dees is in the weeds - restaurant speak for beyond overwhelmed. He's been working as a server at Sunset Estates retirement community to get the experience he needs to attend one of the best culinary schools in the world. To make his application shine, he also needs a letter of recommendation from his sadistic manager...but in exchange for the letter, Tommy has to meet three conditions, including training the new hire. What he doesn't expect is for the newbie to be an old crush: Gabe, with the dimples and kind heart, who Tommy fell for during summer camp at age ten and then never saw again. Unfortunately, Gabe doesn't remember Tommy at all. The training proves distracting as old feelings resurface, and the universe seems to be conspiring against them. With the application deadline looming and Gabe on his mind, Tommy is determined to keep it all together...but what if life isn't meant to follow a recipe?

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

Title: Home Is Where the Bodies Are

Author: Jeneva Rose

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2024

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

Blurb: After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm's length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn't been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before. While going through their parents' belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. Onscreen, their father appears, covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it before the video abruptly ends. Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past...or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.

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

Title: Even Though I Knew the End

Author: C.L. Polk

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2022

Genres: fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, LGBT+, mystery, romance

Blurb: An exiled auspex who sold her soul to save her brother's life is offered one last job before serving an eternity in hell. When she turns it down, her client sweetens the pot by offering up the one payment she can't resist: the chance to have a future where she grows old with the woman she loves. To succeed, she is given three days to track down the White City Vampire, Chicago's most notorious serial killer. If she fails, only hell and heartbreak await.

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

Title: What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

Author: Stephanie Foo

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2022

Genres: nonfiction, memoir, psychology, mental health, self help, biography, science

Blurb: By age thirty, Stephanie Foo is successful on paper. She has her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend...but behind her office door, she's having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what's wrong with herself, she is diagnosed with complex PTSD - a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years. Both of Foo's parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She'd thought she'd moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminates the way her past continues to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She finds limited resources to help her, so Foo sets out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD. In this deeply personal and thoroughly-researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don't move on from trauma...but you can learn to move with it.

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

Title: The Thorns Remain

Author: J.J.A. Harwood

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2023

Genres: fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, romance

Blurb: In a highland village forgotten by the world, harvest season is over, and the young who remain after war and flu have ravaged the village will soon head south to make something of themselves. Moira Jean and her friends head to the forest for a last night of laughter before parting ways. Moira Jean is being left behind. She had plans to leave once, but her lover died in France...and with him, her future. The friends light a fire, sing and dance...but with every twirl about the flames, strange new dancers thread between them, music streaming from the trees. The fae are here. Suddenly, Moira Jean finds herself all alone, her friends spirited away. The iron medal of her lost love, pinned to her dress, protected her from their magic. The fae feel forgotten, too. Led by the darkly-handsome lord of the fae, they are out to make themselves known once more. Moira Jean must enter into a bargain with the lord to save her friends...and fast, for the longer one spends with the fae, the less like themselves they are upon return. If Moira Jean cannot save her friends before Beltine, they will be lost forever.

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

Title: Grimmgard: Heirs of Destruction

Author: Todd Mika

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2024

Genres: fiction, fantasy, romance

Blurb: The sorceress Chasmira's very soul burns with the fires of Chaos. This ancient power makes her feared and hated wherever she goes, but it also makes her an invaluable tool for the Angelics that guide the destinies of kings and kingdoms in the world of Grimmgard. When an Angelic tries to kill her for failing a task, Chasmira decides she has had enough of being caught between the rage of warlords and the wrath of the divine. From now on, she will take her destiny into her own hands. To get what she has never had, she must do things she has never done...but is the Chaos within her destined to burn down everything she dares to hold dear?

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

Title: So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls (And Why We're Still So Obsessed With It)

Author: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2024

Genres: nonfiction, pop culture, film, history, feminism, sociology

Blurb: From the New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia comes the totally fetch story of one of the most iconic teen comedies of all time - Mean Girls. This book reveals how it happened, how it defined a generation, invented meme culture, and why it just won't go away, filled with exclusive interviews from the director, cast, and crew. Get in, loser - we're going back to 2004. It's been twenty years since Mean Girls hit theaters, winning over critics and audiences alike with its razor-sharp wit, star-making turns for its then-unknown cast, and obsessively quotable screenplay by Tina Fey. Fast forward two decades, and Mean Girls remains as relevant as ever. Arguably, no other movie from the 2000s has had as big of an impact on pop culture. Armstrong offers the first ever authoritative book about this beloved classic that shaped an entire generation.

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

Title: Venom

Author: Sajni Patel

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 2024

Genres: fiction, fantasy, mythology, retelling, romance

Blurb: 16-year-old Manisha is no stranger to monsters. She's been running from them for years - from beasts who roam the jungle to the king's army, who forced her people, the naga, to scatter to the ends of the Earth. You might think that the kingdom's famed holy temples atop the floating mountains, where Manisha is now a priestess, would be safe...but you would be wrong. 17-year-old Pratyush is a famed slayer of monsters, one of the king's most prized warriors, and a frequent visitor to the floating temples. For every monster the slayer kills, years are added to his life. You might think such a powerful warrior could do whatever he wants, but true power lies with the king. Tired after years of fighting, Pratyush wants nothing more than a peaceful, respectable life. When Pratyush and Manisha meet, each sees in the other the possibility to chart a new path. Unfortunately, the kingdom's powerful have other plans. A temple visitor sexually assaults Manisha and pushes her off the mountain into a pit of vipers. A month later, the king sends Pratyush off to kill one last monster - a powerful nagin who has been turning men to stone - before he'll consider granting his freedom...except Manisha doesn't die, despite the hundreds of snake bites covering her body and the venom running through her veins. She rises from the pit more powerful than ever before, with heightened senses, armour-like skin, and blood that can turn people to stone. Pratyush doesn't know it, but the "monster" he's been sent to kill is none other than the girl he wants to marry.

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

Title: Backhanded Compliments

Author: Katie Chandler

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2025

Genres: fiction, romance, LGBT+, contemporary, sports, fantasy

Blurb: Juliette Ricci dreams of only one thing: being the best women's tennis player in the world. She's worked nonstop with her strict father/coach to prepare for her big chance in the Australian Open...unfortunately, she'll be playing Lucky Luca Kacic, an aloof player whose unorthodox style and reigning popularity deeply irritate Juliette. For months, they've traded sly insults in their press conferences leading up to their showdown on the court, and their first-ever match is the most anticipated of the season...but Juliette refuses to let her nerves - or Luca's annoyingly-perfect abs - get the best of her. Meanwhile, Luca seemingly has everything Juliette desires, but there's one thing missing from her life: love. When she shakes hands with Juliette after an agonising match and sees her rival's name appear on her wrist, it feels like a cruel joke. Juliette is a spoiled, arrogant brat who wants absolutely nothing to do with Luca or a soulmate...but despite their personal and professional clashes, the two grow closer after late-night massages and one too many shots of limoncello. Their chemistry is tangible, but Luca's anxiety tells her that Juliette is just messing with her head to throw her off her game, and Juliette can't understand why Luca is so hot and cold. With the pressure of the world scrutinising their every move, they will have to decide what's more important: being together, or being number one.

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

Title: Salvación

Author: Sandra Proudman

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2025

Genres: fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, retelling, magical realism, romance

Blurb: Lola de La Peña yearns to be free from the societal expectations of a young Mexican lady of her station. She spends her days pretending to be delicate and proper while watching her mamá cure the sick and injured with sal negra, a recently-discovered magic that heals even the most mortal of sicknesses and wounds...but by night, she is Salvación, the free-spirited lady vigilante protecting the town of Coloma from those who threaten its peace and safety among the rising tension in Alta California after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. One night, a woman races into Coloma, barely alive, to tell the horrifying tale of how her town was obliterated by sal roja, a potent, deadly magic capable of destroying anything it comes into contact with, and the man who wields it: Damien Hernández. When Hernández arrives the next day with a party of fifty strong and promises of returning Alta California to México, Lola knows it's only a matter of time before he brings the region under his rule. All Hernández needs is the next full moon and the stolen, ancient amulet he carries to mine enough sal roja to conquer the land. Determined to protect everything she loves, Lola races against time as Salvación to stop his plans. What she didn't count on was the distracting and infuriating Alejandro, who travels with Hernández but doesn't seem to share his ambitions. With the stakes higher than ever and Hernández getting closer to his goals, Lola will do anything to foil his plans, even teaming up with Alejandro - who she doesn't fully trust, but can't help falling in love with.

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

Title: Emily Wilde

Author: Heather Fawcett

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 2023

Genres: fiction, fantasy, romance, historical fiction

Blurb: Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: she is the foremost expert on the study of faeries; she is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore; but Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party, or even get invited to one. She prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk...so when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk, nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her. But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones - the most elusive of all faeries - lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all: her own heart.

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

Title: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

Author: V.E. Schwab

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2025

Genres: fiction, fantasy, horror, LGBT+, paranormal

Blurb: This is a story about hunger. 1532, Santo Domingo de la Calzada. A young girl grows up wild and wily - her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize or a pawn in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets. This is a story about love. 1827, London. A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family's estate...until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte's tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow...but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined. This is a story about rage. 2019, Boston. College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That's why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind...but after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers and revenge. This is a story about life...how it ends, and how it starts.

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

Title: Permanent Record

Author: Mary H.K. Choi

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2019

Genres: fiction, romance, contemporary, coming of age, mental health

Blurb: After a year of college, Pablo is working at his local 24-hour deli, selling overpriced snacks to brownstone yuppies. He's dodging calls from the student loan office, and he has no idea what his next move is. Leanna Smart's life so far has been nothing but success. Age eight: Disney Mouseketeer; age fifteen: first #1 single on the US pop chart; age seventeen: tenth #1 single; now, at age nineteen...life is a queasy blur of private planes, weird hotel rooms, and strangers asking for selfies on the street. When Leanna and Pab randomly meet at 4:00 a.m. in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn, they both know they can't be together forever. So they keep things on the down-low and off Instagram for as long as they can...but it takes about three seconds before the world finds out.