Leigh Bardugo was born in Jerusalem, raised in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University. She lives in Hollywood and indulges her fondness for glamour, ghouls, and costuming in her other life as makeup artist L.B. Benson.
The Whispering Night (2024) (Luminaries, book 3) Susan Dennard "You'll want to get lost in the world of The Luminaries again and again."
Slow Dance (2024) Rainbow Rowell "Deeply human, profoundly romantic. Rowell tackles the challenges of love lost and rediscovered with nuance and candor. She will break your heart and you'll thank her for it."
Long Live Evil (2024) (Time of Iron, book 1) Sarah Rees Brennan "Audacious, and supremely satisfying, Long Live Evil is the chosen one we've been waiting for. It succeeds as both a brilliant meditation on the pleasures and perils of fiction, and a sweeping, romantic adventure in its own right. Get ready to laugh out loud, cry in public, and cheer on the villains as S.R. Brennan smashes through tropes with witty, wild glee in this delicious, subversive treat of a book."
When Among Crows (2024) (When Among Crows) Veronica Roth "Rich with myth and tapped into the deepest kinds of magic, Roth has created a deliciously strange, multi-layered mystery full of very human longing."
The Book of Love (2024) Kelly Link "An eldritch Our Town that somehow manages to be both epic and intimate. Link's language is nimble and startling and goes down so easy. You won't realize you're drunk on this story until it's too late and you're careening from the spectacularly weird to the wildly funny to an aching grief almost too familiar to bear. A dizzying dream ride you will never forget."
Sword Catcher (2023) (Chronicles of Castellane, book 1) Cassandra Clare "Clare plunges us into a thrilling world built with precision and brimming with enchantment. Her spellbinding cast of outlaws, healers, royals, and rogues will have you questioning your allegiances with every delicious turn of the plot. This is fantasy at its finest."
The Library of Broken Worlds (2023) Alaya Dawn Johnson "Mysterious, sweeping, wholly original, and anchored by an extraordinary heroine as wily as she is vulnerable. Johnson has crafted a story so immersive it will leave you drunk with visions of strange worlds and new gods, so compelling you'll be happy to drown in this dizzying, bloody brew of technology, lore, and world-shaking conflict."
Silver in the Bone (2023) (Silver in the Bone, book 1) Alexandra Bracken "Simmering with magic, peril, romance, and heartbreak. Bracken's stories plunge you into a world of legend and longing you will never want to leave."
Stars and Smoke (2023) (Stars and Smoke, book 1) Marie Lu "Sexy, funny, action-packed, full of killer characters ready to break your heart and look good doing it. Marie Lu always delivers."
Book of Night (2022) (Book of Night, book 1) Holly Black "Dark, strange, thick with mystery and twists - Book of Night is everything delicious and frightening I've come to expect from Holly Black. It's a story so believable in its magic, you'll be keeping one eye on your shadow as you turn the pages."
Ballad & Dagger (2022) (Outlaw Saints, book 1) Daniel José Older "Brimming with mystery, mayhem, and heart, Ballad Dagger gives us wondrous new magic steeped in deep traditions. It's a gorgeous romance, a wild adventure, and a powerful story that unravels not only the pain of diaspora, but the strength of community, and the ways we provide refuge for one another."
Goliath (2022) Tochi Onyebuchi "Onyebuchi sets fire to the boundary between fiction and reality...Riveting, disturbing and rendered in masterful detail."
Deathcaster (2019) (Shattered Realms , book 4) Cinda Williams Chima "Cinda Williams Chima's worlds bristle with magic, romance, and intrigue."
Tempests and Slaughter (2018) (Numair Chronicles, book 1) Tamora Pierce "Tamora Pierce didn't just blaze a trail. Her heroines cut a swath through the fantasy world with wit, strength, and savvy. Her stories still lead the vanguard today. Pierce is the real lioness, and we're all just running to keep pace."
Vassa in the Night (2016) Sarah Porter "A dark, thoroughly modern fairy tale cracking with cracking with wit and magical mayhem."
(b.1975)
