Author: Ellen Zielinski Whitfield

Welcome to the best season, awards! We’re celebrating by picking some of our favorite Golden Globes nominees to match with book recommendations!

If you loved Dune 2, read A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine: 

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor has died. No one will admit that his death wasn’t an accident–or that Mahit might be next to die during a time of political instability. Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan’s unceasing expansion–all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret.

If you loved A Complete Unknown, read Just Kids by Patti Smith:

It was the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation. Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. In 1969, the pair set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community of the famous and infamous, the influential artists of the day and the colorful fringe. 

If you loved Challengers, read Intercepted by Alexa Martin:

When Marlee Harper discovers her NFL-star boyfriend has been tackling other women on the sly, she vows to never date an athlete again. But Gavin Pope, the new hotshot quarterback and a fling from the past, has Marlee in his sights. Gavin fights to show Marlee he’s nothing like her ex. But the team’s wives are not happy with Marlee’s return. They have only one thing on their minds: taking her down. 

If you loved True Detective: Night Country, read The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones: 

Four American Indian men and their families are all haunted by a disturbing, deadly event that took place in their youth. Years later, they find themselves tracked by an entity bent on revenge, totally helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.

If you loved Slow Horses, read Case Histories by Kate Atkinson: 

Case one: A little girl goes missing in the night.

Case two: A beautiful young office worker falls victim to a maniac’s apparently random attack.

Case three: A new mother finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making – with a very needy baby and a very demanding husband – until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.

Thirty years after the first incident, as private investigator Jackson Brodie begins investigating all three cases, startling connections and discoveries emerge . . .

If you loved I’m Still Here, read Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hasimi: 

Ten-year-old Sitara’s world is shattered when communists in Kabul stage a coup, assassinating her entire family. Sitara finds her way to the home of a female American diplomat, who adopts her and raises her in America, where she takes on a new name–Aryana Shepherd–and throws herself into her studies, eventually becoming a renowned surgeon. Thirty years later, an elderly patient appears in her examination room–the soldier who saved her. Seeing him awakens Aryana’s fury and desire for answers–and, perhaps, revenge. 

If you loved The Substance, read Rouge by Mona Awad:

Belle is obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When a strange woman in red appears at her mother’s funeral, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror–and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.

If you loved Conclave, read The Confessor by Daniel Silva:

In Munich, a Jewish scholar is assassinated. In Venice, Mossad agent and art restorer Gabriel Allon receives the news, puts down his brushes, and leaves immediately. And at the Vatican, the new pope vows to uncover the truth about the church’s response to the Holocaust–while a powerful cardinal plots his next move. 

If you loved Nickel Boys, read James by Percival Everett:

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide nearby until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father. Thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River. And here, Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

January 2 is national science fiction day, and I want to use it as an excuse to get people into one of my favorite genres! Whether you’ve never read a sci-fi book before, you’ve dabbled but not really explored the genre, or you’re an expert who is looking for your next favorite read, I have a recommendation for you.

Beginner: All of these are fairly short (two are just novellas!) and there’s nothing too mind-bending in them.

• The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi: Jamie Gray, a food delivery driver, signs on for a gig at a mysterious “animal rights organization,” but is surprised to learn that they are massive dinosaur-like creatures in an alternate dimension. 

• To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers: A team of astronaut explorers are hard at work to ecologically survey four habitable worlds fifteen light years from Earth. 

• Binti by Nnedi Okorafor: Binti is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Intermediate: If you feel like you’ve gotten your feet under you, try one of these books that are a bit more complicated.

• The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson: Multiverse travel is finally possible, but no one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying–from disease, turf wars, or vendettas they couldn’t outrun. Cara’s life has been cut short on 372 worlds in total. But trouble finds Cara when one of her eight remaining doppelgängers dies under mysterious circumstances, plunging her into a new world with an old secret.

• Dawn by Octavia E. Butler: When Lilith lyapo wakes from a centuries-long sleep, she finds herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankal, a seemingly benevolent alien race that intervened in the fate of humanity. After learning all they could about Earth and its beings, the Oankali healed the planet, cured cancer, increased human strength, and they now want Lilith to lead her people back to Earth–but salvation comes at a price.
• The Martian by Andy Weir: After a dust storm on Mars nearly kills astronaut Mark Watney and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive–and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills–and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit–he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. 

Expert: Ready for a challenge? Try one of these books, where things get more advanced.

• The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu: Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. 

• Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee: When Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for her unconventional tactics, Kel Command gives her a chance to redeem herself, by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles from the heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake: if the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next. Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress. The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own.

• Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi: Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbor’s son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that haven’t happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles burned around them, wants to protect his sister from a power that could destroy her. But when Kev is incarcerated, Ella must decide what it means to watch her brother suffer while holding the ability to wreck cities in her hands.

I love a long book — so many characters to get to know, and so much time to relax and enjoy where the story is going to take me — but it can seem hard to get into a behemoth when I’m short on time. Which is most of the year. Luckily, I have a bit more downtime at the end of December, so I’m looking forward to trying a long tome or two this season, wish me luck! Here are some of my recommendations for epic stories to lose yourself in during the holidays, or next time you find yourself itching for something 600+ pages:

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Ailey Pearl Garfield is reared in the north in the City but spends summers in the small Georgia town of Chicasetta, where her mother’s family has lived since their ancestors arrived from Africa in bondage. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that’s made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women — her mother, Belle, her sister, Lydia, and a maternal line reaching back two centuries — that urge Ailey to succeed in their stead.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove as four former, aging Texas Rangers undergo a cattle drive from southern Texas to unsettled Montana in the latter half of the 1800s.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo, and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration.

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

On Dec. 3, 1976, just before the Jamaican general election and two days before Bob Marley was to play to ease political tensions in Kingston, seven gunmen stormed the singer’s house. The attack wounded Marley, his wife, and his manager, and injured several others. James deftly chronicles the lives of a host of unforgettable characters — gunmen, drug dealers, one-night stands, CIA agents, even ghosts — over the course of 30 years as they roam the streets of 1970s Kingston, dominate the crack houses of 1980s New York, and ultimately reemerge into the radically altered Jamaica of the 1990s. 

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Jean Valjean, a former convict, is released from prison in 19th-century France after serving a long sentence for stealing a loaf of bread. In his subsequent struggle to create a new life, he is relentlessly pursued by the morally rigid police inspector Javert. Valjean encounters Fantine, a struggling single mother, and Marius, a young revolutionary, while trying to protect his adopted daughter, Cosette, from the clutches of the exploitative Thenardiers.

Shōgun by James Clavell

After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen: Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is 17th-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. 

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

A portrait of a beautiful and intelligent woman whose passionate love for a handsome officer sweeps aside all other ties — to her marriage and to the network of relationships and moral values that bind the society around her. The love affair of Anna and Vronsky is played out alongside the developing romance of Kitty and Levin, and in the character of Levin, the search for happiness takes on a deeper philosophical significance.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England, until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and becomes an overnight celebrity. Another practicing magician then emerges: the young and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell’s pupil, and the two join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wild, most perilous forms of magic, and he soon risks sacrificing his partnership with Norrell and everything else he holds dear.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction — but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel. Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Jake Epping, a 35-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, makes extra money teaching GED classes. He asks his students to write about an event that changed their lives, and one essay blows him away: a gruesome, harrowing story about the night more than 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a sledgehammer. Reading the essay is a watershed moment for Jake, his life — like Harry’s, like America’s in 1963 — turning on a dime. Not much later his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: His storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession — to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in a different world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere. From the dank little city of Derry, Maine (where there’s Dunning business to conduct), to the warmhearted small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love, every turn is leading eventually, of course, to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, is a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known. Tom is the mason who becomes his architect — a man divided in his soul. The beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena is haunted by a secret shame. The story of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state and brother against brother.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo. A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84. Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo becomes so wrapped up with a ghostwriting project and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled. As their narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space. But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain. Five thousand years later, their progeny — seven distinct races now three billion strong — embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.

Middlemarch by George Eliot

In a 19th-century Midlands town in the midst of sweeping change, the proposed Reform Bill, the new railroads, and scientific advances are threatening upheaval on every front. Against this backdrop, the quiet drama of ordinary lives plays out — until the arrival of two outsiders further disrupts the town’s equilibrium. 

I don’t know if anyone is as excited about the release of Wicked soon, so obviously we put together some book recommendations for other people who are invested in the first installment.

For the Elphaba fans, we recommend A Feather So Black by Lyra Selene: 

In a kingdom where magic has been lost, Fia is a rare changeling, taken in by the queen and trained to be a spy. Fia is tasked by the queen to retrieve the princess, Eala, stolen by the wicked Fair Folk. Accompanying Fia is Prince Rogan, her dearest childhood friend — and Eala’s betrothed. Fia’s mission is complicated by her feelings for Rogan…and an unexpected attraction to the fae lord holding Eala captive.

For the Glinda/Galinda fans, we recommend The Grace Year by Kim Liggett:

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden. In Garner County, girls are banished for their sixteenth year to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. Tierney James dreams of a better life — but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that there’s more to fear than the brutal elements and the poachers in the woods.

For the Fiyero fans, we recommend A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown:

When a vengeful spirit abducts Malik’s younger sister, Nadia, he strikes a fatal deal — kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia’s freedom. But Karina’s mother has been assassinated and her court threatens mutiny. She decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic … requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of a competition. When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a heart-pounding course to destroy each other. 

For the Wizard fans, we recommend Jade City by Fonda Lee:

Jade is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. It has been mined, traded, stolen, and killed for — and for centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their magical abilities and defend the island from foreign invasion. When a powerful new drug emerges that lets anyone — even foreigners — wield jade, simmering tension erupts into open violence. 

For the Madame Morrible fans, we recommend A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness:

Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.

For the Nessarose fans, we recommend Once Upon A Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber:

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings … until she learns that the love of her life will marry another. Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic, but wicked, Prince of Hearts. But she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game — and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. 

For the Boq fans, we recommend A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer:

Rumors circulate that Prince Rhen of Emberfall is not a true heir and that forbidden magic has been unleashed in Emberfall. And his guardsman Grey is missing, leaving more questions than answers. Grey doesn’t want anyone to know his secret. On the run since he destroyed Lilith, he has no desire to challenge Rhen — until Karis Luran once again threatens to take Emberfall by force. 

For the Doctor Dillamond fans, we recommend Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend:

Morrigan Crow has been invited to join the prestigious Wundrous Society, but someone is blackmailing Morrigan’s unit, turning her last few loyal friends against her. Worst of all, people have started to go missing. The fantastical city of Nevermoor, once a place of magic and safety, is now riddled with fear and suspicion.

 

Oh the weather outside is (finally) cooler, and it’s time to settle in with your favorite Halloween movie. There are so many great ones to choose from, and we have paired books that share the same vibe with some crowd favorites so you can keep those spooky vibes going!

If you love Halloween, try My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Jade Daniels is an angry, half-Indian outcast with an abusive father, an absent mother, and an entire town that wants nothing to do with her. She lives in her own world, a world in which protection comes from an unusual source: horror movies. And Jade narrates the quirky history of Proofrock as if it is one of those movies where a masked killer seeks revenge on a world that wronged them. But when blood actually starts to spill into the waters of Indian Lake, she pulls us into her dizzying, encyclopedic mind of blood and masked murderers, and predicts exactly how the plot will unfold.

If you love Beetlejuice, try Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

In 1977, four teenagers and a dog solved the mystery of Sleepy Lake. The trail of an amphibian monster terrorizing the quiet town of Blyton Hills leads the gang to spend a night in Deboën Mansion and apprehend a familiar culprit: a bitter old man in a mask. Now, in 1990, the twenty-something former teen detectives are lost souls. Plagued by night terrors and Peter’s tragic death, the three survivors have been running from their demons. When the man they apprehended makes parole, Andy tracks him down to confirm what she’s always known–they got the wrong guy. Now they’ll  return to Blyton Hills to find out what really happened in 1977.

If you love Halloweentown, try Witchlings by Claribel A. Ortega

Every year, in the magical town of Ravenskill, Witchlings are placed into covens and come into their powers as full-fledged witches. But on the night of the ceremony, twelve-year-old Seven Salazar isn’t placed in one of the five covens. She’s a Spare! Spare covens are less powerful, and are looked down on by everyone. Even worse, when Seven and the other two Spares perform the magic circle, it doesn’t work! They’re stuck as Witchlings — and will never be able to perform powerful magic.The three Spares will be assigned an impossible task: If they work together and succeed at it, their coven will be sealed and they’ll gain their full powers. If they fail… Well, the last coven to make the attempt ended up being turned into toads. Forever.

If you love Hocus Pocus, try The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children. Lexi has heard this all her life. But when the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, a mysterious boy who seems to fade like smoke falls under suspicion. As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

If you love The Craft, try Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis

Katrell wishes talking to the dead made more money. She’s been able to support her unemployed mother so far, but it isn’t enough. And to complicate things, Katrell has started to draw attention — from beyond. And it comes with a warning: STOP, or there will be consequences. Katrell is willing to call the ghosts on their bluff, but when her next summoning accidentally raises someone from the dead, Katrell realizes that a live body is worth a lot more than a dead apparition. And she has no intention of letting this lucrative new business go.

If you love Casper, try Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. However, he actually summons Julian Diaz, who is determined to find out what happened. And the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.

If you love Scream, try The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized — someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again.

If you love Practical Magic, try Weyward by Emilia Hart

2019: Kate flees an abusive partner in London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great-aunt she barely remembers. But she suspects that her great-aunt had a secret that lurks in the bones of the cottage.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death. When Altha was a girl, her mother taught her their magic, a kind rooted in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet longs for the robust education her brother receives — and for her mother, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

If you love The Addams Family, try We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

A peculiar girl named Merricat guards her the dark secret of her perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family when a cousin arrives at their estate. 

If you love Nightmare Before Christmas, try The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick 

Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo’s undercover life and his most precious secret are put in jeopardy. 

Happy Mean Girls day, one and all. Every year on Oct. 3, we come together to celebrate the most important of holidays, brought to you by Lindsay Lohan’s glorious comeback and Renee Rapp’s unearthly pipes. And you know we’re gonna celebrate with a list of book recommendations.

If you like the backstabbing cliques, try The Ivies by Alexa Donne: 

The Ivies are five girls with the same mission: to get into the Ivy League by any means necessary. I would know. I’m one of them. We disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, and academic competitions…among other things. We improve our own odds by decreasing the fortunes of others. Because hyper-elite competitive college admissions is serious business. And in some cases, it’s deadly.

If you like a high schooler starting over somewhere new, try A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey: 

For Lila Reyes, a summer in England was never part of the plan. But after things fall apart, her parents send her to England to reset. But with the lack of sun, a grumpy inn cook, and a small town lacking Miami flavor (both in food and otherwise), what would be a dream trip for some feels more like a nightmare to Lila.

If you like a revenge plot, try Queen Bee by Amalie Howard

Lady Ela Dalvi’s life was forever changed when her best friend, Poppy, betrayed her. She was sent away in disgrace, her reputation ruined. Nearly three years later, 18-year-old Ela is consumed with a desire for revenge. Her enemy is quickly joining the crème de la crème of high society while she withers away in the English countryside. With an audacious plan to get even, Ela disguises herself as a mysterious heiress and infiltrates London’s elite. 

If you like school-themed drama, try Come and Get It by Kiley Reed:

It’s 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. But Millie’s starry-eyed hustle becomes jeopardized by odd new friends, vengeful dorm pranks, and illicit intrigue.

If you like watching a young girl discover who she really is (and prom!), try You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson

Liz Lighty has always believed she’s too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it’s okay — Liz has a plan that will get her out of Indiana, forever: attend an uber-elite college, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor. But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz’s plans come crashing down … until she’s reminded of her school’s scholarship for prom king and queen. 

If you like a look at the classic American high school experience, try The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe

Norris Kaplan, a Black French Canadian, is plunked into a new high school and sweating a ridiculous amount from the oppressive Texas heat. He finds himself cataloging everyone he meets: the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Loners, and even the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Yet against all odds, those labels soon become actual people to Norris. But the night of the prom, Norris screws everything up royally. 

If you like when the nerdy girl gets the popular guy, try Geekerella by Ashley Poston

When geek girl Elle Wittimer sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? A meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons — before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but Darien feels more and more like a fake — until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

If you like the drama from anonymous gossip in the burn book, try Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney

Quinn keeps lists of everything — from the days she’s ugly cried, to “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud” and all the boys she’d like to kiss. Then an anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. 

I feel like there are more good movies coming out this fall than there have been in quite some time, or maybe I’m just paying more attention lately! If one of these new releases caught your eye and you’re looking for a book with the same vibe, we have a list for you! And keep an eye out for part 2 soon!

If you’re interested in The Substance (a fading celebrity decides to use a black market drug to temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself unknowingly giving herself horrifying side effects), try Rouge by Mona Awad: When a strange woman appears at the funeral of Belle’s estranged mother, she is offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. Soon, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. 

If you’re interested in His Three Daughters (three estranged sisters converge in a New York apartment to care for their ailing father and try to mend their own broken relationship with one another), try Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors: The three Blue sisters are exceptionally different. A year ago, the unexpected death of their fourth sister, Nicky, left Avery, Bonnie and Lucky reeling. As they each navigate grief, addiction, and ambition, they find they must return to New York to stop the sale of the apartment they were raised in.

If you’re interested in Long Gone Heroes (a special forces soldier who has given up country, religion, and even hope, must return to the field of battle to track down his niece, a reporter, caught in the middle of an illegal private contracting operation that went dead wrong), try The Investigator by John Sanford: Letty, a recent Stanford grad and adopted daughter of a famed detective, is partnered with a DHS investigator to investigate thefts of crude oil in Texas that might have ties to a violent militia group.

If you’re interested in Killer Heat  (after a mysterious death, a wounded detective investigates a dangerous love triangle on an isolated Greek island), try Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor: In the shadow of extravagant parties, predatory business deals and calculated political influence, three lives become dangerously intertwined: Ajay is the watchful servant, born into poverty, who rises through the family’s ranks. Sunny is the playboy heir who dreams of outshining his father, whatever the cost. And Neda is the curious journalist caught between morality and desire. 

If you’re interested in Lee (the story of American photographer Lee Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II), try Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon: Nancy Wake, an Australian expat has a reporting job and is in love with a wealthy French industrialist, but when the Germans invade France, she finds that she has a remarkable ability to smuggle people and documents across the border. 

If you’re interested in The Wild Robot (an intelligent robot stranded on an uninhabited island must bond with the island’s animals and care for an orphaned baby goose), try A Psalm For the Wild Built by Becky Chambers: It’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and wandered into the wilderness. Until the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. 

If you’re interested in Will and Harper (Will Ferrell and his close friend of 30 years decide to go on a cross-country road trip after she tells him about her transition), try Horse Barbie by Geena Rocero: By 17, Geena Rocero was the Philippines’ highest-earning trans pageant queen. But when she moved to the U.S., Geena hid her trans identity in order to survive. She craved acceptance as her authentic self yet had to remain vigilant in order to protect her dream career. 

If you’re interested in Rez Ball (a Native American high school basketball team from New Mexico must band together after losing their star player), try Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley: As greedy grave robbers seek to profit off of what belongs to her Anishinaabe tribe and  Indigenous women go missing, Perry Firekeeper-Birch, the troublemaker, has no choice but to uncover the mystery.

If you’re interested in We Live In Time (a chance encounter brings a chef and a recent divorcée together in a decade-spanning romance), try From Scratch: : A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke: It was love at first sight when actress Tembi met professional chef, Saro, on a street in Florence. Saro’s traditional Sicilian family did not approve of his marrying a black American woman. But the couple built a happy life in Los Angeles, and reconciled with Saro’s family just as he faced a formidable cancer that would consume all their dreams.