We’ve heard you loud and clear: w*iting p*tiently for the next House Andrews offering would be a lot easier if the Horde had new books to devour in the meantime.
Please help your fellow bookworms, and post your book recommendations and/or requests for book suggestions in the comments. Most people seems to be looking for escapism, comfort reads, cosy fun or feel-good fiction, so you may wish to focus on that.
First, a few guidelines! I knoooow, it’s so hard to be a pagethirsty Horde these days, so many rules, such meanie strict moderators. The heart bleeds :P. But this is the 4th or 5th installment of the recommendations thread, so we’ve learned the lessons on making it more efficient and accessible for all:
- Keep it Current:
We’re looking for relatively new reads—ideally nothing published more than a decade or so ago. We know the Horde is well-read on the classics, and we’ve had hundreds of comments for the perennial favorites like Tamora Price, Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey etc in the previous posts. Please let us know about something you’ve read more recently.
We want to make room for fresh finds and maximize discovery!
- One Recommendation Per Person:
Whether it’s a standalone book, a series, or a beloved author, please keep your comment to just one. It’s easier for everyone to read and make up their mind if they’re not overwhelmed by a wall of text mentioning all the Urban Fantasy authors ever.
If you’ve already +1 replied to someone who recommended your preference, please don’t start another thread for the same books or author.
CTR+F is a shortcut that allows you to quickly search a webpage for key words, if you want to check for previous mentions of your favourites. Here’s how to do the same thing on your mobile phone.
- Stay on Target:
If you’re replying to someone who made a specific request, please try to keep your recommendation tailored.
Steering a fellow Horde bookdevourer who wants to read cosy, feel-good LitRPGs towards gritty miliary sci-fi won’t help, as great as your intentions are. We love all genres, but should respect everyone’s comfort preferences. If OP mentions specific triggers they wish to avoid and you can’t remember whether your book rec contains them, please err on the side of caution.
- Suggestions for Ilona
Ilona is looking for a particular type of read, something similar to Kinsmen or Jayne Castle’s St. Helen series. It can be SF or present day. If you are looking for that type of read that’s more recent, Ilona recommends Jennifer Estep and Jessie Mihalik. They are both amazing, and she has read their entire backlist. If you are an author who would like to recommend your own book to Ilona, please label your comment with Author Recommendation.
Looking forward to your suggestions!
I recommend the Penric series by Lois McMaster Bujold. They are all around novella length. The characters are interesting, the fantasy setting is unique, and they all end well. The stories are all human scale, not world threatening stuff. My husband and brother also love them. The first book is Penric’s Demon.
I read the Penric series years and years ago and a friend just gifted me Penric’s Demon so I’ll be reading it again soon!
Lindsay Buroker has several series that are outstanding reads. My favorite is the series “Death before Dragons.” Try it, you’ll like ‘em.
That is one of her funniest series. I like the dwarf one set in the same world! Some good books.
My favourites are Emperor’s Edge and Dragon Blood (both high fantasy)
I Ran Away to Evil by Mystic Neptune! funny, cute, smart, cozy and nice and long yet well paced.
Since I can’t find it in the list: Will Wight, Cradle series. It was recommended on this blog a few years ago, thats how I found out about this series, I’ve been hooked ever since.
Roverpowered by Drew Hayes
Kindle Unlimited book about a girl trying to become an alchemist and her corgi familiar who might be hiding a cosmic level of power within his adorable fuzziness. Sequel comes out in December.
I really enjoyed Carrie Vaughn’s new historical fantasy romance, The Naturalist Society – pretty cozy, deals a lot with polar exploration and a sort of birdwatching based system of magic
A Conjuring of Ravens by Azalea Ellis, a series that’s still being written, and very interesting, first person POV throughout. Book five is coming out next year.
The (something) days, vampire nights by K. F. Breeze is unexpectedly excellent. It’s on Graphic Audio now, and the production is amazing!
The first is Born in Fire, then Raised in Fire, and so on. I can’t recommend it enough.
It’s hilarious and adventurous and packs a romantic wallop.
+1000! This is one of my all-time favorite series and a go-to comfort re-read (and re-listen as the GraphicAudio version is amazing!).
Para-Military Recruiter series by Renee Jagger and Michael Anderle. It is a paranormal series that has characters you fall in love with and a great world build. Lots of humor and action, a great mix of creatures from vampires to griffins and more.
they are great. I love them all.
Rebecca Ross is one of my new favorite authors.
I’m halfway through One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig, and it’s fascinating. Eerie (but not dark per se), intersting world-building, unreliable narrator
Just finished this duology and really enjoyed it!
Great duology!
I’ve been reading books by a collaboration of authors that write unter the name Zoe Chant. The books are about Shifters,but you can laugh, cry and more
For all of those who love writing written like a picture, I recommend Patricia McKillip‘s books. She writes stunningly fantasy fiction. Every paragraph is beautiful written and paints a whole word. The characters are complex and develop throughout the books. She has a strong female figures. She makes me read every sentence very consciously, although I am normally a quick reader.
In Series by Shannon Mayer
Sorry that didn’t spell check correctly. Nix Series by Shannon Mayer
So I know this is a strange recommendation, but if you want something just fun and unexpected try Dick Wybrow’s Kane series … the first one is Kane: A Humorous Supernatural Thriller (Wolfwere Series Book 1). I never thought I would like it as much as I did … I am currently on the last one and it is on Kindle Unlimited. Enjoy!!
Love Lindsey Buroker!! Just finished a re-listen of Star Kingdom- Casmir is one of my favorite characters!!
Plus 1. I enjoy so many of her books. Some really good space opera, urban fantasy and fantasy books.
+ 1 Love her Star Kingdom series! And if you’ve never read her Emperor’s Edge series you are missing out.
+1 Casmir! I enjoyed her Fallen Empire series also – Firefly and Star Wars vibes. It took me awhile to get into Star Kingdom but it just got better and better 🙂
The Dowser Series by Meghan Ciana Doidge.
This Series was suggested to me from a friend in the bookclub I was in after I nominated we read Magic Bites. She said she knew I’d love it after she read the entire Kate Daniel’s Series and she was right.
The Alice Worth series by Lisa Edmonds. She just released her 9th book in the series last week and it shot straight to Amazon’s #1.
Anything by Vanessa Nelson!
Yeah. Just found her. A bit wordy in setting the stage, but good stuff. Just read: A Usual Suspect.
I’m recommending a series: Midlife in Gretna Green,by Linzi Day. woman inherits property and a role from her grandmother. There is magic, multiple realms with different needs, and the narrative voice is pleasant. 7 books so far, with hopefully more to come.
In Plain Sight by Dan Willis
book one of an active series, he drops a new one at least once a year. think film noir meets Kate. Alex the main character is a Runewrite & PI in 1930s New York. Alchemist brew helpful options in shops all over town, the New York Six float their castles over the city. Will Alex solve the mystery in time or will his mouth ps of the wrong people.
Apologies if this is been mentioned.
G.A. Aiken’s (Shelly Laurenston), Dragon Kin series. Dragon Actually is the first. The dragons can shift into hot men with hot tempers who are very crabby and they occasionally go to war. They’re basically Scottish. The women are strong, stubborn, usually quite mad, and have both sharp tongues and swords. It’s good fantasy, great writing, and not terribly deep. A very decent amount of smut and battle is involved.
I loved that series. Really crazy characters especially the male dragons!
the audio books are also excellent!!
Hailey Edwards Black Hat Bureau
Witches and other paranormals in a team solving crimes. There are 10 in this series.
The Sennenwolf series by Capes.
Book #1 is West of Jaws.
Can’t recommend this book enough for its world building, revenge-seeking heroine (witch), male MC (wolf shifter w/a destiny + a mystery to solve), LGBTQIA rep.
I loved Quicksilver by Callie Hart. It’s the first in the Fae & Alchemy series. Spicy romantic fantasy with Fae, different realms, and a neat magic system.
+1 great book
Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis. SF first novella in a trilogy. A hint at romance. Very fast-paced but fun and I loved it. Gave me Rachel Bach and Contstance Fay vibes. Can’t wait for the next two!
If you are looking for comfort reads, I highly recommend Mindtouch by M.C.A. Hogarth. Some of her other series are hit or miss from me, but this was the first series I read featuring a queerplatonic relationship, so it has been always been near and dear to my heart. Although the series does touch on loss and death (and there is an on-page death scene so content warning for that), so much of their relationship is built up through the quiet, everyday moments of two people slowly growing closer to one another and trying to understand each other better, not only as fellow students of a xenopsychology program but also as rare members of different telepathic species. The work building is fascinating, as well.
I have only read the first two in the series because some reviewers have mentioned they were disappointed by the direction the author went with other relationships in the context of centering a queerplatonic relationship (and perceived representation of asexuality although the reality is more complicated), but I have been meaning to pick the series back up.
Also, a content warning for depictions of individuals, including children, with incurable medical conditions. The campus offers both mental healthcare and other forms of healthcare so the setting might be triggering to anyone dealing with a chronic or incurable condition or who has family members with one. The second is also set in the context of an epidemic with significant mortality and people trying to save lives and care for one another in the midst of that. I consider the second be more high-stakes and less slice-of-life than the first.
Books by June Hur – I started with “A crane among wolves” and then read her other books which I liked (but not as much as a crane among wolves), she writes historical korean mystery genre, with strong heroines and very litlle romance. I really liked it, and the book I recommended is inspired by real events that happened in Korea.
I already mentioned my latest avorite read, but I think I can post a rec for Ilona, who is looking for space opera as well? Like Ilona I’ve read Jessie Mihalik and Jennifer Estep. For that genre, I’d recommend Jessie Kwak. She has several series, but the Bulgari series is a good place to start (well it’s where I started, if I remember correctly). Very good mysteries woven in with the action and world building. Double Edged is the first. I really enjoy her work.
Happy Reading!
Kate Golden’s Sacred Stones Trilogy, starting with A Dawn of Onyx.
The second book, A Promise of Peridot, is currently a nominee for a GR Choice Award.
The 13th Paladin by Torsten Weitze
Forever Fantasy Online by Rachel Aaron
Rachel Aaron’s Tear Down Heaven seriesis a great read. Enjoyed reading the 2 books so far in her new series. Highly recommend.
Dark Rise by CS Pacat – the audiobook!*
It’s a gorgeously written fantasy that brings to mind LOTR and HP. It’s a very intense YA series that navigates some tough themes – light vs dark, redemption, and if we have the power to change who we are – and who we’re told we are.
I was very moved by it and can’t wait for book 3! It is MM, but romance is not the central theme, so I wouldn’t let that distract from what an amazing series this is. There is yearning, no spice.
* It’s narrated by Christian Coulson (actor of Tom Riddle in HP!) and he does a PHENOMENAL job!
Squeaking in under the 10-year limit for most of the 14-book series (the first book was published in 2013), The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series by Jodi Taylor is one of my favorites. The first book is Just One Damned Thing After Another.
Sassy British main character, time-travel (ish), great characters and lots of humor. I am not a fan of history, in general (worst subject in school), but I love this historical science fiction series.
+1 These books are great! I especially love Markham 🙂
+1
I just finished A Daughter of Fair Verona, by Christina Dodd; it was a fun and engaging read, starring the daughter of Romeo & Juliet (who actually didn’t die the way that ol’ Shakespeare guy claimed)
I am enjoying the book of Autumn Dawn right now. They have dragons, werewolves, goblins, and monsters oh my.
Who is the author?
I appears Autumn Dawn is the Author.
The Games God’s Play by Abigail Owen
Cursed as a baby by Zeus to be unloveable, Lyra Kyres has always been an outsider. Now she’s been chosen by Hades himself to be his champion in the Crucible, the deadly game between the gods that determines who will rule the gods for the next 100 years. If she wins she might be able to finally lift the curse, but what might she lose in the process?
I could not put this book down. It was f*cking fantastic.
+1
First Light by Elizabeth Hunter. First in a new world and new series. A fresh take on mythology with a great heroine — and dragons. It also has one of my favorite lines used to introduce the characters to a new world, “Do you believe in fairy tales?” I love everything that Elizabeth Hunter writes so I had high expectations for this book and I was not disappointed.
I really enjoyed The Last Watch (The Divide Series Book 1) by J. S. Dewes. First book is KU. Book 3 in the sci fi series just dropped today. I searched and didn’t see it here. Loved the MC and the premise is one I haven’t encountered before. I apologize if it has been recommended in previous posts. The blurb references The Expanse and The Games of Thrones but my enjoyment of it reminded me of S. K. Dunstall’s Linesman series.
Opps I meant Dunstall’s Stars Uncharted series not Linesman!
ooh! i didn’t know the 3rd book had come out. i like this series
It’s very specific, but for fluffy Korean-American romance, I absolutely adore Jayci Lee. She also has a new book out that’s modern-day mythology urban fantasy that I haven’t read yet, but fully intend to!
(Author recommendation)
My book, Liable To Bite, is what I call eco-futurist with werewolves. It’s set in a lightly-futuristic Los Angeles which has been rapidly rewilded for werewolf mental health reasons now that 10% of the global population has been “turned.” A single mom who’s been ignoring and repressing her new inner wolf suddenly finds she might need her heightened senses and ability to shift. Fortunately, the hot coworker at the marine insurance firm where she works isn’t just an insurance investigator…
Book one and a novella are available now. Books 2-4 should come out next year.
Can’t wait to dig into all these recommendations!
Kim Harrison’s The Hollows Series. I know it started more than 10 years ago, but she is still writing the series and the books just keep getting better. Here is the blurb about the first book in the series, Dead Witch Walking: All the creatures of the night gather in “the Hollows” of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party . . . and to feed.
Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining—and it’s Rachel Morgan’s job to keep that world civilized.
A bounty hunter and a witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she’ll bring ’em back alive, dead . . . or undead.
+1
Can’t ever forget the first, and the series keeps going, 16 so far, it’s Superhero SciFi to start, some cozy tucked in here and there.
The Black Swan Series, Victoria Danaan
My Familiar Stranger is first
Elora is my spirit animal
I have recently read The Left-handed Boolsellers of London by Garth Nix. First in a series, 2nd one out 3rd due in a year or so. Great author, lots of other books too.
Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey is the first book of 7 (in 2 series) – each is a 600+ pages but I breezed through all 7 in 2 weeks. Alternative world in which you will recognize equivalents of many empires, a courtesan trained in history, theology, politics, foreign languages, and spying, great palace intrigue, wars and exploration. It’s spicy (think sex as an actual official religion) but amazingly written.
I recommend the author Ivy Asher. I am currently reading her series The Osseous Chronicles which starts with The Bone Witch (published in 2020). It is a MF urban fantasy series that is an enemies to lovers slow burn with lots of plot and action. She has other books and series that I have enjoyed tremendously, but some of them are reverse harem/Why choose so be aware if that is not what you are looking for.
Jessie Mihalik has a great fee story up on her blog!
Leigh Bardugo. Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. I am deeply invested in all the characters, but my true love is Kaz Brekker.
Love Kaz!! I want more with him and Inej!
+1
Author: Amanda M. Lee – Multiple series