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!
Penric and Desdemona series by Lois McMaster Bujold
I enjoyed the alternate history with dragons called To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose.
Cat Rambo – You Sexy Thing
I found this so much sadder and more violent than the blurb and marketing prepared me for…
At first glance, the Unselected Journals of Emma Lion series by Beth Brower wouldn’t seem to have much in common with Ilona Andrews’ novels – they’re epistolary novels about a twenty year old girl who moves to London to reclaim her family home and the friends and adventures she gets into there. But they share a heart with Kate Daniels – Emma’s wit and the hilarious way she views the world and the found family she makes along the way (as well as the slow burn romance) are enchanting, and the books are ultimately about a good person trying to do her best in a funny and sometimes unfair world. They’re like if Gilmore Girls was mixed with Jane Austen with a dash of Kate Daniels’ wit and found family. I’m not doing them justice but they are so cozy and charming and oozing with comfort and hilarity. I highly recommend them. Here’s a far more eloquent review that initially convinced me: http://www.angie-ville.com/2020/04/review-unselected-journals-of-emma-m.html?m=1
They’re the only thing getting me through the wait for Wilmington 3/iron and magic 2/maggie and really deserve a broader readership so I hope somebody gives them a try!
+1 (times infinity) I’m so excited for vol 8 in December.
I am a big fan of the Saga of Recluse, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr., who has just released vol. 24 of the series. If you read them in the order released, they bounce back and forth all over the timeline. But the author has put together a chronological list on his website. I have just finished reading these in order (except for the last two books that will be published, which ironically are books 2 and 3 if going by the chronological order). Anyway, it’s an alternate, magical universe, strong characters and particularly interesting to read in chronological order.
I am just rereading these after the latest volume was delivered. Great series and really indepth break down of characters. I prefer them in chronological order and the ones set in the earliest times I find the most satisfying. I am also reading his Imager portfolio for the 3rd or 4th time and I can highly recommend that too.
I love Michelle Sagara’s (also writes as Michelle West) Cast series!
I adore her Elantra series (Cast in Shadows is book one). I wish i could continue the series but i lost focus after book 14 i think, although maybe i will reread them or listen to them when they are no longer fresh. I just love Kaylin and Severn. Very well developed and extremely slow burn. The police procedural aspect is phenomenal and so are the fantasy characters and aspects of the books.
The spell shop by Sarah Beth Durst. I guess I would classify it as a cozy fantasy. Feel good, HEA, interesting world…
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. the Liad universe beginning with Agent of Change. Go Korval!
+
The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope.
Historical fantasy/magical heist set in prohibition-era Black Washington.
If Ilona liked the St. Helen’s series and hasn’t read the Harmony series, I would recommend that. Still by Jayne Castle. Similar in style, I would maybe say the St. Helen series is kind of a precursor to the Harmony? I just looked it up and it’s actually 3 series (Ghost Hunters/ Harmony/ Rainshadow), but they seem like they’re all the together (same world). 🤗
+1 Also I wrote later on that she has a new series out as well but set in this world. I like the Rainshadow Island series the best.
Michelle Diener.
By far the best Sci FI books I have read.
Check her Verdant string series and the Dark series
The Unconventional Heroes Series by L.G. Estrella
Try Vanessa Nelson – a Scottish writer. Magic, wizardry, dragons – what not to like.
+1 liked the first 5 books of any of her series.
I highly recommend Megan Bannen’s The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy. It’s a warm fantasy novel that has falling in love over anonymous letters, enemies to lovers, family drama, an interesting magic system, mystery and conspiracy.
It’s a standalone novel but there are books that take place after the events of this novel (one is out, the other is not yet released). Reading this book put a smile on my face and left me with a nice warm feeling 🙂 Enjoy!
For Sci-Fi, I really love TA White’s Firebird Chronicles. There’s like 5 of them so far.
I second this – it really scratched my Ilona Andrews itch. A heroine in hiding coming into her powers and birthright while finding and building a new family, with hilarious banter and lovable characters, they are perfect for anyone missing Kinsmen especially.
If you like this you might like Elizabeth Moon Serrano Series.
Witch King by Martha Wells (if you like it, sequel out next summer)
This recommendation is out of left field for the BDH, but I’m a big fan of Barbara Nickless. One of a few authors I read outside of science fiction and fantasy.
Her first series had me hooked, the Sydney Parnell series. She’s a railroad investigator (which was unusual) partnered with her police K9 Clyde.
The genre is mystery/suspense but the books are great.
The thinking women’s guide to real magic
Emily Croy Barker
English grad student abducted by fae and ends up in another world
+1
The author Delemhach – The House Witch Series, continuing with The Burning Witch. I believe more to come. Very enjoyable and also on audio. Magical with lots of humor and a familiar cat that is going to take over the world!
+1
I am going to recommend Love at First Bite, by Declan Finn. Fast-paced clean romance and action, a fascinating take on the classic vampire myth. I also recommend Jonathan Moeller’s Frostborn series. Frosborn series and the sequel series include dozens of good books.
According to my search of the page, no one has yet mentioned Everina Maxwell — two books in the same world(s), both excellent.
The Housekeeper series by Matteson Wynn. If you like a magical house and a found family, this is a fun series.
+1
Thank you so much for this – I read the first one (A House for Keeping) tonight and it was SO FUN! It has Innkeeper vibes – I love the house 🙂
C. P. Rider has a first book ofnew series out called Strike it Witch, Smokethorn paranormals. Am reading it now and it’s good. A can’t-put-it-down thing. Set in the desert southwest.
For and fun and enjoyable series, I recommend “Bob and Nikki’s Saucer Repair” by Jerry Boyd The story line progresses from when Bob discovers Nikki trying to repair her saucer in his garage to the formation of their space “fleet” and their efforts to save various space faring races from themselves.
Bee Sting Cake by Victoria Goddard. A beautifully written fantasty (#2 in the series). The harvest fair cake competition towards the end is delightful.(Comments by the judges are a hoot)
I already shared my one rec – but I came back today to see if any more had been added. Just wanted to share that I sincerely love this post each time it happens and spend hours checking out every title mentioned that I don’t recognize – every time I find some great new reads from it. The BDH has most excellent taste! Thank you all for sharing, and thank you Mod R for riding herd
+1
+1!
I don’t know how current they are but I’ve been losing myself in Bec McMaster’s London Steampunk – alternative vamps, alt weres and very human struggles in Victoriana-esque setting. Primarily romance but not too steamy/erotic – expect an HEA per book with an overarching world narrative. Enjoy!
+1
Discovery of Witches trilogy by Deborah Harkness. Very well written with a great story and plot line.
+1 Read and reread and listened to the Audible volumes many times. The newest book in the series, The Blackbird Oracle is also excellent.
Author Suzanne Wright, she has quite a few series under her belt…my current fav is the Wicked in Me …. but that’s this month lol her books rock
Bride – Ali Hazelwood
+1
I would recommend Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric and Desdemona series. Set in her world of the Five Gods, these fantasy novellas are excellent comfort reads featuring endearing protagonists, elements of mystery and adventure, ethical dilemmas, and often subtle humor. Also, short format is excellent for anyone whose concentration is wrecked by stress.
I agree, great world building and excellent writing
Ooooh, this gonna be gooood!
I recommend “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt. Who does not love an angsty, sympathetic talking octopus who helps the humans as much as they help him?
I got this on Audible because my eyes needed a rest. The voice actors did a good job.
Off to get more for my virtual reading night table * rubs hands with glee *
My other favorite author is Seanan McGuire. She writes under several pseudonyms: Mira Grant and A. Deborah Baker most notably.
She has several long-running series with similar moments of snark and humor in the midst of darkness. What can I say? I have a type!
For those of you wanting to immerse yourselves in a cosy fantasy romance (containing a mystery) that illustrates priorities of a desire to take care of people, have administrative structures that work, and a lot of kindness…
I give you CELIA LAKE.
Pretty much all of her books are standalone, so dip in wherever you’re most intrigued to wander. (Though the Land Mysteries series, set in the 1930s and 1940s, is best read in order.)
Most of the books contain both romance and a mystery. The worldbuilding is excellent and appropriate—there’s this many people in Albion and that percentage of them do whatsis and out of all of them there are this many big hitters… It makes sense. There’s substance behind the scenery, it’s not just cobbled together out of whole cloth.
A good place to start is ECLIPSE. It takes place at a magical academy on a secret island in the 1920s… have you ever wondered what happens in the staff room at magic schools? Wonder no more!
I highly recommend Celia Lake for your comfort read needs. ECLIPSE is gentle, sweet, slow, comforting, academic, feel-good, and emotionally satisfying. And after ECLIPSE, there are 30-ish other books for you to read. Not to mention, the characters have a varied, well written, range of disabilities, different abilities, and differences to live with.
Happy reading!
+1 I absolutely love these books! They’re my favorite comfort reads.
Concur! Reading Celia Lake got me through a sad time when kindness and hopefulness were what I needed to read.
You had me at “a desire to (…) have administrative structures that work” 😂😂
Casey Blair series starting with Take Back Magic, second Book–Take Back Demons. Super competent female protagonist. Found Family. Triumphing over adversity. Interspecies romance. Waiting for the third book.
Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai. Has all the elements—good world building, relatable characters, interesting story line and forbidden romance. Haven’t found any other books by this author. Found it at my local library in print, also available as e-book to borrow.
I just discovered “Dungeon Crawler Carl”. Mixes Dungeon Crawling with Science Fiction. He just released book 7 this week.
Bryce O’Connor’s Stormweaver series is really good. It’s along the lines LitRPG set in a military school environment. It’s really well written with several well developed characters you can really root for. I picked up the first book (Iron Prince) on a whim, but then gobbled up the book and waitlisted the second (Fire and Song), then gobbled that up too when it was finally released.
Anything by Robert McCammon
New YA fantasy. Lhind the Thief, first in a trilogy by Sherwood Smith. All 3 books are great. The writing is superb. Cozy in that it is exciting, lots of action but no dark and dire. Lhind is an absolute agent of chaos in a good and entertaining way. I haven’t been so favorably impressed by a new author in a long time.
I love Lhind although Crown Duel is more of a favorite. But yes Sherwood Smith writes so well
+1 for Crown Duel! Really fun read.
I have very much enjoyed the series ‘Heretical Fishing’ by Haylock Jobson. Author has made an alternative world with some quirky characters and rules: lots of fishing, cooking and poking at religion. Not to mention cultivators.
Thea Harrison
Dragon Bound (first of elder races series ~20short books)
Regardless Thea Harrison with her Elder Races books are Very Fun, Very Creative, with interesting world building with well fleshed out characters.
Some of the tropes might not be of interest to all but generally speaking the entire series is lots of fun reads. She also has many little snippets/novellas all set in the “elder races” world (and can be found on her website for free as well).
I easily got absorbed with the individual characters stories , and her Worldbuilding I found to be very enjoyable (not as good as HA but who is … lol)
Anyway … just mentioning her because I enjoyed her stories and my library had almost the entire elder races series … IMO Definitely Fluff reads but sometimes that’s a Good thing.”
I must advocate for a series of four novels and a few novellas/stories that begins with Bramble Burn by Autumn Dawn. She is an Australian author I think named Autumn Dawn Beaudreaux. If you try to find these on Amazon begin with the title, or you’ll get pages of everyone else’s work first.
In the first book an Amazing young woman gets a contract from the city to tame or at least control a city park that is infested and running over with varied magical and magically triggered evils. Her reward is ownership of the park if she succeeds . The sentients list includes dragons, elves, dwarves, werewolves, hybrids and humans.
Daindreth’s Assasin is an entire series and it has been coming out for a while. But what I am recommending is Bastard’s Honor very enjoyable. Low Fantasy. It helps to read the rest of the series for the world building part but the book can stand alone. IMHO the author started off just ok. But as the series progressed she has been getting better with every book and Bastard’s Honor is the best in the series
Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series. I have LOVED the narrator’s (Kobna Holdbrook Smith) take on things, adding so much more to the story with his inflection than I would have gotten out of it reading on my own. Can’t recommend the audiobooks enough!
+1!
Loved this series too!
Several people have already mentioned Lindsay Buroker but haven’t mentioned Sentinel of Time so will suggest that. Sadly most of my other recommendations have already been posted.
Surely that’s a happy thing :D! You’ve found your people, so what you discover from their recommendations will likely be good!
Seanan McGuire’s Incryptid series
Drew Hayes’ “Spells, Swords, Stealth Book” series. It’s a great take on the Fantasy quest genre. Good humour, but has a serious side as well
Really enjoy Drew’s books.
I am so hooked on anything House Andrews puts out it’s hard to find another author that grabs my attention. However once in awhile I do. C.J.Archer’s “Glass and Steele” series was on par. Totally recommend it.
Books by Kim M. Watt are full of peril, hope, weirdness, punny titles, and lots of snark. I can’t recommend them enough!
The Beaufort Scales cozy mystery series, starting with Baking Bad, feature dragons obsessed with barbecue grills and sweets and obstreperous Ladies of a Certain Age who bake a lot (recipes included) and frustrate the local police in their Yorkshire village.Other Folk threatening the unaware human get involved.
The spinoff D.I. Adams series, starting with What Happened in London, has a detective trying to ignore the impossible stuff but finding she is one of the few who can see and deal with it.
The grittier Gobbelino London P.I. series feature a VERY snarky cat (who mangles idioms) and his human sidekick solving supernatural mysteries and threats in the city of Leeds. Wizards, witches, reapers, trolls, narcissistic bitey unicorns, baby ghouls, werewolves, supernatural mafia family, kraken, magic books that might end the world…it never stops. And they never get paid.
Oh, and The Watch is a secret cabal of cats who police the supernatural world so that humans at large don’t become aware of it. They can disappear those who break the rules.