Dragon Lyric
(A Short Story)

By Bethany A. Jennings

A beautiful fictional depiction of the terrible reality of domestic abuse. Well-crafted and well thought through, this story hurts in all the right ways and ends in hope.

Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3f605gU

The Inkling
(A short Story)

By K.T. Ivanrest

A fun adventure with a thief dreaming of enrolling in the magic academy, a mute student from said academy, and a wayward ink dragon. My only complaint is there’s no sequel yet!

Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2ZL6J5Q

Inharmonic
(The Music Maker Series)

By A.K.R. Scott

Young adult fantasy

This may shock you, but I LOVE books with music as magic! This book follows Nadja as she runs from a dangerous secret at home to even more dangerous secrets at a music conservatory. Heartfelt friendships, music/magic lessons, and shocking discoveries ensue, all making it hard for me to put this book down! Also, as a musician myself, I quite enjoyed the scenes at the conservatory in classes and private lessons. Nothing that would be too technical for non-musicians to understand, but there were some things that made me nostalgic for when I was a music major in college!

Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2VS2XXf

Oath of the Outcast
(The Dragon Keep Chronicles)

By C.M. Banschbach

New adult fantasy

Rhys MacDuffy has been cast out of his clan and made a new home and family for himself with outlaws in the mountains. When his seer brother is captured by druids, the clan that once cast him out calls on him to bring his brother home. Snark, man-angst, and stabbing ensue.

I’m not typically a huge fan of rough bands of outlaws, but this book is filled with characters I just loved! With divided loyalties, betrayal, emotional healing (and lack thereof), and some of the creepiest villains I’ve read, Oath of the Outcast is well worth the read!

Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2Zfc9a5

Finding Fireflies
(Trisha Lee Adventures)

By A.C. Williams

Romantic comedy / women’s fiction

A church secretary, an engineer, and a prostitute go on a church singles camp-out. And I can’t even tell you how much I loved it! Though this is a romance, it focused a lot on single people. Though it’s a comedy, it delved into the terrible reality that is sex-trafficking. One minute I was laughing at the lovable, clumsy protagonist, the next I wept for the brokenness that dwelt within each character (not just the trafficked prostitute). This is definitely a book worth your time, even if these genres aren’t your typical go-tos.

Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3h0VRI2

Resistance
(The Ilyon Chronicles)

By Jaye L. Knight

Young / New adult fantasy

Early Christianity set in a fantasy world with multiple races (humans, giants, ryriks, etc.), special talents, and dragons! These books follow two main protagonists—a human woman with the ability to recall anything she’s ever seen, who must hide her beliefs in the midst of a system that hates those who follow her God; and a ryrik man, once a slave, who has been told time and again that he has no soul. The hurts within these two are deep, but the friendships they make along their journeys of faith are deeper. My favorite book in the series so far is book three, but here’s book one—100% worth the read!

Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3elkwVT

The Kiss of Deception
(The Remnant Chronicles)

By Mary E. Pearson

Young adult fantasy

A princess, Lia, runs away from her arranged marriage and is pursued by the jilted prince and an assassin. And the reader has no clue which man is which. From there, the series explores seeing beyond stereotypes, a love-triangle I actually kind of enjoyed (rarity of rarities), and moving from selfishness to a place of selfless sacrifice.

Note: A lot of people drop the first book due to Lia’s “woe-is-me, I’m-a-princess” attitude. I honestly kept reading the first book solely for the mystery of the prince and the assassin. BUT, by the time the answer to the mystery was revealed, Lia had begun growing into something more, and by the end of the series she was one of my favorite characters of all time. Stick with it—this series is wonderful.

Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3gyHmLn

Sky In The Deep

by Adrienne Young

Young adult fantasy

This book tackles a blood-feud between two peoples and forces our fierce protagonist to look beyond her hatred of the enemy to see the everyday people on the other side. Tons of action and some wonderful character-development!

Quick warning note: A couple of violent scenes made me squeamish, but they ended quickly, were not glorified, and did not detract from my enjoyment of the story.

Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3e4VBWC

Cinder
(The Lunar Chronicles)

By Marissa Meyer

Young adult soft science-fiction. Fairytale retelling.

A snarky android. Telepaths living on the moon. And a cyborg girl with a foot that just won’t stay attached.

I know, it sounds odd, but these books are just plain fun! Each book in this series tackles a different fairytale (Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White), and each of our leading ladies and their male counterparts are so different from each other that it makes for an amazing found-family series. And it’s not all fun and games, with a virus threatening life on earth, mutant wolf-men as prologue to invasion, and a nasty Lunar queen at the center of it all.

Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2O3tHzQ

Warbreaker

By Brandon Sanderson

Adult fantasy

Political intrigue abounds in a world where one kingdom must give up one of their princesses to become the god-king’s wife. Multiple POVs make for a deep story with twists that made me have to stop and process a couple of times. Plus, the magic system is just so cool, based in colors and breath (the prologue explains it quite well, so check it out if you aren’t sure you like complex magic systems).

If nothing else convinces you, read it for the snarky sapient sword.

Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3gzbXs9