All summered up and nothing to read? I know the feeling. Sometimes the books in the TBR pile just aren’t quite what you’re in the mood for. Luckily, I’ve got you covered with top picks in fiction to scratch whatever your particular reading itch may be. Part One today, Part Two tomorrow, and let me know if there’re any particular itches you want me to pull recs for—I guarantee I can find you something good.
You really miss the Princess Diaries:
Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
Everyone remembers Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi. And if you don’t, you’d better go and watch the Princess Diaries right now. (The first one and the second. What are you waiting for? Go!)
Back to the book. Izumi Tanaka has been single parented by her mother all her life; she’s never known her father. But when she learns that her father is the literal crown prince of Japan, she’s swept up into the affairs of the Japanese crown exactly a la a new generation Princess Diaries. Feat. Handsome Bodyguard (TM), diaspora kid discovering their heritage like never before, and a heroine described as “irreverent,” it’s guaranteed to give you the perfect mix of nostalgia and a fresh, heartwarming whirlwind of a story.
It’s also a Reese’s YA Book Club Pick, so you already know it’s going to be a good one.
You’re in need of some serious fairy tale comfort food:
Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
To be honest, I bought this without knowing anything about it other than that I’d loved the author’s earlier book Spin the Dawn (also a very fairytale-esque read, if you’re looking to stockpile). That’s pretty unusual for me; I don’t tend to just buy books on a whim. But imagine my delight when I found out that this is actually partially inspired by The Wild Swans, one of my favourite folk/fairy tales. Drawing on that and some seriously awesome East Asian folklore (dragons!!!), the world and characters and plot will absolutely just completely suck you in. Here’s the official description from the deal announcement:
“Six Crimson Cranes centers an exiled princess who must unweave the curse that turned her brothers into cranes, assisted by her spurned betrothed, a mercurial dragon, and a paper bird brought to life by her own magic.”
I am also such a sucker for the wonderful, terrible trope of “they’re meant to be betrothed and now they’re bonding but only one/neither of them knows who the other is.” Call me a simp if you’d like. I’ll be over here, frantically turning pages to see what happens next.
Any book by Julie C. Dao
Okay. “All of her books ever” don’t exactly qualify as a recent release. But I just can’t make a list of book recommendations and not include a little plug for her. I’ve been following Julie C. Dao since her 2017 debut, and for me it’s been hit after hit ever since. Her first three, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix, and Song of the Crimson Flower (my personal favourite), are all set in the same East Asian-inspired fantasy realm. FOTL is an Evil Queen origin story (she’s incredibly beautiful and she eats hearts); KOTBP continues the narrative into a Snow White retelling; and SOTCF is set in the same world but the story is detached from the previous two and stands alone. They’re all excellent and her writing just exudes that cozy (although at times chilling) fairy tale feeling.
Her most recent book and the one that I can use to justify including her entire current YA repetoire here is called Broken Wish. It features a more European setting and a much smaller scale plot-wise than her other books, but it’s just as wonderful and I bawled through the whole last thirty pages. It’s also the first in a planned four book series spanning the effect of a family curse on multiple generations, with a different author writing each instalment. To my knowledge, this sort of thing hasn’t really been done before on such a scale, so it’s definitely a series to watch.
You’re craving a solid mystery:
The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He
I’ll be honest, I tend to lean more in a fantasy direction than in a sci-fi one. But I loved Joan He’s first book, and frankly even that notwithstanding the cover of this book alone was already enough of a sales pitch.
This is not a dystopia in the typical sense of “plucky heroine leads rebellion against the system” a la many of the books released in and around the Hunger Games Era. It’s much more focused on the lives of two sisters, Celia and Kasey, and their attempt to reunite with one another after Celia gets shipwrecked on a deserted island. The rest of the world thinks she’s dead, but Kasey is determined to keep looking. Meanwhile, Cee’s got a nasty case of amnesia, and the only thing she remembers is that she has to get home to her sister.
As the plot unfurls, the reader learns more about the world, how society got to this point, and gets to grapple with the question of whether humanity is really worth saving given the amount of problems we’ve collectively caused.
If I were to describe this book as a wine, I’d most likely describe it as “gripping and suspenseful, with environmentalist undertones and notes of unbreakable bonds of sisterhood and moral dilemma. Also a “washed ashore but make it aesthetic”-y bouquet.”
I don’t know anything about wine. But I do know things about books! And this is a good one if you like to watch all the pieces assemble before your eyes, if you like to think a little bit while you read, and if you like your novels right in the middle of that Goldilocks zone of 350-400 pages in length. I’m a chronic binge-reader, and this one was no exception. Highly recommend.
See you tomorrow for the rest of the list!