Hello Lovelies,
As a long-time reader, I have created a long list of books I recommend to friends and new readers. Many readers have these lists and hold them near and dear to their hearts. It is very special to me to share this list with you all. I refer to this as my “Top Shelf.” Today I would like to share with you my top three series/books as a condensed list, along with sharing my reviews on these books and series and why I recommend them.
The first Series I love and re-read yearly is the Finishing series by Gail Carriger. The first book is Etiquette and Espionage. This series follows a young girl during the times of Victorian England with a twist. There is steampunk esc technology, werewolves, and vampires. A love plot in the background that is truly enjoyable and, at times, had me literally kicking my feet and giggling. The story is not what you would expect, and everything is not what it seems. Interesting takes on Victorian fashion and using it for espionage. Mystery plots and puzzles to unravel, technology beyond its time, class commentary, and vibrant characters. Everything you could want for an adventure novel.
To top it off, the main character is such an outgoing, intelligent, creative-thinking young lady that she draws you into the book. It is lively and a series I enjoy immensely. Gail has written many other books that are not Ya like this one. She has a series that follows characters from this tetralogy (four-book series) into adulthood that are smutty and exciting adventures as well. As someone who has exchanged Instagram Dm’s with Gail, I feel happy to encourage people to check out her books. She is an incredibly kind lady, and I have enjoyed all her books that I have read.
The second series that I recommend to you is the Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J Mass. I know this series is top-rated, along with her others, but this one is my absolute favorite! It is a very long series, including eight books. There are many reading orders out there that people like to debate. For me, I read them in this order:
Throne of glass
Crown of midnight
Heir of fire
Assassins blade
Queen of shadows
Empire of storms
Tower of dawn
Kingdom of ash
I recommend this order for many reasons, and not many other readers like to discuss it. Reading the prequel assassins blade before the Throne of glass was a spoiler to me. And in the end, after reading it, I was correct in that feeling. The main character in the first two books is a mystery we, as the reader, get to unravel. If I had read AB first, I would have ruined that entire plot and mystery. Also, the characters we meet from her past are not introduced in the other books until Queen of Shadows. So, to me, there is no point in reading it before that. Secondly, I do not recommend the tandem reading of EOS and TOD. Many people vouge to do this. However, those books are over 600 pages, and the people I know who did this felt very overwhelmed and took a long time to finish because of this. Also, as someone who loves Choal’s character growth and development, I enjoyed reading a book about his journey (TOD) and taking a break from the plot from EOS. There is also a lot of world-building in Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn, which I feel would have been overwhelming to remember. There is also a myriad of new characters introduced in both books.
Throne of Glass is separated to me into three mini-series wrapped up into one giant series. The first would be the first three books, then the prequel and the following two books, then ending with Tower of Dawn and Kingdom of Ash. To me, because there is an entirely different storyline that these, in my words, “mini-series” follow, I separate them like that in my mind. I feel that SJM writing is so complex and beautiful that it allows these to connect. The series follows one main character Celaena Sardothien but also has many different POVs of supporting characters that, in my mind, by the third book, become main characters as well. The story starts off following a young assassin within a corrupt kingdom that gets rescued from a slave camp by the prince to enter a competition to be the king’s champion and personal assassin. A king she hates and despises. A king who is responsible for her enslavement. However, there is more to the story, as always. The world is complex and vast. The characters all know more than we do as the reader. Magic exists in their world, but for some reason, not within the evil king’s kingdom. The whole eight-book series is something that genuinely marvels me, and the complexity of the books makes them very interesting and captivating reads. It is a YA series; however, it does get a little spicy in HOF and QOS.
The third book I recommend to you is The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. Unlike my other two recommendations, this is not a fantasy book, nor is it a series. As a young Jewish woman, I always recommend this book to all my friends. It is a beautifully sad story that encourages learning and understanding of what it’s like to be Jewish and live with historical trauma and generational trauma. It is a historical fiction time slip novel. It follows a young Jewish girl who goes back in time and experiences the Holocaust. It is an incredibly touching story, and I highly recommend that you read it. It is a relatively short novel and a quick read, but its value to me is not diminished by the quantity of its pages. My mother got to meet Jane when I was a young girl, and I now own a signed copy of this book. The inscription Jane wrote is something I hold near my heart daily. It is simple but true “For Kaylee- because we must remember. Jane Yolen 2003”
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