Books,and worlds worth moving into.

I want a world with rules, a magic system with limits, and a series long enough to settle into. Give me lore, slow-burn tension, dangerous men with questionable judgement, and characters I will still be arguing about a year later. Getting deeply invested is the point... and yes, I will stay up too late for it.

A stack of books reading Romantasy is my love language, Dragons trauma and found family, Enemies to lovers enthusiast, One more chapter... beside an open book, a succulent, glasses and an amethyst

My reader DNA

Apparently I’ve wanted the same ingredients since I was twelve.

Big immersive worlds

The bigger, the better.

Interesting magic systems

Give me rules, limits, and lore.

High stakes

Danger makes the story.

Yearning + tension

Slow burn, every time.

Morally gray characters

Perfect people are boring.

Competent heroines

She has goals. She gets things done.

Long series

I want to live in these worlds for a while.

The books that built my reader brain

Roughly thirty years, roughly in order.

  1. elementary &
    high school

    EverworldK.A. Applegate Daughters of the MoonLynne Ewing Harry PotterJ.K. Rowling UgliesScott Westerfeld The Twilight SagaStephenie Meyer Caster ChroniclesGarcia & Stohl

    The series that stuck. I was the kid who finished a book at 2am and started the next one before turning the light off.

  2. 2009 – 2019

    The Hunger GamesSuzanne Collins Fifty ShadesE.L. James Not SorryElla Miles Knocked UpStacey Lynn That ManNelle L’Amour Resist MeLucia Jordan Dirty BetMelinda Minx The Room

    YA on one side and adult romance on the other, with a full Harry Potter reread somewhere in the middle. Fifty Shades gets all the attention, but the indie romance and erotica I found afterwards is where I worked out what I liked.

  3. 2019 – 2023

    UntamedGlennon Doyle How to Be an AntiracistIbram X. Kendi SwitchChip & Dan Heath Measure What MattersJohn Doerr Shadow and BoneLeigh Bardugo The Mortal InstrumentsCassandra Clare

    Two threads at once. A long stretch of nonfiction about work, change and being a person... and then in 2021 I went back to fantasy with Shadow and Bone and The Mortal Instruments.

  4. 2023 – now

    A Court of Thorns and RosesSarah J. Maas

    Romantasy, and I have not looked up since.

    ACOTAR is what brought me back to fantasy, and I still think Sarah J. Maas is wildly overrated as a writer. Both things can be true.

Current obsessions

Authors and books I can’t get enough of right now.

Authors I can’t get enough of

Rachel Gillig

Atmospheric, haunting, emotional, and I will read anything she writes.

The Shepherd King

One Dark Window Two Twisted Crowns

The Stonewater Kingdom

The Knight and the MothYearning, tension, and an MMC I think about daily. The Knave and the Moon

Sarah A. Parker

Give me her worlds, her magic systems, and her morally gray men any day.

Crystal Bloom

To Bleed a Crystal BloomMagic, adventure, politics, and characters I would follow anywhere. To Snap a Silver Stem To Flame a Wild Flower

Moonfall

When the Moon HatchedEmotional, intense, and impossible to put down. The Ballad of Falling Dragons
Single books I keep pressing on people

Rebecca Yarros

The Empyrean

Fourth WingDragons, elite training, chaos, and incredible friendships.

Rachel Schneider

Fire & Metal

Metal SlingerSharp, dark, addictive, and the perfect slow burn.

Callie Hart

Fae & Alchemy

QuicksilverAtmospheric, twisty, and so uniquely magical.

Reading notes

Thoughts, rambles, and recommendations.

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I keep track of what I read on romance.io and Goodreads.

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