Books I Aspire to Read in Spring 2025

Deep in the forgotten city of the Deathless Kings, an ancient relic of untold power waits—for one bold enough to steal it.

When seventeen-year-old Sparrow joined the Thieves Guild she made a vow of binding loyalty to their cause. So when a mission comes along from The Circle, a group of mysterious, dangerous beings who control the Thieves Guild from the shadows, Sparrow is determined to cement her place in the guild.

What ensues is a death-defying adventure that has Sparrow and her band of thieves venturing into the heart of the forgotten city of the Deathless King. The fate of Sparrow, her companions, and Raithe, the enigmatic yet alluring assassin Sparrow is forced to join forces with during their quest, all hang in the balance as they find themselves battling ancient forces within the tombs and facing the unwavering hold of fate.

Perfect for fans of Alexandra Bracken and Sabaa Tahir, this new fantasy trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Julie Kagawa will sweep readers into a bold and exciting new world, where a twisted game of destiny has far-reaching consequences.

Beauty and the Beast meets The Little Mermaid in an East Asian-inspired world in this romantic fantasy standalone from Elizabeth Lim, the New York Times bestselling author of Six Crimson Cranes.

A gifted art forger, Truyan Saigas has the unique ability to paint the future. But when her father is lost at sea, not even magic can heal her family, or save her two younger sisters from the dangerous consequences of her mother’s gambling debts.

Then Elang, a mysterious dragon lord, offers her a deal: in exchange for a fresh start for her mother and sisters, Tru must enter a marriage contract and join him in his desolate undersea palace.

Once there, Tru will embark on her most dangerous forgery yet. To infiltrate the tyrannical Dragon King’s inner circle and paint a future so treasonous, it could upend both the mortal and immortal realms…

AN HEIR. A RENEGADE
A CONVICT. A CYBORG
A DÉFECTEUR

FIVE REBELS. ONE REVOLUTION.

It’s been three months since the Patriarche was beheaded, leaving behind no heir. From the outside, Laterre seems to be flourishing. General Bonnefaçon has cleaned up the streets, fed the hungry, and restored peace while the next leader is decided upon. But dangerous rifts threaten to shatter the planet from within.

The Red Scar is killing anyone with a legitimate claim to the Regime, while the Vangarde and their freed leader are preparing to overthrow it.

Then, it’s revealed that the Patriarche had a child in secret. A missing heir…

Alouette is the general’s prisoner, interrogated on the whereabouts of his renegade grandson. Marcellus is desperately searching for her, knowing she’s the key to the Vangarde’s plan, but unaware that he’s being hunted by a determined new cyborg. Meanwhile Chatine grows restless, living with a rebel group she doesn’t fit into. Until an old friend solicits her help to save his Défecteur community from a mysterious, new threat. A threat that will tie them all together.

When the general makes an explosive play for power, allegiances will shift, rebels will become leaders, barricades will rise, and the tinderbox of Laterre will finally ignite, launching a revolution five hundred years in the making.

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming…and not everyone can survive its wrath.

One year is all it takes for strangers to become lovers…

19-year-old Farrah Lin is going to fall in love for the first time during her year abroad in Shanghai. She’s sure of it.

The only problem? Her would-be leading man is her new friend’s boyfriend.

There’s nothing worse than being in love with someone you can’t have…or at least, she thinks it’s love.

But if that’s true, why can’t she stop fantasizing about someone else, specifically the cocky blond athlete with the world’s biggest ego (and greatest dimples)?

***
Blake Ryan is—was—a college football star who shocked the sports world when he quit after his third national championship. Instead of dealing with the fallout, he escapes to Shanghai, where he vows to keep life simple.

No football. No commitments. No romance.

But no matter how hard he tries, he can’t keep a certain beautiful brunette off his mind…or out of his heart.

What starts as a physical attraction develops into something much deeper as Blake and Farrah get swept up in the magic of Shanghai—and each other. But they only have one year, and there are forces outside their control that threaten to rip them apart.

Can their relationship survive the test…or was it just not meant to be?

Fake dates, real fireworks

Lily Wong is an animal activist whose main goal in life is to save reptiles from being turned into purses. Scarred by a broken engagement, she is resolutely single at thirty-five, which doesn’t sit well with her overbearing Chinese parents. The pressure to find a partner intensifies after her brother brings home a new girlfriend just before the Lunar New Year. So when Charles Chen–dashing heir to a multi-million dollar shark fin empire–asks to fake-date her while she’s protesting at the mall, she agrees on the condition that he fake-date her in return, to get her parents off her back for the holiday.

Charles is faking a relationship with Lily to solve his own his parents can’t stand his spoiled, social media-famous girlfriend, Margaux. After a bad fight with Margaux leaves him alone for the Lunar New Year, Charles convinces Lily to pose as his girlfriend. Charles hopes that by bringing the obstinately plain, shark fin-hating Lily home as a contrast, his parents will appreciate Margaux and accept her, helping him win Margaux back.

Charles’s plan backfires when his parents unexpectedly take a liking to Lily. The more they try to remedy the situation, the deeper their lie gets–and the more their real feelings for each other grow. As their families threaten to unravel their increasingly-less-fake relationship, Lily has to confront her fear of getting hurt again, and Charles has to decide between his family and his feelings. When Margaux reappears to reclaim her wealthy boyfriend, Lily and Charles are forced to make a decision between going back to the lives they knew before, or following their hearts into the new and unknown.

In this enchanting epic fantasy romance debut, two fey sisters are bound by both blood and love, but separated by divine privilege. In the mythical realms of Neramyr, achieving divinity as a warlock or sorceress is to be differentiated as a god among gods where magic is the governing constant.

To possess the moon’s markings is to wield her divine power. Every seventh year, a new septet of divine warlocks and sorceresses is chosen by the Moon Goddess. To ascend from the mundane to the exceptional, two things must be achieved: bear the moon’s Mark and complete her divine trial.

Daughter to one of the fey’s strongest bloodlines, Elyria’s very existence has defied the tradition, pride, and faith that guided her folk for generations. Forsaken by the Moon Goddess upon her birth, Elyria is refused the divine marking. Condemned to a life of discrimination and hostility, Elyria longs to triumph over her tainted past.

Born to the same bloodline, Elowyn bears the moon’s Mark and is fated to inherit the throne—a title that was once Elyria’s birthright. For Elowyn, queendom is a burden she was appointed, but never desired. One day, fate shifts when the Moon Goddess unexpectedly offers Elyria a chance to face her divine trial—an opportunity an unmarked fey has never been granted before.

As Elyria and Elowyn embark on their separate, but interwoven journeys, they uncover unsettling truths about the ancient realms of Neramyr. Secrets unravel, tradition is challenged, love is tested, and the course of destiny is rewritten.

I’ve said it before, but sometimes I’m a bad person. I cheated on my twelfth grade math final, I’ve run countless yellow lights, and I gossip about how hot my kickass best friends are. (Good thing my job as a guild bartender doesn’t require moral perfection.)

But there’s bad, and then there’s bad. And I’m not sure which applies to a certain dark druid/wanted criminal/reluctant friend of mine. His transgressions include black-magic dealings, kidnapping, and murder, and he’s about to add “revenge-fueled killing spree” to his resume—if I don’t stop him.

Should I stop him?

He and his nemesis are gearing up to tear each other apart, rogues and vultures are converging with their sights on the spoils, and the guilds that would normally stomp them into the ground are under attack. We’re on the brink of an all-out criminal turf war, and my time to decide is almost up.

Who’s the real bad guy … and do I dare stand in his way?