Eerie, enticing, and easy to enjoy.
FAVORITES
EIDOLON, Grace Draven. Book #2 of The Wraith Kings duology. Draven continues the story of Ildiko and Brishen, a human wedded to a Kai prince who sleeps by day and lives at night. He’s not a vampire, just part of a race with strange opalescent eyes that can’t bear sunlight. In this sequel, the lovers battle a force of demons unleashed by his mother. Fast-paced adventure laced with adult romance.
ENDER’S GAME, Orson Scott Card. Terrific sci-fiction. The plot: Earth is threatened by an alien species determined to destroy the human race with superior technology. The defense: A military program that trains gifted children in search of a commander who can’t be broken. They think they’re playing a video game, but it’s so much more. A wonderful classic.
WANT TO READ
THE EGYPTOLOGIST, Arthur Phillips. Billed as a “darkly comic labyrinth of a story.” Follows an archaeologist who discovers King Tut, an Oxford professor who has a rare scrap of hieroglyphic porn, and an Australian detective. Could be fun.
THE EYRE AFFAIR, Jasper Fforde. Imagine time travel as a norm, and literary portals that allow you to enter books and ensure the characters are acting as the author intended–or change what happens. Clever premise. Reviews at Goodreads are all over the place, so I might wait.
DARK TRIUMPH, Robin LaFevers. Book 2 in LaFevers’s trilogy about nun assassins in 15th-century France. When Sybella arrives at a convent half-mad, she’s taken in and trained to use her skills at seduction and murder on behalf of St. Morain, the Lord of Death. But when she’s forced to return home, she encounters more brutality, along with unexpected love. Fast-paced, exciting. LaFevers grabs you from the first page.
DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE, Laini Taylor. I loved this first book, the story of art student Karou, a demon who falls in love with an angel. Original, filled with Taylor’s trademark lyrical writing. A terrific example of great story-telling.
THE DA VINCI CODE, Dan Brown. Yes, I know it’s old, and a bit on the cheesy, formulaic side, but it’s a fun read, with intrigue and deceit and a secret society. Forget the movie, it was awful. Read the book instead and you’ll understand why it was a mega-seller.
THE DIVINERS, Libba Bray. A girl with a supernatural power in 1926 New York City. Speakeasies, magic, the occult, a bit of horror. Sounds like a good choice for Halloween.
DOROTHY MUST DIE, Danielle Paige. I’m a bit hesitant to read this, as I love The Wizard of Oz and it’s got reviews all over the place on Goodreads–seems like you either love it or hate it. But I’m curious to see what Paige has done with a classic story.
THE CHANGELING SEA, Patricia McKillip. I enjoy this book at least once a year. Peri, who lost her father in a fishing accident, hexes the sea, which brings a young sorcerer and a half earth-bound, half water-bound changeling into her life. It’s short–only 137 pages–but full of McKillip’s trademark magic, mystery, and lyrical prose.
CHALION (3 book series), Lois McMaster Bujold. A series I love to come back to as often as possible. Best read in order. The Curse of Chalion is the story of Cazaril, once imprisoned, now a princess’s tutor, who must delve into dark magic to break a curse. Paladin of Souls features 
CHILDHOOD’S END, Arthur C. Clarke. I don’t read a lot of science fiction, but this one is stunning. Earth is on the verge of world war when spaceships appear
CARAVAL, Stephanie Garber. One reviewer on Goodreads calls this a “
COURTING DARKNESS, Robin La Fevers. Sybella, a trained nun/assassin first seen in Dark Triumph, 
THE CRIMSON QUEEN, Alec Huctson. It sounds complicated–