![\"book](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/6037d7d9d0a0415ea713d8808cd19c05.png\")
A wall of thorns, a castle of darkness, a kiss of life.<\/p>\n
All her life Becca\u2019s grandmother Gemma told her the story of Briar Rose: a princess on the brink of death rescued by a strange prince from a treacherous castle. But as Gemma\u2019s life comes to an end, she shocks the now-grown Becca with the claim, “I am Briar Rose.” Gemma makes Becca promise to find the \u201ccastle in the sleeping woods\u201d and claim it as her birthright.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first chapter of this book hooked me in with the cozy descriptions of Grandmother Gemma\u2019s talcum-lemon smell, the family reciting the story of Sleeping Beauty together, and the cryptic revelation Gemma gives on her deathbed. The unwinding of Gemma\u2019s past kept me reading as Becca and her friend Stan uncover pieces of truth in Gemma\u2019s version of Briar Rose. The reality Becca finds is both horrifying and healing, as she comes to understand Gemma and her origin better. I\u2019ve always loved Jane Yolen\u2019s fantasy writing and this book was a gorgeous reimagining.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fans of Escaping Mr. Rochester<\/a>, Wicked<\/a> and Jojo Rabbit<\/a> will enjoy exploring a new perspective on a familiar tale in Briar Rose.<\/p>\n Graceling<\/a> by Kristin Cashore<\/p>\n Enter Prince Po: the smug, pretty Prince of Lienid whose grandfather Katsa\u00a0recently rescued on a Council mission. Katsa is suspicious of Po, and most men. However, Po is Graced with fighting so she doesn\u2019t mind keeping him around as a sparring partner while they try to uncover who was behind his grandfather\u2019s kidnapping. Katsa and Po\u2019s investigation leads them to truths both\u00a0freeing and horrifying as they realize far more than Po\u2019s grandfather has been at risk.<\/p>\n I have loved this book since I read it the first time. Katsa\u2019s confidence and unwillingness to compromise felt like something to aspire to, while Po\u2019s gentle self-assuredness felt both unnerving and comforting. The twists of this story keep you turning the page to see where the characters end up next.<\/p>\n This is the first novel of the Graceling Realm series. Each novel is set in the Graceling world but centers on another character. I recommend reading Bitterblue<\/a> next, it truly fleshes out the mysteries just beginning to be unearthed in Graceling.<\/p>\n Fans of The Sin Eater\u2019s Daughter<\/a>, Throne of Glass<\/a> and The Legend of Korra<\/a> will love the fierce determination of Katsa in Graceling.<\/p>\n Strange Bedfellows<\/a> by Ariel Slamet Ries<\/p>\n Unfortunately Oberon Afolayan is an exception born without powers. Oberon is a recent panic-attack-induced college dropout struggling to find his place in the world and in a family of \u201cGhost\u201d siblings. He spends a lot (too much) of time sleeping and finds solace in his dreams, until they start to spring to life. Oberon would be more terrified if he hadn\u2019t been dreaming about Kon, his high school crush, who materializes before him. But is there more to Kon than a pretty face? Will Oberon be able to fight off nightmares when they crash into reality? Is any of this even real? Follow Oberon on his journey of self-discovery and find out what it means to help yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just like Oberon I have absolutely struggled with feeling out of place, out of my depth and with finding my path forward. I am IN for a story that explores all these things, set in the future, with superhuman characters! I loved this graphic novel. The illustrations are beautiful and in full color. The use of darkness and negative space gave emotional weight to powerful moments in the story, and reminded me of Japanese manga styles I love. I especially appreciated the inclusion of so many gender nonconforming characters, people of color and characters portraying authentic mental health struggles.<\/p>\n Fans of the stories of Magical Boy<\/a> and Dead Endia<\/a> and the surreal colorful aesthetic of Bee and PuppyCat<\/a> will love Strange Bedfellows.<\/p>\n loading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get lost in stories with characters who question themselves, their abilities and where they come from. How will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[457,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-20756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"book](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/d7d48d3b6bfa46e392c5853ae0e7c491.png\")
In a world of ordinary humans and Gracelings with abilities of all kinds, Katsa is Graced with killing. Katsa grows up under the thumb of her tyrannical uncle, King Randa, and is unwillingly put into service as his brutal enforcer. But Katsa is clever as she is lethal. She leads an underground Council of rebels against the king. Katsa soon finds out that her kingdom is not the only one in trouble.<\/p>\n![\"book](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/07c946d3ac2144cb94fc9c6bebf4247e.png\")
Earth has been left behind and humanity has worked hard to rebuild on the planet Meridian. But the journey to Meridian came with an unexpected passenger: exposure to a substance known as \u201cGhost Dust.\u201d Ghost Dust causes most of the offspring of the passengers to be born with superhuman powers.<\/p>\n