I recommended this on a recent episode of WSIRN: episode 196 with Anudeep Reddy as a gateway fantasy, a fantasy novel for people who don't like fantasy. I loved this so much that we're reading this in February with the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club. This is a literary mystery, a book about books, coming-of-age story, a tale of adventure and suspense and revenge, and tattoo artistry is a main theme. This was creative and inventive and lots of fun. Also note, this was great on audio.

Zinnia Gray’s 21st birthday is set to be her last due to a rare condition where no one survives past the age of 21. Her best friend Charm gifts her with a full sleeping beauty experience, she wakes up in the realm of Sleeping Beauty. A fun, snarky reimagined fairy tale that makes for one delightful escapist read.

Shannan says: "I adored this short story about an agent of the Department of Death who has to decide whether he should reap the soul of a 2-year-old boy. Harrow kept me in suspense until the end, which left me feeling oh so very happy. I never felt lost. It’s an excellent selection to begin your foray into the fantasy genre."

Harrow’s third novel is a gorgeously modern Gothic fantasy with horror elements set in the fictional town of Eden, Kentucky that was once a booming coal town but has fallen on hard times. Opal desperately needs money to care for her brother and takes a job working for Arthur at the creepy, brooding Starling House to pay the bills. The Gothic mansion was owned by a mysterious nineteenth-century author and illustrator who was rumored to have killed her husband. The house holds many secrets, and Opal and Arthur will have to contend with a deep darkness, both literal and metaphorical, in order to right the wrongs done to individuals and to their whole community. I marveled at the way Harrow incorporated real events from Kentucky’s history into her story in astoundingly creative ways.

I was emotionally hooked on this story even before the opening line, thanks to the perfect epigraph from a Rilke poem. This is the unlikely love story of two people who never should have met. Una Everlasting was a medieval lady knight, legendary warrior, and patron saint of the nation of Dominion. Owen Mallory is a tweedy scholar obsessed with Una’s legend. But then Dominion’s new chancellor sends Owen back in time to meet Una and write her definitive tale, so that the story may inspire the beleaguered nation. When he first meets her, he’s in awe and can barely believe she’s real. But then he falls in love with her—with disastrous consequences for them both. I don’t want to say too much—but I was completely entranced by this emotional, epic, and achingly intimate love story that unfolds across time and whose outcome will determine the fate of a nation. I’ve loved Harrow’s work in the past, but this is my new favorite by a mile.