Hey everyone, it's Jananie, and welcome back to another episode of #EpicBookRecs.
So this is the monthly series that I do here on the Epic Reads channel,
where I recommend a bunch of books based on a certain theme.
So we've done a bunch of fun and exciting themes before, so
you should definitely go check out the link in the description that leads to
a playlist of all of the amazing recs I've given before.
But for today's video I thought, since it is November,
it is that sort of cozy, cold time of the year,
it might be nice to have some cozy romances to read and curl up with.
The romances in each of these books are some of my favorites, but
there are also two books on here that I haven't read yet
that I'm really excited for and that seem like they're gonna be super adorable.
You'll be getting a mix of some contemporary YA and also some YA fantasy.
So I hope you will buckle down and enjoy.
All right, so
the first book that I want to recommend is The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala.
I absolutely love this series, but
also mainly this first book because of the way that the romance develops.
This fantasy is inspired by ancient Indian history and Hindu mythology and
it follows our two different main characters, so Kunal and Esha.
And these two characters are some of my favorite characters of all time.
But the main plot of the book is that Kunal and Esha are from
very different opposing countries that are neighboring to each other.
And Kunal is a soldier for one of those countries and
Esha is actually a notorious assassin called the Viper for the other nation.
And so when a unexpected murder happens in Kunal's nation,
he is sent on a mission to go capture the Viper, who has murdered this person.
And what develops from there is a really cool cat and
mouse game where each of them is sort of hunting the other one and
running away from the other one, and in the midst of it all, falling in love.
I absolutely love the dynamic between Kunal and Esha as well.
Because Kunal is a very straight-laced soldier, who is quite oblivious at times.
Whereas Esha is a very smart and cutting assassin but also just very charming and
happens to charm the pants off of Kunal, which I just find so hilarious.
And they're just so cute, and the way they fall in love is just so exciting.
So I'm so curious to see how it's all gonna end in the final installment because
this is a three-book series and the last book recently came out.
All right, the next book I wanna recommend is one that I'm hoping to pick up very
soon, and that is XOXO by Axie.
And this seems like it's gonna be the most adorable K-pop romance.
So basically this follows our main character, Jenny, who is a cellist.
And she is award-winning and she's known practice all of her life, but
one night when she meets this mysterious boy named Jaewoo,
her world is sort of turned upside down.
The two of them spend a night in LA just roaming around the city and
getting to know each other, two strangers who don't know anything about each other.
And they have this one spectacular night just before Jaewoo is about to fly to
Korea and leave the country, basically forever.
And so after this one night happens, Jenny is sort of determined to just leave it
behind her and forget it and go back to her regular life.
But when her grandmother falls ill,
she and her mother end up traveling to Korea to go take care of her grandmother.
And what she finds when she gets there is that Jaewoo is actually
a massive K-pop star in one of the biggest boy bands there.
But, of course, as a K-pop star, he is under contractual obligations not
to date and can't get into scandals and all this.
But they can't deny an irresistible connection between them, and
it's just chaos that ensues from there.
I absolutely love this entire concept and I'm so
excited to see how this is gonna go.
I think it's gonna be an adorable romance and I love anything K-pop related, so
I'm super excited for this one.
All right, this next book is another one that I'm planning to read very soon.
And that is It All Comes Back To You by Farah Naz Rishi.
And this book seems like it's gonna be such a great enemies-to-lovers romance.
Basically this book follows our main characters, Deen and Kiran.
So they both have older siblings, so Kiran's older sister is Amira and
Deen's older brother is Faisal.
And so when Deen and
Kiran are told by their older siblings that they're dating someone and
that they intend to get married and that a wedding is going to ensue.
Deen and Kiran quickly realize that the younger sibling of their older
sibling's significant other is actually each other.
And what no one else knows is that three years ago, Deen and
Kiran used to date and they were an absolutely happy couple until Deen
ghosted her suddenly out of the blue and Kiran was left with zero answers.
And so since then they have become sort of enemies, and Kiran hates Deen's guts.
And so the two of them begrudgingly decide to keep their
previous relationship a secret from their friends and family.
But, of course,
they're gonna be in each other's midst during all of the wedding festivities.
And, of course, an enemies-to-lovers romance ensues from there.
I'm very curious to see how this one's gonna go.
And I think the idea of them previously having dated and now being brought
together is just so fun and it seems like it's gonna be a really cute romance.
All right, the next book is one of my all-time favorites and
a romance that I just adore.
And that is Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.
And this is just a beautifully lyrically written book that is a YA fantasy and
it is set in a world that I've never encountered something similar to before.
So basically it follows our main character, Lazlo Strange,
who is a war orphan and a junior librarian as well.
And in this fantasy world,
he has always been obsessed with these stories of this lost city called Weep.
And Weep isn't actually its name, but because of some magic many years ago,
its name was stolen from people's memories and so
no one remembers it or where it is or anything like that.
But much to Lazlo's delight, when a delegation from the lost city of
Weep comes to his town asking for experts on various trades and things.
Lazlo jumps at the opportunity to go see the lost city of Weep, and
see if it lives up to all of the stories he's heard and conjured in his head.
And this is where he meets the other main character, Sarai,
who is a bit of a magical girl.
And she, along with her siblings, have been stuck in the lost city of Weep,
partly because their powers make them a bit of targets to the humans in
their city.
And I don't want to reveal too much there, but the way the romance sort
of develops between Lazlo and Sarai is just so magical and just wondrous,
because a lot of it happens in dreams, if that makes any sense at all.
But if you're looking for an enchanting fantasy and an enchanting romance,
this is definitely the one to be picking up.
All right, the next book is another fantasy that I absolutely love, and
that is Graceling by Kristin Cashore.
And this one, again, has a wonderful romance.
I particularly love the main love interest, Po.
But basically, this book follows our main character, Katsa, and
she lives in this fantasy country and she is an assassin for the King.
And in this world, there are people called Gracelings, who have these
abilities called Graces, which are basically any sort of magical ability or
enhancement to any regular ability that people call a Grace.
And so Katsa is graced with killing, she is an incredible assassin and
hence why she works for the King.
So she's bloodied her hands in many ways.
But when a Prince from a foreign country named Prince Po sort of comes to her
Kingdom and is staying with the King.
They end up interacting a lot and she starts learning a lot of things
that she didn't know about herself and also about her kingdom.
And the two of them end up on a journey of some sorts as well.
And it was just a fantastic book overall, very intricate and
interesting fantasy world as well.
But I just love the way that the romance develops between Po and Katsa,
because Katsa's a very guarded girl and doesn't want to let people in.
But Po is the very charming guy who is also very sweet, and kind,
and patient, which was just a dynamic that I absolutely loved seeing.
All right, the next book is a historical fiction that I absolutely loved, and
that is Lovely War by Julie Berry.
So this is a story that is set partly in World War II and partly in World War I.
So it is told by the goddess Aphrodite,
she is basically the narrator of the story.
And we are beginning the story with her sort of explaining her
exploits in love to her husband, Hephaestus, during World War II.
And she is describing some love stories from World War I,
particularly the love stories of these four teens in World War I.
And they are two different couples and how their lives sort of come together and
are ripped apart in the arena of war.
I absolutely love the way that the four main characters sort of come from very
different walks of life and very different experiences, but you're seeing
how love sort of brings them together, but also how war rips them apart.
The book overall is really well written, and I just love seeing how grand and
beautiful these love stories were.
I highly recommend if you like historical fiction or
any books set in the world wars.
So it was definitely just a beautiful, beautiful book to read.
All right, the final book that I want to talk about today is Girls of Paper and
Fire by Natasha Ngan.
This is a book that I absolutely loved when I read it.
And it is a beautiful, beautiful romance, a romance that kind of occurs in one
of the most unlikely and sort of harrowing experiences that you could imagine.
So basically, in this fantasy world, there are three different castes.
And the lowest caste is called the Paper caste, and that is the human caste,
then the middle and higher ones are slightly more demonic.
And so there's a tradition every year where eight Paper girls are taken to serve
the Demon King and live in his palace and fulfill his desires, that sort of thing.
But this year, there is an extra Paper girl, the ninth one,
who is our main character.
So our main character Lei is of the Paper caste and she has these uniquely sort of
demonic eyes which catches the interest of the people collecting these Paper girls.
And so she is shipped off with the other girls to the palace to serve
the Demon King.
And amidst this, these girls go through some very harrowing experiences.
I would caution you to check out the content warnings for
this one because it does involve sexual assault and rape.
But what blossoms in this horrible situation is a romance between the main
character Lei and one of the other Paper girls and how they find love,
even in this unlikely situation.
And also just the personal growth of Lei as she is faced with these tragedies.
I absolutely loved the tenderness of the romance as well and
how they sort of bond over their shared experiences.
But also how the main character and
the love interest are very different from each other in their mannerisms as well.
And overall it was just a really beautiful, sapphic romance within
an incredibly thought out fantasy world inspired by Asian mythology.
All right, but those are all the books that I wanted to recommend today.
I hope you guys found a cozy romance to curl up with this fall and
into the beginning of winter.
As always, I would love to hear from you guys what books you would recommend for
this theme.
Whether they are books you've read, want to read, or
ones you'd just like to recommend to me and the other people watching.
And as always, thank you so much for watching.
I'm Jananie from the channel The Story Ain't Over, and
I will see you in the next episode of #EpicBookRecs.
Bye