Here are 7 books that A Novel Arrangement fans have personally recommended if you like A Novel Arrangement. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Mistborn: The Final Empire

Trilip Schofield

From Trilip's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Trilip loves this book

Strongly plot driven, nicely wrapped up

By Brandon Sanderson ,

Why should I read it?

38 authors picked Mistborn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 13, 14, 15, and 16.

What is this book about?

Brandon Sanderson - the international phenomenon who finished the Wheel of Time sequence - introduces a fantasy trilogy which overturns the expectations of readers and goes on to tell the epic story of evil overturned in a richly imagined world.

A thousand years ago evil came to the land and has ruled with an iron hand ever since. The sun shines fitfully under clouds of ash that float down endlessly from the constant eruption of volcanoes. A dark lord rules through the aristocratic families and ordinary folk are condemned to lives in servitude, sold as goods, labouring in the ash…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of The Hero of Ages

Deandra Maria

From Deandra's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Deandra loves this book

One of the best ending to a series I’ve ever read. Everything wraps up so beautifully, you can feel that everything is planned down to the little details. Love love love it

By Brandon Sanderson ,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked The Hero of Ages as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 13, 14, 15, and 16.

What is this book about?

Brandon Sanderson - the international phenomenon who finished the Wheel of Time sequence - concludes his smash-hit Mistborn fantasy trilogy.

Tricked into releasing the evil spirit Ruin while attempting to close the Well of Ascension, new emperor Elend Venture and his wife, the assassin Vin, are now hard-pressed to save the world.

This adventure brings the Mistborn epic fantasy trilogy to a dramatic and surprising climax as Sanderson's saga offers complex characters and a compelling plot, asking hard questions about loyalty, faith and responsibility.


Book cover of The Luminous Dead

Ness Brown Author Of The Scourge Between Stars

From my list on sci-fi about space missions gone terribly wrong.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an astrophysicist with a passion for narratives that stare unflinchingly at the inherent hostility of outer space. Professionally, I study graduate astrophysics and research the ways high-energy celestial objects impact cosmic evolution. Creatively, I use my training to write science fiction horror exploring the spookiest things the universe has to offer. I particularly love stories that throw wrenches in the best-laid plans of star-faring protagonists, and will never get tired of a good old space mission gone terribly and tragically awry.

Ness' book list on sci-fi about space missions gone terribly wrong

Ness Brown Why Ness loves this book

Deep space can be scary, but I consider deep caves to be much more terrifying.

The Luminous Dead has an eerie mission to the depths of a cave on a distant exoplanet—the worst of both worlds! This book follows a non-regulation diver on a dangerous job shrouded in secrets and the enigmatic, untrustworthy voice in her helmet guiding her through the darkness.

Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t take long for the characters to descend into antagonism and uncertainty about whether the other things lurking in the cave are figments of paranoia or dangerously real. If you like feeling queasy, secondhand claustrophobia, The Luminous Dead is for you.

By Caitlin Starling ,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked The Luminous Dead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best First Novel!

"This claustrophobic, horror-leaning tour de force is highly recommended for fans of Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation and Andy Weir's The Martian." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A thrilling, atmospheric debut with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival.

When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she'd be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She…


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Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

Julia Phillips Author Of Bear

From my list on books inspired by fairy tales.

Why am I passionate about this?

These days, I’m an author, but that was long predated by being a reader. I’ve loved fairy tales all my life and spent most of my childhood lugging around a thick paperback copy of the Brothers Grimm's stories. My nationally bestselling second novel, Bear, is a reimagining of my favorite tale: “Snow-White and Rose-Red. " It is about two sisters who live in a cottage with their mother and whose lives are upended when a bear shows up at their door.

Julia's book list on books inspired by fairy tales

Julia Phillips Why Julia loves this book

Machado is a master storyteller, a writer who plays with form and structure and our narrative expectations to create entirely new ways of telling tales. This collection was her groundbreaking debut.

I’ve always loved fairy tales and folklore for the ways they play with character archetypes, repetition, and deceptively simple story shapes. Machado does the same thing here, upending our ideas about wives, lovers, and monsters with these tales that might trick you into thinking you know what’s coming next—until she flips you over and turns you around. She’s a new Brother Grimm, a fairy-tale writer for the modern age.

By Carmen Maria Machado ,

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked Her Body and Other Parties as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FICTION PRIZE 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2018

'Brilliantly inventive and blazingly smart' Garth Greenwell

'Impossible, imperfect, unforgettable' Roxane Gay

'A wild thing ... covered in sequins and scales, blazing with the influence of fabulists from Angela Carter to Kelly Link and Helen Oyeyemi' New York Times

In her provocative debut, Carmen Maria Machado demolishes the borders between magical realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. Startling narratives map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited on their bodies, both in myth and in practice.

A…


Book cover of Overworked & Underpaid

B. Narr Author Of Hollow Bones

From my list on queer horror with spine-chilling settings.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been inspired by the setting as character. Place is powerful, especially when that place is touched by the natural world. Between growing up in the rural American South and doing fieldwork with biologists, nature has wormed its way into the majority of my work. And as a queer horror writer, I deeply value horror stories that have us in the protagonist’s role. I’ve curated this list to reflect all of that at once: queer protagonists trying to survive in environments that would love to eat them alive. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

B.'s book list on queer horror with spine-chilling settings

B. Narr Why B. loves this book

Bleak, beautiful, and visceral. I’ve reread this graphic novel a dozen times just to look at the absolutely stunning creature design that engulfs the environment. Sal, a sword-wielding exterminator, is faced with their crumbling relationship, their terrible job, and the monsters that lurk in every corner of this near-future world—all in one shift.

By Mark Bouchard , Bayleigh Underwood (illustrator) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Overworked & Underpaid as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

LA, 2028. Down-on-their-luck exterminator Sal Hernandez is sick of long hours and living in their work van. They’re ready to quit their job and reconcile with their estranged partner. The only thing standing in their way is one last shift. But what seems like a routine call quickly gets out of hand when a proselytizing mass of flesh abducts Sal’s newest coworker, Luke, and turns their extermination job into a rescue mission.


Book cover of The Bayou

B. Narr Author Of Hollow Bones

From my list on queer horror with spine-chilling settings.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been inspired by the setting as character. Place is powerful, especially when that place is touched by the natural world. Between growing up in the rural American South and doing fieldwork with biologists, nature has wormed its way into the majority of my work. And as a queer horror writer, I deeply value horror stories that have us in the protagonist’s role. I’ve curated this list to reflect all of that at once: queer protagonists trying to survive in environments that would love to eat them alive. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

B.'s book list on queer horror with spine-chilling settings

B. Narr Why B. loves this book

Set in 1930’s Louisiana, the environment is a character in and of itself—lush, suffocating, dreamlike. In fact, the entire book feels like an unsettling dream. The narrative of trauma and death swirls around Eugene, a reporter, and Johnny Walker, an enigmatic fugitive. Heed the content warnings before you dive into this book, it’s heavy, and Powell leaves very little off the page.

By Arden Powell ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Bayou as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Small-town Louisiana, 1935.When Eugene was twelve, a girl from town disappeared. Everyone said the gators must have got her when she strayed too near the bayou. No foul play, just a terrible accident. But Eugene can't shake the conviction that Mary Beth's death had something to do with the man who used to haunt her—the man no one else could see.Now, nearly two decades later, there are more dangerous things than gators in Chanlarivyè. People are disappearing again, and this time, no one can find the bodies. As the town's unease grows, charismatic fugitive Johnny Walker arrives on the scene,…


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Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of What Moves the Dead

Todd Brown Author Of When Shadows Burn

From my list on books that will fry your brain.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated by how people behave and how in-group bias can change who they are. That interest led me into computational sociology (I study human behavior for a living), with my work appearing in The New York Times, USA Today, WIRED, and more. But my deepest fascination has always been with people’s propensity for the horrific. I LOVE the liminal space where fear, secrecy, and belonging collide. Being neurodivergent, living in a small Virginia town with my wife and our neurodivergent, queer son, I see how communities can both shelter and suffocate. That tension is why I’m drawn to stories saturated in dread, beauty, and what lives in the shadows.

Todd's book list on books that will fry your brain

Todd Brown Why Todd loves this book

I love this book because it made me laugh when I least expected it.

The wit is so sharp it almost feels like a weapon against the darkness creeping in at the edges. I remember grinning at one line and then, two pages later, feeling the walls closing in.

That balance of humor and horror made me feel like the story was written for someone like me, someone who finds the grotesque easier to face when it comes with a crooked smile.

By T. Kingfisher ,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked What Moves the Dead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An instant USA Today & Indie bestseller

From the Nebula and Hugo award-winning author of The Twisted Ones, comes What Moves the Dead, a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher."

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her…


Book cover of Mistborn: The Final Empire
Book cover of The Hero of Ages
Book cover of The Luminous Dead

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