Here are 2 books that Idlewild fans have personally recommended if you like
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It's love, it's whimsy, it's lite sci-fi/romance, it's New York City! I love when a story is unique to the point of being oddball, and this one qualifies. A young woman meets another young woman who turns out to have been stuck in a time loop on the NYC subway since the 1970s. When they fall in love over several train rides together, can they find a way to take their relationship out of the subway tunnels, or is this an unbreakable spell? Sapphic modern romance with an urban fantasy/sci-fi twist: give it a try!
For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don't exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can't imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there's certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.
But then, there's this gorgeous girl on the train.
Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges…
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…
A friend urged me to read this book and I spent the first few parts wondering why, disliking the characters, not feeling the urgency to read. And then, it all changed. A new part began. I turned the page. Everything changed. This was one of the most unique books whose narrator surprised me along the way.
Longlisted for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize • A Best Book of 2024: Time, Kirkus Reviews, BookPage, The Sunday Times (London)
“Remarkable…Compelling…Fine and taut…Indelible.” —The New York Times • “Moving, unnerving, and deeply sexy.” —Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with the Pearl Earring • “A brilliant debut, as multi-faceted as a gem.” —Kirkus Reviews
A “razor-sharp, perfectly plotted” (The Sunday Times, London) tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961—a powerful exploration of the legacy of…