Books like Illuminary — picked by fans

When curating a list of whimsical book recommendations, one must surely start with the epitome of whimsy herself, Miss Anne Shirley!

With her big words, vast scope for imagination, and appreciation for nature's marvels, Anne with an E is one of my favorite fictional bosom friends. A true kindred spirit, I could visit daily without tiring of her poetical musings.

I love how Anne matures as a character while still maintaining her sense of wonder, and I love how her wonder—her whimsical ability to see a simple lake as an enchanting Lake of Shining Waters—inspires me to romance my own life and search for the wondrous cloaked in the familiar.  

Whimsical, humorous, and utterly Victorian—to say that Wormwood Abbey is my bookish cup of tea would be a vast understatement!

I absolutely adored this enchanting adventure with an intrepid heroine and only the most historical of dragons. I’d been intrigued by the book ever since I saw the cover on Instagram. The alluring combination of puffed sleeves and dragon scales was enough to pique my interest.

In the first few pages, I was smitten by Christina Baehr’s exquisite use of vocabulary, which, for a word nerd like myself, was a sheer joy to read. By chapter four, I was charmed by Bather’s endearing characters, and by chapter six, I was hooked by the cozy gothic mystery.

I had to know EVERYTHING about Wormwood Abbey and its fantastical secrets, and once I’d reached The End, I simply had to continue with The Secrets of Ormdale series to find out what happened… show more.

When I picked up The Elusive Truth of Lily Temple, my world-weary soul was in dire need of wonderment, and Joanna Davidson Politano’s pen delivered with this lyrical ode to storytelling and fairy tales.

Set in Edwardian England, this mesmerizing novel features an alluring silent film actress with a secret past and a bespectacled private investigator with a noble heart. I was immediately invested in their tender opposites-attract romance and utterly entranced by the mystery surrounding them.

Yet what I loved most about this novel is how Politano blended her signature atmospheric prose with the winsome enchantment of The Secret Garden to create a whimsical story that sparkled with every turn of the page as though written with pixie dust. 

Oh my giddy gumdrops, this confection of a tale is a sheer delight from beginning to end!

Christmas at Sugar Plum Manor by Roseanna M. White captures all the splendor of the holiday season from the effervescent joy of childhood to the awe-inspiring wonder of Christ’s birth. As a life-long fan of The Nutcracker ballet, I grinned with glee at each of White’s witty allusions to the nostalgic story.

The luxury of an Edwardian Manor and the enchantment of a winter wood, glittering with snow, only enhanced the tale’s inherit whimsy, making for an ideally cozy and festive read I look forward to re-reading during the holiday season. 

This book by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris is one that you skip other books in your TBR pile for! It’s impossible to put it down. The story takes place in an alternate Victorian era  where the world is powered by steam and magic. The plot is filled with so many threads of clues and mysteries weave you into the world and before you know it you’re as tangled as the characters. The secret agent and medium characters are brilliant, and their chemistry is just amazing. The world-building is superb, the steampunk universe is so rich and fascinating. The  balance of mystery, fantasy, and adventure are just perfect. If you love steampunk and mystery,  you have to read this book! It's simply fantastic! 

If there are two things I can’t get enough of, it's fantastic holiday stories and cozy fantasy/science fiction. When you combine the two? I’m sold. Liz Delton’s books have a straightforward charm to them while always involving complicated world-building that gives me a world I’d love to play in.

Her Seasons of Soldark series has four holiday or seasonal tales, and the first, the Clockwork Ice Dragon, is a cozy holiday adventure. The heroine is a determined inventor who I found equally admirable for her persistence (aka stubbornness) and frustrating for snapping to a judgment and sticking to it like a rusty bolt (also stubbornness). This only makes her more believable, though, as it is so often our greatest strengths that are also our greatest weaknesses. 

For me, cycling has meant freedom. This book celebrates the bicycle as a tool for women’s emancipation. Microcosm Publishing has a strong track record (pun intended) in celebrating feminism, cycling, and the intersection of the two, and this is a particularly good example.

Set in a universe that seems to be just a jump away from our own, about a century and a half ago, it’s insightful on matters of class and wealth, too. I particularly enjoyed all the little details of fashion. I found myself rooting hard for the heroine in her struggle to ride a bike, not just competitively, but at all. And I was charmed by a love story I wasn’t expecting.

This is the most evil book on my list.

As a math teacher, I thought Egan’s world of numbers would give me some kind of home-field advantage. I admit I lost that feeling rather quickly. The story explores post-human minds, simulation theory, and far-future consciousness, and Egan keeps the pace intense.

His skill with math makes the confusion feel real. By the end, I wasn’t sure of anything. Even now, I'm still not sure.

Take one of Dicken’s most famous characters, give him a timey wimey mcguffin straight from Doctor Who, a ghost girl with a knack to design wonderful gadgets, a dash of snark, the good looks of John Boyega, and the personality of a young Bruce Wayne looking over the downtrodden of a steampunk London, and you get one of the most peculiar and freshest depictions of Oliver Twist committed to paper in recent years.

I love this book because it has a lot of heart, and takes an old classic, giving it a continuation that is not afraid of going bigger and crazier adding elements from different genres, be it superhero, steampunk, mystery, and fantasy. It should be made into a movie.

I was hooked from page one and finished reading the book in just a few days. Although this is a complicated story, the description was vivid and clear. The plot was fast-paced and full of actions that will keep you on the edge of your seat most of the time.