62 Books Like Songs for the Lost

I have a deep love of history and all stories that feel historical, specifically when royalty is involved (call it my royal roots, if you will). This story is a little bit like royal history, only in a fantasy setting (which, let’s be honest, is part of the draw of history) with a strong, deep female heroine who is able to save herself, along with the boy who broke her heart, and her entire kingdom along with them. What’s not to love about that? 

Jesse James, yes you read that correctly, is a kick-butt eighteen-year-old girl who takes on Fae Royalty, drug dealers, and heartbreak to find and rescue her parents, who happen to be Fae bounty hunters. How does she do that, you ask? She becomes a Fae bounty hunter herself which wasn’t her life plan but ends up working out pretty well except for the whole falling in love with a certain lying Fae prince...but I don’t want to give too much away. 

Jinx Ballou is a serious bada$$. Transgender, ex-cop, skilled bounty hunter – she learns to deal with unexpected notoriety and some people that really need their a$$es kicked. 

The story deals with some difficult topics with sensitivity, humor, and grace. 

Once I started reading, I couldn’t put the book down – it kept me captivated from beginning to end. 

I’m already on the third book in the series and have enjoyed every minute of getting to know Jinx and her world.

My brother introduced me to this writer, and I’m so glad he did. This is the thirtieth book in the Stephanie Plum novels—yes, folks, the thirtieth! After reading this one, I immediately bought another. Only twenty-eight to go! 

This book has it all: humour, action, and great characters. I was particularly charmed by bounty hunter Stephanie Plum's relationship with her sidekick, the slightly bonkers Lula. Tracking down a bail jumper and a security guard suspected of being his accomplice should be simple, but neither finding the culprits nor Stephanie’s love life is straightforward; everything soon spirals into a vortex of complications.

Be prepared for a roller-coaster ride with slick dialogue and quirky characters, including an orange dog. This book will keep you hooked to the end. 

My favorite part of the book was the world-building. The setting was a joy to explore, with lush, green cities, clean technology, forests, people living in small communities and relying on barter, and the whole solarpunk aesthetic.

The understanding of morality in this world is largely based on people’s interactions with nature and animals. Those who don’t treat the world with the respect it deserves have to face dire consequences from the Order of the Vengeful Wild, which was an interesting aspect of the book. The story itself was not bad, but didn’t make such an impression on me as the world it was set in.

The Season of the Runer series is a great book for fans of The Witcher. It is unique in that it doesn’t focus on western European culture, but rather eastern European or middle-eastern or Eastern. Runers are humans who have committed a crime and been genetically altered. They’re bounty hunters, essentially. It follows Tzarik, a Runer, as he struggles with the will to go on. He meets Sybal, a diamond mine heiress and brand new Runer, and trains her to help him take down a necromancer. I enjoyed everything about this story, and I’d recommend it to those wanting a darker fantasy.

I love listening to Evanovich’s hilarious tales of Stephanie Plum’s misadventures as a wannabe bail/bondsman. These books are my wife’s and my favorite distraction on long road trips. While her mysteries may be thin, her characters are so real and her stories so crazy, I didn’t miss the whodunit. I included her in this August list because she captures the seedy side of Trenton, New Jersey, with amazing clarity, even while laughing at the place.

I picture myself riding in one of her cars—which she destroys regularly—along with her friend, the former ho, LuLu, hair flowing in the stinky wind blowing off deserted warehouses, sleezy girl joints and questionable car repair shops. This is the first in a series that is now at 31.

This is one of the first stories I ever read with a strong female protagonist at the helm. Dante Valentine is a bounty hunter, necromancer, and a no-nonsense kind of woman. She is stubborn, flawed, and her story is a classic answer to what happens when you make a literal deal with the devil. I appreciate that she is unapologetically human and blatantly admits to her faults as a person. She is honest—perhaps sometimes too much so—and perseveres when things go awry. If anything, I would say she is a stand-out not only as far as female protagonists are concerned, but protagonists in speculative fiction as well.

I avoid zombie fiction like the plague. Heh-heh. That level of horror just isn’t my thing. But I picked up Rot & Ruin curious about the two central characters, teen brothers Benny and Tom Imura. Wow! This book is much more than a plot-driven, gruesome-shock-around-every-corner horror story.

The Imura brothers set out together, despite mistrust and sibling rivalry, on a quest through a post-apocalyptic world swarming with the undead. I loved the interaction of love and obligation between them. Deadly trials ultimately forge their relationship into one of deep affection, trust, and loyalty. Nothing melts my heart like an unbreakable brother bond. Bonus, older brother Tom is a freakin’ cool fighter!

Good lord, Kat simply dominates when she enters a scene.

She leaves no room for argument with all her decisions (some of them bad, some of them good) or dialogue, and even in moments where you’re screaming at her or she’s second-guessing herself, she grounds herself in her resolve and pushes forward.

Plus, Bones is swoon-worthy, and she still honors her own feels in the presence of his…well…everything, haha. I also love her evolution through the Night Huntress series and how her viewpoint toward vampires and paranormals shifts in a way that suits her character development. Also the spice? Heck. Yes.