I receive a number of email messages each day asking for recommendations. Sometimes the request is based on having discovered a particular book, author, or trope (speaking of, have you seen our growing “Genres, Archetypes, and Themes” collection?). Other times, I’m asked for help identifying a book or two that might satisfy a particular mood or desire.
This past week, to the surprise of absolutely no one here at Bitchery HQ, I’ve received three separate requests for, in effect, romances to read “when you want to burn it all down.” We are here to help, and will pass you some matches, should you need some. But be careful with open flames around yourself, your food, your pets, and your books!
It’s probably not a surprise to anyone anywhere that my first suggestion for anyone looking for comfort and solace inside rage and vengeance is the Call of Crows series by Shelly Laurenston. As I wrote in my review of The Undoing:
The reason to read this series is not just the romances, which are terrific, but for the Crows themselves. They represent and embody coalesced female rage, and it’s incredible. Every slight against women, every crime against women throughout history is represented among the Crow membership (they have to die to be reborn through Skuld, after all) and the injustice and pain of having been victims fuels their power and their violent rage. They are unapologetically fierce and amazing to read about. If one looks at what happens to women throughout time, there’s a lot to be angry about. To me, the Crows represent the justifiable fury in response to all of it.
If you’re looking for literary representation of and an outlet for your possibly overflowing fury repository, a clan of women warriors whose mantra is Let Rage Be Your Guide might help you out.
But fear not – we have several other suggestions for “When You Want to Burn It All Down.”
Elyse mentioned this book in the most recent edition of Whatcha Reading? but I don’t think there’s a limit on how much one can discuss this book: Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan.
As Elyse said:
It’s an epic fantasy about a group of women with magical abilities working to overthrow a patriarchal, repressive society. Their magic is tied to the ability to read and use words of power.
This is a weird recommendation for me: as I mentioned in our Whatcha Reading post, I want to read this book, but after reading the first chapter, I knew it would overly-stimulate the part of my brain that likes to wake me up in the middle of the night with nightmares about violence. Based on that first chapter, I have a strong indication that this book is going to be incredible, and I’m so, so excited that Elyse found it and is enjoying it. (I can’t wait to ask her all about it, too.) (I’m a horrible person to correspond with for that reason.)
Amanda, I am betting, wants to recommend A Promise of Fire, and also has a key role in the development of this list. Amanda, which of the Kresley Cole Immortals After Dark series feature the most rage-filled, burn-it-all-down characters? Alas, the titles all blend together into a strange amalgam of Dark Needy Nights at the Edge of Wicked King Demon Darkness.
Amanda: Sarah knows me so well.
If I had to pick just one of the Immortals After Dark series, I’m partial to the latest one, Wicked Abyss ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). The heroine outsmarts so many people who are physically more powerful than she is. Plus, the climax of her revenge plot is a moment in my romance reading history that I’ll remember forever.
In other burn it down recommendations, I loved Burn Down the Night by Molly O’Keefe ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). The heroine kidnaps the hero (who is part of a motorcycle club) and keeps him handcuffed to a bed until he agrees to help rescue her sister from a cult. The heroine, Joan, is unapologetic and so tough!
In a less visceral interpretation, Evie in Dating You/Hating You puts a “down with the patriarchy” contemporary spin on “burning it all down.” She fights against workplace sexism and I love how she refuses to sacrifice her goals. She knows what her work experience is worth and she’s kickassingly (yes, this is a new word, trademark pending) uncompromising.
I’m sure I have a handful of other recommendations lurking in my brain that I’ll remember long after this post goes live, but I hope these will do!
Sarah: What about you? Do you have any recommendations you turn to when you have that “Why, I’m Terribly Sorry to Mention It, But I’d like to Burn It All Down with Ragefire” feeling? Please share!
By request, since we can’t link to every book you mention in the comments, here are bookstore links that help support the site with your purchases. If you use them, thank you so much, and if you’d prefer not to, no worries. Thanks for being a part of SBTB! We hope we’ve found you some great books to read!
Probably everyone here has read the series, but Sarah Maas, Throne of Glass, is fully of kickassery. Really strong heroine who competes to be the king’s “champion” and wants to overthrow the tyrannical ruler.
Agnes and the Hitman—“cranky” Agnes cares about her found family but gives zero fucks otherwise.Break into her house? She’ll brain you with a frying pan. Go after her bestie’s family? Look out.
@CarolS, I’m currently on a break from the Throne of Glass series because the heroine appears to have broken up with the guy I was rooting for. It’s always upsetting when a love triangle plot doesn’t pan out the way you want it to!
I’ll be really on the nose and go with The Hunger Games.
(Talk about love triangles gone wrong… I do understand why Katniss couldn’t be around Gale, but Peeta was such a sleaze. Single is an option. So is every other dude in the land. She didn’t have to settle for making PTSD babies with that creepazoid.)
Demon Angel by Meljean Brook might also fit the bill. Lilith is a demon on a mission to burn some shit down. (And it will lead you to book two and the comforting arms of Colin, my forever book boyfriend…)
Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey. Female superhero avenges crimes against women.
I loved Ilona Andrews Hidden Legacy series heroine Nevada. Also another Maas series that would qualify is A Court of Thorns and Roses especially the second and third book which are full of kick ass women. I’d also recommend The Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi. The heroine is frustrating at first but when she comes onto her own watch out. This is YA dystopian and also features a love triangle so YMMV.
Roan Parrish, Small Change, is a contemporary m/f romance with about the angriest heroine I’ve read in ages. She is so done with everything, and it’s lovely to read her get her HEA without changing or becoming less angry.
Just finished RP’s Small Change last night & loved it so I’m seconding that rec.
The Seafarer’s Kiss by Julia Ember – queer retelling of The Little Mermaid from Ursula’s pov, with Vikings and Loki. It’s darker and bloodier than I expected from the blurb, but it has a very satisfactory, fuck-the-patriarchy type ending.
The author give triggers warning at the bottom of this link – http://julia-ember.com/novels/the-seafarers-kiss/
Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders. Heroine running from sadisticly abusive ex, takes back her power and her sexuality through the help of other women and the support of a sexy loner- the epitome of of the strong, silent type.
I’ll second that Demon Angel rec. Really, the whole series, although some heroines are not as kick-assy as others. But there’s Lilith and Irena and my personal favorite, Rosalia. She comes off all maternal, but you know what happens when you threaten a mama bear’s cub. Her long game is EPIC.
Oooh *Burn It All Down* is such an interesting request for recommendations!! I quickly perused my keeper shelves and the only think that really seems to work is the Broken Earth series by NK Jemison, which I know has been recc’d on this site many times.
@Ren Benson – I’m with you on Katniss and Peeta (“making PTSD babies with that creepazoid” made me lol for real). I saw the final movie on opening night and at the final scene, where you see their children in soft focus, a young woman behind us said “bogus” and everyone within earshot laughed. Because it really was bogus.
I am sad that all but three titles mentioned thus far are fantasy. Not sad because I don’t care to read fantasy but sad because only in the fantasy world of fiction – so, double fantasy? – is it imagined to find “comfort and solace inside rage and vengeance”. Not in the improbable but possible world of contemporary romance fiction.
I understand the “rage,” but the news in the last two weeks (10 months?) put me into deep despair. My exact words to my husband were: “I can’t stand this sh*%. I need to read some Mary Balogh.” The novel I grabbed, First Comes Marriage, is not her greatest, but it soothed the despair a bit.
I second the recommendation for Adriana Anders’ Under Her Skin. That whole trilogy is incredibly empowering and feminist af. There are some grittier themes and Anders uses this to develop her plot in refreshing ways. The character growth is incredible! All three books are going on my favorite list for this year.
The lead character in An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard, which I just finished last week, literally says at one point she wants to burn it down! She’s referring to an established system that abuses children and weaker others to gain power and their magic. Highly recommend.
I don’t know if it fits the “rage” aspect, but Courtney Milan’s books definitely are “smash the patriarchy”, especially The Suffragette Scandal, Talk Sweetly to me, The Duchess War, as well as her contemporaries, Trade me and Hold Me.
I feel like this would already be here, but Bitch Planet, although a graphic novel, is BIG on female rage and lack of compliance. Also recommended would be the Shades of Magic, by V. E. Schwab, a trilogy (at the moment) with four parallel Londons, plenty of magic, and burning things to the ground.
I must agree with Agnes and the Hitman. I love that book. Read it for any reason you can think of.
The guns above by Robyn Bennis were reviewed by CarrieS and it’s awesome. No romance yet but feminism through the roof!
Also I thought about Liza Palmer’s books, especially Girl before the mirror, for some reason. They are not about kicking ass literally but they felt very empowering to me.
I’m bookmarking this post so I can come back P.R.N. to offload or possibly complement the rage. I think “burn it all down” is perfect and needs to be embroidered on a pillow. Or my fist. Thanks to everyone who asked for these recommendations.
Phillip Pullman’s The Tin Princess is my go-to for historical fiction starring a pair of badass women who do their damnedest to save their country in entirely different ways. One is a beautiful, beguiling ex-prostitute who inadvertently finds herself crowned queen, and the other is a brilliant, bookish polyglot who becomes the royal translator and is swept up in political intrigue. There’s action, a lovely (YA-level) romance, and it definitely speaks to the merit of fighting the good fight even when all seems lost. I read it when I feel hopeless and it never fails to pick me back up.
@Ren Benson: I didn’t have as strong a reaction to Peeta, and thought he was just plain weak as water rather than creepy. And, to me, Movie Peeta came off a lot worse than Book Peeta. (But that was how I felt about most of the characters. I seriously loved the books, but am pretty indifferent to the movies.)
When I get upset/ragey, I go in the opposite reading direction and need comfort, happy books, rather than angsty, dark, kickass reads that just fuel my discontent. It’s one of the few times I like to read Harlequin/category romances, for instance. I also gravitate towards lighter SFR books (Buroker, Diener, etc.) or mystery/PNR (Heather Graham, Amanda Stevens, etc.). I even like to read children’s books (although some of those can be as dark and heart-wrenching AF!). Audible is having a big children’s book sale right now and I’ve treated myself to a number of titles just for this purpose. 🙂
@Ren Benton – oh no – what a punch in the gut – I am team Peeta all they way – my husband read the books before me and I was like if Katniss chooses Gale I am going to rant for days and throw these books out of the house. I had another discussion with my best friend about why I think Peeta is the perfect hero – he doesn’t have to be stronger or in anyway better at surviving the Hunger Games than Katniss – in fact he loves her because she is a bad ass. Plus I liked that he wasn’t made the complete opposite either – he is really good at cake decorating and his number one skill is camo painting (which I loved how they showed in the first movie), but he is a fighter too. Too often I think men are either shown as “soft” (and I use that world not as an insult – just as how i think things tend to be shown) and artistic and cuddly OR alpha bad ass take no shit fighters BUT I think Peeta was all hey I would prefer to be an artist and stay out of your sick bullshit fight to the death, but when my back is to the wall I can be hard as nails too especially if the love of my life is threatened. And the thing was he wasn’t some alpha would have to find true love to feel emotions – he just felt them because he was a good human! Sorry to go off topic here but Peeta is probably one of my all time favorite heros.
Getting back to the burn it down theme, I second recommendations for the Hidden Legacy series – Nevada has her priorities straight and doesn’t let anyone steer her away from her family or her own sense of justice.
Bring me all the rage! My recs deal more with anger, repression, and misogyny, but all are great!
– THE TIGER’S DAUGHTER by K Arsenault Rivera – just finished this, epic fantasy, two WOC in love who fight demons and beat men at dueling and it’s great
– THE ONE HUNDRED NIGHTS OF HERO by Isabel Greenberg – graphic novel, queer retelling of One Thousand and One Nights where women just win at everything
– MONSTRESS VOL 1 & 2 by Majorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda – graphic novel series about a woman and the monster (?) within
– FINGERSMITH by Sarah Waters – queer historical about lies, love, and anger. And definitely check out the film adaption, THE HANDMAIDEN (excellent, though bloody)
– GEMMA DOYLE TRILOGY by Libba Bray – YA fantasy historical novels about girls at a boarding school and the way things like repression and anger intertwines with magic.
Okay. All those involve queer women in one way or another. Not my intention, but yay!
Peeta and Gayle = Dumb and Dumber. That is all.
Don’t forget “Cordelia’s Honor”(which is actually 2 books in one) by Lois McMaster Bujold. Cordelia kicks ass in both books, but especially in the climax of the 2nd book, “Barrayar” where I won’t give away what happens when she pursues the man who kidnapped her baby. I can read it again and again.
I mentioned this one last year during the Harlequin sale, and it looks like it’s actually $1.99 at the moment again. A.K.A. Goddess by Evelyn Vaughn has a truly strong, confident, kickass in the best way heroine. The story is a rollicking adventure that’s grounded in the power of women. It won a RITA award that year, one of the few times I agreed with a winner. The second book in the series, Her Kind of Trouble, isn’t on sale, but it’s good too.
In the collection of Genres, Archetypes, and Themes – I can’t find a “Virgin Character” category. Is there one? Is it because a virgin character is all-too-common in a romance? (I am sincerely clueless – this podcast introduced me to the romance genre and I am still learning.)
(Maybe the ‘Escort’ archetype? Hmmm…)
It doesn’t appear that anyone has mentioned Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels Trilogy. I loved the world building, especially as it related to a matriarchal society, and women hold the power. Fair warning, there’s some horrible things that are done to people, but the main protagonist overcomes everything awful that was done to her, and quite literally, burns it all to the ground. I definitely find the series to be among my comfort reads.
@Lisa W: first, welcome! I’m so glad you found us! And second, I’m shocked at myself that we don’t have a “Virgin” character type, though I suspect that may be because there are so many, it might hurt the database’s feelings.
Are you looking for specifically virgin heroes, heroines, or something else?
I’d recommend the Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. Strong women abound in a refreshing take on epic fantasy that ISN’T written by an older white man. There’s elements pulled from traditional African myths as well as wholly original bits that make this better than Game of Thrones (the show more than the ASoIaF books) for me as a fan of the genre. The heroine of the first novel, Yeine, is pretty much the definition of burning it all down. And “interesting” would be a mild descriptor of the sex scenes.
1) OLYMPUS BOUND series by Jordanna Max Brodsky (Urban Fantasy): The heroine is Artemis – literally the angriest of the Greek gods. Living in modern-day NYC, she has vowed to avenge all women who have suffered unjustly. Her brand on endless fury is fascinating to witness.
2) LAND OF THE BEAUTIFUL DEAD by R. Lee Smith (Erotic/Paranormal): The hero ends the world. Nuff said.
Seconding the BARRAYAR rec above. When Cordelia loses it, you better watch out.
More votes for Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders (I need to read the next two), Small Change by Roan Parrish, and Burn Down the Night by M. O’Keefe (and, really, the whole series–lots of rage of one kind or another there).
For rage-watching, I turn to Buffy or Alias. Sometimes you don’t have the attention span for reading, but you still need to get your rage on.
I’d have to throw in the Nevernight series by Jay Kristoff and the Illuminae series by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman, particularly Gemina. Ragey heroines that are burning shit down left and right in quests for both revenge and survival. Hanna, the main character in Gemina, is basically John McClane, only a teenage girl. It is GLORIOUS.
I’d also thrown in NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. It’s got elements of quest fantasy, horror, and a female main character that will mess you up if you screw with her or her family (which someone does). Not the happiest of endings, but still one of my favorite books.
I am going to recommend a non-fiction option: No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. Eleanor is the real star here – she is basically like I do not accept your racism (most notably she stood up blacks and Japanese-Americans), your Anti-Semitism (she was one of the most powerful voices advocating allowing entry to America by Jews fleeing Hitler’s Europe), or your misogyny (she was a big champion not only for
I am going to recommend a non-fiction option: No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Eleanor is the real star here – she is basically like I do not accept your racism (most notably she stood up for blacks and Japanese-Americans), your Anti-Semitism (she was one of the most powerful voices advocating allowing entry to America by Jews fleeing Hitler’s Europe), or your misogyny (she was a big champion not only for Women’s political rights, but also for things like access to affordable child care for all the Rosie the Riveters of her time). She was tireless and awesome and I highly recommend this book.
I love the Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs (make sure you read the eponymous novella first in the series). The female protagonist has been brutalized, and the male love interest is very much an alpha hero, but repeatedly in the books he realizes that she needs to – and is perfectly capable of – saving herself. I also love Bitten, and its sequels, by Kelley Armstrong. Again, woman with an abusive past (FYI, past abuse is not depicted in either series, so that’s helpful for those of us with trigger issues, and I also like that we don’t have to “see” it to believe that the women are telling the truth) and an alpha hero who has to learn to back the hell down and let her save herself. The books suggest that maybe it’s easier for an angry, smart woman to find a powerful place in the world if she’s not really human at all. Which, epiphany, may be why my personal catnip is shifter novels with angry leads.
CECILIA GRANT – I just finished a rereading of “A Lady Awakened.” It’s amazing how reading it at a different time leads to such a different interpretation. It is a Regency, but by the end of the book, the heroine has the hero teach the female house staff how to fight back – physically fight! – against the brother-in-law (a rapist and harasser). She is the Regency historical good girl who burns it all down (although not actually – it’s not Rebecca, after all). Quite a book. Recommend HIGHLY.
And seconds and thirds on NK Jemisin. Also Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie has quite an element of burn it all down.
And “First Fall” (Bones of Eden series, by Zaide Bishop) is set AFTER the burn-it-all-down stage (which was accomplished by young girls when one of them was raped by a teacher – they quite literally destroyed the world in their vengeance – but the world they destroyed deserved it). In Bishop’s series, the tribe of females have the tribe of males terrified. The lead female warrior is by far, by far, the scariest character. Lots of triggers in that series, LOTS, but it fits right now. (Although if you are paralyzed with fear when you think of climate change, you really shouldn’t read this series).