Marissa Meyer’s debut novel and the first book of The Lunar Chronicles. Cinder, a cyborg living in secret in the city of New Beijing—where cyborgs are hated—works as a mechanic, keeps her head down around her stepmother and stepsisters, and avoids the plague running rampant. After a chance encounter with Prince Kai, Cinder’s life turns upside down, and as she gets closer to the prince, so does he to her innermost secrets.
Starting off strong with her first fairy-tale retelling and her first novel, this book is amazing. Cinderella retellings can be repetitive, but Cinder is a completely brand-new take on the classic tale. The entire Lunar Chronicles is an amazing series, and I recommend all four books.
Marissa Meyer’s retelling of the Queen of Hearts’ origin story. Catherine has her entire life planned out for her, and none of it involves her real dream: to open a bakery with her best friend. But when she meets the mysterious new jester, Jest, her dreams begin to change—and her life along with them.
Warning: this book will make you cry. It will also change your perspective on love, family, and heartbreak. This book is also great because it’s one of Marissa Meyer’s standalone novels, so it can feel like a breath of fresh air after The Lunar Chronicles.
Instant Karma is Marissa Meyer’s first romance novel. It centers around Pru, an overachieving sophomore in Southern California and hater of Quint Erickson. Unfortunately, she can’t escape Quint because they are forced to work on a summer project together. After a freak accident, Pru discovers she has the power to enact karma, good or bad, on those who deserve it. Her first stop is giving Quint everything he deserves. Unfortunately, as she and Quint work on their project, she discovers that Quint is nothing like she thought—and karma isn’t either.
With a Little Luck is the follow-up novel about Pru’s brother, Jude. In the same vein as his sister, Jude discovers a magical 20-sided die that grants him impeccable luck. He uses the luck to try to get his dream girl, only to discover that luck might not be worth it without true love and friendship.
I loved both these books. I put them together here because they truly belong together. These novels are interesting because they are magic integrated into the real world. After reading her fantasy novels, Meyer’s whimsical romances are so much fun.
Transitioning from whimsical romances to one of her darker novels, Renegades (and the rest of the Renegades trilogy) is set in the future, on a dystopian island where certain people, called “prodigies,” have superpowers. Nova is one of these prodigies, but she isn’t one of the ones who protect the city. She’s a supervillain, and her primary goal is to take the whole structure down from the inside out.
This series is crazy good. It’s dark, interesting, and challenges everything we know about superheroes and supervillains. I also think that there just aren’t enough books about superheroes and Marissa Meyer does them insanely well. Honestly, if you are even a little interested in supervillain stories, you should read this book.
Marissa Meyer’s third graphic novel, We Could Be Magic, is another standalone romance about a girl who dreams of being a princess at a theme park and how she achieves that dream despite not quite meeting the standards for princesses. This delightful story is straight out of the magic of fairy tales. And, it’s illustrated by the wonderful Joelle Murray.
Every one of Meyer’s graphic novels is so fun, but this one really created a world, characters, and a romance that can speak to everyone’s lives (while being “kick your legs and squeal” whimsical).
Marissa Meyer blends her retelling skills with the horror and mystery genres in this retelling of the Bluebeard folktale. The book follows Mallory and her sister, fake witches trying to get rid of a very real ghost while trying not to fall for Bluebeard’s great-grandson and heir, Armand. Oh, and catch a murderer.
This is one of Marissa Meyer’s most recent releases, and it was delightful. I love her standalones because they have such dynamic characters coupled with interesting settings. This novel really made the haunted House Saphir stand out as more than just a place in the story—but also as a character itself.
After you read The House Saphir, you will be ready for Meyer’s new novel, The Escape Game. While Meyer has so many books beyond those listed here, I hope this has given you a place to start. Happy reading!
Hayley Bigelow, Pine Reads Review Writer
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