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North Carolina, 1863. As the American Civil War rages on, the Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island is blossoming, a haven for the recently emancipated. Black people have begun building a community of their own, a refuge from the shadow of the old life. It is where the March family has finally been able to safely put down roots with four young daughters:

Meg, a teacher who longs to find love and start a family of her own.

Jo, a writer whose words are too powerful to be contained.

Beth, a talented seamstress searching for a higher purpose.

Amy, a dancer eager to explore life outside her family's home.

As the four March sisters come into their own as independent young women, they will face first love, health struggles, heartbreak, and new horizons. But they will face it all together.

Book Number: One 

Genre: Young Adult | Historical | Retellings

Review: ? 

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1826. The sun is setting on the golden age of piracy, and the legendary Dragon Fleet, the scourge of the South China Sea, is no more. Its ruthless leader, a woman known only as the Head of the Dragon, is now only a story, like the ones Xiang has grown up with all her life. She desperately wants to prove her worth, especially to her mother, a shrewd businesswoman who never seems to have enough time for Xiang. Her father is also only a story, dead at sea before Xiang was born. Her single memento of him is a pendant she always wears, a simple but plain piece of gold jewelry.

But the pendant's true nature is revealed when a mysterious girl named Anh steals it, only to return it to Xiang in exchange for her help in decoding the tiny map scroll hidden inside. The revelation that Xiang's father sailed with the Dragon Fleet and tucked away this secret changes everything. Rumor has it that the legendary Head of the Dragon had one last treasure—the plunder of a thousand ports—that for decades has only been a myth, a fool's journey.

Xiang is convinced this map could lead to the fabled treasure. Captivated with the thrill of adventure, she joins Anh and her motley crew off in pursuit of the island. But the girls soon find that the sea—and especially those who sail it—are far more dangerous than the legends led them to believe.

Book Number: Two 

Genre: Young Adult | Historical | LGBTQIA+ | Retellings 

Review: ? 

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Jerusalem, 1192. The Third Crusade rages on. Rahma al-Hud loyally followed her elder sister Zeena into the war over the Holy Land, but now that the Faranji invaders have gotten reinforcements from Richard the Lionheart, all she wants to do is get herself and her sister home alive.

But Zeena, a soldier of honor at heart, refuses to give up the fight while Jerusalem remains in danger of falling back into the hands of the false Queen Isabella. And so, Rahma has no choice but to take on one final mission with her sister.

On their journey to Jerusalem, Rahma and Zeena come across a motley collection of fellow travelers—including a kind-hearted Mongolian warrior, an eccentric Andalusian scientist, a frustratingly handsome spy with a connection to Rahma's childhood, and an unfortunate English chaplain abandoned behind enemy lines. The teens all find solace, purpose and camaraderie—as well as a healthy bit of mischief—in each other's company.

But their travels soon bring them into the orbit of Queen Isabella herself, whose plans to re-seize power in Jerusalem would only guarantee further war and strife in the Holy Land for years to come. And so it falls to the merry band of misfits to use every scrap of cunning and wit (and not a small amount of thievery) to foil the usurper queen and perhaps finally restore peace to the land.

Book Number: Three

Genre: Young Adult | Historical | Fantasy | LGBTQIA+ | Retelling

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Sometimes, lost things find their way home...

Yorkshire, North of England, 1786. As the abandoned son of a lascar―a sailor from India―Heathcliff has spent most of his young life maligned as an "outsider." Now he's been flung into an alien life in the Yorkshire moors, where he clings to his birth father's language even though it makes the children of the house call him an animal, and the maids claim he speaks gibberish.

Catherine is the younger child of the estate's owner, a daughter with light skin and brown curls and a mother that nobody talks about. Her father is grooming her for a place in proper society, and that's all that matters. Catherine knows she must mold herself into someone pretty and good and marriageable, even though it might destroy her spirit.

As they occasionally flee into the moors to escape judgment and share the half-remembered language of their unknown kin, Catherine and Heathcliff come to find solace in each other. Deep down in their souls, they can feel they are the same.

But when Catherine's father dies and the household's treatment of Heathcliff only grows more cruel, their relationship becomes strained and threatens to unravel. For how can they ever be together, when loving each other―and indeed, loving themselves―is as good as throwing themselves into poverty and death?

Book Number: Four 

Genre: Young Adult | Historical | Romance | Retelling

Review: ? 

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New York City, 1922. Nicolás Caraveo, a 17-year-old transgender boy from Minnesota, has no interest in the city’s glamor. Going to New York is all about establishing himself as a young professional, which could set up his future—and his life as a man—and benefit his family.

Nick rents a small house in West Egg from his 18-year-old cousin, Daisy Fabrega, who lives in fashionable East Egg near her wealthy fiancé, Tom—and Nick is shocked to find that his cousin now goes by Daisy Fay, has erased all signs of her Latina heritage, and now passes seamlessly as white.

Nick’s neighbor in West Egg is a mysterious young man named Jay Gatsby, whose castle-like mansion is the stage for parties so extravagant that they both dazzle and terrify Nick. At one of these parties, Nick learns that the spectacle is all for the benefit of impressing a girl from Jay’s past—Daisy. And he learns something else: Jay is also transgender.

As Nick is pulled deeper into the glittery culture of decadence, he spends more time with Jay, aiming to help his new friend reconnect with his lost love. But Nick's feelings grow more complicated when he finds himself falling hard for Jay's openness, idealism, and unfounded faith in the American Dream.

Book Number: Five 

Genre: Young Adult | Historical | Romance | LGBTQIA+ | Retelling 

Review: ? 

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London, 1885. Gabriel Utterson, a 17-year-old law clerk, has returned to London for the first time since his life— and that of his dearest friend, Henry Jekyll—was derailed by a scandal that led to his and Henry's expuslion from the London Medical School. Whispers about the true nature of Gabriel and Henry's relationship have followed the boys for two years, and now Gabriel has a chance to start again.

But Gabriel doesn't want to move on, not without Henry. His friend has become distant and cold since the disastrous events of the prior spring, and now his letters have stopped altogether. Desperate to discover what's become of him, Gabriel takes to watching the Jekyll house.

In doing so, Gabriel meets Hyde, a a strangely familiar young man with white hair and a magnetic charisma. He claims to be friends with Henry, and Gabriel can't help but begin to grow jealous at their apparent closeness, especially as Henry continues to act like Gabriel means nothing to him.

But the secret behind Henry's apathy is only the first part of a deeper mystery that has begun to coalesce. Monsters of all kinds prowl within the London fog—and not all of them are out for blood...

Book Number: Six

Genre: Young Adult | Historical | Horror | Fantasy | Retelling 

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In Teach the Torches to Burn, a breathlessly romantic remix of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and seventh book in the Remixed Classics series, a queer teen boy discovers first love amid a bloody, centuries-old feud.

Verona, Italy. Seventeen-year-old aspiring artist Romeo dreams of a quiet life with someone who loves him just as he is. But as the heir to the Montague family, he is expected to give up his womanly artistic pursuits and uphold the family honor--particularly in their centuries-old blood feud with a rival family, the Capulets. Worse still, he is also expected to marry a well-bred girl approved by his parents and produce heirs. But the more Romeo is forced to mingle with eligible maidens, the harder it is to keep his deepest secret: He only feels attracted to other boys.

In an attempt to forget his troubles for just one night, Romeo joins his cousin in sneaking into a Capulet party. During a fateful encounter in the garden, he meets the kindest, most beautiful boy he's ever encountered, and is shocked to learn he's Valentine, the younger brother of one of his closest friends. He is even more shocked to discover that Valentine is just as enamored with Romeo as Romeo is with him.

So begins a tender romance that the boys must hide from their families and friends, each of them longing for a world where they could be together without fear. And as the conflict between the Montagues and Capulets escalates out of control, Romeo and Valentine find themselves in danger of losing each other forever—if not by society's scorn, then by the edge of a blade.

Book Number: Seven 

Genre: Young Adult | Historical | Romance | LGBTQIA+ | Retelling

Review: ? 

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Mary Lennox didn’t think about death until the day it knocked politely on her bedroom door and invited itself in. When a terrible accident leaves her orphaned at fifteen, she is sent to the wilderness of the Georgian Bay to live with an uncle she's never met.

At first the impassive, calculating girl believes this new manor will be just like the one she left in Toronto: cold, isolating, and anything but cheerful, where staff is treated as staff and never like family. But as she slowly allows her heart to open like the first blooms of spring, Mary comes to find that this strange place and its strange people—most of whom are Indigenous—may be what she can finally call home.

Then one night Mary discovers Olive, her cousin who has been hidden away in an attic room for years due to a "nervous condition." The girls become fast friends, and Mary wonders why this big-hearted girl is being kept out of sight and fed medicine that only makes her feel sicker. When Olive's domineering stepmother returns to the manor, it soon becomes clear that something sinister is going on.

With the help of a charming, intoxicatingly vivacious Metis girl named Sophie, Mary begins digging further into family secrets both wonderful and horrifying to figure out how to free Olive. And some of the answers may lie within the walls of a hidden, overgrown and long-forgotten garden the girls stumble upon while wandering the wilds...

Book Number: Eight

Genre: Young Adult | Historical | Fantasy | LGBTQIA+ | Retelling

Review: ? 

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London, 1812 . Oliver Bennet feels trapped—not just by the endless corsets, petticoats, and skirts he's forced to wear on a daily basis, but also by society's expectations. The world, and the vast majority of his family and friends, think Oliver is a girl named Elizabeth. He is therefore expected to mingle at balls wearing a pretty dress, entertain suitors regardless of his interest in them, and ultimately become someone's wife.

But Oliver can't bear the thought of such a fate. He finds solace in the few times he can sneak out of his family's home and explore the city rightfully dressed as a young gentleman. It's during one such excursion when Oliver becomes acquainted with Darcy, a sulky young man who had been rude to "Elizabeth" at a recent social function. But in the comfort of being out of the public eye, Oliver comes to find that Darcy is actually a sweet, intelligent boy with a warm heart, not to mention attractive.

As Oliver spends more time as his true self, often with Darcy, part of him dares to hope that his dream of love and life as a man can be possible. But suitors are growing bolder―and even threatening―and his mother is growing more desperate to see him settled into an engagement. Oliver will have to choose: settle for safety, security, and a life of pretending to be something he's not, or risk it all for a slim chance at freedom, love, and a life that can be truly his own.

Book Number: Nine 

Genre: Young Adult | Historical | Romance | LGBTQIA+ | Retelling

Review:  🌟🌟🌟🌟

A remix of "Pride and Prejudice" in which Bennet is a trans man and Darcy is a gay boy. 

Oliver Bennet has always felt trapped. Not only is his life a giant roleplay scenario where he has to pretend to be a woman by the name of "Elizabeth," but his mother also reminds him daily of the fact that he has to prepare for his future as a "proper wife." Luckily, some close friends and family members know who he is on the inside and help him sneak out as his true self. One day when he is exploring the city in men's attire, he meets the young Mr. Darcy, who he finds quite charming despite the fact that he was quite rude to "Elizabeth" at an earlier social gathering. The longer Oliver spends as a man in society (and in Mr. Darcy's presence), the more painful it becomes to keep up his feminine persona until he is finally forced to reveal more about himself than he ever has before. 

"Most Ardently" is a very interesting remix. On one hand, the story is quite similar to the original "Pride and Prejudice." Elizabeth Bennet is a trans boy forced to act as a woman and Fitzwilliam Darcy just happens to be gay. These two things make up the reasons that Darcy is so reluctant to interact with women romantically while also explaining why Bennet initially despises Darcy. This is due to the fact Bennert didn't want Darcy to catch on to the fact that "Elizabeth" and Oliver are both him. I don't exactly remember all of Elizabeth's motives in "Pride and Prejudice," but I still think this was a legit reason for Oliver to want to avoid Mr. Darcy in this tale. 

The look at trans life in the 1800s is interesting. Obviously, being openly trans back then was not exactly an option. The author's note does bring up some very interesting points about trans people in history, but I can't really reveal any of them without spoiling the entire ending of the book. However, I can say that this novel has me thinking about some things I've never considered before. Also, just seeing gender dysphoria through a historical lens is really interesting and enlightening. 

I wasn't one hundred percent sold on the romance between Oliver and Darcy.  I like how they both love to read, how they come to understand each other on a deeper level, and how they are willing to keep each other's secrets. It does kinda just feel like Oliver latches onto the first guy who isn't attracted to him as a woman. This is understandable though. I mean, some of the things these men say are enough to turn any women off from them. As a man? Literally vomit inducing. The enemies to lovers vibe that is so strong in "Pride and Prejudice" is slightly weaker in "Most Ardently," but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. 

If you've read "Pride and Prejudice," this book pretty much follows it exactly. It just cuts out a bunch of the filler stuff and adds in more gay clubs and other elements of queer culture. This made the story highly predictable, but it still felt fresh due to the trans lens this story presents. I can't say that gender dysphoria is ever a fun feeling, but when one has to wear corsets, laces, frills, and elaborate gowns twenty-four seven, it sounds like another type of torture entirely. I did really enjoy how the letter scene was addressed, as well as the proposal and the moment when they first came together after the fallout. I am relieved to say that Novoa didn't take the most obvious route when it came to the ending, which in the long run, gave Oliver's life a more happy than not ending. 

Overall, "Most Ardently" is a fun trans/gay remix of "Pride and Prejudice" with a good amount of humor and heart. I like how it played with the time period and didn't take the most predictable ending available. Bennet and Darcy's relationship really never seems to get old, and this was another unique way to explore this classic pairing in a new light. I'm really looking forward to consuming more of Novoa's work in the future and will definitely add this one to my recommendation list.