Books like 'A School for Unusual Girls'
Readers who enjoyed A School for Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy romance mystery action / adventure alternate history supernatural military, war & conflict historical-fiction industrial-era
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A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsA Breath of Snow and Ashes continues the extraordinary story of 18th-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his 20th-century wife, Claire.The year is 1772, and on the eve of the American Revolution, the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Men lie dead in the streets of Boston, and in the backwoods of North Carolina, isolated cabins burn in the forest... -
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsBy scheming and theft, the Thief of Eddis has become King of Attolia. Eugenides wanted the queen, not the crown, but he finds himself trapped in a web of his own making.Then he drags a naive young guard into the center of the political maelstrom. Poor Costis knows he is the victim of the king's caprice, but his contempt for Eugenides slowly turns to grudging respect...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction humor magic paranormal political-intrigue politics war -
The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 48 ratingsRevengeWhen Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis, stole Hamiathes's Gift, the Queen of Attolia lost more than a mythical relic. She lost face. Everyone knew that Eudenides had outwitted and escaped her. To restore her reputation and reassert her power, the Queen of Attolia will go to any length and accept any help that is offered... she will risk her country to execute the perfect revenge...Categorized as:
espionage high-school historical-fiction magic paranormal political-intrigue politics war -
The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsThe hotly anticipated third book in the bestselling Bone Season series – a ground-breaking, dystopian fantasy of extraordinary imaginationFollowing a bloody battle against foes on every side, Paige Mahoney has risen to the dangerous position of Underqueen, ruling over London's criminal population...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era magic paranormal steampunk war 21st-century action-adventure -
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Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsI lean forward, pushing my body out past the battlements. The wind plucks at my cloak, buffets against me, as if it would carry me off in flight, just like the birds or the knight's soul. Let go, it cries, I will take you far, far away. I want to laugh at the exhilarating feeling, I will catch you, it whistles seductively.The convent has returned Sybella to a life that nearly drove her mad...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction magic paranormal political-intrigue war abuse action-adventure -
Exile for Dreamers by Kathleen Baldwin
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s 1814. Napoleon has escaped his imprisonment on Elba. Europe is in shambles. Britain is at war on four fronts. And at Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, five young ladies are secretly being trained for a world of spies, diplomacy, and war.Tess Aubreyson can’t run far enough or fast enough to escape the prophetic dreams that haunt her...Categorized as:
boarding-school espionage female-mc high-school historical-fiction industrial-era magic paranormal -
The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsAfter spending the summer away from each other, Titus and Iolanthe (still disguised as Archer Fairfax) are eager to return to Eton College to resume their training to fight the Bane. Although no longer bound to Titus by a blood oath, Iolanthe is more committed than ever to fulfilling her destiny—especially with the agents of Atlantis quickly closing in...Categorized as:
boarding-school female-mc friendship high-school historical-fiction humor magic paranormal -
Spectred Isle by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsArchaeologist Saul Lazenby has been all but unemployable since his disgrace during the War. Now he scrapes a living working for a rich eccentric who believes in magic. Saul knows it’s a lot of nonsense...except that he begins to find himself in increasingly strange and frightening situations. And at every turn he runs into the sardonic, mysterious Randolph Glyde...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magic paranormal suspense war action-adventure adult alternate-history -
Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsPraised for its epic scope and descriptive detail, Across the Nightingale Floor, the first book in the Tales of the Otori series, was an international bestseller and critical success, named by the London Times as "the most compelling novel to have been published this year... -
Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsAnnith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are realized when she discovers she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever sequestered in the rock and stone womb of the convent...Categorized as:
female-mc friendship historical-fiction magic paranormal political-intrigue war action-adventure -
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsIn his black-walled fortress at Inuyama, the warlord Iida Sadamu surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill, it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard.The youth Takeo has been brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people who have taught him only the ways of peace...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magic paranormal political-intrigue suspense war 21st-century action-adventure -
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 63 ratingsThe land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good... and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt. Phèdre nó Delaunay is a young woman who was born with a scarlet mote in her left eye...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction magic paranormal political-intrigue politics war action-adventure -
Phoenix and Ashes by Mercedes Lackey
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsMercedes Lackey's magical Elemental Masters series recasts familiar fairy tales in a richly-imagined alternate Victorian worldEleanor Robinson’s life had shattered when Father volunteered for the Great War, leaving her alone with a woman he had just married...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era magic paranormal steampunk war 20th-century action-adventure -
The Devil Lancer by Astrid Amara
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCaptain Elliott Parrish of Her Majesty’s 17th Lancers cavalry division finds most of his assignment in the Crimea insufferable.Rampant cholera, missing supplies, and inept planning quickly mire the promise of a decisive summer victory for the British. Facing a harrowing winter campaign, Elliott must rally disheartened men through sickness, battle and starvation...Categorized as:
fantasy-of-manners historical-fiction magic paranormal war action-adventure adult alternate-history -
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Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon, Jeff Woodman
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsDiana Gabaldon, the New York Times bestselling author of Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade and the wildly popular Outlander novels, delivers three tales of war, intrigue, and espionage that feature one of her most popular characters: Lord John Grey. In the heart of the eighteenth century, here are haunted soldiers . . . lusty princesses . . . ghostly apparitions . . . dark family secrets...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era paranormal suspense war action-adventure adult alternate-history -
The Midnight Sea by Kat Ross
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThey are the light against the darkness.The steel against the necromancy of the Druj.And they use demons to hunt demons….Nazafareen lives for revenge. A girl of the isolated Four-Legs Clan, all she knows about the King's elite Water Dogs is that they leash wicked creatures called daevas to protect the empire from the Undead... -
Witchmark by C.L. Polk
Rated: 3.87 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsC. L. Polk arrives on the scene with Witchmark, a stunning, addictive fantasy that combines intrigue, magic, betrayal, and romance.In an original world reminiscent of Edwardian England in the shadow of a World War, cabals of noble families use their unique magical gifts to control the fates of nations, while one young man seeks only to live a life of his own...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era magic paranormal steampunk war action-adventure alternate-history -
Steadfast by Mercedes Lackey
Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe new novel in Mercedes Lackey’s bestselling series of an alternative Edwardian Britain, where magic is real—and Elemental Masters are in control.Lionel Hawkins is a magician whose act is only partially sleight of hand. The rest is real magic. He’s an Elemental Magician with the power to persuade the Elementals of Air to help him create amazing illusions...Categorized as:
friendship historical-fiction industrial-era magic paranormal war 20th-century abuse -
Unnatural Issue by Mercedes Lackey
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA brand-new Elemental Masters novel from the national bestselling author Mercedes Lackey. Richard Whitestone is an Elemental Earth Master. Blaming himself for the death of his beloved wife in childbirth, he has sworn never to set eyes on his daughter, Suzanne...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era magic paranormal steampunk war 20th-century action-adventure -
Hadrian's Wall by William Dietrich
Rated: 3.70 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA fusion of Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire and the movie Braveheart; a novel of ancient warfare, lethal politics, and the final great clash of Roman and Celtic culture.For three centuries, the stone barrier we know as Hadrian's Wall shielded Roman Britain from the unconquered barbarians of the island's northern highlands...Categorized as:
historical-fiction suspense paranormal war female-mc fiction historical roman-britain -
A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess
Rated: 3.74 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsI am Henrietta Howel. The first female sorcerer. The prophesied one. Or am I? Henrietta Howel can burst into flames. When she is brought to London to train with Her Majesty's sorcerers, she meets her fellow sorcerer trainees, young men eager to test her powers and her heart. One will challenge her. One will fight for her. One will betray her... -
All That Glitters by Gita Trelease
Rated: 3.69 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsLove. Magic. Revolution.Paris is a labryinth of twisted streets filled with beggars and thieves, revolutionaries and magicians. Camille Durbonne is one of them. She wishes she weren’t...When smallpox kills her parents, Camille must find a way to provide for her younger sister while managing her volatile brother...
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