By Renée Ahdieh

Published: 2015

AR level: 5.3

AR points: 13.0

I suggest 8th through 12th grade.

I devoured Tales of Arabian Nights as a teen. Scheherazade is a personal hero. That’s why I was so excited about this novel.

If you love fantasy and romance, adventure and intrigue, this book is for you. Definitely contains mature themes, so keep that in mind. Just know you’ll be ready for the sequel as soon as your through.

Description from B&N:

“A riveting Game of Thrones meets Arabian Nights love story.” – US Weekly

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.