
Spin the Dawn
Elizabeth Lim
The Blood of Stars #1
A girl disguised as a boy must win an imperial tailoring competition — without losing her heart to the enchanter who see
Description
A gifted tailor in disguise.Three legendary dresses.The competition of a lifetime.On the fringes of the Great Spice Road, Maia Tamarin works as a seamstress in the shop of her father, once a tailor of renown. She dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well.When a royal messenger summons her ailing father to court, Maia poses as his son and travels to the Summer Palace in his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she'll take that risk to save her family from ruin and achieve her dream of becoming the imperial tailor. There's just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.The competition is cutthroat, and Maia's job is further complicated by the unwelcome attention of the court enchanter, Edan, who seems to see straight through her disguise. But nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three gowns so dangerously beautiful, it will take a quest to the ends of the earth to complete them . . .Book 1 in the Blood of Stars duology
Books like this

The Swan's Daughter
Roshani Chokshi
A cursed prince and a truth-singing swan girl must outsmart a deadly bride tournament — and their feelings.
8 tropes in common

Thief of Cahraman
Lucy Tempest
A thief forced into a royal competition must pull off an impossible heist — while falling for a mysterious stranger.
8 tropes in common

Six Crimson Cranes
Elizabeth Lim
A cursed princess must save her brothers without uttering a word — aided by the prince she refused to marry.
8 tropes in common

A Forgery of Fate
Elizabeth Lim
An art forger who can paint the future is bound by contract to a dragon lord with treasonous plans.
7 tropes in common

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love
Lex Croucher
A fake-betrothed princess and her reluctant fiancé cover each other's queer secrets at Camelot's royal tournament.
6 tropes in common

Wings of Starlight
Allison Saft
A fairy queen and a winter guardian fall for each other — but their love could destroy both their worlds.
8 tropes in common

Daughter of the Moon Goddess
Sue Lynn Tan
Hidden on the moon her whole life, a girl risks everything to save her mother — and loses her heart to an emperor's son.
8 tropes in common

A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Brigid Kemmerer
A street-smart girl with cerebral palsy is pulled into a cursed prince's Beauty & the Beast loop.
8 tropes in common

This Vicious Grace
Emily Thiede
Her touch kills every partner — so she hires a cynical outcast to guard her life and maybe steal her heart.
8 tropes in common

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1)
Marissa Meyer
A cyborg Cinderella mechanic falls for a prince while hiding the secret that could save — or doom — Earth.
7 tropes in common

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
Robin McKinley
A brave, bookish girl becomes a Beast's willing prisoner — and slowly sees the man beneath the monster.
7 tropes in common

A Dark Forgetting
Kristen Ciccarelli
She trades her voice for her grandfather's freedom — and falls for the brooding fae who tried to stop her.
8 tropes in common

Heir of Storms
Lauryn Hamilton Murray
A girl with vanished storm powers enters a deadly throne competition — and finds two dangerous suitors.
7 tropes in common

Cruel Beauty
Rosamund Hodge
Trained from birth to kill the immortal man she must marry, Nyx finds herself falling for her sworn enemy.
8 tropes in common

The Forest King's Daughter
Elly Blake
He kidnapped her to fix a childhood mistake — but their old friendship is rekindling into something dangerous.
8 tropes in common

Fireborne
Rosaria Munda
Two rival dragonriders — one lowborn, one secret aristocrat — must choose between love, loyalty, and revolution.
7 tropes in common

The Wild Huntress
Emily Lloyd-Jones
A huntress, a trickster, and a prince must survive a deadly magical competition — and each other.
7 tropes in common

Where the Dark Stands Still
A.B. Poranek
A girl with forbidden magic owes a year of service to a demon warden hiding dangerous secrets in his cursed wood.
7 tropes in common

The Dagger and the Flame
Catherine Doyle
Two rival assassins in a magic-soaked city must choose between revenge and the enemy they're falling for.
7 tropes in common

Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)
Kristin Cashore
A girl graced with killing and a mysterious outlaw prince uncover a deadly secret threatening seven kingdoms.
6 tropes in common