The Bookish Mindset

Books for the girls is an ode to the incredible women I’ve met in this space. It’s inspired by Monika Radojevic’s A beautiful lack of consequence, which looks at the experience of womanhood through many lenses and was just brilliant.

I love finding themes that spread across genres and authors and this short series will explore some of my favourites. First we had Books That will Break You, here we have some classic feminine rage and then we’ll move onto others like joy in friendships.

Here we’re talking about one of my favourite themes: feminine rage, but I’m expanding it slightly. These are stories about women who want to, and often do, change the world. Unhinged women. Vengeful women. Powerful, strong, stubborn and determined women. I love them all. I want to be them. I want to be their friends.

There is something so freeing reading about women unleashing their strength and rage on their enemies and I can’t get enough of it.

Here I’ve split them per genre so you pick something you fancy but I definitely recommend reading around your genres here.

Dark Academia

• Blood over Bright Haven – M. L. Wang

Dystopian

• Chain-Gang All-Stars – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Historical

• Remember, Remember – Elle Machray

Fantasy

• A Tempest of Tea – Hafsah Faizal
• Her Majesty’s Royal Coven – Juno Dawson
• Sing Me to Sleep – Gabi Burton
• That Self-Same Metal – Brittany N. Williams
• The Gilded Ones – Namina Forna
• The Last Bloodcarver – Vanessa Le
• The Night Ends in Fire – K. X. Song
• The Poisons We Drink – Bethany Baptiste
• The Shadow Cabinet – Juno Dawson

Literary

• Warrior Girl Unearthed – Angeline Boulley

Poetry

• Peluda – Melissa Lozada-Oliva
• Teeth in the Back of My Neck – Monika Radojevic

Romance

• Pride and Protest – Nikki Payne

Sci-Fi

• Iron Widow – Xiran Jay Zhao
• Heavenly Tyrant – Xiran Jay Zhao
• The Principle of Moments – Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson

Short Stories

• A Beautiful Lack of Consequence – Monika Radojevic

If you’d like to get yourself a copy of any of the above, you can support local bookshops while doing so on Bookshop.org with this link here.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this blog. If you like what you’ve read and would like to access more content, I’d love if you could take a look at my patreon and consider supporting my content on there too. You can also find more content on my Instagram here.

If reading more is something that you’re looking at doing this year then should check my reading challenge out here! Read nine books from nine prompts over the first six months of the year and be entered into a draw to win a bundle of bookish goodies.

And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 12/03/2025