Shelf Life: Alex Aster

Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE’s books column. In this ongoing series, authors share an assortment of their most memorable reads: the books that have shaped their lives as writers and as human beings. Every month, ELLE will feature authors with a new and upcoming release of their own, asking them which stories have impacted their work most—and which stories they recommend you pick up next. Whether you’re on the hunt for a book to move you, calm you, or change you, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too.

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Alex Aster’s latest romantasy, Starside, begins with a warning, if not a promise: “This will kill me.” But by the end of the book’s first chapter, her narrator—protagonist Aris, a blacksmith’s apprentice on a mission to secure a magical sword—has changed her tune: “I’m going to kill them.”

Aster delights in these sorts of life-or-death stakes, a tried-and-true trope of the genre she reads (and writes) with relish. “I always write what I want to read,” she tells ELLE, “and I love romantasy with enemies to lovers, high stakes, and big plot twists.”

In the years since Aster first adopted her pen name while in college at the University of Pennsylvania, she has become one of the most recognizable names in the romantasy genre—and beyond. Her popular Lightlark series has regularly climbed the ranks of the New York Times bestseller list (the latest installment, Crowntide, dropped in December 2025), and last year she published her adult romance debut, Summer in the City, also an instant New York Times bestseller. Starside is her adult romantasy debut, and in August, she’ll publish the first-ever original authorized Barbie young adult book, a fantasy called Barbie: Dreamscape.

Starside, though, is Aster’s “favorite book I’ve ever written.” The story takes place in “a world where swords have magic, and power isn’t inherited—it’s claimed,” she says. “What if there was a hierarchy of metals, and some blades had power? What if you had to kill someone to claim their sword?” She recommends the book for fans of Alix E. Harrow’s The Everlasting and Antonia Hodgson’s The Raven Scholar, both ELLE best-of-2025 picks.

Aster, 30, is based in New York City; first tried to publish her work anonymously when she was 12 years old; has amassed a loyal following across TikTok and Instagram; picked her pen name based on her love of stars (her real last name is Pierson); recently starred in a Maybelline campaign; has film adaptations for Lightlark and Summer in the City in progress with Universal and New Line Cinema, respectively; and has one major request for the costume teams working on her book-to-film adaptations: “Please make the dresses really cool.”

Dive into her book recommendations below.

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The book that:

…first taught me to love reading:

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot—and every book she published around that time. Her conversational first-person voice really drew me in, and felt so different from the books we were reading at school. As a preteen and teenager, I would go to every bookstore I could, looking for novels she wrote that other stores didn’t have. She’s so prolific, and it always felt like discovering a treasure when I found a new one I hadn’t heard of. She was my biggest inspiration. We now have the same editor at HarperCollins, and she read my adult romance Summer in the City, so it feels very full-circle!

…helped me become a better writer:

Save the Cat is the book I always recommend to anyone writing a novel. It’s a good starting point for figuring out plot structure and developing your story.

…I read in one sitting; it was that good:

Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross. I couldn’t put it down.

…I’m most eager to read this year:

The Children by Melissa Albert! Her writing is so beautiful and immersive. I’ll always read everything she writes.

…has the best love story:

Pride and Prejudice. Truly the blueprint for enemies to lovers.

…has the best plot twist:

I still love the Gone Girl twist. The first time I read it, I was truly floored, and immediately had to reread.

…has the best magic system:

I love the magic system in Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.

…is the best vacation read:

Anything by Ali Hazelwood! She’s one of my favorite romance authors. Her writing is witty, her main characters always have interesting careers, and I love how she writes female friendships.

…I did judge by its cover:

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. I got it back when it had the original cover with the girl in the dress, and it was everything teenage me wanted and more.

…has the greatest ending:

In the Woods by Tana French. Not only because of who the killer was, but also which mysteries the author left unsolved.

Bonus questions:

If I could live in any library or bookstore in the world, it would be:

The Barnes & Noble in Union Square. It’s my favorite place to go when I have writer’s block and need to wander around a while.

My ideal reading experience:

I love reading on my couch in the late afternoon, by the window, while snacking on chocolate-covered almonds and drinking hot chocolate.

A tip or trick that has made me a better reader:

I put my phone in a different room! I do the same thing while I’m writing. I can’t be trusted with my phone and all its various black holes of distractions…

I would describe my reading taste as:

Ever-changing. When I find a book I love, I’ll dive deep into the genre. A new story feels like a portal, and I’m always excited to be sucked in.

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