Have you ever wanted to read a book that focuses on your passion? Or love those posts that match your major with a Jellycat? Then these books based on every major at Emerson will be the perfect fit for you!
Acting – If We Were Villains by M.L Rio
If We Were Villains follows Oliver, a young man who just got out of jail for a murder he supposedly committed and a detective who wants to know what really happened. Oliver was one of seven actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, until the play spills into real life and one of the actors ends up dead. This forces the group to put their acting skills to the test and convince the police that they are innocent.
Business of Creative Enterprises – Playing for Keeps by Alexandria Bellefleur
A sapphic rom-com which follows Poppy, a thriving publicist for an NFL quarterback and Roasaline the publicist of a popstar. When the quarterback and the popstar enter an ill-advised romance Poppy and Rosaline must begrudgingly work together to protect their clients from the media, except they soon start to catch feelings for each other…
Comedic Arts – Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Okay, imagine if Yzma and Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove were young and hot and fall in love with each other. That is pretty much this book in a nutshell. This book follows Evie Sage, a young girl having bad luck in the employment department, when she quite literally stumbles into her kingdom’s infamous villain and gets offered the job of being his assistant. Chaos and crushes ensue.
Communication Disorders – The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew
This book is a dark academia fantasy following deaf college student Delaney, who got accepted into a prestigious college program that trains students to slip between parallel worlds. The semester starts off rough as she faces professors who won’t accommodate to her disability and rude upperclassmen that only care about her unusual talents. Colton a fellow student died when he was nine years old and came back to life a few weeks later at the feet of a young girl. Now he and Delaney are reunited, but he is warned to stay away from her until they cross paths when a student turns up dead.
Communication Studies – Hollow by Taylor Grothe
A queer YA horror following Cassie, a teenager recently diagnosed with autism, who moves back to her hometown to hopefully feel normal again, even though she’s never felt normal anywhere. Still, she yearns for the ease she used to have with her old friends, but they’re not quite as welcoming as Cassie had hoped, until they invite her on a backpacking trip. When a fight breaks out their first night and Cassie wakes up completely alone with incoming severe weather, she panics until she is saved by a boy named Kaleb who takes her to a compound of artists and outcasts where Cassie finally feels at home. But, not all is as it seems and soon Cassie might have to fight for her life.
Creative Writing – The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan
As a writer myself, this book immediately drew me in! It follows an elusive bestselling author who has never revealed her true identity and who grapples with a dark secret from her past. When she was younger, she and her best friend dreamed of escaping their dreary lives and becoming stars in hollywood, but just before they planned to leave, tragedy strikes and Cate has been on the run ever since, changing names and charting a new future. Cate’s story is told through alternating points of view in a memoir-like format, which makes this book feel even more perfect for writers as it’s like a story within a story.
Design and Stage Mangagement – The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre by Robin Talley
This book is a romantic comedy, following Melody a stage manager who swears off falling for someone during a performance because every time it has happened, the romance and the show end in disaster. So, Melody decides she can’t fall in love again until after their upcoming production is over, but her plan is in trouble when sweet and funny rising star Odile Rose auditions for the show.
Film Art – Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This book is about a dark thriller about a curse that haunts a legendary lost film and the woman who must break it. Montserrat is a talented sound editor, but is often overlooked by the men running the film industry in 90s Mexico City, even her best friend Tristan who she’s been in love with since childhood barely sees her. When Tristan discovers his neighbor is the cult horror director of a magical lost film that believes he is cursed and he asks Montserrat and Tristan to help him lift the curse the pair soon notice a dark presence following them and must race to unravel the mystery of the film before it curses them too.
Film, Television, and Media Arts – Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
Set in pre-Code Hollywood, aspiring actress Luli Wei knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese-American girl, but she would rather play a monster than a maid, and everyone’s a monster in Hollywood. They want to own her and everyone she cares about. They run on bargains made from blood and ancient magic, causing success to come at a steep price, but Luli is willing to do anything to become a star even if that means becoming a monster herself. The magical realism combined with the cutthroat energy of Hollywood made me devour this book in one sitting!
Interdisciplinary Studies – Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang
The perfect blend of technology and art, Immaculate Conception follows Enka and Mathilde, who meet in art school and are immediately drawn to one another as Mathilde creates truly original art, and Enka is trying to prove herself in such a competitive field. When they begin to drift apart, due to Mathildes fame Enka will do anything to keep her close, including the cutting-edge technology that would allow Enka to inhabit Mathildes mind and access her artistic inspirations. The procedure will link them together forever but at what cost?
International and Political Communication – Jade City by Fonda Lee
Featuring intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, and kungfu, this book follows the Kaul family, one of the crime syndicates ruling the island of Kekon, the only place in the world that produces the magical jade, which grants its wearer with superhuman abilities. When the tension between the Kaul Family and their greatest rivals come to a head, violence erupts in the streets, and the outcome of this war will determine the strength of the Kaul family and the future of Kekon itself.
Journalism – Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
In a magical version of our world, Iris Winnow is trying her best to keep her family together as her brother, who was sent to fight on the behalf of the Gods, is now missing. With her mother is drinking away her sorrows, all Iris can do is win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette. When the letters meant for her brother end up in her rivals hands, a magical connection forms between them, and it soon leads them to the middle of the mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, and blooming feelings that must withstand the rage of Gods.
Marketing Communication – The Launch Date by Annabelle Slator
When rival coworkers are forced to work on a brand new dating app in the hopes of winning a promotion, sparks fly. Grace is working at her dream job, but it’s not as dreamy as she had imagined. Her boss is a leech and her fiance just dumped her, so how can she work on a dating app when love is dead to her? With a promotion on the table, Grace must go on a series of “first dates” to test a new dating app with her playboy coworker, who is also vying for the job. hey soon start to realize they might be the perfect match for each other.
Media Arts Production – The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
Emma, an aspiring screenwriter, gets the chance to re-write the script for a romantic comedy by Charlie, a famous screenwriter who thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme. Emma has a big job ahead of her, but she refuses to back down, not when she’s moved all the way to L.A. for the gig leaving behind her dad who needs full-time care. So Emma must convince Charlie that love stories matters and that maybe they can come true in real life too.
Media Psychology – Molka by Monika Kim
Molka is a Korean term for spy cameras secretly and illegally installed to capture damaging footage of people. When Dahye finds herself in a romance with Hyukjoon, the heir to a multi-million dollar fortune, she can’t believe her luck, until they’re caught on a spycam and plastered across the internet. Hyukjoon flees the country, leaving Dahye to deal with the aftermath and the attention of Junyoung, a nerdy IT tech who has a dark secret. When the truth comes to light, Dahye can only think about one thing: revenge.
Media Studies – Cruelty Free by Caroline Glenn
Lila Devlin was once an A-list actress with the perfect movie star husband and baby daughter Josie, until Josie is kidnapped right out of their home and never seen again. Lila is driven mad by the press and the incompetent police, and decides to leave her life of stardom behind for one of anonymity. Now, Lila returns with the dream of reinventing herself by starting her own skincare brand, but when an encounter with a cruel blogger ends with him dead, Lila suddenly realizes that revenge is so much better than forgiveness. With the help of her devoted publicist, the hunt begins…
Musical Theatre – Roomies by Christina Lauren
When street musician Calvin saves Holland Baker from a drunken attacker, she offers him the opportunity of a lifetime: an audition with her uncle who is broadway’s hottest musical director. The try-out goes amazingly, and Calvin finally has a shot at achieving his dreams, until it is revealed that he is in this country illegally since his student visa expired a long time ago. Holland sees just how much both her uncle and Calvin need each other for their careers, and she comes up with the craziest idea she’s ever had to keep him here: marriage.
Political Communication – She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
She Who Became the Sun is a reimagining of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor. In a famine stricken village, two children are given two fates. The boy will achieve greatness, and the girl with achieve nothing. When the brother and sister are attacked by bandits, only the girl lives, and she steals her brothers identity to escape her fate. She then enters a monastery as a male novice and there Zhu learns just how capable and callous she really is at avoiding her fate, but when her sanctuary is destroyed for going against the Mongol rule Zhu takes the chance to build her own destiny with her brother’s abandoned greatness.
Playwriting, Directing, and Dramaturgy – She Haunts Me Still by De Elizabeth
Mallory is ready to start fresh as a theatre major at her mother’s alma mater, which used to be a sanatorium in Rhode Island. he even lands the lead role in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but soon the bloody wraith that caused her mother’s death comes to haunt Mallory too, and she resolves to find a way to stop her mother’s fate from happening to her too. She soon gains an ally of Ezra Pierce, the fourth-year directing the play who is great at keeping secrets; maybe too good, as he seems to be hiding what he knows about Saskia, Mallory’s elusive understudy, whose past hits a little too close to home for Mallory. When an ancient evil awakens and calls to collect a bargain, the three of them will have to work together to unravel their linked history and deal with the consequences of love.
Public Relations – Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
When First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz and his nemesis Prince Henry get into an altercation at a royal wedding, the tabloids threaten American/British relations, forcing the boys to do damage control and stage a fake friendship. What starts off as fake pleasantries, with fights behind closed doors, turns into a steamy, secret relationship that could ruin everything their mothers have worked for, if it gets leaked to the public.
Sports Communication – Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she’s the best player in the world, and she’s sacrificed nearly everything to get there. A few years into her retirement, Carrie watches as her record is taken from her and decides she’s not done yet. Carrie comes out of her retirement with the goal of being coached by her dad, for one year, to reclaim her record. The media never liked her, and her body isn’t as fast as it used to be, and she has to train with the man she once thought she could love, but she’s back.
Theatre Education and Performance – Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Scarlett has always dreamed of seeing Caraval, the once-a-year performance where the audience gets to participate, but she never got an invitation. Now she’s arranged to be married so she thinks her dream is officially over, until the invitation finally arrives. Her sister, Tella, whisks Scarlett away to attend, except once they arrive Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind, Legend. It turns out this season Caraval revolves around Tella and whoever finds her first wins. Now, the only chance Scarlett has to get her sister back before she disappears forever is to play the game.
Writing, Literature, and Publishing – The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
Clementine, an overworked book publicist, is trying to protect her heart and her plan to do so is to work hard and find someone decent to love. It’s worked well for her so far until one day she finds a strange man in her late aunt’s apartment that past Clementine would have totally fallen for and she still might, but there’s a problem. He exists seven years in the past and she lives seven years in the future.
Thank you for reading and I hope you find the perfect book to read next!