Reviewed by Tomi Alo

A heart-pounding thriller about uncovering secrets behind a perfect facade

Abigail Lethican has always lived in the shadow of her family. With a grandfather and father entrenched in politics and three elder brothers ahead of her, Abby has never really felt the need, or the chance, to step into the spotlight, aside from the occasional duties every political family demands. She grew up learning to smile politely, keep disagreements behind closed doors, and constantly present the perfect image to anyone watching.

Come in Jim Hardy, the school’s star point guard. Confident, ambitious, and charismatic, Jim draws her in immediately. It doesn’t take long for her to fall in love with him and get caught up in the whirlwind of their relationship.

For six years, Abby convinces herself that she has found someone she can rely on, someone who complements the quiet life she’s always led, where she could be the caring, devoted wife she believed she was supposed to be. But when the cracks in her marriage begin to appear, the charm and confidence that once drew her in seem manipulative, controlling, and calculated.

It all shatters when Jim asks for a divorce. Just like that, the life Abby thought she had is gone, and everything she believed about him feels like a lie. The man she trusted, the guy she built years around, turns out to be far more self-serving than she ever imagined. Then, as if the heartbreak wasn’t enough, Jim ends up dead, and Abby becomes the prime suspect in his murder investigation.

As Abby digs deeper to clear her name, she is confronted with a long string of lies and betrayals carefully curated by her husband. Will she ever be able to prove her innocence before time runs out? And even if she does, will she ever find the courage to rebuild herself and trust again?

Falling On Southport is a satisfying blend of layered mystery and psychological drama. The novel throws readers right into the middle of the chaos, opening with Abby at the police station under investigation for her husband’s death. From there, author MJ Slater rewinds the story to the past, revealing Abby and Jim’s history, their marriage, and the subtle cracks that will eventually explode into catastrophe.

Jim and Abby’s relationship is fascinating precisely because of its flaws and cracks right from the start. There was no real spark, no electrifying chemistry or sweeping romance, only convenience, need, and ambition. For Jim, Abby was his ticket out of his humble background and his stepping stone to a better future; and for Abby, Jim served as a kind of shield, someone who made her feel needed and special. I loved how Slater captured this dynamic without putting too much judgment on either character, and allowing readers to quietly observe the psychological imbalance and the ways both characters unconsciously perpetuate it.

What stands out the most is the gradual unfolding of Jim’s true nature and Abby’s blindness to it all. It is both intriguing and frustrating to read. Abby’s denial and selective perception make sense psychologically, especially given her upbringing in a family where appearances and control were everything. Watching her slowly confront the reality of Jim’s manipulations adds a layer of tension that goes beyond the surface-level mystery. Her naivety and vulnerability is what makes her character arc compelling as she slowly discovers herself and grows into a strong, resilient person.

In the end, Falling On Southport is an absorbing thriller with psychological insight and some truly unexpected plot twists. And the suspense! Even after knowing it all—the killer, the secrets, the lies—there’s still that sense of danger that everything could go sideways. The media frenzy, courtroom trials, law enforcement scrutiny adds to the tension and pressure.

Fast-paced, emotionally charged, and actually twisty—Falling On Southport is quite the debut.

Thank you for reading Tomi Alo’s book review of Falling On Southport by M.J. Slater! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Erin Britton

A heartfelt story about the need for empathy and understanding

Salty Tears, written by Jaime Testaiuti and illustrated by Nadia Ronquillo, is a meaningful story about recognizing the similarities among people rather than focusing solely on the differences.

Siblings Ari and Mo are looking forward to going on holiday with their parents. However, Ari is “feeling nervous because she would be sitting next to the new boy joining her class when they returned.” Despite the excitement, her nervousness seems to permeate the family’s trip, with both Ari and Mo being beset with concerns and fears about the new people they meet.

For example, when they decide to visit a museum, after having fun playing in a treehouse and making ice cream sundaes, Mo exclaims “Look at those scary people in sheets!” And Ari shares his fear: “You can only see their eyes!” Fortunately, their mother quells their fear by explaining that the women are wearing hijabs for religious and cultural reasons.

Yet later, when the family go to a pizzeria, Ari and Mo notice “a man next to them who looked very old but was as short as they were!” They wonder aloud what has caused the man to shrink and feel sad that he can barely reach the counter. This time, their mother explains that the man was born that way.

Ari and Mo have many such encounters during their holiday, including meeting a young girl with no legs, a boy who wears a medical device to monitor his diabetes, a woman with no hair, and a family wearing another kind of religious garb. Each time they question a person’s visible difference, their parents stress that the person is “just like us and cries salty tears.”

Salty Tears uses Ari and Mo’s experiences during their trip to educate young readers about the importance of acceptance and realizing that all people have differences and similarities. It would have been helpful if their parents had pointed out that it is rude to comment on a person’s appearance, but the message of the story is still thoughtful.

Ari and Mo have lived a rather sheltered life prior to their holiday—most young children will have met people with disabilities, differences, and religious affiliations before—but Jaime Testaiuti does a good job of explaining that their fears come from newness, not necessarily because they are scary. This is a useful lesson for youngsters in a story like this.

As their parents explain the likely reasons for their new friends’ visible differences, Ari and Mo gain a better understanding of the wide variety of people in the world, and Ari is able to apply this when she returns to school. Testaiuti highlights how everyone has fears and how it is important to learn and show kindness in order to overcome them.

Some of the explanations that the parents provide, particularly concerning chemotherapy and the treatment for diabetes, cause some pages of Salty Tears to feature a fair bit of text and more complex vocabulary than picture books generally do.

The accompanying illustrations help to ensure that youngsters’ attention does not wander, however, with Nadia Ronquillo’s bright and appealing art showing what Ari and Mo initially perceive and then how their perspective changes as they learn more about people. The vibrant pictures really capture the imagination and will likely prompt interesting discussions.

Salty Tears is a sincere and charmingly illustrated story about the dangers of pre-judgement and allowing fear to take hold before knowing the truth about a situation. As Ari and Mo learn more about the importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion, young readers will also learn the same valuable lessons.

Thank you for reading Erin Britton’s book review of Salty Tears by Jaime Testaiuti! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro

An arresting mystery about a murder in small-town Greece and the detective whose life is at stake

Chief Inspector Yiannis Patronas has received a call about the discovery of a dead girl in Souda. The victim was found with her throat slit. Unfortunately, Souda is not unfamiliar with violence, as it has become a focal point for aggression against migrants.

Yiannis notices the stark beauty of the victim, along with the ghastly violence committed against her. Yiannis is a veteran police investigator, but the assaults against the refugees are starting to wear on him, especially as elements of the radical right (i.e., The Golden Dawn) begin to attract more followers.

Patronas is a man who can command a crime scene, yet initially has doubts about his abilities. His team is a motley crew of police officers composed of the washed-up, tactless, and over-the-hill. The young girl was Syrian, and her name is Raina.

While her murder was in Greece, the motive for her murder might reside in her home country of Syria. The intricacies of the investigation begin to collide with Patronas’s personal life as his wife Lydia believes the job is putting a strain on their marriage. In addition, Patronas has decided to take in a young migrant boy into his house and is considering adoption. If this weren’t enough, his ex-wife is sick and is making demands on his time.

Patronas has spent nearly his entire life in Greece, but the Greece of his youth has faded into a quaint memory. The intolerance shown toward the migrants is disquieting; the rise of hate groups is alarming. The violent murder of Raina is soon followed by another vicious murder, and Patronas is hard-pressed to find a definitive suspect. The search for the killer(s) will prove to be the test of Patronas’s life.

Yiannis Patronas is a fascinating main character, and he is the heart of this story. A sagacious but weary veteran, he is full of compassion for the victim and the plight of the migrants. The author infuses his character with an unflappable resolve that is able to withstand the criticism and doubts of superiors, along with the occasional assault from a killer or two.

Patronas’s job matters to him, but he also doesn’t want to lose those closest to him because of it. Despite pondering retirement, he counsels a fellow officer on why they should remain on the job and keep fighting the good fight. Patronas’s indomitable will makes for one of the salient and positive impacts of the narrative.

The Nameless Dead is a riveting whodunit rich in compelling characters. A great detective novel hinges on a case with resonance, along with a lead character with gravitas—and author Leta Serafim has done just that. This modern detective novel comes with great emotional depth and humanity.

Thank you for reading Philip Zozzaro’s book review of The Nameless Dead by Leta Serafim! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Chelsey Tucker

Suspenseful sci-fi that provokes questions of morality and tests the convictions of the characters we have come to love.

The Phoenix Elite are back again for a third time in the most exciting installment yet, Prisoner’s Dilemma. After the group publicly defeated the Hitler clones, more secrets surrounding Talos start to burn a deep desire for the truth.

Carlos and Lequoia begin to search all over the globe in hopes of finding the hidden prison that many of the members of the Phoenix Elite remember being at during their childhood. Eventually, they run into trouble and are warned off by warriors in animal masks. Now they have a new set of people to worry about, but it feels like they are on the right track.

While Carlos and Lequoia trek through the jungle, Adam is having a hard time adjusting to being a family man. Not because he isn’t a good husband or father, but because he is struggling with being confined to a wheelchair. He starts to suffer from even higher levels of anxiety and PTSD while questioning his purpose. “He was born the way he was for a reason. His anxious, relentless mind found purpose in the Phoenix Elite, defeating Bricker, dismantling his nuclear arsenal, and stopping Zed’s global insurrection. But was that all?”

Soon after Adam saved the world, video footage of the incident was analyzed. It turns out something remarkable had taken place: Adam shot some sort of energy out of the palm of his hand. The terror of the unknown was fueled by Talos, inciting doubt upon whether the Phoenix Elite will always be heroes and not liabilities. It is a race for the team to discover external and internal truths before they are outsmarted and wiped off the planet.

Each character seems to be in the final rounds of many of their personal battles all before their special talents can be fully harnessed. Everyone’s superpowers reflect their personality and/or point to something special about the person their DNA is sourced from. Two of the best superpowers belong to Carlos and Henrietta.

Carlos Ramirez is a badass doctor who is a clone of the fiery revolutionary Che Guevara. His insatiable thirst for truth and burning corrupt systems to the ground make it no surprise that he can throw fireballs out of his hands. “His fists burst into flames. Fire orbits his hands like ethereal torches, flickering with the wind. He doesn’t feel their heat. Papi told him the fire in his heart would come through his hands. Carlos always thought it meant the work in the ER. Guess not.”

Henrietta Kebe, the current director of the Phoenix Elite, is a clone of the great liberator Harriet Tubman. Entrusted with secrets beyond her zone of comfort, Henrietta often needs to get in and out of situations quickly, which makes teleporting an invaluable and perfect weapon for her.

The shifting perspectives from chapter to chapter add more suspense than we’ve seen previously in the Phoenix Elite series. Clark lets readers in on secrets that certain characters know and other things they don’t know while still keeping the mystery guarded for us until the right time. This book is filled with hard-hitting reveals.

There are times when certain scenes feel rushed, leaving me wanting more of a reaction out of other characters. However, the theme of unveiling secrets is consistent throughout. There are times when you don’t know who to trust or who is telling the truth. While constantly questioning everyone’s motives, you are confronted with the sense that for many of the characters, it could go either way whether or not they will finally get caught in a Talos trap.

Before starting Prisoner’s Dilemma I was excited to get back to the lives of the “Bird Buddies” as Brandon, the resident Benjamin Franklin clone, would say. Without a doubt, C.T. Clark did not disappoint with this one. I’m filled with as much giddy anticipation for the fourth book as I was the third.

This novel could be enjoyed on its own, but with how excellent the first few books are and how much fuller the world is by now because of it, I don’t know why you’d skip them. High school teachers and libraries will appreciate this series’ cross-genre capabilities, and sci-fi lovers with an appreciation of influential history will find it deeply satisfying.

Thank you for reading Chelsey Tucker’s book review of Prisoner’s Dilemma (The Phoenix Elite, 3) by C.T. Clark! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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by Eric Mayrhofer

The final quarter of 2025 is upon us.

Autumn—the season when we start pulling out cozy sweatshirts, putting pumpkin in everything, and getting started on our Christmas lists (if we’re ambitious). If you’d rather binge Gilmore Girls for the ninetieth time, you have my blessing, but I also highly recommend checking out this season’s new book releases instead.

The books coming out between October and December 2025 are gearing up to freak you out and give you hope. They’re getting ready to show you the magic in the world and remind you that it’s a wild place to live. In a season of so many extraordinary reads, these are some of the best indie books to add to your TBR.

Here are 12 new release books you won’t want to miss.

1. Magic at the Grand Dragonfly Theatre

Author: Brandie June

Genre: YA Fantasy

Release Date: October 7

ISBN: 9780744311792

Publisher: CamCat Books

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To me, autumn is the season of writing. From the motivation of the former beast known as NaNoWriMo to the coziness of drafting by hand while watching the leaves change beyond the window, nothing feels quite as right as writing. But when you add forbidden magic? Now that makes a story worth savoring. 

Those elements are the starting point in Brandie June’s new release Magic at the Grand Dragonfly Theatre. Playwright Violet Ashmore lives in the shadow of her sister Iris, who has promised to protect Violet and her dangerous magic from from the Crown. But when bounty hunter Alec Morgan infiltrates the theater and begins falling for Iris, their life—and the theater—could all come undone.

With a literary protagonist longing for more, the danger of books like Caraval and the lyrical magic of The Night Circus, Magic at the Grand Dragonfly Theatre has the potential to be the most enchanting read of the end of 2025.

2. But the Wicked Shall Perish

Author: Catori Sarmiento

Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense / Fantasy

Release Date: October 7

ISBN: 9781960018762

Publisher: Running Wild Press

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More than a few years ago now, The Golem and the Jinni used Jewish folklore to incredible effect, creating a lush and heartwarming fantasy about the immigrant experience in America. This year, Catori Sarmiento incorporates the culture’s mythology to paint a blood-red portrait of a woman seeking her murderer—and revenge.

But the Wicked Shall Perish slips readers into Tziporah Curiel’s resurrected shoes. When she comes back to life in 1920s Venice, Italy, she begins a quest for justice that will leave a trail of souls in her wake and lead to a deal with a demon, forcing her to come to terms with what happened and what she has become. Supernatural, heart-wrenching, and pulse-pounding, this might be exactly the early Halloween treat you’ve been looking for.

3. The Scald Crow

Author: Grace Daly

Genre: Literary Fiction / Horror

Release Date: October 14

ISBN: 9781951971311

Publisher: Creature Horror

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“This isn’t a dream… This is really happening!” Could that iconic quote from Rosemary’s Baby be the inspiration for a new spooky season favorite? It may seem like it when you read The Scald Crow by Grace Daly. Offering laughs and scares in equal measure, the novel asks, “Can a sick woman ever be trusted?”

The sick woman in question is Brigid, a self-doubting protagonist living with chronic pain so severe it cost her her job. To add misfortune to injury, her mother goes missing, a turn of events that forces her back into her childhood home. Soon, a crow starts following her, a painting returns no matter how often she rids herself of it, and nightmares of her mother keep startling her awake. Is it all in her head? After all, her pain has no identifiable cause, and that must be her own fault too…right?

A book that confronts readers with the one thing that is all too often our own worst enemies—the negative voices in our heads—The Scald Crow is a spine-tingling, ultimately empowering entry in the horror genre.

4. The Ten Thousand Things

Author: Debbi Flittner

Genre: Memoir

Release Date: October 7

ISBN: 9798992424218

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2025 isn’t all about the scares though. Any time is a good time for beautifully written memoirs. This memoir on silence and belonging is the author’s lifelong attempt to understand her “elusive, unnerving” mother.

Lauren Hayataka of IBR says it’s the lyricism of the prose that elevates the memoir. She says, “Flittner writes with the precision of someone who has carried these memories for decades, shaping them into vivid, almost cinematic scenes: hiding beneath plastic during a sudden storm, watching rain blur the world into a secret cave; lying in the plastic-covered back seat of the family’s Buick as the desert slid past; screaming for help in a kitchen where no one came.”

For all those looking for moving true stories about complex family in lyrical prose, find out why Hayataka calls it “radiant” and “unforgettable.”

5. Bloodletting a Butterfly

Author: Alec B. Hood

Genre: Poetry / Dark

Release Date: Oct 14

ISBN: 9798891328266

Publisher: Atmosphere Press

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Okay, back to the dead. But with a twist.

Alec B. Hood’s poetry is “visceral, devastating, and brilliantly gory,” says Mandy Bach of IBR. The speaker of the collection is completely preoccupied with death and dying and discusses it with raw, physical imagery.

“Hood expertly uses surreal descriptions of the body to help readers understand the disturbing nature of this preoccupation with suffering and death. He writes, ‘there are insect eggs / embedded in my esophagus // parasites peering / through my pupils // my lungs / flooded with webs // my blood / blinking with lightning bugs.‘” 

Feast your eyes on roadkill, ghosts, and more in this “beautifully ugly” collection.

6. The Mongoose

Author: Joana mosi

Genre: Graphic Novel

Release Date: October 14

ISBN: 9782925114475

Publisher: Pow Pow Press

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Pow Pow Press is doing some amazing work! After the unique power of The Jellyfish and Botanica Drama, I couldn’t help but get excited about The Mongoose.

This black and white graphic novel about grief and ghosts and, oddly, a phantom mongoose combines what I’ve come to expect from Pow Pow Press: thoughtful and moving visual stories with a dash of strange.

7. A Blood Witch

Author: Joseph Stone

Genre: Fantasy / Dark

Release Date: November 5

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Joseph Stone is no stranger to captivating dark fantasy. From the alluring darkness of The Lykanos Chronicles, which we included in our list of best book series of the past few years, to the first book in the Haunted Women series, which Alexandria Ducksworth raved about, Stone writes evocative fantasy with “jaw-dropping” and “downright scary” results.

And now, book two! Victoria Lilly of IBR called it “a chilling, layered, and intelligent gothic piece that tackles the genre from a distinctly feminist angle… Not a comforting read, but a valuable one.”

8. The Sofa

Author: Sam Munson

Genre: Horror / Literary

Release Date: November 11

ISBN: 9781953387974

Publisher: Two Dollar Radio

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Mr. Montessori goes downstairs one morning to find his sofa is different. The doors are all locked. Windows too. Nobody’s broken in. So how did this get here, and where did their old, perfect couch go?

Suddenly, the image of a man in a bowler hat starts popping up all around him. His son’s drawing used to only have the new sofa in it. The mirror used to be only him staring back.

The Sofa by Sam Munson is a surreal piece of everyday horror that nails down obsession in an eerily painful way. Man, what if Montessori just stepped away from this fascination? What if he accepted this weirdly outdated sofa as his own and moved on with his perfectly fine life? It surely wouldn’t turn out like this.

9. A Gathering Place

Author: Vicki salloum

Genre: Literary Fiction

Release Date: November 18

ISBN: 9798999042286

Publisher: Silent Clamor Press

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Sometimes faith is all but a voice.

81-year-old Blue Hamieh follows her faith to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, believing that the Virgin Mary wants her to open a gathering place, a cafe, for downtrodden people in the devastated city. Is this a true calling, or is her family right and she should return to Mississippi?

Vicki Salloum imbues this community-driven novel of faith and resilience with artful, meaningful prose and a big heart. I dare you not to fall for Blue by the novel’s end.

10. Hotel Melikov (Citizen Orlov Book 2)

Author: Jonathan Payne

Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense / Crime

Release Date: November 18, 2025

ISBN: 9780744311808

Publisher: CamCat Books

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What better way to prepare for the oncoming winter chill than to immerse yourself in the chilling espionage of a mountainous, central-European country?

In Hotel Melikov, the second book of Jonathan Payne’s Citizen Orlov series, readers find Orlov as the Minister for Security of a nation on the verge of collapsing. When tension between the government and revolutionaries erupt, all he wants is to return to his former life as a fishmonger. But when he discovers a sinister plot that threatens everyone, what will he choose?

Featuring tense thrills, political intrigue, nuns who are more than they seem, and a comedic twist, Jonathan Payne returns us to the world of Citizen Orlov in style.

11. Hope

Author: Sommer Schafer

Genre: Literary Fiction / Short Stories

Release Date: November 25

ISBN: 9781963115475

Publisher: Unsolicited Press

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Previously published in Best American Short Stories, Sommer Schafer returns with Hope, a story collection to keep you warm as winter approaches.

Set in the small island community of Hope, Alaska, Hope offers an experience that will delight fans of small-town, big-emotion collections like Olive Kitteridge. Linked stories show the hopes and dreams the townsfolk have for the future, all while questioning how well (or how much) they can bury the past.

With precise descriptions, sharp insights, and subtle humor, Schafer’s collection holds all the promise of an uplifting read on these lengthening nights.

12. Dark Matter

Author: Kaja Kothe

Genre: Science Fiction

Release Date: December 2, 2025

ISBN: 9781946154972

Publisher: Meerkat Press

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Bunny Graves has to make this list. Kathe Koja’s Dark Factory series has already been praised for its wild and mind-bending prose, the esoteric experience it gives readers, and its thrilling combinations of art, technology, and a willingness to explore both reality and virtual reality.

Readers might just have their minds blown in Dark Matter. Here, Bunny and Koja’s array of characters wind through a cyberpunk-ish landscape to break the rules, chase ancient myths into virtual reality and back again, and make it through in a world where corporate wars can be life and death. It’s set up to be a rewarding finish for longtime fans of the acclaimed Koja and a bold new world for readers in search of a Snow Crash-meets-Cyberpunk 2077 fix.

What new release books are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments!

Author Bio

Eric Mayrhofer is a marketing creative living in Connecticut with his partner and their three cats, Frosty, Korra, and Zoe. A lifelong reader, Eric is working on his first novel in between illustrating, watching spooky movies, and pretending he knows how to bake after watching reruns of The Great British Baking Show.

Thank you for reading “Forthcoming & New Release Books You Won’t Want to Miss (2025)!” If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Krysti Ostermeyer

A standout supernatural debut about a haunted home that will make you wonder if you forgot to lock your door

What the Water Remembers follows Kendra and George, a 20-something couple, over the span of several weeks as they move into a historic home outside of the city. Little do they know: the house is also home to a ghost or two.

Elyse Welles gets right to the point in What the Water Remembers, introducing the supernatural on page two; the female main character, Kendra, sees “sparkles” while touring a house, which is one way that she visualizes ghosts. In this home, she’s sensing at least two of them.

See, Kendra is a witch; as George tells their realtor, who was discussing the issues with the home’s previous owners, “You have no idea: Kendra can manage. She’ll get the sage and the palo santo, and we’ll be spic and span here… she might even enjoy herself.” However, Kendra’s beliefs run much deeper than simply burning sage throughout the house, which we’ll come to learn throughout the book.

Despite this, they put their worries aside. George, a photographer, and Kendra, a bank teller and writer, can feel themselves living here. Kendra thinks to herself, “It feels like home, somehow. It could be my home. It makes me want to write.” They close on the home and move in quickly, set up their respective offices, and begin to catalog everything the house holds, including antiques in the basement, some of which are as old as the home itself.

Shortly after moving in, Kendra’s father comes to visit. A quick visit turns into staying for a day or two, as Dad is quite handy around the home. When Dad arrives, the supernatural activity begins to intensify, making it harder for her to conceal her own beliefs. She will have to come clean so that the three of them can work together to put the angry spirit where it belongs.

Welles writes with authority on the supernatural and witchcraft. There are many nuances to the genre and plenty of fresh concepts and artifacts to explore for supernatural fans. No matter if you’re new to witchcraft or have a cauldron bubbling in your basement, you’ll be glad Welles is at the helm of this one.

Another strength is George’s characterization. His feelings of trepidation mix well with his excitement on moving to this small town as a Black man. The banter between Kendra and George is realistic and homey. There’s no false portrayal in these two characters; their relationship feels natural and their dialogue even more so.

What the Water Remembers is a supernatural page-turner that’ll have you wanting to leave the light on.

Thank you for reading Krysti Ostermeyer’s book review of What the Water Remembers by Elyse Welles! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Shelby Zwintscher

A twisted, whimsical young adult fantasy

Stacy is not pleased to be moving into a new house and changing schools. Her new room smells of dog urine, her best friends are no longer speaking with her, and her new town has a peculiar amount of missing children posters plastered about. Tensions are high between Stacy and her parents, and after an argument where Stacy accuses her parents of not caring about her opinion, Stacy cries herself into a curiously dream-filled sleep.

In her dream, whispers from the woods beckon her to a stream where, in the distance, fairies shimmer and glow. With a deep breath, Stacy takes a leap, believing she can fly across to join them. Instead, she is met with the frigid chill of stream water. She thrashes against the water until light emanates and breaks free from her body, and she feels a sense of relief of knowing who she truly is.

Upon waking, Stacy’s curiosity carries her to the real woods, where she leaps across the stream and finds an alarming sight. Fairies, resembling children with wings, are having some kind of ceremony. In the center of it all, a human child tied to a rock altar, about to be sacrificed by a faded, ghostly fairy. Stacy is desperate to help, but an older man rushes to stop her from intervening, warning her she’ll be next.

The next night, Stacy returns to the woods to find the phone she dropped when she fled. She stumbles across the kind old man from the night before, but not long after, she is captured by the fairies as a prisoner of the Queen.

Stacy’s story unravels and twists as she is thrust into the remarkable world of fairies. With the guidance of the kind old man, a wizard called Bower, Stacy learns about the world of magic dust, the reason fairies sacrifice human children, and the queen’s dark ambition.

The Queen’s Dark Ambition oozes with childlike wonder and whimsy. The fairies live in harmony with the natural world, residing in doorless tree houses to welcome their coexistence with nature. Each description of this world within the wood feels carefully and thoughtfully laid out, immersing the reader into the deep wonder of nature and fairy magic. The childlike whimsy is apparent in common activities of the fairy world, such as flying races and foraging about the woods.

“Deep purple lupins were scattered amongst the large foxgloves, with their spectacular luscious flowering turrets. Bees and butterflies hummed and fluttered above… In the air, particles of dust, unsettled by a light breeze, shimmered in the light as they fell.”

The Queen’s Dark Ambition covers a lot of ground, sometimes more than necessary. There are a few parts where the story drags, but there is still plenty of tension and unanswered questions that keep you going through the slower parts. The magic system is complex but engaging, especially when interwoven with religion.

In part two of her story, Stacy spends a lot of time with Bower, the wizard. Stacy and Bower’s relationship is sweet and heartwarming as he takes care of her and teaches her the ways of this new world she’s trapped inside of. They form a touching familial bond within the cozy, warm setting of Bower’s lodge. Their relationship is a true highlight.

“I perched on his lap like he was an elderly family relative, offering what little comfort I could. Soon, I put my full weight on him, resting my head on his chest. I felt safe, missing the childhood attentions I had received from my parents until recent years.”

A modern fairy tale that fuses playfulness with eeriness, The Queen’s Dark Ambition will send you to the whimsical, yet dangerous natural world and make you feel glad you came.

Thank you for reading Shelby Zwintscher’s book review of The Queen’s Dark Ambition by Jessica L. Scott! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Alexandria Ducksworth

A sweet romantasy treat for readers who loved The Time Traveler’s Wife

The Floating City’s great World Tree is depriving the people of their precious dreams. Without it, the citizens are a husk of the imaginative human beings they once were. But there is light in the world of darkness. A prophesized time traveler is supposed to arrive in their land with their dreams.

When an enslaved fairy, Saya, is sent out to find the famed time traveler, she is forced to reflect on everything she thought was true. Was the dream where someone gave her wings true? Or is there something more to this story?

Meanwhile, Andreas is having dreams of Saya. She seems like a distant memory giving him purpose, leading him to the answers he’s been searching for. With his extraordinary time-traveling ability, he’ll defy the rules of his society. Nobody braver would fight for love more than he does, even if it means the world will fall apart.

Alessandro Candotti’s Across Time and Starlight is like if The Time Traveler’s Wife had more fantasy. There is more to this story than its romantic premise, that’s for sure. This book gets readers thinking about the complications of time travel and the endless loop of life.

Candotti cleverly adds well-known aspects from world mythology into this story too. The Fates in Candotti’s world are seen as the heavenly overseers. People may recall the same “Fates” from the three women who measure a human’s lifespan in Greek mythology. People may connect the dream-devouring World Tree to the Nordic mythology’s Yggdrasil tree; both trees symbolize great power and have deep-rooted foundations.

Saya and Andreas endure heavy trials throughout this book. The two fated lovers start off as enemies. Only in their dreams do they realize they are meant to be together. While Saya starts off as a passive character—a fairy is a valuable specimen and so she is taken and gets her wings removed—she grows bolder and more resilient during her journey with Andreas. The battle to reunite with her lover (and her wings) again pushes her where she needs to go.

Some of the time switches in the chapters can be confusing to keep track of, but the book is largely clear and remains enjoyable when you’re locked in.

Across Time and Starlight is an engrossing fantasy romance featuring a vast world and plenty of time-traveling adventure. But it’s the romance that shines. You’ll be wishing for Saya and Andreas’s happy ending.

Thank you for reading Alexandria Ducksworth’s book review of Across Time and Starlight by Alessandro Candotti! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Andrea Marks-Joseph

This satirical workplace guidebook is a laugh-out-loud group therapy session that offers technical and emotional support by decoding corporate-speak.

Whether you’re sitting down to start a specific chapter or flipping through IT Dictionary randomly as you wait for a software update, this book is an absolute blast. Author Adam Korga hilariously explains the dizzying industry terms you’ve heard in feedback from Finance, Legal, and Human Resources representatives.

This is a book to corrupt any semblance of workplace sanctity and protect your sanity as a result. The author has come up with some pretty genius phrases to describe the sheer stupidity of corporate-speak—delightfully eviscerating modern workplace norms with terms that feel impossible not to adopt into your lexicon, whether you work in IT or not.

Korga’s guide to decoding buzzwords comes with a link to an exceptional, drinking-game-worthy, buzzword bingo-board website to inject fun into your work life. This game has real trend potential and would be fun and quite thrilling for trusted work companions to secretly compete in.

Paired with the advice that “If you hear four of these [buzzwords] in a single meeting, your project is already doomed—but the slide deck will look amazing,” it’s clear that this book is not for the LinkedIn rise and grind, growth mindset crew, but for the people working with and under them, doing the actual work. IT Dictionary translates nonsensical workplace productivity fantasies and tells you how to work around them. “Rename ‘bugs’ to ‘user feedback incidents’… Color everything green by default; don’t show raw numbers. Use emojis instead; call any flat line a ‘plateau before the next phase of growth.'”

IT Dictionary is a genuine guide that offers the reader valuable “battle-tested” insights, tips on phrasing your Slack replies, and tactical responses to prioritize your wellbeing in a way that will make it seem like you care about maximizing your employer’s profit. The diplomatic language table converting what you want to say (“One team member left already… The founders are fighting”) to what you should write in the pitch deck (“Lean, focused founding team… Passionate, committed leadership”) is invaluable.

If you’ve ever spent an entire weekend eating pretzels while bent over a PowerPoint presentation, only for someone higher-up to come over to your desk on Monday morning and say they realized (over Michelin star meals and cocktails at a private beach with friends this weekend) that this brand new, big angle would work better and can we please rush to update the pitch deck in light of this, you’ll appreciate IT Dictionary‘s satirical game packaging for the “Expansion Pack – Executive Disruption Edition” which features “The New Stakeholder Who Knows Everything, Surprise CEO Drop-In, [and] Mandatory Reprioritization with Zero Context.”

So many of the translation tables in this book would be funny to share in group chats, in a lasting “I need to screenshot that for future use” way, and in an immediate “use the office printer and laminator to get this pinned up on my open-plan cubicle wall” way. IT Dictionary is worth reading for the sense of camaraderie alone. Feeling seen and heard by a book eviscerating buzzwords is something that can be so special, so personal, and yet so universal.

I’ve worked with Public Relations agencies and social media teams who would have loved using Korga’s terms to describe their clients—beauty brands and bank executives alike. You could create team-building exercises around this book, helping your staff bond by creating insider jokes to let off steam and feel understood during the worst moments of their workday. If you have IT guys available to you whenever your laptop starts “doing that weird thing again,” you might want to buy them this book. I’m being so serious; you go on your merry way once the IT ticket is resolved, but they’ll need this emotional release to gain the strength to survive until your next call.

As a millennial who has worked at global Public Relations agencies, tech startups, and international nonprofits where “the Founder’s word is both supreme law and fluid reality,” this book was actual laugh-out-loud funny to me. When I read some of the jokes to my dad (whose early career was spent training tech support staff), my mom (who has her IT team’s personal numbers saved in her phone) and my younger brother (whose accounting career has so far been spent at tech startups for whom LinkedIn “corpo-speak” is the Bible), they found it just as entertaining as I did.

IT Dictionary may be written for tech support teams, but anyone who has ever made extensive calls to IT or lost hours of their life making urgent edits to a pitch deck on presentation day will find value in laughing about this unfortunate universal experience.

If you loved and miss British broadcast satire W1A or NBC’s corporate comedy American Auto, this book is for you. If you’re sick of investor pitches, optimization, and over-valued C-suite input, this book is for you. It’s for all who need to be warned (and all who learned the hard way) that in the corporate world, a rockstar developer is really just a “Poor soul expected to do backend, frontend, UX, infra, IT ops—and support tickets in between sprints.”

IT Dictionary directly addresses the soul-crushing minutiae within an enraging experience that most workers of the modern world know intimately. No one has created a way for us to decompress (that isn’t ranting to your coworkers or partner) from this corporate chokehold until Adam Korga, until right now.

This would be a hilarious gift to congratulate someone on their first job in software development or IT support. It’s something they’ll smile politely and thank you for upon receiving it, but cling to like a lifeline of real-talk advice and sanity in a sea of frantic requests after a few weeks on the job.

Readers who, like me, have been praying for the downfall of generative AI will enjoy this book’s honest exploration of the topic (Part V covers AI’s increasingly inescapable positioning in consumer tech and our workplaces). Author Adam Korga provides a rare honest view from someone in the industry, acknowledging the greed-powered willful blindness that executives engage in in favor of a computer that cannot yet but will hopefully-someday replace their human employees who inconveniently require time off for bathroom breaks and sleep. This chapter includes admitting the truth of LLMs hallucinating information and being hilariously worse at its job than a human could ever be.

With his highly entertaining, sharp humor, Adam Korga critiques bureaucracy, stakeholder control, the hell of HR’s tactically-worded performance reviews, corporate-enforced remote work protocols that slow down your computer and make you doubt the quality of your home wifi (which works perfectly on every other device), and the many hours of your precious life lost to fulfilling your millionaire founder’s whims. IT Dictionary is a gift to all who have suffered through corporate systems and a guide to making it through your workday without truly going insane.

Thank you for reading Andrea Marks-Joseph’s book review of IT Dictionary by Adam Korga! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Victoria Lilly

Raw, witty, and irreverent—a sharp interrogation of the rust that lies beneath the gilded cage of the glamorous sorority life

Stella’s life as a sophomore sorority sister at the University of Michigan is a revolving door of alcohol, drugs, loud music and louder giggling. Yet the glamor and the brazen self-confidence are entirely hollow. Since the previous spring, Stella has been spiraling into depression and self-destruction, fueled by an unnamed trauma. Her mother considering her daughter’s issues a nuisance and her therapist droning over scripts oblivious to her patient’s true issues, Stella digs herself deeper one destructive party after another.

Things change when Penny, a lonely and deeply insecure student from New York, hitches a ride to Michigan looking for her former best friend. Instead Penny bonds with Stella, the only girl among the roster of fashion-magazine-perfect sorority beauties who takes note of the newcomer. Penny’s earnestness and humanity single her out in the world of plastic smiles and drug-fueled vapidity, and Stella begins to change through their friendship. She even begins a seemingly healthy and happy romance with a kind fraternity boy. But the college world which they inhabit begins to suck Penny into its vortex, while Stella struggles to escape it. In this swirl of feelings, drugs, and secrets, their blooming friendship is put to the test.

The Gilded Butterfly Effect is a gripping portrait of the dark underbelly of the American college experience and of the contrasting faces of female friendship. Through a tangled web of relationships and deft use of style and point-of-view, Heather Colley exposes the toxic undercurrents of college culture: addiction masked as glamor, misogyny cloaked as tradition, and the brutal demands placed on young women to perform beauty and conformity. The “butterfly effect” of small decisions—joining a party, trying a pill, befriending the wrong person—ripples outward into moments of crisis and self-reinvention.

Probably the strongest element of the novel is its style. Colley’s prose vividly immerses the reader in the drug- and liquor-fueled haze of inane college parties; in the neurotic psyche of its protagonists; and in the tense and tender moments of vulnerability between them, when courage to be earnest overcomes numbness or anxiety.

The prose gives each point of view character a distinct presence: Stella’s voice brims with bravado, cynicism, and (initially) performative cruelty, while Penny’s narrative is more introspective, vulnerable, and drenched in profound insecurity. By digging deep into the heroines’ inner worlds, the story creates a rich and tumultuous experience out of the repetition and the haze and the superficiality of the parties and hookups and constant drug abuse that comprise Stella’s and Penny’s lives.

The inanity of the “fun” college experience and sorority socialization is painted with marvelous realism, as are the mental health problems of the heroines. Stella’s body-image issues and eating disorders are some of the most compelling aspects of the novel, as well as her relationship with her careless mother Minnie. Child-parent relationships and the generational recreation of the sorority/fraternity lives are other strong points of the story, with events such as the parental visit to the university a delightfully depressing punctuation of the regular rut of college life.

Colley also succeeds in capturing the many contradictions of young adult femininity. The sorority house, a space marketed as a supportive sisterhood, becomes instead a crucible of competition, self-destruction, and quiet violence. Stella, in particular, embodies the paradox of empowerment and entrapment: she wields her charisma to dominate social hierarchies, yet her dependency on drugs and male validation renders her fragile. Penny, meanwhile, represents an “imperfect” outsider’s desperate longing to belong to a world of fun and glamor—she yearns to be seen, admired, and desired. Their entanglement illuminates how friendships between young women can oscillate between intimacy and rivalry, tenderness and cruelty, often within the same breath.

At once jarring and hypnotic, The Gilded Butterfly Effect deploys witty and flowing prose to provide a sharp and bleak examination of femininity, friendship, and coming into adulthood. It grapples with evergreen themes from a fresh angle and does not shy away from touching upon dark and traumatic subject material. Colley demonstrates a gift for inhabiting multiple voices and rendering a world that feels simultaneously grotesque and magnetic. This novel is neither easy nor comforting. However, its willingness to dwell in the messy realities of girls coming into womanhood under the seductive lights of hedonism and male attention are sure to leave a lasting impression.

Thank you for reading Victoria Lilly’s book review of The Gilded Butterfly Effect by Heather Colley! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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