Frost’s rousing Gen X-minded followup to KABOOMER: Thriving and Striving into Your Nineties offers hard-won practical guidance to strength training, nutrition, “sexercise,” and other aspects of a healthy lifestyle for an audience whose members he encourages to “Think of yourself as a real-life action figure born between the calendar years 1965 and 1984.” That phrasing exemplifies Frost’s upbeat tone and approach, as Strong to Save balances his playful inspirational exhortations to become “great” through developing strength (“A great GenX has a very good chance to become a healthy centenarian. Yup.”), easy-to-follow explanations of exercise techniques, ample “Flex Alert” pointers for more effective training, and illuminating breakdowns of what health-minded Gen Xers should know about the sciences of muscles, kinetics, and more.

Through it all, Frost’s voice is engaging, informative, and funny, even punny—one section is titled “Good Things Come to Those Who ‘Weight’”—in the manner of an inviting trainer or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson guiding tourists through a jungle cruise. Johnson, a “paragon of GenX performance,” is frequently cited throughout as a source of inspiration as Frost explains, with buoyant urgency, the essential health and aesthetic impacts of strength training, chief among them the promise of being a “vital second-half performer for up to fifty years.”

Helpful photo illustrations demonstrate some finer points of stretching, squats, planes of body motion, different types of lifting, while Frost offers clarifying insights into the carb and fat impact of energy bars, and much more. He’s crafted a host of mnemonic acronyms (WIFM, DEEP, FITT, MORNINGS) and fresh metaphors crafted not just to inform readers about healthy mindsets and habits but to make sure the info sticks—like any good coach, his voice gets stuck in one’s head. The advice is smartly targeted at men and women both, though the book’s organization is eccentric, with introductory material on the basics (including the advice to consult a doctor before heavy lifting) coming in later chapters.

Takeaway: Rousing guide to strength training for Gen Xers eager for high performance.

Comparable Titles: Wayne Westcott and Thomas Baechle’s Strength Training Past 50, Timothy Caso’s Weight Training for Old Guys.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A

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Knight masterfully balances the personal and the political in her young adult debut, an engrossing portrait of a Southern teenager who, in the midst of the social upheaval of the Civil Rights Movement, learns that he’s biracial. In 1966 Alabama, no one would have used that word to describe Mark Lawson. Instead, he’s called mixed, colored, and even mulatto, but the blue-eyed blonde so baffles racists that one dubs him a white n-word. With adroit first-person narration, Knight captures Mark’s amiability and thoughtfulness, even when he damages important relationships because of anger, fear, and a debilitating uncertainty. Knight is especially strong at dramatizing how it feels to grow up as monumental change happens in increments, with segregation making Mark’s search for identity a legal and moral minefield.

Mark’s family had moved from a tenant farming community to Montgomery after his father’s death, and his white mother allowed the 14-year-old’s appearance to determine their place in the segregated city. After the board of education expels Mark from a white school, they must relocate to a Black neighborhood, and his mother loses her subsistence job. Mark can deal with the privation—they’d always been poor—but his mother’s worsening porphyria is a constant worry, and while Frederick Douglass High School provides him with a heartening vision of Black community, he remains unsure of where he truly belongs.

Discussions about the drawn-out process of desegregation (an afterword provides helpful details) are deftly woven into Mark’s interactions with family, friends, teachers, and members of his integrated baseball team. Everyone knows they’re living through a major societal shift, and are trying to find—or regain— their footing. Through Mark’s experience on both sides of the racial divide, Knight shows the difference between having empathy and suffering the forced restrictions of segregation. In the process of reconstructing his fractured self, Mark gains the maturity to see that identity is forged from contradictions, and that struggle is another word for life.

Takeaway: Vivid and wise historical fiction about a biracial teen in 1960s Alabama.

Comparable Titles: Phillip Hoose’s Claudette Colvin, Kristin Levine’s The Lions of Little Rock.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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On her 16th birthday, Megan Elida Fay, descended from a long line of Wendy Darlings, is still haunted by her mother’s tragic death 10 years earlier. Abandoned by her father after her mother’s death, Megan moved in with her maternal aunt, the cryptic Georgia, in a clapboard cottage perched on the Maine coast, where she spends her time desperate to decipher whether her parents’ stories of Fable Island and Peter Pan were true. When Georgia informs her the magic is real—and that Meg’s expected to find the bridge to cross over to Fable Island—Meg feels trapped in someone else’s story.

Lewis (author of Restless) engraves this modern-day fairy tale with a deep sense of regret, from Meg’s debilitating grief to her aunt’s weariness at how to help to her father’s downward spiral when the magic feels impossible. Meg’s teen angst is palpable, as is her internal struggle between what she sees in the world around her and the mystery she senses hovering just out of her reach. Too practical and too wracked by grief, Meg works hard to convince herself that her mother can’t have transcended death to live on Fable Island, despite the glimmering signs that she is part of something much, much bigger than herself.

Part coming-of-age journey and part lesson in grief, Lewis’s tale encourages readers to let go while moving forward. Meg’s relationship with her father—and his failed attempt at reconciliation—is painful to watch, as is her best friend Theo’s quicker grasp of magical thinking, despite Meg’s legacy. After much effort, Meg eventually concedes: “Fable Island may not be real but it exists… It is in the hearts and minds of those who believe.” Lewis delivers a delicate balance between real life and the whisper of magic throughout, building moments of drama and whimsy that will stick with readers long after the last page.

Takeaway: A grieving teen undergoes a magical coming-of-age journey.

Comparable Titles: Liz Michalski’s Darling Girl, Alex Flinn’s Beastly.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

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Beamo Roamer scavenges a post-apocalyptic America one thousand years into the future in Wow’s gritty debut. When Beamo discovers a military map leading to the location of the Lost Fort Knox Gold—rumored to be the last treasure of the fallen “Merican Government”—he’s immediately captured by a gang of ruthless bikers, led by his once-friend Tee Sal and Tee’s sister Little Bit, prompting Beamo to quickly ingest the map. Rather than give up what he knows, Beamo shrewdly contracts with Tee to navigate them through the waste land known as Merica, bypassing once-thriving cities decimated by nuclear waste and fighting outlaws clothed in the literal skins of their enemies on a no-holds-barred treasure hunt.

Wow immerses readers in this jaggy, apocalyptic no-man’s-land, writing convincing characters that vibrate with appeal as they collide with all manner of monsters—both natural and human. Their tenuous hold on life is palpable throughout, and Wow bewitches with their stories before dashing hope in spectacular endings. The terrain here is deadly, no bones about it: take Roofy, who abandons her children to hunt for a better life, only to suffer a shocking attack when she’s at the cusp of controlling her own destiny. Beamo is a force to be reckoned with, winning over Tee with his cunning intellect and street-smart survival know-how, all while romancing Little Bit in an intensely passionate crescendo destined to upset the fragile balance of their alliance.

The characters here are explosive—and their interactions can be blistering even during the best of times—but that’s to be expected in a story where death breathes around every corner and “phantasms [stroll] along the edge of the grave plots in the bright daylight.” Wow draws eerie similarities to the problems plaguing contemporary American society, and the ending smashes expectations while delivering a sliver of hope for a more palatable future.

Takeaway: Brutal, no-holds-barred romp through post-apocalyptic America.

Comparable Titles: G. Michael Hopf’s Seven Days, C. Robert Cargill’s Sea of Rust.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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The title of Griffith’s rousing treatise introduces the book’s central metaphor and argument: that a powerful “theater of lies” has corrupted contemporary life, distracting us, stressing us out, encouraging our biases and hatreds, diminishing trust in institutions and expertise, even—with hate crimes and science denialism—killing us. For Griffith, the “theater” is key to the lies’ success, and he makes a persuasive case for mis- and disinformation as deliberately crafted narratives in the Aristotelian and Hollywood traditions, with story hooks and villains chosen to grip the minds of target audiences. His analysis of the beats of Die Hard, and how they reflect the techniques of media propagandists, is especially illuminating. “The Theater of Lies is a provider of addictive substance,” he writes. “We, the audience, keep demanding more.”

Theater of Lies urges individuals and institutions to demand and defend something else: truth. Griffith opens with a sweeping—perhaps too much so—history of lies and the manipulation of the public, stretching back to the Garden of Eden, the origins of race as a concept, and Kipling’s insistence on a “white man’s burden.” This material is impassioned and sometimes illuminating, but the discussions are brief for such epochal subjects. More immediately compelling are examples from recent decades, mostly from the U.S. and Canada and many fresh accounts of events readers might not know about, showcasing how “purpose-driven lies and misinformation are produced, staged, and presented.”

With sharp insights, clear and inviting prose, and an upbeat belief in humanity’s capacity to do better, Griffith lays bare the craft and reach of those who lie for profit and power and the failures of mind that inspire their targets not just to believe propaganda but to spread it. Refreshingly, he seems unconcerned with being accused of bias when discussing, say, the “wrecking ball” that is Donald Trump. Instead, he models the healthy habits of thinking and analysis that he urges readers toward in the book’s last third, which encourages standing up for truth, acknowledging one’s own assumptions, and rebuilding trust.

Takeaway: Incisive history of lies and misinformation, and a call to action.

Comparable Titles: Lee McIntyre’s Post-Truth, Barbara McQuade’s Attack From Within.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

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Veteran director Little (known for movies like Marked for Death, Rapid Fire, Free Willy 2, Murder at 1600, and Halloween 4) offers an insightful, often funny account of his up-and-down career, sharing close-ups of how he made his own way in a devilishly difficult industry. On-set anecdotes reveal not just the nuts-and-bolts of movie-making but what it takes to maintain control on set, from an untested Little brandishing a one-way ticket back to L.A. to call the bluff of the money men considering replacing him during a location shoot, to legendary cinematographer László Kovács giving Little a movie-saving sign of support in front of meddling producers.

A movie-mad Midwesterner-gone-Hollywood, Little writes in a refreshingly straight-forward style, telling the story of achieving success, first in indies and then at studios, while managing to raise a family and maintain his values. He demystifies the glamor of directing: on a shoot in India, he dealt with lost equipment, a case of dysentery, a hotel room invaded by ravenous feral monkeys, and a sudden flood that nearly destroyed their set and equipment. His accounts of tight deadlines, the pressure to score a hit in three “at bats,” the pressures of financing, and encounters with the likes of Mel Gibson, Sally Kellerman, and Clint Eastwood sparkle with surprise and authenticity. (Tommy Lee Jones turns down a submarine thriller because, Little is told, he always thought of subs “as bathtub toys.”)

Hollywood is a rough-and-tumble town that is not for the faint of heart: “When you’re young, you are invincible and play to win,” he notes, describing risk-taking as an up-and-coming director of action. “When you’re older, you play not to lose.” That’s also true in the executive suites where promises are broken almost as quickly as they are made. A captivating page-turner alive with surprising detail and jolts of wisdom, Still Rolling comes highly recommended for anyone eager to understand how the dream factory actually operates.

Takeaway: A director’s page-turning Hollywood, alive with insight and surprises.

Comparable Titles: Ed Zwick’s Hits, Flops and Other Illusions, Hal Needham’s Stuntman!

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Retired Air Force veteran Amelia Garcia works for her uncle, piloting remotely operated vehicles off the U.S. coast, and pacifies her guilt, left over from previous AF Reaper drone missions, with the refrain that “she had killed for her country to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.” The job leaves space for small pleasures, like collecting fascinating objects from the ocean floor, but when Amelia retrieves a strongbox emblazoned with a Nazi symbol, she can’t shake the feeling that something’s off. That sense escalates when, after sharing the find with her uncle, he winds up dead the next day, along with his wife and an influential justice department friend.

Hadden’s second Ike Rossi novel (after The Victim of the System) dives headfirst into forgotten history from the Second World War, thoughtfully investigating the price of truth and meditating on what it means to be a contemporary American patriot. Despite her training, Amelia knows this mission is over her head; she seeks out the help of Ike Rossi, a long-ago football star now turned private investigator, to sleuth her artifact’s importance—and uncover who’s willing to kill to get it. Thus ensues a brutal game of keep away, with Amelia and Ike pitted against dark forces that will stop at nothing to keep the enigmatic box’s contents hidden.

Hadden writes with noir flair, though Ike’s compassion, no matter the personal cost, forms him into a much different hero than those pulpy PIs of the past. Amelia holds her own—a fierce warrior sworn to protect her country from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. That resolve is tested at every turn, as Amelia and Ike quickly discover a conspiracy being nurtured by the upper echelons of American politics. Hadden deftly probes the limits of patriotism, leaving readers teetering on a knife edge of right vs. wrong—and eager for more Ike Rossi adventures.

Takeaway: Air Force vet and PI race to solve a dangerous conspiracy.

Comparable Titles: Robin James’s Burden of Proof, Iain King’s Secrets of the Last Nazi.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about The Secret That Killed You

Seventeen-year-old Jason Krabb is desperate to escape his small Idaho town and leave his mark on the 1990s rock world. He spends his time dallying with the local high school girls and doling out cash for music tapes from the mall, jamming with his best friend Doug in their band. Enter Betsy Aarsdrager, a junior at a rival high school, who “guzzle[s] beer [and] smoke[s] pot” while hanging out with her crew of rag-tag pipeliners, currently working on gas lines in the Idaho desert. Betsy’s unusual background is an immediate turn-on for Jason, who quickly inserts himself into her crowd.

Jason’s three-boy grunge band and their high hopes for fame form the backdrop of Hartje’s debut, making this edgy romance a paradise for music fans. Musical references pop throughout, from the newly discovered Stone Temple Pilots to Guns N’ Roses tracks buoying up a party scene awash with sexual tension and coke lines. There’s an unpretentious innocence to the plot and dialogue that aptly mirrors a teenager’s way of thinking, periodically scattered with idiosyncratic outbursts that are all part of growing up. Hartje bounces the narrative between Jason and his mother, Leah, a jarring change initially, but one that soon makes sense, as readers glimpse how a concerned mother sees things very differently from her troubled 17-year-old.

Though they feel suitable within the storyline, Jason’s preoccupations with the opposite sex have a juvenile slant, particularly his fixation on any teenage girl who strolls into his vicinity. As he sharpens his guitar skills—and branches into some seriously rad songwriting—he slowly comes into his own, gaining confidence in his band’s sound while yearning for the superficial markers of ‘90s adulthood—like his ultimate wish for just “one night with Betsy in some high-rise hotel, sexing up the sheets, eating room service hot dogs, and falling asleep to VH1.”

Takeaway: Edgy ‘90s romance that blossoms amid the grunge rock scene.

Comparable Titles: Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Patti Smith’s Just Kids.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

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In Gil’s uproarious but informative middle grade graphic novel, five adults trapped in kids’ bodies rollick through S.T.E.M. based adventures, conducting scientific research while completing top-secret projects for the government. Known as the Whiz Kids of D.A.R.P.A (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), physicist Isaac, computer scientist Cody, mechanical engineer Quentin, Wade—a biologist and behavioral scientist trapped inside a bear’s body, and linguist Rosie escape tornadoes, study animals’ body chemistry as a form of communication, visit the “Spacecraft Cemetery” Point Nemo, and more in their pursuit of scientific quests tasked by the U.S. Space Force.

The unique blend of sarcasm and intellectual wit with complex science makes this graphic novel, the first in the series, stand out. Gil’s characters are deliciously diverse—both in their personalities and fields of expertise—and their tasks, from freezing mud to prevent a building cave-in to harnessing soundwaves when fighting a forest fire, create a no-holds-barred scientific adventure that never slows down. “Science Check” components at the end of every section sum up the facts and spell out the history behind each lesson, like how Leonardo DaVinci influenced propeller blades or the background of satellites, and Gil (author of graphic novel Last Knight in the City, among others) includes QR codes for more information.

The Whiz Kids definitely have their work cut out for them, but Gil’s fun, inviting text makes the job as entertaining as it is important. Whether it’s investigating reported alien sightings in Arkansas or the group helping Wade navigate how to be a talking bear and a scientist at the same time, readers will find much to love here. Serious moments dot the landscape as well, particularly Cody’s experience with gender dysphoria, which Gil handles respectfully, stirring powerful emotions for readers as Cody bravely tells his parents “I have a second chance to live my life truer to how I feel inside!”

Takeaway: Fun-filled, S.T.E.M-heavy graphic novel for middle grade readers.

Comparable Titles: Matthew McElligott's Mad Scientist Academy, Otis Frampton's Oddly Normal.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about The Whiz Kids from DARPA: Book One (First Printing)

Contemplative and penetrating, Luidens’s debut examines her lifelong relationship with the concept of God, from her childhood as a minister’s daughter to an adult studying abroad in France. She begins with a lyrically beautiful retelling of her childhood, christened by her family’s deep belief in a God who celebrates with them, watches over them, and engages in long, intimate conversations that probe Luidens’s youthful musings. But as she grows, Luidens’s understanding of God transforms; when her reflections on what happens after death lead her to difficult questions, she discovers, in the absence of answers, a growing unease with the religion she grew up with.

Luidens writes with a philosophical hand, gently—but passionately—rifling through the religious precepts she was taught as a youth and sifting their weight against the reality she observes in the world around her. Her time spent attending a Christian college is recounted with fresh and frank power, revealing indecision, mistrust, and, above all, desperate yearning to hear God speak directly to her as he did when she was a child. When that fails—“I couldn’t hear his voice or sense his love. I couldn’t feel God. I used to, didn’t I? Not anymore” she laments—Luidens is plagued with a black, questioning cloud that eats at everything she’s ever known, eventually leading her to ruminate about her own death.

The last section of the memoir rebounds with hope, as Luidens travels to France to study abroad. Her time there is spent lapping up the local culture while holding conversations with long gone philosophers (David Hume characterizes her belief in God as a consequence of what she was taught growing up), wading through her anger, disappointment, and, in many ways, heartbreak at being failed by organized religion. The memoir closes, fittingly, on an intangible note, mirroring Luidens’s ongoing struggle to reconcile her newfound awakenings with those “past versions of myself.”

Takeaway: Contemplative reflections on religion, philosophy, and mortality.

Comparable Titles: Barbara Brown Taylor’s Leaving Church, Rachel Held Evans’s Wholehearted Faith.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A

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Inspired by Frank Bramley’s evocative painting that shares the same name, George’s series starter captures life in the fog-laden, rugged backdrop of 19th century Cornish harbor town Port Quin, chronicling the life of fisherman’s daughter Effy and her unsettling ability to foresee events. Caught in a tumultuous love triangle between Cade, the boy she grew up with, and charming new resident William, Effy feels torn. Outsider William is mistrusted by many in the village, including Effy’s own father, but, despite her familiarity with Cade, she can’t quite ignore his calculating personality. Effy quickly discovers her world harbors secrets she never guessed—and her visions are hinting at dark affairs that could threaten the entire town.

George (Illuminating Darwin) meticulously lays out the history behind this enigmatic story, blurring the line between fact and fiction as she weaves a tale of passion and predestination amid a web of ancient customs and supernatural lore. The ornate descriptions of village life and its economy transfix, as George paints with stunning metaphor and dramatic imagery, from the townspeople’s dependence on fishing, that “silvery lifeblood of their very existence,” to the coastal storms that ravage the village with “wild, darkening majesty.” The saga races forward with escalating tension and stakes that surge, as Effy grapples with one threat after the other, ensuring a compelling and suspenseful read.

Harnessing the power of her prophetic sight is just one of Effy’s many challenges amid her quest to survive, and her efforts are rooted in the time period’s socio-cultural context, including her yearning for knowledge and agency in a community that views women as inferior. Female solidarity and Effy’s bid to break away from the clutches of abusive and strained relationships form important subtexts, transforming this gothic romance into a discerning survey of the hope and resilience that can break through even the most terrifying of circumstances.

Takeaway: Suspenseful gothic romance with a formidable female lead.

Comparable Titles: Rosamunde Pilcher’s The Shell Seekers, Buck Turner’s The Keeper of Stars.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

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An epic SF political noir set on a generation ship as humanity faces perhaps the most consequential decisions in its history, Generations proves as brisk and engaging as it is ambitious. Eight generations after its launch, the Thetis is facing two crucial decision points: first, a once-every-quarter-century election for primo, “the number one citizen” on a ship of equals. Second: the question of whether to land at the original target planet, two generations away, or to press on in search of someplace possibly more habitable. Sandrine Liet, a “Gen7” traveler, is proud to have achieved the role of Senior Archivist despite not yet being 30, though she’s chagrined at the bureaucratic nonsense that denied her and her ex-partner the right to participate in a Birthing Year. But her world will be shaken by what she uncovers when she’s asked to look into the presiding primo’s report of an attempt at extortion.

Primo Sebastian Anderson (motto: “Stability and Unity”) insists that Sandrine file and forget the charge—and when she pokes around, discovering a coverup and a potential threat to all life on the ship, Anderson’s team threatens her with possibly missing all future Birthing Years, too. Josephides (author of Tuichi) honors expectations of multiple genres—the unsettling paranoia of political thrillers, the awe and invention of science fiction, the shoe-leather investigation of the procedural—as Sandrine chases down leads, interviews a host of shipmates who reveal fascinating detail about ship life, and faces accusations, hard choices, and danger.

Sandrine proves a compelling hero, one driven by duty and belief in the principles behind the mission—principles that Anderson seems all-too-eager to exploit. She’s driven but human (“Speak Thetan, please,” she snaps to a long-winded scientist), and her investigation offers a memorable tour through the ship’s people, culture, tech, and secrets. Seasoned mystery readers may find the identity of the villain obvious, but the civilizational stakes, lived-in worldbuilding, and assured storytelling all satisfy.

Takeaway: Satisfying generation ship mystery, with strong worldbuilding.

Comparable Titles: Patrick S. Tomlinson’s Children of a Dead Earth series, Nick Harkaway’s Titanium Noir.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Generations

On her family ranch in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, counterterrorism analyst Rye Dalton stumbles into an explosive cartel secret on a morning ride, launching her straight into the sights of the deadly Sombra Roja cartel in Taggert’s action-packed debut. After discovering a group of suspicious men on her land, Rye enlists the help of her counterterrorism colleague, Mark Benson, to investigate any potential threats to the ranch. The two are shocked when they uncover the threads of an elaborate human and drug trafficking web, and the discovery of a hidden drug cache in one of the ranch’s barns brings the Sombra Roja’s fight to Rye’s doorstep.

Taggert’s female lead is every bit the capable, up-to-the-task operative, but her vulnerability is expertly crafted through a moving backstory that involves Rye’s return to the family ranch following the tragic death of her parents in a vehicle accident. That accident, leaving her as the last surviving Dalton, paints Rye into a corner of sorts, forcing her to re-evaluate her career and assume management of her family’s legacy—a stark portrayal of the unexpected curveballs that can so easily upend life. Still, Rye stays grounded, depending on the close-knit loyalty of her staff—and a blossoming romance with Alejandro Mendoza, Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs—to steady her amid the chaos threatening her way of life.

The storyline manages a satisfying balance of breezy romance and homespun thrills, as Rye and Alejandro find time for sun-soaked intimacy and cobblestone strolls in Mexico, even while coordinating the efforts of local law enforcement and international aid in their mission to protect the borderlands they both love. Gunfights, violence, and kidnapping spoil the almost-reverent setting, but Rye and Alejandro stay focused, expanding their reach into the complicated issue of border security for both Mexico and the United States, giving this against-the-odds thriller purpose—and hope for change.

Takeaway: Borderland cartel violence threatens a woman’s family ranch.

Comparable Titles: Jeanine Cummins’s American Dirt, James L’etoile’s Dead Drop.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: B

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Ballard’s finale in her Sisters of Stella Mare series, after A Home Out of Ashes, digs into the healing power of family, as older sister Helen Madison returns home after 20 years in the big city. On the outs with her attorney partnership and recently divorced, Helen is eager to dole out advice to her younger sisters, despite the fact that her own life is secretly falling apart. Meanwhile, Rett, Evie, and Dorie aren’t as thrilled to be back around their sister as Helen had hoped; as the tensions between the girls escalate to a breaking point, she hatches a plan to hike the dangerous Fundy Footpath to get her family back on the same team again.

Each volume in the series offers readers a panoramic glimpse of one of the sisters, and this time Helen’s firmly on center stage. Her troubled past, including a sexual assault in high school and her own sketchy choices at her law firm, comes rushing back during the group’s multi-day hike, and Ballard structures the bond between the sisters—regardless of their petty disagreements—as the glue that will help Helen get her life back on track. Their camaraderie is heartwarming, and their attempts to restore closeness and help each other through troubles keeps the tone upbeat.

Ballard reveals Helen’s past secrets—and her perceived failure as a mother to her son Jacob—subtly, mirroring the shame and fear Helen feels at the thought of opening up to her family. Though that diminishes the emotional payoff when she finally bares her soul, it fits her personality and role within the family—Helen, “the big sister they needed,” believes she’s there to help her sisters “live better lives.” Ultimately, she realizes expecting herself to be perfect only hurts the people she loves, recognizing she is, in the end, “enough”—just the way she is.

Takeaway: Estranged sisters bond during a grueling family trek.

Comparable Titles: Barbara O’Neal’s The Starfish Sisters, Blair Thornburgh’s Ordinary Girls.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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In this smart, multi-layered debut, Joseph constructs a thoughtful dystopian near-future adventure complete with genetic screening, international thrills, playful wit, and a welcome touch of romance. A global war 25 years ago between the Allied Nations and the Federation Regime resulted in a dirty bomb that forced Allied forces into Central Asia where a devastating virus killed a billion people. Those inoculated with a gene therapy carry a trace in their DNA that shows up on g-screens. People detected with the marker in their DNA, called refusés, are deported or shot. Indian-Swedish Nations TaskForce academic Alex Tashen carries the DNA marker, which despite her adoptive father and doctor, Patrick, manipulating her DNA, will still trigger a positive in one in ten g-screens. Confined to San Francisco, Alex is hindered in her ability to travel because every checkpoint requires a g-screen.

But the personal and political compel her to action when Patrick, a Nations prisoner, is threatened after exposing the torture refugee refusés endure when deported. Joseph touchingly dramatizes Alex’s courageous choice to risk detection and save him by accepting her Kommandant’s offer to be an analyst on a security assessment Commission to the Nepal Protectorate. Throughout, Joseph’s vivid worldbuilding and her scarifying descriptions of an oppressive state never detract from the psychological drama of these convincing, complex characters. Alex surprises herself in being attracted to her Commission teammates—Viking-sized Eric Burton, the TaskForce Security Operations Director and math and science genius, and Eric’s adoptive brother Strav Beki, a Mongolian linguist.

The tension mounts as the trio navigates the peculiar specifics of diplomacy and Alex fights the clock in her endeavor to save her father. Survival amid draconian societal laws, questions of privacy, advances in science, and issues of refugee status and treatment provide careful readers with rich material for contemplation as they follow Alex, Eric, and Strav’s adventures through political intrigue, suspense, twists, and affairs of the heart.

Takeaway: Dystopian SF thriller of complex science, relatable characters, and romance.

Comparable Titles: Malka Older; Annalee Newitz’s Autonomous.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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Elly Robin fans will be thrilled with the return of Quaver’s singular heroine—now sailing to France on the hunt for Edwin Friend, her “one true love”—in this eighth installment of his Ordeals of Elly Robin series, after Elly Robin in Harlem. When Edwin, an aviator with the First World War’s elite American Escadrille, is shot down over Germany and only narrowly escapes death and imprisonment, he finds refuge in a remote German village—and falls for Ilse Gruber, the widow who nurses him back to health. Meanwhile, Elly, desperate to be reunited, careens through France—and, eventually, behind enemy lines in Germany—flying planes, sinking a U-boat, and playing spy, all while searching for Edwin.

Elly’s adventures are every bit as colorful as readers have come to expect with this extraordinary prodigy, and Quaver sketches a believable historical setting alongside her incredible feats. As with other volumes, the pages are teeming with fascinating characters—including real historical figures Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and, of course, the Crown Prince of Germany, William—but the characters who linger most in memory include Ilse and the imposing Olive King, an Australian ambulance driver working for Britain’s Voluntary Aid Department, whose tough-talking, steely exterior conceals a true heart of gold. The female leads are trailblazers, each in their own way, a testament to the often-unsung roles of women in World War I.

Though Elly’s operations still take center stage, Edwin, too, faces bizarre twists of fate, and, through their alternating perspectives, Quaver evocatively portrays early 20th century Europe, both rural and urban, as the war’s senseless tragedies overtake much of the continent. Even Elly’s induction into the Escadrille crackles with authenticity, and her devotion to Edwin eventually pays off—though the ending is as gut-wrenching as it is sweet, leaving Elly with a measure of hope that better times may be on the horizon.

Takeaway: Young woman’s search for her true love in WWI Europe.

Comparable Titles: Caroline Scott’s The Poppy Wife, Kate Quinn’s The Alice Network.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A-
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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