Bigaouette’s debut lives up to its title as a trio of New Yorkers find themselves tangled in a triangle of obsession, delusion, scheming, and stalking in the era of answering machines, personal ads, and cranking up the Discman on the subway. Brooklyn’s Tommy Landis, who toils in the mail room of a Manhattan brokerage firm, meets Crystal Farnsworth for a low-stakes getting-to-know-you coffee. Tommy’s instantly smitten, but Crystal doesn’t find him attractive or engaging. Still, she reluctantly agrees to a real date, and then, heeding her sister’s advice, cuts this second encounter short, telling Tommy she’s not interested. Tommy, though, is convinced they belong together, and when not bewailing his loneliness in his Bensonhurst apartment, he follows her around Manhattan, even pretending to be a clerk in a shoe store she patronizes, and eventually going so far as to hide in the back seat of the BMW of her next suitor.

Complicating matters: Tommy has a stalker, too, in the form of Maria, a co-worker from the brokerage firm’s messenger center. Maria proves as deluded about Tommy as Tommy is about Crystal, refusing to take insistent, repeated “no”s for an answer. Bigaouette’s novel is at its strongest when switching quickly between these three perspectives, Maria following Tommy following Crystal, a roundelay of twisted loves. While Tommy’s instability and anger is fleshed out via flashbacks and dream sequences, Bigaouette favors a detached, observational narrative style, leaving readers, like Crystal, uncertain of what Tommy’s capable of—and how far he’ll go, even after he’s hit with a protective order demanding he keep his distance.

The spine of Twisted Love is strong, with a dark and twisting neo-noir centered on mirror-image stalkers that builds to promising developments like Maria meeting with Crystal to discuss Tommy, but Bigaouette’s wordy, repetitious prose—and commitment to documenting Tommy’s every trip from recliner to refrigerator—protracts the story’s length, diminishing tension and narrative momentum. Still, there’s dark comedy in Tommy’s refusal to connect with his mirror-image stalker, Maria.

Takeaway: New York neo-noir love triangle of obsession, stalking, and murder.

Comparable Titles: Tom Savage’s Valentine, Michael Robotham’s Watching You.

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

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Thick with humor wry and pointed, this Guide to Surviving Modern Society from the pseudonymous Cheque serves as an amusing, accessible guide to the basic tenets and facets of a nihilist view of contemporary life, a world that Cheque—surveying everyday milieus like the subway, the workplace, the grocery store, and get-togethers with friends—portrays as obsessed with the vapid, self-glorifying, and deeply unsatisfying, a place where the “zombie apocalypse” has already come, powered by the “addictive quality of the digital neurotoxin affecting the masses.” Rather than simply denounce that world, though, Cheque studs this travelogue with playful pointers for surviving as a nihilist (“If you can’t seem to find the auto-amuse feature in your living, breathing self, probe your navel and try harder.”)

At the novel’s heart is philosopher and nihilistic ideal protagonist Rectum Leviticus (R.L.), a Brooklynite who reads fervently, maintains important relationships with the people and geckos around him, and considers the world with a humorous, detached, and largely (if not universally) nonjudgmental perspective, even in the face of “Pinterest-Instagram-Facebook drivel” and media “content” with “little or no nutritive value.” Cheque has created a sympathetic if highly unusual “everyman,” displaying for readers how amusing and freeing life can be when we don’t get “distracted by the trivial b.s.” A tonic of cultural criticism, this Guide often reads less like Nietzche than Douglas Adams, though more rooted in the day-to-day American mundane.

For all its outrage, including R.L.’s thoughts of coprophagia whenever he speaks to his boss, Cheque’s narrative celebrates connection with life and community and observing the world around you. It will please fellow travelers who favor philosophical inquiry, a grand sense of humor, a bit of companionship in living an offbeat life—and who are not put off by books that may send them to the dictionary from time to time. This thoughtful novel is indeed seriously silly, befitting the author’s matriculation from the esteemed Flaneur University.

Takeaway: Outraged, funny, inviting novel of facing American meaninglessness.

Comparable Titles: Kurt Vonnegut; Wendy Syfret’s The Sunny Nihilist.

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

Click here for more about The Nihilist's Pocket Survival Guide to Modern Society

Lauder’s page-turner debut immerses readers in a dystopian fantasy that unfolds an intricate futuristic world, Aurora Saura. The Quelling paints a vivid picture of a complex and original world divided among three distinct races, each vying for power in a struggle for supremacy: the Aurora Saurins, who inhabit Fareen and Sojour and worship a deity known as the Hands, and then two non-humanoid species capable of controlling the Aurora Saurins. The cask-grown Tarrohar, who dwell in the Parched Lands, are “all squishy tentacles and shiny translucence—like a pudding that’s sat too long in the heat,” able to exert control through “Mind Pain and mental manipulation,” while a more recent arrival, the disembodied Rhemans, disrupted the fragile equilibrium and introduced the Body Trust system, under which the Rhemans pay Aurora Saurins for the right to control their bodies. Unpredictability and tension reign—and Aurora Saurins like Kyjta, once “Stained,” find their bodies are "theirs for the taking.”

Lauder’s ability to blend action, intrigue, and emotional depth makes this a must-read for fans of the genre. Kyjta and Kranik, a Rheman, offer unique perspectives that drive an adventure that’s fast-paced and exciting even with its richness of worldbuilding. Kyjta grapples with uncertainty, betrayal, a longing for her lost mother, and the possibility of being snatched “hideous winged” ghoragalls. When a young woman she cares for is abducted, Kyjta uproots her life to return her friend home, navigating a world of lies and hidden dangers. Meanwhile, Kranik is a Rheman whose natural state is as a transparent sphere containing a raging storm within. The process of quelling, where a Rheman takes control of another’s body, adds complexity to the tale.

Lauder masterfully explores the tension, highlighting the challenges of discernment and the consequences of being “quelled.” The Quelling is a triumph with gripping, well-developed characters and a richly imagined world, though a glossary with definitions would make it all a bit more inviting.

Takeaway: Inventive, compelling SF dystopia of minds, bodies, and rebellion.

Comparable Titles: Alechia Dow’s The Sound of Stars, Lauren James’s The Quiet at the End of the World.

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

Click here for more about The Quelling

Frank, frisky, and proud, this provocative debut celebrates sexual freedom as it surveys the lives of four gay and bisexual men in Berlin amidst break-ups, deaths in the family, and pregnancy scares. Kay Hung —"gay, Asian, and Canadian"—is entering his 33rd year when he finds himself single and homeless after his long-term boyfriend discovers he's been cheating. In his search for a place to live, he meets Alex, who is bisexual and an aspiring musician looking for a new roommate. After moving in, Alex introduces Kay to Timothy, a self-proclaimed "power bottom," and Kay meets Thomas Urning at a medical conference, where the two bond over their identity and Thomas' love of the musical Chicago. The four become fast friends exploring the gay nightlife and wild parties Berlin has to offer.

De Luong takes readers on a moving journey through the loves and losses of these four friends as they each evolve on their paths of self-discovery. While Naked Love Berlin lives up to its title, never skimping on vividly rendered sex—the unbuckling of belts; the mechanics of lubrication; the diversity of organ sizes—it’s the thoughtfully evoked themes of sexual trauma and death that power its gritty yet engaging story of acceptance and friendship. Writing from each man’s POV, De Luong examines how this quartet builds a support system and a community in the face of life-upending events. Each is forced to face his inner demons, in the form of a dying loved one or blurring the lines of friendship with romantic encounters.

This explicit novel is full of depth and larger-than-life characters readers won't soon forget, offering a sweeping story of found family, brotherhood, and sexual identity and discovery. As these four friends make a mess of their lives and work independently or together to pick up the pieces, DeLuong touchingly captures their resilience and camaraderie in the face of whatever life throws their way.

Takeaway: Touching and raw survey of friendship, love, and sexual exploration in Berlin.

Comparable Titles: Tomasz Jedrowski’s Swimming in the Dark, Zak Salih’s Let’s Get Back to the Party.

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

Click here for more about Naked Love Berlin

Raw, pulsing with life and danger, and building to a hard-to-shake climax, this epic novel of growing up in a world gone mad centers on Brendan Kinsella, “a lad filled with hopes and dreams and prayers and promises” in Derry in Northern Ireland, in the tumultuous 1960s, when “Catholics were killed for being Catholic and Catholic schools were attacked by Protestant fools, all because the Catholic minority in the state had the nerve to want the same rights as any Protestant.” Those killed include Brendan’s father. The city seethes and divides as he enters adolescence, confused and fascinated by sex, roiled with complex feelings about his abusive “da”’s death, and all-too-familiar with phrases like “papist scum.” Brendan’s life is shaped by hatreds, bombings, checkpoints, and fleeting moments of connection and beauty in the rubble.

The likelihood of violence haunts both Brendan’s youth and Sullivan’s clipped, brisk, hard-edge prose. A civil rights march facing a line of constables “kept flowing, like a flooded river smashing against a jam of logs and refuse”; Brendan, the famous “fix-it lad” of his circle, laments “the vicious politeness I was being handed by people I’d been doing work for since I could first hold a set of grips.” Dialogue, too, is sharp, slicing, and convincing. The novel is long, but Sullivan, a prolific author in a host of genres, wastes few words conjuring the milieu, the prevailing sense of desperation, and the ugly but undeniable thrill of striking back.

Tense marches and confrontations at checkpoints abound, including one beauty in which women harangue soldiers abusing Brendan and co. with the finest Irish profanity. Sullivan is just as committed to capturing Brendan’s development in moments of relief, working at an auto shop and enjoying the occasional escape, with friends or eventually a lover, into what he calls a “new and amazing world of peace and tolerance.” Those reprieves make the finale all the more wrenching.

Takeaway: Wrenching epic of coming-of-age in Derry during the Troubles.

Comparable Titles: David Keenan’s For the Good Times, Anna Burns’s Milkman.

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

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This life-affirming adventure from Badgley (author of The Foreigner's Confession) follows a Seattle chef, Mallory Jones, through Burma and other enchanting Southeast Asian locales, on a journey of self discovery and unexpected intrigue and danger. Flying to Burma in 1995 to open a new restaurant,a daunting task for a new arrival, Mallory is quickly immersed in the allure of Rangoon’s culture and people, though elements of the city are less welcoming: humidity so strong she could watch “mushrooms sprout on her leather shoes,” plus political instability and the “impression of grand architecture melting into decay.” But her path crossing with a British diplomat, Geoffrey, and a French gem dealer, Thierry, inadvertently entangles her in a plot to steal a priceless Burmese ruby.

Badgley paints a vivid milieu, with welcome attention to Mallory’s perspective as a chef (cooking, for her, is “part chemistry and part magic”) and the sociopolitical realities of Southeast Asia in 1990’s, where “eating certain kinds of food… is a political act.” The fast-paced saga unfolds like an unusually human thriller as Mallory faces one challenge and surprising choice after the next, keeping the pages turning as Mallory discovers what she’s capable of. The local characters are portrayed with empathy, and Badgley’s weaving of history and local traditions through lucid descriptions adds depth.

Mallory seems out of her element, of course—she muses that “there was no chapter in The Lonely Planet Guide” that covers the dark deeds she’s pushed to. But she’s full of surprises and has a way with a knife. Amid its crime narrative and a jaunt to Bangkok, The Worth of a Ruby digs into Mallory’s past, especially an impoverished upbringing marked by trauma and abuse. The ruby itself suggests sinister corruption within as the novel intricately explores the boundaries of morality. This engaging thriller will resonate with anyone interested in a fast-paced saga concerned with material as well as spiritual wealth.

Takeaway: A Seattle chef’s Burmese journey veers into surprising thriller territory.

Comparable Titles: Angela Savage’s The Half-Child, Praveen Herat’s Between this World and the Next.

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

Click here for more about The Worth of a Ruby

The heartfelt, steamy first book in the contemporary Let it Rain series from Gordon (author of 30 Days in Belfast) offers an engaging romance set among Black society’s business elite. Sophisticated real estate attorney Raven Rain Nichols heads to Seattle to visit her sister before a deal that could secure her partnership in her firm. Ditched by her sister, Rain plans a solo sightseeing tour until suave, super-rich financier Noah “Nik” Knight begs for a one-night stand. She can’t resist. The next morning, he upgrades the offer: seven days of decadent sex interspersed with luxury travel. Between work calls and Rain’s worries about a deceitful ex-boyfriend, the pair’s blossoming mutual devotion makes them dread goodbye.

Pleasure reigns in multi-climax love scenes, and the lovers’ angst is minimal, focused on past disappointments such as Nik’s childhood move from London and Rain’s painfully clear memory of her father walking out on her family. These never distract from Nik’s dreamy bedroom skills and the cinematic aura of opulence. A helicopter flight over Mount Rainier will make armchair travelers drool, among other escapades, and visits to African-American heritage sites enrich the characters. The author thoughtfully includes a list of Seattle-based, African diaspora-focused organizations in a resource section at the novel’s end.

Gordon’s skill in immersing the reader in the senses while the lovers cavort in Seattle’s trendy hot spots or during their erotic adventures shines via spot-on imagery. Use of present tense and first-person point of view, alternating between Rain’s and Nik’s experiences, enhances the immersion experience and injects a sense of action to business plans and sibling tension. Readers will connect with the realistic banter whose humor and subtlety is worthy of a Hollywood script. Also fascinating is Gordon’s portrayal of the scandalous side of the real estate and development industries. Most importantly, the romantic voice enthralls. Romance aficionados will embrace these lovers who wow in both boardroom and bedroom.

Takeaway: Swoon-worthy romance indulges fantasies of wealth and seduction in Seattle.

Comparable Titles: Christina C. Jones’s Behind the Scenes, Stephanie Nicole Norris’s No Holds Barred

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

Click here for more about Seven Days In Seattle

With brutal honesty and extensive empathy, sports journalist Kirk (also the co-host of the thoughtful, inviting Vacation Bible School podcast) brings to frank and funny life the reality of an evangelical upbringing. His coming-of-age story Hell is a World Without You masterfully blends humor, truth, and a splash of 2000s nostalgia (including Gaither Vocal Band CDs, an abundance of Calebs, and guilt over “wallowing in atheist MTV and satanic Sonic games”). Taught to believe his desires are “diseased,” grieving teenage narrator Isaac is met with the decision of a lifetime (or eternity) —choosing between fire and brimstone or his forbidden love.

The story opens with adolescent Isaac at a Christian summer camp, a summer marked with accountability partners, proclamations of abstinence, and fun with Supersoakers, all as he’s worrying he’s a “degenerate committing sins foul enough to get me flicked like a loathsome spider into endless agony.” Kirk captures this milieu with wit and some warmth, despite his frank accounting of the toll on Isaac’s psyche. When Isaac enters a public high school, he suddenly is playing a dangerous game of balancing his evangelical Christianity with his desire to fit in. As Isaac grieves the loss of his father, he begins to question what he has always known: “What if we’re allowed to say what if?” he asks a friend.

“My prefabricated mind had never been mine,” Isaac notes, as the convictions he was raised to embrace (belief in Hell, the Rapture, that “being gay is bad” and that “science is fake”) fall away. Kirk concludes with a tear-inducing conversation between Isaac and his mother, in which she tells him that they’re never going to agree on everything but that “I’d choose Hell over a world where I’m not your mama.” Kirk’s depiction of evangelical life is convincing, sometimes pointed, but also humane and never caricatured. The result is a resonant novel, briskly told, with laugh-out-loud comedy and poignant insight.

Takeaway: Frank, funny account of an 2000s evangelical upbringing.

Comparable Titles: Kelsey McKinney’s God Spare the Girls, Julia Scheeres’s Jesus Land.

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

Click here for more about Hell Is a World Without You

Horvath’s gritty, engaging debut is jam-packed with action and, as the title suggests, spirited bludgeonings, beatdowns, and more. When his ex-lover, Kiira, becomes the target of a dark-web-based group of assassins, Einarr “Sledge” Laukkanen searches for answers, beating one criminal senseless after another. He discovers a menacing group called The Labyrinth that seeks out people willing to disperse beatings, kidnappings, and worse, in exchange for huge cash sums deposited directly into their banking accounts. As the answers continue to be vague, and Sledge opts to protect Kiira, time starts to run out, forcing Kiira and Sledge to hunt for safety at every turn.

Horvath has a gift for writing intense, bloody action scenes without going too over the top. Readers will be instantly hooked into Sledge’s point of view as he bashes heads in and takes out even the most formidable opponents. Danger lurks around every corner, and Sledge never wavers against his enemies, going as far as to leave them tied to trees in the dead of winter with their bare feet in buckets of water. His methods are brutal but effective, making him hard to root for but keeping the story’s knife-edge tension intact as readers wait to see what Sledge has in store for his next adversary. Kiira makes an excellent foil to Sledge, uncovering enough information about his past to make her question his actions in keeping her safe as the tension between them grows.

Horvath writes to Sledge with a matter-of-fact tone, enticing readers to yearn for more information about him while simultaneously scrutinizing his motives. His character is a significant strength, albeit a double-edged sword, and while he struggles in this story, he somehow always concocts ways to continue tormenting his foes. Horvath’s world is intense, and the story’s undercurrents convoluted, but thriller fans who enjoy piecing together intricate character motivations will be entertained.

Takeaway: Bloody, spirited adventure of former lovers and internet assassins.

Comparable Titles: Great for fans of: Matthew F. Jones’s A Single Shot, Ryan Steck’s Fields of Fire..

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

Click here for more about Sledge vs. The Labyrinth

In this spirited and clarifying self-help financial guide, financial advisor Boisvert shares her expertise and own inspiring story to help women make "money [their] thing," develop the skills for personal financial planning, and learn to "fully and unapologetically embrace money love.” Inviting and touched with humor even when delving into the nuts-and-bolts of investments diversification, compounding, and portfolios, Boisvert highlights clear, concise strategies to build wealth "and save years and loads on the journey to reach goals,” all while making an upbeat case, with refreshing real talk, for why anyone who puts in a little effort can achieve financial literacy and healthy money habits—even if they’ve bought a bunch of money guides previously that languish unread.

Through candid childhood memories and client anecdotes, Boisvert provides insight on the ways that women think about money due to their upbringing, their experience in male-dominated industries, and lack of knowledge in investing, saving, and spending. She has shaped the book with an eye to practicality, reflecting the reader’s journey “from avoidance and overwhelm to feeling confident" about money "at any stage of life," introducing basic concepts and building from there, urging readers to let go of misconceptions, build confidence, and grow “money muscles." Actionable prompts and exercises crafted to reinforce the lessons and "create positive change" appear at the end of each chapter.

Later passages touch on issues other books don’t, such as learning to accept that it is okay to love money. Boisvert sees that as part of women taking back their power, a key step on the journey to financial growth and freedom. With tips on how to invest, open bank accounts, practice building portfolios, and create a realistic budget, Make Money Your Thing is a resource for women wanting to change one's relationship with money and begin to use it to curate the life they want.

Takeaway: Inviting resource guide to empower women to achieve financial freedom.

Comparable Titles: Tiffany Aliche's Get Good With Money, Tori Dunlap's Financial Feminist.

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

Click here for more about Make Money Your Thing: Ditch the Shame and Design your Dream Life

What if you could experience your heart's secret desires, the hopes and dreams that might have been, if you'd only been brave and strong enough to act upon them? That opportunity comes to Tildy Sullivan, the introspective daughter of the irresponsible owner of a cosmetics company. Facing family and business obligations that are crushing Tildy's spirit, and still grieving the loss of her mother years before, Tildy finds herself powerless to claim her own life. Years ago, Tildy left her grandmother and the man she loved, Aidan, back in Ireland to follow her family to "the States.” After seeing an ad looking for participants in an experiment in lucid dreaming, Tildy is drawn to the "what if": what if she could dream her way back and get a glimpse of what life could be if she had chosen herself over obligation?

A contemporary reimagining of Jane Austen's Persuasion, this lovely novel from Woodsey (author of When the Wave Collapses) is rich in romance, fantasy, and a tender yearning to make the best of a do-over. Not that this is easy for Tildy: she soon straddles the line between dreams and reality, the desire to stay in dreams—at the farm, with her Nana and Aidan—versus her real life, plus the tricky question of which exactly is the reality. Meanwhile, in the (apparent) real world, she is being wooed by an unlikely suitor, a man with a family grudge against Tildy's father.

Tildy is a sympathetic heroine, a woman made to feel small by everyone in her present but who enjoys warm and sympathetic friends in her cozy dream life. Readers will feel invested in her story and her happiness. Some supporting characters edge toward the one-dimensional, especially her shallow, insensitive family, presented without much insight into how they got this way. Still, the storytelling satisfies, and readers will be cheering for her to find her happy ending.

Takeaway: A dream experiment gives an unhappy heroine a touching second chance at love.

Comparable Titles: Melissa Pimentel’s The One That Got Away, Debra White Smith’s Possibilities.

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

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Compiled from entertaining anecdotes and personal photographs, Breedlove’s debut recounts her transformation from a recreational cyclist to world bicycler with her husband Jim. The couple’s interest was initially sparked from an advertisement in Bicycling magazine for self-guided tours in France and exploded from there: before long, the middle-aged parents had traveled through three countries and seven states, including New Zealand and France, over the course of 10 years. That transformative journey brought out the best and the worst in the pair, starkly highlighting their differences (Breedlove describes herself as a “noisy, busy, pushy extrovert” who plans every detail, while the more introverted Jim prefers to go with the flow) and uniting them as international travelers.

Cycling enthusiasts will relish Breedlove’s discourse on their tours, including location choosing to packing supplies to handling the inevitable bumps in the road (trying to manage tent camping on a windy beach and navigating the intimidating “He-Man motorcycle territory” on bicycles are standouts). The couple’s inexperience threatens to overwhelm in many instances: a ranger warns of an impending storm that immediately changes their plans; when following San Joaquin Valley’s Mendota Canal, they’re forced to portage gear over locked gates; and not researching trip elevations ahead of time makes their travels exponentially more difficult.

Despite the learning curve, both Breedlove and her husband find the journey breathtaking, each in their own way, as Jim declares “Actually, cycling has little to do with bicycles for me. It has to do with being on our own, homeless in a strange place, between places, moving forward.” That free spirit drives their adventures, whether they’re hitchhiking in France or visiting the Vartry House, the “Highest Pub in Ireland.” Travel fans may wish for more particulars on the globetrotting portions, as the book is heavily weighted to Breedlove’s stateside tours, but, still, this is a bird’s-eye view of rediscovering the world at a slower pace.

Takeaway: Spouse cyclists rediscover the world together.

Comparable Titles: Kristen Jokinen’s Joy Ride, Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence.

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

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Kicking off a projected four-part historical epic from Turner and Gorbaty, this sweeping story of survival, family, and the harrowing power of hate journeys through war-torn Eastern Europe and the life of Elazar Gershovich and his family from the year 1922 to 1946. When the novel starts, Elazar is a young Jewish violinist in his early twenties living in Kalarash, a small town in Moldova. Elazar faced his first pogrom as a toddler, and now, he plans to start a family with Ita, a budding artist from Bolgrad, despite escalating conflicts, Elazar’s thwarted passion for a Georgian Christian woman, and the looming danger of the new Soviet Union’s expansion. Soon enough, the Soviets claim Kalarash, and not long after Elazar and Ita’s life together comes to a screeching halt, when the Soviet Union is attacked by Germany in 1941, forcing Elazar and his family to flee from their home in search of a semblance of stability.

“I won’t let hate rule my life,” Elazar declares, but hatred of course upends everything he loves, as he and his loved ones head east, crossing through vividly evoked Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and elsewhere. The authors touchingly handle themes of loss and belonging as they dramatize, in brisk and poignant scenes, the everyday yet extraordinary experiences of refugee life. Elazar’s son strives to pronounce and remember the names of all the different places where they take refuge, an attempt at trying to create a new home for himself amidst the chaos. Elazar’s daughter, Rivka, meanwhile, eventually declares “I’m not going to bother learning how to pronounce that one,” frustrated to her bones with the constant movement, over rivers and seas, with no clear sense of direction beyond survival.

Despite the complexity of the political instability of the era, The Reluctant Conductor is at heart an elemental story of one family caught up in the larger context of geopolitics and genocide, a humane examination of the cost in individual lives of ancient hatreds.

Takeaway: Touching novel of a Jewish family’s flight across war-torn Europe.

Comparable Titles: Kristin Harmel’s The Forest of Vanishing Stars, Ellen Feldman’s The Living and the Lost.

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

Click here for more about The Reluctant Conductor

Kayne tells an evocative coming-of-age story rich in Hawaiian culture and underpinned by romance and gentle magic, set at the turn of the 20th century. Lokelani “Lucky” Letwin’s attempt to escape the family aftermath of an accident that left her mother unable to walk led her to a quick, botched engagement in California. Now Lokelani’s ex-fiance’s family has decided to keep and monetize the rose bushes that she developed and offered as an engagement gift rather than return them after the relationship’s dissolution. Lokelani’s excuse to go back to California and try to recover them: helping her brother’s fiancee with her own wedding arrangements. Emotions get complicated when the lawyer she is sent to for help turns out to be her childhood friend Artemus Chang, especially in the midst of a wave of public anti-Chinese sentiment in the U.S..

Meanwhile, the Hawaiian land, and some surprise mentors, are calling to her to do more with her gift, which involves ancestral voices and persuasive pink bubbles, than merely convince people to bend to her whims. Kayne’s love of Hawaiian culture shines strongly throughout the novel, from the proverbs that open each chapter, to the language scattered throughout the text, to her praise of poi and disdain for exportable pineapple. The gentle land-based magic carried by Lokelani and a few others, and the secret project by also magically-gifted activist Princess Kahōkūlani and lawyer Chang to quietly resecure land for locals, all feel supportive of maintaining the traditions of the people tied to the islands.

Kayne takes on the racism and sexism of the period with seriousness, but without weighing down the novel. The romance is less engaging, with the curse keeping the couple from connecting too easily overcome to satisfy. The female friendships are lovely, though, from the warm mentorship between Lokelani and the princess to the delightful use of the “pink bubbles” to convince wedding professionals to heed Lokelani’s friend’s wishes.

Takeaway: Historical romance fans will be swept away by Hawaiian magic and culture.

Comparable Titles: Sarah Addison Allen’s Garden Spells; Kawai Strong Washburn’s Sharks in the Time of Saviors.

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

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This warm, deeply humane novel from Walters (author of The Adventures Of Little One) centers a narrative that encompasses fantasy, animal rights, philosophy, spirituality, neuroscience, and mental health issues around an anxious Ph.D. candidate named Frankie. As she enters a neuroscience program with a demanding and cruel professor who inveighs against “the grave scientific error of anthropomorphizing animals or assuming they’re more intelligent than they are,” Frankie is startled to encounter, in her dreams, a group of talking animals: everything from a kindly wolf, a spunky squirrel, and a philosophical cockroach challenges, comforts, and urges her to remember the truth about who she really is.

Seamlessly blending elements of fabulism and fantasy with a focus on science and mental health, Walters’ story will appeal to readers interested in the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit, as well as our indelible connection to nature. Along the way, Frankie decides to probe into the mysteries of her adoption. Her sensitivity to animals and how they communicate is informed by the dream animals, who provide her with crucial information that helps her set up fruitful experiments of her own, in defiance of her professor. Dream and reality intersect more deeply when Frankie discovers her dream animals are real—and that the beloved wolf she calls Mama is in danger.

Walters surprises as the story’s scope expands beyond saving individual animals to headier consents: Frankie's mission, ultimately, is to help transform other humans. The way Walters depicts Frankie as being confused, prone to bursts of irrational and impulsive behavior, and even moments of cruelty makes her a deeply sympathetic, complex protagonist. The supporting characters are all given their own moments to shine and express their own emotional and spiritual complexity. The peace that Frankie finds is well-earned through the narrative as Walters honors all the ways of seeing the world: with your brain, with your heart, with your senses, and with your soul.

Takeaway: Surprising novel of animal intelligence and connection.

Comparable Titles: Lee Mandelo’s Feed Them Silence, Sheri S. Tepper’s The Family Tree.

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

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In this uplifting debut, O’Hea offers vividly realized teen characters who learn about identity and life choices after they encounter a menacing parallel world populated with doppelgangers. After the death of his mother from a drug overdose, 16-year-old Nolan goes to live with his wealthy uncle in the Maine town of Morley. He becomes enamored with Harlow, the teenage daughter of the mayor, Matt Stevenson. On a hike in the woods, Nolan discovers a disheveled man, Topher Collins, who tells an incredible story about being from an alternate Morley dominated with an iron fist by the ruthless dictator Governor Matthias Stevenson, a double of the amiable Matt. Sixteen years ago, Topher, a photographer, had taken a picture of Matthias beating his baby daughter, Lolo, and was immediately arrested. Chased by the governor’s guards, Topher fell through a portal in a pond into Nolan’s version of Morley, and has feared to return, as the governor likely executed his double.

O’Hea emphasizes the human in this heady story, taking time to develop the characters so that readers eventually can contrast them with their doubles, who appear after a hasty decision causes Nolan to fall through the portal and arrive in the Governor’s dystopian Morley. Nolan’s double, Nole, and Harlow’s double, Lolo, are swapped into Nolan’s world, and each learns about the freedoms that society and politicians can both give and easily take away. Nolan, meanwhile, faces the possibility that this is a one-way trip and that he could be trapped forever—but at least in this alternate world his mother is alive.

The chapters shift the first-person points of view of Harlow, Nolan, Topher, Nole, and Lolo, an approach that chops up the progression of the story, diminishing momentum, yet offering depth and insight as the teenagers critique the strange worlds they discover and learn that citizens have the power to create the government they want. Readers will root for the resilient characters who fight for freedom right up to a satisfying conclusion.

Takeaway: A resourceful teen fights for freedom in a parallel world of doppelgangers.

Comparable Titles: Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall, Gwen Cole’s Cold Summer.

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

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