When young Adele moves to a new home, she’s eager for the adventures that await her. As soon as she arrives, her curiosity is rewarded: outside the towering house sits an abandoned garden, complete with its own gnome, whom Adele promptly names Albert and adopts as her special friend. When she makes a wish one evening that her “garden could be magical again,” Albert comes to life, informing Adele that he was once the head gardener and promising to help her restore the garden to its former glory.

Richards’s love for nature is evident throughout this fanciful debut, in which fairies alight on lush flowers, “leaving trails of stardust in their wake,” and playful spirits with “hearts of gold” cavort through the foliage. Adele has an eye for magic, and her ready willingness to spot it at every opportunity will resonate with younger readers. She quickly picks up on Albert’s gentle nudging that a little bit of hard work and a lot of love can help even a neglected seed spring to life. Together, Adele and her gnome make a marvelous pair as they set off on the adventure of a lifetime: he is thoughtful and wise, while Adele is an enthusiastic learner who finds even the dreariest garden tasks a joy.

That winning combination will warm hearts as the story builds to an uplifting restoration. Richards drops plenty of gardening tips for younger readers along the way, who can expect to learn pearls such as lavender’s calming ability, the patience required for composting, and the role different creatures (an earthworm, ladybug, and majestic oak tree, to name a few) play in the garden. Whimsical black-and-white illustrations light up with brilliant pops of color, and Richards dedicates space at the end to sustainability, including a special composting recipe for readers to try at home.

Takeaway: A young girl restores a garden, thanks to a little magic.

Comparable Titles: Pat Zietlow Miller’s In Our Garden, Kate Messner’s Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt.

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

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This spiritually charged debut collection provokes and illuminates humanity's ceaseless search for meaning with a fierce commitment to healing ancestral wounds. Through four elemental sections—Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water—Iyamu grounds her vision for social change, believing that transformation must germinate from within: "We are the portal / To the Earth and the land we walk on" [13]. Her reverence for nature—"God chose me to birth this tree!"—becomes a powerful allegory for movement, urging readers to "Take back your life!" and break free from a passive acceptance that leads to spiritual dormancy.

Iyamu’s verse adopts a rhythmic, trance-like cadence that at times obscures meaning but nevertheless amplifies the voices of those she seeks to champion: the marginalized, the oppressed, and even the voiceless flora and fauna whose fates remain mere collateral damage. Her poems, both a plea and a protest, demand equality in a world "first built so only the privileged could rise." Freedom, or the lack thereof, underpins much of Iyamu's work. In painful, contemplative lines—“What does it give to be at peace? / Your house, your home, your walls, your fears”—she gently exposes the irony of maintaining "peace" through walls and weapons that divide rather than unite. Her regard for God as "God," "Allah," or "Jah" subtly critiques the senseless competition between cultures and nations for supremacy.

For all its occasional ambiguities, *Poetry in Eden* confronts, with passion and empathy, the destructive energy humans impose on the world: "But the very root / I cannot compute / What we have done to / The lands we say we love." This same energy, Iyamu suggests, shatters identity and a sense of belonging. At its core, this collection aims to dismantle self-constructed walls, urging readers to rediscover their roots, reclaim their faith, and let the "voices of a shared plight...of a shared right to live" finally be upheld.

Takeaway: Tender, empowering poetry of identity, peace, and collective healing

Comparable Titles: Joy Harjo’s An American Sunrise, Kwame Alexander’s Light for the World to See.

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

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In this urgent, ultimately healing memoir of resilience, the tragic passing of author Lariviere-Traub's beloved husband, Daniel, triggers repressed memories from her harrowing childhood in the Canadian foster care system, “echoing the abandonment and the feeling of not belonging.” The Silent Echo of My Childhood explores her experience entering the system after a series of tragedies: her mother’s institutionalization with a rare bone disease and her father’s abandonment. Lariviere-Traub's time under government guardianship becomes like a prison sentence as she floats from home to home and eventually different institutions "every two to three weeks,” enduring heartbreak, betrayals, and abuse from those meant to care for and protect her. From 14 to 16, she writes, her life was “whittled down to a series of locked doors and hushed whispers.” Eventually, inevitably, she became a runaway.

Through emotive prose, Lariviere-Traub tells and examines her story, drawing links between experiences in a full-circle narrative. She reflects warmly on the love she shared with Daniel while taking stock of the traumas of her childhood and her first marriage to a man who became physically abusive after the birth of their daughter, Melanie. She writes with welcome frankness about the “belief that my love could change him,” a conviction she now recognizes as rooted in the “power of an abusive man” skilled at “creeping into your mind, making you believe … that you deserve the pain.” Eventually, she managed again to run away.

The result is an impactful story of resilience and growth, forgiveness and love, and finding the strength—and, in women’s shelters and other crucial sources, the support—to break cycles of abuse. Reminding readers that "healing is not a destination, but a journey,” The Silent Echo of My Childhood finds “glimmers of hope and new beginnings” in new connections, the act of writing, and, above all, in the strength of the human spirit and the healing power of love.

Takeaway: Poignant memoir of love, grief, foster care, and ending cycles of abuse..

Comparable Titles: Kathleen Glasgow's Girl in Pieces, Beverly Engel's Raising Myself.

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

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Thalasino (author of Fly by Night) explores touching and enlightening aspects of the bond between humans and animals with twinned stories of two women, separated by centuries and a continent, maneuvering through lives shaped by their love and commitment to horses. It’s through this passion that Evie, a young single mother whom we first meet near Flagstaff in the 1970s, and Belle MacLeod, the daughter of a wealthy Scottish landowner in 1700s Nova Scotia, face and survive the challenges of their eras. Each discovers, in her own time, what truly matters, as they relish “the scent of animal fur, and the feel of … mane under her hands” and perform edifying work like getting “yearlings ready to encounter the everyday things of life.” Complicating matters, though, are the men in their lives.

Horse lovers who admire stories of independent women will be moved by Evie’s immediate, intuitive bond with a wild mustang that turns up out of the blue—a charming scene that warms the heart and changes the course of Evie’s life. Almost 200 years earlier, Belle, the youngest daughter of “Mr. Mac,” also finds in her love of horses the courage to embark on her own journey toward what she believes will be a new life of freedom. Would that life were so easy, as both women face societies eager to dictate how they should live. A lyrical early description of wild Arizona horses seizes the heart and connects to both protagonists: “Freedom was her fuel, propelling her tirelessly until she reached the tall green mesas that marked the start of the high desert.”

The split narrative and fleetly lyrical prose inspire contemplation of perennial needs like safety, compassion, and connection. As the narrative crosses centuries, Thalasino occasionally leaps ahead over courtships and other human developments without significant dramatization. Instead, the focus remains on the hearts of Evie, Belle, and their horses—and the many subtle and surprising ways these women are linked.

Takeaway: Vital, nourishing story of two women, centuries apart, finding freedom in horses.

Comparable Titles: Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races, Elizabeth Letts’s The Ride of Her Life.

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

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This sweeping love story by Martin (Tangled Violets) spans decades in its examination of family, first love, and mental illness. Jamie Murphy has seen his share of heartbreak and crushing family deaths, but that doesn’t stop him from the whimsy of love at first sight when he meets Katie Houlihan. After a whirlwind courtship, the two are married and comfortably settled in the Murphy household with Jamie’s mother and siblings—a home infused with warm affection and Christian values. But when Katie starts to exhibit signs of a mental breakdown after the birth of her second daughter, Jamie’s idyllic world comes crashing down.

Martin perceptively catches life’s tragic ups and downs in this layered saga, as the Murphys’ fight for a life-changing miracle takes center stage against a historically memorable backdrop. From the end of World War I through the Great Depression in New York and a later move to California, Jamie and Katie compel in their battle to overcome devastating odds and restore Katie to her former self. When Katie’s illness leads to a hospitalization at the Harlem Valley State Hospital to be treated for dementia praecox—commonly known as schizophrenia—the couple face the unjust treatment of those diagnosed with mental illness, along with the bureaucracy and power struggles that plague hospital corruption. Soon, they must confront a lifetime of institutionalization for Katie—and what that means for her loving, grieving family.

Katie is a well-crafted, tragic figure in Martin’s writing, but Jamie also emerges as an evocative portrayal of a loving husband and father who works hard to raise his daughters while balancing his abiding love for a wife who is essentially lost to him in all ways—but still very much alive. Martin keeps the pace humming with heart-breaking plot twists and resonant emotional moments, transforming the narrative into a powerful rendering of the “true meaning of love.”

Takeaway: Moving narrative of love, mental illness, and unbreakable hope.

Comparable Titles: Millen Brand's The Outward Room, Dolen Perkins-Valdez's Take My Hand.

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

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This suspenseful standalone mystery centers on pastry chef Laura Harris, who reluctantly leaves her family’s California restaurant to support her parents in Texas. When Laura’s mother dies from cancer not long after the move, Laura is left reeling—and seeks comfort from her long-time mentor, the wealthy Hattie Stenburg, who resides in a sprawling estate and now defunct vineyard in her family’s namesake Texas town. Laura and Hattie quickly catch up after years of only writing letters to each other, but when Laura, who suspects something’s off about Hattie’s caregiver, Nicole, doubles back after their visit to check on Hattie, she’s shocked to find her dead.

From this initial puzzle, Bells builds layers of intrigue that steadily deepen, as Laura encounters eccentric and vindictive townsfolk, police who seem reluctant to investigate Hattie’s death as a murder, and shocking personal news: Laura has been named as Hattie’s sole heir, propelling her to the top of the suspect list. To clear her name, she sleuths her way among the town’s mysterious figures, including her ex-boyfriend Lucas, Hattie’s disappearing groundskeeper Jordan Woods, and neighbors who seek Hattie’s inheritance for themselves. The mystery’s small-town aura—where secrets separate and invisible lines are drawn—adds suspense, and Bells throws in a dash of romance to spice the mix, in the form of Hattie’s handsome attorney, Brent Hill, whose heart is as warm as his flashy yellow Maserati. Also endearing is the resident irascible corgi, Moon Pie, who functions as both protector and comforter for Laura.

Bell (author of the Annalisse series) capably builds tension with Laura’s back and forth decision-making, where intentions collide and suspicion mounts amid themes of jealousy, revenge, and shifting loyalties. Mystery fans will find the narrative’s dark twists and intricate relationships especially satisfying, particularly when paired with the sinister secrets hiding in plain sight.

Takeaway: Sole heir to a murdered woman’s estate transforms into sleuth to clear her name.

Comparable Titles: Madison Score’s Say Yes to the Death, Steve Higgs’s Pork Pie Pandemonium.

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

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Making the case that “the love of the different will make the world reborn,” Tapu (author of Psychology: Everybody’s Science) shares his philosophy of life in a series of loosely connected aphorisms and reflections. His philosophy is broad, wide enough to “harmonize belief and unbelief” and remind readers that “differences of opinion can only enrich knowledge” without coming to a muddled compromise. One of Tapu’s major concerns is death and how to deal with the concept of an end to life. He argues that the proper way to approach this is to fully appreciate the illusion of time when one is experiencing life, and thus death is an end that does not erase what came before. His thinking blends big ideas with practical implications as he considers topics ranging from abortion (from a human-rights perspective) to the coming “obsolescence” of privacy. He shares advice, predictions (“Age and gender differences in human values … will be narrowed by sharing values”), and poetry in a complex web.

Tapu emphasizes the difficulty of truly knowing anything—all his teachings are rooted in belief, as, he argues, are all ways in which people operate in the world. While he encourages openness to diverse opinions, that overarching conviction may leave readers uncertain about how deeply to engage with Tapu’s individual arguments, as they are ultimately a matter of faith. Although Tapu includes some references to external sources, the work would benefit from deeper engagement with other spiritual literature and a reference list for readers who wish to explore further.

Teachings on Being could also benefit from clearer structure to organize its wide-ranging advice. Tapu is an enigma within the text, laying out his ethics and philosophy but revealing little of himself as a person. Still, these fresh, humane, open-minded reflections are worth consideration. A dedicated reader exploring big questions of life and death will find much here to contemplate.

Takeaway: Original thinking on big questions of life, death, and the future.

Comparable Titles: J.M.E. McTaggart’s The Unreality of Time, James Tarpey’s The Meaning of Life.

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

Click here for more about Teachings on Being

In the first of the Rock 'n' Romance Legends series from Merrill (author of Hurricane Reese, among others), Boone Collins and Shane Butler, both frontmen for some of today’s most popular rock bands, confront their past as they discover each other. Grandsons of the rock legends who founded one of the biggest bands of the 1970s, California, they each seem to have it all—good looks, incredible talent, adoring fans, an upward trajectory pointing to even greater fame, and a contentious relationship that the press just loves. At California’s Hall of Fame induction, these fractious not-quite-brothers are jolted by a surprise romance between Shane’s grandfather and Boone’s grandmother. As sparks fly, circumstances force Boone and Shane to spend time together, and they discover that perhaps they’re not rivals after all… and that maybe there’s something more if they let their guards down.

Merrill conjures a sweet romance with lots of heart, some spice, and a convincing portrayal of contemporary rock stardom as a demanding job rather than a hedonistic holiday, all while exploring the leads’ lives as musicians, friends, caretakers, and lovers. Boone is publicly beloved yet feels that his grandmother, an Oscar-winning actress, is the only person who truly cares for him. Boone also harbors secrets and doubts, feeling a little lost as he faces a health crisis.

Merrill proves adept at laying bare the wounded souls of creative men in the entertainment world as the story touches on touring, producing, the interpersonal dynamics of being in a band, and the persistent problem of imposter syndrome. The romance between Boone and Shane develops quickly, but not so quickly that the pieces don’t fit together. The chaos and conflict around them is engaging, though it never overshadows these men’s touching exploration of new feelings. Lovers of smart, media-savvy m/m romances will cheer.

Takeaway: Sweet romance of two male rock rivals’ unexpected connection.

Comparable Titles: Tammy Subia’s Heartbreak Honey, Christie Gordon’s On a Different Mission.

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

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Perone (author of Danger Peak) collects six prankish, horrific stories/provocations that feature TV, ghosts, and characters pushed past their breaking points in a world gone mad. Mostly written when he was in high school in the 1990s, when that world was only heading toward madness, the stories have the over-the-top energy of adolescence, as things quickly get extreme for the protagonists. A smirking satiric impulse powers some entries, reflecting the perspective of a young person (rightly) outraged about the way things are going. That's certainly true for the title story, in which small-town teen Teddy is jolted by the TV obsession all around him. (His mother demands he kiss the screen.) Teddy's doom is telegraphed from the start, but the glee that Perone takes—imagining townsfolk with screens strapped to their heads, his mother's self-mutilation, and more—sets it apart.

"How To Save A Drowning Butterfly" centers on a young man of apparently reduced mental capacity who endures constant abuse. Through a series of pointedly extreme coincidences and bad decisions, he's framed for murder, sent to prison, and abused, with Perone playing his misfortune largely for laughs, like some sort of grotesque comedy of errors. The inventive "Paper Language" finds a writer inspired by a cursed ream of paper, while in "Investigating the Future's End,” the most complex story in the collection, a future cop/reporter realizes that an apocalyptic cult is haunting him with his past cruelties and causing increasingly widespread damage. The identity of the cult's messianic leader is a grisly surprise.

As readers might expect of a smart, media-saturated young writer from an era that prized extremity of expression, the collection at times has a vicious edge, indulging in adolescent power fantasy and exploring revenge, cruelty, and misery. But the closing story, perhaps inevitably titled "School Spirit," surprises with a small note of hope—even redemption—in an otherwise bleak and snarky collection of horror stories that revel in Doom Generation nihilism.

Takeaway: Grisly, satiric 1990s horror stories of young men in a world going mad.

Comparable Titles: Rebecca Rowland’s Generation X-Ed, Adiran Ludens’s The Tension of a Coming Storm.

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

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Schneer launches this well-balanced guide to making sense of qualitative research with a chilling narrative of his own severe spinal injury—suffered on Christmas Eve in 2015—that led to years of pain, surgeries, and tentative recovery. The “grit” he develops through that process serves as a metaphor not just for his personal resilience, but his professional resolve as well, with his “spirit to drive qualitative research to its zenith” forming Backbone’s structure. That passion for qualitative market analysis—born out of Schneer’s sharp interpersonal observation skills and early work in theology, where he learned to “synthesize” abstract topics—propels his development of seven principal qualitative research traits, outlined here in easy-to-grasp, clearly-defined terms.

Often viewed as the polar opposite of data-driven quantitative research, qualitative analysis is, Schneer argues, just as crucial to the business world, particularly in its recognition of the nonverbal intelligence and emotions that power decisions. He dedicates much space to his seven different qualitative researcher characteristics—curiosity, on preparedness, extroversion, synthesizing complexity, listening with your eyes, grit, on being venturous—and sprinkles in discerning snippets, such as curiosity being the spark that fuels qualitative research, or the need to be a “people person” for a successful research career, while drawing on personal and professional examples for further clarity.

Schneer tackles the role of Artificial Intelligence in qualitative research as well, deviating from similar resources to expound on how AI can “help identify changes in emotion based on stimuli”; research accuracy, he asserts, can be improved by “combining qualitative research with body language and backed up by Artificial Intelligence.” Schneer’s friendly tone infuses this quest to enhance personal communication with warmth, something sorely needed in an age of nonpersonal, machine-driven interaction, and he motivates readers to leave their professional field better than they found it, writing that “there is no giving up, only getting up.”

Takeaway: Inviting, easy-to-grasp study on qualitative research, with contemporary insights.

Comparable Titles: Annette Lareau’s Listening to People, John W. Creswell and Johanna Creswell Báez’s 30 Essential Skills for the Qualitative Researcher.

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

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O’Donovan (author of Making Organizational Change Stick) pens a real-life horror movie with this chilling memoir of mistaken identity. When Border Force officer Dave Callaway uncovers contraband cigarettes shipped to his cargo terminal at London’s Heathrow Airport, the address listed as their destination matches O’Donovan’s rented house, though she has no ties to Callaway’s discovery. That seemingly small mistake launches O’Donovan into a devastating cat-and-mouse, as His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) promptly names her as a tax defaulter smuggling illegal goods into the country, embroiling her in a nightmare of debt and criminal charges that threaten to be her undoing.

O'Donovan’s penetrating first-person point of view reflects on her harrowing journey to clear her name—and the mistaken debt—in suspenseful tones as the HMRC intensifies its pursuit, and readers will experience mounting irritation and escalating fear right alongside her. What starts as a possible scam quickly swells to an all-out fight for survival, and O’Donovan candidly lays out the emotions that accompany that battle, sharing the hate mail she received after HMRC named her "a criminal and massive tax defaulter," the dead ends she hit when trying to get to the bottom of the claims, and her demoralizing treatment as “guilty until proven innocent.” Her experiences drive her resolve to uphold “our human right to be presumed innocent… [and] fix the foundations of our democracy and protect our way of life.”

That crusade to fully protect innocence in a system that sometimes falls short propels the memoir, as O’Donovan peels back layers of a shocking nightmare that has the potential to happen to anyone. Her uphill battle to gain justice makes for a riveting tale, one she recounts with grace and a relatable, living narrative. She closes with an analysis of “the cost of HMRC getting it wrong” and a taste of the legal documentation she navigated throughout the process.

Takeaway: Chilling story of one woman’s battle against mistaken identity.

Comparable Titles: Anthony Ray Hinton's The Sun Does Shine, Yusef Salaam's Better, Not Bitter.

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

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A chance remark from a grandmother sparks an enchanting story-within-a-story one morning as she helps young Lisbeth detangle her hair. “The ladybugs must have thrown a grand gala in your hair last night,” the grandmother says. When Lisbeth asks, “What ladybugs?” her grandmother happily improvises, telling Lisbeth a funny, lively tale of an insect party on Lisbeth’s head, complete with refreshments, music, and dancing. (One ladybug uses his six legs to play the cello, guitar, and violin.) Young Lisbeth deduces that the tangles in her hair must be leftover party streamers, prompting her to ask, “Grandma, why didn’t the ladybugs clean up after themselves?” As readers imagine a ladybug frolic and get lost in hair that playfully stretches across page spreads, Lisbeth’s grandmother enjoys the opportunity to make a point about being a good helper and cleaning up even the messes one didn’t create.

Shadrick’s amusingly alliterative storytelling surveys the planning, the fiesta itself, and the messy-haired aftermath, as ladybugs Lana, Lola, and Laney come up with the idea to throw a party to distract themselves from the scary weather. They enlist the help of their friends—including artistic types like Lorelai, who has an eye for fashion and whips up creative costumes—but don’t think ahead to the most important part: that having fun also comes with some responsibilities.

Vibrant paintings from Maya Penzlik bring rich, unruly life to this charming tale of a grandmother and granddaughter bonding while performing a tedious task. Buoyant detail and a sense of warmth distinguish both of the book’s realities: the everyday family relationship with its PJs and smiles, and the gorgeous imaginative world of the ladybugs, who dance, sew, and show off fancy-funny costumes against a backdrop of sun-kissed flowers. These are pages to soak up and get lost in. This adorable children's story will delight elementary-aged kids but also parents and teachers.

Takeaway: Charming children's story of hair-tangling lady bugs and one glorious party.

Comparable Titles: Audrey Wood's Silly Sally, Ed Heck's Many Marvelous Monsters.

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

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Blending the gothic and the romantic with a light touch, Page’s debut kicks off a duology centered on Estelle, a young woman in the kingdom of Eventide whose indentured service to a meat-pie seller is abruptly ended when she catches the eye of Dirk, a blind wizard who shuns daylight, grants wishes for a living, and clearly harbors dark secrets. Uncertain whether she’s a guest, servant, or captive, Estelle is brought to swank Nightingale Manor, where the staff proves welcoming—"Well, my dear, the best cure for a worried mind is a caring ear,” declares the lovable Berry. Readers won’t be too surprised to learn that beneath his (literally) frigid exterior, Dirk is both hurting and capable of love … or that in Estelle’s starlit aura, he sees something rare: hope.

While the novel is episodic and hefty in length, Page establishes all of this with brisk, chipper aplomb, quickly getting to the heart of the matter—the curse that Dirk has been suffering under ever since dabbling in necromancy to restore life to his beloved sister. Estelle quickly begins to find her place in the labyrinthine manor, studying herbs with the gardener and soon developing skills in magic, guided by Dirk himself. Unlike many romantasies that luxuriate in dark held-captive scenarios, Page eschews provocations as the leads lower their walls and discover each other. This choice, plus a disinterest in graphic spiciness, diminishes the tension somewhat but will please readers who prefer their fairy-tale fantasies upbeat and healthy.

The broader plot involves the machinations of wizards beneath the town of Bulbrook, plus Estelle and Dirk’s efforts to remove his curse and unlock the mysteries of Estelle’s soul. Characterization is lively and consistent, with antagonist wizard Fiorenza a particular delight. While the pacing flags somewhat in a second half involving Dirk’s alma mater and a wizards’ council, Estelle’s development into a confident woman, wielding magic and innovating new healing techniques, is a pleasure to witness.

Takeaway: Warmly romantic fantasy debut of a servant bought by a mysterious cursed wizard.

Comparable Titles: Tricia Levenseller’s The Shadows Between Us, Lauren Blackwood’s Within These Wicked Walls.

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

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The emotive, intriguingly non-human first entry in Malloy’s six-book Moonstorm series offers rousing fantasy that dares to be fantastical. At its heart is Lightning, a young kezel—spiked, tailed, telepathic creatures—who has lived her whole life in the stony caves of an “accrete” with the rest of her telepathic tribe. Her world is a place of hunger and violence where nonconformity and change are not tolerated. While out hunting, Lightning discovers a “hairless, beak-faced creature” she's never seen before, one that, shockingly, is able to hear her thoughts and respond in kind. Lightning hides her discovery, naming the creature Joy for the warm feelings that bloom between them. Joy’s inevitable discovery eventually forces the pair from the community into the frozen wastes, where they endure extreme survival adventures before Joy helps Lightning to form a very unlikely friendship with bombas, the avian-like food source for kezel.

As Lightning and Joy forge through distrust and make their home among the Bombas, relying on manners and empathy to build trust, often facilitated by Joy, Malloy’s descriptive and imaginative series breathes life into the land of Aranae, a wild landscape regularly buffeted by extreme weather. Characterization is as engaging as the gripping scenes of braving the environment, especially as Lightning and Joy discover their connection. Malloy’s prose is crisply efficient, never losing narrative momentum as it captures danger, wonder, and uneasy social situations with real power, all while Lightning fears she’ll never be able to go home again.

Malloy builds this world’s creatures, civilizations, and more with imaginative precision, developing languages, belief systems (even illustrating where different tribes diverge on various points), and arresting creation mythologies. Malloy adds enough attitude and emotion to allow readers fairly easy access to an entirely novel world built with wholly unfamiliar language. Though there are no human characters, the relationships, societies, family structures, and concerns are deeply human. A unique world breeds familiarity and feeling in this rich series starter.

Takeaway: Strong fantasy of surprise connections in a wholly original nonhuman world.

Comparable Titles: Martha Wells’s The Cloud Roads, Tad Williams’s Tailchaser’s Song.

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

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Ritter offers a practical and insightful roadmap to help readers conquer fears and move toward self-mastery. This self-help guide is thoughtfully organized into two main sections—Personal and Professional—each packed with actionable strategies for improving both life and career. Ritter opens with the essential idea that fear is not a fixed reality but instead a perception shaped by our thoughts and beliefs. He encourages readers to confront their fears head-on by stepping into uncertainty. Strategies like “conquer your fears” and “feel your feelings” urge readers to reframe their mindsets—to “shift from victim to creator”—and fully embrace their emotions, rather than avoid them.

The text is simple and sharp, with an emphasis on practical tips and results. Themes introduced through introspective questioning allow readers to initiate a dialogue from within. RItter adopts a warmly didactic tone, evoking the feeling of a personal guru instructing you through every step. In the Personal section, Ritter delves into cultivating a positive mindset, nurturing relationships, and finding purpose. He advises readers to “[c]reate a life that helps you feel good,” suggesting the importance of removing negativity and focusing on uplifting experiences. Ritter also stresses self-belief and encourages readers to share successes openly as a way to build confidence and foster recognition.

The Professional section tackles job satisfaction, leadership, and career advancement. Ritter’s recommendation to “control your job satisfaction” by creating a meaningful work environment and “increase your visibility” through strategic networking is especially useful for career progression. He also emphasizes building trust and respect within the workplace, underscoring the value of a collaborative and supportive environment. Becoming Fearless is an empowering and accessible guide, providing readers with tangible steps to reshape their approach to fear and actively pursue personal and professional growth. Ritter’s direct, clear style and the book’s actionable strategies make it an invaluable tool for anyone on the path to self-improvement.

Takeaway: Empowering guide to facing fear and uncertainty to build confidence.

Comparable Titles: Brianna Wiest’s The Mountain Is You, Ethan Cross’s Chatter.

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

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Immersive, haunting, and melancholy, Huff’s tale draws out the obligations and degradation of the social elite, played out on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Dame Isobel, the scion of a filthy rich family that mines the moon’s seabed for precious metals, is caught having sex with a woman, an illegal act. While her wealth saves her, her lover, Liore, is punished with a lobotomy. Tormented and desperate, Isobel devises a plan: she orders her ship to capture one of the native lifeforms, called a Fisherman, from the moon’s vast ocean, in hopes that the Fisherman’s god, Aeter—rumored to grant wishes—will help her restore Liore.

The lives of Huff’s well-drawn but damaged characters quickly collapse into desperate actions. Isobel has three weeks to find Aeter before she’s forced into conversion therapy and an arranged marriage, and Fisherman—whose outer layer that enables them to shapeshift was removed by Isobel to ensure their compliance—is equally frenzied and enraged that their skin has been stolen. The story unfolds from Fisherman’s tortured perspective, delving into issues of control, sexual autonomy, and distorted views of cultural conformity, all against the background of a frantic race to find a god who can grant both freedom and destruction.

Huff (author of Free Burn) incorporates erotic sexual descriptions and subtle elements of retribution into the storyline, as Isobel is as much a shapeshifter as Fisherman in many ways, a prisoner of a culture forcing her to give up her identity. Still, her treatment of Fisherman—who assumes the form of a female human to please Isobel and keep her sexually satisfied—echoes her own subjugation at the hands of others. As the plot morphs into a weighty examination of humanity’s greed and brutal disregard for divergence of any kind, Huff’s characters undergo their own transformations, leaving readers with a profound reflection on what truly defines a monster.

Takeaway: Stirring tale of the depths of love in an unforgiving alien world.

Comparable Titles: C.L. Clark’s The Unbroken, Kameron Hurley’s The Worldbreaker Saga.

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

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