
Writing with verve, clarity, and occasional expressions of awe, Ansary charts Washington’s colorful efforts at the pursuit of wealth “at a time when the private equity world was not even a gleam in the eye of the most farsighted financier.” The most arresting passages illustrate how that experience shaped Washington’s endeavors as the president of a new nation facing substantial debt, as his administration established transportation and communication infrastructure, the Bank of the United States, a commercial credit system, sources of government revenue, and more. Crucially, Washington strove to eliminate “disincentives built into the colonial system for entrepreneurial activity,” especially compulsory servitude and debtors’ prisons. (A supreme court justice languished in these in several states.)
With richly sourced insight and memorable in-the-moment scene-setting, Ansary digs deep into Washington’s presidential decision- and deal- making, offering in-depth accounts of the first president’s efforts to create a country without an aristocracy while also detailing foreign policy challenges, the planning and building of the capital city, and the highly contentious establishment of a a national bank and currency. Guiding readers through these complex matters, Ansary deftly establishes the stakes and stakeholders, plus Washington’s often inspired navigation of both, with subject and author both always keeping a welcome eye on the impact of these choices over centuries.
Takeaway: This thorough, inviting history of George Washington’s entrepreneurial spirit offers fresh insights.
Great for fans of: Edward G. Lengel’s First Entrepreneur, Germinal G. Van’s The Economic Policy of Thomas Jefferson.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
The story’s beginning is rather abrupt, as Fields quickly delves into the fantasy aspects, a choice that at first makes the characters, who we’ve spent too little time with in the real world, feel a touch underbaked. However, once they arrive on the shores of this other dimension, the leads flower into distinct and convincing personalities, and Fields keeps readers on their toes with lightning-paced transitions and supercharged magic. In their quest to save Kai and go home, they encounter a riddling rabbit, a nightmarish middle school run by monsters, a friendly village of young magicians, and a greedy bird woman named Ava Rice. Fields brings the story to a sudden close as well, revealing loads of backstory right before the final battle, but despite the pacing issues, there’s a genuine sense of warmth in the friendships that Jalen makes along the way.
A flashback to Jalen's past reveals unresolved guilt, and a pep talk from a village elder motivates him to keep going, despite the odds stacked against him. Fields makes a point of having a diverse cast without treating them as tokens, especially in regards to Ram. Velasquez's expressive art communicates a great deal of nuance in relating unspoken feeling and essential information, and the open-ended conclusion points to potential and welcome future installments.
Takeaway: This YA fantasy boasts a diverse cast, classic quest storytelling, and appealing art.
Great for fans of: Jason Walz’s Last Pick: Rise Up; Tom King’s Heroes in Crisis.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A-
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A
Rehm (The Adventures of Philippine Maximine, P.I. ) writes a fast-moving, expectations-defying plot that will grip thriller readers open to immersing themselves in the minds of damaged men. The daring first section leaves us to guess whether we can trust a narrator who boasts about lacking empathy and tells the tale with a cruel poetry—hitting a man with a rock sounds “like stepping on a crayfish.” Later, the new characters are complex and not much more likable, with Rehm not tipping his hand about who to root for in the extended, convincing cat-and-mouse game that follows.
Rehm puts more trust in readers than many thriller authors, and at times the narrative can seem challenging. But Let Flowers Be Flowers plays fair, especially when it comes to the realities of hunting and forests, and patient readers with the stomach for the killing—and a love for sentences like “There is nothing like a human scream to break the silence of the forest”—will find this harrowing and satisfying.
Takeaway: Nothing is as it seems in this character-driven psychological thriller of hunters and hunted.
Great for fans of: Jack Carr’s Savage Son, Laird Hunt’s In the House in the Dark of the Woods.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

Gurgu creates a deeply unsettling foreboding future of the haves and have-nots, of slave labor and mass graves, where the corporate elite have it all, and everyone else is owned by them—whether they know it yet or not. Missing one payment in any debt gives corporations the right to dehumanize entire families and sell them into any type of servitude, no matter how horrible or deadly.
Gurgu takes readers down a dark path that they will find uncomfortably believable, digging into how this future came about through smartly structured flashbacks, but he reserves hope by illustrating how everyday people can still change the future. Blake isn’t your average hero in taking-down-the-establishment stories; he is in fact very imperfect, struggling to keep his severe obsessive compulsive disorder from controlling his life, and when he’s forced out of his comfort zone to strategize before acting, he has to think on his feet to save those he loves—and himself. Gurgu adds twists and turns that will shock readers and keep them on the edge of their seats.
Takeaway: A disturbingly realistic dystopian future that will get under readers’ skin in all the best ways.
Great for fans of: Cynthia Kadohata’s In the Heart of the Valley of Love; Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Despite the title, there’s excitement and wit here, too. Writing with crisp clarity and power, plus an eye for the telling detail, Storm digs into his love of hip hop, his youthful penning of rhymes, and the way trouble at first seemed manageable. But some of the kids living on the edge in any high school fall off. For Storm, working in a Xanax blur at McDonald’s at 16 soon leads to hustling “works” (syringes) on the street, subsisting on “sugar sandwiches” made from purloined sugar packets, and working with an addict whom he fell for in detox to shake down her ex-boyfriend.
Tense confrontations, dope-sick sweats, HIV scares, a murder, lost time with loved ones: The Struggle lays out its tragedies and miseries without a sense of romance or braggadocio, instead relating the facts (as Storm recalls them) in prose that moves quickly and never suggests self-pity. Material about AA and recovery proves as compelling as the dark stuff, and the everyday victories in the final chapters—marriage, home ownership, a degree—are especially moving.
Takeaway: This searing but wise account of addiction and recovery inspires as much as it harrows.
Great for fans of: Nic Sheff’s Tweak, Koren Zailckas’s Smashed.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
Loya’s focus is on the relationships he uncovered on the journey, both between him and his father and with others they met, but he still includes a helpful appendix with information about cycling gear, Alzheimer’s and the technical aspects of the trip. The photos and anecdotes provide an encouraging snapshot of an America where people cheer on Kari and Merv and their feat. Kari’s stamina is remarkable as he took these photographs, recalled these conversations, navigated himself and his father and traveled the continent. As a recollection of the journey which brings the reader along, Conversations Across America succeeds admirably.
The most moving conversations, though, come between father and son. From difficult nights spent in the cold to healing discussions of Merv’s health and his future, the emotional heart of the book is deeply moving. Travel readers may wish for even more descriptions of the vistas, challenges, and memorable moments of the trip itself. The journey proved healing for both men, and readers of travel and family memoirs will grow invested in their adventures and relationship.
Takeaway: A travelog of American characters, an epic cycling journey, and a touching father/son relationship.
Great for fans of: Robert Cocuzzo’s The Road to San Donato: Fathers, Sons, and Cycling Across Italy, Jedidiah Jenkins’s To Shake the Sleeping Self.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A-
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A
Motion is a common thread in the collections’ metaphors, which compare the woman to “a ship at sea” or the couple’s love to an airplane struggling in flight, while at one point the speaker professes that “watching you come and go was almost perfect.” Additionally, certain words and clauses reappear throughout, which make the collection function as a sort of poetic wheel in tandem with the speaker’s boomerang recollections. Clever ambiguities shade meaning, even in a despairing entry like “Rumble,” which concerns the realization that a romantic partner too often prefers to be alone but can be read, in its climax, to hint at something luxuriant in the misery: “This is meaningless/ at its best.”
In some ways, UN/Reconciled is an ill-fated love story: two lovers meet, love, and eventually fall apart. But this collection is also a report on the behavior of a memory that cannot be forgotten; it comes and goes, just as the woman’s love, “distant and familiar” once did, but the recall never ends. Readers looking for poems on heartbreak and loss will find value in Trozzolo’s collection that is at times striking and offers a somewhat sophisticated brand of sharp-edged melancholy.
Takeaway: Trozzolo’s sensuous, saturnine collection finds a poet struggling over the memory of a lost love.
Great for fans of: Tyler Knott Gregson, Rupi Kaur.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
Something does go wrong, of course. But, fascinatingly, something also seems to go right, as Arena discovers himself suddenly, impossibly rich, in a Great Expectations-style windfall that will keep readers guessing. An uncle’s long-ago investment in a now dominant computer company lifts Arena and family to a California mansion, A-list Hollywood parties—and all the temptations and legal hassles that come with it. Throughout the tale, Morelli continually throws off expectations, offering a vividly detailed moral and legal thriller with literary characterization and pacing rather than the time-travel shenanigans readers might expect.
Arena asks his friends, early on, who they could murder, via time travel, to better the world, but, as Morelli makes clear throughout, cause and effect are more complex than that fantasy. The question becomes, for Arena, whether or not to destroy Swanteck’s discoveries. The story hits some traditional suspense beats, especially in the final chapters, but what’s most engaging are the legal travails of the newly rich Arena, which find him representing himself in a suit filed by a Swanteck relation. Morelli writes with persuasive power and an eye for telling detail for the legal and financial realms, and his story engages as both what-if? and moral conundrum.
Takeaway: Time travel upends a lawyer’s life in this thoughtful, convincing literary thriller.
Great for fans of: Reed Arvin’s The Will, Paul Goldstein’s Errors and Omissions.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

Dayan and her cats narrate their delightful and sometimes scary episodes of mischief in brief chapters that capture the energy of living with and loving cats. There’s Panda meeting the giant dog next door, who is labeled a “killer” but really just wants to give kisses; Tahiti performing her dance of loneliness in front of the security camera so she can be brought to Dayan’s office; and Valentina getting lost outside and found a week later in a concrete pipe in a parking garage. Stories of hungry and abandoned animals will bring mist to readers’ eyes, while amusing stories of encounters with squirrels and hedgehogs guarantee smiles.
Dayan writes her memoir with the passion of a true animal lover, and she captures the elegance and playfulness of each of the characters in her brood. The book includes adorable color photos, information on the Maine Coon breed, places Dayan has traveled to, and of course, French sensibilities. A truly joyful and rich portrait of life with cats.
Takeaway: Charming slice-of-life adventures told from the points of view of cats and their compassionate caretaker.
Great for fans of: Muriel Barbery’s The Writer’s Cats, Lena Divani’s Seven Lives and One Great Love.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Khan opens this rise-and-fall story with a clarifying and succinctly written primer on block chain technology and crypto currency. Then, throughout, he emphasizes the idealism and ambition that drove him and his colleagues, qualities exemplified by ConsenSys founder, CEO, and Ethereum inventor Joseph Lubin’s goal of decentralizing global finance and building “an internet that was decentralized and fair rather than exploitative and foul.” Those goals, and the desire to bring change to big tech and big banks, drove Khan, “a washed up management consultant,” to commit himself to ConsenSys and the possibility “redeem”ing his career. His idealism—and its inevitable conflict with personal financial interests and the greed that consumes a company as it experiences spectacular growth, as ConsenSys did—emerge as the primary theme that Khan engages throughout the book.
Though Khan does a great job at explaining the corporate and fintech jargon, the narrative still at times gets bogged down in details that might challenge the lay reader. Still, Khan provides many moments of levity and details from his personal life that punctuate the narrative while capturing the rush of “hypergrowth” and cutting-edge tech and finance, plus the toll that the stress and terror exacts. Overall, this well-observed, often tense account reveals the frenzied world of crypto and blockchain technology.
Takeaway: The rise and fall of a blockchain company, written from the inside.
Great for fans of: Vitalik Buterin’s Proof of Stake, Alex Tapscott’s Digital Asset Revolution.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

The bloody intensity keeps up as Motz and Ritter dig into the case, with Sarda bringing welcome life to his cast, creating heroes readers will root for, while still feeling drawn in by villains like Wesselman, whose painstakingly restored 1970 Dodge Charger, now driven by Motz, connects her to the leads. Sarda’s perspective shifts add to the tension. Wesselman’s point-of-view chapters, charged with potential violence, will have thriller fans anticipating whatever horrors she’ll dare next, while the investigation itself, written with an eye for tradecraft and telling detail, finds the intrepid Motz and Ritter facing crime leaders for intel, breaking down torture and murder methods, and striving to get ahead of the next murder, even as they suspect one of their own is connected to the gangs.
Sarda’s choice not to put his leads front and center extends to opening the novel with a high-ranking cop gunning down a drug dealer in a strip club, the scene bleak and vivid. Readers new to the series are encouraged to start with the first book, though Sarda takes pains to bring new readers up to speed—and to keep returning readers from getting too comfortable. A strong sequel and a pitch-dark noir pulsing with action in its own right, Bad Cop will keep thriller readers engaged and eager for more.
Takeaway: This hard-edged Hamburg noir procedural continues Sarda’s striking series.
Great for fans of: Philip Kerr, Simone Buchholz.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
Readers navigating their own decisions with career and purpose will relate with comfort in the author’s strength, as Widder brings a comforting vulnerability to this memoir with disarmingly frank accounts of bouts with anxiety and extreme sadness. Career changes, and not always for the better, take Widder to the Pacific Northwest, then quickly back to the plains of Minnesota when company culture and management strategies prove to be unbearable. Widder’s purposeful prose draws readers in, especially with comparisons of the earthly world with God’s work in her life: during her time in the Twin Cities, local landmarks around the Great Lakes become, for Widder, signs of God’s compass, guiding her decisions.
At different points Widder shares comforting stories and small discoveries likely to be relatable even to non-believers, though her own path always turns to the Bible. Immersing herself in the text and beyond, Widder shares verses and parables to illuminate her reasoning and responses in situations in this hopeful memoir, reminding readers of the circuitous route it can take to find one’s way.
Takeaway: A believer’s memoir of finding her path, guided by faith even when life was circuitous.
Great for fans of: Rodger L. Huffman’s Following God’s Path, Angie Smith’s Mended.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

Fisher tackles this difficult topic with care, compassion, and a welcome sense of practicality, from handling issues of power of attorney and guardianship, to questions to ask healthcare providers, to recognizing the mental health effects caregivers often face, such as social isolation, depression, and even stigmatization. “Spread awareness, and fight stigmatization,” she writes. But she reminds readers to “Give yourself grace.” Offering a unique personal perspective from Fisher’s mother as well as insight from the author’s own time as a caregiver, Forget Me Not provides hard-earned, invaluable advice and ideas in clear prose and an easily digestible format.
While informative and helpful throughout, one of the guide’s most valuable aspects is a selection of quotes from Fisher’s mother (“I’m sorry if you told me already, but why do I have to take THIS pill?”), which powerfully outline the feelings that loved ones encounter while experiencing this disease—and remind us of Fisher’s precept “Don’t assume they are always confused.” This not only showcases Fisher’s compassionate view of those living with Alzheimer’s but also demonstrates the urgency of understanding the perspective of those being cared for. Fisher helps those caring for their loved ones navigate tricky situations that might arise by offering insider information from both a caregiver and a person living with the disease.
Takeaway: An urgently practical and informative read for anyone with a loved one facing Alzheimer’s disease.
Great for fans of: Jonathan Graff-Radford and Angela M. Lunde’s Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, Nancy L. Mace and Peter V. Rabins’s The 36 Hour Day.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
Luna boldly pens the trials and tribulations of adolescents, the betrayal of secrets suddenly unearthed, and the courage to fight for a cause, while also dedicating precious scene space to the mundane. The novel is chatty rather than fast-paced, a choice that emphasizes characters and their growth, potentially setting up a series, while the point-of-view bounces from one character to the next, leaving no cast member behind in this wildly large ensemble of family, friends, and foes. Still, some readers may wish that the scenes were more concise, especially once the quest—involving a hunt for a powerful wizard and then three crystals—kicks off.
Still, there are plenty of twists and some legitimate shock as the characters dig deeper into the magical world Luna has created—and it is a world, rich and detailed, crafted by a writer who understands what readers expect from the genre, and how satisfying it is to see those expectations upended. Relationships are tested as exposed secrets threaten to unravel the twins’ family, but loyalty and love reign supreme. Fans of magic, fantasy, and epic quests will find satisfaction in this character-driven adventure.
Takeaway: Heroes are molded and adventure is afoot in this fantasy YA debut filled with magic.
Great for fans of: Adam Silvera’s Infinity Son, Cinda Williams Chima.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A

“My destiny in life was to make zero sustainable dollars writing about pussy and crying at bars,” Mollica writes. In sharp, column-like vignettes covering her life in New York, she tells that story, conjuring the buzz and uncertainty of dating and Great Recession-era writing jobs with an emphasis on three major narrative components: her relationship with her abusive parents and how that shaped her love life; her unhealthy on-again-off-again relationship with her editor, Juliet, at GRL; and how she eventually found a healthy love. Of her relationship with Juliet, Mollica writes, with her customary incisiveness, “We wrote that bad romance. We revised it over and over…then ended up tossing it into a dumpster fire of lesbian drama.”
This is as much a briskly comic recounting of the lesbian dating scene of the late aughts as it is an affecting case study of finding love that’s not necessarily “requited” but at least “acknowledged.” With a feel for the telling detail and a deft hand at both punchlines and insights, Mollica offers a dishy, affecting memoir that should resonate with readers well beyond that “microscopic subset.”
Takeaway: A hilarious, irresistible account of a lesbian writing and dating in ‘00s New York.
Great for fans of: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home, Connor Franta’s Note to Self, Michelle Tea’s How to Grow Up.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
Tollyfield confronts the trauma of abandonment, betrayal, familial loyalty, and the struggle to be ready to give love and be worthy of accepting love. Throughout the book, Chris flashes back to her troubled childhood when her prostituting and alcoholic mother abandoned Chris and her younger brother Kyle to a friend. They were soon adopted by Simone, a devout Christian who was more interested in the act of caring for the children than in their actual lives.
Long narrative sections with minimal dialogue are alive with striking details of cluttered, working-class neighborhoods, wayward citizens, and the drift of life. Tollyfield, a poet, keeps the language lively and weighted with feeling. Emotions heat up when Kyle acts out, develops an addiction, and clashes with Simone’s boyfriend Greg, which hinders Chris and Kyle’s search for their missing mother. Chris admits to her therapist that she yearns for a life partner, describing her perfect woman: “Her laugh will fill the street. Her laugh will fill the city. She’ll open my world, open my mind.” But when Siobhan is ready for intimacy, Chris holds back, convincingly, her reluctance feeling true, relatable, and moving. This perceptive and deeply human account of Chris’s emotional journey will keep readers engrossed.
Takeaway: A resonant chronicle of a woman sorting out her baggage so she can be ready for love again.
Great for fans of: Gabriela Cabezón Cámara’s The Adventures of China Iron, Ali Smith.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A