The big boys don’t like being beaten, of course, and with smart foreshadowing and a pervasive sense of suspense, Denton sets up the many twists and turns to come throughout this fast-paced and emotionally charged narrative that takes seriously its themes of undiagnosed autism, a family that will do anything to survive and succeed, and the interests of “the world’s largest oil and gas company,” here called Mesaco. Denton juxtaposes heartfelt moments of familial bonds—including with Dottie and Souter, the adults who took in Rand upon his abandonment, plus passages touching on the hazards of new fortunes—with the dark, cutthroat nature of the oil world, including Mesaco spending “years and billions of dollars trying to deny climate change.”
With persuasive oil industry detail, Fracked balances tension with life as it’s lived, letting the characters push the narrative forward. Readers will find themselves rooting for Rand and family as they face adversity and money-hungry men seeking to capitalize off of his perceived shortcomings, right up until the satisfying conclusion.
Takeaway: Innovative wildcatter faces the big boys in this oil drama with jolting twists.
Comparable Titles: Reavis Z. Wortham; Richard T. Kelly’s The Black Eden.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
The progression of the doves’ lives mirrors what many humans experience as they fall in love, have a family, and enter their later years. The doves’ major milestones also follow the seasons—birth in the spring, maturity in the summer, decline in the fall, and finally death in the winter. This natural order of events will make sense to young readers as they celebrate the birds’ joy and share in their sadness. It will also give adults a chance to talk about the ways their own familial relationships will change. Through it all, the doves repeat a comforting refrain: “She asks him, ‘Lovey Dovey, do you love me?’ He replies, ‘Yes, together forever we’ll be.’”
Wathmi de Zoysa’s sweet illustrations center on the nest, where the family returns to feel safe as the world changes around them. The colors of each season are instantly recognizable—winter is awash in icy blues and grays, while spring and summer favor splashes of color and fall glows with orange and red. At the center of these shifting scenes, the wide-eyed doves perch on a branch, with the mother and father wearing glasses and scarves as they age. Ultimately this tender tale is a testament to the power of enduring affection that lasts a lifetime.
Takeaway: Touching picture book follows a pair of doves through the seasons of their lives.
Comparable Titles: Germano Zullo’s Little Bird, Bryce Adam Brown’s Get On The Stage of Life and Live.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A-
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A-
Middle grade readers will be as entertained as they are educated by this adventure-fueled fantasy. Balson combines charisma and humor when detailing the various insects’ stories, starting with a honeybee named Evangeline who schools Jay on how busy she is tending to the work for her Queen—and clarifies some common misconceptions about her kind (case in point: honeybees only sting in self-defense). Jay moves on to other insects, including the humorous Duck, a fly with questionable manners but deep thoughts, and a sunset moth whose life expectancy after adulthood is unbearably short: “Like many other insects, we live long enough to make sure that more moths will be born than those that die'' it declares.
The insects themselves are so entertaining, readers will hardly notice their important lessons, and, despite their somewhat awkward placement, Balson’s computer-generated illustrations give the narrative some grounding. The bigger picture rings true as well: Balson teaches the importance of being kind, not only to each other, but also to the natural world. Jay eventually earns a beautiful answer to his question, but the knowledge he gains along the way is his true prize, and Balson’s encouragement to “open [your] heart and mind to the fact that there are things greater than just [yourselves]” carries weight.
Takeaway: A young boy uncovers nature’s secrets by talking to insects.
Comparable Titles: Amy Sarig King’s Me and Marvin Gardens, Danielle Davis’s Zinnia and the Bees.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: B
Editing: B-
Marketing copy: B
In “The Opossum — America’s National Shame,” Lorentson chronicles the behavior and appearance of this “poor excuse for an animal,” characterizing it as a “65 million year old reminder of what happens when you don’t even try.” He surveys more serious topics as well, though his humorous style still dominates. “Still Life with Automobile” muses on the changes wrought from inventing the wheel, namely the deadly effects of that advancement on the natural world: “our cars and roads are turning the U.S. into a drive-through natural history museum” he observes. Similarly, he bemoans the fate of Earth’s trees, now down to “only 375 trees per person,” candidly remaking that without serious efforts to slow climate change, humans will “soon have to join a tree safari to find them.”
Though humor forms the backbone of the collection, Lorentson still aims to deliver accurate scientific information, including extensive referencing for his claims. The punny wordplay and dense witticisms may not tickle every funny bone, but fans of tongue-in-cheek comedy will savor the laughs. Throughout, Lorentson pits humans against nature—respectfully, if slightly mocking—and readers will find themselves rooting for nature in the end, as he astutely observes, “Nature always seemed so big, and humans so insignificant… Maybe when nature is imaginary it will finally get better ratings.”
Takeaway: Humorous look at humans’ effect on the environment.
Comparable Titles: Randall Munroe’s What If?, Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: B+
Last Bets
Readers will get lost in Moore’s beautiful prose, her impeccable plotting, and her outstandingly relatable and multi-layered characters as Elly and Rosie both try to outrun their demons—Elly’s estranged husband, his debts and her former agent’s machinations, and Rosie, a controlling grandmother and the fallout from the impulsive decision to light her former boyfriend’s van on fire (and immediately going viral). Rosie reminds Elly of her wild-child sister, Lily, who perished in a car accident; Rosie is in awe of Elly’s artistic talents and her purported relationship with Trevor (which isn’t what Rosie thinks, despite a few misinterpreted situations). In addition to courage and the drive to fight for their own freedom, both share a love for scuba diving, a pursuit that the author handles with skill, drawing on her own experiences.
As the story hurtles toward a rocky, dangerous conclusion, Moore expertly keeps readers guessing at the outcome—and even holding their breath—until the novel’s final page, with strong, unexpected climactic developments involving well-deserved comeuppances. This outstanding tale, alive with suspense and insight, should garner a well-deserved readership for Moore.
Takeaway: Beautifully wrought story of two women artists outrunning their demons.
Comparable Titles: Marissa Stapley’s The Last Resort, Kristin Hannah’s Comfort & Joy.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
The mystery that follows finds Witham weaving lively art-world insight with military expertise, hacker espionage, techking rivalry, and more surprises. Castelli entrusts Peale to investigate who would inherit Sophia’s trust if Magnifica were to die, kicking off an investigation into numerous contenders including Sophia’s former flames, Shawn Byrne and Ethan Ratliff—self-made tech millionaires engaged in a long-standing feud playing out at events like the Oracle of Fire (reminiscent of Burning Man). Their battle over futurism and fantasy, druids versus space cadets, extends across games, festivals, art, and philosophies, building to a wild climax, while Magnifica, driven to surpass her mother’s artistic fame, orchestrates her most audacious stunt yet. The cast is further enriched by underworld figures Cyclops and Cyberpunk, adding layers of intrigue.
Peale’s support network—his wife Priscilla, her son Nathan, FBI agent Jerry Snow, and Las Vegas detective William Jackson—collaborate to uncover the dark underside of art in this twisting, of-its-moment thriller. Witham tells the tale with exquisite language, allowing readers to visualize the captivating panoramas of the Southwest, plus persuasive, entertaining glimpses of these extravagant lives.
Takeaway: Greed and betrayal power this gripping Southwest art-world mystery.
Comparable Titles: Joe Mungo Reed’s Hammer, Brendan Slocumb’s The Violin Conspiracy.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
Living: Inspiration from a Father with Cancer
Warm and wise, Living is, above all else, a literal act of love. In notes from a recorded interview conducted by his daughter's husband, affectionately dubbed "bearded son-in-law," Stewart chronicles his life before his cancer diagnosis, from his childhood growing up in Oregon to the present. (“Yesterday, I tested positive for Covid. Exciting.”) Stewart provides advice on love, enjoying life, and handling the inevitable bad times, all while sharing fascinating anecdotes from his own life’s highs and lows, such as winning $25,000 and a car on the college edition of Jeopardy, meeting and marrying the love of his life in college, and getting “kicked out” of Princeton. Juxtaposing the clinical and bleak appointments and treatment with his cancer with his paternal 100 inspirational lessons such as "life is a long first draft" and "do it until you are it," Stewart blends in humor and loving insight that readers will take to heart.
Living is a work curated out of love and with intention to impart a life’s accumulated wisdom. This touching memoir will resonate with anyone who has lost a loved one to cancer or experienced a cancer diagnosis. This remarkable memoir is the product of taking the time to say goodbye when given the opportunity and leaving behind a history and legacy for the loved ones left to grieve the loss—a final and powerful act of love.
Takeaway: A father's touching compendium of insights and final words.
Comparable Titles: Meghan O'Rourke's The Long Goodbye, Audre Lorde's The Cancer Journals.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
The End of the World: Rise of the After Lord
These two become uneasy allies after both escape the city. The drone, or "mod" (modified human) Animkii, had been banished an indigenous tribe for breaking a taboo. Mica, meanwhile, survived a plague brought to her family by a different mod and hates and distrusts Animkii as a result. Gilchrist brings urgency and inventive power to the cast’s convictions and resentments, the worldbuilding driving character and offering opportunity for vivid, unsettling setpieces. Their partnership takes them to the bowels underneath the city and its dens of corruption, the sterile and dehumanizing halls of the Technocrats themselves, and finally to the bitter cold of the Witherlands, the home of Animkii's people.
Gilchrist builds to memorable twists before the climactic, world-shaking battle as they strive to prevent the ascent of the After Lord. The leads often face harrowing situations, but Gilchrist finds clever ways to extricate them. Her attention to detail makes each environment vividly spring to life, but never at the expense of narrative momentum or the protagonists' complex backstories. Reversals and betrayals shock but make sense given the clues the reader is provided. Despite the cliffhanger ending, GIlchrist still provides a thoroughly satisfying first entry.
Takeaway: Standout post-apocalyptic debut of modded humans and Technocrat overlords.
Comparable Titles: C. Robert Cargill’s Sea of Rust, Hailey Piper’s No Gods For Drowning.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
Overall, this is an enjoyable book with surprises (“just under one-third of people who win or inherit money don’t just blow it all, they blow it all and then some”), though some of the analysis (of the odds of winning; of who actually plays) can be dry. Copetas is most engaging when interviewing, historicizing, and thinking through fascinating questions. He gives the subject enough space to tell their story and offers no judgment afterward. In a fascinating chapter, Copetas talks to Kurt Panouses, the “Powerball lawyer” who has handled over 30 lottery winners, including some billion dollar jackpots, talks about the difference in state-to-state taxes, foundations and above all, the need for anonymity.
Even knowing the odds, it’s still fascinating to think through the questions (addressed here) like whether to take winnings as a lump sum or an annual payout. Copetas looks America’s lottery obsession in the eye and asks the tough questions with sometimes surprising, always informative answers in a book that pulls the reader in by shining a light on their dreams of instant wealth.
Takeaway: Illuminating breakdown of lottery, the odds, and what happens to winners.
Comparable Titles: David G. Schwartz’s Roll the Bones, Jonathan D. Cohen’s For a Dollar and a Dream.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
A Young Woman From the Provinces touches on tragedies and occasional conflicts, like Geneva’s parents telling her in Ohio not to befriend a Black boy, or her being asked to take a year off from college to help the family face its debts. Clay’s interest is in the development of a mind, and a self, which means the plotting, over this long novel, mostly concerns the accumulation of experience, as Geneva grows from reading Little Women to Joyce and Dostoyevsky. She’s a fish-out-of-water, in the book’s second half, but she manages swimmingly, making diverse friends who expose her to the world, trying out journalism and work in the publishing industry, and eventually taking a lover, on her own terms.
The New York passages are as alive as those set in the hills, offering deft yet seemingly offhand character portraiture, though, fittingly, these scenes are charged with more energy than lyric detail. The novel’s back half, a gush of events and impressions, demonstrates how much Geneva’s life has changed in contrast to her earlier meditations on Dogwoods, crawdads, and sneakily borrowing father’s Zane Grey novel. Narrative momentum at times slows, as this reads like beautifully presented memories, but readers who appreciate mid-century coming-of-age tales will find much to appreciate.
Takeaway: Gorgeous coming-of-age story of coal-country hollows and 1960s New York.
Comparable Titles: Ann Pancake’s Strange as This Weather Has Been, Harriette Arnow’s The Dollmaker.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
Pimentel's pages eventually reach Correia da Serra, years later, in the most surprising of places: Monticello, the Virginia home of Thomas Jefferson, another thoughtful revolutionary, though one with blind spots. “It was perplexing,” Correia da Serra notes, observing Monticello’s slaves, “that a man like Jefferson didn’t see the contradictions of his own life.” Correia da Serra is thrown into a state of nostalgia and regret when Jefferson shares Pimentel’s memoir. As Correia da Serra reads her words, he and readers are transported through time as Eleonora recounts their love story and her impassioned revolutionary path, rooted in the principles of the French Revolution.
Rich in culture, history, and revolutionary fervor, this captivating read conjures the heart-pounding tale of one woman “born in one world and wanted to invent another” —and the men who wielded their power and status to silence her. Pimentel is a sharp-witted and impassioned protagonist willing to die for her beliefs, while Correia de Serra faces guilt over his younger self’s inaction. Written with lyrical prose and vivid detail, this sweeping novel of love, betrayal, and politics offers romance, redemption, and suspense. History buffs will relish the scrupulously described milieu.
Takeaway: Engrossing historical novel of love, betrayal, revolution.
Comparable Titles: Andrea Camilleri’s The Revolution of the Moon, Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel’s From Arcadia to Revolution.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
While material about the Oversoul and Balinese folklore can be heady, Clark writes in a clear, inviting manner that will pull in readers of speculative, spiritual thrillers. Intricately weaving in ideals about hypnosis, past life regression therapy, and tarot, all juxtaposed against historically rich themes such as archeological explorations and findings and ancient scroll translations, The Alexandria Scrolls is an immersive story full of twists and turns in a constantly moving plot with occasional bursts of action. The focus remains personal, though, no matter how wide the scope becomes. As Brandon learns more about his parents, their special skills, and the organization they belonged to, he continues to seek answers and begins to embrace his past, present, and future and what he is called to do with his life.
Following one complicated and at times floundering man's mission to understand himself and his family history—and his own histories—this suspenseful adventure will appeal to seekers who welcome unconventional thriller storytelling and books that explore the emotions and the challenges in trying to find a sense of self, family, and purpose.
Takeaway: Surprising thriller of reincarnation, ancient secrets, and finding one’s purpose.
Comparable Titles: Ann Brashares's My Name is Memory, H.R. Moore's Nation of the Sun.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
Not being terribly busy, Hicks spends time sightseeing and exploring the local cultures. She also tries best to practice what she preaches when confronted with anxiety and depression at Camp Casey in South Korea. Her innate interest in Buddhism helps her connect with lamas and nuns as well as other Europeans and Americans interested in Buddhist practices. This brings her a measure of peace and acceptance of her singlehood and loneliness.
Sedate in pace and tone, the memoir explores not just the psychological challenges endured by soldiers and their families that result from multiple deployments, but also exposes the attitudes of military top brass when it comes to understanding mental illness and trauma among army personnel. With its patriarchal norms of masculinity and rampant homophobia, the military comes across as a lumbering behemoth with one leg enmeshed in the past. Hicks’s candid description of her own struggles with anxiety and depression and her exposing of attitudes within the military makes this memoir an illuminating read.
Takeaway: A serene memoir about counseling US military personnel and families.
Comparable Titles: Sally Wolf’s Life of a Military Psychologist, Marjorie Morrison’s The Inside Battle.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
So it goes for this lost generation in Howse’s sweeping novel, an incisive slice of life whose slices are wide-ranging and generously proportioned—even if the lives itself, for those living them, too often feel fraught and small. As Nadia and co. face upheaval but still strive to “to patch a happy ending on a dubious beginning, to make a quilt from rags” and seize those moments when “the wager [of life] seemed a relatively cheerful proposition”—usually with family, friends, a cat named Cosmos, or for pregnant Nastya, the possibilities of a “home-in-the-making” with Girogi, a police detective who volunteers amid the horrors of the Chrernobyl evacuation zone.
Fascinating characters like that populate Howse’s story, though its heart is Nadia, yearning to go to Moscow and college, and enduring disasters, both incidental—a car accident, “blowup”s that occur “on a geographic scale”—and world-shaking. Howse’s novel is dense and detailed but alive with feeling, insight, and Nadia’s stirring, stinging, poetic thoughts. It juxtaposes in-depth, almost reportorial portraiture of a society’s decline with the fresh exuberance of youth, plus the terror and possibility of what might come next, when history itself—Nadia often notes the sites of massacres and tragedies—offers little reason for optimism. Still, Nadia offers reason for hope.
Takeaway: Intimate epic of coming of age as the Soviet Union collapses.
Comparable Titles: Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry’s The Orchard, Artem Mozgovoy’s Spring in Siberia.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
Billy is the classic flâneur who follows metaphorical breadcrumbs from the universe as he searches for answers: a flying car driven by a dead chauffeur, a frat party where he meets a beautiful superhero, and a friendly basketball that follows him, among many otherworldly incidents. This lends a mythological tone, akin to Perseus finding a goddess-given shield to help him win a battle. The whimsicality provides an atmosphere of both timelessness and humor. Meanwhile, Juliano is an expert at recounting basketball games, play-by-play, demonstrating with passion and precision the healing power of the sport.
The quirky Billy will again prove endearing to readers with his charisma and his casual willingness to follow abstract invitations toward adventure, always seizing upon the positive in the unpredictable. “Billy had to laugh. He was a leader with no followers, a shepherd with no sheep, a general with no army, but that was OK because he had what he needed: a pretty girl and a bar tab.” Such positivity helps him assemble and coach a heartwarming, underdog basketball team to take on the Tar Heels and showcase Andy’s skills. Readers of playful fabulism will eagerly follow the legendary Billy’s unexpected path towards bolstering a worthy athlete.
Takeaway: Wholly unique story of visions, college basketball, and a spirit quest.
Comparable Titles: Melissa Broder’s Death Valley, Charley Rosen’s No Blood, No Foul.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
The collection delves into some dark themes, like abuse, suicidal ideation, and drug addiction. In “Aeternum,” an opiate-addicted narrator fresh off a bender lies on her girlfriend’s front stoop, covered in vomit, seeing herself through her girlfriend’s eyes, while “The Scissors” combines passages from academic research on teen addiction with the story of a teenage addict and the tragic consequences of his choices. Turner doesn’t shy away from gore, occasionally delivering shockingly violent conclusions. However, the collection achieves thematic balance through stories that effortlessly capture the giddy alchemy of romantic love and attraction, particularly in the “Dramatic Effect” series, which sweetly charts the development of a couple from a chance meeting to a committed, accepting—and quirky—partnership.
Regardless of their subject matter, Turner’s inventive use of language infuses all of her stories. Keeping up with her lively prose, packed with lengthy asides (brackets are often nested within parentheses) and refreshingly offbeat figures of speech, has rich rewards for readers on the wavelength of the “digretch”ions: Turner refers to coffee as “wonderbrew” and strings of Christmas lights as “Jolly Rancher luminescence.” But while Turner’s style is unconventional and occasionally dense, it reliably reveals her diverse characters’ inner worlds, whether they are a child at the beach or a lovestruck commuter. Some elements may be proudly eccentric, but readers will be surprised by how easy it is to connect with its characters as they attempt to know themselves and face their challenges.
Takeaway: Playful, sometimes jolting fictions of the highs and lows of the human mind.
Comparable Titles: Karen Russell, Carmen Maria Machado
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-
