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

Click here for more about Landlocked In Foreign Skin

Both a celebration of the values and promise of the United States and a dense, outraged, epic-length polemic that excoriates the treatment of conservatives, Tea Partiers, and Trump supporters in the American press, Fragoules’s impassioned debut argues that today’s “radical left elitists are in many ways the modern equivalent of the Roman Catholic Church, feudal lords, and royal cohorts who once dominated and subjugated Europe.” The book also charts Fragoules’s research into the nation’s founding, the brilliance of the Constitution, and the vigorous debates between Madison, Jefferson, and others on subjects like the separation of church and state.

Considering American history and the roots of division, Fragoules acknowledges the brutality of history, slavery, and the “wanton destruction and the massive death” that followed Columbus in the New World. The Founders, she argues, were imperfect, but the Constitution transcends that—nothing in it “limited the application of American ideals by race or sex.” She likewise surveys millennia of the Catholic Church’s harsh enforcement of its doctrines, linking the punishment of heretics to the cancellation or treatment of conservatives in the sciences today. She quotes at length, often hundreds of words at a time with little context or explication, from popes, presidents, historical thinkers, and contemporary firebrands like Dinesh D’Souza (approvingly) and Bill Maher (not so much).

The project is sprawling and deeply felt—Fragoules’s account of her family’s immigrant success story is rousing, and a passion for liberty shines throughout. But for all the history and first principles investigated here, many of Fragoules’s arguments feel like the product of their heated moment. Readers not already on board with her opinions about Trump, climate change, the science of conception, and more will likely find little to persuade them. Fragoules decries how leftist “elitists,” the “woke,” and a vague “they” demonize and presume the worst of the right, especially the 2008 Tea Party movement, even as she compares Democrats to Hitler and insists, “The left is not opposed to racism; they just think it’s justified when directed at the right people.”

Takeaway: Searching study of the founders’ beliefs mixed with red-meat outrage at the contemporary left.

Comparable Titles: Glenn Beck; Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism.

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

Click here for more about Tyranny of the Mind

Bartles’s grabber of a speculative fiction debut brings together a plucky spy, a vengeful butler, and a shy baker to navigate the mysteries of an Appalachian utopia in the climate-ravaged near future. All Henry Townsend wants is to bake for his patron, SustainAble CEO/philanthropic billionaire Lady Duggery, and forget the climate-ravaged world beyond Sediment Valley. But activist Brisa Arroyo looks to sabotage SustainAble’s cryptomines hidden beneath the supposedly green-powered Valley, while Duggery’s loyal butler, Colson Dagwood, harbors a dangerous secret and a burning desire for revenge. After a failed attempt on the visiting Pennsylvania Militia leadership, the three unlikely allies find themselves entangled in a sinister plot involving earthquakes, magic, and missing citizens.

Readers will fall headfirst into this frightening near-future vision of a country torn apart by extreme weather, corporate greed, and ecofascism; where activists fight clandestine battles, enigmatic Awakened wield Earth’s gifts to protect the planet, and the rich lord over a common caste scraping to get by. Bartles explores his rich world via crisp prose and a roster of nuanced characters alive with complexity and heart—and always capable of surprise. This attention to drifts of mind and the textures of everyday living brings the world to life, though at times it diminishes narrative momentum and can feel at odds with some superhero-coded action. Still, A Valley to Harness mostly maintains consistent balance and flow, and despite the excitement of supernatural powers and a fight for freedom, Bartles’s scenes pulse with humanity and strange, striking detail.

Bartles’s focus on a well-drawn, predominantly queer cast offers an honest, tender, and beautifully knotty forecast of possible futures for a community too often “othered” by society, and the simmering romance between Henry and Colson is a delightful reminder that even in the darkest era there’s room for love. Fans of genre-defying spec-fic with thought-provoking worldbuilding and deceptively complex characters will relish this.

Takeaway: Smart, humane novel of revolution and Earth-derived superpowers in a climate-ravaged future.

Comparable Titles: Graham Masterton’s Drought, Emmi Itäranta’s The Weaver.

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

Click here for more about A Valley to Harness

Katsoulas debuts with an encouraging parable centered on a classic matchup of the powerful and the upstart, in this case a creative battle of chess between a king and his subject. When the King, the “Ruler of everything” and “nature’s Commander,” issues a challenge for his people to devise “the most perfect strategy game,” a poor, unknown subject steps up to the plate—and presents a chess set, determined to astound his ruler and grasp the prize: guaranteed wealth beyond his imaginings. So begins an epic metaphorical battle, as the subject, referred to as an “unimportant black pawn,” instructs his monarch on the game’s rules—and tries to convince the “Great Conqueror” that chess is worthy of his favor.

Beyond an innovative take on chess showdowns, The Pawn Against the King registers the dynamics at play between the powerful and those who are perceived as weak. As the pawn carefully manipulates his ruler into falling for the game, he also measures careful steps to his own victory, plotting his moves and weighing his words until he emerges as not just a brilliant game maker but also a surprisingly worthy opponent for “the absolute Monarch.” Katsoulas crafts the subtleties of that battle with brevity, though astute readers will read between the lines and grasp the larger themes at play here.

Katsoulas’s stereotypical portrayal of a selfish, spoiled monarch—with little regard for the people he’s charged with protecting—takes away somewhat from the novel’s impact, though the twist at the end is satisfying. Hidden in the folds of the book’s rallying cry against complete power are wise snippets of battle advice with parallels drawn to everyday life, as in the pawn’s explanation that life, much like battles, is unpredictable, and “Sometimes, we’ll need to deviate and fight unorthodoxly.” Fans of thoughtful tales with tempered moral themes will appreciate this compact call to boldness and innovation.

Takeaway: A game of chess represents larger themes on battle, life, and power.

Comparable Titles: Bob Burg and John David Mann’s The Go-Giver, Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble’s How Stella Saved the Farm.

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

Click here for more about The Pawn against the King

Inspired by her grandmother’s “ancestral ways of eating off the land” in Castrignano D’ei Greci, Italy, nutritionist Houle explores the evolution of people and food in this health-minded resource. "Half a world, it seems, separates my life from that little farming village where my grandmother grew up picking dandelions and stealing from the edges of farms," Houle writes, as she delves into how the Industrial and Digital Revolutions have transformed our eating habits and lifestyles, the capitalistic mindset of the “Big Food” companies, and why fresh, whole foods are the key to “a new relationship with food, your body, and your intuition.”

Houle’s personal quest to take control of her family’s health was sparked by the digestive pains of her then six-year-old son, which served a catalyst for her plunge into ancestral eating patterns, analysis of the myths surrounding the costs of nutritionally dense food, and growing reliance on “buying locally produced food.” In many ways, her writing serves as a wake-up call for readers on the tactics of Big Food, as Houle addresses not only their tendency to “health-wash” by publicizing misleading statements on the benefits of their products but also their constant efforts to reach the “bliss point” for their goods—“the perfect balance of sweetness from sugar, richness from fat, and savoury flavour from salt” to hook consumers.

As Houle breaks down contemporary society's addiction to unhealthy foods, she also offers readers an alternative, declaring that “our ability to feel good is deeply tied to what we eat.” That alternative includes advocating for local farms, body movement through exercise and strength training, and allowing for moments of boredom in a world plagued by constant notifications and technological engagement. Readers from all walks of life will find wisdom here, and Houle closes with a reminder that “growth does not happen all at once, but with patience and care, it happens inevitably.”

Takeaway: Comprehensive resource on ancestral food and wisdom for healthy living.

Comparable Titles: Mark Bittman's Animal, Vegetable, Junk, Bill Schindler's Eat Like a Human.

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

Click here for more about Ancestral Wisdom for Modern Healing

Arrington spins a sweet yet unconventional romance in this touching debut. When Izzy—who has been estranged from her family for a decade—gets word that her beloved grandfather, William, has died, she heads home for his funeral. While she’s there, her grandmother, Marina, announces to Izzy and her snippy mother, Susan Jane, that William left a legacy behind: the story of how he and Marina met, written in his own hand. As Izzy uncovers the secrets to her grandparents’ past, she, too, undergoes a quest of self-discovery, though her journey serves primarily as a springboard for the deeply emotive love story between William and Marina.

Emotional resonance echoes throughout this sweet tale, as William’s story recounts the first time he met Marina—at Mildred’s Diner in Hudson, Ohio, where she was a sassy waitress determined to see the world—and delves into his impulsive decision to accompany her on a cross-country road trip to California. Arrington uses that trip as the instrument for the couple’s blossoming romance, ably showing both the literal and emotional journeys they undertake en route. As they stop in Memphis, Oklahoma City, and Denver, Arrington keeps the emotional stakes humming, spurring the couple through discussions of grief, death, and a tender romance rich with sentiment and connection.

Arrington punctuates William’s narrative with snapshots from the present, though Izzy and Susan Jane’s roles are largely peripheral. The 1970s flashbacks to William and Marina captivate, and Arrington sensitively handles a host of challenging topics, including suicide, death, and cancer. Amid those developments—and a shocking twist in the form of a vehicle accident—the story revolves around the deeply abiding, measured bond between William and Marina. Anyone who has wished for a second chance at life and love will be satisfied by this stirring journey from tragedy and heartbreak to happily-ever-after.

Takeaway: Emotional second chance story of love, loss, and rebirth.

Comparable Titles: Jojo Moyes’s Me Before You, Hannah Ellis’s Always With You.

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

Click here for more about The Other Road

Gerald’s unconventional debut is rich with business acumen and hard-won life lessons. Drawing from his years of experience as a shipping executive, he outlines the processes his teams used to overcome production issues and achieve “team synergy,” as told through the eyes of Aubyn, an interim operations manager at a container terminal. As Aubyn sets out to address the issues plaguing his terminal, he cues readers in to the daily operations and logistics of a shipping yard, in the process outlining 13 “Key Personal Introspection[s]”—ranging from the need for meaningful relationships to building an inclusive work environment—that are integral to business success.

Crank it Up! boasts a creative setup that allows for the organic delivery of business concepts, as Gerald embeds valuable lessons at the core of each chapter, each centered around the hands-on examples from Aubyn and his team. Aubyn quickly learns that believing in his vision is the key to team buy-in, and, despite his natural inclination towards privacy and introspection, he also comprehends the need to rally the troops around that vision, leading him to recognize—and depend on—his staff members, from the newest to the often-overlooked. Gerald uses those awakenings to illustrate that “valu[ing] people and their opinions” ignites a productive work environment—and how learning from mistakes can help performance improvement moving forward.

Though the narrative stays specific to the shipping industry, Gerald’s insights can be generalized to all business professionals. He touches on celebrating progress as a team, believing in a higher power to effect “a narrative [that] transcend[s] mere financial gains,” and offers readers candid snippets to apply to daily operations, including KISS (“Keep It Simple Stupid”) and “be inspired by the good you see in others.” His final guidance focuses on being honest about setbacks, relishing victories, and rewarding top performance.

Takeaway: Business principles to unlock teamwork and positive leadership.

Comparable Titles: Joshua Medcalf’s Chop Wood Carry Water, Matt Teney’s Inspire Greatness.

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

Click here for more about Crank It Up!

This varied collection from board game designer, poet, and author Andersen is full of grave, moonlit poems, satirical, working-class-related short stories, and slice-of-life vignettes that together offer a multimode appraisal of modern society. Though few in number, the poems Andersen includes are layered and substantive; though majorly forlorn, they emanate a shadowy brilliance: “Fate falls on the hard sidewalk // Too early for the sun // Darkness opens the window shade // To fly away into blue.” The concept of night in these verses is a living character that transcends its cyclical nature and moves like a sentient shadow. His short stories, however, move from the celestial, abstract plane to the sociological.

“Jail World” describes an Orwellian dystopia where the world’s population is confined in a correctional facility upheld by seven guiding “disciplines,” which include principles like “Don’t read” and “Live to eat.” Other stories, like “Windmill” and “The Dwitter Note,” imagine sci-fi futures, complete with flying cars and techno-communes, where governments have direct communication technology with each individual of the state. As the title suggests, empathy for “outsiders” abounds, including “the outcasts, the dissidents, the outlaws,” and more, though female characters tend to be one-dimensional.

Often satirical and thought-provoking, Andersen’s stories toy with morality, especially in the context of capitalism and overconsumption. “The Package” follows Sam in his obsessive quest to reclaim the parcel he believes lost in the mail; he ventures to mail centers and warehouses, causing strife and mayhem in his effort to claim his package and relieve the “pang of emptiness” he feels in its absence. Humanity is sacrificed in lieu of material objects. Andersen’s concluding vignettes—including an account of longing and drinking in military life, and an ambiguous memory of being sent to an adult man’s workshop to learn about hard work as a child—and “Short Shorts” lack the compelling narratives of the longer stories, yet his poetry in particular has an enriching complexity that readers can revisit again and again.

Takeaway: Somber, yet biting poems and stories exploring social and spiritual isolation.

Comparable Titles: Alan Kaufman’s The Outlaw Book of American Poetry, Donald Ray Pollock’s Knockemstiff.

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

Click here for more about The Poetry and Writings of an Outsider

Williams (The Platform Owners Guidebook) takes an unconventional and eye-opening look at the mechanics of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), to help businesses transition from start-up to grow-up and avoid what he terms “ClustERPuck”—ERP operations that miss the mark. He supports the fluidity of ERP projects—they can be spread across numerous areas, he asserts, including accounting, supply chain, logistics, and production dynamics—to streamline business processes, and he divides his advice into two main concepts of Preparation and Implementation, while also offering hypothetical scenarios that address the missteps to ERP implementation—and what to do when things go wrong.

The recommendations here are written in frank, down-to-earth language that makes a sometimes-intimidating topic easy to grasp. Williams acknowledges ERPs can be complicated, and he assures readers that a little uncertainty is normal, writing that his “goal isn’t to scare you out of taking action, but to open your eyes to the complexity and provide assurance that ClustERPucks are avoidable.” The material may sound unglamorous, but it’s crucial: he covers pragmatics such as the cost of licenses, how to determine a company’s need for ongoing support services, and the nuts and bolts of different ERP products (dividing them into two categories, closed ecosystem and open), while delving into general business principles as well, including the value of clear communication and understanding investments versus costs.

Williams includes basic visuals to illustrate his principles in addition to resources for continued study, but what’s most valuable about ClustERPuck is the straight-shooting instruction on how to avoid disastrous, time-consuming, and money-wasting ERP projects. And that advice, he argues, is worth its weight in gold, because the alternative will be a system that “probably is worse than what you’ve already got despite the fact that its whole purpose was to make things better.” Professionals ready for a deeper understanding of ERP systems and implementation will find it here.

Takeaway: Clear, concise advice on Enterprise Resource Planning projects.

Comparable Titles: Alexis Leon’s ERP Demystified, Marianne Bradford’s Modern ERP.

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

Click here for more about ClustERPuck

The title is both description and invitation as Casey’s welcoming debut blends memoir—exploring her own recovery, spiritual searching, and embrace of Buddhist precepts and mindfulness meditation—with guidance for seekers eager to discover all that such journeys entail. Casey writes with disarming frankness about relatable concerns in marriage and motherhood, budgets, and the dissatisfactions of modern life, especially the shift in thinking it takes to break from routine and expectation when first making the choice to look inward. “I often felt I had to be making supper or doing laundry or helping the children right away,” she writes of the early days of her explorations, but with support and the “focus of intention,” she “became more deliberate” about her choices. “[J]ust noticing and being here and now” makes a difference, she notes, and it’s an example that can benefit readers who might not have access to the retreats that helped Casey.

Casey’s reports from those retreats offer vividly described lessons, insights, and revelations that demystify the process of meditation and spiritual searching while never diminishing the greater mysteries. Casey describes awakenings, recovering memories of a “unified connection with all,” and also understandable uncertainty about her first experiences. “What do you do here?” she asks, with hesitation, after expressing concern that she’ll feel “strong feelings” during an intense, three-day “Zen sesshin.” Her teacher’s answer: “We sit.” And she did, learning that “in the realization of ultimate Truth, all must be seen by oneself.”

The result is an unusually grounded book of discovering truths, with an emphasis on the work that this demands, including setbacks and doubts, but also the real changes Casey experienced as she learned to name feelings, recognize “five primary hindrances,” confront “emotional patterns of despair and unworthiness,” and “transform shame into forgiveness and make amends.” Even if the book didn’t cover her eventual path as a mindfulness meditation teacher, readers would probably guess—page after page, with warmth and clarity, she teaches.

Takeaway: Encouraging, relatable memoir of discovering meditation, Buddhism, and one’s path.

Comparable Titles: Jack Kornfield’s After the Ecstasy, the Laundry, Sharon Salzberg’s Real Change.

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

Click here for more about Time for Awakening: A Memoir

Proposing an antidote to an industry besotted with intrusive marketing, Pratt’s debut urges teams to earn their attention from audiences by “resisting the urge to interrupt [them] with annoyances [and] choosing to blow their minds.” Arguing that contemporary marketers possess a golden opportunity to build willing audiences by producing high-quality content, like podcasts and social media spectacles, Pratt pulls from his own podcast agency experience with notables such as Ford and Audible to lay bare the secrets behind creating content that stands on its own. “The world’s most valuable commodity is attention,” he writes, and this refreshing guide shows readers several ways to harness that resource.

Replete with catchy visuals and down-to-earth writing, Earn It is unconventionally appealing. Pratt advises readers to “Do the Opposite” of the norm, offering an original framework that covers mindset, strategy, creation, and audience development, all with the idea that bucking the status quo will net the best results. Rather than falling back on what he calls “selfish” marketing instincts, such as urgency and interruption, Pratt helps readers focus instead on generosity, patience, and spotlighting the greater good. By shifting to content that is a desirable gift versus a distracting disturbance, he asserts that teams will see greater financial success as well as more positive views of their brand.

Though Earn It’s methods may feel more anecdotal than carefully measured, Pratt addresses crucial marketing concepts in a refreshing way while offering readers handy how-to pointers, including usable idea-generating exercises, strategies to make advertising content unique, tips to build a niche audience, and more. His real-world examples, from Red Bull to Shopify, illustrate the guide’s concepts in understandable ways, and he sprinkles advice from marketing experts (Ann Handley and Jonah Berger, among others) throughout his writing, closing with a timely—and uplifting—reminder to “Stay Creatively Brave and Committed.”

Takeaway: Down-to-earth guide on shifting from interruption marketing to high-end, creative content.

Comparable Titles: Jeff Rosenblum and Jordan Berg’s Friction, Meera Kothand’s One Hour Content Plan.

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

Click here for more about Earn It

A capstone to his expansive Time Statues series, which interrogates over five volumes (and change!) key moments from a lifetime of searching and thinking, this spirited miscellany from psychologist Morgan examines what he’s discovered, contemplated, listened to, and laughed at in the 21st century. The emphasis is on the parapsychological, on extending life, and on understanding the relative nature of our relationship with time—especially on finding ways to slow its passage as we age. The new millennium kicked off, for Morgan, with a health crisis that left him briefly legally dead and facing two open-heart surgeries. At the same time, he beheld a vision, in Guam, of a small woman who asked him the most pressing of questions: “What would you like to know?” His account of this conversation, and a surprising connection to recent discoveries about the ancient human past, is incredible in every sense of the word.

Unlike many authors who report insights and connections from beyond the edges of our science, Morgan never over-interprets such incidents. (Others here include a patient with precognition, a possible ghost at a Singapore University, some experiments, and other surprises.) Instead, Morgan presents them with a storyteller’s elan, a welcome lightness of touch, and a sense of curiosity and quiet awe that makes it easy to give the tales credence. The effect is more like a trusted friend thinking through the implications of a shiver-inducing mystery than an author peddling lofty secrets.

The conclusions he draws—about aging and memory, about how educating the “wealthy and powerful” about life extension might make them “better motivated to heal the world that they would live longer in”—prove both wise and playful. Morgan indulges that sense of play in some loose, silly chapters that experiment with memes, emojis, and jokes about Xi Jinping and Kardashian amplitude. That material isn’t especially edifying, but it’s honest to the “Time Statues” mission—setting down who Morgan was at these moments.

Takeaway: A psychologist’s surprising moments, insights, and brushes with the beyond.

Comparable Titles: Rupert Sheldrake’s The Sense of Being Stared At, Edward F. Kelly and Paul Marshall’s Consciousness Unbound.

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

Click here for more about TIME STATUE HARVEST From the 21st Century

Sachdeo’s debut is a thorough, nuts-and-bolts resource for readers who are serious about building a portfolio of rental properties that facilitates “the generation of passive income” and promises “long-term capital appreciation.” Sachdeo inspires with the story of transforming his own financial profile from one of “significant debt” to a multi-million-dollar portfolio, but he makes clear that success in real estate, as in all businesses, demands hard work, especially as unruly tenants, costly repairs, “regulatory challenges,” and more all pose regular obstacles. Sachdeo demystifies what it takes to make it work, covering basics like finding a promising location, managing effectively, underwriting, money raising, network building, and much more, with a welcome emphasis on the practical steps that investors need to know now—and how to prepare for all that can go wrong.

Sachdeo presents a host of checklists, sidebars, and hard-won insights, including step-by-step walkthroughs for refinancing, renovating, and other “major steps when building a rental property investment portfolio.” The guidance is both best-practices general (“Screen tenants thoroughly”; “Establish clear rental criteria”) and helpfully granular (one table demonstrates the “Advantages and Disadvantages of a Cash Purchase,” and Sachdeo’s “comprehensive list of financial documents that you should review” lives up to its title).

The result is a guide for readers who are serious about putting in the work and understanding all the decisions and planning that stand between them and their dream. Sachdeo specializes in answering the questions you might not know to ask, like what to look for in a management company or a property manager, the pros and cons of incorporation, and environmental factors to keep in mind when scouting potential properties. Numerous case studies demonstrate the reality of being a landlord, laying out the strategies individuals adopted and the lessons they learned. A hefty glossary of real estate terms will help arm the would-be mogul prior to any negotiation.

Takeaway: Practical, thorough guide to investing in and managing rental properties.

Comparable Titles: Brandon Turner’s The Book on Rental Property Investing, Symon He’s Rental Property Investing QuickStart Guide.

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

Click here for more about Building Wealth through Rental Properties

When well-traveled and highly educated Meena Mehra opts for an arranged marriage to politician Avinash Sehrawat, her decision comes with a fair share of misgivings, though she comforts herself on the wedding day with a reminder that “arranged marriage wasn’t strange… after all, could any woman say, years later, that on her wedding day she’d really known the man she was marrying?” Though Meena’s mother and sister harbor doubts, Meena and Avi are hopeful: they’ve adjusted their careers for work that will afford a family life in their Ohio town, and they both understand the need to balance tradition with their desire to connect on a deeper level.

Gauri’s vibrant characters steal the spotlight in this thoughtful debut, with the most memorable—Rav Uncle—coming across as both horrendous and, at times, hilarious. He is loud, aggressive, and full of himself, riding roughshod over people’s emotions and sensibilities, even as he desperately tries to hide his vulnerabilities beneath a veneer of authoritarian bluster. Avi and Meena are equally well fleshed out, with entirely relatable confusions and conflicts, but the character readers will find themselves rooting for the most turns out to be Peeku: vulnerable, confused, intimidated by his overbearing father, but standing up for himself and making his own decisions in the end.

Peeku’s position serves as a metaphor for the deeper themes at play here, as each character comes to terms with their reverence for tradition in the midst of a contemporary world that calls for flexibility: Meena, who longs for passionate intimacy with Avi even as she espouses the perks of arranged marriage; Avi, who considers his views more modern but still suffers disappointment when Meena falls outside the “maternal archetype”; and Peeku, who naively believes that love truly conquers all. This is an often funny and thought-provoking tale on the nature of love and long-term relationships in a world that glorifies individualism.

Takeaway: Refreshing take on arranged marriage and small-town American politics.

Comparable Titles: Akhil Sharma’s Family Life, Manju Kapur’s The Immigrant.

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

Click here for more about For the Blessings of Jupiter and Venus

A rousing cry for freedom, a celebration of the courage of Black soldiers who fought for their liberty in the Civil War, and a well-researched history, the second entry in Mason’s “documentary” fiction trilogy continues the story of the real Parson Sykes, who along with his brothers escaped enslavement and seized his own freedom, first by fleeing a farm in Southampton County, Virginia, and then by heading for Norfolk and Fort Monroe to enlist in the Union Army. Following the events of the first book, the story picks up in December of 1864, with 17 year-old Skyes and his brothers Joseph and Henry “between bondage and freedom” at Fort Monroe, facing scant supplies, meeting other former slaves from around the country, enduring racist invective from officers, and eventually seeing combat with a cavalry regiment of the United States Colored Troops (UCST).

Freedom is a tangible but still distant dream for Sykes, though the tide was turning against slavery. Parson and the UCST fights bravely despite inadequate training or supplies, earning the respect of their Union Army, but as Mason demonstrates continually, his fight began long before the war itself—Sykes must fight to simply enlist in the army as a Black man and “contraband of war,” a term for escaped slaves who sought refuge at military camps but were often relegated to menial tasks.

As it follows the battle against the Confederates—from Fort Monroe to Richmond, from contraband to serving in the cavalry, from ghastly diseases to bloody battles—Mason’s novel often emphasizes the historical record over fictionalized scenes or sensational drama, though moments of doubt and fear have power. That works, though, despite some repetitive passages—the history is more exciting than fiction. Often, Mason, a descendant of Sykes’s, reports what the real Sykes wrote to others, capturing epochal events and the everyday textures of life. The result is a powerful reminder of the crucial, often overlooked, role Black soldiers played in the Civil War. Thorough introductory material provides essential context.

Takeaway: Fascinating “documentary” novel of a formerly enslaved man seizing freedom in the Union Army.

Comparable Titles: Joyce Hansen’s Which Way Freedom, Douglas Egerton’s Thunder at the Gates.

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

Click here for more about The Self-Liberation of Parson Sykes Enlistment in the Union Army

Arguing that people’s best performance comes “when the least control is applied” and “when trust exists by default,” Jaroslawski’s Digital Irreverent lives up to its pitch: how the success of top digital talent, who often feel empowered to approach their work with a new “irreverence” for traditional hierarchies, can inform management approaches for other organizations. Jaroslawski, the Chief Technology Officer at the Dubai-based global financial institution Edenred UAE, is known for assembling technology and product development teams that outpace the competition. Here, he presents a clear and inviting playbook for a principled irreverence in product development, calling for collaborative, interdisciplinary, purpose-driven, customer-focused teams given the freedom and trust to “adapt to any circumstances.” Pointing out hard truths about today’s demand-driven economy, where there’s little time for catch-up, Jaroslawski argues that it’s urgent to “lose respect for the things which, while commanding respect in our business world, negatively contribute to the results we seek.”

Instead, he calls for an unwavering focus on exceeding customer expectations and offers a wealth of hard-won, practical advice, from reminders not to “fall in love” with established processes to the six steps of his *Digital Irreverent* Playbook. He also offers advice on spreading responsibility among competent partners and instilling in teams a sense of ownership (he prefers Project Owners to Project Managers). Otherwise, the book is an eye-opening, thought-provoking, and, above all, instructional read.

Digital Irreverent is a resourceful, of-the-moment guide for those looking to take their organization to that seemingly elusive next level. Irreverence, a concept explored in depth, is linked with agility, inquisitiveness, and the ability to pounce on new opportunities without worrying about entrenched hierarchies. Small companies, Jaroslawski notes, can benefit from new technology just as readily as larger competitors, and the small company that is first to market may quickly become a dominant player, especially if it is satisfying customer needs in a way its established competitors—likely less open to irreverent innovation—have failed to achieve.

Takeaway: Practical, thought-provoking guidance to empowering digital development teams for success.

Comparable Titles: George Karseras’s Build Better Teams, Nigel Vaz’s Digital Business Transformation.

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

Click here for more about Digital Irreverent