An adorable Patchwork Bunny searches for her blanket that’s gone missing in Taylor’s exceptional children’s book debut. Elenor, an agreeable mixture of “odds and ends… bits and pieces,” enjoys snuggling, new adventures, and is a bit messy. When her favorite baby blanket disappears, she’s understandably upset and enlists her mother’s help to find it. “The problem is your room. You have too much in here to find anything” her mom advises as they search for her lost treasure. When Elenor’s adventurous aunt shows up the next day for a visit, and senses Elenor’s gloomy mood, she’s quick to offer her help to remedy the situation as well.

Malina’s dreamy illustrations mimic the patchwork patterns on the characters, giving this story a charming jumble of bright hues and colorful patterns. Elenor’s aunt, a plucky bunny who’s traveled the world, cautions Elenor that things aren’t as important as Patchworks, sharing that she prefers collecting memories to “bring them home to share with you.” When Elenor’s not quite sure she can remember her memories, her aunt explains they’re stored in her heart and mind. That prompts the two to embark on their own in-house adventure up to the family attic, where they discover a “long-forgotten family trunk” that Elenor adopts as her very own treasure box, to store her favorite things in.

Adults will relish the many opportunities Taylor provides for deeper conversations, whether that’s the chance to discuss how to keep personal space neat or Elenor’s eventual realization that “you have to be careful with the things you love the most.” Of course, she eventually finds the missing blanket, in the process uncovering several toys she decides to donate to other Patchworks who “had too little.” And, in classic children’s book form, Elenor closes the story with unusual wisdom: “[she] discovered that her favorite things are really her favorite people.”

Takeaway: Charming patchwork animals discover why people are more important than things.

Comparable Titles: Patricia Polacco’s Bun Bun Button, Ross Burach’s Pine & Boof: The Lucky Leaf.

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

Click here for more about Just Enough

Expansive but tightly focused, rife with “Destiny and Doom” but also concerned with quests and kings and a cheery band of bold adventurers, the hefty first entry in Vobh’s Wanderers Cycle offers epic fantasy in the classic sense, with a small-village hero ushered into a wider world on mission that will shape the fates of all. In a land divided by “half-seen crimson” Boundaries that have long separated regions from each other, young swordsman Cor Volucre discovers a breach in the magic separating the “Fragment” in which he was raised from another. In a cave, a mysterious and ancient entity known as an Element tasks Cor with a quest too grand for one book: “to save what of the Elements can be saved; to resurrect what can be resurrected.” If Cor fails, “this fair realm hath no future.”

The element’s instructions are vague, so Cor heads into a Fragment that’s new to him, discovering the people’s somewhat strange ways, contending with orks (“like man minus manhood”) and their pony-sized boar-like peugs, and accumulating a party of heroic companions as he discovers a kingdom ruled by the tyrannical merchant Lothar, “the First Among Equals.” Lovers of fantasy that emphasizes journeys and friendships will appreciate the banter of Cor’s companions, though Vobh doesn’t skimp on action, from ork encounters to the exciting storming of Lothar’s palace, an extended setpiece offering a chance for a gray character—Celeste, Lothar’s orator—to demonstrate heroism.

Further adventures involve a trial, the possibility of flying an airship, and the scheming of a warlock. The novel’s episodic, something like an open-world fantasy game where players must explore and gather power before taking on the big goal. The novel's notably long, but Vobh’s brisk dialogue keeps the pages turning, as do flourishes both poetic (“a good five thousand guards, fresh from the Gurtag Jidh, are faring hither with all the haste their mangy mounts can muster”) and satiric: Lothar’s propagandistic newspaper bears the slogan “Civil Society Soon Succumbs in Silence.”

Takeaway: Epic fantasy in the classic mold, with action, satire, and a sense of poetry.

Comparable Titles: Raymond E. Feist, Tad Williams

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

Click here for more about The Yawning Gap

“Do all Earth women come with hair between their legs?” asks the alien Nial in this frisky and funny third full entry in Mars’s Love Wars series. Like its predecessors, Claiming Jill centers a surprising inter-species romance between an Earth dweller and the Staraban, an alien species who made first contact—and lots of other kinds of contact, too—with this planet’s humans, vampires, and shifters back in Moving Jack. Each entry expands the story of Earth and the Staraban but boasts its own separate protagonists, in this case Nial, the head of Staraban security, and the hard-swearing, itchin’-for-a-fight Jill, the estranged daughter of the leader of MAD, or Make Aliens Dead, an Earth militia.

The novel kicks off with Jill and Nial in a classic pressure-cooker situation: alone together in a tiny spaceship, hurtling toward Earth after the mission of the earlier book, with loads of time to kill and just one bed. Mars introduces Jill first, in bitingly funny diary entries and POV passages, as she steels herself for the harrowing duty she feels she must perform once home: killing her father. She’s annoyed but intrigued by Nial, but so hard-edged (“The need to fight, to expend all of her anxiety was a living thing”) that readers may expect him to be put off, especially when she goads him into a physical fight. But no: Nial adores her. “While everything about her was hard, he had a feeling that she would melt for him,” Mars notes.

Their intimacy is earthy, spicy, funny, and complex, especially once the tense idyll of space travel ends, and they face politics, conflict, and Jill’s father, who’s capable of anything. Familiar faces from earlier books turn up, and while reading the series in order is recommended it’s not strictly necessary. For all the novel’s brisk storytelling, sharp dialogue, and spirited comedy, Claiming Jill never loses sight of the hard choices Jill faces, or their emotional toll.

Takeaway: Spirited human-alien romance, with laughs and intrigue.

Comparable Titles: Ilona Andrews’s Innkeeper Chronicles, Dianne Duvall’s Aldebarian Alliance series.

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

Click here for more about Claiming Jill

This inspiring and emotional memoir chronicles the journey of “the hero hiding behind the victim,” aiming to reclaim her cape through healing, spirituality, and a family's love. Exploring the ramifications of childhood abuse on a young woman's growth and journey into adulthood, Reclaiming Wonder Woman is the story of Windy Bond in her own words. As Bond reflects on her childhood and continued growth into adulthood with children of her own, she recounts how "I saw my innocence instead of my shame, my bravery instead of my cowardice, my struggle instead of my failures." Through exploration of multiple spiritual avenues—Christianity, Reiki healing, Vipassana meditation, and yoga—Bond actively strives to never let the darkness of her past overshadow the light in her present and her future.

Bond warns early on that this account may be triggering for readers, as she unflinchingly examines enduring sexual abuse at the hands of an uncle and, later, the husband of an extended family member over years. Compounded with the death of her younger brother, Willie, at the age of 8, Bond witnesses her family beginning to unravel as her parents retreat from each other and handle grief in different ways. Turning to drugs and alcohol, Bond began to see a parallel between herself and her father, and ultimately performed the hard work to take a different path. Eventually Bond finds solace and healing through her own family of four—her husband, her son, and her daughter, and her connection to her spiritual journey.

Bond writes, touchingly, "This is all that really matters. The four of us holding on to one another through this life.” Reclaiming Wonder Woman is a hero's tale of survival—a woman who refuses to let the traumatizing abuse of her childhood stop her from achieving her dreams and finding her purpose in life. Readers who relish triumph over trauma will find this story resonant.

Takeaway: Stirring memoir about healing from childhood abuse

Comparable Titles: Cupcake Brown’s A Piece of Cake, Gemma Carey’s No Matter Our Wreckage.

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

Click here for more about Reclaiming Wonder Woman

Malecki engages the topic of moral responsibility around the development of social media technology in this impassioned debut novel. Eleanor Crawford, young software developer at Atlanta-based Agora, “The Gathering Place of the Internet,” is optimistic about her role in connecting people through the platform, until her sister is blinded in an accident caused by using the system while driving. Soon Eleanor can’t deny the company’s sketchy behavior. Her desire to help her sister, a return to the pleasure of spending time in her family’s small inn, and the encouragement of her colleague-turned-boyfriend gives her the bravery to forge a new inspiring and ethical career path.

Malecki addresses frustration with the negative impact of social platforms by highlighting some of the core concerns and modeling a path out for ethical engineers. Eleanor’s arc is crafted with clarity and some power, though the novel’s depiction of Agora’s employees, practices, and workflow is at times hard to credit, showing a company tiny enough for a single engineer to implement major new features in days, but big enough that committees of employees who have never met one another are convened to guide policy through personal opinions hashed out over one short informal meeting. More engaging are sharp dialogue scenes capturing the absurdities of content moderation or Eleanor and co-workers' response to the company’s accumulating scandals, especially concerning issues of privacy. Also engaging: Eleanor’s love for her sister, who is blind.

Text exchanges and memos from management help create a feeling of immersion in the company culture, such as a heated discussion of whether to allow graphic photographs to be displayed after a bombing–and some employees’ concern that removing the images from this “new public square” ensures “Agora will be seen as the gathering place for cat photos and what grandma ate today—not the important stuff.” Malecki illuminates the competing interests of the owners of these platforms, as the novel builds to something rare in stories about tech companies: a sense of hope.

Takeaway: Comforting novel about escaping a social-media platform to create change.

Comparable Titles: Dave Eggers’s The Circle, Jessi Kirby’s The Other Side of Lost.

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

Click here for more about She Dreams in Blue Light

This emotional memoir, written partially in epistolary format, explores Guidroz's relationship with his son, Lucas, through heartbreak, tragedy, and forgiveness, after Lucas is sentenced to 10 years in prison for vehicular manslaughter. Guidroz's life begins to spiral as he questions his impact as a father and spiritual leader and also his faith. Building a better connection and relationship with Lucas through their correspondence while Lucas is prison, Guidroz not only learns more about his son and addiction, but also much about himself—as a father to Lucas and his other two sons, as a son to his own father, and as a believer who deeply values his relationship with God.

Powered by raw honesty and feeling, Letters to My Son in Prison finds Guidroz (co-author of Beyond the 401(K)) opening up to his son and reflecting upon himself and his faith in these letters, sharing his deepest fears, new joys, and biblical stories (Guidroz writes on David, Joseph, Adam and Eve, and “Solomon, the most famous addict in history—one who shared many of Lucas’s tendencies toward excess”) that resonate with both father and son during Lucas’s three years of incarceration.

Just as Guidroz uses the letters to express himself with refreshing candor to his son, Lucas in turn does the same, sharing his experiences of imprisonment, offering revelations, and taking accountability for his actions. He inspires in his father newfound interests in books and his education. "Writing you changed me" Guidroz writes to Lucas, celebrating this rare yet physically distant intimacy. Both men reflect on good and bad times of their upbringings and their interactions with each other, allowing each to see the other in a new light that strengthens their bond. Readers will become invested in both father and son's journey through this traumatic experience and get a touching glimpse into the ups and downs of a father's unconditional love.

Takeaway: Emotionally charged memoir of a father and son connecting after trauma.

Comparable Titles: Kwame Alexander’s Why Fathers Cry at Night, Luis J. Rodríduez’s It Calls You Back.

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

Click here for more about Letters to My Son in Prison

Erin’s second poetry collection, following the mental-health exploration of Secrets Make You Sick, is an intimate exploration of a woman’s unspoken, unrequited love for another woman, whose maximalist, cascading, and chaotic poems unfurl the depths of reverence, lust, and grief on the speaker’s end of a one-sided relationship. A second love is also entwined in Erin’s verses of feminine yearning, one that evokes for the poet a “visceral inner knowing, I’m home”: the poet’s deep love for Manhattan, for “wandering avenues” and the city’s voices, which are intimately bound up with that first love. “I can’t pinpoint when I was originally able to distinguish your accent from every other New Yorker around us when you spoke,” the poet writes, before celebrating a memory that can be pinned down, the moment of first feeling love.

Erin’s table of contents is titled “directions” and features a subway map in the margins, setting the stage for a collection that channels New York City, as in “Sinatra Pours,”: “In old New York the rain // resembles how I would imagine it feels // to kiss you.”. Extravagant as the city that anchor’s the poet’s identity, Erin’s mainly free verse poetry is perhaps overly abundant with alliteration and mixed metaphors, and her form choices, which include irregular indentations, line breaks, and spacing, lend a degree of theatricality to the reading experience. Some poems possess refreshing moments of clarity that examine the role of self-image in the experience of womanhood.

“Face Paint” and “Mirror Mirror on the Wall” both explore the poet’s observation of her beloved’s perception of her physical appearance, which is fraught with silent critique and self-hatred. As she watches the woman she loves put on makeup, the speaker notes “what I see is a stunning work of art, // and I’m afraid that you only see the paint.” It is in these poems that Erin’s collection is most engaging, but for some readers in love with love and New York Erin’s verses will resonate.

Takeaway: Sprawling poems of queer, unrequited love and New York City.

Comparable Titles: Ellen Bass, Julie R. Enszer’s Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry.

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

Click here for more about Behind Her City Eyes

When one student is reluctant to head to the library with her class, Mrs. Barker pulls out all the stops to show Alyssa just how magical and exciting books can really be. Written with an emphasis on dialogue and names of the creatures that spring forth from the books as well as a lively and dynamic digital illustration style, There Are Dinosaurs in the Library! works to engage readers by using every opportunity available to the picture book form. Brimming with wonder and adventure, There Are Dinosaurs in the Library! is sure to delight even the most reluctant readers.

Cordova’s illustrations keep readers intrigued by shrewdly playing with scale and angles, such as a top-down view of Mrs. Barker and Alyssa (to showcase the interior of the book Mrs. Barker is holding), or the off-kilter angle of the scene where Alyssa runs away with the book, dinosaurs all around her. These illustration choices in combination with the playfulness of the text’s placement (larger or smaller, different fonts, also at an angle, etc.) combine for an almost cinematic reading experience, adding to the overall sense of adventure without sacrificing clarity or narrative momentum.

Dedicated dinosaur buffs will appreciate nods to familiar dinosaurs (Stegosaurus, T-Rex, Velociraptor) as well as lesser-known dinosaurs, such as Protoseratops, Microceratus, and Compsognathus. The hijinx and hilarity that ensue from Mrs. Barker’s class’s trip may set unrealistic expectations for reluctant readers’ own library excursions, but the story certainly succeeds in metaphorically representing the wonder and adventure to be found in books, even if no actual reading is seen taking place during the class’s trip. Full of action and heart, this ode to the pleasures of reading may convince reluctant readers to jump in or remind even the most committed readers of the joy to be found in the act of reading.

Takeaway: A class trip to the library turns into a magical adventure.

Comparable Titles: Adam Wallace’s How to Catch a Dinosaur, Ryan T. Higgins’s We Don’t Eat Our Classmates.

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

Click here for more about There Are Dinosaurs in the Library!

Public speaker and business advisor Williams’s transcendent debut opens with a short poem that builds to this declaration: “All the solutions you seek begin with sitting still.” Simply put, Williams offers readers permission to enter a space of stillness to be pulled, with a gentle, careful hand, into a guide that has been crafted “to provide you, the modern-day human, with resources to live a more natural and spiritual life.” What follows reads something like a softly spoken sermon in the church of Mother Nature, the text powered by a commitment to ushering humanity into what Williams identifies as the next stage of evolution: “eco-reverence.”

Directly opposed to the “Western cultural values ... of capitalism, consumerism, racism, and classism,” eco-reverence suggests a design for living that is aligned with the preservation and perpetuation of nature’s resources and cycles. Williams makes the case that transformation begins with excavating the individual’s “internal landscape” and embarking on a process of “ascension, though we could just as easily say ‘descension,’ returning to the core of our being.” Along with these at times esoteric insights, Williams offers practical guidance for readers that’s heavily based on Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese medicine, and indigenous wisdom to give a nonrestrictive foundation to commence a practice of nature-based spirituality.

From there, Williams delves into the social, external, and spiritual landscapes and covers a slew of topics, including nutrition, exercise, romantic relationships, social justice, spiritual similarities between major religions, and many more, but although the breadth of Williams’ proposed method for spiritual transformation is vast, it ultimately comes down to the most powerful and obvious solution: love. “If we are the needle” Williams writes, “and life is the fabric, love is the thread that sews us together.” To readers yearning for a nature-aligned spiritual path, Soil and Spirit is a nurturing place to begin.

Takeaway: Nourishing guide offering spiritual path in harmony with nature.

Comparable Titles: Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, William Martin’s A Path and Practice.

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

Click here for more about Soil & Spirit

Retired professional pianist Quaver (Unplugged) puts his young heroine through a bevy of unthinkable catastrophes in this middle-grade historical, the first of a nine-book series sharing the same title as this entry. Eccentric Elly Robin, a six-year-old piano prodigy, is happy performing all over the U.S. with her parents and their vaudeville troupe—until they reach San Francisco, and the earthquake of 1906 leaves her alone in the world. Elly, who only speaks when she feels like it, is sent to a nightmarish home for mentally ill girls. Run by a corrupt matron and a physician of questionable morals, the hellish home sees Elly escaping and joining a group of hoboes while trying to pass as a boy. After one of the hoboes sells Elly and a fellow orphan, Jimmy, to a traveling professor, things begin to grow more dire—with Quaver ending the tale on a tantalizing cliffhanger.

The narrative is historically accurate, which includes racial slurs that would be unthinkable in polite society today (Quaver prepares readers for this in a thoughtful author’s note before the first chapter.) As well, some of Quaver’s ordeals for Elly—which include parental death, institutional abuse, and human trafficking—are harrowing, though Elly’s spirit lights even the darkest passages. Quaver continually invents arresting scenarios and characters, rendered in sharp, memorable prose. A subplot with a growing list of murders of young women in every location the troupe travels and a hinted family rift between Elly’s parents and their families are teased, but not gone into in great detail, promising threads to entice readers for the next book.

Elly’s many trials before becoming a teenager would be hard to imagine even in an octogenarian’s experiences, although Quaver carries them all off with a certain sense of derring-do. It’s impossible not to root for this determined young girl, who refuses to let anything at all—whether it’s a devastating earthquake or a daring escape from a questionable institution—stop her determined moves forward.

Takeaway: The start of orphan Elly’s unfortunate but engaging 20th century journey

Comparable Titles: Stacey Lee’s Outrun the Moon, Megan Chance’s A Splendid Ruin.

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

Click here for more about The Ordeals of Elly Robin

The sharp-edged fantasy from Lancour, the first volume in the Storm Cloud series, introduces a band of mercenaries and a classic case of biting off more than they can chew as a seemingly simple assignment—recover a gold disk and magic box, both stolen from a duke— turns out to be a “large tangled puzzle” with stakes higher than anyone expects. Set in a world where magic has a strict order, psychics can control you with a single glance, and bandits run wild while guilds control everything else, Storm Cloud Rising bursts with engaging characters who see their fantasy adventure skill sets (archer, mage, blade-for-hire) as down-to-Earth professions. Tensions are high, deadlines are pressing, and trust turns out to be in short supply. But how can mercenaries trust their companions when they can’t even trust their own minds?

Lancour does a terrific job of world-building through vivid lived detail, and the expansive cast of mercenaries engages from the start, as the hardscrabble group introduces themselves, in crisp and sometimes cutting dialogue, to the duke, to each other, and to readers. Corelan, Qaz, Daelyn, and Lena exchange exciting banter throughout their journey into the desert, as they come to understand the escalating threat of running afoul of the Psychic’s League. Lancour writes fantasy with the eye and spirit of a thriller novelist, with visceral action, pulsing suspense, and a welcome attention to physical reality. The novel will hook readers who prefer pulp integrity in their sword and sorcery, as Lancour develops mysteries and gives real reason to worry about who will survive through to the end.

Storm Cloud Rising is still a fantasy, with copious new terminology and cultures for readers to chart, which at times can prove daunting. (A glossary would help.) But this entry moves quickly and boasts welcome pulp integrity as the mercenaries, striving to keep up with events, find themselves reduced to plans like “If things get ugly, kick in the door and start swinging.”

Takeaway: Sharply told mercenary fantasy with true pulp integrity.

Comparable Titles: Joe Abercrombie, Glen Cook.

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

Click here for more about Storm Cloud Rising

Marriott’s debut showcases his European history chops as it tells the tale of a widowed and retired Chicago detective and the small-town Greek police chief with whom he teams up to solve a murder. After Chicago detective Virgil Colvin’s beloved wife Janet dies, he decides to relocate to the place where they spent their honeymoon: Ithaca, Greece. Usually, the most serious crime that occurs there is pickpocketing, until a dead British tourist is found at the feet of a statue of Odysseus. Virgil teams up with Costas Pantakalas, the local police chief, to try to suss out who killed the supposed tourist, Reginald Wellesley—and why. (Hint: it may include illegal weapons.)

Marriott turns the journey to catch the killer into an uber-intellectual thrill ride, incorporating the history of Virgil’s new home, proclaimed to be the storied Ithaca of Penelope and Odysseus. After Wellesley is uncloaked as a British spy, the investigation takes an unexpected and skillfully crafted twist. Marriott pulls plentiful red herrings across the plot, including a sexy island native cheating on her husband, an inn owner who may or may not be on the up-and-up, and a seemingly affable, world-famous British historian. The villain who emerges will surprise most readers.

Readers will feel the Mediterranean sun beating down as Marriott conjures, in crisp and sometimes clever prose, wine and vistas, like Vathy’s “horseshoe harbour of oranges, pinks, blues and greens.” Marriott’s impressive command of Greek mythology shines through on every page, allowing readers to become deeply familiar with Greek mythology while trying to parse out who the killer is. The author also proves himself a master of marrying the scholarly with a good old-fashioned mystery, which will deeply appeal to lovers of history, ancient cultures, and European living —but he also offers inviting context, without condescension, for readers not steeped in Circe and Laertes.

Takeaway: Fast-paced mystery doubles as bonus masterclass in Greek myth.

Comparable Titles: Anne Zouroudi’s The Messenger of Athens, Jeffrey Siger’s Murder in Mykonos.

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

Click here for more about The School of Homer

How long does it take for trauma to heal? Decades after the harrowing events recounted in her 2016 book Held Hostage, Renee dives into the aftermath of the 2000 kidnapping that upended her life. Time after that wrenching experience and its aftershocks felt, Renee writes, like living in “invisible chains that took years, and miles, to unlock.” Nine Days explores the process of unlocking, as Renee details both her journey toward healing, over years, but also a more literal journey, “the road trip of a lifetime” in the months before the kidnappers stood trial, her drive of some 4,000 miles, from San Diego to Eagle River, Alaska, with her pit bull Haley as her only company, save for the souls she encounters along the way.

Renee had left her “crime scene” home to fly to Alaska with her daughter, Breea, finding safe haven at her mother-in-law’s house. But Renee soon had to return to San Diego to salvage or give away what was left of her life there. That handled, she answered the calling of her soul, relishing the nine day drive while rushing to make Eagle River for Breea’s eighth birthday. Without money for motels, Renee sleeps in her car or camps with pepper spray in hand. As she endures flashbacks and moments of terror, like leaving her keys and Haley locked in her car, Renee finds herself learning again to ask for help and trust others.

Moments of road-trip splendor also help: “I hadn’t felt so purely, deeply in the moment, and connected, ever in my life,” Renee writes of driving through the Canadian Rockies. Trauma grows after the trial, as the verdicts don’t slam the case shut, and Renee faces lies and innuendos as she seeks justice. Renee brings healing full circle as, years later, she moves toward active, radical forgiveness in a face-to-face encounter with the past. The result is complex and heartening, a feat of empathy.

Takeaway: Healing, forgiveness, and a marvelous road trip power this touching memoir.

Comparable Titles: Lysa TerKeurst’s Forgiving What You Can't Forget, Stephanie Foo’s What My Bones Know.

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

Click here for more about Nine Days

The first of four planned installments in her He Calls Me Harp series, set in the 1990s on an island off the Puget Sound, finds a 14-year-old high school freshman Harper Whitmore catching the attention of senior Scott Pierce and starting a relationship but drawing clear boundaries regarding her willingness to have sex. Scott surprises her with his candor about wanting a relationship as her boyfriend while acknowledging that he previously just used girls who were willing participants in purely physical encounters. Harper’s unusually mature philosophy about not blaming Scott for his past indiscretions is hampered by the bullying she receives from girls jealous of her relationship with Scott. Together, Harper and Scott try to work through their difficulties, complicated by the resurfacing of his past.

Driscoll viscerally brings 1990s high school drama to life, complete with the angst of solidifying a relationship amid the high school rumor mill. Lindsay, a high school girl who had an abortion after Scott got her pregnant, engages in a pretty extensive smear campaign against Harper to make her look bad, and the discussions between Scott, Lindsay and Harper at prom feel cruel but accurate. Despite Harper’s immaturity in dealing with a girl who knew Scott before her, Driscoll instills Harper with more backbone than a typical freshman. Notably, Harper is unwilling to settle for less than a real and public relationship as she abides by her own code of not missing class or sports practices to spend time with him.

With expert pacing, Driscoll draws the reader into the storyline, creating an immersive narrative that holds attention and entices readers to want to discover whether Scott and Harper finish out their year together and make the difficult transition as he leaves for college. The conclusion is somewhat satisfying, with just enough questions to whet appetites for the next installment.

Takeaway: 1990s high school romance brought to vivid life.

Comparable Titles: Lynn Painter’s Better Than the Movies, Alex Light’s The Upside of Falling.

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

Click here for more about Just Us

This supernatural series-starter boasts vampires, werewolves, witches, ancient prophecies, and something else that’s truly unexpected: a second-person point-of-view, casting “you” the reader as the protagonist, high school senior Nadine Drexel. When she literally collides with Vinson "Vince" Weber, Nadine feels an instant dislike for the "new guy" with the starling blue eyes—eyes that she's seen in a dream before. As Nadine strives not to interact with Vince, her best friend, Camille, finds herself drawn to the new mystery guy, meaning he and Nadine are in constant proximity, until she learns his dark secret. Nadine is thrust into a vicious age-old battle between mythical creatures, with high stakes and some welcome quirks (vampires just can’t deal with asparagus).

The more Nadine learns about Vince and his world, especially the reign of a vampire named Vladimir, the more she realizes that their chance encounter is more than fate—it is her destiny to aid in the ancient battle that will change her life and the lives of those closest to her. Ryder finds tension in the vampiric power to “compel” people, tying ancient lore to contemporary understanding of issues of consent, and a theme of sacrifice adds gravity to the action. As Nadine and Vince work together to fight an evil force, their bond strengthens but her other relationships suffer. Nadine must ultimately decide how much she is willing to give up to achieve victory.

The Darkest Side of the Moon explores themes of love, family, and betrayal through complex world building and character development, plus some fresh takes on familiar beasts, as it builds to an unexpected conclusion. The “you” perspective (“You hate gym,” one chapter starts) demands readers stay on their toes, but it lends an immersive power as readers seem to inhabit Nadine. Fans of vampire lore and supernatural fiction will relish the twists and attention to relationships—and they’ll be eager to sink their teeth into what’s next for the series.

Takeaway: This supernatural YA series casts “you” as the one to face ancient evil.

Comparable Titles: L.J. Smith’s The Vampire Diaries, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s Beautiful Creatures.

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

Click here for more about The Darkest Side of the Moon

In this emotionally rich second installment in The Dark series, Ryder picks up right where The Darkest Side of the Moon left off, with the new ruler of the vampires, Vinson "Vince" Weber, reeling from a tragic loss of a loved one and taking over the reigns from his recently defeated father, Vladimir. With the war over, vampires and werewolves have formed a hesitant supernatural alliance. After saving a young girl named Amelia "Melia" Sinclair after being turned by an old enemy and a new unknown threat, Vince tasks himself with training and protecting the newbie vampire. But there is more to Melia's attack and as more and more is revealed about her targeted assault, Vince discovers there are more magical forces involved—and much more to Melia than meets the eye.

Readers will gain a deeper understanding of each character as this sequel, told in a more conventional third-person style than its predecessor, emphasizes character and relationships over action. Ryder digs deep into the traumas and uncertainties of the key cast, telling the story from varied perspectives and plumbing Vince and Meila’s fears that, with all their cravings, they might not be able to resist doing evil themselves—“Was she capable of mass destruction?” Melia wonders. “Did becoming a vampire change who she was?” Drawn to Melia’s light and innocence even as a new vampire, Vince feels great conflict, refraining from letting her in as he is still recovering from a previous heartbreak. Sexual assault is handled with a sensitive frankness.

That tender attention to character, and the novel’s hefty length, diminishes some narrative momentum, but the new mystery and villain are engaging and smartly bound up in the novel’s themes of discovering what one is capable of. Vivid descriptions and engaging emotional detail abound, and fans of high-stakes, character-rich YA that blend fantasy, romance, and horror will find much to feast on in a story that reminds us “Darkness does not drive out darkness. Only light can.”

Takeaway: Young vampires face their dark desires in this character-rich YA adventure.

Comparable Titles: Lauren Kate’s Fallen, L.A. Banks’s Shadow Walker.

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

Click here for more about A Dance Between Light and Darkness