An outraged true-life story blending clear-eyed explanations of complex systems with elements of a medical thriller, Spenser’s eye-opening account exposes the pressure placed on medical professionals by corporations obsessed with metrics, quotas, and profits—and the punishment those corporations will exact on those who prioritize patient care. Comparing healthcare systems to coral reefs that must maintain a delicate balance for every life that depends on it to thrive, pathologist Spenser (Diary of a Malpractice Lawsuit) argues that the U.S. medical system is in fact dying, thrown out of whack by corporate consolidation. In Spenser’s telling, that means doctors experienced “various subtle and not so subtle measures” to make sure they “did all they could to make things lucrative.”

Spenser first encountered this in 2015, when emergency room services at Excel Pinnacle Hospital were contracted out to Benevolent Holdings. (He changes proper nouns throughout the book, often with a satiric spirit.) Now doctors felt pressure to admit more E.R. patients to the hospital proper, “especially if the patients admitted had good insurance and could pay their hospital bills.” Meanwhile, under new rules crafted to keep physicians efficient, quality of care declined, with the powers that be mostly neglecting to address complaints. Soon other departments went the way of the emergency room, with crucial staff let go, longstanding contracts canceled, and patients literally dying without seeing doctors.

While this compact page-turner doesn’t name names, it still reveals harrowing cases, systemic failures, and the Orwellian corporate doublespeak that greeted his and others’ efforts to enact change. Especially chilling is Spenser’s account of going to “war” with the Merciful Insurance Company, which, he reports, would eventually attempt to “bully my pathology lab into insolvency.” He illuminates the complexities of billing, insurance, and government programs that companies are incentivized to exploit—and he always emphasizes the devastating impact this has on the individual and collective health of Americans.

Takeaway: The harrowing story of medical professionals facing corporate power that puts patients last.

Great for fans of: Elisabeth Rosenthal’s An American Sickness, Jonathan Bush’s Where Does it Hurt?

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

Click here for more about Medicine Goes Corporate

Inspired by her years of living in Latvia, Randall gathers elements of folklore from that country—especially kidnapping devils who drag their prey through the forest and to other worlds—and reinvents them to spin a shivery tale in this clever middle-grade debut. In the unrelenting dark of the Shadelands, twelve-and-a-half year old Nia is trapped by regrets and despair, longing to return to her home, the Sunlands, and hearing negative thoughts (and a repetitive lullaby) from her imp, Pester, poison her mind. When a charismatic boy from her world, Tanni, offers to lead Nia back to the Sunlands, she finally jumps at the chance, with Pester giving chase. But after Tanni is captured, Nia fears she will be stuck in the gloomy dark realm for good.

This middle-grade fantasy will draw in readers who love mystery and magic from the first page. Randall’s tight plotting and skillful characterization power the story, and a clever plot twist involving the amusing imp Pester will keep them guessing about the loyalties and secrets of the various creatures who cross the heroes’ path. The Shadelands themselves, meanwhile, are an evocative, spooky creation, alive with sprites and drudges and surprises, a place close to the fairy-tale roots of fantasy. Nia suspects, among the dull gray light, that “the trees were whispering dark thoughts to each other overhead.”

Nia’s pluck and perseverance is a continual delight, as are the author’s world-building skills, replete with clever imps (some, surprisingly, with unexpected moral compasses) and sprites, gloomy drudges, scary forests, and yawning portals to alternate worlds. Randall makes readers feel Nia’s naked hope, her intense desire to return to her home and loved ones, even though she originally left because after a family fight, she felt like a burden to all. While geared toward middle-grade readers, adults who love fantasy stories tinged with darkness but light in approach will also devour Randall’s tale.

Takeaway: Drawing on Eastern European folklore, this debut will delight middle-grade fantasy lovers.

Great for fans of: Gary Paulsen’s Northwind, Juliana Brandt’s Monsters in the Mist.

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

Click here for more about Shadelands

Mohamed’s debut, a crisply told paranormal thriller with science-fiction elements, revolves around Mark, the general manager at a tech company whose life, despite his occasional demonic nightmare, is progressing pretty much on track until the death of his wife, Rachel, and Mark’s jolting discovery that he’s a healer. Soon he’s caught up in a battle between dark forces who have larger purposes that are a complete mystery to Mark. Among those forces: a shadowy group called The Establishment, who isn’t above murder to get what it wants; the opposing group the Alliance; and mysterious figures like The Professor and Apollo, the latter of whom instructs Mark in healing and suggests that people with psychic powers control the economy and other aspects of our lives.

What Mark does know is everyone’s trying to manipulate him for their own purposes, and he has to figure out a way to hold his own before it’s too late. Aptly titled, the twisty novel hinges on Mark’s absolutely rare ability to heal people using his own newly discovered psychic powers. Mohamed is fascinated with the mechanics of how he does this, spinning elaborate accounts of energy, imagination, and dreamscapes, which seethe with mystery and tension. There’s also psychokinesis, mind control, astral projection and divination. Despite its attention to how these powers work, the novel is fast paced, hurtling forward from one psychokinetic scene or revelation to another.

At times, the plot can become convoluted, and some readers may feel there are too many parallel intrigues to keep up with. The material is thoughtful, but for all the flashbacks and explanations, Mohamed also doesn’t skimp on action, with surprise gunplay and even a dreamscape robot battle. The kitchen-sink approach makes sense within the narrative, as Mohamed does justice to the heady ideas and paranormal thriller genre. All in all, lovers of this genre will enjoy this book, which moves fast and boasts big revelations.

Takeaway: This paranormal thriller boasts psychic powers, big revelations, and a spiritual heart.

Great for fans of: Dan Simmons’s Carrion Comfort, Stephen King’s The Institute.

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

Click here for more about The Healer

In the action-packed second entry in Three Brothers Trilogy, Jensen continues the story of the Wolfensberger family’s three promising fighters caught in the thick of the wars that have come to two of the borders of the land of Etria. Again demonstrating a sure hand for adventure and mounted combat, Jensen follows Jules, Kass, and Borus in classic middle-book fashion, their stories spreading throughout the kingdom while the root themes remain the relationships between the brothers, their masters, and their individual selves and burgeoning strengths. Each brother, all teenagers, finds their talents tested and honed, as Jensen links excitement and character development by dramatizing every challenge, hardship, and triumph—all as the brothers deal with knights, sorcerers, priestesses, mythic beasts, surprising magical dangers, and a standout companion named Sir Horse.

The characters, refreshingly, demonstrate honesty, integrity, and even a vulnerability too often uncharacteristic of masculine heroes, as all three care deeply for their friends, family, and kingdom. The brothers’ skills allow for a variety of types of fantasy action: Jules, the only “weather mage” in Etria, explores the techniques and application of magical powers in striking scenes, while Kass’s apprenticeship with a knight master gives him the rare opportunity to gain skills unforeseen for squires of the era. Meanwhile, Borus, the eldest, wields his sword and leadership skills with increasing alacrity. Jensen emphasizes throughout that this kind of heroism demands commitment and hard training.

While the brothers and their journeys are vividly detailed, this volume leaves it to readers to fill in much of the social, economical, and especially physical landscape of the lands in which the Wolfensbergers train and battle. Still, the eloquent writing and courtly dialogue (“It is not always the enemy outside the walls that is the worst one, it is the enemy inside your head”) as well as the serious treatment of boys maturing into heroes results in a rich, engaging read that takes young people seriously.

Takeaway: This chivalric trilogy emphasizes character, training, and adventure.

Great for fans of: Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Greystone Secrets series, Diane Magras’s The Mad Wolf's Daughter.

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

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Tabler debuts with a visual feast introducing readers to the First State before the golden age of the railroad. Drawing on photographs of locations, reconstructions, and historical objects, together with brief captions and rigorous notes, Tabler weaves a rich tapestry of industry, politics, and faith. He organizes the photographs roughly chronologically, tracking Delaware’s development from Swedish settlers to American independence, and dedicates space to images that reflect Delaware’s Native American history, as well as tracing the impact that enslaved people had on the state’s historical development.

Rather than a traditional narrative history related in text chapters, Delaware Before the Railroads offers a vivid mosaic, driven by illustrations, the layout brimming with insights and illuminating facts delivered in captions and occasional more in-depth paragraphs. History buffs may wish for a timeline or map to pin down aspects of Delaware’s intriguing background, but Tabler’s snippets of life and culture will appeal. Readers will learn about homespun clothing and colonial clockmaking, about hints of undiscovered gold at the bottom of Delaware Bay, and how 18th century plantation owners—in an effort to appear wealthy—often mimicked marble by painting the wooden lintels above their windows in a similar pattern.

The photographs are a standout, providing a genuine sense of the physical culture, built spaces, and locations that comprised this era of Delaware’s history. Tabler includes anecdotes to add texture and avoid dry recitation of historical details,ranging from the processes behind colonial clockmaking to antiquated medical practices (“Tooth drawers’ sometimes used such painful practices as string pulling and hot coals to get teeth out“). The choice to zero in on the pre-railroad era smartly enables Tabler to dive more deeply into a relatively limited time frame, allowing a greater emphasis on often lost details. Fans of photography, history lovers, and anyone fascinated by the material life of the past will relish this chronicle of early Delaware.

Takeaway: A lavishly illustrated history immersing readers in Colonial Delaware life and culture.

Great for fans of: Kim Rogers Burdick’s Revolutionary Delaware, John A. Munroe’s History of Delaware.

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

Click here for more about Delaware Before the Railroads

Millot debuts with an impassioned study on self-actualization through communing with archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel. She opens with her childhood, sharing the challenges she faced when ostracized by peers and facing family turmoil, and details the reassuring presence of her archangel “friends” throughout, such as her first vivid experience with them in a dream and her fear of announcing their presence to others. To help readers “dare to be yourself no matter what the circumstances,” Millot offers a step-by-step process to engage the archangels and embrace their guidance, by crafting structured and intentional letters to each of them individually.

Spiritually minded readers will soak up the almost-lyrical devotion Millot evinces: “Life is like a symphony whose tempo adapts to the passing of time,” she writes, “this great journey that transforms matter into a trail of powder.” To prompt self-awareness, she describes the persona of each angel (Michael displays a natural authority, while Uriel is the “mature child” who will elicit a sense of magic in life) and outlines the process of “light coaching”—14 structured letters, each written to one of the four archangels, to prompt progressive growth towards the goal of empowerment and wholeness. Millot includes sample letters to crystallize her guidance, and key elements to address in each one, all welcome additions given the complexity of her subject.

Though this can be a challenging theme to share and fully comprehend—Millot acknowledges the judgment of others has interfered at times with her own understanding—her passion and desire to help is evident throughout this guide. Cautioning that “spirituality is supposed to be an environment of tolerance and love,” Millot’s advice is warm and intimate, a comforting balance of abstract and precise. She closes the book with a helpful listing of requests readers can make of the archangels, along with situation-specific instructions,and gentle encouragement to “go forward without fear.

Takeaway: An inviting how-to for believers on communicating with archangels.

Great for fans of:: Linda Pendleton’s Softly With Love, Joanne Brocas’s The Power of Angels.

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

Click here for more about A Coffee with Archangels

A high stakes kidnapping with multiple suspects and motives forces a detective and her partner to uncover the clues and rescue the wife of a millionaire in the third novel from Elustondo (author of Turtle Creek). The Beach House Hostage ratchets up the intensity early on with the kidnapping of Lisa Walker, wife of Houston businessman James Walker. Detective Alyssa Anderson quickly discovers that many people close to Lisa are keeping secrets, and more than one could stand to benefit from holding her hostage. Son Andrew is drowning in gambling debts—and harboring an Ivy league secret. Lisa’s best friend has been rekindling an old relationship with James behind Lisa’s back, James’s business rival would gain if James doesn’t submit a bid for a major construction project. And James himself, never one to hesitate on using down-and-dirty tricks to get ahead, could be behind the kidnapping himself.

Low on violence, and high on classic whodunnit puzzles, this polished mystery will appeal to readers who enjoy a good crime puzzle without the gore—but with a welcome connection to the real world. As Lisa tries to find a way to escape her kidnappers, Anderson and her partner Ramon work to hunt down leads that will bring her home safely, before narrowing in on someone the reader may not suspect, all as Anderson must navigate a world where she has to state directly to people “You’re not the first to act according to stereotypes regarding women, especially women of color.”

Elustondo deftly establishes multiple motives for Lisa’s kidnapping, all of which feel plausible. A lack of cooperation, and clues that point at multiple suspects help maintain the possibility that anyone could be the kidnapper up until the very end. The storyline of Andrew’s gambling debts feels less compelling than the others, but Anderson and her partner Ramon Reyes prove compelling detectives, and Elustondo brings the twisty case to a satisfying conclusion.

Takeaway: A polished, high stakes whodunnit finds Houston detectives facing a clever kidnapping.

Great for fans of: Chevy Stevens’s Still Missing, D.J. Palmer's My Wife is Missing.

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

Click here for more about THE BEACH HOUSE HOSTAGE

Merritt (Becoming Santa) offers an uplifting story about inclusivity and treating people with a disability with respect, providing a valuable lesson for young readers. Sandy-haired Daniel is a typical middle school student who kids around with his friends in class. His teacher, Mrs. Harper, assigns the children to write an essay about someone they consider a hero. Daniel puts off writing his essay, and instead helps his bespeckled friend Charlie with his math homework, defends Charlie against a dark-haired bully, and at recess plays catch with him with a baseball, even though Charlie isn’t very good at it. Daniel also takes care of his little cousin, Amelia, and makes sure she’s safe on the bus. Charlie remarks often that “Daniel was just being nice.”

Merritt portrays Daniel as helpful, cheerful, and strong of character, fending off bullies and devoted to his friends and family. The revelation at the end of the story is that Charlie is in a wheelchair, the result of an unnamed disease. When Charlie reads his essay in front of the class, he declares that Daniel is his hero, saying, “He sticks up for me and treats me like I’m just a normal kid.” Merritt highlights that children can learn to be respectful, accepting, and kind to others who may have physical limitations.

Illustrator Oliver Kryzz Bundoc uses simple drawings boldly colored to show the happy children active at school and at play. Bundoc uses subtle hints to deftly incorporate Charlie’s wheelchair into the scenes. Occasional discontinuity might confuse some readers, such as when the text mentions peanut-butter crackers while the illustration depicts chocolate-chip cookies, and the story at times is wordy. Still, the important message about showing people with disabilities understanding and kindness is imparted with clarity and warmth, and the book will resonate with parents teaching their children life lessons.

Takeaway: Parents will find the lesson of treating people with a disability with respect and kindness valuable.

Great for fans of: Aneta Cruz’s Juan Has the Jitters, Bob Sornson’s Stand in My Shoes.

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

Click here for more about Becoming A Hero

Diving into an intriguing plot with complex characters and urgent human stakes, this maritime World War II thriller from Miller immediately captivates. Tenacious Captain Rogers, an American smuggler and the leader of a well-rounded and engaging cast, reveals a strong moral compass early on despite inhabiting a world of gray—and the official American position of neutrality. As the war rages around him, Rogers, shaken by the atrocities he’s witnessed, risks it all by electing to transport the most contraband of cargo, a Jewish family desperate to escape Nazi-occupied Amsterdam and reach Palestine. Rogers and the crew of tramp steamer Peggy C face relentless danger on the North Atlantic, starting with mines and German U-boats, enough to test even the quick problem-solving of his likable crew. Amid the tension and immersive historical detail, a surprising romance flourishes, only making the risks more frightening.

The mechanics of the ship, art of navigation, and nuances of naval warfare, all clearly and convincingly described, will fascinate even landlubbers. Just as artfully spun is the wisdom offered by a rabbi Rogers is smuggling, his teachings and advice illuminating not only to his family but to Rogers and the crew as well. The dynamic between the rabbi and Rogers culminates in an intriguing, oddly sophisticated balance. Meanwhile, a U-boat captained by the notorious Viktor Brauer—so fearsome that Rogers at first insists he’s an invention of British propaganda—is in pursuit, with Miller doing memorable work, in point-of-view chapters, depicting this antagonist and a crew suffering from the restless “tin can disease” caused by extended confinement.

Miller deftly introduces the mates on the Peggy C, sharing intriguing facts about their backgrounds and painting a clear picture of each man’s appearance and demeanor, with each character’s purpose evolving over the course of the tale. The overlapping lives, not only physically close, and their daring mission elevate this winning high seas adventure.

Takeaway: This superior maritime thriller finds an American captain smuggling Jewish refugees as Nazis prowl.

Great for fans of: Nicholas Monsarrat’s The Cruel Sea, Alistair MacLean’s HMS Ulysses.

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

Click here for more about The Hunt for the Peggy C

Harrell’s bold and searching collection takes readers on an odyssey of inquiry, with the first and foremost question being “How to establish that // Yes, I am // One with God and God is // One with You.” But rather than provide an answer, Harrell’s poems seek to use the question as a gateway into a thought-space where the act of seeking knowledge results in spiritual transcendence. In a note, Harrell describes her spirituality as a conscious, living thing shaped over time by a series of spiritual events she calls “initiations,” and through her poetry, Harrell seeks to divulge her spiritual wisdom.

The principle spiritual tenet in “Particle Piñata” is that all knowledge of the universe is united in an ever-shifting entity to which all people contribute and borrow, including the poet’s literary inspirations Baudelaire, Emerson, Whitman, and Joyce, and major figures from the poet’s own life, which include Milton Klonsky and Hunter Thompson. Primarily through the use of pun and other types of wordplay, Harrell’s poems establish linguistic relationships at the micro scale, between syllables in various languages, and at the macro scale, between hers and the works of Joyce and Baudelaire, and likens the behavior of the sacred whole of human knowledge to a mass of subatomic particles in perpetual cycles of unison and collapse.

Touching on religion, philosophy, particle physics, linguistics, and more heady concepts, Harrell’s collection is a cosmic, often esoteric whirlwind which seeks to bring the poet’s conception of a spiritual being to life. The style is pointedly erratic, even at times frenzied; consistent verb tenses, syntax, and connotations are flouted, upended, redefined. Yet there is a certain naturalness to the poetic discord, like the winds of a hurricane or flurry of a meteor shower. Nature is chaotic and unruly and, above all, free—and so are Harrell’s poems.

Takeaway: A cosmic, sophisticated collection that touches on spirituality, philosophy, and physics.

Great for fans of: Milton Klonsky, Delmore Schwartz.

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

Click here for more about Particle Pinata Poems

Scichilone’s stylish and emotionally charged debut, the kickoff to the realms-crossing Fates Divine series, freshens up chosen-one epic YA fantasy with witchery, surprise, and an irresistible heroine, Shivalri Grimsbane, a North Carolina high-school student who is the heir to not just one surprising legacy but three. Her everyday interests and problems— French class, an upcoming dance—are engaging enough, but the story quickly grows darker as the world suffers catastrophic earthquakes and Shivalri faces a jolting family tragedy, the revelation from her “Gram” of worlds beyond our own, and the promise that her lineage is “destined for greatness.” But at what cost?

As she discovers her witch heritage, Shivalri ends up in other realms where powerful entities already know who she is, catch her up in their conflicts, and put her and everything she loves in jeopardy. Ancient magic and conflict, of course, drive this epic’s plot, but the novel’s heart is in the touching depiction of a family in mourning, material rich and resonant enough to ground the apocalyptic events in relationships in which readers will be invested. Shivalri’s gift for “weaving” is great but raw, and A Fate of Smoke and Ash finds her endeavoring to understand and to overcome an emotional blockage rooted in trauma.

At times, Scichilone’s commitment to plumbing the hero’s pained reality slows the novel’s momentum, especially as details pile up. But the characters, mysteries, and seeming betrayals are arresting, and the magic, as “the veil between worlds” gets lifted, lives up to the word: it’s magical. Inventions like the Triple Goddess, who guards the gates to the realms, fascinate, and the scheming of the High Council and the denizens of various realms makes for twisty, tense plotting, with Shivalri dragged to Hell and mistaken—or not—for a thousand-year-old goddess. The “Under Realm,” as it’s called, offers welcome surprises as Scichilone continually anticipates, challenges, and surpasses reader expectations, all while building to an urgent cliffhanger.

Takeaway: A strong YA series starter finds a young woman discovering her witch heritage—and realms beyond our own.

Great for fans of: Nnedi Okorafor’s Nsibidi Scripts series, Sasha Laurens’s A Wicked Magic.

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

Click here for more about A Fate of Smoke and Ash

A moving and brilliantly articulated account of the human capacity for love, loss, and hope in all its rawest forms, When the Light Goes Out finds psychiatrist Myers vividly recounting the wrenching story of her father’s violent death, and her and her loved ones’ experience of shock, uncertainty, and grief. The story is wrenching: Myers awoke one morning to the frantic confusion of her family––her beloved father was found dead under gruesome circumstances. Rushing across the world to South Africa, Myers struggled to uncover the truth of the death, both as a daughter and as a practicing psychiatrist. Ultimately, her father’s death remains inconclusive, but in her search Myers found solace and eventually even meaning, especially through the journeys of others and the power of immortalizing her father’s story.

Myers balances the cerebral intricacies of her knowledge in psychiatry with the more tangible and untamable form of personal pain in writing this debut memoir. “My own experiences enrich my compassion,” she writes, “together, we share the authenticity of our struggles and become companions on the parenting path.” She deftly connects her story to readers’ own experiences, touching on the universal through her own specific details. As the narrative shifts back into the world of her practice, Myers weaves her own story with client accounts of other complex experiences such as divorce and motherhood. These many facets cohere with ease, each experience she describes tied to the others as part of her mission “to normalize, demystify and humanize the narratives around mental health.”

Alive with vivid, inviting prose, this memoir is written with unflinching honesty and vulnerability but also an expert’s sense of authority. It is a reminder of how fragile life is, how profoundly trauma shapes our lives, and how we can bear up to loss. With boldness and empathy, Myers connects readers to the darkest part of her world but also our own, offering the urgent reminder that none of us are alone.

Takeaway: This memoir of grief and healing offers solace for any reader facing loss or trauma.

Great for fans of: Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Notes on Grief.

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

Click here for more about When the Light Goes Out

In the first entry of the Spiral Worlds series, Almeida draws on cyberpunk technology to imagine a calculated scheme that charges emotionally damaged characters with saving both their digital domain and the world of the living. In 2068, nineteen-year-old Stella resurrects the digital embodiment of Thomas, known as “Shadow,” co-creator of the simulated reality called Spiral Worlds, consisting of eight experience levels where living people in Up Above—the real world—can act out their darkest desires. With the help of Sibyl, the Spiral Worlds’ omniscient operating system, Stella also resurrects the stored souls of people from Shadow’s past: poet and love of his life Nate Storm, best friend and Spiral Worlds co-creator Harry, a.k.a. “Twist,” and Thorn, Shadow’s female lover who murdered him. Sibyl has predicted that the soulless demons of Down Below will rise up and threaten both worlds.

Only the four of them can stop it, if only they can set aside the intense feelings of hatred, blame, and guilt they harbor for each other. Setting all that up takes some pages, but the slow, sometimes cryptic beginning eventually builds to an emotionally complex and expansive world that questions the nature of the soul, equality, and forgiveness. Shadow and Twist had set themselves up as Gods of the Spiral Worlds but fell after tragedy struck. Stella, who exists as both a digital and living person, is the fresh new Goddess ready to take their place. Stella plans to use Shadow as a mediator with the soulless and must get his friends and enemies to keep the overly emotional God from killing himself in the next six days.

Fleshing out the diverse characters, Almeida laces the epic story with moving insight into their poignant and anguished relationships. Patient readers will be treated to an intricate narrative with multifaceted characters propelled by both selfishness and altruism, in a ragged online setting that offers relatable lessons and warnings for our lives today.

Takeaway: This epic of vulnerable digital landscapes draws readers in with its emotional punch and existential quandaries.

Great for fans of: Becky Chambers’s A Closed and Common Orbit, Daniel Suarez’s Daemon.

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

Click here for more about Unanimity (Spiral Worlds Book 1)

“I understand our grief is synonymous with the love we felt: the greater the love, the more enveloping the grief” writes Majoya in this moving debut co-authored with her wife, Rebecca. Chronicling their journey through infertility and ultimately a failed adoption, the authors share, in heartbreakingly powerful words, the overwhelming joy and suffocating grief along the way. After years of unsuccessful fertility treatments, Rebecca and Sallyann choose to adopt a baby whose young mother, Delilah, has decided she cannot care for him. But when Delilah recants her consent for the adoption several days after Rebecca and Sallyann take the baby home, they’re devastated.

Readers who have struggled with infertility or the loss of a child will relish this gripping story— although the journey does not turn out as the authors hoped, in the end it’s equally moving and painful, delivering an intense message of love, forgiveness, and heartache. Sallyann is the initial impetus behind the couple’s desire to get pregnant: she helped raise Rebecca’s boys from her first marriage, but her yearning to be part of the infant years drives the two to pursue adoption after seven years of failed fertility treatments. And, despite the early warning signs, both Rebecca and Sallyann believe newborn Sage will be the answer to their dreams. Those hopes are so palpable that readers will feel their anguish alongside the couple when it all comes crashing down around them.

Ultimately, this is a story of love—the love between Rebecca and Sallyann and their joint devotion to Sage. Long after he has been returned to his birth mother, the couple silently orbit around the hole his loss has left in their life, and their attempts to rebuild their home will resonate with readers navigating similar waters: as Sallyann wonders, can love continue to “thrive regardless of whether we nourish it?”

Takeaway: A gripping memoir of infertility, adoption, and hope.

Great for fans of: Melissa van Soest’s A Family Affair, Rachel McCracken’s Chasing Kites.

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

Click here for more about Uncertain Fruit: A Memoir of Infertility, Loss, and Love

Bleakley’s gripping account reveals the story of Ceslav Mordowicz, a Polish Jew who, with Slovakian Jew Arnost Rosin, succeeded in escaping the Auschwitz concentration camp in May of 1944, sneaking out of occupied Poland, and then reporting to a disbelieving world all they had seen and endured. Crucially, their eyewitness accounts proved crucial to pressuring the Hungarian regent to act to halt the deportation of 200,000 Jews from Hungary. Telling this story with a thriller’s pace and a historian’s sense of the weight and significance of events, Bleakley illuminates harrowing truths about not just Mordowicz and Rosin’s journey and the refusal of some to believe them.

Bleakley offers welcome insight into Hungary and Germany’s uneasy alliance, how the spread of antisemitic ideology facilitated the state-sponsored genocide of millions of Jews, and how even these survivors’ corroboration of earlier escapees’ reports were met withy skepticism. Throughout Bleakley reminds readers of how easily people can overlook atrocity until they feel a personal connection. One striking scene finds Mordowicz desperately trying to convince “the pope’s special nuncio” of the scope of the Nazis’ murders—and the monsignor, discovering that the killing extends to priests, collapsing into a faint.

The focus, though, is on the escape and the politics of Nazi-allied Hungary, which had been deporting Jews to the camps by the thousands—and how the act of bearing witness saved lives and, eventually, helped secure the prosecution of Nazi officials. Especially revealing is Bleakley’s consideration of the role of the Hungarian regent, Miklos Horthy, in the earlier deportation of Hungarian Jews to the camps, and how the Hungarian Holocaust was a culmination of Horthy’s political decisions and bureaucratic corruption, along with expansionist and antisemitic ideologies. The Auschwitz Protocols digs deeply into this, while standing as a compelling human story and an urgent reminder of the power of exposing tyranny.

Takeaway: The urgent story of escaping and exposing Auschwitz, and a race to save Hungary’s Jews.

Great for fans of: Jonathan Freedland’s The Escape Artist, Gbor Kdr’s The Holocaust in Hungary.

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

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Crafted as a retelling of the myth of Eurydice and Orpheus, Iori’s ambitious psychological drama centers on love, death, and loss—and what it takes for the heart to heal. In Italy, reeling from the death of Lisa, the woman he loves, Francesco is jolted to discover that memory loss has wiped her face from his mind. Soon, he receives an impossible offer from his old friend Losco: the chance to see her face again, after ingesting honeyed mushrooms with psychotropic properties. But Losco’s plan calls both for facing the past and moving on from it, as he books Francesco in a seaside resort. Past and present, new friends and old, get bound up together, all as Francesco feels like “a meteorite ready to hit the bottom of the abyss with a thud.”

Despite the references to myth and Dante’s Divine Comedy, Francesco’s journey takes him through the present and the recent past, and is primarily realistic in its telling, though readers will wonder, along with Francesco, what experiences he’s truly living through, and when. Rather than an underworld, Iori twines a pair of beach cities into the tale, Sanremo and Bournemouth, and presents Frencesco with the opportunity to connect with—and maybe love—someone new. Francesco seeks not to have Lisa forever, in the manner of the heroes of myth, but to reclaim her memory and to learn to live without her, a distinction that sets this psychologically incisive telling apart from its inspirations.

Readers should expect that, as Francesco edges toward new possibilities, things are not quite as they seem. (The protagonist did, after all, swallow six mushrooms, press a red button, and agrees to a set of rules for Losco’s regimen that preclude human contact.) But by story’s end it all makes clear emotional sense, and even is touched with wisdom, especially in the final revelations, some wrenching, from Losco. Iori’s translation of the novel into English from Italian is conversational and usually clear.

Takeaway: The surprising story of an Italian man’s psychotropic journey to rediscover the face of a lost love.

Great for fans of: Keith Donohue’s The Motion of Puppets, Sarvat Hasin’s The Giant Dark.

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

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