Adelyn is back in the second of Bruckerhoff’s Adelyn’s Adventure series, and this time she is reveling in the beauty of her grandparents’ garden in the country. After a day of hard work outside pulling weeds, Adelyn is exhausted and ready for bed–but excited to explore the garden in the morning. With a fresh breakfast of cornbread and fruit in her tummy, she sets out with her grandfather’s trusty basket to roam and soon discovers the garden is a treasure trove of excitement. Starting at the arbor gate entrance, Adelyn ventures through the winding paths to explore fragrant herbs, blooming flowers, and luscious fruits and vegetables.

Striking watercolor illustrations with a vintage feel grace the pages, and Bruckerhoff's storytelling speaks to all of the senses. Adelyn whispers “this must be Paradise” at the sights and sounds, and readers will be able to smell the garden’s aroma of fresh rain and earthy soil right alongside her. Those familiar with the first in the series will welcome Adelyn’s quick visits with her old animal friends, though she meets new ones along the way: a ruby-throated hummingbird takes a break from sipping nectar to share some survival skills, and a garden spider speaks, surprisingly, with “a DownEast, Maine accent, in Gregorian chant.”

Christian readers will appreciate the references to biblical stories throughout, most notably Adelyn’s lesson on how the Garden of Eden relates to the harmony found in an earthly garden. She continually uses her grandparents’ teachings as a guide, including reminding herself that every choice has a consequence, and she likens the layout and structure of the garden to her own “moral compass.” The author manages to work some science into the story as well, with insight on the garden’s compass rose for navigation. A self-proclaimed nature lover, Bruckerhoff’s deep love of the wonder of the natural world is charmingly reflected in this tale.

Takeaway: A determined young girl reflects on life lessons in her grandparents’ garden in this multi-layered tale.

Great for fans of: Charity Rios’s My Heart’s Garden, Tim McCanna’s In A Garden.

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

Click here for more about Adelyn's Adventure in the Garden

Bruckerhoff continues his lively Adelyn’s Adventure series with a dive into an Atlantic seaside vacation. When Adelyn and her grandparents pack up and head to the shore, they enter a vibrant world brimming with new life–and new thrills for the inquisitive Adelyn. Eager to explore her surroundings, and paired with her grandfather’s wicker basket and a shovel, Adelyn discovers the magic of the ocean through the eyes of amusing local animals, including a cheery Great Black-backed Gull who calls her a “flatlander” and offers a freshly harvested clam for a snack.

Though Adelyn is on the hunt for fun, she pays close attention to the critical need for ocean life along the way. She learns how nature recycles its resources and that seawater is the “soup of life,” supporting living organisms with rich minerals. Discovering the benefits of seawater is just the beginning, though, as Adelyn plunges into the full cycle of life by finding out about plankton crowding the ocean as a food source, land and sea animals fighting to survive each day, and barnacles that function as water filters. Even the more dangerous ocean creatures share their purpose, like a deadly jellyfish that doubles as a source of nutrition for turtles.

Adult readers will appreciate Bruckerhoff’s nods to safety—Adelyn’s grandmother advises her “never turn your back on the sea”—and the opportunity for youngsters to explore their own conservation roles when Adelyn works to free a baby humpback from a fishing net and cleans up trash on the beach. Similar to other titles in the series, Bruckerhoff emphasizes Christian beliefs among the playful lessons and draws parallels between the ocean’s power and the Biblical creation. Bruckerhoff’s elegant, cool-toned illustrations suggest the beauty of marine life, and the theme of personal responsibility to keep Earth healthy ripples through nearly every page of this informative tale.

Takeaway: The magnificence of ocean life and the need for conservation illuminate this story of a young girl exploring the seashore.

Great for fans of: Steve Jenkins’s Down, Down, Down, Erin Guendelsberger’s Inky the Octopus.

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

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Part business guide, part companion workbook, Optimizing Strategy for Results encourages business leaders and management teams to rethink using traditional education and data driven methods in response to volatility. Drawing on their almost 100 years of combined professional experience, the three coauthors introduce their conceptualization of strategy for organizations in a detailed yet flexible seven-stage framework that draws upon innovation, human capital, axiology, and emotional intelligence to produce alignment within an organization with its vision and overall purpose. The guide addresses common misconceptions about strategy before diving into what the authors deem its true building blocks of purpose, core values, and vision. These, they argue, when combined with creativity and emotional intelligence, can result in “continuous opportunities for growth, insights, and competitive advantage.”

The first of three main sections serves as an introductory lesson in strategic theory and emphasizes the importance of human capital in terms of building strategic intelligence. The bulk of information is in the second section, which walks readers through the creative thinking, decision making, and contingency planning stages of the strategy process and includes detailed questionnaires, tables, and creative exercises that illustrate or expand upon the topics presented. The final section instructs readers on best practices for putting these lessons to use, with an emphasis on effective communication and evaluation techniques. Action steps and a summary at the end of each chapter break down the who, what, when, where, and how for all those involved in a particular stage of the strategy process.

The authors warn “strategy often fails or underperforms because we don’t recognize how aligning the diversities of people’s talents, skills, and passions plays a key role in achieving superior results.” The authors have created a clear-eyed, practical-minded guide that prepares corporate leaders and strategists to make plans in dynamic environments. Extensive and thorough, Optimizing Strategy encourages organizational leaders and management teams to put people first and prepare for the worst.

Takeaway: Corporate leaders and management teams will appreciate the “people first” approach emphasized in this strategy guide for volatile times.

Great for fans of: Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff’s The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life, Patrick Bet-David’s Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy.

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

Click here for more about Optimizing Strategy for Results

Prolific Christian novelist Jones, author of the Seeing Jesus series among others, kicks off his Prayer Rider saga with the polished story of a young boy facing a family tragedy but soon learning to soar on the literal power of prayer. With his younger brother in a coma, ten-year-old Josiah experiences a series of fantastic dreams and visions in which beings who seem to be angels teach him about the power of prayer. An inspired early dream likens the act of prayer to knocking on doors that otherwise will never open, but the Josiah also faces moments of terror as angels wielding swords battle the armies of “the enemy.”

That prospect never stops being scary, of course, but Josiah gets a lift when he’s taught, in another of Jones's vivid and appealing visions, that he can “ride” his own prayers, flying with an angel toward heaven. “He wanted to say, ‘The literal heaven,” but that seemed irreverent,’” Jones writes, a line that captures the gently playful child’s perspective that powers Keep on Asking. Grounding the tale of saints and swords is the real-world medical drama of seizures and brain scans, Josiah’s uncertainty that his divine encounters are truly happening, and accounts of Josiah’s family and church community, who prove refreshingly supportive when Josiah reports his experiences.

Readers of Christian fantasy will find much here that’s encouraging and inventive, such as the fundamental link between prayer, faith, and the powers of a Prayer Rider. Especially fruitful is the revelation that different people’s prayers result in different surges of feeling in Josiah as he flies, with his grandfather’s preacher-like prayer for strength in the coming battle seeming almost “predatory” so that riding it he feels “like an eagle surveying its territory.” Unlike too many series openers, Keep on Asking builds to a satisfying conclusion while introducing plenty of possibilities to be explored in later books.

Takeaway: This uplifting kickoff to a Christian adventure series imagines a young Prayer Rider soaring on the power of faith.

Great for fans of: C.S. Johnson, Ian Acheson.

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

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In the gripping second installment of Watters’s virtual reality-exploring Dream Phaze series, Dr. Saxon Zynn and his wife Margo are back with new complications, as their advanced technology known as Dream Immersion (DI) is twisted for devious purposes. After a DI rape leaves a woman traumatized and experiencing PTSD, Saxon and Margo discover a dangerous pattern forming in their software. They’ll have to work together to find the culprit before more violence upsets their dream reality–but the company is threatened when they may be forced to reveal user identities in order to stop the brutality.

As in the first book in the series, Dream Phaze: Germination, Watters takes readers on lavish virtual reality adventures in the DI world, where users can set up luxurious virtual homes and businesses in an experience called Joyville or participate in (or bet on) organized DI sporting events like the World Obelisk League and Exoskeletal Combat. Of course, the endless possibilities bring with them a dark side. The DI rape occurs during what’s deemed a “white experience,” meant to be the safest of DI events, and Watters’s plot quickly pits issues user privacy against victim safety. Alongside the security issues compromising the program, Saxon and Margo struggle with her father’s failing health and outside pressure to buy large amounts of company shares.

Return readers will note this recent installment leaves behind some likable characters as Saxon and his wife have now become shrewd business people hell-bent on preserving their wealth–a choice that exposes how money can corrupt, particularly when the couple minimizes the assault while debating its possible impact on their privacy clause. Watters includes a glossary of technical terms, as well as a chart illustrating how the virtual experiences are set up. Sci-fi fans fond of virtual reality will be fascinated by both the technology and the issues it raises.

Takeaway: A virtual reality immersion program is threatened by unexpected violence in this intriguing thriller.

Great for fans of: D. Rus’s AlterWorld Vivian Vande Velde’s Heir Apparent.

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

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In Church’s second installment of the Cooper Quartet series, the apparent kidnapping of teenager Jolie Minotier in 1972 California serves as a catalyst for several interrelated families coping with their own internal demons amid the Vietnam War. Jolie is the daughter of Commander Byron "Slick" Cooper, fighting in Vietnam. Her mother, Chloe, from a French-Vietnamese colonial family, seemingly deserted Jolie years ago to become a violent antiwar activist. Heroin smuggling and the fate of those left behind in the war's final months further complicate the families' troubles. The Cooper clan must find a way to safeguard their futures and to rescue Jolie, as their own crises reflect the nation's complex feelings about the war.

Church uses her background as a Vietnam-era veteran to lend rich detail to the story’s military milieu. She does a fine job of describing the air war, with its mix of terror and tedium, and proves equally adept at the civilian side, showing how the military community takes care of its own: A Marine guard promises to escort the missing Jolie home "with full military honors." The large cast of characters intersect through multiple plots, which may prove hard to follow for readers not already familiar with the series, but the individual members of the extended Cooper family are vividly wrought.

This story functions best as a study of family conflict, where everyone has competing loyalties. Especially intense is the connection between Jolie, her estranged mother, and her father. Byron's wife, Joan, comes across with great pathos, trying to cope with a distant husband, her own child, and a difficult stepdaughter. The addition of Byron's brother Laury, a retired sergeant struggling with the family farm, and Cooper cousin Lt. Robin Haas, with her own poignant romance, fully flesh out the complex story. Readers will be absorbed to the end, hoping this troubled but sympathetic family finds peace.

Takeaway: A must for fans of family drama, who will revel in triumph and tragedy during a fraught period in U.S. history.

Great for fans of: Siobhan Fallon, Colleen McCullough

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

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The Vietnam War rages in the first installment of Church’s Cooper Vietnam Era Quartet, which finds two estranged brothers, Byron and Laury Cooper, reunited years after their father’s death from suicide. Byron’s promising career as a Navy air fighter is taking off, but when planes start dropping out of the sky with their pilots trapped in the cockpits he discovers a sinister operation fueled by vicious avarice. On the home front, Laury, a former Marine, struggles with trauma and addiction, desperate to find peace after suffering a serious wound on his latest tour of duty. Laury stumbles upon an old family secret during his stay, one that connects his father’s death to the recent rash of jet failures, leading him to realize “…the only difference between any dead man and another is the trail they leave behind.”

Church’s blend of family story, historical fiction, and thriller-quality suspense and action proves potent, but the book’s heart is in its people. The cast is rounded out by the Cooper brothers’ cousin, ensign Robin Haas, and Byron’s squad mate, Lieutenant Harry “Dakota” Stillwater. The characterization is as vividly rendered as the milieu, especially as investigation of the central mystery demands scrutiny of all of these connections. Writing with sharp, incisive prose, Church proves adept at handling the complexities of memory and relationships, as every recollection is tempered by the other’s perceptions and blind spots. “We choose our memories,” one character notes.

Church writes with conviction and clarity, drawing on experience serving in the Navy during the Vietnam War. Her experience shows in persuasive details of military life, and a keen understanding of military minds, making the moments of human drama as engaging as the suspense of the mystery plot. Readers eager for a mystery laced with intense action scenes and compelling family dynamics, will feast onDead Legend, the first entry of a promising series.

Takeaway: A strong opening to a series of thoughtful thrillers following one military family’s experience in the Vietnam era.

Great for fans of: Newton Thornburg’s Cutter and Bone, Marian Palaia’s The Given World.

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

Click here for more about Dead Legend

The third volume in this ballot-minded crime anthology series once again finds democracy at stake, both in its diverse, hair-raising fictions and in the real world, enough so that its publication is again pegged to a fundraiser for voting rights causes, this time with proceeds going to Democracy Docket. Editor Berry, who conceived and has overseen all three installments, notes in her introduction two distinguishing characteristics of the latest crop of crime tales crafted around the subject of voting: First, this time, many of the stories pulse with fresh anger, which Berry persuasively links to the zeitgeist. Second: They increasingly edge toward speculative fiction, which makes sense—so does American life.

From page one, this volume stirs chills of recognition as David Corbett’s “An Incident at the Cultural Frontier” opens with a trucker’s convoy of “inspectors” rolling up on a polling place, and Faye Snowden’s electric “The Obsession of Abel Tangier” turns on the line “Ethel started bringing a loaded Smith & Wesson .45 to every school board meeting after the death threats started.” Other stories center persistent American anxieties, like the possibility that an organized crime syndicate will do whatever it takes to rig a Newark mayoral race in Thomas Pluck’s “Joey Cucuzza Loses His Election,” or the radio host whose racist invective reveals the ugly truth of a beach town’s secession campaign in Sarah M. Chen’s jolting “Riviera Red.”

The speculative tales prove both playful and upsetting. Babies seize the power of the ballot from indifferent parents in Camille Minichino’s inspired and inspiring “Vote Early,” while Ember Randall’s “How to (Actually) Change the World” imagines the fate of the first A.I. candidate for president. History and political violence (the murder of a Chicago alderman in 1963; the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s presumptive Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914) loom over the collection, but what’s scariest is most familiar: men with power intimidating everyone else to give up their own.

Takeaway: Outraged crime stories from diverse authors, all centered on the act of voting.

Great for fans of: Leye Adenle’s When Trouble Sleeps, Malka Older.

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

Click here for more about Low Down Dirty Vote Volume 3

Tanda’s sweeping historical fiction debut follows Barbara, a caregiver for elderly patients with Alzheimer’s, and her patient, Violetta Giordano, a Mafia widow with a storied past. Barbara, trapped in a relationship with her abusive, gambling addict boyfriend and out of options, seizes the opportunity to work for Violetta in San Jose in 1939 as a last-ditch attempt to earn a living. When the two women meet, their relationship is initially tense, and Barbara worries it won’t improve–but soon Violetta begins to open up about her past, eventually relating her entire life story to Barbara.

Tanda suffuses her storytelling with heart, and readers will be transported back to an earlier time, following new Italian immigrants eking out a living in California. Violetta’s whirlwind romance with handsome Sardinian newcomer Gaetano sets her heart aflame, even as she is promised to another man to seal a Mafia deal. There are sharp, suspenseful moments when readers will clearly experience Violetta’s desperation alongside her, but at other times, some flowery choices (the two lovers are wont to quote Shakespeare) can prove distracting to the overall tone of the plot. Nonetheless, the tender and tense moments scattered throughout this story help buoy its dark atmosphere.

While the novel offers the suspense, intrigue, and even the romance you would hope for in the kickoff to a series titled “Mafia Matriarchs,” historical fiction readers will appreciate Tanda’s serious handling of the Italian immigrant experience, as she draws on her own Italian heritage to paint an honest picture of the trials her community faced–while not shying away from the drama of what one character calls “The Black Hand, the Commission, Cosa Nosta. The mob. The Mafia.” Tanda consulted with sensitivity readers on her depiction of Barbara, a Black woman who encounters the systemic racism faced by Black people in America. The essence of Tanda’s message: that we are all not that different.

Takeaway: The start of the “Mafia Matriarchs” series offers tense historical fiction in early 20th century America.

Great for fans of: Amy Harmon’s The Song Book of Benny Lament, Christina Baker Kline’s A Piece of the World.

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

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The second Sidney Reed mystery from Norgard (after Trophy Kill) pits the appealingly complex private investigator Reed against a classic murder mystery and frightening heavies, all set around an unyielding, evocatively described winter in Anchorage, Alaska. Reed, reeling from the loss of his wife, is barely able to get through each day. He's hired to help the defense of Rudy Skinner, facing trial on a charge of murdering an indigenous man with a snowplow. A tip about the identity of the actual killer leaves Reed facing double crosses, meth dealers, wannabe actresses, crooked cops, an ambitious district attorney, plus an array of friends concerned by his ongoing mental health struggles. The climax, involving the cruel Alaska winter, ties surprising twists and turns with a fight for survival.

Despite strong pacing and effective interrogations and courtroom drama, it’s nuanced and complex character work that drives this thriller. Reed is a broken man trying to put himself together, returning to work, starting to date again, even seeing a therapist, though he finds himself unable to let go of the past. He always tries to do the right thing, especially when innocents are involved, no matter the cost. The villains, too, are multilayered characters, like the actual killer and his criminal father, whose individual senses of morality lead to some unexpected conclusions. Alaska’s winter storms raise the stakes throughout, as simply driving on a road becomes a perilous undertaking, much less being outside for extended lengths of time.

Norgard makes the reader care about Reed's journey, and it doesn't hurt that Reed has an insolent wit that he can't seem to turn off, a defense mechanism as he haltingly tries to process his grief. Norgard's attention to detail with regard to both character and setting elevates Road Kill far above a typical hard-boiled detective story, and fans of mysteries with memorable leads will find much to like in its mix of hard-boiled, funny, and haunted.

Takeaway: A tough Alaskan winter raises the stakes in this polished and compelling character-driven mystery.

Great for fans of: Peter James’s Dead Simple, Dana Stabenow.

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

Click here for more about Road Kill

“I want to feel the miles roll out from under the wheels,” young Jack, a disappointed romantic caught between careers and lives, declares early in Adams’ long dark novel of the soul. Jack was planning to light out to the California coast, on a bus, rhapsodizing to a woman he cares for about how, rather than take a plane, he’s going to “Appreciate the distance, you know what I mean?” Her curt response—“So you’re trying to save money?”—exemplifies the novel that follows, a book in which the philosopher/ex-fireman/hustler, stranded at a San Francisco intersection, dreams of motion but finds himself stuck, reflecting on a life lived in pursuit of meaning and feeling despite the practical-minded world’s insistence on punishing such desires. “If beauty is the easiest good to recognize, it is also the easiest to mistake for something else,” he notes, deep in the book.

Adams builds to that insight over the course of that long night, and the extended memories of friends and lovers and disappointments that preoccupy Jack as he contemplates how he came to be so alone. The follow-up to Bent, Rode offers Adams ample chance to showcase a feel for motorcycles, night skies, crooked-steep San Francisco streets, and the thrill and terror of sexual outlawry. He’s especially good at pinning down moments between people that list quietly, inexorably toward a discomfiting wrongness.

A book of significant beauty and pain, broken relationships and sexual frankness, Rode’s survey of the events and people that led Jack toward bottoming out also at times proves playfully comic (Jack learns the worst thing a first-time sex worker can say to a prospective john: “My schedule’s wide open at the moment.”) The title promises momentum, but this character study is all about how a man got brought to this point, told with painstaking detail. But readers of impassioned, character-driven fiction that transgresses the polite will find much to relish here.

Takeaway: A penetrating novel of a philosopher/hustler/ex-fireman, reflecting on his life, stranded in San Francisco.

Great for fans of: John Rechy, Nelson Algren.

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

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In this grabber of a debut, Michaels introduces the Eight Countries, a world of magic, science, strange beasts like ragas and firebills–and secrets, which the teen hero will uncover. Sixteen year old Jimmy Chartron is excited to study the newfangled field of electricity at Navale Academy. But his big plans get upended when his wanderings around the school cause him to awaken and fuse with the hundred-year-old ghost of a hero called Tessa Stormwing. Tessa, killed on a mysterious mission, realizes that the appearance of a raga–a rat-like creature not seen since the Last War–means that the forces that killed her so long ago may not yet be vanquished. As she and Jimmy dig deeper, she discovers that the war is not as over as everyone believes, and that the fate of all Eight Countries rests on him and his ghostly companion.

Jimmy’s world is exciting and unique. Despite starting out at a school, the story quickly ventures out into a wide world of magical trains, airships, and the gulf between the official history and the actual history of the Eight Countries. While Jimmy’s adventures can at times feel like he’s a game protagonist following a tutorial, he exhibits a hearty, can-do attitude that makes him enjoyable to read; he holds his own with a very strong supporting cast. Michaels surrounds his protagonist with strong and interesting women, including the fort leader Jenna, who takes on a mentoring role; the prickly but helpful nurse Christine; and of course, Tessa the ghost, fallen hero, who at times can be bossy though she genuinely cares about Jimmy.

The plot is straightforward, with more action than talk, but still builds to a satisfying confrontation with the villain. A fresh adventure through a unique magical world, this series start will leave readers eagerly awaiting a sequel. Fans of fantasy series–and RPG games–will relish the story’s world and style.

Takeaway: Christopher Mannino’s The Scythe Wielder’s Secret, C.M. Carney’s Barrow King.

Great for fans of: This promising YA fantasy debut pits a teen boy and a ghost hero against the secrets of the past.

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

Click here for more about Jimmy Chartron and the Lost Keystone

Encompassing both self-help and history, Sweet’s Life Fighting takes lessons from the lives of Julius Caesar, Talleyrand, Richelieu, and Bill Gates to illustrate why fighting is an inescapable part of life–and how to do it well. Drawing on the work of evolutionary biologists, Sweet (author of Pallas Athena) invites readers to discard illusions about human generosity, arguing that altruism–or “increasing the survival chances of another at the expense of one’s own”–is “almost always illusory,” that natural selection pushes all organisms into selfishness by a process he terms “evolutionarily stable strategy,” and that the universal ESS dictates that “an individual should see to his interests at the expense of those weaker than himself.” From this jolting start, a view of existence certain to alienate some readers, Sweet reviews the lives of notorious male fighters from history and contemporary life, to illustrate the basic steps to achieve victory in such a world.

Despite the language of evolutionary selfishness, Sweet examines themes of struggle and triumph over adversity, and portrays his profiled leaders as having objectives beyond themselves–at times, to serve the good of the larger society, as in Caesar’s disruption of the oligarchy of the late Roman Republic. This good of the larger society, then, is in service to a larger Evolutionarily Stable Strategy. Sweet takes care to emphasize that “fighting” should not be defined solely by violence, but the majority of people he uses as examples, with the exception of Bill Gates, are accomplished warriors.

The history that Sweet tells is fascinating, and always connected to his broader arguments. Reviewing stages of successful fighting, he covers topics such as how to effectively study an opponent (pointing out that many commanders were victorious simply because they were misunderstood by their rivals) and why striking in combination is a powerful method of offensive fighting. The intricacy of his accounts can be daunting, particularly of battles and campaigns that become challenging to track without maps or illustrations; endmatter includes a bibliography for further research.

Takeaway: History-loving readers with some fight in them will appreciate Sweet’s survey of powerful men, how they’ve fought, and what they reveal.

Great for fans of: Andrew Roberts’s Napoleon: A Life, Gerald A. Michaelson and Steven Michaelson’s Sun Tzu: The Art of War for Managers.

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

Click here for more about Life Fighting

Maxwell (The Month After September) stuns and surprises in this psychological thriller centered at the house that stands at 2165 Hillside in New Rochelle, New York. Ralph, the first of the described “incantations of ghosts” to haunt the house, is an elderly man eerily fascinated with Sally, the young girl whose family moves in after Ralph’s death. Sally uses ASL to “communicate with Ralph,” and she reveals that her older sister, Celina, had gone missing after a date set up through an online chat room. What follows is Sally’s quest “to fly and find [her] sister,” opening the door to an intense–and at times hard-to-stomach–ride that spans life, death, and timelines.

Maxwell has crafted a myriad of dismaying characters, including a sadistic former cult member and kidnapper (among other things), a child pornography fan turned rapist, and the diabolical cult leader who catalyzed it all. Much of the novel takes place when Sally is a young girl, and her quest is not for the faint of heart. Readers will find themselves simultaneously disgusted, scared, and fascinated by how the loose threads and varying viewpoints will come together in the end. Rest assured–although the story becomes tangled, particularly when characters swap names, time periods, and relationships with each other, all of the ghosts of 2165 Hillside’s past will be exorcized by the end.

A slew of different narrators deliver this story in a way that affords readers the chance to play detective, but buyer beware: some of the text will be difficult to forget, especially some sex scenes. Readers will be gripped by the novel’s fast pace once the groundwork is laid, but a natural aversion to some of the characters may at times override the thrills. Maxwell ties up the ending nicely but leaves plenty for readers to think about after the last page is turned.

Takeaway: A harrowing ghost story in which a young girl struggles to separate truth from fiction and save her kidnapped sister.

Great for fans of: Julia Heaberlin’s Paper Ghosts, Ania Ahlborn’s Within These Walls.

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

Click here for more about 2165 Hillside

Treviso’s engaging historical novel of revolution and revenge, his accomplished debut, deepens the Puzo-fied public perception of Sicily and its history while offering the vivid, often bloody story of the Sicilian Vespers, the epochal 13th century uprising of the island kingdom’s people—and its stiletto-mastering cavaleri warriors—against the French king and his Angevin army. At the tale’s heart is Aetna, the young daughter of one of those knights, her name pointedly suggesting Mount Etna, a Sicilian volcano ready, like the island’s oppressed people, to blow. After bearing witness to tragic violence in her childhood, Aetna at age 20 becomes the living proof of her father’s words: “We are not fearful, because we know that as Sicilians, no matter where we are thrown, we will always land standing.”

This epic telling of a story too rarely told is powered by that zeal, as Treviso vaults ahead in time, from Aetna’s childhood to the hours before Vespers–a chapter-heading timestamps add a thriller’s momentum to a novel deeply concerned with character, history, and the immersive dramatization of long-gone ways of life—but also enduring truths about courage, loyalty, and honor. Treviso proves adept at presenting vicars and generals, cathedrals and markets and a dazzling cave, and the horror and glory of fighting for what matters, as Aetna of the volcanic spirit faces overwhelming odds—and connects ever more deeply to her home and its people.

The action is crisp, clear, brutal, and frequent, and Treviso’s not shy about terror and torture: General Rochefort, a memorable villain, relies so often on a neck vise the he keeps it cinched to his belt. Readers who prefer historical fiction with less extravagant violence may be jolted by the stabbings and gaping wounds, but those who prefer martial adventure and tales of revolution, regardless of genre, will find much here to relish, tremble at, and in the end cheer.

Takeaway: This vigorous retelling of a 13th century Sicilian revolution will dazzle fans of martial historical fiction.

Great for fans of: Ernest K. Gann’s Masada, Bernard Cornwell.

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

Click here for more about Siciliana

Haven’s intimate prequel-memoir to My Whorizontal Life: An Escort’s Tale offers a sort of origin story, telling a story of growing up female in America, where “all men are wolves” and a desire for sex and love is made tricky by the two sometimes seeming mutually exclusive. This volume covers the author’s life from body exploration with a friend at seven, to navigating youthful popularity, sexuality, and connection, up to her freshman college year at seventeen, as she takes steps to achieve her dream of being an actress. The author’s sex work is covered in the earlier book, though some of the stories she shares here are frank, including accounts of assault, rape, and abortion.

A Someday Courtesan traces an emotional arc from Haven’s often difficult early experiences with men, plus her urge toward people-pleasing, to the later satisifaction she finds in sex work. The connection might come through more clearly if the earlier chapters, told in a youthful voice, offered more introspection and reflection. Later chapters have more in-the-moment realness but lack much introspection, obligating readers to step into underage trauma without a strong sense of why they are doing so.

The story of Haven’s secret relationship with an older man, and her inability to relate to her peers after his death, has a fairytale mood that adult readers may find disturbing but emotionally impactful. Sections concerning the author’s relationship to acting follow the book’s most thoughtful growth path: her adoration of a successful peer, her willingness to suspend disbelief about the older “agent” taking nudes of her in his apartment, her success in using her physicality in a well-received comic role, and the final vignette of the book, in which she discovers how to embody a character through tapping into her own experience, carry readers along her path of self-discovery.

Takeaway: A sex worker reflects on her earliest years, experiences with love and sex, and discovery of who she is.

Great for fans of: Melissa Febos’s Girlhood, Sita Kaylin’s Anything but a Wasted Life.

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

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