This disjointed outing from Alderson (The Witch and His Crow) blends chilling suspense and tepid queer romance into an unsatisfying whole. When William Thorn’s partner, Archie Thomas, dies in a tragic accident, William inherits decrepit Hanbury Manor, the Thomas family residence in the Cotswolds. Mired in grief, guilt, and anger, William decides to spend an experimental week at the decidedly haunted manor. What little peace he finds is soon interrupted by blandly amiable Edward Jones, who has come to the manor seeking the truth of what happened to a long-lost family member. Together the men work to piece together the events in 1939 that led to the permanent parting of two lovers, with one disappearing and the other dying by suicide. This mystery is unfortunately undermined by baffling characterization, puzzling details that lead nowhere, and an unpleasant (if understandably so) protagonist. A shocking twist near the end undermines much of the novel’s final act and will leave many readers frustrated. Gothic horror fans will be better served elsewhere. Agent: Hannah VanVels Ausbury, Belcastro Agency. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/04/2025 | Details & Permalink

A remote Irish island with an insular community of crusty locals provides the perfect backdrop for this riveting splice of suspense and folklore from Sharpson (Knock Knock, Open Wide). Inishbannock is just recovering from a deadly “outbreak” (though an outbreak of what goes unspecified) when one of its victims, Mara Fitch, claws her way out of her grave, having been mistakenly buried alive. At least that’s what her caretakers tell her, since Mara has no memory of the life she lived before. But as Mara tries to rebuild her identity from the stories fed to her by locals, she uncovers inconsistencies that lead her to suspect she’s being gaslighted about both her life and her death. Even more mysterious, she chances upon a series of photos spanning nearly a century of a person who closely resembles her. While Mara tries to make sense of these discoveries, something slaughters the island’s sheep, prompting residents—who seem to know more than they tell—to take up arms. Sharpson marshals a large cast of distinctive characters and weaves the subplots spun from their individual motivations for hiding the truth into a dark history leavened with Irish myth and legend. The result is sure to enchant readers with a taste for folk horror. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/04/2025 | Details & Permalink

Mehta (The Liar’s Weave) explores the bond of sisterhood in this ambitious, dreamlike epic. Myung and Laleh live together in the belly of the whale of babel, “a creature of boundless generosity... filled with many worlds” that the sisters devote themselves to discovering and recording. Then Myung moves out, eager to explore the expansive universe outside the whale and learn more about the whale’s creator, the Great Wisa. She eventually settles on Ojda, the island where Wisa’s sister, Magali Kilta, lives, surrounded by the ghosts of her family, whom Magali keeps trapped. There, Myung learns the true history of Wisa. Meanwhile, Laleh mourns the loss of her sister, as does Magali, who misses Wisa terribly. The four women’s stories unfold through fragmented fables and myth, excerpted scholarly reports and appendices, and sketchy histories, all of which gradually reveal how interconnected Myung, Laleh, Wisa, and Magali truly are. There’s some meandering along the way, but Mehta cleverly brings the plot full-circle in a satisfying finale. Readers are sure to be impressed. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

Drawing from Scottish folklore surrounding seal-women, Gruender (Medusa) crafts an enchanting tale about autonomy and trust. Owen comes upon selkie Quinn as she’s exploring her human form for the first time and steals her seal pelt, trapping her into a marriage. Selkies are supposed to bring luck and fortune, but Quinn rages against her entrapment, repeatedly tearing their house apart in her desperate search for her pelt. Seven years later, Quinn’s children discover the pelt while playing hide and seek and bring it to their mother, who seizes the chance to escape. Returned to the sea, Quinn finds that she’s still not safe. Her herd have abandoned her and she is hunted by Owen, who refuses to let her go. When she’s injured in her flight from him, Quinn seeks refuge on the island where she was first discovered all those years ago. A lighthouse has been built there in the interim, manned by three lighthouse keepers. Now Quinn must decide if, after all that humans have put her through, she can trust them to help her. Toggling between past and present, Gruender uses mythology to show the best and worst of humanity. The result is sure to please readers looking for folkloric retellings outside of Greek mythology. Agent: Melanie Figueroa, Root Literary. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

MacLean (The Phoenix Keeper) hits all the right notes in this rip-roaring romantasy, the first in her Beasts of the Void series. In a world where human-eating monsters called daeyari rule over human villages and demand sacrifice in exchange for protection and basic necessities, human Fionamara “Fi” Kolbeck smuggles supplies through the Void, a space between dimensions, to keep her village thriving without having to rely on the beneficence of its daeyari Antal. After a job goes horribly wrong and Fi winds up in the middle of a terrorist attack against the capitol building where Antal lives, she’s apprehended and forced to work with the daeyari to investigate. Fi initially abhors the idea, but as she spends more time with Antal, she develops intense feelings for him—antlers, tail, fangs, and all. As they embark on a passionate affair, they discover a grave threat against the village. To combat it, they’ll need the entire village onboard, but convincing Fi’s fellow humans to support a daeyari will be difficult. MacLean expertly balances romance and fantasy, keeping up the plot’s momentum without skimping on steamy scenes. Monster romance fans should snap this up. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

Returning to 16th-century Mexico, Lares’s stunning conclusion to the duology that began with Sun of Blood and Ruin delivers all the complex historical and political drama fans expect. It picks up shortly after the first book left off: shape-shifter Leonora has been living in hiding in her panther form, called Pantera, for some time. However, duty to her people, who are dying from the pox brought by the Spaniards, forces her return to the capital and to the fight for justice. After so long as Pantera, however, her tonalli, the “vital force” that enables her to shape-shift, is severely depleted, rendering her powers much reduced. This makes the danger more intense than ever before. In immersive prose, Lares conjures a Mexico caught up in conflict between the greed of invading Europeans and Indigenous resistance, where gods are omnipresent, and where a return of the land to its native people seems, however difficult, almost within reach. Lares expertly reveals the inner workings of her lead characters and integrates the fantasy elements seamlessly into the political plot. This stuns. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

Margariti (The Saint of Witches) packs an impressive amount of postapocalyptic worldbuilding into this slick novella. An event called the Quickening transformed a segment of humanity into cannibalistic Eaters. Years later in the devastated city of Kronos, Mayor Pappas runs for reelection planning to continue his program of imprisoning the Eaters in high-security gulag Kratos. Opposing him is rich, powerful Eater Jonah March who’s planning an uprising with help from her lover Evi, recently released from Kratos and now an overnight sensation for speaking out about the government-sanctioned abuse she suffered. Meanwhile Evi’s sister, Nora, an introverted hacker, struggles with guilt for both chomping down her queer-platonic-partner, Eden, and allowing Evi to take the fall. March tasks Nora with stealing laboratory data from Kratos, hoping to prove the Quickening was not a virus, as the government claims, but a genetic mutation. To cinch Nora’s cooperation, she reveals that Eden is alive and a Crimson Ribbon, someone who possesses a symbiotic genetic mutation that allows their body tissue to heal. Reunited, the pair embark on the dangerous mission. On its own, the DNA devilry and government cover-up could fill a novel, but Margariti also makes room for interpersonal angst; a drug-enhanced, trauma-filled sibling relationship; and queer eroticism. This first outing is a page-turner and a generous sampler of what’s to come. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

Ceren debuts with a lush, emotionally charged romantasy that threads ancient cursework, divine intervention, and coming-of-age vulnerability into a rich tapestry of self-discovery. Sare Silverbirch lives under a peculiar curse: five heartbreaks before her 18th birthday will end her life, and she’s already endured four. The latest, her mother’s sudden death, leaves Sare barely clinging to life when she is invited by the grandfather she thought long dead to live with him in Istanbul. There she meets handsome, enigmatic seer Leon Dumanoğlu, who has unexpected ties to her family’s tangled past. As their bond deepens and Sare’s birthday approaches, the danger increases, especially as meddling celestial beings work to seal her fate. Istanbul’s vibrant markets, the mysterious pull Sare feels toward the Maiden’s Tower, and the quiet intimacy of her grief are rendered with immersive detail, and though the romantic arc feels a tad rushed, the emotional core is solid. Fans of Stephanie Garber’s Once Upon a Broken Heart will want to check this out. Agent: Elizabeth Counsell, Northbank Talent Management. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

Tongues wag in Tombstone, Tex., when a van full of beer-drinking, shoe-avoidant 20-year-olds crashes the funeral for Sweet Potato Grace, a local cat. The ensuing gently whimsical coming-of-age narrative from debut author Okonsky is narrated by kitty’s bereft owner, Pinky Swear. While grieving her dumpster-diving “best friend,” Pinky also navigates relationships with her overbearing mother and gossipy group of girl buddies, none of whom know she’s gay. (Pinky had intended to come out during the eulogy, but the unplanned arrival shattered her courage.) Still, she manages to befriend the barefoot newcomers, who spend most of their time partying while the hostile locals try to figure out who they are and why they’re there. When the “nefarious” strangers raise a flag depicting Sweet Potato Grace over their rental house, it prompts rumors that they are a cat-worshipping cult. As Pinky’s high school friends set out to rescue her from the “wacko-jacko” cult, Pinky develops feelings for one of the barefoot women, Mars. But when she learns the shocking truth about her new friends, she must decide what she wants her life to look like. Okonsky’s light touch with a late speculative twist makes for a fun and happy ending. With its humorous, slice-of-life portrayal of rural Texas and sweet sapphic romance, this is sure to charm. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

YA author Fagan (A Game of Noctis) bites off more than she can chew in her mixed-bag adult debut. Soldier Sephre left military life to devote herself to the god, known as the Phoenix, as an ashdancer with the House of Dawn, responsible for the ritual burning of the dead. When an unusual number of dead bodies start piling up, possibly due to attacks by evil lizard beasts called skotoi, the House of Dawn tasks Sephre with investigating—a mission that leads to unexpected love with a mysterious stranger, Nilos. Meanwhile, Bassaran spy Yeneris goes undercover as a bodyguard for Helissoni Princess Sinoe, whose gift for prophecy is exploited by her father, Hierax, the self-proclaimed Ember King reborn. Yeneris’s mission is to recover a saint’s bones on behalf of her people, but as she and Sinoe spend time together, love blossoms. These two narrative threads eventually merge as Sephre, Yeneris, and Sinoe recognize the true enemy lurking within the kingdom. The worldbuilding is atmospheric and the ritualistic magic system fascinates, but the narrative isn’t particularly fresh, and Fagan’s attempt to juggle two couples leaves both underdeveloped. It’s a rocky start. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink