Tirado-Ryen probes the limits of love in this sweet coming-of-age debut. At 18, Arkansas native Connie Baltimore has never had a serious boyfriend. Though she’s eager to discover romance, it’s not high on her list—she’s more interested in finishing high school than she is in chasing boys. Plus, her best friend, Dee, does plenty of that for both of them: she’s brash, outspoken, and dates guys just “for the sex.” While trying to navigate young adulthood, Connie’s world is upended: her older sister’s marriage is on the rocks and forces her to move back home, and her father’s best friend, Nick, who’s struggling to recover from his wife’s death, ends up staying with the family as well.

Young adult readers will find much to relate to here. Despite the turmoil at home, Connie is very much the average high school senior, trying to find her place in the world while navigating the storms that accompany young adulthood. When sparks start to fly between her and Nick, things get exponentially more complicated: Nick’s close to her father’s age, a hurdle the two have yet to truly think through, resulting in their decision to keep their romance under wraps. And there’s convincingly drawn trouble on the friendship front as well: though Dee and Connie experience some of the same rites of passage, they couldn’t be more different—and that difference eventually leads to a rift in their relationship, made more serious by Connie’s romance with Nick.

Tirado-Ryen doesn’t shy away from the harder topics. Connie has a pregnancy scare that brings up some weighty options, and Dee’s struggles with sexual and physical abuse, handled sensitively, simmer throughout the novel. The central romance stays mellow but also serves as a major catalyst in Connie’s life, though the ending, which may shock readers, comes rather abruptly, and feels hurried. Still, The Secrets Inside proves appealing as it plumbs the heart.

Takeaway: A forbidden romance gives this sweet coming-of-age story an edge.

Comparable Titles: Marie Force’s Georgia on My Mind, Jenn Bennett’s Starry Eyes.

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

Click here for more about The Secrets Inside

Clarke’s elaborate debut fantasy offers spirited humor, fresh and winning language, and a spirit of go-for-broke invention as it mixes surprises and perspectives in a somewhat chaotic solution. In the town of Wontmoil, apothecary Growina Crowe is lonely, so when witch friend Margaret Bograven gives her a discarded grimoire, Growina attempts to cast the spell “To summon an otherworldly companion.” But Growina knows she’s not a witch: she skips some parts and is accident prone around burning candles and boiling over tea. Soon the local bank places a bounty on the mystery beast that ate off its locks. The bounty hunting Team Wontmoil is formed, consisting of Growina; the condescending wizard Theo; the three witch Bograven Sisters; and twin space aliens Zizel and Zemni who can create a physical object out of whatever word they speak.

As that summary suggests, Clarke’s world building draws from many genres and traditions, a mash-up approach whose moment-to-moment fun at times lacks context and coherence. The sense of a story getting out of hand, in fact, is written into the plot. The point of view switches from Growina to that of Florian Honeybeard, a female impersonator thespian who is kidnapped by mercenaries who mistake him for a soothsayer. Coerced into guiding leader Captain Beatrix Bodkins to a fortune, Florian invents an accidentally prophetic story about a tentacled beast wreaking havoc in Wontmoil. Bodkin, riding a chair with animated monster legs, drags Florian in pursuit, along with painter Wardric, whose artwork creates in reality whatever he paints, and a ghost made of sand in a box.

These many elements also collide in a fantasy world where nearly anything can happen with few clear rules. Readers invested in traditional plotting may wander, but many inventions here engage. Growina is a sympathetic character who yearns to get out of her shell, be useful, and make friends. The bats that carry messages like carrier pigeons and excerpts from the Lazy Botanist’s Guide are bold, fun touches.

Takeaway: Wildly inventive fantasy fun, with no clear rules.

Comparable Titles: Genevieve Cogman, T. Kingfisher.

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

Click here for more about How to Fix a Flubbed Summon

Future mercenary Cain searches for deeper meaning amidst the body count and corporate skullduggery in this searching cyber-future action thriller from James (author of The Parnell Affair), the first in the Cain Series. Rising up from petty crime in the flooded streets of Brooklyn to become a high-class mercenary who operates in shades of moral gray, Cain, a soldat de fortune, describes himself as “the man that goes through that door”—he gets the job done. But, with every inventive score he undertakes—from infiltrating orbital space stations, a one-man corporate prison bust, or leading commandos to steal experimental technology—he finds his personal life with girlfriend Francesca Pieralisi, the corruption-fighting mayor of sea-wall-protected Venice, threatening to come undone.

As the title suggests, Ethos of Cain strives to unpack the mind and heart of the eponymous mercenary, blending introspection with action, espionage, and the surprises of a class-divided future where humanity has expanded into the solar system but remains resilient in its corruptibility. James offers a hero of unrivaled skill and, at first, nearly inaccessible morality, but then strives to deepen Cain, especially through the relationship with Francesca, as Cain must reckon with the man he’s become, and if it’s who he wants to be. The adventure will give him opportunity, of course, as James stages crisp, surprising action involving corp-cops, airfoils, TransAtmovVettes, and other innovations crafted to please SF and cyber-punk fans.

Cain can be a bit of a mope, and at times the introduction of this world comes at the expense of narrative momentum, but James excels at making it all feel real, from planning missions to the way the wealthy separate themselves from everyone else. Dialogue often has a fun, seedy spirit (“Don’t think we’ll need this much beef,” the standout Scarlatti says upon meeting Cain), and the tantalizing conspiracies, future tech, mission planning, and Cain’s reliable old .45 and the possibility of a mega-score will please lovers of SF action.

Takeaway: Future mercenary confronts the truth of himself in this action-packed thriller.

Comparable Titles: RJ Roder’s Rise of Metal, Joel Shepherd’s Crossover.

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

Click here for more about Ethos of Cain

Openshaw’s surprising novel of art, aging, and what life’s all about is three books in one. There is the awed but irreverent quest of protagonist Sam, an artist facing a troubled marriage and a dearth of inspiration, moved to undertake a “kind of crazy spiritual quest”: to trace the construction of Michaelangelo’s Tomb of Pope Julius II, perhaps the great artist’s greatest challenge, intended to be “A work of art on a scale that hadn’t been attempted in a thousand years.” Sam’s friend Burke links Michelangelo’s mid-life crisis to Sam’s own malaise. “Some men get a red sports car and a trophy wife,” Burke says. “Michelangelo built a Tomb.” As Sam digs into what went wrong half a millennia ago, Openshaw offers an in-depth history of Michelangelo’s life and career, plus elements of a travel guide, complete with photos, illustrations and informative maps and cartoons, documenting real journeys—and the story of the tomb itself, a grand project that never worked out like Michelangelo had envisioned.

Openshaw is a seasoned tour guide and veteran travel-television show writer, and his expertise in Italy, art, and Michelangelo in particular shines on nearly each page. Meanwhile, Sam’s sandwich-generation troubles—painful divorce; trying to help his aging parents; maintaining a relationship with his young daughter—has him reeling. His admission, in a seedy Bologna hotel, that he has “no home” suggests Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, while accomplished passages of travel writing bring Italy to touching life.

Sam finds some relief in spirited carousing and a hopeful romance, and his travails are wittily juxtaposed against those of his idol, Michelangelo, though at times the balance between the novel’s three modes favors the informative, as Openshaw digs deeply into Renaissance sculpture, patronage, politics and more, considering theories of why the tomb became something of a footnote. Still, Openshaw’s depiction of Michelangelo as a human being with faults and frailties is fascinating. Michelangelo at Midlife is like a trip to Italy, edifying, informative, and unpredictable.

Takeaway: Surprising novel of art, history, and mid-life crises, including Michelangelo’s.

Comparable Titles: Stephanie Storey’s Oil and Marble, Theresa Maggio’s Mattanza: Love and Death in the Sea of Sicily.

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

Click here for more about Michelangelo at Midlife

Urging a pivot toward fulfillment, control, and flow in one’s work and career, Galica’s up-to-date debut offers motivational testament to the possibility of career-minded women taking risks, moving past fear of the unknown, and trailblazing their own paths to greater success. Galica notes that “two-thirds of the female workforce is wondering whether they should not just leave their jobs but change industries entirely." Her practical-minded guide offers clear lessons in becoming "unstuck" from draining and unfulfilling career choices. Sharing inspiring interviews with women who made the “leap,” and drawing from her personal experience, Galica delves into why women often feel dissatisfied at work, how to embrace what matters most, and what it takes to bet on themselves—and discover career paths that are more engaging and rewarding.

While Galica writes with a coach’s warm directness, Leap acknowledges the real challenges that can stymie workers’ seeking more. She considers the familiar advice “to align career with your passion” and makes the case that, often, passion isn’t enough. Instead, she argues that playing to one’s strengths and “replacing 'follow your passion' with 'go where you want to contribute'" is crucial, especially for women, who often are made to feel “guilty or uncomfortable switching careers just for passion’s sake.”

Galica backs up insights like that with hard-won wisdom and action steps, engaging reflection exercises, and compelling, on-point testimony from women who dared to leap—and flourish, including heavy hitters like filmmaker Ava DuVernay and celebrity chef Ina Garten. Touchingly, Galica considers the example of her own mother, who over time, unable to let go of “socioeconomic guilt and fear,” resisted making a change, until at last, in her fifties, she followed her joy, her strengths, and her sense of where she wanted to contribute, returning to school and starting fresh. Leap demonstrates that such happy endings don’t have to be put off.

Takeaway: Wise, action-oriented guide for women considering career changes.

Comparable Titles: Karen Arrington's Your Next Level Life, Tessa White's The Unspoken Truths for Career Success.

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

Click here for more about Leap

Tirado-Ryen (author of Forgetting Me) explores the relationship between two sisters, Kim and Dena, who are mourning their mother’s loss in the early 2000s. Their dynamic is fraught: Kim rues that beautiful Dena seems to have everything, a great career and a doting husband, while Kim is stuck in a boring job and a stagnant relationship with boyfriend, Jared—rather than “I love you,” Kim and Jared settle for “Care for you a lot.” Close to Christmas, Dena asks Kim to watch her daughter, Summer, so that Dena and her husband, Jonathan, can enjoy a child-free vacation. (“When did I last see Dena’s kid?” Kim wonders. “Her fourth birthday party?”) After a shaky start, though, something unexpected occurs: Kim and her niece discover they enjoy time together. But as Kim starts whipping her life into shape, she finds to her dismay that, in truth, things are not that great between Dena and Jonathan.

Tirado-Ryen’s story moves smoothly, traveling between the 2000s and the 1990s, sharing vivid glimpses into the reasons for the near rupturing in the bond between the sisters. While the emotions are resonant, the gentle humor and brisk prose give Two Weeks of Summer an appealingly light touch. All the characters are well etched and engaging, presented with empathy and, at the novel’s best, a plafyul sense of surprise. Scenes of bullying that Kim endured in school and the struggles, in the past, of the sisters’ single mother are memorable and effective.

Tirado-Ryen draws attention to how different people cope differently with grief and loss and though to all outward appearances some seem to have moved on, in reality, they haven’t. Some incidents, including a makeover and a confrontation with a childhood tormenter, play out as expected, but this bright, feel good novel about sisterly love, female friendships, and the meaning of family offers heaps of heart.

Takeaway: Buoyant, well-told story of sisters reconnecting while coping with loss.

Comparable Titles: Claire LaZebnik's The Smart One and the Pretty One, Megan Crane’s Names My Sisters Call Me.

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

Click here for more about Two Weeks of Summer

In the dark romantic comedy of reconciliations and fresh beginnings, Fanning (author of The Armchair Bride and Rebuilding Alexandra Small) introduces readers to widower Silas Elijah French, a 67 year-old unemployed New York department store Santa as he attempts to mend a broken relationship with his estranged gay son, Joey, and 68 year-old Ellen Gitelman, a widow struggling with a recent Lupus diagnosis only five years into cancer remission. Broke and desperate to see his son, Silas applies for a Santa gig on a two-week holiday cruise to Florida where Joey resides with his husband and two kids. Expecting to make enough money to surprise his son and the grandchildren he’s never seen, Silas accepts the job on the gay cruise line. He didn’t expect an international drug smuggling operation, snoring drag queens, a shady priest, or the pleasant jolt of meeting Ellen, a woman whose eyes reminded him of his late wife.

Fanning tugs at emotions from the opening pages showing Silas, a broken man severely down on his luck and anxious about reaching out to his son, and Ellen, who is still reeling from her Lupus diagnosis. They meet aboard the MS Viking after Ellen mistakenly buys tickets for the gay cruise and literally falls into his arms. The budding romance often takes a backseat to the mayhem aboard the ship and complicated but engaging relationships among crew members and other passengers, like Patrick and Kathy Lucey, a brother and sister duo who bicker incessantly.

Fanning has weaved a tale that has it all—romance, humor, drama, mystery, and suspense. Despite Silas and Ellen having a lot in common and enjoying each other’s company, their relationship doesn’t really power a story that instead has at its heart friendships and family bonds. Fanning’s prose and dialogue are crisp, brisk, and incisive, and the characterization is strong in this novel that’s ideal for readers who love diverse casts, surprising connections, and healing relationships, with much comic complication.

Takeaway: Emotional story of healing relationships and being there for the ones we love.

Comparable Titles: Stephen McCauley’s My Ex-Life, Audra North’s Midlife Crisis.

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

Click here for more about Ghosted

In O’Donnell’s spirited debut, a grisly Californian dystopia, Abilene “Abbie” Spencer is an 18-year-old living in a class-segregated Eureka in 2040, where the prosperous half of the wall-divided city, Port Allegiance, holds the majority of wealth and the rest of Eureka “only [...] serve[s] Port Allegiance.” Living conditions are so atrocious that Abbie won’t even let herself dream of a better life, away from squalor and the city’s serial killer, but her uncle Jesse encourages her to apply for work in Port Allegiance to escape her depressed, addict parents and abusive boyfriend, Ty, who hectors her audacity: “You and your worthless ideas to earn money for college. Never gonna happen, baby.” But it does. Abbie gets a job working as a house servant at the prestigious estate, Redwood Manor, and discovers life on the other side of the wall—and the conspiracy shaping her world.

Fast-paced, suspenseful, and at times horrifying, O’Donnell’s compelling plot offers a prophetic imagining of American life in a capitalist totalitarian regime, though the world-building, localized to the Cold War Berlin-inspired split city, will leave readers eager for more information about this fallen future. The story develops with page-turning power: apart from having to deal with Mrs. De Young, the unpleasant owner of Redwood Manor, Abbie's working conditions, pay, and coworker relationships are better than she ever dared to imagine back in Eureka, especially with the sudden appearance of Dylan, an old flame. Abbie, meanwhile, proves an engaging, surprising character.

Abbie discovers the sinister schemes that fuel Redwood Manor and Port Allegiance as a whole, and what begins as a first step towards a new life plummets into a nightmare that threatens to wipe out the entire human population. Young readers should beware of the book’s depictions of violence and abuse, including sexual abuse, but on the whole, Tetherless, the first of O’Donnell’s Port Allegiance Chronicles, is a promising, debut with a classic setup: one young woman disrupting an empire.

Takeaway: Gritty story of a bold young woman in a class-segregated future California.

Comparable Titles:Tehlor Kay Mejia’s We Set the Dark on Fire series, Lauren Oliver’s Delirium.

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

Click here for more about Tetherless

Vattic's charming debut introduces Mr. Daisy, a fearsome giant with a flower on his bald head. Haunted by his sister's death, Mr. Daisy maintains a nomadic and solitary lifestyle save for his cosmic companion and guardian, Joy, who imbues his life with mischief and magic. At Almond Bay, he works as a temporary substitute teacher at Blue Diamond Elementary School, and meets a class of kindergarten kids, including the Three Terrors: the prank masterminds who believe "all substitutes were evil." Amidst the innocent mischief he grows to love and the comradeship he forms with his co-teachers, the stars align for Mr. Daisy to finally confront his inner demons.

A book for all ages, Mr. Daisy shines in the distinct portrayal of children's unique qualities, offering the readers a delightful world with nothing short of wonder and boundless creativity through classroom activities, playful descriptions of the Three Terrors' pranks, and a background of the kids' lives outside school. Parallel to that is Vattic's remarkable ability to alter the tone as Mr. Daisy meets the grim hostility of his childhood. Elsewhere, Vattic's storytelling offers a glimpse into Mr. Daisy’s life when he joins the Republic army shortly after his sister's death, evoking the loneliness and grief that overshadows his openness to an enjoyable life.

These humane subplots are rooted more in character than high-stakes fantasy drama, a grounded approach that will prove alluring to readers seeking thoughtful, rooted storytelling. Mr. Daisy encounters a community filled with kindness and compassion, the necessary ingredients to counter false perceptions of oneself and to accept any leftover childhood trauma and regretful decisions made. "Everyone has scars from their past that helped shape who they are, but it never defines them," Mr. Daisy tells his love interest Leena White. Without fully knowing, he is the one who needs the most convincing.

Takeaway: A gentle giant's unexpected playful ride to healing the past.

Comparable Titles: Paul Zindel, Benjamin Alire Saenz.

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

Click here for more about Mr. Daisy: A Low Fantasy Slice of Life Novel

Berry, a professional sword-swallower, juggler, and yoga instructor, shares surprising anecdotes from his life, ranging from harrowing accounts of being bullied in his childhood to bold endeavors as an adult, like surfing 21-foot waves and intervening to stop a rape. The stories absolutely move, as the title suggests, each carrying a message or meaning that he took from them, from lessons about how to cope with being abused, to coping with grief after the loss of the beloved cat Whiskey (introduced as “just a dark-furred little girl alone in the world”), to knowing when it's time to take decisive action in order to help others. A number of the stories focus on his difficult childhood, as his brothers frequently terrorized him despite his wanting to love them. His father, despite being loving in many ways (as shown in helping him build a go-kart), was also depicted as physically violent. One story where Berry fought back is especially disturbing.

Berry’s philosophical, instructive, and humanistic messages leaven the themes of death and violence, as he recounts learning from a young age that it's not always possible to save the ones you love. He also learns that bullies look for easy prey—and the urgency of protecting yourself, a skill he quickly developed. As an adult, he writes about subjects ranging from unique forms of revenge on kids pestering him to a near-death but exhilarating experience as a surfer. Brushes with death and violence persist, like in a terrifying story of a bloody fight with his girlfriend's drunken, murderous father, told with polish, power, and welcome insight.

He concludes with a story about helping out at the scene of a car accident, discussing the other helpers, and finally revealing that everyone there was of a different race and background. For a moment, everyone there was "humans and nothing more." That’s Berry's message: when we treat each other with compassion, as humans, we're capable of great kindness. When we treat each other as things to be used, violence usually follows.

Takeaway: Humane, harrowing stories of a life facing violence and danger.

Comparable Titles: R. Layla Salek’s Chaos in Color, Lee Smith’s Dimestore.

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

Click here for more about Stories That Move

Wesslen’s debut novel offers a charming, nostalgic coming-of-age story that transcends its time and place. When his father tells eleven-year-old Jayson “Jay” Zimmerman that the family is moving from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts, he’s upset that his life will be upended—again. After moving five times in his ten years, Jay worries that he will not be able to “plant new roots” like his parents suggest—particularly when it comes to making friends. But things begin looking up when his new neighbors Paul, Kenny, and Matt invite him to play a game of sandlot baseball.

Though Jay has quite an arm, he’s got a lot to learn off the baseball field. Some of his challenges are unique, like his struggle to decipher his teacher’s Boston accent, but others are tried and true benchmarks of growing up: adjusting to a new school, making friends, dealing with bullies, surviving a first crush. While occasionally putting his foot in his mouth, Jay faces all his ups and downs with resilience and humor, including his sometimes-fraught relationship with his parents: Jay’s father wants him to pursue a military career, but Jay isn’t sure he shares his father’s vision of his future.

The story follows Jay from middle school to high school graduation, moving quickly and smoothly from one episode to the next, albeit occasionally at the expense of deeper reflection. However, Jay’s world has impressive depth thanks to Wesslen’s authentic depiction of the complexities beneath the calm surface of suburban middle-class life in the 1970s. Wesslen celebrates the era but does not sugar coat it: alongside references to the Carpenters, Happy Days, and Strat-O-Matic, he also includes glimpses of its racism and homophobia. Though younger readers may not recognize these historical and cultural references, they will be able to relate to Wesslen’s well-drawn, multifaceted characters that stumble as much as they succeed.

Takeaway: An honest, heartfelt story about growing up that will especially appeal to baseball fans.

Comparable Titles: Jordan Sonnenblick’s Curveball, Mike Lupica.

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

Click here for more about Ace on the Hill

Stanley (author of The Treasure of Cedar Creek) weaves this classic whodunit into a web of family secrets. The day she turns 18, Madison Moore packs up her car and leaves her family and her hometown of Orem, Utah, behind, fleeing the conventional path that her conservative Mormon parents and community expect her to follow. While she creates a happy life for herself in Nevada, graduating college and becoming a journalist, she remains nearly totally estranged from her family: her parents and brothers do not even attend her wedding. However, she reluctantly returns to Utah when her dying father wants to see her one last time.

Madison’s raw emotions ripple across the page as she reluctantly returns to her beautiful but stifling hometown and struggles to navigate her rocky relationships: her interactions with her mother are strained and painful, and her stilted conversations with her brothers devolve into angry fights . Initially, readers will share Madison’s frustration with her father’s vague, cryptic appeals that seem like distractions from her compelling emotional journey. But as Madison searches for answers, she discovers that her father’s anguish has more to do with her than she realized As she sits at her father’s bedside, Madison hopes that during his moments of lucidity they will be able to mend the ugly rift in their relationship.

But Stanley builds smoothly to revelations, like Madison’s father’s deeper purpose for their reunion: to ask for Madison’s help in freeing a woman wrongfully convicted for a murder he knows she didn’t commit. As Madison struggles to understand her father’s role in the injustice, she discovers that her family harbors more secrets than even she realized. Stanley unravels this mystery carefully and deliberately, often using Madison’s dialogue and internal monologue to recap her progress. An unexpected twist in the final chapters is surprising but well-earned, offering a satisfying synthesis of Madison’s past and her father’s last request.

Takeaway: Well-constructed mystery of family angst, redemption, and satisfying twists.

Comparable Titles: Charlie Donlea’s Twenty Years Later, Ashley Flowers’s All Good People Here.

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

Click here for more about The Still Small Voice

“Collaboration is about leveraging the power of the hive mind, not relying on groupthink,” McKinney writes in this rousing guide to the power and art of working together in business to achieve greater impacts than anyone can alone. Calling for readers to “reframe how we seek and offer service to others” and “break out of your limited perspective,” McKinney shares inspiring anecdotes and practical advice on ways to create networking opportunities and successful collaborations, emphasizing what it actually takes to become a productive and resourceful collaborator. Challenging common conceptions of the idea of "groupthink" and group projects—and addressing how to ensure an equitable division of work within them— McKinney offers clear guidance to ensure that all involved in the collaboration understand that they’re striving to win together, focused on the overall goals of the team.

McKinney writes with clarity and persuasive power, offering examples and action steps to approaching potential collaborations and gauging whether partnerships will work out in everyone's best interest. Her experience shines throughout, in clarifying case studies of building successful partnerships, often drawn from her own career, plus fresh tools crafted through hard-won knowledge, such as her seven "anchors" to use as a reference point when attempting to find potential collaborators. McKinney convincingly argues that, once a reader has “honed your ability to seek out collaboration,” it can take just “five minutes” to evaluate whether a potential relationship ”is worth your time, if you have mutual interests, or if there’s something you can help each other with."

With ways on how to use the ever-shifting world of social media to find potential collaborators and cultivate beneficial partnerships, this is a strong resource for business leaders looking to network and branch out with like minded business partners. Anyone eager to update their thinking about the art of working together in business or on digital platforms will garner useful tips and educational information from this book.

Takeaway: Fresh, practical self-help guide focused on networking and collaboration.

Comparable Titles: Karen Wickre's Taking the Work Out of Networking, Joe Polish's What's in it for Them?

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

Click here for more about Collaboration is the New Competition

Newly single Charlie Goode returns to her small Oregon hometown, where her father is the police chief, to start off Comer’s Harvest Falls mystery series. Her old friend Addie has been found murdered, and the ensuing investigation upends the tourist town, bringing rivalries and jealousies to the surface. Charlie sets herself up as an amateur sleuth, despite some hesitations—“as if I knew anything more than Vera Stanhope or Stephanie Plum had taught me,” she muses, relatably. Still, she soon comes across all kinds of surprise connections, such as a long-ago suicide and local economic problems. The possibility of a new romance threatens to sidetrack Charlie, but at the end, with the assistance of her cousin Case, she cuts through all the small town rumors to find a killer—and learn some lessons.

Comer has a wonderful sense of small town rhythms and how the insular world breeds both deep connection but also deep resentments. He shows, through Charlie's eyes, how the same inter-family problems play across the generations and how deeply petty class differences can matter. Comer populates the town with a large, colorful cast, built to anchor a series, including an overeager baker and a delightfully loopy mayor, though at times it takes some work to keep track of all the interactions and connections. However, Charlie moves through the story at a nice clip, and readers will be pulling for her to reach the finish line.

In fact, aside from the story, readers will find themselves charmed by Charlie and her self-deprecating narration. One of the great pleasures of the book is seeing how Charlie grows emotionally: she's forced to take a fresh look at her hometown’s past and discovers things were not always as she had thought, a truth that possibly extends to a budding relationship, too. Also coming across as real is Charlie's connection with her father, as she helps and defends him, and their bonding at the end is moving. Readers will look forward to Charlie's next case.

Takeaway: Promising start to a small-town mystery series, in the classic mode.

Comparable Titles: Caroline Graham, Kate Atkinson.

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

Click here for more about A Dagger Among Friends (Harvest Falls Mysteries Book 1)

Loftus’s fourth poetry collection, following 2021’s Autumn is an intimate yet timeless remark on time’s weathering of the body, the mind, memory, spirituality, and art. “Laurels grow moldy // and rot just like me // faces grow old // on cinema screens,” Loftus writes in “Flimflam Man." Such is the grief of having lived and still living, but Loftus uses this sorrow as a starting point, as a foundation to explore what mysteries and surprises erupt from the experience of aging, like beauty, even in death, which Loftus describes in “The End of the World” as “a flutter in her chest, like a butterfly having trouble lifting from a flower.”

In Loftus’s poems, memories transcend beyond the intangible and enter the physical world; they attain a state of being and change like people, like the seasons. In “Naming the Animals” the poet compares memories to “animals [calling] us in the dark,” and in “Enamel,” a clawfoot tub “in the old house, a dozen miles and a decade off,” houses in its void what is left of “his preening, waning youth.” Loftus uses figments from his past as clay to sculpt poems that relate grand insights about what it is to experience the gift and curse of time, which come forth with particular clarity in “Craquelure.”

The poem begins with the speaker flipping through a book of Renior paintings with “such brittle, fragile pages,” and then imagining the painter and his muse’s “moments in the atelier [...] bound to linen, then and later, time no friend to canvas and paper.” The term “craquelure” refers to an imperfection, a mark of wear on the painting, on the flesh, but it lends a magnificence that can only exist after the ripening touch of time. The cracked canvas is a singular wonder, and so too is Loftus’s exquisitely frayed collection.

Takeaway: Autumnal collection of intimate poems that capture beauty in humanity and art.

Comparable Titles: Margaret Atwood’s Dearly, Donald Hall’s Affirmation.

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

Click here for more about Canvas

Promising that good music will live forever, Anthony’s debut tells the story of a band named Raw (Ready and Willing) and a club called Club Bamboo in a funky late 1970s of flirting and grinding to Kool & the Gang and Freddie Jackson, with disco inferno still burning but hip hop on the horizon. Among the members of this competitive cover band are siblings Vincent, Charles, Sam, Cheryl, Sue Ann, and Janet. Kate, their mother, leaves home in anger and sadness after discovering that her husband Cebo, the siblings’ father, has a large secret family, though she returns once she decides her children are more important to her. (She favors malt liquor and cigarettes “because living was a struggle.”) Later the focus of the story shifts to Marvel, the youngest sibling and a talented dancer who, encouraged by his parents, is all set to achieve his dreams.

Anthony’s story is a slice-of-life blending nostalgia—dance competitions, Soul Train, the Holy Ghost dance at church, couples-only songs, the thrill of hearing Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick at the club—with unflinching accounts of “living in a world full of hatred and racism.” Though mostly narrated in the third person, the narrative often slips into the first person, presumably from Marvel’s perspective. The author succeeds in capturing a vivid milieu and portraying the bonhomie and camaraderie of a large family and club scene, though many individual characters aren’t developed much, with some coming or going from the story with little introduction. The introduction of Lee David and Victor, Cebo’s brothers, seems contrived to demonstrate the importance of family. Their back stories are strikingly similar and they do not move the story forward.

The dialogue, frank and earthy, captures the nuances of the spoken word of the era, while bursts of sex and violence live up to the band’s name: raw. At times over-the-top and discursive, with storytelling that lacks narrative momentum, Club Bamboo nevertheless captures a time, place, and culture.

Takeaway: Vividly evoked story of a late 1970s R&B band, bursting with music.

Comparable Titles: Jacqueline Crooks’s Fire Rush, Rashod Ollison’s Soul Serenade.

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

Click here for more about Club Bamboo