This incisive extended essay, an accessible and engaging excerpt from Dees’s The Power of Peasants: Economics and the Politics of Farming in Medieval Germany, finds Dees taking apart an epochal treatise: Reverend Thomas Malthus’s An Essay on The Principle of Population, from 1798. Malthus advanced the enduring belief that it’s population growth among the lower classes that keeps the poor impoverished and ushers in many of the ills afflicting society—and that it’s a law of nature that the impoverished must suffer. Labeling Malthus a “theologian-propagandist-apologist-plagiarist for the ruling elite,” Dees makes the case that Malthus’s “fraud,” and the Malthusian ideology it fostered, has little connection to historical or economic reality and instead exemplifies an ongoing “attempt to preserve the status quo by concealing the root cause of problems in society and diverting blame for them away from the ruling class and onto scapegoats.”

With power and clarity, Dees dismantles Malthus’s claims, noting that the original essay reads more like a religious tract than an argument rooted in logic or science. He demonstrates how Malthus, with little evidence, blames the poor for overpopulation and, by extension, for the conditions in which they live—conditions that Malthus insisted should actually be worse, the better to disincentivize propagation. Dees, by contrast, draws on a wealth of history and data, plus outraged invective, lamenting the dichotomy between Malthus’s dearth of proof and the outsize influence of his claims over centuries.

The Malthus Fraud is well-documented, sharply argued, and never dry despite its scholarly heft. Dees offers a cogent, compact critique not just of Malthus’s “religious dogma [with] a pseudoscientific veneer” but of Malthusian ideology that still resonates today. This spirited critique will please readers outraged today at continuing efforts to shift blame for poverty onto the poor themselves—or, as Dees writes, “when that did not work, God’s will, the Jews, the witches, the weather, or anyone but the real culprits.”

Takeaway: Brisk, blistering critique of Malthus and Malthusian ideology.

Comparable Titles: Jeremy Popkin’s A New World Begins, Deborah Valenze’s The Invention of Scarcity.

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

Click here for more about The Malthus Fraud

Dees’s compact, provocative study, excerpted from The Power of Peasants: Economics and the Politics of Farming in Medieval Germany, surveys millenia of English history primarily through the lens of class warfare, presenting dispossession and violence at the root of property rights and the nation’s development. Dees begins with a brief outline of his brief history: a series of invasions (from the Romans, the German invasion of the Angles and the Saxons, the Vikings and, finally, Guillaume the Conqueror) followed by class war within the English nation: kings stealing land from nobles and the peasants, the nobles stealing property back from the king, and the peasants stealing their liberty from their lords. As English history develops and capitalism begins, we see enclosure too—the merchants stealing from both nobles and peasant landowners. Not for nothing is the figure of Robin Hood on the cover.

In inviting prose with polemical power, Dees digs into greater detail to focus specifically on the Magna Carta and the Forest Charter, which, he argues, were the first documents to place the law above the king, granting the common people effective rights. Echoing Engels, the English Civil War, too, is presented here as another in a series of class conflicts, in which Cromwell stands for the wealthy merchants, rouses the common people, and defeats the king.

Dees writes in a loose and humorous tone but with real passion and attention to detail. The reader may wish he had the space to go into more detail or end his history with a more robust conclusion (rather than a passing reference to coffeeshops and Isaac Newton), though the book’s origin as an excerpt perhaps explains its structure. Anyone interested in the economic story of England who wants to dive into the political conditions which led to dispossession and violence will appreciate Dees’s incisive, engaging, and pointedly outraged history.

Takeaway: Brief, class-minded history of England with an emphasis on economics.

Comparable Titles: E.P. Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class, Rodney Hilton’s Bond Men Made Free.

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

Click here for more about A Brief History of England

After breaking his neck, fracturing his spine, and severing his spinal cord in a bad dive in shallow waters, LaBelle faced permanent paralysis so severe that "it was determined that there was no sensation anywhere below a line at the nipple level." Sharing his journey as a C5-6 quadriplegic, his adventures as a world traveler—traveling to locales such as New Zealand, Fiji, and more—and his career as a lawyer practicing in multiple states, LaBelle offers an intimate story of perseverance, love, achieving independence, and living life to the fullest even when things don't work out according to plan.

In this inspiring memoir, LaBelle chronicles his life from early childhood through adulthood, juxtaposing the parallels of his life and personality before and after his diving injury. Fiercely independent and a bit of a daredevil, the author highlights how his disability changed the way he approached obstacles, though he still faced them head on—and never let his adventurous spirit wane. LaBelle’s transparency and raw honesty throughout is engaging and motivational; his zeal for living jumps off the page, though he never shies away from dark moments amid his many hospitalizations and operations. His story is of a man fighting, surviving, and adapting, of course, but it’s also one of embracing possibility, as he recounts constantly seeking change and taking opportunities that came his way, such as a new job or a thrilling vacation destination with a friend or family member.

LaBelle writes with engaging clarity and humility, noting that he doesn’t think of this book as “some type of guide to life, but as just one example of the possibility of living a life with a catastrophic injury.” In that, it succeeds with style and power. Fans of personal stories of triumph in the face of adversity will cheer as LaBelle pushes through his personal narrative to highlight how life is what you make it no matter the challenges set in your path.

Takeaway: Inspiring memoir of living life to the fullest as a quadriplegic.

Comparable Titles: Eddie Ndopu's Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw, Rebekah Taussig's Sitting Pretty.

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

Click here for more about Wheelchair Bound?

This sweet story of a small snowy owl from Wilson (author of Sir_Scrap Metal) warms hearts while drawing attention to conservation efforts in the Arctic. Nessa, a young snowy owl, is everything a rare owl should be—curious, brave, and eager to learn more about the world around her. When she announces to her friends that she plans to stay in the Arctic instead of migrating south for the winter, they’re understandably skeptical: the Arctic winters are harsh, food is scarce, and Nessa hasn’t even mastered flying yet. But she won’t be deterred—she’s set on finding Father North to finally get answers about the thrilling world that exists just beyond her reach.

Wilson offers readers an inspiring story about an owl that just won’t give up, but there’s much more to this lovable picture book. As Nessa hops her way to the North Pole, she comes across an array of remarkable animals who also call the Arctic their home. Front and center are Nessa’s reindeer friends—“grunting and snorting, on the cool crunchy frost of morning”—alongside lemmings, a pair of decidedly rude snow geese, and a dangerous arctic fox who Nessa evades at the last minute. Throughout her journey, her flying skills slowly evolve, as does her awareness of the wilderness she’s insistent on traipsing through during a dangerous time of year.

Just as Nessa is on the verge of not making it, she’s rescued by a conservationist who transports her to warmer weather, and a veterinary clinic, via his hovercraft. Nessa, of course, is convinced she’s been saved by Father North, and Wilson smartly leaves it up to young readers to decide if she’s correct. The illustrations evoke the Arctic’s chilly whiteness, and the story boasts plenty of discussion points for adult readers to cover—and a reminder that even in the harshest climates, a little love goes a long way.

Takeaway: Cool-hued story of a young snowy owl’s dangerous journey.

Comparable Titles: Nicholas John Frith’s Hello, Mr. Dodo!, Adam Rex’s Unstoppable.

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

Click here for more about Snowy Nessa: Please help me find Father North

Experienced landlord Allensworth’s debut offers copious practical advice for those who own or are looking to purchase rental properties, plus much good humor and countless surprising—sometimes alarming—anecdotes of tenants, troubles, taxes, and how to face it all while keeping calm and collecting rent. Drawing on two decades of renting houses, plus the know-how of the landlord “support group” with which she regularly commiserates, Allensworth offers guidance on tenant negotiations, house repairs, pricing options, and questions like when to deduct expenses or fees from the rent check. The Rental Roller Coaster offers both getting-started knowhow for anyone considering diving into this competitive market, and also the wholly unexpected concerns only a seasoned pro knows to anticipate, like the jolting fact that a tenant who replaces a toilet themselves will absolutely take that toilet with them when they move.

Highlighting the challenges of problem tenants and the financial setbacks that can arise due to repairs or having to take legal action, Allensworth holds nothing back in this honest account of the highs and lows of the responsibility and business of being a landlord. Providing tips on how to turn a profit, balance the tenant/landlord relationship, and handle the dreaded eviction process, this self-help guide gives an in-depth, behind the scenes look into the complex task of property management, with an eye on how to “structure your business to fit your preferences, situation and disposition."

Allensworth draws pragmatic lessons even from the most absurd stories— such stories as one tenant leaving a dog behind after being evicted so that they could still pick up their welfare and food stamps from the mailbox, or another making a copy of the key so they could squat after being evicted. From constant upkeep to the day-to-day run ins with tenants, this helpful resource lives up to its title, while offering its audience a wealth of specialized knowledge.

Takeaway: Straight-forward, often humorous advice for landlords.

Comparable Titles: Brenda Cross King's Do You Really Want to Be a Landlord, Tony LeBlanc's Doorpreneur.

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

Click here for more about The Rental Roller Coaster

The millennia-crossed second installment of Andes's sweeping Latecoming West series, following John the Angelic, continues the enthralling narrative of the epochal Joan, a young woman in ninth century Germany, motivated by a “simple desire to practise my faith and service to God within the Christian Church,” “posing as a young man among the monks at Lorsch Abbey with hopes of one day ascending to the position of Pope—but of course feeling “shame and my rightful sense of sin” at her deception. Andes twines the story of Joan's romantic life and journey into sainthood with a tense love story over one thousand years later, in 1930s Berlin, where Polish Jews Rahel Buchwald and Patek Mroz face the start of Hitler's devastating reign. “Aryans before Jews,” a man snaps at Rahel, cutting in line at a cafe and vowing that the “chancellor” will send the Jews away, an incident that’s just the start of the horror. Living up to its title, Uproar and Heresy chronicles the buildup to genocide in its early development.

Readers who relish rich prose, psychological intensity, and attention to what life in the past felt like will be immersed in this historical narrative told through the eyes of two young women set on following their ambitions and their hearts. "The gossamer bridge of the feminine in my own life had twisted in these events, both from within and without," Joan laments early on, as the possibility of being exposed proves a continual source of suspense.

Andes pens a complex but rewarding novel alive with old world language, harrowing atrocities, and star-crossed lovers whose stray moments of intense romantic connection give them strength to face hostile outside forces. “Had God appeared before me in physical form, I would have plunged my sword as deep in Him as it would go,” Joan declares after one tragedy. That searing emotional urgency, plus themes of faith and identity, ties the timelines together as Andes’s compelling heroines face limited options and overwhelming passions.

Takeaway: Gorgeously told story of Pope Joan and, centuries later, Jewish lovers in the Third Reich

Comparable Titles: Donna Woolfolk Cross’s Pope Joan, Kelli Estes’s Today We Go Home.

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

Click here for more about Uproar and Heresy

Blending music, magic, and a sure sense of the challenges of finding one’s self, GILM! follows new kid in town Geoff Smith after arriving in Portland with his oddball father, who runs a magical mystery store, Curio City. The store houses taxidermy specimens including a bat supposedly once owned by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and it’s frequented by black-clothed goths, but Geoff finds the whole magical vibe embarrassing, especially the belief of some that the spellbooks sold there might hold real magic. His resistance is relatable, as he regrets leaving behind his Houston friends and would-be band, and finding his niche in his new home would be a balancing act like no other. Geoff faces the school bully, Will, who terrorizes him every morning, but finds consolation in seeing his crush, Corrine, in his history class. When he shares that he’s a songwriter, she offers him a beguiling challenge: “If you write me a song that rhymes something with the word ‘film,’ I’ll take you for pizza.”

After that irresistible hook, the story takes off in amusing directions. Overwhelmed with Corinne’s challenge, and going against his father’s rules, Geoff borrows one of his Dad’s books to wish for help, despite believing the magic won’t work. Of course, magic, like creating art and sharing it with the world, never goes quite as one plans, and Geoff’s dabbling in both results in unexpected consequences, connections, and surprises, prompting a mad comic scramble to set the world back—but not sacrifice his enticing new relationship with Corinne.

Corley keeps the story brisk, funny, and poignant, though his creativity and wit cannot be contained to one medium. The author of well-received YA titles like Space Throne is also a songwriter who has recorded for over two decades years with The Mars McClanes, a Portland rock band. Their song “GILM!” inspired the novel and will share a release date—and, with luck, won’t throw existence into chaos.

Takeaway: A teen songwriter’s wish leads to comic chaos in his new school.

Comparable Titles: Sarah Gailey’s When We Were Magic, Melissa Walker's Let’s Pretend We Never Met.

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

Click here for more about GILM!

Whitacre’s Good Housekeeping is a piercing gaze into the locus of human life, the home—or “this cave, this tree, // this realm where loved ones circle and unwind.” Whitacre takes on timeless themes and in a contemporary context, touching on consumerism, war, and the climate crisis, while also entering an intimate space where mundane domestic scenes connect to what makes us most human: love, memory, and grief.

The title poem asks what sort of housekeepers modern people are, noting that “Greed is the root of evil yet it keeps us alive”. Despite this awareness that unrestrained consumerism “can’t go on like this;” Whitacre (author of The Elk in the Glade) acknowledges that, in truth, “this is all we have.” “War&Peace@Target” also examines this self-aware paralysis of humanity in the face of the destruction of our planet, juxtaposing notes on a shopping spree with haiku-like italic verses that illustrate the consequences of our addiction to buying things (“songbirds fall to the earth”). Whitacre continually finds resonance in the metaphor of housekeeping, and each poem sews a new layer to the tapestry of variations on home as a place, mindset, identity, and fantasy.

Alongside Whitacre’s exploration of consumer culture are gentler poems that portray a domestic idealism, as in “Mother’s Chair,” “The Foldout Couch,” and the moving “Narcissi, We Drown in Our Own Eyes.” In the latter, a compendium of declarations of love, he writes “I love you like an old oven crusty with drippings / of the problems we braised, oozing with radiance.” Though blunt about the ways human life has been warped by technology and waste, Whitacre’s poems also highlight another force, besides greed, that has long given life meaning: the impulse to love and be loved. In Whitacre’s collection, all of it, the horrors and the joys, exist simultaneously.

Takeaway: Urgent, moving poems about home, consumerism, and love.

Comparable Titles: Frank Bidart, Mark Wunderlich.

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

Click here for more about Good Housekeeping

This bracing, incisive collection of 12 short stories immerses readers in the lives of characters who, as the title suggests, find themselves disconnected from the world and people around them while facing personal struggles and disappointments—plus social workers, security guards, awkward tennis partners, and more. Each entry delves into the sharply delineated life of a character trying to navigate an existence that’s not working out how they expected, like the former stunt performer who now sells insurance, or the street-reporting journalist facing the death of great weekly papers, as Harris, a documentary filmmaker (Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport) and author, finds fresh, pained perspectives on feelings of being alienated or left behind.

The opener, “Land Mines,” quickly seizes attention as protagonist Dana is caught shoplifting a scarf at Bloomingdales and forced to visit a psychiatrist to deal with her problem. The crisp, potent prose that showcases her background—she was abandoned by her mother as a child, and a boyfriend in later years, and finds shoplifting a surprise source of instant gratification—exemplifies Harris’s concision and humanity. Those qualities likewise power “The Mink Coat,” in which a woman moves back to Chicago after separating from her husband and finds surprising freedom through a coat gifted to her by her mother. “Tikkun Olam” and “Chicken Soup” plumb different spectrums of loneliness, the first centered on a troubled teenager craving family, and the second a woman abandoned by her children. Not that family life is easier: the standout “Mute” finds a couple at odds over how to parent a boy diagnosed with autism.

The cast is diverse, but alienation unites them. Pained and resonant, Misfits lays bare people who are so convincingly drawn that they seem to be reported on rather than imagined. Harris breathes life into his characters by employing evocative imagery and succinct storytelling. He lets his characters express themselves not only through dialogues, but also through actions.

Takeaway: Urgent, incisive short fictions of people facing lives that aren’t quite working out.

Comparable Titles: Patrick Dacey’s We’ve Already Gone This Far, Adam Haslett’s You Are Not a Stranger Here.

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

Click here for more about Misfits

High-school poet Banerjee’s second collection, following In Solitude: Thoughts And Feelings Of An Eleven-Year-Old During The Coronavirus Pandemic offers a frank survey of climate disaster in thirty bleak yet hope-tinged poems that seek to inspire environmental activism and honor the earth and its creatures. The opening chapters explore the poet’s individual experience of nature in Georgia, calling attention to the seasons, weather patterns, and the small, brilliant wonders of all earth’s faces: “The calla lilies lash their tongue out, heads high, // and the bluebells hand low, being shy. // The lavender fills hills with its violet hue, // and daily, the morning glory blooms anew.” However, Banerjee’s poems dig beyond the floral; they’ve also been crafted to fight against overconsumption of the Earth’s resources.

Banerjee addresses the planet’s landscape of climate horrors, from the extinction of the dodo bird to the animal cruelty required to make foie gras to plastic waste in the ocean. “What will we do when we run out of land // and all that remains is plastic and concrete?” the poet asks in the haunting “The Loss of Use and Toss.” Though Harmony is often despairing, Banerjee also laces the collection with visions for a better future. “Toccoa and Train” creates a parallel between the female-imagined Toccoa river and the male-imagined train running alongside it, each carrying their burdens and forming a partnership, with the train using the river for “her inspiration.” Together “they both ran and ran and ran, for every generation.”

This recontextualization has power. Banerjee imagines a world where the train, once the very emblem of the industrial age, and the river are not opposing forces, but instead part of a flowing harmony. As a love letter and call to action for the earth, Banerjee’s saga is a worthy addition to the genre of climate-change activism poetry by young authors.

Takeaway: Impassioned collection of climate activist poetry written by a student.

Comparable Titles: Luisa A Igloria, Aileen Cassinetto, and Jeremy S Hoffman’s Dear Human at the End of Time, Betsy Franco’s Things I Have to Tell You.

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

Click here for more about Harmony

Sufi counselor Driskell (author of Be in Your Heart) offers a collection of 62 short teaching stories focused on the concept of Oneness that will edify readers ready to explore a Sufi spiritual approach. Many of the stories feature a relatable character named Esmeralda, who progresses in the stories from teen to teacher and beloved Elder, though others focus on a more generalized seeker and an “invisible teacher.” The fifth story, “The Oneness As the SUN”, gives the most explicit explanation of Driskell’s understanding of Oneness. A few of the stories feel more like classic koans or affirmations, but the majority focus on accessible student-teacher advice and wisdom sharing around increasing awareness. Throughout, Driskell offers gentle and kind teachings that always point at human compassion and at reconnection with others and with the universal.

Driskell’s spiritual storytelling is accessible without being overly casual, and she omits most technical spiritual language in favor of easy to understand narrative with a natural conversational tone. Although she offers a variety of framings of the essential concepts, her focus on the primary teaching of living mindfully in the Oneness stays crystal clear throughout. She establishes Esmeralda as a point of view character, but develops her personal story lightly; Driskell seems to suggest but never says that Esmeralda’s experiences ressemble her own, and she emphasizes the teachings rather than her story.

Driskell resists editorializing, letting the stories speak for themselves, but provides an annotation index in the endnotes which explicitly specifies the teaching topics for each tale, helping readers to hook into the meanings through additional research or to easily choose an appropriate story for any particular contemplative moment. Each piece after the first few stands well on its own as a teaching story, so readers can engage the book non-sequentially; however, those who choose to read straight through will find the pieces varied enough that the experience proves fresh and engaging throughout.

Takeaway: An introduction to Sufi spiritual approach, presented in 62 short narratives.

Comparable Titles: Eckhart Tolle’s Oneness with All Life, Nevit O. Ergin’s Tales of a Modern Sufi.

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

Click here for more about Living the Way of Oneness

With an eye toward environmental education and adventure, Colless (Eye of the Stormlord) brings 11-year-old Peter Blue and his friends to brilliant life in the series’ second science-fantasy for young readers. As initiates of the Spiral Hall School, an elite school raising eco-intelligent and environmentally conscious aware young people, Peter and his band are just beginning on their journey. Spiral Hall is connected to GAIA—Global Advanced Intelligence Agency —offering the students unheard-of opportunities to learn from the best. From serious Riva to expansive-thinking, social media-minded Wanda to Chu, the team’s scientist, the tweens band together, with others, when Agent Artiss Fleur, a friend of Peter’s newly rescued GAIA-agent father, gives Peter a mission: capture three juvenile Anthrogs, known as Renegales, who managed to breach the school’s force field and are bedeviling the area.

Meanwhile, the adults are busy dealing both with a mysterious fog that only targets children, plus the looming threat of Big Garbage Inc. and its army of elemental Anthrogs. This adventure sends our heroes on epic quests to save the world—literally and figuratively as Colless explores both science heroism and relatable, easy-to-achieve goals to help on a local and global scale. Each of the very diverse characters has something to offer the team—whether it be technical savvy, out-of-the-box thinking (as is the case with Wanda’s big idea to learn more about the yellow fog) or Riva and Peter’s leadership skills.

Scientific principles are celebrated, but fantasy also plays a large role in the novel, particularly in the anthropomorphizing of elements such as wind in such a way that they’re seen as complementary rather than opposing forces, offering fresh options for flights of imagination. While the adults and villains may come across at times as stereotypical and two-dimensional, the message underlying the narrative speaks to tolerance, grace and the importance of making one’s own decisions in situations—teaching children to follow their instincts. Readers will be captivated by this unlikely band of heroes.

Takeaway: Young eco-warriors take to sea and sky to save the world.

Comparable Titles: Jess Redman’s The Adventure Is Now, Emma Shevah’s How to Save the World with a Chicken and an Egg.

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

Click here for more about Renegale Tales

The charming second volume of Turetsky’s HR Data Doodles series finds the four-panel comic—much like its cast—expanding its ambitions, as Turetsky moves from a (mostly) gag-oriented format into dedicated serialized storytelling centered on the Played Much Game Company in a time of crunch and transition. Drawing on discussions and insights from Turetsky's HR Data Labs Podcast, the comics depart from most workplace comedy in their upbeat consideration of the role that smart human resources teams can play in generating inspired solutions company-wide challenges, in this case issues like a potential acquisition, possible layoffs of sales staff when a key product gets delayed, and what it really means to strive for pay equity.

The first volume of HR Data Doodles—a name referring both to the comics format and to the now-expanded cast of diverse and appealingly designed characters—offered insights, too, though the emphasis was often on punchlines, usually coming from the pajamas-wearing young HR analyst Teddy. This time, Turetsky often dares to end strips without a joke, instead capturing, in four chatty panels of static composition, the upshots of meetings, both in-person and digital, as the teams at Played Much strategize, listen to each other, and implement their plans. (Occasionally, speech balloons are laid out in an unintuitive order, but much less often than in the previous entry.) The change in emphasis makes a point: teams working well together are no joke, and neither are demonstrations of agreement, understanding, and the embrace of clear takeaways.

That’s not to say there aren’t laughs, here. But quickly the story of Played Much’s possible acquisition by OrangeU, another game company, plus Played Much’s struggles to finalize a “transformative” platform and gather crucial demographic data, proves compelling. Innovative solutions to problems, like “re-skilling” employees for current needs rather than “re-staffing,” work out for the team, and the new advice from an old consultant regarding OrangeU and the platform issues is heartening.

Takeaway: Upbeat comics about the essential role HR plays in business.

Comparable Titles: Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s The Goal, Josh Bersin’s Irresistible.

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

Click here for more about HR Data Doodles: Season 2 - Back to Work

Set in a New Mexico where the ““the sun melt[s] behind the blue mountains, oozing streaks of gold and violet,” Reine’s suspenseful but humane domestic drama, the second in the Pioneer Ranch series (after She Died Then Showed Me), centers on a mother, the successful artist Peyton, and her and her family’s dread of her youngest son, “the dreaded Gideon,” a pugnacious and aggrieved know-it-all who locals joke “might be possessed.” Reine builds up to Gideon’s arrival in the story, on the occasion of a dinner celebrating his showjumping, veterinarian-to-be sister Bryce, with unsettling power, establishing a desert ranch world of good taste, loving mixed family, Art in America interviews, and disquiet about Gideon’s imminent entrance, which is announced by nothing less than “skidding wheels, crunching metal, and shattering porcelain.”

Reine again showcases an ability to touchingly weave sorrow, grief, humor, and love with complex and resonant blended family dynamics and an eye for environments, especially physical landscapes. While the opening chapters might seem to paint Gideon as an antagonist or even villain, an agent of discord speaking viciousness he seems to believe is truth, Reine is too shrewd and empathetic to keep things simple. As the pages quickly pass, and the story seems to edge toward tragedy, readers get a deeper look into these people, their pasts, and their rifts, the central relationship as rocky yet fascinating as the terrain on which they live.

Fearlessly untangling the complexities of relationships, loss, and perseverance, this is a novel that is both hopeful and relatable. Peyton’s marriage to cowboy Blake, who is not Gideon’s father, is eventually put to the test as they navigate the destruction left by her son. Her identity as an artist is threatened, a bitter rivalry ensues, an old love returns, and Peyton finds herself facing hard choices and opposing paths. The magical realism, respectful interest in Navajo and Ute cultures, and deep spirituality contribute in bringing captivating depth to every character.

Takeaway: Stellar family drama of an artist mother, a difficult son, and hard choices.

Comparable Titles: Lynne M. Spreen; Marylee MacDonald’s Montpelier Tomorrow.

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

Click here for more about First Sons and Last Daughters

In this raw, straight-talking, but ultimately heartening guide to healing from intimate partner abuse and trauma-bonded relationships, Macaluso explores how to understand these relationships of abuse, manipulation, how to safely get off “the Merry-Go-Round of insanity,” how to recover emotionally afterwards—and, crucially, how to grow and thrive, with the tools to recognize unsafe men. Macaluso draws from her personal story of being married to the infamous "Wolf of Wall Street" and her expertise as a marriage and family therapist advocating for women she calls "surthrivers," offering hard-won advice (“Never tell an intoxicated partner you are leaving”) and crucial understanding, support, and validation.

"We are often pawns in a love game we do not understand," Macaluso writes, and Run Like Hell, packed with eye-opening research and detailed case studies from a host of women, is a comprehensive guide on the complexities of trauma bonding, the types of behaviors and signs to look out for in potential partners, and safe ways to break free from toxic relationships with PLs (“pathological lovers”). With empathy and insight, Macaluso lays out the who, what, when, where, how, and why people are likely to trauma bond and the people who seek to manipulate and control them, laying bare "pathological lovers” and their motives, patterns, and manipulative tactics—and also how women can get trapped by them.

Macaluso proves especially compelling when addressing the shame, guilt, and embarrassment that can keep women silent when it comes to abusive relationships. Run Like Hell salves the stigma attached to falling prey to charming, charismatic men who turn out to be manipulative and controlling, offering commiseration and a path out of the nightmare. Throughout, Macaluso and the women whose stories she shares speak hard truths (“Your PL will always flip the script and claim to be the victim”) that could help readers make major changes. Positive, informative, and urgently necessary, this guide demystifies these relationships in inviting prose and with ample heart.

Takeaway: Standout guide to leaving and healing from toxic relationships.

Comparable Titles: Jackson MacKenzie's Whole Again, Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey’s What Happened to You?.

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

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“The final aspect of the simple gospel is that when you believe, you are saved,” Randolph writes in this debut, a spiritual self-help book that explores the ways Christians can walk through life “ clumsily in the dark … building our own kingdom without God.” Inspired by the teachings of Aaron Budjen with Living God Ministries, Randolph, a believer who at times has worried that his efforts to live a Christian life were not enough, offers a hard-won perspective on how to correlate the “labyrinth of negative emotions and thoughts” in human hearts with Jesus's sacrifice on the cross. Sharing evidence through biblical text, personal anecdotes, and knowledge through his time at seminary, the author highlights the ways believers in Christ can “acknowledge our sins and brokenness, receive His forgiveness, and decide to put our trust in Him.”

Aligning hearts and adjusting mindsets, Randolph writes, can allow imperfect believers to "accomplish things in our lives and with our lives that we have not dared to dream of.” In raw, transparent moments he considers his own personal stumbles with his faith due to his traumatic childhood with an abusive father and the ways in which he had to unlearn a worldly view he had developed of Christian life and God's love. Resurrecting the Cross delves deeply into the teachings of Jesus and the meaning of sacrifice and forgiveness. Drawing from scripture, Randolph shares with readers the one simple statement that he argues "summed up the whole gospel": by placing belief in Jesus "you will be saved.”

Resurrecting the Cross is a warm, inviting, and readable study, touched with memoir, even when Randolph digs into complex ideas about free will and the nature of love. Christian readers looking for new insight into the faith and an understanding of God's transcendent love will find nourishment.

Takeaway: Inspirational Christian study of human brokenness and Jesus's sacrifice.

Comparable Titles: R. T. Kendall; F. Remy Diederich’s Starting Over.

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

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