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Review: EVERYBODY’S PERFECT by Jo Walton

Apr 082026
 

Publishers Weekly: An exercise in elaborate worldbuilding, this ambitious outing from Hugo and Nebula Award winner Walton (Or What You Will) transports readers to the fantastical city of the Serenissima, “built on nothing but layers of magical mist and memories and dreams.” The Serenissima’s geography shifts with the fog that drifts through it, “opening a new square here, closing up an old canal there, like a face caught in the fleeting act of changing expression.” Its waterways, maintained by shared belief in their existence, connect eight disparate worlds, including Earth. The Venetians believed the Serenissima into being first, and through it soon found neighbors: beings who look much like the Venetians, but with the faces of cats, dogs, or domino masks garlanded with flowers and feathers, and who connect to the magic of the Serenissima in their own ways. Against this inventive backdrop, a fisherman wakes from a dream that the city will elect its first doge. A local mystic confirms that she can see this coming to pass—and also sees a cure for the plague that blights the fisherman and his lover—after which the city itself pulls everyone around him into the rush to fulfill the prophecy. Told through the eyes of nine different characters, each with a perspective and backstory rich enough for its own novel, the relatively low-stakes plot still manages to feel personal and affecting. This fascinates. (June)

Review: SECONDS TO SPARE by Rachel Reiss

Apr 062026
 

Booklist: Groundhog Day meets Murder on the Orient Express in this audacious airborne thriller that’s sure to have you on the edge of your aisle seat. Evelyn and Orion are two teens on a flight home from Hawaii who are running from problems in their daily lives. But when they find themselves reliving the same terrifying 28 minutes over and over, our heroes must team up to save a plane full of passengers from a deadly time loop. Writer and scuba diver Reiss (Out of Air, 2025) brings her tight plotting and vivid characterization to a more contained setting than her underwater debut, but her ability to wring tension out of a plot structure that repeats the same beats is genuinely impressive. Readers with a fear of flying and an aversion to gore should steer clear, but anyone seeking a metaphysical page-turner for their layover should rush to the nearest Hudson Books to buy the latest work from this exciting new voice in YA suspense.

Review: PLATFORM DECAY by Martha Wells

Apr 032026
 

Publishers Weekly: The lethal but good-hearted security robot that narrates Wells’s Hugo and Nebula award–winning Murderbot Diaries series returns, alongside friends old and new, for its wildly entertaining eighth adventure (after System Collapse). On a high-stakes extraction mission, Murderbot guides fellow SecUnit, Three, to sneak onto a Corporation Rim station and trigger a distraction. Meanwhile, Murderbot, hidden inside a cargo module, slips through the station’s heightened security. To Murderbot’s dismay, successfully played for laughs, the station is built to look like an elaborate planetary landscape, with shops and offices built into man-made cliffs and caves. Despite this rocky terrain, Murderbot reaches the safe house holding Farai, one of Murderbot’s dear friend Dr. Mensah’s two marital partners; their daughter, Sofi; and Farai’s mother, Naja. There, Murderbot encounters another unexpected obstacle: Supervisor Leonide, a higher-up in the Corporation Rim, who convinces the reluctant robot to help her family, sending it on a long and dangerous quest to rescue five more humans. This spectacular journey, punctuated with satisfying combat scenes, takes on an epic flavor grounded by Murderbot’s sardonic voice and Well’s exploration of mental health and physical well-being. Equal parts action packed, humorous, and heartfelt, this proves the series shows no signs of slowing down.

Starred Review: LOVE GALAXY by Sierra Branham

Apr 022026
 

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Booklist: If “unfair” had a picture next to its dictionary definition, Temmi Ialan’s face would be there. She’s grinding out an existence on the planet X72, working as a trash collector to barely keep a roof over head, along with caring for her sick mother and disabled brother. Despite the grim circumstances, Temmi’s brother is excited for the new season of Love Galaxy, a The Bachelor-esque show where empire royalty dates prospective suitors until they find true love at the end of the season. After an especially bad day, Temmi inadvertently goes toe-to-toe with Spie and Nix Expani, the emperor’s heirs starring on this season, and finds herself cast on the show with a life-changing sum of money hanging on her ability to make it far enough into the season to make a mark. Temmi is thrust into the spotlight and mingles reluctantly with the elite . . . until her fellow cast members start dying. It quickly becomes clear that there is far more afoot than simply a dating show—it is part Hunger Games in outer space and part makeover show. Branham’s debut is a page-turner expertly set up for the next in the series, with enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing until the end

March Audio Deals

Mar 312026
 

a pair of black ear budsMelissa K Roehrich’s RAIN OF SHADOWS AND ENDINGS, STORM OF SECRETS AND SORROW and TEMPEST OF WRATH AND VENGEANCE, books 1-3 of the Legacy series,  to Anji Cornette at GraphicAudio, in a very nice deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier (NA).

March Translation Deals

Mar 312026
 

Bulgarian rights to Robert Sheckley’s STORE OF INFINITY to Alto, by Tamara Vukicevic at Prava i Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.

Czech audio rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ROGUE PROTOCOL, EXIT STRATEGY, NETWORK EFFECT, FUGITIVE TELEMETRY, and SYSTEM COLLAPSE, books 3-7 in The Murderbot Diaries, to OneHotBook, by Nada Popovic at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

French renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s MARKED IN FLESH and ETCHED IN BONE, the fourth and fifth books in the Others series, to Bragelonne, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

French omnibus rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, and EXIT STRATEGY, the first four books in The Murderbot Diaries, to Editions L’Atalante, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

German rights to J.M. Kearl’s THE ASSASSIN’S WAY, to Piper, at auction, in a three-book deal, by Sarah Knofius at Thomas Schlueck Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier at Donald Maass Literary Agency.

Japanese rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ PLATFORM DECAY, the eighth book in the Murderbot Diaries series, to Tokyo Sogensha, by Shreya De Sousa at The English Agency (Japan) in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.

Ukrainian rights to British Fantasy Award winner Simon Jimenez’s THE SPEAR CUTS THROUGH WATER, to Athena, by Tamara Vukićević at Prava i Prevodi in association with Michael Curry.

 

Deal: Matthew Hubbard

Mar 302026
 

Matthew Hubbard’s HOW TO BREAK HIS HEART, pitched as Heated Rivalry meets How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, following two collegiate hockey teammates with a complicated history of hooking up; one wants to make the other fall in love using romance tropes for a lit paper, and the other wants to break his heart for a psychology project, only real feelings get in the way of their mastermind schemes, to Katie Holt at Saturday Books, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2027, by Katie Shea Boutillier (world English).

Review: OUT LAW by Jim Butcher

Mar 272026
 

Kirkus: In this installment of Butcher’s Dresden Files series, the staff-wielding wizard is honor-bound to return a favor to a crime boss for saving his life.

With the city still struggling to return to some semblance of normalcy after the cataclysmic events of the Battle of Chicago, Harry Dresden is recovering in his ancient Chicago castle (which might have been Merlin’s fortress) when an old adversary shows up at his door: Gentleman John Marcone, Baron of Chicago. Since Marcone saved Dresden’s life in the conflict, the kingpin of Chicago’s criminal underworld asks the wizard to help with a troubled associate who supposedly wants to go straight. The only problem is that the man in question is Tripp Gregory, “one of the more contemptible people [he’d] ever had the displeasure to meet.” Gregory may have ripped off an elderly woman on her deathbed, stealing millions of dollars meant for a children’s charity he’d created and gambling most of the money in Vegas—where he won big. With the IRS and a Mexican crime boss with some demonic firepower hot on the reprobate’s tail, Dresden is tasked with saving Gregory’s life, collecting the millions for charity, and helping a morally bankrupt man transform himself into “one of the good guys.” Butcher checks all the boxes when it comes to satisfying readers’ expectations. The paranormal fantasy elements are on point, including some nightmarish—and memorable—monstrosities. Many familiar returning characters are featured, including Bear, Dresden’s seven-foot Valkyrie bodyguard; his apprentice, Fitz; CPD Special Investigations Captain John Stallings; and Bob the Skull. The author impressively maintains the exciting pacing and intensity throughout, powering the narrative with an abundance of high-octane action sequences. The intricate plot is fittingly complex, connecting Dresden’s redemptive mission with Mexican cartels, the Red Court, and demonic cults. The one quibble is the disappointing conclusion, which is not only predictable but also much too quickly wrapped up.

Dresden fans will enjoy this bite-sized supernatural adventure.

Review: THE BLOODWEAVER by C.N. Kuster

Mar 262026
 

Kirkus: The rich worldbuilding is arguably the novel’s biggest strength, but the well-developed dynamics between the main characters, particularly Mel and Ismene’s complex relationship, are also compelling. The narrative has an impressive pace fueled by intertwining and action-packed plotlines that maintain the pedal-to-the-metal momentum.

Review: SECONDS TO SPARE by Rachel Reiss

Mar 252026
 

Shelf Awareness: Two teenagers are stuck in a time loop, reliving the last few minutes before a plane crash, in Rachel Reiss’s clever and arresting YA locked-door mystery, Seconds to Spare.

Characterization is sometimes thin–for example, little information is shared about Evelyn’s relationship with her still-living mother or her plans as a recent high school graduate–but kinetic pacing and unexpected plot twists make Seconds to Spare a gripping narrative. The time loop element, reminiscent of movies like Groundhog Day and YA novels such as Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall, adds an intriguing speculative element to the mystery, and the clock ticking toward a permanent plane crash raises the stakes. Reiss (Out of Air) develops visceral action scenes–“everything lurches forward at an entirely unnatural angle. Nothing’s where it should be. Side is now down, down and up are now to the side”–and the plane cabin setting creates an atmosphere of claustrophobic suspense. Mystery fans will enjoy deciphering clues alongside the characters as this propulsive mystery reveals its secrets.

Shelf Talker: Two teens who keep repeating the same 28 minutes in a crashing plane must work together to break the time loop and prevent the crash in this gripping YA mystery.

 

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