Jul 302025
 

Publishers Weekly: Sullivan’s lovely debut puts an inventive spin on Greek myth. Master inventor Daedalus and his son, Icarus, attempt to escape imprisonment by the cruel King Minos using man-made wings. The plan ends disastrously when Icarus ignores his father’s warnings and flies too close to the sun, melting the wax attaching the feathers to the wings, and causing him to plummet to his death in the sea (“You fall in silence, as if the gods are waiting for the sound of impact”). From there, Sullivan’s tale veers into less familiar territory. Bereft at the loss of his only child, Daedalus starts a new life in Sicily, only to be tracked down by Minos; though he outsmarts the king and survives their confrontation, Daedalus dies shortly thereafter from an injury. He then endeavors to reunite with Icarus in the underworld, in the process encountering dead heroes and monsters. Daedalus narrates this quest in present tense and through direct address to his late son, creating a sense of intimacy and tenderness. (“Icarus, no good thing has happened to me that I haven’t wanted to share with you.”) Along the way, Sullivan gradually peels back the layers of Daedalus’s past, including several revelations that will shift readers’ views of the inventor significantly. In the crowded field of revisionist retellings, this stands out. (Sept.)

Jul 232025
 

Library Journal: Margaret Culpepper has a rare, incurable autoimmune disorder that has isolated her from her friends and family and is close to costing her her job. When she is offered a paid spot in an experimental medical trial at Graceview Memorial, Margaret jumps at the chance for a better life. She’ll stay in the hospital for several months while her immune system is almost completely destroyed and then rebuilt. Once the treatment begins, though, Margaret begins to suspect that she isn’t there for a cure. Instead, she seems to be a test subject for something far more sinister. Graceview’s patients either emerge as entirely new people or die trying. Struggling to determine what is real, Margaret fights to find a way out before it’s too late. The unreliable narrator, questionable medical practices, and eerie atmosphere combine for an intricate, well-written story.

VERDICT: Starling’s (The Starving Saints) newest novel is the kind of genre-bending tour de force that fans have come to expect from her. Equal parts medical drama, psychological thriller, and gothic horror, the book pulls readers in and refuses to let them go.

Jul 102025
 

Publishers Weekly: Two very different women intervene in their parents’ hasty wedding plans in this alluring, tarot-inspired sapphic romance from Faubion (The Lovers). Introverted and lonely park ranger Cadence Connelly returns home to California after receiving an invitation to the engagement party of her estranged mother, Moira, a psychic. Like Cadence, adventurous, commitment-phobic pilot Sydney Sinclair, the daughter of Moira’s fiancé, Rick, suspects some nefarious element to their fast-tracked engagement. Sydney visits Moira’s store to scope her out, but Cadence whisks her away, concerned about Moira’s years-old prediction that Cadence will meet her soulmate in the shop. The women then team up to get to the bottom of the engagement. Meanwhile, Moira, having learned of the women’s potentially fated first meeting, decides to give destiny a hand by ensuring there’s only one room—and one bed—for Cadence and Sydney at the Solvang resort where the party will take place. Faubion makes the women’s emotional development convincing as their walls slowly come down and also crafts an enticing mystery surrounding Moira and Rick’s real intentions. The result is a solid romance that winks at popular tropes and makes good use of its tarot motif. Faubian’s fans will be pleased. (Aug.)

Jul 092025
 

Publishers Weekly: “Mehta (The Liar’s Weave) explores the bond of sisterhood in this ambitious, dreamlike epic….Mehta cleverly brings the plot full-circle in a satisfying finale. Readers are sure to be impressed.”

Jun 252025
 

Kirkus: A gang of teens regroups to plan another heist—this time in Switzerland—in this sequel to Heiress Takes All (2024).

A year after the events of the first novel, Olivia Owens plans a second job, this time at Volenvell Castle, the home of her extraordinarily wealthy grandmother, Leonie Owens, whom she hasn’t seen in years—not since Leonie broke off contact with Olivia’s father. The castle is located in the Swiss Alps, and Olivia has been invited there to celebrate Leonie’s 70th birthday. Joining her are her adoring boyfriend, Jackson, and the other members of her crew: talented baker Deonte, incorrigible Kevin, and dashing Tom. The addition of Tom’s sister, Grace, makes up for the absence of Olivia’s own sister, Abigail, who’s a talented hacker. Olivia’s elaborate plan involves having one of her friends run interference while the rest find their way into a vault that holds gold bullion and diamonds. But they face serious challenges that Olivia hadn’t planned on. Olivia is both confident and vulnerable, and the over-the-top caper is grounded by her unsettled feelings toward her father and her grandmother. Romance fans will thrill to the idealized relationship between Olivia and Jackson, and the wedge that’s again driven between them, clearly setting the stage for a follow-up, will stir up readers’ feelings. Olivia, Jackson, and Kevin present white, Tom and Grace are implied Vietnamese, and the earlier book established that Deonte is Black.

An intricate, action-filled sequel with heart.

Jun 202025
 

Library Journal: Jumping in time between the survivors’ stand-off and the period before the attack, the back and forth builds out the world of the school, characters, and relationships at the heart of this story while also ratcheting up the urgency and terror. Khaw’s brutal novel is more than an action-packed race against time, it is also an honest, endearing, and emotional ode to friendship, as well as a clever story about power.

VERDICT Engaging, visceral, and a lot of fun. Fans of A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik or I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones will find a lot to enjoy here, and it’s a nightmare come true for those who love Scott Hawkins’s modern cult classic The Library at Mount Char.

Jun 192025
 

New York Times: “Like an endearing fantasy version of “Knives Out,” “The Tainted Cup” follows an eccentric detective named Ana Dolabra and her new assistant, Dinios Kol — a disaster bisexual if there ever was one…. A great murder mystery is hard to pull off but Bennett structures his perfectly, and the fact that it’s in a fantasy setting only makes it better.”

Jun 162025
 

Bookpage: The grimdark wave of fantasy fiction went mainstream when Game of Thrones hit big on HBO, and now even casual readers of the subgenre can get bogged down in its conventions. Yes, morally gray characters, graphic violence and the cruelty of medieval Europe-style worlds are all rich storytelling veins, but they only get you so far, which means when an author comes along and seeks to reshape that darkness into something unique, it’s worth paying attention.

With her latest novel, The Starving Saints, Caitlin Starling does not seek to subvert the conventions of grimdark fantasy, nor does she aim to overturn or look past them. What the novel delivers is something more transformative, a melding of fantasy and horror so smooth that it defies both easy categorization and easy dismissal as another traveler of a well-worn path. Like the characters at its core, it’s a hard novel to pin down.

Set in a castle now in its sixth month under siege, The Starving Saints follows three desperate women all trying to save themselves. Phosyne, a former nun turned sorceress, labors in her tower laboratory to magically create food for the starving populace. Ser Voyne, a war hero and the king’s closest guardian, is tasked with protecting the castle while also making sure Phosyne isn’t just wasting everyone’s time. And in the bowels of the keep, serving girl-turned-ratcatcher Treila is biding her time until she can escape, even as she plots revenge against Voyne for a long-ago atrocity.

All three of their already challenging lives are upset by the sudden and mysterious arrival of the Constant Lady, the deity worshiped by the people of the castle, and her three attendant Saints. Beautifully dressed, hypnotic and incomprehensible, these Saints supply the castle with a sudden influx of much-needed food, but at a tremendous cost, sending all three protagonists into a spiral of shifting loyalties, desires and desperation.

Starling quickly and vividly lays the foundation of a classic fantasy setting, her prose rich with descriptions that’ll make you feel grit under your fingernails and sense magic around the darkest, dampest corners of the castle, but what makes The Starving Saints so remarkable is what Starling does next. There’s a sense that “weird fiction” is invading the fantasy setting, unnameable and unknowable things slithering (often literally) through the stone and wood of the keep. Through prose that’s as rich in mystery and desperation as the lives of her characters, Starling weaves in elements that keep the reader constantly off balance, yet she never leaves us feeling lost. There’s always the sense of something darker and more uncanny looming over the castle, closing in as its entire state of being shifts. This is a novel that doesn’t just creep into your mind, it chills you to your core and dares you to keep reading.

The Starving Saints is that rare book that gives fantasy and horror readers what they want in equal measure—a remarkable, strange, unsettling ride that will bewitch you on every page.

May 222025
 

Booklist: Hawley is a soldier with terrible secrets in his past and a sense of honor despite a tarnished reputation. He has been sent with a company of men to try and find a missing child, but when that company attempts to kill Hawley and are instead killed by an unknown creature of the forest, Hawley seeks the help of Enelda, a wise, no-nonsense old woman whom he soon realizes is a person of legend—one of the famed Vigilants, who can commune with the immortal realm and use magic. Enelda is out of practice and disturbed at finding herself on a journey, but despite a rocky start, she and Hawley work together to survive. Latham (The Red Tower, 2018) uses his incredible world-building skills and all-consuming storytelling style to bring the reader deep into the village of Scarfell, where politics, magic, and corruption collide in a world-shaking explosion, and where Enelda is not the only legend to emerge from the shadows. In a genre where tropes can be overused, Latham is an adept at creating sympathetic characters and reinventing fantasy in a way that will have influence on many books after The Last Vigilant.

May 212025
 

School Library Journal: Hubbard’s second novel finds 17-year-old Zeke stuck in a territory all too familiar with teenagers. Part of him hangs on to his past as the star pitcher on his high school baseball team, a straight-A student on his way to the University of Alabama, and destined to join the family law firm. Another part of him is him is struggling to accept his own identity as a gay man who wants to do everything he can to rebel against his father and the life he envisioned. This convergence comes to a head when his Alabama small town’s first Pride event is cancelled, and Zeke’s father is involved. To save Pride, Zeke and his friends start hosting secret events to subvert a new ordinance banning LGBTQIA+ events disguised as legislation meant to protect children. This novel explores topics ripped straight out of today’s headlines from the perspective of a newly out gay teen struggling with his own understanding of what it means to be gay. Zeke’s ongoing grapple with his identity and the one that was forced on him is universal. Additionally, Hubbard adeptly demonstrates why Pride is important to the LGBTQIA+ community, while at the same time reaffirming that there is no right or wrong way to be your authentic self. VERDICT Fans of Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda and Trung Le Nguyen’s The Magic Fish will fall in love with Zeke and his story.