With By Any Other Name, Erin Cotter writes a historical fiction novel about William Shakespeare’s London, sharing ample allusions to his work and plays. The story opens in 1593 London at the Rose Theater, where young Will Hughes is aging out of the theater because his voice is changing and he will no longer be able to play the female parts. To further complicate his life, the plague is making its way through the city, and theaters will close until it passes. As a result, his patron, Christopher Marlowe (Kit) encourages him to find another home. Home. The word makes Will’s breath catch. At eightRead More →

On par with The Inheritance Games series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Thieves’ Gambit by Kayvion Lewis is a thrilling page-turner with all the ingredients of a good spy novel. Although Rosalyn (Ross) Quest is only seventeen years old, she is a master thief, having acquired her experience through her family-run business of thieving. Living on the remote island of the Bahamas, Ross seeks social contact with people beyond her family. In fact, she seeks escape. While the heists provide their own brand of exhilaration, Ross feels isolated. She sees her options as staying locked up in the family industry where trusting people outside the familyRead More →

In her recent novel And Don’t Look Back, Rebecca Barrow has penned a psychological thriller with plot twists that parallel the intensity of a Criminal Minds drama. As the central character in this tale, Barrow creates Harlow Ford, who has spent her life on the run, moving to a new location whenever something triggers her mom’s paranoia. As a result, Harlow has had to reinvent, build, and dismantle several identities. Given this reality, the moments during which Harlow feels most at home are those moments spent with her mom in the car, “wherever they’ve been in the rearview mirror, whoever they’ve been fading away likeRead More →

Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall is set in Caball Hollow in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, where legend and lore thrive. Pearsall tells the story of the James family and the lives of its women whose legacy is superstition. A family of suspected witches, the James women use minerals and locally grown plants to create infusions, tinctures, and balms. With these homemade remedies and whispered words, they treat people’s ailments. However, this story extends beyond a family and natural remedies to become about our deepest desires, a belief in possibility, and the sacrifices we are willing to make in the name ofRead More →

Anyone wishing for a Halloween thriller will likely find it in The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan. With this horror story, Dugan creates Charlene Addison Barnes, aka Cherry, and Sloan Thomas, two survivors of a mass murder at Camp Money Springs where they had taken summer jobs as camp counsellors. Able to diffuse tension with a single sentence, Cherry survives the killing spree of a “save the Earth” cult with her memory intact. However, like a rabbit in a snare, Sloan is caught in a time loop in her head. Although Sloan wants to study social work and save the world, her perfect plansRead More →

J. Elle has set readers up for a sequel with her book House of Marionne. Set in New Orleans as well as in alternate realms where magic dwells, the novel features Raquell Janae Marionne (aka Quell) who has magic in her veins. But, it’s toushana, a form of black magic about which little is known. So, Quell wonders if she is a Darkbearer with poison in her veins. Taught to be cautious and afraid, Quell and her mother are constantly on the move, hiding from those who might wish to quiet Quell’s magic permanently. After running since she was five years old, Quell steps intoRead More →

Cover image

Io Ora lives in the Silts, a city that’s constantly battered by flood waters and the ill will of those who distrust other-born like Io. Io is a cutter, descendent of the Fates, sister to a spinner and a drawer. She has the power to see life threads– and sever them. She uses that power to make a living as a private investigator, supporting herself and her sister Ava. What starts as a routine infidelity investigation ends in a murder case when her target is murdered by a Wraith, a woman whose life-thread has been severed and should be dead. This case brings her toRead More →

Sixteen-year-old Bianca Torre identifies as a socially awkward lesbian until she realizes there is more to her identity. Not a risk taker, Bianca knows a lot about hiding. In fact, she hides her sexuality, her personality, and often herself as she peers in on the lives of others using her birdwatching telescope. When Bianca sees her neighbor, Steven Lebedev, another recluse from across the way, get murdered, no one believes her except her best friend, Anderson Coleman. The two live near one another in North Hollywood and decide to solve the murder of Mr. Conspiracy, which is how they best remember him. As they unravelRead More →

A mixture of myths, legends, and folklore, Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef is an amazing book! A tapestry of James Herriot’s veterinarian expertise and Sherlock Holmes’ sleuthing, the book is simultaneously a fantasy and then a truth-telling narrative that reveals deeply philosophical truths. The leading lady in this drama is Marjan Dastani, an Iranian/American fifteen-year-old whose father is a veterinarian. Jamsheed Dastani, “a man of education and wisdom, a man of compassion, a man you’d trust with your pet” (12) is much more than the sum of those visible parts. This mysterious and haunted man is weighed down by secrets and a mission thatRead More →