Zucker (The Eisenhower Chronicles) offers a comprehensive if occasionally stilted biographical novel of John Quincy Adams’s tenure as secretary of state. Spanning from 1817 through Adams’s inauguration as president in 1825, the story covers the consequential episodes he navigated, including the annexation of Florida, the Missouri Compromise, and the meddling of European empires in the Western Hemisphere that pushed him to create the Monroe Doctrine. Zucker conveys the competing demands of decision makers, including Andrew Jackson, James Monroe, Henry Clay, and various European diplomats, while providing context for the era’s political debates. Interspersed among the political machinations are more modestly revealing insights into Adams’s home life, including his tense relationship with his wife, who feels undervalued, and his sons, whose lack of ambition causes him to bristle. The long conversations between Adams and others lack flavor, but the first-person narration credibly evokes the pressures and strain he felt, especially given his disgust with slavery and the bargains he made that allowed it to expand. Readers interested in early American history will appreciate the depth of detail. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 01/02/2026 | Details & Permalink

A woman grapples with her husband’s infidelity in the delightful debut novel from Gallagher (The Divorce Party Handbook). Ruby Bixler is making spaghetti carbonara for her newscaster husband, Brad Diamond, when she answers his cellphone. It’s a receptionist at a hotel, announcing that Brad left his watch there earlier that day. At first, Ruby believes Brad’s lies, but when irrefutable proof emerges that he’s having an affair with his 25-year-old assistant, Natasha, Ruby transforms from people pleaser to diabolical enforcer of marital justice. After her husband forces her out of their home, Ruby goes ballistic, sneaking back into the house to hide shrimp in curtain rods and dump dirty cat litter on their bed. She also seduces Brad into sex, which she secretly films with a nanny cam, planning to share the footage with Natasha (“Ruby knew that she had in her possession a nuclear bomb, a powerful weapon which must not be squandered but must be implemented with great respect”). At times, Gallagher leans a bit heavy on exposition, but she keeps the reader on Ruby’s side with wicked humor and playful irony, as when Ruby sees a billboard advertising Brad as “the newsman you can trust.” Readers are in for a treat. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

At the start of this entertaining but uneven series-launching fantasy from Kenyon (Prince of Storms), 21-year-old Yevliesza is whisked from the mundane world to magical Numinasi, her ancestral homeland, by a dragon-like creature known as a dactyl. Once in this unfamiliar land, one of many alternate realities evolved from human myths, Yevliesza is taken under the wing of dashing ne’er-do-well Lord Valenty. While feeling like an outsider and struggling to adjust to matriarchal Numinasi’s political and magical workings (and lack of modern conveniences), Yevliesza discovers unexpected abilities and becomes infatuated with handsome elven prince Tirhan. Danger arises in the form of enemy forces known in this world as the Volkish, but which Yevliesza recognizes as Nazi troops from Earth. When the Volkish threaten to invade, Yevliesza must master her powers in time to stop them. Kenyon’s worldbuilding is vivid, ambitious, and expansive, but it often raises more questions than it answers. Frequent shifts in point of view, meanwhile, result in some characters being less developed than others and a slightly overcomplicated plot. Still, the romantic tension is well drawn, the heroine is easy to root for, and Kenyon lays solid groundwork for future installments. Readers will be excited for more. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 11/28/2025 | Details & Permalink

In the propulsive latest from Kemanis (Thursday’s List), a young woman tries to find out what happened to her long-lost mother. Feisty firefighter Delicate Soul “Caty” Robertson, 19, was raised by her Black father, Paul Leroy “Roy” Robertson, in early 1990s Berkeley, Calif., after her white mother, Leonore “Len” Witaker, took off when she was an infant. In search of clues, Caty visits her estranged maternal grandmother, who tells Caty a private investigator tracked Len to Los Angeles shortly after her disappearance, but the trail went cold. Caty travels to L.A., where she manages to track down a woman who might be Len. In a parallel narrative set in the 1970s, flower child Len falls in love with Vietnam War veteran Roy, who dreams of opening his own restaurant. Len’s well-off parents disapprove of the relationship and threaten to cut Len off from the trust fund established by her grandmother. Shortly before Caty is born, Len makes a startling choice that forever alters her and Roy’s lives. A further twist near the end of the novel strains credulity, but for the most part, Kemanis adroitly portrays the longing that drives Caty’s search. Readers who enjoy family dramas will find much to admire in this buoyant tale. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 11/28/2025 | Details & Permalink

Bell’s diverting third Hott Springs Eternal contemporary (after Hott Take) finds New York City financial analyst Preston Hott angling to cinch a promotion when he learns of the life-altering provisions in his curmudgeonly late grandfather’s will. To keep Hott Springs Eternal—the wedding venue run by Preston’s sister, Hanna—in the family, Preston must return to the Oregon property and create an activities program for the town’s upcoming summer festival. If the program gets less than a 4.5 rating from attendees, the family land and business will be sold to a mining company. Fortunately, uptight Preston will have help from Natalie Archer, Hott Springs Eternal’s spunky activities coordinator. As they work together, sparks fly and Preston quickly realizes how much he needs Natalie’s creative flair in his life. Their chemistry soon becomes too much to ignore, but will their relationship survive Preston’s return to his high-flying life in New York? Bell mines her leads’ opposites-attract dynamic for some heady sexual tension. The result is both sizzling and poignant. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 11/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Loomis follows up Blue Duwamish with a lively if mystifying portrait of French Canadian fur trader François Payette (1793–1844) and those in his orbit during his exploration of the Pacific Northwest. Framed as an oral history, most of the narrative comes from Payette himself as he chronicles the day-to-day events of his life as a trapper, including his dealings with Indigenous peoples, such as a woman named Wades in Marsh Water, who gives birth to his son. Their child, Baptiste, narrates his own section about his experiences in the residential school system, while Wades in Marsh Water describes her work as a healer and medicine woman. Others, such as settlers to the region, discuss their relations with Native Americans and the taking of their lands. Loomis makes clear in an author’s note that he’s taken liberties with the historical record, but a few anachronisms stick out, such as a mention of Alberta long before the name was used. Still, the writing is energetic and colorful, as in Payette’s description of his fallen scout during an attack by Walawalałáma Indians (“He looked like a porcupine after he was showered with arrows and crawling”). Western fans ought to take a look. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 11/21/2025 | Details & Permalink

Bahna debuts with a sturdy, suspenseful thriller set in the world of competitive horse racing. After visiting Long Island’s Belmont Park when he was 10 years old, Matt Galiano became obsessed with the sport and devoted himself to finding out the best ways to predict winners. That pursuit endeared him to his father, a mobster who was murdered when Matt was a teenager. Now 30, Matt is hoping to leave behind his work as a gangster’s bookmaker and finally go straight. However, when he accidentally gets inside information that the trainer of his favorite horse, Heliacal Star, is being ordered to throw a race, he’s pulled back into the fray. Shielding him from danger is Kristine Connelly, a beautiful trainer who’s made it her mission to thwart the proliferation of performance-enhancing drugs and money laundering in horse racing. As Matt’s past threatens to catch up with the duo, Bahna keeps the pace fleet and the violence sharp—a fitting combination that evokes the speed and brutality of racehorses charging around the track. Dick and Felix Francis fans will relish this. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 11/07/2025 | Details & Permalink

Michael debuts with an energetic tale of a nun’s rise in the 1960s women’s movement. Raised in a Catholic family in an impoverished area of Chicago, Molly Cleary joins the sisterhood in the 1950s. Sometime after Vatican II in the 1960s, she dedicates herself to working in women’s shelters, having survived sexual abuse from her father and her twin brother, Thomas. She quickly locks horns with Thomas, a priest, when he counsels a parishioner to return to her abusive husband, who goes on to kill the woman. Molly then helps a Black woman gain custody of her children from her abusive partner. Meanwhile, Molly begins to develop romantic feelings for a community leader, which causes her anguish, since she took a vow of chastity. Her struggles with her faith eventually lead her to chair a national secular women’s organization. The dialogue is often didactic (“Nowhere is it written that a penis is required for saying Mass and offering the sacraments,” Molly says at one point), but readers will cheer on the novel’s boisterous and likable protagonist in her earnest fight for social justice. It’s a rousing story of resilience and advocacy. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 11/07/2025 | Details & Permalink

Stiles debuts with the enchanting tale of a family’s tragedy and miraculous new beginning. At the outset, 40-year-old Chicago TV reporter Michael Russo loses his job. He and his fiancé, Anna O’Leary, consider buying a dilapidated two-bedroom farmhouse in the country, and have sex in the barn while visiting the property. Back in Chicago, Michael, an atheist, clashes with his future in-laws, staunch Irish Catholics Colin and Grace, causing Anna to walk out on him. Seeking a new start, Michael buys the house himself, where he receives wisdom and renovation tips from a local handyman and priest who suggests to Michael that the barn has magical powers. When Anna visits, she and Michael begin to reconcile, and she tells him that she’s pregnant. Before their wedding date, Anna dies in childbirth after going into labor three months early. Their baby, Brie, unexpectedly survives, a miracle in the eyes of Colin and Grace, which Michael attributes to the fact that she was conceived in the barn. As a little girl, Brie is slow to speak, but she develops an uncanny ability to communicate with animals, and Stiles suggests she’s able to perform miracles, such as bringing a dead lamb back to life. Stiles’s hopeful novel is rich in detail and symbolism. Readers will relish this satisfying story. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 10/31/2025 | Details & Permalink

Gransden (Anemogram) brings together 14 surreal and eerie stories mining scares from technology, domestic life, and the natural world. In the wonderfully bizarre opener, “Turducken: Confirm Humanity,” a turducken comes to life, waddles from its roasting pan, and discovers the wonders and horrors of the internet. The lines between video games and reality blur in “Fuck It Cat and the Mod Hex from Hell,” while the protagonist of “ReWipe” is driven to an act of violence by the realization that he can no longer “like” anything on social media. Other stories offer more intimate horrors: an abusive mother drugs her teenage son in “Seeping Willow,” leading to strange hallucinations; and in “Pageant,” teen beauty queens turn violent against their controlling mothers. “The Disco Rice Club,” one of the standouts, delves into body horror after a heist attempted by a trio of garbage men goes horribly wrong (the “disco rice” of the title refers to maggots). The high-concept title story serves as a finale, following the exploits of Happy Bunny, a character who exists in a liminal grey room between calls to perform his part in the real world. Several of these tales take abrupt violent turns that successfully shock but feel somewhat unmotivated. Still, the inventive concepts and haunting, dreamlike imagery will appeal to horror fans. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 10/17/2025 | Details & Permalink