These past three years I have been loving Liana De la Rosa's historical romances, so I was intrigued that she was going to step into the contemporary romance category. Mutual Discord follows Sofia Mendoza, a 31-year-old who has been successful in her marketing career up until now. Recently laid off, she's spending her newfound free... Continue Reading →
Alexandra Vasti has quickly become a go-to author for historical romances, and I was excited for her latest, Scandal of the Summer, the first in her Flirty Rotten Scoundrels series. After four seasons, heiress Ruby is tired of trying to find a husband who can appreciate her depth of knowledge on "masculine" subjects like art... Continue Reading →
First released in 2015, the new English translation of Someone Like You, by Catalan-Spanish author Xavier Bosch, just came out yesterday. It's divided between two timelines. In 1981, Paulina Homs travels from Barcelona to Paris for her cousin's wedding weekend... and proceeds to fall in love with a French art gallery owner, Jean-Pierre Zanardi. More... Continue Reading →
Life, death, and twists of fate collide in today's new paranormal romance, You'll Be the Death of Me by Holly Michelle. Since dying a year ago, Cole has been an overworked clerk for the Afterlife Administration, awaiting his ultimate fate. But one day he makes a big blunder: He collects the soul for the wrong... Continue Reading →
Iceland is a country that keeps pulling me back in, so I'm always on the hunt for more books set there. This made Freyja by Margrét Ann Thors one of my most anticipated books this year. This dual timeline thriller brings Iceland—and its folklore—to vivid life. When Unnar was just eleven, her aunt (and legal... Continue Reading →
Ever since I saw that stunning cover, I've been looking forward to C.D. Major's debut novel, The Residency. Ginny is a single mother to six-year-old Isla, and every day brings ever more challenges. Broke, needing a change from London, and wanting to restart her art career, Ginny accepts a paid art residency on a remote... Continue Reading →
Last week I read Shannon Morgan's 2025 book, Grimdark, and I was excited to get into her brand new book, A Penance for Crows. This Gothic thriller takes place on a remote Irish island, Beanna Dubh, where 62-year-old Grizela has always been treated like an outsider. Not only is she Scottish, but she also spends... Continue Reading →
A debut novel I've been eagerly anticipating this year just came out: The Night Hunter by Natalie Moss. Two sisters, Danielle and Grace, grew up partially on a reserve in South Africa, but the family has become divided over the years. When their mother dies, Danielle and Grace meet up on the reserve, ready to... Continue Reading →
Last December, Nadia Davids released her novel, Cape Fever. Set in 1920 in an unnamed city in South Africa, it follows Soraya, a young Muslim woman working as a maid for an English woman, Mrs. Hattingh. Her new employer requires her to live at the house, and she rarely gets a chance to see her... Continue Reading →
I always love a romance set in Scotland, so I couldn't miss Naina Kumar's new book, Just a Highland Fling. Neelu has barely seen her dad since her parents separated when she was a kid. But now her dad is remarrying, so she goes to Aberdeen, Scotland to attend the wedding. While in town she... Continue Reading →
Last year Shannon Morgan released her third novel, Grimdark. With her fourth book just around the corner, I wanted to catch up on this one first. Grimdark starts off when Cló's husband, Jude, unexpectedly inherits his estranged family's estate in Norfolk. The couple travel there to oversee the new ownership, but Jude's cruel, much older... Continue Reading →
I hadn't read anything by Ashley Winstead before, but I was curious about her newest release, Hot Girl Murder Club. A string of murders points to a singer, of all people, as the most likely suspect, leading to a web of complicated and overlapping stories of abuse in Hollywood... and the vengeance someone is seeking.... Continue Reading →
Whether she's writing horror, historical fiction, or fantasy, I always enjoy Silvia Moreno-Garcia's books. Her newest release is The Intrigue, a noir set in a small Mexican town in 1943. Ulises Linares was born and raised to be a conman, and he's hoping to finally make a big score by wedding a wealthy spinster. So... Continue Reading →
Charlotte Cross's debut novel, The Brides, just came out this week. This is for all the Dracula fans out there: In this retelling, we get accounts from Mafalda Lowell, Lucy North, schoolfriend Eliza, and lady’s maid Alice from their travels to Budapest and Transylvania in 1884. Twenty years later, Dr. John Seward is a psychiatric... Continue Reading →
In a few months, Charlotte B. Plumb will release her debut novel, Reap & Sow, via the new crossover imprint, Berkley XO. This imprint is meant to have appeal for both Adult and Young Adult audiences. Reap & Sow is a slow-burn romantasy about Eda, a young woman forced to make a pact with a... Continue Reading →
These past few years, I've been enjoying Felicia Grossman's Once Upon the East End series. Each story centers Jewish characters finding love in 1830s London, and each is a gender-flipped fairytale retelling. The latest release is Dearest Beast, inspired by Beauty and the Beast. When Rebecca Adler's home and business gets blown up by an... Continue Reading →
I can't believe it's already been five years since I read David Heska Wanbli Weiden's debut novel, Winter Counts. Time has flown by, and at long last, the author is back with a sequel: Wisdom Corner. We return to South Dakota's Rosebud Indian Reservation and our favorite vigilante, Virgil Wounded Horse. It's been a year... Continue Reading →
One of my all-time favorite novels is Jane Eyre, and I always enjoy reading retellings of it. And so I couldn't resist reading Marian Yee's debut, 4 Janes. This book is divided into four reimaginings of Jane, two continuing from Charlotte Brontë's established storytelling, and two drawing up entirely new versions of the titular character.... Continue Reading →
As a lifelong fan of horror, I was intrigued by Mallory Arnold's debut novel, How to Survive a Horror Story. It follows a group of seven authors (aspiring and published) who have been invited to the reading of a will. Iconic horror author Mortimer Queen has passed away, and he has bequeathed something special to... Continue Reading →
Happy release day to the English translation of The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave. First released in Spanish in 2022, this novella takes place in the summer of 1977 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Two daughters witness bizarre horrors in their neighborhood, while the adults are wrapped up in their more mundane problems, unaware of... Continue Reading →
Earlier this month, Jasmine Holmes released her debut novel, Our Sister's Keeper. Set in the all-Black town of East Cobb, Mississippi in the 1920s, it follows two women who live in this seemingly utopian city. Thea has just moved there with her husband, Kid, but immediately feels like she won't fit in. Thea wants a... Continue Reading →
Alicia Thompson released one of my most anticipated books this week: In Every Possible Way. This contemporary romance is infused with magical realism and plenty of love towards the Cranberries. (Hence the book's title!) Jess celebrates her 37th birthday by going on a first date with an Irish expat name Niall. The date ends up... Continue Reading →
If you've ever felt nostalgic for indie rock music or the 2010s, you need to read Gabrielle Korn's new coming-of-age novel, Long Island Girls. It starts when Susan is a teenager in 2005; she meets a girl from a different high school, Eliza, and thus begins her queer awakening and a decades-long obsession. Susan meets... Continue Reading →
I've been enjoying Isabel Ibañez's books since Woven in Moonlight in 2020. This year she released her first adult novel: Graceless Heart, part of her new series, the Spellbound History Quartet. Set mainly in 1478 in Florence, Italy, this romantasy blends together a wide palette of themes. Magic vs. Catholicism, art and beauty vs. machinery... Continue Reading →
Amanda's Book Corner 