Cinder House by Freya Marske

Ella is a ghost. Murdered by her stepmother (which I would say edges over the line into 'evil' territory), she haunts her house, acting as a maid for her stepmother and stepsisters. But then she discovers a way to leave her house and meets a fairy in a marketplace and dares to dream again.

I loved this. A retelling of Cinderella, it hearkens back to the original tales, which involved blood and death. So so good!

Recommended for adults, it is a bit spicy.

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by J. R. Dawson

On the shores of Lake Michigan, there is a Lighthouse. Nera has lived there with her father since she was a baby, all she knows is the Lighthouse. After the dead come to terms with being dead, Nera and her father ferry the dead to the Veil, where they cross over.

But there is something in the dark. Something hidden since the Chicago Fire. And now there is a living person in the Lighthouse – Charlie, who is grieving her sister. Charlie, who is searching for any trace of her sister in the Lighthouse. Charlie, who is vulnerable to voices from the dark.

I loved this book. I love the exploration of gentle afterlives so much. J. R. Dawson has written a beautiful novel that explores death, grieving and first loves with a sure touch.

Recommended for mid teens and up.

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire

Even though quests are prohibited at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, Nancy found her door back to the Halls of the Dead after completing one and never looked back. Years have passed and now the ghosts who populate the Halls are slaughtering the living statues. Tasked with finding help from the Lord and Lady, Nancy returns to the Home and gathers her friends for definitely not a quest. After all, quests are forbidden.

I can't rave enough about this series. Seanan McGuire has created such an immersive world here, that you'll be looking for your own doors – just Be Sure.

Start with the first one and work your way up if you haven't done so, you'll catch more of the call backs to previous books that way. Recommended for mid teens and up, there are mentions of serious situations, but nothing very overt.

Publishing date of January 6, 2026.

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Girl in the Creek by Wendy M. Wagner

Erin Harper's brother Brian has been missing for five years. He vanished during a solo hiking trip in the Pacific Northwest. Erin lands an assignment to do a puff piece on the town where he vanished from so she takes the opportunity to do a little sleuthing. But why are women going missing? And who is the girl in the creek?

I wanted to love “Girl in the Creek”, I really did. It wasn't unsettling enough to be creepy, and it definitely wasn't scary enough for me to read only in daytime. There's elements of body horror, alien invasion, and societal horror but none of it really scared me. The story never really seemed to get cohesive enough for me to care about any of the characters and it kind of felt that it needed to be about a third longer to really work. (Look, I almost never say that a book should be longer, but here we are.)

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

In the near future, California has officially fought a civil war with America and won. When a group of deactivated robots come back online and discover their situation, they band together and open a hand-pulled noodle shop to make money to pay their bills. When their shop is review bombed by anti-robot spam, they decide to fight back. And make delicious food.

This is a charming novella that somehow doesn't feel quite as future as it sounds. (Except for the robots) Found family and good food resonate through this. I'd love to see future adventures of the Automatic Noodle gang.

Recommended for all.

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher

Healer Anja is a 'poison doctor' -- she works to find antidotes to poisons and hopefully save the victims. It's a fairly quiet life, until her King shows up in her workroom with a request. His daughter Snow is ill and he fears that someone is poisoning her. Will Anja travel to the isolated estate where he has sequestered Snow and work to save her? Of course she will (he is the King) but when she arrives, things are....off.

This reframing of Snow White is an utter delight. T. Kingfisher has absolutely mastered the art of retelling fairy tales, giving them a twist and usually casting a mature (middle-aged? Not an ingenue, anyways) heroine who is down to earth and usually perplexed by what's going on around her but willing to get things done. There's a slow-burn romance in the background (and Kingfisher does the thing that I particularly like in romances, whereby the characters actually TALK to each other and figure things out), a talking cat who is just as one might fear a talking cat to be and many fun facts about venomous animals.

Absolutely recommended! (I'd say for everyone, but high teen readers might be put off a bit by the ages of the protagonists. Still, I'd say it would be worth a shot there.)

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

Terlu Perna wakes up in a cold, snowy forest clearing. She's absolutely thrilled to do so, as she was turned into a statue for using sorcery to create Caz, a sentient plant we met in “The Spellshop”.

But now she has no idea where she is, what her life may be now and why the handsome, grumpy gardener who turned her back into a person is so grumpy and insistent that he needs a sorcerer to fix the greenhouses on Belde.

I loved this so much! A companion novel to “The Spellshop”, it opens up more of the world that Durst has created. Hopeful, romantic and quietly resistant to abuse of power, this is going on my “read when things are bad” list.

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.