Time's Agent by Brenda Peynado

A melancholy exploration of love, guilt and grief, Time’s Agent will stay with you.

Ways into what are called Pocket Worlds (PW) are popping up everywhere. Archaeologist Raquel and her wife Marlena have been exploring them, to catalogue extinct flora and fauna and look for evidence of the Taino peoples.

Raquel and Marlena are both trapped in a long time dilation world and while in it, capitalism and climate change take over.

Recommended for thoughtful teens and up.

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

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

I am not familiar with Regency romances at all (I think I’ve read one. Maybe two.) but I think I would have read far more of them if T. Kingfisher was writing them.

This is an absolute gem of a book. It mashes up fairy tales, Regency and low key horror and what comes out is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s hard to explain why this is so good, but trust me, it really really is.

A retelling of "The Goose Girl", Kingfisher has an absolute knack for reimagining fairy tales and genre mixing. Recommended for tweens (depending on the tween) and up.

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

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Sarah Beth Durst said in the afterword that she wanted to write ‘a warm hug of a book’ and she knocked it out of the park.

Librarian Kiela flees the Great Library of Alyssium with her assistant Caz (who is hilarious and unexpected) when revolutionaries take control of the city and set fire to the Library. (NGL, did not approve of this bit, but plot, so whaddya gonna do?) With the few crates of spellbooks she managed to save, she and Caz sail to the only place of safety she can think of – her childhood home.

This is absolutely lovely. It’s sweet without being twee, romantic without being cloying. Cozy fantasy at its best! Halfway through reading this, I realized that it was now on my list of ‘books to read when things are not going well in my world and I need comfort’.

Recommended for everyone (some tweens would love this, I would think), go read it, you’ll love it.

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

Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland

Rowland has delivered a hilarious romp for fans of Our Flag Means Death and One Piece. There are pirates and unrequited love (and a fair bit of steamy scenes). Treasure and sea creatures and ships.

It’s all good and I chuckled my way through this. I really liked this universe and wouldn’t mind spend-ing more time here.

Recommended for older teens and up.

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

A Mask of Flies by Matthew Lyons

Matthew Lyons has written a tight, terrifying horror/thriller (holler? I’ll workshop it).

A botched robbery forces career criminal Anne Heller and companions to flee, and the only place she can think of to go is her childhood home – which she and her mother fled one night with tragic conse-quences. This choice leads her and her companions to dig into just why she and her mother had to flee and what her mother was running from.

I loved this book. The horror and thriller aspects are perfectly balanced and the plot moves at break-neck speed. (Although I think I need to stop reading horror set in rural areas, now that I’ve moved back to a rural area.)

Absolutely recommend this to older teens and up.

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

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

There seems to be a sub-genre of “traumatized queer couples engage in politics, mostly feudal adjacent” popping up in SF/F and I am HERE FOR IT. (See also Everina Maxwell, Foz Meadows and Freya Marske)

TSoTB is soaked in trauma (Samotin provides trigger warnings at the beginning, and you should heed them) but it doesn’t feel exploitative at all. Every horrible thing that happens propels the story forward or provides explanations for why the characters behave the way they do. Set in a feudal Russian-esque world, Jewish mythology underpins the story and provides mystical explanations and background.

The novel ends on a cliffhanger, and book 2 is scheduled to be published in 2025. I will definitely be looking for it.

Recommended for older teens and up and again, please heed the trigger warnings.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire

I will never not be delighted to read an InCryptid novel and Aftermarket Afterlife was no exception.

Mary Dunlavy is a ghost. Mary Dunlavy is also the Price family babysitter. I loved seeing the Price family through Mary’s eyes, it’s a unique perspective on the family we’ve come to know and love over the years. Sad things happen but they’re not shoehorned in, they do serve the plot, so I was mostly ok with them.

Recommended for teens and up (tweens depending on said tween).

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

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