In McGurk’s second installment of the Norwood Nanny Chronicles, after The Agency, readers are plunged into a thrilling world of espionage, mystery, and personal redemption as Bree, a nanny/spy in training, comes to terms with the kidnapping of her first charges in Turkey—and the mysterious deaths of two fellow agents. Driven by a deep sense of responsibility for the kidnapped children, but also haunted by the unresolved deaths of her parents and half-sister, Bree sets out, with her fellow nanny spies, to solve the mystery of the missing children and uncover her family’s secrets.

McGurk crafts a tale that seamlessly weaves together the intricacies of spy craft, personal history, and the quest for truth, its elaborate plot unfolding across multiple time frames and locations. From the turbulent backdrop of Ireland during the Irish Republican Army and British Empire conflict to the orphanage in Alabama where Bree grew up, and finally to the Norwood Agency in Britain, the story navigates through these settings with skillful storytelling, though the timelines require close attention to fully appreciate the unraveling events.

Heredity, DNA tests, and undercover moles resonate, mirroring the spy game, as Bree explores her roots in her ancestral home with fellow spy Dash Heyward, aided by roommate and Head Girl, Ruby. The supporting characters, with their own motives and secrets, add complexity to the tale. As Bree grapples with the embedded tracking device in her neck and questions of trust, the tangled web of relationships, beliefs, and falsehoods keep readers guessing until the final pages, and how to discern intentions while surviving requires every inch of Bree’s focus. The payoff is a gripping tale of espionage, self-discovery, and survival, and McGurk masterfully blends the action, mystery, and character-driven moments together, delivering a worthy sequel that will leave readers anticipating the next installment.

Takeaway: A twisting spy game adventure of betrayal, self-discovery, and survival.

Comparable Titles: Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious, Marion Blackwood’s The Traitor Spy.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about The Handler

Bioku’s debut collection of affirmation poetry draws a dynamic blueprint of the unsettled mind that ultimately reveals itself as a declaration of self-acceptance. Divided into seven sections that each excavate different sources of emotional, physical, philosophical and spiritual discord, We Ponder takes readers on an odyssey through the speaker’s psyche that touches on disordered eating, OCD, depression, emotional abuse, feminism, racism, and more. “A work in progress, we were promised to be completed,” Bioku writes in “Becoming More Aware,” but that promise, it turns out, is never fulfilled; despair reigns for that poem’s speaker until their perspective shifts enough for them to abandon the idea of unachievable completion.

In “Insomnia,” from a section titled “Mental Collisions,” the speaker stays up until dawn and “watch[es] as the Earth tilt[s] on its axis to reveal the sun’s glory.” At this change in perspective, day is a result of the earth turning rather than the sun coming up. The speaker then asks, “does the sun ever rise?” which is a remark not just on the unsettled self but the unsettled collective—even though humanity has long understood that the sun itself does not ascend the sky, we cannot abandon the myth of sunrise. In Bioku’s hands, though, this inquiry and this turning of perspective on its axis results in a healing liberation.

Bioku spins an elaborate web of self-expression in We Ponder that, despite several one-dimensional poems, is accessible, relatable, and refreshingly bold, particularly for readers seeking poetry about mental illness. Bioku is at her best in this collection in the section titled “Spiritual Remedies,” which is a series of prayer-poems that are brief but often transcendent. As the speaker writes in “Magenta Cosmos,” in the path of God or Creator, the unsettled mind is not one meant to be solved or settled: “grand designs have no negative spaces.”

Takeaway: Dreamy, melancholy poems of spirituality, mental health, heartbreak, and love.

Comparable Titles: Nikita Gill’s “The Truth About Your Heart,” R. H. Sin.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B
Marketing copy: B

Click here for more about We Ponder: Unsettled Minds

This fiercely original SF headspinner, Coles’s assured novel debut, opens with fledgling humans Kanan and Tei, eager to be born again into their “Final” skins, making sense of a tiny universe whose edge Kanan could run to in “17 minutes.” Kanan and Tei have been together since birth, living under the eye of a mentor, yet on the day of their “Finalization” their futures—and friendship—change forever when Tei is chosen to be Finalized as an interpreter and Kanan is destined for the archives, once her "service to humanity was finished." Kanan, instead, does what she does best—she runs. (“She” is used as a matter of expediency in this review; the pronouns shift in clever ways in the novel.) Tei's new position sets him on a path of discovery and enlightenment, as does Kanan's, as they both learn more about the Natchers, an extinct alien race “plotting their return to the human universe.” The more these "agemates" discover, the more they begin to question.

WIth prose touched with poetry and charged with feeling, Coles explores the human condition in literal and philosophical senses as Kanan and Tei uncover secrets about their existence, their history, and the structure of a society whose particulars will keep even seasoned science-fiction readers guessing. As Kanan and Tei find and rely on their talents, they unearth strengths within themselves to determine their own destiny outside of the stations they have been told await them in the future.

A captivating story of truth, good and evil, and what constitutes being "human", The Limits of My World lives up to its title, revealing that what the protagonists perceive as the parameters of their existence—including creepy inventions like the “butchery curtains”—isn’t the limits of their world at all. For all the provocative ideas and revelations, Coles prioritizes character and adventure, pitting his protagonists against hard choices (“You live skinless or you do not live”) and the most urgent of questions.

Takeaway: Fresh SF page-turner of identity, dystopia, and fighting for one’s place.

Comparable Titles: Brian Everson’s The Warren; Lauren Beukes.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

Click here for more about The Limits of My World

Witham’s international thriller (after Gallery Pieces) pits Chinese and American teams against each other as they vie for dominance in the art world. When a piece from a missing American art collection is discovered en route to China, Washington assigns U.S. agents Grace Ho and Julian Peale the task of recovery. Meanwhile, in China, Quang Daiyu, an entrepreneur and niece of the general secretary, Ren Jinuah, schemes for power; she has her own art ambitions, alongside her deadly rival, Soong Wei, an equally politically connected adversary. The parties—and their high stakes missions—maneuver from Shanghai to sparsely populated regions near the old Silk Road in their efforts to secure valuable artifacts.

Witham does a masterful job covering the dirty dealing in artwork through the eyes of Quang and Soong, and even better is his deft portrayal of modern China. He navigates readers through a China still reflecting on its imperial era, even after communism and recent forays into capitalism, where soldiers can sing Bee Gees songs, but to Quang, the last imperial ruler, Empress Cixi, is "still present." Even the Cultural Revolution seemingly didn't erase all vestiges of the royal family, at least in spirit, and Witham’s lovingly penned descriptions of the country hold attention, even when the plot meanders.

Though the focus is mostly on China itself, Witham capably develops agents Ho and Peale as well; they’re an engaging pair, and their sleuthing in China is buoyed by their comfortable rapport. For action fans, there's plenty of martial arts fighting and a particularly well-staged army helicopter extraction scene, and Witham deserves full marks for the offbeat but exciting wind-up. The novel delves into the concept of cultural property, a background against which Witham weaves a plausible and gripping denouement centered on artwork, museum building contractors, and a mysterious drink called Gold Tea. This lands well for fans of impassioned political thrillers.

Takeaway: America and China engage in complex—and deadly—espionage over art.

Comparable Titles: Dan Brown, Sam Christer.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B
Marketing copy: A-

Click here for more about The Silk Road Affair: A Novel

Palmer’s debut, the first volume of his Tales from Taylor Street, centers on the capers of three friends, self-styled “‘honorable’ thieves,” in 1980s Chicago. Best pals Ralph “Beans” Trombino, Cosh Geraldi, and Richard “Izzy” Tonsi reside in Chicago’s Taylor Street neighborhood, running small-time robberies and holding court at their old Italian-restaurant-turned-club in between jobs. The trio, strict adherents to a code of honor that dictates they only engage in “victimless crimes, or at least [crimes where] the victim had it coming,” take teenager Jimmy Pope under their wing as they seek out new jobs, but when they agree to an epic score with the notorious “Step” Virrina, their lives are forever altered.

Taylor Street is a worthy setting, equal to the book’s thrilling plot line, where the gritty neighborhood comes alive with colorful characters, whether it’s Beans’s Uncle Skinny, neighborhood bookie Willy the Wiz (replete with black Stacy Adams wingtips), or Pete the Bum, a “bona fide hobo” with serious street cred. Palmer paints the labyrinthine ecosystem of cops, thieves, their all-too-human aspirations and dreams, and their collaborations—said and unsaid, overt and covert—in a realistic manner, and he smartly avoids styling the protagonists as idealistic heroes. Each is a thorough professional, as proud of their skills and exploits as any other on the “right” side of the law.

The brisk pace and mounting tension towards the end will keep readers on the edge of their seats, and once Step’s true intentions are exposed, the stakes grow exponentially higher—with actual lives hanging in the balance. The final resolution adds depth and nuance to the thriller, setting the stage for the next in the series, as Beans and his crew are tasked with avenging a childhood friend’s abuse at the hands of his physical therapist. This is a gripping read with unforgettable characters.

Takeaway: A gang of good-hearted thieves takes on 1980s Chicago.

Comparable Titles: S. A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland, Grace D. Li’s Portrait of a Thief.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Money for Nothing

Griffin’s dark romantic suspense story, the sequel to Stonebridge, melds love, trauma, and the supernatural as it follows pregnant widow Rynna Wyatt and her cousin, Ted Demeray, in late 1950’s Virginia. Rynna’s newly deceased husband, Jason, is the focus of an investigation following his suspicious death—a death that lands Rynna and Ted as primary suspects. The two want nothing more than to put that past behind them and start over together, but they’re keeping too many secrets—like their clandestine love affair and the ghostly appearance of Jason’s mother, Rosalind, who played a central role in his demise.

As Rynna and Ted escape the family manor together, they must navigate her pregnancy amid their blossoming relationship, but they soon find themselves plagued by the past: Jason’s ghost is obsessed with possessing his soon-to-be-born son, Robert (“I take what is mine” is his constant refrain), and Rynna can’t shake the nightmares of Jason terrorizing her—both in life and in death. Her relationship with Ted is destructive in its own right: Rynna’s deep insecurity pushes her to pursue marriage with him, and children of their own, despite his fears that their children will inherit his disabling arthritis, and Ted’s manipulative treatment of Rynna echoes her past marriage. Added to the mix is Jason’s ghost, repeatedly threatening to kill Rynna and Ted or steal Robert, and Ted’s memories of his failed relationship with prior girlfriend Sylvia, to whom he’d been “sort of engaged.”

The abusive dynamics between Rynna and Ted may be triggering for some readers, but Griffin takes time to explore the past trauma shaping their interactions. That theme of two wounded souls stays center stage throughout, although the character-driven moments are interlaced with chilling supernatural angst that gives the novel some edge. Rynna’s determination to protect her son adds much needed optimism, and, despite an abrupt ending, the epilogue is rewarding.

Takeaway: Love struggles to overcome trauma, past and present, in this dark romance.

Comparable Titles: Nancy Price’s Sleeping with the Enemy, John R. Holt’s When We Dead Awaken.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Beyond Stonebridge

In this sweeping and unpredictable debut, Maggie Lomax—who has grown used to being known as the Maggie Lomax—is a woman from an undisclosed island looking back on her life, which includes insightful coming-of-age drama, a diverse cast, exciting global travel, and murder, though Maggie is quick to tell readers, “This is not a crime story.” Instead, it’s a story of living and growing, told through letters, diary entries, and multiple POVs. Seven Perfect Days follows a group of teenagers into young adulthood across multiple locales, through many romantic interests, and the ups and downs of their friendships. This tale runs the gamut of dysfunctional relationships, traumatic experiences, and death as the characters evolve, learn themselves and each other, and continue to grow into who they are meant to be.

Incorporating elements of mystery, Vespa has written a touching story about the transition into adulthood that pierces the heart while avoiding what Alexandra, one of Maggie’s correspondents, calls “badly wrought sentimental life lesson”s. Vespa creates a memorable group of friends experiencing grief, struggling with their sexual identity, and striving to find acceptance. These include Maggie’s friend Adam Moon, who says to his father “You’d prefer that I was out of my mind, shooting heroin into my arm, or dead, rather than be attracted to guys?” (The response is devastating.) Meanwhile, Maggie works her way through school, takes on odd—and sometimes dangerous—jobs from shady acquaintances, and continues to add friends to her already proudly unusual bunch, whose letters burst with wit and feeling.

Written with empathy plus much snarky, dark humor and razor-sharp dialogue, and always attentive to life as it’s lived in moments of connection, Seven Perfect Days fleshes out its cast in three dimensions as they enter the world, in vividly described locales like Singapore, the Maldives, and the unnamed island. The novel is long, but Vespa keeps it brisk and focused, offering an intricately woven tapestry of friendship, family, and romance.

Takeaway: Sweeping coming of age story full of adventure, romance, and dark humor.

Comparable Titles: Allison Larkin’s The People We Keep, Anne Youngson’s Meet Me at the Museum.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Seven Perfect Days

Abel debuts with a heart-warming memoir spotlighting the intense bond between dogs and their owners. Plagued by depression stemming from an abusive childhood, Abel vows her “primary goal in life [is] to be a good mother,” and after years of her son begging for a dog, she finally gives in—adopting Mattie, a wheaten terrier, who becomes an important link in Abel’s fight against depression. When a UPS driver accidentally runs over Mattie, Abel feels herself sinking into darkness again, prompting her search for a new four-legged companion. Enter Milo, a mixed breed, “one of a kind dog” who instantly connects with the family—but comes with baggage of his own.

This is a sweet ode to the joy of nurturing animals, though Abel admittedly has her work cut out for her in training Milo, an aggressive alpha dog who the family quickly realizes is a far cry from their previous pet. Abel and Milo's journey through training, asserting dominance, and learning to trust each other is an endearing story of overcoming grief, finding coping mechanisms in the most unlikely places, and the love between a dog and its owner. Abel refuses to give up on Milo, even after being warned of his volatility, writing that she was "determined to save him."

Animal lovers will relish the central role that Abel’s pets play in her wellbeing throughout the narrative, as she goes from adamantly avoiding dog ownership—due to a traumatic experience in childhood, when her father threw her puppy down a flight of stairs—to discovering not just camaraderie, but also healing in the human/animal bond. Abel writes transparently about the struggle to tame Milo, her troubling relationship with her parents, and the supportive nuclear family she establishes as an adult. This compassionately vulnerable memoir is, in Abel’s own words, a manifestation of her “determination to create an environment of unconditional love.”

Takeaway: Touching ode to the bond between humans and pets.

Comparable Titles: Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain, John Grogan's Marley & Me.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Mattie, Milo, and Me

In this impassioned call for (in)action, Siegel (author of A Skeptic’s Faith) argues the merits of Americans working less and having more free time—and by doing so potentially sparing our planet by reducing the consumption of natural resources and production of toxic pollution and waste. Exploring how mass production and an ever-growing workforce has led to "global warming and other urgent ecological challenges,” Siegel urges a rejection of the culture of “compulsory consumption.” Instead, he points to the Dutch model, with a more humane economy, with policies that would encourage fewer work hours, reduce inequality, encourage “ecological economics,” and reshape the concept of “growth.”

With well-chosen data, Siegel demonstrates how countries like The Netherlands have "created a prosperous economy with low unemployment" due to letting employees work fewer hours, though he’s clear-eyed about the practical challenges of fostering such profound change. To that end, he examines historical precedents like the Depression and the women's rights movement, chronicling the many ways employment actually has changed within the past century. The stakes are high, and he’s compelling in his depiction of a potential future where, if American workers continue to work, produce, and consume at the continued growing rate of recent decades, technology and environmental catastrophes will "bring immense destruction.”

Through consistent reiteration of its thesis—"this book looks at a way of dealing with ecological limits that is more politically practical"—even when Siegel entertains oddball hypotheticals like what if helicopters became the new cars, To Save the Earth, Work Less is an urgent, thought-provoking resource that challenges orthodoxies of American workforce, consumerism, capitalism, inequality, and "the law of diminishing marginal utility.” This is a quick, potent read that will spark conversation and provide food for thought on essential questions of the American dream, what it actually means to feel satisfied in life, and nothing less than the fate of the world.

Takeaway: Urgent call to reduce work, consumption, and inequality and save the planet.

Comparable Titles: Mary Robinson's Climate Justice, Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about To Save the Earth, Work Less!

This inspiring memoir is a rhapsodic testament to living a nomadic life and following passion where life leads. Blake (author of Going Steady, among others) shares her love of horses, farm life, and being "undomesticated" as her job as a horse trainer offers her the opportunity to do what she loves: traveling with her dog, Mister, her RV, the Rollin' Rancho, and the trusted navigational support of the "GPS Woman." Making new friends along the way, finally meeting in person friends made virtually during the pandemic, and fiercely holding on to her independence and undomesticated life, Blake's cross-country voyage is an adventurous narrative filled with green pastures, blue skies, and the open road at a time when “we all felt fragile and lonely and not sure how to behave socially.”

Blake's love for her work and animals pulses through this memoir that reads like journal entries as she covers "14,000 miles in eight months" as a traveling horse trainer "promoting a kinder method of training." Delving into the development of “Affirmative Training,” her empathetic method, and also how the pandemic changed the trajectory of her life's work, and the "special connection" horses and their humans share, Undomesticated Women offers much that will engage seekers and animal lovers. "Sometimes I refer to myself as a couple's therapist for horses and humans,” Blake affectionately writes, and her stories back this up as she demonstrates a passion for her career path that is infectious and inspiring.

This spirited memoir focuses on travel, human-animal relationships, and what it actually feels like to live an adventurous, nomadic existence. Blake mourns her losses, celebrates her husband, tends to the animals she loves, and frankly addresses issues of mental health—“My depression sat next to me in broad daylight, like an evil twin with poor hygiene”—she writes, as this candid, memorable memoir finds her hitting the road, leaving domesticity in the rearview.

Takeaway: A horse trainer’s intimate nomadic journey through pandemic-era America.

Comparable Titles: Lisa Wysocky's Horseback, Courtney Maum's The Year of the Horses.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Undomesticated Women Anecdotal Evidence from the Road

Noting that employees are twice as likely to leave a job in the month of their workplace anniversary, author Joi makes the case—and provides a comprehensive plan—for how businesses can and should celebrate their employees with work anniversaries ... and how such anniversaries “simultaneously improve both employee morale and performance,” improve team effectiveness, help “steer your organization’s culture in the direction you want it to go,” and more. Organized into three parts, this upbeat resource, Joi’s debut, highlights why it is important to incorporate work anniversaries into the schedule, the roles of various departments and how they can contribute, and detailed steps on how to create work anniversary celebrations that will "create feelings of belonging for all employees" and “triumph over workplace anniversary mediocrity.”

While Joi’s focus is on practical, original steps to organize and perform work anniversary celebrations, the broader theme is the creation or improvement of healthy, “intentional” workplace culture, especially through demonstrating that employees are valued, appreciated, and remembered for their work. "Work anniversaries can play a significant role in helping you craft an intentional workplace culture," Joi writes. Joi likens work anniversaries to birthdays, with the distinction that work anniversaries are to be celebrated inside of the workplace, while birthdays are personal. Touching on the importance of celebrating both in-person and remote employees, the nuts and bolts of how much to spend and how elaborate to get, and the value of framed certificates and other acknowledgements of employees’ contributions, Inspiring Work Anniversaries makes a compelling, positive case for the power of celebrating employee milestones.

A wealth of clear-eyed advice will help avoid awkward scenarios and ensure celebrations for a host of different types of employees resonate, including guidance for honoring remote employees, writing celebratory speeches, and navigating limited budgets. Business leaders looking for a simple way to acknowledge their employees and curate actionable positivity into their workplace culture will find the ideas and advice here inspiring and easy to implement.

Takeaway: The power and practicalities of celebrating employee anniversaries.

Comparable Titles: Donna Cutting's Employees First, Cindy Ventrice's Make Their Day!.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Inspiring Work Anniversaries

Hansen’s debut immerses readers in a surprising sci-fi odyssey set in a distant future where harmony among diverse alien races is maintained through the Ashtar Command Center, at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy. There, Jonas Neferis, a first-year Intergalactic Special Agent, receives a mission to locate the missing agent Talley, believed to be abducted by underworld demons. Jonas is a Shastra, a humanoid species with jackal-like features, and will be accompanied by fellow Shastra agent Bheem and Khafre, a Navan—“a gray-haired monkey being”—on a mission to perhaps the most surprising place in the galaxy: a radically transformed Earth.

The dynamic plot, marked by constant shifts in mission objectives, offers continual unpredictability as the scope and stakes—and the playful strangeness of an Earth full of dino-lizards and mega honey badgers—become clear. Jonas's initial objective is to find the all-knowing hermit Siegfried. Persistent bounty hunters Necrat and Tarsus complicate things, relentlessly pursuing Jonas and Siegfried. The narrative gains momentum as Jonas encounters Siegfried, triggering an onslaught by the skeleton god Khapre-Tum’s army on Earth's city of Heliopolis. The revelation that Khapre-Tum plans to unleash a world-shattering weapon on Earth forces Jonas to shift his focus to confronting a literal Demon-god, which of course is a bit much for a first-year agent. Fortunately, in a twist of destiny, Jonas is bestowed with additional power and responsibilities by the celestial being Garud, elevating him to the position of a Savior. It all builds to a high-octane final act of infiltrating the underworld.

The swift resolution of conflicts through Ashtar or Garud's interventions, such as the use of a prophecy, occasionally lessens the tension and challenges faced by Jonas, and the novel’s length is demanding, exacerbated by a tendency to explain in narrative what’s already clear from dialogue. Still, the ending is satisfying, and the narrative's strengths lie in its diverse characters, constant surprises, and jolting reimagination of an ancient Earth.

Takeaway: Wildly inventive SF adventure sending a far-future rookie to a changed Earth.

Comparable Titles: Pittacus Lore’s Ashfall Legacy, Rebecca Coffindaffer’s Throne Breakers.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: B+