Happy Tuesday, mis internet amigxs!!!

I wanted start this week's newsletter by sending sending my heart out to the people of Venezuela and all they are experiencing after the earthquakes last week. I can not imagine the horror and desperation. I've never been one to be hopeless, so I found this document as a wonderful resource for assistance and donations. Please share, as recovery will be long and the people of Venezuela need all the help we can provide right now in this moment. My post yesterday also included some local Tampa donation drop-off spots and I'll be sharing in IG stories as well. If you have reputable links, please provide them in the comments of this post as well. I'm happy to amplify.

JULY BOOK CLUB REMINDER

Tomorrow we GO BACK TO SCHOOL! Both our July book club picks are nonfiction!

Our regular book club pick for the month of July is P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became The Global Voice Of Puerto Rican Resistance by Venessa Diaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau (Audiobook)

Our nonfiction sidequest (you get 2 months to read) is Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer (Audiobook)

Both books are linked below--I suspect discussions will start on Cuban time after July 4th weekend, so you have plenty of time to get your books.

SUPPORT MY WORK

You can support the work I do to bring these lists together by becoming a Libritos or Lectores member. It's through those financially supportive memberships that I can show Bindery that we want to publish Latine literature and also how I make ends meet as a full-time creator. One of the benefits of a paid subscription is that they already have all of July Latine releases in their hands along with some pretty exciting news. I appreciate you all being here at whatever level you can support.

And without further ado, today's Latine releases...

Translated Horror

The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave and translated by Robin Myers (Audiobook)

Romantasy

Cursed Ever After by Andy C. Naranjo (Audiobook)

Anthology (featuring Latine contributors)

These Kindred Hearts: A YA Romantasy Anthology edited by Shari B. Pennants (Audiobook) features Zoraida Cordova, Vanessa Montalban and Angela Montoya

xo,

Carmen

Hello, everyone! Happy New Release Tuesday, here are some releases we're excited for!

• Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne (THIS IS PERFECT FOR MURDERBOT FANS)

• Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay (a master)

Hope you're all doing well!

Till next time!

-Ryn

Hi there book buddies!

You thought I forgot about the weekly reading update, didn't you? Nope! I just took the day off to celebrate my birthday. I'm 46 & fabulous, thank you for asking. 😜

We slipped away to Sequoia National Park to tent camp for the weekend, and though I had every intention of enjoying my book whilst in the hammock the entire weekend, I barely finished a page. Instead we did a driving tour and a few short hikes, plus lots of time tending the campfire (it was cold, yo).

Now we're back home and back to reality, though I'm finding it hard to focus on anything other than my current reads! Y'all suggested The Calamity Club as my next read, and, boy, I'm glad you did. The hype is REAL. It's SO good that I don't want to put it down, though I've been told to savor it if I can. I'm reading the physical book and listening to the audiobook, and, if I'm being honest, the audiobook is much better. But regardless how you read it, get your hands on this book asap! Now's a good time to tap into Audible (get 3 months free) since Libby holds on this book are going to be miles long!

I've also started the new Kate Thompson, The Secret Society of Librarians, and, as I expected, I'm loving it, too. If you've read her other work, then I guarantee you'll enjoy this book. I'm only 15% of the way into my advanced reader copy and already there are SO many Easter eggs from The Little Wartime Library and The Little Wartime Book Club. Her WWII books are all full of great characters, found family, and tight-knit communities. 10/10 recommend

Since my last update I finished A Great Act of Love and really, really enjoyed it. As I said in my most recent Last/Now/Next, it's a good one for adventure seekers. I especially loved the father/daughter connection in this book, along with the woman-reinventing-herself theme. Lately, I'm feeling the pull to be somebody completely new, so that really spoke to me. 4.5⭐️

I finally got the chance to read The Original, my most anticipated Spring release, and, y'all, it had me wondering WHY I WAITED SO LONG!? If you love Katharine Hepburn or Cary Grant films, this is a MUST read. It was like watching a film, with the terse, quick exchanges and abrupt scene shifts between chapters. It was seriously good reading, but I have a feeling it will not be for everyone. 5⭐️

Lastly, I decided to DNF The Correspondent for now. I tried reading on my Kindle and then tried audio, and neither format was speaking to me. It's a fan favorite, so I may try it again, but the dry narrative was a struggle.

ICYMI:

Paid subscribers got first dibs on the August Historical Fiction Heads Up! Otherwise, be sure to subscribe (and confirm) to my newsletter for access on July 1.

Hear It Here First:

I'll be sharing a bunch of stuff on Youtube very soon, including my book haul from the Great Bookstore Tour (very overdue). Be sure & follow me there if you like long form content.

Thanks, as always, for being here! Until next time, happy reading. 🤩

xoxo

c

Hey y'all!

Things have been absolutely crazy for me this week. I can now OFFICIALLY say I have pitched a book to editors and I am crossing every finger that it is received well. I really loved this author's book and hopefully we can get it into the world for everyone else to love it, too. I'm also working on my first nonfiction pitch & proposal for an author! Really getting my hands into all the pies over here!!!

Let's talk queries for a minute! I have received SOOOO many amazing queries in the short four months I've been an apprentice and declining queries is incredibly difficult for me. Everyone has such great ideas for creative and new books, but I want to feel SO strongly about their book that I would fight tooth and nail to get them the deal they deserve. Sometimes I do love something, but the manuscript is not QUITE there yet and I have to pass, which is hard!!! I've had quite a few that I've loved and wish it was just a little different and I've let the author know so the door is always open for them to bring it back to me if they've edited their work. If you are someone who has queried me , thank you!!! It blows my mind that people find my information and want to share their babies with me. If you are someone thinking about querying me, please do! I'd love to take a look at your work and maybe we will fit together like puzzle pieces in this big, daunting industry!

So, if you read last week I pitched (HA) the idea for a new content series featuring western media outside of literature. And, if you follow me, you'll notice that I did NOT do that. A few reasons: 1) I was so busy that I couldn't find the time to sit down and film it!! Crazy because it would only take a few minutes, but I was drained. 2) Unfortunately I do want to come up with a better title for it, if possible, so I may just integrate it into 'western wednesdays' for now. If the people hate it, then hey, the people have spoken!

Another content thing: I have been sitting on and kind of teasing my dissertation for well over three years now and I still want to share her with the world. I had thought to start a substack, but why not just do it here! Be on the lookout for that sometime in the near future as I dust off my 'Save a Horse, Write a Cowgirl' and get to editing. It would likely be in multiple parts due to its length.

Anyway! If you've made it this far, thank you for being here! I hope y'all have a great week!

xo Ellen

Sickos, we got the official book club picks ready to rock and it's Monday so I wanna know what y'all are reading this week in the comments while I lay out what I got goin' on. Let's boogie!

FICTION SICKOS BOOK CLUB

It's Jurassic July baby! We are reading Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, which needs no extra context, everybody knows what it is. It's my first time reading the novel after seeing the movie a billion times so I'm excited about seeing the differences. We might have to do a watch-along in the Discord for this one after people have had a chance to take 'er down.

HISTORY SICKOS BOOK CLUB

It's become my life's mission to introduce folks to this historian's work and that continues on with me going full dictator with Not Built in a Day: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire by Emma Southon (UK title: Servus).

Here's the blurb:

From acclaimed author of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and historian Emma Southon, a groundbreaking history of Ancient Rome that explores how the empire was built, fueled, and shaped by its enslaved people.

When Julius Caesar conquered Gaul he boasted that he killed a million Gauls and enslaved a million more. This is the truth about the Roman empire: Rome could not function without slavery as it underpinned every single part of their economy. Without the millions of people snatched from their homes in the aftermath of war, kidnapped from the streets, sold into slavery as punishment, or born into it as “home bred slaves”, the Roman empire’s great aqueducts and temples could never have been built. There would be no coins or tiles to find in fields, no limitless manpower for the army and navy that conquered the Mediterranean, no marble palaces or underfloor heating, and certainly no life of unimaginable luxury for the one percent who didn’t even tie their own shoes. For the first time, Not Built in a Day tells their stories.

READING

REVIEW

THE HORDE: HOW THE MONGOLS CHANGED THE WORLD by MARIE FAVEREAU (scholarly historical nonfiction)

Progress: Finished

I ranted about this one last week and have a video recorded that'll likely go up tomorrow about a pretty bold revisionist take that Favereau slipped in the epilogue. Overall, there's a ton of good info here when Favereau sticks to the facts but it's a recommendation that comes with big caveats due to some unconvincing arguments and dry, repetitive writing. I'll be a adding a stack of Mongol recs to the pinned Master List this week.

WE WILL BE JAGUARS: A MEMOIR OF MY PEOPLE by NEMONTE NENQUIMO (Indigenous environmental memoir)

Progress: Finished

I was nearly finished with this last week and highly recommended it, then followed that up with more detail on YouTube. I also clipped that out for short-form so there's plenty of places to get my take on this but the bottom line is pick this one up.

AND THE BAND PLAYED ON: POLITICS, PEOPLE AND THE AIDS EPIDEMIC by RANDY SHILTS (historical nonfiction)

Progress: 457/605

Didn't finish this like I planned but we made good progress and I continue to appreciate the level of detail in this THICC BOI. Am discussing it more in-depth in the Discord forums as it's the History Sickos Book Club pick for June.

DEFIANCE: A MEMOIR OF AWAKENING, REBELLION, AND SURVIVAL IN SYRIA by LOUBNA MRIE (nonfiction memoir)

Progress: 102/417

Randomly picked this up the other night just to sample it and ended up chewing through the first hundred pages. The tag line you'll hear me say about this in the eventual review is definitely going to be some form of "daughter of an assassin for the regime joins the revolution" because I can think of no better way to describe it. That's some badass fantasy shit, but make no mistake, this is nonfiction and Mrie has one helluva story and is one helluva writer.

GUARDS! GUARDS! by TERRY PRATCHETT [City Watch #1, Discworld #8] (satirical fantasy)

Progress: 328/403

Finally! Finally, I have spread some Discworld book cheeks and I'm having a wonderful time. This gives me serious Monty Python vibes and I'm loving the zany nature of it all. We have a Discworld bussy forum in our Discworld where I've been dropping thoughts and highlights if that's your kinda thing. I'm in the home stretch and will likely finish tonight and resume the series after I finish Jurassic Park.

EVERYTHING ELSE

Currently watching the World Cup as I write this up (Japan is up on Brazil!), and that'll be on all week. For my re-watch I'm going with Narcos but I'll need a different background show for work (bcuz no habla), so I think I'll go with a random season of Alone. Of course, House of the Dragon, and I may even re-watch that while also taking in the weekly episodes (which I haven't started yet tbh).

I was planning on starting some other video games but instead started doing steppe people runs on Civilization VI. No regrets.

Hi folks, I have exciting news - I’m going to be an attending author at Fiction Fest next year, my first signing event!

https://www.fictionfest.co.uk

I had so much fun at Fiction Fest this year as an attendee, I’m so happy to be returning next year as a debut author. Dream come true.

Hope to see some of you there!

Disco x

Hey y'all,

For July, we'll be reading Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. It was one of my top five reads last year and I just can't stop thinking about it and I want you all to understand that feeling.

Moving forward, I'll send out a poll on Discord to see what people would like to see from this book club. Feel free to also comment suggestions here or in Discord. I've been picking the books the past few months, but I do want to bring the voting back soon.

XoXo,

Rae

We are making sure your bookish aesthetic is unmatched this summer. Your exclusive July vault is packed with over 60+ customizable Canva templates and mockups designed to make your feed shine. From detailed review layouts to giant reading wrap-ups, everything you need is just a click away.

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Thank you for being part of The First Editions! We can't wait to see how you customize these. Tag us in your creations so we can admire your summer aesthetic! 🙌✨

#Bookstagram #TheFirst Editions #CanvaTemplates #BookMockups #ReadingWrapUp #BookReview

Hey readers and creators!

Summer is in full swing, and it’s time to give your bookish content a fresh, sunny upgrade. We are back with your monthly dose of design goodies here! Whether you want to review your latest beach read or show off your mid-summer stats, we’ve got you covered.

Here is a sneak peek of what you can download this month:

• July Mockup Starter Pack (Size 1:1): Get four essential mockups to showcase your book across every format including One Physical Book, One Tablet, One Phone, and One Nook template.

• 👉 Download the 1:1 Mockup Pack

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• 👉 Download the Story Book Review Template

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I'm changing up Monday's posts! I'm going to try out moving my book reviews from Instagram to Bindery, and doing them in a weekly roundup style. I'll be giving a few bullet points about each book I read in the last week.

Honestly, I'm a little nervous about this because I do not like change, ha. But we're doing it! Also, come on over to my Discord server and share your own reviews with the friendly folks there!

Books marked with a * were gifted to me, books marked with a ^ I was paid to read.

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - This was a reread, and I've hollered enough about DCC that I won't subject you to too much more. I made my spouse listen to this on a road trip we took to try and get them into the series and it worked! Honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised given that they rarely read fiction, let alone sci-fi/fantasy.

The Maidenheads by Benny B. Johnson* - Y'all already saw my rave review of this! Honestly, it's a contender for a top book of the year for me. (And watch this space for my mid-year faves!)

Escala's Wish by David James^ - I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It's a D&D style story with a faerie trying to complete a task that will allow her to end her exile from the fae realm, and it's told with the framing of a bard telling the tale to a tavern full of people. It's not the most complex story and doesn't have the most three dimensional characters, but it was full of heart, action, and silliness.

This week my guest is queer rom-com author Amy Spalding. Her new sapphic romance IN HER SPOTLIGHT is about Tess Gardner, the closeted star of a superhero film franchise who finds out the director of her next play is her super hot ex-girlfriend. We talked about how Amy wrote all of the competing power dynamics of a fling backstage in post-Me Too theater. Plus, writing a villain I wanted to punch through the page, and misogyny’s ripple effects on set and on stage.

Follow Amy on social media @thatames and subscribe to her newsletter at amyspalding.substack.com

Listen on:

• Apple Podcasts

• Spotify

• Castbox

• Libsyn

There's something very satisfying about spending the summer reading horror! Here are the books that I recommend for your Summerween reading list!

1) The Blood Year Daughter by G.G. Silverman - In G.G. Silverman’s debut fairytale-horror collection The Blood Year Daughter, a woman builds husbands out of gravel and slaughterhouse feathers, two sisters eat cinnamon-scented pieces of their mother, and a charming doctor’s murdered brides whisper warnings to his newest wife.

2) Kill Your Darlings by Yuvashri Harish - A fun, fast-paced YA horror about a teen girl facing the horrors of misogyny, racism, an evil witch, and her horde of monsters.

3) We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer - A haunting debut about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.

4) Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica - Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.

5) What Feeds Below by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne - The darkness isn’t empty. It’s hungry. At the edge of the City of the Void, a massive chasm extends miles into the earth, its treacherous terrain overrun with vicious monsters and carnivorous plants. For orphaned best friends Petra and Jade, guiding treasure-seeking tourists down into the Void is the only way to earn enough to pull themselves up out of the slums for good.

6) Come Closer by Sara Gran - The new voice in Amanda's head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. Is she possessed by a demon, or is she simply insane?

Happy Sunday, mis internet amigxs!!!

I CAN'T WAIT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THE OVER 20 LATINE BOOKS RELEASING THIS MONTH, BUT FIRST! I HAVE TO GIVE YOU AN EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEAK OF SOME CHANGES COMING SOON...

BUT FIRST, TO VENEZUELA...

I wanted to send my heart out to the people of Venezuela and all they are experiencing in this moment. I can not imagine the horror and desperation. If you have the means or the ability to share, this document is a wonderful resource for assistance and donations. Please share, as recovery will be long and the people of Venezuela need all the help we can provide right now in this moment. If you have reputable links, please provide them in the comments of this post as well. I'm happy to amplify.

EXCLUSIVE NEWS FOR YOU

HOPEFULLY this will be my last email before our spreadsheet is finally up and running. WHERE will it be accessible to you 24/7? ON TOMESANDTEXTILES.COM. Here's a little peek at the landing page...CUTE RIGHT?!?!? I can't wait for it to be live and I hope it will be this month, so keep your fingers crossed...

JULY BOOK CLUB REMINDER

We're getting ready to GO BACK TO SCHOOL in July!

Our regular book club pick for the month of July is P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became The Global Voice Of Puerto Rican Resistance by Venessa Diaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau (Audiobook)

Our nonfiction sidequest (you get 2 months to read) is Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer (Audiobook)

Both books are linked below--I suspect discussions will start on Cuban time after July 4th weekend, so you have plenty of time to get your books.

And without further ado, July's Latine releases...

July 7th

ROMANCE

Every Verison of You by Natalie Messier Adult (Audiobook) For fans of Love of My Afterlife and The Seven Year Slip, a woman who gets to relive her college years and has a second chance for the one that got away.

FANTASY

In The Wake Of the Ruined by Kalie Cassidy (Audiobook) Follow-up to In The Veins of The Drowning; a powerful siren must face the monster threatening her home, risking everything

HISTORICAL FICTION

An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton (Audiobook) Copy Moon Joy, but it's the story of a team of astronauts lost in space in 1968 and a case of possible time travel.

MIDDLE GRADE GRAPHIC NOVEL

Offside by Cristina Diaz Gonzalez and Mari Costa (Audiobook) Available in both English and Spanish, this is the PERFECT graphic novel to get your middle schooler during World Cup fever!

JULY 14TH

NOIR & AUGUST BIEN LEIDOS BOOK CLUB PICK!

The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Audiobook) Taking place in 1940's Mexico, this steamy noir follows Ulises, a con man who believes himself to be at the end of his useful life, so he makes the decision for one last con. Unfortunately, his latest mark, Perla, and her niece, Ines, may be more than he bargained for. How long will small town "good manners" cover up the rot of avarice and lust? I can't wait to discuss this one with you and you may want to watch my socials for more coming up soon...

TRANSLATED LITERATURE

One Hundred Guinea Pigs Gustavo Rodriguez and translated by Daniel Hahn (Audiobook) The tagline for this book is that friendship makes life worth living and ending. The story of a death doula who makes lasting friendships with her clients--a lighthearted novel about euthanasia.

FANTASY

Ruinous Ends by I.V. Marie Young Adult (Audiobook) The highly anticipated sequel to Immortal Consequences + first edition comes with sprayed edges!

GRAPHIC NOVEL

To Dance The Moon And Stars Tasia M S & Barbara Perez Marquez (Audiobook) This is a South Asian-inspired fantasy is co-written by a queer Latine author!

LITERARY FICTION

It Will Come Back To You by Sigrid Nunez (Audiobook) First ever short story collection from award winning author!

JULY 21ST

Young Adult Ficiton

Take It To Your Grave by Louangie Bou-Montes (Audiobook) YA paranormal thriller about Joaquin who goes on a ghost hunt in an abandoned house and whose fate becomes intertwined with the ghost of Maximiliano who's been dead 30 years.

I Didn't Do It by Elle Gonzalez Rose (Audiobook) I Killed Zoe Spanos meets The Counselors in this YA mystery

JULY 28TH

YOUNG ADULT NOVEL IN VERSE

Evamar by Margarita Engle: an enthralling and heartrending novel-in-verse about first love, hidden cultures, and ancestral connections that follows a teen’s journey to uncover her late grandmother’s roots in Cuba. Available in both English and Spanish

LITERARY FICTION

Beginning, Middle, and End by Valerie Luiselli (Audiobook) From the author of Lost Children Archive comes a story of a mother and daughter starting anew in Siciliy and a road trip about 4 generations of women.

ROMANCE

Second First Dates by Gabrielle Gamez (Audiobook) A librarian swipes right on a charming high school teacher, only to realize she'd already dated him once.

TRANSLATED FICTON

The Winds of Maracaibo by Maria Elena Moran (Audiobook) An ode to the Venezuelan women who gave their blood, sweat, and tears to a nation dismantled by the egos of men.

SCIENCE FANTASY

The Demon Star by Jesse Aragon (Audiobook) "The otherworldly religious conflict of Dune, the cosmic strangeness of Gideon the Ninth, and heart-pounding action converge in this horror-tinged epic science fantasy debut"

Hopefully our next update will be in spreadsheet form...

xo,

Carmen

If you’re not a paid subscriber getting your arc soon, you still have a chance to win a ECOPY!

Enter the Goodreads giveaway:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/444000-what-feeds-below?ref=giv_

Welcome back to After the Walk, where Link and I return from our Sunday morning stroll, and I attempt to organize my thoughts about everything I've been reading.

This week ended up being one of those wonderfully unexpected reading weeks where every genre somehow arrived at the same destination.

I spent time with Egyptian gods, mushroom-ravaged forests, sentient moss, hockey players pretending to date, women haunted by the past, and a serial killer trying very hard not to become one again.

On paper, these stories couldn't be more different.

But underneath every one of them was the same question: What does it actually mean to be human?

👑 Isis of Egypt

I've read plenty of mythology retellings over the past few years, but almost all of them have one thing in common: They're Greek.

That's what made Isis of Egypt feel so refreshing.

Malayna Evans introduces readers to an entirely different pantheon while making the gods feel surprisingly relatable. The divine politics, fractured relationships, jealousy, grief, and ambition all mirror very human emotions.

What I appreciated most (especially after speaking with Malayna during our Instagram Live) is how intentionally Isis is portrayed. She's powerful because she continually chooses empathy. In many mythology retellings, strength is measured by conquest. Here, strength is measured by compassion. That's a much more interesting story to tell.

The historical research is evident throughout the novel, but it never feels like you're reading a history lesson. Evans trusts readers to absorb the mythology naturally through the narrative, making the world feel immersive instead of overwhelming.

Read if you enjoy:

• Mythology beyond Greece

• Historical fiction grounded in real research

• Strong female protagonists

• Political and family drama

🍄 Eden

Every once in a while I read a horror novel that reminds me horror exists to make us care.

Eden absolutely terrified me.

The fungal-infected wildlife is vividly grotesque, and several scenes genuinely made my skin crawl.

But that's not why I'll remember this book; I'll remember the people.

Kylo Kirby understands one of horror's biggest secrets: monsters only matter if readers desperately want the characters to survive them.

I became deeply attached to this cast, which meant every dangerous encounter carried emotional weight.

The prose also deserves special recognition. The novel constantly balances beauty with decay. One paragraph paints breathtaking images of sunlight filtering through abandoned landscapes; the next forces readers to confront horrifying mutations created by the fungal outbreak.

That tension between beauty and horror perfectly mirrors the novel itself.

I also loved the inclusion of scientific papers, transcripts, and other mixed-media elements. Rather than interrupting the story, they quietly expand the world and allow readers to piece together humanity's downfall alongside the characters.

For a debut, this is remarkably confident.

🌿 Moss'd in Space

I need everyone to understand something: I became emotionally attached to moss.

Not metaphorical moss; actual sentient moss.

If that's not enough to convince you to read this book, I'm honestly not sure what else I can say.

Moss'd in Space reminded me why I love cozy science fiction so much.

This novel succeeds because every member of its found family feels distinct, lovable, and wonderfully imperfect.

Moss itself may be the emotional center of the story. After spending more than a century abandoned aboard a forgotten ship, its deepest desire is belonging. Isn't that what found family stories have always been about?

The humor is delightful, the romance is charming, and despite its cozy atmosphere, the novel never forgets to create genuine tension when it matters.

I cannot wait to reunite with this crew.

🏒 Big Stick Energy

Fake dating has become one of romance's most recognizable tropes.

The problem is that many novels stop at the trope itself, but Big Stick Energy doesn't.

Both Eric and Darcy carry different kinds of loss: One mourns someone who is gone forever; the other mourns relationships that still exist but have fundamentally changed.

Those quieter emotional threads elevate the romance because the characters don't simply fall in love.

They become witnesses to each other's pain.

The humor also lands beautifully. Darcy's inability to stand up to her family contrasted with her absolute willingness to mouth off to her boss created some of my favorite moments in the book. Sometimes romance doesn't need to reinvent the genre; sometimes it just needs to execute familiar tropes exceptionally well.

This does exactly that.

🌲 Heather

The marketing calls this a thriller, but I'd argue literary suspense is a much more accurate description.

The disappearance of two sisters may launch the story, but the mystery is simply the thread connecting a much larger exploration of motherhood, sisterhood, trauma, identity, memory, and forgiveness.

This is a novel that unfolds patiently.

It trusts readers. It doesn't rush emotional moments for the sake of faster pacing or bigger twists.

The audiobook deserves special recognition as well.

Three narrators guide readers through multiple timelines with remarkable clarity, and Bailey Carr's portrayal of Annabelle adds heartbreaking vulnerability to an already emotionally rich story.

Some books ask, "Who committed the crime?" Heather asks something far more difficult: "Can we ever truly know another person's life?"

That's the mystery that lingered with me.

🖤 Songbird in the Gallows

This was probably my most mixed read of the week, mainly because I wanted even more from what was already there.

The setting completely captivated me.

Grimlock feels like somewhere between a gothic fairy tale and a dark romance novel. Every page suggested secrets waiting beneath the surface, and I found myself wishing the story leaned even further into that eerie atmosphere.

Blue was easily my favorite part of the novel. Morally gray without losing his humanity, protective without becoming overbearing, he anchored the story whenever he appeared.

Saylor didn't resonate with me quite as strongly, though the supporting cast added warmth and humor that kept the story engaging throughout.

Final Thoughts

When I finished this week's stack, I realized every one of these books was wrestling with the same question: Who chooses compassion when life gives them every reason not to?

• A goddess.

• A survivor.

• A lonely piece of moss.

• A hockey player.

• A police chief.

• Even a former killer.

This week's books reminded me that no matter the genre, the books I remember most are never really about the plot. They're about people. Or, occasionally...Moss.