Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
Sally Hepworth’s latest novel *Mad Mabel* follows eighty‑one‑year‑old Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, a sharp‑tongued former murder convict, as she navigates a present‑day mystery that mirrors her violent past. The story flips between 2025 Melbourne and the late 1950s, revealing how a teenage Mabel’s trauma shapes the cantankerous elder’s worldview. Hepworth’s trademark short chapters and suburban setting remain, but the novel’s voice—dry, Australian wit delivered through Elsie’s profanity‑laced monologue—sets it apart. While the historical sections hit emotionally, the contemporary mystery feels thinner and occasionally relies on coincidence.
London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe
Patrick Radden Keefe’s new nonfiction work, London Falling, chronicles the 2019 suicide of 19‑year‑old Zac Brettler, who had been living under a fabricated Russian oligarch identity. The book weaves two timelines: the Brettler family’s frantic search for truth after the...
The Auction by Sadie Kincaid
Sadie Kincaid’s new novel *The Auction* opens the *Wages of Sin* duet, blending dark romance with fairy‑tale motifs from *Beauty and the Beast* and *The Secret Garden*. The story follows Imogen DeMotta, sold for $10 million to billionaire recluse Lincoln Knight,...
Release Me by Tahereh Mafi
Tahereh Mafi’s Release Me continues The New Republic series, ten years after the Reestablishment’s collapse, and follows three protagonists—Warner, James and the newly introduced Rosabelle—through a fragmented, staccato narrative. Rosabelle, trained to shut down her senses, provides a haunting yet darkly comic...
Unbound by Peyton Corinne
Peyton Corinne’s third installment of the *Undone* series, *Unbound*, weaves a dual‑timeline romance that follows Bennett and Paloma from freshman sparks to senior‑year reckonings at Waterfell University. The novel’s alternating "THEN" and "NOW" chapters create a slow‑burn tension that culminates...
The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss
Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss launch *The Escape Game*, a YA mystery that opens with a flashback to a contestant’s death on a reality‑TV escape‑room show. The story follows four teenage auditionees—Carter, Beck, Adi and Sierra—through alternating video‑style chapters that...
Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell
Rainbow Rowell’s *Cherry Baby* follows 36‑year‑old Cherry Fairway as she navigates a divorce, a husband‑turned‑comic‑character, and relentless public scrutiny. The novel blends sharp humor with raw emotion, using sister group‑chat transcripts to deliver exposition and family dynamics. Rowell’s prose is...
Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
Kylie Lee Baker’s new adult horror novel *Japanese Gothic* intertwines a 2026 American college student with a 1877 samurai daughter, both haunted by a sentient house in Kagoshima. The narrative leans on the Urashima Taro legend, using it as structural scaffolding rather than...
Love by the Book by Jessica George
Jessica George’s new novel *Love by the Book* centers on the evolving friendship between debut novelist Remy Baidoo and London teacher‑sex‑worker Simone Beduah, placing platonic love ahead of romance. The story alternates between Remy’s witty first‑person voice and Simone’s restrained...
American Fantasy by Emma Straub
Emma Straub’s new novel *American Fantasy* follows a four‑day boy‑band cruise, tracking three distinct voices—a newly divorced fan, a weary band member, and a hard‑pressed tour manager. The story uses a ship‑log structure to examine how nostalgia and adult responsibilities...
Only Breath & Shadow by Andrew Tweeddale
Andrew Tweeddale’s *Only Breath & Shadow* concludes the Castle Drogo trilogy, following blind British veteran Christian Drewe as he shelters four Jewish children in Vienna during the 1938 Anschluss. The novel blends meticulous sensory detail with restrained prose, letting the...
The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer
Meg Shaffer’s *The Book Witch* follows Rainy March, a third‑generation Book Witch who safeguards fictional works from a shadowy group called the Burners. Told through Rainy’s case‑file journal entries, the novel blends romance, mystery, and fantasy while exploring the cost...
The Arimasen Dialogues by Michael Hoffman
Michael Hoffman's *The Arimasen Dialogues* is a dialogue‑only novel set on the metaphysical realm of Arimasen, where a 1969 Singularity shattered coherence. The story unfolds through a cast of distinct voices—talk‑show host Neil Grass, philosopher Reuben Ash, twin rock‑star mayors...
The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke
Evelyn Clarke’s debut mystery *The Ending Writes Itself* pits six struggling midlist authors against a 72‑hour deadline to finish a dead bestseller author’s manuscript on a remote Scottish island. The novel mixes classic locked‑room intrigue with sharp, darkly comic commentary...
Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry
Devney Perry’s *Rites of the Starling* continues the romantasy saga of Odessa and Ransom, keeping their secret marriage and monster‑riddled world at the forefront while introducing a third perspective, Starling princess Caspia, from the distant continent of Nelfinex. The sequel...