Colleen Mondor

Hazardous Spirits, Anbara Salam (Tin House 978-1-959030-13-3, $17.95, tp, 368pp) October 2023. Cover by Beth Steidle.

Anbara Salam’s historical novel Hazardous Spirits opens with some unexpected fam­ily drama for protagonist Evelyn Hazard. Firmly established as a middle-class housewife in 1923 Edinburgh, she is happy with her accountant husband, Robert, and living in close proximity to her dear sister, Kitty, and her family. Still griev­ing from the death of their ...Read More

A Study in Drowning, Ava Reid (Harper Teen 978-0-06-321150-6, $19.99, hc 384 pp) Septem­ber 2023.

Ava Reid’s beguiling fantasy A Study in Drown­ing is set in the country of Llyr, which is reeling from the latest in a long-running series of border disputes with its neighbor Argant. Somewhat reminiscent of Wales, Llyr possesses a strong national identity which is heavily dependent upon the legacies of the seven ‘‘Storytellers’’, creators ...Read More

Who Haunts You, Mark Wheaton (Off Limits Press 978-8-9879250-1-0, $13.00, 170pp, tp) Sep­tember 2023.

Mark Wheaton’s Who Haunts You is a thriller featuring a determined teen detective who cannot be sure of anything she uncovers. Rebecca ‘‘Bex’’ Koeltl is a high school senior in a school that is suddenly suffering an alarming number of student deaths. Yunwen Lei runs off a cliff, Darrell Anolik drives into a delivery van, ...Read More

Witch of Wild Things, Raquel Vasquez Gilliland (Berkley 978-0-593-54857-8, $17.00, 336pp, tp) September 2023.

Witch of Wild Things is exactly the sort of magi­cal romance that pairs perfectly with a dreary fall evening. It’s all about making sweet conversation while tramping through the woods, cooking some amazing meals, and negotiating a ton of family drama. There is also a romance rooted in a years-past teen crush that carries its ...Read More

House of Roots and Ruin, Erin A. Craig (Dela­corte Press 978-0-593-48254-4, $19.99, 544pp, hc) July 2023.

Erin A. Craig follows up House of Salt and Sorrows, her reimagining of the fairy tale ‘‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses’’, with a new novel focused on the youngest of the sisters introduced in that title. House of Roots and Ruins is all about Verity Thaumas, who has lived with her older sister Camille ...Read More

Rook, William Ritter (Algonquin 978-1-64375-240-2, $17.99, hc, 368pp) August 2023.

William Ritter returns to his successful Jackaby series with Rook, a new, somewhat standalone entry that will delight fans. Focussed on Jacka­by’s sidekick, Abigail Rook, the title follows the near-catastrophic events of The Dire King, the book where everything changed for the citizens of New Fiddleham, and most especially for Abigail. Now the one who wields a ...Read More

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz, Garth Nix (Harper Voyager 978-0-06-329196-6, $30.00 hc, 304 pp) August 2023.

Published over the past 15 or so years, Garth Nix’s tales of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz are now collected in a single volume titled after the two characters. Set in a variety of towns and kingdoms across an imagined landscape, these stories of sword and sorcery follow a knight and his powerful ...Read More

Where Echoes Die, Courtney Gould (Wednes­day Books 978-1-250-82579-7, $20.00, hc, 337pp) June 2023. Cover by Peter Strain.

I so rarely see young adult science fiction that a short description of Courtney Gould’s Where Echoes Die was enough to get me ex­cited. (Abandoned military structures! Mysteri­ous ‘‘treatment’’ center! An entire town suffering from sporadic memory loss!) Two sisters pursue their deceased mother’s obsession of a small town in Arizona. On ...Read More

The Wonder State, Sara Flannery Murphy (MCD/Farrar, Straus, Giroux 978-0-374-60177-5, $28.00, hc, 371pp) July 2023.

Arkansas writer Sara Flannery Murphy sets her latest novel, The Wonder State, in familiar territory as she tells the story of five former friends called home in response to foreboding letters each received, declaring ‘‘You promised.’’ Jay, Charlie, Hilma, Matt, and Iggy have found varying degrees of personal and professional success since they ...Read More

Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulou (Razor­bill 978-0-593-52871-6, $19.99, hc, 341pp) May 2023. Cover by Corey Brickley.

Kika Hatzopoulou’s Threads That Bind is a mystery, heavily steeped in mythology, set in the marvelously complicated half-sunken city of Alante. Along with her two older sisters, teen Io Ora is a descendant of the Fates who now uses her abilities to aid her work as a private detective. Early in the novel ...Read More

Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves, Quinn Con­nor (Sourcebooks Landmark 978-1-7282-6387-8, $16.99, tpb, 368pp) June 2023.

Welcome to Prosper, Arkansas, a small lakeside town with a group of quirky residents, an economy that exists largely off of vacation traffic, and a tragic history that is about to turn the lives of everyone in the immediate area upside down. Cassie is a local, deeply entrenched in community, busy running her great ...Read More

The Shadow Sister, Lily Meade (Sourcebooks Fire 978-1-7282-6447-9, $18.99, hc, 336pp) June 2023. Cover by Shaylin Wallace.

When did Lily Meade’s The Shadow Sister grab my attention? With the first sentence, which sets the tone for everything that follows: ‘‘My sister is a bitch, but that doesn’t mean I want her dead.’’ Sutton is missing, and Casey, of course, wants her found. No sister would want any different, no ...Read More

The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill, Rowenna Miller (Redhook 978-0-3163-7847-5, $18.99, tpb, 416pp) April 2023. Cover by Lisa Marie Pompilio.

The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill is a straightforward “don’t make a bad deal with the Fae or it will come back to bite you” kind of novel. Author Rowenna Miller blends a historical fiction about two sisters struggling with sibling conflict alongside a tale of the Fae at ...Read More

The Making of Yolanda La Bruja, Lorraine Avila (Levine Querida 978-1-64614-243-9, $19.99, tpb, 384pp) April 2023.

Bronx teen Yolanda Alvarez is hard at work living her best life when everything goes to hell in the most traumatic of ways. As the protagonist of The Making of Yolanda la Bruja, Yolanda is active in high school, devoted to her best friend, Victory, enjoying a sweet romance with the very ...Read More