Operation Bounce House is a fast-paced, bizarro, humor-filled science fiction novel featuring robots, AI, videogames, creativity, plenty of trash-talking, and a scrappy fight for a planet. Colonist Oliver is a rancher working alongside his sister, playing in a mediocre band called The Rhythm Mafia with his best friend, and courting his serious girlfriend. Communication and travel between Earth and his planet, New Sonora, should soon be established again, and Oliver and friend

I wanted more character development and fantasy elements from this second book in the series, but I liked the "twist" of the interconnectedness of the two main points of view. The first installment in the Shield of Sparrows series set up an overlooked princess who became a heroine; deadly monsters being treated unfairly; an enemies-to-lovers romance; and shifting loyalties. This sequel is told through split points of view. We hear from Odessa Cross, the Princess of Quentis, w

Fortune delivers another entertaining summer read in this story of best friends, being jilted at the altar, a revamped honeymoon, miscommunication, second chances, and satisfying resolutions to all emotional, romantic, and professional challenges. Frankie and George, her best friend since childhood, were once so close they tattooed each other's names on their bodies. But they've been on the outs for a year or so. After Frankie’s wedding is called off, the two of them go on Fr

Center's newest rom-com involves a ship full of potential romance and heartbreak, a destination wedding, childhood crushes, long-term misunderstandings, zany moments, and the possibility of fresh starts for multiple couples. In Katherine Center's newest romance, JoJo Burton is finding her way from being in love with the idea of love to finding a real relationship. The reappearance of her childhood best friend Cooper helps JoJo begin to get more centered, but she moves from a

The novel's danger, attempted evasion, and daring escape focused largely on logistics, but I am all in for spending time with SecUnit and its dry humor, always and forever. In Platform Decay, we catch up with the delightfully grumpy Murderbot (SecUnit), who in this eighth book in the series is faced with another high-stakes rescue attempt--this time, of its beloved Mensah's family. Then SecUnit, along with its charges, finds itself confronted with an additional time-sensitive

Brown's dual-timeline debut novel concerns 16th-century prophecies and a modern-day murder mystery, linked through time by a historian, a hidden book, an illiterate young girl, the powerful men who aimed to manipulate her, and two brave women who tried to save her life. Historian Alison Sage recently made the discovery of a lifetime--she unearthed the fabled writings detailing the prophecies of a 16th-century nun, Elizabeth Barton, a slim book which had been thought to be los

The combined effort of V. E. Schwab and Cat Clarke is a locked-room mystery that's a takedown of the book publishing industry, with authors vying to finish a bestselling series in one weekend and earn immense riches at any cost. It was fun, but I was hoping for more intrigue and twists from this dual-author powerhouse team. Six authors, many who are strangers to each other, and each one part of the dreaded publishing "midlist"--they've never made it big enough for stardom--ar

This romance-laced mystery centered around a podcast and its host's disappearance includes some far-fetched-feeling elements, but Tiffany Crum's debut novel keeps up the pacing and kept me interested throughout, including the renegade justice that's served up. Benny and Joy are best friends who met under unusual circumstances; Joy, a narcoleptic, was asleep outside a bar bathroom when Benny woke her up. (Side note: this is presented as a zany meet-cute but felt a little jarr

It's not necessary to read other books in this series before diving into an Eddie Flynn novel; Cavanagh skillfully establishes key elements of the past while diving into the urgency of present-day events. The character of Eddie is perfectly imperfect, and I didn't mind the outlandish story elements because Cavanagh creates such a suspenseful story that moves right along. Elly Parker is a wildly successful social media influencer who focuses on filming and sharing her random a

I really liked the magical realism, details of life in 1800s England, the young widow main character, the ocean voyage scenes, and the romance, but I had trouble pinning down the tone and the heart of the story, which followed a somewhat predictable path. In early 1800s England, Isabel is a young widow who is suddenly poor and plagued by destructive rumors after the Napoleonic Wars. She must flee her London home, and she heads for the Cornish coast where she was once mysterio

The Bright Years tracks a family through years of life shaped by alcoholism, secrets, tragedy, and messy redemption. The story kept me at an emotional remove, but I was most struck by Damoff's characterization of addiction and those in its orbit. Sarah Damoff's novel begins with a young couple, both reeling from past traumas, who forge a future together. But secrets, addiction, and disappointment are threads that run through their lives and largely keep them apart. The Brigh

I love a book that explores issues around mortality. Vigil , by the author of the strange, wonderful novel Lincoln in the Bardo , introduces fascinating elements such as fate, responsibility, and forgiveness, yet Saunders doesn't dig into them, which left me feeling unsatisfied with this slim book. Vigil has been one of my most-anticipated reads of 2026. In Lincoln in the Bardo , Saunders explored the worlds of characters existing in limbo between life and death. His novel V

Anatomy of an Alibi pits privileged greed against savvy morally gray characters, and the women caught in the middle are left sorting out the truth. The bad guys are truly bad, and outsiders pay the price when those in power preserve outward appearances at any cost. I loved Ashley Elston's mystery First Lie Wins (it was on my December favorites list ; it was one of my Bossy Fiction Ideas for Your Holiday Gift List ; and it was on my recent list of Four-Star Mysteries I Loved

The corruption and dark underbellies throughout, the lurking folklore figure that seems to signal death and destruction, and the despairing community history of missing women set a brooding, ominous tone, yet Salt Bones often felt like a young-adult mystery. The reveal is immensely disturbing and makes various characters' sinister suspicions feel more than warranted. Jennifer Givhan's mystery-thriller-horror novel Salt Bones made it onto multiple best-of lists for 2025, and

The past and present storms added thrills and chills to the dual-timeline coastal Alabama story. Predicting a few elements of the mystery didn't diminish my enjoyment of the fast-paced tale in which a young woman digs to understand a suspicious death and ends up coming to terms with her legacy and her future. St. Medard's Bay, Alabama, seems to attract the strongest of hurricanes, and the only building that's withstood every storm for a century is the charming Rosalie Inn. Bu

This second and final installment of Faizal's young adult duology emphasizes on the power of found family over blood ties; reveals chilling, ambitious, ruthless plans for creating a horde of vampires; and pushes characters to sacrifice for love. The first installment in Hafsah Faizal's young adult Blood and Tea series offered intriguing secrets, a swirling mystery, terrible betrayal, heartwarming found family, steady action, and vampires. That book ended with the city reeling

Culpability shapes questions around artificial intelligence--and societal and individual responsibility for it--around imperfect characters who have drifted apart and must now recognize each other's fallibility, whether through sacrificing or trying to protect each other. The Cassidy-Shaws are riding in their family's autonomous minivan when it crashes into another vehicle. Seventeen-year-old Charlie, the twins, their father Noah, and their mother Lorelei, an AI leader, are

The uneven pacing and tangents into bizarre scenarios in Trip made me feel somewhat disconnected from the story, but the moments of dark humor and the promise of an unorthodox payoff kept me reading and consistently curious. Sandra is a documentary producer at a death conference in Nepal when she dies in an unlikely, mundane accident. The majority of the speakers milling around talking at each other and preparing for their presentations are insufferable hacks, but after Sand

Immaculate Conception explores art and inspiration; how trauma shapes us; the fraught prospect of altering memories; and the blessing and curse of wealth, power, and necessary compromises in this tale of ambition, love, and deep envy spiraling into an out-of-control collective force. In an imagined near-future world, Enka is from a fringe family, with little exposure to ideas, art, creativity, or opportunity. Yet she secures herself a position at an art school, where she str

This faerie-centric reimagining of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities offered a compelling story of redemption and self-sacrifice with a significant fantasy undercurrent that is key to the plot. I felt bogged down by the explanations of the workings of the faerie system, its punishments, and its policies. I feared this was the best of times; I hoped it could not get any worse. H. G. Parry's novel A Far Better Thing is a twist on Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities , and Parr