Three Books I'm Reading Now, 11/10/25 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now

I'm reading Sara Holland's upcoming fantasy novel Break Wide the Sea; I'm reading Seth Haddon's debut fiction novel Volatile Memory; and I'm reading Bruce Holsinger's novel Culpability.

What are you reading, bookworms?

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01 Break Wide the Sea (Break Wide the Sea #1) by Sara Holland

The people of Kirkrell have always hunted magical whales--it's the only way to protect themselves from the water fae who threaten their people and sink their ships.

Annie is nineteen and the heir to the Fairfax Whaling Company. But she has a secret: she's cursed. If she experiences heartbreak, Fairfaxes are destined to slowly transform into seafaring, scaled monsters. And the devastating loss of her parents mean she's beginning to show signs of her future, possibly permanent, and deadly form.

When she realizes that her fiance--who she hoped would be her savior from heartbreak--actually has his eye on taking over her family's company rather than falling in love with Annie, the teenaged orphan makes a questionable deal with an untrustworthy ship captain, hoping to travel to the head of the fae and try to shake off her curse once and for all.

I received a prepublication version of this title, scheduled for publication November 11, courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press.

Sara Holland is also the author of the Everless and Havenfall series.

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02 Volatile Memory (Volatile Memory #1) by Seth Haddon

Wylla's ship has seen better days, and she's desperate for a break. When she catches wind of a valuable, mysterious piece of technology on another planet, she banks on her wiliness and speed to beat other treasure hunters to it.

Wylla's own mask is outdated, and scavenging the cutting-edge mask would give her powers she couldn't have dreamed of. Masks bestow upon the wearers the instincts, abilities, and reaction times of the animals after which they're modeled. But the mask Wylla is after also turns out to be sentient, and if she's going to wear the mask, she'll need to work with the mask's creator and help it seek vengeance for past injustices.

Volatile Memory is Seth Haddon's science fiction debut.

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03 Culpability by Bruce Holsinger

The Cassidy-Shaws are riding in their family's autonomous minivan when it crashes into another vehicle. Seventeen-year-old Charlie, the twins, his father Noah, and his mother Lorelei, an AI leader, are all shaken by the accident.

But they're also all harboring secrets, and there seems to be more behind the accident than meets the eye.

Charlie, who was behind the wheel, tries to navigate a police investigation, guided by his father. Then, oddly, a tech mogul shows up whose past intersected with Lorelei's, and they're both behaving oddly. Meanwhile the twins aren't sharing all they know. As each of them copes with feelings of responsibility and questions around the use of AI, their family is shaken to the core.

Bruce Holsinger is also the author of The Gifted School, The Displacements, and works of nonfiction.