BOOKLOVES

The second book of any planned trilogy carries a particular weight. It has to honor the questions raised in the opening volume, push the story somewhere that justifies the reader’s commitment, and leave just enough on the table for the finale. The Faith of Beasts by James S.A. Corey does most of this with the […]

Seven bodies end up in a restaurant freezer in this fast-moving, multilayered mystery. Mexico’s Finest, a restaurant in Smelton, Illinois, is a popular spot for locals. But this changes when it becomes the scene of a gruesome crime where seven workers are shot dead and stacked in the freezer. Why would a local eatery become […]

Sparkling and sensual, this second-chance romance reunites star-crossed lovers after a torturous century apart—but at what cost? The Drowned Queen crosses realms and spans centuries, delivering starlit magic that reimagines the power of love. Lyra and Torian defy the odds to reunite after being separated and banished to near-death conditions as punishment for falling in […]

Some books announce their tone in the first paragraph and quietly retreat into something blander by chapter three. I Could Give You the Moon by Ann Liang keeps its promise. The opening line (“The best thing about heartbreak is how spectacularly predictable it is”) is a thesis statement disguised as a quip, and Chanel Cao, […]

The opening of Too Close to Home by Seraphina Nova Glass drops you into a Labor Day party at Cloverhill Lakes, a private enclave full of pineapple coolers, fairy lights, and women who carry good handbags to a barbecue. Someone in a rainbow striped dress is showing off her engagement ring to anyone who hasn’t […]

Ivy Benton wears a tiara that itches and a smile that lies. She kisses a husband whose skin runs cold as room air, plots his ruin in stolen moments, and swallows down the knowledge that the boy she loves is locked away somewhere beyond a door she cannot open. Sasha Peyton Smith opens her sequel […]