Solomon debuts with a zippy fantasy rom-com following Pearly Gates, who is probably the afterlife’s most fabulous drag queen—until her soulmate leaves her, fed up with her inability to change and grow, even after multiple reincarnations. Single, heartbroken, and staring down the unsatisfying remnants of her afterlife, she heads to the celestial bar. There, she befriends an overworked White Robe, one of the afterlife elite responsible for guiding human souls while still alive, and impulsively offers to take over his caseload while he gets a much-needed vacation, which might finally prove to her bosses that she’s ready for a promotion. Suddenly Pearly is deep in small-town Illinois, looking after three troubled souls: a young widow who can’t move on, a recent college grad with only months to live, and a partially closeted trans woman trying to fit her true self into her old life. Seems like nothing some of Pearly’s sparkle can’t fix—until she realizes that the gorgeous barista running the town’s coffee shop is her reincarnated soulmate. Now she must not only help her three charges toward their happy endings but also reclaim her own. There’s a lot of heart and humor to this quest, and Solomon is refreshingly unafraid to explore Pearly’s faults and foibles. Fabulous, funny, and sweet as a pumpkin spice latte, this hits the spot. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 10/16/2026 | Details & Permalink

Caro debuts with an entertaining polyamorous pirate romance set in 1816. After the disastrous loss of his ship, Capt. Everard Anderson de Anglada is just trying to hang onto his Royal Navy career long enough to be put to shore with a pension. When he’s called to assist in a court-martial, Everard finds one former lover, Post-Capt. Preston D’Arcy, at his side as part of the court-martial panel—and another, Vitaliy Gray, in the dock, under charges that mean he’ll hang. Panicked, Everard fabricates enough evidence to contradict the charges. But Vitaliy is more than just a Marine, as Everard thought; he’s the notorious pirate V. Varfolomey, and defending him means Everard has put his own neck on the line. A grateful Vitaliy concocts a plan: should Everard become his husband and heir to his command, Vitaliy’s crew will surely accept him. But with D’Arcy joining them as they flee south, intent on rekindling things with Everard himself, and three nations and a rival pirate crew all after them, the path to a happy ending is far from smooth sailing. The quantity of double crosses and political intrigue sometimes overwhelms the love story, but the emotional and physical chemistry between the men is strong and the swashbuckling adventure is good fun. As naughty as it is nautical, this is a winner. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 10/02/2026 | Details & Permalink

Hardy’s third contemporary featuring characters in their 40s (after Lips Like Sugar) is a tender paean to love and resilience. After dropping out of grad school, Davis returned home to small town Bluebird Basin where her stepfather, Madigan, runs sober living home Little Timber. She fell hard and fast for one of the residents, Kev, and the pair were happily in love until Kev started using heroin again. Davis and Madigan found him when he overdosed and forced him into rehab. Now Kev is back, clean, and determined to make things right with Davis, who is traumatized by Kev’s near-death experience. Lovingly described scenes of equine therapy help Kev gain confidence and resolve, while working with the universally kind and encouraging Little Timber men provides Davis with new career goals as well. This unwavering support system also gives her and Kev the courage to try again, this time with a more open understanding of each other’s experiences. Bolstered by sizzling mutual attraction, their second-chance romance is tooth-achingly sweet, though the ease of their reconciliation sometimes strains credulity. Still, this uplifting tale has lots of charm. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 09/25/2026 | Details & Permalink

Winters (Interventionism) launches a promising series centered on nurse–turned–homicide investigator Eminence Gray. Before she joined the force, Eminence’s tender treatment of her patients earned her the nicknames “Florence Nightingale” and “Empathy Gray”; as a cop, that ability to relate to others is a key component of her investigative prowess. Before Eminence can dig into the case of a young male robbery victim who’s found dead in a park, she’s handed another: Bertrand Park, heir and majority shareholder of the Park-Mart Department Store chain, has been found strangled in the company’s flagship location with a pig mask on his head and a sign hung around his neck reading “Pock-Mark Pigs Get Stuck.” In her probe, Eminence learns that Park hired a PI to investigate whether Park-Mart’s CEO, Charlie Reime, had been stealing from the company, making Reime a prime suspect even though the gumshoe turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. As Eminence digs deeper, Park-Mart’s opaque unionization efforts prove crucial to solving the crime. With solid banter, straightforward action, and a well-clued conclusion, this bodes well for Eminence’s future adventures. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 09/25/2026 | Details & Permalink

Monk writer Conrad’s satisfying third whodunit featuring Austin, Tex., journalist Callie McFee (after Sins of the Family) revolves around the murder of an unhoused man named Barney. Callie and her brother, homicide detective State, have been guarding a sensitive family secret: their father, former Texas attorney general Buddy McFee, is in cognitive decline. As Callie manages the situation, she finds solace in casual interactions with Barney on her way home from work, in which the two discusses an array of topics, including Victorian poetry. One day, Callie confides in Barney about her father’s condition—a choice she regrets when Barney is gunned down a short time later with notes about their conversation in his pocket. As Callie helps State probe the murder, she learns that Barney was hiding secrets of his own, and occasionally lied about his whereabouts during his daily chats with Callie. The mystery deepens when one of Barney’s friends is also killed. Callie’s sleuthing is ingenious, the novel’s tone is unwaveringly genial, and Conrad juggles a large number of suspects with ease. This delightful procedural has all the charm of the author’s work on Monk. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 09/18/2026 | Details & Permalink

White debuts with an authentic view into the perils of internet fame. Jersey Mau, 17, resents that her mother left her and her father, Sherman, a Los Angeles talent agent. One day, at Sherman’s office, Jersey berates one of his influencer clients for being fake, then impulsively posts an unfiltered video about her depression, confessing that she wishes her life would end and pointing out that the “really fucked-up part is that I’m the problem for wanting that.” She also calls out influencers for pretending that everything is fine: “People on here... are all, like, slightly different versions of the same fake person pretending to be okay.” The clip goes viral, and Jersey attracts an agent whose career is waning and sees in her a chance to turn things around. As Jersey’s star rises, she’s consumed by attacks from an online troll and a feud with one of Sherman’s top influencer clients. Though the novel’s conclusion strains credulity, White’s insights into the world of influencers and her characters’ emotions are adept. (Depression, White writes, is “like a toxic best friend who’s always ready to remind you of the worst parts of yourself”). This manages to capture the truth behind social media’s shiny veneer. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 09/18/2026 | Details & Permalink

This wrenching if meandering debut from Dempster portrays the oppression of women under the rule of the Islamic State in Syria. It opens in 2013 Raqqa, with father Jorem, a doctor, journalist mother Nooda, and teenage daughter Layal playing a game of backgammon. The happy domestic scene is interrupted when soldiers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad barge into their home, demanding to know the whereabouts of son Tarek, a suspected rebel fighter. Not satisfied with Jorem’s answers, they take him away. Not long after, Tarek and his rebels liberate Raqqa, but ISIS steps into the power vacuum, and Nooda and Layal, fearing their freedom may be curtailed, attempt to cross into Turkey but fail. Meanwhile, Tarek, who had been unemployed, gets a government job, and Layal is forced into marrying Tarek’s mentor, Saad, an ISIS commander. Dempster successfully conveys the chilling effect of ISIS’s presence, as they make threats “calmly and without emotion” to women in Nooda and Layal’s community who defy the group’s radical fundamental rules, such as neglecting to wear hijabs or spend time unaccompanied with men. Unfortunately, the plot is choppy and an upbeat conclusion feels tonally unbalanced with the rest of the material. It’s a mixed bag. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 09/04/2026 | Details & Permalink

This gritty and satisfying series launch from Staab (the Mind for Murder Mysteries) introduces Tess Hammond, a veteran reporter in 1930s Los Angeles. While working the city desk at the L.A. Examiner, Tess gets a tip that takes her to the scene of a shoot-out in the tunnels underneath a hotel. The violence has left one LAPD detective badly wounded, and the other—Tess’s husband, Johnny—dead. Tess learns the culprit is a mob informant who decided to kill any cop who might be able to identify him as a rat. Bereft, Tess is given another crime to cover: teenager Merilee Lockwood has disappeared, and her influential father, Hamilton, has asked the Examiner’s owner, William Randolph Hearst, to assign a journalist to the case. Though she initially suspects that Merrilee ran away, Tess gradually uncovers something more sinister, with a possible tie to Johnny’s death. Staab’s plotting is brisk and clever, and she avoids making her Depression-era setting a cliché. Fans of hard-boiled noir who want to follow a female lead down L.A.’s mean streets will be pleased. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 08/21/2026 | Details & Permalink

Natiello (The Memory Box) serves up a sharp and humorous tale of an aimless woman’s search for purpose. Forty-something Colleen Fitzroy’s life hits the skids after her gambler husband loses their house. Homeless, jobless, and divorced, she grudgingly accepts a temporary gig at foodie magazine Savor, where she’d been fired two years earlier for chewing out her chauvinistic boss, Massimo Locatelli. She’s stunned to learn what the job entails: dog-sitting for one month in Massimo’s Manhattan apartment, while he’s in Italy. Alone all day with Aldo, Massimo’s slobbering English Setter, Colleen hopes to plan her next steps. But distractions are plentiful, as Aldo turns out to be popular with Massimo’s friends, daughter, dog park acquaintances, and bossy housekeeper, all of whom keep intruding. Meanwhile, Massimo makes daily video calls to check in on the dog. He also pressures Colleen to get involved in his sketchy new Italian truffles business. As Colleen and Massimo forge an unexpected friendship during the calls, Colleen gradually warms to Aldo, too, helping him with separation anxiety and including him in her efforts at self-improvement. (“It’s time to reclaim our happiness,” she tells Aldo. “Our worthiness. Our joie de vivre.”) Natiello charms with her portrait of a beleaguered but pugnacious protagonist. It’s a hoot. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 08/21/2026 | Details & Permalink

Henneberg, a physician and author of the memoir Boundless, explores in her insightful debut novel the complex friendship between two San Francisco women as they navigate motherhood. In 2019, 39-year-old Josie, a copywriter and aspiring novelist, unexpectedly reconnects with her old friend Radhika. The two were close in college, when Radhika supported Josie after an abortion, but they fell out of touch while Radhika battled breast cancer. Josie, single and queer, has just gotten pregnant via IVF, and Radhika, now a family planning doctor, invites Josie to meet her young twins. Josie jumps at the chance to reconnect, having viewed Radhika as a mother figure after losing her parents in an accident. Both women are working on manuscripts, and Radhika suggests they help each other like they did in their college writing classes. Things get complicated over the course of the pregnancy as Josie falls for the twins’ nanny, Mercy, and makes plans to raise her baby, while Radhika, who loves her children but doesn’t love being a mother, thinks Josie should be focusing on her novel, and meddles by surreptitiously sending Josie’s manuscript to her agent, angering Josie. With well-rounded characters and a wrenching final act, Henneberg’s novel powerfully dramatizes the limits of chosen family and the tension between maternal desire and professional ambition. This skilled and nuanced tale is worth seeking out. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 08/21/2026 | Details & Permalink