Staff Picks

After years of writing indie horror starring queer characters, screenwriter Misha is finally successful -- until the big shots at his studio demand that he kill off his most beloved characters, because queer tragedy "sells". When Misha refuses, he finds himself hunted by his own movie monsters, somehow brought to life. This meditation on art, creativity, commercialism, and representation from master of horror Chuck Tingle is one of his finest, equal parts thrilling and emotional.

Publisher's description:
Bury Your Gays is a heart-pounding new novel about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead. Misha knows that chasing success in Hollywood can be hell. But finally, after years of trying to make it, his big moment is here: an Oscar nomination. And the executives at the studio for his long-running streaming series know just the thing to kick his career to the next level: kill off the gay characters, "for the algorithm," in the upcoming season finale. Misha refuses, but he soon realizes that he's just put a target on his back. And what's worse, monsters from his horror movie days are stalking him and his friends through the hills above Los Angeles. Haunted by his past, Misha must risk his entire future-before the horrors from the silver screen find a way to bury him for good.

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The Sunbearer Trials is SO good. I loved the LGBTQ+ (especially trans) representation and the world building reminded me a lot of the Percy Jackson series but with Mexican mythology, if it met The Hunger Games. The fast paced and action packed plot was amazing and after finishing, I immediately bought the second book. Aiden Thomas didn't disappoint with The Sunbearer Trials! also: SPARKLY SPACE CHICKEN (you won't get this until you read the second book, but that was my favorite part haha).

Publisher's description:

Transgender demigod Teo is unexpectedly selected for the Sunbearer Trials, a fierce competition among demigod heroes where the winner sacrifices the loser to Sol, their blood fueling the Sun Stones that protect Reino del Sol.

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My favorite fall romance of 2025! Set in 1997 (the 90s vibes were everything), this book is filled with cozy charm: a bed & breakfast, a bakery, and all the autumnal small-town magic you could want. Add in a slow-burn, sweet, friends-to-lovers storyline, and it's the perfect seasonal read.

Publisher's Description:
Grab your favorite fall candle, cuddle into a comfy blanket, and travel back in time to 1997 autumn in Vermont in this cozy, slow-burn romance. My new next-door neighbor seems to have everything figured out. Small town golden boy? Check. Single dad extraordinaire? Check. Hot baker forearms? I didn't notice them, I swear. I, on the other hand, don't-at all-have anything figured out. Trust me, I didn't think taking over my mom's dream bed and breakfast in Copper Run Vermont was going to be easy. It should be a good place to heal after my divorce. But apparently my scones belong in the garbage with my small talk skills. As pointed out by none other than Cliff. Cliff is inescapable. He knows exactly what people need-always. His charm, the way he wears flannel, and even his pastries, make not wanting to be friends with Cliff and his daughters pretty hard. Friends? I can make friends. That's safe. Except I'm leaving in three months to pass the inn off to my little sister and get the promotion in Seattle I've been working towards. So ask me why I'm thinking about kissing my hot neighbor.

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Welcome to Stepford, Connecticut, where the husbands join the men's association, and all the women are satisfied with keeping house. But don't let perfection fool you. This slim novel packs a punch, exploring themes of sexism, patriarchy, societal traditions, conformity, perfectionism, consumerism, and the dark side of suburbia. For fans of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and the inspiration for Jordan Peele's film Get Out. You won't leave Stepford, ladies...because the men won't let you!

Publisher's description:
The internationally bestselling novel by the author of A Kiss Before Dying, The Boys from Brazil, and Rosemary's Baby With an Introduction by Peter Straub For Joanna, her husband, Walter, and their children, the move to beautiful Stepford seems almost too good to be true. It is. For behind the town's idyllic facade lies a terrible secret -- a secret so shattering that no one who encounters it will ever be the same. At once a masterpiece of psychological suspense and a savage commentary on a media-driven society that values the pursuit of youth and beauty at all costs, The Stepford Wives is a novel so frightening in its final implications that the title itself has earned a place in the American lexicon.

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We Were Liars brings the perfect suspenseful, yet exciting summer feels. The story focuses on the Sinclair family through first grandchild, Cadence's, view after a traumatic injury at their beloved summer house in Martha’s Vineyard. Two years later, when she is prepared to go back to Martha’s Vineyard, she notices everything is just a bit off, and their childhood home has been demolished and replaced by an unfriendly, modern house. The book rotates through years of summers spent on the island with her friends--Johnny, Mirren, and Gat--to unlock the mystery of how her injury came to be. Not only is We Were Liars a novel filled with mystery, but also love--romantic love, love for friends, and love for family. It is a perfect coming of age story with humor and an amazing plot (along with shocking plot twists) that will have your mind making all sorts of predictions.

Publisher's description: 

A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends -- the Liars -- whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth. Spending the summers on her family's private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, teenaged Cadence struggles to remember what happened during her fifteenth summer.

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If you are someone who loves a great wilderness adventure full of natural dangers, exotic creatures, and human tenacity, then The River of Doubt will thrill you. Twenty-two men from Brazil and the United States, led by the intrepid Carlos Rondon and Theodore Roosevelt, set out to explore a portion of the Amazon River that had yet to be charted by Westerners. Along with the physical trials of the expedition, we learn about Roosvelt's mentality in choosing to take on such a feat.

Publisher’s description:
The River of Doubt' is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron. After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil's most famous explorer, Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever. Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. 'The River of Doubt' brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.

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The author says in the acknowledgements "I wanted to write a book that reads like drinking hot chocolate." I think this is the perfect description of The Spellshop. I was warmed and comforted from the first page to the last. Keila escapes a burning city and returns to the remote island that was her home. She thinks she is not lonely because she has her books, but bit by bit, cinnamon roll by patched roof, the people of the island welcome her back. They help her create a home and a found family that I want to visit and be a part of.

Publisher's description:

The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst's romantasy debut -- a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love. Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz--a magically sentient spider plant--have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire's most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city's elite. When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she'd see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy--and very handsome--neighbor who can't take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she's fed and to help fix up her new home. In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn't have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries. But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island's first-ever and much needed secret spellshop. Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.

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One of my favorites from recent years, this book is classic Grady Hendrix. Suspenseful, very Southern, and a little gory (especially near the end), it is a yearly re-read for me. The audiobook is phenomenal too!

Publisher's description:
South Carolina in the '90s: a women's book club must protect its suburban community from a mysterious stranger who turns out to be a real monster.

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Polly Perks lives in Borogravia, a country that has been ravaged by war for as long as she can remember. To find her missing brother, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in the army, alone in her deception--or so she thinks. Pratchett's signature blend of humor and moving social analysis anchor this tale of what is means to really take pride in your country, and what it takes to fight against the status quo.

Publisher’s description:
In the small country of Borogravia, there are strict rules citizens must follow. Women belong in the kitchen-not in offices, pubs, nor pants. And certainly not on the front lines when war comes to Discworld. Polly Perks took over running her family's humble inn when her brother, Paul, marched off to war. But it's been more than two months since his last letter home, and the news from the front is bad. To find her missing brother, the resourceful Polly cuts off her hair and joins the army as a young man named Oliver. As Polly closely guards her secret, she notices that her fellow recruits seem to be guarding secrets of their own. And before they've learned to properly march, Polly and her fellow raw recruits find themselves in the thick of a losing battle. All they have on their side is the most artful sergeant in the army and a vampire with a lust for coffee. No matter, it's time to make a stand. . . . The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Monstrous Regiment is a standalone.

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The Women follows Frances, a fictional character representing many women whose Vietnam War service went unrecognized. It focuses on overcoming trauma, the importance of sisterhood, and giving voice to the forgotten. Fans of The Nightingale will likely enjoy The Women.

Publisher's description:

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets―and becomes one of―the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost. But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

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