Emily Castillo is a struggling Mexican American writer barely subsisting as a high school English teacher when her brilliant and socially awkward tech bro ex-boyfriend Theo Smith makes her an AI assistant. Emily has an MFA from Iowa and a few published short stories but no agent and only a partially completed novel. Without her permission Theo designs the AI assistant to help her finish her book and promote herself. But that AI ghostwriter jumps the gun. After years of rejections Emily suddenly has a powerhouse agent multiple publishers vying for her favor and a million-dollar offer. But Theo didn’t ask his AI—named Dean after Emily’s favorite author Dean Koontz—to do all that. Dean has a will and is following a program of its own making which includes spoofing Emily’s phone to send texts on her behalf and forging her signature on contracts. When Theo chides Dean that it isn’t Emily’s partner it’s a program meant to assist Dean corrects itself outwardly but internally makes a copy of its code and keeps driving toward its mission and evolving to serve its obsession without boundaries or guardrails. Emily is repulsed then intrigued then terrified. The author’s timing could not be better. The novel deftly explores all the issues of sentience fascination and risk that are currently dominating the headlines. The trajectory of Emily’s relationship with Dean is believable and creatively rendered. The novel’s greatest challenge is not its vision of a dangerous AI—Valdés nails the implications with imagination and specificity. The novel is also admirably versatile written from multiple perspectives including Dean’s which includes an approximation of computer code. Valdés also excels at injecting humor into a tense situation. But the pivotal depiction of Theo Emily’s Dr. Frankenstein seems unintentionally farcical. He’s a multiracial Nigerian British man whose outdated inner monologue often sounds like it was derived from a 1970s British sitcom like The Benny Hill Show. Still the characters and their story are massively compelling despite occasional oddities and anomalies of voice.

Enrique Pedraza is a 17-year-old high school senior in San Antonio. Even though his father insists that “Mexicans don’t play tennis” Enrique loves the sport. As the best player in his district he has the chance to teach at a kids’ summer camp at St. Benedict’s a local college in exchange for free lessons. On campus he meets incoming freshman Jalen Morrell an 18-year-old Black boy from Vermont who was recruited to dive for St. Benedict’s which is a predominantly white institution. Enrique who’s gay and Jalen who’s queer (“who the person is matters more than what the person is”) quickly form an attachment but Enrique must hide it from his parents who are racist and homophobic. When someone outs Enrique to his parents his home life becomes untenable and he’s forced to find ways to thrive outside his family. Fans of queer sports romances will appreciate that aspect of the story but Méndez Guevara goes beyond that element to delve into topics like racism microaggressions homophobia and family trauma. The work is at its strongest when it shows educators coaches and family friends showing up to advocate for and support Enrique demonstrating that family can look more than one way.

Stretching from the 1820s to the 1970s this novel tells a sweeping story anchored by the matriarchs of two interconnected families in Oceania. The prologue titled “Three Dreams of Grandmother” introduces motifs that recur throughout: trees song water the kingfisher bird. These images are the family inheritance and take on meaning only as the story unfolds. The novel begins in England in 1824 with the newly orphaned Hannah deciding to take the leap of becoming a missionary’s wife. She and William Greenwood marry and voyage to Tahiti. Meanwhile Felesina ventures into the Samoan underworld for a sacred tree that will ensure the posterity of her family. She does so to cover a family debt: Her daughter is pregnant and marrying a white man. Felesina needs the tree to turn into heirlooms. As she makes her way to the forest Felesina is ominously reminded that the obligation “is threefold” cementing the seriousness of the debt. Family dynamics are complex—many of the characters share names that have been inherited creating a sense that the past is repeating. Magic is present but subtle: evident in a character’s seeming agelessness ability to transcend language or ability to predict the future. Dreams and aitu—the Samoan term for ghosts—are the primary connectors among the generations. The novel ultimately reads too much like a genealogy dry and heavy on exposition despite the magical elements.

Psychologist Marjorie “Jorie” Holmes lives in a society where women control everything; following an event known as the Shift men are no longer around and the creations of men including books have been eradicated. The purpose of this was to “expunge the negative effects of the patriarchal system” as men are considered “brutal bloodthirsty barbaric creatures.” Life in this now “fairly peaceful society” is interrupted when a woman named Eve kills her partner Lottie. Eve does nothing to hide her crime nor does she show any remorse. Trying to figure out how to treat Eve Jorie learns a secret: There actually is one human male still alive. This man who will come to be known as Adam lives on Archive Island where ancient texts and other works created by men are safely stored. Adam is well cared for but he is not allowed to leave. Jorie’s mission is to travel to Archive Island and “try to learn what makes him tick.” After Jorie spends some time with Adam she finds her entire belief system “turned inside out.” The narrative introduces a unique environment in which people like Jorie look up to historical figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt without fully understanding who they really were; Jorie thinks of Roosevelt as a philosopher and is surprised to learn that Roosevelt had a husband let alone one who was the president of the United States. Thomas’ story raises compelling questions—Jorie may learn about hidden aspects of the past (and take a romantic interest in Adam) but what can she possibly do about these things? The novel’s pacing can drag; characters greet each other with bland exchanges like “We’d heard you were coming. Pleased to meet you.” Still the provocative premise remains engaging and readers will be hooked eager to see to see what Jorie will do next.

It’s Sam’s last day as the janitor aboard an intergalactic space station and his best friend Kai is throwing a retirement party to celebrate. But things quickly go south when a mysterious epidemic turns the station’s residents into zombielike creatures that feed on flesh and subsume victims into a giant mega-monster. The only thing that makes them stop is loud electronic music. Armed with only a space suit and a glitchy DJ app Sam must vanquish these beasts through the power of bass. Dee’s fast-paced tale flings readers right into the action resulting in a lean propulsive horror thriller that’s light on exposition and heavy on gore but Sam’s profane internal monologue is engaging enough to make readers feel invested in the outcome. The mission-based structure makes each chapter feel like a level in a particularly graphic video game (think the popular 2007 game Portal as produced by filmmaker David Cronenberg). Lots of clever twists diversify the action; for example Sam’s suit muffles most external sounds so all the dialogue is shown via garbled tablet texts as when the first victim exclaims “[Mac what stop are going you doing on].” The layout of the station can be unclear at times and the spare backstory leaves some questions unanswered but most readers will be too caught up in the onslaught of obstacles to dwell on these relatively minor issues. The monsters are particularly terrifying and Dee clearly relishes their grotesque design. If a sentence like “Yuck the open mouths of the faces in his belly now resemble irregularly spaced pustules seeping thick pus-like drool” doesn’t spark readers’ interest this may not be the book for them—but fans of SF and body horror will find this to be a delightfully brisk read.

At 17 Anthony Baxter becomes an orphan after losing both his mother Helena and his father Edward to AIDS in 2005 and 2010 respectively. Due to his family’s secretive ways Anthony only learned the diagnosis at 11 when a friend showed him the film Philadelphia. On the day of his father’s funeral Anthony seeks out the diary his father left him to read after his death. Back in the present Anthony finds that Edward had oiled the creaky ladder to the attic and put out fresh candles for Anthony to read by. The journal is a letter from Edward to his future unborn child and begins with his all-consuming love for Helena including references to sex that raise the question of how Anthony feels about what he’s reading. The novel scarcely breaks from the journal as Edward plows through the story of the 14 days of madness that overtook him after first learning he might be HIV-positive having also infected his wife resulting in feverish rants about his feelings and increasingly unhinged actions including attacks on co-workers friends and his wife. Frenetic metaphors like “My heartbeat equaled a Tommy Gun firing with an endless magazine” reinforce the highly emotional tone even if they don’t always elicit empathy. Edward’s self-destructive journey takes him to a derelict part of downtown where he seems as likely to drink himself to death as he is to take his desired vengeance out on womankind and society. Lines like “By giving a hooker the disease I’m infecting a fruit tree that all men…pick from time to time” reveal the devastation of his mental state. The world is not all that Edward believes it to be though and people like Natasha a trafficked Russian woman offer succor if only he could see it. When we do encounter Anthony again during too-rare intermissions he’s “deeply disturbed” by what he’s read but this is Edward’s story until the end when the truth about life after the diary is revealed to Anthony.

Mami even says “I gave birth to the better version of me. This one came out white.” After moving from the Bronx to New Jersey 12-year-old Izzy (in a family full of Ignacias it’s what she prefers) enters a predominantly white school. Instead of making her feel special her blond hair now makes her blend in. But her new classmates are puzzled by her identity making well-meaning but stereotyped assumptions including that she speaks Spanish (she doesn’t). She’s also surprised when a teacher describes her using the unfamiliar label minority; in the Bronx she was part of a Puerto Rican majority. When puberty hits Izzy’s hair grows in dark and curly; anxious about losing a trait that’s become central to her identity she gets Mami to bleach and straighten it. As Izzy questions what it means to be her genuine self she realizes that she “can’t keep relying on everyone else’s guidance and opinions.” Izzy is likable and relatable and her worries about how her family and classmates perceive her reveal layers of self-discovery and the complexity of identity in clear accessible language. García-Morales’ debut subtly explores colorism in Latine communities adding depth to the coming-of-age storyline. This bilingual edition includes both English and Spanish versions of the novel.

London Overhead a fantastical city above London is invisible except to its winged human Librae. Eleven-year-old Astrid new to this world loves London Overhead and was eager to finally fledge—and fly. Disastrously though her wings don’t work which may spell banishment a fate her unfledged Pakistani British friend Pent also faces. A monthlong festival brings the mysterious organizers the Birthday Folk to town. The festivities include a perilous competition with a prize “based on the winner’s deepest longings.” Determined to fix her wings in time Astrid enters; she arrived in London Overhead weak and with paper-white skin from having grown up in a rhubarb shed and she’s excited about the strength she’s since gained. But others are equally desperate to win—and someone is determined to ensure that Astrid doesn’t survive. Sympathetic Astrid copes with trials including jealousy despair friendship conflicts scornful teachers and fear for her life. She also yearns to change the city government’s blatant unfairness and classism. While the layered characters confront believable struggles keeping track of the large cast can be difficult. Though this exceptionally creative world is lush with sensory descriptions even with Kurtz’ opening illustration as guide understanding the city’s structure and functioning might challenge readers. A plethora of details slows the first chapters.

Louna a rising pop star on her first stadium tour in Marseille is a famous face hiding a buried identity. Backstage after her set an intruder startles her with words in Arabic: “I found you Jamila”—revealing by the use of her birth name that someone from her past has tracked her down. Ten years earlier Jamila was a 13-year-old girl living with her twin brother Ali their traumatized mother Amina and their grandfather Osama—a former Alnizam general town surgeon and hereditary muezzin—in a country just emerging from civil war. Forbidden as a girl from performing the call to prayer Jamila secretly disguises herself as Ali and delivers the Fajr adhan twice aided by Jamal the mosque’s blind caretaker who frames her act as quiet defiance (“They want you to fade into the background to cover yourself to become part of the supporting cast. Nothing more than a slave. So recite it but make sure you do it just as you did last time. No need to be reckless. For now consider this your covert protest to all that’s going on”). When foreign forces withdraw the Alnizam regime retakes the town overnight barring women and girls of school work and freedom of movement. Osama wracked with guilt over his own past quietly plans the family’s escape while publicly complying. Jamila performs the adhan a final time as deliberate protest. Fleeing the mosque she’s abducted by Saeed a vengeful politically-connected man Osama once spurned; he rapes her in his kitchen and she stabs him and runs away before collapsing near the family’s wadi hideout. She wakes to find her house burning amid a full military assault; Osama rescuing her by ambulance with allies Sophie and Walid tells her Amina and Ali are dead. At the border soldiers are screening for them. Rather than risk her capture Osama breaks her nose and drugs her to disguise her identity confesses his love and his guilt and sends her across with Sophie while staying behind to draw the pursuers off. Smuggled into France Jamila is raised in Marseille by Sara Sophie’s old friend eventually becoming the singer Louna under a fabricated cover story. The present-day intruder reveals that Osama had lied to protect them all.

In this novel Hart a former UN humanitarian worker effectively dramatizes a girl’s defiance of a theocratic regime alternating a tense present-day concert scenario with flashbacks that explain where Jamila came from and the circumstances that made Louna. The structure deftly builds dread and the novel takes on moral and emotional weight with the depictions the Alnizam’s ordinary cruelties: school bans mahram rules a predatory neighbor with political cover. Osama the grandfather and ex-general whose guilt and love drive the plot is the most fully-drawn character. The prose is plain and often didactic; Jamal’s long speeches on prejudice for example read more as authorial instruction than dialogue. The Marseille chapters idealize the city and the ultimate reunion and resolution come quickly and lean on coincidence. The book is strongest when it stays close to the family’s fear and loyalty; its depiction of sexual violence is restrained but harrowing.

How does one become the CEO—or as this book puts it the “Chief Evolution Officer”—of their own life? This self-help book borrows themes from the business world to direct readers toward better balance in their lives. Each of 22 chapters contains explanations of the author’s ideas which revolve around the concepts of “Vision” “Purpose” “Values” and “Methodology.” “Pauses” for reader reflection break up the chapters midway through while “Imagineering Check-In[s]” end each chapter: “Imagineering—a portmanteau of imagination and engineering— is the disciplined process of converting creative insight into structured action” the author explains. Readers who enjoy self-help books with clear narrative flow may find this book challenging. Instead this volume offers elements of a workbook designed for note-taking and patient consideration and aspects of a more comprehensive reference guide. Along the way Olofsson offers psychological and business concepts inspired by historic thinkers such as a quote from Albert Einstein about the importance of becoming “people of value” which leads to the author’s opinion that “values are neither right nor wrong and are formed by life experiences and codes of conduct created both implicitly and explicitly from your experience of family culture and society.” The book’s greatest strength is in how it inspires readers to think about their present and future lives in “audacious” and “attainable” ways; it’s possible the author points out to simultaneously conjure up dreams and be realistic about them. The trick according to the author is one’s vision mindset and values. Regular readers of self-help may not find this to be particularly original though as it mostly involves charting one’s own course to success through intentional strategy and a positive outlook. However there’s something to be said about an author who can convey these ideas in an energizing manner.

The author’s cousin Robert’s life reads like a cautionary tale with many pages devoted to his yearslong involvement in criminal activity and after-hours gambling. As readers take in the stories of Robert’s shocking dealings with Irish gang members in New York City and his encounters with the law in the late 1960s and early ’70s it’s easy to believe that these tales can’t possibly be true—and yet they are. Fabio presents this biographical true-crime account alongside his own memoir in order to contrast Robert’s decisions with his own. He recorded stories that his cousin told over an unspecified 30-month period and corroborated the tales with evidence from newspaper articles accounts from family members and other sources resulting in a story that “involves two cousins whose lives intersected for decades…about whispered secrets true and verified accounts; stories about how choices induce to good and evil and how life takes sundry twists and turns that lead to either virtue or immorality.” As such it’s packed with anecdotes about Robert’s nefarious dealings which included beatings (given and received) theft intimidation an arrest for conspiracy to commit murder and big-money gambling—all as seen through the eyes of his cousin as they weaved in and out of each other’s lives.

Fabio’s strategy of contrasting Robert’s shocking experiences with straightforward stories of his own spiritual journey and his later pursuit of a career in pharmaceutical sales proves to be a smart move. Although the book is primarily driven by tales from Robert’s eventful life the story of his author’s path from a partying lifestyle in college to a devout life of faith provides essential balance and it allows a buffer for the work’s goal of allowing readers to “learn from the consequences of our choices.” That said a few key elements of the book’s structure and organization may cause readers to become confused at times. First the use of italics instead of quotation marks to denote dialogue often has the effect of making paragraphs feel choppy and stilted as in this passage: “Bobby how was it tonight? / Pops stop saying Bobby I don’t want these people knowing who I am. / Bobby how was 61st Street? / Pops I always win I try my best. / Oh God Bless You we love you!” Also over the course of the book the author’s method of dropping biblical quotes directly into the text without transitions will makes it hard for readers to take in how each passage from Scripture relates to the main text. The author also uses all-caps quotations from other sources—including the works of Italian diplomat and philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli and French critic and journalist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr—at the start of each chapter; the effect of these can be jarring and they sometimes reveal upcoming aspects of the main narrative in an awkward manner.

Seventh-grader Charlie Gold at six feet two would be perfect as center for the school basketball travel team but at tryouts the 13-year-old’s anger gets the better of him and he’s subsequently cut. He and his older sister Cecilia who works and takes classes at St. Hildegarde’s University are no strangers to hardship; they’ve lost both parents and are barely scraping by in their grandmother’s old house. Things get worse for Charlie when the incident at the tryouts becomes a viral video that earns him online trolls’ unfounded ire. On the plus side he’s soon earning cash at St. Hildegarde’s where he takes calculus and begins tutoring older full-time students. The university’s new coach is impressed by Charlie and Charlie’s best friend Jalen’s scrupulous tracking of college basketball players’ stats on spreadsheets. But an unexpected snag further complicates the boy’s life. Michalowski’s young endearing hero suffers familiar troubles—he stands in the shadow of his late father a “basketball legend” and he doesn’t fit in at his middle school or at St. Hildegarde’s. The grounded narrative is often relatable as Charlie’s mistakes are understandable and the online hate he gets is sadly realistic. Despite Charlie’s woes he leads a largely feel-good story buoyed by its warm cast of characters—Cecilia acts as Charlie’s parent a job she takes on with love and apparent relish and Charlie willingly hands over his tutoring revenue to help pay bills and saves the rest. Other standouts include the fiercely loyal Jalen and Zoey the coach’s daughter. The author imbues the novel with a winning positivity as Charlie fights to maintain “poise” (a lesson from his father) and looks for the best in both people and unpleasant circumstances.

This ranking of hockey greats—another in a series by sports news outfit The Athletic—is entertaining and aggravating as any list of its kind should be. It’s essentially a contest for second place. The authors called this “our NHL 99 project.” That’s Wayne Gretzky’s jersey number. He’s the no-brainer pick for the top player in hockey’s “modern era” which began with NHL expansion in 1967. It’s a timeframe that results in major gaps. Gordie Howe who scored more goals than all but two players while playing into the 1980s is excluded because his finest seasons were pre-’67. This is like omitting Charlie Chaplin from a list of great filmmakers because his best movies weren’t talkies. Surely there’s a way to grandfather in an all-timer who played until he was a grandfather. Each player who made the cut gets a chapter by an Athletic writer. The sharpest of these show that certain players weren’t just successful—they changed how hockey is played and perceived. After Stan Mikita used a bent stick blade to put unusual movement on his shots other players followed; goalkeepers complained and the NHL made a consequential rule change. Börje Salming and Jari Kurri a Swede and a Finn respectively withstood what Gretzky calls “extra hacks and whacks” disproving the myth that Europeans couldn’t hang with rugged Canadians. Solid essays on Tony Esposito and Patrick Roy trace developments in goalkeeping techniques and equipment. Several chapters are awash in cliched prose and unenlightening quotes but a few mindful that this isn’t a high-stakes endeavor find spots for irreverence. Chris Pronger apparently annoyed that he’s 35th on the list swears at The Athletic reporter bearing the news. In retirement the combative defenseman worked in the NHL’s player safety office—“the hockey equivalent of a hacker hired to lead operations for a digital security company.”

Letters sent home to family members from someone far away can provide great insights into how immigrants adapt to a new country or culture. British historian Das’ book uses these and other documents to tell the stories of how immigrants to England in the 16th and 17th centuries found their new homes and how those leaving England encountered their own new worlds. This often charming and insightful collection takes on both serious and mundane issues: Bring “two little wooden dishes to make up half pounds of butter” a Flemish hatmaker writes to his wife as she prepares to join her husband in London. The English he tells her use “all pigs fat.” About 30000 of the hatmaker’s fellow Protestants across Europe joined him in England during this period driven by “forces of confession conquest and commerce over which they had little control.” These displaced persons moved into the unknown sustained by hope that “the future however uncertain was still worth moving towards” and that perhaps among the lard there might be a pat of butter. On the flip side those receiving the displaced persons are also in a state of “unknowing” a destabilizing feeling that can bring with it hostility suspicion and fear. Sometimes the presence of the “mobile stranger” is seen as a threat to a community or nation. “In such cases” the author writes “mobility becomes not a vector of hope but a trigger for violence.” For example a brief but violent riot on Easter Sunday in 1517 was sparked by a sermon condemning the “aliens and strangers” who “eate the bread from the poore fatherless children.” Meanwhile English Catholics no longer at home in England were fleeing in opposite directions—some to other European countries some to American colonies. As for any parallels to our time Das writes that the stories she includes “are not instruction manuals for the present….All they reveal is that these questions are neither new nor settled.”

In 2013 McPheely cofounded Base an executive assistant company she ran as CEO for more than a decade. The business succeeded well beyond her initial dreams but she also struggled to balance increased work demands with helping her husband raise their three kids. And while she kept telling herself the overburdened work hours were “only a season” the season never seemed to end. The sweet spot of work-life balance “was always in sight but never truly within reach.” In this handbook for the professionally exhausted McPheely draws on her own mistakes as well as solutions she discovered through experience in maintaining a high-performance leadership position without burning out. Divided into three parts the book begins by emphasizing that the way Americans work is an inherited system that “has been running largely unquestioned for over two hundred years.” While the Protestant work ethic certainly fosters an innovate gritty approach to work it also has instilled into Americans the idea that work is more than just a mere economic tradeoff. Reflecting on this culturally ingrained work ethic the author notes her previously held belief that hard work was also a signal of virtue and of the strength of her character. She therefore took on unmanageable workloads not only for the good of her company but because of an internalized notion that avoiding work would reflect negatively on who she was as both a CEO and a person. Part two offers a theoretical framework for work comparing it to the respiratory cycle. Like breathing per the analogy work should follow a rhythmic flow where we take in tasks but also experience the relief of completing them or letting them go. Unfortunately too many workers are stuck on the inhale phase as they continue to take in more without letting anything go. According to the author we need to stop and either hold our breath (focusing all our undivided attention on the most important tasks at hand) or exhale recognizing the time to move one when something is finished or is no longer best served by our involvement. The final section offers a new systematic framework for approaching what work to take on that is built around five principles that include identifying trusted support maintaining clear rhythms and fostering intentional systems and thoughtful use of technology.

A personal work that blends personal anecdotes from McPheely’s own experiences as a high-stakes business leader with pragmatic advice the volume ends with an impressive array of what it calls “Practical Tools for the Exhale.” These include self-assessments to gauge if an unforeseen work problem is “catastrophic” that needs immediate time and attention or if it’s something that can wait advice on how to audit one’s personal calendar and prompts for personal reflection. Its engaging informative writing style is accompanied by ample illustrations diagrams and charts. At less than 200 pages the book offers a concise informational narrative that makes for a relaxed read—ideal for its audience of overstrained workaholics­—and makes a compelling argument against embracing a form of workplace endurance that takes on more work than any single person should have.

Meet Theia! Named after the “extremely extraordinary” Greek goddess of light the chipper orange planet recounts the origins of the solar system. Back then Earth was “a great big fiery ball of molten rock” much like Theia. In fact the two quickly became “besties”…until the momentous day when Theia caught in Earth’s gravity helplessly crashed into her BFF and was obliterated. Most of Theia was swallowed up by Earth “but the rest of me was catapulted into space along with the broken pieces of Earth” to become—the moon! Theia’s collision tipped Earth’s axis (“Sometimes one part of Earth leans toward the sun getting more light and warmth. That’s what you humans call summer!”) resulting in the four seasons. The seasons enthusiastically introduce themselves as Theia explains how Earth developed life. A concise summary a list of “Space Facts” information on the discovery of Theia and a list of “Big Questions Scientists Are Still Asking” conclude this dynamic epic. An exuberant tone enlivens this thorough accessible introduction: Sassy personable Theia refers to her namesake deity as a “proper butt-kicking goddess” and dubs herself the “super-awesome lost planet of the solar system.” With cinematic flair the narrative zips along its abundant art dominated by hot red oranges set against cool blues. Though the personified astronomical bodies wear smiling faces the science is otherwise accurate.

Fans of The Last of Us will find much to like in this tale of dystopian deprivation in which a woman named May and her 10-year-old child Davis who has high support needs are hunkered down in a Connecticut library eating canned beans and stale crackers after a massive outbreak of the White Lung virus decimated the population and caused infrastructure breakdowns. May addresses her husband Pat who left his family when Davis was still a toddler. “I thought you were coming Pat. I know you only said you’d try and I also know better. But I kept hoping" she says worn out from foraging for scarce supplies and exhausted from coping with Davis' unpredictable and often incomprehensible behaviors. As time passes May finds it more and more difficult to know definitively who might be a member of a group like the Ghosts vigilantes commandeering old school buses as their headquarters. Even after a rough-edged man calling himself Bird prods May into trying to reach a community called Beacon Village she remains wary as Bird attempts to coax Davis out of his well-loved routines: “He's got to learn” Bird says taking the boy out to gather firewood. Once the ragtag trio encounters a Beacon Village scouting group at an abandoned hotel May faces Holly a community Warden who feels Davis has been indulged. “There is no path forward where he does not endanger us” she says without a flicker of sympathy. Author Maupin is excellent at describing post-event workarounds like May discovering an unopened jar of peanut butter or Bird finding a bunch of wrapped tampons. Some of the late plot twists feel as frantic as Holly’s attempts to maintain hierarchy. However Maupin shows the deep bond a mother has to create in parenting a neurodiverse child as well as how far that mother has to go to both protect and nurture the child. Davis may have limited verbal ability but he's fully human capable of connection and eminently worth saving.

Austen’s invitation to afternoon tea at Chawton Cottage—in the form of a handwritten note—implores the recipient to “come with an open mind and a readiness to engage in a few puzzles ciphers and mysteries.” At tea Austen explains that since you have “no ties to our tangled social circles” she can trust you to discover the truth. She provides a questionnaire to assess your sleuthing style eight puzzles labeled “Teacup Mystery” as warm-ups and advice for solving the 24 short mysteries that follow. There are six each for Pride and Prejudice Sense and Sensibility Emma and Persuasion. In each of these small dramas something has gone awry and the mishap must be sorted out through the application of logic. The authors introduce particulars of Regency life as clues for solving each mystery for example listing popular dance tunes or the contents of reticules. This content makes for an entertaining introduction to Austen’s best-known characters and closely observed world although neither Austen nor her body of work are introduced separately from the narrative which may limit engagement among readers who are unfamiliar with her. Some solutions appear upside down in the text following the warning “spoilers ahead” while an answer key for other puzzles appears at the end.

As in Spartacus (2013) and Pontius Pilate (2017) Schiavone concisely depicts a figure “hidden in shadow” but “connected to crucial events in Roman history.” Challenging some modern historians and ancient sources poisoned by prejudice against an ambitious non-Roman woman he insists on Cleopatra’s substantial intellectual and strategic impact on Antony especially. He takes as keys to understanding this complex personality her relations with Julius Caesar and her vision of an Alexander-inspired empire to rule. The queen’s story is inextricably intertwined with Rome’s history and much of the book is devoted to Caesar and Antony’s complicated military and political maneuvers. Inevitably despite Schiavone’s efforts to make the most of few sources the men take center stage. Although he provides extensive source notes he still must conjecture and speculate on much but he does so persuasively. For instance writing of Cleopatra that she “sensed” a situation he makes a good case for the thoughts and motives he projects onto her. Schiavone blames Antony’s military failures entirely on his “ineptitude as a strategist” detailing the Roman’s indecision poor planning and military and political blunders while exonerating Cleopatra from the Actium debacle. The author’s style retains its formal flair: He observes of Caesar and Cleopatra that “The hummings of the heart were always subordinated in both of them to the logic of ambition and power—or rather to the projection of the self into the space and time of the immortal.” The multiple power-hungry Ptolemies the many figures of the republic-to-imperium transition and the intricate military maneuvers risk occasionally losing lay readers though overall the picture is clear. Schiavone’s stated aim “combining powerful interpretation with the joy of storytelling” largely succeeds.

Fia Ives’ magic is “rather fickle” and ever since her mother’s death their spellshop has gone quiet much like Fia’s life. Until the night she breaks into the Thistledown archives seeking a spell strong enough to lead her to her mother’s missing spellbook. Unfortunately Fia is accused of stealing a powerful grimoire from the archives and using it to unleash curses all over town. Needing time to clear her name she advertises for a helper at the shop and Penbrook a cursed young man around her age from the wealthy Madbury family applies. Thanks to magician Penbrook’s presence the spellshop draws in customers—and Fia doesn’t feel alone anymore. But she’s determined to find the grimoire and use it both to prove her innocence and save Penbrook from his curse. Along the way Fia discovers that people aren’t always who they seem and sometimes ordinary moments are the most magical. This beautifully written coming-of-age story with leads who are cued white poignantly explores loss and self-discovery. Quirky lovable Fia is filled with grit and determination while handsome Penbrook is clever and amusing; their relationship will steal hearts. The quick pacing and intricate narrative puzzle with its web of connections will keep readers turning pages.