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  Seventeen years ago, the coastal town of Heron Bay, Washington, was wrecked by tragedy. While her parents and others in the community indulged in one of the season's many parties, young Nina Johansen vanished and drowned--in a reflecting pool at the edge of the property.  Nearly two decades later, Astrid has yet to fill the void left by her younger sister's mysterious death. When an unexpected and cryptic call from her Aunt Maude summons her back to Heron Bay after all this time, it becomes clear to Astrid that the truth of that night seventeen years ago refuses to stay buried. And the secrets of Nina's death are closer than she realizes.  "Dreaming of Water" is an absolutely gorgeously-written story of mystery, loss, and suspense. Similar to "In Another Light," Banner's writing is descriptive, transportive, and maintains an impressive veil of intrigue over the entire story without sacrificing pacing or plot details. To reveal too many more details...

  June Farrow is living on borrowed time. Well, so history has told her. Even before June's mother Susanna's mysterious disappearance from their small hometown of Jasper, North Carolina, something has been odd about the Farrow women. But trying to put your finger on the Farrow women is like trying to catch smoke in your bare hands.  As June tries to set the murky past behind her and live a normal life, she's haunted by visions--things she's never seen but feel unnervingly familiar; voices she's never heard but stir something deep within her; a red door that seems to beckon her through its passageway. And so June makes a choice one fateful day in the wake of her grandmother's passing.  She opens the door, and she goes. And what awaits her on the other side defies comprehension.  "The Unmaking of June Farrow" is made of the same wondrous, magical, and poignant stuff that "Spells for Forgetting" is, but somehow even more. This is the book, dear ...

  Ashley Smith is content to spend Christmas alone. With an ocean between her and her home back in the States, her choices for company--aside from her art studies--are few and far between. When out of the blue, the alluring Emma Chapman invites Ashley to her family's grand estate for the holidays, things seem almost too good to be true.  From the Cotswold Manor House to her quarters in Starvehood Hall, Ashley couldn't be more enamored with how her London Christmas has panned out. Until, that is, she meets Emma's handsome brother Adam, and the holidays grow more interesting (and sinister) by the night.  "The Christmas Guest" is a perfectly atmospheric, mysterious novella written to be devoured in a single setting. In its own, dark way, it boasts the kind of coziness readers seek out for wintertime while maintaining both strong plot and prose throughout. Coming in at just over 100 pages, to say much more in this review would be to spoil Peter Swanson's giftednes...

  In the small Pennsylvania town of Harrow, something sinister is stirring in Dan Paxson's apple orchard. With autumn upon him, Dan more than ever needs an apple harvest that will set him apart from other farmers; one that'll get him out from underneath the overdue bills and the looming cost of Calla's college tuition.  Almost like magic, an apple so red it's nearly black appears on Dan Paxson's apple trees. As the town slowly but surely gives the "Ruby Slipper" apple a try, something dark begins to surface within it. People are changing in Harrow, something lurks within the orchard. You see, these are far from ordinary apples--these apples will make you different.  Chuck Wendig has an uncanny ability to deliver a horror novel unlike anything I've ever read: first with his epic masterpiece "Wanderers" then later with the fall book of the season "The Book of Accidents." Not unlike its predecessors, "Black River Orchard" mak...

  Dawn Schiff and Natalie Farrell couldn't be more different from one another. Dawn is orderly, perhaps a little too orderly; social graces don't come easily to her, and she finds the company she enjoys most of all is her own. Natalie is, for all intents and purposes, the reigning queen of their office--every bit as glamorous as she is successful.  And both women have a secret.  What starts out as an ordinary day at work ends in turmoil as Dawn fails to show up for her prompt 8:45am start time. Natalie thinks nothing of it as Dawn's cubicle phone continues to ring in her absence, but when she finally answers one of the calls, a faint voice answers her on the other end of the line, "Help me."  And just like that, Freida McFadden--otherwise known as the sensation who gave us "The Housemaid" and "The Housemaid's Secret" is back--but unfortunately, she is far from better than ever. From first to final page, "The Coworker" read like an...

  In my time chasing after the inimitable after-effects of novels like "Babel," "The Secret History," and "If We Were Villains," I've found that true dark academia is both commonly-attempted and commonly-fumbled. As so many short story collections tend to be, "In These Hallowed Halls" is an intriguing package of both the noteworthy and the (mostly) unexceptional. As such, I find it best to review its parts rather than its whole and worthwhile to mention that its noteworthy dark academia names (Rio, Fargo, and especially Blake) fell utterly flat for me, while names I didn't hold high hopes for soared to new heights.  Beguiling and sinister not so much, "In These Hallowed Halls" is further testament to the fact that I simply might not be the right audience for short stories. I always find them, dare I say it, too short, and I long for a connection to their characters that they simply can't offer.  1000 Ships, Kate Weinberg, 3 ...

  In the wake of his wife Pippa's death, Alfie is doing everything he can to make life carry on as normal for their twin girls Sylvie and Cassia. Tucked away in their family home of Hart House in London, there isn't much to break the monotony of grief or to fill the Pippa-shaped void now left in their lives. Before long, Sylvie and Cassia struggle to sleep. "Daddy, there's a man in our room," they say. What Alfie dismisses initially as the girls harmlessly processing their loss through the form of an imaginary friend soon becomes something more unsettling. "Daddy, he said he's going to take us away," the girls report pleasantly. Black Mamba, he's called. He wants a seat at the dinner table, he protects the girls at night. He whispers things to them. Things that grow darker in the night. As the days pass, it's clear that something sinister walks the halls of Hart House. Cassia and Sylvie become silhouettes of their former, vibrant selves...

  Annis is a slave girl born into a world of unthinkable injustice. Mama is her only shield from "her sire," a white man who owns a Carolina rice field that serves as the only home Annis has ever known. When in a blink, Annis' entire world is upended and she's moved further south to be sold, her grief takes the form of a visceral being as she makes the incomprehensible journey on foot alongside of other sold slaves to New Orleans where her future hangs in the balance. Through undeniably masterful storytelling, Ward tells the story of Annis' journey as she makes her way through deplorable conditions to the New Orleans slave markets and eventually onto a Louisiana sugar plantation. As the story marches further into dread-filled darkness, spirit guides and otherworldly beings emerge from the swamp, the dark wood, and the waters to guide Annis along the way. And despite the remarkable storytelling in "Let Us Descend," I found that I never fully connected ...

  In the wake of her mother Noelle's unexpected death, Belle leaves her solitary life in Montreal for the overbearing glamour of Southern California and hopes to quickly settle Noelle's estate as to not face the thorn-sharp, painful memories that linger there. Before long, clues of Noelle's mysterious death begin to surface. A cracked mirror in her mother's bedroom. A glamorous stranger at the funeral. An imposing mansion on the coastal cliffside. And a tantalizing invitation from La Maison de Méduse that entitles Belle to a free treatment at their spa. As Belle descends further and further into the depths of a dark society of beautiful strangers, she finds herself entangled in a world of glamour, yes, but also obsession, that she may not be able to escape before it's too late. Perhaps one of the most promising titles of the year, "Rogue" is an ambitious, gothic, and painfully-slow burn of a story. Brimming with all the weirdness of "Bunny" (a...

  Lewis and Wren are unlikely newlyweds. Lewis--the artist, the actor, the dreamer; and Wren--the realist, the stable one, Lewis' anchor. Together, they harmonize perfectly and set their sights on a long life together. Then, out of the blue, Lewis is diagnosed with a rare but rapidly-progressing mutation that will turn him into a great white shark. I haven't lost you, have I? Please tell me I haven't lost you. Because over the course of 9 poignant, poetic months, Lewis' transformation from man into shark in "Shark Heart" can only be described as masterful. Set against the backdrop of Lewis and Wren's marriage, Habeck pens a story that is part novel, part play, and part poetry; a curious amalgam of metaphors and magical realism, but one that is utterly spellbinding. The characters of Wren and Lewis (and later, Angela, but wait for Act II for her) are imbued with such a delicate, familiar humanness that it almost took my breath away, what I expected to b...

  On the seemingly idyllic cul-de-sac of Alton Road, not a single house is exempt from suburban secrets. Alex's evening glass of wine comes earlier and earlier each day--sometimes a glass, sometimes a bottle. Her sister Emily is holding on to her marriage for dear life, that fresh start not as fresh as she's let the neighbors think. Recently-widowed Brooke hardly seems to be mourning the loss of her husband Jerry. As the residents of Alton Road know, it's all just harmless gossip, though. Until someone ends up dead at the Memorial Day block party. An sizzling, explosive summer suspense, "The Block Party" is everything you could want in a domestic drama. A well-defined cast of characters, secrets galore, and a slow-burn fuse that's lit in the first chapter and comes to a shocking conclusion by the end, readers looking for an escapist read that's not your usual Nantucket romance are bound to love this story. By no means a perfect novel and a little heavy...

  For Ava Dowling, the quaint, seaside town of Driftwood, Alabama holds the promise of a new life--one that's far away from her life in Vermont, where tragedy and grief had become her constant companions. On a spontaneous whim, Ava packs up for Driftwood after a mysterious letter arrives with a help-wanted ad for an in-home caretaker. Enter Magpie's: otherwise known as the coffee shop of curiosities. Before long, Ava finds herself enveloped by the small-town, quirky community of Driftwood. She's not only part-time caretaker to Desmond Brightwood, but ends up a barista at Magpie's--owned by Desmond's daughter, Maggie--too. With Driftwood's streets teeming with gossip, stories, and just a little bit of magic, it's not long before Ava wonders if something more than coincidence brought her into its midst. Without a doubt, "At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities" has a Sarah Addison Allen-like draw with its promise of a memorable cast of characters and ma...

  Rachel Murray is living a most ordinary life. As a small-town, Irish student working in a bookstore searching for meaning between late shifts and paychecks, Rachel doesn't quite know what she wants out of life--she just knows she wants more. Enter James Devlin: he's unapologetically brazen, almost criminally-extroverted, and sexually-ambiguous...and the exact size of the void that's been lingering in Rachel. Soon, Rachel and James are living together in Cork, utterly (and platonically) enamored with each other and completely inseparable. James is in love with the unpredictability of life; Rachel is in love with her literature professor, Dr. Fred Byrnes. When a chance encounter at their bookstore sends Dr. Byrnes into not only Rachel's orbit, but James', their lives are interwoven--and irrevocably changed--overnight. A poignant, endearing, deeply-human coming-of-age story, "The Rachel Incident" is sure to please fans of "Normal People" and ...

  Puzzle master Mike Brink once lead an ordinary life. When a chance accident derailed his hopes of an athletic scholarship, he learned that he had been left with extraordinary--and nearly unfathomable--abilities: a photographic memory, the ability to perceive patterns in milliseconds, an affinity for some of the world's most complex and difficult ciphers. By all accounts, Mike Brink was content to continue his work writing puzzles for the New York Times. Until, that is, he's summoned to a New York women's prison and has a startling encounter with disgraced writer Jess Price, whose story of unprompted violence and murder shocked the nation. What ensues after Brink's meeting with Jess and Dr. Thessaly Moses, the prison's psychiatrist, is a heart-pounding, multi-layered race against time with a mysterious "God Puzzle" at the center of it all. In an instant, Brink is thrust out of his comfortable world of puzzle creation and into a battle for humanity's ...

  Sam is months away from sealing the deal on the life of her dreams. Her HR consulting career is rock-solid and no nonsense. Her fiancé, Jack, is an even more rock-solid, no nonsense doctor, and their upcoming wedding is slated to be the ultimate elegant affair at Sam's family's beach haven in Long Island. As the summer opens, there's nothing that could throw Sam's carefully-orchestrated plans out of orbit. With the exception, however, of her first summer love. Wyatt. When Sam and Jack return to Long Beach to iron out the final details of their wedding, Wyatt's unexpected and seemingly untouched-by-time presence on the shore is enough to throw Sam headfirst into a reverie of untapped, painful memories from their teenage summers together, and the time Wyatt broke her heart for good. An ode to first loves set against the sweet backdrop of summertime on Long Island, "Same Time Next Summer" is an easy, breezy read to kick of the season. While I loved Monag...