Review: "Alchemy of Souls" by Adriana Mather

Alchemy of Souls by Adriana Mather
Published August 2026 via Feiwel & Friends
★★★

Grayson wants to bring down his uncle. Eloise wants a better life for her family. They've been in each other's orbit for years, but kept their distance...until they have no choice but to work together to ensure their mutual survival.

I had it in my head that this would be a boarding school book, but it's more of a restrictive college with boarding school rules (curfew, very limited freedoms, sneaking out to drink, etc.) setting. This is a highly regulated society with strict class division, which plays a huge role. Think dystopia books from the early 2010s; Eloise and her family are on the poverty track with very limited options for upward trajectory, while Grayson's family is high up in the food chain and determined to keep it that way.

I loved the premise (and the cover!) but could have used a bit more by way of worldbuilding. It was late in the book before I got a sense of what the wards were, and I never did figure out why Eloise's bestie from Maine has an aggressive Irish(?) accent. (Maggie doesn't serve a whole lot of purpose in the book—she's mostly accent and Eloise feeling guilty that she doesn't have time to hang out with Maggie because she's trying to save her own life.) I'd also be curious to know more about how the wards, which seem to have quite strict and limited borders, work across continents, and what exactly they do beyond keep out the "riffraff".

This is YA, so there's a romance; it's not really my jam, but it'll be good for readers who like enemies-to-lovers and a pretty high level of knight-in-shining-armor heroics. I wondered for a while whether this might be the first in a triology (again: dystopia books from the early 2010s!), but things feel fairly wrapped up by the end, so while it's possible that it'll spin off in other directions (or with other characters?), this makes for a quick read on its own.

Thanks to the author and publisher for inviting me to read a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Stepping Up" by Kiara Valdez, illustrated by Diana Tsai Santos

Stepping Up by Kiara Valdez, illustrated by Diana Tsai Santos
Published August 2026 via HarperAlley
★★★★

Andover was an opportunity Valdez couldn't pass up—an excellent education, a bit of breathing room from a sometimes complicated home life, the promise of future opportunities. It was also a place where she did not fit the mold, and where students who did fit the mold kept reminding her of that...and a place where, eventually, she found her people.

There are relatively few boarding school memoirs out there (though plenty of fiction!), and even fewer written by people who were minority students. For Valdez, Andover represented a certain amount of culture shock—her family and friends did not have the money to go to Broadway shows, or buy the new iPhone, or take fancy vacations; Andover was also way Whiter than she was used to. (Wikipedia says that Andover is more racially diverse than Massachusetts generally, but still very different from Valdez's New York.)

For the most part, Valdez writes Andover as something that was for her a good experience—she made close friends and tried things she wouldn't otherwise have had the opportunity to do. (And, well, my own boarding school was very different from the prep school environment of Andover, but boarding school is an experience that is really like none other.) There are few big dramas here, and certainly not any involving Valdez directly. This isn't always exciting as far as book plots go, but I can't object because 1) that's certainly better for Valdez! and 2) honestly, I'm still looking for a boarding school book that echoes my own experience, and while this isn't it (for myriad reasons, most of which I knew going in), this does feel like much more a reflection of, well, a normal experience of boarding school. What Valdez did experience, over and over again, were microaggressions—sometimes unthinking ones and sometimes, ah, they were not unthinking. (And not so micro.) I can imagine this being a really valuable book for a teenager who is changing environments in the way that Valdez did, not necessarily to boarding school but...things along those lines.

As an aside, I loved the inclusion of step here—it's something I haven't seen performed in a very long while, and it was so lovely to see as an important part of Valdez's experience at Andover. I don't know that much about step, so I'd have loved a bit more history here, but it's a nice plot point. A bit more about Valdez's family also would have been interesting, though that may not have been somewhere she wanted to go for any number of reasons, which is of course entirely fair.

3.5 stars; this is one I'd like to see in a lot of high school libraries.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Gingerbread Bones" by Lindsay Lovise

Gingerbread Bones by Lindsay Lovise
Published August 2026 via Entangled: Mayhem Books
★★★★

Georgie knows exactly why she and her brother are two of the teenagers selected to take part in a reality TV program that drops a group of "troubled" teenagers in the woods and forces them to learn some survival skills and adapt: Their parenting-influencer stepmother is the one who conceived of the show, and that same stepmother hates them. Georgie figures they can get through a week or two in the Maine woods, and they'll be eighteen and out of the house soon enough...but what she doesn't know is that "learn some survival skills" is about to get really, really literal.

Everyone thinks Ashley is so kind and wholesome, when really she's the razor blade hidden in the Halloween candy. (loc. 139*)

I picked this one up for the woods: I love me an everyone-might-die murder story set in the woods, because who doesn't? (Don't answer that.) What ended up interesting me most, though, is the fact that all of these teenagers have been labelled as "troubled". They've been cast for drama, of course; every one of them has their own backstory and their own problems. Every one of them is also likely to be, in the eyes of the show and the public, a perpetrator rather than a victim. Their voices don't count. No matter what happens.

We are disposable. And I'm afraid [the production company] knows it. (loc. 2362)

The romance didn't (surprise!) interest me much, but I loved how much the characters—well, mostly the teenagers—were allowed to grow throughout the book. Early on, especially, they're all guarded and angry and not happy to be there. And certainly they don't get any happier to be out in the woods; the woods make sure of that. But I've read too many mysteries (written for teenagers and adults alike) in which virtually every character is so perfectly awful that I'm just hoping that their death will come sooner rather than later, and Gingerbread Bones sees that and steers mindfully away from it.

There's a paranormal element, which is not generally my jam; entirely personal preference, but I like it better when the big bads are all things that can happen in real life. Paranormal stories just don't give me that visceral thrill. That said, I did know going in that there was a paranormal element, which helped, and that part of things was done well. There's a twist toward the end that I had half guessed at, but in a shape that I couldn't have known to guess at, which was great. All in all, a speedy read that will be perfect for autumn when the weather cools down a bit.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Tradwife" by Michelle Brandon

Tradwife by Michelle Brandon
Published August 2026 via Avon a
★★★

In Crystal Harbor, the men are the breadwinners and the women are the homemakers, and every woman knows better than to step foot outside without her hair done and her bloodred lipstick in place like armor. (The men—they by and large do what they want to do.) But of course things are not always as they seem.

Tradwife follows a handful of women from this community: Miranda is the mayor's wife, determined to run this town...one way or another. Ariel used to be an actress, and maybe she still is, but now her acting skills all go straight into her influencing career. And Jennifer used to have it all, but since her divorce, she's been pushed out by her former friends and is struggling to stay financially afloat. And then there's Tara...

I'm intrigued by the recent rise of the tradwife thriller, so when I saw this I knew it was a must. This is the fourth I've read so far, and somehow of those four it's the first one that doesn't involve a podcaster or journalist trying to find the truth under the tradwife façade. (Ariel is an influencer, and Jennifer starts going public on social media early on in the book, but this isn't the same as someone coming in from the outside; everything that happens in the book stays within the Crystal Harbor community.)

Winning at Crystal Harbor wasn't about playing fair. It was about playing flawlessly. (loc. 1133*)

For all that this is a tradwife book, and the town is deathly determined to be dry and saccharine sweet, the characters here are...well, they know that what is on the outside is not what is on the inside, and if 95% of the women in town do not have something hidden under the sink or in the closet, I'd be very surprised. Miranda in particular is determined to use her position as the holier-than-thou head honcho (or head honcho's wife, but...she knows better) to stir shit up...it's only the shape that that will take that is uncertain. Few of these characters are easy to root for (though some are less pleasant than others), and the ulterior motives are strong.

There's a lot of twisting near the end of the book, some of which I found more predictable than others. I would have liked a bit more of the in-between story; there's a then and a now, but not much, even at the end, to tell us how we got there. And: The tradwife lifestyle is thin, here. I'm genuinely curious to read books about the whole #tradwife thing (horrified, but also curious), but I don't actually think this shows much of it; mostly we see the characters figuring out how best to be awful to each other in a very Southern, smile-while-you're-insulting-someone way. Intriguing, but a low three stars for me.

And now on to the next tradwife thriller...

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: Short story: "The Wizard Who Kept Himself Suspicious" by Scott Lynch

The Wizard Who Kept Himself Suspicious by Scott Lynch
Published July 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

Every thirteen years, a conclave of wizards meet on a magical beach. They catch up, they argue, they show off, and then they go away again and plan to meet up in another thirteen years. But this year, something goes wrong.

This is one of a set of short stories about magic and, often, mayhem; certainly there's some of both here. (Mostly mayhem.) The protagonist of sorts is a wizard who does no magic, at least none that his fellow wizards can see; he has his motivations, but he keeps those to himself.

I liked the quirkiness of this story. At times I did want more context—e.g., it was a surprise to find that there was one character whom a lot of the other characters couldn't stand, and even at the end of the story I didn't know much about who was who or why they were there. Offhand this doesn't look like a spinoff of something else (searching for Shiverick, anyway, didn't turn anything up), but I wonder if I would have gotten more out of it if I knew more about the characters and the world.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: Short story: "A Labyrinth of Honeybees" by Heather Fawcett

A Labyrinth of Honeybees by Heather Fawcett
Published July 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

The gods are going to do what the gods are going to do. In this short story, a priestess-come-groundskeeper is faced with an unexpected challenger—the king's inquisitioner, who wants access to the goddess's temple. And that's <i>before</i> things get complicated.

I've said this before, but I'll say it again: Short stories are a great way to try out an author I'm not familiar with. I don't read tons of fantasy, but it's fun to drop into a world like this, one with twisting hedge mazes and buzzing bees and, oh, just a little bit of danger. Our narrator knows her role, and if her nerves aren't made of steel, well, she hides it well.

The story feels about the right length, though what I'd really like is to read a full-length book from the princess's point of view (actually...will have to check the author's backlist to see if that exists already). Lots of complex characters here, and lots of competing priorities. Short and satisfying.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: Short story: "The Cairndale Orphan" by J.M. Miro

The Cairndale Orphan by J.M. Miro
Published July 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

Something is wrong in London, and Bromley knows it. A friend is missing, a school up north has burned down, and a child has turned up looking for help. Bromley just doesn't know how complicated things might get before they improve.

This is one of a collection of stories full of mysteries and magic and, in this case at least, monsters. It's been interesting to see some of the differences and similarities across the stories; they're all by different authors and with different settings (some more overtly magical than others, some more contemporary than others); this and another one both feature animal herds at crucial moments.

I like the complexity built in here, including that one character is queer. It's a time and place that is not so kind to queerness, but it stays a mostly understated part of the story (acknowledgement of potential for danger, but the focus stays elsewhere), which is nice. If I understand correctly, though, this is a standalone story set in the established world of the author's other books, and though it can comfortably be read without having read those books (I am living proof!), I think I would have enjoyed this more with that deeper history and context. A decent quick read, but one best enjoyed as part of a larger parcel.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: Short story: "Battle of the Round House" by Tananarive Due

Battle of the Round House by Tananarive Due
Published July 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

If they can just make it to Zipporah Ranch, Lucy and her family will be safe—that's what her parents are clinging on to, anyway. As free Black people in the 1870s, nowhere is entirely safe, and unscrupulous people are on their tail.

Due says in a note at the end that this is based on a true story, and frankly, how wonderful to think that there have been these pockets of resistance and resilience, of community banding together, since...well, I suppose as long as human battle for power has been around. Lucy is a fierce heroine here: She's only ten, but if her family is threatened, she wants to be part of the solution, whether as a witness or as an active participant.

It's too bad not to have more time to spend with these characters and on Zipporah Ranch (the downsides of short stories), but this story is on the longer side, leaving room for a bit of quirk and a bit of description. Lean close. Maybe you'll hear a whisper.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: Short story: "The Lion's Tusk" by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Lion's Tusk by Robert Jackson Bennett
Published July 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

It's the biggest wedding of the year—until everything goes horrible wrong.

This is one in a collection of stories about magic and, well, occasionally mayhem. Each is very different in feel (though I'm interested to note that two of the four stories I've read so far mentione Abilene, Texas, and the other two feature relics); this one is something of story within a story. We don't learn too much about the storyteller, or why this particular story interests him (or, for that matter, too much about the listener), but it's clear that it's a story that he knows well and has opinions about. His asides are probably the best part of the story, but waiting for what happens next isn't so bad either. Let's just say that there are layers of who might want to be involved, and why.

So far this collection has been full of pleasant surprises—each story taking a different angle and attitude, and each with something to show for it.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: Short story: "Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk" by Travis Baldree

Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk by Travis Baldree
Published July 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

The monks have a problem: One of them is dead, and they don't know whodunnit. Luckily Miss Gentle is on the case...but the monks might be a little more comfortable if she weren't quite so singular. That, and if she weren't demanding as payment something that they cannot replace.

This was an odd and fun little story: a touch of the absurd, a mystery, a final reveal (or two!) to keep things lively. I haven't read anything else from Baldree, but this piqued my interest. I'm not sure I have it in me to read orc romance (see: Baldree's full-length books), but a mysterious investigator dressed in a suit of armor...I don't know; I wouldn't mind reading more.

A satisfying bit of summer fluff. Definitely recommended if you have Kindle Unlimited.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.