It’s the week before deer hunting season in Blanco County, Texas—as close to a statewide holiday as you’ll find—and Game Warden John Marlin is drowning in poaching complaints. Out-of-season tickets are flying faster than buckshot, and the locals are getting restless with anticipation. But then a call comes in that changes everything: someone has been shot at the Circle S ranch while wearing what appears to be a deer costume, and witnesses are reporting a massive, wild-eyed buck prancing through the pasture in what can only be described as a lovesick frenzy 🦌

Marlin’s seen plenty in his years patrolling Blanco County, but nothing could prepare him for this level of bizarre. The man in the deer suit turns out to be a good friend, which complicates matters considerably. And that whacked-out whitetail causing chaos in the pasture? Let’s just say it’s not exactly a stranger to Marlin either. What starts as a weird hunting incident quickly spirals into something far more dangerous and absurd 🎯

This is just the beginning of what will become the most frantic, chaotic weekend of Marlin’s career. Before it’s over, more men will be shot, a group of Colombians will arrive with intentions that have nothing to do with hunting, and Marlin himself will come dangerously close to meeting his maker. Ben Rehder masterfully blends mystery with laugh-out-loud comedy, creating a debut that’s equal parts suspenseful and hilarious 😂

The beauty of Rehder’s writing is how he captures the authentic flavor of small-town Texas while serving up a plot that’s completely unpredictable. His characters feel real—flawed, funny, and thoroughly Texan—and the pacing never lets up. This isn’t your typical cozy mystery; it’s got real stakes, real danger, and real belly laughs, all wrapped up in a story that keeps you guessing until the very end 🤠

What makes this essential: Rehder has been called the funniest crime writer in Texas, and this box set proves why. If you love mysteries with genuine humor, authentic regional flavor, and plots that zig when you expect them to zag, this collection is your next binge-read. Perfect for fans of Carl Hiaasen’s Florida-based mayhem, transplanted to the Texas Hill Country 📚

The Star Kingdom is teetering on the edge of collapse. The king has proven himself untrustworthy, the galaxy stands on the brink of all-out war, and a ruthless mercenary is cutting a bloody path through the stars, destroying everything and everyone who stands between him and his vengeance. In times like these, you’d expect heroes to rise—brave warriors, brilliant strategists, legendary fighters who can turn the tide. What the galaxy gets instead is a band of misfits who can barely keep themselves alive, let alone save civilization 🚀

Meet the crew: there’s a washed-up bounty hunter who’s struggling to pay his bills and questioning every life choice that led him here. A genetically engineered cat woman who’s on the run from the corporation that created her, desperately trying to stay one step ahead of the hunters on her trail. A robotics professor who gets violently space sick before the ship even leaves orbit—not exactly ideal for space travel. And a brilliant scientist whose communication skills are limited to her fists, because she’s far better at punching people than talking to them 😼

As unlikely as it seems, this ragtag crew of underdogs represents the galaxy’s best hope for peace. They’re not polished, they’re not prepared, and they definitely didn’t sign up to be heroes. But someone has to step up, and apparently fate has decided it’s going to be them. The problem is, they’ve got plenty of troubles of their own to deal with before they can even think about saving anyone else 💫

They’re being hunted. They’re outgunned. They’re flying by the seat of their pants and hoping their ship doesn’t fall apart mid-jump. To survive, they’ll need to fly faster, think smarter, and somehow learn to work together despite being possibly the most dysfunctional team ever assembled. The fate of the galaxy rests in their hands, which should terrify everyone involved ⚡

Why this deserves your attention: Lindsay Buroker delivers pure space opera fun with heart, humor, and characters you’ll genuinely care about. If you love Firefly-style ragtag crews, high-stakes adventures, and stories where the underdogs actually have a fighting chance, this box set is an absolute steal. Perfect binge-reading for fans of fast-paced sci-fi with genuine charm 🌟

Grace Sinclair thought she’d found a home. Orphaned as a child and taken in by the vicar and his wife, she’s spent years trying to earn her place in their household. But now that the vicar’s own daughters are about to enter Society, Grace’s extraordinary beauty has become a liability rather than an asset. The vicar and his wife see her as competition—a threat to their daughters’ prospects—and Grace finds herself callously cast out from the only home she’s known 💔

Her salvation appears in the form of her estranged Aunt Bell, who has agreed to take Grace into her London home. Grace arrives in the city with hope and gratitude, only to discover she’s escaped one impossible situation for something infinitely worse. It takes mere moments for Grace to realize that her aunt has married a detestable rake, and Aunt Bell—recognizing the danger of having her lovely young niece anywhere near her predatory husband—delivers a devastating ultimatum 🎭

Grace has exactly two weeks to find a husband and secure her future. After that, she’ll be turned out onto the streets with nowhere to go. The problem is, Grace has absolutely no experience in the art of courtship or attracting suitors. She’s spent her life trying to be invisible, not irresistible. Now she must somehow learn to navigate London Society, attract a worthy gentleman, and secure a proposal—all while avoiding her aunt’s dangerous husband and the ticking clock of her deadline ⏰

Every day that passes brings Grace closer to ruin. She’s learning that in the marriage mart, beauty alone isn’t enough—you need connections, dowry, and social standing, none of which she possesses. And finding a man who’s both worthy and willing to marry a penniless orphan in a matter of days seems like an impossible task. But Grace is more resourceful than anyone has given her credit for, and she’s not about to give up without a fight 👗

What makes this irresistible: Esther Hatch crafts a compelling Regency tale with genuine stakes and a heroine you’ll root for from page one. Grace’s predicament feels authentic to the era while her determination and spirit feel timeless. Perfect for fans of clean historical romance with strong heroines, ticking-clock tension, and the promise of hard-won happily ever afters 💕

Tori Henderson has been waiting years for this moment. Gabe Trainor is finally coming back to Moon Lake, and she’s determined to win back the teenage crush who got away. She’s got a plan, she’s got hope, and she’s convinced that this time, things will be different. What could possibly go wrong? 💭

Enter Jed Trainor—Gabe’s brother, a millionaire with his own agenda, and a man who’s decided he wants Tori for himself. While Tori’s been pining for one Trainor brother all these years, she’s completely overlooked the other. And Jed isn’t the type of man who takes no for an answer, especially not when he’s set his sights on something—or someone—he wants 💰

But there’s more going on here than a simple love triangle. Gabe’s return to Moon Lake isn’t about rekindling old flames or reliving the past. He’s got his own reasons for coming home, and revenge is high on that list. Tori’s caught in the middle of something far more complicated than she ever imagined, and her heart might end up as collateral damage 🌊

What starts as a straightforward second-chance romance quickly becomes a tangled web of family rivalry, old wounds, and competing desires. Someone’s going to get hurt, someone’s going to get what they want, and someone’s going to walk away with nothing. The only question is who 💔

Why this grips from page one: Amy Gamet delivers a sexy, twisty romance that keeps you guessing about which brother deserves the happy ending. The lake setting provides the perfect backdrop for simmering tension and emotional revelations. Ideal for readers who love their contemporary romance with genuine conflict and stakes that matter 🏖️

Levi Dorsey has always been a man who knows what he wants and is content with what he has. The sexy, private bar owner doesn’t ask for much from life and never complains about what he gets. He’s excited about his new business venture, satisfied with his choices, and generally at peace with his world. There’s just one problem that keeps him up at night: he’s never been able to forget that kiss. And more importantly, he’s never been able to forget her 💋

Shelby Kellan used to be so sure of herself. She knew who she was, what she wanted, and where she was headed. Confidence came naturally to this gorgeous, blue-eyed beauty. But recent events have shattered that certainty, leaving her barely recognizing the woman staring back at her in the mirror. Everything she thought she knew about herself has been called into question, and she’s desperate for a fresh start—a chance to rebuild and rediscover herself 💫

The complication? That kiss. Eighteen months ago, Levi and Shelby shared one perfect, earth-shattering kiss that neither of them has been able to shake. For Levi, it was confirmation of what he’d always suspected—that Shelby was the one. For Shelby, it was a moment of magic in a life that was already starting to crumble. Now that kiss lingers between them, a promise of what could be and a reminder of what they both want but can’t quite reach 🌟

Levi knows what he wants: more. More time with Shelby, more of those kisses, more of everything. He’s ready to move forward and build something real with her. But Shelby has already lost so much—her confidence, her sense of self, maybe even her ability to trust in happy endings. Can she risk her heart again when she’s still trying to piece together the broken parts of herself? And can Levi be patient enough to wait while she figures it out? 💕

What drew me in: Melanie Shawn writes second-chance romance with genuine emotional depth, giving both characters real wounds to heal and obstacles to overcome. The small-town Hope Falls setting adds charm without feeling cliché, and the chemistry between Levi and Shelby absolutely sizzles. Perfect for readers who want their romance with substance and heat in equal measure 🔥

My Latest Grievance

Massachusetts, 1970s. Born to a pair of “bleeding heart” professors who live on campus as dorm parents, Frederica Hatch soon finds herself **the unofficial mascot of Dewing College.** Life is so ideal that by the time she becomes a teenager, Frederica finds herself chafing under the care of “the most annoyingly evenhanded parental team in the history of civilization.” Elinor Lipman delivers coming-of-age fiction with a delightfully specific setting—a small women’s college where everyone knows everyone, and where growing up means your entire journey is witnessed by the campus community. 🎓Frederica’s life is ideal until she learns that life isn’t as simple or idyllic as it seems—even amid the manicured lawns of Dewing College. A new dorm parent has just arrived on campus: Laura Lee French is glamorous, worldly, and **the former wife of Frederica’s father.** Suddenly, Frederica sees her parents’ lives—and by extension her own—in a whole new light. Lipman understands that the best coming-of-age novels involve protagonists discovering that their parents are flawed, complicated people with secret histories rather than just the “annoyingly evenhanded” authority figures they appeared to be. 💔

The setup is brilliantly uncomfortable: imagine growing up on a college campus where your parents are beloved dorm parents, where you’re the mascot everyone adores, where everything seems perfect. Then your father’s glamorous ex-wife shows up as a colleague, forcing you to confront the fact that your parents had entire lives before you existed—lives that maybe weren’t as idealistic as their current progressive-professor personas suggest. Lipman writes with wit and warmth about the complications of family secrets, campus life in the 1970s, and what happens when the unofficial mascot becomes a teenager who realizes the adults around her are just as messy as everyone else. 📚

What makes this compelling literary fiction: Lipman creates a protagonist whose unique upbringing (growing up as a dorm parent’s kid on a women’s college campus) provides both comedy and poignancy. For readers who love campus novels, coming-of-age stories with complicated family dynamics, and 1970s settings, this delivers sharp observations about privilege, progressive ideals versus messy reality, and the shock of discovering your parents’ secret pasts. Frederica’s latest grievance? Her perfect life just got very complicated. 🌟

A grand country estate. On her last day as a detective, **Midge McGowan is given the retirement present from hell: a ticket to a haunted house tour.** She’ll have to spend a weekend ghost-hunting in an isolated mansion with a group of misfits, including a know-it-all paranormal investigator and a has-been pop star. Emma Mason delivers locked-room mystery with supernatural elements where a retiring detective’s final weekend becomes anything but relaxing. 👻A puzzle that can’t be solved. The guests soon realize that the house has a mind of its own… and that they might not be the only ones there. An eerie figure appears on the property, and then the unthinkable happens: **someone is murdered in a room that’s been locked from the inside.** When a blizzard cuts the group off from help, the house’s own dark secrets begin to surface, and Midge can’t shake the creeping sense that they are walking into a nightmare. Could a ghost really be responsible? Or is the culprit one the guests, who have somehow, impossibly, endeared themselves to Midge? 🔒

Mason combines classic locked-room mystery with haunted house horror, creating delicious ambiguity about whether the supernatural threat is real or cover for a very human murderer. The setup is perfect: retiring detective forced to spend weekend with strangers in isolated mansion, eerie occurrences that could be ghosts or staging, then actual murder in a locked room. The blizzard cutting them off from help is classic Agatha Christie territory, but the paranormal elements add uncertainty—can Midge solve this with detective work, or are the rules of reality suspended in this house? The fact that the misfit guests have “impossibly endeared themselves to Midge” raises stakes; she actually cares about these people now, which makes determining which one might be a killer even harder. ❄️

What makes this a thrilling locked-room mystery: Mason delivers classic mystery structure (isolated location, diverse suspects, locked-room murder) with supernatural uncertainty keeping readers guessing. For fans of Agatha Christie meets gothic horror, retiring detectives pulled into one last case, and the question of whether ghosts can commit murder, this offers both genuine scares and puzzle-solving satisfaction. Midge’s retirement weekend just became a nightmare she might not survive. 🕯️

England, 1967. Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London. When she starts working at the prestigious Skelton Institute of Art, she discovers **a painting rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles,** a young artist of immense talent and vision whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. The excitement over the painting is matched by the intrigue around the conflicting stories of its discovery. Drawn into a complex web of secrets and deceptions, Odelle does not know what to believe or who she can trust, including her mesmerizing colleague, Marjorie Quick. Jessie Burton weaves dual timelines spanning 1960s London and 1930s Spain, connected by art, secrets, and questions about authorship. 🎨Spain, 1936. Olive Schloss, the daughter of a Viennese Jewish art dealer and an English heiress, follows her parents to Arazuelo, a poor, restless village on the southern coast. She grows close to Teresa, a young housekeeper, and Teresa’s half-brother, Isaac Robles, an idealistic and ambitious painter newly returned from the Barcelona salons. A dilettante buoyed by the revolutionary fervor that will soon erupt into civil war, Isaac dreams of being a painter as famous as his countryman Picasso. **Raised in poverty, these illegitimate children of the local landowner revel in exploiting the wealthy Anglo-Austrians.** Insinuating themselves into the Schloss family’s lives, Teresa and Isaac help Olive conceal her artistic talents with devastating consequences that will echo into the decades to come. ⚔️

Burton structures the mystery around questions of artistic authorship and identity: whose painting is it really? What happened to Isaac Robles? Why did Olive conceal her talents? The dual timeline allows Burton to slowly reveal how the 1930s Spanish Civil War era secrets connect to 1960s London art world intrigue. The novel explores themes of artistic genius versus recognition, class exploitation, the costs of hiding your true self, and how art can both reveal and conceal truth. The relationship between Odelle and Marjorie Quick in 1960s London mirrors the complicated dynamics between Olive, Teresa, and Isaac in 1930s Spain—trust, deception, and the price of secrets. 🖼️

What makes this literary historical fiction essential: Burton delivers a dual-timeline mystery exploring artistic authorship, Spanish Civil War history, and the price women pay for hiding their talents. For readers who love art world mysteries, historical fiction spanning multiple eras, and novels about whose stories get told and whose get erased, this offers both period detail and contemporary resonance. The painting’s provenance is a mystery. The truth about who created it could destroy lives. 📚

In the tiny village of Maran nestled high in the Armenian mountains, **a place where dreams, curses and miracles are taken very seriously,** a close-knit community bickers, gossips and laughs, untouched by the passage of time. A lifelong resident, Anatolia is happily set in her ways. Until, that is, she wakes up one day utterly convinced that she is dying. She lies down on her bed and prepares to meet her maker, but just when she thinks everything is ready, she is interrupted by a surprise visit from a neighbour with an unexpected proposal. Narine Abgaryan delivers an enchanting fable set in an Armenian mountain village where magical realism meets everyday life. 🏔️So begins a tale of unforeseen twists and unlikely romance that will turn Maran on its head and breathe a new lease of life into a forgotten village. Abgaryan’s enchanting fable is a heart-warming tale of community, courage, and the irresistible joy of everyday friendship. The setup is delightful: woman convinced she’s dying gets interrupted by a neighbor’s proposal (romantic? business? the synopsis leaves it tantalizingly unclear), and suddenly her orderly preparation for death becomes complicated by the possibility of new life, new love, new purpose. 💕

Abgaryan writes in the tradition of magical realism where the extraordinary and ordinary coexist naturally—in Maran, dreams and curses and miracles aren’t questioned, they’re simply part of village life. The community that “bickers, gossips and laughs, untouched by the passage of time” suggests a timeless quality, a place operating on different rules than the modern world. Anatolia’s journey from preparing to die to discovering reasons to live becomes a catalyst for the entire village’s transformation. The title “Three Apples Fell from the Sky” evokes Armenian storytelling tradition while hinting at the novel’s fairy-tale quality. 🍎

What makes this an enchanting read: Abgaryan delivers warmth, magical realism, and community in an Armenian mountain village where one woman’s preparation for death becomes everyone’s renewal of life. For readers who love books like *Like Water for Chocolate* or *The House of the Spirits*, small-town settings with quirky characters, and stories celebrating friendship, courage, and unexpected romance, this offers charm and heart. Anatolia thought she was dying. Turns out she was just getting started. 🌟

Jack Warr, after taking paternity leave for the birth of his son, is forced to take even more time due to emotional fatigue and depression. His wife Maggie attempts to persuade him to accept private medical help as he has refused any form of counselling given to officers in the Met. **Jack is suffering a nightmare consuming rage.** After dealing with the lengthy horrific murder trial detailing the tragic victims of serial killer Rodney Middleton, he is haunted by the unidentified remains of more victims. Lynda La Plante delivers British crime thriller focused on a detective battling PTSD and depression while being drawn back into the darkness he can’t escape. 🇬🇧Jack finds solace in renewing a dangerous relationship with artist Adam Bolder, whom he meets in Portobello market in a shop selling frames. The enigmatic Adam works on fake art in an old disused school building. The fascination of watching Adam work, the brilliance of his artistic skill and the obvious criminal activity in producing these paintings enthrals Jack. Maggie becomes equally interested in the world of fake art. Jack’s renewed friendship encourages him to return to work. As he settles back into the old regime at the station, a new female DCI is a force to be reckoned with. 🎨

One weekend visiting Portobello market again to purchase photo frames for pictures of his new son, **the street is cordoned off by police crime scene officers.** Ambulances and patrol cars block all traffic. A body has been found in the framer’s shop. The naked murder victim has had his features destroyed, and horrifically nailed to a giant cross. La Plante understands that the best crime fiction combines personal demons with professional cases—Jack’s fascination with Adam and the fake art world becomes dangerously entangled with a brutal murder investigation. The crucifixion imagery suggests religious overtones or a killer making a statement, while Jack’s connection to the victim’s location makes this case deeply personal. 💀

What makes this a gripping crime thriller: La Plante creates a detective battling mental health issues while investigating a horrific murder connected to his own life. For readers who love British crime fiction with damaged protagonists, art world intrigue, and brutal murders with religious symbolism, this delivers both psychological depth and shocking violence. Jack’s trying to heal. The crucified body suggests someone else has very different plans. ⚔️