A Manhattan bakery. A deadly competition. And a murder that literally drops at Maddie Flynn’s feet. When a body crashes down right in front of her during what should have been a celebratory baking competition, baker Maddie Flynn knows immediately this isn’t a tragic accident—it’s murder, plain and simple. With her sharp instincts honed by years of perfecting recipes down to the last grain of sugar, a healthy dash of courage she didn’t know she possessed, and a few secret skills she keeps tucked up her sleeve for emergencies, Maddie finds herself determined to uncover the truth behind this deadly disruption. 🧁C. A. Phipps delivers a delicious cozy mystery that combines the cutthroat world of competitive baking with murder most foul. But the danger in Maddie’s carefully ordered world is rising faster than yeast in a warm kitchen. A furious baking contestant with a grudge and opportunity, a baffling kidnapping that doesn’t make sense no matter how Maddie tries to piece it together, and a crime that refuses to add up no matter which angle she approaches it from—all of these elements put Maddie squarely in the crosshairs of a killer who has already proven they won’t hesitate to strike again. The stakes are higher than a perfectly risen soufflé, and twice as likely to collapse if she makes one wrong move. 🔍

Even Big Red, Maddie’s oversized Maine Coon cat with an uncanny nose for trouble that rivals any detective’s instincts, is restless and on edge. When your cat starts acting like something’s wrong, you know the situation has gone from bad to worse. Big Red paces, watches the door, and generally makes it clear that danger is lurking somewhere just out of sight. Maddie tries to focus on her baking, on the sweet comfort of flour and butter and the reliable chemistry of the perfect cake, but she can’t shake the feeling that time is running out. ⚡

If Maddie doesn’t solve this case soon—piecing together clues between batches of cookies and figuring out who had both motive and opportunity to turn a baking competition deadly—she might very well be the next victim on the menu. Someone in the Manhattan baking community is willing to kill to protect their secrets, and they’ve already shown they’re not afraid to eliminate anyone who gets too close to the truth. Phipps serves up a cozy mystery that’s equal parts sweet and suspenseful, with a determined amateur sleuth, a scene-stealing feline sidekick, and enough twists to keep readers guessing until the final page. 🎂

What makes this delicious: Phipps blends culinary cozy charm with legitimate suspense in a Manhattan bakery setting that feels both glamorous and dangerous. First in the Maple Lane Mysteries, perfect for fans of Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen series or Diane Mott Davidson’s culinary mysteries who want their murder investigations served with a side of buttercream and an oversized cat with detective instincts.

Garrett Goodlove used to be an arrogant criminal defense attorney with an unshakeable drive to win at all costs, the kind of lawyer who’d exploit every loophole and bend every rule to get his clients acquitted. Success was measured in victories, not justice, and he was very good at what he did. But then a pair of tragic events threw him into a bottomless depression that forced him to confront what his ruthless ambition had cost him. Now he’s retreated into the quieter, gentler practice of family law, trying to settle cases in ways that make everyone happy rather than destroying opposing parties. He’s definitely a nicer person these days, more thoughtful and empathetic—but has he lost the killer edge that made him such a formidable courtroom presence? ⚖️Al Macy delivers a compelling legal thriller that explores whether redemption and effectiveness can coexist in the courtroom. Garrett’s kinder, gentler life gets violently disrupted when police arrest his estranged twin sister, Carly, on charges that make his blood run cold. She’s accused of shoving her husband off a cliff into the storm-tossed Pacific Ocean during what authorities claim was a premeditated murder disguised as a tragic accident. Even worse, the vicious detective leading the case harbors a personal grudge against Carly and has publicly vowed to send her to prison even if he has to bend the rules and manufacture evidence to do it. It’s exactly the kind of dirty tactics Garrett used to employ himself, which makes him uniquely qualified to recognize them—and uniquely haunted by them. 🌊

Carly, who has been deaf since birth and communicates primarily through sign language, absolutely refuses to be defended by anyone other than her twin brother. Their connection runs deeper than most siblings can understand—they’ve always had an almost telepathic ability to read each other, to know what the other is thinking and feeling. But that same intense bond now tells Garrett something troubling: his sister may not be revealing everything she knows about what happened on that cliff. There are gaps in her story, moments where she looks away when signing, subtle tells that suggest she’s holding something back. If she won’t trust him with the complete truth, how can he build an adequate defense? 💔

The pressure of defending his sister while battling his own demons threatens to push Garrett back into the depression he’s fought so hard to escape. If he can’t keep this new stress from overwhelming him completely, if he can’t rediscover that ruthless edge without losing the better person he’s become, the defense will fail catastrophically. The thought of Carly condemned to an isolated life in prison, completely cut off from the deaf community she needs to thrive, trapped in a world where she can’t communicate with anyone around her—it’s unthinkable. Garrett must find a way to be both the compassionate man he’s become and the killer attorney he used to be, or his sister will pay the ultimate price for his transformation. ⚡

Why this grips: Macy crafts a legal thriller with genuine emotional stakes, featuring a reformed attorney forced to resurrect his darker instincts to save his sister while avoiding the depression that nearly destroyed him. First in the Goodlove and Shek series, perfect for fans of John Grisham’s morally complex lawyers or Michael Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer novels who appreciate courtroom drama where the defendant’s innocence is genuinely uncertain and the lawyer’s past haunts every strategic decision.

New Orleans: a city of intrigue, supernatural secrets, and one enigmatic dragon shifter who’s been hiding in plain sight for three centuries. For 300 years, Gabriel Blakemore has survived in the sultry, mysterious streets of New Orleans after a violent coup in his native realm of Paragon scattered him and his dragon siblings across the globe like seeds on the wind. He’s built a life in the shadows, learned to blend with humans, established power and wealth—but now a jealous suitor’s voodoo curse threatens to end his immortal existence once and for all. The dark magic is working its way through his system, and Gabriel’s only hope rests in finding an antidote, one that may lie within a mortal woman he hasn’t even met yet. 🐉Genevieve Jack delivers a paranormal romance that blends dragon shifter mythology with New Orleans voodoo and the kind of fated-mate chemistry that ignites from the first meeting. After five years of unsuccessful treatment for her aggressive brain cancer, death has become a welcome end for Raven Tanglewood rather than something to fear. Her illness has transformed from a battle she was determined to win into a prison her adventurous spirit can no longer abide. She’s tired of fighting, tired of hope that leads nowhere, ready to accept whatever comes next. But salvation arrives in the devastating form of Gabriel Blakemore, who uses ancient dragon magic to save her life when conventional medicine has failed completely. 💫

The gift of life comes with complications Raven never anticipated. The magical bond that results from Gabriel’s intervention is powerful, permanent, and to Raven’s independent nature, it represents another kind of captivity—trading her cancer prison for mystical chains that tie her to this impossibly beautiful, infuriatingly possessive dragon. She didn’t ask to be saved, didn’t consent to this connection that she can feel humming between them like a live wire. Gabriel must somehow win not just Raven’s gratitude but her love and trust, and he needs to do it quickly. Only when she fully accepts their bond will the life-saving magic within her awaken to cure the curse slowly killing him. ⚡

But Gabriel’s fiery dragon personality and intensely possessive ways—born from centuries of protecting what’s his and losing too much already—threaten to drive Raven from his side before the magic can complete its work. She’s not some damsel who needs a dominant alpha male controlling her every move, and she refuses to trade her hard-won freedom from cancer for a different kind of imprisonment, even if her rescuer is devastatingly attractive and makes her feel things she’s never experienced. Can Gabriel learn to give Raven the space and autonomy she needs while still keeping her close enough for the bond to save them both? Or will his dragon nature—territorial, protective, possessive—seal his fate and push away the one woman who holds his salvation? 🔥

What makes this sizzle: Jack crafts an atmospheric paranormal romance set in supernatural New Orleans with a possessive dragon hero, a fiercely independent heroine, and magic that binds them together whether they’re ready or not. First in The Treasure of Paragon series, perfect for fans of Thea Harrison’s Elder Races or Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series who love dragon shifters, fated mates with complications, and New Orleans as a character in its own right.

Some secrets are worth dying for. Others are worth killing for. Neely MacLeod carries both kinds, dangerous knowledge that’s kept her and her tío moving restlessly across the country for years—always one step ahead of whoever might be searching, never staying long enough to form real connections or put down roots. Until they found Sundance. This blink-and-miss-it California desert town has somehow become their sanctuary, and eight months of blessed quiet have almost made Neely believe the impossible: that they could actually stay here forever, that the running might finally be over. Then a beta wolf turns up dead in the desert, and her fragile hope shatters like glass. 🌵C.P. Rider delivers a paranormal fantasy that blends shifter politics, murder mystery, and a telepathic heroine desperate to stay hidden. The brutal murder shatters Sundance’s carefully maintained peace, and when the only witness to the crime is a traumatized cat who can’t communicate what it saw, Alpha Lucas Blacke comes calling at Neely’s door. The sexy, smirky tiger shifter with eyes that see too much brings exactly the kind of dangerous attention Neely has spent her entire life avoiding. But he needs her help desperately, and she knows exactly why he’s asking—somehow, he’s discovered her telepathy, the smaller of her secrets but still damning enough to expose her to people she can’t afford to have notice her existence. 🐅

Now Neely faces an impossible choice that could cost her everything she’s built in Sundance. She can reveal her telepathic ability to throw Lucas off the scent of her real secret—the one that would get her killed if the wrong people discovered it—or she and her uncle can pack up their lives once again and run to some new town, some new identity, perpetually looking over their shoulders. Before she can make a decision, before she can weigh the risks and figure out the least dangerous path forward, the killer strikes closer to home with brutal efficiency. Every lone beta wolf and cat in Sundance has suddenly become a target, hunted by someone with murder on their mind. 💀

That includes her uncle, the man who has sacrificed absolutely everything—his home, his pack, his place in shifter society, any chance at a normal life—to keep Neely safe from those who would use her gifts for their own ends or eliminate her as a threat. As bodies pile up and Lucas’s investigation intensifies, with him watching her too closely and asking questions that cut too close to truths she can’t reveal, Neely must decide whether to trust the tiger shifter with at least some of her secrets or risk losing the only family she has left. Time is running out, the killer is getting bolder, and Neely’s carefully constructed life in Sundance is crumbling around her no matter which choice she makes. ⚡

Why this hooks: Rider crafts a paranormal mystery with genuine stakes, featuring a telepathic heroine with dangerous secrets, a swoon-worthy tiger shifter alpha, and murders that threaten to expose everything. First in The Sundance Series, perfect for fans of Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson novels or Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniels series who love their heroines powerful but vulnerable, their alphas protective but not controlling, and their mysteries wrapped up in shifter pack politics.

The last thing she expected to get for Christmas was being dumped by her boyfriend—after all, she’s always on Santa’s good list, pays her taxes on time, and generally tries to be a decent human. But walking in on her naked boss and accidentally getting an eyeful of his candy cane? That was an even BIGGER holiday surprise, the kind that has her headed straight for a lump of coal this year and possibly unemployment. Talk about checking your list twice and still ending up on the naughty side. 🎄Alexis Winter delivers a steamy holiday romance with mistaken identity, workplace attraction, and the kind of meet-cute that’s more mortifying than cute. Alex Snow, the billionaire CEO of Snow Communications and the only living heir to his family’s vast fortune, has built a reputation for being intensely intimidating. Not in the typical “I’m an arrogant bosshole who yells at assistants” kind of way that populates most romance novels, but more in the mysterious “I value my privacy above all else and maintain strict professional boundaries” kind of way. He’s a cipher, an enigma, the boss everyone respects but nobody really knows. Which makes what happens next even more awkward. 💼

Imagine his utter delight—and by delight, read: horror—when his employee stumbles into what she thinks is his home office with an urgent contract in hand, just as he emerges from the shower wearing nothing but water droplets and confidence. Only it isn’t his office at all. It’s his bedroom, and the low-slung towel barely hanging off his hips proceeds to slide down his muscular thighs with inevitable gravity, landing in a perfect pile at his ankles. Cue the most embarrassing moment of her entire professional existence. There’s absolutely nothing quite like falling to your hands and knees in raging mortification after making direct eye contact with your billionaire boss’s… everything… while frantically trying to gather up the papers you dropped. 😱

What she was certain would end her career at his prestigious company—possibly with a restraining order thrown in for good measure—has somehow, inexplicably, catapulted them into an unlikely friendship. One that deepens considerably when they end up stuck in an elevator together one fateful night, and several glasses of emergency wine (who knew elevators had wine?) loosen her tongue enough that she spills all her secrets, her dreams, her disappointments, her embarrassing middle school stories. Winter serves up a holiday romance that proves sometimes the best relationships start with the worst first impressions, and that billionaire bosses who value privacy might just be waiting for the right person to see past the intimidating exterior. ✨

What makes this sparkle: Winter crafts a funny, steamy Christmas romance with a billionaire boss hero, an endearingly awkward heroine, and chemistry that survives towel malfunctions and elevator confessions. Perfect for fans of Vi Keeland’s workplace romances or Lauren Blakely’s billionaire heroes who want their holiday stories with heat, humor, and the kind of embarrassing moments that somehow lead to happily ever after.

Maggie Coates is frustrated beyond measure. Her longtime boyfriend Dirk recently moved to London to take a prestigious job that she fears puts him completely out of her league—suddenly he’s rubbing shoulders with sophisticated colleagues and attending fancy events while she’s stuck in their hometown feeling increasingly ordinary. Despite the constant reassurances from her best friend Renee, who keeps insisting everything is fine, Maggie remains convinced that Dirk is slowly drifting away from her like a boat slipping its moorings. All Maggie wants is to get married, settle down, build the cozy future she’s been dreaming about for years—but maybe Dirk has other ideas now that he’s climbing the corporate ladder. 💔CP Ward delivers a charming holiday romance about taking chances and discovering that sometimes the universe has better plans than the ones we make. Convinced by the persistent Renee to make one last desperate throw of the dice before giving up entirely, Maggie books a romantic holiday for two in the quaint Scottish village of Hollydell, hoping the magical setting will remind Dirk why they fell in love in the first place. She’s picked the most romantic cottage, planned activities, imagined how the snow-laden streets will provide the perfect backdrop for reconnection. But the big question looms: will Dirk even show up? And if he doesn’t appear at the train station with his familiar smile and apologies, what then? 🎄

What if there’s actually a perfect man waiting for Maggie among the Christmas magic of Hollydell’s snow-covered streets and twinkling lights? What if destiny has something entirely different in mind than her carefully laid plans? Enter Henry, the humble reindeer farmer with the kindest smile Maggie has ever seen, who seems to appear exactly when she needs him most. He’s everything Dirk isn’t—grounded, present, genuinely interested in what she has to say, content with his simple life rather than chasing corporate success. Henry knows every corner of Hollydell, every Christmas tradition, every secret the village holds. ❄️

As the holiday week unfolds with or without Dirk, Maggie faces a revelation that maybe—just maybe—her longtime boyfriend wasn’t actually the man of her dreams after all. Maybe she’s been holding onto a relationship that stopped working a long time ago simply because it was familiar and safe. Maybe the real love story was waiting for her in a Scottish village she’d never heard of until Renee suggested it, with a reindeer farmer who makes her laugh and feel valued in ways she’d forgotten were possible. Sometimes Christmas magic means letting go of what you thought you wanted to discover what you actually need. ✨

Why this warms: Ward crafts a sweet holiday romance set in a charming Scottish village, featuring a heroine choosing between what’s comfortable and what’s right. Perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan’s Scottish settings or Debbie Macomber’s Christmas stories who love second chances, reindeer farmers with kind smiles, and the magic that happens when you stop chasing the wrong person and let the right one find you.

Paris, 1939. Twenty-eight-year-old Eva Delectorskaya stands at her beloved younger brother’s funeral, grief-stricken and vulnerable, when she notices an unfamiliar face among the mourners. Lucas Romer cuts an elegant figure—a patrician-looking Englishman with piercing eyes, a secretive air, and a persuasive manner that immediately sets him apart from everyone else in attendance. What Eva doesn’t yet understand is that Romer possesses a mysterious connection to Kolia, her murdered brother, and that this chance encounter will alter the entire trajectory of her life. 🕵️William Boyd, acclaimed author of Any Human Heart and winner of multiple literary awards, weaves a masterful spy thriller that spans decades and continents. Romer recruits Eva into the shadowy world of espionage, and soon she’s traveling to the Scottish Highlands for intensive training as an operative in his underground intelligence network. After proving herself during a dangerous covert operation in Belgium, Eva is dispatched to New York City with a critical mission: manipulate the American press to shift public sentiment toward entering World War II. It’s delicate, dangerous work where one wrong move could expose her true identity and destroy everything. 🌍

Fast forward three decades. Eva Delectorskaya no longer exists—at least not officially. She’s now Sally Gilmartin, a respectable English widow living a quiet life in a picturesque Cotswold village, surrounded by rose gardens and afternoon tea. Not even her daughter Ruth knows her mother’s real identity or the dangerous secrets buried beneath decades of careful deception. But the old saying proves true: once a spy, always a spy. Sally has accumulated far too many secrets over the years, made far too many enemies who haven’t forgotten, and now she has absolutely no one she can trust. 🔐

Before it’s too late, Sally must confront the demons that have haunted her since 1939. The past refuses to stay buried, and this time she can’t handle it alone—she needs Ruth’s help, which means finally revealing the truth about who she really is and what she’s done. As mother and daughter navigate the dangerous maze of Eva’s past, they uncover betrayals, lies, and conspiracies that threaten to destroy them both. Boyd crafts a sophisticated narrative that alternates between wartime espionage and present-day revelations, exploring themes of identity, loyalty, and the impossible choices we make in the name of survival. ⚡

What makes this compelling: Boyd delivers a literary spy thriller with the sophistication of John le Carré meets the emotional depth of Kate Morton’s family secrets. Perfect for readers who loved The Nightingale, All the Light We Cannot See, or anyone who appreciates intelligent espionage fiction where the most dangerous secrets are the ones we keep from the people we love most.

A case of arson, a long road to recovery, and a new beginning built up from the ashes. After suffering a devastating personal tragedy that shattered her world, Abby Sullivan makes a dramatic life change: she buys a sprawling seaside mansion in Holiday Bay, packs up her entire existence in San Francisco, and heads north seeking peace and solitude. What she gets instead is adoption by an enormous Maine Coon cat named Rufus who refuses to leave, a drifter named Georgia carrying her own tragic past, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos who’s convinced he’s much smaller than he actually is. 🏖️Kathi Daley, prolific author of over 100 cozy mysteries, delivers book 34 in the beloved Inn at Holiday Bay series with her signature blend of mystery, warmth, and found family dynamics. What Abby thought she desperately needed was alone time to heal her wounds and process her grief in private. What she ended up with was an inn she never knew she wanted, a cat determined to be her constant companion, and a quirky new family she’ll never be able to live without. The mansion has transformed from a quiet refuge into a thriving inn filled with guests, laughter, and the kind of chaotic warmth that makes healing possible. 🐱

But Holiday Bay’s peaceful facade is shattered when a series of suspicious fires breaks out across town. Was it faulty wiring, or was it deliberate arson? In this installment, Colt is living with Abby while he recovers from injuries, and while the couple are enjoying their cozy time together, they both know there are hard truths looming on the horizon that eventually need to be confronted. Meanwhile, Georgia and Tanner experience growing pains as they prepare in their own unique ways for the birth of their first child, navigating the excitement and terror of impending parenthood. 🔥

Alex finds herself buried under an avalanche of clues, confessions, and leads that frustratingly go nowhere as she attempts to untangle the connection between the rash of arson fires and a food truck murder that seems somehow related. Every answer raises three new questions, every witness has a different story, and time is running out before the arsonist strikes again. Daley expertly weaves multiple storylines together—romance, mystery, family dynamics, and community connections—creating the cozy atmosphere readers have come to love while keeping the suspense level high enough to turn pages late into the night. 🕵️

What makes this cozy: Daley delivers another satisfying installment in a series that feels like coming home, complete with lovable animal companions, a tight-knit community, and mysteries that keep you guessing. Perfect for fans of Carolyn Haines’s Sarah Booth Delaney series or Ellery Adams’s Secret, Book, and Scone Society who want their mysteries served with heart, humor, and a hefty dose of found family feels.

Nick is the most intriguing man Nella has encountered in ages. He’s a solid 9 in the looks department (because nobody’s perfect enough for a 10), he makes her laugh until her sides hurt, and he kept her company during an unexpectedly long stint in A&E when most people would have made their excuses and fled. The connection between them is undeniable, electric, the kind that makes hours feel like minutes. There’s just one massive problem standing between them and something potentially wonderful: they live hundreds of miles apart, which seems like an insurmountable obstacle to anything more than a lovely memory. 💫Jill Mansell, Sunday Times bestselling author known for her charming romantic comedies, delivers another delightful tale set in the picturesque Cotswolds. Then fate intervenes in the form of a job loss. Nella unexpectedly finds herself unemployed and adrift, until a perfect opportunity materializes at a beautiful Cotswolds holiday retreat. The role seems tailor-made for her skills and temperament, offering a fresh start in an idyllic setting. The catch? Her new boss would be Nick—which suddenly makes him the one man she absolutely cannot risk falling in love with, no matter how right everything feels between them. The professional boundary must remain firmly in place. ❤️

While Nella battles her inconvenient feelings and tries to maintain appropriate workplace decorum, a Hollywood star seeks refuge at the same retreat. Lizzie has sworn off people entirely—especially men—after one too many betrayals and disappointments in the harsh spotlight of fame. She’s built walls higher than the Cotswold hills themselves. But her friendly new neighbors gradually entice her out of her self-imposed shell with kindness, humor, and the kind of genuine warmth that’s impossible to find in Los Angeles. Maybe what Lizzie needs is a harmless flirtation to remind her what connection feels like. Perhaps with gorgeous Nick? Definitely not with taciturn local Matthew, though, who clearly isn’t joining her fan club anytime soon. 🌟

Then an astonishing secret gets revealed that changes absolutely everything everyone thought they knew. The carefully constructed boundaries blur, the relationships shift and realign, and suddenly nobody’s quite sure where they stand anymore. Mansell expertly juggles multiple storylines and romantic entanglements, creating a tapestry of friendship, warmth, humor, and the kind of romance that sneaks up on you when you’re not looking. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Cotswolds, this novel delivers everything readers expect from Mansell: witty dialogue, lovable characters dealing with real problems, unexpected plot twists, and the promise that sometimes the best things in life come when you stop trying to control everything. ✨

Why this delights: Mansell crafts her trademark blend of humor, heart, and multiple interconnected love stories set in an irresistible location. Perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella’s romantic comedies or Marian Keyes’s ensemble casts who want their romance served with British charm, laugh-out-loud moments, and the kind of warmth that makes you want to book the next flight to the Cotswolds.

Myth. Legend. For years, Nightfall has been dismissed as nothing more than whispers on the breeze, a ghost story told to frighten children, a shadowy organization that surely couldn’t actually exist. If only it were so. In those halls of darkness hidden from the world, where innocent children are stolen from their families and transformed into something inhuman, Asher is destined for that same horrifying fate. He will become the myth that haunts nightmares. He will become the legend whispered in terror. He will become Death itself, a blade wielded by masters who show no mercy. 🗡️Philip C. Quaintrell, bestselling author of The Echoes Saga, delivers a dark fantasy that explores the cost of survival when humanity itself becomes the price. That which Asher once was dies in those halls, forgotten and mourned by no one. His past self is erased, replaced by rigorous training and brutal conditioning designed to strip away emotion, compassion, and free will. Now he exists as a weapon in the darkness, an assassin whose blade has spilled more blood than he can count, carrying out missions for masters who view him as nothing more than a tool. A killer shaped by shadow and violence, Asher should be the perfect instrument of death. ⚔️

Yet despite years of intensive training and countless missions drenched in blood, something within Asher remains broken—or perhaps, miraculously, unbound. A crack has appeared in his conditioning, a flaw his masters never anticipated. A sliver of humanity has somehow survived the systematic destruction of everything he used to be, and it dreams of freedom with an intensity that threatens to consume him. Standing on a knife’s edge between obedience and rebellion, Asher’s mind threatens to unravel completely, taking him from the only path he has ever known and away from the clutches of Nightfall forever. 🌙

Escape has never been accomplished. Exile from Nightfall isn’t a choice—it’s a death sentence, and they will hunt him to the ends of the earth. But there’s another life calling to him with irresistible force, a life roaming the wilds as a ranger and protecting the innocent from the monsters that would prey upon them. Hunting monsters should be straightforward work for someone with Asher’s lethal skills—except he himself is hunted by those who would drag him back to the darkness, back to Nightfall, back to being nothing more than a blade without conscience or choice. The question becomes whether he can forge a new identity while running from the only family he’s ever known, twisted though they may be. ⚡

What makes this gripping: Quaintrell crafts a dark, morally complex fantasy about an assassin seeking redemption and the almost impossible journey from weapon to human being. First in The Ranger Archives, perfect for fans of Brent Weeks’s Night Angel trilogy or Michael J. Sullivan’s Riyria Chronicles who love anti-heroes fighting their own nature, deadly combat, and the question of whether someone forged as a killer can ever truly choose a different path.

On the verge of turning thirty, Julia finds herself suffocating under the crushing weight of self-loathing, hopelessness, and the soul-destroying endless cycle of giving up before she’s even truly begun. She’s trapped in patterns she can’t seem to break, drowning in a life that feels like it belongs to someone else, watching from the outside as her potential withers away day by day. Desperate for change—real, transformative, terrifying change—Julia makes a decision that seems absolutely radical to everyone around her: she sells her home, parts with everything she owns except what fits in a backpack, and sets off on the adventure of a lifetime by attempting to thru-hike the entire 2,190-mile length of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. 🏔️Julia Sheehan delivers a raw, honest memoir about what happens when you bet everything on a single journey, hoping the miles will somehow heal what’s broken inside. Julia knows intellectually that this journey will demand absolutely everything from her—her physical comfort, her mental courage, her raw determination to keep putting one foot in front of the other even when every muscle screams for mercy. What she doesn’t yet comprehend is just how profoundly the ancient mountains of Appalachia will reshape her from the inside out, unraveling parts of herself she never knew existed while simultaneously awakening strengths and clarity that will transform her forever. ⛰️

The Appalachian Trail is famous for breaking people physically, but the real challenge Julia faces isn’t the steep climbs, the endless rain, the blisters that won’t heal, or even the bone-deep exhaustion that becomes her constant companion. The hardest part is confronting herself without distraction, without the noise and busyness she’s used to hiding behind, without any of the crutches she’s relied on to avoid looking too closely at who she really is and what she’s become. Mile by mile, shelter to shelter, Julia strips away the layers of self-deception and fear that have kept her imprisoned in a life of mediocrity and self-sabotage. 🌲

Through encounters with fellow hikers, moments of transcendent beauty on mountain ridges, nights of absolute despair when quitting seems like the only sane option, and the simple repetitive rhythm of walking that becomes almost meditative, Julia begins to understand that hiking is actually the easy part. The real work is internal—learning to forgive herself, to believe she’s worthy of the life she dreams about, to trust that she has the strength to finish what she starts. This memoir resonates with anyone who’s ever felt stuck, lost, or convinced they’re fundamentally broken, offering proof that sometimes the only way out is through—and that the journey to finding yourself might literally require walking 2,190 miles through wilderness. ✨

Why this inspires: Sheehan writes with unflinching honesty about depression, self-worth, and the transformative power of pushing yourself beyond what you thought possible. Perfect for fans of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild or Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods who crave memoirs about physical journeys that become spiritual awakenings, written by someone brave enough to share the messy, unglamorous truth about transformation.