Alice Hoffman is ushering in fall with an eerie parallel to this quote from her new novel. Circling back to her most beloved series, Practical Magic 2 (based on the 2021 novel, The Book of Magic) hits theaters on September 10th. Just two days prior, she is also launching an enchanting new book series, beginning with The Witches of Cambridge.

Ava Abbott and Lauren Bell couldn’t be more different, but they have one very important thing in common: They are both witches. Raised in small-town Maine, Ava has longed to break free from her isolated upbringing and is thrilled to begin her studies at Radcliffe College. Lauren, on the other hand, has lived her whole life in Cambridge and hails from a long line of Radcliffe alumnae.

The two are assigned as roommates, and subsequently invited to join the Lilith Society—a secret organisation established hundreds of years ago for women who were considered outsiders, witches just like them. After a brush with death on the eve of initiation, they become fast friends and the story unfolds from here.

Hoffman takes us on this collegiate journey with Ava and Lauren, dividing the book into four sections, one for each school year.  Both young women travel their own unique path: Ava falls in love with exactly the wrong type of man, while Lauren’s past pushes her toward a darker type of magic. Yet their histories are unexpectedly intertwined and revealed through a series of interludes, letters written in the late 17th and early 18th century by the so-called “First Witch of Cambridge.”

The best books are often about more than just the plot or the characters. It’s the essence of the story, the feeling the author saturates the reader in, that really makes a book memorable. The Witches of Cambridge is one of these books, with an atmosphere that carries you through to a previously unimagined reality, a whole new witchy world to explore and love.

The premise was born from Hoffman’s time attending Harvard Divinity School and the rich history of the region, from late-17th century Salem to the more modern-day witch hunts of McCarthyism, is tightly woven throughout the story. This factual basis makes the novel that much more intriguing, with historical events readers will recognise. However, Hoffman also takes some interesting liberties, bending the true history and expanding upon it to fit her story. There’s one easter egg in particular— set in a Boston psychiatric hospital, exploring the conflation of the madness of women and witchcraft—that was a delight to stumble upon, so keep your eyes peeled!

In the end, The Witches of Cambridge is many things. This novel is not just another story about witches or a probing of history, it is a deeply sentimental and resonant journey. It is a coming-of-age story. Ava and Lauren learn who they are, not just as they’ve been labeled by those around them, but who they know themselves to be at the core.

It is also a story about love, and how true love can break all the rules we’ve set for ourselves. And it’s a bit of a love letter to readers and writers alike. Hoffman knows her audience well, leaving readers with no shortage of wonderfully memorable passages. I’ll leave you with one of my favorites here: “The world began with words, and so did magic. Speak and you shall create. Abra kadabra. If Ava wanted to know the truth, all she had to do was read.”

The Witches of Cambridge is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of September 8th 2026.

Will you be picking up The Witches of Cambridge? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

The brand-new series from the bestselling author of Practical Magic, following two brilliant young women in 1950s Cambridge, Massachusetts, as they become immersed in a mysterious secret group of witches at Radcliffe known as the Lilith Society.

Once upon a time, women were drowned in the river and the only witnesses were the crows in the trees. The Puritans blamed Eve for the sins of the world. That was when we began to meet in the name of Lilith, Adam’s first wife—banished for refusing to do as she was told.

We Fly Together…

By the 1950s, Cambridge, Massachusetts feels far removed from the legendary witch trials that marked its early days as a colony. Ava, a bright young woman from a small town in Maine, arrives for her first year at Radcliffe College. There, she meets Lauren, her opposite in every way—the wild and brazen daughter of a wealthy and well-established Cambridge family. But the two have more in common than they think. Both are recruited by the Lilith Society, a secret organization of witches at Radcliffe dating back to colonial times. As they learn more about their legacy, Ava and Lauren form a close bond that is put to the test as they learn to navigate their new power, friendship, and love.

While Radcliffe seems like a safe haven, the shadow of McCarthyism looms large, an ever-present threat to the flourishing creative and intellectual life in Cambridge. And as girls from the Lilith Society begin to go missing, Ava and Lauren realize the witch trials of the past may not be as deeply buried as they once believed.

The post Review: The Witches of Cambridge by Alice Hoffman appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

If you read Candice Carty-Williams’s first novel, this should sound about right to you. I reviewed Queenie back in 2019 and fondly remember what it was like to first encounter this one-of-a-kind character, to follow along through her highs and lows navigating everyday life as a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman.

In the sequel Queenie Is Working on It, eight years have passed, making Queenie a mature 33-year-old. More or less. Some days. She is rocking a new job as head of the editorial department at The Good Sis, a social media news outlet. Her family relationships seem stronger than ever. And she still has a core group of friends who fiercely love her, lift her up, and hold her accountable. (Yes, The Corgi group text is back!)

Queenie has always seemed to struggle when it comes to love, though, so it’s not surprising to find her still making questionable relationship choices. This time around, she can’t quite talk herself out of a situationship with a man who she learns is seeing other women. Then she unexpectedly runs into a true love lost, the only genuine adult relationship she’s ever had, which ended three years ago. As if that weren’t enough, add in the newfound knowledge that she may not be able to have children of her own—something she hadn’t seriously considered wanting until she learned it may not be a possibility at all.

In typical Queenie fashion, these stressors shake up her life and things begin to spiral a bit. But will she push things too far this time? Are her friends and family tired of her same old shenanigans after so many years on repeat? Of course, you’ll have to read to find out.

Carty-Williams does a fantastic job of bringing the reader back into Queenie’s world without missing a beat. She strikes a balance that is really difficult to find, delivering a story that is both thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny, which helps balance out the weight of Queenie’s life.

If Queenie frustrated you the first time around, you may not appreciate her antics here either. I’d like to make an argument to give her another chance, though. It might be difficult to spot at times amidst all the chaos, but she has indeed grown a bit since we last saw her. Carty-Williams also gives readers a bit more insight into why Queenie is the way she is—her past, how she was raised, her relationship with her mother—which works to build additional empathy and understanding.

The crux of this new chapter in Queenie’s story is her realisation that time is ticking—but she remains uncertain of what she wants, what the right path is for her life. Sound familiar? This is a smartly written premise that many millennial women can identify with. We all face crossroads in our lives where we must make difficult decisions. And we all inevitably make some poor decisions, whether we like to admit it or not. Queenie helps us to remember, however, that making our way through life is a learning process and, as her mother says, you must “forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn’t know before you learned it.”

Readers will enjoy watching Queenie continue on this journey as she moves into a new stage of her life. At the core, however, she remains the same character I fell in love with the first time around: an imperfect, incredibly real, deeply passionate and strong-willed woman. Queenie is an unforgettable character … and isn’t that what we all hope to find in our next read?

Queenie Is Working on It is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of September 8th 2026.

Will you be picking up Queenie Is Working on It? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

Candice Carty-Williams, internationally bestselling author of Queenie (now a television series on Hulu), reunites us with the iconic character nearly ten years on, facing new chaotic choices in life and love with cherished old friends and family in this highly anticipated sequel.

Queenie Jenkins is moving on up.

She’s thirty-three, the editorial director for The Good Sis, a thriving media network amplifying the voices of Black women—a far cry from her former toxic workplace. With a great platform and a renewed sense of purpose, she’s fighting the good fight.

So when an appointment for research goes haywire and reveals startling truths about her own fertility, Queenie is confronted with a racing biological clock when she’s not even sure she wants kids in the first place. She’s sort of seeing someone, but it’s not that serious (according to him), and her mom, grandma, and aunt Maggie all mean well, but they keep asking when she’s going to settle down.

Surrounded by loyal friends who seem to fall in love with their person and get pregnant at the drop of a hat and the reappearance of an old flame she never stopped loving while being pulled into a series of confusing “situationships” that really do NOT go anywhere means that for Queenie, time is running out in all parts of her life. She’s determined to do what she thinks is best to get back on track, no matter how many mistakes it takes to get this right.

Bigger. Not better. Older. Not wiser. The beloved and flawed Queenie Jenkins is scared, she is frustrated, she is confused…but she is working on it.

The post Review: Queenie Is Working on It by Candice Carty-Williams appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

While Cemetery Boys worked wonderfully as a standalone, I am so glad that Aiden Thomas decided to return and give us readers more time with Julian and Yadriel. Whereas the first book focused on Yadriel and his uphill battle to get his family to accept him, Espíritu shifts the focus to Julian as he struggles to catch up to everything that has happened to him—you know, being dead for a few weeks and not so casually chilling as a ghost, and then being undead and able to communicate with ghosts and all that fun stuff—while new issues arise as Julian suddenly begins to see things no one else can, shadows that do not seem all that friendly.

I was absolutely stoked when I learned that we get Julian’s POV, which may have been my only gripe with Cemetery Boys, which was (for very valid reasons) only Yadriel’s POV. I was itching to finally hear Julian’s voice and boy, I was not disappointed in the slightest. In Cemetery Boys, he won readers’ hearts with his sarcastic, funny remarks and genuine golden-retriever vibes but here, you get to hear his side of things and learn to understand his motivations behind always bringing the good mood to everything in a whole new way that made me even more endeared to him. Besides that, it also added a new layer of depth and a brand-new perspective to Yadriel’s family dynamics and the lore that many readers loved in Cemetery Boys.

Yadriel, who also gets his own POV in the novel, continues to be the soft place where Julian can land when his thoughts are all over the place. While their relationship is not the focus of the novel, these quiet and sweet moments felt like it gave you the space to breathe and take everything in when the plot and the action picked up and you needed a moment to sit with it. Despite the struggles and the secrets they keep (especially Julian), they find comfort in each other in various ways throughout the novel which made my heart soar. These moments of emotional intimacy and support truly showed their relationship blossom.

You’d think with such a big focus on Julian and his struggles Yadriel might be waylaid, but no, we still get to see plenty of growth from him. After what happened in Cemetery Boys, it felt vindicating to see him finally establishing himself as the brujo he was meant to be despite still having to fight to not just be seen as a little kid anymore by his family (mostly his dad). I appreciate that there wasn’t really a “villain” here for him. While it’s of course frustrating to see Yadriel being held back, you can also actually tell that Enrique is coming from a place of fear and a desire to keep his son safe from a world that seems to grow darker every day. I won’t spoil Cemetery Boys in case you haven’t read it yet, but let’s just say the betrayal that the family and mostly Yadriel experienced there still lingers and it was satisfying that it wasn’t just hidden under a rug but addressed and resolved.

Another highlight was of course the setting. Readers who loved Cemetery Boys will already be familiar with Yadriel’s family and their many traditions that invite you into a whole new world of rites and special occasions, and the fact that this book was set in the Christmas period felt like an absolute treat. We get even more glimpses of the Mexican-inspired lore that make everything feel even more magical.

The mystery was also well done. Those types of mysteries where you can tell who the bad guy is pretty early on can be hit or miss, but here the fast pacing and the already established bonds between characters helped keep you on your toes as the clues drop. The creepy shadows that linger add a darker tone to the narrative and somehow make the entire story feel more mature.

I also really liked the juxtaposition of thinking of Julian’s ability as a gift which quickly gets turned on its head and becomes entirely unsettling and traumatic in its own kind of way when you see dark spots enveloping the people you care about – and when they start following you. As always, I’m not a fan of miscommunication or hiding something when talking about it would actually just resolve everything but here at least it made sense that Julian doesn’t tell anybody about what he’s seeing. Overall, it gave his found family a chance to show him just how important he is to them, so in that way the resolution of the mystery will satisfy readers for sure.

The underlying themes of identity and belonging that I loved in Cemetery Boys are only stronger here. I loved how we got to see not only Yadriel but Julian trying to find their place and struggling with what belonging even means. Especially in connection to Julian’s power and the choice between what’s right and what would make life easier, this just resonated a lot with me.

While I could spend another fifteen books in this wonderful world, each one with new mysteries – and maybe some more new additions to their found family – I think fans of Cemetery Boys will feel wholeheartedly satisfied by this sequel, even if it is the last we see of Yadriel and Julian.

Whether you’re looking for a slightly haunted narrative with a great mystery and wholesome found family vibes to get you in the autumn mood or just want to reunite with beloved characters, fantastic queer rep and epic found family vibes, diving into Espíritu is sure to keep you turning those pages all night long!

Espíritu is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of September 8th 2026.

Will you be picking up Espíritu? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

New York Times-bestselling author Aiden Thomas returns to the beloved world of Cemetery Boys, this time following Julian—chaos magnet extraordinaire. With restless spirits vanishing and a dark demon from their past emerging, he and Yadriel might be the only ones reckless enough to stop a threat that could tear their world apart.

Julian used to be a ghost and now he can’t stop seeing them.

Ever since Julian was sacrificed as part of a forbidden ritual, he has been able to see and talk with spirits. And that’s really cool, since it allows him to be part of his new boyfriend’s community. But Julian’s seeing other things, too: flickers at the edge of his vision, eyes burning in the night, and “dark spots” on people—gaping wounds that thrum and bleed shadow. Yadriel has never heard of anything like it, either, and he’s so busy with his new brujx responsibilities that Julian hates for his problems to ruin what little time they have together.

Then a strange new brujx shows up. Angel, as a nonbinary bruje, can heal the living and release the dead, but more than that, they can also see the same dark spots as Julian. Despite Yadriel’s reservations, Julian eagerly accepts their help. But, Angel’s ruthless methods feel wrong to Julian.

With the shadows growing darker and the discovery of a gaping dark spot on his friend Luca, Julian has to decide who he wants to put his trust in, and just how far he’s willing to go to save what is his.

The post #ReadWithPride: ‘Cemetery Boys: Espíritu’ by Aiden Thomas appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Kathryn Foxfield consistently delivers excellent concepts, layered characterisation and interesting twists. I have enjoyed her work for a long time and am so delighted to see her getting the love she deserves. Her work builds on those brilliant ideas and turn them into chilling stories that leave a trace on your skin. This latest book continues that trend with possibly my favourite story from her yet.

This is a thrilling read with a well-constructured plot and whodunnit at its core. Foxfield carefully paces it with an atmosphere that keeps bearing down on you. It feels relentless and you cannot tear yourself away, mirroring Cicely’s increasing desperation to beat the clock and unveil the truth. This also felt like such a rich world with plenty more stories you could wander off and uncover. For example, I really loved the magic system in this book. It feels ancient and sprawling with this intensely privileged family exploiting this for their own ends. There is this history that we tap into a little but feels like there’s further depth to explore. With the magic, the way each gift manifests and informs that person’s way of navigating the world is fascinating. The characterisation is intertwined with their gift and that speaks to the way the power we hold shapes us.

Cicely’s gift is the perfect choice to place her as the protagonist with the ability to uncover secrets. While this may make her the perfect detective, it has far-reaching consequences for the way her family view her and her relationship with each of them. The journey she goes on through this book is delectable and something that I hope will land with the readers who need it. I also enjoyed the various relationships she has within the story and how they shift. Around her is this complicated, fractured family of the incredibly wealthy whose hands are drenched in blood. They are all fully aware of the cost of their luxurious lives and the power they wield. Foxfield has a fascinating thread of the idea of complicity and the way guilt affects us all in different ways. Cicely’s investigation unearths a lot of buried secrets and forces confrontations with actions that they would have rather ignore. It takes a familiar trope and takes it to totally new territory. There is also a romantic thread that I enjoyed and it adds even more emotional intesnity to the story. It feels believable and grows into something that makes your heart flutter but also exposes it to new danger.

Of course, the Winter family then starts meeting their demise in rather gruesome ways. There is this sense of dark humour that I thoroughly enjoyed and Foxfield balances it well in terms of tone. The horror is palpable but it is also evident in the sheer monstrosity of humanity you are grappling with, before you even start weaving in the speculative elements. That deal may end up being more of a curse and requires reckoning with your own place in the world, specifically what was sacrified for you to stand there. Everything builds to a brilliant conclusion that shatters your heart but may also give you a little hope.

Our Wicked Gifts is a brilliant mix of genres and delivers this wonderful Gothic romantasy thriller that puls you into its dark heart.

Will you be picking up Our Wicked Gifts? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

The post Review: Our Wicked Gifts by Kathryn Foxfield appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

This latest instalment sees Poe and Bradshaw in new territory after the explosive events of the last book. They are operating in a new manner, which loosens the guidelines around them and makes their moral territory even murkier. When a teenage girl knocks on their door, they are drawn into a web of secrets, lies and international implications that may just be their toughest case yet. The development of these two characters, as well as their three-dimensional, lovable supporting cast of rogues, is the shining light of this series. They are two vastly different people with some excellent humour emanating from their clashes but they also would go to the ends of the earth for one another. Poe is a fractured man who is carrying the weight of the past books but his intellect is still sharp, his instincts keen and his belly craving some pie and pints. Tilly Bradshaw is a deeply caring character whose intelligence is frankly frightening. She could make or destroy the world if she so chose. Luckily, her powers are channelled for good and seeing the way she’s grown from her first introduction is heart-warming. This is a series that champions found family and forging bonds in blood, trauma and being able to fight your way out of the hole you are stuck in. These people have stolen slivers of my heart.

Craven’s writing is always incredibly cutting and this is no exception with horrifying scenes and delving into topics that will make your skin crawl. There is a relentlessness to the pacing that makes it impossible to tear yourself away from the pages. It is brutal and Craven makes you sit in the continuous horror that unfolds as the story reaches its explosive crescendo. There are layers to the evil in this book and it is deftly handled by a master of the genre.

It is a complicated book that sits within the morally grey, especially as events escalate towards the latter half of the story. Poe and Bradshaw have always sat in an ambiguous place in terms of the law, with the series often occupied with questions of justice, vengeance and how power affects the dynamics of a case. This takes it step further with a conspiracy that will unnerve you and has far-reaching effects for the world of these stories. I think the book is brilliantly encapsulated by a conversation Poe has with a certain character towards the end of the book. It is a scene composed of dialogue but the tension chokes you from the page. There is this palpable sense of menace and death, it is a blood-stained scene that is all the more horrifying because of the seemingly quiet nature of it. Those climactic confrontations with evil have always been brilliantly delivered within the series, especially as they often reveal the nuance of situations and the messiness of humanity that has culminated in violence. This ending though is one that will leave you with a queasy feeling in your stomach and plenty of questions about the consequences this will have. Fans of the series are in for one last surprise as Craven leaves you on a dastardly cliffhanger too.

The Killer’s Mark is a macabrely magnificent book that feels eerily prescient. Come for the guts, stay for the whip-smart humour and characterisation. Either way, you’ll be entirely lost in its grip.

The Killer’s Mark is available Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up The Killer’s Mark? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

When Vice Admiral Boyer, RN (retd) died without leaving a will, his estranged daughter inherited his – not inconsiderable – estate. Called home to sort through his belongings, she found an AegisBox – a tamper proof safe within a safe designed to self-destruct if anyone without the code attempts to open it. Unable to walk away without the truth, she uncovered something so horrifying it launched the biggest investigation in the National Crime Agency’s history. Five years later, Washington Poe is unwittingly, and unwillingly, sucked into its gravity…

Finally able to escape the authority they railed against, Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are enjoying their new jobs as private detectives or – as the sign on their door says – ‘Gumshoes for Hire’. When a teenage girl walks into their office, looking for the mother she long believed to be dead, they agree to take the case. As Poe and Tilly investigate the girl’s claims, they find themselves drawn into a murky world of trafficking, pornography and prostitution. Will they be able to help the girl find her mother, or will the dark forces at work, who will stop at nothing to protect themselves, get there first…

The post Review: The Killer’s Mark by M.W. Craven appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Bea Fitzgerald is a real force to be reckoned with. Her YA Greek mythology retellings are empowering and interesting reads that delve into intense topics with a deft hand, deliver brilliant characterisation and dynamics that make your heart sing. Her adult work maintains that level of characterisation and compelling storytelling but really digs into the darkness buried within people. So far, they have fixated on the idea of fame and the careful construction of public personas which may crumble easily when placed under immense pressure.

This story centres on Harper and Nadine who are two deeply flawed, complex and toxic people. They are messed up and I enjoy the texture Fitzgerald gives them as we see them meet, their stars rise and their infamous feud play out. You can clearly imagine these people and they feel three-dimensional. While they may be deeply unlikeable, you do understand their motivations and feel the reverberations of their decisions throughout the book. This is a book deeply concerned with consequences, actions and reactions. It feels like a claustrophobic, intense game of cat and mouse in this starry setting that actually forces people to carry so much weight and have grit beneath their nails. The industry becomes this gilded cage and Fitzgerald explores the rot behind the gorgeous wallpaper.

Acting rewards duplicity and losing yourself into a character. The industry around it is still one that feels tight-knit and focused on who you know, rather than your talents. Harper and Nadine embody different aspects of this and are very much playing the game. They deal the cards they were dealt with relish but also steal a whole new hand and ultimately rig the game. Everything is a move in this deeply charged game. The way their dynamic fluctuates is nothing short of delicious. It is messy, vicious and deeply toxic but also delivers moments that will not leave your brain. There are several scenes that just ooze sexuality and epitomise the lengths to which these two people will go to in order to keep their stardom.

I really enjoyed the narrative structure of this book and how it weaves in these opinions through the true-crime documentary interviews. It is a clever way of underscoring how publicly these women live their lives with a constant level of scrutiny and backstabbing. Gossip is a deadly currency and one that is held in high esteem by the industry. Everything lives and dies by your image. This means every move is being watched by the eyes of the world and you do not want them to look way, lest you fade into nothingness. To be watched is to be relevant. That constant sense of being perceived links in with the way image is constructed and revealed, allowing for plenty of reveals along the way as you peel away the facades. This structure also adds more detail to the wider picture and reminds you that you cannot trust everything that is being presented to you. It is a book that thrives in unreliable narration, which is a device I absolutely love. On a meta level, it continues that theme of trust and manipulation that the story is so concerned with.

Better Than Revenge was the type of book you will need to talk to everyone you know about. It is a scathing indictment of the film industry, a complicated portrait of a deeply toxic relationship and a damn good time to boot.

Better Than Revenge is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up Better Than Revenge? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

The post Review: Better Than Revenge by Bea Fitzgerald appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Way back in 2015, Sierra Simone shocked readers (I mean that in the very best way!) with Priest, the first book in a seriously steamy series that is ripe with commentary on the Catholic church. First, Tyler Bell broke his vows as a priest. Then, his brother Sean encouraged an aspiring nun to break hers. Next, their brother Aiden’s commitment to the monastery was challenged. Now, over a decade later, it’s time for baby brother Ryan to have the spotlight.

A quick warning before diving in: Sierra Simone’s stories never have any shortage of explicit spicy scenes. They also often have darker themes. Add in the religious aspects of the Priest collection, and this may not be the book for everyone. Simone is careful to lay all the warnings out plainly at the start, so be sure to take a peek before deciding if you want to move forward.

Now, if you’re in, it’s time for the fun stuff …

In Devil, Ryan Bell is exactly that—he’s a devil hellbent on getting what he wants, no matter the cost. And what does he want? Birdie Cooper, a supremely talented—and extremely inexperienced, albeit older—sculpture artist. From the moment he sees Birdie, Ryan is obsessed. Literally. It doesn’t matter that she first meets him as a student in her college art class. He will stop at nothing to slake his thirst for her, even if it causes her to lose everything.

As you might expect, that’s exactly what happens. Ryan’s infatuation leads to a brief encounter that upends her life, then Birdie disappears from his.

Fast forward seven years. Neither Ryan nor Birdie have forgotten each other. They can’t. Although they might appear to be different creatures from the outside, Birdie harbors a darkness that is not entirely unlike Ryan’s. She craves the things she’s always been told are wrong, the impulses she has suppressed for so many years. So, when Ryan finally finds her, he knows exactly how to catch his little bird. He offers her a deal she can’t refuse: the money to care for her beloved sister in exchange for becoming his, in every way, for one year.

Birdie wants to fight her attraction, questioning how someone like Ryan could ever want someone like her—even if he is deeply flawed. Yet, try as she might, she just can’t say no to him either. And so their complicated relationship begins … but how will it end?

Here’s what I really love about this book—and all of Sierra Simone’s work, actually: She really goes there. In every imaginable way. There is no topic too taboo or off limits, no risk she is not willing to take. Dark romance, by nature, tends to be a collection of real-life red flags; yet when fictionalized, it can create an intoxicating story.

But don’t take my word for it, take a peek at Ryan’s red flags for yourself. He holds none of his darkness back with Birdie, even going so far as to tell her: “I want to be the only thing you’re scared of, the only thing that makes you tremble … I want all the suffering in your life to have one cause, one name. And I want you to love it so much that you smile when you so much as whisper my name.”

In a life that has been so painfully difficult already, this intensity doesn’t scare Birdie away the way you might expect. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. To Birdie the idea of being possessed is almost a relief, as she realizes “the thought is so comforting, so achingly lovely. Bell is the worst thing that will happen to me. All I have to do is let him be.”

As she digs deeper into this dynamic between the two, it’s obvious that Sierra Simone can really write. I mean that with the utmost respect … because sometimes we come to romance novels for the entertainment value, if you know what I mean. Simone, however, gives readers the best of both worlds. Devil is sure to be one of the hottest books you’ve ever read with an emotionally rich storyline.

I also urge you to stick around and read the afterword, if that’s something you don’t generally do. It provides a great deal of insight into Simone’s intentions when building these characters and fleshing out this story.  It’s a really enriching way to end the book, giving the reader a look at her thought process from a religious, political, and just plain human perspective.

If you’ve read the rest of the Priest collection, you are no doubt anxious to get your hands on Devil. And if you haven’t, no worries. Each book tells a standalone tale, so you can start anywhere. Sierra Simone sets the standard for well-written, explicit romance. I genuinely applaud her brave choices here—from the fragility of the topics covered (religion and mental health aren’t easy to tackle alone, much less together) to maintaining her signature spice level—and I think you will too.

Devil is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of August 11th 2026.

Will you be picking up Devil? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

From USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone comes an ALL-NEW standalone romance in the Priest universe.

Birdie Cooper has nothing left.

Just one moment of weakness seven years ago—and she lost her job, her church, her only friend. Now she’s working nights at a gas station to scrape together a living and a way to care for her sister, completely alone and separated even from the art that gave her life meaning.

Ryan Bell has never forgotten his first obsession.

He’s been trying to find the tremblingly shy lecturer from his senior year of college after she abruptly disappeared after their first and only kiss. So when he comes upon a statue of Lucifer carved in Ryan’s own likeness, two things become starkly apparent.

One: he knows how to find her now. And two: he’s been haunting Birdie Cooper’s memory as much as she’s been haunting his.

Ryan can’t offer love—or even an apology—but he can offer her a bargain, one crafted first and foremost to free him from his punishing obsession with her. If Birdie agrees to be his in every way for a single year, then he’ll pay for her sister’s care for as long as she’s alive. And what does Birdie have left to lose anyway? The forbidden fruit is her only chance at salvation.

Unfortunately for Birdie, she might just be the only chance for his…

The post Review: Devil by Sierra Simone appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hannah Whitten’s newest title, Reliquary, is a fast-paced journey through layers of grief, trauma, and survival. At 320 pages, the novel is a quick read with action-packed scenes that skillfully move the reader through the narrative.

Reliquary is a bit of a departure from Whitten’s most recent work, the Wilderwood duology, including For the Wolf (2021) and For the Throne (2022), which falls firmly into the dark fantasy and fairy tale genres. Though Reliquary is horror, it certainly fits the tone and scope of the many novels Whitten shares on her social media (Instagram).

Unlike some of Whitten’s other works, Reliquary is placed in a contemporary setting on the west coast of the U.S. Whitten adopts a third-person limited perspective for the protagonist, Claire, whose fiancé, Elias, has recently passed. Due to family estrangement, Claire has not yet met Elias’s family, but when they extend an invitation for her to visit their family home, Claire accepts–and then is whisked away on a luxury jet, taken on a high-end shopping excursion, and finally to a private island–all perfectly normal behavior for a grieving family.

In a Lovecraftian sense, the novel focuses on body horror as well as a sense of primal fear of the unknown–but Whitten adds a layer of snark and humor to Claire’s interiority. Though the spice level is low-to-none, that bodily horror rating and gore in general is pretty high–perhaps not one to listen to in the parent pick-up line, for audio-listeners with children. In the earlier chapters, the structure of the novel is a bit disjointed–probably intentionally so–with frequent flashbacks and short scenes before evening out once Claire arrives on the island. The novel also uses section titles, chapter titles, and then scene numbers, which is quite helpful for the reader to know how much time has passed after her arrival.

Ultimately, the novel explores several main themes. It serves not only as a critique of the wealthy but also as a reflection on how some achieve their status and power and the lengths they will go to protect and continue it. Even moreso, the novel delves into the impacts of trauma, both on the mind and the body. Trauma is deeply multifaceted, and survivors may experience anything from nothing at all to depression to full catatonia, but the risk of fully abandoning the self can allow someone else to take over–and giving that self-control to someone else is a dangerous thing. Something Claire must learn in this novel. To grieve is normal; to completely abandon the self in the long-term can be life-threatening.

After accepting the invitation to her deceased fiancé’s family’s compound, Claire must continually face her anxiety and claustrophobia, which leads to frequent panic attacks. As she tries to remain open-minded and polite, the world around her descends into one shock after another–and once again, a woman trying to be polite puts herself in a great deal of danger (take heed, ladies).

Soon, Claire notices the presence of oddly-behaving servants with various bodily anomalies, which she at first ascribes to open-minded employers–until she sees one such woman eating raw meat with a human finger dangling from it. Combine this with the odd prayers of the men of her fiancé’s family, and Claire is, rightfully, more than ready to call it quits.

Her attempts at escape are, of course, fruitless, and so she must navigate this island of Dr. Moreau–or forever become a part of it.

Reliquary is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, as of August 11th 2026, and perfect for readers of gothic or horror genres, a briney adventure awaits.

Will you be picking up Reliquary? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

A young woman is lured to her late fiancé’s remote island estate—only to uncover eerie family secrets, a haunting past, and a monstrous hunger stirring beneath the sea in this deliciously atmospheric horror debut from New York Times bestselling author Hannah Whitten.

When Claire’s fiancé mysteriously dies of an unknown neurological illness, she’s prepared to sink back into the lonely life she lived before. Orphaned by a freak boating accident in her childhood, she never expected to find connection like she did with Elias, anyway. Their relationship wasn’t perfect—his coldness, his secrets, his strange aversion to the ocean—but what relationship is?

When Elias’s family reaches out—his incredibly wealthy family, from whom he was estranged—and invites Claire to a three-day wake at Harrow Point, their family home on a private island, Claire is given the chance to find family again. To belong to something, just like she’s always wanted. Just like Elias knew she was desperate to have.

Even if that family is a little strange. Even if their coastal home stirs up memories of the accident that killed her parents and sister. Even if Ash, Elias’s older brother, seems insistent on Claire leaving as soon as possible.

As she dives deeper into the world of Harrow Point, she will uncover the nature of her own traumatic connection to the ocean. There is something swimming in the bowels of Harrow Point, and it is hungry…

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”That’s what it’s like living with grief. Loneliness, even while you’re surrounded by people.”

One of these days Julian Winters is going to have to pick up my therapy tab if he keeps releasing books that make me question how I live my own life.

Find My Way Down to You ticked all my boxes. You have a pinch of fantasy, you have romance, and you have grief portrayed really well with a strong focus on healing.

The funny thing about grief is that no two experiences are ever the same. One could, for example, not relate to books like You’ve Reached Sam that had everyone in a chokehold back in the day, yet absolutely devour this tale of grief. This was the case for me with Find My Way Down To You. I admit I rarely pick up books that focus on grief and loss (you have to be in the right headspace for it), but this novel dealt so well with it and most of that may come down to the fact that while this is a story about grief, its main focus is on moving on and finding new ways to get back to actually living your life instead of being in the passenger seat waiting for someone else to take the wheel to get you back on track.

Don’t get me wrong, there is sadness here, it is a book about loss, after all. Auggie has been living in this kind of eternal limbo where he can’t and doesn’t seem to want to move on, but there are also so many moments of hope and progress that truly make this book stand out.

What I love most is how Auggie showcases some of the worst side effects of grief, the way you can lose yourself because you lost someone that in a lot of ways has affected how you see the world and interact with it. This, of course, drastically changes when he meets Cary, the ferrier of souls and gets introduced to death in an altogether new manner.

As always, Winters shines in portraying characters that are essentially good guys, but also flawed. Cary is your brooding boy that is secretly a marshmallow that always puts others and their feelings first. I love how he constantly tried to lift up Auggie.

Auggie, meanwhile, lives his life in pursuit of making other people happy…even when that ends up hurting him or making him lose his own way. The two of them worked together so well because at the core they care about the mark they leave on the (under)world, leaving it kinder than it was before. Their interactions were sweet and their conversations often felt like a warm hug. My only gripe would be that I wish there would have been a few more moments focusing on their relationship and the trouble that comes with falling for a guy whose literal job is carrying souls into the underworld. But since the focus here really was on grief and living again, I understand that this wasn’t supposed to be a super in-depth romance with all the expected beats.

The best part of this story is of course the gradual progress of healing. From the very difficult beginnings where you meet Auggie and realize just how much he has given up on his own life and future after losing his boyfriend London while everyone including his roommate has moved on to grander things, to the small, gradual steps he takes to participate in life again. It serves as a powerful reminder that no matter what losses we face, there is always something worth living for—we just have to find what that is for us.

Heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measure, Find My Way Down to You is a life-affirming story that puts a new spin on grief turning your world upside down, perfect for fans of You’ve Reached Sam and At the End of the River Styx.

Find My Way Down to You is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of August 4th 2026.

Will you be picking up Find My Way Down to You? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

You’ve Reached Sam meets Hadestown in this enchanting, intoxicating romance across the mortal world and the underworld.

Eighteen-year-old August is trying to navigate life after the sudden death of his boyfriend left him devastated, aimless, and feeling guilty. Years after the tragic accident, August mistakenly stumbles into a world beyond his own—the Underworld. Unlike his own gray existence, the underworld is a lavish extravagant place, full of mystery and a flurry of charismatic gods, all curious about August’s arrival in their world. Realizing right away the opportunity in front of him, August goes searching for his lost love, guided by Cary, the smoldering, broody ferrier of souls. But the more time August spends down below, the more his intentions begin to blur. Is he visiting this realm to reunite with his soulmate? Or is he desperately, inexplicably, intoxicatingly drawn to Cary? With his own world in pieces and a dangerously seductive realm promising him a new existence at a heavy cost, August must choose: a life with grief or a love that might destroy him.

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A witty and sharply realistic coming-of-age tale, the novel follows new college grad Robin Clarke as she ventures out into the world on her own. Robin’s path to this point hasn’t been easy—she literally had to run away from her isolated upbringing in an abusive family. Now landing a gig in a Teach for America-esque program and settling into a downtrodden South Bend, Indiana apartment, Robin has true independence for the first time.

The freedom can be paralyzing, though. While she yearns to move forward, putting her English degree to good use with a goal to become the best teacher at Topinabee High School, everything about this new life is overwhelming. Her perfectly perfect roommate, Naomi, isn’t quite the best friend Robin hoped for. Her teaching mentor, Mrs. N, inappropriately blurs boundaries on the best of days and spouts racist microaggressions on the worst. Add to that the weight of others typecasting her, both overtly and implicitly, as the “strong Black woman” … while it takes every ounce of energy she has to wake up, shake off the trauma reminders, and do life each day.

Then there’s the older brother Robin left behind. Once a promising basketball player, Will is now a college dropout living at home and working a fast food gig. In a similar but different way, he’s also at a loss for where to go from here. Willfully oblivious to why Robin bailed without warning, he finds himself alone and stuck supporting the family when their father’s health begins to fail.

As the chapters bounce back and forth between the siblings, big questions loom: Will they learn to navigate these new lives on their own? If so, how? And what will they gain or lose in the process?

Like any great literary work, Soft Spots hooks the reader right from the start. Without spoiling anything, the story opens by alluding to the fallout of a life-altering incident that occurred months ago. This fades into a flashback that ultimately walks the reader full circle back to the present day by the end of the book.

While this plot structure has plenty of engaging moments, it’s the characters that truly carry the novel. Robin is one of the most distressingly lovable characters I’ve read in a long time. Her narrative voice is unique, her pain palpable to the reader. Although you will certainly anticipate that her journey is going to end badly, this doesn’t stop her from grabbing your whole heart.

Soft Spots has a simple clarity in the way it captures the facts of life. We each survive our experiences the best way we know how—but that doesn’t mean we always make the best choices. Try as she might, the best Robin can do is stumble forward, one questionable decision after another. But at least she keeps stumbling forward. Her story reminds us that our soft spots, hidden away from the world beneath the shields we erect for protection, may be raw and wide open to suffering, but they also make us human.

Leila Renee tenderly probes these soft spots, rendering them memorably on the page. She convincingly crafts the feeling of separateness that defines Robin’s life, the way we each hold experiences inside ourselves that those on the outside cannot imagine. She captures how we are hard-wired to love our parents even when they have caused us the most harm. She explores the way loss and grief can tear us apart—and sometimes push us together. The result is a story that is both moving and amusing in turn, an emotionally resonant new novel that you won’t soon forget.

Soft Spots is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of August 4th 2026.

Will you be picking up Soft Spots? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis

“Raven Leilani’s Luster meets Halle Butler’s The New Me, SOFT SPOTS is a darkly funny and off-kilter coming-of-age novel following recent college graduate Robin Clarke after she runs away from her family, only to be forced to confront whether she should reconcile with her father when his health takes a sudden turn for the worst.

After miraculously securing a teaching job at a dysfunctional high school, loner Robin moves to South Bend, Indiana, where she’s paired with an eerily perfect roommate: Naomi. Freshly estranged from her abusive parents, Robin obsesses over two absurd goals: to be the best teacher at the school, despite never having taught, and to become best friends with Naomi, who could not be more her opposite. Meanwhile back home, Robin’s brother must decide between being loyal to his sister or their parents.

Just as Robin grows closer to her students and Naomi, she receives earth-shattering news from her brother. Desperate to cope, Robin redoubles her efforts to befriend Naomi, spiraling even deeper into obsession and self-sabotage. Everything comes to a head when one of Robin’s many bad choices come back to bite her, and she must confront the limits of forgiveness, the weight of memory, and the true cost of estrangement.”

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