Hi, Silvia! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

I’m a writer of anything from noir to sword and sorcery originally from Mexico and now residing in Canada. I’m most famous for the novels Mexican Gothic, Velvet was the Night and The Bewitching.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I did nothing but read and write since I was a kid which gave me a prodigious vocabulary and poor socializing skills.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: It was probably a book of Greek and Roman mythology.
• The one that made you want to become an author: Very likely it was a combo of Poe and Lovecraft.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Edith Wharton lives rent free in my head.

Your latest novel, The Intrigue, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Sultry, dark, ironic, seductive and pulpy.

What can readers expect?

A noir in the vein of classic 1940s noir, where a con artist journeys to a picturesque town and meets his match.

Where did the inspiration for The Intrigue come from?

Costumbrista novels, telenovelas and classic crime fiction.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

All the scenes where the characters in this small town are never saying what they really mean. I love a good hypocrite (in fiction, mind you).

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

Classic noir is not a very popular genre nowadays so I wondered if I was writing something nobody wants to read, but writing books nobody is begging for has been my modus operandi since I first started. I pushed on.

What’s next for you?

Sorceress, which is, as the title might imply, a fantasy book, will be out next summer. And I’ve written the script for a graphic novel adaptation of Mexican Gothic.

Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?

I have an advance review copy of Afia Atakora’s Strivers which I’m really excited about. The jacket copy reads “A sly, thrilling novel of a murder that rocks Manhattan’s Black elite at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, making them question who they are, what they want, and where the bodies are buried.” Her previous book was very smart and I look forward to more.

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

The post Q&A: Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Author of ‘The Intrigue’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from The Second Chance Trailer Park by Katie Powner, which releases on July 21st 2026.

Fifty-two-year-old Meredith McGillicutty is not having a midlife crisis. She’s just ready for a change of pace, that’s all. The fact that she lied to get into a retirement community has nothing to do with being passed over for a promotion at work or her recent breakup with the only man she’s ever loved. 

Nothing.     

Meredith only wants some peace and quiet. To sit on a porch in elastic-waist pants and mingle with other mature individuals who value a life of serenity. But the residents of the Peaceful Pines retirement community have other plans for her. These quirky and endearing neighbors seem to know her better than she knows herself, and they decide Meredith’s life is only just beginning. 

Blending humor and tenderness, The Second Chance Trailer Park will appeal to fans of Fredrik Backman and Lenora Worth.

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The post Read An Excerpt From ‘The Second Chance Trailer Park’ by Katie Powner appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

A Bánh Mì for Two by Trinity Nguyen

A sweet and tender young adult (YA) contemporary romance set in Vietnam brimming with sapphic love, family, and street food.

A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa 

A lush, compelling cozy novel with an adorable cat and delicious treats set at a magical bakery.

A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic by J. Penner 

A whimsical, vibrant cozy fantasy with magical creatures, a gripping bake-off, and found family.

Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle 

An addictive and lush story of hunger, food, love, ghosts, desire, and loss set in the New York City culinary scene, perfect for fans of Hadestown.

Bread is Love written by Pooja Makhijani; illustrated by Lavanya Naidu 

A beautiful, sweet, and heartwarming children’s book of bread, family, and joy.

Celestial Banquet by Roselle Lim

A captivating, immersive YA fantasy with a cutthroat cooking competition, Chinese and Southeast Asian folklore, and vivid food descriptions that explores food’s connection to culture and the ones we love.

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee 

A cute, uplifting YA romcom with a mooncake-making competition, fake-dating romance, and the sweetest corgi.

Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous by Autumn K. England 

A comforting, sweeping cozy fantasy filled with farmers market trips, magical baked goods, a ghost granny, and a tender romance.

Gwei the Hungry Ghost written by Emeline Lee; illustrated by Basia Tran

A stunning, lush, and vivid children’s book with Chinese folklore, food, friendship, and community set during the Hungry Ghost Festival.

Hangry Hearts by Jennifer Chen 

A tender and tasty YA romcom inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, brimming with banter, Asian food, family, love, and trips to the Pasadena Farmers Market.

Knife Skills for Beginners by Orlando Murrin

A riveting and sharp cozy whodunit set in London with cinematic cooking scenes and a propulsive murder mystery.

Legendary Frybread Drive-In edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith 

A beautiful, welcoming collection of interconnected stories with Native pride, frybread, laughter, belonging, and love.

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree 

A charming, calming cozy fantasy set in a coffee shop with sapphic love, pastries, fantastical creatures, and, of course, coffee.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

A sharp, witty, and empowering historical fiction novel filled with wit, chemistry, and cooking set in the 1960s.

Like Wafers in Honey by Leah Eskin

A sweeping, atmospheric, and witty debut following two timelines filled with vivid historical details, recipes, and family.

Nacho Boyfriend by Gigi Blume 

A funny and swoony romcom with tender family dynamics, delicious Mexican food, and a delightful fake-dating romance.

Salt and Sugar by Rebecca Carvalho 

A swoon-worthy and sweet YA romance set in Brazil that blends the family feud and enemies-to-lovers romance of Romeo & Juliet with delicious baking scenes.

Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst 

A sea-swept, lyrical, and adventurous cozy fantasy brimming with sentient plants, peach pie, yearning, and the perfect dose of danger.

Secrets, Spells, and Chocolate by Marisa Churchill 

A spellbinding and scrumptious YA debut with immersive baking scenes, exhilarating culinary challenges, and heartwarming friendship, perfect for readers transitioning from middle-grade to YA reads.

The Bakery Dragon by Devin Elle Kurtz 

An adorable, charming, and immersive children’s book with baked goods and the cutest tiny dragon.

The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic and Murder by Kiri Callaghan 

An enchanting and gripping cozy fantasy with a thrilling murder mystery, sapphic love, tea, mythology, and sweet treats.

The Leaving Room by Amber McBride

A sweeping, emotional YA novel-in-verse with an achingly beautiful sapphic romance, family recipes, and a twisty plot.

The Lone Wolf Café by Sydney Wilder

A welcoming and magical cozy fantasy with baking, tea, witches, and werewolves, perfect for autumnal reading and Halloween.

The Other Moctezuma Girls by Sofia Robleda 

A cinematic, lyrical historical novel set in sixteenth-century Mexico with adventure, sisterhood, and pre-Hispanic food.

The Road of Bones by Demi Winters 

An adventurous, fierce fantasy infused with Norse mythology, action, food, and a pinch of spice.

The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu 

A creative and propulsive sci-fi novel filled with physics, dim sum, and family.

From charming children’s books to heartfelt YA romcoms to gripping adult murder mysteries, there’s a little something for every foodie here. These books serve up delicious food descriptions alongside their captivating characters, cinematic settings, and propulsive plots. Happy reading!

Do you have any other recommendations? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Tales You Can Taste: 26 Fiction Book Recommendations for Foodies appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Mikayla! Welcome back! What have you been up to the past year since we last spoke?

Hi, thanks for inviting me back! It’s been a hectic year. Launching OFAF, writing and editing OVAV, and working on new ideas when time permits. I’ve been so lucky to see how OFAF has been received by readers, and very fortunate by the support from my publishing teams and local booksellers. Seeing both of my books on shelves, side by side, still feels like a fever dream.

Of Venom and Vengeance is the sequel to Of Flame and Fury and it’s out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Great question: dark, treacherous, romantic, glamorous, magical.

For readers who haven’t picked up Of Flame and Fury, what can they expect?

Of Flame and Fury is a young adult romantic fantasy about a young, hopeful phoenix tamer (Kel) and her giant (undomesticated) pet phoenix. Both are forced to team up with several other young underdogs to compete in deadly, magical phoenix races, while trying to uncover why a mysterious, wealthy benefactor has taken such a sudden interest in their team.

OFAF is a young adult Fourth Wing with F1 phoenix racing. There’s found family, a rivals-to-lovers romance, conspiracies, and plot twists that readers have tried to send me their therapy bills for (kidding).

And for those who have, what’s to come in Of Venom and Vengeance?

Of Venom and Vengeance is a standalone set in the same universe as Of Flame and Fury, so readers can five straight into OVAV without having read OFAF! For those who have, there are a few fun easter eggs and minor connections, but this is, for the most part, a new story with a fresh cast of characters.

The world of OFAF is fiery and barren, and its characters are every bit as earnest, resilient, and rough-edged as their island. I love them with all my heart. OVAV’s world, by contrast, is one of  glamour and hidden danger, and its characters reflect that environment too: charming and sophisticated on the surface, yet ruthless beneath their charming facades.

OVAV follows Inna, a criminal heiress, and Rylan, a vengeful thief, as they forge a perilous alliance in search of a lost god. Neither has any intention of honouring their alliance, even as their bitter attraction ignites into something more. Expect star-crossed enemies to lovers, heists, riddles, messy family dynamics, and a magical criminal empire.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring further?

I always love writing big action scenes with distinct settings and lasting consequences for the characters. Action and danger provide great ground for emotional vulnerability; they strip away pretence and reveal who people really are. That meant I had enormous fun with OVAV’s heist and Inna and Rylan’s journey to find a lost god, weaving in little easter eggs from some of my favourite action-adventure films: The Mummy, Indiana Jones, Ocean’s 8, and Jurassic Park.

I also loved writing this story in dual POV, which was a first for me. With so many secrets and hidden motivations at play in this book, it was exciting to explore important moments through both Inna’s and Rylan’s perspectives and to see how differently they interpreted the same events. And then there’s Celesse, who holds my entire heart in her manicured grip. I hope I get to tell much more of her story one day.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing the sequel? How did you overcome them?

So many! All of my author friends were right to warn me: sophomore syndrome is very real, and there were times when writing this novel felt like pulling teeth. Imposter syndrome hit me particularly hard. This was the first book I’d written entirely from scratch while under contract, and knowing that my editors, agent, and friends would eventually read it — whatever shape it took — made me wildly anxious about getting it right. For a while, it became much harder to write for myself.

But I’m so proud that I worked through that struggle. I’m also very grateful to my author friends for their endless support and advice. Writing this book taught me a lot about myself as a writer. I understand my process, my needs, and the conditions under which I do my best work far better now.

What were some of the key lessons you learned from working on your debut that helped with Of Venom and Vengeance?

Oh, great question. Most of the lessons I carried forward were about the marketing and publicity side of being an author. I’m a stereotypical writer: introverted, anxious, and happiest when I’m at my desk (usually alone), writing. I’m also autistic, so many of the new experiences that came with promoting OFAF felt overwhelming at first. By the time OVAV came around, though, everything felt much easier because I’d already done it once before. Podcasts, interviews, panels, and launches all felt far less intimidating the second time around.

The first book also taught me a few practical lessons:

1. Memorise your pitch and practise it relentlessly.
2. Rein in the urge to try a new eyeliner look five minutes before leaving for a signing. Comfort first, always.
3. Find your favourite signing pen, buy an absurd amount of them, and keep one in every bag you own.
4. Relish every moment of it. Readers are incredible, and getting to meet them is one of the greatest joys of being an author.

What’s next for you?

I’ve got lots of exciting things happening behind the scenes that I can’t share yet, but right now, I’m working on the first draft for an adult fantasy book. I’ll pitch it as Severance meets a supernatural Ready or Not. It’s different to anything I’ve written before, which has made it very fun to write, while also forcing me to strengthen new creative muscles. It still has everything I love in my YA books: romance, magic, politics, and lots of twists. I hope I can share more about it soon!

Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?

So many! I rarely read in the genre that I’m writing at the time, so I’ve enjoyed a wonderful, eclectic range of books so far this year. Here are some of my recents favourites:

• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
• Discontent by Beatriz Serrano
• Overgrowth by Mira Grant
• After the Siren by Darcy Green
• Love, Gods & Sinners by Camille Chong
• Familiar Creatures by Keshe Chow

And some recent/upcoming releases I can’t wait to read:

• Twin Tides by Hien Nguyen
• The Harpy Knight by Sara Omer
• The Children by Melissa Albert
• Wench by Erynne Rivers

Will you be picking up Of Venom and Vengeance? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Mikayla Bridge, Author of ‘Of Venom and Vengeance’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Marie and Alyc! Welcome back! What have you both been up to since we last spoke for the release of The Mask of Mirrors?

Marie: We finished out the Rook & Rose trilogy with The Liar’s Knot and Labyrinth’s Heart, and I’ve written some short fiction in the same setting — that’s something I’ve done for almost all my novels to date. With the richness of world we developed for the trilogy, it seemed a shame to use it for only three books! (Even if they’re chonky books.)

Alyc: Everything Marie said. We also ran a successful Kickstarter to produce a pattern deck and guidebook based on the version we created for Rook & Rose, and Marie also has some Lady Trent coloring books coming out. And although I can only tease about it for now, I’m working with some fellow authors to create book-related hand fans for several well-known series, including Rook & Rose. Marie and I have already seen some of the concept art, and it’s very cool.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

Alyc: I’ve loved reading and telling stories for as long as I can remember, but my love for writing has been a slow burn. I finished my first story — an original fairy tale that had elements of the little robber girl from the Snow Queen — when I was in junior high. And I proceeded to start and NOT finish stories for the next decade or so of my life. Learning to see things through to the end was my first big hurdle as a writer, not helped by the fact that I much prefer writing long form to writing short fiction.

Marie: For me, it was when I read Diana Wynne Jones’ novel Fire and Hemlock at the age of maybe nine or ten. The two main characters in there are writing a story together, and it was the first time I’d thought about making up stories not just to entertain myself, but to entertain someone else. I put that book down with one thought in my head: “I want to be a writer.”

Your latest novel, The Eye of Leviathan, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Marie: Golden Age Spain, with faeries.

Alyc: The map isn’t the territory.

What can readers expect?

Alyc: Golden Age Spain, with faeries.

Marie: . . . okay, I won’t be that much of a smart aleck as to repeat Alyc’s answer from above. But let the record show that I was tempted!

This is a chewy historical fantasy about colonialism, religion, and identity. The same year that Columbus sails to the Caribbean, a different man figures out the secret of passing safely to and from the Sea Beyond: the Otherworldly ocean that lies to the west of the Strait of Gibraltar, if you traverse it under the right conditions. Ever since then, Spain has been exploring and colonizing the faerie islands there so as to exploit their magic . . . and, alongside that, baptizing fae.

Our protagonist, Estevan, is a changeling determined to learn the secret of how Spain is achieving their control over the Sea Beyond. As he infiltrates the halls of Spanish power, the daughter he displaced — known as the Hungry Girl — fights to find her way back home, to the mother she remembers only as a story.

Where did the inspiration for The Eye of Leviathan come from?

Marie: From Alyc!

Alyc: We had actually pitched an entirely different idea to our editor for the series we wanted to write after Rook & Rose, but she was concerned about how to market the idea, and requested something more ‘commercial’. Which stumped us a bit, and sent me spiraling on what ‘commercial’ even meant. Based on my awareness of Booktok/Booktube/Bookstagram at the time (autumn 2023), I decided it meant Romantasy, Cozy, Dark Academia, and Faeries, and I resolved to come up with the most romantasy-cozy-dark-academia-faerie idea of all time.

I knew I had to get Marie on board, and I figured I could do it through a call to mapmaking, which she was getting into at the time. I latched onto the Alfred Korzybski quote, “The map is not the territory,” and thought to myself, “but what if it was?” From there, the idea spun out to be a story about a faerie changeling infiltrating the institutions responsible for mapping Faerie and pinning it into place so it could be conquered and colonized.

So I failed at ‘commercial’ and only managed to hit 1.5 of my targets, but that’s the idea I ended up throwing at Marie.

Marie: From there, it was a matter of figuring out how to embed it properly in history. I was the one who suggested setting it in Spain, which of course implied that we should do something pivotal with the year 1492. But we also realized very soon that we wanted to embed it in mythology, too: while not all of our faerie islands come from real-world stories, some of them do, and our cosmology as a whole is a delightfully chaotic swirl of Mediterranean lore: Catholic, Jewish, Islamic, Greek, Phoenician, we even get some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Sumerian bits in there. (Though I think those don’t really show up until the second book of the duology.)

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

Alyc: If I’m not careful, side characters can easily take over my entire brain, and we have several in the story that ended up becoming far more important than I think either of us originally intended. One of those is Erauso, based on the real historical person of Catalina/Antonio de Erauso. In history, and by his own (apocryphal) account, he was kind of a belligerent jerk, but we caught him while he was still young, and dragged him to the Sea Beyond to give him a slightly kinder life path and the opportunity to become more of a lovable jerk as opposed to an unrepentant one. He still tends to solve problems by punching them, but that’s part of his charm.

Marie: I have to give a shout-out to the bull-fighting portion of your thesis defense. While reading up on early modern university education, I discovered — and this comes from an unimpeachably scholarly source, not some random internet post — that “in Salamanca, the new doctor was not in full possession of his title until he had killed a bull in a corrida (the paseo doctoral) and had written his name in the bull’s blood on the walls of the town.” Which is the kind of detail you can’t not include! Not when your protagonist is studying at Salamanca and also your invented cosmology features Behemoth, a creature often depicted in bull-like form. History is full of these outrageous, amazing things that seem too over the top for reality.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

Marie: Research, definitely. I’ve fallen down this rabbit hole before, with my Onyx Court novels (different faerie fantasies set in various eras of English history), only this time I was starting from a position of knowing much less about Spain. But Alyc and I are both the kind of people who really want to embed our story in historical specifics when we can, because those give us amazing nuggets of weirdness alongside the kind of details that make the whole thing feel grounded.

So that meant a lot of research. And since writing is my full-time job, whereas Alyc also has a day job, I took point on the bulk of the reading — including bludgeoning my Spanish back up to something vaguely resembling reading comprehension, so I could check out a few sources not available in English. It was a hell of a challenge, but I’m pleased with the results!

Alyc: Research, and time. Marie was the research rock star on this one, and I was mostly reading to keep up. Writing was also generally slower due in part to research, and in part to disruptions in both our lives. Ultimately, I think the slower pace worked because it gave us time to do the spot research we needed, and to let ideas compost and develop. But it was a different experience than the four-month miracle that was writing our first collaboration.

How has your co-authoring process developed now over the years?

Alyc: We used to mostly write remotely, tagging each other and working out details via chat. These days, we’re writing in person almost all the time, one of us going to the other’s house. We used to only do that for sections that we knew would need a lot of discussion and fiddling, but I think the Sea Beyond books required us to take a lot more care around incorporating real historical details, plot, character motivations, and the multi-layered, syncretized mythologies we’d worked out for this version of the world.

Marie: We’re also a lot looser now with who takes point on which bits of the story. Because the Rook and Rose trilogy grew out of an RPG, there was a much more distinct divide where Ren (formerly my PC) was My Character, Grey and Vargo (formerly NPCs) were Alyc’s Characters, and so forth. We became more comfortable with crossing that line as we got deeper into the trilogy, but it was still there. Here, though in some ways Estevan is Alyc’s character and the Hungry Girl is mine, we were working all of it out together from the start, and so we tend to swap more freely as we go back and forth in writing a scene.

What’s next for you both?

Marie: I’ve got a solo series that will launch next year, with The Worst Monk in Omnu. It’s about a Buddhist-style monk with really terrible karma who goes on pilgrimage to try and fix that, so disasters will stop happening in their immediate vicinity. I’d call it one of the coziest things I’ve written, even though there’s the ghost of a murder victim in it!

Alyc: We’ve got our eye on the original idea we pitched to our editor before we pitched the Sea Beyond. It’s a sort of magical girl space fantasy where people use fantastical projections of their souls to fight giant chaos kaiju. It’s about as opposite to the dense, grounded historical setting of the Sea Beyond as we’re likely to get, though at this point, I think we can guarantee interesting worldbuilding and complicated and nuanced characters and relationships. Those are the things we love and strive to do justice by in every book.

Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?

Alyc: Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga is my favorite series of the past several years, so I was very excited to grab her standalone novel, The Last Contract of Isako, when it came out last month. She’s so good at creating cool, interesting characters and personalizing the stakes of corporate espionage/intrigue. I’m also very excited for one of our pub-day siblings, which is John Wiswell’s The Dragon Has Some Complaints. It just sounds like a fun book, and I’m a sucker for dragons.

And although I’m not usually a horror fan, I want to pick up another July release, Megan Bontrager’s The Sea Hides its Dead. It doesn’t sound like it has any actual overlap with our book, but it’s about some academics who get trapped in a sea cave while looking for the Cult of Leviathan, and I’m left with the ‘I’d have two nickels… which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice’ feeling. So I’m interested in checking it out.

Marie: Earlier this year I discovered Margaret Owen’s Little Thieves trilogy, which I absolutely inhaled. You can tell in reading them that Owen must actually know her history, because her world is so full of solid little bits that make it feel real. Then she pairs that with compelling characters, great prose, some excellent touches of humor, and intermittent folkloric twists, and it’s like it was tailor-made for me!

As for what I’m looking forward to . . . oh, yikes, too many to name. I’m very bad at keeping up to date with what just came out — I’m constantly reading older books from two or five or ten years ago, if not longer — so my TBR is a giant stack of extremely eclectic stuff.

Will you be picking up The Eye of Leviathan? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: M. A. Carrick, Author of ‘The Eye of Leviathan’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Married with Benefits by Ellie Palmer, which releases on July 21st 2026.

For better or worse is just the beginning.

Lainey Davis can’t wait for the day she’ll be able to escape her tiny Wisconsin town. But she’s not even close to covering her health insurance premiums and pricey migraine medication, let alone saving up enough to start over some place new. That is, until Lainey learns that through the archaic legal doctrine of adverse possession, she’s inadvertently squatted her way into owning a marvel of modern architecture.

But Lainey owns only the house. The surrounding property, a lakeside money pit the previous owner used as a front to deal illegal reptiles, has been willed to Elliot Hodges, a D.C. architect who wants to rent out the place to fellow architecture lovers. Their assets are tied together, but neither can move forward without the other.

Desperate, Elliot proposes an unconventional arrangement: marry him for health insurance and in exchange, Lainey will allow him to buy her out. Win-win: Lainey will finally have a way out of town, and he’ll own the house designed by his idol. Married in name only and living together while fixing up the property, Lainey and Elliot find themselves unable to keep their hopes, dreams, or bedsheets from getting entwined. And as their connection grows, Lainey’s no longer sure what’s more terrifying: leaving Elliot behind or letting him in.

Chapter 3

How Very Karen-y of You

67 Days until Busy Season

The next morning, like every morning, Lainey woke up surveying her body for that intangible “off” feeling that told her whether it was worth swallowing one of her precious migraine pills.

She was supposed to be taking them daily—it was the only reliable way to prevent her symptoms—but at thirty-three dollars a pill, she had to stretch them as far as she possibly could. She couldn’t afford not to. Her pain was a sleep-paralysis demon, always hovering above her. Some days, she could will it away with a dark room and powerful medication, but other days, it overtook her.

On this particular morning—while lying in her bed, in the house that blessedly was still hers—she’d found no immediate signs of looming pain. No increased sensitivity to light. No aura. No reason to waste a pill. A pill brought with it the pressure to make the most of every expensive pain-free moment. She couldn’t be creative under those conditions, even though she’d never been good at coordinating her good days with moments of artistic inspiration. Case in point, the fact that she was at present sitting on her heels atop a metal stool with no clue of what to do with the dead tree in front of her.

She had an order for one of her side hustles—selling live-edge carpentry on Facebook Marketplace—and while Lainey definitely lacked a passion for making bougie-ass tables, her experience sculpting had made her pretty good with an orbital sander and strangers seemed willing to pay a small fortune for something that took her less than an afternoon to complete. But today, instead of producing yet another coffee table for Jessica from Ironwood or an end table for Lisa in Spooner, Lainey wanted to make something for herself.

Lainey’s current artistic fixation was sculpting tree snags. She turned stumps into tiny wooden creatures and transformed dead oak trees into sculptures of witchy women rooted to the earth. Bree described Lainey’s work as “beautiful but terrifying,” which delighted Lainey, as that was almost exactly what she was going for.

Lainey’s work was an exercise in reanimating the dead. It provided nature with new life through hacking away at it, giving trees the appearance of something otherworldly.

Trees were interdependent organisms, sharing water and nutrients, but her snags were alone, cut off from their support system. Lainey saw what she did as more than art. It was care. She cared for the dead trees in a way the surrounding ecosystem no longer would.

Also, she liked sculpting with chainsaws.

Wind whistled through the branches as her eyes pleaded with her unfinished subject to tell her something. The half-carved trunk stared back with indifference. The figure in her head was without details, an animal trapped under a sheet of bark. Sculpting was noisy work, so she typically enjoyed the silence of the planning process, but when she had no vision for a piece, the quiet sounded a bit like a smug little asshole. Today, she tried a new strategy. Snapping her safety goggles to her face, Lainey cranked up the music on her noise-canceling headphones, raised her chainsaw to waist height, and let herself get lost.

Minutes or hours later, a tap at her shoulder.

Her core muscles absorbed the full-body jerk that was a natural, reflexive response to the reckless act of abruptly touching a person holding a chainsaw. She immediately powered the thing down and ripped off her safety goggles before turning to yell at whoever stood behind her with the apparent desire to leave her backyard with fewer limbs than they arrived with.

That’s when she saw who it was. The man from the other day. Olive Rain Jacket Guy. Elliot. He was dry this time, in a navy sweater that stretched across his broad shoulders. His glasses were no longer rain dappled, but his hair still had a gentle wave to it, like it was perpetually tousled in a light breeze directed only to him in a full-fledged conspiracy of irrepressible charm and casual sex appeal. The sight of him—here, behind her house—snatched the words right out of her throat. She set the chainsaw on the ground and lowered her headphones to her neck like a scarf.

She smiled. She couldn’t help herself. “You,” she said.

“You,” he repeated. But his “you” held none of the giddy excitement hers had. His “you” was surprised. Maybe even a little hurt.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, tucking the flyaways escaping her ponytail behind her ears. Nerves lit up in the tips of her fingers like lightning bugs. He didn’t seem happy to see her again. Unease and dread replaced her joy.

“I was about to ask you the same question, Elaine Davis. What are you doing at my house?”

Fragmented bits of information fell into place all at once. The attractive newcomer in the offseason and the mysterious nephew who was trying to remove her from her home were one and the same. E . Her Elliot from Ridr was Gil Hodges’s nephew. He had to be. Which made some sort of sense. Attractive people never came to Timber Creek in March without a reason. That tiny, hopeful flame that’d flickered in her chest ever since their rain-soaked encounter blew out like a birthday candle.

“Your house?” she scoffed. “So, you think because your uncle died, you’re entitled to a place you’ve never even been before? Wow.” She stretched out the single syllable, hoping a more cogent—or at least more cutting—argument would surface, but it seemed the Wisconsin public school system had failed her in this highly specific area.

“Yes, I thought when my uncle transferred to me the title to a resort that I would be, in fact, entitled to it. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that some two-bit con woman was claiming squatters’ rights on my property.”

“Two-bit?” Lainey’s laugh sliced at her insides, her eyes squinting into the sun glaring over his shoulder. The thin veil between peace and pain was lifting. She could already feel her body starting to turn on her.

“That’s the part you take issue with?” His head swung behind him as if searching for witnesses to this conversation.

His dark brows folded inward, and his long limbs paced her yard like an angry, hulking scribble. Each time their eyes caught, his face twisted like he might be sick. He pulled his glasses off his face and rubbed the lenses on his shirt. “Fine. You’re a very sophisticated scam artist—are you happy?” He put his glasses back on and eyed the piece she’d been working on. “What am I looking at here?”

“It’s . . .” She removed her work gloves and considered how best to explain that she wasn’t sure what he was looking at either.

She shook her head. “It’s not finished.” They were getting off topic. She folded her arms across her chest. “What did you come here for?” Did he think he could just show up here, flash a smile, and ask her nicely to leave her own house?

“I thought I should meet the trespasser who was trying to steal my house out from under me before I challenge your ludicrous claim on it in court.”

Excerpted from Married with Benefits by Ellie Palmer. Copyright © 2026 by Ellie Palmer. Excerpted with permission from G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

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Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Carry Me to My Grave by Christopher Golden, which releases on July 21st 2026.

Maggie Wise will take your eyes.

When Malcolm was growing up, the local kids made up that chant about his mother, claiming she was a witch. He and his siblings did their best to ignore it. Now, Maggie is dying, and those same siblings have left Malcolm and his sister-in-law Violet to hold a vigil at her bedside.

But they’re not as alone as they think they are. A dark figure waits and watches from beneath the willow tree across the street. Hundreds of miles away, an ancient evil stirs in its burrow under a farmer’s cornfield. Across the country, other buried things begin to dream in anticipation of Maggie’s demise. On her deathbed, the old woman elicits a promise from Malcolm, her youngest child―when she dies, he and Violet must return her body to her birthplace in Shediak, Maine.

From the moment she takes her last breath, before her remains are even loaded aboard the baggage car of the Imperial Limited, there are forces trying to stop Malcolm from fulfilling that promise. Violence erupts on the train, evil preys on its passengers, and once the sun goes down, those long-buried things are coming to make Maggie Wise pay for her past. God help anyone who stands in their way.

EXCERPT

The traveling case lay open on top of Malcom’s bed. He stood beside his bureau, staring at the open drawers. What would he wear to bury his mother? In the next room, Maggie’s heart continued to beat, and he fought the urge to go in there and try to wake her— she would have an opinion about proper mourning clothes. If there was one thing Maggie never lacked, it was opinions.

Those days are over, he thought. Gone would be the pressure of being Maggie Wise’s son, the expectations she had placed upon all her children. The army had given Malcolm a temporary re spite, but of the three of them, he was the one still here. The one who could live up to Maggie’s standards, or so he told himself.

He laughed softly at the idea that going to war in Korea had been easier than being home in Elkhart. The smile remained on his face as he slid a pair of folded shirts from a drawer.

Muffled music came through the wall from Maggie’s bedroom. Malcolm hadn’t wanted to leave her alone, but she’d waved him wordlessly away— she wanted him to get ready to travel. Maggie had often said music was the only company she ever needed, and the velvety voice drifting from the next room belonged to Billie Holiday. “I’ll Be Seeing You” was a haunting tune, full of longing and regret. A number of crooners had recorded it, including Sinatra and Bing Crosby, but the Billie Holiday version was Maggie’s favorite.

His mother lay dying, listening to her favorite song, and just across the road, a stranger wanted Malcolm to abandon her.

Not a chance in hell.

The curtains billowed. When the gust deflated, he lay the folded shirts on top of other clothes he’d placed in his traveling case and went to the window. He had no view of the street from here, but he suspected the man he thought of as the raven remained there, watching.

He surprised himself by not caring. His mother had set him a task and he meant to fulfill it. Whatever this guy wanted, he wasn’t going to get it. Maggie Wise would be dead and unable to pay her debts.

Debts. Shit.

They’d discussed the idea that the raven might be a bill collector, but those guys weren’t out knocking on doors in the predawn hours unless they were leg breakers for some loan shark, and no body in this house would have gotten involved with people like that. Distracted by grief, he hadn’t considered that there were other members of the family.

Goddamn Elias. Malcolm sniffed derisively. That must be it.

The guy out under the willow tree had said some strange things, even maybe threatened Maggie, but as Malcolm played the con versation back in his head, he thought maybe it hadn’t really been about her at all. Except as a target.

Elias probably owed somebody a lot of money, a gambling debt that had grown so large that the person he owed had sent the raven to collect in any way possible. There wasn’t much of value in the house, but the raven didn’t know that, so he was threatening Maggie because her son had skipped out on some gambling debts. It made so much sense, viewed in that light.

“Elias,” he whispered to himself. “You dumb son of a bitch.”

How much money did his brother owe, and to whom? Had Elias told them he would inherit the house after Maggie died, used that as collateral? Malcolm didn’t know what Maggie had written into her will, but he figured Elias would receive at least a one- third share. Maybe he would own the whole thing, and whoever he owed planned to take it once she’d breathed her last.

Either way, his debts would prove a problem for Violet in the days to come.

Malcolm resolved to help her as best he could, but whatever trouble Elias had brought to their doorstep would have to wait.

A black suit hung in his closet. He touched the sleeve, rubbed the fabric between thumb and forefinger, and wondered at the necessity of bringing it along. He didn’t know anyone in Maine, and if they had family up that way, Maggie had never mentioned them, so her funeral was likely to consist of a graveside blessing followed by the rhythm of shovels in soil. Travel light whenever possible, Maggie had always said, and he meant to follow that advice.

No black suit. He could mourn his mother’s death without wearing a necktie. Though in this weather, he’d need his over coat, which was gray tweed.

As he wondered what he might have forgotten to pack, he ran a hand over his jaw. If he meant to commit himself to Maggie’s instructions— and he did— he’d have precious little time to waste from the moment she passed. He ought to have a bath and a shave right now.

“This is absurd,” he whispered.

A quiet knock came at the door.

“Come in, Violet.”

The hinges squeaked as she stepped into his room.

There had been many nights when he’d lain awake thinking of the way Violet sometimes looked at him, and how often they shared a contemplative pause after an unintended touch. Those nights, the knowledge that Maggie would hear the squeak of his hinges was sometimes all that kept him from rising from bed and going to Violet. Decency and the law demanded he not dare, but honor couldn’t change how he felt.

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Your protagonist, Teresita, is described as “bespectacled, awkward, and mystery-novel-obsessed.” How much of your own inner nerd did you pour into her?

I would say that almost 100%. The only real exceptions are a few details changed for the sake of the plot, like the circumstances of my move to the US. Otherwise, like Teresita, I was a bookworm growing up in Havana, hiding behind thick eyeglasses. (And like Teresa, the adult version of Teresita, I now happily wear contact lenses.) Back then, while other kids were focused on sports or teenage romances, I was busy reading the exploits of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple like they were survival guides. In a society where you had to be careful about what you said, being a quiet, observant “nerd” became my superpower. I was nosy and noticed everything, but like my character, I knew when to keep my mouth shut.

Some chapters take place at la escuela al campo (the school in the fields). What was that experience like for a self-proclaimed “mama’s girl” like Teresita… and yourself?

The first time was a complete culture shock. In 1980, these 45-day stints in the countryside picking coffee beans or harvesting bananas were mandatory if you wanted to attend college. My mother packed my wooden suitcase with flannel shirts, condensed milk, and Russian luncheon meat, alongside somewhat exaggerated medical notes about my nearsightedness and flat feet. But for a girl with a way-too-active imagination, the camp was actually a goldmine. It was a rustic world of cold bucket baths, 6:00 AM wake-up calls chanting communist slogans, and stale bread. Yet, away from parental eyes, it was also a hotbed for teenage drama and juicy gossip. It taught me so much about what we used to call the “Truth of Life,” the messy, exciting, and sometimes dangerous world of adults. I had already explored this setting in my novel A Girl Like Che Guevara (Soho Press, 2004), but The Novel Detective allowed me to revisit the camp through a fresher and mystery-driven lens.

Would you say that “a mystery lens” is a good vehicle for exploring history and personal memory?

Absolutely. Mysteries are all about hunting for clues to find the truth… what we often do when we look back at our own pasts and reflect on them. By combining the skills and mindsets of the adult novelist Teresa and the teenage “four-eyes” Teresita, I was able to view Havana through two different lenses. One perspective is shaped by youthful and awkward innocence while the other is filtered through forty years of living in the United States, speaking, thinking, and writing in a language that isn’t my mother tongue. Fiction allowed me to hand the teenage girl’s secret notes over to the adult novelist, solving a fictional mystery while having fun rewriting my own history.

The book contrasts Havana in 1980 with Havana in 2020. Your middle school, La Manzana de Gómez, is now a five-star luxury hotel. What was it like confronting that change in real life?

It felt like being a lost time traveler. In 1980, La Manzana was a crumbling, giant beast of a building. It smelled of dust, cockroaches, and rancid elevator oil, and the staircases served as “tunnels of love” where my classmates snuck away to neck. When I returned in 2022 to visit my mother, La Manzana had undergone a multi-million-dollar facelift. The lobby smelled of lavender, it had new chrome elevators, and there wasn’t a bug in sight. Instead of uniformed students and haggard teachers, the place was filled with well-dressed tourists. It was disconcerting, to say the least.  A building that belonged to the public when I was a kid now charges hundreds of dollars a night, an impossible amount for the average Cuban. That contrast became the emotional anchor of the novel’s dual timeline.

Will you be picking up A Novel Detective? Tell us in the comments below!

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Yes, Chef is a spicy enemies to lovers, forced proximity, grumpy with sunshine, and workplace romance. It features themes and topics like ADHD and neurodiversity, death and grief, regret, reputation, fame, alcohol abuse, self esteem, social media, found family, fostering and adoption, and food allergies. Yes, Chef would be perfect for fans of Happy Ending by Chloe Liese, In Stormy Weather by Chelsea Curto, When Sparks Fly by Monica Murphy, A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert, No More Secrets by Lucy Score, or Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey.

I previously read (and loved) Grace Reilly’s Beyond the Play series of sports romances but I read a lot of sports romances so it was nice to see Reilly try something different. I loved Poppy’s colourful and sunshiny personality, especially in contrast to Jack’s grumpy demeanour, plus the beachy setting of Florida was enjoyable and made for a great summer read. Additionally, I really appreciated that Poppy and Jack were both neurodiverse characters diagnosed with ADHD as I don’t see that represented very often in romance novels (and I personally think that we need to see more of it!).

The majority of Yes, Chef was set in the kitchen, so a ton of cooking and eating takes place throughout the novel; if you enjoy cooking and cooking shows then you will love this but if you’re not a big foodie or you’re not really into cooking, then all of the talk of food and food prep might not be of interest to you. Additionally, I love it when authors include extra content (like recipes or playlists) at the end of novels so it seemed like a missed opportunity to me that none of Jack’s recipes were included at the end of Yes, Chef (I personally would have loved to try out Jack’s Pop-Tart recipe!). Perhaps some recipes may be shared later on social media or in special editions of the book.

Although this book wasn’t my favourite from Grace Reilly, I enjoyed this enemies to lovers romance and think it would be a great addition to romance readers’ summer TBR lists. I gave this book a rating of 8 out of 10.

Yes, Chef is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of July 21st 2026.

Will you be picking up Yes, Chef? Tell us in the comments below!

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Hi, Lo! Welcome back! How have you been since we spoke last year for Fast Boys and Pretty Girls?

Things have been great in my world. Thank you for having me back!

Your latest novel, The Sins of Summer Daughters, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Does anything ever go away?

What can readers expect?

The Sins of Summer Daughters is a slow burn, character study about two separate tragic deaths that are connected by one blood line. A grandmother, Meg Gregory, in trying to help her granddaughter Lucy through a murder accusation relives events from her youth that have shaped who she is, however hidden she kept them from herself. It’s got snake venom, fortune tellers, confused young girls, and layer upon layer upon layer of secrets.

Where did the inspiration for The Sins of Summer Daughters come from?

I am a slave to memory, a nostalgia junkie, a person constantly ruminating over or longing for the past. We tend to present memories and the past as inevitable, things that we consider without really being aware of it, but what happens if a person intentionally forgot something that happened to them, and it won’t stay forgotten? I remember everything-even that which I would love to forget. Memory is fascinating in the way it shapes us, abuses us, comforts us, but never abandons us.

Can you tell us a bit about your process for planning out and working on The Sins of Summer Daughters?

I am a true pantser (as opposed to a plotter)  and do not do any planning or plotting. I find I am most successful when I let myself write without any guardrails. I have to do a TON of editing and more or less rewrite the book a half dozen times but that is the system that has worked for me. I let my characters tell me what happened and follow their lead. There is a moment when working on a manuscript when I finally understand what I’m writing about—that is when I am able to really sink my teeth in…and have to go back and edit the entire thing!

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I loved writing Meg. We are not alike but I related to her struggle to find her voice in the world. A lifetime of frustrations, hardships, and mistakes. She didn’t have the infrastructure to face what she had to face…the same could be said of probably about eighty percent of the population.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

I always end up having to cut a lot from my books—because it’s necessary!—but that takes a toll. I do fall in love with a lot of passages that don’t serve the final product. A lot of what I write is how I get to know my characters and how I get to know their world, so in the end it is not important to the story but rather just to me as the story’s creator.

What’s next for you?

I have a book called A Study in the Girls Forgotten coming out next year.

Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?

I have been reading and thoroughly enjoying Akashik’s Noir series—currently reading both Accra Noir and Amsterdam Noir. Before that I read They Shoot Horses Don’t They? I’ve been in a dark place literarily! But the writing is fantastic!

Will you be picking up The Sins of Summer Daughters? Tell us in the comments below!

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