Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Too Hexed to Handle by Charlotte Ingham, which releases on September 10th 2026 and is now available for preorder.

Daisy has a secret: she’s a Souleater, an outlawed magical being who feeds on emotions. She’s also hexed—her kiss cursed to kill. So she’s built a quiet life running a crumbling inn on the edge of town, matchmaking guests while keeping her own heart firmly off-limits.

But when a mysterious contest promises a cure for Souleater magic—and a reward big enough to save her inn—Daisy sets off on a perilous quest with Astin, her emotionally unavailable (and infuriatingly attractive) gardener. There’s just one problem: Astin hunts Souleaters. And he has absolutely no idea Daisy is one of them.

As secrets unravel and feelings get far too complicated, Daisy must choose: the cure, the truth…or the one man she just might love enough to kiss.

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

The post Read An Excerpt From ‘Too Hexed To Handle’ by Charlotte Ingham appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt in print and audiobook format from Ashes at the Altar by LaDarrion Williams, which releases on September 15th 2026.

Malik Baron has learned a lot since he first came to Caiman University: History is power. Family is more than just blood. You can’t escape your past. And magic always comes with a price.

But nothing he’s been taught could have prepared him for what this semester will bring. Even after he risked it all to trap the evil spirit Marinette that has been possessing his mother, her power continues to grow. And with her and the Bokors still at large, the cracks in the magical community have reached a breaking point. Just as Malik begins to get to know his father’s family, the Bonclairs’ power is challenged, leaving him to decide where his loyalties lie. And it’s not just the future of Caiman at stake, but the very magic that runs in his veins.

In the propulsive and emotional conclusion to this powerful trilogy, the future and the family Malik has fought so hard to build and protect is in greater danger than ever. But with the power of ancestors and the strength of his loved ones behind him, can he fight for what the world has always said is impossible for a Black boy like him—a happy ending?

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

The post Read or Listen To An Excerpt From ‘Ashes at the Altar’ by LaDarrion Williams appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Firstborn by M.J. Hastings, which is out now.

The first children take up arms.
The second children take up books.
The third children are taken.

Bryn Ruelle was never supposed to rank first. Yet there it was: her face, flashing across every scoreboard with 5:1 odds of winning. The top contender for the Long Night, the final test for the eldest daughters and sons of Durst. The Firstborn must prove they can take a life—or be exiled themselves. If they survive, they’ll graduate into soldiers dedicated to defending their borders against their magic-wielding neighbors in Arcania. Bryn has never made a kill before tonight. But by dawn, someone will be dead by her hands.

In case she doesn’t make it, she should say her goodbyes. To Asa, her brilliant younger brother, studying anti-magics at Midborn University. To little Wren, her odd duckling of a sister, soon to be taken away with the other Lastborn to a place from which none of the youngest children have ever returned. But Bryn has always known: key to their survival is loyalty to their class—to Dursti—before family.

Then Bryn finds an encryption revealing an Arcanist plot to kidnap the Lastborn, and she must discern if the threat to Wren is real—or a ruse to throw Bryn off her game before the Long Night. When her search for the truth forces her side-by-side with a traitor-born enemy, she risks everything she’s trained for, and faces an impossible choice: her country, or her family? Her siblings, or herself?

EXCERPT

It was a moonless night in the twenty-first year since the Arcania-Dursti ceasefire was called, and for nearly three hundred Firstborn soldiers, that meant one thing— the Trial of the Long Night would commence at dusk. I’d be naked before lunch, and dead by dawn.

The Long Night begins with flesh and ends with blood, the Sisters liked to say, as if their prose rendered the occasion mysterious and beautiful. I suppose it was better than saying, We’re taking bets on which of you live and which die, or There are no pretty soldiers in the top ten. The latter was surely true as I happened to be in the top ten, and no one could be less impressed by my godsdamned face than me.

At the moment, it was everywhere— posted on every placard and billboard, flashing from every rune screen, the changing odds updat-ing continuously thanks to the strange half magic we’d cracked from the Arcanists. It was worse in the Red Row, where more robust gambling took place, with the rich throwing down their piles of money on their favorite soldier. On the few occasions I’d walked past the Row, some asshole would inevitably frown at me, confused as to why I didn’t look like the woman peering down at them from the screen, where my own likeness smirked at the world with supreme confidence. It was a superior version of me, all creamy skin, glossy hair, and taut muscles, the picture of a honed, healthy soldier. Even a whisper of curves. It was laughable. Anyone who’d met me knew I was all sharp angles. All sharp everything.

I was nearly to the Paddock door when a whistle sounded from afar. “Bryn Ruelle!” someone shouted. “Take your clothes off, Ruelle!”

Ignore, ignore, ignore. I clenched my jaw hard enough to crack glass, all of me tense as a bowstring as dozens of eyes found me, fol-lowed by a chorus of cheers and taunts. The guard at the Paddock opened the gate to admit me, but two overzealous bookies rushed us. I kept my head bowed as the guard pushed them back, until one got past him and shoved a camera in my face, ripping my hood back in the process. It took me one move to wrench the bookie’s arm behind his back and immobilize him. I threw the camera on the ground, smiling when it broke into a dozen pieces.

“Fucking Bastard bitch,” the bookie hissed. “Don’t look nothing like your pictures!”

“How original of you,” I said with a sanguine smile, pushing him away from me with enough force that he stumbled across the pathway, cursing me all the while, a chorus of bitch and Bastard and scrawny nobody intended to thoroughly insult me. He was too stupid to real-ize he’d done me a favor. The news would pick up the story about our altercation, and it would only increase my odds. Ruelle looks tough. Ruelle looks ready. Ruelle is a godsdamned wild beast, some broadcaster would report. This morning was all about driving up odds. Good odds got me in the Oval earlier; getting in the Oval earlier meant more kills, and more kills were my ticket out of the Citadel. More kills meant sand between my toes, the wind whipping my cheeks, the sharp tang of brine— or so I had read. I’d never seen the North Sea, and the soldiers stationed there never returned. I couldn’t blame them.

The Paddock door slammed behind me with a clunk, bringing with it the smells of sweat and adrenaline and the lingering scent of cheap soap. The communal changing room was a ruckus today, men and women disrobing without reservation, sleek muscled flesh every-where you looked. Naked bodies held minimal shock value after years spent living in the barracks, but I might have enjoyed ogling a few of them had I not been so damned vexed by it all.

I walked past the inches of glorious skin, eyeing the screen dis-playing the rotating list of the Citadel’s most infamous criminals. As usual, the same one caught my eye: ENEMY NUMBER ONE, it read. Beneath it was a shadowy figure, a man whose face was cloaked in darkness save for the jagged scar snaking down his hideous visage. The Reaper, the Arcanist ghost we’d been hunting for two years now. His face was featured throughout the Citadel nearly as much as mine, tacked to every post and door and spare inch of wall. “You’ll be someone else’s problem tomorrow,” I muttered to his picture.

I made my way to a bench, where I sat for a long moment, steeling my nerves. Then I began to strip, moving too- thick fingers numbly down my army- issued jacket, and at last, at last I let myself look at the screens installed on every square inch of the space. It was a list of soldiers’ names, containing— wouldn’t you know it?— a picture of me. And my name was at the very top.

LONG NIGHT ODDS

Wagers taken at registered locations. No credit. Cash only.

First Position: Ruelle, Bryn: 5 to 1.

I huffed. I’d been trading the top spot with Tasch— that heartless, disgusting brute— back and forth over the last week, but overnight, my odds had improved to five to one. They were the best Long Night odds I’d ever seen.

For the past twenty years, the eldest Dursti sons and daugh-ters had been conscripted into Durst’s military academy, where they spent seven years becoming hardened, lethal soldiers who would be unleashed upon the Arcanists, our neighboring enemies, if they dared break the ceasefire again…or worse. They had magic, and we had none. Before we graduated, we were put to a final challenge— the Trial of the Long Night, where every Firstborn soldier must kill a Bastard to advance. Along the way, someone clever had decided a profit could be turned by betting upon which soldiers would make the most kills, and the pomp and circumstance around the Long Night had grown greater every year.

This year, that top soldier was me.

Five- to- one odds that I would not just survive, but make the most kills of any soldier, winning glory and bragging rights and the post of my choice. Any post, anywhere.

“You look especially grumpy today,” came a deep voice from behind me. It was Kir, my handsome, overly chipper roommate, unbuttoning his shirt to reveal his long, lean torso. “The top spot chafing a bit, Ruelle?” He gave me a cheeky grin. Kir could find a way to flirt in the middle of a beating. I suppose it was why we were good room-mates. Kir winked when I frowned. Kir laughed while I…frowned more deeply.

“I hate this,” I groused. “The festivities, the cameras everywhere, my stupid face on every screen.”

“Oh, come now, it’s not that stupid of a face,” he said with a smirk. “I nearly had to fight the two bookies who waylaid me on the way in.” “Ah, well, lucky for you that fighting is what you do best. Can’t

really blame them for wanting to get an early look at you before Promenade. It’s more money in their pockets if they can broadcast you first.”

I threw down the jacket, then started on my shirt, while Kir stripped off his pants. “But I do wonder,” he said, every inch of tanned muscle flexing as he stood, “if it’s the bookies who are bothering you or if it’s something else.” He shot me a knowing look. “A twelve- year- old something who shares your last name.”

“It’s not,” I said, tearing off my socks. Wren. My strange little sister. When would they come for her? We all knew the tired expression, the line from our Holy Book that had conscripted a generation of us into servitude. The Sisters of the Night whispered it like a prayer from beneath their blackened shrouds. To the rest of us, it was a curse:

The first children take up arms.

The second children take up books.

The third children are taken.

The post Read An Excerpt From ‘Firstborn’ by M.J. Hastings 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.

Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from The Gods Will Sing Our Song by Autumn Krause, which releases on September 1st 2026.

A divine favor can change everything.

1942. War rumbles across the world, gods stir in the wind, and two star-crossed souls are set on a path that will change them forever.

Seventeen-year-old Ren Hamada is defined by his troubled past, while Violet Aratani only worries about keeping her straight-A grades. They have little in common beyond the old magic that thrums in their family relics—until the US government forces them out of their homes simply because they’re Japanese American. In a barbed-wire world where everything seems upside down, the magnetic pull between them is the only thing that makes sense.

But there’s more than just desert dust swirling in the air. A god walks among them, his mortal form tethered to the camp, and only Violet and Ren can free him—an act that would earn them an immeasurable reward. Yet with tensions rising and their lives on the line, is even a divine favor enough to save them?

EXCERPT

Chapter One
Ren
April 1942

The story was that Papa left for Japan when I was four. The reasons changed all the time. He left to help a family member. He left to bring over some stuff. He left for a job. Soon, he’ll be back. No one ever said who the family member was, what stuff, or which job.

It’s because the story was a lie.

Well, a half lie. The first part is true.

He left.

But he won’t be back soon. Sometimes, though, my stupid brain believes he will. I can’t remember the guy’s face, yet I’m always waiting on him. When you hear something long enough, it gets inside you. Mama told me the stories about Papa leaving the same way she told me every other factual thing growing up, so maybe that’s why I assumed they were true. Your name is Ren, after Papa. Emi is older, so you need to listen to her. Papa is in Osaka. Or maybe Tokyo now. Or Hiroshima. He misses us and he will come back, so be good and don’t get on my last nerve.

I’ll be hauling crates of waxy oranges and pinky-­red strawberries off the Santa Ana delivery trucks before school and think, When Papa gets back, we’ll—­ or I’ll be home after class, thumbing through our bills, and think, We just have to hang on until Papa—­

Then I’ll remember Mama bent over the dining room table, a bottle of Chinese rice wine half empty by her hand, dull words tumbling from her mouth. “Of course he’s never coming back, baka.” I’ll see the image of crusty lipstick smeared around Mama’s lips like blood, marking the back of her wrist where she must have dragged her hand across her mouth. I feel it. Not pain but panic.

I’ve been trying my hardest to unlearn the story. I keep failing and having to remember the truth and experience it again, like a cartoon character stuck in a spin-­dryer. It’s stupid. Tiring. Never-­ending.

It’s happening now, as I walk home to shower off the sweat from work and get ready for school, the clash of insecticide and fresh citrus hanging in my nose. All the guys at work gathered around one of those colorful Uncle Sam posters that have popped up everywhere—­this one showing him in a workman’s shirt and cap beneath the words DEFEND AMERICAN FREEDOM, IT’S EVERYONE’S JOB—­and talked about signing up and kicking Hitler and Hirohito’s collective ass. At first, I hung back. Japanese Americans can’t even enlist since Hirohito bombed Pearl Harbor three months ago. But as I started walking home, my mind wandered into some dumb fantasy where I don’t head off to Santa Fe when I turn eighteen like I’ve planned and instead I join up. I think about Papa seeing me in a uniform and being proud.

The daydream pops like bubble gum when the figurine hanging around my neck on a cord zings my skin.

The thing is old as hell. It’s not much more than a bit of wood in the shape of a sacred fox. It’s my only scrap from Papa, and that’s pretty much what it is: a splinter, a big nothing from the guy who didn’t stick around to tell me what it is or how to use it. I don’t even remember him giving it to me. The only memories I have are clinging to his legs at Obon like a grain of sticky rice to a pair of chopsticks, skipping rocks with him at Westlake Park, and hearing him and Mama fighting—­though I’m not even certain whether it was him or one of her other guys.

When I touch the fox, something inside it pulses. It’s like a heartbeat. Or the ticktock of a clock or the rhythmic purr of a cat. It’s quiet, old magic. It doesn’t belong here. Los Angeles is a place of bushes studded with jasmine stars and people who don’t own heavy coats and grandmotherly palm trees nodding over us. Magic, in this city of oranges and opportunity, is like that big black dot you see after looking at the sun. It’s the aftereffect of something brilliant, a negative image that’s dwindled over time.

It talks to me. The fox. It’s sort of like that Jiminy Cricket guy from Pinocchio, only without any words. Last time I sensed it, it urged me to tell Mrs. Bell that her dress was pretty. She had spent the entire semester telling me to stop slacking off, but at that compliment, she extended the due date on my math homework. It didn’t matter, of course. Mama was in one of her reigns of terror; in between hiding our rent money so she wouldn’t spend it all on booze and ducking around the water glasses she launched at my head because she couldn’t find said money, I didn’t finish it.

You’d think having a magical pendant might turn your world around, but it doesn’t do jack beyond small favors. Sometimes it doesn’t even do those. When I was ten, Mama stumbled home with her beau of that month, some prick who was more beer belly than anything else. They reeked like they’d bathed in liquor, and they were already hoarse from shouting. Porcelain exploded against the wall as the man started smashing our plates. I held the fox, begging it to tell me what to do. The damn thing was silent. I couldn’t even feel its beat.

So I let it go.

I ended up running into the living room, pushing the man against the wall. He was so drunk that he collapsed like the centers of Mama’s perpetually undercooked cakes. Only thing the fox gave me that night was a red mark on my palm from clutching it and begging it for help.

Excerpted from The Gods Will Sing Our Song by Autumn Krause Copyright © 2026 by Autumn Krause. Excerpted by permission of Delacorte Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

The post Read An Excerpt From ‘The Gods Will Sing Our Song’ by Autumn Krause appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from The Harrow Home for Wayward Girls by Jessica Spotswood, which releases on August 25th 2026.

THE HARROW HOME FOR WAYWARD GIRLS has long stood as a place of secrets. The estate has housed hundreds of young women hidden away during their pregnancies, their homesick cries echoing through the halls, providing a haunting score to Grace Harrow’s childhood.

Now, in the summer of 1947, the Home has been sold to a wealthy hotelier. Grace expects the new owner’s daughters to be spoiled. Yet Rose, the eldest daughter―unaware of Mr. Harrow’s abusive tendencies―is jealous of Grace’s seemingly easy confidence. But as they’re drawn into each other’s lives, an unlikely friendship begins to form. Fortunately so, because not all of the wayward girls made it out…

One still lingers. Lurking in the shadows. Looking for vengeance.

To expose the truth buried in the walls of the Harrow Home, Grace and Rose must unravel a legacy of silence and cruelty. But Grace’s father will stop at nothing to keep the past hidden, and if the truth comes to light, it could destroy both their families.

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

The post Read An Excerpt From ‘The Harrow Home for Wayward Girls’ by Jessica Spotswood appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Wayfarers by Jeff Zentner & Brittany Cavallaro, which is out now.

What do you do
when there’s nothing
in this world you want
more than to spend two
more hours with someone
and nothing in the world
you want less than to only
spend two more hours
with someone?

Sylvie said she wanted to live the van life after high school, but all she really wanted was to escape. With unlimited resources and an escape-artist golden retriever by her side, she keeps her eyes on the road to distract her from everything she left behind.
Knox grew up on the edge of society, without a phone, a school, or a real name. He’s never felt like he had a firm place to stand, but he’s done writing his story in vanishing ink.
On one of the worst days of Sylvie’s life, Knox helps rescue her dog and breaks his arm in the process. To apologize, Sylvie offers him a ride. But Knox is keeping some big secrets, and so is Sylvie. They must decide: If the other person knew the whole story, would they take a chance on—and maybe even fall for—a wayfaring stranger?

EXCERPT

SYLVIE
BRAVE

Out here alone, afraid of the two steps
that would take me out of my van and into

whatever landscape I’d once thought
would transform me into someone else. Do you know
about the dunes huddled against Lake Michigan

like bears bedding down for winter? I’d looked
them up on Google Images and thought about
how this looking would be different,

how it would be to stand here,
dog by my side, sand in my eyes, riot
of hair in the high July wind,

perfected. Like a girl from a story, not a girl
from Springfield, Illinois, town of strip malls,
Sally Beauty Supplies, no portals to Narnia

or anywhere else. I don’t know if I would’ve been brave
enough to leave on my own. I was a girl
who made straight A’s, flew under the radar, wing

to wing with the boy I loved, waiting.
Right after graduation, Cal and I would be gone.
And in the meantime we marked up our maps, got the travel

apps, studied TikToks about dumping black water
(don’t ask). I kept waiting for someone to tell us no
but no one did. My mom, my stepdad, Dr. O,

they all kept nodding. I was so responsible, had a budget,
backup plans B through Z, had my Northwestern acceptance letter
printed and stored in a waterproof sleeve, and if Cal

ever went off course, I’d correct. That’s what
they said. My mom, marveling: my Sylvie, off to see the world.
By May, we’d reached escape velocity. Or

I had. I had. Anymore I feel like
a paper plane in a rainstorm.

KNOX
PULL THE LID OFF

Do you know the meaning of Apocalypse
in the original Greek? I looked it up once
at the library in Fairview, Tennessee,
while passing through:

to pull the lid off. To reveal things
for what they are.

People talk about The Apocalypse
like it’s one event, a fixed point
in the sky around which satellites orbit,
drawing nearer with each pass
until eventually they’ll be consumed.

I know different. That it’s Apocalypses.
A chronic disease that haunts
your life and flares up every so often,
usually when you’re most comfortable.

Say when you’re seven, and your mom rouses you
at 2:36 a.m. and tells you to be very quiet;
that you’re leaving
but your father isn’t coming and the stillness
at that hour is too impossible to be
anything but a dream, so you go without complaint

but then you awake in a nest
of musky blankets at the back of a rattling school bus
with most of the seats removed and filled
with strangers, the road reek of diesel prickling
your nose as the herald of the end of your old life
and beginning of your unmoored new.

Or when you finally turn eighteen in a KOA campsite
in northern Michigan, which you celebrated
with a yellow cake salvaged from a Meijer dumpster that said
in blue frosting, Happy Retirement, Penis!
(I hope you got a corrected cake, Denis, and happy retirement)

and you can suddenly appear back in society
without too many questions and so you go, go in the night
like you did once, go like a ghost, go like a thought
leaving your mind, end your old life
like someone once did for you.

The post Read An Excerpt From ‘Wayfarers’ by Jeff Zentner and Brittany Cavallaro appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from But I Hate Him by Page Powars, which releases on August 25th 2026.

Rory is academic royalty.

As the heir to the most successful tutoring company in the world, he can be nothing less than perfect if he wants to gain his parents’ approval. So it’s simple. Rory studies harder than anyone else. He does not make mistakes. And he never loses.

Except to Luca Melendez. The infuriatingly good-looking hockey player who wins every academic competition without even trying.

When Rory has a very public meltdown, throwing a smoothie at Luca and shattering his own public image in the process – it feels like one more thing Luca ruined.

To salvage his reputation, Rory has his sights set on winning the most cutthroat academic camp in the country, BRAIN. There is nothing standing between Rory and the final medal.

Until, Luca Melendez shows up.

This means war and Rory has the perfect plan: Make Luca fall in love with him.

And then break Luca’s heart right before the final competition.

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

The post Read An Excerpt From ‘But I Hate Him’ by Page Powars appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Rootbound: A Tangled Novel By Margaret Owen, which is out now.

A cunning king. A devious princess. Best. Week. Ever.

Rapunzel knows nothing about her neighboring kingdom, Astera – and not just because she only left her tower a month ago. The famously reclusive island has limited its contact with outsiders for decades. So when a suspicious invitation arrives welcoming Rapunzel to the Asteran princess’s coming of age ceremony, and offering her a chance to be useful for the first time since she lost her healing powers, Rapunzel accepts – and unwittingly plunges herself and her companion, Eugene, into a tangled knot of political intrigue and magical secrets.

Eugene is just happy to get one last adventure with Rapunzel before his criminal background catches up with him and prevents their happy ending. Yet as they’re drawn further into the country’s problems, they uncover truths about Eugene’s parentage that point to deeper unrest in Astera, and suddenly the fate of their own kingdom, not just their personal dreams, is at stake.

Thrust into a power struggle between Astera’s beloved princess, Verette, its domineering king, Enver, and a mysterious secret society, Rapunzel and Eugene race to protect their home from an unsettlingly familiar threat and discover that the past can either hold them back, or help them blossom.

EXCERPT

When Eugene joins her at the bow, she’s outlined the caravel and is searching for the proper slate gray for the base layer of the hull. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” she says as he leans against the railing next to her.

“Funny thing is, I’d probably sleep right through it if you were stomping,” he admits, rubbing his face. “Sneaking by might as well be an alarm bell. Everything okay?”

“I had a bad dream.” She finds her gray, but can’t make herself set it to paper just yet. “Can . . . can I ask you something?”

“Fire away.”

“Does it bother you that . . .” She swallows. “That if you hadn’t been rescued in time . . . that you almost . . .”

His hand brushes his throat, and she knows he understands.

“Yes,” Eugene allows. A layer of veneer strips off; Rapunzel enjoys his attempts at charm and bravado, but this is the Eugene she likes best. “But also—no. You don’t do things like rob the royal palace without knowing the risks. There’s no rush without them. And a month ago, my life was the only thing I really had to gamble.” His voice catches. “So now the gallows just remind me how much more I have to lose.”

Rapunzel stows her pastel stick as the ship crests a strong wave. Finding the words feels harder than picking the right blue. “It doesn’t feel right,” she says slowly. “You didn’t even get a trial. You were almost killed just for stealing a—an expensive hat that belonged to the wrong family. I know everyone loves my parents. It just scares me that I’m going to have that kind of power to hurt people. That I might make a mistake. Especially since I can’t . . . fix it anymore.”

Eugene’s hand catches hers, and she realizes she was picking at the ends of her hair again.

“I would like to remind you we’re on a ship to fix something right now,” he says, droll. “And the king and queen aren’t liked because they’re perfect. They’re liked because they try to take care of their people, not just rule over them. They’ve opened and funded schools, libraries, clinics . . . even my orphanage would have shut down without the royal grants. You’ve only known you’re a princess for a month. Maybe now is when you figure out what kind of princess you want to be.”

Rapunzel moves his hand to her cheek. “Is this still your dream, Eugene?”

For a moment, he looks—almost like he’s holding something back.

But maybe it’s the kick of the breeze, the shift of the dark, the echo of Gothel sneering Really, Rapunzel?

“All of it and more,” he says. Then he brings his lips to hers, and everything, even the doubt, fades away.

The post Read An Excerpt From ‘Rootbound: A Tangled Novel’ by Margaret Owen appeared first on The Nerd Daily.