Wow, so August started out with all hits, no misses. I love it, just like I have a feeling you’ll love these!

Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
Teo’s Durumi by Elaine U. Cho
Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin
Acts of God by Kanan Gill

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Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle
Published by Tor Nightfire on August 12, 2025
Pages: 240
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Lucky Day is the newest novel of terror from Chuck Tingle, USA Today bestselling author of Bury Your Gays, where one woman must go up against the most horrifying concept of all: nothing.

Vera is a survivor of a global catastrophe known as the Low Probability Event, but she definitely isn't thriving. Once a passionate professor of statistics, she no longer finds meaning in anything at all.

But when problematic government agent Layne knocks on her door, she's the only one who can help him uncover the connection between deadly spates of absurdity and an improbably lucky casino. What's happening in Vegas isn't staying there, and the world is at risk of another disaster.

When it comes to Chuck Tingle, the only thing more terrifying than a serious horror novel is an absurd one...

Okay this was amazing. Full stop, one of the best books of 2025. So suffice it to say, you know I enjoyed it! The gist is this: Vera’s out there living her best life, publishing a book, happy with her fiancé, struggling a little with her mom but for the most part, everything’s going pretty well. That is until she finds herself right in the middle of what comes to be known as “Low-Probability Event”, which basically means that a ton of people were killed in absolutely wild and unthinkable circumstances, including Vera’s mom, right before her eyes. Vera doesn’t cope well, as you can imagine, because every bit of factual evidence that she built her career around was just proven incorrect.

But eventually, Vera has the chance to make a difference, to uncover why the giant Low-Probability Event happened, and perhaps even stop the smaller, more isolated incidents that have been popping up increasingly. But can she bring herself to even care about that? The story is really two things: uncovering all these absolutely bonkers events and trying to solve those mysteries, and Vera grappling with grief, unresolved relationships, and whether she can come to terms with the world around her being nothing like she expected. I loved both parts equally, and they make for such a well-rounded story that I simply could not put it down. It’s exciting, it’s messed up, and it’s also really heartfelt and full of character development.   I don’t want to say much more, because the exciting bits and the twists and turns are a big part of the enjoyment!

Bottom Line: Such a delightful combination of messed up and emotive, I could not put it down!

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Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
Published by Tor Books on August 19, 2025
Pages: 368
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Hemlock & Silver, a dark reimagining of “Snow White” steeped in poison, intrigue, and treason of the most magical kind.

Healer Anja regularly drinks poison.

Not to die, but to save—seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on.

But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja’s unorthodox methods can save her.

Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world, hidden inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick.

Or it might be the thing that kills them all.

T. Kingfisher has become a must-read author for me. It almost doesn’t matter what the book is even about, I just read the thing. I won’t lie, at the start, this one worried me a bit. It starts slowwwly, and I was worried I would not be a fan. But! Dear reader, you needn’t worry! If you can make it through a sluggish beginning, it gets very good, and if you’re anything like me, by the end you won’t be able to put it down!

It’s a Snow White reimagining, which is very clear from the start- the character named “Snow” is a dead giveaway, right? And mirrors, and apples, the whole shebang. But it definitely is not a retelling, it is using the cool parts of the story while telling a whole new story, with wonderful characters, a talking cat (and as such, a very skeptical scientist), a dash of romance, and some very exciting shenanigans in a mirror-world. Once the story gets going, it gets going, thankfully. And once that started, I absolutely needed to know all the things!

Anja, the healer/poison expert and main character, has the T. Kingfisher trademark wit and charm, and feels like someone you’d want to hang out with. Her journey is made that much more entertaining because of her personality, which I think is my favorite part about any T. Kingfisher book. I also loved the secondary characters, and the entire worldbuilding surrounding the mirror situation was fascinating and clever.

Bottom Line: After a slower start, it ended up being another win! 

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Teo's Durumi by Elaine U. Cho
Series: The Alliance #2
Published by Zando – Hillman Grad Books on August 5, 2025
Pages: 352
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

The dazzling sequel to Ocean’s Godori dives back into Elaine U. Cho’s cinematic space opera series, taking Ocean and her crew deep into the cloisters of the Moon and the conflicts of the heart.

Teo Anand, former ne’er-do-well second son of the Anand Tech empire and current solar fugitive, has just crash-landed on the Moon after escaping the latest attempt on his life. But if anyone can help exonerate him, it’s his best friend, bold Korean space pilot Ocean Yoon.

Falsely accused of murdering his family, Teo is running out of both time and options. But loyalties are uncertain in their group of steadfast comrades and tentative new allies, and it’s difficult to know who to trust in the tangled web that awaits them in Artemis, a city on the Moon rich in Korean history and haunted by ghosts from Teo’s and Ocean’s pasts. Further complicating matters are Haven—the pensive medic whose beliefs challenge Ocean’s—and the dashing Phoenix—a space raider who’s come blazing into Teo’s life in more ways than one.

All the while Corvus, the real culprit behind the slaying of the Anands, is sowing a path of destruction that threatens to swallow the solar whole. The crew will wrestle with clashing ideals, flying bullets, and undeniable feelings, as they race toward a stunning final stand.

Teo’s Durumi brings Cho’s space opera duology to an exhilarating close, one that contends with questions of identity and acceptance; grief and redemption; and loyalty and sacrifice, as Teo, Ocean, and the people they love will decide once and for all how to forge their paths into the future.

I must confess, when I started this one, I was hard pressed to remember Ocean’s Godori. Look, it was over a year and 150+ books ago, so can you wholly blame me? The thing with this one is (and ditto Ocean), there are a lot of characters to keep track of. (And the narration switched between using their first names and last names, which added extra confusion to the pile, so I could do without that, honestly). And I was feeling overwhelmed, I was. But when I finally got into the story and started to remember the characters, things really took off. And I daresay I liked this one a bit better than the first, even! The excitement is ramped up, and the characters felt even more fully developed, as did their relationships. The ending felt completely satisfying, and while it doesn’t say whether the series has officially concluded, it could be and feel complete and wrapped up, so I love that for us.

Bottom Line:  An exciting space adventure with some great (albeit numerous) characters makes for a very entertaining and satisfying sequel!

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Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin
Published by Tor Nightfire on August 5, 2025
Pages: 208
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Manhunt author Gretchen Felker-Martin is back with Black Flame, a historical horror about one woman's deadly obsession with a haunted film, perfect for fans of Midsommar and Night Film.

Ellen, a deeply closeted lesbian spends all her time in solitude, restoring films at a failing archive in New York City.

When a group of German academics present her with a print of an infamous exploitation film believed to have been destroyed during the Holocaust, Ellen finds herself forced to confront her own repressed sexuality. And the more she works on the restoration, the more obsessed she becomes over its depictions of occult practices and queer debauchery.

She’s soon convinced that the acts portrayed in the film are not fiction, but reality. And they’re happening to her…

I am having trouble deciding where to start with this one, because there are a lot of different ideas packed into these scant pages! I absolutely felt a connection to Ellen, our main character, from the start. You can tell she’s struggling, trying to be what her family wants her to be (a straight cis woman who “settles down” and starts a family) and how fundamentally un-Ellen that is. This story is set in 1985, and Ellen’s Jewish family includes her grandmother, who is a Holocaust survivor. This comes into play during the story, especially as the film Ellen is tasked to restore is thought to have been stolen by a Nazi who was trying to destroy any Jewish art.

The movie itself is incredibly messed up, and Ellen finds herself completely wrapped up in its restoration. Through work, she also finds herself having to face the sexuality she’s been trying to tamp down as she’s told to bring in a woman who runs in the same circles as her college lover, who she’s clearly never gotten over. It’s a lot for Ellen, trying to navigate between her job, her identity, her relationships, her family dynamics (messy, very messy), and this film that is messing with her mind on many levels. She finds herself in the movie at times, which for me was a little confusing at times, but I also think perhaps that is intentional (Ellen certainly would have found such a thing confusing and jarring, after all).

Bottom Line: It’s the messed up, gory horror with great societal commentary the author is known for, but with an added bonus of some really great character development.

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Acts of God by Kanan Gill
Published by Blackstone Publishing on August 12, 2025
Pages: 350
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Channelling the craft of Neil Gaiman, the humour of Douglas Adams and the genius of Terry Pratchett, Kanan Gill weaves a story that will surprise you. It refuses to take itself seriously, yet raises the most serious of questions - what does it mean to be human?

In a post-nuclear winter world, now free from borders, war, poverty and overpopulation, the smartest man on the planet is working on the most illegal thing imaginable. Once a celebrated scientist for whom the Authority had to come up with an entirely new 'Genius Category 3', Dr K has resigned as the head of the Scientific Institute and now spends his days in a hungover, crotchety haze, relegated to working on a trifling project. But unknown to everyone else, he is obsessively simulating universes, intervening in these simulations, and when they fail to achieve what he wants, terminating them.

But all of his delicate interferences to nudge these simulated realities in the right direction inevitably come up short against the most unlikely spanner in the works - bumbling private detective P. Manjunath.

In Kanan Gill's wildly entertaining and unexpectedly moving debut novel, a Danish policeman accidentally becomes a clothing-optional leader of a worldwide group of science haters, a sentient piece of wall struggles with the limits of its artistic expression and a lapel pin's habit of always giving truthful advice causes chaos. Blending vivid inventiveness and uproarious storytelling, with an intriguing interrogation of the very nature of existence, Acts of God marks the evolution of one of our finest comedic voices.

Phew, where to even start with Acts of God?! There is just so much to this story, but also, I don’t want to give a single thing away, but I guess I have to tell you some stuff? Well- I’ll start with this: I am not familiar with the author’s comedy, but I plan to rectify that! I immensely enjoyed his sense of humor throughout the book, so I absolutely need to familiarize myself with his other ventures.

Here’s the thing about Acts of God: If you don’t read the synopsis fully before jumping in, you might be lost. I was a little lost, I admit. I think this was partly because I didn’t recall what the synopsis is about, and partly because the eARC format didn’t have any dividers. I guess I will have to buy a finished copy to see if it does (look at me, making excuses to justify buying books I have already read). But once I realized what was going on, I was all-in.

The premise is obviously incredibly thought provoking, as I certainly have wondered a time or twenty if I was in a really crappy simulation. The author also does an excellent job of increasing the thought provoking nature of the story by dropping a ton of very well-written lines that absolutely made me think even more than I already was. I’ll even say some of these lines felt quite profound, and the mix of humor with some really serious life stuff worked well for me, as it made the story feel balanced. I feel a little confused by the ending, so if you have read it, let me know so we can talk! I have thought about this book since I finished it, which to me feels like the mark of a really solid story!

Bottom Line: Incredibly thought provoking but also really witty and engaging.

Have you read any of these books? Plan to? Let us chat about them!