General Fiction
Plot/Idea: The Blue Iris is engaging and easy to follow as it explores the rich interplay between a group of people with very different backgrounds, motivations, and hardships. Readers will be intrigued by the cast's individual stories, all closely woven together against Stone's vividly launched backdrop of a neighborhood flower market.
Prose: Stone writes familiar, crisp prose that entertains as it builds multiple perspectives. The nuances of Tessa's interactions with the staff at the Blue Iris are carefully fashioned, with gentle direction and guidance from Stone that gives each character a brilliantly developed voice.
Originality: The flower market setting brings this lush story to life, allowing multiple perspectives to bloom across the novel as they grow into one cohesive, stunning storyline.
Character/Execution: Stone attentively nurtures each character, with Tessa and Charlie as standouts, using a rotating first-person viewpoint to allow readers an intimate glimpse of the cast's emotions and thoughts.
Plot/Idea: Botánicos is a unique yet relatable story that unfolds organically. The novel blends mystery with romance and scientific exploration.
Prose: Meerow's writing style is informative but entertaining, blunt but personable, with all of the appropriate rises and falls in tone when the story picks up speed.
Originality: From the very beginning, Botánicos set itself apart as a witty mixture of different tropes that somehow blend seamlessly together to serve the characters and the key conflicts in the plot. Because of this, it's almost difficult to assign this book just one genre, and it means that more readers will be able to dive in and find something to enjoy.
Character/Execution: Each of the main characters are distinct from one another, with their own voices and mannerisms that lend themselves to the rising and falling action nicely.
Plot/Idea: It Rhymes with Truth is an intriguing and engrossing tragicomic novel drenched in sentimentality. It focuses on the relationship between an 8-year-old boy and an elderly woman, and this odd dynamic helps forge an engaging and beautifully touching tale.
Prose: Miller's sharp attention to detail and compelling, well constructed characters lure the reader into the story. His prose style is dynamic and entertaining, with the text written in first and second person, creating a strangely immersive atmosphere.
Originality: It Rhymes with Truth is an imaginative and cleverly written debut novel, driven by a powerful childlike simplicity that recalls Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. The eccentric nature of the central relationship coupled with the diaristic writing style helps create a beguiling and convincing narrative.
Character/Execution: It Rhymes with Truth has two brilliantly realized central characters, an eight-and-a-half-year-old homeless boy and a slightly peculiar elderly woman. Their touching, funny and engaging relationship evolves effectively over the course of Miller's impressive novel.
Blurb: An engaging character-focused drama.
Plot/Idea: The Diving God follows flawed, disillusioned Bob Banks whose life is upturned as he leaves New York City for Mexico. Ray Brewer delivers an endearing story of personal growth and unexpected fulfillment.
Prose: Ray Brewer has a pleasingly lyrical style that gently propels the storytelling. Detailed passages devoted to landscapes, rock formations, archaeological sites, and diving offer a vivid sense of place. Dialogue, while expressive, can sometimes miss the mark, relying too heavily on exposition.
Originality: Bob Banks's journey of discovery is uplifted via atmospheric backdrops and the lead characters total immersion in his surroundings.
Character/Execution: While not always empathetic, the characters are suitably layered. Ray Brewer avoids idealizations and makes Bob Banks's path toward contentment a bumpy and uncertain one.
Plot/Idea: Zodiac Pets is a colorful, sparklingly funny drama starring a sprightly protagonist and a frequently compelling storyline. It boasts a consistently charming yet thought-provoking narrative that takes a biting look at the brutal world of American idealism.
Prose: Giroux's wiring style is both wryly humorous and sincere, neatly carving an accessible novel that demands the readers attention from the off. Moreover, the streets of Pennacook, Massachusetts are vividly and diligently brought to life with nimble attention to detail.
Originality: Zodiac Pets, told from the perspective of college-age Wendy looking back at her younger self, features a vivacious cast of characters and a stirring plot. Giroux's intricate, incisive writing and nicely balanced storyline create an absorbing blend that deals head on with often complex themes.
Character/Execution: Giroux's well rounded protagonist, Wendy Zhou, is mourning the loss of her father while forging a new life for herself in dilapidated Pennacook. Furthermore, Zodiac Pets features a fine supporting cast of quirky and offbeat characters coupled with subtle observations of U.S. society and city life.
Blurb: An absorbing and vibrant teen drama.
Plot/Idea: Sonya Taylor believes she has put her traumatic childhood behind her—until her high school English teacher, aware of her secrets thanks to a senior writing assignment, resurfaces. Ramsey's plot is carefully constructed and unfolds naturally, gradually exposing Sonya's upbringing and illustrating the power that comes with telling your story.
Prose: The prose is clear and readable, and Ramsey's delivery is compelling, transporting readers into the narrative right from the beginning.
Originality: Escaping Hell is unique in its construction of individual narratives that interlace within the bigger novel, and Ramsey skillfully shares key information on both Sonya's upbringing and her son's thoughts and emotions that bring their stories to life.
Character/Execution: This is a character-driven story, and the main characters are fully fleshed out and complex. Sonya's complicated relationship with her past, and how it plays out in her role as a mother, stands out as particularly well done.
Plot/Idea: The Last Quest comes across as more educative than dramatic, though the novel is catchy from the beginning. Readers will commiserate with Harvey—and perhaps even identify with his struggles—as Senyard goes into great detail when depicting the backstory to his situation.
Prose: Senyard is a strong writer, convincingly portraying a man crushed by life and its challenging circumstances. The prose is clear and concise during Harvey's sections, and more elaborate when he's reading the Tale of the Unlikely Prince, a suitable shift that flows well in the story. Throughout, Senyard keeps to a crisp, straightforward message.
Originality: Senyard offers a unique approach to handling business and life burnout through parable form, an entertaining method that makes the story more personal. Harvey is someone any business leader will be able to relate to, which helps drive Senyard's message home, and the story within a story format provides another distinctive layer.
Character/Execution: Because Senyard utilizes a parable format, the emphasis here is on situation and lesson rather than characterization. Readers will suspect that Harvey is a caricature throughout, but his experiences ably advance the plot.
Plot/Idea: Inujini is a hard-hitting story drawn from historical events and focused on the lives of young indigenous women deeply impacted by violence and war.
Prose: The author's prose is both exacting and beautifully descriptive, skillfully alternating between parallel stories. Smith is a masterful storyteller whose work touches on themes of identity, nationalism, and generational trauma.
Originality: Inujini offers an inventive and compelling retelling of a tragic historical event well-known in Japan but unknown widely in the West. The author doesn't shy from describing atrocities, potentially opening readers' eyes to Japanese history.
Character/Execution: Via three points of view–each distinct and devastating–Smith creates a memorable, character-driven novel that utilizes its historical circumstances to optimal impact.
Plot/Idea: Evenly paced, Borchert’s third installment in the Chateau de Verzat series will please fans of historical fiction. Borchert dives deeply into the landscape of 18th century France during prominent wars. Strong themes of romance, connecting and protecting others, espionage, and war will delight readers.
Prose: Borchert’s work is well written, well-researched, and evenly paced. While there are many details to consider, the reader garners a vivid image of the landscape and characters.
Originality: Borchert’s enthusiasm for French history is evident as well as for the characters she has created and carried through the series. Seeing the French landscape through the author’s eyes is a refreshing sight.
Character/Execution: Strong female characters who are willing to take risks are the focus of this novel. Borchert doesn’t shy away from complicated circumstances for her protagonist, powerfully and realistically capturing their individual passions and convictions.
Blurb: A deep dive into the French landscape during wartime.
Plot/Idea: Lose Yourself is a riveting and passionately written sports tale which effectively emphasizes the power and allure of baseball. Wetzel's accessible novel keenly illustrates how baseball can profoundly affect the lives of everyone it touches, both on and off the field.
Prose: Wetzel's text is effervescent, vividly telling Brett Austen's story with wit and panache. He confidently builds tension and drama with a scrupulous attention to detail that really brings the "in-game" scenes to life.
Originality: Written with verve and style, Lose Yourself effectively covers all bases: life, love and sports. Wetzel brilliantly captures the magic of sport as well as offering up an often touching and sentimental study of family dynamics.
Character/Execution: Brett Austen is the central focus of Lose Yourself, but other characters such as sports reporter Dana Peck are equally fascinating. Wetzel expertly handles the emotional struggless between his well-developed characters with naturalistic and involving dialogue.
Blurb: A candid and vibrant sports drama.
Plot/Idea: While infused with erotica, at its core, this is a story about a group of friends finding where they fit in the world. The reader follows them as they navigate heartbreak, challenging transitions, and difficult family dynamics, as well as the trauma of rape, racism, and HIV scares, all rawly and vividly depicted.
Prose: Naked Love Berlin positively sings in the moments depicting meaningful character communications and interactions. Sex scenes, while effectively rendered, can sometimes break the spell of the otherwise immensely engaging storytelling.
Originality: Gay life in Berlin from the expat perspective is not a common subject matter, and it's an interesting one. The city is almost a character in and of itself and the author excels at creating atmosphere.
Character/Execution: Readers will feel deeply for the individual characters as they discover, suffer, grow, and seek their own versions of happy endings.
Plot/Idea: This engrossing story takes place during a pivotal time in world history, and Suchman adds careful detail to the set up, particularly in the novel's beginning. That slows the pace initially, but Alice's story is also lovingly constructed in the process.
Prose: Suchman is a reliable writer, able to establish a sound framework for this historically significant novel. The prose is direct and steady, capably narrating the book's tense, tragic experiences.
Originality: This work is a fictionalized account of a true story, enhanced for context and storytelling. Suchman breathes vivid life into Alice's story, making her a memorable—and inspiring—character.
Character/Execution: Suchman is skilled with characterization, particularly with Alice, but also with Selma, Emma, and Alfred. Readers will be deeply impacted by their tragic stories, long after their fate is revealed.
Plot/Idea: In Christie’s smooth plot, Fran Carter is a struggling romance author in her 50s, facing the downfall of not only her long-term relationship but also her career. Readers stay largely inside Fran’s mind for the novel’s bulk, as she undertakes a journey to redefine herself and her writing.
Prose: The prose is contemporary and strong, written in a clear voice that capably digs into Fran’s thoughts and feelings. There are moments when Fran’s reactions come across flat, but the style is otherwise appealing.
Originality: Readers will appreciate Fran’s work on her writing while she simultaneously navigates the upheaval in her own life. Christie aptly mirrors her professional journey with her personal quest to refresh and reawaken her inner self.
Character/Execution: As Fran’s awareness of her stagnancy grows, so too does her desire to change things, and Christie allows readers an inside seat to her transformation. The change is fluid, natural, and beautiful to watch.
Plot/Idea: Finding Cover unfolds through two primary perspectives—Crystal Vargas and her sister, Lyssa. The story starts slow, with an abundance of background to set the scene, but once it picks up, the plot is intriguing and suspenseful.
Prose: Bredholt writes well, delivering an attention-grabbing tale with loads of tension, but minor editing issues distract from the plot's edginess at times.
Originality: Bredholt's characters steal the spotlight in this intense story; once Crystal's interactions with her dangerous husband, Duncan, take center stage, the novel becomes engrossing.
Character/Execution: Characterization is cleverly done here, particularly with Crystal's battle against depression. Lyssa is a strong personality as well, and the rotating narrative allows readers deep insight into the thoughts and emotions driving each character.
Plot/Idea: Heinrich builds this distinctly domestic plot around an unconventional central lead—Mary Kline, an unlikely mother struggling with her physical health while navigating the ups and downs of parenting (and life in general). After Mary steps in to parent her friend Pearl's baby, Elizabeth, she feels that her destiny is complete; but Elizabeth is a study in contrasts as she grows, both appreciative of and bothered by Mary, and Heinrich probes those thought-provoking concepts throughout.
Prose: Heinrich writes rich, thoughtful prose that skillfully patches together this intriguing tale, a story that brims with subtle metaphors and will make an impression on readers.
Originality: Mary's self-conscious, weighty personality consumes the novel, but Heinrich delivers a myriad of character-driven moments that make this book distinctive.
Character/Execution: Mary and Elizabeth stand out as deeply developed characters, bursting with relatability and appeal—each in their own unique way. Pearl is less well defined, though Elizabeth's father, James, is carved with careful attention to detail, and he fully transforms through the novel.
Plot/Idea: Hoti's dark story will appeal to YA readers in its coming-of-age elements, as it examines the limits of young love amid complex religious themes. The relationship between Sean and Jeremiah quickly takes flight, full of rich contradictions and tenuous connections that place both boys in harm's way, and the ending is satisfyingly shocking, a fitting conclusion to such an intense novel.
Prose: The prose is persuasive, and hard-hitting in the novel's more blistering moments, while giving voice to themes that are critical for relevant audiences.
Originality: The story's setting is cleverly fashioned and memorable from the start, and the lurking horror throughout the novel has a chilling effect.
Character/Execution: Both Sean and Jeremiah are well drawn, though Jeremiah is preternaturally wise and knowledgeable considering his age of just 15 years old. The story's two central teachers—Mr. Van Orton and Dr. Jeunet—play the perfect villains: remorseless, believable, and downright terrifying.
