Genre: Low Fantasy

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Berkley. 2026 is only halfway through, but Mackenzie Reed’s adult novel debut I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell is certainly in the running for the most amusing and eye‑catching book title. Mixing bits of office workplace banter with paranormal romance, this book is an accessible and casual adventure turned rescue road trip through hell. Tonally lighthearted while including moderately detailed paranormal fantasy lore, this book is best suited for contemporary romance or chick‑lit/women’s fiction readers looking for some fantasy‑action flavor. However, for veteran SFF readers or those purely invested in romance, the limited detailing and serviceable yet pedestrian romantic beats may leave something to be desired. Demon hunters, office shenanigans, a road trip through hell, oh my! If the title isn’t attention‑grabbing on its own, this book’s premise involving coworkers venturing into the corporate underworld is equally silly and genius. The story has a hilarious and solid start that’s consistently entertaining, with great office‑room banter mixed with familiar contemporary romance beats. Early chapters slightly resemble procedural Supernatural episodes where Sam and Dean Winchester pose as federal agents or office staff and a poor featured character is bewildered…

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Viking Books for Young Readers. A story of grief and loss mixed with contemporary romance and mythological fantasy flavor, Find My Way Down to You by Julian Winters is a wholesome and sweet YA novel covering somber topics. By exploring the long, individual road to healing while honoring loved ones lost, the book feels like a warm and supportive hug that maintains an uplifting and hopeful outlook even when the pain feels unending. Well‑intentioned and earnest, it sometimes plays things too safe and doesn’t push its strongest narrative elements far enough, but it remains an accessible read with strong YA appeal. Marketed as a YA romance with crossover elements in fiction, social issues, and fantasy, the book blends a wide range of narrative components into a story focused on grief and loss. Its greatest strength is its relatability for YA readers. Purposely flawed and immature to a fault, the main character August and his internal logic match his age, highlighting teenage shortsightedness and tunnel vision. Winters captures teenage angst well, especially in the wake of August’s catastrophic loss of his boyfriend London, around whom he built his entire world.…

A story of survival, power, political strategy, and family, Shen Tao’s The Poet Empress is a stunning epic fantasy book with strong historical Chinese-inspired flavor and culture. While the story is one of power succession and imperial palace politics, this book goes beyond that through its complex familial relationships and important contextual backstories. It isn’t a simple story about a resourceful betrothed navigating court survival but is just as much about the events and pressure that led to the making of a tyrant and how the potential for power can destroy everything. Tense, brutal, beautifully poignant, and NOT a romantasy, this is easily one of my favorite reads so far of the year and one of the most ambitious debut novels most authors would dream to have under their name While featuring a fictional land and dynasty, the Poet Empress tells a sweeping fantasy story that is heavily inspired by Chinese culture and one that could’ve easily taken place in history sans the fantasy and magic. The book incorporates familiar historical elements of male heirs, large groups of female concubines, eunuchs, and a taxation and imperial system much like other well-known established dynasties. While the majority of the book covers…

What do a legendary cryptid, gods, angels and demons, the Hundred Year’s War, an immortal arcanist and his succubus housekeeper have in common? Ordinarily nothing at all unless it’s Cameron Sullivan’s novel The Red Winter. An ambitious book mixing together fantasy and historical fiction elements across the board heightened with touches of paranormal horror, the Red Winter is as entertaining as it is imaginative with a unique and quirky tongue in cheek tone. Unexpectedly humorous and endearing while describing French countrymen being viscously torn apart, Sullivan’s storytelling is an incredible vibe made all the more impressive as a debut novel. While its far-reaching story, slow pacing, and complex split timeline approach can make it a challenging read for some, this is otherwise a really fun and off-beat historical fantasy book. At its core, the story behind the Red Winter is one of French turmoil that cleverly provides plausible fantasy origins to mysterious historical events. Presented as a written recollection or memoir of the events by the immortal arcanist Sebastian Graves, the book follows Sebastian and his demon possession “guest” Sarmodel returning to impoverished province of Gévaudan after the deadly events around the famed beast nearly twenty years ago. In addition…

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books. Like the cake and other baked goods Calisa makes when she arrives at the isolated inn, Sarah Beth Durst’s YA book The Faraway Inn feels like it’s filled to the brim with all the right warm and cozy ingredients. Light magical whimsy, cottagecore aesthetic, dusty and neglected rooms, and an assortment of amusingly odd customers checked in for extended stays. While certainly cozy and devoid of anything remotely uncomfortable, the Faraway Inn is a book that some may find too safe and lacking a notable hook or spark compared to other similar reads. Following the recent betrayal and breakup with her boyfriend Ethan after she finds him cheating with another girl, a heartbroken Calisa seeks a mental and social reset during the summer break before her senior year of high school. She arrives at the Faraway Inn, a reclusive bed and breakfast in the Vermont wilderness and is shocked to find the once charming inn to be in a state of disrepair. To make matters worse, her Aunt Zee doesn’t even want her to stay or help at the inn,…