Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle Genres: Adult, Magical Realism, Ghosts, Low Fantasy, Speculative Fiction Published by Simon & Schuster on May 19, 2025 Format: eBook Pages: 400 What if you could have one last meal with someone you’ve loved, someone you’ve lost? Combining the magic of Under the Whispering Door with the high-stakes culinary world of Sweetbitter, Aftertaste is an epic love story, a dark comedy, and a synesthetic adventure through food and grief.  Konstantin “Kostya” Duhhovny is a haunted man. When he was a child, his beloved father died shortly after their family immigrated to Brooklyn from Ukraine, and ghosts have been hovering around Kostya ever since. Kostya can’t exactly see the ghosts, but he can taste their favorite foods. Flavors of meals he’s never eaten will flood his mouth, a sign that a spirit is present. Kostya has kept these aftertastes a secret for most of his life, but one night, he decides to act on what he’s tasting. And everything changes.  Kostya discovers that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones—at least for the length of time it takes for them to eat a meal he prepares for them. He realizes that perhaps his life’s purpose …

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone Genres: Adult, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, LGBTQ+, Science Fiction, Time Travel Published by Simon & Schuster on June 22, 2019 Format: Paperback Pages: 201 In the ashes of a dying world, Red finds a letter marked “Burn before reading.” So begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents in a war that stretches through the vast reaches of time and space. Red belongs to the Agency, a post-singularity technotopia. Blue belongs to Garden, a single vast consciousness embedded in all organic matter. Their pasts are bloody and their futures mutually exclusive. They have nothing in common—save that they’re the best, and they’re alone. Now what began as a battlefield boast grows into a dangerous game, one both Red and Blue are determined to win. Because winning’s that you do in war. Isn’t it? A tour de force collaboration from two powerhouse writers that spans the whole of time and space. This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence. Note: My original review for this book is old and does not meet current …