Seven Austen-inspired historical romance novels

Rachel Brittain is a writer, Day Dreamer, and Amateur Aerialist. Her short fiction has appeared in Luna Station Quarterly, Andromeda Spaceways, and others. She is a contributing editor for Book Riot, where she screams into the void about her love of books. Brittain lives in Northwest Arkansas with a rambunctious rescue pup, a snake, and a houseful of plants (most of which aren’t carnivorous).

At Book Riot she tagged seven Austen-inspired historical romance retellings. One entry on the list:

The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh by Molly Greeley

Another notably overlooked Austen character, Anne de Bourgh, discovers there’s more to life than Rosings in this romance retelling. Reliant on the laudanum she was first given as a fussy baby, Anne lives a quiet half-life within the confines of the great estate she was raised to inherit. But when her father dies and she is spurned by the man she was long told she would marry, Anne decides its time to discover whether its the sickness or the cure preventing her from living as she’s always wanted. With the help of her cousin Colonel John Fitzwilliam, she discovers life has more to offer her than she ever could’ve imagined.

Read about another novel on the list.

The Heiress is among Julia Seales's ten top unexpected Jane Austen homages.

The Page 69 Test: The Heiress.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: M. X. Mitchell's "Unsettling Sovereignty"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Unsettling Sovereignty: International Law, Nuclear Weapons, and US Extraterritorial Power in Postwar Oceania by M. X. Mitchell.

About the book, from the publisher:

Marshall Islanders and their ancestral lands and waters played important roles in reshaping the United States’ offshore power, state sovereignty, and the international politics of decolonization.

In the years following World War II, the United States conducted sixty-seven devastating nuclear blasts in the Marshall Islands―yet the archipelago was never a US territory. Working through the United Nations, US diplomats engineered a new, one-of-a-kind extraterritorial status, called strategic trusteeship, to control the Native lands, waters, and peoples of the Marshall, Caroline, and Northern Mariana Islands. Strategic trusteeship permitted the US to militarize a vast expanse of Western Oceania. This novel and racialized legal form of international dependency was integral to US nuclear weapons detonations and damage in the region.

In Unsettling Sovereignty, M. X. Mitchell recounts this untold legal history, exploring how nuclear weapons changed claims and practices of sovereignty from the 1940s to the present. US nuclear blasting in the Marshall Islands troubled conventional renderings of state sovereignty under international law. The explosions, disastrous for Marshallese communities and their ancestral atolls, also caused hazardous nuclear fallout, which spread around the globe. Islanders and their allies turned to law, using legal wrangling over blasting and fallout to raise new questions about the location, time, and subjects of state violence in a period of decolonization; the intersections between race, Indigeneity, and wide-scale technogenic harm; and the pitfalls and unfulfilled promises of international law. Mitchell shows that the Marshallese people and their lands and waters were, and remain, central to redefining sovereignty in an era of boundless pollution and climate change.

Visit M. X. Mitchell's website.

The Page 99 Test: Unsettling Sovereignty.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top books about the Romanovs

At Town & Country Lauren Hubbard and Norman Vanamee tagged eight of the best books to explore the history of the Romanov family. One title on the list:

The Romanovs: 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore

This is the book to read if you want a sweeping, well-told account of the Romanovs’ entire three-century reign. Montefiore, who has written well-regarded books on Stalin, Catherine the Great’s relationship with Prince Potemkin, and Jerusalem, among others, has a wonderful ability to pinpoint crucial moments and recount them in a way that brings individuals and complex personal and political dynamics to life.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books that share a comforting charm

At Bustle Grace Wehniainen tagged "seven books as cozy as Gilmore Girls for whatever fall flavor you may be craving." One title on the list:

Not in My Book by Katie Holt

If you loved the romantic and intellectual tension between Jess and Rory, this is a natural addition to your TBR. College classmates Rosie and Aiden have diametrically opposed literary sensibilities, but when they’re forced to team up on a writing assignment, things take a swoony turn.

Read about another entry on the list.

Also see Kristy Woodson Harvey's seven cozy, Gilmore Girls-coded fall novels.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Anna Rasche's "The Cursed Diamond"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Cursed Diamond: A Novel by Anna Rasche.

About the novel, from the publisher:

In New York City a century apart, two women’s fates are bound by the dark legacy of the Midnight Diamond

2010. Jennie is working as a runner in the Diamond District when a friend’s sudden death leaves her with a cryptic note: “Not Safe.” Her search for answers leads her to an antique jewelry box, a clue to a century-old mystery and the legend of the Midnight Diamond—a rare blue gem rumored to bring ruin to all who possess it. As Jennie is pulled deeper into a world of secrets and danger, she realizes she is not just chasing a lost treasure; she is uncovering a story that was meant to stay buried.

1910. On an ocean liner bound for New York, heiress Marcella Porter returns home after being disgraced by scandal in London. Her path collides with a charismatic nobleman and the magnificent Midnight Diamond, which she unknowingly smuggles into the city. Mesmerized by its brilliance, Marcella feels an irresistible pull toward the diamond, and when the glittering façade of her charmed life begins to crack, Marcella must decide whether the Midnight Diamond is her salvation—or her doom.

Can Jennie break the centuries-old curse before it brings more ruin? Inspired by history’s most captivating gemstone, The Cursed Diamond is a thrilling mystery about fate, obsession, and the deadly costs of ambition.

Visit Anna Rasche's website.

Q&A with Anna Rasche.

The Page 69 Test: The Cursed Diamond.

--Marshal Zeringue

Three top paranormal thrillers

Kennedy Cole is a speculative author with a BFA in Creative Writing and a Certificate in Publishing. Born in North Carolina, she lives by the beach with her partner and enjoys playing games, puzzling, sipping matcha, and collecting tattoos. Her creative portfolio includes an array of published fiction, poetry, and nonfiction with Oakland Arts Review, Carolina Muse, Second Story Journal, and others.

There Used to Be People Here is her first novel.

At Book Riot Cole tagged three of her favorite paranormal thrillers. One title on the list:

I read We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer in a single sitting, trapped in a coffee shop booth with no choice but to turn the page. It was utterly captivating, so well written, and God, one of the scariest books I’ve ever read. Following a queer couple who’ve recently purchased a new home and are in the process of moving in, things shift quicker than expected in this terrifying, lightning-paced novel. I highly recommend it for thriller fans looking to dig their way out of a slump.

Read about another novel on the list.

We Used to Live Here is among Victoria Helen Stone's nine icy thrillers to get you through the sweltering summer.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Emily G. Shanahan's "Penelope and Her Maids"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Penelope and Her Maids by Emily G. Shanahan.

About the book, from the publisher:

Penelope and Her Maids reconsiders the Odyssey from Penelope's point of view. Her decisions have long been considered to be the product of a fractured characterization, with no coherent human psychology possibly explaining everything she says and does. Emily Shanahan investigates this characterization, and all of Penelope's decisions, in context, reading each one of her scenes diachronically. In doing so, Penelope and Her Maids reveals how the pervasive threat of gendered violence in homeric society―a rape culture―constrains what Penelope may say and do openly.

The suitors attempt to fill a power vacuum in Odysseus's absence―by either marrying his wife, Penelope, or alternatively, diminishing his honor, geras, which includes the value of his possessions. As Penelope is an asset in his ledger, the only way to stay safe is to lead the suitors to believe she may become theirs at any moment. Penelope ultimately survives the Odyssey's violence. However, twelve young, enslaved girls in her home do not and ultimately demonstrate the inherent danger that men pose to women in Homer's world.

Learn more about Penelope and Her Maids at the Cornell University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Penelope and Her Maids.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five timeless historical fiction books

At Mental Floss Chelsea Thatcher tagged five novels "that paint vivid pictures of history," including:

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian author who worked to unravel the stereotypes of African people. His first novel, Things Fall Apart, is set in 1890 Nigeria as the land and people are colonized by the British. Where most literature on colonialism continued racist tropes about "primitive" tribes, Achebe humanized the Igbo people through Okonkwo's story.

Things Fall Apart has become one of the pivotal works of post-colonial literature, and it gives perspective to parts of history that have long been silenced. It truly makes the reader sit with the heavy emotions Okonkwo feels, adding even more depth to the tragedy.

Read about another book on the list.

Things Fall Apart is among Ore Agbaje-Williams's seven scandalous betrayals in fiction, Claire Fuller's top ten novels set in villages, Jeff Somers's twenty-five books you probably should have read already, Barnaby Phillips' top ten books about Nigeria, Pushpinder Khaneka's three best books on Nigeria, Hallie Ephron's ten best books for a good cry, Helon Habila's three books to help understand Nigeria, and Martin Meredith's ten books to read on Africa.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Mara Williams's "The Other Side of Starting Over"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Other Side of Starting Over: A Novel by Mara Williams.

About the novel, from the publisher:

When her husband’s tragic death uncovers long-buried secrets, a young mother fights to protect her family and heal her heart in an emotionally resonant novel about loss, love, and second chances.

After her husband’s sudden death, Beatrice Bell retreats to her childhood home in California’s Sierra mountains with her rebellious teenage twins in tow. Her plan is to take over her parents’ antique store, ensure it survives another generation, and build a new life from the rubble of the old one.

But Bea didn’t plan on Simon, the gruff store manager with his own ambitions for the business. As they’re forced to work together, animosity gives way to grudging respect and ignites an unexpected spark. Before Bea can find her footing, everything is upended. First by River, a local boy who bears a striking resemblance to her late husband. Then by her estranged mother-in-law, who reveals devastating secrets that will test everything Bea believed about her marriage.

As Bea navigates grief, betrayal, and an unexpected connection with Simon, she finds that it may be possible to begin again, but only if she confronts the truth of her past.

Visit Mara Williams's website.

Q&A with Mara Williams.

The Page 69 Test: The Truth Is in the Detours.

My Book, The Movie: The Truth Is in the Detours.

Writers Read: Mara Williams (August 2025).

My Book, The Movie: The Epicenter of Forever.

Writers Read: Mara Williams (February 2026).

The Page 69 Test: The Epicenter of Forever.

The Page 69 Test: The Other Side of Starting Over.

--Marshal Zeringue

The five best books on the AI industry

The Guardian’s tech reporters shared a list of the best books on the AI industry, including:

Empire of AI – Karen Hao

The most intensively reported book on the AI industry so far, Empire of AI covers the rise of OpenAI, as well as the formation of Anthropic and OpenAI chief Sam Altman’s split with Elon Musk. Parts of the book can feel a bit inside baseball, but the reporting is great and shows how the key American AI companies brought us to this point. Some early reviews of the book in 2025 suggested Hao’s take on the industry was overly negative: she has since been entirely vindicated.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Derek A. Ide's "Ghosts of Bandung"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Ghosts of Bandung: Black Power and Palestine in the Global Cold War by Derek A. Ide.

About the book, from the publisher:

Ghosts of Bandung makes the major new argument that the fates of the Black and Palestinian revolutions were bound together through the rise and fall of a larger Third World political project. Drawing on English and Arabic archives, Derek A. Ide shows how Afro-Arab solidarities shaped and were shaped by geopolitics and grand strategy. Through biographical vignettes of forgotten figures and underexplored groups, Ghosts of Bandung interweaves the histories of movement dynamics and those of contending states in the global Cold War. This story binds the United States and the Middle East―Detroit and Damascus, Oakland and Algiers―while spanning the globe. From the Sino-Soviet split to the Beijing-Jakarta Axis, this global retelling of Black Power and the Palestinian Revolution engages China, Cuba, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, and others. At the heart of this broader project is the hitherto untold story of CONEFO, Indonesian President Sukarno’s attempt to construct an alternative United Nations–like organization in Jakarta. Centering on 1965 and the collapse of CONEFO, Ide links the fates of Black Power and the Palestinian Revolution to the fall of Third Worldism and the “Bandung Spirit.”

Learn more about Ghosts of Bandung at the University of California Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Ghosts of Bandung.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five great unexpected sequels to crime novels

Janice Hallett is a former magazine editor, award-winning journalist, and government communications writer. She wrote articles and speeches for, among others, the Cabinet Office, Home Office, and Department for International Development. Her enthusiasm for travel has taken her around the world several times, from Madagascar to the Galapagos, Guatemala to Zimbabwe, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. A playwright and screenwriter, she penned the feminist Shakespearean stage comedy NetherBard and cowrote the feature film Retreat. She lives in London and is the author of The Appeal, The Twyford Code, The Christmas Appeal, and The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels.

Hallett's new novel is The Silent Appeal.

At CrimeReads the author tagged five crime novel "sequels no one was expecting, least of all the author themselves." One title on the list:

Tana French, Dublin Murder Squad series

In the Woods, Tana French’s debut novel, featured Detective Rob Ryan and his partner Detective Cassie Maddox. It was such a hit that it inspired the entire Dublin Murder Squad series of six books over ten years. However, interestingly, the focus shifted from Ryan to Maddox, as she proved the more popular and interesting character of the two.

Read about another novel on the list.

The Likeness, the immediate sequel to French's debut, is among Lisa Borders's seven novels featuring women leading double lives, Allison Buccola's seven novels featuring imposters among us, Anna Snoekstra's seven titles built on the weight of a shared secret, Louise Hegarty’s eight Irish novels about the rise & fall of Big Houses, Emily Bain Murphy's seven mystery novels with the best twists, Emily Beyda's seven top doubles in the twisted world of mystery fiction, Sophie Stein's eight books about small-town woman detectives, Alison Wisdom's sven great thrillers featuring communal living, Christopher Louis Romaguera's nine books about mistaken identity, and Simon Lelic's top ten false identities in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Melissa R. Collings

From my Q&A with Melissa R. Collings, author of The Love Operation: A Novel:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Quite a bit, although it took us a while to get there.

My original title was Operating on the Past, which I loved because it worked on two levels. Cordelia is a spine surgeon who approaches problems as things to diagnose and fix, and she’s also operating on information from her past.

But my publisher wanted a title that put the romance more front and center. This led to a lot of back-and-forth.

Eventually, I proposed The Love Operation, which was close to one of the ideas my editor had suggested but still gave me the double meaning I wanted. Cord is essentially performing an operation on her love life, but an “operation” can also be a mission, and she definitely treats it like one.

I think it does a pretty good job of telling readers what they’re getting. Cord approaches her love life much the way she approaches surgery: identify the problem, gather the information, make a plan, fix it. Unfortunately for her, people are significantly less...[read on]

Visit Melissa R. Collings's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Love Operation.

Q&A with Melissa R. Collings.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight novels about spending half your life at work

Devon Halliday’s fiction has been awarded a Pushcart Prize and distinguished by Best American Short Stories. Her writing appears in Ploughshares, One Story, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Liberties, and elsewhere. She is the author of To Stay, To Stay, To Stay (McSweeney’s), which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.

At Electric Lit she tagged "eight novels [in which] the daily grind is presented in obsessive, sometimes absurdist detail, turning the familiar into something uncanny and worth studying." One title on the list:

Stoner by John Williams

William Stoner gives himself entirely to the work of loving and teaching literature. In so doing, he alienates students, battles with colleagues, dooms his marriage, and dies unremembered. It is impossible to read the account of the small victories and painful setbacks of Stoner’s life without both rooting for him and resigning oneself to his eventual disappointment. This novel maps out the long and embattled path of academia, from youthful ambition to cutthroat office politics to the fading of relevance. Through it all, Stoner somehow continues to love teaching, and to value the opportunity he has to discuss literature with successive generations of students. Stoner is a compassionate and unsparing view of the life of professors, and shows how even this apparently cushy daily grind has its share of hard and thankless labor.

Read about another entry on the list.

Stoner is among Kate McCusker's five best campus novels, Sally Oliver's five books for the grieving, Kate Weinberg's five top university-based novels, Andrew Hunter Murray's top five books to make you feel less alone, Thomas Maloney's ten best deaths in fiction, Simon Kernick's six best books, The Secret Teacher author's ten top books about teaching, Jamie Fewery's ten best fictional fathers, and Colum McCann's top ten novels featuring poets.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Mariah Fredericks reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Mariah Fredericks, author of Murder on 34th Street: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

Right now, I seem to be reading about awful people. Like a lot of writer/readers, I have a few books going at once and it usually feeds into what I’m working on in some way.

I’m trying to get up the nerve to write something about Dorothy Parker, so I’m deep into a second read of Marion Meade’s 1987 biography, What Fresh Hell is This? It’s a fascinating work because Meade doesn’t pull punches; at times I find myself disliking Parker intensely. Her wit is so fast and so lethal, it puts you mind of Bruce Lee. But she didn’t always pick on people her own size and there are times you think, Oh, shut up. Like many of her era, Parker wasn’t fond of other women. But then she surprises you, showing strength and integrity when under fire from McCarthy, her genuine dedication to civil rights, her empathy for Marilyn Monroe. Her frenemyship with Lillian Hellman at the end of her life is worth an entire book. I can’t say I have Parker figured out yet. But...[read on]

About Murder on 34th Street, from the publisher:

From the author of The Girl in the Green Dress comes a delightful and captivating novel about a fictional murder mystery at the iconic Macy's parade leading up to the holidays in historic New York City.

New York, 1932. Grace Verlander is the secret beating heart of Macy's. She's the "assistant to the assistant to the someone who's in charge", the go-to person for keeping everything running smoothly behind-the-scenes at the famous, bustling store.

It's not every day you get a letter from Santa Claus, but three days before the Macy's annual Thanksgiving Day Parade, Grace arrives at work to find a note from the store Santa Claus in her locker: someone has sent him a death threat. Shocked, Grace promises to look into it and speaks to the store detective about the parade's security, confident that they've found a solution that will keep everyone safe. But on the day of the parade, despite all their precautions, a dead body is found on one of the floats.

Using her wits and deep knowledge of the ways of the place, Grace is determined to find the killer and seek justice-not just for the dead man, but to save the reputation of this iconic store from ruin.

Steeped in glittering glamor and nostalgic wonder, this is a remarkable, unpredictable mystery set in the evocative world of one of New York's most memorable institutions.

Visit Mariah Fredericks's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Girl in the Park.

The Page 69 Test: A Death of No Importance.

My Book, The Movie: Death of an American Beauty.

The Page 69 Test: Death of an American Beauty.

Q&A with Mariah Fredericks.

The Page 69 Test: The Lindbergh Nanny.

My Book, The Movie: The Girl in the Green Dress.

Writers Read: Mariah Fredericks.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top books about cults

At Huffington Post Tessa Flores tagged eight books that will satisfy your fascination with cults. One title on the list:

The Incendiaries: A Novel by R.O. Kwon

Fans of Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” will be drawn to R.O. Kwon’s debut novel about the posh Phoebe Lin and the outsider Will Kendall. The two students meet while attending a liberal arts college. Will is drawn to the beautiful and charismatic Phoebe, and Phoebe is drawn to an extremist religious cult. Before attending college, Phoebe’s mother died, and the grief she feels consumes her. In her emotionally vulnerable state, she’s drawn to a carefree and enigmatic barefoot man, John Leal. Phoebe finds purpose through John’s Christian proselytizing, as do others at the college, and he begins to assemble a group of followers. But John’s appeal is not as easily won from Will, who struggles with Phoebe's newfound commitment to what he begins to recognize as a cult. At the book’s climax, Phoebe disappears, leaving Will obsessed with finding her.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Incendiaries is among Lauren Ling Brown's five top dark academia novels by BIPOC authors and Tara Isabella Burton's seven titles with fictional characters in search of utopias.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: danah boyd's "Data Are Made, Not Found"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census by danah boyd.

About the book, from the publisher:

An eye-opening story of the people who make the census, the United States’ largest and most consequential dataset, and the growing threats to their crucial work.

By many measures, the US census is the government’s largest non-wartime operation, and one of the world’s oldest and biggest data-making endeavors. The 2020 census required more than a decade of planning and technical work―not to mention managing nearly a quarter of a million temporary workers simultaneously―to collect data about the American public. That data was then processed to count each of 331,449,281 residents once―and only once―and in the right place. The operation is also one of the country’s most consequential. Census data determine how political power and federal funding are allocated. Census data make politics, and consequently, politics make census data. In this urgent book, danah boyd explores what it took for the Census Bureau to make the 2020 census, amidst a global pandemic and natural disasters, and while navigating political forces that constrained the budget, micro-managed the schedule, and attacked statisticians’ methods.

With rare insider access to the Census Bureau, boyd observed and interviewed hundreds of government civil servants who made the 2020 census. By documenting the perspectives of government workers, Data Are Made, Not Found provides a rare glimpse into what it takes to make democracy’s data. Each chapter reveals a different challenge―ranging from the last-minute fights about a citizenship question to the not-so-helpful help of well-intended stakeholders to avoid undercounts―and shows how civil servants responded to each problem, controversy, and hurdle. Boyd shows how many of the challenges that the Census Bureau faced in 2020 resulted from decades of political operatives, data users, and various stakeholders playing what boyd calls “Jenga politics,” weakening the administrative state for short-term political gains by removing support and adding more requirements.

Civil servants saved the 2020 census, but future censuses―and other data-making efforts related to elections, health, and the economy―are precarious. Boyd’s message is clear and compelling: protecting democracy means protecting the people and institutions that produce this data.

Visit danah boyd's website.

The Page 99 Test: Data Are Made, Not Found.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine top vampire novels

Lorna Wallace has a PhD in English Literature and is a lover of all things science fiction and horror. She lives in Scotland with her rescue greyhound, Misty.

At Mental Floss Wallace tagged nine "vampire novels with a little less sparkle and a little more bite," including:

The Lesser Dead (2014) // Christopher Buehlman

Christopher Buehlman was inspired to write The Lesser Dead from a single mental image: “a little girl with makeup on riding the subway in the 1970’s.” The story then grew from him “play[ing] around with different explanations of who she was, exactly what kind of vampire, and who it was that was seeing her.” The finished result is set in New York in 1978 and is told from the point of view of 14-year-old Joey Peacock, who was turned into a vampire a few decades earlier. While riding the subway one day, Joey encounters some out-of-control vampire children, and the story takes off from there. The Lesser Dead goes to some dark places, but it’s also absolutely hilarious.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Melissa R. Collings's "The Love Operation"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Love Operation: A Novel by Melissa R. Collings.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A brilliant spine surgeon gains the power to perfectly recall her past—only to discover that some memories are better left undisturbed. A witty, emotional story about the intersection of medicine, memory, and the messy reality of loving imperfectly.

Dr. Cordelia Wren has always been in control—of her surgical career, her emotions, and especially her memories. But when she joins a cutting-edge memory enhancement study at her hospital, she gains an unexpected ability: the power to vividly relive any moment from her past. It seems like the perfect opportunity to analyze her failed relationships and finally understand why every man she’s ever loved has walked away.

There’s just one problem. Actually, three:

1. She may have…borrowed…access to the highly restricted memory study.
2. She’s secretly dating the hospital’s new COO while competing for chief of surgery—a relationship that could destroy both their careers if discovered.
3. Her first love has just reappeared in her life, stirring up feelings she thought she’d buried.

As Cordelia dives deeper into her past, the lines between memory and reality begin to blur. The truth she uncovers forces her to question everything she thought she knew about love, ambition, and what it means to be “in control.”

With her career hanging in the balance and her heart pulled in two directions, Cordelia must decide: Should she trust the memories that have shaped her life, or finally let go of the past to embrace an uncertain future?

Perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Ali Hazelwood, The Love Operation is a witty, emotional story about the intersection of medicine, memory, and the messy reality of loving imperfectly.

Visit Melissa R. Collings's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Love Operation.

--Marshal Zeringue

Three top thrillers about female rage

Janasha Prabhu is a graduate of the University of Illinois with degrees in chemistry and computer science and is a fellow of the 2024 LitUp cycle through Reese’s Book Club.

She has adored horror ever since picking up her first Goosebumps book as a kid and enjoys incorporating her experiences as a queer woman of color, her love for animals, and her interests in cooking into dark and twisted stories.

Prabhu currently lives in Chicago with her partner and their three cats—Grimm, James, and Harpo—and loves catching the latest horror movie, cooking a new recipe, or playing video games when she’s not writing.

Her debut thriller is Monster in the Mirror.

At Book Riot Prabhu tagged "three thrillers about female rage that I hold dear to my heart and am honored to recommend." One title on the list:

They Never Learn, by fellow Chicagoan Layne Fargo, follows Scarlett Clark, an English professor who’s good at her job—and at getting away with murder. As the body count of problematic men on her university’s campus grows larger, the school begins to look more closely into the cases, and Scarlett slips up, putting her secret at risk of discovery.

Read about another entry on the list.

They Never Learn is among Harry Dolan's five great murder mysteries set in college towns, Katherine A. Olson's five top books with righteous female rage, Laura Picklesimer's seven dark and thrilling novels about women who kill, Julia Bartz's five thrillers featuring female psychopaths, Misha Popp's eight recent novels featuring truly fatal femmes fatales, Lesley Kara's six top crime novels about settling old scores, Heather Levy's top eight books on those darkest guilty pleasures we love to devour, Melissa Colasanti's six deliciously duplicitous female characters in thrillers, Amy Gentry's novels of the new Dark Academia canon, and Molly Odintz's six best vigilante thrillers.

My Book, The Movie: They Never Learn.

--Marshal Zeringue