Wild Dark Shore

My choice for best book published in 2025 reminds us that in the face of disaster, the only real choice is love.

And The Crowd Went Wild by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Dabney: Susan Elizabeth Phillips published her first Chicago Stars book, It Had to Be You, in 1994. The book, featuring a tall, rugged football coach named Dan and a curvy…

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore is one of my favorite reads of the last few years. It is the third of three books by McConaghy; Once There Were Wolves is…

Heart the Lover

Lily King

At the start of Lily King’s Heart the Lover, a novel of three parts, our narrator is in her final year of college. While the school she attends is never…

The Rose Field

If you were to ask me what the greatest fantasy series ever is, I’d not hesitate to say: His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I read the trilogy when it…

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

(originally published on December 25, 2019) Despite being a family of non-believers, every year we pull out our holiday paraphernalia. We dress the tree, hanging with care the delicate glass…

The Plight Before Christmas

The Plight Before Christmas needs an editor, has leads in their late thirties who behave at least ten years younger, and manufactures so much angst in its final few chapters…

Hunk for the Holidays

Hunk for the Holidays knows exactly what it is: a light Christmas love story that exists just to entertain. Lane leans into the charm of a slightly ridiculous premise and,…

Duet

Duet, the first in Julie Kriss’ Road Kings series, has a sweetheart of a smokin’ hot rock star improbably named Denver who spends much of this slight tale trying to…

How to Summon a Fairy Godmother

What if Cinderella—here named Beatrice—were a self-serving, conniving brat? And what if her stepsister—here named Theodosia—were the one who deserved a happy ending? If that sounds like your jam, this…

Rebel Bride

Hatch Kershaw, NFL hockey star (of the fictional Chicago Rebels) and son of one of the sport’s greats, doesn’t want to be at the wedding of his asshat teammate Dash…

The Everlasting

The Everlasting begins where it ends: beneath a yew tree. Its first chapter, The First Death of Una Everlasting, reads like a eulogy written for a nation’s best. We’re told…