James Nicoll Reviews

Love Binds by Cynthia St. Aubin (December 2024)

Hannah Harvey returns in Love Binds, the fourth installment in the hilarious and steamy Tails from the Alpha Art Gallery series by USA Today bestselling author Cynthia St. Aubin!

For Hanna Harvey, happily ever is just the beginning…of a hot mess. Now mated to darkly dangerous but irresistibly seductive werewolf, Mark Abernathy, she’s finding that life isn’t the endless cheese and whisky fueled boinkfest she’d imagined it to be. Plagued by terrifying nightmares of a mysterious entity bent on her destruction and drowning in her new responsibilities as the alpha female of the werewolf world, she’s begun to doubt that she really is the heir. And she isn’t the only one. 

When certain werewolf factions refuse to acknowledge Hanna’s rule, what begins as a clan rivalry threatens to erupt into the first shifter war in centuries. Which is like, the worst. As is the return of Hanna’s former flame and neophyte vampire, Detective James Morrison. Bitter and out for blood (literally), he’s made it his business to exact his vengeance on all non-humans…Hanna included. 

Hoping to stave off the shifter Apocalypse, Hanna and Abernathy travel to The Gathering, where a mysterious figure from Abernathy’s past reveals a closely guarded secret with the power to break not only her heart, but their sworn bond as mates. With the fate of the werewolf world resting squarely on her bony shoulders, Hanna must now decide to trust the wildness within, or abandon the shifter world forever. 

Druid Cursed by C. J. Burright (October 2025)

One week of freedom. One cursed druid. One woman who could break the spell or doom them both. 

Every fifty years, Kellen Ravenwood escapes his magical prison for seven days. This Samhain is his last chance to break the curse, or he’ll be bound forever. All he needs is a sacrifice: the blood of Maggie O’Malley, the last living descendant of the witch who cursed him. 

Maggie, desperate for cash after a brutal divorce, jumps at the chance to win a $500,000 prize at a mysterious Irish estate. She never expected ancient rituals, strange magic, or Kellen, the dangerously charming man who claims she’s the key to his freedom. 

But Maggie won’t be anyone’s sacrifice. And if there’s another way to break the curse, she’ll find it. 

Because some destinies are meant to be rewritten. 

And some love stories are worth defying fate for. 

Hell’s Heart by Alexis Hall (March 2026)

Gideon the Ninth meets Moby Dick in USA Today bestselling author Alexis Hall’s thrilling SF debut, Hell’s Heart!They are monsters, legends, gods. 

They are our prey. 

Earth is dead. Which leaves us stuck living in atmospheric domes on planets that will kill us if we blink wrong, or run out of fuel. And by ​“fuel” I mean ​“the cerebrospinal fluid of gargantuan, quasi-psychic space monsters”. 

I joined the hunt hoping to get paid and maybe laid, but mostly paid. Instead, I followed a captain chasing abominations in the skies of Jupiter. 

We battled the Möbius Beast itself, there in the red eye of the world. 

Spoiler: we lost. 

The Quiet Mother by Arnaldur Indridason (December 2025)

Retired detective Konrad returns to Reykjavik in The Quiet Mother by Arnaldur Indridason, ​“one of the most brilliant crime writers of his generation” —The Sunday Times (UK)

A woman is found murdered in her Reykjavík home, her apartment ransacked. On her desk lies a note with retired detective Konrad’s phone number. Days earlier, she had begged him to find the child she gave up nearly fifty years ago. But Konrad, reluctant to reopen old wounds, turned her away. Now, haunted by guilt, he vows to uncover the truth — for her and for himself.

As Konrad digs into her tragic past, he is drawn into a web of secrets, lies, and betrayal. Each revelation points to a hidden life that connects her death to a decades-old murder — and to shadows from Konrad’s own family history.

The Quiet Mother is a masterful blend of human tragedy and relentless suspense, where every discovery comes at a cost. Arnaldur Indridason once again proves why he is the voice of Nordic Noir, delivering a harrowing tale of guilt and redemption. 

Dark Matter by Kathe Koja (December 2025)

When the world ends, chaos begins–

–for feral Bunny Graves, playing life like a high-stakes game, where the only way to win is to smash the board to bit–

–for Max Caspar and Charmskool the scholar, chasing ancient myth all the way to the real world–

–and for Ari Regon, caught between dangerous jealousy and passionate love, corporate war and ambition so intense that failure is death, making the party to end all parties, a party that never ends.

Dark times.

Dark dreams.

DARK MATTER

The third and final book in the DARK FACTORY series. 

Butterfly Effects by Seanan McGuire (March 2026)

Seanan McGuire’s New York Times-bestselling and Hugo Award-nominated InCryptid series continues with the fifteenth book following the Price family, cryptozoologists who study and protect the creatures living in secret all around us. 

Chaos, noun:1. The inherent unpredictability in the behavior of a complex natural system. 

Chaos theory, noun:1. A branch of mathematical and physical theory that deals with the nature and consequences of chaos and chaotic systems.2. The study of unpredictable systems.3. See also ​“impossible math.”Sarah Zellaby is a Johrlac, a member of a species of psychic ambush predators colloquially referred to as ​“cuckoos.” Eight years ago, she survived the difficult, painful process of becoming a cuckoo queen…although not without costs. In the wake of her transformation, the man she loved was entirely erased from his own mind, forcing her to reconstruct him from the memories of the people who knew and loved him. 

Sarah has been struggling to come to terms with her actions ever since. But there’s no one else on the planet with the power to hold her accountable — until the Johrlac authorities show up. It’s time for her to stand trial for what she’s done, something which can only happen on Johrlar, home world of her species, where the population is controlled by a system of unyielding hiveminds and crime is punishable by erasure. 

With Sarah’s life on the line, her family will need to find a way to cross dimensional borders and survive a hostile, telepathic world in order to get her back — before the Sarah they know ceases to exist. 

But no matter what happens, actions have consequences… and Sarah Zellaby is about to learn that lesson the hard way. 

How to Get Away With Murder by Rebecca Philipson (February 2026)

“If you picked up this book because you truly want to get away with murder, you will not be disappointed. Simply turn the page and we’ll get started. 

” This fresh debut thriller finds a Scotland Yard detective trying to find the author of a self-help book that promises quite literally to teach readers how to get away with murder, which seems to have inspired London’s newest murderer. Detective Inspector Samantha Hansen has been on leave for six months, recovering from a breakdown she suffered at work, but when a fourteen-year-old girl is murdered in a local park, Sam jumps at the chance to return to the job and prove that she’s still got what it takes to be the Yard’s most successful homicide detective. One of the case’s only leads is a copy of a self-help book found in the victim’s backpack called How To Get Away With Murder by a man named Denver Brady. Brady claims to be the most successful serial killer of our time, which is why no one’s ever heard of him. Chapter by chapter, he details his methodology and his past victims, and as Sam’s investigation progresses and the details of the book go viral, Sam begins to suspect that there’s more to the author than what he’s revealed. But in order to find a killer and get justice for young Charlotte, Sam must learn to trust her instincts once again, before Denver Brady – or someone else – really does get away with murder. 

Cabaret in Flames by Hache Pueyo (March 2026)

Hache Pueyo returns after But Not Too Bold with her new novella Cabaret in Flames, where Interview with the Vampire meets Certain Dark Things in an alternate-Brazil where brutal flesh-hungering Guls stalk the night streets and manipulate the government from their glittering cabaretGuls can be brutal. Few know this better than Ariadne, who lost half her body to their appetites, but their brutality is a predictable constant amid Brazil’s political chaos. Now, she treats them in the specialized clinic she inherited from Erik Yurkov — the mentor who rescued her as a child, trained her in medicine, built her prostheses, and disappeared without a trace. 

Ariadne’s routine is disturbed when Quaint knocks on her door: a charming, tattooed gul claiming to be Erik’s oldest friend. Quaint suspects foul play in Erik’s disappearance, and they soon discover Erik sought asylum at Cabaré, an infamous club in Rio de Janeiro frequented by the gul elite. 

Together, Ariadne and Quaint will unravel the conspiracy behind their friend’s disappearance, navigate the labyrinthine world of Ariadne’s memories, and discover what Erik means to them — and what they are starting to mean to each other. 

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch (August 2025) 

Ali Hazelwood meets Dungeons & Dragons in this enemies-to-lovers fantasy academia romcom where rival grad student wizards are forced to work together without killing — or falling for — each other. 

Will they conjure love, or evoke chaos? Two rival wizards are about to find out. 

Sebastian Walsh: Evocation Department. Human. The first of his family to pick college over the military. 

Elethior Tourael: Conjuration Department. Half-elf. Pretentious asshole. The latest legacy Tourael at Lesiara U. Both: Mageus Research Grant finalists. 

Sebastian refuses to let anyone snatch this away, least of all a snob riding on old money. But what’s worse than a nemesis stealing your grant? You could both get it. Under the condition you work together. 

Sebastian is in hell. Thio’s broody. Takes up their shared lab space with his projects … and biceps. Brings treats for Sebastian’s familiar …… and is nothing like Sebastian thought. 

When Sebastian’s past with the Touraels forces him to choose his research or Thio, the decision should be simple. But while working with his rival is volatile … falling for his rival might blow up Sebastian’s future. 

What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed (April 2026)

From Cameron Reed, the acclaimed author of The Fortunate Fall, comes a soaring novel of queer hope and transformation, perfect for readers of Ann Leckie and Amal El-Mohtar. 

On the planet Scythia, plants give birth to insects, trees can drag you to your death, and armies of animals graft native plants into human crops. 

John Maraintha has been abandoned here, light-years from the peaceful forests that he loves. 

The desert is harsh and the people in thrall to a barbaric custom called marriage. 

He must find some way to make a life here. 

But on Scythia, survival means transformation — and not everyone is willing to accept change.