Welcome back, sophomores! We loved their first books, we’ve anxiously awaited their followups, and now they are magically almost here. While they’re dominated by contemporary (largely because this post is strictly for standalones; great in-series sophomore novels can be found as part of the upcoming sequels preview), they range from sweet summer romance to sweeping intergenerational, […]
Sophomore Slump. Second Book Syndrome. We’ve all heard the ways a sophomore book can tank for readers, and if you happen to be an author, too, well…you’re probably very well familiar with how horrendous the experience of writing that first book under contract can be. But fear not, sophomores! It can be done! It will […]
There’s something about the rich worldbuilding of historical novels and fantasy that make the genres the perfect complement to each other. And both fantasy novels and historical novels have suffered from similar disingenuous reasoning around their lack of diversity: that the inclusion of, say, people of color or queer people isn’t historically accurate, and that […]
I don’t have the attention span for series. There are so many books to read that keeping up with a three- or six- or ten-book series is just too much work. That’s why I love standalone fantasy novels: gorgeously written, well-contained stories that often join the ranks of my favorite books, like last year’s An […]
You love Harry Potter. I love Harry Potter. Odds are most of the people you know love Harry Potter. And while we all love to reread Harry Potter—I do it at least once a year—there comes a time when we need to find something else to spark the magic in our hearts. But instead of […]
