Katie Gutierrez is the author of the debut novel MORE THAN YOU'LL EVER KNOW, She has an MFA from Texas State University, and her writing has appeared in TIME, Harper's Bazaar, the Washington Post, Longreads, and more. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband and their two kids.
Red River Road (2024) Anna Downes "In Red River Road, the freedom of #vanlife meets the cold metal of keys between fingers--an unsettling, deeply atmospheric novel that asks: where are women safe? With sharp social commentary and her signature lush prose, Anna Downes reigns supreme at excavating the thorny roots beneath intriguing subcultures, where beauty bleeds into danger. An up-all-night read you'll think about every time you open Instagram."
Made for You (2024) Jenna Satterthwaite "Made for You is a wildly inventive, deeply felt foray into the dark borderlands between reality and possibility, creation and destruction. It's Mary Shelley in the Bachelor era, as unpredictable as it is inevitable, and feminist as hell. I couldn't look away from the explosion that Satterthwaite deftly, assuredly constructed from page one."
The Hollywood Assistant (2024) May Cobb "The Hollywood Assistant is May Cobb at her best and like we've never seen her before--bringing her signature Piney Woods noir to Hollywood, where everyone is a performer and no motivation is pure. Cobb understands the dark hearts of women, the cravings--for power, success, love--that make things go bump in the night. It's impossible to choose a favorite Cobb novel, but with its sinister Rear Window twists and homage to classic erotic thrillers, The Hollywood Assistant is at the top of my list."
Broiler (2024) Eli Cranor "Not many writers would draw inspiration from such disparate subjects as postpartum anxiety and the squalid conditions in a chicken plant, and fewer still could do the two together justice, but Eli Cranor does one better: he makes them roar. Broiler is the most powerful kind of crime novel - relentlessly tense, ruthlessly observed, and deeply illuminating. It will sing you a lullaby as it grips you by the throat. I loved this novel."
The Incorrigibles (2024) Meredith Jaeger "The Incorrigibles is a sweeping, evocative novel about communities formed in the margins, the connective power of art, and resilience forged in the face of injustice. Meredith Jaeger is a fierce chronicler of resistance who's offered us an indelible glimpse into two distinct eras in San Francisco--and the hearts of two unforgettable women. I'll never look at lace again without thinking of Annie and Judy."
The Last Verse (2024) Caroline Frost "The Last Verse is an intoxicating exploration of the agony of finding, losing, and reclaiming an artistic voice, set against the teeming, soulful backdrop of 1970s Nashville. Caroline Frost drew me whole into a cutting world of beauty, possibility, and pain, and its notes reverberated long after the final lines. A stunning, unforgettable work that solidifies Frost as one of my favorite writers working today."
The Divorcees (2024) Rowan Beaird "The Divorcees is my favorite kind of novel: a beautifully written, wholly immersive exploration of the performances women employ for survival. Set amid the heady glamour of Reno's divorce ranches, The Divorcees mines what we will do for acceptance, belonging, and the privilege of carving out a life for ourselves. Rowan Beaird writes with both deep compassion and merciless precision-a fierce talent."
Deliver Me (2024) Malin Persson Giolito "A brutal and beautiful read, enthralling from start to finish, Deliver Me paints an enduring portrait of two boys caught in an intractable landslide of violence. Malin Persson Giolito writes with unflinching precision and also great compassion for her characters'humanity. A stunning crime novel that grapples with impossible questions about justice and responsibility, and reaches an unforgettable crescendo. You'll read with your heart in your throat."
The Young of Other Animals (2024) Chris Cander "The Young of Other Animals is a gut punch of a novel - a deeply suspenseful, profoundly moving exploration of the aftermath of trauma, set in an atmospheric Austin of years past and featuring an unforgettable mother-daughter duo. I couldn't turn pages fast enough, though I wanted to savor every line. Chris Cander is a true talent."
Nightwatching (2024) Tracy Sierra "Nightwatching is at once a terrifying descent into my deepest maternal fears, a blistering social critique, and an elegiac portrait of what it means - and what it takes - to endure. One of the most haunting, gripping novels I've read in a long time."
The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers (2024) Sarah Tomlinson "The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers is an irresistible foray into the private lives of the world's most famous rock icons, as observed by the woman hired to curate their secrets. Sarah Tomlinson writes with devastating insight and intimacy about what it takes - and what it takes from you - to be a ghost. I couldn't look away from this story about art, ambition, power, and our ultimate human desire: to be known."
The Night of the Storm (2024) Nishita Parekh "A story of natural--and unnatural--disaster that simmers with dread from start to pulse-pounding finish. Nishita Parekh breathes fresh life into the locked-room mystery with beautifully rendered single mom Jia Shah, her ferocious love for her son, and her sharp exploration of the pressures faced by immigrant women and mothers. Atmospheric, gripping, and satisfying--a debut thriller not to be missed."
The Bullet Swallower (2024) Elizabeth Gonzalez James "The Bullet Swallower is a rollicking, inventive tour-de-force, a novel you don't so much read as fall into like a dream - vivid, violent, and magical. Part Western revenge narrative, part family epic, part study of colonialism and displacement, this is the Texas-Mexico novel I wish had existed decades ago. We're lucky to have it now. Elizabeth Gonzalez James is a force."
What Wild Women Do (2023) Karma Brown "As inspiring as it is compelling, What Wild Women Do is a poignant journey into the hearts of two women yearning to take up more space in the world. Karma Brown has offered a gift to the seeker, the treasure hunter, in all of us."
Midnight Is the Darkest Hour (2023) Ashley Winstead "The sharp-toothed answer to every fairy tale that warns girls to stay out of the woods...because what if we like what we find? Ashley Winstead has at once crafted an incisive critique of fundamentalism and one of the most unforgettable love stories I've ever read, dressed as a thriller that surprises at every turn."
Vampires of El Norte (2023) Isabel Cañas "A wholly immersive, relentlessly tense, and deeply felt exploration of what it means to be a monster. Isabel Canas writes with a historian's eye and a storyteller's heart, achieving both a haunting critique of colonialism and a riveting, star-crossed love story. With vampires! A generous, wildly entertaining novel that invites me further into my own history--I am grateful for this book."
Delicate Condition (2023) Danielle Valentine "A visceral rallying cry against the horrors of medical gaslighting, our culture's indifference to birthing people's pain, and the complete terror of creating and sustaining life. Beautifully written, unbearably tense, and deeply scary."
Night Will Find You (2023) Julia Heaberlin "A mesmerizing, unputdownable love letter to the mysteries of science and the human mind. With an unforgettable cast of characters - a reluctant psychic and grieving daughter, a wildly popular conspiracy theorist, a police officer with shadowy motives -Julia Heaberlin pays homage to everything we don't know about the universe and ourselves. I am already missing my time inside this world."
My Murder (2023) Katie Williams "I couldn't have inhaled My Murder more ravenously. Beautifully written, eerie, and darkly comic, with an irresistible premise flawlessly executed . . . My Murder is a revelation."
Maddalena and the Dark (2023) Julia Fine "Maddalena and the Dark is chocolate laced with poison. To read it is to fall under an enchantment . . . Julia Fine is a writer of ferocious talent and originality, and . . . she has crafted a sweeping, dark fairy tale about the violent hearts of teenage girls. I loved it from the first sentence to the astonishing final lines."
The Night Flowers (2023) Sara Herchenroether "Sara Herchenroether's astonishing, intricate debut is a deeply nuanced portrayal of those called to name the dead. A cold case detective and soon-to-be grandmother, a genealogist librarian recovering from breast cancer, and the ghost of a murdered woman are the unforgettable heroines of a novel about confronting--and transcending--mortality. Like Tana French meets Ann Patchett, The Night Flowers begs to be raced through the first time and savored the second. Sara Herchenroether is a fierce talent with much to say about women's strength in their most vulnerable moments."
Carmen and Grace (2023) Melissa Coss Aquino "Carmen and Grace is everything I could want in a novel: a wise and ferocious exploration of mothers and motherlessness, an urgent, heart-pounding journey to power and safety, and an all-too-human rendering of what we choose when choice is an illusion. In Carmen and Grace, Melissa Coss Aquino offers us two of the most indelible, vital characters in modern literature. If this novel were a lifetime achievement, it would be enough - but it's only the beginning for Aquino, and for that we should all be thankful."
You Should Have Told Me (2023) Leah Konen "You Should Have Told Me is an urgent, read-in-one-sitting story that asks when we should believe the worst about someone we love. A tightly constructed thriller that is also a frank, moving examination of the relentless labor and unspoken terrors of new motherhood, the struggle to let ourselves be known, and the pain of trying, and failing, to be good to the people we love. I adored this book, and Leah Konen should be at the top of any thriller lover's must-read list."
The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone (2023) Audrey Burges "The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone is that rare novel: a generous, big-hearted reprieve from our ever-more-troubling reality; a modern fairy tale about how we carry the burdens that choose us, and the magic of finding shelter - and love - when both seem meant for other people. Audrey Burges is a storyteller of warmth, wit, and stunning originality."
