Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light, is one of the co-hosts of Be the Serpent, a Hugo Award-nominated podcast about SFF, fandom, and literary tropes, and her work has sold to Analog and been shortlisted for Best Fantasy Short Story in the Aurealis Awards.
Star Shipped (2026) Cat Sebastian "Nobody does a road trip romance like Cat Sebastian! Star Shipped has all the humour, found family and quiet moments of agonising tenderness that Sebastian does so well--and in Simon it also has the most spiteful and delightful wet-cat hero I've ever come across, and I'm completely obsessed with him. This book is a tremendously enjoyable tale of growth, vulnerability, and what it means to be trusted with someone's story. I'll be rereading it whenever I need a sweet, sharp-edged dose of joy."
The Apple and the Pearl (2026) Rym Kechacha "A beautiful, strange, bittersweet piece of faerie-fruit, The Apple and the Pearl performs the trick of the very best fantasy: it uses a wondrous backdrop of magic to sharply and brilliantly illuminate human nature. I ached, I cried, I devoured it eagerly. And I recommend it to everyone - but especially to dancers, musicians, and everyone who's ever fallen in love with the guts of a theatre."
The Everlasting (2025) Alix E Harrow "Opening this book is like being handed a sharp, sexy onion: each layer of narrative that unwraps is more devastating than the last, and by the time you reach its tender heart, you're probably crying. Alix E. Harrow has created an exquisite, epic romance that also takes you by the throat and forces you to consider the terrible costs of history, loyalty and legend-making."
The Incandescent (2025) Emily Tesh "The Incandescent is the grown-up answer to the magical boarding school tale, a glorious shout of vindication for anyone who has ever worked in education. Every book Emily Tesh writes is a magic trick, and this is no exception. Fantastic in every sense of the word."
When the Tides Held the Moon (2025) Venessa Vida Kelley "Venessa Vida Kelley's debut novel proves she can achieve the same effortless luminosity with words as with her artwork, creating a page-turning story which brings 1911 New York and a vivid found family of characters equally to life. This is an achingly fantastical and painfully romantic book; it plunged me deep and took my breath away!"
The Last Hour Between Worlds (2024) (Echo Archives, book 1) Melissa Caruso "Equal parts sheer adventurous fun and creepy, dimension-bending tension, featuring a relatable and instantly engaging protagonist. This is totally unlike anything I've read before; Caruso has pulled off a wonderfully creative premise with skill and panache."
Not for the Faint of Heart (2024) Lex Croucher "I know I can rely completely on Lex Croucher for a book that cheerfully flays my emotions with one hand and makes me laughter-snort tea up my nose with the other. I had an amazing time with this bold and lively queer adventure."
Lady Macbeth (2024) Ava Reid "Ava Reid takes one of Shakespeare's most interesting antiheroes and endows her with vulnerability, power, and depth in this darkly gorgeous feast of a book. I was spellbound from the very first page."
The Sky on Fire (2024) Jenn Lyons "Nobody does dragons like Jenn Lyons! All the ingredients here add up to a spectacular and sexy fantasy heist story: sky ships hunting leviathans, revenge plots, secrets, family drama, and an ensemble that sparkles like a hoard full of diamonds."
Running Close to the Wind (2024) Alexandra Rowland "Come for the irrepressible gremlin of a narrator, stay for the plot-relevant cake competitions! A whip-smart, hilarious and exuberant high seas romp."
Lady Eve's Last Con (2024) Rebecca Fraimow "Jazz Age drama smashes into glittering space opera, and boy, the sparks are worth the price of admission! Fraimow takes us on a clever, heartfelt and entertaining romp featuring high society, revenge, gangsters, and a cynical con artist in over her well-coiffed head. Delicious, propulsive fun."
A Letter to the Luminous Deep (2024) (Sunken Archive, book 1) Sylvie Cathrall "This book is not shaped like a book, and I mean that as a compliment. It is instead an underwater treasure-chest to be slowly unpacked, full of things I adore: nosy and loving families, epistolary romance, gorgeous worldbuilding, and anxious scholars doing their best to meet the world with kindness and curiosity. Take a deep breath and dive in."
The Death I Gave Him (2023) Em X Liu "This is both a locked-room mystery with some pointed things to say about science, hubris and mortality, and one of the best versions of Hamlet I've ever come across. Smart, wildly propulsive, and tense as a muscle held at the snapping point. After this, I'll read anything Liu cares to put in front of me."
Our Hideous Progeny (2023) C E McGill "A fantastic read: I felt everything about Mary, her simmering anger and her intellectual delight, so very clearly."
Solomon's Crown (2023) Natasha Siegel "Solomon's Crown has the mixture of sweeping scope and lush sensory detail that makes for the best historical fiction. I turned the last page and immediately itched to read it again, more slowly, so that I could roll around in the aching romance and assured prose. This is a joyful debut from a remarkable talent."
The Mimicking of Known Successes (2023) (Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, book 1) Malka Older "Older has created a wonderfully sci-fi take on the gaslamp mystery. Add in the wry depiction of academia and the warmly authentic portrayal of a relationship in the process of rekindling, and this is exactly my kind of story!"
One Night in Hartswood (2023) (14th Century Oxfordshire, book 1) Emma Denny "Road trips and dagger fights and secret identities, oh my! Denny's debut is a beautifully thoughtful and deliciously sweet romance about getting lost in order to find oneself. I loved every moment I spent in the forest and on the road with Penn and Raff."
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (2023) (Emily Wilde, book 1) Heather Fawcett "Forget dark academia: give me instead this kind of winter-sunshined, sharp-tongued and footnoted academia, full of field trips and grumpy romance and malevolent faeries. Emily Wilde is a narrator I won't forget in a hurry, and this book was an invigorating balm for my heart and mind."
Notorious Sorcerer (2022) (Burnished City, book 1) Davinia Evans "A delightful and fast-paced ride full of flashy swordplay, high society, and thrilling magic. . . Sheer, glorious fun!"
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (2022) (Hart and Mercy, book 1) Megan Bannen "If Lewis Carroll and Nora Ephron teamed up to write a magical Western, this would be the result. An unabashedly offbeat adventure full of dead gods and mostly-dead zombies, family drama, swoon-worthy love letters, and a Very Good Dog, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy oozes romantic fun like a corpse oozes dubious fluids."
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance (2022) (Tithenai Chronicles, book 1) Foz Meadows "I flew through this book and enjoyed every page of the journey...I loved that this was a gripping political fantasy, but I loved even more that it was wrapped around a stubbornly kindhearted romance."
