Category: Book Spotlight & Sneak Peeks

I Was Going to Tell You My Favorite Books. Then This Article Took a Different Turn.

I sat down to write a simple list of my top speculative fiction reads this year—just a quick roundup of the books I loved most.

But while I was drafting it, I realized my reasons for loving these stories weren’t always the reasons a typical reader might give. Yes, these books swept me away with romance, monsters, magic, ghosts, and parallel worlds. But they also did something else: they quietly solved writing problems I didn’t know how to fix.

A ghost romance taught me how to handle impossible intimacy. A sci‑fi mystery showed me the structure I’d been missing. A novella answered a pacing question I’d been stuck on for weeks.

So this list still represents my favorite speculative fiction books—but filtered through an author’s lens, where every story becomes a craft lesson in disguise.

If you love books that teach you something while they entertain, you’ll feel right at home here.

New here? Here’s where to start.

Welcome. I write clean(ish) paranormal romance, cozy mysteries, urban fantasy, and sci-fi — which sounds like a lot, but I promise there’s a through-line. My books tend to be funny, fast, and just a little chaotic. The heroines make questionable decisions. The love interests are usually either infuriating or technically undead. Sometimes both.

If you’re not sure where to start, I’ve got you. Scroll down, pick your mood, and we’ll find you something good.

If There’s Only One Horse… You Know What’s Coming

You know that moment.

Two characters. One problem. And suddenly — there’s only one horse.

Not ideal. Not comfortable. Definitely not emotionally safe.

The one-horse trope is a staple of romantasy for the same reason the one-bed trope is: it forces two people into unavoidable closeness before either of them is ready for it. But unlike the one-bed situation, which at least comes with blankets and some plausible deniability, the one-horse scenario is immediate chaos. There’s no elegant way to share a horse with someone. You can’t pretend you don’t notice them. You can’t roll to your side of the mattress and stare at the ceiling.

You’re on a horse. Together. Right now. Figure it out.

It’s forced proximity with zero escape plan — and readers love it for very specific reasons.

The Angel of Death Was Offered Half a Graham Cracker

Here’s a story born inside the Angels of Sojourn universe—a clean paranormal romance and urban fantasy mystery world where angels live within a strict hierarchy of ranks, rules, and consequences.

Aron is the Angel of Death, moving through the Shadows of Sojourn where most humans never notice anything has passed. He exists within a structured angel hierarchy, bound by order and distance, watching human life without ever truly being part of it.

Until a child in a hospital waiting room looks directly at him and offers half a graham cracker.

It’s a small thing. A human thing. And in a system built on rules and separation, it changes everything.

Keep reading for a guide to the angel hierarchy, ranks, and world structure behind Sojourn.