The formation and aftermath of a heady, all-consuming friendship is the center of Strange Girls, the U.S. debut from Pakistani British author Sarvat Hasin. Aliya leaves Pakistan, chasing the quintessential British university experience, but finds herself lonely and uncertain at her university in England. She joins a writing group and quickly tumbles into an intense closeness with Ava, who is from the U.S. Though their relationship burns hot and cold, their future seems "not just possible but inevitable." They plan to live together after college, become successful writers, and fend off the conventions of a normal, married existence. But familial obligations and the realities of adulthood intrude, and they break apart. Years later, they reunite during a mutual friend's bachelorette weekend and prod their bruised edges to see what remains after "a thousand little decisions that have made [them] unrecognizable to each other." Then Ava learns that Aliya has secured a book deal; she reads the manuscript and realizes the book is about their relationship in all its fractured, tender glory.

Hasin deftly captures the allure of this type of fierce friendship in two timelines, alternating between Aliya's point of view during college and Ava's in the present and capturing how someone can feel fully known by another person while simultaneously performing a version of themselves for them. In uncomplicated and enthralling prose, Strange Girls encapsulates the orbital resonance of two women who feel certain of who they are while still becoming who they will be, and the beauty and mess of what people ask of each other in their closest relationships. --Kristen Coates, editor and freelance reviewer

Another fascinating, bizarre title from Uketsu--Japan's black body-stockinged, white-masked YouTube sensation--arrives Stateside, in his third collaboration with Jim Rion, translator and advocate for the author. "I am happy to say that Strange Houses was well received and read by a great number of people," Uketsu writes as preface, "with the result that many of those same readers began sending me their own 'house' stories." From those submissions, Uketsu's unnamed narrator chooses 11 mysterious domiciles that compose Strange Buildings, another puzzling, meticulously revealed exposé of the abusive, careless, loathsome humanity within.

A neglected daughter recalls a hallway to nowhere. A forensic cleaner remembers a home he attended after a teenager allegedly committed a triple murder. A CEO recalls a childhood sleepover in a luxurious mansion that ended in a fatal accident. An office worker who thought he bought a 26-year-old house learns that a woman's corpse was found there--more than 80 years ago. An obscure article reports on the Hall of Rebirth, home to the Rebirth Congregation cult. Two childhood next-door neighbors are convinced their fathers were murderers. A 79-year-old izakaya owner speaks about her imprisonment in an okito, a yakuza-controlled brothel, to pay off her business debt.

Complete with exacting architectural layouts, each of the 11 structures are somehow connected, their mysteries solved with assistance from Kurihara, the insightful draughtsman friend from Strange Houses. Uketsu plants both clues and red herrings throughout (creepiest of all is a one-armed, one-legged doll) to create a labyrinth of horrors that will prove eerily, unnervingly irresistible to tenacious and curious readers. --Terry Hong

Jade Song's first novel, Chlorine, landed on various awards and choice lists. Their notable sophomore title, I Love You Don't Die, is another intense examination of a solipsistic protagonist caught in the liminal space between suffering and surviving.

If Vicky could, she'd "settle down in her unmade bed for the remainder of her pointless, silly life," but her ever-changing alarm, set to five minutes before the next day's first meeting, regularly prods her it's "time to act alive." She's a copywriter at Onwards, a start-up specializing in death. Death, so to speak, keeps Vicky alive: she cocoons in a shabby sixth-floor walk-up above a Chinatown funeral parlor, comforted by an ever-growing collection of zhizas, paper offerings meant to be burned as sacrifices to the dead to make their afterlives easier, enjoyable, luxurious.

Besides work, which she does mostly from home (in bed), Vicky's only other regular interactions happen with (because of) Jen, her best (only) friend. Jen's nagging encouragement leads Vicky to respond on a dating app to "Kevin, he/him, artist and gallery assistant. Angela, she/her, organizer." The couple seeks to become a throuple, and a fulfilling threesome cautiously develops, but Vicky fights any discomfort by fleeing from her feelings. Mired in her own messiness, she doesn't recognize the potentially fatal trajectory she's on. Only love--in its myriad forms-- might offer lifesaving options.

Song's fiction benefits from their filmmaking/artist background; the camera-ready scenes are rife with exquisite visual details. They write with unhindered vulnerability, of course about death, but also about exhaustion and tenacity, resignation and struggle, abandonment and trust--and the hope that "we figure it out together." --Terry Hong

Wrestling with grief, love, and creation, a reclusive painter struggles to navigate the decline of her beloved with the help of a loyal 13-year-old neighbor, a trusty pickup truck, and a couple of shovels. Nancy Foley's I Am Agatha is a striking first novel, jumping off from scant details of the life of a true historical figure to follow the author's imagination beyond. Like its protagonist, this story is sure-footed and occasionally, markedly vulnerable.

Based upon the painter Agnes Martin, Foley's Agatha Smithson leaves 1960s New York City to resurface in New Mexico, where she builds an adobe house on a mesa, lives mostly apart from society, and creates her life's finest works. She is given to strong allegiances but demands great loyalty and holds long grudges; her friends are few and precious. Thirteen-year-old Josey is her ally and a vital human connection. Agatha has one great love, found later in life: a widow named Alice. As Alice's dementia worsens, Agatha will be late to learn what secrets have been kept from her. Fierce and indomitable, Agatha is also overwhelmed by love and grief.

Driven by commitment to her work, which she takes very seriously, Agatha is moved not at all by the opinions of others. But in Alice, she finds something different and shocking. She says, "I would do anything possible, anything at all, to keep Alice with me." An accomplished artist and staunch recluse, Agatha does not easily brook resistance, but the end of Alice's life will be one of her greatest struggles. I Am Agatha is an arresting, darkly funny, and heartrending consideration of life and endings. --Julia Kastner, blogger at pagesofjulia

When she isn't writing true crime nonfiction, the Australian author Helen Garner (The Children's Bach; How to End a Story) turns out memorable novels of women and their challenges, many of them dealing with unfaithful or otherwise unsavory men. The same is true with her short fiction, as readers will see in Stories: The Collected Short Fiction. Take "Postcards from Surfers," in which an unnamed young woman--many of the protagonists are not named--and her parents visit an aunt who lives in an apartment building by the shore. The young woman devotes much of her time to writing a series of postcards that reveal long-suppressed trauma at the hands of her father.

That piece sets the tone for the superb works that follow. "Little Helen's Sunday Afternoon" is an extraordinary story in which a young girl makes life-altering discoveries when she stands outside a shed behind a relative's home and hears two people inside making "a noise like somebody using sandpaper on a piece of wood, but softer." "Did He Pay?" is about a guitarist who plays in seedy dives, and the repercussions of his irresponsible approach to life. And "My Hard Heart" tells of a woman coming to terms with her husband's sudden announcement that he's moving out. These stories are snack bites compared to the feast of novels like the now-classic Monkey Grip, but they're an excellent introduction to one of the world's best contemporary writers. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer

In Missing Sister, Joshilyn Jackson (The Almost Sisters; The Opposite of Everyone) crafts a propulsive mystery that links a grieving young police officer seeking vengeance for her twin's death and a murderer committed to finding out what happened to her own sister. Jackson's 12th novel is a gritty, poignant story of sibling love devastated by violent acts against women.

Neophyte cop Penny Albright's beloved twin, Nix, died of a fentanyl-laced drug overdose following years of despair over a brutal rape. Penny is haunted by the promise she made not to reveal Nix's abuse or attackers. She reports to her first murder scene with trepidation, thinking, "Something awful and unfair had happened, and we had to try to make it right." But then Penny identifies the victim as one of the men she holds responsible for Nix's death, and the desire for revenge overcomes her professionalism. When the apparent killer, Thalia Gray, whispers "sisters," Penny is certain the woman knows and shares her grief, and rashly helps her escape, launching bizarre cat-and-mouse game centered on a common cause.

Smart, sympathetic Penny struggles to balance grief with justice. While she's consumed with harboring the secret of Thalia and where their relationship might lead, she also supports her brilliant teenage niece, suspended for hacking the school website, and her nomadic brother; both are quirky, likable characters. Clues about Thalia drive Penny to dangerous sleuthing that reveals a surprising connection between the two women. This well-crafted, complex thriller leads to a satisfying climax and hope that Penny finds peace. --Cheryl McKeon, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.

Ani Katz's Haven is a chilling story about an apparent utopia that is anything but. As Caroline boards a ferry with husband Adam and infant son Gabriel for an exclusive getaway on a lovely island enclave, she is, first of all, relieved. After a trying period of his unemployment, Adam's job with corporate giant Corridor gives him the means to join an elite group of friends and coworkers in a spaceship (Caroline's description) of a house on the outskirts of Haven, a longtime home of the rich.

Caroline has never quite understood what it is that Corridor does, but she hopes to relax, get to know Adam's friends better, strengthen her bond with Gabriel, get back some artistic inspiration. Ever since becoming a mother, her photography has suffered. The island's wider inhabitants, however, strike her as being a little off. Tinkly laughter, choreographed dance, and uncanny children degrade into shadowy threats: angry islanders, old rituals, and corporate surveillance. Then comes the nightmarish morning when Caroline wakes up and Gabriel is gone. As she searches for her son and the truth of what happens in Haven, she will come to question even the rules, and the people, she thinks she knows best.

If Haven ever begins to feel like it might trend toward the formulaic, be assured that Katz (A Good Man) is about to twist her tricky narrative again. This masterpiece of psychological tension turns absolutely terrifying by its finish. Technology, hubris, deception, and mistrust combine in an unsettling corporate dystopia that asks what ends would justify which means. Riveting, thought-provoking, and ever surprising, Haven is not for the easily unnerved. --Julia Kastner, blogger at pagesofjulia

In her fourth novel, The Fortune Flip, Lauren Kung Jessen (Red String Theory) concocts a smart, engaging love story brimming with Chinese traditions that asks insightful questions about fortune, superstition, and creating one's own luck.

Divorced, laid off, and struggling to pay the mortgage on her family's beloved lake house, Hazel Yen is having a run of awful luck, even for her. A (literal) collision at a fortune teller's table in Manhattan's Chinatown introduces Hazel to Logan Wells, who has always thought of himself as lucky. But after a shared reading, a joint lottery win, and a kiss that leaves their heads spinning, Hazel's luck soars up while Logan's plummets downward. Could the fortune teller--or the kiss--be to blame?

Jessen explores her protagonists' paths with warmth and sensitivity, showing the long-term impact of Hazel's dad's gambling addiction and the repercussions of a car crash Logan caused as a teen. Though they're both cautious about falling in love, Hazel and Logan find themselves drawn to each other as their swapped luck leads to a deeper connection. As opening night approaches for the Broadway show on which Logan works as head carpenter, and the tension within Hazel's family reaches a breaking point, the pair try various good-luck schemes: emphasizing auspicious numbers, hunting for four-leaf clovers, even indulging Hazel's candy addiction for extra sweetness. And as their luck seesaws wildly, they must also decide whether to take a leap toward love.

The Fortune Flip sparkles as a charming love story as sweet as the treats Hazel adores. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Bravepaw and the Heartstone of Alluria, originally published in Australia in 2024, is the first in a darling and adventurous series for younger middle-grade readers by author L.M. Wilkinson and illustrator Lavanya Naidu.

Mouseling Tithonia Proudleaf daydreams of adventure, often at the expense of her chores. She loves the stories of Bravepaw, "the BRAVEST mouse who ever lived," and wants to be like him. When a "warrior" hare in a glider lands in their town, the Plateau, chased by many somethings "twisting and wriggling... like eels made of smoke," Titch and friend Huckleberry help. It's a surprise to everyone when Titch grabs the hare's magical staff and can use its power to fend off the curseworms. When the "shadowy" creatures return, Titch again uses the staff, this time to lure them away from the Plateau. Titch lands safely in the Forest, where it becomes clear that Alluria is facing a danger that only Bravepaw can defeat. Titch might not be Bravepaw, but she can be brave, and so, accompanied by Huckleberry, she sets off into the woods to do what Bravepaw would: protect Alluria.

Wilkinson, who also writes as Lili Wilkinson (Unhallowed Halls), doesn't shy away from the darker elements of fantasy stories and places her characters in real peril. Naidu (Bread Is Love) creates expressive and action-filled digital black-and-white illustrations, describing the movement of tails, whiskers, and clothes. The formatting of the book adds both heft and whimsy to the story with its brilliant balance of text, illustration, and white space. Caretakers who want to share the joys of classic fantasy adventures with children too young for Lord of the Rings and Redwall will likely be as delighted by Bravepaw as their young readers. --Nicole Brinkley, bookseller and writer

In Red River Rose, an engrossing and harrowing work of historical fiction, Carole Lindstrom offers a First Nations response to the romanticization of the pioneer spirit celebrated in tales of 19th-century western expansion.

Twelve-year-old Rose loves her way of life in Batoche, "a small Métis community in the Northwest Territories" of Canada. Rose spends her time trapping, hunting, playing, and gathering medicinal herbs on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River. When rumors start circulating about the Canadian government planning to divide and distribute their land to more settlers coming from the east, it becomes clear the Métis are going to resist. Rose wants to fight with her community, but as a girl she is expected to help her ma with childcare in their safe house away from the fighting. Nonetheless, her heroic cleverness and bravery contribute to her community holding their own--at least for a little while--against the North West Mounted Police soldiers during what became known as the North-West Resistance.

Lindstrom writes from the viewpoint of her own Métis and First Nation ancestors who fought in the Saskatchewan North-West Resistance of 1885, calling this fictionalized account "my Little House on the Prairie." Rose and Laura Ingalls share a keen sense of justice, and both their families work hard to make a happy life for themselves, but there is a hole in the Little House books that Lindstrom fills: the perspective of all the people the settlers often violently displaced from their homes. Like Linda Sue Park's Prairie Lotus and the Show Me a Sign series by Ann Clare LeZotte, Red River Rose thrills, provokes, and disquiets. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor

An unexpected visitor inspires a frog to break out of a rut in the cozy, lighthearted Swiss import Time to Split by Daniel Fehr (Me & the Magic Cube), illustrated by Raphaël Kolly and translated into English by Marshall Yarbrough.

"Here, every day is a day like any other" for Frog, who lives in the artificial tropics of a greenhouse and starts every day with a fresh towel and banana juice. Seasons change outside, but Frog only watches through the window. Until a plump, chipper bird with an enormous purple knapsack turns up in the greenhouse, that is. A dismayed Frog demands to know how the intruder got in, but the bird simply pulls a full stove out of the knapsack and proceeds to bake muffins. Frog warms to the mysterious intruder, but soon the bird says farewell with a hearty hug and flies away through an open roof pane, leaving the stove. Frog decides to try baking, but an oven backfire shatters a pane of the greenhouse and presents an exit. "There's lots to discover," Frog muses, and a final spread shows the amphibious hero making friends with a squirrel some distance from the delicate greenhouse.

Fehr's upbeat picture book about breaking out of stagnation is gently inspiring, accented with tiny touches of humor and a sweet, though fleeting new connection. Kolly creates a verdant world of hazy, comforting sunlight and uses borderless panels to depict Frog's enclosed life, switching to a double page spread when Frog wanders out. Frog's wee bum outlined through a bath towel may elicit giggles, but the road ahead of Frog should inspire imagination. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services manager, Allen County Public Library

Burn the Water is a bleak, blood-soaked, ultimately hopeful YA dystopian novel inspired by Romeo and Juliet, in which the heirs apparent of two brutal armies betray all for love.

In 2425, 300 years after melting ice caps caused the Great Soak, London remains flooded. Two rival armies, the Rogues and the Crowns, have fought for centuries over who rules the "10 percent of the city that [isn't] underwater." Eighteen-year-old Jule, the "fiercest and most famous soldier the Crown Army ever produced," is "also the loneliest." Rafe, also 18, is "the Rogue Army's most venerated captain" yet "broken inside." Both will lead their respective armies someday and currently play vital roles in keeping London a "bloody chaos." When these sworn enemies meet over an old, scavenged Victrola and a collection of centuries-old records in flooded Buckingham Palace, "a miracle" occurs. Rafe falls in love with music, as well as Jule's "lovely... fierce" face; Jule is likewise enamored with the handsome and unguarded Rafe. The teens know they must achieve "a pax" to ensure a safe future for themselves and their Houses but overcoming "hundreds of years of uncivil hatred and slaughter" will be nigh impossible.

The Hunger Games screenwriter Billy Ray's dynamic, post-apocalyptic debut is almost relentlessly dark. His London, composed of "Death. Water. War," is a cautionary tale that's launched by an all-too-possible scenario of climate disaster and biological warfare. But Ray weaves in substantial shards of light via honorable deeds, stolen moments of human connection, and forbidden love. Along with an all-consuming love affair, Ray ultimately offers readers hope in a shape they may not anticipate. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author