Detective Chelsey Calhoun is married, pregnant, and mostly happy, until an explosive new case shatters everything. A mother is dead, her sixteen-year-old daughter Naomi has vanished, and the search will awaken questions about Chelsey’s own origins that she’s spent a lifetime avoiding. The victim called herself Anne Walker, but she was born Rika Takahashi, and…
Author: Allison Speakmon
Aardvark September 2026
The September Aardvark picks are here and this might be the most on-brand lineup they’ve ever put together. Six books, heavy on horror and dark fiction, heading straight into spooky season with zero hesitation. This month’s box has a little bit of everything except romance or anything that has cozy good feelings. Instead we get…
September 2026 Book of the Month
The September Book of the Month picks are here, and I am so happy with this month’s lineup. September is my birthday month which means I get my free birthday book and honestly the universe delivered because this might be my favorite BOTM month of the year. Usually, I agonize over what to grab and…
Lost and Found
Bea always wanted to be a mom, but she never expected she’d have to lose her best friend to get there. Armed with her late best friend Meritt’s embryos and a bucket list to complete, Bea’s world is in freefall. When longtime friend and firefighter Silas, who’s been living in the wake of his own…
September 2026 BOTM Predictions
September might be my favorite month to predict because it feels like the official start of fall reading. Publishers start rolling out their biggest books of the year and BOTM always leans into that cozy season energy with atmospheric picks, strong literary fiction, and the kinds of books you want to curl up with as…
September 2026 | Aardvark Predictions
September is shaping up to be a huge month for Aardvark, and I am so ready for it. As summer fades into cozy reading weather, the September lineup is bringing that perfect mix of buzzy debuts, big-name returns, and under-the-radar gems just waiting to be discovered. This month leans heavy into horror and dark fiction…
September 2026 Most Anticipated
September! September might be my favorite reading month of the entire year, mostly because it’s also birthday season in my house: mine, my dad’s, my husband’s, my mother-in-law’s, and about three of my closest friends, all crammed into a couple of weeks. It’s basically a nonstop parade of cake, which means my actual reading time…
They Say a Girl Died Here
Anna Maybourne has just moved to Harper’s Creek, a small, struggling farming community haunted by the unsolved murders of two young women who died three years apart. The suspected killer is dead, but Anna isn’t convinced the right person was caught. When her grandmother, who is battling dementia, starts saying things about the victims that…
26 Most Anticipated for Fall 2026
There’s something about fall that just hits different for reading. The air finally cools off (eventually, if you live in Texas, more like “theoretically”), the TBR gets moodier, and publishers apparently know exactly what we need because September through November is absolutely stacked this year. Thrillers that feel better read with a blanket, romantasy with…
The Unknown
In 1926, five women disappeared from a commune for spiritual mediums on a remote island in Vermont. The only trace of them was five dresses hanging from the branches of an old oak tree. Now, a hundred years later, struggling actress Marin Keane lands a role in a major motion picture about the unsolved mystery…