#AudiobookReview: The Atlas Keeper by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Synopsis: For fans of Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, a young woman finds a magical atlas that can transport her both backward and forward in time

Every life follows a path. Elsie has just found the map to hers.

Elsie Campbell’s life has stalled. Since her mother’s death five years ago, she’s lived in her sister’s basement in the same small town where she was born. She has no real friends, no romance and spends her days crunching data for her dad’s mapping firm. And now, as her sister marries, she’s about to lose her home.

The day after a solar eclipse, Elsie hikes to the lookout where her mother died. There she finds an atlas filled with maps and astrological charts that have the power to send her to twelve turning points in her life. In visiting the past, Elsie makes surprising discoveries about herself. But she can also visit the future—which leads to unexpected consequences.

When the atlas leads her both back to her old boyfriend and toward a new love, Elsie finds herself at a crossroads where she must choose between a familiar and nostalgic road or an uncharted path. Can she really change the course of her life? And should she?

#BookTour: Zombie Zoo by @byMelanieAbed @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

Adventures in Tub (Felix & Ninja, Book 1)

Upper Middle Grade

Date Published: 09-15-2026

Publisher: Oculus Print

Two orphan loners. One supernatural plague. When wood-eating zombies threaten their island, mismatched investigators Felix and Ninja must combine science and instinct to save Spinachi-before they're next.

ZOMBIE ZOO is Book 1 in a five-book middle grade adventure series for readers ages 8-13, blending paranormal mystery, zombies, unlikely friendship, and STEAM-powered problem-solving.

When 13-year-old aspiring naturalist Felix Fizzystyxx discovers that orphans at Wayward Amok Orphanage are transforming into wood-eating zombies, his quiet tree-fort observations are no longer enough. Someone has deliberately unleashed a strange plague on Tub's island town of Spinachi-and they're still out there.

To find a cure, Felix must team up with Ninja, a shadow-dwelling orphan who trusts her instincts and never backs down. Intense and razor-sharp, she notices what others overlook and lives up to her name as the island's most mysterious sleuth. With their eccentric mentor Doc Brunne compromised and the town's water supply contaminated by a glowing bioluminescent substance, the two mismatched investigators must combine scientific observation with sharp intuition to stop the outbreak before their island home is devoured.

Set on the fictional island of Tub, this fast-paced, humorous adventure naturally weaves in STEAM concepts-biology, chemistry, bioluminescence, water systems, pattern recognition, and the scientific method-within an age-appropriate supernatural mystery. Themes include unlikely friendship, identity, trust across differences, courage, and finding your voice when adults won't listen.

Featuring diverse protagonists, quirky humor, spooky-but-fun scares, and strong female and male leads. ZOMBIE ZOO is ideal for reluctant readers and fans of Max Brallier's The Last Kids on Earth, B.B. Alston's Amari and the Night Brothers, and Goosebumps. Comprehensive educator resources-including discussion guides, vocabulary lists, STEAM extension activities, and printable maps-support classroom use, library programming, book clubs, and make this title ideal for cross-curricular lessons bridging ELA, STEAM, and SEL.

#AudiobookReview: Some Kind of Haunted (The Feed Duology #1) by Hazel Beck

Synopsis: Home is where the haunt is.

Lexi Darling has always been a city girl through and through. New York is loud, crowded, and just chaotic enough to keep her mind off everything she’d rather not think about—especially the eerily realistic nightmares that have plagued her all her life. So when she and her twin brother, Logan, are summoned to the postcard-perfect town of Midas, Iowa, one golden October to handle an inheritance from the grandmother they never knew, Lexi figures it’ll be a quick detour: sign a few papers, snap a fall foliage selfie, and catch the next flight home.

But Midas has other plans.

The town has been waiting for the Darling twins, and it’s not about to let them leave. Their arrival stirs up a centuries-old curse, one that promises something dark and hungry will rise again by Halloween night. And the key to stopping it might just lie in their family’s mysterious past. Now, trapped in Midas with the shadows closing in, Lexi has to team up with a group of stubborn locals to save the town…including Jack, the grumpy-but-unfairly attractive diner owner who drives her crazy in all the wrong ways.

As the nights grow longer and an uncanny evil creeps closer, Lexi must uncover the truth behind the curse before Midas—and everyone in it—is consumed. Because in Midas, some secrets refuse to stay buried—and some nightmares never end.

#BookTour: Codex of the Costar by #CDClark @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

Volume 1: From the Depths of the Stars

Queer adult sci-fi

Publisher: Self published

On the distant world of Shoar, the galactic corporation, X-TRACT Unlimited, has discovered a powerful resource; compressed hemoplasma, that has revolutionized everything from space flight to medicine. Yet, it seems anything but for the native population of Shoar, as X-TRACT has conquered the world for over a century and has driven the world into a state of environmental ruin with a rapidly collapsing population

Jordan Blue, a mechanic struggling to survive from day to day, barely survives a potentially fatal accident, rescued by the enigmatic Cosmari space mermaid, Kuvett. Secretive and clandestine, the Cosmari desire to reclaim Shoar, one way or another.

While Jordan attempts to process their chance meeting, Kuvett sees the mysteries of the closed off Meritopolis, a massive and towering symbol of X-TRACT’s control over the planet, unaware of the tensions brewing underneath the surface between the Citizens of Meritopolis and the populace of the decrepit Outskirts, where the remaining population of Shoar live.

#BookBlitz: Hidden Words by Christine Roy @XpressoTours #Giveaway

Hidden Words
Christine Roy
Publication date: September 22nd 2026
Genres: Adult, Gothic, Mystery

A Novel by Award-Winning Author Christine Roy

Some secrets don’t stay buried. They wait for the right mind to hear them.

In 1994, on the rocky shores of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, Ben Barrows begins his senior year at Masters’ Preparatory like a dead man walking, half his friendships already over, just not yet buried. Then Dana Kirkland arrives: a new student, a rival dancer to his powerful ex-girlfriend, and the one person who might save him. Together, Ben and Dana try to hold on to love against a tidal wave of pain and treachery neither of them saw coming.

In the present, Joey Barrows is drowning in grief. As he crosses the graduation stage, a terrifying gift awakens, the unspoken words of everyone around him, pouring uninvited into his mind. When Joey discovers his distant, unstable father shares this same curse, the door to a devastating past swings open, releasing secrets, obsession, and ghosts that refuse to stay silent.

Told across two timelines, Hidden Words is a gothic, speculative mystery about the inheritance of trauma — and the terrible cost of truths left unspoken.

Perfect for fans of We Were Liars, Black Swan, and The Turnout.

 Hidden Words deals with mature themes including trauma, family abuse, and sensitive interpersonal relationships. Recommended for mature young adult and adult readers.

#BookReview: Queen of Shadow by P.C. Cast

Synopsis: From #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today bestselling author P. C. Cast—a passionate and magical epic bringing alive Celtic legend, perfect for romantasy fans who love Sue Lynn Tan and Thea Guanzon and historical fantasy fans of Madeline Miller.

Step into the mystical world of the Isle of Skye in 200 BCE, where legends come to life, goddess and gods walk the mortal earth, and the Queen of Shadow holds court. But Scáthach is no ordinary queen. Daughter of the Underworld goddess Befionn, golden-haired Scáthach is not just a brilliant trainer of warriors, her divine mother has gifted her with the ability to pass between the living world and the Underworld and has granted her dominion over shadows.

Scáthach dedicates her life to training the most talented warriors from across the ancient world at Dunscaith Castle, her impenetrable fortress on the magical Isle of Skye. When Cuchulainn, the Hero of Ulster, son of the Irish god Lugh, arrives asking to become one of her students, Scáthach reluctantly agrees to train him—even though she has serious misgivings about his violent past and the mindless berserker who sleeps within him and whose rage, once awakened, has always been uncontrollable…until the Hero of Ulster meets the Queen of Shadow. Scáthach soon realizes Cuchulainn is much more than the brutal, emotionless warrior everyone expects him to be. And the Hero of Ulster begins to believe he might take control of and even change his foretold fate.

As their growing attraction deepens, Cuchulainn’s father, the God of Light, forces him to retrieve a weapon that will seal Cuchulainn’s fate and forever take him away from the Queen of Shadow. But when Scáthach joins him on the quest through the most dangerous and disturbing parts of the Underworld, Scáthach discovers that her fate may lie in the Underworld and, perhaps, she might be able to forge a future for herself and Cuchulainn by tricking death herself....

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

#BookBlitz: The Earth is Her Own by #ReneeCarrier @RABTBookTours

Speculative Fiction

Date Published: May 21, 2026

Continuing from THE SIMPLER, Senga Munro’s disappearance prompts discussion as to -what- she may be. Her herbal notebook has been discovered in an old man’s medicine bundle from the 1800s, wherein Senga details her captivity in an underground cave. One morning, she awakes in a Cheyenne camp, believing she is part of a living history project. Upon her extraordinary return, she discovers a world altered and transformed by “The Phenomenon,” an evolutionary leap in consciousness that has reshaped global values and circumstances.

Through its rich tapestry of characters, historical elements, and philosophical musings, the series explores the complexities of human experience, the sacredness of the Earth, and the transformative power of compassion and understanding. It is a meditation on the struggles and triumphs that define both individual lives and collective humanity.