This Week on the Shelf: New Releases, BookTok Drama & Why We Love What We Read

Hello, book friends!

This week we have demons, magical perfume, murder suspects, dystopian angels, questionable BookTok business decisions, and the newly crowned World’s Ugliest Dog.

In other words: a completely normal week around here. Let’s get into it.

📚 NEW THIS WEEK

Here are the August 18 releases currently screaming the loudest from my TBR.

🔎 MYSTERY + THRILLER

Murder on Charity Lane by Jo Nichols

Apparently the residents of Marigold Cottages have not learned that inviting a murder suspect to move into your cozy little community is perhaps not the best way to achieve a peaceful existence.

Mrs. B’s friend Elsa is suspected of killing her wealthy employer, so naturally Mrs. B invites her to move in and rallies everyone to prove her innocence. Then strange things start happening around the cottages…and another body turns up.

Cozy mystery + nosy neighbors + a community determined to solve a murder? Say less.

Don’t Look Close by Jaima Fixsen

Peter Simmons is recovering from polio when he learns his sister’s ex-husband has been murdered, and she’s become the prime suspect.

So Peter checks himself out of rehab, heads to the isolated mining community where she lives, and starts investigating with the help of the thing he does exceptionally well: observing people through the lens of his camera.

But the deeper he looks, the more it seems someone in town is making sure people who step out of line don’t get another chance.

A 1950s setting, small-town secrets, sibling loyalty AND a possible serial killer? This sounds extremely up my alley.

🐉 SCI-FI + FANTASY

The Vanishing by Kelsey Crane

Six teenagers from around the world receive mysterious VR headsets and enter RIZE, an incredibly realistic survival simulation where Earth still looks like the world it used to be. Then something goes wrong.

Suddenly, they have to decide whether to remain heirs to the broken world they were born into…or take the civilization they created virtually and try to build it for real.

You know dystopian sci-fi is my kryptonite, so obviously this caught my attention.

The Calamities by Chuck Wendig

Rich people secretly being demons? I’m listening.

Mourning Mayne is heir to one of the world’s most powerful families, except the Maynes aren’t just your standard morally questionable dynasty. They’re fiends: half-human, half-demon beings whose magic comes from buying human souls.

When Mourning’s terrifying father calls him home, he has to decide whether to inherit the family legacy or destroy the cycle entirely. Occult magic + horrible wealthy families + literal deals for human souls. This sounds delightfully unhinged.

Immortal Rose by Alexandra Bracken

This might have one of my favorite fantasy concepts I’ve seen recently: MAGICAL. PERFUME.

Viola Lockwood is the last living member of an ancient family capable of infusing fragrance with magic that can manipulate the mind, body, and emotions.

After a murder leaves the kingdom vulnerable to a coup, she’s forced to work with royal spymaster Hugh Thornton to create the legendary Immortal Rose perfume, and yes, there is also a slow-burn romance happening while people keep trying to kill her.

Political intrigue + fairy magic + magical perfume + romance? Alexandra Bracken, you have my attention.

The Shadows That Listen by Louisa Carmody

Five years ago, daemons crawled out of hell. Then angels descended from the sky. Humanity thought the angels had come to save them. They were wrong.

Now Amara works for the Angel Intelligence Agency in a world caught between two immortal forces. This is being pitched as a dystopian romantasy with angels vs. demons, slow-burn romance, and major 2010s fantasy energy.

And as someone who survived the YA dystopian/paranormal era? That last part is doing a LOT of work on me.

Siren Says by Jennifer Herrera

Dangerous inherited plant magic. Celtic spirits. Family secrets. Women trying to break a century-old cycle of sacrifice.

Raven Wynn has spent her life knowing the ancient magic in her blood causes destruction, but she may be the only person capable of stopping the sacrifices her family has been making for generations.

This sounds lush, strange, witchy and a little sinister, which is basically exactly what I want as we start creeping toward fall reading season.

💬 THE BOOKISH GROUP CHAT

Okay. We have TEA this week.

Would you ever pay someone to review your book?

If you exist anywhere near BookTok or Bookstagram, you have probably seen the PB Squamer situation by now.

PB Squamer posted a video proposing a paid-review arrangement aimed at smaller authors: essentially a deposit to read the book, followed by an additional fee if he liked it and created a review video, bringing the potential total to around $1,000.

And BookTok collectively went …excuse me?

Here’s where I think an important distinction keeps getting lost in conversations about creators getting paid.

I have absolutely no problem with book creators making money.

• Pay creators to produce promotional content.

• Pay for sponsored posts.

• Pay for UGC.

• Pay for their time, audience, creativity and ability to sell a book.

But paying specifically for a favorable review is different.

The second payment depends on whether someone likes the book, we’ve created a financial incentive around the opinion itself.

And that is where I personally draw a very firm line.

A sponsored video can still be valuable. An author can pay a creator $1,000—or $5,000, for that matter—to make promotional content if both parties think that audience is worth it.

But call it what it is: advertising.

A review should belong entirely to the reader. I’m very curious where everyone else lands on this because I suspect there are some STRONG opinions:

Is paying book creators for reviews ever okay? Or should reviews always remain completely separate from paid partnerships?

🧠 ALSO IN THE GROUP CHAT: Why do we love the genres we love?

Then I came across this Reader’s Digest piece about the psychology behind why we gravitate toward certain book genres, and immediately wanted to send it to everyone.

Because WHY can one reader spend 700 pages learning the political structure of a fictional kingdom and have the time of their life, while another person would rather throw that book directly into the sea?

Why do some of us want murder mysteries? Why do other readers want cozy fantasy where the greatest threat is whether the magical bakery runs out of cinnamon rolls?

And why do I apparently require fictional governments to be collapsing on a semi-regular basis?

There’s something fascinating about the idea that our genre preferences aren’t completely random...that the stories we seek out can connect to the emotions and experiences we want from reading.

So here’s this week’s question: What genre feels the most like YOU and what do you think you’re actually looking for when you read it?

Read the Reader’s Digest article

🎥 WANT TO UNDERSTAND FANTASY BETTER?

One of my favorite things about fantasy is also the thing that makes it completely overwhelming: Fantasy is HUGE.

Saying you like “fantasy” can mean you want magical cities hiding inside our world…or muskets and magic…or angels and demons…or sprawling heroic adventures.

So over on YouTube, I broke down four fantasy subgenres: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Fantasy, Flintlock Fantasy and Heroic Fantasy.

We talk about what actually defines each one, how to tell them apart, the vibes you can expect, and (most importantly) where I think you should start reading.

If you've ever looked at the fantasy section and thought, Okay, but what kind of fantasy do I actually like? this is for you.

Watch “Fantasy Genres Explained” on my YouTube channel.

🐾 LINK’S CORNER

Link has reviewed this week’s important literary and cultural news and would like everyone to know that we have a new World’s Ugliest Dog.

Her name is Jinny Lu. She is a six-year-old rescue pug, and I would die for her.

Jinny Lu took home the crown at the 2026 World’s Ugliest Dog Contest after competing multiple times before finally winning this year. The competition might have an unfortunate name, but it actually celebrates the wonderfully weird appearances of rescue dogs and promotes adoption.

Which means Link would like to clarify that this is actually a World’s Most Interesting-Looking Very Good Dog Contest. She also believes she could win. I do not have the heart to explain why that would technically be an insult.

Meet the 2026 World’s Ugliest Dog winner

That’s it for this week!

Now I need to know: Which new release are you adding to your TBR, where do you land on paying for book reviews, AND what genre has an absolute chokehold on you?

Reply and tell me. This newsletter is basically one giant bookish group chat anyway.

Until next week,

Brittany + Link 🐾