Emily Wilde is an exceptional dryadologist – faerie scientiest. At only 30 years old, she’s almost completed her life’s work: an encyclopedia of the Hidden People. When her academic frenemy Wendall Bambleby shows up and charms the locals at her remote research location in a way Emily never could, she starts to probe deeper into her suspicions that there’s more to his affable exterior than sheer charisma.

The death of a 90-year-old woman shouldn’t be terribly suspicious. But her caretaker shows the police hundreds of crime novels dedicated to the victim. Then one of the books is stolen at gunpoint. And then the author of the stolen book turns up dead. It becomes clear there’s more to this situation than meets the eye. Griffiths’s writing strikes the perfect tone between intensity and intrigue, fully developing even side characters.

Pregnant and terrified, a young woman named Kate flees a physically abusive relationship to protect her unborn child. She only knows of one place to go where he can’t find her: the ancestral cottage left to her in her great-aunt’s will. What unfolds is an inter-generational story about the power of women’s resilience spanning five centuries. The rich writing and earthy themes are perfect for reading in that part of winter when you’re so ready for spring.

Even though she’s recently divorced, Maggie is totally fine. She’s not quite sure why you keep asking her if she’s okay. Maggie is really good, actually. We follow her for the first year following her divorce. We get to know Maggie’s opinions intimately, and watch with horror at her emotionally-charged foibles. Absolutely hilarious and so cringy you can’t look away, Maggie’s story invites us to examine how we judge our choices.

Despite excellent casting and impeccable aesthetics, the Practical Magic movie has always felt lopsided to me, with a soundtrack that doesn’t match the score and a plot that raises and lowers intensity haphazardly. Yet, the book is written like a bedtime story told by your favorite aunt. The evocative use of the natural world builds a chlorophyllic setting. The book powerfully builds on the ways sisters can tear each other apart, but can build each other up.

Ingrid Yang’s PhD dissertation is due by the end of the school year, but after nine years, all she has to show for it is many hours spent in delirious boredom at the archives and an antacid addiction. When she stumbles on an anonymous note, it takes Ingrid on a head-spinning journey questioning everything she ever thought she knew. From her on-campus rival to her doting mentor, no one is safe from Ingrid’s shift in perspective.

The women of Long Island are going through a change. First Harriet: an ambitious career woman’s life crumbles, and a vindictive garden rises from the rubble. Jo burns hotter and hotter, and doesn’t know how to cool down. Finally, widow Nessa sees something she’s ignored for a long time: the ghost of a murdered girl, asking for help. Palpable with unspent cathartic rage, it’s a take on how far we’ve come and how far we have to go.

Set loosely in the Gulf of Mexico with lore inspired by pre-Columbian societies, Black Sun follows several characters as they converge on the most important spiritual day in years – a total solar eclipse. From a priest trying to stop a coup, to the son of an oppressed clan, to a sea captain (who might be something more), to a strange young blind man, all their overlapping priorities converge on this one looming day.

When the boy she loves is kidnapped by the Sorceress, a sheltered young woman named Tress makes a rash decision: to leave the barren island she calls home and sail the treacherous spore sea. Armed with only her beloved cup collection and her wits, a cheeky narrator (that frequently breaks the fourth wall), recounts how Tress unlocks the secrets of the pirate ship she lands on.

When Geeta’s husband Ramesh left 5 years ago, rumors swirled in her Gujarati village that she killed him. She used her reputation to her advantage, to build a jewelry making business and keep to herself. When a member of her women’s loan group asks for help killing her husband, it threatens Geeta’s reputation, as well as the veneer of self-protection. Ultimately an exploration of the complexity of female friendships, this book is as twisty as it is thought-provoking.

Let’s get it out of the way – it’s a little weird that this book has a snowed-in ski lodge setting in Australia. If you can shake the visions of the Gold Coast out of your head, you’re in for a real treat. A shady Australian family gathers for a reunion at a ski resort, including a brother convicted of murder, and the person instrumental in his conviction. It’s a classic snowed-in whodunit, with cheeky narration that breaks the fourth wall.

Vera Wong is only 60 years old. After the death of her husband, she is left alone to run their tea shop in San Francisco. Her customers dwindle by the day, her son rarely speaks to her, and nothing exciting happens. Until she discovers a dead body in her tea shop. At first Vera seems deeply unlikable; she is prickly, opinionated, strong-willed, and quick to share her opinions. However, the more you spend time with her, the more her prickly outer shell reveals a soft, caring underbelly.

Erika Krouse has always had one of those faces, one that seems to say, “tell me everything.” After a chance meeting with a lawyer at a bookshop in Boulder, he hires her to become a PI for his firm, speaking with witnesses and convincing them to testify. After only 6 months, Erika’s skills are tested by the firm’s biggest case – a sexual misconduct lawsuit against the University of Colorado football team. Through the investigation, Krouse must reckon with her own history as a sexual abuse survivor.

In O’Meara’s account of the life of one of the most influential Hollywood artists you’ve never heard of, her search for information Millicent Patrick is almost as enthralling as the stories about Patrick. As one of the first female animators at Disney, one few women in the first class of what is now CalArts, and the only woman to design a classic Universal movie monster, little was written about Patrick – until now.

From the woman who took down the most powerful mobster in the Netherlands – her brother – to a woman who opened fire at a biology department meeting at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, each chapter is an in-depth look at a fascinating story. Even better, it’s easy to read this book at a casual pace, since each chapter is a single article Radden Keefe wrote.

Sommer is an affable character – quick with a laugh and an easy anecdote. Interestingly, this makes him an ideal person to report on the story that’s enveloped his career for nearly the last decade: the rise of QAnon. Not only does this book comprehensively cover the history of the movement from the beginning, but Sommer treats the people in the book with the utmost respect, even when their views seem nonsensical from the outside.

Just one week after the book’s publication, Tyson passed away. Also, booooooy howdy, Tyson sloshed tea all over the place. From her complicated relationship to jazz great Miles Davis, to detailing how she got away with pretending she was 10 years younger than she actually was for 6 decades, to revealing a secret daughter that no one knew about (!!), this book is a fountain of interesting knowledge.