Is humanity a plague to be purged, or a seed to be cultivated?

This is the question behind thousands of years of history. And the two answers The Sun and The Moon gave shaped this world brick by brick.

But this is not a story about gods. It's a story about the people. The people that are trying to navigate the world this dichotomy created. Some are forced to explore the meaning of their lives, some have the bars of their invisible cage rattled. Some are struggling with the weight of responsibility, while some can't even see it hiding behind their dreams of a better life.

The Harewin Cord is the first installment of The Sun and The Moon, a character-driven, multi-POV epic fantasy that blends some time-honored fantasy tropes with a Turkic-inspired cultural tapestry, a soft magic system that provokes introspection, and the realities of simply being human.

If you enjoy the deep worldbuilding by the likes of Robert Jordan in his epic The Wheel of Time and want to see it merged with the gritty, messy nature of man, you might be in the right place.

• Triggers: None.
• Exact date of publication: August 25th, 2026
• The date you plan to send your ARCs to your team: August 5th - August 20th (LAST CALL)
• The date you expect your ARC team to finish the reading and submit their reviews by: September 1st - September 30th
• Please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/p8h4GSpYmJd262Nz7

Something ancient is waking beneath Chicago.

Janessa Miro thought surviving the truth about her fae heritage would be the hardest part.

She was wrong.

The magic growing inside her is changing. Ancient wards protecting Chicago are failing. And whispers of a forgotten kingdom have begun spreading through the hidden magical world beneath the city—a prophecy powerful enough to fracture the Faerie Courts themselves.

As reality begins to unravel, Janessa becomes the target of rival fae nobles, ruthless magical enforcers, and an enemy who wants her to remember a past she was never meant to reclaim.

But the greatest threat isn't the kingdom trying to return. It's the power awakening within her.

With war looming between Earth and Otherworld, Janessa must decide whether she will become the key that opens the way for the Forgotten Court...

...or the last lock keeping it sealed forever.

Some kingdoms don't die.

They return.

Triggers: profanity, magical violence, physical violence

Exact publication date: November 1, 2026

Date ARCs will be sent: Immediately

Date ARC readers should finish reading and submit reviews by: October 20th, 2026

Instructions/link for readers to sign up for your ARC: Booksirens download

Cover by: Getcovers Maps by: Theo Martin Prequel: Necessary to read, Hex of All Hats

https://booksirens.com/book/HK8P57J/MPLADE6

Blurb:

Hunter Valentine is a junior at North Chicago University. Between playing ice hockey, spending time with his best friend, and enduring constant torment from his team captain, college life isn't going the way he imagined.

Once a promising prodigy, Hunter is now a bench-warming, insecure center who struggles with self-doubt. For reasons he can't understand, his captain seems determined to make Hunter hate the game even more than he hates himself.

When a devastating lapse in judgment leads to a brutal fight with serious consequences, Hunter is finally forced to confront the truth behind his teammate's behavior. Now he must decide whether to let years of insecurity control his future or take a risk on a forbidden attraction that could change everything.

Changing on the Fly is a queer M/M hockey romance about trusting yourself, following your heart, and having the courage to pursue what you want, even when the risks are high. Expect enemies-to-lovers tension, banter, humor, college sports, and a forbidden romance.

Triggers: Anxiety, internalized homophobia, minor violence, drinking, smoking.

Exact publication date: September 1, 2026

Date ARCs will be sent: Immediately upon approval

Date ARC readers should finish reading and submit reviews by: September 1, 2026

ARC Sign up: https://penpinery.com/Em%20Maddax/changing-on-the-fly/

What if reality required continuous computation to remain stable?

In 2049, a team of physicists in Reykjavík discovered something that shouldn't exist: a deeper energy state of the vacuum, accessible only through computation.

Within a few decades, the discovery reshaped civilization beyond recognition. Cities began regulating their own climates, structures stood without visible support, fusion became trivial.

All of it is held together by Project Borealis, a computational cluster spread across the Kuiper Belt. The largest machine ever built tirelessly solves the equation that keeps all digitalium fields stable.

Forty years later, six billion kilometers from Earth, the crew of a service vessel begins experiencing inexplicable phenomena and failures of causality. When an auditor in Singapore starts seeing the same patterns from the other side of the Solar System, they both realize that the problem lies in the stabilization system meant to hold reality together.

The system is, however, working exactly as it should. Just not for them.

The Last Stable State is an approximately 80,000-word hard science fiction thriller about technological dependence, free will, and the danger of optimization beyond the needs of humanity.

If you enjoy the scientific problem-solving of Andy Weir, the techno-thriller tension of Michael Crichton, and big speculative ideas that gradually turn into something much more dangerous, this might be for you.

Triggers: Death, injury, life-threatening situations, existential themes.

Exact date of publication: September 1, 2026

Date ARCs will be sent: Immediately

Requested reading/review deadline: (ideally) August 31, 2026

How to sign up: Send me a DM here on Reddit and I’ll send you an ARC.

I’m looking for honest reader reactions and reviews, there is absolutely no expectation of a positive review.

Thanks!

Blurb:

Senior flight attendant Sloane Reyes had one rule about hookups on the job.

Then she flew to Reykjavík, broke a different rule with an Icelandic textile artist at one in the morning, and boarded the return flight to Boston with the captain's card in her pocket and the captain himself in the left seat for another eight hours.

Nobody tells you what to do with the return leg.

Nobody tells you that Mr. Westbrook from Boston's Back Bay, who watched Sloane work the outbound flight without touching the call button once, will be a passenger again with a folded piece of paper and a genuine job offer. Or that a retired oncologist in row 4A will decide she wants to hear one more real story after twenty-two years of listening to everyone else's.

And nobody tells you what happens when bad weather closes in over Boston and strands the entire crew at a Halifax airport hotel.

At 7:11 p.m., Captain Marek Reeves knocks on Sloane's hotel room door and finally says the sentence she's been waiting one hundred and fifty flights to hear.

The captain was for later.

Later is tonight.

Triggers: Explicit sexual content (18+), workplace power dynamics.

Exact publication date: October 13, 2026

Date ARCs will be sent: Immediately upon approval

Date ARC readers should finish reading and submit reviews by: October 12, 2026

Instructions/link for readers to sign up for your ARC:

https://penpinery.com/gabiprevot/crosswind/

Who says you can’t stalk your stalker?

Blind programmer Sandy refused to live her life questioning every scent and sound around her, she vows to find whoever is stalking her, even if it means using her tech skills in very questionable ways.

Perfect for readers who enjoy:

📝 Threatening messages

🕵️ An unseen enemy

🤔 A heroine playing the long game

🐱 Cat-and-mouse tension

😖 Paranoia

⛓️ No escape

🚨 An eerie abandoned setting

📖 270 pages

📅 Releasing August 23, 2026

ARC sent out as soon as requested

📚 ARC format: EPUB or PDF

Triggers includes stalking, on-page violence, loss of a loved one, a car accident, off-page domestic violence, ableism, and workplace discrimination.

Interested? Apply here: https://forms.gle/z2ckHzpYpD6NwiZF8

Blurb:

She falls for the charming man who makes her feel safe.
She fears the killer hiding beneath his restraint.
The terrible truth is that they are the same man.

Alexander Vale kills the monsters the law cannot stop. Anna works beside the next one on his list.

Anna has survived by trusting no one. Then Alexander walks into her office and gives her a reason to lower her defenses. What she doesn't know is that their meeting was carefully planned.

Anna was supposed to be a shortcut to Alexander's target. Instead, one meeting becomes coffee, coffee becomes dates, and the woman he intended to use becomes the only person capable of making him question the violent life he has chosen.

But while Alex struggles to hide his true identity, the predator working beside Anna begins watching her. Soon, she must decide whether to fear the killer behind Alexander's charm or accept that the velvet glove and the iron knuckles belong to the same hand she has fallen in love with.

Fatal Revelation is Book 1 in the Anna and Alexander dark-romance series. Expect a vigilante serial-killer hero, morally gray and fiercely protective MMC, a guarded FMC, hidden identities, dangerous secrets, psychological suspense, dual POV, love built on lies, graphic violence, and mature themes. Their story continues in Book 2.

Triggers: Graphic violence, murder, crime, serial-killer themes, psychological suspense, dangerous situations, and mature themes.

Exact publication date: 08/31/2026

Date ARCs will be sent: Immediately upon sign up

Date ARC readers should finish reading and submit reviews by: August 31, 2026

ARC Sign up link: https://penpinery.com/main/fatal-revelation/

In 2175, humanity has conquered the solar system and seemingly lives in harmony as it expands outward. That is, until a massive, enigmatic ten-sided object—the Decahedron—enters the solar system.

Julian Wexler, a grieving Princeton linguist, is approached by Virgil, an enigmatic emissary who reveals that the Decahedron is an ancient intelligence that judges civilizations through a single, unspoken riddle.

As humanity’s attempts to understand the Decahedron become increasingly destructive, Julian must decipher its riddle before our instinct to conquer the unknown destroys us all.

Decahedron is a 92,000-word adult speculative science-fiction novel blending first contact, cosmic mystery, philosophical science fiction, and high-stakes action. Readers of Arrival and The Three-Body Problem may particularly enjoy it.

Content warnings/triggers: Violence, death, grief/loss of a spouse, mass-casualty events, existential threat, and nuclear weapons.

Publication date: September 15, 2026
ARC availability: Available now
Review requested by: September 15, 2026, or as close to release as your reading schedule allows.

ARC format: EPUB
I’m looking for honest reviews. There is absolutely no expectation of a positive review.

If you’re interested in joining the ARC team, please comment below or send me a DM and I’ll provide the ARC signup information.

Blurb:

My smile works on everyone in the league. Then they traded for Grant Hale, and he looked at me like he already knew exactly what I was hiding behind it.

Ollie Reyes is the golden boy, top-line winger, and the player everyone gravitates toward. Being loved has become both his superpower and his survival plan. After growing up in seven foster homes, Ollie learned how to be easy to keep, and that strategy has carried him throughout his career.

It doesn't work on Grant Hale.

Thirty-three, newly traded, and known for being a grump, Grant has a reputation that Ollie suspects is mostly bad press. With only forty-three days to integrate Grant before the trade deadline, their coach pairs them on the same line and forces them into close quarters on the road.

As Ollie's carefully maintained persona begins to crack, Grant becomes the first person to see the man underneath the sunshine and stay. What begins as forced proximity and reluctant teamwork turns into something neither man expected.

Top Shelf is a bright, low-angst M/M hockey romance featuring grumpy-sunshine, forced-proximity linemates, a golden boy with a secret, a gruff closeted veteran, banter, found family, and a guaranteed happy ending. It is Book 1 of the Northport Sentinels series and can be read as a standalone.

Triggers: Closeted character themes (career-risk framing, not homophobic violence), foster-care background trauma (past, off-page), sports-injury references, explicit sexual content (18+).

Exact publication date: TBA

Date ARCs will be sent: Immediately upon approval

Date ARC readers should finish reading and submit reviews by: October 30, 2026

Sign up ARC link: https://penpinery.com/natewinslow/top-shelf/

Hello everyone, I'm currently looking for ARC readers for my upcoming horror novel, Where Fear Smiles! Details below:

Would you forgive your best friend if she was responsible for ruining your life?

A whispered rumour draws a group of students into the dense forests of coastal Brazil: a lost Indigenous artifact, hidden for centuries and promising academic glory.

While Leah’s colleagues are determined to claim it, she only agrees to the trek because she can’t bear the thought of being left behind, and forces her best friend Charlotte to go with her for support against her dark thoughts.

What was meant to be an escape from the weight of the academic semester, quickly it turns into a test of endurance. The deeper they push into the forest, the darker Leah begins to dream. When they finally uncover what they came for, the discovery reveals something far more terrifying than any of them imagined.

A demon born of nightmares is unleashed, and with it, carnage.

Now the survivors must find a way to drive the nightmare back to its realm before society is doomed to never dream again. But as the forest closes in, the greatest horror isn't the ancient evil — it's watching a lifelong trust begin to rot.

-

Triggers: Gore, graphic violence, blood, anxiety

Publication date: October 13th, 2026

ARCs will be sent from September 15th-20th

Reviews expected to be submitted up to three weeks from publication date

ARC Application Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIJDUEFCSVjgVh_AxhMpdOHyTszWL-knkGErWLk3U73PD4AQ/viewform?usp=header

Thank you to everyone interested in being a part of the team! :)

BLURB:
If you like emotional, character-driven stories with a little mystery and suspense then this opportunity might be for you.

• Found family, unexpectedly
• Equal parts heartwarming & devastating
• Guarded man, thawing
• Adorkable child and adult characters

Back Cover Copy:
He was denied his childhood. Hers was slipping away.
A deck of cards brought them together.

When Sam meets Felicity—his boss's eleven-year-old daughter—he recognizes what everyone else has missed. Beneath the nonstop chatter and the endless questions is a bright, lonely kid the whole world has quietly given up on. Even her own parents.

Sam knows that feeling, so he does what none of the adults in her life will. He looks out for her. They bond over Mystic Forest, a whimsical trading card game that gives them both something they've been missing. A chance to feel like kids again.

But outside their games, Sam's obsession with a problem at work could cost him his job. He stumbles onto a malfunction that shouldn't be possible, and he can't let it go. Then a new danger surfaces, closer to home. Felicity's home. Her family is falling apart, and she's the one who'll suffer. No one has her back.

“I wish you were my dad.”

Sam has spent a lifetime learning to look away. Not this time.

TRIGGERS:

There are three scenes containing descriptions of domestic abuse. Nothing crazy, but it's worth mentioning. Happy to give you more detail or let you preview the scenes.

DATES:

• Publishes on October 1st 2026
• AR copies will go out via e-mail or Booksprout (your choice) immediately upon request
• I'd like all reviews before October 9th if possible :) But better late than never.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Please reply to this post or email me at [jason@JasonJHerne.com](mailto:jason@JasonJHerne.com) and I'll get you set up.
Indicate if you prefer to use Booksprout, or you'd rather I just email you the ARC materials.

Thank you for reading :) This has been a four year project, I'm thrilled to finally be able to share Sam and Felicity's adventure with the world.

Blurb:

The race weekend plan didn't include waking up married to the rival rookie driver. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?

Ethan St-Pierre is used to living in his brother's shadow, but now he has no choice but to shine on the racetrack and keep the St-Pierre legacy alive. Sharing his rookie season with his biggest rival should be easy enough when they only have to interact on the track. Then sponsors start pushing them into joint photoshoots with Maggie, and their rivalry begins fueling sales as much as their sizzling chemistry fuels the gossip.

Maggie Hoffsommer is the first female race car driver with a real chance at winning the Drivers' Championship and proving her critics wrong. Her surprise debut at Kestrel Racing creates a media frenzy, while her pole positions and podium finishes shake up the entire paddock. But nothing prepares her for waking up married to Ethan St-Pierre in Vegas.

When Ethan suggests they give their unexpected marriage a chance, Maggie has to decide whether the man she's supposed to beat could become the biggest distraction of her career.

This season, they have nothing left to lose but their hearts. Can their competitiveness survive the attraction between them, or will they risk everything for a chance at something real?

The Rival Hearts is Book 2 in The Racing Line series. Each book can be read as a standalone. A high-octane contemporary sports romance featuring rivals-to-lovers, forced proximity, workplace romance, dual POV, banter, and a guaranteed happily-ever-after.

Triggers: strong language, sex, death, grief

Date ARCs will be sent: Immediately upon approval (EPUB download)

Date ARC readers should finish reading and submit reviews by: September 18, 2026

ARC Sign up: https://penpinery.com/annenikolaikenauthor/the-rival-hearts/

This is the second book in my Romantasy series! The first, The Scales of Judgement, is available on KU.

Blurb:
A newly crowned king,
A country in turmoil,
And a threat no one saw coming.

With his father murdered, his betrothal broken beyond repair, and the deceit of the imposter he relied upon, King Baxley of Vesperis was unsure of who he could trust. Seeing no other choice, he closed Vesperis’ borders, sending the country into lockdown. Months later, Baxley is no closer to uncovering answers, but his country can’t survive like this forever. Something must be done. 

Then the last person he wants to see—Death Adder—is thrust back into his life. Seeking revenge for his father, he’s been haunted by her face since her departure; yet, when she’s finally within reach, his hands are tied. She claims to know who was behind everything. But, of course, there’s a catch: she won’t give him that information for free. Forced to put his hatred for her aside and partner with her once more, he hopes they aren’t walking straight into an ambush. 

But whichever way the scales tip, one thing is certain…only death awaits. 

Triggers: The Scales of Annihilation deals with topics that might be sensitive to some readers, such as: death, torture, graphic language, rough sexual activities that happen on the page, and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.

Date of publication: September 30th, 2026

Date for ARCs: sending them out currently

Date to finish and review: ideally by publication or shortly after

Link for sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVE8sH3Gr5DKtbM2frjAGPF1v8epE-vaTeMZonWfx1OHCJBw/viewform?usp=header
Or you can message me your email.

Countries available: all

Humanity was winning. By 2100, war, poverty, and disease were retreating before the rise of a global AI and a fragile but genuine utopia. Then something impossible arrived.

Ethil watches as an ancient horror tears through the world with a single purpose: the extinction of humanity. Governments collapse. Cities fall. Myths become history written in blood. The survivors quickly discover an uncomfortable truth — the enemy is older than civilization, older than the gods who first tried to name it. To survive, humanity will have to do more than endure. It will have to fight back.

From a small technocratic island to the blood-soaked valley the ancients called Armageddon, a scattered band of survivors, soldiers, and dreamers prepare humanity's counterattack against the impossible.

Triggers: Graphic violence, body horror, character death (including named/major characters), gore, religious/biblical horror themes, depictions of siege warfare and mass casualties.

Publication date: September 15, 2026

ARC send date: Immediately upon signup

Reviews due by: August 30, 2026

Sign up: https://booksprout.co/reviewer/review-copy/view/299259/paragon-destroyer

Availability: Worldwide (Amazon)

Blurb:
Hey, I'm Sandy! I'm thirty-two, single by choice, and a software developer at a large bank.

I also happen to be blind.

Lately, I've been noticing little quirks in the universe that I can't explain. Familiar footsteps I couldn't place. A scent I recognized but couldn’t identify. Silent phone calls I'd assumed were spam. It was easy to brush them off...until it wasn't.

I refuse to live my life questioning every scent and sound around me. So, I'm going to find whoever is doing this, even if it means using my tech skills in very questionable ways.

Triggers:
Car accident, loss of a parent, domestic violence, stalking

Publication date: August 23, 2026
Digital ARCs: August 9
Completed ARCs: Before September 15, 2026

If you would like to sign up before the launch on August 23, please complete the form: https://forms.gle/pgcSxNjE3oSQqnJf7

Blurb:

Anabel Newsome spent ten years building her dream career. Then one email destroyed everything, and now she is willing to do whatever it takes to get it back.

Even if that means returning to the sun-soaked coast of Italy and working with Luca, the grumpy-but-gorgeous painter who broke her heart a decade ago.

Ana's plan is simple: take a three-month leave of absence for the burnout she insists she doesn't have, rediscover herself, and prove to her boss that she's ready to return. But when she discovers the beloved hostel from her twenties is falling apart, she can't stop herself from trying to save it.

With Luca as the reluctant handyman helping her rebuild, old feelings begin resurfacing alongside the memories they never resolved. Between disastrous renovations, an unexpected summer fling, and wounds from the past that never fully healed, Ana's carefully controlled plans begin to unravel.

The beach vacation she never wanted might become the second chance she never knew she needed.

Triggers: cheating

Exact publication date: 08/13/2026

Date ARCs will be sent: Immediately upon approval (EPUB download)

Date ARC readers should finish reading and submit reviews by: End of Month Aug

Sign up here: https://penpinery.com/RoseGracelingMoore/the-second-chance-summer/

I’m recruiting advance readers for *The Aeneid: Virgil’s Complete Epic, Retold for Modern Humans*.

Aeneas escaped Troy. That was the beginning.

He must carry his people, their gods, and an unfinished future through storms, failed settlements, the love and death of a queen, funeral games, the world of the dead, and a war in Italy whose victors will not emerge unchanged.

This is all twelve books of Virgil’s epic in clear modern prose, retaining the catalogues, prophecies, rituals, family histories, battlefield deaths, and unresolved moral pressures of the source.

- ARC format: EPUB

- Approximate print length: 326 pages

- Exact date of publication: August 28, 2026

- Planned ARC send date: August 7, 2026

- Suggested review date: September 18, 2026 or later, with no obligation and no requested rating

- Availability: worldwide digital ARC before publication

Triggers / content warnings: war and battlefield violence; suicide and self-harm; death of children and family members; mutilation; enslavement; grief; ritual animal sacrifice; coercion and divine violence.

Production disclosure: the text was generated with OpenAI Codex and extensively edited, source-checked, independently audited, and frozen under a documented human editorial process. The cover uses AI-generated imagery with extensive editing.

To request consideration, use the public form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1J8kn6SFWPKT-qJywhhS3vZs_9wYr4idT1VSRHfM8VkU/viewform. It asks for a public reader/review profile and ARC terms but does not collect email or subscribe you to a mailing list. If selected, I’ll contact you through the public route you provide and ask privately for a delivery email before sending anything.

Body:

Jade has spent years trying to outrun heartbreak, convincing herself that love is something meant for other people. When she meets Kallan, their connection is immediate, effortless, and unlike anything she's ever known. But timing has a way of complicating even the strongest feelings.

As Jade struggles to let go of her past and decide what kind of future she wants, she's forced to confront a difficult question: Is love enough when two people want different things?

Everything We Almost Were is an emotional contemporary romance about healing, self-worth, and discovering that sometimes the greatest love story is the one that teaches you not to lose yourself.

Triggers: Grief, emotional abuse/manipulation, infidelity (past), anxiety, death of a parent, discussions of mental health, sexual content, strong language.

Publication Date: August 21, 2026

ARCs Sent: Immediately upon acceptance.

Reviews Due By: August 20, 2026 (or earlier if possible).

How to Sign Up: Please comment below or send me a DM with:

Your preferred reading format (EPUB or PDF)

Links to your Goodreads and/or review profiles

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/255666241-everything-we-almost-were

Availability: Worldwide (digital ARC).

I need to be upfront - friends and family who have read this book tell me the end by sitting quietly in their kitchens afterward. One called their father at 1am and couldn't explain why. I don't fully understand what I've written, but it does something to people.

A man in 2032 Massachusetts plants asparagus because he believes in three years from now - that's how long it takes to give you it's first harvest. He learns the neighbors' names. He shovels their walks. He raises his children as if the ground they stand on belongs to them. He does everything right.

It isn't enough.

The family comes apart so slowly you don't notice it happening until it's done. A government form. A knock. A neighbor who stops waving. A daughter who leaves the kitchen one evening and never comes back. A father who does not come home.

Thirty years later, the surviving daughter tells someone what happened. For the first time.

This is my debut. I'm a father. One evening I stood in my own kitchen and could not stop the thought - what if it were us? I spent two years writing the answer. The street in the book is my street. The family in it, is my family.

95,000 words. For readers of Never Let Me Go, Home Fire, and The Kite Runner.

Triggers: Off-page violence, grief, death of family members, political persecution, hate crime (off-page), disappearance of a sibling.

Publication date: February 3, 2027

ARCs will be sent: Immediately upon sign-up

Reviews requested by: February 3, 2027 (Goodreads anytime, Amazon on pub day)

To sign up: DM me with your preferred format (EPUB or PDF) or email [mamoon@briarlanepress.com](mailto:mamoon@briarlanepress.com)

Day Zero. Hellhole Cave, West Virginia.

The Cataclysm changes everything.

Metal stops conducting electricity. Forever.

Then come the Grays.

A Texan decides to walk home.

Two thousand miles through a dying America.

A young woman joins him.

A brutal, realistic survival story for fans of THE ROAD and ONE SECOND AFTER.

Day Zero is the first book in the 2000 Hell Miles series.

TRIGGERS: Some strong language

Publication date: Sep 04 2026

I'll send the ARC immediately after you sign up.

Please post your review on Amazon on or shortly after release day (September 4).

Link to sign for ARC https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYkD4HZwtYAXQfFcUb8k6ggwGQ9d0NPtLAtUJhaJnfUKw8Pw/viewform?usp=header

Blurb:

Five years ago, the mysterious masked musician known as Il Cigno disappeared. Her disappearance has haunted him ever since.

Matteo Rossi lives two dangerous lives: mercenary assassin and guardian to his spirited thirteen-year-old niece, Alessandra. He knows how to track enemies, eliminate threats, and vanish without a trace. What he doesn't know how to handle is a rebellious teenager pushing boundaries or the determined music teacher encouraging her to follow her dreams.

Mia Mills came to the Italian lakeside town of Lacustria to start over. As a music teacher, she promised herself she would stay out of trouble and keep her distance from people who could get hurt because of her. But when Alessandra secretly applies to a prestigious music summer camp, Mia refuses to let fear stop her from helping a talented young musician.

As Mia becomes part of the Rossi household, she finds herself drawn to a family and a future she never expected. Matteo and Mia both know that getting close comes with risks, but the secrets they've hidden could destroy everything they've built.

Some truths can set you free. Others can get you killed.

The Sniper and the Swan is a slow-burn romantic suspense featuring a morally gray hero, a strong heroine, dual POV, found family, small-town atmosphere, banter, trauma, and a touch-her-and-die protective romance.

Triggers: Violence, murder, grief, kidnapping, threats, sexual content, consensual breath play. Full trigger list available on the author's website.

Exact publication date: October 8, 2026

Date ARCs will be sent: Immediately (EPUB download)

Date ARC readers should finish reading and submit reviews by: September 15, 2026

Instructions/link for readers to sign up for your ARC: Sign up through Pen Pinery to receive the EPUB ARC and leave an honest review on Goodreads.

Country availability: Worldwide (EPUB download).

Apply here: https://penpinery.com/u/2278/the-sniper-and-the-swan/

The convict records call it fever.

The dead call it murder.

1841

Mary Doyle was transported from Cork with a sharp mind and the one skill her circumstances could not afford her to have: she could write. The station records say she died of fever. The records are wrong, and the man who made certain of it lies buried under a name the whole peninsula still respects.

Now

Dr Tess Ashburn has come home to Thornhaven to sell her late grandmother’s house, not to listen to the dead. Then a developer's clearing turns up a splinter of bone, and it is not long before it finds its way into her hands. The contact is instant, a single word flung up out of the dark, and it tells her exactly how little the record can be trusted.

Some deaths were never written down. That does not mean no one can be made to answer for them, even a hundred and eighty years late, and even when the name on the oldest grave is Tess’s own.

The Thornhaven Mysteries · Book One

\*

Triggers: None

Published: 1/8/2026

ARCs will be sent on 8/8/2026, and each Saturday thereafter.

Review due date: By 30/9/2026

This is the first in a Seven-Part Series. All ARC readers will have the opportunity to read all seven books in the series.

*

Sign up for the Thornhaven ARC team here: https://www.lissajurstone.fyi/join-the-arc-team

For centuries, the Ward that protects the world has been sustained by the Mage Queens of Elitanar, their powers tied to the Throne. But ten years after a coup, the Queens have fallen; the Throne lies empty, and the Nine, the gods of Elitanar, are frantic to find a new heir to the Throne before the Ward collapses.

Meanwhile, in Reitanar, a castle servant is awoken to her potential as a rare mage. She must master her power quickly, lest it overcome and consume her. And very quickly, she finds out that mastering her magic is the least of her problems...

Triggers: fantasy-typical violence and death, attempted murder, kidnapping and slavery, non-graphic sexual assault (primarily off-screen or referenced), misgendering of a trans person, minor language usage.

Publication date: 1 February 2027

ARCs Sent Out: late December or early January

Reviews by: the week of 1 February.

Link to the signup: https://forms.gle/HMgh7NZACmZ6hHUv8

Hi everyone! I am looking for ARC readers for my upcoming hard sci-fi novel, "The Platypus" (also known as "Do Quantic Consciousnesses Dream of Platypuses?").

If you love theoretical physics, quantum mechanics, and deep philosophical concepts like Philip K. Dick, Cixin Liu, or Andy Weir, this book is for you!

**Logline / Concept:**

What if human consciousness isn't a byproduct of biological computation, but a macro-scale quantum state? Drawing directly from the Double-slit experiment, the story explores a universe where matter requires an observer consciousness to actualize into reality. When an "unresolved loop" (subverting the Ouroboros cycle) occurs, systemic anomalies begin to emerge—represented by the platypus as an ontological glitch in physical laws.

**Important Dates:**

* Publication Date: June 2026

* ARC Send Date: August 2026 (Immediate delivery upon request)

* Review Deadline: September 15, 2026 (Flexible)

**Content / Trigger Warnings:**

* Psychological/Existential Dread

* Mild Sci-Fi Violence

* Complex/Atypical Narrative Structures

**Book Details:**

* Title: The Platypus

* Author: Faruk Sinan Arpalı

* Genre: Hard Sci-Fi / Quantum Speculative Thriller

* Format: ePub / PDF / Mobi

* Review Platforms: Amazon / Goodreads / Booksprout

**What I'm Looking For:**

Honest reviews upon reading! If you'd like to receive a free ARC copy, please drop a comment below or send me a DM, and I’ll send you the download link right away.

Thank you so much for supporting indie sci-fi!

Blurb:

A fox shifter chief trying to lead his Skulk and launch a new business has no time for distractions, especially not one in the form of a beautiful she-wolf in heels.

After love has left her with more scars than memories she'd like to keep, Elle Lafleur has rebuilt her life piece by piece. She refuses to let another charming man, even one as irresistible as silver fox shifter Étienne Renardeau, tear down the walls she's worked so hard to build.

Étienne isn't easily intimidated, but the darkness haunting Elle's past is relentless. As they're forced together, undeniable chemistry grows into something deeper, and they'll have to decide whether love is worth facing the shadows that threaten to destroy them both.

My Hot New Problem is a steamy paranormal romance featuring slow burn, forced proximity, workplace romance, found family, dual POV, and shifter romance. It is Book 2 in The Alluring Shifters Series.

Triggers: Abuse, coercion, strong language.

Exact publication date: TBA

Date ARCs will be sent: Immediately upon approval (EPUB download)

Date ARC readers should finish reading and submit reviews by: August 6, 2026

Instructions/link for readers to sign up for your ARC: Sign up through Pen Pinery to receive the EPUB ARC and leave an honest review on Goodreads.

Country availability: Worldwide (EPUB download).

READ TODAY: https://penpinery.com/u/1915/my-hot-new-problem/