Y'all know me. I believe in community. I love any opportunity to support writers and publishers who I know are working toward creating more space in this industry for marginalized people. Which is why I ended up partnering with Bindery to start this publishing imprint, and why I do my best to read every book put out company-wide.

I was going through some personal things when the Fall 2025 season launched, but I am back! I took two weeks to read through all of our Spring books and am ready to share a little about my experience with each of them.

Obviously, I am doing so as someone who is a part of Bindery, so keep that in mind. In this post, I am focusing on giving you a clear picture of what each book is about and what I pulled out of it. Not necessarily giving you ratings or reviews. But all of the thoughts I am sharing are my genuine thoughts and I hope you find something from our upcoming season that peaks your interest! (Such as Devil of the Deep...lol).

Devil of the Deep by Falencia Jean-Francois

When a young mermaid has to flee her home in order to escape the cult who have captured both of her uncles, she finds herself lost in a world that is foreign to her with nothing but her name, an ancient curse, and an equally ancient artifact that she has been tasked with protecting at all costs. Cursed without her voice, she has to somehow work with the notorious pirate who rescues her from her would-be captors and a navy captain who is both the first trans man to captain his own ship and the long lost lover of the pirate who is fighting to keep her alive.

If you're here, you already know that Devil of the Deep is the next book being published right here at Left Unread. So obviously, it is my favorite of the season. This is first and foremost a Haitian story. Black pirates. Black mermaids. Black heroes. Black villains. Even Black gods. All in a world that is rich with Haitian culture and imagery. The world that Falencia built is somehow both rich in Haitian culture and a scathing look at the impact and mechanisms of colonialsm.

The primary conflict in the story follows a cult that has spread both above and below the sea, which requires its members to work toward recovering an ancient artifact that will allow them to raise an island from the sea and reshape the world in the image of their forgotten god. Our main characters are working in opposition to this cult. And a part of the work they have to do is deconstructing the beliefs and practices that have impacted their view of the world and themselves so they can re-embrace their ancestral heritage and save the world they love.

This book is having a conversation that many of us--especially those of us who exist with marginalized identities in the west--are all too familiar with. Colonizers have always used religion as a weapon against marginalized people. Erasing our culture, suppressing the voices of our ancestors...turning us into weapons against one another. That is exactly what is happening in Devil of the Deep and it could not be a more important conversation for us to be having as many of our own cultures and identities are being stripped in the name of Christian nationalism.

Obviously, I would love it if you grabbed copies of all of the Spring Bindery books, but it would especially mean the world to me if you ordered a copy of Devil of the Deep. This book means the world to me. And as Bindery's very first republished Indie Author, how we show up for Falencia is very important.

Here is a direct link where you can order your copy: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781967967049

Burn the Sea by Mona Tewari

Burn the Sea is perhaps the Bindery book I was most excited for this season, with the exception of Devil of the Deep of course. So let's get into it!

She wasn't supposed to be the Queen. She was supposed to be a warrior. But fate had other plans. Now, it falls on her to push back against the monsters who are waging war against her kingdom and the very real human threat that seeks to take advantage of her inexperience as the ruling voice of her people.

Burn the Sea is a historical fantasy, inspired by real events that took place in South India in the 1500s. But instead of facing Portugese ships, Queen Abbakka is at war with the Porcugi--powerful snake hybrids who are after the spices that her kingdom are lush with. Instead of bartering/trading for the spices they need for their own medicines and creations, they are leveraging their strength and demanding that Abbakka bend the knee. Which she has no intention of doing.

In this book, we watch as a young, female Monarch is forced to wrestle with her new responsibilities--responsibilities she was never even supposed to have--while under attack by a far more powerful enemy and allies who are as interested in exploiting her position of power as they are in helping her to keep her people alive. This book is about standing firm in the face of encroaching colonial forces.

I read Burn the Sea in two sittings and honestly, I had a really good time, as I expected. Mona did a fantastic job of helping me to fall in love with her characters. Even the ones I hated desperately. They each had such unique and important voices and, more importantly, I understood them. The mark of a good story, for me, is characters that I can truly see and understand, regardless of whether or not I relate to them. And I feel that happened in this book. It was a lovely debut and I can't wait to read the sequel!

If you order a copy, please support my content by using my direct link: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781967967063

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

The Zombie apocalypse has begun. Society has collapsed. The government has lost control. And the only thing keeping them alive are the walls of what used to be their high school and a set of rules that no one can quite agree on.

I absolutely devoured this book. This Is Not A Test took everything that I love about Zombie stories and gave it to me through the eyes of a group of teenagers. Which isn't something I would have ever thought I wanted, but now that I've read it, I realize that it was an important perspective.

Often, when we imagine the apocalypse, we are picturing it through the lens of desperate, but ultimately capable, people. Men who are protecting their wives and children. Women banding together to overcome zombies and the people who are capitalizing on the crumbling of society. Government leaders attempting to ward off the end of civilization as they know it. Right? These stories are usually told from the perspective of warriors, protectors, doctors, etc. But there was something so haunting about entering the apocalypse through the lens of a child. Someone who is virtually helpless. The adults around them have all died fighting to protect them. Except for those who were monsters in their lives long before any zombies made an appearance. Now, they are completely alone. Reliant only on one another and what few instructions and ideas they have been able to piece together.

Courtney Summers gave us a fresh look at what it means to be truly desperate in this handful of teenagers who are now forced to hide from the end of the world together, while also attempting to ask the questions, and make the explorations, that come with being a teenager. Love, hope, fear, friendship, identity, the future... they are wrestling with who they are becoming in a world that promises to never actually let them become.

It is devastatingly beautiful in its delivery.

As the only spring book that has already launched, I highly recommend you grab a copy of this one and I ask that you use my link as you do: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781967967124

Our Sister's Keeper by Jasmine Holmes

East Cobb is everything a young Black couple could want in 1920s Mississippi. It is safe, wealthy and far from the hold of white southerners. However, it does have its secrets. Such as the women whose sole purpose is to supernaturally pull the memories of suffering from the town's men, who have been forced to live as victims in a white man's world. Oh, and how far they will go to keep the women from admitting that they are suffering too.

This book's premise interested me quite a bit. It is not quite a ghost story, not quite a horror novel, and not quite a conversation about racial trauma. And yet, it is all three. It follows a young Black couple as they move to East Cobb for work. Which is a huge adjustment, as they have come from a world where they have fought to excel and are now being asked to quietly slip into roles that have been assigned for them. Him, a dutiful husband meant to provide for his wife and leave all of his cares in the hands of another woman. And her, a gentle wife who is free to give up her career aspirations and to focus on being the meek, and hopefully pregnant, woman of her husband's dreams.

East Cobb means safety like they have never known before. And yet it also somehow means giving up a part of themselves that they hadn't even known was on the table.

This book is having a loud conversation about the lengths Black women will go to in order to protect Black men and the impact that effort has on them, both individually, and collectively, through a southern Christian perspective. It is also diving into a conversation about the way that white supremacy works to transform Black community into a tool for its own use.

If that interests you, here is a direct link to order your copy: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781967967100

Black as Diamond by U.M. Agoawike

His brother is missing, a curse is brewing, and now he is a fugitive who is magically attached to an amateur spell caster who doesn't know the first thing about surviving on the run.

Asaru has been fighting against an army of the dead for most of his life. So he knew the risks when he ventured into the human world in search of his missing brother. What he didn't know was that there were new forces at play. Forces that he was not even almost prepared to deal with. Including a powerful curse. So when he ended up magically tied to a newb with very limited life skills, he had no choice but to go in search of someone who could help him figure out how to break his curse and save his people.

This is the first book in a duology and it feels like fantasy in its most classic form. Ancient curses, magical creatures, silly puns and inept magic wielders. It has everything we grew up expecting from a fantasy book and, in a way, it was very nostalgic to read.

There is not much more I can tell you about this story because a lot of its content is wrapped up in the mystery of this curse, but here is what I can say:

I loved the characters and the world they lived in. Our two main characters are polar opposites and I couldn't love that more. And their world is filled with vibrant life, unspoken--yet unyielding--rules and splashes of magic that both left me in awe and confused me. Which is something I love in a fantasy. I love magic and mystery that is both bigger than life and available for me to unravel alongside our hero.

I had a good time with this story. And if you would like a copy of your own, here is a direct link: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781967967001

Wayward Souls by Wayward Souls

This is the second book in a series, following Strange Beasts and it was everything I expected a sequel to that book to be. Mystery at its finest. A new big bad, complimented by their own magic, their own rules, their own strengths, weaknesses, enemies and friends. These stories are connected in the way that all such stories are. It is a fresh and independent mystery to be solved, while tying into the same overarching big bad.

In this case, the big bad that threads these stories together is Dr Moriarty's father...Dr Moriarty.

Yes, that Dr. Moriarty.

This story exists in the world of Sherlock Holmes and Dracula but gives us fresh eyes as we explore it through the perspectives of their children. Dr Moriarty being the daughter of Sherlock Holmes notorious killer, and her partner--Samantha Harker--the daughter of the pair responsible for the death of Dracula.

In this installment, our heroes are off to Ireland after a string of supernatural deaths make it clear something nefarious is going on. In this book, we get a lot of the same antics and effort that we saw in the first, but we also get to watch as Helena (Dr Moriarty) begins to let her guard down and as Samantha finds the strength to believe in herself and hone her power.

As I said last year, Strange Beast was a beautiful debut, and Wayward Souls has done a delightful job of picking up the torch. I enjoyed both of our heroes as much as I did in the first book and, this time, I know them better so it was even sweeter. I will say, there are characters I hated in the first book that have come to win me over now. And new characters that I have yet to decide about. But that is the mark of a good writer. Her characters have all left a mark on me and I deeply look forward to seeing how I feel about them in the next installment!!!

I'd love for you to order your copy. Here is a direct link: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781967967025

Saturn Returning by Kim Narby

Saturn Returning was such a unique and interesting book. It tackles a classic story about love and becoming and delivers it to us in the messiest packaging available. Which is reminiscent of what love is actually like. Am I right?

This story is filled with messy questions, silly life choices, and uncommunicative young people who think in Black and white while very much living in the grey. It reminded me of the shows I grew up on, such as One Tree Hill and The O.C., but aged up to meet me where I was just a few years ago.

Jordan and Trace were inseparable, until they met Sylvia. Now Trace belongs to her and Jordan has built a life for herself half way across the country. That is, until Trace realizes some things about herself that throw everything she's built for herself into chaos.

I don't want to reveal too much because this story is a ball of yarn that requires meticulous unraveling to fully appreciate, and I don't want to rob you of even a moment of that process. But I will say this: get used to asking big questions...and getting angry at some of the answers.

If messy love is your thing, here is a link to go ahead and grab your copy: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781967967087

Final Thoughts

I had such a fun time reading through our Spring box set and I hope that you will come back and tell me what you thought of whichever books you decide to pick up. In the meantime, if you want to support my content and my efforts to invest in Black and brown authors, please consider subscribing to this community for $5 a month. I will continue to give you honest thoughts on books, facilitate bookish conversations, and be a general menace to this industry until it creates space for us.