Play Nice
Hardcover | Kindle Edition | Audiobook
By Rachel Harrison
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: September 9, 2025

A social media influencer plans to turn the fixer-upper she inherited from her late mother into a moneymaking opportunity, but thanks to her repressed childhood memories, she doesn’t realize that the demon haunting the home is still there and is awaiting her return.

In Play Nice, Rachel Harrison‘s latest supernatural tale, 25-year-old Clio is a stylist living in New York City, enjoying the nightlife and the perks of her side gig as a social media influencer. She’s the youngest of three daughters, who were raised by their father and stepmother after their mother, Alexandra, had a breakdown and lost custody of them, leading to a lengthy estrangement.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Directed by Matt Shakman
Starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Julia Garner, Ralph Ineson
Marvel Studios
Release date: July 25, 2025

Non-spoiler first thoughts (mostly written in the car on the way home from the movie theater) on The Fantastic Four: First Steps:

Marvel Studios churned out an enjoyable film that does justice to these classic characters, making them all likable and competent. I love the film’s retro-futuristic look (not a cell phone in sight) and color scheme. While this is the “first steps,” it’s not an origin story, with the groups’ superpowered circumstances summed up quickly at the start on the team’s anniversary. This allows the danger to present right away and the action to get going fast.

Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd
Hardcover | Kindle Edition | Audiobook
By Delilah S. Dawson
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Release Date: May 13, 2025

All things come full circle. This was a saying when I was younger and I can attest that it holds true even to this day. I was ever a fan of the Dungeons & Dragons Ravenloft setting, loving that it was able to bridge worlds thanks to the ever-changing Mists. The original source material for the Ravenloft campaign was one that I consumed again and again, as well as the novels that followed. That said, I was happy to see a 5e release for the game that I have always loved. I was not prepared for a follow-up book that whisked me back to Barovia and Castle Ravenloft, but Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd did just that. Here are my thoughts on the book itself, keeping in mind I am a diehard fan of the setting, and this is just my take on the book release itself.

Dragonlance Chronicles
Books 1-3: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, and Dragons of Spring Dawning
Hardcover
By Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Foreword by Joe Manganiello
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Release Date: February 4, 2025

Who would have thought 40 years ago that I would be reviewing a book with which 14-year-old me was so enamored? Getting the chance to finally own the Dragonlance Chronicles in a single hardback is a dream come true. Truth be told, I still have my original mass market paperback releases from 1984. I even bought the Annotated Chronicles way back in the day just for more backstory. This is the core of all those old TSR books that really flooded the market in the 1980s and 1990s (and many more years after that). Or, as my kids say, the late 20th century. But, for those who missed those days due to being born too late, here is the chance to grab an amazing trilogy in a single edition!

Just Beyond The Light
Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head
Hardcover | Kindle Edition | Audiobook
By D. Randall Blythe
Publisher: Da Capo
Release Date: February 18, 2025

A decade after D. Randall Blythe bared his soul in Dark Days, his gut-wrenching memoir detailing his time served in a Czech prison, the frontman of heavy metal group Lamb of God returns now with Just Beyond The Light, proving to be a modern-day philosopher for the common man. In this introspective work, he tackles subjects like maintaining sobriety, honing one’s craft, embracing positivity, and combatting Internet “armchair experts.”