Why should trick-or-treaters have all the fun? This month’s Indie Discovery List offers a mixed bag of reading treats, from dangerous desires and a marriage with deadly stakes to alien promises and ancient secrets. For readers craving food for thought, there are fresh perspectives on emotions, family life and what it means to live well. Whatever your reading appetite, unwrap a new favorite — and leave room on your TBR for a few surprises.
One of Us Must Die by Zelly Ruskin
Domestic Thriller
Trapped in a deceptively “picture-perfect” marriage, a mother of three plots her escape from a controlling husband. But how far will she go to protect her children — and secure her own freedom?
Unlongevity: Escaping Optimization Culture to Restore Health, Meaning, and a Life That Fits by Ramona Roemer and Andreas Heigl
Health & Wellness
With so many paths to better health, which ones fit you? A fresh look at longevity that puts individual needs, meaningful living and the whole person ahead of optimization culture.
Unhinged by Steph Macca
Dark Romance
Sent to Lilydale after setting her home ablaze, a young arsonist forms dangerous connections with fellow asylum residents in a dark, why-choose romance where rules beg to be broken.
Choosing Emotions: Thinking with Your Head and Acting with Your Heart by D. Earl Johnston
Psychology
What if emotional intelligence begins with vocabulary? Drawing on 3,000 years of wisdom, D. Earl Johnston explores 272 emotional states to help readers better understand how they feel.
Maya Lin & The Ancient Order of Seshat: the arQitect by J. Adrian Betancourt
Science Fiction
An ancient medallion draws architectural historian Maya Lin into a hunt for stolen scrolls, a secret order and a plot to turn meditation technology into a tool for mind control.
In Defense of Earth by Marlen Suyapa Bodden
Science Fiction
In this Afrofuturist novel, a scientist confronts an alien’s deceptive promise to save Earth from climate catastrophe while defying a government that threatens to separate her family.
Now available in audiobook.
Birth-Rate Crisis: Reclaiming Family and Purpose in a Dopamine-Driven World by Jim Penman and Andrea Pearson
Social Sciences
Could modern overstimulation be making family life less rewarding? Two authors explore falling birth rates, dopamine and practical ways to support parents and strengthen family life.
Purchase at https://books2read.com/u/mveYGe.