July Updates and Book Recs
Hello, readers!
July marks the beginning of my attempt at sending more structured newsletters. Starting off with:
Sundry Updates
With my editorial hat on, I’m delighted to say that we at Diabolical Plots are open for submissions as of yesterday! Send us your human-written stories up until July 27! https://www.diabolicalplots.com/guidelines/
Editorial hat still on, I’ll also be editing a special themed issue, “Diabolical Rot”! Send your submissions for that October 18-25. Check out the call deets here: https://www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-general-submission-window-and-diabolical-rot-themed-window/
Writer hat back on, I’m happy to say that my debut book, The Upper Tentacle, is now listed on my publisher’s site for preorder! This is a soft, newsletter-exclusive, announcement; I’ll share the link more widely once we’ve had the cover reveal. But oooh, shiny publisher preorder link: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/amanda-helms/the-upper-tentacle/9781454972983/
Okey doke, moving on to my book recs for the month!
No Dream Like Forever by Nora Shear
Summary: Event planner Viyana pulls off a complicated party for her company, putting her in the sights of another company working to partner with Viyana’s. Though her resulting partnership with Cory, one of that company’s leads, reawakens her desire for connection, she soon finds herself ensnared in the corporate politics. The kicker? These companies are both run by vampires (post-mortals, technically) and not everyone is as friendly to humans as Cory is.
CN: book contains emotional abuse and mind control (as well as other potentially triggering content; do check those out in the book itself), and I’m referencing those here.
Shear’s site describes herself as “an author of consent-centric Paranormal, SciFi, & Fantasy romance,” and YES is the consent prominent in No Dream! Shear runs seriously with the premise of vampires who can control another’s will and brings it back to the true horror it is. Viyana and Cory both have histories that make their struggle to connect all the more believeable, and moreover the threat to their relationship is so much more than the old saw of “well if they just talked to each other, they’d fix the misunderstanding!”
No. Human Viyana escaped from an abusive stepfather and then an abusive ex. She is absolutely primed to be steadfastly against (and unfortunately retriggered by) the coercive powers the post-mortals possess.
Post-mortal Cory still suffers from how he was unable to save his lost love from his clan. He’s desperate, one, to keep Viyana safe from his clan (and himself) and two, for Viyana not to see him as a monster. These are not incompatibilities that can be fixed with one conversation!
One reason I got burned out on paranormal romance and urban fantasy back in the 2010s was due to the lack of care regarding how the supernatural creatures treated their human partners, all this trauma that was somehow never addressed (Sookie Stackhouse and Bill in the trunk in Club Dead, I’m looking at you. Iykyk). Fortunately, Shear has considered these aspects deeply and takes great care to manage the power dynamics between her couple.
The epilogue hints strongly at a sequel, and I can’t wait to see standout secondary characters Jolie and Dash get their time in the spotlight.
Check out order links here: https://norashear.com/books/
Until Death by Mary Berman
Summary: Ophelia rushes into a marriage with a on-the-surface charming man, and even if Ophelia has sneaking doubts, her mother, succumbing to dementia, does not.
CN: Also coercion, discussed below
I kind of like doing book rec pairings or groupings; my English major brain delights in identifying common threads.
So here, we also have a take on coercion and a person’s past trauma (in this case, largely unacknowledged) leading to, shall we say, ill picks for a partner. The difference here is that Ophelia’s fiancé, Luke, is not aware he’s an ill pick, vs. Cory in No Dream being very aware of his past failings. Without getting too deep into spoiler territory, Luke literally cannot understand how terrible he is.
But he is. So, so terrible.
I thought also that the book does a very good job at handling the gnarled, twisty mother-daughter dynamics between a manipulative mother who is, nevertheless, one’s mother, and also succumbing to dementia, and a daughter who knows she deserves better treatment but can’t quite bring herself to cut the ties that would get her there. Ophelia’s complicated love for her mother, and how that ultimately drives her getting involved in the horror of the wedding industry (and a very, very wrong partner and his terrible mother) is, imo, the strongest part of the book.
Order links here: https://mtgberman.com/
Till next time!
-Amanda
