If you love gorgeous, inventive descriptions in your fantasy novels, pick this one up now! Demelza is a vertitas swan, but she doesn’t have the abilities or interests of her sisters. All she can do is tell when people are lying. But when Prince Arris of a neighboring kingdom announces that he is looking for a bride, Demelza agrees to help him weed out the bad contenders by telling him what is true or false about what they say, keeping him from marrying the wrong person. Now, Demelza has a place at the palace, new friends, a job, and a bit of a crush on the prince. But that won’t be a problem, right?

I cannot do better than Emma Straub’s blurb calling this “Tuck Everlasting for grown-ups.” It’s the perfect description. This is a bittersweet story about love and loss. Vera Van Valkenburgh is an immortal woman who has been alive for centuries. It has not been easy, having to always move around, hiding her secret, and losing people she cares about. So after two hundred years, she returns to the Catskills, where it all started, to try and find what caused her immortality and reverse it. But when she gets there, she learns of a company that is buying up all the property in the area. Could they know what caused her immortality, and could they have the answers she needs?

This might be my favorite book of the year. It’s a historical dark fantasy based around the legend of the Beast of Gévaudan, a monster that supposedly terrorized a town in 18th-century France. Sebastian Grave has tangled with the Beast before, and he thought it was dead. When it resurfaces, he is contractually obligated to return and finish the job. Along for the trip is the demon Sarmodel because, well, he lives inside Sebastian. This is the bananapants buddy comedy I didn’t know I needed, a wild, bloody, hilarious romp with a high body count that is also steeped in history. I can’t wait for the next one!