In fiction, I’m drawn to work that sits at the intersection of literary and commercial, with a strong narrative engine and a clear psychological or emotional hook. I gravitate toward books that are unsettling, intimate, and obsessive, stories that burrow under the skin and stay there. I love morally complex characters, unreliable narrators (especially funny ones), and books driven by desire, power, loneliness, jealousy, or rage. Voice matters enormously to me, but never at the expense of momentum: I’m always looking for fiction that is both stylish and compulsively readable.

I’m especially interested in novels that explore identity, intimacy, alienation, class, gender, and obsession, often through dark humor, menace, or emotional extremity. I love secrets, transgressions, cultish dynamics, closed worlds, and stories where something feels slightly off from the very beginning.

I’m also a devoted romance reader. On that side, I’m looking for adult romantasy with enemies-to-lovers tension and real stakes, and contemporary romance (romcoms, sports romance, cozy small towns) where the banter lands and the happy ending feels earned. Whatever the genre, the throughline is the same: a voice I trust and a book I can’t put down.

Fiction

Psychological suspense - Character-driven novels where tension comes from interiority, relationships, and dread rather than procedural mechanics. Think slow-burn unease, obsession, and moral ambiguity. (The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson; I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid; Tony and Susan by Austin Wright; The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain; The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides; The Housemaid by Freida McFadden)

Dark, cerebral campus or closed-world novels - Academic settings, insular communities, cultish friend groups, or elite environments where power, secrecy, and moral rot thrive. (The Secret History by Donna Tartt; The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis)

Female rage and transgressive women - Angry, obsessive, unlikable, ambitious, erotic, destructive, or deeply conflicted women. I love books that refuse to soften or explain women’s darkness. (novels by Ottessa Moshfegh; A Good Person by Kirsten King; My Husband by Maud Ventura; Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott; The Guest by Emma Cline; Circe by Madeline Miller; Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke)

Romantasy (adult): Romance and fantasy in real balance, where the world raises the stakes of the relationship instead of decorating it. I’m especially drawn to enemies-to-lovers, morally gray love interests, and darker, sharp-voiced takes with heat and real consequences. (A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas; Fourth Wing series by Rebecca Yarros; Quicksilver series by Callie Hart) Not for me: YA or teen protagonists, or sweet or closed-door romance.

Contemporary romance: Romantic comedies, sports and college romance, and cozy small-town love stories, all with a guaranteed happily ever after, banter that actually lands, and characters who are funny because they’re specific. (novels by Emily Henry; novels by Ali Hazelwood; the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy) Not for me: inspirational or clean romance, or books where the tropes stand in for the voice.

Literary horror and body horror - Horror rooted in psychology, desire, control, and the body, especially when it intersects with social critique. I’m open to disturbing material when it is purposeful and well-executed, and to slashers with something to say. (The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson; Tender Is the Flesh and The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica; Backstabbers by Eliza Jabore)

Consuming and destructive relationships: Romantic, platonic, familial, or sexual relationships that are obsessive, asymmetric, manipulative, or destructive. (Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin; Acts of Desperation and Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan)

Existential and philosophical fiction with plot - Big ideas grounded in story (identity, time, faith, morality, isolation), handled with restraint and narrative clarity. (The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath; novels by Paul Auster; novels by Ian McEwan; East of Eden by John Steinbeck; The Fall by Albert Camus)

Sharp, voice-forward literary fiction - Distinctive voices with bite, intelligence, and emotional precision. Often funny, sad, abrasive, or observational, with an emphasis on interior life rather than plot mechanics. (Liars by Sarah Manguso; The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy; novels by Sally Rooney; Big Swiss by Jen Beagin)

Romantic, voice-driven commercial fiction - Emotionally intelligent, voice-forward commercial fiction centered on love, longing, and relationships. (The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue; Good Material and Ghosts by Dolly Alderton)

International or translated fiction with edge - Especially novels that interrogate gender, desire, power, or obsession through a cultural or political lens. (Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito; Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali; Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk; Berlin by Bea Setton; Attacking the Earth and Sun by Mathieu Belezi)

Lightly speculative / allegorical literary fiction - High-concept or speculative elements used in service of emotional, philosophical, or relational storytelling rather than world-building. (Shark Heart by Emily Habeck)

In nonfiction, I'm drawn to narrative-driven work that reads with the urgency and propulsion of a novel while remaining rigorously reported. I'm especially interested in books that explore human behavior, power, secrecy, survival, and moral ambiguity - stories that illuminate how people think, decide, endure, and justify their actions under pressure. I gravitate toward journalism, history, and investigative nonfiction with a strong narrative spine, cinematic scope, and intellectual ambition. I'm less interested in prescriptive or instructional books, and more interested in nonfiction that asks big questions and trusts the reader to engage with complexity.