So amidst all the lists at the end of the year, we wanted to focus on some of the books we’ve read that we really think need a bit more love and attention. I asked each of our contributors to highlight a few of their favorite reads of the year that they feel fell under the radar. Some of these rated high enough to make our Best of 2015 list, and some of them were nominated/ranked in the list we used for the Best Of list, but just didn’t quite make the final cut. Books that only one of us read were at a bit of a disadvantage. So this is a great chance for each of us to highlight books we felt were wonderful reads and deserve another mention as the year draws to a close.   BOB’S PICKS         LISA’S PICKS           LYNN’S PICKS             STEPHENIE’S PICKS           TAMMY’S PICKS   .  

I’ve been lucky enough to receive many unsolicited books from Skyhorse Publishing in the last six months or so, but this book from Skyhorse imprint Talos is, ironically, the only one of their books I’ve requested. And boy, what a book! I nearly passed it by when it popped up on Edelweiss, simply because I have way too many review books as it is. But I thank all the Chinese gods and monsters mentioned in this story that I didn’t pass it up. The Girl With Ghost Eyes will surely be one of my favorite books of the year, and I’m already bemoaning the fact that it’s over, and I don’t know if there will be any more books set in this world! (Note to self: must check with author!) What makes this book so unexpectedly wonderful are two main ingredients: the vibrant magical world, and the characters. The story is set in Chinatown, San Francisco in the late 1800s, a community of immigrant Chinese workers, some of who can perform powerful magic. The story is told by Xian Li-lin, a young woman who is cursed with yin eyes, or “ghost eyes,” which means she is able to peer into…