The final Team Fear book in 2025

Christmas, a Reading List, and What's Ahead

Let’s get the biggest question out of the way first:

Yes, the final Team Fear book will be out in 2025! My apologies, because I know how much I hate to wait for the next book in a series!

See my Mea Culpa at the end of the newsletter FMI.

Now, let’s talk reading. Because I teach, Christmas break is one of the few times I have for unfettered reading and writing. So I asked my former MFA students for some reading recommendations:

1. Saving Eva by Whitney Reinhart: This was her MFA thesis novel, and the reviewer has it just right: “Sass, charm, and ‘bless your heart’ humor infuse Saving Eva as a laugh-out-loud Southern family saga that brings a tumultuous time in history to vivid life. Fans of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café and Steel Magnolias will enjoy this one.” - Carrie Dalby, Author of The Possession Chronicles

2. Whitney nominated The Living Waters by Dan Fitzgerald as a sword-free fantasy: When two painted-faced nobles take a guided raft trip on a muddy river, they expect to rough it for a few weeks before returning to their life of sheltered ease, but when mysterious swirls start appearing in the water even their seasoned guides get rattled.

3. Brennan Cupp recommends The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang, which he says has “some interesting philosophical/magical concepts… Sometimes slow and steady is perfectly fine.” Time Magazine calls this book “One of the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time.”

4. Alicia Camp recommends An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, a psychological thriller she says “is set around the holidays but isn't about the holidays.” Publishers Weekly says it is "Slickly twisty [with] gasp-worthy final twists...major league suspense." She also recommends Mistletoe Murders on Audible.

5. Since she didn’t, I’ll recommend Alicia Camp’s Atlantis Ashes: In this whirlwind of time travel, betrayal, and love – the impulsive and spirited Sasha must decide if there truly is more to life than surviving in a place where nobody is as they seem.

6. Another student thesis novel is Unbound by Luna Fiore: With a deathbed promise to her mother and a curse that exiles her from the realms, Alannah has no intention of ever leaving the fringe. Until she saves a human from a harrowing death at the hands of a Fae prince.

7. I’ve recently been binging the Irish Village Mystery series by Carlene O’Connor, but in light of the season, I’ll recommend Murder at an Irish Christmas: Garda Siobhán O'Sullivan’s holiday plans hit a sour note when murder rearranges the yuletide carols into unexpected eulogies. If you read the entire series, you get to see Siobhán’s growth from young woman to Garda to married detective.

8. Throwback to my first series, the Untouchables, with An Untouchable Christmas: Sofia Capri survived life as a mob wife, but living with drop-dead gorgeous FBI agent Logan Stone has its own challenges. Step one? Host his family for Christmas dinner. This is a quick read (novella) in which I include the very rare recipe, because it’s my mother’s Cranberry Sauce for Christmas. Thoroughly appropriate for the season.

What do you recommend? You can respond in the comments on Substack or to the thread on Twitter.

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Dear Someday Writer

In addition to my adventures in Ireland studying Irish Literature and getting lost in Dublin, I also wrote a book for new writers called Dear Someday Writer: Crafted by an experienced writing professor and book coach, Dear Someday Writer provides aspiring authors with the tools, motivation, and support needed to embark on and complete their writing journey.

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Mea Culpa

Yes, the final Team Fear book will be out in 2025. My apologies, because I know how much I hate to wait for the next book in a series! Life has been a bit like a wildfire wrapped in a tornado in the middle of a drought for the past several years. I anticipate calmer waters ahead.

To all those patiently (or impatiently) awaiting the final Team Fear book, that’s on my schedule for mid-2025 for a fall release. I cannot wait to share the final episode to see how Janet—of An Army of One & Sgt. Rose of Fight by the Team—handle the growing connection between Cami (Rose’s sister) and Fowler (Janet’s son). They’re in for a wild and explosive conclusion.

My very best wishes to you and yours this Christmas.

Cindy

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Cindy Skaggs is the writer of the Untouchables and Team Fear romantic suspense series. She is an advocate for military and veteran issues, mom to two humans, and an armchair traveler. In 2022, she moved to Ireland to study Irish Literature. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

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