#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: Casual by Koji A Dae

 Today I have an advanced copy of a book, out next month, from a solid small press that appeared on Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025 list. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winner was Michelle from IA. Now on to this week's giveaway.

I regularly get ARCs from Tenebrous Press. I have been able to review a few myself, and I have passed some on to my editors so others can read and review as well. 

Awhile back, I received a review copy of Casual by Koji A. Dae. It looked good but I did not have time to review it. However, Booklist was able to assign it and a review will be in the magazine soon. 

In the meantime, the book also showed up on Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Book of 2025 list! They only picked 291 books total for the list and this was one of them. 

It comes out in February so this, the last giveaway of January seems like a greta time to alert you to it.

From the Tenebrous site:

Valya’s neural implant is amazing.

Its game-like app, CASUAL, has managed her depression and anxiety, stabilized her mood, and helped the infertile Valya get pregnant. But new laws forbid her from using the device when she's sole caregiver for her infant. Her gaslighting ex won't help her, and she can't afford a nanny, so her obstetrician insists that Valya wean off CASUAL before giving birth.

Despite a will to quit and a supportive new love interest in her birthing class, disabling CASUAL turns Valya's anxiety into full-blown panic attacks. Her psychiatrist offers to enroll her in a controversial clinical trial that would place a tandem implant in the baby and allow Valya to keep hers active. Valya must decide whether she should attempt parenting without CASUAL or install a minimally tested device in her vulnerable child.

Casual is a stark and cutting glance at a near future that looks uncannily like our present, exploring themes of bodily autonomy and the struggle for mental health in a world increasingly divided. 

Click through for more information about this book and how to order a copy for your library. 

Thank you to Tenebrous for the great, timely, and terrifying books and for working to get your books into the library market.

Get on this one and all future giveaways because if you enter once, you are entered going forward.