Simon & Schuster Acquires M.L. Rio’s Upcoming Novels Including “Hot Wax”
Archived announcement from January 2024. Updated October 9, 2026: Hot Wax was published on September 9, 2025.
In January 2024, Simon & Schuster acquired North American rights to two novels by M.L. Rio, known for If We Were Villains. The announcement included Hot Wax, which was initially expected in spring 2025.
Hot Wax follows a woman whose childhood on tour with her father’s band is connected to a later journey across America. Music, memory, and violence link the two periods of her life.
The acquisition announcement offered an early look at Hot Wax. The publisher’s official book page now provides its synopsis and edition details.
M.L. Rio has previously garnered attention and acclaim for If We Were Villains, featured in our dark-academia book list, a novel centered around a group of Shakespearean actors entangled in a web of intrigue and mystery. Her work is known for its intricate storytelling and depth of character development.
The two-novel agreement added Rio to Simon & Schuster’s fiction list. This article preserves the context of that January 2024 acquisition announcement.
Readers discovering this announcement today can now read Hot Wax; the tentative release window reported at the time has been superseded by its September 2025 publication.