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Book Recommendations and Reviews

A retired serial killer pulled back into the fray, terror on a campground, a (pumpkin) spicy romance, and more of today's best book deals

Today’s Featured Book Deals $2.99 You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn BayronGet This Deal $2.99 Graveyard Shift by M.L. RioGet This Deal $1.99 Little Secrets by Jennifer HillierGet This Deal $1.99 How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia NagamatsuGet This Deal $0.99 Let’s Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About by Isabelle PoppGet This Deal $1.99 Be Mine Forever by Kennedy RyanGet This Deal $1.99 Piglet by Lottie HazellGet This Deal $6.99 Too Old for This by Samantha DowningGet This Deal In Case You Missed Yesterday’s Most Popular Book Deals $1.99 Tusk Love by Thea GuanzonGet This Deal $1.99 My Name is Emilia del Valle by Isabel AllendeGet This Deal $1.99 The Witching Tide by Margaret MeyerGet This Deal $2.99 American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond by Jeremy DauberGet This Deal

This year's Kirkus Prize winners, the Steven Universe creator is bringing Moomins to U.S. screens, a literary MacArthur Fellow, and more.

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The Kirkus Prize Winners I have been overwhelmed by awards season announcements and almost missed out on the Kirkus Prize winners. The Kirkus Prize awards a whopping $50,000 to authors of outstanding, Kirkus-starred works in the categories of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. This year’s winners are: The Slip by Lucas Schaefer (Fiction), King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson (Nonfiction), Everybelly by Thao Lam (Young Readers’ Literature). The Slip is a chunky debut novel exploring “issues of race, class, sex, and gender through a wildly inventive group of characters and events,” King of Kings dives into a meaty topic that remains relevant today, and my belly-obsessed toddlers can expect to find Lam’s delightful picture book celebrating different body sizes and shapes underneath the Christmas tree this year. Steven Universe and Moomin Fans, Get in Formation! Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar is bringing Moomins to U.S. big screens. Tove Jansson’s beloved Moomins are characters from a series of Swedish-Finn books and comics featuring the lovable trolls of Moominvalley. Variety reports that this will be the first Moomin film produced in the U.S. Considering how poignant and similarly beloved Steven Universe has become to so many, I can now imagine no one but the multi-talented Sugar entrusted with the writing and directing of this film. The animated movie will be based on the Moomins books, which have been translated into more languages than I can list, and will be produced by Julia Pistor (The Spongebob Squarepants movie). I predict packed theaters on premiere day, which has yet to be announced. Tommy Orange is a 2025 MacArthur Fellow Tommy Orange, you genius, you. The author of the highly-praised and widely-read novels There, There and, most recently, Wandering Stars is one of this year’s 22 MacArthur Fellows, commonly known as the “Genius Grant.” This means he’ll receive an $800,000, no-strings-attached award serving as “an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential.” Fellows are chosen based on three criteria: exceptional creativity; promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments which could be enabled by the Foundation’s support; and, potential for the Fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work. Jeff and I discussed Orange’s win for an upcoming Book Riot pod episode, including how he still feels like a relatively fresh writer. That makes sense for this award, which sets out to cultivate impactful talent, and boy has he made an impact in short time. What a deserved win. Be an Informed Pro-Library, Pro-Literary Voter Now Banned Books Week is coming to a close, but it’s more important than ever to stay vigilant and informed about book banning efforts year-round. There are many ways to stay actively involved in the fight against censorship, and to defend access to books for all by showing up to the polls and spreading the word when libraries are on the ballot. Looking for in-depth guidance? Find it here. What are you reading? Let us know in the comments!

Elections in several states will be coming up throughout the months of October and November. Here's how to be a pro-library voter.

As we round out Banned Books Week, here’s your reminder that a week of “celebrating” banned books isn’t enough. Now take that passion for intellectual freedom, the rights of readers, the rights of authors, and the need to protect institutions of democracy further by taking direct action. Libraries are on the ballot in the next set of elections that will occur throughout the October and November. Libraries have always been on the ballot, of course, but with the continued rise of book censorship and attacks on these institutions, it is more crucial than ever to show up at the polls–and it’s also vital to tell everyone else who has an election to do the same. Because it is not a major election year and because it’s not even a midterm year, it is easy to overlook and forget about local elections going on this season. This is your reminder to start your research. Two main ballot matters relate to public libraries and schools this fall. First, there will be elections in several states and municipalities for school and library board members. Who sits on these boards matters tremendously. Folks who care about public libraries and school will seek to improve these institutions and ensure that they represent the whole of a community. Folks who have an agenda seek these roles as an opportunity to push partisan agenda, including book bans, wholesale bans on topics available in the library, budget cuts, and more. Second, there will be elections related to library funding–as we move through an era where library budgets are being pilfered for police (see Great Falls, Montana or Menominee Falls, Wisconsin or East Baton Rouge, Louisiana); where states are cutting property taxes thereby defunding public libraries (see Wyoming, Missouri, and Indiana); and where partisan politicians are changing how states fund their libraries (see Ohio), voting to sustain or increase library budgets is crucial to their survival. Greene County Public Library (OH), for example, is putting a levy measure on the ballot because the change in how their library will be funded by the state would mean disaster if they do not seek funds locally. Here’s your reminder to get to know what is on your local ballot, how to determine the best candidate for office, and then what to do after you don your “I voted” sticker. The suggestions here will take some time, so carve out an hour or so before you go to vote. You can do these things all at once or break them up into chunks. Find Out What’s On Your Ballot Not every state is currently voting in elections for school boards or library boards. In some cases, this is because those are appointed rather than elected positions. The first thing to do is figure out how the process works in your community. Navigate to your local school board’s website and your local library’s website and find the page about their board. Information about the process should be readily available there, but if it is not, you may need to locate that information on your city or county’s web page. Regardless of whether these positions are up for vote this year, knowing how the process works in your community is important. View a sample ballot for your community. You can find these in many places, including your county clerk’s office website where they host information about elections. For the Greene County, Ohio, election noted above, sample ballots for the November 4, 2025 election are on the county board of elections website and broken down by precinct. You may also be able to find information at VOTE411 or Ballotpedia. Go individual by individual on those sample ballots and look up the candidates. Some may have no web presence at all, which might be a red flag, but most will have at bare minimum a Facebook page. Your local newspaper, if you have one, may have interviews with each of the candidates (and if you’re paywalled from this, after you cuss a bit, see if you can access the unpaywalled version via your library). Red flags in candidates for school or library board will include language like “parental rights” or “school choice.” Red flags will be clear, too, if you are voting in nonpartisan board elections and you see clear partisanship in the candidate’s affiliations or endorsements. If you do not have board elections this year or your boards are appointed, find out who oversees those boards or departments. This could be the mayor in your community or any number of other elected city/county commissioners. Find out what their stance is on the democratic institutions of public libraries and schools. Vote accordingly. You want the person in charge of overseeing the people making library and school decisions to be someone who is a proponent of both. (This applies if your ballot includes all of these offices, too!) Research any library or school-related initiatives. You want to fund these institutions if those questions arise. Likewise, any initiatives that may expand the size of school or library boards are a good one. You want a wider variety of opinions in these spaces, not fewer. This is precisely how some boards have been overtaken—they’ve shrunk from 9 or 11 members to 5 or 7 and created voting blocks. You can take your notes on how you plan to vote with you to the polls. I’ve both written notes out on paper to bring and have just jotted down my plans in my phone’s Notes App. Do not, however, take a photo of your ballot itself while there. This is illegal in many areas of the country. Identifying Strong Candidates Look at the language used in campaigns, posts, and events used by candidates. Red flags include any array of buzz words that have proliferated over the last four years, including diversity equity and inclusion (“DEI”), critical race theory, comprehensive sexuality [sic] education, gender ideology, social-emotional learning, decreasing test scores in reading, grooming or indoctrination, liberty, book curation, vouchers, parental input/rights, and anything you may have once stumbled upon here. If you’re not quite finding anything with that language, you could always look up where these candidates stood on things like virtual school options for COVID (if they advocated “reopen the schools,” that’s a red flag, as the schools were never closed) or anti-masking/anti-vaccination debates between 2020-2022. This was particularly helpful in researching my own school board candidates, as one did not have a website or much information available at all, but I found a photo of her in the local newspaper with a giant “unmask the kids!” sign. Dig around to see where candidates may have received money. In states like Texas, Political Action Committees (PACs) from both within and beyond the state have been flooding local elections for schools with money. Candidates who take that money have an obligation and commitment to a cause that has nothing to do with serving their community and the students within it. They’re there for the group funding them. Here’s a list of currently registered PACs within Texas; if you see a candidate has an affiliation, see what that PAC does. As with so many other things on this list, you may need to look at any number of places to find the campaign finance information. Begin at the county clerk’s website for the election, then look to the state-level elections website. You could also try a basic Google search of the “candidate name” + “finance report” or something similar. See where candidates have spent their own money. The Federal Elections Committee requires that any candidate running for federal office submit information about where they’ve received contributions. You can look up any individual you’d like in this database and see if they’ve contributed to the campaigns of a particular party, candidate, or Political Action Committee (aka, the PACs). In the image below, you’ll see a pink arrow pointing to where you can look up the contributors. That’s where you’d put in the name of the candidate running for your local office. You can limit that search by city, or if you scroll down, you can limit by state (which might give you better information, as a candidate’s contributions may have happened when they lived in a different city). Then scroll down on the left panel to change the date range within which you search, or it defaults to very recent data. Be patient with this search tool, as it’s a massive database. It sometimes takes a minute to pull up information, if there’s any available. You can also look up where candidates have spent money at the state level. Find your state’s board of elections website and see if they have a campaign contribution database you can search. Here’s what Illinois’s looks like. Locate nonpartisan voting guides. There are many out there, and your community may have local-specific guides. Whether or not you do, the nonpartisan League of Women Voters offers guides in each state, even down to the county, where elections are taking place. Here’s an example of the library board race in Pontiac, Michigan, on the ballot for November. Two additional places to turn for information on candidates include partisan voter guides–even for nonpartisan races–and your state’s teachers union. Most of those unions publish a voting guide for pro-education candidates. You can look up your state and education association to find yours (i.e., Nebraska + “Education Association”) You’ve Made Your Mind Up and/or You’ve Voted. Now What? This spring, two helpful posts on building voter guides ran here at Literary Activism. Frank Strong shared how he builds school board voter guides in Texas (and as of this week, just released his guide to the Texas school board elections this November), while I talked about where and how I put together a voter guide for Illinois public libraries this spring. Utilize the ideas here to build voter guides in your community as they relate to libraries and public schools. You don’t need to go by them step by step. Rather, be inspired by where and how you can spend a few hours learning about local candidates, their stances on literature and public institutions, and sharing your findings with other people in your community. Share your work. Your neighbors and your friends trust you, and if you speak up about who you voted for—and yes, it can be as simple as “here’s who I voted for” without a why to it—you’re going to help other people make those decisions, too. Of course, if you want to share why, you do even more good. If you’re nervous or don’t believe it is important to share your decisions, I cannot recommend listening to Eitan Hersh on Jon Favreau’s Offline podcast anymore. The episode “Are You Treating Politics Like a Hobby?” is worth listening to all the way through, but if you want the meat and potatoes only, go to Minute 27-37, which focuses on local efforts to make change, and Minute 46-51, which focuses on building relationships. You’ll hear why one of the most effective means of getting people to vote and to understand the importance of that act is by talking about how and why you do it. Keep going. Whatever the outcome, the work is not done. Even if every pro-library and pro-school candidate wins, these institutions are still going to be under fire. The work has no end point—it’s a life long project. Take time to rest and hydrate so you can amplify the energy going into the next year . . . and realistically, the next several years. The damage being done to public institutions like schools and libraries is deep and repairing it will be a generation of work. Book Censorship News, October 10, 2025 Do you work at a library where Banned Books Week events/programs/displays were banned or curtailed? Tell me about it in this anonymous survey. The Hawaii state library has banned the use of language like “banned” and “censored” in relation to Banned Books Week. The week-long event is being rebranded as “Freedom to Read week,” so all displays and imagery related to “banned” has been banned. On one hand, it’s much much better branding (though I still think it should be First Amendment week, as we’re so sorely lacking in civics knowledge and this is prime opportunity to dig into that). On the other hand, you’re not doing yourself favors by banning words or displays at the individual library level. ““The library is a neutral place and that we’re not taking sides in a culture war or political situation,” said Tom Taylor, with the Andover Public Library [KS].” This is not what a library is, and by pretending libraries are neutral, you’re derelict in your duty to be politically-for all things libraries. This attitude is why libraries are under attack and why they’ll continue to disappear. Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) are calling for an end to the banning of books across US public schools and libraries, as well as books being banned in Department of Defense Education Activity schools. Ashley Hope Perez talks about having her book Out of Darkness banned in Leander Independent School District (TX) early on in this era of book banning. Here, she reflects on how the district is now banning books like To Kill a Mockingbird. While we’re in Leander, all but four of the 40 books pulled are back on shelves from the preemptive administrative “pause,” due to Texas’s new SB 12 bill (see here). St. Albert Public School Trustees (Alberta, Canada) are floating anti-trans and pro-book banning bills. This school is literally taking a page out of the US. One of the big factors leading to this rise in book bans is that we’ve lost robust (if boring!) coverage of school and library board meetings in local news. Fortunately for us, there is coverage of the latest La Grange Independent School District (TX) meeting. One of the public speakers, no joke, is making the claim Charlie Kirk was killed because the shooter had access to books in the library. Weston Brown talks with People Magazine about his story–he is the child of a proud Texas book banner. Remember this court case ruling last week that curtailed First Amendment rights to books in public school libraries? It’s already been appealed. A judge has decided it’s okay that parents harass a school librarian over books available in their collection. Not great news out of New Jersey. “New North Carolina law requires teachers to list all classroom books online, prompting some to reduce classroom libraries and limit student reading options.” That’s one way to promote reading and literacy in an era where reading and literacy are on the decline. To be clear, that’s the state’s decision, not the decision of the educators. Prepare to potentially see book bans coming out of Sheridan County School District #2 (WY) before too long. The community is being invited to share their opinions on a new book ban library collection policy this week. The Hill talks about how while we may see numbers of book bans drop, that doesn’t account for rampant quiet/soft/silent censorship (and this story fails to really talk about what PEN’s new report actually counts as a ban, which is reported or recorded instances–something increasingly difficult to do in an era of continued ignorance by reporters and the death of local news). At Otsego Public Schools (MI), the short story “Ponies,” by Kij Johnson was pulled from its curriculum. It’d been used for years but now because the story is about authoritarianism, it’s apparently no longer okay to use. No, the administration provided no reason as to why it was pulled. Patricia McCormick is asking the book banning Alabama Public Library Service to restore funding to Fairhope Public Library in the state. In Danvers, Massachusetts, some parents are mad that their students are reading All American Boys in eighth grade. Why? Police brutality and profanity they’re “uncomfortable” with. The district isn’t pulling the use of the book but is letting parents opt their students out. Remember Mahmoud v. Taylor that allows Montgomery County School parents to pull their students from lessons related to positive portrayals of LGBTQ+ people? Guess how many parents have opted their students out? 43 families or .003% of the district. What a wonderful waste of time and energy. (We’ve seen this with Florida school library opt-outs, too, wherein minuscule portions of families restrict access to the library for their students. Also of note: one of the plaintiffs in Mahmoud v. Taylor is the chair of the local Moms for Liberty chapter.). New York’s largest ICE facility is banning book deliveries. Prisons are the biggest institution of censorship. “A former Wyoming library director [Terri Lesley] who was fired amid an uproar over books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes on youth shelves has reached a $700,000 settlement with her former employer.” This is the second such settlement this year in the US, wherein a director said they wouldn’t be banning books per board directives and they were subsequently fired. The first was Suzette Baker in Llano, Texas. As part of its Defending the Right to Read series, PEN America, Every Library, and the American Booksellers Association talked about crafting good, solid testimony against book banning bills. This story is paywalled but enough is before the cut to understand how bad it is. A lawsuit filed by the NAACP about the banning of Stamped: Race, Antiracism, and You from Pickens County (SC) school English classes was met with a loss. The book will remain off shelves in the district.

Snuggle in with these fun superhero Halloween episodes this scary season.

Last year, I listed a whole bunch of Christmas episodes from various superhero cartoons. This year, I won’t be quite that ambitious, but I would like to share a few Halloween episodes that you might want to check out while they’re still in season. Or, hey, watch them any time. I’m not the holiday police. You do you! First up, a personal favorite: Batman: The Brave and the Bold gave us “Trials of the Demon!” Only the teaser actually takes place on Halloween–yes, the Scarecrow is involved–but the rest of the episode keeps with the general mood, having the Caped Crusader follow the demon Etrigan into the Victorian era, fight Gentleman Ghost, and hang around with Sherlock Holmes in misty old London. Everyone’s favorite wall-crawler has a very eventful Halloween in the Spectacular Spider-Man episode “The Uncertainty Principle,” when he discovers that the Green Goblin is none other than a good friend of his. (Well, maybe…) For good measure, this episode also features the Venom Symbiote’s arrival on Earth. So, true to form, poor Peter ended up with more tricks than treats. Sort of like the superhero equivalent of a bag full of rocks. All Access members, your exclusive content continues below. This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read.

Looking for a frighteningly good time this Halloween season? Join one of these spooky read-a-thons!

October is an exciting month for so many reasons. For horror fans, it’s a great time to really into our biggest obsessions, which is all things scary. But for all book fans, October is the perfect time to really focus on hitting our reading goals. We are, after all, nearing the end of the year, and it’s time to get serious about making sure we’re making time to read. Especially now that the weather is colder, is there anything better than staying in with an atmospheric new horror novel? That’s where these spooky read-a-thons come in. Here are a few upcoming Halloween-themed read-a-thons to kick off your spooky season. Gothtober Read-A-Thon Gothtober 2025 is underway! This annual read-a-thon is back to celebrate creepy horror books and dark, Gothic stories. This year, the theme is Gothic architecture and buildings–all about a spooky setting. This read-a-thon is hosted by Olivia’s Catastrophe, LadetteM‬, and withluvtish‬. All of the hosts will be sharing lots of reading sprints, games, arts & crafts events, and much more on both YouTube and Instagram. Here’s a Google Drive with lots of extra info, including a calendar of events. Looking for some recommendations? Olivia’s got you covered. Here’s the official Gothtober Instagram so you can follow along here as well. The Halloweekend Read-A-Thon If you really want to home in on the weekends when you’re planning your reading sprints, go for this Halloweekend Read-A-Thon. Every weekend in October features new prompts to get you reading spooky books. What’s more, this game board style read-a-thon will have you navigating each weekend of prompts by exploring a haunted house. You can participate every Thursday night through Sunday night from October 2 to November 2. Ready to go? Here’s the Google Drive folder with all of the things you need! Halloween-A-Thon 2025 This spooky a-thon is a horror read-a-thon, movie watch-a-thon, and spooky season activity-a-thon. If you need all the Halloween things this season, this will keep you busy. This one started on September 22 and runs through Halloween. If you’re just finding out about the events now, you can fully start whenever you want. It’s casual. It’s for everyone, and you can do as much or as little of it as you want. Participating in even one activity makes you an official “Pumpkinhead.” Lots of Book Tubers are participating, so there are lots of videos and Instagram posts and Discord channels you can follow. If you’re looking for more ideas for what to do for the Halloween-A-Thon, check out these Halloween-A-Thon book recommendations. But of course, why should scary book read-a-thons be relegated to spooky season? If you’re looking for a horror read-a-thon that goes on all year round, check out Horror Bingo 2025-2026. Because every month should feel like October!

Add these four backlist nonfiction gems to your TBR . . . or use this as an opportunity to pick them up from the pile you've already got.

I don’t know about you, but my TBR is getting out of hand. In fact, I have an entire TBR wall of double-stacked bookshelves bursting with books that I would like to read . . . someday. I think it’s about time that I sort out my TBR and face the reality that I may never actually get to some of these books. I’ve been scrolling through reviews, articles, and BookTube videos trying to figure which ones I want to keep and which books to pass along. But really, where do I even start? If you’re in the same boat, I’m here for you. Here are a handful of backlist books well worth the hype or that remain must-read hidden gems. Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby Hands down, Hannah Gadsby’s Ten Steps to Nanette is one of my favorite memoirs of all time, and it’s woefully underhyped. Gadsby shares what it was like to grow up as a queer, autistic kid in Tasmania, Australia. Gadsby is well-known for their comedy special Nanette, which you can still watch on Netflix. Their memoir expands on the ideas in Nanette and gives us a closer look into how Gadsby’s life led to them creating this incredible one-person show. The audiobook is out of this world as Gadsby performed with perfect comedic timing and understated style of humor. All Access members, read on for your exclusive content. This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read.

Catch up on the latest news and useful resources for the world of libraries.

Every day, it feels like just getting out of bed is a form of resistance. As I write this post on Sunday, September 28th, I’ve seen articles and TikTok videos from today, showing ICE agents with large weapons swarming downtown Chicago and making arrests. A top Border Patrol official was even quoted in the linked article saying that ICE agents are arresting people “based on how they look.” I’ve had serious discussions with a couple of my library colleagues about what to do if ICE agents show up at our library, since they have already been spotted in several nearby cities. Staying informed is resistance for yourself, your libraries, and your patrons. I have no idea what the political landscape will look like by the time this post goes live in a week and a half, but here are some updates for the biggest issues impacting libraries right now. AI Updates A judge has given preliminary approval for the Anthropic settlement, which had previously been delayed. OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just a result of engineering flaws. Anthropic’s CEO gives a 25% chance for things to go “really, really badly” with AI. Great! How thousands of “overworked, underpaid” humans train Google’s AI to seem smart. Trump vs. Publishing & Libraries International interlibrary loans vs. Trump’s tariffs. Well, that was fast. A federal judge has already tossed out Trump’s lawsuit against Penguin Random House and the New York Times. But I still want to share the statement that PEN America made in response to the lawsuit, which still resonates even if the lawsuit has been dismissed. Trump clears the way for American-owned TikTok valued at $14 billion. I don’t know if this actually fits the category of Trump vs. Publishing & Libraries, but it’s an alarming notion to think about the US government having unfettered access to TikTok data. Censorship Updates The American Library Associations announces the Top 10 banned/challenged books of 2024. There’s very little about this list that’s new or surprising. PEN America shared their data on the most banned books in U.S. public schools during the 2024-2025 year. How grassroots activists are fighting for the right to read. How these lawyers are going on the offensive against book banning. Eight freedom to read cases to watch. We can’t forget people experiencing incarceration in our fight for readers’ rights. Leander ISD (TX) has pulled 40 books, including To Kill a Mockingbird, from the curriculum thanks to “anti-DEI” SB12. “Delaware enshrines the prevention of ideological book bans in public and school libraries and builds upon its laws protecting residents from freedom of speech lawsuits.” The Fairhope Library (AL), which has been involved in a two-year controversy over “inappropriate” books for children, must send a list of challenged books to state officials before funding is restored. The Taliban have baned books written by women from Afghan universities. Resources for Latine Heritage Month I know we can’t fight fascism with book lists, but in this climate, it’s so critical to continue showcasing the diversity of our collections and celebrating the historical heritage of federally targeted groups. Latine Heritage Month ends on October 15th, but inclusion and representation is celebrated all year long. 17 new queer Latine books for Latine Heritage Month. 15 debut books by Latine authors to read in 2025. 48 YA books with Latine representation. 9 hot witchy books to read for Hispanic Heritage Month. Want more good and timely reading? Subscribe to our Latine Lit newsletter and our Literary Activism newsletter.

Calling all readers of true crime! There are a bounty of new titles you'll want on your TBR.

Chicago, 1976. A savage double murder shocks the city. The killer is caught within days, then walks free just as quickly. For four years, the case lay buried under money, drugs, and corruption. Until an unlikely hero emerged, a former rock musician turned star prosecutor who refused to let justice slip away. Together with his determined partner, they dared to resurrect the case that Chicago forgot. Convergence takes you deep inside one of Chicago's most shocking cases. Follow the evidence. Witness the trial. See justice unfold. Now available wherever books are sold! The true crime genre has a wide range of subgenres and topics, from crimes involving fraudsters and abusers to murderers and serial killers throughout history—not to mention these books include solved cases, unsolved cases, and our unjust criminal system. But what’s new in true crime? These six books released in 2025 cover a lot of ground. Among them are a book about a child’s murder that deeply impacted American history; an investigative journalist writing about a forensic scientist who dedicated herself to identifying victims; and a young artist in the ‘80s killed while in police custody. There’s also a book about a cult that wanted to make orgasmic meditation the next “it” thing; a wrongly convicted man still held in prison even after someone else confessed; and the Golden State Killer’s case told as by the lead prosecutor. Grab your TBR because you’ll want to rip through the pages of these stories. Death of Innocence by Mamie Till-Mobley, Christopher Benson, foreword by the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. In the summer of 1955, Emmett Till was kidnapped in the middle of the night from his bed. He was 14. Two white men then murdered him, claiming that the Black teen had whistled at a white woman. The men were acquitted and the result was a rise in activism during the Civil Rights Movement. Mamie Till-Mobley tells her life story, with a focus on her son’s murder and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in this reissued work. This one is for readers of true crime memoirs and crimes that deeply impacted the course of history. The Scientist and the Serial Killer: The Search for Houston’s Lost Boys by Lise Olsen Pick this one up if you’re a reader interested in serial killers, history, forensic science, and investigative journalism. This is about a serial killer—Dean Corll “Candy Man”—and his 1970s killings, before the term serial killer had been coined. Many of the killer’s victims who remained unidentified until a forensic anthropologist—Sharon Derrick—set out to identify as many as she could decades later. The book not only goes into the cases and everyone involved at the time through the present, but it dives into the history of the time period, forensic science and so much more. The Man Nobody Killed: Life, Death, and Art in Michael Stewart’s New York by Elon Green This one is for readers of investigative journalism. Elon Green has written an insightful account of Michael Stewart’s life, his killing in police custody, and the 1980’s NY court case against the officers involved. It’s not only a detailed, narrative nonfiction account of everyone involved–from a rogue juror to Madonna–but it also situates readers in ‘80s NY, including the art scene. Audiobook listeners should absolutely pick up that format which is narrated by Dion Graham. Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult by Ellen Huet (November 2025) Pick this up if you’re interested in cults and headlines that sound bananapants. In the early aughts, a new player entered the for-profit wellness industry: Nicole Daedone with OneTaste. The idea was to make a 15 minute manually induced orgasm become as common practice as yoga and that the orgasmic meditation (OM) would “change the world” (masturbation would like a word). By the time the FBI showed up, there were accusations of manipulation, abuse, and cult-like behavior. Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida by Gilbert King Pick this up if you’re interested in true crime based on popular podcasts. Leo Schofield spent 35 years in prison after being convicted of murdering his wife Michelle in 1987. In 2004, while still maintaining that he was innocent, a previously unidentified fingerprint from the case was linked to Jeremy Scott. Even though Scott finally confessed to the murder–and other murders–the state of Florida refused to listen to either man. The People vs. the Golden State Killer by Thien Ho In the ‘70s and ‘80s, California was terrorized by burglaries, rapes, and murders, but the cases remained unsolved until 2018. This was coincidentally the same year that Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark published. Thien Ho, the lead prosecutor as the District Attorney of Sacramento County, California against Joseph DeAngelo, writes about the case and how forensic genealogy finally led to the killer’s identity. Readers interested in serial killers, how they were apprehended, and court cases will want this on their radar. Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf and see 2025 releases. Check out this Unusual Suspects Pinterest board and get Tailored Book Recommendations! Until next time, come talk books with me on Bluesky, Goodreads, Litsy, and Multitudes Contained. If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you or you read it on bookriot.com and you’d like to get it right in your inbox, you can sign up here.

How an essay collection by a comedian and actress helped one new 40-something mother feel less alone.

I wasn’t planning to have a baby at 40. But then, pondering my existence nearing the eve of that very significant year, I realized that maybe I did actually want to have a tiny human in my life. So, I had a baby and, spoiler alert: she’s the best. But it was so much harder than I thought it would be, and there was so much happening to me emotionally and physically that I hadn’t expected, despite prenatal classes, reading books, and chatting to people who’d already been through it. My brain fried, I felt unmoored until I started reading books about motherhood and learning how entirely normal and common everything was. I’ll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife and Motherhood by Jessi Klein Klein’s I’ll Show Myself Out is an essay collection that manages to be relatable, even though Klein is a comedian and actor who has worked alongside Amy Schumer and John Mulaney, while I am a children’s librarian who builds programming activities out of cardboard boxes and pool noodles. She addresses two subjects that we still mostly avoid discussing as a culture: the difficulties of parenting and the reality of adjusting to midlife. All Access Members, your exclusive content starts below. This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read.

Here are the most-read books on Goodreads this week! These are the buzziest books of the moment, from historical fiction to vampire romance.

It’s October, and readers are settling into the season, with books to match. The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore has made its annual appearance on the most read books list, and it’s accompanied by a new Halloween-appropriate romance novella: Hot for Slayer by Ali Hazelwood. The rest of the titles are familiar to anyone who’s been following this feature, but they are slightly rearranged. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden has seen a boost from the upcoming adaptation. The movie isn’t out until December, so the novel is likely going to stick around in the Goodreads top five for months. Two New Books Out This Week You Should Know About Unfortunately, the most read books on Goodreads tend not to be diverse by any definition of the word. So, here are a couple of new books out this week that deserve wider readership. Hole in the Sky by Daniel H. Wilson A single father in the heart of Oklahoma’s Cherokee Nation discovers something strange is happening in the atmosphere. His findings are confirmed by a Texas astrophysicist—something big is barreling towards Earth. It seems to be a spacecraft. But is the world really ready for first contact? — Liberty Hardy The Salvage by Anbara Salam In this gothic novel, when marine archeologist Marta Khoury is called to a remote Scottish isle to explore a recently uncovered Victorian shipwreck, she expects salvage to be the most interesting thing she finds. Instead, she’s snowed in as the Cuban Missile Crisis rages halfway across the globe and becomes convinced a shadowy figure stalks her every step, even as she searches for the ship’s artifacts, which have, mysteriously, disappeared. —Rachel Brittain The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week #5: Wild Card by Elsie Silver This is the fourth book in the Rose Hill series, all about single dads who “find their happily ever afters in a rugged lake town, nestled in the Rocky Mountains.” In Wild Card, Sebastian is a pilot with smoldering chemistry with his new roommate, Gwen—who also happens to be the ex-girlfriend of his estranged son. If he ever hopes to repair the relationship, she’s strictly off limits. But how long can they deny the sparks flying between them? Almost 12,000 users marked it as read this week, and it has a 4.2 average rating. #4: The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore It’s pumpkin spice reading season! Apparently, a whole lot of people have been saving this to read in fall. This promises to be a “cozy romantic mystery for fans of Gilmore Girls, with a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed.” This is the first in a series that continues in The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, The Christmas Tree Farm, and The Strawberry Patch Pancake House. It was read by almost 13,000 Goodreads users and has a 3.4 average rating. #3: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid Taylor Jenkins Reid is best known for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six. Now, she’s back with a new novel about two women astronauts in the 1980s. It came out in June and became an instant #1 New York Times bestseller. It’s also a Good Morning America Book Club Pick. Almost 14 Goodreads users marked it read this week, and it has a 4.4 average rating. #2: Hot for Slayer by Ali Hazelwood For Halloween season, Amazon has released a series of six original romance short stories called Scared Sexy, including this one and My Boyfriends Are All Monsters by Kimberly Lemming. Ali Hazelwood is one of the biggest names in romance at the moment, and Hot for Slayer is about a vampire, Ethel, and vampire slayer, Lazlo, who have been not-so-mortal enemies for centuries. When Lazlo loses his memories, Ethel finds herself in the strange position of having to help him remember who he is. It was read by 17,000 users this week and has a 4.0 average rating. #1: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden This is the first book in Freida McFadden’s Housemaid series, followed by The Housemaid’s Secret and The Housemaid Is Watching. It’s about a housemaid who cleans for a wealthy family, takes care of their child, and lives in their attic bedroom. She’s soon pulled into the family’s dangerous secrets, but her employers may have underestimated what she’s capable of. It was read by almost 19,000 Goodreads users, with a 4.3 average rating. If you’re looking for more buzzy books, check out The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists. Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.

This is a moderated subreddit. It is our intent and purpose to foster and encourage in-depth discussion about all things related to books, authors, genres, or publishing in a safe, supportive environment. If you're looking for help with a personal book recommendation, consult our Weekly Recommendation Thread, Suggested Reading page, or ask in r/suggestmeabook.

Welcome to our weekly recommendation thread! A few years ago now the mod team decided to condense the many "suggest some books" threads into one big mega-thread, in order to consolidate the subreddit and diversify the front page a little. Since then, we have removed suggestion threads and directed their posters to this thread instead. This tradition continues, so let's jump right in! The Rules Every comment in reply to this self-post must be a request for suggestions. All suggestions made in this thread must be direct replies to other people's requests. Do not post suggestions in reply to this self-post. All unrelated comments will be deleted in the interest of cleanliness. How to get the best recommendations The most successful recommendation requests include a description of the kind of book being sought. This might be a particular kind of protagonist, setting, plot, atmosphere, theme, or subject matter. You may be looking for something similar to another book (or film, TV show, game, etc), and examples are great! Just be sure to explain what you liked about them too. Other helpful things to think about are genre, length and reading level. All Weekly Recommendation Threads are linked below the header throughout the week to guarantee that this thread remains active day-to-day. For those bursting with books that you are hungry to suggest, we've set the suggested sort to new; you may need to set this manually if your app or settings ignores suggested sort. If this thread has not slaked your desire for tasty book suggestions, we propose that you head on over to the aptly named subreddit /r/suggestmeabook. The Management submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

Hello readers and welcome to our Weekly FAQ thread! Our topic this week is: How do I stay focused and remember more of what I'm reading? We've all experienced reading 10 pages of a book and then realizing that we haven't actually read it. Or putting a book down and forgetting what was going on. What do you do to try and counteract that? You can view previous FAQ threads here in our wiki. Thank you and enjoy! submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

Marion Keyes appeared in my parents' house when I was, I think, in my mid-twenties. I think perhaps a friend of my mom passed some of her books on to her, but I don't remember my mom reading them, because I don't remember her talking about it. It's not literature, you know. I read her though. I read the fuck out of her and I had a blast. That one about the book agent in London, who used to be a police officer in America, and the aspiring young writers from Ireland? Oh my god- the sky-blue leather jacket that the wife of the agent's lover, who was also her boss, was wearing? The pharmacist whom one of the aspiring writers had a crush on, telling her "we're a bit long in the tooth for this game"- she looked like Liza Minelli. I can't remember the name of the book but it was amazing. And the other one, where the husband of the newly-married heroine died, and she was heart-broken? And then she was courted by a guy who looked like Anthony Keidis from Red Hot Chili Peppers? She had the best job in the world, remember, she was a make-up rep based in New York. I hadn't experienced grief and bereavement then, but it has visited me since, hard, and somehow that book of Marion Keyes resurfaces back in my brain when I try to cope. The butterflies on the cover. The Irish Catholic Mammy or ICM. That was in another one. I had never come across an ICM before, but now I have my own Canadian version of the ICM, and wow, does she give those stereotypical Jewish moms of Philip Roth's stories a run for their money! Marion Keyes- she's not "literature", but she's incredible. I've of course read other "brain candy" books, but none that left a mark on me like her books did. It's so silly and arbitrary, this stupid snobbish divide. I get that Keyes isn't Dostoyevsky or Austen or Houellebeq (barf), thank god for that. What is your most fabulous brain candy? submitted by /u/1000andonenites [link] [comments]

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I have similar feelings to this book as I do to warm sunlight or a fresh autumn breath. This book is comfortable to me. Le Guin does world building in a way that is simple and interesting and powerful. I honestly can not be very unbiased when talking about Ursula K. Le Guin. Even before I read her books or poems, I developed a proximity admiration for her from the ways that my older brothers would speak about her works. I came into this book knowing I was going to like it. I originally started this book 1-2 years ago. I was in college and constantly on the verge of a mental breakdown, so distractions like this book got cast aside for what felt like more pressing matters. Yet, in that time a certain quote from the book rooted itself in my memory, and it is probably one of my favorite quotes . It highlighted the feelings of college for me very well. It says “You thought, as a boy, that a mage is one who can do anything. So I thought, once. So did we all. And the truth is that as a man's real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do…” This quote made me feel like it was okay and normal that things were already out of my control. This feeling and my general admiration made it inevitable that I would start this book again. This book has wonderfully realized settings and imaginative story beats. The way that Le Guin describes these islands and their cultures, their diversity in thought even within their own cultures. Her worlds feel real even when fantastical. Ever since I started reading I’ve always had an aversion to the overly-detailed descriptions of settings, but the way that Le Guin does it often doesn’t feel like just placing down a setting. There are times the setting tells just as much plot as the main meat of the story. Though there were occasional times where I felt that it dragged on for a bit, these were short enough and the parts I wanted to get to motivated me to get through it. My personal interpretation of the shadow, though I might not be breaking any new ground with this, is that the shadow was a manifestation of Ged’s fear, anxiety, and regret. As he runs away from it, it gains power. As he faces his fear it loses power. The final moment of him accepting it into himself as a part of him was him accepting his fears and regrets as a part of his story and being. I really liked it, and it spoke to my own personal life problems. Anyway, in summary, book good. 4.5/5. Will prolly read the next one. Also I am sooo much stronger than you and bigger than you and cooler than you, so there’s that. submitted by /u/on-reddit-for-pewds [link] [comments]

I read Stephanie Meyers' Twilight series a long time ago. Maybe 15 years ago? But I remember enjoying them. Well, I got on a quest for this fall and winter to read the books I already own, instead of buying any more news ones (except The Will of the Many's #2 out this fall, that I will be buying) So far I have done pretty well, liking or loving every old forgotten book I own. Until, this one. I don't even know exactly what it is, but it bores me to death! It's Edward droning on about how fragrantly tasty Bella smells, how he hungers for her blood, how he worries for her safety. It is mostly inner dialog of Edwards thoughts, of course nothing new happens. For a time he asks questions like "what is your favorite color? or favorite music" It's so LOOONGGG. It has more pages than Twilight. I think rereading Twilight would have been more enjoyable. Sometimes I think I should stop with a series. That it might start off as fun, and end in tedious, repetition of what was once an enjoyable story. But the urge to finish a series is huge.. But I might have to stop this one. I still have 50% left or like 300 pages to go. submitted by /u/wolfincheapclothing9 [link] [comments]

Welcome to our weekly recommendation thread! A few years ago now the mod team decided to condense the many "suggest some books" threads into one big mega-thread, in order to consolidate the subreddit and diversify the front page a little. Since then, we have removed suggestion threads and directed their posters to this thread instead. This tradition continues, so let's jump right in! The Rules Every comment in reply to this self-post must be a request for suggestions. All suggestions made in this thread must be direct replies to other people's requests. Do not post suggestions in reply to this self-post. All unrelated comments will be deleted in the interest of cleanliness. How to get the best recommendations The most successful recommendation requests include a description of the kind of book being sought. This might be a particular kind of protagonist, setting, plot, atmosphere, theme, or subject matter. You may be looking for something similar to another book (or film, TV show, game, etc), and examples are great! Just be sure to explain what you liked about them too. Other helpful things to think about are genre, length and reading level. All Weekly Recommendation Threads are linked below the header throughout the week to guarantee that this thread remains active day-to-day. For those bursting with books that you are hungry to suggest, we've set the suggested sort to new; you may need to set this manually if your app or settings ignores suggested sort. If this thread has not slaked your desire for tasty book suggestions, we propose that you head on over to the aptly named subreddit /r/suggestmeabook. The Management submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

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Finally got to read one of Silverberg's novels, this one being titled "The New Springtime". This is part of a two book series and, once again, this one is the sequel to the first book. Of course of which I haven't read yet. The People had come out from the many eons of ice so they could rebuild the world at Winter's End. But the hjjks and their queen also have a desire to rule this new springtime. The hjjks are intelligent, united and powerful, while the People are still tribal, ignorant and split into various warring factions. Now the People are offered a peace treaty from the hjjks. This vision of security is both seductive and beautiful, but also Inhuman. Blood will run through the earth if the tribes refuse. The people themselves will either be exterminated, or they will destroy a very ancient and wise race. If the People accept the hjjks they would survive the Winter, but only to lose their newly discover humanity forever. Despite my ever obvious blunder I loved this book! It's slow going but things do build up and it gets really interesting. Plenty of intrigue and mystery going on the story that really makes it more so! Probably nowhere on the same level as Frank Herbert's "Dune" but it really is great! Obviously I'm going to have to get my hands on the first book "At Winter's End", just to get more of a grasp of the whole story. And then there are other titles by Silverberg that I also have to consider getting my hands on; and might include some of his short stories. submitted by /u/i-the-muso-1968 [link] [comments]

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So I’m 75% through East of Eden and have finished LD and Streets of Laredo. It has really struck me how both of these writers seem to let the reader know almost as an aside, that characters who we have had had some relationship with, have died. It’s not a criticism, it’s purely an observation. And I actually don’t know how I feel about it. For example: SPOILER east of eden charles dying in E of E is by letter, Adam and Charles’s father is just that he’s died in Streets of Laredo SPOILER Newt is dead through a horse accident I’d be interested to hear what others think. Like I said, it’s not a criticism, it just struck me how similar both writers handle this submitted by /u/RelationKindly [link] [comments]

Heil og sæl readers, October 9 is Leif Erikson Day which celebrates the life of the Viking explorer who sailed to America 500 years before Columbus accidentally did the same. To celebrate, we're discussing our favorite books about the Vikings or with Viking characters. If you'd like to read our previous weekly discussions of fiction and nonfiction please visit the suggested reading section of our wiki. þökk and enjoy! submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

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3.5 ⭐️ I have to say, this book left me both entertained and confused. It had so many twists and turns that it was definitely fun to read, but when it comes to the actual resolution of the story, it felt like… a whole lot of nothing. I still think Millie isn’t telling the whole truth. She keeps lying, or at least hiding things, and I’m pretty sure that’s something we’ll continue to explore later in book 2... but I’m not sure if I want to explore it. The mystery around Officer Connors’ daughter also had me guessing for a while. I even thought maybe Millie was his daughter who changed her name after doing something terrible, but then… who is she really? Probably something else we’ll find out as the story goes on, and again, I don’t think I want to know. As for the ending, didn’t hate that she turned in some sort of “hitwoman”. In fact, I was actually fine with that part as that’s what she’s meant to do. What bothered me was how neat and orchestrated everything felt at the end. The big reveal tied up too cleanly, almost like all those earlier challenges were intentional just to fit the thriller formula. With every twist, I felt surprised and then conflicted. Don’t even get me started on the “Get Rid of Your Husband” guide. It felt so “Gone Girl” coded that I didn’t enjoy it as much. Overall, I’m giving it a 3.5 stars because it was enjoyable and fast-paced, but I’m still confused and not entirely satisfied with how it all wrapped up. submitted by /u/HiddenTulips [link] [comments]

My goodness, what a book to read after not reading any books for years. Where to begin? Typical college kids not thinking with their heads, ultimately leading to their demise. I'm in my mid 30s, and the amount of times I grew so frustrated at these young people making awful decisions that it was legitimately making me hate read. Now, I was rooting for the them whole time, but as I kept reading, I knew not all were going to make it. Jeff pissed me off the most, but I couldn't help but respect him at the same time. He seemed to at least try and be logical, but was quite dickish about it. And honestly deservedly so, the rest, besides Mathias, were just plain idiots. At least Jeff understood the severity of their situation and tried to survive from the get go. Mathias, eh, a bit neutral. After seeing his brother, I think he just gave up and went on autopilot, agreeing to whatever the group decided. And I can't exactly blame him. I'd probably be the same if I saw my brutally killed brother's corpse while with a group of strangers. Eric i was ok with until he believed the vines over Stacy. That part really pissed me off. Just a bumbling idiot. Amy was fine. No big qualms with her to be honest. Same with Stacy, although she was quite ditsy and stupid. Again, all college kids, so you can't exactly fault them for not being park rangers that can survive in the wilderness, especially with a carnivorous plant. Anyway, I really enjoyed this book. I was really hoping at the end Stacy would grab a vine and throw it at the mayans, past the salt ring surrounding the mound. Or walk toward them and make them shoot her. What are your thoughts? submitted by /u/Hoody711 [link] [comments]

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Amoheloa readers, October 4 is Independence Day in Lesotho and to celebrate we're discussing Mosotho literature! Please use this thread to discuss your favorite Mosotho authors and books. If you'd like to read our previous discussions of the literature of the world please visit the literature of the world section of our wiki. Kea leboha and enjoy! submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

I loved this post by author Emily Zhou about what literary hackdom is; how to identify it as a different thing than merely being a "bad artist"; and what hackdom tells us about it's opposite, which is genius: "The hack is not the same thing as a bad artist or a writer, or someone who makes what they know to be bad work for money. The hack is something else, a social as well as artistic type that has existed since the beginning of capitalism, at least. Plenty of people seem to know a hack when they see one; fewer notice that any individual artist or writer worthy of the name has siblings everywhere, whose work shares certain aesthetic qualities and whose personalities are congruent with each other." "6. The unstoppable confidence of the hack, which hinders their improvement, is phenomenologically indistinguishable from the confidence, the fluency, that true geniuses have. One imagines the inner lives of Bach or Balzac had certain things in common with those of the hack. One is tempted to say, “but not those of Beethoven or Kafka.” But it does not matter whether any individual hack struggles mightily to produce their work, or is crucified daily with self-doubt. The trouble is in their taste: the standards used to evaluate the work have seemingly been calibrated incorrectly. They have climbed some alien Parnassus to get to their mediocrity, and usually have stopped early and declared that they are on the peak." What are your encounters with hacks like? How can you tell when you've met a real one? submitted by /u/tawdryscandal [link] [comments]

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Link without paywall: https://archive.ph/3xMmR submitted by /u/AdmiralSaturyn [link] [comments]

Mine is Eruption, by "Michael Crichton" and James Patterson. I knew going into it that it wasn't going to be a masterpiece, but at worst I expected a quick and exciting airport book. Quick it was. But my word, what an atrocious book. Poorly written characters, a cookie cutter plot, glaring plot holes, and just a waste of time. And that ending .... My God. After a day or so,I chalked up the decision for the ending to Patterson not being aware of Crichton's opinions on global warming, and his position that nature couldn't be helped out. But Patterson didn't get it, so it all just fell apart. Just God awful. Palate cleanser, Between Two Fires. submitted by /u/kerberos824 [link] [comments]

Books any time any day.

Book Review Author :Delia Owens Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher : GP Putnam’s Sons Year of Publication: 2019 Number of Pages: 368 My Rating : 4 out of 5 I picked this up with a bit of hesitation. In spite of the great reviews that it got, I must say the title made me expect something … Continue reading Where the Crawdads Sing →

Book Review Author :Delia Owens Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher : GP Putnam’s Sons Year of Publication: 2019 Number of Pages: 368 My Rating : 4 out of 5 I picked this up with a bit of hesitation. In spite of the great reviews that it got, I must say the title made me expect something quite different from what it was. I expected a book filled with scientific details about marshes and birds that would be difficult to read. I was genuinely surprised and pleased to get drawn into the story and to find that it was not an exposition on the science of the marsh masquerading as a novel but a well written, enjoyable and easy to follow story. The story is about Kya a young girl born in the marshes of North Carolina, USA who is left to fend for herself by her family from the tender age of 7. The town people consider her strange and refer to her as Marsh Girl. She somehow manages to take care of herself all alone in the Marsh with only the occasional journey into town to get supplies. She is lucky enough to make a friend who teaches her how to read and helps her make use of her knowledge of the marsh to make a respectable living. When one day, Chase Andrews, the son of one of the town’s most prominent families is found dead in the swamp, the town people cannot help but suspect that the strange Marsh girl had something to do with his death. This is an interesting book about survival and overcoming all odds to make a good life in the face of extreme hardship and hostility. Though I must admit at times I found it difficult to believe that such a young child could survive alone in such difficult circumstances and that none of the residents of the town bothered to do anything about this situation, the story is touching in many ways. It would be amazing if anyone could actually survive such a childhood and manage to turn their life around as Kya did. I also enjoyed learning about the marsh and the different species to be found there and seeing the beauty in nature through Kya’s eyes, as she explored her marsh and got to know it better than anyone else. I rate this book 4 out of 5. If you enjoy reading coming of age historical fiction stories and are a lover of nature, you will absolutely love this book. If you are the skeptical and cynical type, you might find it a bit implausible. Happy reading!

Classics Book Review Author : Elizabeth Gaskell Genre : Literary Classic Fiction Original Publisher : Chapman and Hall Year of Publication : 1854 Number of Pages : 396 My Rating : 5 out of 5 My most recent read is this gem of a book by Elizabeth Gaskell, based in Victorian England. Margaret Hale is … Continue reading North and South →

Classics Book Review Author : Elizabeth Gaskell Genre : Literary Classic Fiction Original Publisher : Chapman and Hall Year of Publication : 1854 Number of Pages : 396 My Rating : 5 out of 5 My most recent read is this gem of a book by Elizabeth Gaskell, based in Victorian England. Margaret Hale is the daughter of a parson. At age nine, her parents sent her away from the sleepy hamlet known as Helstone, where her father serves as the Parish Priest, to go live with her maternal aunt in London’s Harley Street so she could get an education along with her cousin Edith. Nine years later, aged eighteen, she returns to the village home of her parents and is longing for a quiet, peaceful life walking in the forest and spending her days tending to the needs of her father’s congregation. “She took a pride in her forest. Its people were her people. She made hearty friends with them; learned and delighted in using their peculiar words; took up her freedom amongst them; nursed their babies; talked or read with slow distinctness to their old people; carried dainty messes to their sick; resolved before long to teach at the school, where her father went every day as to an appointed task, but she was continually tempted off to go and see some individual friend–man, woman, or child–in some cottage in the green shade of the forest.“ When her father suddenly announces that he is moving the family North to the manufacturing town of Milton-Northern, she is shocked and grief stricken and wonders how this change will affect her family, most especially her mother. Life in Milton is as different as expected – the air is heavy with smoke, the streets are bustling and the people are rough. Margaret tries her best to ease her mother’s worries and anxieties. With time, she gets to meet some of the people of Milton and make friends with them, in spite of the differences in behaviour, customs and mannerisms. She manages to get herself embroilled in the politics of the town and finds herself in the middle of a strike. She also manages to draw the attention of Mr. Thornton, a mill owner and one of the wealthiest manufacturers in the town, who is also her father’s pupil. John Thornton finds Margaret haughty and thinks she treats him with contempt while Margaret finds him hard and unfeeling and only interested in getting wealthy at the expense of his poor workers. Yet the two are brought together time and time again by fate. Will they be able to overcome their differences and find common ground? “If Mr. Thornton was a fool in the morning, as he assured himself at least twenty times he was, he did not grow much wiser in the afternoon. All that he gained in return for his sixpenny omnibus ride, was a more vivid conviction that there never was, never could be, anyone like Margaret; that she did not love him and never would; but she –no! nor the whole world –should never hinder him from loving her.“ This story is engaging and well written. It demonstrates what happens when there is a clash of cultures. Margaret and her family are used to Southern mannerisms and she struggles to understand the industrial town and its people. She has also had a privileged life at the her aunt’s London home which is very different from the life her own family leads. Through the eyes of the other characters, we get to experience the industrial revolution and the inevitable clashes between the mill owners and their workers as each strives to protect their interests. I loved how the author presented us with different view points of the lives of the people of Milton – that of the owners, workers and outsiders in the form of the Hale family. “After a quiet life in a country parsonage for more than twenty years, there was something dazzling to Mr. Hale in the energy which conquered immense difficulties with ease; the power of the machinery of Milton, the power of the men of Milton, impressed him with a sense of grandeur, which he yielded to without caring to inquire into the details of its exercise.“ This was my first Elizabeth Gaskell book to read as part of my 50 classics in 5 years’ challenge. Having gotten used to Jane Austen books where the biggest differences in social class were as a result of inheritance and the sort of family that one came from, it was refreshing to read about self-made characters who were not trapped in the lives that they were born into. Adaptation North and South has been adapted for TV three times. I watched the above 2004 BBC adaptation. It was a four episode production featuring Richard Armitage and Daniela Denby-Ashe. I absolutely loved it and found the characters very fitting for their roles, save that the ending was to me a bit too different from the actual ending in the book. I would have loved to see that ending played out here, though I must admit that it did not come out very nicely in the last episode of the 1975 adaptation that I managed to find on YouTube! I enjoyed every part of this book and recommend it to all lovers of classics. I rate it 5 out of 5.

Author : Marian Keyes Genre : Family Drama Publisher : Michael Joseph -an imprint of Penguin Year of Publication : 2020 Number of Pages : 633 My Rating : 4 out of 5 I totally fell in love with Marian Keyes after reading Sushi for Beginners. It led me to her other books which I … Continue reading Grown Ups →

Author : Marian Keyes Genre : Family Drama Publisher : Michael Joseph -an imprint of Penguin Year of Publication : 2020 Number of Pages : 633 My Rating : 4 out of 5 I totally fell in love with Marian Keyes after reading Sushi for Beginners. It led me to her other books which I also absolutely loved. I know it says ‘gloriously funny’ on this book’s cover – a quote from the Sunday Times – but it was more of drama than humor to me. This is especially so when I compare it with some of her other totally hilarious ones, like Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married and Rachel’s Holiday. The book is based on the Casey family, complete with a family tree, so we know who fits where – and once you tally all the children, they are quite a number. The three Casey brothers are close and spend a lot of time together, despite their estrangement from their very cold and distant parents. The family is fairly well-to-do (or at least Johnny and his wife Jessie are) so a good portion of the book features them at elaborate dinners or on holidays in picturesque destinations. We see the usual family dynamics play out, as the different characters encounter their own unique challenges. The book is quite voluminous at over 600 hundred pages. It took me a while to get into the story, I suppose due to the many characters, each with their own backstory and peculiarities. In fact, this felt more like several stories told together. Thankfully, once the story got going, I found myself pretty much drawn into it and I was easily able to follow the different story lines. I enjoyed the way that Marian expertly combined them into one tightly woven tale and, towards the end, I could not put the book down. Whilst the story was not ‘laugh out loud’ (at least not for me), there was a lot of humor in it together with all the family drama. The characters felt pretty familiar to me. I loved the interactions between them, as I got to know them and watch as they evolved. Marian explores some pretty serious themes in the book as she reveals the characters’ strengths and weaknesses. There was no part of this story that I did not like and I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys warm family stories about relationships and the trials and tribulations that we all have to deal with in every day life. I especially loved that this story does not take itself too seriously and none of the characters is reflected as being perfect. I rate this heartwarming story as a 4. The only reason why it did not get a 5 is because I enjoyed some of Marian’s books so much more and actually laughed out loud!

Book Review Author : Colleen Hoover Genre : Romance Publisher : Simon & Schuster Year of Publication : 2016 Number of Pages : 384 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Lily Bloom is upset following her father’s very emotionally draining funeral and just wants to be alone on a rooftop where she can breathe … Continue reading It Ends With Us →

Book Review Author : Colleen Hoover Genre : Romance Publisher : Simon & Schuster Year of Publication : 2016 Number of Pages : 384 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Lily Bloom is upset following her father’s very emotionally draining funeral and just wants to be alone on a rooftop where she can breathe in the fresh air and unwind. She does not count on meeting handsome Ryle, a neurosurgeon with whom she makes an instant connection. During their brief chat, they tell each other some ‘naked truths’ about their lives. Lily is trying to overcome complicated feelings around her father’s death and the life that she left behind when she moved to Boston. Ryle is struggling with his own demons that plague him. After their initial rooftop encounter, Lily doubts she will ever see Ryle again, as they want different things from life. When they reconnect several months later, she finds herself unable to resist him. In addition to starting a new business, and settling her mother in Boston, she reminisces about her first love, Atlas. She met Atlas as a teenager, at a time when he was lost, and she saved his life. When she unexpectedly bumps into him again, she believes she will finally get the closure she needs to be able to move on with her life. This is a love story, but not just the usual love story. It is a love story that almost made me cry in some parts and left me frustrated in others. Colleen Hoover is a bestselling author of romance, young adult, thriller and women’s fiction. “And maybe a ghost story soon,” as she says in her Goodreads Bio. It is no wonder then that this was not just a romance story, even though romance is at the heart of the book. I really rooted for Lily and Ryle and the twist caught me by surprise. I honestly did not see it coming. As it turns out, this is a tale about life and relationships – and how complicated both can get. I found the story gripping, even as it took an unexpected turn. The author uses first person to narrate the story, so I felt all of Lily’s emotions intensely, as I followed her thoughts and experiences. I loved Lily as a character and wish I had her strength. The other characters were also well developed and easy to relate to. This story seemed so familiar to me, yet the author managed to show me that some circumstances in life are not as they seem at first glance. She shows how easy it is to judge people unfairly when we do not fully understand what they have been through and what makes them act the way they do. Ultimately, this is a story about one woman’s journey and her quest to overcome her past and build a fulfilling, meaningful life for herself. It tells us that we are not bound by our past – or even our present circumstances and we can make the decision to break patterns. No matter what path we take, there is always time and space to course-correct. This may not always be easy and it requires a lot of reflection to recognize where we went wrong and the right path. It also requires the courage to do what is right as opposed to what is easy. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and rate it 5 out of 5. I recommend it to anyone who loves a good story with romance and a bit of a lesson.

Book Review Author : A. J. Finn Genre : Psychological Thriller Publisher : Harper Collins Published : January 2018 Number of Pages : 390 My Rating : 5 out of 5 The Woman in the Window is a psychological thriller by A. J. Finn. The main character, Dr. Anna Fox, suffers from severe agoraphobia and … Continue reading The Woman in the Window →

Book Review Author : A. J. Finn Genre : Psychological Thriller Publisher : Harper Collins Published : January 2018 Number of Pages : 390 My Rating : 5 out of 5 The Woman in the Window is a psychological thriller by A. J. Finn. The main character, Dr. Anna Fox, suffers from severe agoraphobia and is unable to leave her house. From the windows in her living room and her bedroom, she observes her neighbors. She knows all their goings and comings and sees everything that happens on her street. One day, she witnesses something shocking through her window. Unfortunately, no one believes her because of her condition. Dr. Anna Fox is an unreliable narrator. She has a severe anxiety disorder. At times, she either forgets to take her medication as prescribed, or takes double dosses after forgetting that she has already taken the medicine. She takes copious amounts of wine, even though she lies to her doctor that she will not take alcohol. She spends days and nights in her house, watching old thrillers shot in black and white. It is no surprise, therefore, that no one believes what she says. After a while, she even starts to doubt herself. I was drawn into this story from the beginning and it kept going at the same enthralling steady pace. It was full of twists and turns and a lot of suspense. At some point, I figured out part of the main character’s back story, but the main twist still caught me by surprise. I loved the way the author was able to clearly show us what Anna was going through, though at times, even Anna was confused and unclear about some of the events. I do not know anybody who suffers from agoraphobia, but I was able to feel the intensity of Anna’s fears, as they were set out so vividly. The characters were well developed. Most of the story is focused on Anna, but there is a good mix of supporting characters, who help to build the story. At the beginning, I thought this would be just a story about a nosy woman at a window spying on her neighbors – especially given how the story started. It turned out to be so much more. I’m glad I picked this as my last read of the year as I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I rate it 5 out of 5 and recommend it to anyone who loves psychological thrillers. A film based on the book, starring Amy Adams and Julianne Moore, is currently under production and is expected to air in 2020. I’m looking forward to watching it and hope it remains faithful to the book, as I could not bear the disappointment if they mess it up.

Book Review Author : Margaret Atwood Genre : Literary Fiction/Science Fiction and Fantasy Publisher : Penguin Random House Year of Publication : 2019 Number of Pages : 401 My Rating : 5 out of 5 This book is a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. It is set fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s … Continue reading The Testaments →

Book Review Author : Margaret Atwood Genre : Literary Fiction/Science Fiction and Fantasy Publisher : Penguin Random House Year of Publication : 2019 Number of Pages : 401 My Rating : 5 out of 5 This book is a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. It is set fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale. The author, Margaret Atwood, is an accomplished author whose work has been published in more than forty-five countries. An adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale is now an award-winning TV series. Though I haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale, I caught a few of the episodes which gave me some background into Gilead. The Testaments still reads well as a Standalone and prior knowledge of Gilead is not really necessary to follow the story. Atwood was selected as a joint winner of the Booker Prize in 2019 for The Testaments. Margaret Atwood This book takes us back to Gilead, a dystopian society that can only exist in one’s worst nightmare. It is a country set up after the so called ‘Sons of Jacob’ overthrow the US Government. They are deeply unhappy with a country bedeviled by numerous ills and want to make it better. I didn’t know there was a place in the Bible known as Gilead, but it makes total sense that the country would be named after a biblical place. Or maybe it was named after another actual town in the US called Gilead. The Sons of Jacob set up a theocratic government that has retrogressive views on the role of women in society, deeming them unsuitable for any positions of power. All steeped in religious bigotry. Women are not allowed to do any professional work. They can only be Wives, Aunts, Marthas or Handmaids. Marthas are domestic workers for the elites whilst the sole role of Handmaids is to get impregnated and carry babies for couples who are sterile. The world has a severe fertility crisis and most adults are sterile. Many babies are born with serious genetic defects and do not survive. As in many such societies, it is the women who are assumed to be infertile, hence the Handmaids are meant to bear children on their behalf. This makes the Handmaids extremely valuable and they are forced to perform their role with no escape. Handmaids wearing their ‘white wings’. The story is narrated through the voices of three women, whose connection becomes evident as it progresses. These are Aunt Lydia, who featured prominently in The Handmaid’s Tale and two young girls, Agnes and Daisy. Aunt Lydia is one of the founding women of Gilead. She is extremely resourceful, powerful and greatly feared. To ensure her own survival, she maneuvered her way into being placed in charge of all the women. She runs the revered Ardua Hall where Handmaids are trained and no men are allowed. She protects her position by ensuring she has incriminating information on all the senior members of Gilead’s governing council. Agnes is a fifteen year old girl, born after Gilead was formed. She is the daughter of a high ranking Commander. Through her story, we get an insider’s perspective of how life in a Commander’s house is and the sort of upbringing that Gilead girls have. She lets us in on life at school and the transition from being a girl to becoming a Wife. Eventually, she ends up at Ardua Hall under Aunt Lydia and gives us a front seat perspective of the lives of recruits selected to become Aunts. Daisy is a sixteen year old girl living with her parents in Canada. She only knows of Gilead through what she learns in school or sees on the news. She gives us an outsider’s perspective of Gilead, through the eyes of a young girl. She eagerly participates in anti-Gilead matches and disdains the Gilead Pearl Girls, who walk around her neighbourhood looking for fresh recruits to take to Gilead, thinking them ignorant. This is a story of horrific treatment meted out to others in the name of religion. Those in charge take it upon themselves to decide the fate of others with rigid oppressive laws, rules and guidelines. Spies are everywhere. Disobedience is severely punished and life in Gilead is full of fear, violence and death. Serious crimes by powerful men – such as pedophilia – are, for the large part, ignored and victims are more likely to be punished for speaking out than the perpetrators. Handmaids occasionally gather to carry out a horrific execution. Whilst this is not a story that one can call at all enjoyable, it was an intriguing look into what could happen when there is unchecked power. I loved the style that Atwood used to tell the story as I got a clear, firsthand view of events from different angles as represented by the three main characters. Whilst I really hated Aunt Lydia in the TV series, she somehow comes out as sympathetic in this book and I found myself empathizing with her, in spite of my better judgement. I suppose that is what happens when you are able to see a character’s motivation articulated so clearly. The book has quite a number of characters. Though many of them are totally unlikeable, they play a vital role in showing us the treachery, deception and vindictiveness pervading in Gilead. Some of them are heroes, working to end the tragedy that is Gilead. A few are even unsung heroes. All in all, what I loved most about this tale of woe was the ending. It gets a well deserved 5 out of 5. I recommend it to anyone who loves literary fiction.

A Classic’s Club Book Review Author: Henrik Ibsen Genre : Realistic Problem Play Publisher: T. Fisher Unwin Year of Publication: 21st December 1879 Number of Pages: 101 My Rating: 5 out of 5 I picked a Doll’s House as the next book to read for my Classics Club ’50 books in 5 years challenge’ because … Continue reading A Doll’s House →

A Classic’s Club Book Review Author: Henrik Ibsen Genre : Realistic Problem Play Publisher: T. Fisher Unwin Year of Publication: 21st December 1879 Number of Pages: 101 My Rating: 5 out of 5 I picked a Doll’s House as the next book to read for my Classics Club ’50 books in 5 years challenge’ because my son is reading it for school and I thought it would be cool to discuss it with him and share ideas on the themes. This exceptional read is a three-act play written by Henrik Ibsen, who was a leading Norwegian playwright. It features Nora Helmer and her relationship with her husband, Torvald. The play takes place just before Christmas. Nora is overjoyed because her husband has been appointed Manager of the local bank. He is to start at the beginning of the coming year. The family has been experiencing financial problems and Nora is looking forward to having more money than she can spend. Torvald believes his wife wastes money, calling her extravagant and a spendthrift who cannot save, even as she says that she really does save all that she can. His opinion of her is also evident in the way that he addresses her, calling her ‘a little squirrel’, ‘a little lark’, ‘a little skylark’ and ‘a little featherhead’. Ugh! When he says something that seems to upset her, he gives her money to cheer her up. Unknown to Torvald, Nora is not as helpless as he thinks, as she reveals to her old school friend, Mrs. Linde. She has had to work hard as well to support the family. Soon after their marriage, Torvald had overworked himself and fallen ill. The doctors had recommended that he travel south. The trip had to be taken, even though the couple did not have money to finance it. As far as Torvald knew, Nora borrowed some money from her father to pay for the trip. But Nora’s father had also been ailing at the time and she did not want to bother him. So she did the unthinkable and borrowed money from an unsavory man known as Nils Krogstad, without telling anybody else about it. Since then, Nora has saved what she can and worked long hours on whatever job she can get in order to repay the loan and the interest charged. When Mr. Krogstad realizes that Torvald is planning to fire him from his position at the bank because of a fraud that he committed, he attempts to blackmail Nora. He threatens to reveal that she borrowed money from him (and committed a fraud in the process) if she does not get her husband to retain him in his position. Nora is distressed by this as she knows Torvald detests loans and any impropriety. This play is a very insightful look into the way that women were regarded in society at the time. Torvald thinks his wife is a feather head and constantly refers to her as ‘little’. It is clear that he has all the authority in the home and does not regard his wife as an equal. Eventually, Nora realizes that her husband does not really love her, as he even refuses to do a favor for her. He implies that he would do anything for her, but when she faces condemnation, he turns on her and blames her for ruining him. All he cares about is himself. As appearances mean a lot to him, he is happy to keep her in his house but proclaims that she must not have any contact with her children, lest she infects them with her immorality. She also realizes that she does not love him anymore. She feels that she has been treated like a doll, first by her father, then by her husband. Her opinion does not matter. Torvald does not understand her and he has no respect for her. She decides to do the unthinkable and put herself first, for once, and look after her own interests. I found this play very thought – provoking. The characters were so well developed that I felt like I knew them and what drove them, within such a short period. Their obsession with societal expectations was evident as they place this above all else. I thought it was fascinating how they believed that a parent’s immorality or indiscretions would inevitably lead to the ruin of the children. And how Nora was astonished by the realization that altruistic intentions could not forgive a crime! The play shows us how damaging secrets can be. It also demonstrates how unreasonable it is to expect that others will always be grateful for what you do for them, especially when you cut some corners in the process. I found it hilarious that Torvald was quick to forgive his wife after he realized that no harm was to come to him and how he attempted to make her forget what he had said before when he thought he was going to be ruined. The only thing that puzzled me was how a mother can walk out on her children, especially when they had such a good relationship and the kids kept on insisting on spending more time with her. In as much as I understand the need to put herself first, this seems a bit extreme to me! It therefore does not surprise me that Ibsen was made to write an alternate ending to this play (which he called ‘a barbaric act of violence’) for a staging in Germany where Nora eventually decides to stay, as audiences of the time could also not fathom such an ending. All in all, A Doll’s House was an interesting take on life and marriage in particular in the 19th century and I give it 5 out of 5 stars! I also greatly enjoyed hearing my son’s take on the themes in the play, so that’s an added bonus. Adaptations This play was first performed at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark on December 21, 1879. Since then, it has been performed numerous times and adapted for TV, radio and cinema. I didn’t really enjoy watching the adaptations. I think this is because an adaptation of a play follows the script very closely, so I just felt like I was re-reading the play again! 1992: Part of the British “Performance” series, with Juliet Stevenson as Nora and Trevor Eve as Torvald. Directed by David Thacker. 1973 : Claire Bloom as Nora and Anthony Hopkins as Torvald. Directed by Patrick Garland. If you love plays or classical literature, I recommend that you check this one out!

Book Review Author : Heather Morris Genre : Biographical Fiction Publisher : Echo/ Bonnier Publishing Australia Year of Publication : 11th January 2018 Number of Pages : 194 My Rating :4 out of 5 The Tattooist of Auschwitz has been on my ‘to-be-read‘ list for a while. To be honest, it has stayed so long … Continue reading The Tattooist of Auschwitzt →

Book Review Author : Heather Morris Genre : Biographical Fiction Publisher : Echo/ Bonnier Publishing Australia Year of Publication : 11th January 2018 Number of Pages : 194 My Rating :4 out of 5 The Tattooist of Auschwitz has been on my ‘to-be-read‘ list for a while. To be honest, it has stayed so long on my TBR list because I really did not want to read a story about the horrors of the Holocaust, having never read one before. The movies and documentaries I watched on the subject gave me quite a chill! I still kept coming across it everywhere, so my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to read it. This is Heather Morris’ debut novel, originally written as a screenplay before being reworked as a novel. The book has received international acclaim with four million copies sold worldwide (according to Amazon). In the midst of all this success, there has also been some controversy surrounding the book. This is the story of Lale Sokolov, originally known as Ludwig Eisenberg. It is April 1942 when Lale leaves his home in Slovakia. The German government has demanded that each Jewish family provide an adult child to work for them. Failure to do this will lead to the whole family being sent to a concentration camp. To save his family from this fate, Lale presents himself to the Germans for service, believing his family back home will be safe. On the gate at Auschwitz are the words ‘Work will make you free’. Lale ponders the meaning of this phrase. A number is tattooed on his arm. He soon learns the true nature of life at Auschwitz where a simple misstep can lead to the loss of a life. Fortunately for Lale, he gets appointed as a Tätowierer, whose job is to tattoo other prisoners. This puts him in a protected and advantaged position but also at risk of being considered a collaborator, since he now works for the political wing of the SS. He meets Gita as he tattoos her arm and immediately feels a connection with her. They start a relationship that endures until they separately leave Auschwitz and find each other back home in Slovakia. Heather Morris wrote Lale’s and Gita’s story from Lale’s recollections, more than sixty years after the events had transpired. Lale told her the story after Gita had passed away. Gita and Lale I liked the author’s writing style. The story is well written and easy to follow. I was able to easily picture the events as they happened and follow Lale’s thoughts as he lived through the traumatic events. The horror of life at the concentration camp – fear, devastation and suffering – are laid bare in a manner that made me feel like I was watching the events unfold through the characters’ eyes. Yet in the midst of all that is a powerful story of the resilience of human beings, their ability to survive brutal events and remain hopeful, even when surrounded by suffering and death. Their ability to fall in love and trust that they can build a relationship. It would have been easy for the characters to just give up but throughout the book, the desire to overcome their circumstances was evident. It amazed me how Lale and Gita were able to find one another and develop such a close bond in such restrictive and devastating surroundings when their future was so uncertain. Although I really doubted the authenticity of some of their encounters given my (admittedly limited) knowledge of concentration camps, I rooted for them and admired Lale’s determination to be with his beloved. Most of all, I marveled at his courage and ingenuity. I rate this book 4 out of 5 and recommend it to anyone who loves stories about overcoming adversity. It would have been a 5 but for some discussions I came across online, which resonated with me, given some of my misgivings about the book. Controversy Given the historical significance of the Holocaust, any story that is centered on it is bound to attract a lot of attention. Some researchers have questioned the accuracy of some of the details in the book and have stated that some of the events that have been described could not have happened. Critics have been concerned that readers may take the story as a source of knowledge about life at Auschwitz – Birkenau. In as much as the author clearly states that she changed some facts to further the plot, the story is described as being ‘based on a true story’ and a lot of readers connected with the story because of this. When questioned about this, the author stated that she wrote “a story of the Holocaust, not the story of the Holocaust.” She told the New York Times that ;- “The book does not claim to be an academic historical piece of non-fiction, I’ll leave that to the academics and historians.” My Take on this This made me ponder on whether writers of historical fiction have an obligation to accurately depict historical events in their books. Is it not true that inaccuracies can mislead and leave readers with a wrong impression of events? Is it enough for authors to state that their stories are fictional and expect readers not to assume all the historical events are as they happened? What is the line between the fictional and the historical bit? And what is biographical fiction anyway? I think critics here were so concerned because this is described as a book about real people in a real place at a real time in history. A very sensitive time and place. This would therefore lead most readers to expect the story to be mostly true. And it should be. How much artistic license do you think an author has when they claim that a novel is based on a true story? Shouldn’t they at the very least get the actual known historical events correct? Let me know!

Book Review Author : Lola Shoneyin Genre : Literary Fiction Publisher: Serpent’s Tail Date of Publication: 2010 Number of Pages: 245 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Yes, I somehow ended up with two copies of this book. I think I bought the first one and whilst it was still on my ‘to read’ … Continue reading The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives →

Book Review Author : Lola Shoneyin Genre : Literary Fiction Publisher: Serpent’s Tail Date of Publication: 2010 Number of Pages: 245 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Yes, I somehow ended up with two copies of this book. I think I bought the first one and whilst it was still on my ‘to read’ list I came across it again and bought a second copy! Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian poet. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives was her debut novel published in 2010. Lola was nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2010 for this book. She won the PEN Oakland 2011 Josephine Miles Literary Award and the 2011 Ken Saro-Wiwa Prose Prize. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives features the Alao family, made up of Ishola Alao (Baba Segi) and his four wives – Iya Segi, Iya Tope, Iya Femi and Bolanle. Iya is the Nigerian term for ‘mother of’ so they are named after their respective first born children. Baba Segi is, of course, named for the oldest child of the first wife. The book opens with Baba Segi contemplating a problem that he has had to deal with before. The latest addition to his family, his wife Bolanle, has not yet conceived a child. The last time he faced this problem, he found the solution at Teacher’s shack, where men gather and discuss different topics over whiskey. Teacher recommended a visit to a herbalist. Not long after taking the prescribed powder, his first wife got pregnant and Segi was born. Now with seven children from his three wives, he is again concerned because Bolanle has not yet conceived, after almost three years of marriage. Bolanle is different from the other wives. She has gone to university and is educated, whereas they are not. She refuses to see a herbalist. Teacher advises Baba Segi to take her to a hospital. Bolanle married Baba Segi against the wishes of her family and friends, who do not understand why she would marry an uneducated polygamist. Baba Segi’s other wives resent her because she is educated. As a result, they refuse to let her in on the secret that they all share, hoping to get rid of her. When Baba Segi decides to visit the hospital with Bolanle, he sets in motion a course of events that will change their lives in unimaginable ways. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It gives us a good view of life in a polygamous family and the power dynamics that influence it. The role of the first wife and how it evolves as the husband gets more wives is explored. I enjoyed seeing the different personalities of the characters and how they affect their relationships. Baba Segi believes he is fully in control of the family and tries as much as he can to be fair to all his wives. Iya Segi is cunning, wise and controlling. Iya Femi is spiteful and vengeful. Iya Tope is lazy and not so bright, yet she is also kind. Bolanle is lost and carries deep-seated pain. Lola tells this story in an engaging way. She lets the main characters tell us their backstories and show us their feelings by using a first person narrative. In other places, she uses the third person to further the story. These characters are well developed and authentic. I empathised with them, even when I did not like their actions. The book tackles themes such as polygamy, violence, infertility, prejudice and other social injustices. It is a beautiful narrative that both entertains, questions and challenges. It is a tale of how far people will go to get what they want and to maintain their livelihood. It shows how easy it is to misjudge people and not appreciate their strengths. How our prejudices can make us blind to what should be obvious. Perhaps the most important lesson of all is – always be wary of karma! I rate it 5 out of 5 and recommend it to lovers of African literature.

Book Review May contain spoilers….. Author : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Genre: Literary Fiction Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers Date of Publication: 2004 Number of Pages: 307 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (Best Debut Fiction Category) in 2004 and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in 2005 … Continue reading Purple Hibiscus →

Book Review May contain spoilers….. Author : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Genre: Literary Fiction Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers Date of Publication: 2004 Number of Pages: 307 My Rating : 5 out of 5 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (Best Debut Fiction Category) in 2004 and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in 2005 for Purple Hibiscus. Purple Hibiscus is Chimamanda’s debut novel, published in 2004. I read it after reading Americanah which resonated with me because of all the stories I had heard about the lives of immigrants in the US. Purple Hibiscus is a heartbreaking story about fifteen year old Kambili and her family. Kambili’s father, Eugene, is a wealthy Nigerian businessman. He is also a religious fanatic who does not allow any dissent in his family. Everything has to be done his way. He exercises tight control over their lives, planning and intricately scheduling every minute including family time, reading time, eating time and prayer time. There are prayers before and after meals, with a prayer before meals taking twenty minutes. Any dissent is met with horrific acts of violence. Eugene is fastidious about rituals and prayers but fails in kindness and compassion, yet he is blind to his many faults. Typically, he blames others for his wrongdoing and makes them go for confession when they have done nothing wrong. There are a lot of lessons to be glimpsed from the book. Chimamanda shows us how violence begets violence. Eugene was exposed to violence for behavior that was deemed ‘sinful’ by a priest he lived with while in school and metes out similar punishment to his family. Whilst this is no excuse, it helps us get a better understanding of his character. His family lives in silence and fear. This has greatly affected Kambili who rarely talks. When she does it is in a voice that is barely audible. Their mother, Beatrice, tries to prevent the violence by deflecting Eugene’s attention when she sees his temper rising, though she rarely succeeds. When Kambili and her brother, Jaja, visit their Aunt Ifeoma at the University campus in Nsukka where she works and lives with her family, they are surprised at how different life in her house is. Though Ifeoma’s family lacks the abundant resources that Kambili’s family has, they enjoy cheerful banter during meal times. Ifeoma’s house is full of music and laughter, which is alien to Kambili and Jaja. To their surprise, their aunt tells them that there is no need to follow their father’s strict schedule while they are at her house. At Nsukka, Kambili meets Father Amadi, a young catholic priest whose amiable behaviour is unlike anything her father would approve of. Father Amadi quickly notices that Kambili is different and pays her special attention. Kambili develops a crush on him. Though we do not see any inappropriate behaviour on Father Amadi’s part, he manages to draw Kambili out of her shell. She is able to open up and relax due to the way he treats her. Eventually she falls in love with him, even though she knows nothing can come out of this relationship (sigh………). Another theme that is explored in this book is how the wealthy are allowed to get away with ghastly behavior. Eugene is extremely generous. He is the main benefactor of his church. This gives him the confidence to stand in judgment of other worshippers, regarding those who missed communion on two consecutive Sundays as ‘having committed mortal sin’. Villagers flock to his rural home when he goes there and he gladly dishes out money. He is a highly regarded member of society, even though he permits his children only fifteen minutes to visit his own father whom he regards as a ‘heathen’. He refuses to have anything to do with his father. When they fail to report that they spent time with their grandfather at Aunt Ifeoma’s house, Kambili and Jaja are punished for knowingly being in the same house with a heathen. This in spite of the fact that their grandfather is only brought to Nsukka due to his deteriorating health. Eugene is not even moved when his father dies, his only comment is that a priest should have been called to pray for him and convert him. This does not stop him from sending a lot of money for the funeral, though he doesn’t bother attending it. Neither the villagers nor Father Benedict are shown as being at all concerned about the way he treats his family, though it must be clearly evident that something is off as others easily pick up on this. The only person who dares defy him is his sister, Ifeoma, who goes as far as to refuse his financial assistance because he tries to control her life in exchange for his support. Another theme that Chimamanda brings out is how society tends to turn a blind eye to things that make us uncomfortable. Nobody asks Kambili how she got hurt when she lands in hospital after her father repeatedly kicks her, not even Father Eugene or the doctor. The only person who dares broach the subject is her cousin, Amaka, who mentions it in a way that makes it obvious that she is already aware of what happened. How long can people really survive such treatment? Kambili’s mother, Beatrice, seems weak and helpless, as victims of domestic abuse often appear to be. She tries to protect her children but seems trapped by circumstances. She goes back to her abusive husband even after Ifeoma begs her not to go. Ifeoma often tries to talk some sense into her brother, although ultimately, she concludes that he is broken, perhaps beyond redemption. Jaja is wracked with guilt because of his inability to protect his mother. He is eventually able to take a stance against his father, and we see his character begin to develop. Unfortunately, the cycle of violence is doomed to continue as victims of violence often retaliate. All in all, this book was a poignant look at religious fanaticism and domestic violence. It is heartbreaking and distressing. It made me mad and frustrated. I wished I could enter into the book and shake some sense into some of the characters. I found the story well-paced and superbly written. The characters are well developed and easy to understand, even those that I did not like – Eugene and Father Benedict. I felt sorry for Kambili, celebrated Jaja’s growth into manhood, and empathized with Beatrice. I understood Ifeoma’s anger and frustration with her brother and even Amaka’s attempt at rationalizing her uncle’s behaviour. The story is told against the background of political instability and a military coup in Nigeria, which provides some useful information on what is going on in the characters’ lives. I love how Chimamanda uses the blooming of the newly planted and rare purple hibiscus to depict a new beginning for the family and how the characters are at last able to move on. The story is told from Kambili’s point of view and her emotional turmoil is brought out beautifully. I appreciated the way Chimamanda contrasts religion as depicted by Ifeoma’s family and Father Amadi, as opposed to Eugene and Father Benedict. The same religion expressed very differently. We see how Kambili feels isolated from her religion because of her father’s fanaticism, whereas her cousins embrace their religion and have a friendly and casual relationship with their priest, free from judgment. Even though a lot of violence is depicted, and I could clearly see how inhumane and traumatic this is for the characters, I did not find it at all graphic. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even when it made me sad, and rate it 5 out of 5. I recommend it to lovers of African literature.

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In 1985, Diane Daly, Nikki Barone, and Orla Nevins are in Indiana, playing the roles of Tevye’s daughters in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Being cast in the summer stock production is a major coup for the struggling actresses, and during the run of the show, despite a few jealousies here and there, they form a tight bond. Forty years later, Diane has just returned to her Santa Monica home after a three-day evacuation due to the wildfire in her area. She is lucky—the fire did not quite reach her over-mortgaged property, though everything is covered in ash. She has been considering suicide, but now that she and her house have survived the fire, she decides the idea of killing herself is absurd (“How selfish to take oneself out of the picture when the picture had changed so dramatically”). She calls to check in with Nikki, who is living in Colorado and wondering why she ever agreed to leave New York. As they talk, they realize neither of them has heard from Orla, although Diane has tried to contact her. Concerned, Diane heads off to New York to find her, with Nikki joining her a couple of days later. Butterfield’s narrative toggles back and forth between the past and present. In alternating chapters, she fills in the protagonists’ backstories and experiences (individually and together) through the decades. Set against the backdrop of civil protests, the AIDS epidemic, the World Trade Center attack, and the Covid-19 pandemic, the story is packed with entertainment-world tidbits and references, cultural signifiers, and the music of a country in constant, rapid change. Diane, Nikki, and the quirky, dramatically romantic Orla differ in temperament and lifestyle choices, each following diverging paths as they do battle with life’s personal and professional slings and arrows, yet always managing to overcome periods of separation and even betrayal to reconnect with one another. Butterfield’s acerbic prose provides ample humor and social commentary, adding a joyful ambiance to a narrative occasionally heavy with emotional baggage and tragedy.

Eight years ago, Tierney Gillespie’s partner in the Dublin Crisis Intervention Squad, Norah Boyce, was gunned down by a vengeful sniper at a gala event. Now, Tierney lives with her husband and young son in a “hoity-toity” Silicon Valley enclave, but the shooting still torments her. Unexpectedly, she gets another chance to be a hero when police discover the body of a young woman beaten to death at a local community pool. Tierney frequents the pool as a form of therapy, and she can’t resist helping peevish Det. Sgt. Howard Sutton solve the case—whether he wants her to or not. Along the way, Tierney juggles a host of other challenges, including raising her bullied kindergartner son, supporting a workaholic husband whose accounting firm represents high-tech firms in a wide-ranging financial scandal, and struggling to ingratiate herself with new friends, largely due to her baking prowess. There’s a lot going on in Kemp’s novel, which explains the expansive cast, but readers may find it arduous at times to remember who’s who. Nevertheless, it all leads to a taut hostage situation in which Tierney, a pregnant Norah lookalike, and the queen bee of kindergarten moms are locked in a bathroom by gun-toting drug dealers—who, disappointingly, are rather late additions to the cast. However, Tierney is an appealingly resolute hero with a big heart and an unwavering moral compass—and it’s hard to resist a novel with a line like “I used to be a hostage negotiator in Ireland for a few years before getting into baking.”

Ellis Dunaway is an unusual and unlikely detective. A struggling television writer who only took on detective work after inheriting his father’s P.I. firm and Porsche (and nearly destroying them both), he’s a recovering alcoholic with few close connections aside from his former secretary and her troubled teenage son. Just as he’s on the verge of landing a profitable if unfulfilling new TV writing gig, he’s thrown back into the shamus business when Larry Price, a sleazy Hollywood agent (“Only occasionally did he look up from his phone to offer non-sequiturs about ‘Sundance,’ ‘marketing synergy,’ and ‘digital rights management’ without taking the swizzle stick out of his mouth”), is killed right next to him. Ellis’ investigation sends him all over LA—the city is rendered here with obvious love and appreciation even for its seediest corners. Detective stories live or die on the strength of their leads, and Ellis carries the novel wonderfully. Funny, flawed, self-deprecating, and charming, he’s a mess in a way that will make readers want to root for him. Vaughn has crafted a character who stands out from his peers, especially when it comes to his earnestness; Ellis, a modern, relatable spin on classic detective characters, is no jaded, hard-edged flat foot. He’s a guy readers will feel they know and wish the best for who displays some skill at investigative work when he gets into it. The fact that he’s always more interested in getting back to writing for television than in solving murders is a source of humor and pathos that sustains narrative. It doesn’t hurt that he’s surrounded by a substantial but not overwhelming cast of colorful characters who, despite falling into some familiar tropes, each have their own clearly defined quirks and motivations. As the tension and the pace pick up toward the end, the novel never loses the heart and tongue-in-cheek attitude that make it so engaging.

“Like cherry blossom petals, excitement [is] in the air” as Hoon and his family shop at Koreatown in preparation. Back at home, Hoon’s Eomma explains each ritual as she sews little Binna’s first hanbok. Hoon’s Appa notes that a child’s 1st birthday is significant because in the past, many babies died young, including several of Hoon’s great-grandmother’s siblings. That revelation fills Hoon with worry for Binna’s well-being. According to Korean tradition, the first object a baby picks up at the doljabi ceremony will predict the child’s future, and Hoon hopes that Binna will choose the thread, which symbolizes long life. The day finally arrives, and Hoon tries to nudge his sister toward the thread, though she’s more interested in the rainbow rice cake. His parents tell him to let Binna choose for herself—and at last she does as a crowd of smiling family and friends look on. Korean terms and cultural markers are well explained and skillfully integrated into this gently told narrative. Bright colors fill each page, while Kim’s cartoonish art, textured with simple lines and patterns, sets a cozy tone.

Narcissa “Cissa” Tarver was a surprise baby to her aging parents, born a decade after the Civil War in Mississippi. Her Black nurse, Julia, is her best, if not only, friend; a lonely child, Cissa spends much of her time playing in nature, especially with her favorite barn cat. Cissa’s future changes at age 6, when an untreated spider bite leads to gangrene and the loss of two fingers. She learns to write left-handed and discovers that she enjoys writing; as a teenager, she’s hired to cover social events for the local newspaper. As a reporter, she questions the attitudes of racist Southerners, especially the sentiments of her older brother, Duncan, who runs for office. Her decision to stand up to him results in tension with other family members. She also develops a mutual attraction with Hector Davis, a detective who’s seeking evidence against Duncan and his followers. Her father wills the family home to her, but she must take care of her elderly mother, and she struggles to find a way to build a life of her own. In this story, loosely based on Birdwell’s family history, the author has created a fascinating character in Cissa, who’s always determined to do what’s right, no matter what it may cost her personally. Cissa forthrightly questions why only white men can participate in the electoral process; she also yearns to be a reporter covering important stories, but her circumstances always keep her from making that leap. With the huge family sizes of the era, and the high child-mortality rates, readers may sometimes find it difficult to keep track of who’s who among the Tarvers, let alone their extended relations. Nonetheless, Birdwell has built a strong period piece on the foundation of an intriguing woman’s story.

In 1940, series protagonist Arista Kelly’s forebear, Barry Kelly, is a dog breeder in California. After a neighbor poisons one of his dogs, Barry enacts revenge by killing the man. In turn, the dead man’s wife puts a curse on the Kelly family, using “dark magick.” In the present, a man named Mateo has been hired to work on Arista Kelly’s home. Something catches Mateo’s eye: a suitcase containing “a cache of papers and trinkets.” The papers include instructions for a vision spell; since Mateo’s young son has sight problems, he takes the case home with him. Upon closer inspection, the vision spell proves to be of little use to Mateo, and his possession of the suitcase starts to cause problems. Meanwhile, Arista’s neighbor, a “strong, well-seasoned witch” named Iris, has gone missing. When Arista and her aunt investigate, they find evidence in Iris’ home of the curse that was put on the Kelly family—Iris, it transpires, is the original hexer’s granddaughter, and she is on her own adventure after having been possessed by Arista’s uncle Fergus. There is a lot going on in the narrative as a colorful assortment of characters go about their business: Mateo’s troubles with the suitcase and Iris’ journey home after finding herself in Spokane are merely the beginning of the “rowdy commotion” to come. In this world of multicolored auras, where characters have to worry about being possessed and are also concerned with, say, buying jewelry for a loved one, the reader never knows how events will develop. Dodd’s descriptions can be a little too on the nose; at one point, “a scowl of hatred brim[s] across” the face of a villain. Still, while some elements are predictable, there is a rich world of magic and conflict to explore before the story reaches its conclusion.

In 1877, Mary “May” Cassatt is already making a name for herself in the French art scene, having had some paintings exhibited at the Salon, the establishment arbiter of the art world at the time. She is excited by the work of Edgar Degas, who has rebelled against the Salon and is a founder of the Impressionist movement. They finally meet, and she is enthralled. They become colleagues, then personal friends, and then, seemingly inevitably, lovers. Another strand in the story deals with Mary’s relationships with her family members. The Cassatts, from Philadelphia, are well-off, and her parents and older sister Lydia move to Paris to support Mary (and because they remember France so fondly). Mary is very close to Lydia, her faithful confidant, who lost her fiancé in the Civil War. Many famous real-life artists get cameo roles or mentions, showing Mary’s milieu, and Camille Pissarro gets more than that; as a happy husband and father, he contrasts with the tortured loner Degas, who can be incredibly hurtful. Camille becomes Mary’s other confidant; in fact, he warns her about Degas and is there for her when it all goes wrong. There is no hard historical evidence for this romance, and, of course, neither Mary nor Edgar ever married (this is not alternative history), but Groen is by no means the first to speculate. And Lydia at least did have a love tragically stolen from her. (At one point an exasperated Lydia says, “I wasn’t born with your talent…But I loved a man. I know what it’s like to wake up every morning longing for someone.”) What drives the book is the contrasting dynamics: love versus art, excitement versus serenity, the establishment versus the avant-garde. Love is strong, but is the pull of art stronger? That is the question. The text includes reproductions of artworks—mostly Cassatt’s—throughout.

A brown-skinned youngster tumbles out of bed, sees flurries of white from the window, and excitedly rushes outdoors. Soon the child has begun to build a snowman, with other kids joining in to help push the large balls of snow. When they need assistance to lift the head into place, a newcomer—a teenager or perhaps an adult—happily lends a hand. Other grown-ups, wearily trudging through the winter weather, pause at the sight. One by one, each contributes an item: a pickle for the nose, flowers for the hair. The crowd also grows: large, diverse, and loving. Smiles break out and laughter erupts as bagel halves are added for ears and other accessories appear. The final touch is a poppy pin from a veteran (a potentially less familiar detail to a U.S. audience that may get overlooked). Modeweg-Hansen’s twitchy lines add movement and joy, while a light blue wash over the sky harkens a slushy, wintry shiver. Luckily, the kindhearted ending envelops readers in warmth, reminding everyone of the happiness that spontaneous community connections can bring. Watching strangers’ lives intertwine in unexpected ways is a delight.

Curtis’ opening discussion draws on many disciplines as she distinguishes hope from faith, pure positivity, and optimism. Ultimately, she notes, hope is “leaning in and working toward something meaningful to you—even if you’re not sure it’s going to happen.” Curtis considers beliefs about hope held by those in Japan, India, and ancient Greece, as well as observations by Friedrich Nietzsche, Emily Dickinson, and Barack Obama. She cites scientific studies that show the physical, psychological, and practical benefits of hope and examines the development of tools to measure it, including MRI brain imaging. The author doesn’t downplay the adverse forces—personal, local, or global, modest or extreme—that make it difficult to keep this often delicate emotion alive, but she advocates for nurturing hope through nature, art, relationships, and education. She strikes a motivating note at the end by speaking to the power of hope to effect change, small or great, followed by brief profiles of activists working to improve the world and more suggestions for cultivating hope. Suárez’s illustrations—rainbows of luminous semi-abstract, watercolorlike images—appropriately brighten each page, while Curtis’ writing is simple and clear, with information presented in brief, well-organized blocks. In a world where hope sometimes seems to be at a premium, this book offers inspiration and direction for developing a much-needed skill.

Jasmine Ross, holder of multiple degrees, is happily rootless and eager for her next adventure (“I have training in self-defense, martial arts, tactical skills, and kickboxing. I can handle myself”). Over the years, her globe-trotting has taken her from India to sub-Saharan Africa. Her current gig is in London, where she is filling in for a historian who specializes in Black British history. She has no intention of remaining in London—until the night she rescues a teenage orphan named Amara from a violent attack. Amara’s brilliance and resilience reminds Jasmine of herself at Amara’s age; however, her assignment is coming to an end, and she needs to extend her visa for six months in order to stay until Amara leaves for university. A solution emerges in the form of a marriage of convenience to the dashing Aaron Adler, president of Saola Technology and a close friend of Jasmine’s sister, June. Aaron is under media scrutiny after a scandal involving a competitor named Bridgette Bromley; a short-term marriage would resolve both Aaron’s and Jasmine’s dilemmas. As Aaron and Jasmine settle into their roles as spouses and guardians of Amara, a deep and passionate connection sparks between them. Gordon’s novel is an engaging and briskly paced contemporary romance centered around dynamic and finely drawn protagonists. The chapters alternate between Aaron’s and Jasmine’s perspectives, offering insights into their thoughts and feelings as their marriage of convenience evolves into a genuine partnership (the sex scenes crackle with passion and emotional intensity). The supporting characters are similarly well-developed, particularly Amara, an intelligent young woman who finds stability and a promising future after Jasmine becomes her guardian. That said, the narrative moves so fast that some subplots, particularly Jasmine’s interactions with a predatory man named Bane Roth, are introduced and resolved too quickly.

Readers first meet 17-year-old Johannes (Hans) Schmitt on November 9, 1938, as he is walking with his father to the synagogue in Briedheim, Germany. His father is a tailor, and they are bringing clothes to the children in the orphanage attached to the synagogue. Hannah Becker (Hans’ girlfriend) and her father are also at the synagogue. It is a day that will end in Hell: The German Gestapo, riding in their long black Mercedes automobiles, fill the streets. While Hans and his father are at the orphanage, the Nazis attack the kosher butcher shop, breaking the glass windows, stealing all the meat, and beating the butcher to within an inch of his life. Hans and his father escape back to their tailor shop, but soon enough, the Gestapo arrives and kills Hans’ father. It is a scene repeated all around Germany on an occasion now known as “Kristallnacht,” the night of broken glass. Hans and his mother move into the orphanage, and in August 1939, Hans learns that his mother has arranged for him to go to America, under the sponsorship of his father’s old WWI friend—now a professor at the University of Virginia. Professor Cohen is permitted to sponsor only one German, and Hans’ mother insists that he must be the one to escape Germany. Hans boards the MS Batory, the ship that takes him from Gdańsk, Poland, to the port in New Jersey. Moments after the Batory pulls out of the harbor, a German battleship, ostensibly in port to begin peace treaty talks, begins firing rockets at Gdańsk; it is the official beginning of World War II. In November 1943, Hans is inducted into the U.S. Army and posted first to Camp Pickett in Virginia and then to the secret Camp Ritchie in Maryland.

It is at Camp Ritchie that the novel gains steam, moving beyond Hans’ emotional, personal story to encompass the extraordinary tale of “class twenty-two” of the Ritchie Boys, whose unique mission was to elicit real-time battle plans and weaponry details from captured German soldiers. In the narrative’s first, terrifying heavy-action scene, class twenty-two, under fire from the ground, parachutes into France behind enemy lines in preparation for the invasion of Normandy: “The night exploded into day as the Skytrain flying beside us erupted in a fireball of brilliant orange and red. For a single moment, I watched in awestruck silence, too dumbfounded to react as the plane cartwheeled away, not a single parachute emerging from the tumbling wreckage.” Saye’s meticulous prose is graphic, frightening, and packed with military details, including intricate descriptions of German weaponry and organizational structure. From the fields behind Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium to the discovery of the concentration camps, the chilling brutality of war pours off the pages. Hans is a passionate narrator who viscerally communicates his raw emotions throughout the story, particularly his love for Hannah and his mother, his raging hatred for the Nazis, and his fierce determination.

It’s a frigid day in Cherry Hill Forest; powdery drifts blanket the ground, migrating geese honk overhead, and Emma and her mom, a social worker, stroll along a secluded trail. Emma stumbles upon a camping tent much like those she’s seen in other parks. A woman emerges, and the trio exchange niceties before Emma asks her visibly chilled neighbor, “Don’t you get cold?” Margaret’s affirmative answer prompts mother and daughter to act, but when Mom’s outreach efforts to neighborhood shelters yield few solutions, Emma takes matters into her own hands. Emptying her coin bank, she assembles a kit of essentials and, later, prepares a plate of Christmas dinner for Margaret, learning over a shared meal more about the experiences that have discouraged the woman from seeking placement in a shelter. Emma and her mother listen attentively, attuned to their own privilege; by the time winter arrives again, the pair have identified a potential new home for their friend, a gesture borne from informed empathy. Necessarily narrow in scope, this text offers a jumping-off point for further dialogue. Canadian journalist Davy offers a frank, age-appropriate introduction to housing insecurity, broaching complex systemic realities with digestible tenderness. Delaporte’s appealing art, too, softens the challenging content without minimizing its impact. An author’s note provides additional actionable context for the true story on which the book is based. Mom and Margaret are light-skinned; Emma is tan-skinned.

This volume is organized into four thematic sections—“Family & Friendship,” “Immigration & Belonging,” “Witness & Activism,” and “Identity & Self-Love”—which pair entries with the prompts that inspired them. Each section opens with a warm and insightful exchange between the co-editors, Shout Mouse founder Crutcher and 21-year-old Shout Mouse author Aakil. Readers will encounter a wide range of genres and formats, including personal reflections, poetry, a board book, and comics, used to talk about different family structures, housing instability, making a perilous journey to the U.S., and other topics relating to often-underrepresented life experiences. In the charming “Joy-Grace and the Dress Dilemma,” written by Tseganesh Chala and Joy Ugwu and illustrated by Joy Ingram, a Jamaican-born, U.S.-based child with a Nigerian mom and Ethiopian dad struggles to best represent her heritage for Culture Day at school. This entry is one of several that appear in both English and Spanish. Established writers like Clint Smith, Tony Keith Jr., and Safia Elhillo reflect on some of the pieces, adding a rich intergenerational layer. Color and black-and-white illustrations enhance the text and keep readers engaged. Ambitious in both structure and purpose, this bold and moving anthology will support educators in guiding teens to reflect, write, and imagine possibilities.

Although he is little known today, Lothar Witzke was the “sole spy convicted and sentenced to death in the US during World War I.” This book takes a close look at Witzke’s life, particularly his possible role in an act of sabotage known as Black Tom (named for Black Tom Island, where the incident occurred). Black Tom involved the explosion of munitions in New York Harbor on July 30, 1916, that was so severe it damaged the Statue of Liberty. The blast also killed three men and a child. But before the book digs into what happened on July 30, it takes a look at Witzke’s arrest in 1918 and his early years as a sailor. Witzke was only 22 years old when he was apprehended while crossing the border between Mexico and the United States. He was tried before a military tribunal for espionage and, though initially sentenced to death, he was later pardoned. He returned to Germany in 1923 and he hardly led a quiet life before his death in 1962. But what was the extent of his involvement with Black Tom? Witzke’s strange life hardly needs embellishment: Friedland and Hornick’s book does a fine job of sticking to the facts as much as possible. Of course, this is not always easy with a subject who often told “contradictory stories about his early life and his time in America.” Still, the biography provides many rich details. Readers learn about everything from Witzke’s imprisonment in Leavenworth, Kansas, to other incidents he may have been involved in. While the evidence is intriguing, certain statements can be dry, as with a note on Witzke’s potential role in a bombing in San Francisco: “It is necessary to present what is uncontested about the evidence and then to summarize the more plausible theories of cause that compete with it.” Nevertheless, readers have much to discover in this engaging portrait of an undeniably mysterious and intriguing man.

Many kids (and adults) understandably love aquatic mammals. Delaunay presents them from the inside out, in well-organized chapters with short paragraphs covering sleep habits, habitats and migration, reproduction, and diet. Several sections are devoted to these creatures’ social structures and communication, both complex enough that scientists believe cetaceans have their own group cultures. A chapter on the dangers whales face is optimistic, though Delaunay acknowledges that they still face plenty of threats. Indeed, descriptions of collaborative hunting strategies provide concrete evidence of cetacean smarts and social bonds. Though the focus is on facts, Delaunay also briefly summarizes the Inuit story of the Sedna, goddess of the oceans, and quickly lists several other “whale tales.” The writing is a model of clarity and concision. The great variations among cetaceans is evident from both text and art. Large engravings make the most of the subjects, with deep blues, white highlights, and occasional bits of color; point of view and compositional shifts are used to dramatic effect. The book’s up-to-date information, oversize illustrations, and broad scope make it ideal for casual browsing as well as in-depth study, though no backmatter is included.

Clarke recaps the Gospel Nativity story through the perspective of Maor, an old mouse living in the Bethlehem stable where Joseph and Mary take shelter and Mary delivers Jesus. (Other barnyard animals are present, including a nervous dove called Mendel, a stentorian goose called Gettel, and a cow called Rebecca, whose feed trough makes a serviceable crib.) Jesus’ birth is a hushed affair marked by a quiet holiness emanating from the infant “like a soft breeze,” but it soon draws attention: Poor shepherd boys appear, told by an angel to seek out the newborn babe; the Three Wise Men arrive from the East, summoned by a dream and bearing gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense. This rendition of the foundational Christian narrative unfolds in spare but limpid prose that emphasizes the simple humanity of the Holy Family. (“Joseph pressed a damp cloth to his warm body and then washed his son. He gently wrapped the newborn in his best headscarf and placed Him in the arms of His mother.”) Clarke can also write in a more exalted register as awestruck beasts take in the celestial celebration of Christ’s advent. (“Suddenly, it was as if the stable roof opened, and a cloudburst of music gushed forth from the heavens. A thick foggy mist appeared around the stable rafters filled with tiny specks of light the size of a grain of sand.”) Kenny’s illustrations are realistic but also atmospheric with rich chiaroscuro; the people are suffused with unobtrusive joy, and the vividly drawn animals display inquisitive gazes. Her color scheme paints a world of subdued browns, grays, and olive greens that, in moments of divine drama, suddenly erupts with light and color. Children will like the critters, the vibrant visuals, and the homey details in this luminous version of the original Christmas story.

To accompany an exhibition at the Image Centre in Toronto and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, this volume of nearly 100 images represents a particular focus of the work of eminent photographer Richard Avedon (1923-2004): aging. Famous for his fashion photos and celebrity portraits, Avedon takes an unsparing view of famous people in old (or older) age. Dorothy Parker, for example, was 65 when he photographed her. With deep bags under her eyes, she looks, curator Vince Aletti notes, “like she hasn’t slept or been entirely sober for years.” Aletti is among several writers providing context and commentary on the images: Others are Roth, director of the Image Centre; New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik, who was a close friend of Avedon; and Gaëlle Morel, exhibitions curator of the Image Centre. Along with an introduction, Roth contributes an informative biographical essay on Avedon’s father, Jacob Israel Avedon, the subject of Avedon’s first exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, in 1974. The images, which document Jacob Israel’s dying from advanced liver cancer, proved controversial: Some critics saw them as exploitative, a form of patricide, while others praised the intimate photographs as “profound and moving.” Readers are likely to find some images familiar: Ronald Reagan, casting a suspicious glance; the deeply lined faces of Samuel Beckett and Stephen Sondheim. Although a few sitters looked pleased—Arthur Schlesinger, for one, looks rather self-satisfied—fewer look happy. Two exceptions are Marguerite Duras, who exudes impish joy, even as her health is declining, and a nun, Soeur Emmanuelle, who looks positively ecstatic. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy appears resigned—perhaps to having her portrait taken, or, more likely, to old age. Capturing fragility and pain, Avedon, at the same time, honors his subjects’ dignity.

Mollier and Sorel are French, so it makes sense that the scholars of the history of bookselling begin their global photographic tour of bookstores in their home country. Beyond any practical considerations, there’s good reason to start in France: It is, they write, “a world leader in book outlets per capita, and the first country to pass a law to protect ‘bibliodiversity’”—restricting online retailers from undercutting the country’s 3,500 independent bookstores. “Bookdealers have always been highly vulnerable,” the authors add, “whether burned at the stake in the sixteenth century (like Michel Servet in Geneva and Étienne Dolet in Paris), heavily fined in London in the late nineteenth century (like Henry Vizetelly, guilty of selling the English translation of Émile Zola’s allegedly ‘obscene’ The Soil), or imprisoned in Brazil in the late twentieth century, for selling Marxist literature during the military dictatorship.” This book can therefore be read as a celebration of a trade that has existed against all odds. Readers will be familiar with many of the beloved shops featured here. In Paris, there is Shakespeare and Company, the English-language store that has attracted readers since the 1950s. Vibrant photographs capture its charm, from its wood beam ceilings to its upright piano. We see graceful interior and exterior shots of London’s capacious Foyles, as well as the equally mighty Strand Bookstore in New York City and Powell’s Books in Portland. Happily, the book highlights many lesser-known stores, including ones in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. In Cameroon, the authors write, the Librairie des Peuples Noirs—the Black Peoples’ Bookshop—“symbolizes the struggle of its founder, Mongo Beti, and of all African people to make their rights and cultures known.” As the authors observe, “Bookstores are surprisingly diverse and inventive….Gigantic or tiny, with or without a roof, fixed or itinerant, bookshops all convey the same love of books—a love that brings people together.”

Eighteen-year-old Laila Bansal, a descendant of Draupadi (from the Hindu epic the Mahabharata), lives with her three immortal rakshasi aunts and is bound by her bloodline to bear a child before age 25 in order to maintain the cosmic balance. Laila’s masis raised her in remote areas—Mauritius, forests in Indonesia and Germany, and now, a winery in upstate New York. She longs for normality, scrolling social media and envying her friends’ college experiences (she’ll be attending college classes online). Laila’s world explodes when Karan Singh, “descendant of warrior and demigod Karna,” arrives, hunting an asura, or supernatural monster—and their forbidden connection triggers apocalyptic consequences. Sharma authentically integrates Hindu mythology into contemporary settings, drawing from oral traditions and regional variations. The romance develops organically despite the leads’ star-crossed origins, and a late revelation adds layers of tension and tenderness. Central themes of autonomy versus destiny emerge through Laila’s struggle against predetermined motherhood, echoing Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, which is her favorite book. The story also explores grief and inherited legacies through sharp dialogue and vivid action sequences. While the pacing occasionally slows during exposition-heavy sections, and the third-person narration feels distant at times, Laila’s journey to self-acceptance and the explosive finale provide readers with a satisfying resolution.

“This book is about the mighty weapon of candor, which most people in Washington, D.C., have only a casual relationship with,” writes Kennedy, who relies on folksy, often groan-worthy witticisms to get him through his contentious narrative. His take on Washington, where he’s been since the first Trump term, is that it’s a “place full of deceptive, ambitious, self-absorbed ex-class presidents who would unplug your life-support system to charge their cell phones.” Most of Kennedy’s subsequent observations are meant to support the thesis. He professes at many points to be an equal-opportunity critic of a wobbly system, and he gets off a few zingers in the direction of fellow Republicans like Lindsey Graham (“Invite him to dinner, and you don’t know if he’ll sit down for an intelligent conversation or get drunk and vomit in the fish tank”). But mostly he’s all in for President Trump and contemptuous of liberals, who, he quips, are “partial to man-purses and organic broccoli.” Trump, he continues, won “because Hillary and Kamala kept finding new ways to be stupid, and there weren’t enough childless cat people to bail them out.” As the pages add up, the soufflé collapses: Kennedy, in an odd bit of projection, calls Biden a “transactional” president, a term that’s been practically a Trump trademark for a decade, and he seems quite satisfied to have coined the infantile term “weenie-wokers” to disparage liberals. To his credit, Kennedy decries the use of federal agencies as instruments of retribution (though he categorizes the prosecution of Trump’s felonies among them). And, no surprise, he isn’t fond of DEI, transgender athletes, the press, China, the 1619 Project—and to all appearances, half of the voting electorate. No joke.

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Romance book reviews. Reviews of books that make my heart race, have a beautiful love story, and a happy ending.

After a decade of reading and reviewing books, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to take a step back from blogging. Running this book blog has been such a huge and wonderful part of my life. I’ve written over 600 book reviews and loved the experience of getting to share my love of reading ...Read More  >

After a decade of reading and reviewing books, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to take a step back from blogging. Running this book blog has been such a huge and wonderful part of my life. I’ve written over 600 book reviews and loved the experience of getting to share my love of reading with so many other readers from around the world. Blogging was quite an unexpected journey for me though as I never set out to “start” a blog at all. Back in 2011, I simply began reading so much that I wanted a way to remember which books were my most favorites… and that’s when I started writing reviews. At first, my reviews were written more for my own sake than anyone else’s. They began as a way for me to keep track of the books I enjoyed and remember what I loved most about each one. You see, I was quite picky about the types of books I wanted to read and had a hard time finding anywhere specifically recommending what I was looking for. I was drawn to romantic books that made my heart race, but I also strongly preferred no stupidity powering the storyline or eye-roll-enducing drama, and of course I needed a happy ending as I’ve always been quite allergic to cliffhangers. At that time, there weren’t many romance book review sites out there in general and none that focused on the particular type of books I personally wanted to read so my reviews were a way for me to catalogue the books I’d found that fit within the criteria I was looking for. At first, I really didn’t expect anyone else to read my reviews, but as I began to realize that my reviews were actually helping other readers find books they loved as well, I decided to officially begin blogging and started this website to hold all my reviews. Writing reviews was also quite cathartic for me because, after reading a truly wonderful book, I was often overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings so writing my thoughts down in reviews helped give me closure from a story and highlight/remember what I loved most about a book. I also found that I genuinely loved helping other readers find new books. So my blog began and I continued reading and reviewing books for it for almost a decade. However, the truth is that in the last while, I found myself falling in love with fewer and fewer books — I don’t know if it’s because I started to feel like I’d basically read every plotline within the types of stories I loved so many times over, or maybe if the other parts out my life just became too busy and I began having less time to read, but, regardless of the reason, I was falling in love with fewer and fewer books. And here’s the thing – this blog has always been a passion project for me so if I genuinely wasn’t falling in love with as many books, I didn’t want to continue to review books just for the sake of reviewing them. That was never what this blog was about so I just felt myself naturally drifting away from reviewing and blogging. A few months ago, I decided to try taking a break from blogging and honestly I have really been enjoying the mental freedom that came from that decision. So, least for the immediate future, I’m going to officially step away from my blog. I may begin reviewing books again one day – and that might be in a month, a year, or never… I can’t say for sure, but that door will always remain open. My blogging goal was always to put a spotlight on the wonderful books I loved and to share them with other readers. So even though I’m not reviewing new books at this time, I will leave this whole website up in the hope that it will continue to help new readers find new favorite books to fall in love with. I have 630 reviews and recommendations of books I’ve personally loved and would love for other readers to fall in love with too and I can see through my analytics that, even though I’m not actively blogging, readers continue to come to my blog every day and read my older reviews so it makes me happy to know that my reviews are still connecting readers with awesome books. I also want to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to the thousands of amazing readers who’ve followed my blog over the years, and THANK YOU to the wonderfully talented authors who’ve written the beautiful stories that we’ve all fallen in love with. You’ve all given me so much joy and I’m so very grateful for all of it. I may return to blogging one day, and I may randomly post a surprise review/recommendation every now and again, but for now I wanted to officially make a statement that explains why my blog hasn’t been updated in a while and why it won’t have new content for the foreseeable future. If I ever start reviewing again, I will announce it by email, so please subscribe to my email list if you’d like to get a notification should that day come. I will not be sending emails out via that list until then though. In the meantime, if you’re looking for my top recommendations, here’s a list of my standout favorite books: The Bronze Horseman Trilogy by Paullina Simons (My Review) – this will always and forever by my #1 fav! The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay (My Review) – one of the most powerful endings ever! The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel (My Review) – incredibly unique love story with all the feels! Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (My Review) – this has possibly my favorite epilogue ever! Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan (My Review) – gorgeous, heart-warming romance! Slammed & Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover (My Review) – one of my first reviews, and still a top fav! Devney Perry books: reading list – heart-warming, gorgeous romance perfection every single time! Kristen Ashley books: reading list – badass alpha romance – pure epic, great families, much variety! Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon: reading list – addictive paranormal romance, my fav PNR world! On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves (My Review) – just a truly beautiful story! The Starcrossed series by Leisa Rayven (My Review) – the best purely angsty romance I’ve read! A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole (My Review) – ugly cry romance perfection! Crossfire series by Sylvia Day (My Review) – hot sexy romance but deeply emotional and addictive! Addicted series by Krista & Becca Ritchie – great romances and one of the best family dynamics ever! Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (Series Overview) – fantasy, fantastic morals and world building! Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost (Series Overview) – action-packed vampire romance fun! Mists of the Serengeti by Leylah Attar (My Review) – an ugly cry favorite! Becoming Calder & Finding Eden by Mia Sheridan (My Review) – another ugly cry favorite! Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward: reading order – badass/epic paranormal vampire romance! The Girl He Used To Know by Tracey Garvis Graves (My Review) – second half of the book hit me so hard! In The Stillness by Andrea Randall (My Review) – the feels… literally all the feels! Wallbanger by Alice Clayton (My Review) – most I’ve ever laughed reading any book! The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (My Review) – stunning wartime story! A full list of all my reviews can also always be found at this link. Happy reading! ~Aestas

BOOKWORM NEWS: Juniper Hill by Devney Perry is now live!! — “Memphis Ward arrives in Quincy, Montana, on the fifth worst day of her life. She needs a shower. She needs a snack. She needs some sanity. Because moving across the country with her newborn baby is by far the craziest thing she’s ever done. ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Juniper Hill by Devney Perry is now live!! — “Memphis Ward arrives in Quincy, Montana, on the fifth worst day of her life. She needs a shower. She needs a snack. She needs some sanity. Because moving across the country with her newborn baby is by far the craziest thing she’s ever done. But maybe it takes a little crazy to build a good life. If putting the past behind her requires a thousand miles and a new town, she’ll do it if it means a better future for her son. Even if it requires setting aside the glamour of her former life. Even if it requires working as a housekeeper at The Eloise Inn and living in an apartment above a garage. It’s there, on the fifth worst day of her life, that she meets the handsomest man she’s ever laid eyes on. Knox Eden is a beautiful, sinful dream, a chef and her temporary landlord. With his sharp, stubbled jaw and tattooed arms, he’s raw and rugged and everything she’s never had—and never will. Because after the first worst day of her life, Memphis learned a good life requires giving up on her dreams too. And a man like Knox Eden will only ever be a dream.” The Girl in the Mist by Kristen Ashley is now live!! — “Renowned author Delphine Larue needs a haven. A crazed fan has gone over the deep end, and she’s not safe. Her security team has suggested a house by a lake. Secluded. Private. Far away. In a beautiful area of the Northwest close to the sleepy town of Misted Pines. It’s perfect. So perfect, Delphine has just moved in, and she’s thinking she’ll stay there forever. Until she sees the girl in the mist. After that, everything changes. Delphine quickly learns that Misted Pines isn’t so sleepy. A little girl has gone missing, and the town is in the grips of terror and tragedy. The local sheriff isn’t up for the job. The citizens are up in arms. And as the case unfolds, the seedy underbelly of a quiet community is exposed, layer by layer. But most importantly, girls are dying. There seems to be only one man they trust to find out what’s happening. The mysterious Cade Bohannan.”” The Summer Proposal by Vi Keeland is now live!! — “The first time I met Max Yearwood was on a blind date. Max was insanely gorgeous, funny, and our chemistry was off the charts. He also had the biggest dimples I’d ever laid eyes on. Exactly what I needed after my breakup. Or so I thought… Until my real date arrived. Turned out, Max wasn’t who I was there to meet. He only pretended to be until my real date showed up. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Before he left, he slipped me a ticket to a hockey game a few blocks away, in case things didn’t work out on my actual date. I tossed the ticket into my purse and went about trying to enjoy the man I was supposed to meet. But my real blind date and I had no connection. So on my way home, I decided to take a chance and stop by the game. When I arrived, the seat next to me was empty. Disappointed again, I decided to leave at the end of the period. Just before the buzzer, one of the teams scored, and the entire arena went crazy. A player’s face flashed up on the Jumbotron. He was wearing a helmet, but I froze when he smiled. You guessed it: Dimples. Apparently, my fake blind date hadn’t invited me to watch hockey with him, he’d invited me to watch him play. And so began my adventure with Max Yearwood. He was everything I needed at the time—fun, sexy, up for anything, and only around for a few months since he’d signed with a new team three-thousand miles away. Max proposed we spend the summer helping me forget my ex. It sounded like a good plan. Things couldn’t get too serious when we had an expiration date. Right? Though, you know what they say about the best-laid plans.” Only One Mistake by Natasha Madison is now live!! — “Two pink lines changed all my plans. So did the guy I had a one-night stand with, a man who made me laugh and smile, a guy who I called to share my unexpected news with, only to find out his number was no longer in service. Once more letdown by the opposite sex, I figured I was doing this on my own. Then one day, I was staring into the eyes of the man I hated, the father of my baby. All it took was only one mistake to change everything.” Baden by Sawyer Bennett is now live!! — “While my injuries are physical, the same can’t be said for the woman I rescued. Suffering from wounds that can’t be seen, Sophie Winters has withdrawn from the world in fear and guilt. I didn’t know Sophie before that fateful night and have only met her once since, but I refuse to let her face her demons alone. Determined to be a friend, I support Sophie in the only way I know how… by simply being there. Through our shared trauma, Sophie and I begin to find peace within one another. As we grow closer, what started as friendship becomes more intimate until our broken pieces become one. But can a love born of anguish endure, or will the pain of our past prove too much to overcome?” Shielding Sierra by Susan Stoker is now live!! — “No one knows she’s been taken. Her missing belongings point to desertion—which means no one is looking for her, either. But someone is. Fred “Grover” Groves never forgot the redheaded spitfire working the chow line on a base in the desert. He’d felt an instant attraction to the petite woman, a connection deep in his bones…which Sierra herself clearly didn’t feel, since she’d promised to keep in touch after his mission ended, only to ghost him—and seemingly her job. But she didn’t. When several contractors go missing from the base, it looks more and more like Sierra didn’t abandon her post. Then a long-lost letter proves she’d followed through on her promise to stay in touch with Grover—and suddenly, all bets are off. He bucks every protocol he’s ever known… If Sierra’s still alive, he’ll find her. Or die trying.” Flame by Helen Hardt (Steel Brothers Saga) is now live!! — “Callie Pike always considered herself the plain sister—stuck in the middle between beautiful Rory and vivacious Maddie—so she still can’t believe gorgeous perennial bachelor Donny Steel has fallen in love with her. She should be the happiest woman on the planet, and she is…but her nemesis from ten years ago seems intent on destroying her newfound bliss. Donny Steel will do anything to protect his family, even sacrifice his ethics and his own happiness. As much as he loves Callie, he knows he can’t be the man she deserves—not until he solves the mysteries of his family’s past and finds out who shot his father. Though the two erupt in flames whenever they’re together, the secrets they both harbor could destroy any chance for a future together.” Wright Rival by KA Linde is now live!! — “No one on this planet pushes my buttons like Hollin Abbey. I don’t know if it’s the rugged, sexy cowboy look or the Harley Davidson motorcycle or the cocky swagger. Or just him. But whenever we’re together we fight like cats and dogs. Now our vineyards are rivals in the annual wine competition, and I’m determined to win. I just have to take out my Wright rival.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Juniper Hill by Devney Perry (small town neighbors to lovers romance, standalone in The Edens series) The Girl in the Mist by Kristen Ashley (romantic thriller, Misted Pines series) The Summer Proposal by Vi Keeland (sports romance, standalone) Only One Mistake by Natasha Madison (surprise pregnancy romance, standalone in Only One series) Baden by Sawyer Bennett (hockey romance, standalone in Pittsburgh Titans series) Wright Rival by KA Linde (enemies to lovers romance, standalone in Wright Vineyard series) Shielding Sierra by Susan Stoker (romantic suspense, standalone in Delta Team Two series) Flame by Helen Hardt (romantic suspense, Steel Brothers Saga) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase UPCOMING BOOK RELEASES Jan 18 Pre-Order Jan 18 Pre-Order Jan 18 Pre-Order Jan 24 Pre-Order Jan 25 Pre-Order Jan 25 Pre-Order Jan 25 Pre-Order Jan 25 Pre-Order Jan 25 Pre-Order Feb 01 Pre-Order Feb 01 Pre-Order Feb 08 Pre-Order WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

BOOKWORM NEWS: Shelter by Kristen Proby is now live!! — “Remi Carter has survived her fifteen minutes of fame and is putting LA in her rearview mirror. As a former reality show contestant, she’s trading staged expeditions and faked wilderness tours for real adventures. Only one fluke storm in Glacier National Park has her stranded ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Shelter by Kristen Proby is now live!! — “Remi Carter has survived her fifteen minutes of fame and is putting LA in her rearview mirror. As a former reality show contestant, she’s trading staged expeditions and faked wilderness tours for real adventures. Only one fluke storm in Glacier National Park has her stranded with a handsome man, and adventure takes on a whole new meaning. Seth King is as rugged and sexy as he is annoyed to be trapped with Remi. Probably because she ghosted him at the local bar not three days ago. But she’s got her reasons for ditching him, and twenty-four hours in an abandoned Montana cabin with the wildlife biologist isn’t nearly enough time to explain. As tempting as he is by firelight, she’s been burned too many times. Except one day together and suddenly her travel van doesn’t hold as much appeal. The open road feels lonely. Remi’s about to learn that shelter is more than a safe place to weather a storm. Shelter might just be the man himself. If he can give her a reason to stay.” Code Name: Disavowed by Sawyer Bennett is now live!! — “Life works in mysterious ways. Jameson Force Security has just received notice of a disavowed CIA agent in need of rescue in Central America. My blood runs cold when I learn that agent is none other than Greer Hathaway—my former fiancée. Having gone our separate ways more than a decade ago, I still have bitter feelings toward Greer and the demise of our relationship. Those feelings don’t change the fact that I loved her more than anything, so I’m on the next flight out to embark on a rescue mission. Besides, Greer once saved my life, so now it’s time to return the favor and put her firmly in my past. Face-to-face for the first time since ending our engagement, Greer and I are left with not only anger, unanswered questions and regrets, but also the undeniable chemistry we apparently still have. Will the promise of a new future together be enough, or will the same obstacles tear us apart again?” Homecoming King by Penny Reid is now live!! — “Rex “TW” McMurtry’s perpetual single-hood wouldn’t bother him so much if all his ex-girlfriends didn’t keep marrying the very next person they dated, especially when so many of those grooms are his closest friends. He may be a pro-football defensive end for the Chicago Squalls, but the press only wants to talk about how he’s always a groomsman and never a groom. Rex is sick of being the guy before the husband, and he’s most definitely sick of being the best man at all their weddings. Bartender Abigail McNerny is the gal-pal, the wing-woman, the she-BFF. She’s dated. Once. And once was more than enough. Privy to all the sad stories of her customers, ‘contentment over commitment’ is her motto, and Abby is convinced no one on earth could ever entice her into a romantic relationship . . . except that one guy she’s loved since preschool. The guy who just walked into her bar. The guy who doesn’t recognize her. The guy who is drunk and needs a ride home. The guy who has a proposition she should definitely refuse.” My Unexpected Surprise by Piper Rayne is now live!! — “I never thought of myself as dad material. Until my one-night stand showed up in my small Alaskan town five months pregnant. But I don’t shy away from responsibility. First, because I’m a Greene and not to boast but we’re kind of a big deal in Sunrise Bay. Second, I’m the Sheriff. I couldn’t have predicted how protective I’d become for the safety of her and my unborn baby to the point of asking her to move in with me and be my roommate. Just when I think I have the situation under control, another surprise knocks me over, but it only spurs me to double down. I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t think it through. Somewhere between the dinners, the TV show binging, the doctor appointments, and me walking in on her naked, lines blurred. In what feels like warp speed, my bachelor for life status is in jeopardy and I’m fighting for the most important thing of all—my family.” Dark Alpha’s Silent Night by Donna Grant (Reapers series) is now live!! — “There is no escaping the Reapers. We are elite assassins, part of a brotherhood that only answers to Death. But when Death says it’s our time to live, we are more than happy to obey. We have suffered betrayal, heartbreak, chaos, and even death. Despite another foe lurking around the corner, most of us have found happiness and love. While some still search, there is contentment—a sense of peace and purpose. And with the holidays upon us, it is time to celebrate the family we have made. The one we chose. The season is for revelry, and we intend to take advantage. Whatever may come next will still be there after the last present is unwrapped.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Shelter by Kristen Proby (close proximity romance, standalone in Heroes of Big Sky series) Code Name: Disavowed by Sawyer Bennett (second chance romance/suspense, standalone in Jameson Force Security series) Homecoming King by Penny Reid (small town romance, standalone in Three Kings series) My Unexpected Surprise by Piper Rayne (pregnancy/roommates, standalone in The Greene Family series) Dark Alpha’s Silent Night by Donna Grant (paranormal Christmas tale from Reapers series) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. 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BOOKWORM NEWS: Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley (Dream Team series) is now live!! — “Pepper Hannigan is determined to keep any romance off the table while her daughter Juno is still young. Sure, a certain handsome commando is thoughtful, funny, and undeniably hot, but Pepper’s had her heart broken before, and she won’t let it ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley (Dream Team series) is now live!! — “Pepper Hannigan is determined to keep any romance off the table while her daughter Juno is still young. Sure, a certain handsome commando is thoughtful, funny, and undeniably hot, but Pepper’s had her heart broken before, and she won’t let it happen again. Not to her or her little girl, even if this hero could melt any woman’s resolve. Augustus “Auggie” Hero can’t deny his attraction to beautiful, warm-hearted Pepper or how much he wants to make a home with her and her little girl, but Pepper’s mixed signals have kept him away. That is, until Juno decides to play matchmaker. Her efforts finally bring Pepper into his arms, but they expose the danger Pepper is in. To protect Pepper and Juno, Auggie will have to live up to his last name and prove happy endings aren’t just for fairy tales.” Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander series) is now live!! — “Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall were torn apart by the Jacobite Rising in 1746, and it took them twenty years to find each other again. Now the American Revolution threatens to do the same. It is 1779 and Claire and Jamie are at last reunited with their daughter, Brianna, her husband, Roger, and their children on Fraser’s Ridge. Having the family together is a dream the Frasers had thought impossible. Yet even in the North Carolina backcountry, the effects of war are being felt. Tensions in the Colonies are great and local feelings run hot enough to boil Hell’s teakettle. Jamie knows loyalties among his tenants are split and it won’t be long until the war is on his doorstep. Brianna and Roger have their own worry: that the dangers that provoked their escape from the twentieth century might catch up to them. Sometimes they question whether risking the perils of the 1700s—among them disease, starvation, and an impending war—was indeed the safer choice for their family…” Change With Me by Kristen Proby (With Me In Seattle series) is now live!! — “Zane Cooper. Hollywood royalty. Fourth generation superstar. He knows what it is to be one of the biggest celebrities in the world. And how lonely that title truly is. When scandal hits, his career hangs in the balance, and Zane flees LA for Seattle, laying low with his newly married best friend. Things will eventually blow over, and he’ll have his life back soon enough. Aubrey Stansfield arrives in Seattle excited to start a new job, and eager to settle into her new home. But when she arrives at her rental, Aubrey’s sure she’s imagining things because the uber sexy Zane Cooper is unpacking in her new bedroom. Thanks to a rental snafu, and unwilling to relocate on such short notice, Aubrey and Zane are thrust into being roommates…” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley (alpha romance, Dream Team series) Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon (latest book in Outlander series) Change With Me by Kristen Proby (novella in With Me In Seattle series) Wrapped in Black by Tiffany Reisz (Christmas novella in Original Sinners series) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

BOOKWORM NEWS: The Wolf by JR Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series, Prison Camp spinoff) is now live!! — “Return to the sizzling glymera’s prison camp in this dark and sexy second novel in the new Black Dagger Brotherhood Prison Camp spin-off series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward. In the next ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: The Wolf by JR Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series, Prison Camp spinoff) is now live!! — “Return to the sizzling glymera’s prison camp in this dark and sexy second novel in the new Black Dagger Brotherhood Prison Camp spin-off series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward. In the next installment of bestselling author J.R. Ward’s Prison Camp series, things get steamy when Lucan, a wolven forced into bartering drug deals for the infamous Prison Colony, meets Rio, the second in command for the shadowy Caldwell supplier, Mozart. After a deal goes awry, a wolf with piercing golden eyes swoops in to save her from certain death. As shocking truths unfurl, Rio is uncertain of who to trust and what to believe—but with her life on the line, true love rears its head and growls in the face of danger.” Next Time I Fall by Scarlett Cole is now live!! — “Love rocks. Heavy guitars, a voice with the burn of pure single malt, and lyrics that distill the meaning of love are the greatest things. If only the man singing didn’t have a temperament as foul as the Michigan winter. Jase sitting in her car while yelling at her to get him out of there is a surprise. Why she hits the accelerator and takes him to her father’s cabin on the lake is an even greater mystery. How was she supposed to know they’d end up snowed in for days? Or that when they got out again, their relationship, and her views on love, would be changed irrevocably?” 14 Days of Christmas by Louise Bay is now live!! — “I hate Christmas. As CEO of my company, I’ve banned decorations from the office, festive music from the lobby and any kind of secret Santa gifts between employees are strictly forbidden. I’m heading to the airport, away from the Christmas lights and the mulled wine, heading for sunshine and margaritas when I get a call from Granny. She’s sprained her ankle and needs my help filling in for her as head of the village Christmas Committee. Snowsly is the Christmas Capital of England and the last place I want to be in the lead up to Christmas. But there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Granny. When I arrive in Snowsly, I’m introduced to Celia Sommers who is Christmas’ biggest fan and therefore my own personal nightmare before Christmas. Worse than that, I have to work with her to make Snowsly’s Christmas market a success. Celia is determined to get me in the festive spirit. It’s not going to work. It doesn’t matter if she’s smart and funny and easy to flirt with—if she doesn’t stop looking at me with her sparkling eyes and pouting her completely kissable lips, Celia is going straight to the top of my naughty list.” The Enigma by Jodi Ellen Malpas is now live!! — “After leaving her fiancé at the altar and quitting her job as a Miami cop, Beau Hayley stumbles through life, feeling only resentment. Injustice. Loss. Her mom’s death was called an accident. She’s not convinced. Grieving, she becomes numb to everything except the constant, biting pain of heartbreak and hate. She can see no light. Until she meets James Kelly, a man who seems as damaged as she is, inside and out. And yet despite his twisted, cold façade, he stimulates feelings. Pleasure. He is a respite from her own flaws. A complete mystery.” The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan is now live!! — “Laid off from her department store job, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. The prospect of spending Christmas with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia’s perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered yuppie life does not appeal. Frankly, Sofia doesn’t exactly want her prickly sister Carmen there either. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs help revitalizing his shabby old bookshop. So Carmen moves in and takes the job. Thrown rather suddenly into the inner workings of Mr. McCredie’s ancient bookshop on the picturesque streets of historic Edinburgh, Carmen is intrigued despite herself. The store is dusty and disorganized but undeniably charming. Can she breathe some new life into it in time for Christmas shopping?” Beard in Hiding by Penny Reid is now live!! — “Propositioning the Iron Wraiths’ money man seemed like a good idea at the time… Diane Donner—recently divorced pillar of polite society—is craving danger. She’s tired of playing it safe and she knows just the sexy criminal motorcycle man to proposition for a good time. Problem is, she doesn’t actually know his name. Jason “Repo” Doe never takes risks. So when the queen of local commerce walks into his club, looking to get risky and frisky, Jason knows the smartest thing to do is save himself a headache while saving the new divorcee from her worst impulses. But then one thing leads to another, and the memory of just-one-night doesn’t feel like enough. Theirs is a story with no future, because how can a dangerous criminal win (and keep) a queen?” Head Over Hooves by Erin Nicholas is now live!! — “You know in movies where the big city girl lands in a small town for the holidays and falls for the hunky guy who saves Christmas? This isn’t that story. But this guy does look fantastic in flannel. And out of flannel… Finding true love with his one-and-only soul mate? Drew Ryan’s given up on that. But a hot holiday fling in Louisiana, far from his responsibilities and good guy image back home, is now on the top of his list for Santa. So when he’s knocked on his ass—literally—by a Christmas elf who’s stealing a sleigh full of gifts and using his reindeer to commit the crime, he definitely doesn’t expect to fall head over heels.” The Singles Table by Sara Desai is now live!! — “After a devastating break-up, celebrity-obsessed lawyer Zara Patel is determined never to open her heart again. She puts her energy into building her career and helping her friends find their happily-ever-afters. She’s never faced a guest at the singles table she couldn’t match, until she crosses paths with the sinfully sexy Jay Dayal. Former military security specialist Jay has no time for love. His life is about working hard, staying focused, and winning at all costs. When charismatic Zara crashes into his life, he’s thrown into close contact with exactly the kind of chaos he wants to avoid. Worse, they’re stuck together for the entire wedding season. So they make a deal. She’ll find his special someone if he introduces her to his celebrity clients. But when their arrangement brings them together in ways they never expected, they realize that the perfect match might just be their own.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP The Wolf by JR Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series, Prison Camp spinoff) Next Time I Fall by Scarlett Cole (rockstar romance, standalone in Excess All Areas series) The 14 Days of Christmas by Louise Bay (CEO/small town holiday romance, standalone) The Enigma by Jodi Ellen Malpas (romantic suspense, Unlawful Men series) The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan (heartwarming holiday novel, standalone) Beard in Hiding by Penny Reid (small town romcom, Green Valley world) Head Over Hooves by Erin Nicholas (holiday fling, standalone in Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild series) Kingdom Come by Aleatha Romig (dark romance, standalone) The Singles Table by Sara Desai (romantic comedy, standalone in The Marriage Game series) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase LATEST BOOK SALES UPCOMING BOOK RELEASES WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

  BOOKWORM NEWS: Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves is now live!! — “Love doesn’t always wait until you’re ready. Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves is now live!! — “Love doesn’t always wait until you’re ready. Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who never put her first—Layla’s newly found independence feels a lot like loneliness. Then there’s Josh, the single dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where Layla teaches music. Recently separated, he’s still processing the end of his twenty-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He chats with Layla every morning at school and finds himself thinking about her more and more. Equally cautious and confused about dating in a world that favors apps over meeting organically, Layla and Josh decide to be friends with the potential for something more. Sounds sensible and way too simple—but when two people are on the rebound, is it heartbreak or happiness that’s a love song away?” Just One Chance by Carly Phillips is now live!! — “As a former Marine, Xander Kingston’s writing keeps him sane. Bonus? His thrillers made him one of Hollywood’s most desired screenwriters—and also introduced him to a fledgling starlet who broke his heart. With his close-knit family in New York, Xander returned home and found peace. Until Sasha Keaton shows up at his Hamptons retreat. Now an A-Lister, she’s as beautiful as he remembers. And just as dangerous to his heart. Sasha learned from watching her mother to never sacrifice her dreams for anyone—only to discover how empty life could be without the man she loved. Now cast in Xander’s latest movie, she needs his insight to play the part, but secretly hopes for a second chance.” My Sister’s Flirty Friend by Piper Rayne is now live!! — “I broke the cardinal rule and slept with my sister’s best friend. Granted, I’d just found out that I was now a single father to a three-year-old little girl and was low on willpower. It should also be noted that there’s been sexual tension between us for years. There’s no way it would be a surprise if anyone in our small town found out. That is if we were telling people, which we’re not. We’re in agreement to keep our affair a secret, especially since neither one of us do relationships. You’ve probably figured it out already, but things didn’t go as planned.” More Than Hate You by Shayla Black is now live!! — “I’m Sebastian Shaw—CFO, pragmatist, and moneymaker. I’ve mismanaged love in the past, but when it comes to business, I’m pure shark, able to cut down any threat to my success…except Sloan O’Neill. We’re vying for the same major client, so I do what any self-respecting cutthroat does to gain the upperhand: spy on the ball-busting piece of work. She may be gorgeous and unnervingly clever, but I have skills. My gutsy roadblock doesn’t stand a chance. Until I realize I’m falling for her. Suddenly, everything from my objectives to my morals is cloudy. Stay loyal to my best friend and boss to win this critical client at any cost…or give my heart another chance? But the more time I spend with my redheaded adversary, the more I realize she’s not just ambitious but kind, vulnerable…and perfect…” Dark Tarot by Christine Feehan is now live!! — “Sandu Berdardi continues to exist only to protect his people. An ancient Carpathian, his entire long life has been dedicated to honor above all else. He knows his time has passed, especially since he has not been able to find his lifemate—the anchor to keep him sane in a world he no longer understands. But just as he truly starts to give up hope, a voice reaches out to him in the night and his world explodes into color. Adalasia enters Sandu’s mind seamlessly, as if she has been a part of him forever. While she can see the shape of things to come in her deck of cards, her gift is both a blessing and a curse. The true course of Sandu’s quest remains unclear, with danger waiting at every turn. She cannot see everything the future holds, but she does know it is a journey they will take together.” The Rhythm Method by Kylie Scott (Stage Dive novella) is now live!! — It all started in Vegas… After a wild and tumultuous beginning to their relationship, Evelyn Thomas and her rock star husband David Ferris have been happily married for years. Nothing needs to change, their life together is perfect. Which means that change in the shape of an unexpected pregnancy is bound to shake things up some. But could it be for the better? WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves (starting over & second chances, standalone) The Rhythm Method by Kylie Scott (novella in Stage Dive series) Just One Chance by Carly Phillips (second chance romance, standalone in The Kingston Family series) My Sister’s Flirty Friend by Piper Rayne (single dad romance, standalone in The Greene Family series) More Than Hate You by Shayla Black (enemies to lovers, standalone in Reed Family Reckoning series) Dark Tarot by Christine Feehan (paranormal romance, The Dark series) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

  BOOKWORM NEWS: Indigo Ridge by Devney Perry is now live!! — “Winslow Covington believes in life, liberty and the letter of the law. As Quincy, Montana’s new chief of police, she’s determined to prove herself to the community and show them she didn’t earn her position because her grandfather is the mayor. According to ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Indigo Ridge by Devney Perry is now live!! — “Winslow Covington believes in life, liberty and the letter of the law. As Quincy, Montana’s new chief of police, she’s determined to prove herself to the community and show them she didn’t earn her position because her grandfather is the mayor. According to her pops, all she has to do is earn favor with the Edens. But winning over the town’s founding family might have been easier if not for her one-night stand with their oldest son. In her defense, it was her first night in town and she didn’t realize that the rugged and charming man who wooed her into bed was Quincy royalty. Sleeping with Griffin Eden was a huge mistake, one she’s trying to forget. He’s insufferable, arrogant and keeps reminding everyone that she’s an outsider. Winslow does her best to avoid Griffin, but when a woman is found dead on Eden property, the two of them have no choice but to cross paths. As clues to the murderer lead to one of Quincy’s own, Griffin realizes Winslow is more than he gave her credit for. Beautiful and intelligent, she proves hard to resist. For him. And the killer.” Riggs by Sawyer Bennett is now live!! — “As a professional hockey player, people think I live a charmed life. On the surface, I do. But they don’t know the horrors of my childhood, or the real reason that I have custody of my seventeen-year-old sister, Janelle. And that’s exactly the way I like it. They may think I’m a prick because I don’t like to share, but that’s fine. They don’t know me, and they don’t need to. In an effort to help Janelle get settled in Phoenix and stay out of trouble at school, I set her up with a job at Clarke’s Corner, the local bookstore owned by the girlfriend of a teammate. It’s there that she makes friends with Veronica Woodley, the extremely annoying, arrogant, money-hungry divorcee who I don’t want anywhere near my sister. Janelle insists I’m completely wrong about Veronica, but I refuse to accept that. I have to keep reminding myself that that the gorgeous blond with legs for days is off limits. Through a series of events, I start to see Veronica for what she really is—an amazing woman who has survived her own hell to come out even stronger. I have to admit, we’re more alike than not…” Until April by Aurora Rose Reynolds is now live!! — “With happily ever after being something that happens to other people, April Mayson has decided to put all her energy into her career and living her best life, and things are better than ever. Little does she know that her world is about to be turned upside down when she’s asked to help out a family friend, Maxim Kauwe. Now, she’s dealing with a man unlike any she’s ever met before, her ex—a famous musician who’s decided he wants her back—and a possible serial killer. With all the drama suddenly swirling around her, she will have to figure out if she is brave enough to trust Maxim with her heart and maybe even her life.” Rebel North by JB Salsbury is now live!! — “In a city where image is everything, Gabriella turns heads for all the wrong reasons. The marks that slash across her neck and face turn people away. But I see the beauty that lies beneath, feel a kinship to her pain. I regret the way she found me—mugged and left for dead. I should walk away, follow the rules, but I can’t. I want to see her again. There’s only one problem. My brother convinced her I’m gay. I use that lie to my advantage, persuade her to be my pretend girlfriend, to help protect my fake-sexual identity from my judgmental family. But what starts as a shameless excuse to be near her leads to crossed lines and midnight confessions. I’m not who I led her to believe. I’m sin wrapped in silk. Betrayal masked by beauty. And she’s not the only one with scars…” Inked Devotion by Carrie Ann Ryan is now live!! — “Brenna Garrett watched her best friend fall in love with another woman all the while keeping his darkest secrets from her. Now she’ll have to figure out who she is without him while not letting the rest of the Montgomerys see her break. When her family forces her on a road trip, she finds herself bringing Benjamin Montgomery with her. The problem? He’s her best friend’s twin, so there’s no escaping that familiar face. Benjamin didn’t want to leave his family in a lurch, but Brenna isn’t the only one who needs a break. Only a drunken mistake leads to a night of passion with unintended consequences. When it turns out they can’t walk away, they’ll have to make a choice: remain just friends or start something new and possibly risk everything. Including themselves.” Rules for Heiresses by Amalie Howard is now live!! — “Born to a life of privilege, Lady Ravenna Huntley rues the day that she must marry. She’s refused dozens of suitors and cried off multiple betrothals, but running away—even if brash and foolhardy—is the only option left to secure her independence. Lord Courtland Chase, grandson of the Duke of Ashvale, was driven from England at the behest of his cruel stepmother. Scorned and shunned, he swore never to return to the land of his birth. But when a twist of bad luck throws a rebellious heiress into his arms, at the very moment he finds out he’s the new Duke, marriage is the only alternative to massive scandal. Both are quick to deny it, but a wedding might be the only way out for both of them. And the attraction that burns between them makes Ravenna and Courtland wonder if it’ll truly only be a marriage of convenience after all…” Man For Me by Laurelin Paige is now live!! — “Brett Sebastian is the very best kind of friend. Who else would get me a job at one of the biggest corporations in America? And hook me up with his uber-rich cousin to boot? And let me cry on his shoulder every time said cousin blows me off? Okay, it’s pretty obvious that Brett cares about me in a different way than I do for him, but he seems fine with how things are, and our friendship works. Until one fateful night when I’m mooning over his cousin, and Brett utters four words that should make me happy for him, should make me relieved, should balance out our uneven relationship: “I met a girl.” Suddenly my world is crashing down around me, and I’m forced to ask myself—am I only interested in Brett now that he’s taken? Or have I been looking at the wrong man all along?” Moonstone by Helen Hardt is now live!! — “As Moonstone, she was held captive. Now Katelyn Brooks is starting fresh and is determined to reclaim her life. With the help of the Wolfe family, she’s working toward healing…which doesn’t necessarily include falling for a gorgeous waiter. Luke Johnson is a recovering alcoholic who just wants to fly under the radar. He’s not looking for love, but when Katelyn walks through the doors of the restaurant where he works, he’s struck by her beauty and her meekness. Circumstances throw them together, and neither is able to resist the attraction that sparks between them. But Luke has a secret—a big one—that could spell danger for both of them.” Archangel’s Light by Nalini Singh (Guild Hunter series) is now live!! — “Illium and Aodhan. Aodhan and Illium. For centuries they’ve been inseparable: the best of friends, closer than brothers, companions of the heart. But that was before—before darkness befell Aodhan and shattered him, body, mind, and soul. Now, at long last, Aodhan is healing, but his new-found strength and independence may come at a devastating cost—his relationship with Illium. As they serve side by side in China, a territory yet marked by the evil of its former archangel, the secret it holds nightmarish beyond imagining, things come to an explosive decision point. Illium and Aodhan must either walk away from the relationship that has defined them—or step forward into a future that promises a bond infinitely precious in the life of an immortal…but that demands a terrifying vulnerability from two badly bruised hearts.” Home for a Cowboy Christmas by Donna Grant is now live!! — “Tis the season—for everyone except Emmy Garrett. She’s on the run after witnessing a crime. But when it becomes clear that trouble will continue following her, the US Marshal in charge takes her somewhere no one will think to look–Montana. Not only is Emmy in a new place for her protection, but now, she’s stuck with a handsome cowboy as her bodyguard…and she wants to do more than kiss him under the mistletoe. Dwight Reynolds left behind his old career, but it’s still in his blood. When an old friend calls in a favor, Dwight opens his home to a woman on the run. He tries to keep his distance, but there’s something about Emmy he can’t resist. She stokes his passion and turns his cold nights into warm ones. When danger shows up looking for Emmy, Dwight risks everything to keep her safe.” One Christmas Wish by Brenda Jackson is now live!! — “Vaughn Miller’s Wall Street career was abruptly ended by a wrongful conviction and two years in prison. Since then, he’s returned to his hometown, kept his head down and forged a way forward. When he is exonerated and his name cleared, he feels he can hold his head up once again, maybe even talk to the beautiful café owner who sets his blood to simmering. Sierra Crane escaped a disastrous marriage—barely. She and her six-year-old goddaughter have returned to the only place that feels like home. Determined to make it on her own, Sierra opens a soup café. Complication is the last thing she needs, but the moment Vaughn walks into her café, she can’t keep her eyes off the smoldering loner.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Indigo Ridge by Devney Perry (small town enemies to lovers romance, The Edens series) Riggs by Sawyer Bennett (hockey romance, standalone in Arizona Vengeance series) Until April by Aurora Rose Reynolds (contemp romance, standalone in Until Him/Her series) Rebel North by JB Salsbury (NA romance, standalone in The North Brothers series) Inked Devotion by Carrie Ann Ryan (roadtrip romance, standalone in Montgomery Ink series) Rules for Heiresses by Amalie Howard (historical romance standalone) Man For Me by Laurelin Paige (friends to lovers, standalone novella in Man in Charge series) Moonstone by Helen Hardt (love after hardship, new series) Archangel’s Light by Nalini Singh (paranormal romance, Guild Hunter series) Home for a Cowboy Christmas by Donna Grant (holiday romance, standalone) One Christmas Wish by Brenda Jackson (small town holiday romance, Catalina Cove series) now live Purchase now live Pre-Order now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

BOOKWORM NEWS: Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey is now live!! — “Two weeks before Christmas and all through Manhattan, shop windows are decorated in red and green satin. I’m standing alone in front of the famous Vivant department store, when a charming man named Aiden asks my opinion of the décor. It’s a tragedy in ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey is now live!! — “Two weeks before Christmas and all through Manhattan, shop windows are decorated in red and green satin. I’m standing alone in front of the famous Vivant department store, when a charming man named Aiden asks my opinion of the décor. It’s a tragedy in tinsel, I say, unable to lie. He asks for a better idea with a twinkle in his eye. Did I know he owned the place? No. He put me on the spot. Now I’m working for that man, trying to ignore that he’s hot. But as a down on her luck girl with a difficult past, I know an opportunity when I see one—and I have to make it last. I’ll put my heart and soul into dressing his holiday windows. I’ll work without stopping. And when we lose the battle with temptation, I’ll try and remember I’m just window shopping.” Only One Regret by Natasha Madison is now live!! — Him: “My name came with big skates to fill. . At the top of my game, I had everything I wanted, or so I thought. . Being traded to Dallas was not what I was expecting but neither were the divorce papers I was served. . Now I’m a single dad in a city that isn’t my home.” | Her: “Handed my biggest client when I was twenty-two made my dreams come true. . Over time, our work relationship changed, and we grew closer, leaning on each other for support. . He was my rock, my best friend.. Then one drunken night changed everything, and I saw what was in front of me all along. . I just hope that when the dust settles, we won’t regret it.” Promise Me Forever by Layla Hagen is now live!! — “As a divorced single father, I live by three rules: 1. Make sure every day my daughter, Paisley, knows she’s number one in my life. No. Matter. What. 2. Keep contact with my cheating ex-wife to a minimum. 3. Turn Maxwell Wineries into a legacy that keeps Paisley set for life. When I hire Lexi to look after my daughter, I realize I need another rule: don’t pursue Paisley’s nanny. But even if I had that rule it wouldn’t matter. Because I’m breaking it already.” Boyfriend by Sarina Bowen is now live!! — “The hottest player on the Moo U hockey team hangs a flyer on the bulletin board, and I am spellbound: Rent a boyfriend for the holiday. For $25, I will be your Thanksgiving date. I will talk hockey with your dad. I will bring your mother flowers. I will be polite, and wear a nicely ironed shirt… Now everyone knows it’s a bad idea to introduce your long-time crush to your messed-up family. But I really do need a date for Thanksgiving, even if I’m not willing to say why. So I tear his phone number off of that flyer… and accidentally entangle our star defenseman in a ruse that neither of us can easily unwind. Because Weston’s family is even nuttier than mine. He needs a date, too, for the most uncomfortable holiday engagement party ever thrown. There will be hors d’oeuvre. There will be faked PDA. And there will be pro-level awkwardness…” Sealed With A Kiss by Erin Nicholas is now live!! — “What’s a girl to do when faced with a hurricane, her celebrity crush, and a power outage in their shelter? Keep her damned feelings to herself. And her clothes on… Naomi LeClaire is just a small-town girl who loves her quiet, simple life. Donovan Foster is a sexy, charming, wildlife rescuing internet sensation who loves the spotlight. What do these opposites have in common? Only an impossible-to-resist chemistry that, when they’re stuck together in a storm becomes, well, impossible to resist. But the aftermath of the storm gives them something else in common—a rescue mission to help victims. Oh, and a heat-of-the-moment kiss caught on camera by the local paparazzi. Not to mention an offer for a reality TV show documenting them falling in love while saving animals from crazy, dangerous situations…” Well Matched by Jen DeLuca is now live!! — “Single mother April Parker has lived in Willow Creek for twelve years with a wall around her heart. On the verge of being an empty nester, she’s decided to move on from her quaint little town, and asks her friend Mitch for his help with some home improvement projects to get her house ready to sell. Mitch Malone is known for being the life of every party, but mostly for the attire he wears to the local Renaissance Faire—a kilt (and not much else) that shows off his muscled form to perfection. While he agrees to help April, he needs a favor too: she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend at an upcoming family dinner, so that he can avoid the lectures about settling down and having a more “serious” career than high school coach and gym teacher. April reluctantly agrees, but when dinner turns into a weekend trip, it becomes hard to tell what’s real and what’s been just for show…” Serendipity by Kristen Proby (Bayou Magic series) is now live!! — “My sight is a gift and also a curse. It cost me the love of my life. We may have been young, but some things you don’t get over. Like being the cause of the biggest tragedy of your boyfriend’s life. It’s something I’ll never forget, and a reflection of who I am. But now that Jackson’s back in town, with scars and a hero’s badge of honor, it’s time for me to be brave, too. A malevolent evil hell-bent on making my sisters and me pay for rebuffing him is still stalking my family, and some ancient writings portended that the six were the only ones who could defeat him. Jackson Pruitt and I round out that magical number, which means I have to face the evil and the things Jack makes me feel, to save my family and my city…” Infamous Like Us by Krista & Becca Ritchie (Like Us Series: Billionaires & Bodyguards) is now live!! — “22-year-old Sullivan Meadows knew dating Akara & Banks would be complicated, but now that her relationship is public, everything has been put on blast: @HeatherB: Can’t believe Sullivan Meadows is dating TWO men and they’re like all together. Like OMG. Totally didn’t think the rumors were true. @YuiK: anyone know what happened to Sullivan Meadows? News is saying something bad went down. Seems bad. @PaulieP: Why is there no reporting on the thing that “allegedly” happened to that Meadows girl? They aren’t saying whether her boyfriends were there??? @TiffanyW: Y’all I can’t with Sullivan’s boyfriends. They just sandwiched her in PUBLIC to avoid cameras lmao @RiverT: Banks Moretti & Akara Kitsuwon are totally banging. I don’t make the rules @CarlaR: OMGOMGOMG Sullivan Meadows qualified for the Olympics! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! @LacieA: Celebrity Crush is saying ALL the families will be at the Olympics to root for Sullivan. Im dead #HalesMeadowsCobalts @GeorgieO: Dude no way she wins a gold medal. Sulli the Slut is too busy screwing anything that walks @VenusQ: I bet her boyfriends will distract her. Last Olympics, she was single. This one, she’s a MESS. Messiness isn’t getting gold #sorrynotsorry” A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L Armentrout is now live!! — “Born shrouded in the veil of the Primals, a Maiden as the Fates promised, Seraphena Mierel’s future has never been hers. Chosen before birth to uphold the desperate deal her ancestor struck to save his people, Sera must leave behind her life and offer herself to the Primal of Death as his Consort. However, Sera’s real destiny is the most closely guarded secret in all of Lasania—she’s not the well protected Maiden but an assassin with one mission—one target. Make the Primal of Death fall in love, become his weakness, and then…end him. If she fails, she dooms her kingdom to a slow demise at the hands of the Rot. Sera has always known what she is. Chosen. Consort. Assassin. Weapon. A specter never fully formed yet drenched in blood. A monster. Until him…” House of Shadows by KA Linde (Royal Houses series) is now live!! — “Kerrigan Argon, a half-human, half-Fae, has joined the Dragon Society against almost everyone’s wishes. A year of training is required with her dragon. First she must travel with the dark Fae prince, Fordham Ollivier, back to his home in the House of Shadows. Nothing but slavery and death has ever awaited a half-Fae in their halls. But something is wrong within their wicked world. A thousand year old spell is weakening. Cracks forming in the foundation. And Kerrigan may just be their ruin or their salvation.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey (feel-good holiday romance, standalone) Only One Regret by Natasha Madison (single dad hockey romance, standalone in Only One series) Promise Me Forever by Layla Hagen (single dad romance, standalone) Boyfriend by Sarina Bowen (hockey romance, standalone in Moo U Hockey series) Sealed With A Kiss by Erin Nicholas (opposites attract romcom, Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild series) Well Matched by Jen DeLuca (friends to lovers romance, standalone) Serendipity by Kristen Proby (paranormal romance, Bayou Magic series) Infamous Like Us by Krista & Becca Ritchie (Like Us Series: Billionaires & Bodyguards) A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L Armentrout (spinoff of Blood and Ash series) House of Shadows by KA Linde (fae romance, Royal Houses series) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

BOOKWORM NEWS: A Moment For Us by Corinne Michaels is now live!! — “I was totally over Joshua Parkerson. Sure, I had a teenage crush on him way back when—and everyone knew it—but he never saw me as anything but his little brother’s friend, the girl who got tongue-tied any time he walked into a ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: A Moment For Us by Corinne Michaels is now live!! — “I was totally over Joshua Parkerson. Sure, I had a teenage crush on him way back when—and everyone knew it—but he never saw me as anything but his little brother’s friend, the girl who got tongue-tied any time he walked into a room. I had long ago accepted the fact that his strong arms would never hold me, his lush lips would never claim mine, and his blue eyes would never see me as anything more than who I used to be. But now he’s back in Willow Creek Valley, and there’s a brand-new spark between us—even he can’t fight it. Our chemistry is explosive, and every time we’re together, I swear I can feel the earth shake. It doesn’t mean anything… how could it? I’m over him. Until I see that little pink plus sign, and the earth stops turning completely. Now I want it all again, a life with him. But Joshua built walls around his heart for a reason, and his secrets haunt him. How can I show him that the ghosts of his past don’t have to define our new family’s future?” Not Without Your Love by Lexi Ryan is now live!! — “Two and a half years ago, I hit rock bottom and lost everything. Since then, I’ve turned my life around—no more booze, no more drugs, no more self-sabotage. With a new business to run and old promises to keep, the last thing I need is smart-mouthed hellcat Veronica Maddox disrupting my world. Veronica’s as beautiful as she is infuriating. She pushes all my buttons. Maybe that didn’t matter before, but now she’s working for me. She keeps this place running. As a business owner, I appreciate that. As the man she hates and the one who can’t forget our wild night together, I’m slowly losing my mind. I told myself I could resist her, but we only get along when our hands are doing the talking. Before I know it, our relationship is anything but professional [and] no matter how much I try to convince myself otherwise, what started as two enemies has developed into something neither of us imagined possible. And while Veronica’s a complication I never wanted, she is exactly what I need.” Hold On To My Heart by Bella Andre is now live!! — “Nash Hardwin has been on the road full time since leaving his rough childhood behind when he was sixteen. Beloved by millions of fans around the world, he’s never had a real home and never trusted anyone enough to fall in love. Not until he meets Ashley Sullivan. After she unexpectedly steps in to help him out of a very tricky situation, he ends up having the best day of his life with her in Vienna. Ashley is sweet, beautiful and intelligent…with the biggest heart of anyone he’s ever met. When their perfect day together inevitably turns into an even more perfect night, there’s no denying that they make incredibly beautiful music together. But is there even the slightest chance that the small-town single mom and the road warrior rock star can make things work? Or will the realities of lives that are polar opposites make it impossible to hold on to each other’s hearts?” Fallen Royal by Rachel Van Dyken (Mafia Royals #4) is now live!! — “I grew up knowing it would happen one day. Believing that I would fall into my father’s footsteps… So I fought it. I lived. I loved. I teased. And then one day… I destroyed… She saw my rage, my madness, and tried to stop me from destroying myself, and I hated her for it, pushing her away past the point of no return. She was supposed to be mine. But there are some things people can never come back from. I hurt her, she hurt me, and now I’m living a lie. Telling the ones I love that I’m on one side when for years I’ve been forced to play both. I’m no angel. I’ve fallen… I will win her back… She fell for the bad one. She fell for the sinner. So why does that make me smile?” The Blood That Binds by Madeline Sheehan & Claire C Riley (Thicker Than Blood #3) is now live!! — “Two brothers. A childhood sweetheart. Life has never been easy for this trio, and especially not after the end of civilization as they knew it. Having had their formative years ripped from them, they were thrust into a shattered, savage world, a world where they only had each other. Love and loss. Weary travellers on the brink, there is a storm brewing, a turbulent tempest that has nothing to do with the weather. When tragedy strikes, everything changes in the blink of an eye– facades come undone, and loyalty is pushed to a breaking point. A diamond in the rough. Immersed back into something akin to normal society, a safe-haven in the midst of misery, our travellers are forced to finally confront their demons–long-kept secrets that have been haunting them for nearly a decade. Love is never easy; And love during the end of the world is a hell of a lot more complicated.” The Butler by Danielle Steele is now live!! — “Joachim takes a job working for Olivia as a lark and enjoys the whimsy of a different life for a few weeks, which turn to months as the unlikely employer and employee learn they enjoy working side by side. At the same time, Joachim discovers the family history he never knew: a criminal grandfather who died in prison, the wealthy father who abandoned him, and the dangerous criminal his twin has become. While Olivia struggles to put her life back together, Joachim’s comes apart. Stripped of their old roles, they strive to discover the truth about each other and themselves, first as employer and employee, then as friends. Their paths no longer sure, they are a man and woman who reach a place where the past doesn’t matter and only what they are living now is true.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP A Moment For Us by Corinne Michaels (surprise baby/unrequited love romance, standalone) Not Without Your Love by Lexi Ryan (enemies-to-lovers office romance, standalone in The Boys of Jackson Harbor series) Hold On To My Heart by Bella Andre (single mom/rock star romance, standalone in The Sullivans series) Fallen Royal by Rachel Van Dyken (mafia romance, Mafia Royals series) The Blood That Binds by Madeline Sheehan & Claire C Riley (love triangle, Thicker Than Blood series) The Butler by Danielle Steele (women’s fiction, standalone) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase LATEST BOOK SALES 45% OFF ★ Purchase 65% OFF ★ Purchase under $2 ★ Purchase 50% OFF Purchase 50% OFF Purchase under $1 Purchase under $2 Purchase under $1 Purchase under $3 ★ Purchase under $3 ★ Purchase 50% OFF ★ Purchase under $1 ★ Purchase UPCOMING BOOK RELEASES Oct 13 Pre-Order Oct 18 Pre-Order Oct 19 Pre-Order Oct 19 Pre-Order Oct 19 Pre-Order Oct 19 Pre-Order Oct 26 Pre-Order Oct 26 Pre-Order Oct 26 Pre-Order Oct 26 Pre-Order Oct 26 Pre-Order Nov 02 Pre-Order WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

BOOKWORM NEWS: A Small Hotel by Suanne Laqueure is now live!! — “It’s the summer of 1941. Europe is at war, but New York’s Thousand Islands are at the height of the tourist season. Kennet Fiskare, son of a hotel proprietor, is having the summer of a lifetime, having fallen deeply in love with a ...Read More  >

BOOKWORM NEWS: A Small Hotel by Suanne Laqueure is now live!! — “It’s the summer of 1941. Europe is at war, but New York’s Thousand Islands are at the height of the tourist season. Kennet Fiskare, son of a hotel proprietor, is having the summer of a lifetime, having fallen deeply in love with a Swedish-Brazilian guest named Astrid Virtanen. But the affair is cut short and the young lovers permanently parted, first by Astrid’s family obligations, then by America’s entry into the war. The rigors of military life help dull his heartache, but when Kennet’s battalion reaches France, he is thrown into the crucible of front line combat. As his unit crosses Europe, from the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, Kennet falls into a different kind of love: the intense camaraderie between soldiers. It’s a bond fierce yet fragile, vital yet expendable, here today and gone tomorrow. Sustained by his friendships, Kennet both witnesses and commits the unthinkable atrocities of warfare, altering his view of the world and himself. To the point where a second chance with Astrid in peacetime might be the most terrifying and consequential battle he’s ever fought…” Wild at Heart by Zoe York is now live!! — “Everyone in Pine Harbour loves Will Kincaid—except the one person he cares about actually impressing. Can grown men have crushes on their frenemies? When Catie joins the small town’s Search and Rescue team, Will finds himself spending every Thursday night swapping glares with the hairdresser while they get in each other’s way. Catie Berton has a long list of reasons why Will is an arrogant jerk. But the more time she spends with him, the more she’s forced to admit sometimes they make a good team. That doesn’t change the fact that Will has always been her right crush, wrong guy. When the SRT goes on a road trip to a competition, she surprises herself by agreeing to ride shotgun in his truck. The long drive could be a chance to repair a shredded friendship, if Catie can get past her complicated feelings for the too-attractive-for-his-own-good school principal.” Mr. Park Lane by Louise Bay is now live!! — “I haven’t seen him in over a decade, but Joshua Luca can still get to me. And I hate it. At twenty-nine, I’m a doctor and I’ve traveled the world, but just the thought of him has me sliding my sweaty palms down my jeans and wishing I could steady my racing heartbeat. Joshua was an almost obsession until, at seventeen, he cost me my future. In one night, I grew up and let go of my silly crush. My infatuation for Joshua is dead and buried. Forever. It doesn’t matter that he’s my new roommate. Or that he still has that same sexy smile. I barely notice how, despite his billions, he’s the kindest man I know. Or that when he touches me, a thousand tiny fireworks explode all over my body. I’m completely over Joshua Luca.” Spark by Helen Hardt (Steel Brothers Saga) is now live!! — “Donovan “Donny” Steel is on a partnership track with a major Denver law firm. He loves his city career and his luxurious downtown loft, and life is going just how he planned it…until his mother, the city attorney for his hometown of Snow Creek, Colorado, asks him to move back and work for her when her assistant retires. Mom asks? Donny goes. Because he’ll do anything for the family who took him in twenty-five years ago. The fact that he can pick up where he left off with gorgeous Callie Pike is simply a fringe benefit. Caroline “Callie” Pike was looking forward to finally beginning law school at age twenty-six, but the western slope fire that destroyed most of her family’s vineyards put that plan on hold. At least she has Donny Steel’s return to look forward to. After she spent an evening with him at a recent party, he hasn’t strayed far from her mind…” Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis is now live!! — “On a snowy evening in March, thirty-something Noelle Butterby is on her way back from an event at her old college when disaster strikes. With a blizzard closing off roads, she finds herself stranded, alone in her car, without food, drink, or a working charger for her phone. All seems lost until Sam Attwood, a handsome American stranger also trapped in a nearby car, knocks on her window and offers assistance. What follows is eight perfect hours together, until morning arrives and the roads finally clear. The two strangers part, positive they’ll never see each other again but fate, it seems, has a different plan. As the two keep serendipitously bumping into one another, they begin to realize that perhaps there truly is no such thing as coincidence.” A Reckless Match by Kate Bateman is now live!! — “Madeline Montgomery grew up despising––and secretly loving––the roguish Gryffud “Gryff” Davies. Their families have been bitter rivals for hundreds of years, but even if her feelings once crossed the line between love and hate, she’s certain Gryff never felt the same. Now, she’s too busy saving her family from ruin to think about Gryff and the other “devilish” Davies siblings. Since he’s off being scandalous in London, it’s not like she’ll ever see him again…” Wild Heart by Laurelin Paige (Dirty Wild #3) is now live!! — “Secrets, surprises, and second chances. This trip down memory lane with Jolie has mended as much as it’s torn up. I promised her I could handle anything. Whatever she was hiding, my wild heart would always belong to her. But I could never have imagined this truth. And she can’t blame me for how this will all end.” WEEKLY NEW RELEASES RECAP A Small Hotel by Suanne Laqueure (military/love/family fiction) Wild at Heart by Zoe York (frenemies to lovers romance, standalone in The Kincaids of Pine Harbor series) Mr. Park Lane by Louise Bay (second chance/roommates romance, standalone) Wild Heart by Laurelin Paige (contemp romance, book #3 in Dirty Wild series) Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis (snowstorm/strangers romance, standalone) More Than Possess You by Shayla Black (romance novella, standalone in More Than series) Spark by Helen Hardt (romantic suspense, Steel Brothers Saga) A Reckless Match by Kate Bateman (historical romance, Ruthless Rivals) now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase now live Purchase WHAT KIND OF BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? __________________________________ Let me know if there are any other books you’re loving right now too!! LET’S STAY CONNECTED To get these lists sent to you every week, subscribe by email. FOLLOW THE BLOG Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BlogLovin’ | Google+ | Goodreads

196 countries, countless stories...

It’s out! My fourth book, Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing, officially hits the shelves today. It’s available worldwide in English and can be ordered through all the usual channels and bookshops, as well as directly through my publisher’s website. Drawing on the interactions I’ve had through this blog and through the reading workshops I’ve […]

It’s out! My fourth book, Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing, officially hits the shelves today. It’s available worldwide in English and can be ordered through all the usual channels and bookshops, as well as directly through my publisher’s website. Drawing on the interactions I’ve had through this blog and through the reading workshops I’ve been running for the last four years, it explores how embracing not-knowing can enrich our reading of ourselves and our world. Each chapter takes an extract from a different book likely to be outside most anglophone readers’ comfort zones as a launchpad for exploring themes such as how do we read books written from political viewpoints or based on religious views we don’t share? What do we do if we don’t know if a story is funny? And why might taste sometimes lead us astray? I hope it’s playful, mischievous, a bit subversive and thought-provoking. In the spirit of this, the book comes in three slightly different covers, reflecting the fact that there is more than one way of reading. If you order one, you won’t know what you’re going to get! And as a bonus, Renard Press is running a promotion: if you add Relearning to Read and the signed, limited-edition version of my novel Crossing Over to your basket on their website, and use the coupon ‘relearning’, you’ll get the novel half price. The offer runs until the end of October, so hurry if you like the sound of this. Every book will have its pound of flesh – at least that’s my experience. This one certainly had some twists and turns in the early days of developing the idea. Once I had the form clear in my mind, however, the writing process was a joy. There’s been some wonderful feedback. We’ve already had an international rights inquiry from a publisher in another territory. (If you would be interested in translating or publishing the book in another language, please drop Will at Renard Press a line.) Relearning to Read has already been included on the syllabus of a university course in the UK and I’ve been invited to speak about it at festivals in the UK, India and Hong Kong. What’s more, I’ve been particularly thrilled to see writers I admire supporting the book with generous endorsements. These include superstar translator and novelist Anton Hur, who called Relearning to Read ‘a lively discussion on how to read books from around our increasingly fractured world – and how to live within the chaos,’ and novelist, professor, translator and former English PEN president Maureen Freely, who wrote: ‘Living as we do in the golden age of surveillance marketing… it has become ever more difficult to negotiate uncertainty – in life as on the page. With this beautifully imaginative guide, Ann Morgan makes an eloquent case for reading beyond the bounds of our understanding, not just to broaden our horizons, but to better understand ourselves. I shall be taking it to my next book group! I urge you to do the same.’ Not everyone has been impressed, however. When I told my eight-year-old that my fourth book was being published today, she pulled a face. ‘What? You mean you’ve only written four books in your adult life?’ she said. Still, I hope other family members approve. In particular, my Dad. Sadly I can’t ask him: he died unexpectedly as I was preparing to write the final chapter, and this changed the shape of the ending a little. One of the earlier chapters also features the story of how his father, a native Welsh speaker, moved into the English-speaking world. I hope Dad would have enjoyed reading it. Certainly Dad would have enjoyed the international angle. Travelling was one of the things he most wanted to do in retirement. He had renewed his passport a few weeks before he died and was looking forward to several trips. I have dedicated Relearning to Read to his memory. As it sets off around the world, it makes me smile to think that, in a way, Dad is travelling with it too.

One of the lovely things about this project is the interactions I’ve had through it with writers around the world. The Chinese literary master Ning Ken is a great example. After I gave a quote to support Thomas Moran’s English translation of Tibetan Sky, I received a copy of the finished book sent from Beijing, […]

One of the lovely things about this project is the interactions I’ve had through it with writers around the world. The Chinese literary master Ning Ken is a great example. After I gave a quote to support Thomas Moran’s English translation of Tibetan Sky, I received a copy of the finished book sent from Beijing, inscribed with a message of thanks from the author as shown above. His publisher tells me it means: ‘If my humble work surprised you, that is exactly what I hoped for. Rarity makes it all the more precious. Thank you for your poetically concise critique.’ The novel certainly did surprise me. Like the image that its title suggests – of a Tibetan sky burial, in which a dismembered body is left on a stone plinth for eagles to bear aloft – this is a book that turns many accepted (Western) norms upside down. On the face of it, the novel is a love story. The troubled divorcé Wang Mojie, who came to rural Tibet on a ‘Teach for China’ scheme, encounters the alluring and mystifying Ukyi Lhamo, who has spent time studying in France. Both are on a quest for meaning, and they bond over their lack of fulfilment and conviction that answers may be found in mystical Tibet, but as Wang Mojie urges Ukyi Lhamo to satisfy his masochistic fantasies, they find themselves pushed to and beyond the limits of human connection. Through all this run Wang Mojie’s interior monologues and authorial reflections. ‘As the author of this novel, I will interrupt the narrative from time to time with thoughts and comments,’ Ning Ken, or whoever he is positing as the author, informs us near the start. They certainly make good on this promise, filling the text with thought-provoking and sometimes mischievous asides that often undermine and sometimes soften the characters, as well as sharing some of their own struggles with and doubts about the process of writing. Indeed, it’s no spoiler to say that the book ends with a lengthy authorial disquisition on the unreality of endings, bringing in reflections on Virginia Woolf’s The Voyage Out and discussions with the characters in the novel about what would have been a fitting resolution. ‘While fiction is, of course, made up, we should think of it as the art form of the exploration of the possible, fiction imagines different possible lives,’ the authorial voice tells us. In Ning Ken’s hands, fiction can imagine impossible lives too – at least to those of us used to looking from a Western perspective. In Tibet, the novel shows us, rules work differently, and this is partly a question of language. The concept of selfhood remakes itself, ghosts exist and people have very different views on life’s purpose and meaning, partly because the language of the nation fosters other ways of thinking – ‘We place strict limits on what we think is possible and impossible, but Tibetans do not acknowledge these limits. They don’t accept, or one might say their language does not accept, that death exists.’ In its difference and singularity, Tibet provides a brilliant setting in which to bring together Western and Eastern philosophy. Ning Ken does this through the visit of Robert, a Paris-based academic keen to debate his son who has embraced Buddhism. This is done through at times dense but often hearteningly frank and sometimes irreverent discussions – we’re told at one stage that we’re better off skipping Derrida, as he only really has meaning for exceptional intellectuals like Wang Mojie, and he’s an overthinker. For a reader like me, it was fascinating to see this culture clash filtered through a Chinese perspective. Yet even Tibet cannot resist the pull of globalisation. Despite the hunger for authenticity that Wang Mojie and Ukyi Lhamo share, the novel bristles with examples of a trend towards ‘cultural hybridity’. Historic rituals are staged for tourists who look on listening to music played through boomboxes and sipping coke. This performative ‘postcard culture’, we learn, has arisen partly because of the hiatus in Tibetan practices brought about by ‘what we may call, euphemistically, the “intervention of history”.’ Reading lines like this, along with references to people being imprisoned for praying and the events of ‘the Square’, I found myself feeling strangely anxious. Was it safe for an author in mainland China to write about the actions of the government in this way? Then I shook my head and smiled. Whether intentionally or not, Ning Ken was once again turning things upside down for me, forcing my assumptions into the light in the process. Why did I imagine I knew what the Chinese government would or wouldn’t allow? (This is something I examine in the politics chapter of Relearning to Read, where I look at some of the mental labyrinths we go through when we read works written under censorship or in political systems different to our own.) What resonated most for me was how Tibetan Sky explored the experience of not-knowing. In a way I’ve rarely encountered in fiction before, it captured what it’s like to feel bewilderment in the face of cultural artefacts we don’t know how to ‘read’ – books written in scripts we can’t decode, songs in tonal systems to which our ears are not attuned. What’s more, it showed the value of staying with these experiences – exploring them and turning them around in our minds to notice how we respond. Indeed, not-knowing seems to be fundamental in the journey towards enlightenment – when the 29-year-old Buddha began his spiritual quest, we learn, he did so in confusion. This is a book that works on you in ways that it is only possible to articulate in part. ‘Reading in Tibet is really reading,’ Wang Mojie informs us. ‘You feel as if no one else exists, you are outside of time, away from the world. It is a peaceful, dreamlike state. This dreamlike reading, the dreamlike thoughts that came to me while I was reading, made me feel as if I were floating in air, everything around me filled with my own soaring thoughts.’ The experience of reading Tibetan Sky is similar. Tibetan Sky by Ning Ken, translated from the Mandarin by Thomas Moran (Sinoist Books, 2025)

Many of those I interact with about books through this project, both virtually and at my Incomprehension Workshops, are young people. Even now, all these years after I set out to read the world, I sometimes find my inbox flooded with messages from students whose teacher has asked them to write to me recommending a […]

Many of those I interact with about books through this project, both virtually and at my Incomprehension Workshops, are young people. Even now, all these years after I set out to read the world, I sometimes find my inbox flooded with messages from students whose teacher has asked them to write to me recommending a story. A while ago, I received a wonderful video from a young boy in Beijing advising me to read a book that explained why tomatoes can sometimes be quite dangerous. Statistics bear out the enthusiasm for reading internationally that I’ve seen among the young: according to data compiled by Nielsen for the Booker Prize Foundation, ‘book buyers under the age of 35 account for almost half (48.2%) of all translated fiction purchases in the UK‘. So it was a delight to be invited to contribute an essay to a new collection celebrating the importance and joy of reading for children and young people. The Gifts of Reading for the Next Generation is the second such anthology put together by editor Jennie Orchard. Like the first volume, The Gifts of Reading, it was inspired by an essay by the UK nature writer and scholar Robert Macfarlane, who wrote the foreword to this new collection. Other contributors include such household names as William Boyd, Michael Morpurgo, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, Imtiaz Dharker and Horatio Clare, and all royalties go to Room to Read and U-Go. Founded by John Wood, these organisations promote literacy and education for girls and women. Indeed, U-Go’s aim is to fund the university education of 100,000 young women in the world’s lowest income countries. We celebrated the UK publication of The Gifts of Reading for the Next Generation with a launch at London’s Daunt Bookshop. Also published in the US and Australia, the collection is widely available. BUT I have one copy that I am happy to sign and send anywhere in the world. If you’d like it, simply message me or leave a comment below telling me about a book you gave or received that was important to you. Looking forward to hearing your stories! Photos © Amber Melody

This month, a dream came true. I spent two weeks visiting Greenland with my hero, legendary Togolese explorer Tété-Michel Kpomassie, sixty years after he first arrived in the country that became his home from home (an experience recorded in his landmark memoir, An African in Greenland, tr. James Kirkup, and recently rereleased as a Penguin […]

This month, a dream came true. I spent two weeks visiting Greenland with my hero, legendary Togolese explorer Tété-Michel Kpomassie, sixty years after he first arrived in the country that became his home from home (an experience recorded in his landmark memoir, An African in Greenland, tr. James Kirkup, and recently rereleased as a Penguin Modern Classic, titled Michel the Giant, with a new afterword, tr. Ros Schwartz). It will take me a while to process this incredible experience and I am working on several projects to tell the story of it. Watch this space! In the meantime, however, I decided it would only be right to make Greenlandic literature the focus for my latest Book of the month. And, it being #WITMonth, I knew I would feature a book by a female author. If you ask anyone about contemporary Greenlandic literature, one name will dominate: Niviaq Korneliussen, a young Greenlandic writer hailed widely as the leading light of a new generation of voices telling stories on the world’s largest island. Her writing is fresh, daring and confronting, and having started the month reading her novel Last Night in Nuuk, I would have found it an easy choice to feature one of her books. (And she is extremely well worth reading – if you are looking for Greenlandic literature you should absolutely start with her.) But as I try to highlight lesser known voices on this blog, I decided to look further afield. This brought me to Nauja Lynge’s Ivalu’s Color, adapted from the Danish by the author and International Polar Institute Press. Lynge is something of a hybrid writer. Describing herself as a Danish Greenlander, she is the descendant of several figures who were instrumental in establishing Greenlandic identity, including Henrik Lund, author of the national anthem, and Hans Lynge, who promoted independence. At first, given her Danish heritage, I was hesitant as to whether to include her in my reading. But as many of the conversations I have had over the past few weeks have involved the influence of colonialism and other political agendas on Greenland, and the way those stories are woven into the Inuit experience (and, as we have seen over the thirteen years of this project, storytelling is a messy, cross-pollinated business that rarely fits neatly in a single box), I decided to give Ivalu’s Color a try. From the pitch, the novel sounds as though it follows a familiar formula. In 2015, three women are found murdered in the Greenlandic capital, Nuuk. Whodunnit? Yet, the similarities with anglophone crime fiction end with the premise. Even before you turn to the first page, it’s clear that this is a book that marches to a different beat. In place of a blurb, the back cover has a lengthy endorsement from Martin Lidegaard, former Danish foreign minister. And on the inside flaps we are told that the true victim of the crime will turn out to be the Inuit people. This political focus continues in the body of the book. In place of an epigraph, we find an unattributed paragraph appealing for a moderate approach to Greenlandic independence: It’s almost as if there is a chapter in our common history missing. My major concern is that we open the doors to outsiders before we are ready to welcome them. Things take time. This applies to Greenland to such an extent that we might be better off seeing ourselves as a developing country, not co-opted immediately into the international economy. The characters of the book take a similar tone. Indeed, rather than focusing on the grisly fate of the three women whose bodies have been found in a shipping container (two of whom are barely mentioned), most of the dialogue rehearses political concerns, feeding off the fact that Ivalu, the most prominent victim, was a blogger on issues connected to independence. Unlike the traditional anglophone detective novel, there is not one sleuth on the trail of the culprit but many. They include the Chinese agent Hong and the Russian agent Nikolai (both of whom do little to disguise their roles in trying to further their countries’ interests in controlling the Arctic), as well as local figure Else. Like the murder victims, these characters remain relatively faceless. What seems to interest Lynge is not so much the personal stories of the figures she portrays but the bigger forces that drive them. These she explores by choosing to focus on aspects a mainstream anglophone writer would not normally centre, and selecting and ordering details in a way that might seem bewildering or even irrelevant to a Western eye. It is as though the apparatus of a European crime novel has been commandeered and turned to different ends. As a reader, I found this challenging. The old knee-jerk irritation I often feel when I struggle to understand literature that works on other terms rose in me, and I was tempted to dismiss the book as bad. Indeed, there are aspects of Ivalu’s Color that will be deeply problematic for many anglophone readers, particularly when it comes to the presentation of Hong. Lynge describes him and his actions in terms that betray a strikingly different, even shocking, approach to presenting otherness. There is also a challenging discussion of femininity and ‘primal’ womanhood running throughout the book, which at times seems to take a stand against ‘the modern age’s fussily democratic women’. This, when set against Hong’s shocking encounter with Else, raises uneasy questions. However, as I continued on through the pages of this book, I found another Greenlandic title that I was reading in conjunction with it beginning to shift my thinking. Knud Rasmussen’s The People of the Polar North, tr. and ed. G. Herring, features the verbatim accounts of many Inuit myths collected by the great explorer on his expeditions through his homeland. Striking and strange, these tales share some of the hallmarks of Lynge’s writing. There is a similar relative effacement of the individual and focus on bigger forces. Extreme and sometimes shocking acts are presented baldly and with little ceremony. They inhabit a framework that calibrates ideas of community, duty, tradition, physicality and individuality very differently. Perhaps Lynge was fusing the storytelling ethos of the country of her birth with the commercial structures of European literature? Wasn’t that, in itself, thought-provoking and subversive? For me, Ivalu’s Color wasn’t an easy or enjoyable read, but it was a valuable one. It was fascinating to see Nauja Lynge testing the limits of a familiar genre and trying to reshape them to accommodate her aims. It was a reminder that truly reading widely (far beyond the offerings that the mainstream outlets curate for us) requires openness, and a readiness to embrace gaps and questions. There is still so much we don’t know. Ivalu’s Color by Nauja Lynge, adapted from the Danish by the author and International Polar Institute Press (IPI, 2017)

This writer came onto my radar thanks to Keith Kahn-Harris, author of The Babel Message: A Love Letter to Language, with whom I did a musical incomprehension experiment a few years back. He shared some information with me about Llanito, the language of Gibraltar (a British Overseas Territory at the southern tip of the Iberian […]

This writer came onto my radar thanks to Keith Kahn-Harris, author of The Babel Message: A Love Letter to Language, with whom I did a musical incomprehension experiment a few years back. He shared some information with me about Llanito, the language of Gibraltar (a British Overseas Territory at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula). It was, he told me, an amalgam of Spanish and English with bits of Maltese and Genoese thrown in. In fact, the literary scene in Gibraltar was similarly fascinating, a kind of experiment in answering the question of how small a population you need to establish a literary culture. Yorkshire-based M.G. Sanchez is a key player in this, having co-founded Patuka Press, which publishes anthologies of Gibraltarian writing. Indeed, several of Sanchez’s own books feature Llanito and his most recent has both an English and a Llanito edition. The title that caught my eye on his back catalogue, however, was Diary of Victorian Colonial and other Tales, my latest Book of the month. Originally published in 2008 through Rock Scorpion Books, a now-defunct publishing forum that Sanchez also founded after he struggled to find an outlet for Gibraltarian work, Diary is Sanchez’s second work of fiction. It features one novella and two shorter works that, according to its marketing material centre on ‘themes of emotional and geographical displacement’. The title work is the most ambitious piece. Chronicling the return of ex-convict Charles Bestman to Gibraltar, the land of his birth, in the nineteenth century, it explores what it means to belong and how history can entrap us in many senses. After this comes ‘Intermission’, a stream-of-consciousness account of a UK-based magazine publisher’s snap decision to give up the world and enter a French monastery. Last and, for my money, least is ‘Roman Ruins’, the story of an Italian lawyer’s attempt to save a homeless Kosovan man. Voice is one of the key strengths of Sanchez’s writing. The first two pieces lift off the page thanks to compelling, energetic and distinctive first-person narrators. The diary form is not easy to pull off and sustain for a whole work of fiction, and it’s credit to Sanchez that Bestman’s account is engaging, and peppered with telling observations. Meanwhile, the would-be monk of ‘Intermission’ is often extremely funny. His claim that the notorious British serial killer Fred West looked ‘a bit like an ugly Tom Jones’ had me laughing out loud. Although his spiel is occasionally repetitious and tips over into raw ranting on a few occasions, lines like this meant that I was more than happy to stay with him for the ride. There is a rich, mischievous seam to the writing in the first two-thirds of the book that put me in mind of anglophone authors such as Helen DeWitt and C.D. Rose, as well as the Brazilian writer Machado de Assis. It’s also fascinating to see colonialism and Britishness discussed from fresh angles, as Sanchez does in the first two pieces. There is a Trojan horse element to many of the passages, with certain ostensibly harmless or familiar formulations being used to smuggle in sentiments that challenge the status quo or reframe ideas. Some of these, such as the magazine publisher’s reflections on political correctness gone mad, now feel a little dated, but many are still disconcertingly fresh. There’s a meta element to the title work too. At the end of the text, an editor’s note informs us of the way in which the diary was discovered and praises Rock Scorpion Books for publishing it after it was rejected by many other outlets. Finding a way to be heard and recognised is, it seems, part of the story. Language has a big role to play in this. Llanito and Spanish feature in dialogue in the opening piece, while French appears in ‘Intermission’, and Italian and Serbian ring the changes in the final story. Multilingualism and pluralism are part of the fabric of this literary world, with Sanchez rarely choosing to translate on the page. Bewilderment and codeswitching are de rigueur. All that said, the final story is an odd fit in this collection. Whereas the first two pieces complement each other tonally, stylistically and thematically, ‘Roman Ruins’ feels as though it is out on a limb. From the retail blurb, I see that a story called ‘The Old Colonial’ is listed in its place in the collection, and I wonder if a late need for a substitution has led to this piece being shoehorned in. Certainly, there is a stilted, slightly unfinished quality to it. Characters often seem to exist to make arguments rather than to act in their own right, with several conversations featuring long expositions of the history of the former Yugoslavia and the atrocities committed during and since its collapse (although as I write this, I’m conscious that numerous literary traditions have a much higher tolerance for political and historical discussion than is generally accepted in anglophone literature – it may be that Gibraltarian literature does too). Coming after the mischievous, subversive antics of the first two pieces, the straightness of ‘Roman Ruins’ is hard to take. I also found the female lawyer less convincing than Sanchez’s male creations. All in all, the story felt uneven. But then perhaps evenness isn’t necessarily a virtue, or a quality essential to every work or literary tradition. It may be that Sanchez and his fellow Gibraltarian writers are nurturing a literary culture that works according to other standards – one that has no need to appeal to the sensibilities of a citizen of the country that once colonised their homeland. Sanchez has since published numerous works that may have taken his writing in any number of directions. I’m intrigued to learn more. Diary of a Victorian Colonial and other Tales by M.G. Sanchez (Rock Scorpion Books, 2012) Picture: ‘Gibraltar’ by John Finn on flickr.com

Last Thursday, I had the unusual experience of giving a paper at an academic conference. The event was about the future of English studies, and I was there because of a call for papers put out in association with Wasafiri magazine, a British publication championing international contemporary writing. I suggested that I might speak about […]

Last Thursday, I had the unusual experience of giving a paper at an academic conference. The event was about the future of English studies, and I was there because of a call for papers put out in association with Wasafiri magazine, a British publication championing international contemporary writing. I suggested that I might speak about my work with embracing not-knowing in reading, which forms the basis of my Incomprehension Workshops and forthcoming book, Relearning to Read. The organisers liked the sound of this, and so, last Thursday morning, I found myself joining other speakers and delegates in the gracious surroundings of York’s Guildhall for the start of the three-day event. The University of York’s Professor Helen Smith opened proceedings, saying that she felt the event was about survival and finding positive ways that the field of English studies could continue. As an English literature graduate myself, I was a bit taken aback – surely the subject couldn’t be in so much trouble? But as the discussion opened up and academics from universities across the UK began to speak, it became clear that there are many challenges facing those teaching English literature, language and related disciplines today. From the declaration last year that the English GCSE isn’t fit for purpose and the increased testing of performance all through school, to the encroachment of AI on students’ work practices, the sector seems increasingly restricted and hobbled. The main issue, as several of the people sitting near me said, was a lack of joy in the classroom these days. This made me sad. For me, reading has always been about joy. I was eight when I decided that I wanted to study English literature at university, having been entranced by L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. Reading was magic, it seemed to me. I couldn’t imagine a better thing than spending three years reading stories. How miserable to think of today’s young readers having all that pleasure squashed out of them. Still, when I thought about it, I could recognise what was being said. Last year, I ran an Incomprehension Workshop at a sixth-form college near where I live in Folkestone. It being World Book Day, I started the session by asking participants to write down how they would complete three sentences: Reading is… The world is… Stories are… At the end of the session, I invited students to read out what they’d written. One said this: Reading is boring The world is crazy Stories are exciting It was clear that something of that disconnect the university lecturers were describing had happened for that sixth-former. Although they still felt the power of stories, this had somehow become separated from reading for them. Books were not the source of connection and electricity they had been for me. I hope my panel helped propose some ways in which that gap might be rebridged. Titled, ‘Incomprehension and Living Between’, it opened with Turkish writer and translator Elif Gülez reading from her memoir about the culture clash she experienced growing up. The extract was powerful and resonated with the small but highly engaged audience, showing how personal narrative can cut through barriers and make experience live in other minds. Then, I spoke about incomprehension and how I try to foster a spirit of play in my work with this. I was particularly touched when one audience member said afterwards that the demonstration I had given had taken her back to the wonder of reading like a child once more. Lastly, we were joined remotely by Indian academic Gokul Prabhu, who delivered a fascinating paper on ‘Queer Opacity in Translation’ – considering how the attempt to make things legible and understandable may sometimes work against the spirit of a text, and how translators may sometimes need to leave gaps and jolts in work that does not intend to make its meaning plain. There was a marvellous electricity in the room, and this carried on into the afternoon, in a session on teaching creative writing, chaired by poet Anthony Vahni Capildeo, whose work-in-progress memoir I read as my Trinidadian pick back in 2012. The panel featured four writers who all teach at UK universities: J.R. Carpenter (University of Leeds), Joanne Limburg (University of Cambridge), Juliana Mensah (University of York), and Sam Reese (York St John University). They were honest about the challenges facing the industry and sector, but so full of enthusiasm and powerful insights that it was impossible not to be encouraged. I was particularly struck by Carpenter’s statement that a poem ought to unfold in the same way that it was gathered up, although, as Mensah observed, this idea is faintly terrifying when I think about the chaotic nature of my own creative process! I came away heartened to think that the academic branch of the field I love has such people working in it. And grateful that so many of those labouring under such pressure at the UK’s universities felt it was worth taking three days out of their hectic schedules to consider how better to foster and share a love of reading stories. I also felt a renewed energy for and commitment to the possibilities of embracing not-knowing and incomprehension too. More soon! Picture: ‘Municipal Offices and Guildhall, York, North Riding of Yorkshire, England’ by Billy Wilson on flickr.com

‘I’ve got a book I think you’d like,’ said bookseller Erin when I wandered into my local bookshop, The Folkestone Bookshop, a few weeks back. They were right. Waiting to Be Arrested at Night, translated by Joshua L. Freeman, is a memoir by Tahir Hamut Izgil, one of the leading contemporary Uyghur poets. It tells […]

‘I’ve got a book I think you’d like,’ said bookseller Erin when I wandered into my local bookshop, The Folkestone Bookshop, a few weeks back. They were right. Waiting to Be Arrested at Night, translated by Joshua L. Freeman, is a memoir by Tahir Hamut Izgil, one of the leading contemporary Uyghur poets. It tells the story of his decision to flee his homeland, along with his wife and children, in the late 2010s, following decades of mounting discrimination and persecution of the Uyghur population in Xianjiang, a nominally autonomous region in northwestern China. Through Izgil’s eyes, we live the experience of seeing your world contract to the point where there is no longer space for you to exist. The accounts of the imprisonments of many of Izgil’s friends and associates – often for minor or even unspecified breaches of the ever-shifting rules – are chilling and heartrending, yet it is the cruel absurdity of many of the directives that restrict everyday life that sticks in the mind. The requirement, for example, for Muslim clerics to participate in televised disco dancing competitions (and the brave attempt of one to embrace this insult as good exercise). Or the Looking Back Project, under which ‘many previous legal things had become illegal’, rendering authors vulnerable to being arrested for books that had been published with the censors’ blessing in previous years. Perhaps most horrifying of all is the List of Prohibited Names, a sporadically updated inventory setting out which names may no longer be used. In light of this, anyone may suddenly find themselves banned from using the appellation by which they have been known all their lives. ‘A name is a person’s most personal possession,’ as Izgil, writing through Freeman, reflects. ‘If he cannot hold on to his own name, what hope does he have of keeping anything else?’ The way language is weaponised to curb and control is similarly disturbing. As the Chinese government’s restrictions on the Uyghurs grow ever tighter, seemingly innocuous words turn traitor. People called in for questioning are said to be taking ‘tea’, those removed to the concentration and re-education camps have been sent to ‘study’, if you have a black mark on your record, you are said to carry a ‘dot’. Uyghurs too, learn to bury their meaning to keep safe: ‘A political campaign was a “storm”, while innocent people caught up in mass arrests or in a Strike Hard Campaign were said to be “gone with the wind”. A “guest” at home often meant a state security agent. If someone had been arrested, they were “in the hospital”. Yet, language is also a source of great joy and beauty in this book. As Freeman explains in his introduction, poetry is a way of life in Izgil’s homeland: ‘Verse is woven into daily life – dropped into conversation, shared constantly on social media, written between lovers. Through poetry, Uyghurs confront issues as a community, whether debating gender roles or defying state repression. Even now, I wake up many mornings to an inbox full of fresh verse, sent by the far-flung poets of the Uyghur diaspora for me to translate.’ Poetry is central to this memoir too. Several of Izgil’s poems appear. What’s more, there is a beautiful litheness and directness to the prose, which captures key moments in the story with memorable clarity. When Izgil’s wife, Marhaba, learns that after years of fighting bureaucracy the family have finally received the visas that will enable them to escape to the US, her face opens ‘like a flower’. Because of the quality of the writing, we feel the Izqil family’s bravery and the loss that goes with uprooting yourself from all you know (including necessarily severing ties with those who stay behind for their safety). As the best writing does, the story speaks for itself, urging itself on the reader, making the pages fly past. Nevertheless, as I read, I found a question surfacing repeatedly in my mind. There are many urgent and brilliant stories by writers from persecuted minorities in the world today. Most of them do not find homes with some of the English-speaking world’s biggest publishers as this one has (coming out through Penguin Random House on both sides of the Atlantic). If they make it into English at all, such stories are usually released by small presses, which, as I often say on this blog, are where most of the risky, exciting, boundary-pushing publishing happens these days. (Books like Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse’s The Convoy, translated by Ruth Diver and published in February by Open Borders Press, for example.) So what is it about this story that has enabled it to cut through? I think there are a couple of reasons. The first is that the book paints the West in a relatively flattering light. Although Izgil likens the contempt of the Han Chinese authorities to the attitudes of European colonialists and quotes a friend saying they wish China would conquer the world because the rest of us are so ignorant about the realities they are facing, the US is a place of safety for Izgil. It is where he can finally taste freedom once more and thrive. I think this is a picture that fits with what many of us in the English-speaking global north would like to believe about our homelands. The second is that the story necessarily reinforces certain narratives about China that happen to serve Western agendas. This portrayal of the Chinese authorities as harsh and unpredictable feels familiar and relatively comfortable. In this respect, although it may challenge other preconceptions, this book will resonate with significant aspects of many people’s prevailing world view. This is not to call into question anything Izgil has written: the atrocities he describes are well documented. Nor is it to detract at all from the brilliance of this book. Rather, it is to say that this may be a story to which many in the English-speaking world may be able to listen to more easily than we can to comparable narratives that do not align with Western agendas so neatly. If anything, this may make this book even more important. It may speak more directly and powerfully about the refugee experience to many anglophone readers because it will not invite the sort of resistance that can often arise when we read challenging books from elsewhere. By happening to echo ideas that feel familiar and safe, it may move us to deepen our sense of humanity and connection with those forced to leave their homelands. Waiting to Be Arrested at Night by Tahir Hamut Izgil, translated from the Uyghur by Joshua L. Freeman (Vintage, 2024)

This book came on my radar through fellow international bibliophile Suroor Alikhan, who kindly hosted me at an online event organised by the Hyderabad Literary Festival last year. A few weeks ago, she contacted me saying that she had found a website that she thought I’d be interested in, featuring a list of more than […]

This book came on my radar through fellow international bibliophile Suroor Alikhan, who kindly hosted me at an online event organised by the Hyderabad Literary Festival last year. A few weeks ago, she contacted me saying that she had found a website that she thought I’d be interested in, featuring a list of more than 100 books by Pacific Islanders. I was intrigued. The Pacific Island nations were among the most difficult countries to source stories from during my 2012 quest to read a book from every country. And although the criteria of the list’s compiler were a little different from mine – she included a number of titles by writers with Pacific Island heritage (including herself) – there were many fascinating-sounding works. The book I’ve picked to feature – Is Anyone Out There? And Other Stories by Julian Maka’a from the Solomon Islands – didn’t strike me as the most satisfying of those I read from the list, but I found it interesting for several reasons. The Solomon Islands are hard to source stories from: back in 2012, the best option I could find was The Alternative, a 1980s boarding school novel. So I was curious about what this much more recent short story collection would be like. My interest was also piqued by Maka’a’s statement on the back cover that the collection – which he self-published in 2012, 27 years after his first collection was brought out by the University of the South Pacific – draws on various aspects of his professional life, including efforts to build staff understanding about sexual reproductive health in his capacity as the manager of Wantok FM, part of the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation. This is reflected in frank descriptions of the treatment of and stigmas around sexually transmitted diseases in several of the earlier pieces. As with many of the books I read ‘from’ Pacific Island nations in 2012, the collection seems written with a consciousness of needing to represent its nation. ‘The themes and general messages [of the stories] are different and varied,’ writes Maka’a, ‘but the one thing that is common is they reflect what life is like in Solomon Islands’. To an outsider like me, this manifests itself most tellingly in the glimpses into local beliefs and customs, presented most richly in the title story, in which a legend about a philandering man ritually killed for breaking taboos haunts the narrator. The emphasis on education, so apparent in The Alternative, is also strong in Maka’a’s work. The most ambitious piece in the collection, a three-part story called ‘Is This Fair?’ centres on a teenage pregnancy at a boarding school and makes clear the sacrifices that the nation’s geography and economic situation demand of families keen to give their children opportunities. Some eight thousand students drop out of education every year, we learn, and just getting to school at the start of term often requires many stomach-churning hours in a boat. As is so often the case in books from elsewhere, it is the assumptions and things taken for granted that prove most intriguing. One of the central characters in ‘Is This Fair?’, for example, seems not to bat an eyelid at the notion that her parents will decide her career path, as set out in a letter her mother sends her: ‘In her brief letter which she wrote in language and pijin, she explained that she and dad always discussed about me. About the future that I would give them from my education – benefits to cut a long story short. She said they had differences in the job I should take up after I graduate in form five. My mother said she wanted me to become a nurse – that way I would help her when she gets sick or even my father. My father on the other hand wanted me to be a teacher.’ For all its interest, however, this book is a challenging and occasionally bewildering read. My knee-jerk reaction is to pin this on the fact that it has probably not been through the editorial processes of many traditionally published books in mainstream anglophone literature, with the result that there are structural idiosyncrasies, and spelling and grammatical oddities that are sometimes distracting. There seem to be some inconsistencies in the character names between the different parts of ‘I Am Fair?’ that make it hard to follow. There is also an abruptness to certain emotional shifts and transitions that risk interrupting the flow of the story. But I’m also aware that what I read as errors or idiosyncrasies may in many cases not be considered as such by readers in the Solomon Islands. There, a different form of English is used, one in which certain formulations and word uses that sound odd to me may be customary. Similarly, shifts between registers and emotional states that jar for me may simply reflect different norms or storytelling traditions beyond my experience feeding into this book. Regardless of how I read it, what remains is a sense of urgency. A desire to communicate. A hand stretched out from this place we in the UK rarely hear of, seeking connection and the chance to convey something. This is me, this book says. This is us. This is where we are. Is Anyone Out There? And Other Stories by Julian Maka’a (Xlibris, 2012)

One of the joyous things that has come out of this project is the way that I’m frequently invited to take part in discussions about writing and the ways stories travel. Often, these conversations take place at literary festivals or conferences, but they sometimes involve podcasts too. Last year, I was asked to produce a […]

One of the joyous things that has come out of this project is the way that I’m frequently invited to take part in discussions about writing and the ways stories travel. Often, these conversations take place at literary festivals or conferences, but they sometimes involve podcasts too. Last year, I was asked to produce a new podcast for the Royal Literary Fund, a UK charity that has supported professional writers for more than 200 years and with which I’ve been involved since 2017. Over the preceding decade, the RLF had built a sound archive featuring recordings of hundreds of writers talking about the creative process, and the challenge and joys of putting words on the page. Now the team wanted a new format to bring this rich bank of material to a wider audience. The Collected podcast is the result. Built around clips from the RLF archive, the episodes bring special guests into conversation with those recorded voices. Hosted by a brilliant team of presenters, including South Asia Speaks founder Sonia Faleiro, award-winning poet Julia Copus, and musician and crime writer Doug Johnstone, the conversations present a lively, funny, surprising and often moving account of what it means to be a writer in the early twenty-first century. The aim is to offer a more nuanced picture than we often see in the media, and it’s been wonderful to hear guests including Women’s Prize founder Kate Mosse, crime writer Howard Linskey, and visual artist and poet Ella Frears embracing the concept with warmth and frankness. Although the writers RLF supports are UK-based, it’s been a joy to reflect my interest in international storytelling in the line-up too. Examples include discussions with Kerala-born novelist Deepa Anappara, who talks thought-provokingly about the gap between the expectations of mainstream anglophone publishers and the sort of writing that interests her, and Colin Grant, director of RLF’s WritersMosaic platform for writers of the global majority, who draws on his Caribbean heritage in his writing on race and migration. Collected is available on all the usual platforms. I’d love to know what you think.

I’m not really a book blogger. Yes, I write about books on this blog – and yes, I did once upon a time review close to 200 books in a year here – but the commitment, stamina and output of other book reviewers in the virtual sphere now leave me and my once-a-month writeups in […]

I’m not really a book blogger. Yes, I write about books on this blog – and yes, I did once upon a time review close to 200 books in a year here – but the commitment, stamina and output of other book reviewers in the virtual sphere now leave me and my once-a-month writeups in the dust. In the international-literature arena, some of the names that spring to mind include Marina Sofia, Stu Allen and Tony Malone. These bloggers and others like them maintain an astonishing pace, easily equally my efforts in 2012 in many cases. And they’ve been going for years, bringing attention to thousands of titles that deserve to be better known by readers of the world’s most published language. Within the anglophone literature sphere, there is a whole raft of other, equally industrious reader/reviewers. I knew little about them until my publisher, Renard Press, organised a blog tour for my novel Crossing Over two years ago. For a month leading up to the release of the book, I had the initially daunting but ultimately lovely experience of seeing my story thoughtfully and generously reviewed by a different book blogger each day. It helped build buzz around the book and, at what can often be an oddly lonely and unsettling time for an author, allowed me to enjoy seeing my work going out into the world. I was so impressed by the blog tour that I wrote an article about it for The Author, the member’s magazine of the UK’s Society of Authors. As part of my research for this, I interviewed former English teacher Linda Hill of Linda’s Book Bag. I was amazed by what she told me: the volume of books she features is such that she operates a traffic light and scoring system to help her keep track of them, and she schedules her posts many months in advance. It sounds like a full-time job, except that, of course, for Linda and most other bloggers like her, it is unpaid: the only material reward they get for the hours and hours they spend reading, planning and reviewing are free advance copies. Because blog tours are less of a thing when it comes to international literature, and because I only rarely feature brand-new books (preferring to promote older titles that deserve a second look) and only do one review a month, I have never taken part in a blog tour. This month, however, I am making an exception for a title that is close to my heart. Where Snowbirds Play, Gina Goldhammer’s debut novel (published by Renard Press’s imprint Hay Press on 6 May 2025), takes us into the privileged world of 1990s Palm Beach, where British graduate Philip has just secured a placement at a new marine life institute. But all is not what it seems both among the super rich who fund him and in Philip’s own story. Soon, secrets, rivalries and financial scandals are bubbling to the surface, and as hurricane season looms it seems unlikely that everyone will escape unscathed. I love this book for two reasons. Firstly, I love it because I’ve had the privilege of seeing it develop over several years in my capacity as a mentor/editor to its author. Working with a writer and seeing their ideas fill and rise until they find their fullest expression is an extraordinary process, and one that I’ve had the joy of experiencing a number of times since I was published, most frequently as a mentor for the Ruppin Agency Writers’ Studio. But I particularly love this book because it is so singular and true to itself. Only Goldhammer could have written it. As I say in the supporting blurb I gave for the book, the novel offers an arresting perspective on a lifestyle few experience firsthand. Taking readers into the heart of privilege, Goldhammer spins a compelling story that lays bare the tensions, frailties, desires and self-deceptions that drive human beings everywhere. Sumptuous, witty and surprising, this novel will transport you to a world that is at once absorbingly fresh, and a charming – and alarming – reflection of our own. And I’m delighted to see that other readers are already recognising the book’s uniqueness. On one of the earlier stops in the Where Snowbirds Play blog tour, bobsandbooks wrote that they were ‘left feeling like this was something a little bit different’. I couldn’t agree more. Where Snowbirds Play by Gina Goldhammer (Hay Press, 6 May 2025)