Hello, my friends, and happy Tuesday! I hope you had a great weekend. I’ve spent a lot of time looking out the windows. Lately, many animal families have been visiting our yard, and it’s amazing. During the day, there are young birds of all kinds with their parents, and baby squirrels too. And at night, we have two adorable, round-headed raccoons that have started roaming our yard (probably on their way to committing an adorable crime). My new favorite visitors are the downy woodpeckers. This is the first year we’ve seen them up close. They visit the feeders on the windows and are just so impressive! Nature is great.
And now let’s talk books! Today I have a fun romantic mystery (do romances exist yet?) about a potentially murderous PTA president, a magical romance story about a librarian with an unusual assistant, and a speculative novel where you decide what happens! As for this week’s other new releases, at the top of my list of today’s books to get my hands on are Tell It To Me Singing by Tita Ramirez, Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle, and The Coin by Yasmin Zaher. You can find more of the fabulous books coming out today in this week’s episode of All books! Vanessa and I talked about books we love, including It’s Elementary!, A Thousand Times Before, and Dead Good Detectives!
It is elementary by Elise Bryant
This entertaining crime thriller with a touch of romance is the perfect read for a warm, windy day at the beach! Mavis Miller didn’t exactly volunteer to head the new DEI committee at her daughter’s elementary school. But no one says no to PTA president Trisha Holbrook. That’s why Trisha gets so angry at Principal Smith at the committee’s first meeting when things don’t go her way. Later that night, Mavis happens to see Trisha wearing rubber gloves and holding black trash bags. And when Principal Smith doesn’t show up for work the next day, Mavis is left wondering how far Trisha would go to get what she wants. Is she a minivan-driving, murderous mother?? Surely that’s not what Mavis thinks—or is it? With the help of the handsome school psychologist, Mavis tries to get to the bottom of Principal Smith’s disappearance and gets a few lessons in school politics and love along the way.
Backlist boost: Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant
The Magic Shop by Sarah Beth Durst
Welcome to Charmingtown’s most charming book, population: you! Kiela is the librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, where she keeps the town’s spellbooks. But when revolution occurs and the town burns, Kiela flees with as many books as she can take with her. Along with her assistant, a sentient spider plant named Caz, she returns to her late parents’ cottage, which she now owns, on the island where she grew up. Here, Kiela discovers that the town no longer supplies the magic that keeps the island alive, and everything is going wrong. She also meets her attractive new neighbor. Fed up of hiding from the world, Kiela decides that power must be in the hands of the people to solve the island’s problems. So she opens a secret bookstore for spellbooks. It’s dangerous, because the punishment for illicit magic is death. But Kiela realizes that she must take risks to allow her home—and her heart—to grow.
Backlist increase: Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst
All this and more from Peng Shepherd
And last but not least, this clever speculative novel! Marsh is a middle-aged woman whose life is falling apart around her. Her career and marriage are failing, her beloved daughter has become a distant teenager and nothing seems to be going well. Fortunately, Marsh soon gets the chance to change everything as a contestant on All this and more. The popular game show lets contestants literally go back in time and make different decisions. Marsh thinks she knows how she wants to change her life choices. But as time goes on, she starts to think there’s something wrong with what she’s doing. Could it be that you, the reader, are deciding what she’s going to do? That’s right, this novel is interactive, so you play a small role in how things turn out for Marsh. (But don’t stress – these are fictional characters! It’s much easier than making real decisions.)
New addition to the backlist: The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
This week I’m reading The Dark We Know by Wen-yi Lee, the first YA title from Gillian Flynn’s imprint. And in preparation for the final book in the Thursday Next series, which comes out in January, I’m re-reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I’ve also fallen down a Get Fuzzy rabbit hole, which is adorable. I love those silly animals. The song that’s been stuck in my head this week is Cringe by Matt Maeson. And here’s your weekly cat picture: Zevon and Farrokh still love sleeping in the cat bed they had as kittens, even though they don’t quite fit in it anymore. This sleepyhead here is Zevon.
“Nanny tells me not to read so many books. If I carry on at this rate, I shall read myself to death.” – Edward Carey, The Iremonger Trilogy
