Hi.

Welcome to Hasty Book List—your cozy corner of the internet for all things bookish. Here, I share the stories I’m reading, the ones I can’t stop thinking about, and a few literary surprises along the way. I’m so glad you’re here.

Books Publishing This Week

Books Publishing This Week

The morning in early November feels still and quiet, the kind of calm that settles only after the rush of October fades. The light is soft, pale gold filtered through a thin veil of cloud, and the air holds that unmistakable chill that makes you draw your sweater tighter and breathe a little deeper. Outside your window, the last of the leaves cling to the trees, trembling in the wind before finally giving in to the season’s pull. The world seems to be exhaling, and so do you.

You carry a mug of something warm—coffee rich and dark, or tea steeped just right—and find your place by the window. The chair is familiar, the blanket draped across it even more so. You settle in, mug within reach, the book you’ve been saving resting in your lap. The cover feels cool beneath your fingers, smooth and promising. There’s a quiet thrill in beginning something new on a morning like this—a sense that the story you’re about to enter will somehow match the moment perfectly.

You open to the first page. The paper is crisp, the ink faintly fragrant, and the words rise up to meet you with the steady rhythm of a voice you’ve been waiting to hear. Outside, the wind sighs through the branches, and you glance up briefly to watch a few leaves tumble past the window, spiraling before disappearing from view. The sound of them scraping along the pavement is soft, soothing—a soundtrack to your morning solitude.

The story unfolds slowly at first, and you allow yourself to linger over the sentences, tasting them like something warm and familiar. You take a sip from your mug, the heat blooming through your chest, and let the story and the morning weave together. The light brightens by degrees, shifting from gray to gentle gold, catching on the rim of your cup, glinting off the page.

Every few minutes, you pause—not because you’ve lost interest, but because you want to stretch the pleasure of this new beginning. You look out at the quiet neighborhood—the smoke rising from a chimney, the distant sound of a dog barking, the faint hum of someone raking leaves—and you feel content in the simplest way. You turn another page. The story begins to take shape, the world within it drawing closer, sharper. The characters start to breathe, to move, to speak.

The morning drifts on unnoticed. Time stretches, but softly, like a gentle tide. The warmth of your drink fades, the light shifts again, and the air grows a little brighter, but you remain still, lost between the world inside the book and the one outside your window.

Eventually, you close the book, just for a moment, marking your place with care. You sit back and breathe it all in—the scent of coffee, the whisper of wind, the quiet murmur of a story that’s only just begun. Early November has its own kind of peace, and you’ve found it here—in this chair, in this light, with this book in your hands.

You take one last sip, feeling the warmth slip away, and smile to yourself. The morning feels whole now, filled with small, perfect things: the start of a new story, the hush of a changing season, and the stillness that comes when the world outside seems to move slower, waiting with you.

Buy Books on Bookshop.org to Support Local Bookstores
Buy Books on Amazon

Books Publishing November 9 - 15

Books Publishing This Week

Good Hair Days by Grace Helena Walz

Author Interview with Grace Helena Walz

Two sisters, a failing family business, and a whole lot of hairspray--Good Hair Days is a modern twist on Steel Magnolias with a little extra Dolly Parton flare.

"I've really messed it all up, Georgia," Junie says. "And this time it's the shop. June's is in trouble."

June's Beauty Shop is a staple in Whitetail, a small Southern town north of Atlanta. It may look like an outdated hole-in-the-wall slathered in Dolly Parton memorabilia, but to the women in town, it is a sacred space.

To Georgia and Junie Scott, it is their family legacy, particularly their late mother's. For generations, the shop has been passed to the oldest daughter, always named June. But Mama wanted more for her firstborn.

Now Georgia is living the life everyone expected, the life everyone wanted for her. Everyone, that is, except her. But what can a girl do when her mother's last wish was for Georgia to get out of Whitetail? So that's what she did. She lives in Atlanta, has a swanky job, drives a fancy car, and--as far as her family knows--makes the big bucks.

It should be no surprise then when Junie asks for fifty grand to fix her latest mess. But Georgia's never had that kind of money. Dad and the aunts don't have it either. To save June's, they'll have to get creative.

Bursting with energy, heart, and sass, Good Hair Days is about a family pulling together for a common purpose, finding healing from the past, and moving forward courageously as they encounter their hardest trial yet.

Books Publishing This Week

Innocence Road by Laura Griffin

Detective Leanne Everhart swore she’d never go back to her hometown near Marfa, Texas—but she returns when her brother needs her, only to find a town in need too, still torn apart by a decades-old crime.

Leanne Everhart knows women have something to fear in her artsy hometown, especially so if they’re not rich, white locals. Returning to town after her father’s death, she sees the ugliest sides of an area that draws people for its severe, untamed natural landscape.

While her department faces mounting backlash over a recent wrongful conviction in the long-ago murder case of a popular local teenager—which is now unsolved—Leanne is called to a fresh crime scene at the edge of the desert. A nameless woman was found murdered, with no clues as to her identity. As Leanne digs into the crime scene evidence, she grows convinced this latest murder case is linked with the local teenager’s murder. And to multiple cold cases, all unnamed female victims, that have all been shelved by her department without leads.

Now, with conflicted loyalties and without allies, Leanne must hunt down a serial killer, one who’s been preying on local women for two decades, growing bolder and more ruthless with every strike.

Books Publishing This Week

The Reluctant Reaper by MaryJanice Davidson

From bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson comes The Reluctant Reaper, a delightful romantasy—with a twist—featuring Death’s daughter.

What’s a death god to do …

A lot of twentysomethings might look forward to inheriting the family business. Amara Morrigan’s got zero interest in hers. The mantle she stands to assume is currently worn by her father, Death.

Amara’s childhood included helplessly watching as her best friend and her favorite teacher were taken away. She knows her dad didn’t do it on purpose … it was just their time. But Amara refuses to accept the job. It’s bad enough that she can sense when the final moment will be for anybody she meets—including her best (and only) friend, Gray. He knows who she is, and he’s cool with it. And though he’s the funniest, kindest, most understanding guy she’s ever met, she can’t allow him to get any closer (however much she might want to), because his moment is coming all too soon.

But now her father is dying. Ominous portents she can’t ignore pull Amara home to Minot, North Dakota, where Death is comatose—something that shouldn’t be possible. Thank all the gods that Gray refuses to be left behind. Amara’s mother is a mess, and Gray gives her somebody to cook for while the other death gods are gathering.

Alas, there’s not enough lefse in all of North Dakota to fix the situation. With their options waning, Amara agrees to (temporarily!) take up her father’s mantel—but she has to figure things out, and fast, because there is no way she’s doing this forever.

Books Publishing This Week

Break Wide the Sea by Sara Holland

In the treacherous waters surrounding Kirkrell, sailors hunting magic whales live in fear of the finfolk--bloodthirsty sea fae who sink ships and curse bloodlines. Nineteen-year-old Annie, as heir to the city's preeminent whaling company, is determined to carry on her parents' life's work. But she keeps a secret from everyone: she's cursed to transform into a monster, with scales spreading up her arms and claws growing from her fingertips.

Her fiancé August offers comfort, but their love falls apart when Annie discovers his plan to take over the company. Desperate, Annie makes a deal with Silas Price, a young captain rumored to be half-finfolk. He says he knows how to break the curse – but only if Annie promises to stop the practice of whaling forever.

As Annie, August and Silas sail north, Annie wrestling with her family's legacy, the threat of the finfolk and August's ambitions increasingly force her to put her trust in Silas. Yet Silas has secrets of his own, and they might be the most dangerous of all.

Books Publishing This Week

Revenge, Served Royal: A Mystery by Celeste Connally

Author Interview with Celeste Connally

Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie in this dazzling third instalment to the captivating Regency-era Lady Petra Inquires mystery series.

September, 1815. Autumn is in the air as Lady Petra Forsyth and some of the most illustrious members of the ton descend upon Windsor Castle for a week of royal celebrations, with the highlight being Queen Charlotte’s inaugural patisserie contest for the best bakers employed by England’s finest houses. Not only is Lady Petra’s own cook one of the contestants, but Her Majesty has requested that Petra herself serve as one of the judges.

Petra’s happiness at tasting delicious cakes and biscuits only increases at finding her beloved Aunt Ophelia in attendance at Windsor, as well as Sir Rufus Pomeroy. As England’s most famous former royal chef-turned-cookbook author, Sir Rufus is slated to present his best recipes to the Queen during the festivities, with Petra being granted an early viewing in the royal library.

Yet upon arrival, Petra instead encounters a frantic housemaid pointing to a body of one of Her Majesty’s guests—and to the valet still tugging at the silk ribbon used to strangle the victim. What’s more, the valet turns out to be Oliver Beecham, the ne’er-do-well brother of Petra’s own lady’s maid, Annie. But as Oliver is hauled away to the dungeons, he protests his innocence, claiming the late guest argued with several aristocrats, including the Prince Regent and Petra’s Aunt Ophelia, and boasted about hiding a potentially scandalous document within the vastness of Windsor Castle.

When some poisoned tea meant for Petra is consumed by one of her fellow judges, it’s clear the real killer is still walking the castle’s halls. Indeed, in order to prove the innocence of Annie’s brother and find the incriminating document, Petra will need to act like a lady, eat like a chef, and think like one of Her Majesty’s best spies before a murderer can turn the celebrations from sweet to royally deadly.

Books Publishing This Week

North Country by Matt Bondurant

A taut literary thriller set along the northern border, North Country explores the monsters frozen in the depths of the human soul.

North Chazy, New York is the heart of the North Country, a frigid region nestled against the Canadian border, characterized by the beautiful landscapes of the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain—plus a steady stream of Quebecois drugs flowing south, spirited by snowmobile across the ice.

Tom Kaiser, fresh off a dishonorable discharge from the Air Force, returns to North Chazy for his ailing father’s final days. It’s an uneasy homecoming—ever since his little sister was lost under the ice in mysterious circumstances when they were children, Kaiser has felt a terrible presence swimming in the deep.

Needing work, Kaiser falls in with Donnie LeClair, a slumlord, loan shark, and aesthete whose private collection of landscapes would rival a modest museum’s. Kaiser earns his keep roughing up unsavory locals who are late on their rent. But his true value is his aptitude for satellite telemetry, allowing him to find gaps in border surveillance, a useful skill for working with a Montreal kingpin who wants to move large quantities of ecstasy into the US.

As Kaiser spirals through the underbelly of drugs and crime, he finds the roots of evil run deep in the North Country—as bleak, impenetrable, and foreboding as the frozen lake.

Books Publishing This Week

My Year of Really Bad Dates by Rachel Lithgow

For anyone who’s ever gone on terrible date, a vulnerable memoir that explores dating in midlife after divorce, with bad dates—from terrible one-night stands to promising matches who ultimately disappoint—anchoring the theme of every chapter.

After two life-shaking events—losing her father and divorcing the man she’s spent half her life with, who happens to be an actor from a famous family—Rachel Lithgow leaves a thirty-year career to write full time and pursue a relationship with a calming, delightful man she recently met online. She thinks she has it all figured out . . . until he announces he’s joining a cult and moving to Phoenix with a blonde real estate agent.

Through a year of terrible dates, peppered with a few great experiences and a lot of pinot noir, the author learns that patterns can be changed, that asking for help is sometimes necessary, and that there’s only one way to repair her brokenness: by facing her trauma and demons head-on.

With a unique mix of humor, self-deprecation, and gritty vulnerability, this dark yet hopeful memoir tackles divorce, dating, single motherhood, PTSD, grief, loss, and starting over in midlife. From emotional rock bottom to a peaceful acceptance of the woman she truly is, Lithgow finds the humor in the blackness, redemption in the pathos, and fulfillment in the idea that “happily ever after” isn’t always a storybook ending—and doesn’t need to be.

Books Publishing This Week

A Matter of Murder by Tirzah Price

The thrilling conclusion to the Lizzie & Darcy Mysteries duology, following Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy from the Jane Austen Murder Mysteries series!

A Bingley family curse looms over Lizzie's sister and Darcy's best friend—but are the dark forces at work supernatural or human?

Lizzie Bennet’s beloved sister Jane has just married Darcy’s best friend, Bingley, and the Bennet family and Darcy are paying the newlyweds a visit at Bingley’s family home, Netherfield Park. It doesn’t take long for their country retreat to turn into an investigation, though, when a long-dead body is discovered stuffed up the parlor chimney.

The locals are convinced that Netherfield is cursed, but Lizzie and Darcy know better than to believe in such nonsense and are determined to uncover the truth about what happened to the mysterious man in the chimney. But as they dig deeper into the history of Netherfield Park, they find that danger is waiting for them around every corner. Soon enough, they’re forced to consider if the curse might have some merit to it, or if there’s something—or someone—far more sinister behind their near brushes with death. . . .

This duology closer is a daring and delightful conclusion to the chronicles of supersleuths Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy!

Books Publishing This Week

The Dramatic Life of Jonah Penrose by Robyn Green

Red, White & Royal Blue meets the theater world of London’s dazzling West End in this nuanced, queer debut romance in which a fake dating publicity stunt between rival co-stars results in romantic sparks neither of them expected.

After winning his first Olivier Award for his performance in the West End’s top musical, The Wooden Horse, fabulously talented Jonah Penrose is the new shining star of London’s theatre scene. But Jonah’s success can’t erase the pain of a recent breakup, fix his self-doubt, or remedy his father’s ailing mind.

Enter stage right, Dexter Ellis: the West End’s golden boy, the newest cast member of The Wooden Horse, and someone Jonah finds to be intolerable and arrogant.

Everything about Dexter is infuriatingly perfect, from his dashing looks and casual but cutting notes on Jonah’s performances to his obnoxious sweaters that cost more than Jonah’s rent. Worse yet, while Dexter was supposed to play Jonah’s enemy in the show, his role switches to his love interest after a bout of illness temporarily sidelines half of the cast.

Jonah’s plan to stay as far away from Dexter as possible is thwarted when fans mistake their on-stage tension for romantic chemistry and tickets start selling like hotcakes. With fans desperate to catch a glimpse of the West End’s ‘hottest couple,’ the show’s producer pushes the co-stars to put on a show of their own and convince the world that they are in love.

While pretending to be head over heels for his co-star is the last thing Jonah wants, he reluctantly agrees. Yet as he gets to know Dexter better, he learns there’s more to him than meets the eye. As the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur and Jonah’s feelings become less of an act, he must decide if he’s willing to entrust his heart to someone again.

At turns both passionate and poignant, heartfelt and intimate, The Dramatic Life of Jonah Penrose is a love letter to the theater, to life in your thirties, and to what happens when you throw out the script and improvise the life you want.

Books Publishing This Week

Not You Again by Erin La Rosa

Two 30-something singles stuck in a time loop are forced to relive the worst days of their lives, so they team up to find a way to break the cycle. For fans of Palm Springs and Oona Out of Order, NOT YOU AGAIN offers a fresh new take on the Groundhog Day story.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…and tomorrow…

In Julian, California, every day is April 22. Most people have accepted the loop—after all, reliving the same day every day, there’s nothing to lose. Day drinking until you pass out? Yes. Partner swapping? Why not.

But Carly has woken up at her dad’s funeral exactly 238 times, and she wants out. She doesn’t want to waste her life away reliving the worst day ever in the small town she always hated visiting. Carly wants to go back to writing film scripts in LA; she’s determined to find a way to break the cycle.

She discovers an unexpected kindred spirit in Adam, the mortician she met at her dad’s funeral. April 22 was also one of the worst days of his life: his fiancée admitted to cheating on him with his best friend. Every day Adam wakes up on April 22 to his ex-fiancée's admission, starting each day with a breakup. April 22 was supposed to be his last day working for his parents at the funeral home, and the start of his new life as an astronomer. Adam is a man of science, and like Carly, he believes there must be a way out of the time loop.

Together, Carly and Adam team up to find out what’s causing the time loop. And in trying to find a way out, they also find their way to each other.

Books Publishing This Week

Dear Orchid: True Stories and Love Letters from the Literary World of the Orchid Wounded Hero Series by Carol Van Den Hende

Author Interview with Carol Van Den Hende

These aren’t just stories. They’re love letters.

Told through a mix of true stories and new fiction, Dear Orchid opens the heart in unexpected ways: through loss and love, silence and recovery, and the hard-won resilience of people who don’t always fit the mold.

With tenderness and heart, Dear Orchid is an Asian American author's homage to Mary-Louise Parker’s Dear Mr. You, through letters to a girl newly freed from East Berlin, an aunt lost to Communist-era borders, and Purple Heart-decorated heroes. These intimate portraits explore the messy beauty of friendship, family, disability, and belonging.

You’ll meet a wounded hero who jokes through his pain, a beloved cat with a crayon note taped to his back (“HELP ME”), and characters who refuse to be defined by what they’ve lost.
The final chapter brings a fictional reunion with the unforgettable cast from the Goodbye Orchid trilogy, offering healing, closure, and a second chance romance.

Told in a lyrical, letter-style format, this collection blends memoir and imagination in a deeply personal exploration of grief, identity, and human connection. It’s a window into private moments that echo something universal, especially for those who have ever felt unseen, misunderstood, or left behind.
Underneath the heartbreak and humor runs the quiet pull between star-crossed lovers, whose stories unfold across time, distance, and impossible odds.

Whether you’re drawn to true stories of survival or fictional narratives filled with tenderness and truth, Dear Orchid offers an emotional journey that celebrates love in all its forms.

A collection for anyone who’s ever loved, lost, or longed to understand the emotional truth behind the quiet moments that shape us.

These aren’t just stories.
They’re letters to everyday heroes.
For you. For us. For the moments that make us human.

Books Publishing This Week

Burner and Other Stories by Katrina Denza

BURNER AND OTHER STORIES is a seductive, smart and funny debut full of grace, forgiveness and startling beauty. Readers will discover the ways in which Katrina Denza writes women in conflict: attempting to woo a man via a burner phone, discovering the best friendships are those grounded in reality, subscribing to a hologram service to speak to a deceased husband, reclaiming power only to realize power is an illusion, discovering there is no safe haven, confronting the frustrations of being an artist, and reckoning with mistakes made as a mother. Wrestling with connections and disconnections, highs and lows, and the vagaries of modernity, BURNER AND OTHER STORIES shows us how we live today.

Books Publishing This Week

My Roommate from Hell by Cale Dietrich

A swoon-worthy YA rom com about an ambitious college student whose plans get derailed when he discovers his roommate is the prince of hell.

Owen is not going to college to have fun. Nothing is going to stop him from achieving his goals: study hard, get a good job, and set himself up for the rest of his life. The last thing he needs is to have a loud, obnoxious, and infuriatingly hot roommate. Especially since said roommate just so happens to be the prince of hell.

Prince Zarmenus has come to Point University for the first-ever Earth/hell exchange program, and he's determined to make the most of it. Which may or may not include wild parties, bringing in random boys to his and Owen's room, and accidentally setting Owen's furniture on fire. Sparks fly (literally) as Owen and Zar clash, but Zar's actions threaten to not only ruin Owen's peaceful college life, but demon-human relations as well. To clean up his image, he asks Owen to be his fake boyfriend and teach him how to be a better human in exchange for an internship that will secure Owen’s future. That, and Zar will consider being a better roommate.

A deal is struck, and the two start pretending to be in a relationship where they each have agendas of their own. Only Owen has a secret—dating his mortal enemy, even if it’s fake, is the most fun he's ever had.

Charming and fun, My Roommate from Hell is a rom com with a magical twist. Think just one bed, but that bed is in hell, surrounded by fire and brimstone.

Books Publishing This Week

God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines

From New York Times bestselling author Peter Clines, God’s Junk Drawer is a mind-bending tale of mystery and adventure set at the dawn of time.

Welcome to the valley …

Forty years ago, the Gather family—James, his daughter Beau, and his son Billy—vanished during a whitewater rafting trip and were presumed dead.

Five years later, Billy reappeared on the far side of the world, telling an impossible tale of a primordial valley populated by dinosaurs, aliens, Neanderthals, and androids. Little Billy became the punchline of so very many jokes, until he finally faded from the public eye.

Now, a group of graduate astronomy students follow their professor, Noah Barnes, up a mountain for what they believe is a simple stargazing trip. But they’re about to travel a lot farther than they planned …

Noah—the now grown Billy Gather—has finally figured out how to get back to the valley. Accidentally bringing his students along with him, he’s confident he can get everyone back home, safe and sound.

But the valley is a puzzle—one it turns out Noah hasn’t figured out—and they’ll need to solve it together if there’s any chance of making it out alive.

Pulling from Earth’s past, future, and beyond, Peter Clines has created a complex, dangerous world, navigated by a dynamic ensemble cast, and a story that is as thrilling as it is funny and heartfelt.

Books Publishing This Week

To Kill a Queen by Amie McNee

Enter a shadowy world of crime in Elizabethan London with this twisty historical mystery featuring a queer sleuth and a dash of romance!

When Queen Elizabeth I is nearly assassinated, the rebellious heir to a criminal legacy seizes an opportunity for a better life.

London, 1579. In the treacherous alleyways of London, Jack has left behind the life of petty crime, hoping to atone for the past by rooting out murderers. As the eldest child of a notorious and infamous figure who controls the slums, Jack has no safe place to land and dreams of a future off the streets. When an attempt is made on the Queen’s life, it falls to Jack to catch the would-be assassin and fight for a different future.

With the help of a coroner, Damian, a sultry barmaid with a secret, and the criminal connections from Jack's past, the unlikely investigator dives into the case. But the former thief's informants keep turning up dead, and every lead seems to vanish just when it feels within reach. As Jack follows the trail deeper into danger, the question becomes: who can truly be trusted?

With the promise of security and redemption hanging overhead, Jack must uncover who orchestrated the assassination attempt before time runs out in this historical mystery, perfect for fans of Tasha Alexander.

Books Publishing This Week

The Chambermaids by Leigh M. Hall

Wilbur and Elouise Saxton are forced to move south after losing their fortune following the Civil War. Hot-headed Wilbur was not happy about the adjustment, but his wife is glad to finally return to her home state. At least she was until they arrive at the home her late uncle left her, and find it in much despair. It also comes with a dark secret, something her family hid from her for good reason.

When two strange women knock on their door offering to help the couple, claiming they know the land more than anyone, those secrets unfold. While Elouise loses her mind, Wilbur is already lost under a spell cast by their young, charming chambermaids.

What was supposed to be a dream come true is slowly turning into a nightmare.

Elouise must fight not only her life but her husband’s as well. Will her days ever return to normal, or was this the future assigned to her all along? Did she ever have a choice?

Sinister is what comes to Elouise’s mind when she pieces the clues together, but that does not even begin to cover what is really going on.

Books Publishing This Week

Your Knife, My Heart by K.M. Moronova

*The limited deluxe edition comes with designed edges*

From USA Today Bestselling author K.M. Moronova comes a brand-new compelling and addictive dark romance in her Dark Forces world.

Dark. Deadly. Irresistible.

Cameron Mortem has a problem—he can't stop killing his partners. Officially labeled clinically insane, he's also one of the most lethal assets in the Dark Forces, a brutal underground military operation built on obedience, survival, and silence. But an experimental drug has fractured his control, making him a liability whenever someone else is on the field. As punishment, he's thrown back into the Under Trials—a merciless boot camp designed to break the weak and sharpen the ruthless.

His one directive? Don't kill the new girl.

Emery Maves narrowly escapes a death sentence after her own brutal crimes, only to find herself forced into the same violent world. Assigned to Cameron, she's expected to survive the Trials and her partner's unstable nature. But Emery quickly realizes there's more to Cameron than bloodlust and body counts. Beneath the madness lies a terrifying allure—and a strange, dangerous tenderness.

As the Trials push them to their limits, Emery must navigate the brutal demands of the Dark Forces while resisting the pull of a man who could just as easily kill her as protect her. And Cameron must fight the one urge he's never been able to overcome.

Their bond is intoxicating, chaotic, and born of violence. And if it doesn't destroy them both, it might just save them.

Books Publishing This Week

Carried Away by T.J. Derry

A tropical surf escape turns catastrophic when a tsunami hits, stranding four best friends in a fight for survival. Injured, disoriented, and cut off from the world, they face a brutal test no one could have prepared for.

For Cole, the trip was meant to be a reset. Surf, sun, and nothing serious. But an unexpected connection with Kendal, a grounded, perceptive traveler, changes everything. Just as their romance begins to take root, disaster sweeps it all away. Days stretch into an ordeal of dehydration, exposure, predators, and unraveling minds. The paradise they came to enjoy becomes a crucible that tests every instinct, bond, and belief.

Told with visceral realism and poetic restraint, "Carried Away" explores the thin lines between fear and love, chaos and clarity, life and loss.

Books Publishing This Week

Rodney Smith: Photography between real and surreal

Mixing 20th-century glamour with surrealist humor and a touch of whimsy, Smith's photographs are fantastical impulses come to life

American fashion and portrait photographer Rodney Smith (1947-2016) creates a supreme, sublime balance between illusion and reality: women in couture dresses balancing on tightropes, dapper gentlemen seated with cardboard boxes over their heads and optical illusions make up his playfully contradictory oeuvre.

Books Publishing This Week

Kin: The Future of Family by Sophie Lucido Johnson

Popular writer and New Yorker cartoonist Sophie Lucido Johnson offers a fresh and hopeful response to today’s loneliness epidemic. Blending personal stories with sharp social science, KIN uncovers how the relationships we build beyond the nuclear family can provide emotional support, physical care, and shared resources necessary to survive and thrive in modern life.

Drawing on richly reported stories and a broad range of sociological and psychological insights, Johnson illustrates how people are inventing new ways to create communities of care: from living with roommates later in life, to co-parenting with friends, to simply asking for help with errands without feeling guilty. Through these examples and her own experiences, Johnson offers accessible, actionable steps for readers to cultivate their own kinship networks and break free from seclusion.

Books Publishing This Week

Exit Strategy by Lee Child and Andrew Child

Jack Reacher will make three stops today. Not all of them were planned for. The page-turning new Jack Reacher thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew Child.

Don’t miss the hit streaming series Reacher!

First—a Baltimore coffee shop. A seat in the corner, facing the door. Black coffee, two refills, no messing around. A minor interruption from two of the customers, but nothing he can’t deal with swiftly. As he leaves, a young guy brushes against him in the doorway. Instinctively Reacher checks the pocket holding his cash and passport. There’s no problem. Nothing is missing.

Second—a store to buy a coat. Nothing fancy. Something he can ditch when he heads to warmer climates. Large enough to fit a man the size of a bank vault. As he pulls out his cash, he finds something new in his pocket. A handwritten note. A desperate plea for help.

Third—wherever this bend in the road takes him. Impressed by the guy’s technique and intrigued by the message, Reacher makes it his mission to find out more . .

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive compensation if you make a purchase using this link. Thank you for supporting this blog and the books I recommend! I may have received a book for free in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
10 Novels About Coming of Age

10 Novels About Coming of Age

Unboxing My Latest Book Haul

Unboxing My Latest Book Haul