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Susan and James Patterson's Latest Novel is Destined to Be a New Book Club Favorite

An emotional reunion of the Mother-Daughter Book Club --- four longtime college friends and their five daughters --- leads to surprising revelations.

Sally Hepworth's New Thriller is Sharp, Surprising and Wickedly Funny

MAD MABEL is a twisty tale of justice, redemption, and one irrepressible woman who’s not done breaking the rules just yet.

Don't Miss This Companion Novel to the Book Woman of Troublesome Creek Series

Our heroine for the ages, legendary book woman Cussy Lovett, returns home in Kim Michele Richardson's THE MOUNTAINS WE CALL HOME.

Two Young Women are Fleeing a Divided America in Jane Smiley's Latest Novel

In LIDIE: The Further Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton, one is running toward a dazzling future; the other is running from a troubled past.

The Bestselling Author of OLGA DIES DREAMING Delivers Another Captivating Story

LAST NIGHT IN BROOKLYN is about a young woman whose life becomes ensnared in her glamorous neighbor’s secret past.

Enter to Win a Mother's Day Prize Package for You or the Special Lady in Your Life

Each package includes five wonderful titles that we think moms will love. The deadline for your entries is Monday, May 11th at noon ET.

Latest Features and Contests


Bookreporter.com's 21st Annual Mother's Day Contest

Mother’s Day is a time to recognize the woman who raised and nurtured us. To celebrate, we're giving you the opportunity to win books for yourself or the special lady in your life in Bookreporter.com's 21st annual “Books Mom Will Love” contest.

From now through Monday, May 11th at noon ET, readers can enter to win one of our five prize packages, which includes five great titles that we think moms will love: THE CALAMITY CLUB by Kathryn Stockett, HARBOR POINTE: A Hope Harbor Novel by Irene Hannon, LITTLE WONDER by Sophie Chen Keller, THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER BOOK CLUB by Susan Patterson and James Patterson, and THE MOUNTAINS WE CALL HOME: The Book Woman's Legacy by Kim Michele Richardson.

» Click here to enter the contest.


Fiction Author Spotlight & Featured Review: THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER BOOK CLUB by Susan Patterson and James Patterson

Between their busy lives and their far-flung residences, the Mother-Daughter Book Club --- four longtime college friends and their five daughters --- more often discuss the books on their nightstands via 2am texts than in-person meetings. And maybe it’s just as well, after what happened at their last get-together. So it’s an emotional reunion when they finally gather again, this time on the spectacular shores of Italy’s Lake Como. Sightseeing excursions, reminiscing fueled by “Como-politans,” and a hint of vacation romance all build toward the book club’s trademark “Night of Secrets.” These friends, and sometime rivals, are close readers --- of novels, memoirs, and each other. But as the years and the distance cast shadows and doubt, confidences and sympathies turn into surprising revelations.

» Click here to read more in our Fiction Author Spotlight.
» Click here to read our review.


Bookreporter.com's 2026 Spring Baseball Books Roundup: A New York (Baseball) State of Mind

In THE BASEBALL UNCLYCLOPEDIA: A Highly Opinionated, Myth-Busting Guide to the Great American Game, Michael Kun and Howard Bloom note that the state of baseball literature consists primarily of books about the Yankees. Nothing has changed much in the 20 years since their book was published. (The Mets are pretty high up there as well, but given that the Bronx Bombers have been around 50+ years longer, their literary superiority is not surprising.)

This year’s crop includes the almost-requisite homage to New York baseball. In our Spring Baseball Books roundup, Ron Kaplan takes a look at four of these titles: THE BOSSES OF THE BRONX: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner by Mike Vaccaro, MICKEY & BILLY: The Glory and Tragedy of a Yankee Friendship by Tony Castro, THE HEYDAY OF WILLIE, DUKE, AND MICKEY: New York City Baseball's Golden Age Amid Integration by Robert C. Cottrell, and METROPOLITANS: New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People's Team by A.M. Gittlitz.

» Click here for Ron Kaplan’s 2026 Spring Baseball Books roundup.


Bookreporter.com's Word of Mouth Contest: Tell Us What You've Read --- and You Can Win Two Books!

Let us know by Friday, May 15th at noon ET what books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win THE FOURSOME by Christina Baker Kline and THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY by Elizabeth Strout in our Word of Mouth contest.

THE FOURSOME is a boldly original reimagining of the astonishing true story of two sisters in 19th-century North Carolina --- Kline’s own distant relatives --- who married world-famous conjoined twins from Siam. In THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY, a chance incident sparks a powerful realization in a beloved teacher’s life.

» Click here to enter the contest.

Bookreporter Talks To...

As part of our mission to expand The Book Report Network, we have been shooting video interviews with authors and posting them on our YouTube channel. We also have been making them available as podcasts. Carol loves interviewing authors, so this feels like a natural.

Carol had a wonderful conversation with Jane Harper about her latest novel, LAST ONE OUT, which is set in Carralon Ridge, a dying rural Australian mining town that has become a shadow of its former self due to an industrial mining operation. It follows Ro Crowley as she returns annually to investigate her son Sam's disappearance on the eve of his 21st birthday five years earlier. This is Jane's first book with a female main character after five previous novels featuring male protagonists. She explains why Ro was the perfect character to tell this story. She also talks about the three houses near where Sam disappeared, which are almost characters themselves. Jane took a three-year break between books to avoid burnout and spend time with her young children. She returned refreshed to write this novel. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

Devi S. Laskar discusses her third novel, MIDNIGHT, AT THE WAR, which is set primarily in the years after 9/11. The protagonist, Rita Das, is a journalist inspired by Christiane Amanpour and Sylvia Poggioli, who planted themselves in conflict zones for their reporting. The book explores both personal and professional challenges faced by Rita, who is running from conflicts in her own life into parts of the world where she finds herself in unknown political circumstances as she works. She has complicated relationships, including a rocky marriage, a lover, a sick mother, and difficulties with her father. The unnamed location where Rita is stationed allows readers to focus on universal themes rather than specific geopolitical details. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

IT GIRL by Allison Pataki is a USA Today bestseller and a Bets On selection. Allison shares that her inspiration for the book was Evelyn Nesbit, one of the Gibson Girls of the early 20th century, who became America's first self-made female celebrity and “It Girl,” rising from poverty in Pittsburgh to Broadway stardom. The story takes place during a transformative period following the Gilded Age with new technology like electricity, automobiles and cameras, and the birth of Broadway as the “Great White Way.” It examines the exploitation of young women in early celebrity culture while exploring themes of survival, agency and female empowerment. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

» Click here for a complete list of our "Bookreporter Talks To" videos and podcasts, along with upcoming interviews.

Latest Reviews

Paradox by Douglas Preston and Aletheia Preston - Technothriller

When a reclusive man is found dead under grisly circumstances in the Colorado wilderness, CBI Agent Frankie Cash and Eagle County Sheriff Jim Colcord, whom we met in EXTINCTION, team up again on their most enigmatic and dangerous case yet. Their investigation uncovers a trail of bizarre killings, baffling money transfers, and a fanatical secret society. And all the while, the resurrected Neanderthals, who vanished into the Colorado mountains, seem to be biding their time for something…spectacular.

Everybody knows that Cherry's husband, Tom, is in Hollywood making a movie. Almost nobody knows that he isn't coming home. Tom is the creator of Thursday, a semi-autobiographical webcomic that's become an international phenomenon. There's a character in this movie based on Cherry: “Baby.” Wide-hipped, heavy-chested, double-chinned Baby. Cherry never wanted this. No fat girl wants to see herself caricatured on the page --- let alone on the big screen. But there's no getting away from it. While her soon-to-be ex-husband is in Los Angeles, Cherry is stuck in Omaha wondering who she's supposed to be without him. One night, Cherry decides to leave all her problems at home. She ventures out to see her favorite band play her favorite album…and someone recognizes her from across the room.

No Way Home by T.C. Boyle - Fiction

Terrence Tully is at work when he receives news that his mother has died. A third-year medical resident in a gritty community hospital in downtown Los Angeles, he sees death daily, but the news that his mother has passed away jolts him like no other. Turn the page, and he’s heading north on I-15 through a lifeless desert to the small Nevada town where his mother had retired. Overwhelmed with grief and the burden of having to sort out the remnants of his mother’s life, he stops at a café and has a chance encounter with a pretty young local girl in a turquoise minidress. What seems to him a chance meeting like so many we all experience daily will come to upend his life and morph into a fatal obsession.

1913: Junior attorney Daniel Pitt must step in for his friend, fellow attorney Toby Kitteridge, whose parents have been brutally attacked. Toby's mother is dead, and his father is barely alive. With Toby returning to the family home in rural Ipswich, Daniel remains in London to substitute for Toby and defend Peter Ward, who is on trial for the sexual assault and murder of a young woman. Daniel is convinced that Ward is innocent, yet the evidence seems to prove otherwise. Eager to assist, his pathologist wife, Miriam fford Croft, offers her forensics expertise. But despite Miriam’s involvement, Daniel finds himself distracted by his desire to help Toby. And when the evidence points to Toby’s father as the killer of Toby’s mother, Daniel faces two of the greatest challenges of his young career: proving the innocence of both Peter Ward and Reverend Kitteridge.

Jean Dornan cannot escape the summer of 1998, when, as a college student studying abroad in France, she embarked on an inappropriate relationship with her professor. Now, decades later, when that professor contacts her out of the blue with an invitation to his retirement ceremony, Jean’s long-standing malaise becomes an emotional crisis. Desperate to understand why this relationship derailed her life so completely, she begins rereading her old diaries and is shocked to realize that her own disastrous affair occurred during the summer of the Lewinsky scandal. In a frenzy of guilt and regret, Jean finds herself praying to Monica Lewinsky for forgiveness as if she were a secular saint. To Jean’s shock, Saint Monica appears and guides Jean like the Ghost of Christmas Past back to the summer of 1998.

Invasive Species by Ellery Adams - Supernatural Thriller/Horror

While the town of Cold Harbor has seen its fair share of monsters in cheating husbands and leering bosses, none are as hungry as Mrs. Smith. The mysterious resident has finally emerged from her crumbling mansion on the hill, mesmerizing the townspeople with her beauty. Her secret? Nine human sacrifices to feed her immortality. Natalie Scott is more worried about Mrs. Smith blocking her first real estate sale. She's eager to prove herself in a world where the social mores of 1980s suburbia reign. Her two best friends are facing their own demons, and Mrs. Smith and her deep, dark woods are an easy scapegoat for everyone's problems. But Natalie's 12-year-old daughter, Jill, and her Icelandic housekeeper, Una, can sense something deeper at play. Armed with library books and a whole lot of grit, Jill and Una team up to save the town once and for all.

Manil Suri grew up in a large crumbling apartment in Bombay (now Mumbai), which his parents, who were Hindu, shared with three Muslim families. At age 20, Suri broke free from their single room and came to the US, where he finally found the freedom to embrace his sexuality and find a life partner. But the room kept wrenching him back to Bombay. By now, real estate prices had risen so much that neighbors had begun conspiring to take over the room. Eventually it was only his mother, Prem, left, who had staked all her happiness on her son but was unable to escape the room’s hold on her. When a rash of mysterious incidents seemed to beset the room, Suri realized how little time he had left to convince Prem that a happier life might await beyond the four walls that both enthralled and imprisoned her.

Short Circuit written by Wolf Haas, translated by Jamie Bulloch - Literary Mystery

Franz Escher is waiting for the electrician. His power outlet has a loose connection. To pass the time, he buries himself in a book about a Mafioso-turned-informant, Elio Russo. Elio is in jail, awaiting his imminent release into witness protection. He has betrayed so many people that he fears for his life. Unable to sleep, he lies awake at night reading a book about a man named Franz Escher, who's waiting for the electrician. His power outlet has a loose connection. So begins SHORT CIRCUIT, an inventive new take on the detective novel. Styled after one of M.C. Escher’s impossible drawings, its two stories gradually intertwine only to solve each other, culminating in one final short circuit. 

These Familiar Walls by C. J. Dotson - Supernatural Thriller/Horror

In 1998, desperate loneliness pushes preteen Amber to ignore the misgivings of her family, particularly her younger sister, when she befriends the troubled new kid in the neighborhood --- a boy with dead eyes, a fascination with fire, and no remorse. Their turbulent relationship is brief but creates lasting consequences. Twenty-two years later, in 2020, he resurfaces to kill Amber’s parents, and is in turn betrayed by his accomplice and killed in Amber's childhood home. After the deaths, Amber inherits the house and, in an effort to save money, moves in with her husband and two children, hoping to reclaim some sense of stability in the grief and chaos surrounding her. Instead, she finds that the familiar walls are haunted by more than just bitter memories and lockdown stress.