Skip to main content

Bookreporter.com Bets On...

With thousands of books published each year and much attention paid to the works of bestselling and well-known authors, it is inevitable that some titles worthy of praise and discussion may not get the attention we think they deserve. Thus throughout the year, we will continue this feature that we started in 2009, to spotlight books that immediately struck a chord with us and made us say “just read this.” We will alert our readers about these titles as soon as they’re released so you can discover them for yourselves and recommend them to your family and friends.

Below are all of our selections thus far. For future "Bets On" titles that we will announce shortly after their release dates, please visit this page.

Who Is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews

March 2021

WHO IS MAUD DIXON? by Alexandra Andrews is such a fun read! Florence Darrow is an editorial assistant at a New York publishing house. She is still learning the business and is angling how to hit the next rung on the career ladder. She stumbles a step when she has a one-night stand with an oh-so-married senior executive. And just like that, she is unceremoniously let go from the publishing house.

Read more »

We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker

March 2021

WE BEGIN AT THE END by Chris Whitaker is one of my favorite new books. Set in both California and Montana, the plot revolves around 13-year-old Duchess Radley and a fortysomething sheriff named Walk, both of whom have tons of baggage between them. Duchess is rebellious, tough and fiercely protective of her brother, Robin; she calls herself an outlaw. Duchess’ mother, Star, has substance abuse issues and harbors a lot of guilt over the death of her sister, Sissy.

Read more »

The Survivors by Jane Harper

March 2021

I love books that bring me to a part of the world that I know little about, especially during the pandemic. That is what Jane Harper has done with THE SURVIVORS. While it is her fourth thriller, it is the first that I have read.

Set in Tasmania, the book braids a tragedy from decades ago with a recent one. Kieran Elliott and his wife are back in their hometown for a visit, as his parents are preparing to downsize following his father's diagnosis with Alzheimer's.

Read more »

Masque of Honor: A Historical Novel of the American South by Sharon Virts

March 2021

I have heard a lot of authors talk about what inspired them, but Sharon Virts’ inspiration for her first work of historical fiction, MASQUE OF HONOR, truly fascinated me. She was restoring her home in Leesburg, Virginia, called Selma when she started looking into its history. She came upon the story of a duel between Armistead Mason and John “Jack” Mason McCarty, who were brothers-in-law, second cousins and descendants of founding father George Mason IV.

Read more »

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

February 2021

THE PARIS LIBRARY by Janet Skeslien Charles is such a delight. It spans 60 years and brings readers from the lights of Paris to a small town in Montana. In 1939, Odile Souchet is a librarian at the American Library in Paris, whose patrons hail from many countries. It’s a dream job for her as she delights in sharing books with readers --- and the joy of working with her colleagues. Then the Nazis invade the city. And her twin brother is taken prisoner by the Germans as he fights on foreign soil. Life changes quickly with new rules coming down every day. At one point, it is dictated that Jewish people cannot receive library materials anymore. The librarians take this as a challenge and begin ferreting out this information on the sly, which brings danger at every checkpoint.

Read more »

The Power Couple by Alex Berenson

February 2021

I enjoyed Alex Berenson’s earlier books, including his debut, THE FAITHFUL SPY, but had not read his work in a while. In THE POWER COUPLE, he moves beyond his John Wells series with a stand-alone thriller. The press materials describe it as Mr. and Mrs. Smith meets Taken, which is a great comp. It’s both a look at a marriage through the eyes of a couple and a brisk espionage story.

Read more »

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

February 2021

With THE FOUR WINDS, Kristin Hannah once again has mined a story that has both heart and soul. The novel opens in Texas in 1934. The Depression is lingering, and a drought has ravaged the Great Plains. Crops are failing, and the dust is swirling. The writing here is gritty and bleak, but vividly done. Like the characters, you will feel yourself tasting the dust. Abject sadness and desperation pervade the early pages. Kristin’s heroine, Elsa Martinelli, wrestles with these dark days on her husband’s family farm. The days get tougher and tougher until she realizes that, for her family to survive, they must head west.

Read more »

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

February 2021

Sadeqa Johnson’s inspiration for YELLOW WIFE, her first historical novel, began a few years ago when she walked a slave trail in Richmond, Virginia, with her family and some friends. She found herself wondering what had happened as she read the marker notes and saw the site of the jail, and it sent her researching. From there came the story of Pheby Delores Brown, who was born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia. Her life is more pampered than many of the other slaves as her father is the Master. Her yellow skin means that she has privilege. She is now 17, and the Master has promised her mother that she will be freed on her 18th birthday, but from the start you feel there is a slim chance that will happen.

Read more »

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict

January 2021

Marie Benedict’s THE MYSTERY OF MRS. CHRISTIE takes readers down the rabbit hole with the real-life adventure of Agatha Christie. Many of us are familiar with Marie’s previous works, all of which looked at the woman who was “beside the man.” Here she takes a woman who we all think we know well as a writer, and walks us through the paces of an event that many of us may not know about --- the 11 days in December 1926 when she went missing. I know this is something I was never aware of. What happened and why?

Read more »

What Could Be Saved by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz

January 2021

I had heard about WHAT COULD BE SAVED by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz from bookseller friends since the summer --- and I had the pleasure of hearing Liese talk about it a few months ago.

The book opens in 2019. Laura Preston is an artist who has found some success, but also clearly is drifting. She is very different from her older sister, Bea, and her mother, who is being swept into dementia. Laura is contacted by someone claiming to know the whereabouts of her brother, Philip, who had disappeared when her family lived in Bangkok in the '70s. He was eight at the time. Against the wishes of her sister and her fiancé, Laura heads to Thailand to see what she will learn. And yes, she locates her brother. But the brother she finds is an adult, and there are lost decades between them. Just what happened to him?

Read more »