Skip to main content

Editorial Content for The Spellshop

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Beloved fantasy author Sarah Beth Durst releases her coziest, most romantic novel to date. From its cottage–adorned cover to its lavender-sprayed edges, THE SPELLSHOP is a package every bit as luscious and magical as the story it contains. Starring a lonely librarian, her spider plant sidekick and the strapping neighbor who comes to their rescue, this cozy romantasy invites readers into a kingdom of magic, centaurs and true love. Read More

Teaser

As a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, Kiela and her assistant, Caz --- a magically sentient spider plant --- have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers a nosy neighbor who keeps showing up to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home. In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have --- jam --- and her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries. She risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much-needed secret spellshop.

Promo

As a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, Kiela and her assistant, Caz --- a magically sentient spider plant --- have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers a nosy neighbor who keeps showing up to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home. In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have --- jam --- and her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries. She risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much-needed secret spellshop.

About the Book

A gorgeous paperback edition featuring lavender sprayed edges! THE SPELLSHOP is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut --- a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams and even sweeter love.

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz --- a magically sentient spider plant --- have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy --- and very handsome --- neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, THE SPELLSHOP will heal your heart and feed your soul.

Audiobook available, read by Caitlin Davies

Editorial Content for Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Shadow

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

The Prologue is set 10 years before the present action. A young man is racing in a motor car through treacherous, winding roads to his destination --- a Swiss-style A-frame house somewhere in the mountains. Upon arrival, he is met by another gentleman, Gunther, who vets him and does a weapons check. Gunther then passes him off to Mario, who leads him inside the secluded mountain home. Read More

Teaser

When a desperate stranger in Zurich asks for Jason Bourne's help, she calls him by the name David Webb, which is the identity he left behind years ago to become Jason Bourne. This woman tells him an incredible story --- that her sister disappeared with David’s help after the deaths of four terrorists in the mountains. Now men from this same extremist group are trying to hunt her down. Bourne remembers none of it, but when the Swiss bistro erupts in violence, he finds himself on the run, chasing the ghosts of his very first Treadstone mission. Operating on pure instinct, Bourne plunges into a maelstrom unlike any he’s ever experienced, hoping to rescue a woman he once loved. He soon discovers that no one in this world of shadows can be trusted --- and everything he’s been told about his past is a lie.

Promo

When a desperate stranger in Zurich asks for Jason Bourne's help, she calls him by the name David Webb, which is the identity he left behind years ago to become Jason Bourne. This woman tells him an incredible story --- that her sister disappeared with David’s help after the deaths of four terrorists in the mountains. Now men from this same extremist group are trying to hunt her down. Bourne remembers none of it, but when the Swiss bistro erupts in violence, he finds himself on the run, chasing the ghosts of his very first Treadstone mission. Operating on pure instinct, Bourne plunges into a maelstrom unlike any he’s ever experienced, hoping to rescue a woman he once loved. He soon discovers that no one in this world of shadows can be trusted --- and everything he’s been told about his past is a lie. 

About the Book

Jason Bourne must face the violence and betrayal of his forgotten past in this latest gripping entry in Robert Ludlum’s #1 New York Times bestselling series.

Like most spies, Jason Bourne lives in the shadows. But for Bourne, whose entire memory was stripped away by a bullet, those shadows hide dangerous secrets.

When a desperate stranger in Zurich asks for his help, she calls him by the name David Webb, which is the identity he left behind years ago to become Jason Bourne. This woman tells him an incredible story --- that her sister disappeared with David’s help after the deaths of four terrorists in the mountains. Now men from this same extremist group are trying to hunt her down.

Bourne remembers none of it, but when the Swiss bistro erupts in violence, he finds himself on the run, chasing the ghosts of his very first Treadstone mission. Operating on pure instinct, Bourne plunges into a maelstrom unlike any he’s ever experienced, hoping to rescue a woman he once loved. He soon discovers that no one in this world of shadows can be trusted --- and everything he’s been told about his past is a lie.

Audiobook available, read by Scott Brick

Editorial Content for The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

When thinking about children’s literature, it is impossible to overlook or overstate the accomplishments and influence of Judy Blume. The author of more than 25 books, including those for children, teens and adults, Blume changed the storytelling and publishing landscape for young readers and remains both controversial and beloved. In THE GENIUS OF JUDY, Rachelle Bergstein explores Blume’s books and impact over the many decades of her career. Read More

Teaser

Judy Blume’s books have garnered her fans of all ages for decades and sold tens of millions of copies. But why were people so drawn to them? And why are we still talking about them now in the 21st century? In THE GENIUS OF JUDY, her remarkable story is revealed as never before, beginning with her as a mother of two searching for purpose outside of her home in 1960s suburban New Jersey. The books she wrote starred regular children with genuine thoughts and problems. But behind those deceptively simple tales, she explored the pillars of the growing women’s rights movement, in which girls and women were entitled to careers, bodily autonomy, fulfilling relationships, and even sexual pleasure. In doing so, she created a cohesive, culture-altering vision of modern adolescence.

Promo

Judy Blume’s books have garnered her fans of all ages for decades and sold tens of millions of copies. But why were people so drawn to them? And why are we still talking about them now in the 21st century? In THE GENIUS OF JUDY, her remarkable story is revealed as never before, beginning with her as a mother of two searching for purpose outside of her home in 1960s suburban New Jersey. The books she wrote starred regular children with genuine thoughts and problems. But behind those deceptively simple tales, she explored the pillars of the growing women’s rights movement, in which girls and women were entitled to careers, bodily autonomy, fulfilling relationships, and even sexual pleasure. In doing so, she created a cohesive, culture-altering vision of modern adolescence.

About the Book

An intimate and expansive look at Judy Blume’s life, work and cultural impact, focusing on her most iconic --- and controversial --- young adult novels, from ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET to BLUBBER.

Everyone knows Judy Blume.

Her books have garnered her fans of all ages for decades and sold tens of millions of copies. But why were people so drawn to them? And why are we still talking about them now in the 21st century?

In THE GENIUS OF JUDY, her remarkable story is revealed as never before, beginning with her as a mother of two searching for purpose outside of her home in 1960s suburban New Jersey. The books she wrote starred regular children with genuine thoughts and problems. But behind those deceptively simple tales, Blume explored the pillars of the growing women’s rights movement, in which girls and women were entitled to careers, bodily autonomy, fulfilling relationships, and even sexual pleasure. Blume wasn’t trying to be a revolutionary --- she just wanted to tell honest stories --- but in doing so, she created a cohesive, culture-altering vision of modern adolescence.

Blume’s bravery provoked backlash, making her the country’s most-banned author in the mid-1980s. Thankfully, her works withstood those culture wars, and it’s no coincidence that Blume has resurfaced as a cultural touchstone now. Young girls are still cat-called, sex education curricula are getting dismissed as pornography, and entire shelves of libraries are being banned. As we face these challenges, it’s only natural we look to Blume, the grand dame of so-called dirty books. This is the story of how a housewife became a groundbreaking artist, and how generations of empowered fans are her legacy, today more than ever.

Audiobook available, read by Mia Barron

Editorial Content for The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pauline Finch

Here I thought, all this time, that the biggest challenges in my personal gardening universe were persistent weeds, plant-eating bugs, scary invasives like bamboo and Japanese knotweed, bark-gnawing rabbits, assorted animal droppings, and the almost inevitable Canadian surprise frost.

I also thought, all this time, that I’ve done not badly over the past few decades in carving out a one-fifth acre space of foliage and blooms in which I, along with pollinators and birds, can enjoy the color and aroma of my labor and imagine a Monty Don voiceover describing it. Read More

Teaser

In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore an 18th-century walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants. The work brought to light a crucial question for our age: Who gets to live in paradise, and how can we share it while there’s still time? Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton’s PARADISE LOST to John Clare’s enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth. But the story of the garden doesn’t always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It’s also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams.

Promo

In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore an 18th-century walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants. The work brought to light a crucial question for our age: Who gets to live in paradise, and how can we share it while there’s still time? Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton’s PARADISE LOST to John Clare’s enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth. But the story of the garden doesn’t always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It’s also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams.

About the Book

Inspired by the restoration of her own garden, “imaginative and empathetic critic” (NPR) Olivia Laing embarks on an exhilarating investigation of paradise.

In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore an 18th-century walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants. The work brought to light a crucial question for our age: Who gets to live in paradise, and how can we share it while there’s still time? Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton’s PARADISE LOST to John Clare’s enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth.

But the story of the garden doesn’t always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It’s also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams. From the improbable queer utopia conjured by Derek Jarman on the beach at Dungeness to the fertile vision of a common Eden propagated by William Morris, new modes of living can and have been attempted amidst the flower beds, experiments that could prove vital in the coming era of climate change. The result is a humming, glowing tapestry, a beautiful and exacting account of the abundant pleasures and possibilities of gardens: not as a place to hide from the world but as a site of encounter and discovery, bee-loud and pollen-laden.

Audiobook available, read by Olivia Laing

Editorial Content for The Uptown Local: Joy, Death, and Joan Didion: A Memoir

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Philip Zozzaro

Cory Leadbeater had just applied for a position as a personal assistant to famed author Joan Didion. He didn’t know it would turn into an eight-year friendship that would be life-affirming. Read More

Teaser

As an aspiring novelist in his early 20s, Cory Leadbeater was presented with an opportunity to work for a well-known writer whose identity was kept confidential. Since the tumultuous days of childhood, Cory had sought refuge from the rougher parts of life in the pages of books. Suddenly, he found himself the personal assistant to a titan of literature: Joan Didion. In the nine years that followed, Cory shared Joan’s rarefied world, transformed not only by her blazing intellect but also by her generous friendship and mentorship. But secretly, Cory was spiraling. He reeled from the death of a close friend. He spent his weekends at a federal prison visiting his father, who was serving time for fraud. He struggled day after day to write the novel that would validate him as a real writer. And meanwhile, the forces of addiction and depression loomed large.

Promo

As an aspiring novelist in his early 20s, Cory Leadbeater was presented with an opportunity to work for a well-known writer whose identity was kept confidential. Since the tumultuous days of childhood, Cory had sought refuge from the rougher parts of life in the pages of books. Suddenly, he found himself the personal assistant to a titan of literature: Joan Didion. In the nine years that followed, Cory shared Joan’s rarefied world, transformed not only by her blazing intellect but also by her generous friendship and mentorship. But secretly, Cory was spiraling. He reeled from the death of a close friend. He spent his weekends at a federal prison visiting his father, who was serving time for fraud. He struggled day after day to write the novel that would validate him as a real writer. And meanwhile, the forces of addiction and depression loomed large.

About the Book

A brilliant debut memoir about a young writer --- struggling with depression, family issues and addiction --- and his life-changing decade working for Joan Didion.

As an aspiring novelist in his early 20s, Cory Leadbeater was presented with an opportunity to work for a well-known writer whose identity was kept confidential. Since the tumultuous days of childhood, Cory had sought refuge from the rougher parts of life in the pages of books. Suddenly, he found himself the personal assistant to a titan of literature: Joan Didion.

In the nine years that followed, Cory shared Joan’s rarefied world, transformed not only by her blazing intellect but also by her generous friendship and mentorship. Together they recited poetry in the mornings, dined with Supreme Court justices, attended art openings and smoked a single cigarette before bed.

But secretly, Cory was spiraling. He reeled from the death of a close friend. He spent his weekends at a federal prison visiting his father, who was serving time for fraud. He struggled day after day to write the novel that would validate him as a real writer. And meanwhile, the forces of addiction and depression loomed large.

In hypnotic prose that pulses with life and longing, THE UPTOWN LOCAL explores the fault lines of class, family, loss and creativity. It is a love letter to a cultural icon --- and a moving testament to the relationships that sustain us in the eternal pursuit of a life worth living.

Audiobook available, read by Charlie Thurston

Editorial Content for The Astrology House

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Megan Elliott

What starts out as a fun weekend away for a quartet of couples turns into something far darker in THE ASTROLOGY HOUSE. Carinn Jade’s debut novel is a page-turning, gothic-tinged drama set in an old house complete with concealed rooms, hidden doors, strange noises and plenty of secrets. Read More

Teaser

Margot has been working 80-hour weeks as a newly minted partner at her law firm. She’s disconnected from her brother, Adam, the only family she has left. And she’s still not pregnant after years of trying. Stars Harbor Astrological Retreat promises rest, relaxation and wisdom for Margot and her friends. With Instagram-worthy views and nightly astrology readings, this getaway should be nothing but idyllic fun. For Adam, it’s the perfect opportunity to rekindle the romance that fuels his writing. But his wife, Aimee, hides the darkness of her past with a beautiful social media feed. Their friend, Farah, is a successful doctor who cannot admit that she’s losing control. Yet no one holds a greater secret than their astrologer host, Rini. She has a plan for all of her guests, and one of them won’t be leaving Stars Harbor alive.

Promo

Margot has been working 80-hour weeks as a newly minted partner at her law firm. She’s disconnected from her brother, Adam, the only family she has left. And she’s still not pregnant after years of trying. Stars Harbor Astrological Retreat promises rest, relaxation and wisdom for Margot and her friends. With Instagram-worthy views and nightly astrology readings, this getaway should be nothing but idyllic fun. For Adam, it’s the perfect opportunity to rekindle the romance that fuels his writing. But his wife, Aimee, hides the darkness of her past with a beautiful social media feed. Their friend, Farah, is a successful doctor who cannot admit that she’s losing control. Yet no one holds a greater secret than their astrologer host, Rini. She has a plan for all of her guests, and one of them won’t be leaving Stars Harbor alive.

About the Book

A group of wealthy Manhattanites visit an astrology-themed hotel, where simmering resentments and long-held secrets lead to a shocking death in this fresh, twisty and suspenseful debut that “welcomes an incredible new talent to the world of domestic suspense” (Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author).

Margot needs a minute. She’s been working 80-hour weeks as a newly minted partner at her law firm. She’s disconnected from her brother, the only family she has left. And she’s still not pregnant after years of trying.

Stars Harbor Astrological Retreat promises rest, relaxation and wisdom for Margot and her friends. With Instagram-worthy views and nightly astrology readings in an impeccably restored waterfront Victorian house, this getaway should be nothing but idyllic fun.

For Margot’s brother, Adam, it’s the perfect opportunity to rekindle the romance that fuels his writing. But his wife, Aimee, hides the darkness of her past with a beautiful social media feed. Their friend, Farah, is a successful doctor who cannot admit that she’s losing control.

Yet no one holds a greater secret than their astrologer host, Rini. She has a plan for all of her guests, and one of them won’t be leaving Stars Harbor alive.

Deliciously twisty, THE ASTROLOGY HOUSE is “a page-turning story of redemption, secrets, and seeking the answers we need in the space between right and wrong” (Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author).

Audiobook available, read by a full cast

Editorial Content for When Cicadas Cry

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Jack Kramer

Caroline Cleveland's debut mystery novel, WHEN CICADAS CRY, fooled me once. Then again and again. And maybe a few more times. Now that’s what I call a really good mystery. Cleveland wrote in an Afterword that she wanted to supply her readers with plenty of curves and twists. Mission accomplished. I was blindsided by almost all of them. Read More

Teaser

A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross in a rural church on Cicada Road in Walterboro, South Carolina. Sam Jenkins, a Black man, is found covered in blood, kneeling over the body. In a state already roiling with racial tension, this is not only a murder case, but a powder keg. Two young women are murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro, and the killer disappears without a trace. Thirty-four years later, the mystery remains unsolved. Could there be a connection to Stander's case? Stander takes on Jenkins' defense, but he's up against a formidable solicitor with powerful allies. Worse, his client is hiding a bombshell secret. When Addie Stone reopens the cold case, she discovers more long-buried secrets in this small town. Would someone kill again to keep them?

Promo

A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross in a rural church on Cicada Road in Walterboro, South Carolina. Sam Jenkins, a Black man, is found covered in blood, kneeling over the body. In a state already roiling with racial tension, this is not only a murder case, but a powder keg. Two young women are murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro, and the killer disappears without a trace. Thirty-four years later, the mystery remains unsolved. Could there be a connection to Stander's case? Stander takes on Jenkins' defense, but he's up against a formidable solicitor with powerful allies. Worse, his client is hiding a bombshell secret. When Addie Stone reopens the cold case, she discovers more long-buried secrets in this small town. Would someone kill again to keep them?

About the Book

John Grisham meets Harper Lee in this stunning debut by a South Carolina attorney. Zach Stander, a lawyer with a past, and Addie Stone, his indomitable detective and lover, find themselves entangled in secrets, lies and murder in a small Southern town.

A high-profile murder case. A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross in a rural church on Cicada Road in Walterboro, South Carolina. Sam Jenkins, a Black man, is found covered in blood, kneeling over the body. In a state already roiling with racial tension, this is not only a murder case, but a powder keg.

A haunting cold case. Two young women are murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro, and the killer disappears without a trace. Thirty-four years later, the mystery remains unsolved. Could there be a connection to Stander's case?

A killer who's watching. Stander takes on Jenkins' defense, but he's up against a formidable solicitor with powerful allies. Worse, his client is hiding a bombshell secret. When Addie Stone reopens the cold case, she discovers more long-buried secrets in this small town. Would someone kill again to keep them?

Ideal for fans of mystery, suspense and thrillers in the vein of Karin Slaughter's PRETTY GIRLS and Stacy Willingham's A FLICKER IN THE DARK, as well as for readers who followed the high-profile Murdaugh murder trial, held in the same small town as in WHEN CICADAS CRY.

Audiobook available, read by Adam Barr

Editorial Content for Everything Makes Sense: A Close-Notice of Life and Consciousness

Reviewer (text)

Barbara Bamberger Scott

In EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE, Tim Garvin opens by making the rather extraordinary claim that any two people, if they are honest and patient, are compelled by the nature of existence to agree about everything. In a sense, the rest of the book is an explanation of that statement. Read More

Teaser

Science and religion study the same phenomenon --- the cosmos itself --- but an impenetrable barrier seems to separate them. Author Tim Garvin removes that barrier and offers a resonant handshake. Instead of sitting across from each other in opposition, scientists and seekers can sit at a table made round by wonder. As EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE dives into the nature of knowing and existence, it reveals a mutuality in humankind unimagined by theology or biology, a mutuality in the nature of being itself. From there, it develops an explanation of existence by employing the thought and insight of the inner world's two most penetrating cartographers, Aurobindo Ghose and Meher Baba, whose work and a close-notice of life itself reveal the deep purpose of creation.

Promo

Science and religion study the same phenomenon --- the cosmos itself --- but an impenetrable barrier seems to separate them. Author Tim Garvin removes that barrier and offers a resonant handshake. Instead of sitting across from each other in opposition, scientists and seekers can sit at a table made round by wonder. As EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE dives into the nature of knowing and existence, it reveals a mutuality in humankind unimagined by theology or biology, a mutuality in the nature of being itself. From there, it develops an explanation of existence by employing the thought and insight of the inner world's two most penetrating cartographers, Aurobindo Ghose and Meher Baba, whose work and a close-notice of life itself reveal the deep purpose of creation.

About the Book

Science and religion study the same phenomenon --- the cosmos itself --- but an impenetrable barrier seems to separate them. Author Tim Garvin removes that barrier and offers a resonant handshake. Instead of sitting across from each other in opposition, scientists and seekers can sit at a table made round by wonder.

As EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE dives into the nature of knowing and existence, it reveals a mutuality in humankind unimagined by theology or biology, a mutuality in the nature of being itself. From there, it develops an explanation of existence by employing the thought and insight of the inner world's two most penetrating cartographers, Aurobindo Ghose and Meher Baba, whose work and a close-notice of life itself reveal the deep purpose of creation.

July 16, 2024

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of July 15th and July 22nd that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to our current Word of Mouth contest. Let us know by Friday, July 26th at noon ET what books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win THE CLIFFS by J. Courtney Sullivan and HUSBANDS & LOVERS by Beatriz Williams, both of which are Bookreporter.com Bets On picks.

July 16, 2024

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we think is a great summer reading selection. Read more about it, and enter our Summer Reading Contest by Wednesday, July 17th at noon ET for a chance to win one of five copies of BAD TOURISTS by Caro Carver, which is now availableand will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!