Bookreporter.com's Spring Reading 2025 Wrap-up
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This Bookreporter.com Spring Reading Wrap-up newsletter brings you a look at all of the titles that were included in our Spring Reading feature. We shared seven books with you in March and April, and we thank our publisher sponsors who made this possible.
Below are all of this year's featured titles, and we've also created a list of these books in a PDF format that you can access here. A list of the prize winners is here.
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April 22, 2025
In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of April 21st and April 28th 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 20th annual Mother's Day contest. From now through Monday, May 12th at noon ET, readers can enter to win one of our five prize packages, which includes 10 fabulous titles that we think moms will love. Click here to read more about the books and enter the contest.
Editorial Content for The Death of Us
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In a short period of time, Abigail Dean has made quite an impact with her psychological thrillers, GIRL A and DAY ONE. I am pleased to report that she continues this success with her latest effort. Read More
Teaser
Together, Edward and Isabel move to London. They are young and in love, occupied by friends, work and fun. But late on a spring evening when they are 30 years old, their home is invaded by a serial killer. In the wake of this violation, each tries to come to terms with a night that changed everything --- and their marriage begins to crumble. Twenty-five years later, their tormentor is caught, and Edward and Isabel reunite for his sentencing. Isabel has waited years for the man who nearly ended her life to be brought to justice. Edward has tried to think about anything else. As they prepare to deliver impact statements in the public eye, it is time to revisit their love story. Will they finally be able to confront the secrets, longings and lies that tore them apart? Or will the horror of that night be the death of them?
Promo
Together, Edward and Isabel move to London. They are young and in love, occupied by friends, work and fun. But late on a spring evening when they are 30 years old, their home is invaded by a serial killer. In the wake of this violation, each tries to come to terms with a night that changed everything --- and their marriage begins to crumble. Twenty-five years later, their tormentor is caught, and Edward and Isabel reunite for his sentencing. Isabel has waited years for the man who nearly ended her life to be brought to justice. Edward has tried to think about anything else. As they prepare to deliver impact statements in the public eye, it is time to revisit their love story. Will they finally be able to confront the secrets, longings and lies that tore them apart? Or will the horror of that night be the death of them?
About the Book
It’s the night we never talk about.
It’s the story the world wants to hear.
But this isn’t the story of that night. This is the story of us.
Together, Edward and Isabel move to London. They are young and in love, occupied by friends, work and fun. But late on a spring evening when they are 30 years old, their home is invaded by a serial killer. In the wake of this violation, each tries to come to terms with a night that changed everything --- and their marriage begins to crumble.
Twenty-five years later, their tormentor is caught, and Edward and Isabel reunite for his sentencing. Isabel has waited years for the man who nearly ended her life to be brought to justice. Edward has tried to think about anything else. As they prepare to deliver impact statements in the public eye, it is time to revisit their love story. Will they finally be able to confront the secrets, longings and lies that tore them apart?
Or will the horror of that night be the death of them?
A captivating portrait of a marriage and its implosion, THE DEATH OF US digs into the stories we tell ourselves about love --- and everything love can bear.
Audiobook available, read by Claire Skinner and John Hopkins
Editorial Content for Murder at Gulls Nest
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Jess Kidd, the bestselling author of THINGS IN JARS and THE NIGHT SHIP, launches a new cozy mystery series with MURDER AT GULLS NEST, which is about a smart, perceptive nun with an eye for intrigue. Read More
Teaser
1954: When her former novice’s dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda’s letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent. A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests. But when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest, it’s time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.
Promo
1954: When her former novice’s dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda’s letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent. A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests. But when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest, it’s time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.
About the Book
From Jess Kidd, the bestselling author of THINGS IN JAR who “is so good it isn’t fair” (Erika Swyler, nationally bestselling author), the first in a cozy mystery series about a former nun who searches for answers in a small seaside town after her pen pal mysteriously disappears.
I believe every one of us at Gulls Nest is concealing some kind of secret.
1954: When her former novice’s dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda’s letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent.
A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests. But when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest, it’s time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.
Audiobook available, read by Siobhan McSweeney
Editorial Content for Fun for the Whole Family
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
When the Endicott siblings were kids, their lives were nothing if not chaotic. Their mom, Frankie, left the family when they were still young, and their dad had to work extra hard to provide for the four children on his own. As a result, the Endicotts grew almost inseparable. Oldest sister Gemma became a de facto mother figure to her younger siblings. Connor retreated into his books and writing. The twins, Roddy and Jude, seemed so close they practically could be one person. Read More
Teaser
The four Endicott siblings were once inseparable, a bond created by the absence of their dazzling, mercurial mother, who would return for a few weeks each summer to whisk them off on sprawling road trips around the country. Decades later, the unthinkable has happened: the Endicotts haven’t spoken in years…until an out-of-the-blue text arrives from Jude, now a famous actress, summoning them to a small town in North Dakota. Each sibling is at a crossroads, though Jude is the only Endicott who seems to have it all together. But appearances can be deceiving. As the weekend unfolds, and the siblings wrestle with their shared past and uncertain futures, they’ll discover that Jude has been keeping three secrets…each of which could change everything.
Promo
The four Endicott siblings were once inseparable, a bond created by the absence of their dazzling, mercurial mother, who would return for a few weeks each summer to whisk them off on sprawling road trips around the country. Decades later, the unthinkable has happened: the Endicotts haven’t spoken in years…until an out-of-the-blue text arrives from Jude, now a famous actress, summoning them to a small town in North Dakota. Each sibling is at a crossroads, though Jude is the only Endicott who seems to have it all together. But appearances can be deceiving. As the weekend unfolds, and the siblings wrestle with their shared past and uncertain futures, they’ll discover that Jude has been keeping three secrets…each of which could change everything.
About the Book
A breathtaking, joy-filled novel about the people we love, the secrets we keep, and the enduring power of family, from the bestselling author of THE UNSINKABLE GRETA JAMES.
The four Endicott siblings --- Gemma, Connor, Roddy and Jude --- were once inseparable, a bond created by the absence of their dazzling, mercurial mother, who would return for a few weeks each summer to whisk them off on sprawling road trips around the country.
Decades later, the unthinkable has happened: the Endicotts haven’t spoken in years...until an out-of-the-blue text arrives from Jude, now a famous actress, summoning them to a small town in North Dakota. They’re each at a crossroads: Gemma, who put her own ambitions aside to raise the others, now isn’t sure if she wants to be a mother herself; Connor, a celebrated novelist, is floundering after his recent divorce and suffering from an epic case of writer’s block; and Roddy, at the tail end of a professional soccer career, is dangerously close to losing his future husband for the chance at one last season.
Jude is the only Endicott who seems to have it all together --- but appearances can be deceiving. As the weekend unfolds and the siblings wrestle with their shared past and uncertain futures, they’ll discover that Jude has been keeping three secrets...each of which could change everything.
A captivating journey and an ode to forgiveness that takes readers across all 50 states, FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY brims with heart and resonates long after the final page.
Audiobook available, read by Lauren Graham
Editorial Content for Friends of the Museum
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
The first full-length novel from Heather McGowan since 2006 is here. I typically do not look at online reviews or blurbs of titles that I am covering, but I needed to make an exception with this one. Read More
Teaser
When Diane Schwebe, the director of a major New York museum, is awakened in the early morning by a text message from the museum’s lawyer, it is the start of a 24-hour roller-coaster ride. Diane has sacrificed many things in her life to help the fading institution stave off irrelevance and financial ruin. In this battle, she’s surrounded by her stalwart supporters. Orbiting her is a motley assortment of museum employees, each on the precipice of collapse or revelation --- among them a line cook staring down a huge opportunity he’s not sure he wants; a costume curator stuck in an inescapable rut; and the ambivalent curator of the museum’s film program, whose first day on the job might very well be his last. On this day of the museum’s annual gala, every plate that Diane has kept spinning will fall --- and by daybreak, someone will be dead.
Promo
When Diane Schwebe, the director of a major New York museum, is awakened in the early morning by a text message from the museum’s lawyer, it is the start of a 24-hour roller-coaster ride. Diane has sacrificed many things in her life to help the fading institution stave off irrelevance and financial ruin. In this battle, she’s surrounded by her stalwart supporters. Orbiting her is a motley assortment of museum employees, each on the precipice of collapse or revelation --- among them a line cook staring down a huge opportunity he’s not sure he wants; a costume curator stuck in an inescapable rut; and the ambivalent curator of the museum’s film program, whose first day on the job might very well be his last. On this day of the museum’s annual gala, every plate that Diane has kept spinning will fall --- and by daybreak, someone will be dead.
About the Book
Coworkers at a legendary but troubled New York City museum struggle with issues large and small over the course of one extraordinary day in this whip-smart “marvel” (Mona Awad, bestselling author of BUNNY) of a novel in the vein of "The White Lotus."
When Diane Schwebe, the director of a major New York museum, is awakened in the early morning by a text message from the museum’s lawyer, it is the start of a 24-hour roller-coaster ride.
Diane has sacrificed many things in her life to help the fading institution stave off irrelevance and financial ruin. In this battle, she’s surrounded by her stalwart supporters: her enigmatic and tireless personal assistant, Chris; the museum’s trusty head of security, Shay; and its general counsel, Henry --- a man whose ability to weasel his way out of a jam is matched only by his capacity to avoid learning anything from the experience.
Orbiting her is a motley assortment of museum employees, each on the precipice of collapse or revelation --- among them a line cook staring down a huge opportunity he’s not sure he wants; a costume curator stuck in an inescapable rut; and the ambivalent curator of the museum’s film program, whose first day on the job might very well be his last.
On this day of the museum’s annual gala, every plate that Diane has kept spinning will fall --- and by daybreak, someone will be dead.
Wise, surprising and darkly funny, FRIENDS OF THE MUSEUM is a kaleidoscopic tragicomedy that surges along to the unstoppable tick of the clock, leaving you on the edge of your seat until the final second.
Audiobook available, read by Cassandra Campbell










