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—Michael Keefe, bookseller and author of ALL HER LOVED ONES, ENCODED

September 9, 2025

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of September 8th and September 15th 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 Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks feature for September, which includes Indie Next, LibraryReads, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, Oprah's Book Club, the PBS Books Readers Club, the "Read with Jenna" Book Club, Reese's Book Club, and the Target Book Club.

Explore the World of Marie Benedict with Your Book Group!

Marie Benedict is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction featuring iconic --- and often ignored --- women in history. Her books lead to fascinating discussions, especially among book groups, so we held a very special contest that immersed you in her world.

September 9, 2025

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we know people will be talking about this fall. Read more about it, and enter our Fall Reading Contest by Wednesday, September 10th at noon ET for a chance to win one of five copies of ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS by Hank Phillippi Ryan, which is now available and 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!

Clare Leslie Hall, author of Days You Were Mine

Luke and Hannah live a happy and stable life in London as they prepare for the arrival of their first child, Samuel. All his life, Luke has known he was adopted, but he’s never felt the need to seek out his birth mother --- until he becomes a father himself. His first encounter with Alice is surreal, a sharp prick that barely scratches the surface of a painful past that neither of them has fully confronted. Alice sinks into memories of her life as a young artist in 1970s London, and of her tragic whirlwind romance with an enigmatic musician who would become Luke’s father. Meanwhile, Luke spirals as he comes face to face with his feelings of abandonment that he worked so hard to bury. But at least Alice seems keen to make up for lost time by looking after Samuel --- until her doting grandmother act takes a sinister turn for the worse.

Sarah McCoy, author of Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely?

In 1969, 23-year-old starlet Lori Lovely shocks the world by ditching a promising film career to take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as a Benedictine nun. Gossip columnists and scandal sheets can’t get enough of the story. Why would such a beautiful girl take the veil? Did it have anything to do with the tragic death of her costar, heartthrob singer Lucas Wesley? In 1990, Lu Tibbott is under the gun to complete her senior thesis in modern American history. She decides to dig into a true 20th-century mystery and write about her aunt Lori, now the Mother Abbess at a cloistered convent in rural New England. Mother Lori has refused all requests for interviews --- until Lu arrives at the abbey with a tape recorder in hand. To her delight, Mother Lori announces she’s finally ready to talk...but only if Lu is truly ready to listen.

Christina Baker Kline, author of Please Don't Lie

Two years ago, Hayley Stone lost everything. First, her parents died in a devastating fire. Then, her sister overdosed, leaving Hayley alone and hounded by a media circus that turned her family’s tragedy into tabloid fodder. When her new husband suggests a fresh start in the Adirondacks, the promise of anonymity in an isolated mountain town feels like salvation. But the mountains hold darker secrets than she ever imagined. Her once-loving husband grows distant and volatile. The widow down the road keeps spewing vague accusations. Not even their new friends can help her shake the creeping sense that something is off. As winter edges closer, Hayley discovers that her sanctuary is anything but safe. In trying to escape her past, she may have run straight into something far more dangerous.

Editorial Content for The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

In 1978, Stephen King released a book that not only still resonates today but has lingered in my memory from the moment I first read it. As a huge fan of the horror genre, there are three novels that I call the Holy Trinity of end-of-the-world horror: King’s THE STAND, Robert McCammon’s SWAN SONG, and Dan Simmons’ CARRION COMFORT. This new collection, THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, serves as a tribute to King’s classic, which is the best of the trio. Read More

Teaser

Since its initial publication in 1978, THE STAND has been considered Stephen King’s seminal masterpiece of apocalyptic fiction. Generations of writers have been impacted by its dark yet ultimately hopeful vision of the end and new beginning of civilization, and its stunning array of characters. Now for the first time, King has fully authorized a return to the harrowing world of THE STAND through this original short story anthology as presented by award-winning authors and editors Christopher Golden and Brian Keene. Bringing together some of today’s greatest and most visionary writers, THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT features unforgettable, all-new stories set during and after (and some perhaps long after) the events of THE STAND.

Promo

Since its initial publication in 1978, THE STAND has been considered Stephen King’s seminal masterpiece of apocalyptic fiction. Generations of writers have been impacted by its dark yet ultimately hopeful vision of the end and new beginning of civilization, and its stunning array of characters. Now for the first time, King has fully authorized a return to the harrowing world of THE STAND through this original short story anthology as presented by award-winning authors and editors Christopher Golden and Brian Keene. Bringing together some of today’s greatest and most visionary writers, THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT features unforgettable, all-new stories set during and after (and some perhaps long after) the events of THE STAND.

About the Book

An original short story anthology based on master storyteller Stephen King’s #1 New York Times bestselling classic, THE STAND.

Since its initial publication in 1978, THE STAND has been considered Stephen King’s seminal masterpiece of apocalyptic fiction, with millions of copies sold and adapted twice for television. Although there are other extraordinary works exploring the unraveling of human society, none have been as influential as this iconic novel. Generations of writers have been impacted by its dark yet ultimately hopeful vision of the end and new beginning of civilization, and its stunning array of characters.

Now for the first time, Stephen King has fully authorized a return to the harrowing world of THE STAND through this original short story anthology as presented by award-winning authors and editors Christopher Golden and Brian Keene. Bringing together some of today’s greatest and most visionary writers, THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT features unforgettable, all-new stories set during and after (and some perhaps long after) the events of THE STAND --- brilliant, terrifying and painfully human tales that will resonate with readers everywhere as an essential companion to the classic, bestselling novel.

Featuring an introduction by Stephen King, a foreword by Christopher Golden, and an afterword by Brian Keene. Contributors include Wayne Brady and Maurice Broaddus, Poppy Z. Brite, Somer Canon, C. Robert Cargill, Nat Cassidy, V. Castro, Richard Chizmar, S. A. Cosby, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, Meg Gardiner, Gabino Iglesias, Jonathan Janz, Alma Katsu, Caroline Kepnes, Michael Koryta, Sarah Langan, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, Josh Malerman, Ronald Malfi, Usman T. Malik, Premee Mohamed, Cynthia Pelayo, Hailey Piper, David J. Schow, Alex Segura, Bryan Smith, Paul Tremblay, Catherynne M. Valente, Bev Vincent, Catriona Ward, Chuck Wendig, Wrath James White and Rio Youers.

Audiobook available, read by Sean Patrick Hopkins and Adenrele Ojo

Editorial Content for A Truce That Is Not Peace

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pauline Finch

When young Miriam Toews landed a job as the “traffic reporter and weather girl” for a tiny radio station in Manitoba, her name --- Miriam, too biblical; and Toews, how do you pronounce that? --- was an immediate non-starter. So during her brief broadcast career, she was known as Lisa Cook. Read More

Teaser

“Why do you write?” the organizer of a literary event in Mexico City asks Miriam Toews. Each attempted answer from Toews --- all of them unsatisfactory to the organizer --- surfaces new layers of grief, guilt and futility connected to her sister's suicide. She has been keeping up, she realizes, a decades-old internal correspondence, filling a silence she barely understands. And we, her readers, come to see that the question is as impossible to answer as deciding whether to live life as a comedy or a tragedy. Marking the first time that Toews has written her own life in nonfiction, A TRUCE THAT IS NOT PEACE explores the uneasy pact a writer makes with memory.

Promo

“Why do you write?” the organizer of a literary event in Mexico City asks Miriam Toews. Each attempted answer from Toews --- all of them unsatisfactory to the organizer --- surfaces new layers of grief, guilt and futility connected to her sister's suicide. She has been keeping up, she realizes, a decades-old internal correspondence, filling a silence she barely understands. And we, her readers, come to see that the question is as impossible to answer as deciding whether to live life as a comedy or a tragedy. Marking the first time that Toews has written her own life in nonfiction, A TRUCE THAT IS NOT PEACE explores the uneasy pact a writer makes with memory.

About the Book

Internationally bestselling author Miriam Toews' memoir of the will to write --- a work of disobedient memory, humor and exquisite craft set against a content-hungry, prose-stuffed society.

“Why do you write?” the organizer of a literary event in Mexico City asks Miriam Toews. Each attempted answer from Toews --- all of them unsatisfactory to the organizer --- surfaces new layers of grief, guilt and futility connected to her sister's suicide. She has been keeping up, she realizes, a decades-old internal correspondence, filling a silence she barely understands. And we, her readers, come to see that the question is as impossible to answer as deciding whether to live life as a comedy or a tragedy.

Marking the first time that Toews has written her own life in nonfiction, A TRUCE THAT IS NOT PEACE explores the uneasy pact a writer makes with memory. Wildly inventive yet masterfully controlled; slyly casual yet momentous; wrenching and joyful; hilarious and humane, this is Miriam Toews at her dazzling best, remaking her world and inventing an astonishing new literary form to contain it.

Audiobook available, read by Miriam Toews

Editorial Content for Five Found Dead

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

While Sulari Gentill’s latest novel is set in the modern era, it is clearly inspired and fueled by the Orient Express where Hercule Poirot once solved one of the most devious homicides of his career. Like Agatha Christie’s MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, FIVE FOUND DEAD features a locked-room mystery, a slew of suspects, and the addition of several sleuths to potentially solve the murders that haunt this trip from Paris to Istanbul. Read More

Teaser

Crime fiction author Joe Penvale has won the most brutal battle of his life. Now that he has finished his intense medical treatment, he and his twin sister, Meredith, are boarding the glorious Orient Express in Paris. Meredith hopes that the literary ghosts on the train will nudge Joe's muse awake, and he'll be inspired to write again. After their first evening spent getting to know some of their fellow travelers, Joe pulls out his laptop and opens a new document. The next morning, Joe and Meredith are shocked to witness that the cabin next door has become a crime scene. They soon find themselves caught up in an Agatha Christie-esque murder investigation. But when the steward guarding the crime scene is murdered, it marks the beginning of a killing spree that leaves five found dead --- and one still missing.

Promo

Crime fiction author Joe Penvale has won the most brutal battle of his life. Now that he has finished his intense medical treatment, he and his twin sister, Meredith, are boarding the glorious Orient Express in Paris. Meredith hopes that the literary ghosts on the train will nudge Joe's muse awake, and he'll be inspired to write again. After their first evening spent getting to know some of their fellow travelers, Joe pulls out his laptop and opens a new document. The next morning, Joe and Meredith are shocked to witness that the cabin next door has become a crime scene. They soon find themselves caught up in an Agatha Christie-esque murder investigation. But when the steward guarding the crime scene is murdered, it marks the beginning of a killing spree that leaves five found dead --- and one still missing.

About the Book

On a train, there are only so many places to hide.

Crime fiction author Joe Penvale has won the most brutal battle of his life. Now that he has finished his intense medical treatment, he and his twin sister, Meredith, are boarding the glorious Orient Express in Paris, hoping for some much-needed rest and rejuvenation. Meredith also hopes that the literary ghosts on the train will nudge Joe's muse awake, and he'll be inspired to write again. And he is. After their first evening spent getting to know some of their fellow travelers, Joe pulls out his laptop and opens a new document. It seems like this trip is just what the doctor ordered.

And then some. The next morning, Joe and Meredith are shocked to witness that the cabin next door has become a crime scene, bathed in blood but with no body in sight. The pair soon find themselves caught up in an Agatha Christie-esque murder investigation. Without any help from the authorities, and with the victim still not found, Joe and Meredith are asked to join a group of fellow passengers with law enforcement backgrounds to look into the mysterious disappearance of the man in Cabin16G. But when the steward guarding the crime scene is murdered, it marks the beginning of a killing spree which leaves five found dead --- and one still missing. Now Joe and Meredith must fight once again to preserve their newfound future and to catch a cunning killer before they reach the end of the line.

USA Today bestselling author Sulari Gentill brings readers on a heart-pounding ride filled with intrigue, suspense and literary charm in FIVE FOUND DEAD, perfect for fans of twisty mysteries and books about books.

Audiobook available, read by Katherine Littrell and Eden Gabay