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Special Preview: Bookreporter.com's Summer Reading 2025

This Bookreporter.com SPECIAL PREVIEW Newsletter brings you a sneak peek at the titles that are included in our Summer Reading feature.

Each title below will be featured in a contest where you will have a 24-hour window of opportunity to enter for your chance to win a copy of the book being featured that day. You will need to act quickly! Learn more about the feature here.

We welcome back Mary Dixie Carter to our Mother’s Day Author Blog series. This time, she turns her attention to roses and why her mother was so fond of them. As a tribute to her mother, the titular character in Mary Dixie’s upcoming novel, MARGUERITE BY THE LAKE (which releases on May 20th), has a deep love of roses. The book is about the death of a glamorous garden designer, a widower trying to keep his secrets buried, and the beautiful young gardener who finds herself entangled in their lives.

Sarah Penner, author of The Amalfi Curse

Haven Ambrose, a trailblazing nautical archaeologist, has come to the sun-soaked village of Positano to investigate the mysterious shipwrecks along the Amalfi Coast. But she also is secretly on a quest to locate a trove of priceless gemstones her late father spotted on his final dive. Upon her arrival, strange maelstroms and misfortunes start plaguing the town. Is it nature or something more sinister at work? As Haven searches for her father’s sunken treasure, she begins to unearth a centuries-old tale of ancient sorcery and one woman’s quest to save her lover and her village by using the legendary art of stregheria, a magical ability to harness the ocean. Could this magic be behind Positano’s latest calamities? Haven must unravel the Amalfi Curse before the region is destroyed forever.

Jeremy Renner, author of My Next Breath: A Memoir

Two-time Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner was the second most googled person in 2023…and not for his impressive filmography. On New Year’s Day 2023, a 14,000-pound snowplow crushed him. Somehow able to keep breathing for more than half an hour, he was subsequently rushed to the ICU, after which he would face multiple surgeries and months of painful rehabilitation. In MY NEXT BREATH, Jeremy writes in blistering detail about his accident and the aftermath. This retelling is not merely a gruesome account of what happened to him; it’s a call to action and a forged companionship between reader and author as Jeremy recounts his recovery journey and reflects on the impact of his suffering.

Nita Prose, author of The Maid's Secret: A Maid Novel

As the esteemed Head Maid and Special Events Manager of the Regency Grand Hotel, two good things are just around the corner for Molly Gray --- a taping of the hit antiquities TV show “Hidden Treasures” and her wedding to Juan Manuel. When Molly brings in some old trinkets to be appraised on the show, one item is revealed to be a rare and coveted artifact worth millions. Molly becomes a rags-to-riches sensation, and a media frenzy swirls as she prepares to sell her priceless treasure. Then, on auction day, the treasure suddenly vanishes, and Molly and her friends find themselves at the center of the boldest art heist in recent memory. But the key to this mystery lies in the past, in a long-forgotten diary written by Molly’s Gran. For the first time ever, Molly learns about her grandmother’s secrets. As fate would have it, Gran’s greatest love was someone Molly knows quite well.

Joan Didion, author of Notes to John

In November 1999, Joan Didion began seeing a psychiatrist because, as she wrote to a friend, her family had had “a rough few years.” She described the sessions in a journal she created for her husband, John Gregory Dunne. For several months, Didion recorded conversations with the psychiatrist in meticulous detail. The initial sessions focused on alcoholism, adoption, depression, anxiety, guilt, and the heartbreaking complexities of her relationship with her daughter, Quintana. The subjects evolved to include her work, which she was finding difficult to maintain for sustained periods. There were discussions about her own childhood and the question of legacy, or, as she put it, “what it’s been worth.” The analysis would continue for more than a decade.

Editorial Content for The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Lorraine W. Shanley

Timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolution, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Rick Atkinson's nearly thousand-page account of the struggle between the Americans and the British offers a deeply researched and amazingly absorbing story.

"This extraordinary retelling is not for the casual reader, though it’s hard to imagine being in better hands than Atkinson’s."

Teaser

The first 21 months of the American Revolution --- which began at Lexington and ended at Princeton --- was the story of a ragged group of militiamen and soldiers fighting to forge a new nation. By the winter of 1777, the exhausted Continental Army could claim only that it had barely escaped annihilation by the world’s most formidable fighting force. Two years into the war, George III is as determined as ever to bring his rebellious colonies to heel. But the king’s task is now far more complicated. Fighting a determined enemy on the other side of the Atlantic has become ruinously expensive, and spies tell him that the French and Spanish are threatening to join forces with the Americans. Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson provides a riveting narrative covering the middle years of the Revolution.

Promo

The first 21 months of the American Revolution --- which began at Lexington and ended at Princeton --- was the story of a ragged group of militiamen and soldiers fighting to forge a new nation. By the winter of 1777, the exhausted Continental Army could claim only that it had barely escaped annihilation by the world’s most formidable fighting force. Two years into the war, George III is as determined as ever to bring his rebellious colonies to heel. But the king’s task is now far more complicated. Fighting a determined enemy on the other side of the Atlantic has become ruinously expensive, and spies tell him that the French and Spanish are threatening to join forces with the Americans. Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson provides a riveting narrative covering the middle years of the Revolution.

About the Book

In the second volume of the landmark American Revolution trilogy by the Pulitzer Prize-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE BRITISH ARE COMING, George Washington’s army fights on the knife edge between victory and defeat.

The first 21 months of the American Revolution --- which began at Lexington and ended at Princeton --- was the story of a ragged group of militiamen and soldiers fighting to forge a new nation. By the winter of 1777, the exhausted Continental Army could claim only that it had barely escaped annihilation by the world’s most formidable fighting force.

Two years into the war, George III is as determined as ever to bring his rebellious colonies to heel. But the king’s task is now far more complicated. Fighting a determined enemy on the other side of the Atlantic has become ruinously expensive, and spies tell him that the French and Spanish are threatening to join forces with the Americans.

Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson provides a riveting narrative covering the middle years of the Revolution. Stationed in Paris, Benjamin Franklin woos the French; in Pennsylvania, George Washington pleads with Congress to deliver the money, men and material he needs to continue the fight. In New York, General William Howe, the commander of the greatest army the British have ever sent overseas, plans a new campaign against the Americans --- even as he is no longer certain that he can win this searing, bloody war. The months and years that follow bring epic battles at Brandywine, Saratoga, Monmouth and Charleston, a winter of misery at Valley Forge, and yet more appeals for sacrifice by every American committed to the struggle for freedom.

Timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the Revolution, Atkinson’s brilliant account of the lethal conflict between the Americans and the British offers not only deeply researched and spectacularly dramatic history, but also a new perspective on the demands that a democracy makes on its citizens.

Audiobook available, read by Grover Gardner

Editorial Content for 2 Sisters Murder Investigations

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Individually, James Patterson and Candice Fox are outstanding thriller writers. Put them together, and the results are often something special. This time, their joint effort is 2 SISTERS MURDER INVESTIGATIONS, the second entry in their 2 Sisters Detective Agency Mystery series. Read More

Teaser

Rhonda and Barbara “Baby” Bird are half-sisters --- and full partners in their Los Angeles detective agency. They agree on nothing. Rhonda, a former attorney, takes a by-the-book approach to solving crimes, while teenage Baby relies on her street smarts. But when they take a controversial case of a loner whose popular wife has gone missing, they’re accused of being PIs who can’t tell a client from a killer. The Bird sisters share a late father, but not much else…except their willingness to fight. Fight the system. Fight for the underdog. Fight for the truth. If they can stop fighting each other long enough to work together.

Promo

Rhonda and Barbara “Baby” Bird are half-sisters --- and full partners in their Los Angeles detective agency. They agree on nothing. Rhonda, a former attorney, takes a by-the-book approach to solving crimes, while teenage Baby relies on her street smarts. But when they take a controversial case of a loner whose popular wife has gone missing, they’re accused of being PIs who can’t tell a client from a killer. The Bird sisters share a late father, but not much else…except their willingness to fight. Fight the system. Fight for the underdog. Fight for the truth. If they can stop fighting each other long enough to work together.

About the Book

James Patterson’s greatest crime-solving team since the Women’s Murder Club is the Bird Sisters. 

Rhonda and Barbara “Baby” Bird are half-sisters --- and full partners in their Los Angeles detective agency. They agree on nothing.

Rhonda, a former attorney, takes a by-the-book approach to solving crimes, while teenage Baby relies on her street smarts.

But when they take a controversial case of a loner whose popular wife has gone missing, they’re accused of being PIs who can’t tell a client from a killer.

The Bird sisters share a late father, but not much else…except their willingness to fight.

Fight the system. Fight for the underdog. Fight for the truth. If they can stop fighting each other long enough to work together.

Audiobook available, read by Mela Lee

Editorial Content for The Staircase in the Woods

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

“On Friday, June 5th, 1998, five teenagers went into the woods surrounding Highchair Rocks in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Only four of them came out.”

These words send a quick chill down the spine and open Chuck Wendig’s new work of literary horror, THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS. A number of thrillers have had similar plot construction, but none of them have devised a horrific blend of fantasy and supernatural elements to explain why one member of that party was never seen again. Read More

Teaser

Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what. Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere. One friend walks up --- and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears. Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy --- and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods.

Promo

Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what. Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere. One friend walks up --- and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears. Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy --- and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods.

About the Book

A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of THE BOOK OF ACCIDENTS.

Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

One friend walks up --- and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy --- and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods.

Audiobook available; read by Jay Myers, Amber Benson and Xe Sands

Editorial Content for How to Seal Your Own Fate

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

HOW TO SEAL YOUR OWN FATE is a worthy sequel to Kristen Perrin's debut novel, HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER. Because of the murder she solved in the first book, Annie Adams has inherited not only the grand estate of Gravesdown Manor in the scenic, idyllic village of Castle Knoll, England, but also the millions of pounds that accompanied it. She now lives in the manor alone and is often lonely. But it isn’t long before trouble comes knocking on her door. Read More

Teaser

Present day: Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune teller Peony Lane shares a cryptic message only hours before being found dead inside the locked Gravesdown Estate. Annie has no choice but to delve into the dark secrets of her new countryside home in order to find out just what Peony Lane was trying to warn her about. 1967: Teenage Frances Adams, Annie’s great aunt, finds herself caught between two men. Ford Gravesdown is one of the only remaining members of a family known for its wealth and dubious uses of power. Archie Foyle is a local who can’t hold down a job and lives above the village pub. But when Frances teams up with Archie to investigate the car crash that killed most of Ford's family, it quickly becomes clear that this was no accident.

Promo

Present day: Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune teller Peony Lane shares a cryptic message only hours before being found dead inside the locked Gravesdown Estate. Annie has no choice but to delve into the dark secrets of her new countryside home in order to find out just what Peony Lane was trying to warn her about. 1967: Teenage Frances Adams, Annie’s great aunt, finds herself caught between two men. Ford Gravesdown is one of the only remaining members of a family known for its wealth and dubious uses of power. Archie Foyle is a local who can’t hold down a job and lives above the village pub. But when Frances teams up with Archie to investigate the car crash that killed most of Ford's family, it quickly becomes clear that this was no accident.

About the Book

New York Times bestselling author Kristen Perrin is back and better than ever with her second Castle Knoll Murder Mystery.

Welcome to Castle Knoll, the idyllic English village home to a surprising number of murderers.

Present day: Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune teller Peony Lane shares a cryptic message only hours before being found dead inside the locked Gravesdown Estate. Annie has no choice but to delve into the dark secrets of her new countryside home in order to find out just what Peony Lane was trying to warn her about, before her brand new life comes crashing down around her.

1967: Teenage Frances Adams, Annie’s great aunt, finds herself caught between two men. Ford Gravesdown is one of the only remaining members of a family known for its wealth and dubious uses of power. Archie Foyle is a local who can’t hold down a job and lives above the village pub. But when Frances teams up with Archie to investigate the car crash that killed most of Ford's family, it quickly becomes clear that this was no accident --- hints of cover-ups, lies and betrayals abound. Just how far does the blackness creep through the heart of Castle Knoll? When Frances uncovers secrets kept by both Ford and Archie, she starts to wonder what exactly has she gotten herself into.

As Annie and Frances investigate two new mysteries spanning decades, they’ll unlock the next level of secrets held in Castle Knoll’s dark heart.

Audiobook available, read by Alexandra Dowling and Jessica Hayles