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Vernice and Annie, best friends and loyal companions since infancy, leave their hometown of Honeysuckle, Louisiana, on very different life trajectories. Jones vividly describes their journeys, allowing the reader to feel deeply each of the bumps along the road as Vernice attends Spelman College in Atlanta and Annie desperately seeks to establish a relationship with her birth mother in Memphis. The powerful bond these friends maintain across the miles and the years reminds us that we don’t have to be biologically related in order to be “kin.”

Kin by Tayari Jones, (List Price: $32, Knopf, 9780525659181, February 2026)

Reviewed by Burch, Righton Books in St Simons Island, Georgia

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I loveeee an emotionally stunted man and a stubborn woman….. Especially when they start to fall for each other and end up being a powerhouse couple. For sure looking forward to whatever Maggie puts out next!

Fire Line by Maggie Gates, (List Price: $19, Berkley, 9780593955963, March 2026)

Reviewed by Fiona, Givens Books & Little Dickens in Lynchburg, Virginia

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What a fantastic novel! I finished this book last week, and I am STILL thinking about it. This is such an important story about daughters without mothers. Tayari’s writing pulls you in the moment you begin the story. My heart and soul went out to Vernice and Annie. Seeing them attempt to conquer life and find love while searching for a mother’s love captures you from beginning to end. A story about the complexities of female relationships, especially among Black women. I cannot wait to put this book into as many hands as possible.

Kin by Tayari Jones, (List Price: $32, Knopf, 9780525659181, February 2026)

Reviewed by Kala Saxon, M. Judson Booksellers in Greenville, South Carolina

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Between the World and Me” is an honest, raw love letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his fifteen-year-old son, Samori. The six-chapter letter was conceived after Coates watched his son’s heartache at the announcement that there would be no charges filed against Darren Wilson, the police officer who killed unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Coates reveals his own fears for his son and his frustrations with the world the boy is growing up in. He writes about the many senseless murders of black men; men who would still be alive if it weren’t for their black bodies. Coates tells his son, “You have every right to be you. And no one should deter you from being you. You have to be you. And you can never be afraid to be you.” Except the last sentence contradicts the world in which we live. Because Coates is afraid, both for his son and himself, but also of the world in which they live. The word body is repeated excessively in his letter. It is an insightful and persuasive argument that, first and foremost, we are a body. We are a body before any other distinguishing markers or features, and they embody a state of blackness. While this revelation isn’t new, the way Coates strings together his argument so elegantly causes one to pause and contemplate. His contrasts between human ideals and the stark realities of life rooted in racism are raw and painful. I found myself comparing this letter to Isabel Wilkerson’s masterpiece, Caste. While Coates points out the ways black bodies have been mistreated, his letter doesn’t provide the depth of contemplation and assessment that Wilkerson’s excellent work did.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, (List Price: $20, One World, 9780812983814, June 2025)

Reviewed by Nichole, Bodacious Bookstore and Cafe in Pensacola, Florida

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Reflecting on the real progress gained over the past 75 years through the American Indigenous Movement, the antinuclear movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the LGBTQ and feminist movements, and others, Rebecca Solnit grounds the ever-relevant argument against despair she began in Hope in the Dark 20 years ago. A must-read duo for resisting the hopelessness that so threatens continuing the vital work of bringing a better world into being.

The Beginning Comes After the End by Rebecca Solnit, (List Price: $16.95, Haymarket Books, 9798888904510, March 2026)

Reviewed by Megan, The Underground Bookshop in Carrollton, Georgia

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Maria Popova once again illuminates how science and poetry have reckoned with “the bewilderment of being alive” while reconnoitering truths of the body, soul, spirit, and space, all through the intertwining loves, lives, and labors of visionaries like Mary Shelley, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, Ruth Benedict, and others. Popova writes brilliant, fluid, lively nonfiction—like floating down a river of science, poetry, history, and stars.

Traversal by Maria Popova, (List Price: $36, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 9780374616410, February 2026)

Reviewed by Megan, The Underground Bookshop in Carrollton, Georgia

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That was an absolutely wild ride that I wish I could do all over again. Lost Girls of Hollow Lake is a fantastic addition to the emerging YA horror-thriller genre. I’m generally pretty proud of the fact that horror doesn’t get to me and that it takes a lot to get under my skin, but this book REALLY got to me at some points. The gore descriptions were especially potent and made me squirm in a way no other book has. There’s one scene later on in the story that I had to read through squinted eyes as if it were a movie I needed to watch through my fingers, and I love that I had such a strong reaction. The lore and legend surrounding the island the girls were stranded on were so deeply unsettling that I felt a sense of genuine dread whenever I’d get to a point in the novel where it was time to learn more about it. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the island itself was very much the main character, which is why its history and mythology were so alluring. Additionally, I loved the point-of-view character, Evie, and had a lot of fun inside her head. She’s so funny in this biting, caustic way that endeared me to her very quickly. And the sapphic relationship that blooms within the terror is beautiful and complicated and filled with the perfect amount of yearning–not too much, not too little. Finally, the mystery entwined with the dread and terror was so effective. I was turning pages so quickly that I’d glance at the page numbers and wonder where 70 pages went. Even though I’d say the story overall falls more in line with horror than mystery, the back-and-forth between whodunnit and “what the heck happened on that island???” was gripping. An absolutely stellar debut perfect for anyone who loves to stay up late and scare themselves silly with ghost stories that blend seamlessly into nightmares.

Lost Girls of Hollow Lake by Rebekah Faubion, (List Price: $19.99, Delacorte Press, 9780593900437, January 2026)

Reviewed by Abigail, E. Shaver, Booksellers in Savannah, Georgia

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Everything Alicia D. Williams does is gorgeous, and this picture book is no exception. The illustrations are phenomenal, and the message of a young girl’s strength and the power of music and community is exceptional. Loved it!

Nani and the Lion by Alicia D. Williams, (List Price: $19.99, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 9781665914222, February 2026)

Reviewed by Alissa, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina

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I love this story. Bartleby marches to his own drum, and his class gives him room to be himself and welcomes him on his own terms when he is ready to show warmth to them in his own way. Compelling and told through conversation, storytelling, and through the color scheme of the pictures to convey feelings, this book is a winner!

Bartleby by Matt Phelan, (List Price: $18.99, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 9780374393557, March 2026)

Reviewed by Kimberly, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina