Read our latest staff reviews and recommendations featured in The Southern Bookseller Review.
This sweet found family story will hit you right in the feels! Iris has always been the misfit in her family of energy vampires (literally) with no powers to speak of, never fitting in and unsure if her place in the world. But when her great aunt passed and leaves Iris her house, she slowly begins finding her way in the world as she starts taking in boarders. But it’s not all perfect. Her nosy neighbor finds fault with everything she does and is determined to see her fail. But Iris’s found family of lovable roommates will do everything in their power to keep them all together.
The Only Purple House in Town by Ann Aguirre, (List Price: 16.99, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 9781728262499, July 2023)
Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia
McDowell hits it out of the park with her new novel about an American stranded in London and the crown prince on the run from his family…all while a massive comet is about to land on earth, destroying everyone in 10 short days! The action is non stop, the banter is witty, and the prince is swoony. You won’t be disappointed in this one!
The Prince & The Apocalypse by Kara McDowell, (List Price: 12, Wednesday Books, 9781250873064, July 2023)
Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia
Blythe Roberson is a 28 year old writer and comedian who quits her job to take The Great American Road Trip alone beginning in the spring of 2019. In a borrowed Prius, she drives cross-country to National Parks to earn Junior Ranger Badges and to share her experiences with her Instagram followers and readers of this book. Along the road with Blythe, all readers experience the beauty of the natural parks, her humor about life and love, and her despair with Trump politics and devastating climate change. We hear her questions about her future and the future of this country and the world. While writing about Emerson, Dickinson and Thoreau, many thoughts are shared about traveling while being a solo woman with fears and loneliness and feeling horny. Riding each mile with this humorous and thoughtful woman, all readers will reflect about the meaning of life and our freedoms. Are we all living our lives to the fullest? Surely this book will linger in the minds of all readers as we decide how to spend our minutes of our days….do you need a solo road trip?
America the Beautiful? by Blythe Roberson, (List Price: 30, Harper, 9780063273405, July 2023)
Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser, Inc. in Marietta, Georgia
Best’s debut novel brings the action and the intrigue and I am hooked! Cass is barely getting by, running cons on her dusty planet while taking care of her ailing father. But when she finds out about the ball being held to announce the emperor’s heir, she knows it’s her chance to score big and maybe get them off planet to somewhere healthier for her father. But things don’t go as planned when she finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation…as the prime suspect.
Stars, Hide Your Fires by Jessica Best, (List Price: 18.99, Quirk Books, 9781683693512, July 2023)
Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia
Hayley Kiyoko adds author to her list of accomplishments with Girls Like Girls, based on her hit song and video of the same name. Coley has had to move away from her home in California to live with the father she barely remembers after her mother’s death. But things feel bleak for her as she tries to make new friends and deal with her father. She doesn’t want to be there and she’s convinced he doesn’t want her there either.
Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko, (List Price: 20, Wednesday Books, 9781250817631, May 2023)
Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia
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