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America the Beautiful? by Blythe Roberson

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America the Beautiful? by Blythe Roberson
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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

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Stars, Hide Your Fires by Jessica Best

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Stars, Hide Your Fires by Jessica Best
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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

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Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

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Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko
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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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Alone in the Great Unknown by Caroll Simpson

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Alone in the Great Unknown by Caroll Simpson
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Caroll Simpson and her husband David totally fell in love with a remote fly-in/boat-in fishing lodge named Ookpik Wilderness Lodge on Babine Lake in British Columbia and decided to buy it. With unbelievable beauty and natural wildlife, some of their life was a magical dream. They lived totally off-grid for two years until tragedy struck and David died. Would Caroll be able to live and maintain the lodge solo? She had amazing parents—her father, “a strong and powerful force in my life,” and her mother, “was the current that moved the river.” Besides having to fight off grizzlies and vicious pine martens, this awe-inspiring woman had to deal with logging issues and shattering deforestation in her watershed. She spent years battling loggers and proposed mining operations. This is a love story—a love of the wilderness and the astonishing natural beauty and the love of her dogs and being able to survive alone with only her own grit and determination. What an astonishing woman and what an amazing book! Unforgettable.

Alone in the Great Unknown by Caroll Simpson, (List Price: 22.95, Harbour Publishing, 9781550179941, April 2023)

Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser, Inc. in Marietta, Georgia

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No Perfect Places by Steven Salvatore

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No Perfect Places by Steven Salvatore
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Another new book by Salvatore and another five-star read. They’re three for three with this reader! Twins Alex and Olly lost a lot when their father went to prison. Their mom works all the time at three jobs, and most of their friends abandoned them. But they’re keeping together. At least, until their dad dies. Suddenly Alex is spiraling and Olly doesn’t know how to help her. Add in the complication of a half-brother they knew nothing about and it’s a recipe for disaster. Can they pull themselves out of this mess before one or all of them self-destruct?

No Perfect Places by Steven Salvatore, (List Price: 19.99, Bloomsbury YA, 9781547611072, May 2023)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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While You Were Dreaming by Alisha Rai

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While You Were Dreaming by Alisha Rai
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Alisha Rai tackles YA in her new RomCom about a teen who goes viral for saving her crush, but is desperate to remain anonymous. You’ve got a love triangle and some fake dating! What’s not to like? Sonia just wants to lay low. Her mom has been deported and Sonia is determined to fly under the radar. But when cosplaying for an event, she sees her crush fall into the water and dives in to save him. Injured, Sonia flees when two others appear to help. The last thing she needs is police involvement.

While You Were Dreaming by Alisha Rai, (List Price: $19.99, Quill Tree Books, 9780063083967, March 2023)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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If I Can Give You That by Michael Gray Bulla

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If I Can Give You That by Michael Gray Bulla
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If I Can Give You That is a heartbreaking debut from Michael Gray Bulla covering a variety of issues that will tear at your heartstrings. Gael is a high school senior that’s used to keeping to himself. But when his best friend finally convinced him to go to a local group for LGBTQIA teens, he finds himself finally making some more friends. But that doesn’t come without difficulties, especially with his father back in his life and his mother’s problems.

If I Can Give You That by Michael Gray Bulla, (List Price: 19.99, Quill Tree Books, 9780063091702, February 2023)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Planning Perfect by Haley Neil

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Planning Perfect by Haley Neil
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This sweet romcom about a girl on the asexual spectrum who tries to plan her mom’s location wedding in Vermont without spiraling out will be just what you’re looking for as a wonderful summer read. Felicity has had a rough time of it. After the incident last year, she’s trying to get back on track with a prime position at her favorite school club. But when her mom gets engaged, she throws all her energy into planning the perfect wedding. And maybe she can connect more with a friend from the summer that she may or may not have a crush on!

Planning Perfect by Haley Neil, (List Price: $19.99, Bloomsbury YA, 9781547607495, February 2023)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Begin Again by Emma Lord

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Begin Again by Emma Lord
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A January 2023 Read This Next! Title

Emma Lord brings the feels in her new novel, Begin Again. Andie didn’t get into her first choice college with her boyfriend, but she has a plan. She works really hard and ends up getting in as a transfer student after her first semester at community college. The problem is that she planned her transfer as a surprise for her boyfriend….who did the same thing, transferring to the school Andie WAS at.

Begin Again by Emma Lord (List Price: $18.99, Wednesday Books, 9781250783363, January 2023)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Beatrice Likes the Dark by April Genevieve Tucholke

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Beatrice Likes the Dark by April Genevieve Tucholke
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What a beautiful unfolding of sisterly love! Beatrice Likes the Dark reinforces the wisdom so difficult to impart on young hearts: It is what makes us uniquely different, that also makes us uniquely lovable. The book is sitting on my Grandma shelf–ready to share with my own darlings.

Beatrice Likes the Dark by April Genevieve Tucholke (List Price: $18.95, Algonquin Young Readers, 9781643751573, September 2022)

Reviewed by Annell Gerson, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson

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Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson
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Stevie’s back to solve a new mystery, this time at a country manor in England! Johnson delves right back into Stevie’s world as she navigates her way through a 27-year-old murder and a current disappearance. Stevie’s at loose ends as she’s almost halfway through her senior year. She doesn’t know what she wants to do after high school, and she misses her boyfriend. But when David invites Stevie and her friends to spend a week in England, they immediately develop a plan to get the headmaster to let them go as an educational experience. Once they get there, the mystery finds Stevie, and she’s off.

Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson (List Price: $19.99, Katherine Tegen Books, 9780063032651, December 2022)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green

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Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green
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This crazy, madcap YA novel is just the thing you’re looking for! Nate and Jack used to be the best of friends. But after Jack came out, they drifted apart. Now they’re at prom and they’ve just discovered that their boyfriends are cheating on them…with each other. So they decide to team up and make the most fabulous, jealousy-inducing social media account of the summer to make their exes jealous. But that turns out to be a little tougher than they thought.

Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green (List Price: $18.99, Clarion Books, 9780358617259, December 2022)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow

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How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow
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This is the book I, a Jewish lesbian nerd with bushy hair and a love of corgis, needed as a teen. How to Excavate a Heart has all of the tropes us hopeless romantics love- a meet-cute, enemies-to-lovers, and kissing in the snow. It also has really great advice that teenage me would’ve benefited from: your partner should add to your life, but they shouldn’t be your whole life. There’s so much beauty in the world, and part of that can be your kind of mean, hot Jewish girlfriend, but she doesn’t need to be all of it! Besides the invaluable lessons in the book, the love story is compelling and well-paced, and sweet. Shani and May are learning about themselves and love and how to deal with parents and fish fossils together, which is what love is really about. Fill yourself with holiday cheer and read this book!

How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow (List Price: $18.99, HarperTeen, 9780063078727, November 2022)

Julia Hirschfield from Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

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Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
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Olafdottir takes us to Iceland a few days before Christmas where a midwife, Domhildur, has just delivered her 1,922nd baby. She comes from a long line of midwives on her mother’s side and her father’s family work as undertakers. Her family deals with beginnings and endings, life and death, and sunlight and darkness. “I have come to the conclusion that the one who calls himself the master of all creatures is in fact the most vulnerable of all animals…the most fragile of the fragile on the planet.” These words, written by Domhildur’s great-aunt, are discovered in some manuscripts left in a closet after her death. Domhildur reads her great-aunt’s reflections on humans, life, and loves, while a storm is moving into Reykjavik. Will the prediction in these pages come to be reality? Will mankind be “the most short-lived species on earth”?

Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir (List Price: $17, Grove Press, Black Cat, 9780802160164, December 2022)

Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Hemlock Hollow by Culley Holderfield

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Hemlock Hollow by Culley Holderfield
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Culley Holderfield writes poetically about the magical mountain hollow where we meet Caroline Mc Alister as she mourns her father and her marriage. A college professor, Caroline has just discovered that her deceased father has bequeathed her the family cabin—the cabin which has always haunted her. While restoring the old cabin she finds a century-old journal written by Carson Quinn and the mystery it reveals about the death of his brother haunts her too. This novel has so many facets: Leprechauns and Emerson and Darwin and Socrates and religion and love and death are all found in its pages. The main character is an archaeoastronomy professor and is studying the Grand Octal! This is the most fascinating novel I have read all year and is perfect for a bookclub discussion. I can’t recommend it highly enough as a page-turner that will stay with and haunt the reader.

Hemlock Hollow by Culley Holderfield (List Price: $18.95, Regal House Publishing, 9781646032860, December 2022)

Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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