Flyleaf Books

Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess

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Everything's Fine by Cecilia Rabess
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This one’s complicated. I picked it up with the expectation that I’d read just enough to confirm my guess that it’d be too cringey to stomach – because it’s about a liberal Black woman and a moderate-to-conservative white man who fall in love. But I quickly found that this book is NOT a romance, at least not in any genre sense. There’s romance in it, and certainly some heady chemistry, but it’s way more nuanced than that. Through the lens of this problematic relationship (which will spike your blood pressure and keep it high, I promise), Rabess interrogates identity–both individual and in-group–in a really brilliant, intensely readable, morally complex way.

The big question here is: can someone’s care for you as an individual outweigh their lack of understanding/care for you as a member of an identity group? How does complicity in systems of power–the main character works in finance–play a role in that determination? It’s extremely tangled, and Rabess doesn’t provide answers. Just really adept storytelling.

Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess, (List Price: 27.99, Simon & Schuster, 9781982187705, June 2023)

Reviewed by Talia Smart, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Summer Is for Cousins by Rajani LaRocca

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They Hate Each Other by Amanda Woody
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I still fondly remember the summers spent with my cousins; playing at the beach, board games, sharing secrets under the covers, and of course the ice cream. Growing up my favorite person in the entire world was my older cousin Michael. And I always worried that the next time we saw each other, he would have forgotten me and all the memories I treasured. But just like Michael and I, Dhruv and Ravi understand each other. This book wonderfully captures the whimsy of childhood summers, the distance that comes from being apart, and the moments that matter.

Summer Is for Cousins by Rajani LaRocca, (List Price: 17.99, Abrams Books for Young Readers, 9781419757334, May 2023)

Reviewed by Jamie Kovacs, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

The Only Daughter by A.B. Yehoshua

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The Only Daughter by A.B. Yehoshua
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To me, Rachele’s journey feels as if it has no defined end, and that’s a good thing. It starts as she leaves class for Christmas holidays, but every new interaction feels like a new adventure. Yet, those adventures are all short, ending within our gaze. Combined, they display life as Rachele is experiencing it as a young, well-off, Jewish girl in post-WWII Italy. The journeys that others are on will continue, but not within the understanding of our protagonist. A quick, introspective read that dives into the consciousness of a child in an unfamiliar time and place.

The Only Daughter by A.B. Yehoshua, (List Price: 26.99, HarperVia, 9780358670445, April 2023)

Reviewed by Jamie Kovacs, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Ramen for Everyone by Patricia Tanumihardja

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Ramen for Everyone by Patricia Tanumihardja
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A March 2023 Read This Next! Title

Ramen for Everyone beautifully depicts the bond food represents to Hiro and his family. Hiro learns that perfect isn’t always the same for everyone, and that what he can cook is just as wonderful as his dad’s recipe.

Ramen for Everyone by Patricia Tanumihardja, (List Price: $18.99, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 9781665904353, February 2023)

Reviewed by Jamie Kovacs, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Forager by Michelle Dowd

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Forager by Michelle Dowd
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The subconscious and conscious manipulations of cult mentality have been studied and discussed many times over. These accounts often come from those closest to cult leaders: family members, close confidants, and in this case, grandchildren. Dowd walks us through her childhood, chapter introductions mimicking a guide for living the way she and the Mountain do. (Note: she does specifically state that this book is not intended, nor should it be used, as a guide for foraging). Her connection to nature and its usefulness in her life is evident in how she writes.

Forager by Michelle Dowd, (List Price: 28, Algonquin Books, 9781643751856, March 2023)

Reviewed by Jamie Kovacs, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Black Country Music by Francesca T. Royster

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Black Country Music by Anne Wynter
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Country music encompasses so much more than one would be led to believe by what’s being promoted and by what has been written and rewritten about countless times. Thankfully, Francesca Royster’s new book tells the story of Black songwriters/performers/fans in the white male-dominated world of popular country music. It’s a history that has been obscured, hidden, white-washed, overlooked and outright denied for way too long. This is a really fantastic and inspiring book that opens up a whole new world of country and folk music. If you think you know it all you don’t!

Black Country Music by Francesca T. Royster, (List Price: $24.95, University of Texas Press, 9781477326497, January 2023)

Reviewed by Colin Sneed, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

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Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
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A January 2023 Read This Next! Title

This novel will rob you of hours from your life, it will rob you of the need for food or company or sleep. Time the reading of the first pages wisely; you’ll have a sudden need to find a comfy spot where you can commune with these characters and their lush stories of pleasure and pain. A mashup of American Psycho, Scarface and The Great Gatsby but set in contemporary India, it’s all but impossible to look away from this dazzling train wreck orchestrated by Deepti Kapoor. I was consumed by this novel.

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor (List Price: $30, Riverhead Books, 9780593328798, January 2023)

Reviewed by Jamie Fiocco, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski

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What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski
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Reading this book made me step back, rethink my middle school days, and want to wrap my younger self in a hug. Such a tough story, told in such a way where even though the reader and the main character don’t know the full story, you know more than the main character. You are seeing their final report, not just her findings, as she is investigating.

What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski (List Price: $16.99, Quill Tree Books, 9780063213098, January 2023)

Reviewed by Jamie Kovacs, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat

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The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat
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Christina Soontornvat’s graphic memoir depicts the challenges & joys of middle school life as a Thai-American in Texas centering around her dream of making the school’s cheer squad. For fans of Victoria Jamieson’s Roller Girl, Jerry Craft’s New Kid or any of Raina Telgemeier’s many graphic novels.

The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat (List Price: $24.99, Graphix,, 9781338741308, November 2022)

Reviewed by Elese Stutts, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

The Sorcerer of Pyongyang by Marcel Theroux

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The Sorcerer of Pyongyang by Marcel Theroux
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Jun-su, a young boy living through the brutality of the North Korean Famine, comes across a copy of the Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide and falls deeply in love with the worlds he can now create, enormously different from the life he’s used to under Kim Jong-il. The strange book’s cover and themes land him in a brutal prison camp where he has to fight to stay alive and try to hold on to himself in the face of totalitarianism. A well-researched, well-written and beautifully told portrait of a kid growing up different in 1990s North Korea trying to do more than survive.

The Sorcerer of Pyongyang by Marcel Theroux (List Price: $26.99, Atria Books, 9781668002667, November 2022)

Reviewed by Colin Sneed, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

The Insomniacs by Marit Weisenberg

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The Insomniacs by Marit Weisenberg
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The Insomniacs combines the mystery of amnesia with the thrill of a reignited friendship. Ingrid, the main character, works to figure out what she’s missing and how to solve her sudden insomnia in this twisting story. Vance, her best friend from years ago, reconnects. An intriguing read with an unexpected ending. This book explores the uncertainty and depth of relationships along with trauma. In the setting of a high schooler’s life. Overall, a super interesting read!

The Insomniacs by Marit Weisenberg, (List Price: $11.99, Flatiron Books, 9781250257376, October 2022)

Reviewed by Kaylin, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet

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Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
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Fab. a. suspenseful page-turner; b. hilariously cringey; c. who doesn’t need therapy including your therapist? d. elegantly creepy; e. a novel perfect for these times but set in those times.

Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet, (List Price: $17.95, Biblioasis, 9781771965200, November 2022)

Reviewed by Erica Eisdorfer, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

The Problem with the Other Side by Kwame Ivery

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The Problem with the Other Side by Kwame Ivery
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Uly and Sallie don’t let their differing races (or anything, for that matter) get in the way of their relationship. That is, until the school election rolls around and they find themselves working against each other to benefit their siblings’ opposing campaigns, one of which is built of a bigotry capable of tearing Uly and Sallie–and the entire school–apart. Ivery has managed to craft the perfect mix of funny humor and serious social justice in this engaging read. His entertaining writing style brings Uly and Sallie to life in their dual perspectives. If you’re looking for a lighthearted contemporary read which doesn’t fail to highlight the racial and social injustices that continue to plague our nation, look no further than The Problem With the Other Side.

The Problem with the Other Side by Kwame Ivery, (List Price: $10.99, Soho Teen, 9781641293549, August 2022)

Reviewed by Ethan, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah

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Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah
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Here’s how you take a great sin–maybe The great sin–and particularize it so that our minds can grasp it. The Germans and the British and the Portuguese and the Dutch (and now, of course, the US and China and ad nauseam)–all of these governments have, at one time or another, wanted to get their hands on Africa–really get in there–all the way in–and do what they want to it. Gurnah and his magical Nobel Prize-winning pen tells us the story of a family battered by the complexities of colonialism and their risings and fallings and re-risings. Deep, satisfying, horrifying, wonderful.

Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah, (List Price: $28, Riverhead Books, 9780593541883, August 2022)

Reviewed by Erica Eisdorfer, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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