Georgia Bookstores

These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall

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These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall
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I absolutely adore beautifully written horror. There’s something amazing about taking something that should be absolutely terrifying and finding a way to write it so beautifully that it could be poetry. Yet despite the beautiful prose, I was still chilled to my bones. These Fleeting Shadows was dripping with beautiful pain and chills. This is the perfect release to snuggle up with on a dark and foggy night, but only if you’re sure your house is safe from everything that might go bump in the shadows. Helen and her family are well written as well as intriguing.

These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall, (List Price: $18.99, Viking Books for Young Readers, 9780593405116, August 2022)

Reviewed by Katlin Kerrison, Story on the Square in McDonough, Georgia

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Essential Labor by Angela Garbes

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Essential Labor by Angela Garbes
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Essential Labor is incredibly timely, but it opens up a timeless approach to mothering as catalyst for change. Speaking from both her experience as a daughter of Filipino immigrants and as a mother, Garbes explores the small, gentle ways we can nudge the dominant narrative, opening a wider world to our children. The Covid-19 pandemic brought down capitalism’s illusory curtain separating labor and the home, yet little changed in societal terms. Garbes argues that the invisible labor that women, mostly BIPOC women, do in the home is the most essential work there is—and that if we embrace a more communal, interdependent, caring way of living, we can make this work not just pleasurable but revolutionary. This is an essential book—it’s challenging, it’s bold, it’s a call to action.

Essential Labor by Angela Garbes, (List Price: $25.99, Harper Wave, 9780062937360, May 2022)

Reviewed by Hannah DeCamp of Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Paradais by Fernanda Melchor

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Paradais by Fernanda Melchor
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A feral parable on the violence of racism, misandry, and class from a preeminent, new voice of contemporary Mexican literature. Melchor’s style in Paradais is writhing and slippery, capturing not only a portrait of desperation but the ugliness of the toxic thread that runs through the underside of our collective psyche.

Paradais by Fernanda Melchor, (List Price: $19.95, New Directions, 9780811231329, April 2022)

Reviewed by Luis Correa from Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power

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In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power
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In this Greek-inspired fantasy, the adult debut of Wilder Girls author Rory Power, families rule with the power of saints or gods, and siblings find themselves on opposing sides of a brewing war. The world building was very unique and interesting to me, and I would recommend for fans of court politics in their fantasy.

In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power, (List Price: $27, Del Rey, 9780593354971, May 2022)

Reviewed by Megan Bell from Underground Books in Carrollton, Georgia

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The Problem with Prophecies by Scott Reintgen

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The Problem with Prophecies by Scott Reintgen
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A May 2022 Read This Next! Selection

When Celia Cleary “comes of age” in her magical family, she inherits a gift for prophecy–and all the problems that come with it. While The Problem with Prophecies raises questions about fate, free will, and magic, it is at its core a sweet story about family, friendship, and first crushes. Scott Reintgen writes insightfully about the liminal space between childhood and adolescence.

The Problem with Prophecies by Scott Reintgen, (List Price: $17.99, Aladdin, 9781665903578, May 2022)

Reviewed by Heather Jeziorowski from Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia

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The Prince of Nowhere by Rochelle Hassan

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The Prince of Nowhere by Rochelle Hassan
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I finished this book in three days, and it did NOT feel like it took me that amount of time. It felt like time stood still as I read through the whole book, which I guess in kind of ironic, considering the book’s themes.I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were well written and captivating. The world was both mysterious and filled to the brim with lore. And the themes hit hard and were still realistic; I truly believed in every characters motivation and cause.I would happily read a sequel or prequel to this book, or even something entirely unrelated, if it was from this author. The way the world was described and the author’s writing style was both unique and perfectly fitting for this book. A wonderful read, and I would gladly spend my time reading this book again!

The Prince of Nowhere by Rochelle Hassan, (List Price: $16.99, HarperCollins, 9780063054608, May 2022)

Reviewed by Mandolin Moore, Story on the Square in McDonough, Georgia

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The Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner

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The Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner
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A delightful read about the unbreakable resolve women must have in order to overcome adversity and thrive!

This novel is a follow-up  to The Jane Austen Society but can be read as a stand alone. The story follows three women who all end up working at Bloomsbury Bookstore in London. All three have faced failure and adversity, but find comfort and strength at Bloomsbury Books. As the story unfolds, readers find how each woman ended up at the store, and how each one begins to change after the store manger suffers a heart attack and is rendered homebound for a few weeks. During his convalescence, the women work together to have one of the most successful events and more sales than the store has ever seen.

Once the manager returns, however, things go back to the same mundane events and the store suffers a sharp decline in sales. Meanwhile, one of the women has found a rare, first edition book that she’s been searching for since her days at University. This discovery allows the women the leverage they need to improve their lives and allow them to bring the store to its full potential.

The Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner, (List Price: $27.99, St. Martin’s Press, 9781250276698,  May 2022)

Reviewed by Sharon Davis, Book Bound Bookstore in Blairsville, Georgia

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She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott

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She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott
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Alex and Molly have grown up in two very different worlds, but they have one big thing in common: neither has any friends. But they’re both starting at the same college and both are determined to change, though for very different reasons. Alex’s girlfriend says Alex is afraid to let anyone in and won’t confess her true feelings. Molly has always been a big ball of anxiety, but has had a four year crush on a girl from her high school who just so happens to be going to the same college. Molly and Alex dislike each other, but they need the other to reach their goals. Overall, this was a very fun, sweet story that simultaneously deals with some heavy issues. I loved it!

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott, (List Price: $18.99, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 9781534493797,  April 2022)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen

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When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen
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This collection is like a candy bag of sweets that will delight you with bright colors, textures, flavors, and then wash over you with strange childhood nostalgia and pucker the sore parts of your cheeks. Swinging from trivialities like ad jingles and jumping on trampolines to deep observations about love, family, and identity, these poems are able to sweep the highs and lows, silly and serious into folded notes you can keep in your pockets like confetti for all occasions.

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen, (List Price: $16, BOA Editions Ltd., 9781942683339,  April 2017)

Reviewed by Julie Jarema from Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Faithful and Virtuous Night by Louise Glück

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Faithful and Virtuous Night by Louise Glück
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I don’t even know where to start with this one. Louise Gluck is just a master, and I kind of feel like that’s all there is to say about it. The technical precision and emotional brilliance she has in this collection is astounding. A poet truly deserving of the Nobel Prize in Literature. I recommend this book to anyone who is willing to put in the work required to appreciate it.

Faithful and Virtuous Night by Louise Glück, (List Price: $16, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 9780374535773,  September 2015)

Reviewed by Juliet Rosner from E. Shaver, bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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Felicity by Mary Oliver

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Felicity by Mary Oliver
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I think this collection would make a great introduction to poetry for anybody. The work is simple and very readable but Mary Oliver does not sacrifice intellectual depth or technique for the sake of accessibility.

Felicity by Mary Oliver, (List Price: $17.95, Penguin Books, 9780143128762,  October 2017)

Reviewed by Juliet Rosner from E. Shaver, bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

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Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
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Readers of Kaikeyi will be pulled into this lyrical counternarrative of the reviled queen from the ancient epic Ramayana. Known as a jealous, villainous stepmother who banished Rama and put her own son on the throne, Patel tells a much more nuanced, compassionate tale of a brave woman caught between manipulative gods and a patriarchal society who nevertheless tries to improve the lot of women in her kingdom. Kaikeyi’s voice is stunningly spirited, and Patel’s mesmerizing prose is immersive and inventive. This will definitely appeal to fans of mythological retellings in the vein of Circe.

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel, (List Price: $28.00, Redhook, 9780759557338,  April 2022)

Reviewed by Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

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Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
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An April Read This Next! Book

Nothing short of beautiful. Fresh feeling poems populated with violence, the roadside, love, and what endures. Where war and tragedy and trauma persists, so do the bold spirit in each of these poems, unafraid to look back be tender. What I found most compelling in Time Is a Mother was the rhythm, dilating and breathing one moment, rapid and pulsing the next, capturing the flow of relative time the way only a voice like Vuong’s can.

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong, (List Price: $24, Penguin Press, 9780593300237,  April 2022)

Reviewed by Luis Correa, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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The Wedding Veil by Harvey Kristy Woodson

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The Wedding Veil by Kristy Harvey Woodson
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This book had me hooked from page 1. Every bookseller has their faults and mine is a certain snobbishness when it comes to “women’s fiction.” Perhaps it is a leftover reaction from male-dominated classrooms or simply a dislike of the marketing surrounding such novels. Either way, I find myself avoiding and dismissing women’s fiction as best I am able. When I was asked to read this novel and review it, I thought “why not? It’ll be a nice fluffy read over Christmas.” I was wrong. This multi-generational saga, written with compelling prose and an arresting tenderness for the female story, grabbed my heart from about the second chapter in. The female struggle of being defined by your usefulness but longing to be your own definition, soaks through every page of this novel and you leave the book asking yourself some very important questions. This one is going in my staff picks when it comes out! I cannot wait to share it with my favorite customers (and my grandmother!!) A resounding thank you to the author for taking me down a few pegs when it comes to my opinion on women’s fiction. I hope this book blows up the market.

The Wedding Veil by Kristy Harvey Woodson, (List Price: $16.95, Gallery Books, 9781982180713,  March 2022)

Reviewed by Annie Childress, E Shaver, bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada

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Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada
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Scattered All Over the Earth is undeniably a classic. A pilgrimage novel with a growing cast of memorable characters embodying a beautiful kaleidoscope of language, loss, identity, and home. Tawada’s vision is, as always, wonderfully unique, often funny and particularly here, where she’s at her most poignant. Thankfully, this is only the promising beginning of what is set to be a masterpiece trilogy of books.

Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada, (List Price: $16.95, New Directions, 9780811229289,  March 2022)

Reviewed by Luis Correa, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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