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Receipts from the Bookshop by Katie Clapham

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Receipts from the Bookshop by Katie Clapham
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If you think it would be fun to own a bookshop, this book is for you. If you also think books are good for your health and the right book can clear up a case of boredom, this book is for you. Katie Clapham has recorded a month by month view of the weather outside her bookshop and all the people who entered or didn’t enter her store. She owns the bookstore with her mother who stops by often as well as he grandmother, her husband and her daughter who she has called The Bookwormlet. Selling enough books is always a concern and the author is delighted when she can make the perfect recommendation and make a sale. She obviously loves reading and enjoys seeing and talking with the customers. Receipts from the Bookshop will call to all readers to visit and buy many beloved books and long to visit the one that Katie Clapham owns.

Receipts from the Bookshop by Katie Clapham, (List Price: $28, William Morrow, 9780063516625, September 2026)

Reviewed by Nancy, Bookmiser in Marietta, GA

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The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters

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The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters
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Another great read by Amanda Peters! The Birthing Tree is a wonderful story of love, family, friends, and traditions. Aliet Paul was raised by her grandmother, Kiju, a Mi’kmaw women, after her own mother died in childbirth. She never knew who her father was, and no one would tell her. The “Birthing Tree,” where Kiju helped bring many children into the world, is its own character. A dual timeline book where the world has evolved and most women are choosing more traditional hospital births, both Kiju and Aliet fight to hold onto traditions and protect “the birthing tree.

The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters, (List Price: $28, Catapult, 9781646223695, September 2026)

Reviewed by Barbara, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, NC

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Switzy by Emma Cline

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Switzy by Emma Cline
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I’m in awe of how Cline captures the texture and cadence of a brain in decline, or maybe more accurately, a mind en route to elsewhere. Much has been written about dementia and Alzheimer’s from the outsider’s or caregiver’s perspective. But to write the experience from the inside, from practically the point of view of memory itself, is truly remarkable. This is a book of overwhelming insight, compassion, and ingenuity.

Switzy by Emma Cline, (List Price: $32, Random House, 9780593595244, September 2026)

Reviewed by Kristen, Thank You Books in Birmingham, AL

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Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

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Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
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In a world powered by progress and logical principles, consumerism and conformity dominate. Brave New World is a deeply haunting discussion on intimacy, community, and – at its core – what is means to be human. What we want isn’t always what we should get. One of my favorite reads from high school, and a must-read dystopian classic.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, (List Price: $12, Harper Perennial, 9780063482708, September 2025)

Reviewed by Ana, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, LA

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Buzzard by Inez Ray

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Buzzard by Inez Ray
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Buzzard is the best piece of dystopian fiction I’ve read in a long time. Inez Ray drops the reader into a horrifying world for which we are already seeing road signs- patriarchy reigns, women’s rights are suppressed, climate catastrophe is reality, and paramilitary corporations run it all. Mae is serving a sentence for providing abortions in a time where fertility is controlled by companies like Obsityan, who also runs the prison; she spends long days and nights using her nursing skills to aid teenage drone pilot/prisoners and when one too many turns up pregnant, and an opportunity to have her sentence commuted by looking the other way arises, Mae thinks her time in this Orwellian prison is over and maybe, just maybe, she will get to see her two sons again. But in Ray’s world, Obsityan is everywhere, even in the middle of the desert, where Mae’s past catches up with her when a pregnant woman in labor shows up with a driver who has an agenda.

Buzzard by Inez Ray, (List Price: $19.95, Bindery Books, 9781967967261, September 2026)

Reviewed by Jamie, Duck’s Cottage Coffee & Books in Duck, NC

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Brawler by Lauren Groff

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Brawler by Lauren Groff
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Each short story in this collection caused me to consider the complexities of human nature and the full range of behaviors available to each of us. I will be thinking about these stories for a long time. Well done, Lauren Groff!

Brawler by Lauren Groff, (List Price: $29, Riverhead Books, 9780593418420, February 2026)

Reviewed by Kandi, WordsWorth Books in Little Rock, Arkansas

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Brawler by Lauren Groff

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Brawler by Lauren Groff
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Try as I might to slow down and savor Lauren Groff’s books, I can’t help but devour them in huge gulps, never really coming up for air until the last page! I come to Groff’s looking for humanity in the grey areas, and I always find it. She mines human emotion for the layers underneath the surface, and while her novels are some of my favorites, I can’t help but think that she shines in her short stories. Brawler is brilliant in it’s range while keeping a through line of central themes that masterfully connect each story. Through the book runs a current of deep longing, each story hums with desire: physical and emotional. Every time I think Lauren Groff can’t make me think and feel more, she moves the needle!

Brawler by Lauren Groff, (List Price: $29, Riverhead Books, 9780593418420, February 2026)

Reviewed by Kelsey, Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg, FL

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Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

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Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
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A modern literary gothic take on the Frankenstein story that is low on the scares but high on thoughtful explorations of what makes a monster. That being said, this fits well into the horror genre- both beautiful and horrifying imagery, body horror wrapped up in parental love, and cannibalism nested among the dangers of living for someone else. Tender and surprisingly sweet, the heavy topics of grief and the search for personhood are handled expertly. Just a gem of a debut novel!

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova, (List Price: $17, Zando, 9781638931607, January 2024)

Reviewed by Tyler, Wild Aster Books in Chamblee, Georgia

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American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee

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American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee
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Min Jin Lee has done it again! One of my favorite Asian American authors, Lee writes family sagas in such a way that it keeps me captivated, and I also easily learn more about Korean history.

American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee, (List Price: $36, Cardinal, 9781538752036, September 2026)

Reviewed by Jackie, The Lynx in Gainesville, FL

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When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley

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When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
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A lovely novel that is part historical fiction, part fantasy, part queer romance, and all about the remarkable joy it is to find family. Set in the early 20th century at Coney Island featuring a colorful cast of diverse and lovable characters, this story is ultimately about having the courage to seek justice, even if it comes at a great personal loss.

When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa, (List Price: $29, Erewhon Books, 9781645661535, April 2025)

Reviewed by Jamie, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, NC

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Free Falling by Lyla Sage

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Free Falling by Lyla Sage
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Free Falling truly has it all: small-town romance, childhood frenemies, oh and ghosts! Clarke Cartwright has lived in Sweetwater Peak her entire life, and when her childhood crush, Leith Wilkes, catches her off guard, so does his dead father. Leith’s dad is trying to warn Clarke that there is a secret clause in his will that might disrupt Leith’s plan to inherit the family farm. These two are forced to work together to make sure Leith gets to keep his farm, and Clarke needs help repairing her family’s antique shop. Will the proximity force these two to finally admit their feelings for one another or only drive them apart…

Free Falling by Lyla Sage, (List Price: $20, Dial Press Trade Paperback, 9780593977798, September 2026)

Reviewed by Jennifer, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, NC

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The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw

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The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw
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First Lady Freeman has my vote in the upcoming First Lady USA pageant, but with scandals, relationships, and secrets breaking, she’s going to need more than God on her side. Sinfully good gossip with layered drama, tenderness, sexiness, and ferocity as you follow Scharisse biting the apple and letting the truth set her free. If you like the sound of Scam Goddess meets If Honk For Jesus Save Your Soul meets Celeste Ng, you’re gonna want to read this immediately!

The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw, (List Price: $32, Marnier Books, 9780063383074, September 2026)

Reviewed by Ashley, Underbrush Books in Rogers, Arkansas

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The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters

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The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters
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Buy from your local indie.
Get the audiobook

Another great read by Amanda Peters! The Birthing Tree is a wonderful story of love, family, friends, and traditions. Aliet Paul was raised by her grandmother, Kiju, a Mi’kmaw woman, after her own mother died in childbirth. She never knew who her father was, and no one would tell her. The “Birthing Tree,” where Kiju helped bring many children into the world, is its own character. A dual-timeline book where the world has evolved and most women are choosing more modern hospital births, both Kiju and Aliet fight to hold onto traditions and protect the birthing tree.

The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters, (List Price: $28, Catapult, 9781646223695, September 2026)

Reviewed by Barbara, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, NC

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Scion by James Islington

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Scion by James Islington
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The latest book from the author of ‘The Will of the Many’ trilogy, James Islington, drops you into a world of futuristic action on page one and never lets up. Starting as a kind of reverse closed-room mystery, the enhanced cybernetic main character, Azure, is trying to keep a mystery employer alive inside a not-quite-locked-enough compound. Once the action spills out of the compound and into the futuristic city, the fun really begins. The world-building is clever and exceptional; the many cyberpunk elements are never gratuitous but all serve to illuminate a future society where the poor have turned on the ultra-rich, human bodies can be modified for speed of thought or action, and animals have been enhanced for both defense and offense. Deeper questions of justice, equality, surveillance, autonomy, mob rule, and democracy in general are constantly lurking just under the surface of this fast-paced thriller (and often rise above it). Chaos and adventure abound, and if people whose entire worlds are turned upside down sometimes forgive the bionically enhanced Azure a little too easily, it’s forgivable in a story so well-paced, compelling, and short enough to finish in a single sitting – which I did, and you’ll want to as well, because it’s a fun ride to be on.

Scion by James Islington, (List Price: $28, S&S/Saga Press, 9781668239247, September 2026)

Reviewed by Doron, Octavia Books in New Orleans, LA

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The Ick Files by Ari Cagan

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The Ick Files by Ari Cagan
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*bones creaking* Back in my day, we called The Ick a “turn off”, but honestly, getting the icky feeling from someone’s weird habit nails it. It doesn’t have to be a major red flag; it’s just a feeling in your gut, usually early on, that this relationship is a non-starter. The Icktionary gathers a bunch of people’s confessions of what gave them the ick, some of them hilarious, some completely relatable, some gross, and even some that had me feeling the ick from the poster (Look, Jimmy, running out of toilet paper and using Christmas napkins as an emergency backup option isn’t crazy). This is the perfect book to read al oud with friends and share your own icks.

The Ick Files by Ari Cagan, (List Price: $22, S&S/Simon Element, 9781668245972, September 20261)

Reviewed by Kate, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, VA

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