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Read This Now!

Recommended by Southern indies…

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Becoming Ted by Matt Cain
A John Scognamiglio Book / June 2024

Adult Fiction, Friendship, Gay, Later in Life, LGBTQ+, Romance
More Reviews from Eagle Eye Book Shop

If you’re a fan of TJ Klune’s cozy queer fantasy books, you’ll love Matt Cain’s cozy contemporary queer stories! I’d compare the vibes of Becoming Ted to those of The House in the Cerulean Sea, but with older characters. This story is not just about Ted discovering who he is in the wake of a separation but also that of his friends and his new love interest. Becoming Ted is truly a journey for all the characters, and I loved reading about people who are discovering new things about themselves later in life and evolving- which is my favorite part of the book. It truly goes to show you can always start anew at any time! Matt Cain’s writing is heartfelt and touching, and I can’t wait to share this book with my friends and everyone else I know!

Reviewed by Preet Singh, Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, Georgia

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The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley
G.P. Putnam’s Sons / May 2024

Adult Fiction, Literary
More Reviews from Main Street Books

Guncle fans rejoice, this sequel brings back all the wry humor, human frailty, miscommunication, grief, and joy of connection. Patrick’s career is thriving even if his love life isn’t. His brother’s impending marriage reunites the family even as threatens to split them apart. It falls to Patrick to save the day in his own stumbling fashion. So much heart, such a reader’s delight.

Reviewed by Jan Blodgett, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings

Most of us, at one point or another, have fantasized about winning the lottery, how it would solve all our problems and allow all our dreams to come true. But what happens if winning the lottery actually ruins your life? For my bi-disaster main character, Opal Devlin, that’s exactly what happens. Opal thinks her winning scratch-off is her key to a drama-free life, only to learn that it places a magnifying glass on how the people in her life want to use and abuse her giving nature.

It is my deep and unwavering belief that every person is deserving of profound, beautiful love, whether that be platonic, romantic, and/or familial, and Opal and Pepper’s journey exemplifies that. These two queer, neurodivergent women are messy and emotional and terrified to show anyone just how much they feel for fear of being hurt. But, in spite of that fear, they recognize the love they deserve and grab for it with both hands.

― Mazey Eddings, Letter from the author

What booksellers are saying about Late Bloomers

• The best romances indulge parts of ourselves that really want every meet to be freaking cute — making us ask “if I’m not making the sappiest part of me happy, what am I really doing?” When I bet on loving Mazey Eddings’ romances, I always win — this time delivering a relatable, sweet, and gooey queer romance that will make your tenderest parts blush. This is a deliriously sapphic, endearingly punny, neurodivergent love letter to taking time in letting love root, grow, and bloom (sorry).
    ― RC Collman, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | BUY
  
  
• I LOVE this book. Such a beautiful story of love and diversity. I have never had the inclination to run away to a flower farm and now it is on my to do list.
    ― Tessa Dandridge, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina | BUY
  
  
• Sunshiny, optimistic Opal and grumpy, cynical Pepper make a wonderfully fun rom-com with lots of laughs. Recommended for fans of Ashley Herring Blake.
    ― Melissa Oates, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina | BUY
  
  
• Wow this book was so cute!!! *insert crying emoji here* -Dual Timeline -WLW -Autistic MC -Deals with parental neglect/drinking problems -Fluffyyyyy -Forced Proximity 3 Spicy Peppers (; Bonus Points: Mazey Eddings at the end talks about how she got to the name Late Bloomer and how she originally wanted to call it "Lavender Haze" from the TSwift song.
    ― Stephanie St. John, E. Shaver, Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia | BUY
  

Mazey Eddings is a neurodiverse author, dentist, and (most importantly) stage mom to her cats, Yaya and Zadie. She can most often be found reading romance novels under her weighted blanket and asking her fiancé to bring her snacks. She’s made it her personal mission in life to destigmatize mental health issues and write love stories for every brain. With roots in Ohio and Philadelphia, she now calls Asheville, North Carolina home. She is the author of A Brush with Love, Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake, and The Plus One.

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Just Some Stupid Love Story by Katelyn Doyle
Flatiron Books / June 2024

Adult Fiction, Romance, Romantic Comedy
More Reviews from Eagle Eye Book Shop

A June Read This Next! Title

Just Some Stupid Love Story by Katelyn Doyle is an epic saga romance between two people who have been it for each other since they were young, but things have never been right. Two people with very different approaches to love, screenwriter Molly and divorce lawyer Seth kept me turning page after page in this steamy second-chance romance with snappy dialog. It might be my favorite read this month and for sure is to be one everyone is talking about this summer!

Reviewed by Preet Singh, Read This Next!,Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, Georgia

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The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir by Griffin Dunne
Penguin Press / June 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Entertainment & Performing Arts, Literary Figures, Memoirs
More Reviews from Bookstore1Sarasota

Griffin Dunne, having grown up and lived all his life among boldface names, writes with warmth, self-deprecation, and humor. The Friday Afternoon Club is a tale of success and failure, triumph and loss, comedy and tragedy, and it is to the author’s credit that what could easily, in less skilled hands, have become a turgid exercise in name-dropping is instead a moving meditation on family and life’s vicissitudes.

Reviewed by Nora Gunneng, Bookstore1Sarasota in Sarasota, Florida

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The Ghost of Us by James L. Sutter
Wednesday Books / June 2024

Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Bookmiser

Darkhearts author Sutter brings the romance with his new novel about a teen ghost hunter who actually finds a ghost. Cara has been obsessed with ghost hunting since she was thirteen, but she’s never found any evidence….until now. After exploring an abandoned factory, Cara finds that she can now communicate with Aiden, a boy who died there a year ago. And Aiden has unfinished business. Since his death, his little sister Meredith has become a recluse. He wants Cara to take Meredith to prom, making her happy so he can move on. What could go wrong?

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Built to Last by Minh Lê
Knopf Books for Young Readers / April 2024

Children, Friendship, Juvenile Fiction, Social Themes
More Reviews from Bookmarks

A May/June Read This Next! Kids Title

A delightful story about friendship and the power of imagination! I love that even after their grand plans fail again and again, the two protagonists rely on each other and trust in their friendship. This book is so beautifully illustrated, like all books Dan Santat illustrates!

Reviewed by Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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Brownstone by Samuel Teer, Mar Julia (Illus.)
Versify / June 2024

Comics & Graphic Novels, Coming of Age, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Cavalier House Books

This was such a beautiful graphic novel. The ending was so bittersweet. Authors Samuel Tear and Mar Julia ripped my heart out and put it back together with this story of a daughter not knowing who her family is and spending a summer learning growing and watching her new life.

Reviewed by Sarah Dimaria, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, Louisiana

Decide for Yourself

Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers / March 2022

Banned Books, Family, Siblings, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Page 158 Books

"Sisters never stand a chance to be friends. We’re pitted against each other from the moment we’re born. A daughter is a treasure. Two is a tax. God, how they must have wanted a boy when they tried a do-over after a dead baby girl." One of the most fraught relationships in humanity is sisterhood. In Yolk, Choi takes on that relationship and explores it through both the joy and pain. Coming of age, learning to live on one’s own, and navigating modern romance are all tackled in turn with the grace and realism for which readers have learned to love her writing. Come for the angst, stay for the characters you may just love like sisters. Content warnings for disordered eating, depression and anxiety, absent parent, and cancer.

Reviewed by Faith Parke-Dodge, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it’s curved like a road through mountains.”
— Tennessee Williams

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Recommended by Southern indies…

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The Manicurist’s Daughter by Susan Lieu
Celadon Books / March 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Asian American & Pacific Islander, Bereavement, Death, Family & Relationships, Grief
More Reviews from Main Street Books

Lieu raises the bar, taking a complex immigrant story from interesting, past compelling to unput-downable gut-level honesty. Her journey to come to terms with her mother’s death is complicated by cultural patterns, emotional barriers, generational trauma, and her own mental health. She is unstinting in her portrayals of family and herself. Prepare to rethink what you know about families and trauma.

Reviewed by Jan Blodgett, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

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Fire Exit by Morgan Talty
Tin House Books / June 2024

Adult Fiction, Indigenous
More Reviews from Avid Bookshop

Morgan Talty’s debut novel Fire Exit has an unmistakable pace that leaves you as unsettled as the main character, Charles Lamosway. This story about grief and mental illness is woven around struggles to understand family, both biological and nurtured. Brilliantly written, Fire Exit bears witness to what a birthright and culture mean when you were denied what felt like home.

Reviewed by Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru

I never used to reread. Then I started teaching and had to think of books I cared about enough to want to discuss with students. Now I reread a lot. I’ve discovered that if I pick up more or less anything I read before I was 30, it’s as if I’m reading it for the first time. It’s odd – the more I read, the less I feel I’ve read. The last “classic” I reread was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, which is one of those “over-familiar” books it has become fashionable to dismiss. I was, I think, just as enchanted by Gatsby’s forlorn love for Daisy as when I first read it as an A-level student.

― Hari Kunzru, Guardian

What booksellers are saying about Blue Ruin

• I love Hari Kunzru’s writing. His alchemical style produces novels that are both page-turners and deep ruminations on the political and philosophical mores of the contemporary world. In Blue Ruin, Kunzru takes on the art world of London in the 1990s and the bizarre, time-still days that were the summer of 2020. Confronted with their past selves, three art school friends must reckon with the meaning and purpose of making art; how it intersects with authenticity, success, money, survival, and truth.
    ― Elese Stutts, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | BUY
  
  
• If art comes from the ineffable place where artist, intention and craft alchemize into something original, profound, provocative and memorable, then Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru is capital-A Art. I was spellbound.
    ― Matt Nixon, A Cappella Books in Atlanta, Georgia | BUY
  
  
• One of our sharpest observers of contemporary Euro-American culture takes readers on a journey through the Fine Art ecosystem from school, friendships and ambition to money, class and careers, weaving in plenty of complex relationships and subtle drama along the way.
    ― Jonathan Hawpe, Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky | BUY
  
  

Hari Kunzru is the author of six novels, Red Pill, White Tears, Gods Without Men, My Revolutions, Transmission, and The Impressionist. The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy in Berlin, and the Cullman Center at the New York Public Library, he is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books and writes the “Easy Chair” column for Harper’s Magazine. He lives in Brooklyn and teaches in the Creative Writing Program at New York University.

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April May June July by Alison B. Hart
Graydon House / May 2024

Adult Fiction, Family Life, Siblings
More Reviews from Page 158 Books

I have never read a book quite like this. This close family of six is like any other family until tragedy strikes when their father disappears in the Middle East with no trace. So many times tragedy can rip a family apart, and so this family comes apart. The CIA gets involved and people are actively trying to find their beloved father, but time passes and he is not found. Years later one of the daughters is getting married and wants her family involved. Her mom tries to help out to no avail. Life has taken each of the four siblings on a ride and they are caught up in their own drama. What will unravel the negativity they have for each other? Is their dad alive? How can they go on without knowing? This thriller is like no other I have ever read. You will love it.

Reviewed by Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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I’ve Tried Being Nice: Essay by Ann Leary
Marysue Rucci Books / June 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Essays, Literary Collections
More Reviews from Pearl’s Books

Breezy and funny but thought-provoking too. An essay collection may not seem like the most obvious beach read, but this delightful little book is the perfect thing for the beach, or the plane, or the car this summer. Anne Leary brings her unique humor to topics we will all find familiar. She opens herself and her family up just enough to remind us that we are all facing the same daily joys and absurdities and challenges. She’s like a friend over coffee or a college roommate on the phone decades later—you’re never sure where the conversation will go next, but you’re glad to be along for the ride.

Reviewed by Amanda Grell, Pearl’s Books in Fayetteville, Arkansas

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Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron
Bloomsbury YA / June 2024

Adaptations, Fairy Tales & Folklore, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Blue Cypress Books

Kalynn Bayron has done it again. Full disclosure: I love her work and have read everything she has published, and it feels really good to be able to continue to recommend her books to readers again and again. Sleep Like Death is another creative and fun twist on a classic story. I couldn’t wait to turn each page and longed to dive back into the world Kalynn had built after I finished the last one

Reviewed by Rayna Nielsen, Blue Cypress Books in New Orleans, Louisiana

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Summer Is Here by Renée Watson
Bloomsbury Children’s Books / May 2024

Children, Concepts, Juvenile Fiction, Seasons
More Reviews from Bookmiser

A May/June Read This Next! Kids Title

Summer is Here is a beautiful story about a girl’s perfect summer day. Watson’s words are light and feel like sunshine, while Jackson’s beautiful illustrations make you want to experience that summer day as a child again.

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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The New Girl by Cassandra Calin
Graphix / June 2024

Children, Comics & Graphic Novels, Humorous, Juvenile Fiction
More Reviews from Bookmarks

The New Girl is a delightfully funny story about change, perseverance and embracing those who are different than us. I absolutely fell in love with the adorable pictures and loveable characters. This was so much fun to read and I highly recommend diving into it!

Reviewed by Keeshia Jacklitch, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Decide for Yourself

Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Grand Central Publishing / April 2019

Adult Fiction, African American & Black, Apocalyptic Post-Apocalyptic, Banned Books, Coming of Age, Dystopian, Fiction, Science Fiction, Women
More Reviews from Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews

I didn’t think it was possible to read a book and feel both completely hopeless and hopeful at the end, but leave it up to Octavia Butler to write the impossible.

Reviewed by Ndobe Foletia, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently, the first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.”
— George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren’s Profession

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Recommended by Southern indies…

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Little Shrew by Akiko Miyakoshi
Kids Can Press / June 2024

Asian American & Pacific Islander, Beginner, Childrens, Emotions & Feelings, Juvenile Fiction
More Reviews from Octavia Books

Little Shrew is a quiet and sweet story of life and friends told in three chapters. It’s quietness makes it a great bedtime story or a lovely moment to sit and ponder.

Reviewed by Judith Lafitte, Octavia Books in New Orleans, Louisiana

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The Body Farm by Abby Geni
Counterpoint / May 2024

Fiction, Nature & Environment, Short Stories (single author), Women
More Reviews from Avid Bookshop

Abby Geni’s short stories in The Body Farm are each deliciously different in scope, subject matter, tone, and voice. What they have in common is an exploration of being human, of having feelings that are confusing, and the physical manifestations these emotions can trigger. Being alive is messy and examining the complications of loving, aging, and simply living are some of the things Geni writes best.

Reviewed by Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: Woodworm by Layla Martinez

Initially, Woodworm was a short story. It was summer, I was spending a few days at my grandmother’s house, which is the house that appears in the novel, and I was in my bedroom, about to go to sleep, when the wardrobe door opened. In that wardrobe are not everyday clothes, but special clothes for the family, like my grandmother’s wedding dress, the habit my uncle wears during Holy Week or the dress my grandmother wants to be buried in. The door opened by itself and it was quite scary, and in that moment I knew I wanted to write about the history of that closet, the history of the house and the history of the women who had lived in it.

― Layla Martinez, Center for the Art of Translation

What booksellers are saying about Woodworm

• This was extraordinary, so original and a stellar play on the classic story of a haunted house. Captivating and thrilling, with a great ending to boot. An awesome ride.
    ― Emily Tarr, Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama | BUY
  
  
• Woodworm is one of those books that digs itself a home under your skin. The story of four generations of women and the ghosts–both literal and figurative–they live with, Woodworm tackles violence, generational trauma, and a feminine rage so deep it rots in your core.
    ― Courtney Ulrich Smith, Underbrush Books in Rogers, Arkansas | BUY
  
  
• Some books are polite when they invite you in: they hold the door, offer refreshments, let you poke around as you please for a few pleasant afternoons and then bid you farewell as you head back out into the big bright world. Woodworm doesn’t do this. It draws you in and then slams the door behind you, sealing you inside a madhouse labyrinth of chattering shadows. This is fitting, as Woodworm is a novel about traps: generations of women trapped in a house beset with ghosts and insectoid angels; a village trapped by poverty; far too many girls trapped inside the purgatory of disempowerment and violence against their bodies; and the final trap: that little worm of uncontrollable rage that burrows its way inside your guts and never lets you sleep while your enemies live… I literally gripped this book so tightly that I bent its cover. Part of me will remain within its pages for a long, long time.
    ― Charlie Monroe, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | BUY
  

Layla Martínez (Madrid, 1987) is the author of two nonfiction books in Spanish, Surrogate Pregnancy (Pepitas de calabaza, 2019) and Utopia is not an Island (Episkaia, 2020), as well as stories and articles in numerous anthologies. She has translated essays and novels, writes about music for El Salto, and about television for La Última Hora. Since 2014 she has co-directed the independent publisher Antipersona. Woodworm is her first novel.

Sophie Hughes is a British literary translator who primarily translates from Spanish to English. She has translated more than a dozen books, including the works of José Revueltas and Enrique Vila-Matas for New Directions. She was shortlisted for the 2019 and 2020 International Booker Prize.

Annie McDermott is a translator working from Spanish and Portuguese. Her published and forthcoming translations include Empty Words and The Luminous Novel by Mario Levrero, Dead Girls and Brickmakers by Selva Almada, Feebleminded by Ariana Harwicz (co-translation with Carolina Orloff), and Loop by Brenda Lozano. She also reviews books for the Times Literary Supplement. She has previously lived in Mexico City and São Paulo, Brazil, and now lives by the sea in Hastings, UK.

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A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall
Orbit / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical
More Reviews from Birch Tree Bookstore

Somehow comforting and aching all at once, this book feels like a hug from a long distance best friend. Cozy love stories and gentle friendships twine between the mystery of a past tragedy and the thrum of impending adventure to come. Though the pacing and epistolary style may not be for everybody, the lush fantastical underwater world this book introduces is worth every minute spent reading. If you’re an audiobook listener, tune in to this one for an excellent full cast that all fully embody the voice and personality of their characters.

Reviewed by Izzy Bell, Birch Tree Bookstore in Leesburg, Virginia

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Cactus Country by Zoë Bossiere
Abrams Press / May 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, LGBTQ+
More Reviews from Avid Bookshop

A May Read This Next! Title

Cactus Country is a lucid and tender coming of age memoir of class and gender expression. With an enjoyable ease, Zoë Bossiere vividly paints the Tucson desert, the colorful residents of the trailer park which gives the memoir its title, and the search for understanding and acceptance. Explores a young person’s gender journey without prescriptiveness but rather sensitivity and care.

Reviewed by Luis Correa, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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This Book Won’t Burn by Samira Ahmed
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers / May 2024

Books & Libraries, New Experience, Prejudice & Racism, Romance, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Bookmarks

An incredibly timely read! Noor Khan has moved to a new town and is dismayed to discover that many of her new school’s library books have been pulled from the shelf. As she mobilizes her new classmates to fight back, she realizes she might actually be in danger. I loved the way Samira Ahmed cites real books that have been banned over the past few years throughout the book. Perfect for teens to read alongside Fahrenheit 451!

Reviewed by Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon
Candlewick / May 2024

African American & Black, Children, Juvenile Fiction
More Reviews from Parnassus Books

A May/June Read This Next! Kids Title

When Dally steps inside the Secret Library, her life changes. Each book whisks her through time and connects her with her family’s past. From a seafaring pirate adventure to a connection closer to home, new stories open and reveal where she is meant to be. An adventure story with depth.

Reviewed by Rae Ann Parker, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee

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The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag
Graphix / June 2024

Comics & Graphic Novels, LGBTQ+, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Flyleaf Books

This is the best type of graphic novel, where it drives you to tears but with it comes a kind catharsis. Mags has a secret, one with sharp teeth and the potential to hurt. Nessa, her childhood best friend was the only one who learned of it, and now she’s back, armed with questions about that secret and everything that happened all those years ago. Reading this and bearing witness to their solace found in vulnerability was a bit like communion – coming home and finding peace with someone who knows the scariest parts of you.

Reviewed by Jordan April, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Decide for Yourself

Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Anchor / September 2020

Adult Fiction, Banned Books, Dystopian, Political, Science Fiction
More Reviews from E. Shaver bookseller

I wasn’t entirely sure whether I wanted to read this one or not; I didn’t want my impression of The Handmaid’s Tale to be ruined or tainted if I didn’t enjoy it. Luckily for me, I LOVED it. It was definitely a lighter/easier read and – while answered some questions – it still left a lot of room for imagination (which I love).

Reviewed by Niamh Kenny, E. Shaver bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one’s chances of survival increase with each book one reads.”
— Sherman Alexie

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Read This Now!

Recommended by Southern indies…

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Exhibit by R. O. Kwon
Riverhead Books / May 2024

Adult Fiction, Friendship
More Reviews from Tombolo Books

A May Read This Next! Title

Sexy sentences, startling images, complicated and unexpected characters flesh out Kwon’s impressionistic peek inside the art world and the people who inhabit it. I kept finding myself picking up this book and flipping back to sections, re-reading them, and feeling like they were perfect little arias. Two women, with different art forms, brush up against one another at just the right time and form something larger than the sum of their parts. Not for those who need fast-paced, plot heavy action – but this book 100% rewards the lover of graceful language and intricate interiority. Loved, loved loved.

Reviewed by Rachel Knox, Tombolo Books in St Petersburg, Florida

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Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
David R. Godine, Publisher / May 2024

Adult Fiction, Friendship
More Reviews from Bookmiser

A May Read This Next! Title

“On her eightieth birthday, Helen spent the day moving things in the kitchen cupboard. Three years pass with nothing to fill their pockets. Then early one morning, something happens.” Helen Cartwright is waiting to die. Her husband and son have passed and she is ready to go. She has returned to her childhood town in an English village and she has been living a quiet life. This love story begins with her finding a mouse in her house and as the love grows with the mouse Sipsworth, so does Helen’s contacts. This is such a loving, moving story told with such skill and heart, this reviewer can’t wait to reread this tiny tale perhaps many times. Anyone who reads it will never look at a mouse or an octogenarian the same way.

Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

I wanted to do something tonally different, a relief from this big, heavy family story. This new book continues with Sex and Vanity’s theme of Asian characters outside of Asia. When I was thinking about what the whole trilogy would be, for lack of a better metaphor, I thought of a Chanel bottle: New York, London, Paris. This time they’re in England. I’m taking that traditional English country manor novel, sort of a Jane Austen world, and turning it on its head.

― Kevin Kwan, Hollywood Reporter

What booksellers are saying about Lies and Weddings

• Lies and Weddings is everything I was hoping it would be (and more): The footnotes (I’m here for all of them), the unlikeable matriarch (all those unachievable expectations), the commentary on excess (wealth, debt, drugs), and of course the love story (or, really, stories). A must add to your summer TBR!
    ― Jenny Gilroy, E. Shaver, Bookseller in Savannah, GA | BUY
  
  
• Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan has outdone himself! Posh parties, fashions, cars, architecture and food set the scene while a family of British nobles is trying to remedy failing finances by arranging a family marriage to “new money” Asians of wealth and in doing so fall head-first into an intriguing mystery. A fun escapist read. Hilarious dialogue and family dynamics!
    ― Patience Allan-Glick at Hills & Hamlets Bookshop, Chattahoochee Hills, GA | BUY
  
  
• Kevin Kwan’s newest book returns to the kind of love story that captured our hearts in Crazy Rich Asians. A little bit of Cinderella, a little bit of Mansfield Park (Kwan always reminds of me Austen at her satirical best), this book takes a classic friends-to-lovers story but sets it across the globe in the must luxurious, most ridiculous settings from England to LA to Morocco to Hawai’i (with a volcanic eruption, no less). A page-turning rollicking delight!
    ― Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, NC | BUY
  
  
• What a FUN read! Full of drama that is definitely reminiscent of Crazy Rich Asians but updated for today’s social climate. I enjoyed the storyline, following a man who wants what the heart wants and a mother who wants status instead. This was an EXCELLENT book to get lost in, I ate chunks of the day and didn’t realize how much time had past! Overall, if you like a little romance with a a LOT of money, societal discord and familial drama, this right here just might be your jam.
    ― Deziree Bunn, Book No Further in Roanoke, VA | BUY
  

Kevin Kwan is the author of the international bestsellers Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, and Rich People Problems. Crazy Rich Asians was a number one New York Times bestseller and major motion picture and has been translated into forty languages. In 2018, Kevin was named by Time magazine as one of the one hundred most influential people in the world.

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The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
Random House / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Women
More Reviews from Givens Books Little Dickens

Reading this book was like being in Paris. The description of food, wine, couture, art, and BOOKSHOPS was just luxurious. Plus, throw in a Mysterious Artist, missing paintings, evil fiancées, lost fathers, and a band of bookish misfits— the perfect recipe for a can’t-put-it down read! Ruth Reich hasn’t just written a book, she’s created an EXPERIENCE. The kitchen scenes were my favs. Loved it!

Reviewed by Elisa Forshey, Givens Books Little Dickens in Lynchburg, Virginia

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The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
Knopf / April 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Animals, Birds, Nature
More Reviews from Main Street Books

This is a welcome addition to birding accounts. Lighter in tone than Trish O’Kane’s Birding to Change the World, Tan still evokes the powerful effects of engaging with nature. Wry observations about birds and about herself, along with delightful sketches taken from her journals, make this a special treat for birders and those who do their birding vicariously via books.

Reviewed by Jan Blodgett, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

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Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth
Tor Teen / May 2024

Coming of Age, Contemporary, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Book No Further

This book was a fun read. I really like the dynamic between Jack (the jock) and Viola (the nerd). The reader gets to see their personality and relationship grow as the book progresses and they end up spending more time with each other outside of school. The book has a few twists on the traditional opposites-attract you wouldn’t expect.

Reviewed by Doloris Vest, Book No Further in Roanoke, Virginia

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Finding the Way to Faraway Valley by Cecilia Heikkila
Floris Books / May 2024

Children, Environment, Juvenile Fiction, Science & Nature
More Reviews from Octavia Books

A May/June Read This Next! Kids Title

A lovely story of a grandfather and his grandson who go searching for Faraway Valley; a place that his grandfather visited when he was younger. This is a sensitive story of the connection they share in order to find this most amazing location.

Reviewed by Judith Lafitte, Octavia Books in New Orleans, Louisiana

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Parachute Kids by Betty C. Tang
Graphix / April 2023

Asian American & Pacific Islander, Children, Comics & Graphic Novels, Emigration & Immigration, Juvenile Fiction, Social Themes
More Reviews from Bards Alley

An honest take on the concept of a modern “parachute kid” phenomenon where children are left to study in the U.S. without their parents. An emotional story of a tight-knit family falling into near-despair as three middle-high school aged kids are forced to look after themselves as their parents’ visas expire. A commentary on unreasonably slow immigration policies, forcing families apart, and growing up too young.

Reviewed by Mallory Sutton, Bards Alley in Vienna, Virginia

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Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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Kneel by Candace Buford
Inkyard Press / July 2022

Banned Books, Contemporary, Diversity & Multicultural, Football, Prejudice & Racism, Romance, Sports & Recreation, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Oxford Exchange

I have never cared so much about football as I have while reading Kneel. This is a fantastic debut.

Reviewed by Cat Chapman, Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“A story is not like a road to follow … it’s more like a house. You go inside and stay there for a while, wandering back and forth and settling where you like and discovering how the room and corridors relate to each other, how the world outside is altered by being viewed from these windows. And you, the visitor, the reader, are altered as well by being in this enclosed space, whether it is ample and easy or full of crooked turns, or sparsely or opulently furnished. You can go back again and again, and the house, the story, always contains more than you saw the last time. It also has a sturdy sense of itself of being built out of its own necessity, not just to shelter or beguile you.”
— Alice Munro

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
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The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Green Frog by Gina Chung
Vintage / March 2024

Adult Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories (single author)
More Reviews from Avid Bookshop

This short story collection sparkles in its deft explorations of womanhood, identity, and family. Gina Chung interweaves the fantastical with the mundane throughout these stories that invite you to contemplate girlhood, womanhood, and motherhood in new and unique ways. I am taken with "Attachment Processes," a meditation on grief, motherhood, and AI and "Mantis."

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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The Water Outlaws by S. L. Huang
Tordotcom / May 2024

Adult Fiction, Epic, Fantasy
More Reviews from Tubby & Coo’s Mid-City Book Shop

This is a long book and took me forever to read, but I really fell in love with the bandits of Liangshan, and the second half of the book is packed with action. Worth a read for sure, especially if you like Chinese martial arts!

Reviewed by Candice Huber, Tubby & Coo’s Mid-City Book Shop in New Orleans, Louisiana

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

I was watching a TV show called The Terror. It aired in 2018, but I was watching it in lockdown 2021. And I was struggling to follow what was going on. It’s a great show, but I had lockdown brain. I just thought, “I’m not quite sure what’s going on. There are a lot of people that are all talking, they all look the same — they’re all white guys with mutton chops and big, arctic coats…” So I looked at the fan wiki. And under the bloopers section they referred to a guy called Graham Gore. I went to his Wikipedia page and read about him. And as I was reading it, I just thought, “My God, this man sounds so competent and chill and nice.” It was April 2021. I had just started a new job in January. And I hadn’t met any of my colleagues because we were still isolating, and I couldn’t get the VPN to work. And it was very stressful. I was like, “I bet Gore could get the VPN to work. I bet he wouldn’t cry. He’d just handle this lockdown. He’d have no problems and be fine.

So that’s why I kind of latched on to him.

― Kaliane Bradley, Bookweb

What booksellers are saying about The Ministry of Time

• What if time travelers had tour guides to help them adjust? Maybe they would find things they like along the way – TV, pre-rolled cigarettes, the tour guide? Loved this books mixing timelines and people from a variety of eras and social classes. The history feels genuine and well researched (had to look up a picture of Graham Gore to see if he really was that cute) Time travelers trying to live a normal life, slowly discovering that things aren’t as simple as getting a job and taking care of your apartment. Just the right tone for the requisite love interests between historical and contemporary characters. Mowed right through this in a weekend.
    ― Doloris Vest, Book No Further in Roanoke, Virginia | BUY
  
  
• I can’t remember the last time I was so charmed by a novel ― or more particularly, by a character in a novel. Lieutenant Graham Gore alone is worth the read, but thankfully he’s just part of an immensely satisfying reading experience. Time travel, espionage, explorations of climate change and colonialism, romance ― this book has it all. I highly recommend this book ― you will grin all the way through!
    ― Chelsea Bauer, union ave books in Knoxville, Tennessee | BUY
  
  
• A "time travel romance, spy thriller, workplace comedy and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and potential for love to change it all". I didn’t know how it would all work but it does. And it does it well. I instantly became invested in the characters and their journey. Highly recommend this "genre bender."
    ― Kelley Barnes, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina | BUY
  
  
• One part Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, one part James Bond, and two parts Kate and Leopold and you have this charming, engaging adventure that can not be put down! Bradley’s writing is a magic trick; the romance scintillates, the comedy delivers, and her discussion on identity is brilliant. Don’t miss this one!
    ― Dominic Howarth, Book + Bottle in St. Petersburg, Florida | BUY
  

Kaliane Bradley is a British-Cambodian writer and editor based in London. Her short fiction has appeared in Somesuch Stories, The Willowherb Review, Electric Literature, Catapult, and Extra Teeth, among others. She was the winner of the 2022 Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Prize and the 2022 V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize.

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Swiped by L.M. Chilton
Gallery/Scout Press / May 2024

Adult Fiction, Fiction, Suspense, Thrillers
More Reviews from Fiction Addiction

A May Read This Next! Title

What a fun read! It is a good thing I had a long car ride and nothing else to do because I couldn’t put it down. Swiped is a delightful Rom-Com-Murder Mystery. Romance may be stretching it a little as the Rom part was Gwen trying to get over a breakup by swiping right on a dating app to hook up with six different dates, none of whom rated a second date. Comedy, definitely, as the dialogue was smart and witty, and definitely a murder mystery as Gwen’s dates were being murdered one by one and she soon became the prime suspect. I thought I had this one figured out at least three different times, but boy was I wrong.

Reviewed by Nancy McFarlane, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina

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Monsters by Claire Dederer
Vintage / April 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Feminist, Literary Criticism
More Reviews from Tombolo Books

What do we do with the work of monstrous artists? Can we separate it from their reprehensible actions and the suffering they cause? Claire Dederer doesn’t have an exact answer, but boy was it thrilling to see her try to work it out on the page, using figures like Roman Polanski, JK Rowling, Woody Allen, Pablo Picasso, and others as her sparring partners. My favorite kind of nonfiction: thoughtful writing about tough stuff, through the lens of the personal. More, please!

Reviewed by Rachel Knox, Tombolo Books in St Petersburg, Florida

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The Worst Ronin by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
HarperAlley / May 2024

Action & Adventure, Asian American & Pacific Islander, Comics & Graphic Novels, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Cavalier House Books

Battles defending honor and fighting sexism, this graphic novel has it all. Set in samurai times with a modern twist, The Worst Ronin shows the progression of a young girl learning how to fight for her life and a worn-down drunken warrior learning how to be kind.

Reviewed by Sara Dimaria, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, Louisiana

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I Heard by Jaha Nailah Avery
Charlesbridge / April 2024

African American & Black, Children, Juvenile Nonfiction
More Reviews from Bookmarks

So many stories. It reminds me of The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, and the rhymes and cadence of I Heard make it a wonderful pick for a read-aloud. One of our storyteller friends says some picture books are meant to be read with the people sitting right next to you, and others translate up from that to be told to a big crowd of listeners. This one, with its sonorous title, is meant to be proclaimed, and the detail in the illustrations by Walthall begs another go-through to see all the faces.

Reviewed by Lisa Yee Swope, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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Next Stop by Debbie Fong
Random House Graphic / March 2024

Action & Adventure, Asian American & Pacific Islander, Children, Comics & Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Juvenile Fiction
More Reviews from Underbrush Books

Next Stop is an endearing graphic novel that made me laugh out loud on one page, then tear up on the next. Fong’s ability to discuss grief and loss without sacrificing charm makes Next Stop a must-read for children and adults.

Reviewed by Courtney Ulrich Smith, Underbrush Books in Rogers, Arkansas

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Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown
HarperTeen / May 2028

LGBTQ+, Romance, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Fountain Bookstore

Jo hopes to start a radio youth ministry focusing on teens and acceptance, which is why she agrees to pass as straight after her radio star and pastor father remarries and they move to a very small, very conservative town in Georgia. Lesbians and religion are not topics seen very often in YA (and rarely in the same book, and definitely not in a positive light), but Brown manages to pull it off. The religious aspect of the book is never preachy or heavy-handed- it’s just a part of who Jo is. While she might struggle with intolerant churchgoers (and especially her new Step Grandmother), Jo’s love of God is as ingrained and steadfast as her love for girls.

Jo is an amazing character- she knows who she is, what she wants to do, and who she wants to love. But she’s also a teen girl who is uprooted from her Atlanta life and thrown into a new family and new town, far away from her friends and a more tolerant community. As heartbreaking as it is when her father, who has previously accepted and supported her, asks her to lay low her senior year, Jo accepts. She trades her truth for a radio show, one that has the potential to help other teens find acceptance and kindness in the Christian community. Jo loves her father, and wants him to have a chance with his new bride and her ultra-conservative family. She has no plans to stay in the Rome, Georgia, after she graduates. But she doesn’t plan on how it makes her feel to have to omit aspects of her life, which eventually leads to outright lying. Especially once she makes new friends, and then falls in love. Passing as straight is easier than she thought, and she kind of hates, kind of likes how easy it is. Meanwhile, her bestie back home in Atlanta, gets into some major trouble, and Jo’s relationship with her new stepmother changes. Of course, everything blows up, like you know it’s going to, but it’s how Jo puts things back together that is the real payoff. Maybe the ending is a bit too easy? I don’t know, but it’s one that I hope is realistic soon. So much love for this book!

Reviewed by Kate Towery, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“Life is not simple, and people can’t be boxed into being either heroes or villains.”
— Jessica Hagedorn

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Recommended by Southern indies…

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May You Love and Be Loved by Cleo Wade
Feiwel & Friends / May 2024

Children, Juvenile Fiction, Poetry
More Reviews from Cavalier House Books

A poem, a prayer, a plea to the universe. Beautifully illustrated and sure the be a beloved gift.

Reviewed by Michelle Cavalier, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, Louisiana

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Crow Talk by Eileen Garvin
Dutton / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Friendship
More Reviews from The Little Bookshop

A beloved family lake house, a lonely ornithologist, and a heartbroken mother trying to communicate with her young son come together in this beautiful story of family, love, and overcoming grief. Eileen Garvin does such a solid job weaving characters’ stories as they grow together. Just as in her previous novel, the reader gets a cohesive, heartwarming story while Garvin shows how nature helps heal our hearts. A delightful, fulfilling read!

Reviewed by Mary Patterson, The Little Bookshop in Midlothian, Virginia

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: Worry by Alexandra Tanner

When you have a sibling, you can have a relationship with almost no boundaries. You can say anything to me; I can say anything to you, and because we’re bound by all of these things—the structure of our family, the understanding we have of one another’s issues, the love we have for each other; we’re always going to be connected. At the same time, it’s a delusion to think that you know a person so entirely because you grew up together—because you have the same parents; because you were raised in the same way. Every person has secrets. Everyone has a complete internal world that you know nothing about.

― Alexandra Tanner, The Columbia Journal

What booksellers are saying about Worry

• Do I love to hate these characters, or hate that I love them? Worry is so funny, and also so bleak – Girls meets Shiva Baby meets Curb Your Enthusiasm if Larry David used organic tampons and worked for an astrology app start-up. These two sisters who find themselves in close quarters and under a specifically 2019-style emotional duress made me laugh and appreciate my own (mostly) functional family. Shoutout to Helen Glaser, this audiobook’s narrator, for absolutely committing to the bit!
    ― Rachel Knox, Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg, Florida | BUY
  
  
• I loved this! For fans of Halle Butler and Elif Batuman, if you love slice of life and “no plot just vibes” reads, add this one to your list. This book is at its best with its dialogue. You will see yourself in both of its main characters as they fluctuate between being vulnerable and caring for each other and then switching to subtle insults and manipulative power plays.
    ― Maddie Grimes, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee | BUY
  
  
• Worry is brilliant. Jules and Poppy’s characters could be your sister, your friend, or even, you. The storyline time placement is genius. All Jules and Poppy appear to want is to move their lives forward – together and apart. But with setting this story a year before the pandemic, the reader knows it really doesn’t matter what they are planning. The family dynamics is pure chaos. The struggle with mother-daughter-sister relationships felt true and unbelievable at the same time. I felt so many emotions during the interactions between Jules and Poppy, Poppy and Mom, and Jules and Mom that I’m officially on Team Poppy. Tanner’s writing style is direct and doesn’t linger, which felt natural and relatable the entire time. (Not recommended for readers who need a plot device to move the story forward.)
    ― Jenny Gilroy, E. Shaver, Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia | BUY
  
  
• Start with a large portion of sibling rivalry, add in anxiety, internet theories, a set of codependent parents and you have Alexandra Tanner’s debut novel, Worry. Sisters, Jules and Poppy, become antagonistic roommates when Poppy unexpectedly moves in to job hunt in Brooklyn. Set in 2019, the sisters plow through both the job and relationship markets always looking for the golden ticket of fulfillment. Tanner rounds out the family with a three-legged dog named for a failed Presidential candidate and Jewish parents living in Florida who are only too happy to share advice. Worry is full of dark humor and sarcasm that will leave you laughing as you wonder if you would have been half as good as Jules and Poppy at navigating life’s worries.
    ― Mary Jane Michaels, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina | BUY
  

Alexandra Tanner is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor. She is a graduate of the MFA program at The New School and a recipient of fellowships from MacDowell, The Center for Fiction, and Spruceton Inn’s Artist Residency. Her stories, essays, and reviews appear or are forthcoming in Granta, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Baffler, The New York Times Book Review, and Jewish Currents, among other outlets. Worry is her first novel.

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The Z Word by Lindsay King-Miller
Quirk Books / May 2024

Adult Fiction, Fiction, LGBTQ+
More Reviews from Avid Bookshop

King-Miller’s The Z Word captures the same cackling, DIY, gory energy of the first time I ever watched Return of the Living Dead. Set during the sweltering energy of small-town, Southwestern Pride, Wendy finds herself experiencing the start of the zombie apocalypse in the midst of Pride festivities. There’s found family, betrayal, and evil corporations, all centered around the fun bonding activity of hitting zombies with your car.

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Reading the Room by Paul Yamazaki
Ode Books / May 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Editors, Essays, Journalists, Literary Collections, Literary Figures, Memoirs, Publishers
More Reviews from Underground Books

This pocket-size book takes just an hour or two to read, structurally spans a day and a night, but holds half a century’s wisdom about bookselling. Paul Yamazaki has been the principal book buyer at Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s iconic City Lights bookstore in San Francisco for 50 years. This brief but complex and consequential collection of interviews with a venerable bookseller of color who’s experienced so much is a gift to all who love bookstores.

Reviewed by Megan Bell, Underground Books in Carrollton, Georgia

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The Black Girl Survives in This One: Horror Stories by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell
Flatiron Press / April 2024

African American & Black, Collections & Anthologies, Horror, People & Places, Short Stories, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Fountain Bookstore

An April Read This Next! Title

I love a horror anthology and a final girl story is even better! This book is a mix of powerhouse authors of color that portray strong black women triumphing over baddies – both human and not. Don’t worry, not EVERYONE survives so you’ll still get lots of heart pounding terror, thrills, and chills – plus a side of humor in some tales!

Reviewed by Andrea Richardson, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

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Someone Just Like You by Helen Docherty
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / March 2024

Childrens, Friendship, Juvenile Fiction, Social Themes
More Reviews from Main Street Books

A March/April Read This Next! Kids Title

I love this fun story about what makes us unique AND what unites us with others who may not look like us or speak the same language. Great for teaching empathy and kindness, to others and ourselves!

Reviewed by Jessica Nock, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

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My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 Volume 1 by Mashiro
Inklore / April 2024

Comics & Graphic Novels, Manga, Romance
More Reviews from E. Shaver bookseller

I’ve been reading this manga online for a while and am so happy it’s getting an English print! This is one of my all-time favorite shoujo mangas, with a pretty big cast of characters, but all of them are fun and endearing. Akane and Yamada are adorable, and I really appreciate how they get together early on (without rushing the feelings), with the story following their relationship (and their relationship with their friends) closely in a wholesome slice of life. This manga explores different types of relationships and portrays people realistically. The gamer aspect is relatable for the current generation and is fun to read about. I’ll be collecting all the volumes!

Reviewed by Kamilah Wong, E. Shaver bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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Not Like Other Girls by Meredith Adamo
Bloomsbury YA / April 2024

Contemporary, Friendship, Girls & Women, Romance, Social Themes, Thrillers & Suspense, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Fiction Addiction

A March/April Read This Next! Kids Title

Adamo’s Not Like Other Girls pairs the emotional power of Speak with a mystery full of plot twists a la A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. This would be a great pick for teen book clubs.

Reviewed by Jill Hendrix, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina

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Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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Batman: White Knight by Sean Murphy
DC Black Label / October 2018

Banned Books, Comics & Graphic Novels, Crime & Mystery, Superheroes, Supervillains
More Reviews from Carmichael’s Bookstore

This arc follows a man named Jack Napier who is bent on taking down Batman and exposing Gotham’s corruption-but is he a savior or a doomsman? Murphy does an excellent job making you go back and forth with this idea until the end. The art is serious and dark, setting the tone of the story well. A fun read, and one you’ll want to return to again and again.

Reviewed by Hilton Airall, Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.”
— Roald Dahl, Matilda

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Recommended by Southern indies…

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The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson
Little Brown and Company / April 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Memoirs, Rich & Famous
More Reviews from Page 158 Books

Well! I was so excited to be asked to be a part of this book! I wasn’t sure what to expect but it exceeded expectations! I am humbled to be in such great company. One of the best things about my job is the people. Book people are the actual best! This book proves it. Fierce, intelligent people across the country were interviewed about their jobs in the book world. We may live far apart, but the message is the same. We care about people reading. We will move heaven and earth to get children to read. We are compassionate and empathetic people who take the time to listen to customers’ stories. I love this world and am so excited to get people to understand how important books and their book pimps are.

Reviewed by Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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The Brush by Eliana Hernández-Pachón
Archipelago / April 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Caribbean & Latin American, Death, Grief, Loss, Nature, Poetry
More Reviews from Thank You Books

Powerful and devastating. The language is so concise and brilliantly moving. Every word makes a massive impact in this slim, arresting poem.

Reviewed by Emily Tarr, Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: Real Americans by Rachel Khong

I know I was technically an adult when I wrote my first book, but Real Americans feels, to me, like the first book I’ve written as an adult. What I mean is that I worked at it diligently and devotedly. It felt more like a marriage—something I committed to, that I worked at—whereas Goodbye, Vitamin felt like flings, stolen moments. Even when I was at my busiest I made sure to carve out an hour in the mornings to write. On mornings I did the opening shift at The Ruby, I would make the communal pot of coffee, then place myself in the “podcast room” (this tiny dark closet hung with egg cartons and moving blankets) and write. For the first couple years, I only had those daily hours. And in the last years of writing the book it required more: three to four hours, artist residencies. I mean that in the best way, though. I got married a few months before Goodbye, Vitamin was released, and I think I learned a lot about writing a novel by being in my committed relationship. To both marriage and novel writing, there are challenges, annoyances and frustrations, but also really deep satisfaction, joy, belonging, intimacy, transcendence.

― Rachel Khong, The Rumpus

What booksellers are saying about Real Americans

• Rachel Khong has spun a tender and intimate multigenerational family portrait that’s simultaneously a trenchant commentary on the contemporary faces of manifest destiny and the American dream. Real Americans plays with language in delightful and provocative ways, with its multiple narrators unknowingly echoing each other, skipping back and forth through time, and at times swapping between first and second person. The result is a gorgeous novel that hits the reader in so many different ways, one of those rare books that makes you think as much as it makes you feel.
    ― Akil Guruparan, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia | BUY
  
  
• Basically I opened Rachel Khong’s Real Americans on a Friday afternoon and was annoyed with every distraction–feeding my baby, answering emails, sleeping!–until I closed it, finished, the following Sunday night. What do I love in a novel? Fascinating research, intergenerational conflict/questions/challenges, surprising plot twists, and exquisitely developed characters. Real Americans has it all.
    ― Laura Cotten, Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama | BUY
  
  
• There are moments in life when choices must be made and most make decisions to the best of their ability. Rachel Khong’s highly anticipated Real Americans tells the story of three generations whose crucial choices, made out of love and best intentions chart courses that are life-changing and at times hurtful. At once a cautionary tale on potential genetic editing as well as a grand family story contemplating what it means to truly be American, Real Americans is filled with characters who are almost too brave who deny their truth to protect others.
    ― Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia | BUY
  
  
• What initially appears to be a modern-day fairytale – Chinese-American girl meets rich white boy and falls in love – quickly becomes so much more in this nuanced, multi-generational family saga. Spanning more than 60 years and two continents, and told from three distinctive viewpoints, Real Americans is a powerful novel that raises questions about wealth, ambition, love, genetic engineering, and to what extent it’s possible to shape someone else to be who you want them to be.
    ― Jude Burke-Lewis, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi | BUY
  

Rachel Khong is the author of Goodbye, Vitamin, winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction, and named a Best Book of the Year by NPR; O, The Oprah Magazine; Vogue; and Esquire. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Cut, The Guardian, The Paris Review, and Tin House. In 2018, she founded The Ruby, a work and event space for women and nonbinary writers and artists in San Francisco’s Mission District. She lives in California.

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Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash
Harper Perennial / March 2024

Adult Fiction, Literary
More Reviews from Fountain Bookstore

I know it’s still early in the year, but Rainbow Black is going to be on my Top Ten of 2024! Lacey is only thirteen when the Satanic Panic sweeps through her life, leaving her family in shambles. Despite the legal firestorms, the conniving therapists, and the loss of her entire support system, Lacey finds a way to survive, and years later, she’s living in Canada as Jo, a smart, capable lawyer with more secrets than she can stand. But America hasn’t forgotten her, and soon she’s the target of another witch hunt, but this time for a crime she did commit. This book will leave you outraged and weary of a legal system that abuses its power for nothing more than public appeasement. 5 Rainbow colored stars for this one!

Reviewed by Kate Towery, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

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Colton Gentry’s Third Act by Jeff Zentner
Grand Central Publishing / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Coming of Age, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Small Town & Rural, Southern
More Reviews from Main Street Books

An April Read This Next! Title

I loved this story about second (and third) chances and rekindled young love in a small southern town. Themes of alcohol addiction and commentary on American gun violence give Colton Gentry’s Third Act depth that would make this romance a fabulous book club selection. And I loved the restaurant setting!

Reviewed by Jessica Nock, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

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How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
Avon / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance
More Reviews from Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews

An April Read This Next! Title

It’s actually unfair how good this book is. Kuang seamlessly weaves together grief, trauma, and hope in a way that cracked me open. Grant and Helen are linked by a horrific tragedy, and eventually wind up in the same television writers’ room, both trying their hardest to escape from themselves. A love letter to competency porn, vulnerability, and tripping headfirst into something great with the last person you should be falling in love with. An incredibly moving, honest debut.

Reviewed by Gaby Iori, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
Flatiron Books / March 2024

Dark Fantasy, Fairy Tales & Folklore, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Angel Wings Bookstore

I loved Once Upon A Broken Heart and was very excited to receive a review copy of The Ballad of Never After. Stephanie Garber has done an amazing job of bringing fairy tales to life along with the curses intertwined within them. Garber didn’t just bring one story to life but a story within a story, within another story. Fairy tales are not all gold and glitter, and you see this more so in The Ballad of Never After. You fall in love with all the characters, whether they are "good" or "bad." I really hope there is a third book in this series, and I am impatiently waiting for it.

Reviewed by Mandy Harris, Angel Wings Bookstore in Stem, North Carolina

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Spider in the Well by Jess Hannigan
Katherine Tegen Books / March 2024

Children, Humorous Stories, Juvenile Fiction
More Reviews from Flyleaf Books

The story is already so creative with its twists and turns, but the illustrations are key to understanding this lively story. The weird little kid? The weird townspeople? The weird spider? Perfect combo. Jess Hannigan is definitely someone to keep an eye on!

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

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My Gemini by Yuu Morikawa
Yen Press / April 2024

Comics & Graphic Novels, Crime & Mystery
More Reviews from E. Shaver bookseller

I loved it! I’ve been looking for a standalone manga and this scratched all my itches. The art is gorgeous, and I love the mysterious vibe it has. The mystery around the twins and their relationship was very well done. I think the main character, John, could’ve been explored a little more and made him more important. "Hyde" kept telling him how important John is to him and his brother, but I wish we saw a bit more of that. The pacing and writing were both great, and the ending made me satisfied, even though it’s a little bittersweet.

Reviewed by Kamilah Wong, E. Shaver bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

Decide for Yourself

Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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Damsel by Elana K. Arnold
Balzer + Bray / October 2018

Adaptations, Banned Books, Fairy Tales & Folklore, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Fiction Addiction

This definitely crosses over to adult readers who grew up on Patricia Wrede and loved Naomi Novik’s Uprooted. Extremely well-written and smart fantasy.

Reviewed by Jill Hendrix, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“Books to the ceiling, Books to the sky, My pile of books is a mile high. How I love them! How I need them! I’ll have a long beard by the time I read them.”
— Arnold Lobel

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Recommended by Southern indies…

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woke up no light by Leila Mottley
Knopf / April 2024

Adult Nonfiction, African American & Black, American, Poetry
More Reviews from Fountain Bookstore

What I hope is the beginning of a Leila Mottley renaissance, woke up no light is a poetry collection that solidifies Mottley’s status as one of our time’s best new young writers. Split into four sections defined as girlhood, neighborhood, falsehood, and womanhood, Mottley’s poetry reads as tender yet raw, her musings especially on womanhood and coming into your own are glittering pieces of writing that any reader can acknowledge are full of both heart, hardships, and truth. A remarkable collection for people looking to get into poetry, or for the established readers of the genre!

Reviewed by Grace Sullivan, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: Olivetti by Allie Millington

Something that has shaped much of my writing is asking the question, “Who have we never heard a story from before?” There were many reasons why I chose to share a typewriter’s untold side of the story, one of them being because I thought typewriters would naturally have many stories to tell (as they’re full of them).

Countless people across history and across the world have a personal connection or fondness toward these charming, clacking machines — and yet, most kids have never had the opportunity to use one. One hope I have for Olivetti is that it can be a bridge between generations, and create opportunities for readers both young and old to share in the nostalgia and power of passing down memories that typewriters bring just by being themselves.

― Allie Millington, Bookweb

What booksellers are saying about Olivetti

• All About Olivetti! The beautiful cover art belies the beautiful story. Olivetti tells the story of a family missing connections and how they find their way to new, deeper relationships with each other. plus a magical vintage typewriter! What more could you ask for?!
    ― Susan Williams, M Judson, Booksellers in Greenville, South Carolina | BUY
  
  
• I love this sweet, unique book! Young Ernest is shy and dealing with his family’s secrets doesn’t help. When Ernest’s mom drops off the family’s beloved typewriter Olivetti at the pawn shop and then disappears, the whole family is thrown into an emotional whirlwind. Ernest and Olivetti team up to find out where mom is and why she left. This story will steal your heart – I never expected to have such strong feelings about a sentient typewriter!
    ― Andrea Richardson, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia | BUY
  
  
• A wholly original and utterly charming middle grade novel that will hit you right in the feels. It’s a got a little bit of a mystery, a family that’s lost its way, and a plucky typewriter who breaks the rules of his kind trying to help.
    ― Melissa Taylor, E. Shaver, bookseller in Savannah, Georgia | BUY
  
  
• I picked this book up for two reasons: the stunning cover and the comp to Jasmine Warga’s A Rover’s Story. No surprise that it was so well done. With a complex familial theme that pulls at your heart strings and an anthropomorphized typewriter that you wanted so badly to befriend, this book had me hooked. It felt like the hug you get from The Vanderbeekers meets the wonder that you experience reading A Rover’s Story.
    ― Olivia Schaffer, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia | BUY
  
• Devoured in one sitting. I don’t know what I expected, but this beautiful book was not it. The kind of hope and heartbreak and love that gets you in the corners of your heart and makes you want to laugh and cry all at once.
    ― Lauren Brown, The Story Shop, LLC in Monroe, Georgia | BUY
  

Allie Millington first wrote Olivetti on her own antique typewriter, who turned out to have an awful lot to say. She lives near Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and their fluffy dog. You can find her on Instagram: @alliemillington or online at http://www.alliemillington.com.

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The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
Bloomsbury Publishing / March 2024

Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Exploration
More Reviews from The Haunted Book Shop

Goodness, was this good! Where to start? The power politics and marriage of convenience love story put me in mind (in a good way) of Winter’s Orbit, but there’s also talking mammoths, climate crisis commentary, twists, tidbits for language nerds, and delightfully fleshed-out characters! Highly recommend!

Reviewed by Angela Trigg, The Haunted Book Shop in Mobile, Alabama

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Women! In! Peril! by Jessie Ren Marshall
Bloomsbury Publishing / April 2024

Adult Fiction, LGBTQ+, Magical Realism, Satire, Short Stories (single author)
More Reviews from Fountain Bookstore

An April Read This Next! Title

I’m happy to report that Women! In! Peril! lives up to its obsession-worthy title and cover. This short story debut is full of smart, fresh fiction that I wanted to savor. Marshall brings a hilarious voice to inventive literary stories about women whose struggles range from divorce to the destruction of the human race. Singular characters like a former ballerina with memory loss and a lesbian whose girlfriend thinks she’s carrying the baby Jesus make up this exciting, heartbreaking, and unabashedly queer collection!

Reviewed by Julia Lewis, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

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Diavola by Jennifer Thorne
Tor Nightfire / March 2024

Adult Fiction, Horror
More Reviews from Underbrush Books

Between the ephemeral sense of dread that vanishes as quickly as it appears, and the all too well-known terror of family vacation, Diavola kept me both frightened and intrigued! It’s a great read for anyone who loves haunted houses, with a dash of family drama!

Reviewed by Courtney Ulrich Smith, Underbrush Books in Rogers, Arkansas

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The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell
Atria/One Signal Publishers / April 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Personal Memoirs
More Reviews from Friendly City Books

I am a devoted follower of the cult of Amanda Montell, and The Age of Magical Overthinking is the psychological balm I didn’t know I needed right now. Amanda Montell has the unique ability to give us perspective on the current cultural zeitgeist that we are too close to to see wholly, and to equip us with the tools and language to have important conversations about them. The Age of Magical Overthinking is an astute examination of the cultural moment of now, and how we as individuals exist within it… all told with her signature wit and enthusiasm that makes Amanda Montell one of my perennially favorite authors to hand-sell at our bookstore.

Reviewed by Caroline Barbee, Friendly City Books in Columbus, Mississippi

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Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood
HarperTeen / April 2024

Fables, Greek & Roman, Legends, Myths, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Oxford Exchange

Underwood’s bold re imagining of Penelope’s hanged maids cements her among the ranks of Rick Riordan and Jennifer Saint. Lies We Sing to the Sea is a a magical take on feminine rage that girls of all ages can empathize with. The love story is ephemeral, and my pages were tear-soaked by the end. I will never look at daffodils the same way.

Reviewed by Laura Taylor, Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida

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Would You Dare Put a Diaper on a Bear? by Lillias Kinsman-Chauvet
Boxer Books / April 2024

Children, Health & Daily Living, Juvenile Fiction, Toilet Training
More Reviews from Bookmarks

This silly sing-songy book will have your child bubbling over with laughter. The pictures are funny colorful animals outfitted in diapers and are sure to make your little one cover their mouths trying to keep from giggling. It is the perfect book to help encourage potty training.

Reviewed by Keeshia Jacklitch, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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Blood City Rollers by V.P. Anderson
Labyrinth Road / April 2024

Comics & Graphic Novels, Juvenile Fiction, Paranormal
More Reviews from Flyleaf Books

A March/April Read This Next! Kids Title

Fast-moving, silly, with just the right amount of character introspection. When you fail at something you’ve literally dedicated your life to, it can feel like you’ve failed at life. Mira’s journey is very literal in that she gets injured and can no longer skate, disrupting her parents’ plans for the Olympics. Luckily, she’s kidnapped by a vampire roller derby team who is in desperate need of a "mandatory human member."

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

Decide for Yourself

Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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Beetle & the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne
Atheneum Books for Young Readers / August 2020

Banned Books, Children, Comics & Graphic Novels, Juvenile Fiction
More Reviews from Books & Books

I read Beetle & the Hollowbones in one sitting over morning coffee. The art and story charmed me to no end! This middle-grade graphic novel is a perfect recommendation for fans of Corpse Bride and Halloweentown, a creepy-cute and sweet tale of growing up, friendship, magic, and love. A must-read for fellow year-round Halloween lovers!

Reviewed by Cristina Russell, Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.”
— Emily Dickinson

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Recommended by Southern indies…

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The Blue Mimes by Sara Daniele Rivera
Graywolf Press / April 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Poetry
More Reviews from Avid Bookshop

A bilingual and elegiac collection that explores transnational sorrow with an openness to delving into the gulfs loss creates, rather than succumbing to them. Memories of family and political histories intertwine with cultural unrest and the sensorially intimate to form poems with a sketchy quality—much like the drawings in the book—with deep feeling and sense of possibility. Disarmingly beautiful.

Reviewed by Luis Correa, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Fervor by Toby Lloyd
Avid Reader Press, Simon & Schuster / March 2024

Adult Fiction, Jewish
More Reviews from Flyleaf Books

Is it nature? Nurture? Unacknowledged familial trauma? Kabbalah? God? Does it matter? Toby Lloyd’s stunning novel debut feels like a long-lost dream, rippling with uncertainty for the best kind of unsettled reading experience — just after finishing, I wanted to read it all again. In a London, modern Ashkenazi Jewish home, our intersecting narrators offer multiple realities, inviting us to hold them amidst reflections on tradition, power, and existence with heart-wrenching beauty. Impressively succinct writing that unfolds in the mind like a flower in bloom with heart-wrenching beauty and depth – the rest of 2024’s reads are up against a powerhouse.

Reviewed by RC Collman, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
Avon / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance
More Reviews from Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews

An April Read This Next! Title

It’s actually unfair how good this book is. Kuang seamlessly weaves together grief, trauma, and hope in a way that cracked me open. Grant and Helen are linked by a horrific tragedy, and eventually wind up in the same television writers’ room, both trying their hardest to escape from themselves. A love letter to competency porn, vulnerability, and tripping headfirst into something great with the last person you should be falling in love with. An incredibly moving, honest debut.

Reviewed by Gaby Iori, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

While this is absolutely a work of fiction, it comes from a deeply personal place to me. In some ways, this book has been percolating inside me since my own grandparents moved me from our walk-up in Brooklyn to College Hill nearly thirty years ago.

It was still, in those days, rare to be a Latina at Brown. I was part of a very small community of minority students that sat inside this larger school: a position that came with the comforts of an intimate collective, but all the challenges of feeling like a visitor to a dominant culture.

― Xochitl Gonzalez, Letter from the author

What booksellers are saying about Anita de Monte Laughs Last

• An imaginative, inventive and interesting novel. Imaginative in putting together a historic event with present day significance, inventive in it’s use of magical realism, and interesting in its views on women in the arts, and privileged and unprivileged students in academia.
    ― Andrea Ginsky, Bookstore Number 1 LLC in Sarasota, Florida | BUY
  
  
• Two days after I finished listening to this book, headlines broke that artist Carl Andre had died. Based on the life and work of Ana Mendieta and her husband, Carl Andrea, Gonzalez captures the ghostly rage of a woman murdered by her jealous husband while grounding the reader with a contemporary narrative that was extremely compelling.
    ― Adah Fitzgerald, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina | BUY
  
  
• Wow, wow, wow. This one has fangs. Anita is pure fire. Add Xoxhitl to your list of authors to watch, if you haven’t already. This is a vibrant revenge/coming-of-age story with dual timelines, mirrored situations, and magical elements. It explores the art world, and who is seen and why. A love song to minority women, to up and coming artists, and to anyone that wants to be seen and heard for who they are, not who they know.
    ― Krista Roach, E. Shaver, bookseller in Savannah, Georgia | BUY
  
• A deeply moving book of art, race, feminism and power in relationships. Raquel is a latina woman at Brown, when she decides to base her senior thesis on famous minimalist artist, Jack Martin, she uncovers his artist wife, Anita De Monte. Martin was accused of murdering Anita and successfully erased both her and her art from history after he was acquitted. A gripping story told from the multiple perspectives of Anita, Jack and Raquel.
    ― Kathy Clemmons, Sundog Books in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida | BUY
  

Xochitl Gonzalez is the New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming. Named a Best Book of 2022 by The New York Times, TIME, Kirkus, Washington Post, and NPR, Olga Dies Dreaming was the winner of the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize in Fiction and the New York City Book Award. Gonzalez is a 2021 MFA graduate from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her nonfiction work has been published in Elle Decor, Allure, Vogue, Real Simple, and The Cut. Her commentary writing for The Atlantic was recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A native Brooklynite and proud public school graduate, Gonzalez holds a BA from Brown University and lives in her hometown of Brooklyn with her dog, Hectah Lavoe.

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Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
Tor Nightfire / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Space Exploration
More Reviews from Fountain Books

With Dead Silence (a haunted Titantic in space!) and now Ghost Station, Barnes is set to become the queen of intense, claustrophobic space horror! Again with a small crew of deeply disturbed and damaged people, Barnes sets them loose on an icy, abandoned planet to do some dangerous work for an uncaring corporation. Everyone is hiding something. There is a jump-startle behind every closed door and every corner. If it were just these things, that would be great, but under the chills and thrills, there are thoughtful explorations of class, the definition of family, the nature of trauma, and opening oneself up to trust and love.

Reviewed by Kelly Justice, Fountain Books in Richmond, Virginia

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Sociopath by Patric Gagne
Simon & Schuster / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Space Exploration
More Reviews from Main Street Books

Sociopath is an illuminating memoir about Patric Gagne’s lifelong quest to understand herself and her lack of emotion. As a child who is aware that she is different from her family and peers to an adult striving for true intimacy, Patric shines a light on sociopathy and related antisocial behaviors. I started reading Sociopath with my own preconceived notions and prejudices around the word "sociopath" and finished with a deeper understanding and empathy.

Reviewed by Jessica Nock, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

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Poetrees by Douglas Florians
Beach Lane Books / March 2024

Childrens, Juvenile Fiction, Poetry
More Reviews from The Country Bookshop

Perfectly positioned for Poetry Month and Earth Day, Poetrees is a poetry book, an art book, and a science primer all in one. From the humble seed to the Giant Sequoia there’s sure to be an ode to your favorite forest giant.

Reviewed by Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

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Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Feiwel & Friends / March 2024

Thrillers & Suspense, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Bookmarks

To say I’m obsessed is an understatement. Sade arrives at a boarding school, escaping her past, when her new roommate disappears the next day. Layers of secrets and twists are uncovered as Sade tries to find her roommate. I couldn’t put this down and will immediately read anything she writes!

Reviewed by Kayla Matykunas, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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Snail by Minu Kim
Pushkin Children’s Books / April 2024

Children, Friendship, Juvenile Fiction, Social Themes
More Reviews from Bookmarks

A March/April Read This Next! Kids Title

What a delightful book. I absolutely adore the illustrations, black and white drawing with minimal use of color.

Reviewed by Keeshia Jacklitch, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Decide for Yourself

Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Bloomsbury Publishing / June 2020

Adult Fiction, Banned Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Romance
More Reviews from Main Street Reads

Can I just live in this book please? A perfect book boyfriend, lovely world-building, just the right amount of spice….what more can we ask for? There is a reason it’s the most beloved book in the fantasy realm.

Reviewed by Kelley Dykes, Main Street Reads in Summerville, South Carolina

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“The library was open for one hour after school let out. I hid there, looking at art books and reading poetry.”
— Lynda Barry

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Read This Now!

Recommended by Southern indies…

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Devotions by Oliver, Mary
Penguin Books / November 2020

Adult Nonfiction, Poetry
More Reviews from Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews

Mary Oliver writes poetry for the soul. I have never felt so seen that when I read the words she has so lovingly crafted. Her poetry is simple and uncomplicated but will strum your heartstrings in perfect rhythm. Oliver understands the human need for unconditional forgiveness.

Reviewed by Faith Skowronnek, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Wedding Issues by Elle Evans
Zibby Books / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Family Life, Fiction, Friendship, Marriage & Divorce, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Southern, Women
More Reviews from Page 158 Books

Laugh out-loud funny book just in time for wedding season. This book engages family, friends, the wedding industry, and a fast-paced plot perfect for the beach. I gave this to my future daughter-in-law, hoping she can find the fun in the planning. A must-read for any bride.

Reviewed by Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

When I lost sight in one eye, I felt heartbroken that all my unrealized characters and their unfinished stories might not find the light of day. So, very slowly, with great frustration at first as I learned to work in new ways with compromised vision, I created a place where they could finally be finished. This is not my last book, or so I hope. I’m not yet ready to join my characters in the cemetery of untold stories.

― Julia Alvarez, Interview, Publishers Weekly

What booksellers are saying about The Cemetery of Untold Stories

• I loved the cemetery setting filled with the characters whose unfinished stories were literally buried because the writer didn’t want to lose her mind with so many voices and tales rambling around in her head. She thought they would lie to rest and leave her be, but instead they burst to life, their stories pouring out to anyone who would listen. Imaginative, moving – a real joy to read!
    ― Cathy Graham, Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Florida | BUY
  
  
• Alma, a successful novelist, is haunted by the stories she was never able to finish. When she inherits a plot of land in the Dominican Republic, she decides it is time to put those stories to rest, and creates a cemetery for her unfinished manuscripts. Her stories have other ideas. What follows is a fascinating, compelling examination of the nature of stories–why we tell them, who gets to hear them, and the nature of authorship itself.
    ― Charlie Marks, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia | BUY
  
  
• This is a novel idea! An author tries to bury her story but the characters come to life and try to change the plot to something they want. Magically told through this creative and fantastic authors voice you want to jump into the book to live the experience. I just couldn’t put it down. This is one that will stay under my skin for a long time.
    ― Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina | BUY
  

Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. She is the author of six novels, three books of nonfiction, three collections of poetry, and eleven books for children and young adults. She has taught and mentored writers in schools and communities across America and, until her retirement in 2016, was a writer in residence at Middlebury College. Her work has garnered wide recognition, including a Latina Leader Award in Literature from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, the Woman of the Year by Latina magazine, and inclusion in the New York Public Library’s program “The Hand of the Poet: Original Manuscripts by 100 Masters, from John Donne to Julia Alvarez.” In the Time of the Butterflies, with over one million copies in print, was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its national Big Read program, and in 2013 President Obama awarded Alvarez the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her extraordinary storytelling.

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The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
Harper Voyager / March 2024

Action & Adventure, Adult Fiction, Fantasy
More Reviews from Tombolo Books

This book is beautiful. An epic tale of everything good in fantasy. Magic, pirates, bombs and demons. This book has it all. But the best part of this book is the way the main character handles her own identity as a woman, mother and badass.

Reviewed by Mekhala Villegas-Rogers, Tombolo Books in St Petersburg, Florida

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All Things Are Too Small by Becca Rothfeld
Metropolitan Books / April 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Essays, Literary Collections
More Reviews from Avid Bookshop

Rothfeld begins with the promise of un-containment. If all things are in fact too small, then this book cannot contain all that it hopes to include and isn’t there something beautiful about that? Truly, what Rothfeld deftly handles is the ways that excessiveness bleeds into all aspects of lived experience – minds, bodies, and things. At times this collection hits a wall, particularly as Rothfeld realizes the limits of her own experience. So, while I don’t wholeheartedly agree with everything Rothfeld says here, her nuanced thinking on particularly the move towards owning less, thinking less, and doing less of the last decade reveals my own thoughts in the process. Perhaps what ties these lightly disparate essays together is the promise that wanting and longing are active and pressing parts of our lives.

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa
Feiwel & Friends / January 2024

LGBTQ+, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Parnassus Books

As someone who adores Pride and Prejudice, I am very protective of its main characters, and I am happy to report that Gabe Cole Novoa gave them brilliant new lives in this retelling. My little queer heart was bursting at the seams!

Reviewed by Rachel Randolph, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee

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No Cats in the Library by Lauren Emmons
Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books / March 2024

Books & Libraries, Children, Juvenile Fiction
More Reviews from Flyleaf Books

Easily one of the most precious picture books I’ve ever seen!!!! Clarisse is a sweet little stray who loves books, and the library calls to her. The only problem – she isn’t allowed in! Lovingly illustrated, the happy ending to this book made me tear up for sure.

Reviewed by Jordan April, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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The Swords of Glass Vol. 1 (Oversized) by Sylvaine Corgiat
Humanoids Inc. / April 2024

Comics & Graphic Novels, Fantasy
More Reviews from E. Shaver bookseller

This world’s people will perish by burning up in a solar flare unless the four swords that rained down from the heavens are united to open a portal to an alternate universe. Unfortunately, the owner of the sword demands to use it for revenge first and doesn’t give a rat’s behind about suns dying or oceans evaporating. A compelling read and I’m interested to see how they expand on the lore of the swords.

Reviewed by Lana Repic, E. Shaver bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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November 9 by Colleen Hoover
Atria Books / November 2015

Adult Fiction, Banned Books, Contemporary, Romance
More Reviews from Reading Rock Books

Colleen Hoover writes another fantastic story. I read this book in two days. I could not put it down. I couldn’t wait until the end to know what was going to happen. I highly recommend this book.

Reviewed by Amy McNabb, Reading Rock Books in Dickson, Tennessee

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity, it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance.”
— John Keats

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
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The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Recommended by Southern indies…

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I’ll Give You a Reason by Annell López
The Feminist Press at CUNY / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Short Stories (single author)
More Reviews from Blue Cypress Books

These beautiful stories fill my heart with hope and longing. Annell Lopez weaves powerful portraits of women just trying to be. Be happy, be important, be heard.

Reviewed by Rayna Nielsen, Blue Cypress Books in New Orleans, Louisiana

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: Rabbit Heart by Kristine S. Ervin

Some stories I’ve told again and again.

Like how the detectives stood in our kitchen, the table piled high with tackle boxes and plastic bags. I was eight then, and they pulled strands of hair from our scalps and held our fingers in their gloved hands. How tiny the arcs of my fingerprints must have been, each one placed in a square on the card, their lines like cresting waves. I remember holding it up to the light above our kitchen table, as if it were a map of some kind, but I never thought to look for letters or for symbols.

But other stories are unsayable. I’ve tried to write about Nina Athanassiades again and again, but the language fails me each time. I tell myself to write around it. To cluster those pieces. But they are simply too beautiful to touch.
― Kristine S. Ervin, Interview, Crime Reads

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What booksellers are saying about Like Happiness

• I could never anticipate how satisfying the ending of this story unfolded. Reading this reminded me of The Postcard by Anne Berest; jaw-dropping simplicity and sincerity directly from a person who survived a major trauma inflicted on their family as truth is revealed that you assume would be lost to the passage of time… Books like this give me hope that beauty can truly overcome even the direst of circumstances. How proud her mother would be of her for pulling together such a triumph of a book: to honor memories of the before, to allow space to heal, and to give voice and power back to those who deserve it..
    ― Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina | BUY
  
  
• It was so beautiful, I could barely breathe. So compelling, I couldn’t put it down—but I ached the entire read. Rabbit Heart pulled power and beauty out of such grief–it’s a work of exceptional writing.
    ― Kendra Gayle Lee, Bookish Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia | BUY
  
  
• What James Ellroy’s My Dark Places did for motherless sons, Kristine Ervin’s Rabbit Heart does for motherless daughters. And then some. This memoir is a disturbing, poetic, heartrending examination of how her mother’s murder hit her life like an earthquake, with tremors lingering until the present day..
    ― Sam Miller, Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky | BUY
  

Kristine S. Ervin grew up in a small suburb of Oklahoma City and now teaches creative writing at West Chester University, outside Philadelphia. She holds an MFA in poetry from New York University and a PhD in creative writing and literature, with a focus in nonfiction, from the University of Houston.

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The Other Side of Disappearing by Kate Clayborn
Kensington / March 2024

Adult Fiction, Family Life, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Siblings, Women
More Reviews from Fiction Addiction

This is a poignant about family and all the ways those closest to you can do the most harm. Jess knows her mother for who she is, a woman who deserted her family for a con artist she had recently met. One so infamous he is the subject of a popular podcast. Jess has first-hand experience with her mother’s priorities and knows her daughters’ are low on the list. What Jess doesn’t know is that her sister Tegan, whom she has raised, is determined to find their mother. So much so that she has been communicating with a podcast host who wants to tell their story. By the way, Tegan has been communicating as Jess, an adult. The pressure to keep Tegan safe and not destroy their relationship is a desperate struggle for a "surrogate mother" who is really just a sister. An obnoxious and pushy podcast host is not a benefit to Jess, nor the host’s handsome and kind assistant. This is a sweet story of finding family through love.

Reviewed by Jackie Willey, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina

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A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke
Avid Reader Press, Simon & Schuster / April 2024

Action & Adventure, Adult Fiction, Fiction
More Reviews from Copperfish Books

A mind-bending, adventure-filled debut novel with an unusual premise: Nine-year-old Aubry contracts a strange illness that threatens to bleed her to death unless she keeps moving. So she spends her life on the run – constantly running – from one end of the earth to the other, below the earth and above, forever finding new places to go, for she cannot return to places she has been. It’s a fantastical journey that made me ask so many questions: Will she be cured? How does she endure? Why not give up? What a wild ride of a novel!

Reviewed by Cathy Graham, Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Florida

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Slow Noodles by Chantha Nguon
Algonquin Books / February 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Asian & Asian American, Biography & Autobiography, Cultural, Ethnic & Regional
More Reviews from Bookmarks

Slow Noodles is the gripping memoir of a child navigating the devastating impact of Pol Pot’s genocide in the 1970s. Nguon recounts the heartbreaking separation from family, escape to another country, and the enduring grip of memories centered around recipes from her mother’s kitchen. This book is a powerful blend of sorrow and hope, terror and optimism, all interwoven with the significance of food and the potency of memories, making it an ideal choice for book clubs looking to delve into history alongside discussions on family dynamics, the role of food, and the complexities of immigration.

Reviewed by Beth Seufer Buss, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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Hearts Still Beating by Brooke Archer
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers / April 2024

Action & Adventure, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Main Street Reads

This is a fun YA book that has an interesting take on zombies. I love the idea of science being able to reverse the effects of zombification and what ramifications would come with that. What if your loved one had killed your family when they weren’t themselves? Could you forgive them? It’s a fascinating take. The love story is well done. Only reason I didn’t rate it higher was that it didn’t have me on the edge of my seat like some of my favorite apocalyptic novels, but it’s still a solid read that I believe teens will especially enjoy.

Reviewed by Kelley Dykes, Main Street Reads in Summerville, South Carolina

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Rewild the World at Bedtime by Emily Hawkins
Wide Eyed Editions / March 2024

Children, Environmental Conservation & Protection, Juvenile Nonfiction, Science & Nature
More Reviews from Main Street Books

With gorgeous illustrations, Rewild the World at Bedtime takes the reader on a global tour of rewilding animals. Educational and hopeful, this is the perfect bedtime read for curious and engaged little minds.

Reviewed by Jessica Nock, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

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Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
Random House Graphic / October 2020

Banned Books, Comics & Graphic Novels, Coming of Age, Fairy Tales, Folklore, Folklore & Mythology, Legends, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Park Road Books

This gorgeously illustrated graphic novel deftly weaves traditional fairy tales into the life of a young, gay teen just trying to figure everything out.

Reviewed by Shauna Sinyard, Park Road Books in Charlotte, North Carolina

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
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The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Recommended by Southern indies…

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Clear by Carys Davies
Scribner / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Literary
More Reviews from The Bookshelf

Clear is a quiet, short novel, with bite-sized chapters that lend themselves to quick reading, but the writing! Oh, the writing. Caryn Davies has written a beautiful story of survival and loneliness and resilience; set in the 1800s on a remote island between Scotland and Norway, John Ferguson — a Presbyterian minister — has been sent on a mission to clear the island of its last inhabitant. Davies took her sparse cast of characters in directions I wasn’t expecting, and I feel I’ll be thinking of them for years to come. (For fans of The Vaster Wilds.)

Reviewed by Annie Jones, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura

I wanted to tell the story of a woman who sometimes wasn’t even the main character of her own life. I think it’s an idea that might resonate with other women of color: We live in a society that values men over women, children over mothers, and white people over people of color. Through fiction, I wanted to explore how that sort of hierarchy devalues women of color and how that shapes a life.
― Ursula Villarreal-Moura, Interview

What booksellers are saying about Like Happiness

• A searing debut that deftly explores the effects of an unhealthy relationship between a predatory male writer and a young woman on the cusp of adulthood – I couldn’t stop reading it! The characters in this story are all too real, and post #MeToo we see Tatum grappling to understand her story and the abuse she suffered from the toxic man she viewed as her superior for far too long.
    ― Maggie Robe, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | BUY
  
  
• Like Happiness grabbed me from the beginning and didn’t let go. It’s an intimate exploration of power dynamics and the weight of words, but its fine-tuned attention to perspective and devotion is where it shines. Villarreal-Moura’s debut is a quiet stunner.
    ― Sarah Arnold, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee | BUY
  
  
• Like Happiness is an incisive and blistering coming of age novel that emanates a quiet and methodical rage. Through Tatum, Ursula Villarreal-Moura explores power imbalance, hero worship, and emotional exploitation in a way that keeps the pages turning, while also grappling deftly with sexuality and race. A searing portrait of a young woman trying to understand herself and the older man who irrefutably tangles her identity with his.
    ― Gaby Iori, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | BUY
  

Ursula Villarreal-Moura was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling, a flash fiction collection. Like Happiness is her first novel.

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She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica
Park Row / April 2024

Adult Fiction, Domestic, Thrillers
More Reviews from Page 158 Books

Mary Kubica is probably one of the nicest and sweetest people you will meet. How she can write page-turning thrillers so well is beyond me. She doesn’t disappoint in this new one at all. Meghan is a divorced mom of a teenage daughter who works long shifts as an ICU nurse. That job alone can weigh you down with stress. Add raising a daughter in a tiny apartment and worrying about her and finances in this world, and you can understand Meghan’s anxiety. Now, though, a woman comes under her care after a bad accident. The girl’s life was in disarray, and her grief-stricken parents hadn’t spoken to her in a long time. Will she wake up? Will she remember the minutes leading up to when she may have been pushed? What is the backstory between the two? I had no idea what was going to happen and gasped out loud when I found out. This book will be huge!

Reviewed by Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib
Random House / March 2024

Adult Nonfiction, African American & Black Studies, American, Basketball, Biography & Autobiography, Ethnic Studies, Memoir, Social Science, Sports & Recreation
More Reviews from Avid Bookshop

Hanif Abdurraqib’s newest book focuses his signature poetic lyricism and prescient cultural criticism on yes, basketball, but also on so much more. Abdurraqib asks his reader to consider what it means to "make it," who gets to achieve that success, and if that success could be considered worth it. Perhaps most poignant, to me, is the way that Abdurraqib weaves personal history with the narrative of city, team, and people. So yes, let us sit and commiserate, and let us share what we can in these pages for the time we have.

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Under This Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis
Katherine Tegen Books / March 2024

Crime, Thrillers & Suspense, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Story on the Square

Mindy McGinnis has a way of taking contemporary and turning it so thrilling that I forget that I’m reading contemporary and think it’s fantasy because it’s so exciting. Neely is painfully relatable with her mental health struggles. Her desire to hide her problems from those she loves and her "rules" for coping will strike anyone who’s ever struggled with mental health, even if it’s not the same as hers. The story hits the ground running and doesn’t stop. I couldn’t eat, sleep, or do anything but read this book as soon as I started it. My heart raced with adrenaline every second I was reading it.

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

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The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie
Sourcebooks Young Readers / April 2024

Children, Juvenile Fiction, Mysteries & Detective Stories
More Reviews from Octavia Books

For anyone who wants to experience the mystery and suspense of an escape room, this book is for them. I was on the edge of my seat rooting for the "Deltas" to figure out clues as they frantically searched for a treasure in the funhouse.

Reviewed by Judith Lafitte, Octavia Books in New Orleans, Louisiana

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Food School by Jade Armstrong
Conundrum Press / April 2024

Comics & Graphic Novels, Eating Disorders, Literary
More Reviews from E. Shaver bookseller

Fool School tells the story of a non-binary person going through a three-month recovery for their binge-eating disorder. Shows the struggles in their relationships, the friends they make in the program, and overall while starting to fully recover. Must read, fast book, cute graphics, not too heavy (told in a comedic way, but still tasteful). Trigger warnings for Eating Disorders

Reviewed by Stephanie St. John, E. Shaver bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
Dutton Books for Young Readers / February 2017

Banned Books, Bereavement, Death, Friendship, Grief, LGBTQ+, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from McIntyre’s Books

In We Are Okay Nina LaCour carefully reveals Marin’s grief and coming of age with depth and clarity. LaCour’s work is striking and memorable, with a singular attention to detail and arresting emotional honesty. This novel is beautifully executed and will resonate with every one of its readers.

Reviewed by Johanna Albrecht, McIntyre’s Books in Pittsboro, North Carolina

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“He that loves reading has everything within his reach.”
— William Godwin

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Memory Piece by Lisa Ko
Riverhead Books / March 2024

Adult Fiction, Women
More Reviews from E. Shaver bookseller

Get ready Memory Piece starts out slow and personal and then takes a whirlwind turn into the intense. Centered around three childhood friends spanning forty years, Ko weaves together a connection through art, technology advancement, and what society considers valuable. For fans of stories that center around the near distant future, coming-of-age, and female friendships.

Reviewed by Jenny Gilroy, E. Shaver bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: James by Percival Everett

This is a revisiting of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The more correct answer is, it’s the story of Jim Huck’s slave companion throughout Twain’s novel. How Huck and Jim are not together throughout that novel. And so things happened to Jim away from Huck. To say that it’s a retelling is not precise. To say that it’s a reimagining is not quite correct. It’s finally an opportunity for Jim to be present in the story. I had read [The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn] first, as a kid. And it didn’t come to me really until just a couple of years ago, shortly before I started this novel, I thought: Jim needs to speak.
― Percival Everett, Interview

What booksellers are saying about James

• A necessary look into the life of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’s Jim, or James, told with Percival Everett’s unflinching, poetic, and entertaining prose. The story gives insight into the titular character’s perspective while also serving as a damning look at the deep-seated racial injustices of slavery and the way marginalized characters are portrayed in American fiction. The pages fly by, leading to a triumphant finale that is as impactful as anything I’ve read in years..
    ― James Harrod, Malaprop’s in Asheville, North Carolina | BUY
  
  
• Before reading this novel I went back and re-read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Since it had been close to 40 years since I read the book, I was glad that I did because not only had I forgotten much of the story but after reading the synopsis of James, I read it with a different viewpoint. James starts out closely following the story in Huck but about half way through veers off. I thought this was a powerful and thought provoking story and i expect it to be one of the most critically acclaimed books of the year.
    ― Kathy Clemmons, Sundog Books in Santa Rosa, Florida | BUY
  
  
• A young boy and an enslaved man escape together and travel the river together on a raft. Sound familiar? This book lovingly reimagines Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn from the view of Jim, who in this version becomes James as he and Huck get a second chance at life. Thought provoking, full of adventure, and thoroughly original!
    ― Patience Allan-Glick, Hills & Hamlets Bookshop / Underground Books Carrollton, Georgia | BUY
  

Percival Everett is a Distinguished Professor of English at USC. His most recent books include Dr. No (finalist for the NBCC Award for Fiction and winner of the PEN/ Jean Stein Book Award), The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much Blue, Erasure, and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. He has received the NBCC Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award and The Windham Campbell Prize from Yale University. American Fiction, the feature film based on his novel Erasure, was released in 2023. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the writer Danzy Senna, and their children

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The Road from Belhaven by Margot Livesey
Knopf / February 2024

Adult Fiction, Historical, Literary, Women
More Reviews from The Little Bookshop

Born in 1873, Lizzie Craig is raised by her grandparents at Belhaven Farm in Scotland. Lizzie discovers that she can see small pieces of the future but doesn’t always understand when and how these events will take place. Lizzie falls in love with a young man helping with the harvest and her devotion to him causes her to make some disastrous personal choices. This compelling story of choices, regrets and second chances is wonderfully written and hard to put down.

Reviewed by Mary Patterson, The Little Bookshop in Midlothian, Virginia

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You Get What You Pay For by Morgan Parker
One World / March 2024

Adult Nonfiction, African American & Black Studies, American, Ethnic Studies, Social Science
More Reviews from Bookmarks

I have read everything Morgan Parker has written and thus knew this essay collection would be incredible, yet it still surpassed my expectations! I was immediately absorbed in her ideas and prose. I always love reading essays by poets because they don’t waste a single word. A fabulous, thoughtful, candid, a collection that speaks straight from the heart. A must-read!"

Reviewed by Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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Where the Dark Stands Still by A. B. Poranek
Margaret K. McElderry Books / February 2024

Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Underground Books

Meet the darker, gothier little sister of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale—with a hint of Howl’s Moving Castle! Rooted in Polish folklore and set in a wickedly magical wood full of dangers and wonders alike, this grim yet romantic young adult fantasy marks the debut of a writer to watch.

Reviewed by Megan Bell, Underground Books in Carrollton, Georgia

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Treehouse Town by Gideon Sterer
Little Brown Books for Young Readers / February 2024

Children, Imagination & Play, Juvenile Fiction
More Reviews from The Country Bookshop

Just below the canopy built on sticks and stilts, thats where you’ll find treehouse town With sunset lookout towers, nooks for books, and soft willow tree beds treehouse town has something for everyone. Snuggle up, with a sweet story and illustrations that have stories of their own, this one is the perfect read-together.

Reviewed by Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

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Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang
First Second / January 2024

Comics & Graphic Novels, Romance, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Bookmarks

Val believes that her family is cursed and they will always be unlucky in love. I loved the sweet and charming graphics and learning about the art of lion dancing. Val’s courage and determination to try and open her heart even if it may end in heartbreak is inspiring. I truly enjoyed this book!

Reviewed by Keeshia Jacklitch, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Bloomsbury Publishing / June 2020

Adult Fiction, Banned Books, Fantasy, Romance
More Reviews from The Blytheville Book Company

I LOVED this book. It begins as a loose retelling of "Beauty and the Beast", but you’re constantly faced with the differences between the tale as old as time and "A Court of Thorns and Roses". Feyre is a strong, wild character. She’s willing to risk it all to save the people she loves. The ending had me on the edge of my seat!

Reviewed by Melissa Gray, The Blytheville Book Company in Blytheville, Arkansas

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“Books train your imagination to think big.”
— Taylor Swift

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Recommended by Southern indies…

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The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill
Poisoned Pen Press / March 2024

Adult Fiction, Crime, Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers
More Reviews from Novel.

I knew I would like this book, having loved The Woman in the Library. However, it is hard to review because I feel like so much I have to say would be a spoiler. This book has one or two twists that I anticipated, but the big twist left me shocked. I was invested from the first page. I liked that all my original questions were answered while still being open-ended. I believe that leaves room for dialogue if you were to have a book club surrounding this book.

Reviewed by Missy Kelly, Novel. in Memphis, Tennessee

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: When the Jessamine Grows by Donna Everhart

I set the story during a very familiar time frame, that of the Civil War, but I feel like it is uniquely different from any other Civil War story.. For one thing, Joetta McBride and her husband Ennis live in Nash County, North Carolina, They are subsistence farmers or "yeoman" farmers. That is where you grow your own food to feed yourself and your livestock. Yeoman farmers made up 65% of the population of North Carolina at that time. They did not own slaves, they were neutral and didn’t want anything to do with the war. The other thing about this book that makes it uniquely different is that it’s not about the War. Instead, I write about the families who are left behind women like Joetta McBride, who are required and compelled to keep food on the table, keep the farms running, keep their families together. The American Iraqi activist Zainab Salbi says if we are to understand War then we need to understand not not only what happens on the front lines but what happens on the back lines as well, where women are in charge of keeping the family going. And that is the essence of what this book is about.
― Donna Everhart, at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe

What booksellers are saying about When the Jessamine Grows

• Good book! The Confederacy has been on my mind often recently, as there a monument near our bookstore when I bought it three years ago; my store was boycotted during the pandemic when a few folks on the internet determined I was a supporter of it’s removal from our town square, so I could relate to this character’s struggle to remain true to her values while worrying about survival. I hope this book will give many readers new insight into the complexities of Southern women’s existence during the Civil War. Little was recorded for posterity regarding those who did not support the Confederacy’s position on slavery, yet many people did live in the South who did not believe in secession – with some losing their lives to maintain their moral codes; this book helps shed some light on those important stories, which deserve telling.
    ― Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina | BUY
  
  
• Historical fiction at its absolute best! Everhart’s carefully crafted female protagonist shows strength, courage and resolve in the face of the many cruelties of the Civil War. Joetta McBride is not your usual demure Southern Belle. She refuses to take sides in a conflict she feels has nothing to do with her family, while her oldest son is eager to fight for the Southern cause. Once her son flees to fight for the Confederacy, Joetta’s husband also gets caught up in the fight while searching for their son leaving Joetta to care for the farm and remaining family on her own. Facing isolation and destruction from the townspeople for offering water to a Union soldier, Joetta deals with grief, starvation and ruin with grace and grit. Even though she could face dire consequences, she still shows compassion to a young Union soldier who is on the verge of death. Everhart has created a new hero with the unflinching, steadfast and ever-courageous Joetta McBride!
    ― Sharon Davis, Book Bound Bookstore in Blairsville, Georgia | BUY
  
  
• Lovers of historical fiction will devour this Civil War-era story that takes place in North Carolina. When everyone is taking sides in the war, Joetta McBride and her husband choose to stay neutral, but when their oldest son leaves against their wishes to join the Confederacy, they are forced to get involved. Joetta is left to run their farm and house while Ennis goes off to hopefully find and bring back their 15-year-old son. Readers will love Joetta’s strong convictions and determination to keep things afloat in the midst of war and upheaval. A great read!
    ― Mary Patterson, The Little Bookshop in Midlothian, Virginia | BUY
  

Donna Everhart is a USA Today bestselling author known for vividly evoking the challenges of the heart and the complex heritage of the American South in her acclaimed novels When the Jessamine Grows, The Saints of Swallow Hill, The Moonshiner’s Daughter, The Forgiving Kind, The Road to Bittersweet, and The Education of Dixie Dupree. She is the recipient of the prestigious SELA Outstanding Southeastern Author Award from the Southeastern Library Association and her novels have received a SIBA Okra Pick, an Indie Next Pick, and two Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books selections. Born and raised in Raleigh, she has stayed close to her hometown for much of her life and now lives just an hour away in Dunn, North Carolina.

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After Annie by Anna Quindlen
Random House / February 2024

Adult Fiction, Family Life
More Reviews from Wordsworth Books

Anna Quindlen doesn’t shy away from writing about difficult emotional topics, and After Annie is no exception. After Annie dies suddenly, her husband, daughter, and lifelong best friend struggle to figure out how to manage without her. Heartfelt, beautiful, and moving, Quindlen has created a beautiful story of loss and connection.

Reviewed by Lynne Phillips, Wordsworth Books in Little Rock, Arkansas

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Transient and Strange by Nell Greenfieldboyce
W. W. Norton & Company / 2024-01-16

Adult Nonfiction, Essays, Social Science
More Reviews from E. Shaver bookseller

As the kids of two scientists, reading Greenfieldboyce’s collection of musings felt like another night at the family dinner table: the warmth of the personal, but you’re also going to learn a little something. Her journalistic voice seamlessly layers science-fact with the soft moments of the day-to-day, intriguingly connecting her two world spheres. Equal fascination and reverence is granted whether she is discussing conversations with her children, connections made in shared silence, or the biological make-up of a common flea.

Reviewed by Morgan Holub, E. Shaver bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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Snowglobe by Soyoung Park
Delacorte Press / February 2024

Dystopian, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Fountain Bookstore

I am not generally a sci-fi reader, but this book grabbed me! It’s a chilling tale of a dystopian future where those who live in the Snowglobe trade comfort for privacy. Their lives are broadcast on TV constantly, and in exchange, they get warmth and safety. Chobahm longs to be a Director, the most coveted role in Snowglobe. When her chance to get out of her family’s poverty arises, she leaps without looking, regardless of the cost.

Reviewed by Andrea Richardson, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

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Love Is My Favorite Color by Nina Laden
Paula Wiseman Books / January 2024

Children, Emotions & Feelings, Juvenile Fiction, Social Themes
More Reviews from Bookmarks

This might just be my favorite picture book of the year. This is a story of how to live well at any age, how to show wonder, joy, appreciation, and understanding. It’s the perfect read-along, and the illustrations feel both of-this-world and deeply magical.

Reviewed by Morgan DePerno, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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The Werewolf at Dusk: And Other Stories by David Small
Liveright / March 2024

Comics & Graphic Novels, Science Fiction
More Reviews from Oxford Exchange

David Small’s illustrations give life to three short stories about age. identity, and metamorphosis in the vein of Franz Kafka and Alfred Hitchcock. Each story positions a person beside a beast in some way, which aids in contextualizing our very human experiences. The illustration is dreamlike; and although the stories are short, they are abundant with depth.

Reviewed by Isabel Agajanian, Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida

Decide for Yourself

Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
Dial Books / April 2024

Banned Books, Depression, Family, Middle East, Multigenerational, People & Places, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Carmichael’s Bookstore

This is one of the best YA novels I have read recently. Darius is an utterly relatable character who just feels like he never fits in: he’s too Persian for America, too American for Iran. When he travels to Iran for the first time, Darius could not feel more out of place, yet he meets a boy who finally makes him feel okay. This book is a powerful story of friendship and does a beautiful job of normalizing depression and discussing the experience of growing up with multiple cultural identities.

Reviewed by Tenley Soergel, Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“The beginning is the word and the end is silence. And in between are all the stories.”
— Kate Atkinson

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805

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Read This Now!

Recommended by Southern indies…

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Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby
Vintage / May 2023

Adult Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Essays, Humor, Literary Collections, Memoirs
More Reviews from Bookmarks

Samantha Irby is a writer like no other. She has the ability to draw out all the hilarious moments of everyday life with charming self-deprecation and laugh-out-loud prose. The humor in her writing often disguises her brilliance — don’t be fooled — Samantha Irby is a genius.

Reviewed by Jamie Southern, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both by Mariah Stovall
Soft Skull / February 2024

Adult Fiction, African American & Black, Women
More Reviews from Avid Bookshop

A beautiful punch in the gut like one from the mosh pit on a Saturday night. Mariah Stovall’s full-length debut sweeps her readers into the tender yet vicious embrace of teenage friendship and meditates on putting on your own life jacket before trying to help others. Stovall reveals connections and personal history slowly, moving between past, present, and future, all woven through with the heroes of post-hardcore, punk, and emo. This novel bears a re-read to untangle the ways that music and fiction intertwine.

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

Bookseller Buzz

Spotlight on: A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

For the longest time, I wanted to write something dapper—crisp clothes and the cutthroat alleyways of old London— but when my protagonist set foot on the page with her brown skin and foreign roots, straightening her tweed suit and tucking her pocket watch away, she was angry. I realized, then, that I couldn’t write “something dapper” without also addressing colonialism. In my debut novel, We Hunt the Flame, we saw a girl fighting for her own kingdom. In A Tempest of Tea, we see a girl and her crew fighting for a country that isn’t theirs to save, but they’ll do it anyway. Oh, and did I mention there are vampires?
― Hafsah Faizal, Letter to readers

What booksellers are saying about A Tempest of Tea

• An orphan with her own agenda of revenge, Arthie is forced to steal from vampire society in order to keep her teahouse and her found family safe. The world-building, the vibes, and the cast of characters are all perfection. Faizal has delivered a twisty page-turner that I haven’t stopped thinking about.
    ― Chelsea Stringfield, Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tennessee | Buy from Parnassus Books
  
  
• I’ve had an itch for a really riveting heist story ever since I finished Six of Crows, and I’ve always been weak for found family stories, so when I saw this come in, I immediately snatched it up, I’m so glad I did. The world-building is intricate and vivid; the White Roaring is a perfectly dark, glittering gothic city with so much personality, and the characters are wonderful. Arthie and Jin are some of my new favorites; Arthie is chaotic and clever and selfish at times but in the best way, and Jin is so charming and a complete flirt and so fun to follow. I could say great things about all the characters, no one feels shorted in terms of development and personality, they all mesh together so well and the conflict is so tangible and easy to get invested in. The plot is a little slow at times but those slow moments aren’t wasted, the found family dynamic is always showcased and developed in these moments so they never feel wasted, and it definitely picks up when it needs to. I’m already ready for the sequel, I adore this.
    ― Winter Goldsmith, E. Shaver, booksellers, Savannah, Georgia | Buy from E. Shaver, booksellers
  
  
• Arthie runs Spindrift, a tearoom that doubles as a bloodhouse for vampires. It’s not exactly legal, but Arthie holds enough of people’s secrets that the authorities haven’t been able to get to her yet. That changes, though, when Spindrift is threatened by the current monarch, and Arthie is forced to plan a heist under the noses of the government and the vampire society, which leads to even more secrets coming out, including Arthie’s. A heist novel that will appeal to fans of Six of Crows, with plenty of action and romance.
    ― Melissa Oates, Fiction Addiction, Greenville, South Carolina | Buy from Fiction Addiction
  

Hafsah Faizal is the New York Times bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame and We Free the Stars, and the founder of IceyDesigns, where she creates websites for authors and beauteous goodies for everyone else. When she’s not writing, she can be found designing, deciding between Assassin’s Creed and Skyrim, or traversing the world. Born in Florida and raised in California, she now resides in North Carolina with her husband and a library of books waiting to be devoured. hafsahfaizal.com

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Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
Knopf / February 2024

Adult Fiction, Literary
More Reviews from Malaprop’s

Tommy Orange delivers another masterpiece. His prose is striking and his characters are compassionately rendered. People are going to compare it to his debut, but Wandering Stars stands on its own as propulsive, unforgettable fiction. I remain in awe of Orange’s scope of vision and storytelling.

Reviewed by James Harrod, Malaprop’s in Asheville, North Carolina

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My Side of the River by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez
St. Martin’s Press / February 2024

Adult Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Cultural, Ethnic & Regional, Hispanic & Latino
More Reviews from Bookmarks

My Side of the River tells the poignant story of Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez, a fifteen-year-old honors student abruptly separated from her family by immigration policies. Alone in the United States, she is forced to navigate the challenges of finding shelter and resources while relentlessly pursuing academic excellence. Highly recommended for readers who appreciated Dear America and looking to explore topics of immigration and identity.

Reviewed by Beth Seufer Buss, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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This is How You Fall in Love by Anika Hussain
Bloomsbury YA / February 2024

Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Bookmiser

Zara and Adnan have always been the best of friends. But everyone from their parents to their classmates ships them relentlessly. But when Adnan posts an ill-advised, but vague photo on social media with his new girlfriend, Zara suddenly finds herself on a fake relationship with her best friend. Everyone is THRILLED….except for Zara.

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Ferris by Kate DiCamillo
Candlewick / March 2024

Children, Family, Juvenile Fiction, Multigenerational
More Reviews from Parnassus Books

Ferris Wilkey’s summer is not relaxing. Her sister wants to be an outlaw and her grandmother starts seeing a ghost. Before the summer ends, an act of kindness will bring light and joy to her entire household and found family.

Reviewed by Rae Ann Parker, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee

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49 Days by Agnes Lee
Levine Querido / March 2024

Comics & Graphic Novels, Young Adult Fiction
More Reviews from Avid Bookshop

An introspective and emotional exploration of life after death, both for those who have been lost and have experienced a loss, Lee has succeeded in capturing the full spectrum of emotions in a limited range of color. From scenes of laughter to those where no one can bear to speak, her graphic novel explores the different ways in which we know one another. What a deeply human story, and what a deeply moving way to consider each other. Part slice of life, part emotional trial, this is a particularly successful emotional exploration of grief.

Reviewed by Shae Jordan, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

Decide for Yourself

Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books.

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Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour
Rocky Pond Books / January 2022

Abuse, Banned Books, Family, Ghost Stories, Orphans & Foster Homes, Physical & Emotional Abuse, Young Adult
More Reviews from Quail Ridge Books

A powerful ghost story about transformative healing. I could not put it down. Beautiful.

Reviewed by Abbe Townsend, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina

Southern Bestsellers

What’s popular this week with Southern Readers.

Parting Thought

“I think of reading like a balanced diet; if your sentences are too baggy, too baroque, cut back on fatty Foster Wallace, say, and pick up Kafka as roughage. ”
— Zadie Smith

Publisher: The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance / siba@sibaweb.com
Editor: Nicki Leone / nicki@sibaweb.com
Advertising: Linda-Marie Barrett / lindamarie@sibaweb.com
The Southern Bookseller Review is a project of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, in support of independent bookstores in the South | SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805