Fantastic update to the classic story of Little Women – with modern sisters searching for Beth’s killer (which definitely wasn’t natural causes this time around). Great debut, excited to see what Katie Bernet does next.
Beth Is Dead by Katie Bernet, (List Price: $19.99, Sarah Barley Books, Simon & Schuster Books for Yo, 9781665988698, January 2026)
Reviewed by Alissa, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina
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I had no idea what I was reading for the longest time – memoir? True crime? But I was sucked into this (I eventually discovered) novel from the first page. And it was incredibly inventive. I am somewhat obsessed with three-part narratives, and this hit harder than Hernán Díaz’s Trust.
The Four Spent the Day Together by Chris Kraus, (List Price: $29, Scribner, 9781668098684, October 2025)
Reviewed by Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina
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Lovely illustrations and wonderful tale of a girl’s trials living in a haunted house with a ghost who never follows her rules.
Aggie and the Ghost by Matthew Forsythe, (List Price: $19.99, Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, 9781534478206, August 2025)
Reviewed by Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina
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I’m weeping openly in my store after reading this gorgeous book about what makes a home. As more families are displaced due to trauma, conflict, and climate change, this is a necessary picture book to help anyone processing a difficult transition in life.
Home by Matt de la Peña, (List Price: $19.99, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 9780593110898, March 2025)
Reviewed by Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina
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I’ve spent a week savoring this slim book and never want it to end. Thankfully, her footnotes give so many sources for further reading, so I can stay in this world much longer. A perfect book for changemakers to start.
Loving Corrections by adrienne maree brown, (List Price: $18, AK Press, 9781849355544, August 2024)
Reviewed by Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Davidson, North Carolina
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I am a former diplomat who worked on immigration to the U.S. for years, and this book spoke to me on so many levels. I haven’t been so moved by a fantasy novel since The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab, maybe even Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, both of which I will use as a basis of comparison while handselling the hell out of this book. The premise is not simple, but this world is incredibly easy to enter. The UK government of the near future has discovered time travel and is testing its impact on the bodies and minds of five “expats,” rescued from certain deaths in large-scale calamities of history. Each expat is assigned a “bridge,” a civil servant who will help them acclimatize to modernity (while reporting on their every move to the Ministry). At its heart, this novel is an often hilarious romance between one bridge and her expat. But the depth of world-building around their relationship, the back stories of each character, and the tremendous emotion on display through Ms. Bradley’s exquisite way with words make this anything but your run-of-the-mill love story. Come for the Bond-like moments of adventure. Stay for the pearls of wisdom Ms. Bradley drops on how our futures are truly built, one sealed door of possibility, hope, and forgiveness at a time.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, (List Price: $28.99, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, 9781668045145, May 2024)
Reviewed by Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina
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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.
Rabbit Heart by Kristine S. Ervin, (List Price: $27, Counterpoint, 9781640096370, March 2024)
Reviewed by Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina
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Beautiful illustrations reminding kids (and their families) to appreciate the fleeting moments of perfection life allows in an imperfect world. Pause and make memories – what a gorgeous book for magical read-a-longs.
Today by Gabi Snyder, (List Price: $18.99, Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, 9781665924856, January 2024)
Reviewed by Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina
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Gorgeous illustrations, visible occasionally thru clever cutouts – what a sweet birthday tale!
The Little Tiger by Nicola Killen, (List Price: $17.99, Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, 9781665940986, December 2023)
Reviewed by Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina
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My eight-year-old daughter and I are savoring this sweet book. What a lovely tale of friendship triumphing in the face of competition for scarce resources. Very short chapters, and adorable characters, make this a great confidence booster for a reluctant reader. Wonderful messages about adopting animals into family for life as well.
Dogtown by Katherine Applegate, (List Price: 17.99, Feiwel & Friends, 9781250811608, September 2023)
Reviewed by Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina
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An October 2022 Read This Next! Title
Oh, I hope and pray this is the runaway blockbuster of the year, as it deserves to be. Dystopian, centered around concept the US government can re-home children on the basis of anonymous reports of seditious parental behavior. One woman uses poetry to combat this, and the rampant anti-Asian hate that is taking over society. With hero librarians behind the scenes attempting to keep fractured family ties documented – SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS. ALL OF THIS. I AM SO HERE FOR IT. Celeste Ng is now officially a literary force. I’m calling Our Missing Hearts my one and only official book recommendation of 2022 – no others will come close.
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng, (List Price: $29, Penguin Press, 9780593492543, October 2022)
Reviewed by Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina
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Wiley Cash’s latest novel, When Ghosts Come Home is damn near the most perfect crime thriller I have ever had the pleasure to read. Propulsive and character driven, I could NOT put this one down, and I stayed up all night to finish it – my heart was pounding by the end. I did not want it my experience with this book to be over when the story concluded.
Winston Barnes, Oak Island, North Carolina’s aging sheriff, appears to be failing in his bid for reelection, when he is awoken by the sound of a plane crash at the nearby municipal airport and arrives first on the scene of an obvious crime. There is enough to fill a novel with tales of Barnes’ detective work that follows, but the real story, the heart of this novel, lies in Mr. Cash’s tender depiction of two families mired in complete turmoil. Barnes is nearly as preoccupied with losing the sheriff’s race as solving this crime, as his wife’s cancer is progressing rapidly, and they will lose their healthcare coverage without his continued employment. Their daughter, Colleen, blows into town from Dallas without her new husband, or any notice to her parents, to grieve the loss of her stillborn child and re-determine the course of her life. Across town, the family of Rodney Bellamy is also picking up the pieces of their shattered lives in the wake of tragedy. Patriarch, Ed Bellamy, a war veteran and respected high school teacher, wants answers in the wake of his son’s mysterious death, and he does not believe he will obtain accurate ones from the Brunswick County Sheriff’s office. Rodney’s wife, Janelle, is overwhelmed caring for the couple’s infant son and her teenage brother, Jay, who recently arrived in town after a skirmish with law enforcement near their parents’ home in Atlanta.
Everyone is a suspect, and tensions are bubbling over between families and political factions as this well-paced novel edges towards its jaw-dropping conclusion. Set in 1984, I hold out hope for a present-day sequel, but until then, I will recommend Mr. Cash’s latest book to anyone looking for a compelling read, and I hope this one raises his national profile substantially, as it should.
When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash, (List Price: $28.99, William Morrow, 9780062312662, September 2021)
Reviewed by Alissa Redmond, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina
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