- Eating Ashes by Brenda Navarro, reviewed by Charlie, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia
- Just Watch Me by Lior Torenberg, reviewed by Ryan, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina
- Linger by Hetty Lui McKinnon, reviewed by Jamie, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- Better the Devil by Erik J. Brown, reviewed by Eden, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, Louisiana
- Eyes, Knees, Boundaries, Please! by Eyes, Knees, Boundaries, Please! by Krupa Bhojani Playforth, Julia Bereciartu (Illus.), reviewed by Kait, The Haunted Book Shop in Mobile, Alabama
- Debating Darcy by Sayantani DasGupta, reviewed by Jamie Southern, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
- Vigil by George Saunders, reviewed by Savannah Laughlin, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina
- Bookseller Buzz: All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson | 2026 Newbery Medal Winner, reviewed by Sheri Bancroft, Novel., Memphis, Tennessee; Jenny Gilroy, E. Shaver, Bookseller, Savannah, Georgia; Lupe Penn, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
The week of February 3, 2026
February books to look out for…and a scavenger hunt!
Voting has closed for the Southern Book Prize, but readers can still have some fun learning about the finalist books while we wait for the winners to be announced on February 14th. The Southern Book Prize Scavenger Hunt starts on Monday. Visit SBR on Instagram Monday morning to start your whirlwind tour through the Southern Book Prize books and the booksellers who love them. People who finish the Scavenger Hunt can enter into a raffle for a $100 gift card to your Southern Indie bookstore.
Southern Book Prize honors the best books of last year, but a new month also means a new Read This Next! list of what booksellers think are some of the best books coming out this month:
"This is how you write historical fiction," says The Book Worm Bookstore about Sadeqa Johnson’s Keeper of Lost Children. Murder Bimbo gave me just what I needed – a messy, unreliable narrator, a political-ish point of view that’s long on wit and style," writes Tombolo Books. "A chilling, darkly humorous, sci-fi thriller with a sharp real-world edge had me turning the pages nonstop" says Hills and Hamlets Bookshop about Operation Bounce House. "If you love a strong forearm, Swedish Fish, and passive-aggressive Post-It Notes – this one is for you," gushes Kiss and Tale Romance Bookshop about B.K. Borison’s And Now, Back to You. And a bookseller at Novel. thinks they should create a whole new subgenre for Lauren Groff’s Brawler.
Pick one up and discover your next new favorite author.
Featuring reviews of:
- Eating Ashes by Brenda Navarro, reviewed by Charlie, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia
- Just Watch Me by Lior Torenberg, reviewed by Ryan, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina
- Linger by Hetty Lui McKinnon, reviewed by Jamie, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- Better the Devil by Erik J. Brown, reviewed by Eden, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, Louisiana
- Eyes, Knees, Boundaries, Please! by Eyes, Knees, Boundaries, Please! by Krupa Bhojani Playforth, Julia Bereciartu (Illus.), reviewed by Kait, The Haunted Book Shop in Mobile, Alabama
- Debating Darcy by Sayantani DasGupta, reviewed by Jamie Southern, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
- Vigil by George Saunders, reviewed by Savannah Laughlin, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina
- Bookseller Buzz: All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson | 2026 Newbery Medal Winner, reviewed by Sheri Bancroft, Novel., Memphis, Tennessee; Jenny Gilroy, E. Shaver, Bookseller, Savannah, Georgia; Lupe Penn, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, North Carolina