The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Fiction

Weyward by Emilia Hart

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Weyward by Emilia Hart
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In this utterly captivating debut, Hart manages to weave an intricate, beautifully written novel about three women and their inextricable connection to nature. This intergenerational tale snared me from the first page and wouldn’t let go. If you enjoy complex conversations about legacy, gender and control, nature and witchy-ness, and female power, this should be next on your list.

Weyward by Emilia Hart, (List Price: $27.99, St. Martin’s Press, 9781250280800, March 2023)

Reviewed by Hannah Kerbs, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee

Love at Six Thousand Degrees by Maki Kashimada

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Love at Six Thousand Degrees by Maki Kashimada
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If there’s one thing you should know about me – it’s that I adore a book about an unhappy housewife, not because I like seeing women unhappy, but because I love to support women fighting wrongs. Seeing how a woman reclaims her space, life, and situation – even if she goes about it in questionable ways, is a ride I want to be on. Kashimada’s novel is a prime example of all these elements, with the perfect blend of sparse, deeply impactful prose that explore themes of religion, tragedy, identity, and isolation.

Love at Six Thousand Degrees by Maki Kashimada, (List Price: $17, Europa, 9781609458195, March 2023)

Reviewed by Elizabeth Findley, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Your Driver Is Waiting by Priya Guns

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Your Driver Is Waiting by Priya Guns
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This book is a masterpiece!!!!! Where to begin?! From the very first page, the narrator captivates the reader’s attention and affections. She is incredibly passionate and strong, while perfecting a gritty, humorous commentary that was absolutely intoxicating. The story itself shared a vital perspective- specifically that of a queer, Sri Lankan woman. Her story highlighted the perilous, and at times, violent nature of performative activism without the presence of active, internalized antiracism practices. It was truly an enthralling novel. Priya Guns is an incredibly talented author and I cannot wait to read their other novel(s) and rave about them!

Your Driver Is Waiting by Priya Guns, (List Price: $26, Doubleday, 9780385549301, February 2023)

Reviewed by Finn Fletcher, E. Shaver, Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

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Lone Women by Victor LaValle
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Lavalle’s surprising and singular horror/western will appeal to lit fic and genre readers alike with its peculiar and anachronistic, but captivating voice, and its unique wasteland of a setting. It delivers both blood and monsters (human and inhuman) and an affecting exploration of trauma and guilt. This is one that’ll stick with you.

Lone Women by Victor LaValle, (List Price: $27, One World, 9780525512080, March 2023)

Reviewed by Carroll Gelderman, Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans, Louisiana

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

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The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
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Creeeeeepy…. A slow, torturous plot unfolding at a pace that will have you reading faster and faster to see what happens next! Dark and with a dreamy haze over it– excellent for dark and stormy night reading.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi, (List Price: $30, William Morrow, 9780063206502, February 2023)

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

Things We Hide from the Light by Lucy Score

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Things We Hide from the Light by Lucy Score
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After loving the first book in the series (and being quite charmed by Nash), I was eagerly awaiting the second installment in Score’s knock-out Knockemout series. Luckily for all of us, this book definitely lived up to the first. (I think I liked it more!) This is a delicious slow burn with all the suspense elements you come to expect with a Lucy Score novel. Lina & Nash made for great characters, and overall, these ~600 pages flew by.

Things We Hide from the Light by Lucy Score, (List Price: $18.99, Bloom Books, 9781728276113, February 2023)

Reviewed by Hannah Kerbs, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee

The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson

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The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson
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What an amazing book that weaves historical events based on true story with beautiful fictional characters. This read was both heartbreaking and beautifully triumphant at times. The resilient Librarians Clara Button and Ruby Monroe faced sexism, Bureaucracy , domestic issues and the heartbreak of war while continuing to champion their communities right to access books regardless of age, gender ,and class. It really spotlights how books provide an escape, a safe place and hope in even the darkest of times.

The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson, (List Price: $16.99, Forever, 9781538724217, February 2023)

Reviewed by Ali Waller, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina

Decent People by De’Shawn Charles Winslow

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Decent People by De'Shawn Charles Winslow
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A March 2023 Read This Next! Title

Decent People is a compelling mystery that also deftly contends with racism, homophobia, classism and corruption. De’Shawn Charles Winslow’s fluid writing and pacing combine with wonderfully drawn characters–including the glorious busybody Josephine Wright–to make a truly marvelous novel.

Decent People by De’Shawn Charles Winslow, (List Price: $28, Bloomsbury Publishing, 9781635575323, February 2023)

Reviewed by Stephanie Jones-Byrne, Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, North Carolina

The Only Game in Town by Lacie Waldon

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The Only Game in Town by Lacie Waldon
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A March 2023 Read This Next! Title

Waldon’s best yet! Only Game takes us to the small town of Redford, GA where book editor Jess lives happily with her father in the town where she grew up. She spends her days avoiding the mean girls that tortured her in high school until the death of the town’s eccentric millionaire sends the entire population into a scavenger hunt for his fortune. Everyone is set up in very unlikely pairs and the results of the silly contest go much deeper than winning the money. This book is a delight and I loved every friendship and relationship in it. Waldon creates worlds I want to live in and people I want to hang out with.

The Only Game in Town by Lacie Waldon, (List Price: $17, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780593540800, March 2023)

Reviewed by Lacie Waldon, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

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Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
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A March 2023 Read This Next! Title

Hello Beautiful is perfect for readers who enjoy emotionally tender stories about complicated families. Quiet and solitary William Waters is an only child raised by emotionally unavailable parents who finds solace in basketball. He meets bright, headstrong Julia Padavano in college where she decides he is the man to help put her on the path towards her diligently planned life. Along with Julia are her three sisters, with whom she is incredibly close. Tragedy strikes, creating a rift that reverberates within the Padavano family for generations. With themes of grief, mental illness, forgiveness, and loyalty, Hello Beautiful is about the cost of being true to oneself regardless of the consequences, and the gift of those who love us for who we truly are. If you enjoyed Ask Again Yes, you will love this one. I cannot wait to recommend this to my customers.

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, (List Price: $28, The Dial Press, 9780593243732, March 2023)

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

The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud

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The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud
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A March 2023 Read This Next! Title

The Wild West meets Mars in this science fiction page-turner! 14-year-old Annabelle Crisp is one of a group of settlers from Earth who’ve formed a colony called New Galveston. The tough, lawless residents are presumably abandoned on Mars, as nobody has heard from Earth in years. The Silence, as they call it, has cut off supplies, news from Earth and, sadly for Annabelle, her mother. Then Silas Bundt and his gang show up to her father’s diner and steal the cylinder with her mother’s voice- her last remaining object of remembrance. Annabell is a feisty protagonist who is on a quest of revenge, travelling across Mars to reclaim the cylinder. She is accompanied by a sketchy group of partners, and an Engine named Watson. Dangers abound in the form of War Engines, ghosts and other settlers who have been taken over by “The Strange.” I enjoyed this page-turner in a genre that I only occasionally read!

The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud, (List Price: $27.99, Gallery, Saga Press, 9781534449954, March 2023)

Reviewed by Lisa Uotinen, Book No Further in Roanoke, Virginia

What Remains of Elsie Jane by Chelsea Wakelyn

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What Remains of Elsie Jane by Chelsea Wakelyn
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I don’t usually like sad books, and yet this one became a fast favorite! It’s the writing. It’s just so good. Like being a fly on the wall of her mind. Elsey Jane is a widow grieving the loss of her partner who died of drug poisoning. Her actions and thoughts—often bizarre, delusional, and reckless—are sometimes incongruous with the expectations of someone grieving. At other times the agony and suffering and consumption she experiences are completely spot on of what we’d expect. This book is so absurd at times, I laughed, cringed, and tearing up all within minutes. It’s a beautifully written, complicated, intimate story that’s as weird as it is honest—just as grief often is. I highly recommend!

What Remains of Elsie Jane by Chelsea Wakelyn, (List Price: 19.99, Rare Machines, 9781459750845, February 2023)

Reviewed by Andrea Jasmin, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas

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Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
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This book exceeded my expectations! The theme surrounds academia and obsession with several interesting pieces about women’s roles in society, power dynamics, and cancel culture. Both thought-provoking and intoxicating, Julia May Jonas captivated me with her vivid and fresh writing style.

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas, (List Price: 17.99, Avid Reader Press, 9781982187644, January 2023)

Reviewed by Janisie Rodriguez, Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Florida

The Twice-Drowned Saint by C. S. E. Cooney

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The Twice-Drowned Saint by C. S. E. Cooney
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Gelethel is a paradise, a city within protective ice walls ruled by fourteen angels whose benisons provide everything the citizens need, but no paradise can ever really be free of darkness. No citizen is allowed to leave, war refugees starve outside the walls in Cherubtown, and the angels glut themselves on human sacrifices provided by the pilgrims petitioning for citizenship. Ishtu is the daughter of the pilgrim that brought cinema to Gelethel and the Garbage Queen of Gelethel, and the secret saint of the weakest angel, Alizar. Her life consists of running the only cinema in the city and having secrets chats with her extravagant, vain angel until a pilgrim’s sacrifice proves to be the sign Alizar has been waiting for. This is the story of the meek inheriting the city, of the powerful learning that what is given freely is always stronger than what is taken, and the value of bad uncles. Cooney’s prose is delicious and her writing reminds me in the best ways of Terry Pratchett. Fun, easy to read, and still manages to stab you in the heart. Highly recommended!

The Twice-Drowned Saint by C. S. E. Cooney, (List Price: 15.95, Mythic Delirium Books, 9781732644090, February 2023)

Reviewed by Kelly McLeod, The Haunted Book Shop in Mobile, Alabama

Every Man a King by Walter Mosley

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Every Man a King by Walter Mosley
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Joe "King" Oliver gets himself into not one but TWO complicated plots in this new detective thriller from the legendary Walter Mosely. What I love about Mosley’s writing is the cadence of the dialogue and the musical language his characters use. It gives his books a "classic" touch or feel harkening back to the old great noir mysteries. King is a fantastic character whose moral core is something we should all aspire to. He gets himself into so many more problems because of it, but I love that Mosley’s detectives have this strong center that drives them to seek justice.

Every Man a King by Walter Mosley, (List Price: 28, Mulholland Books, 9780316460217, February 2023)

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

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