The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Fiction

Book Buzz: I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming

ad

Kimberly Lemming, photo by the author

I was just desperate for a bit of fun. The world is dark and terrible enough as it is. When I wrote the first book, I just wanted to take myself on a fun little adventure where I knew everything was going to be ok in the end….Imagine you’re minding your business as an animal researcher and then out of nowhere you get attacked by a lion. Rude right? Now imagine you and that lion get abducted by aliens and brought onto a ship with a bunch of freaky looking birds trying to poke and prod at you. You manage to fight your way to freedom, steal an escape pod and crash land onto a planet populated by taller, hotter aliens and dinosaurs. Also, the lion talks now. So, there’s that.

― Kimberly Lemming, Interview, Parnassus Books

I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming

What booksellers are saying about I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com

  • Kimberly Lemming’s stories are pure joy. They’re comforting and cozy, while also being funny and bringing the spice and heat. I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com is all of that and more. It’s a wonderful start to a new series and Kimberly does a wonderful job at complicated world building and making us believe everything that happens to Dorothy Valentine is possible. I laughed out loud so many times and could not put the book down. I can not wait to read more Cosmic Chaos and see more of Dotty, Sol, Lok, Toto, and Cupid. There is so much to be explored!
      ― Preet Singh, Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, Georgia | BUY

  • I am a sucker for alien romances in general, but I have to say that Ms Lemming has done an amazing job with this one! I’ve read her previous works and it’s amazing how much you can see her growth as an author! I immediately fell in love with Dorothy and Toto, they made me grin like a fool as I read. This is also a fun “why choose?” novel that does the trope well. Most of the time it feels almost too cheesy for me to believe, but Lemming knocks it out of the park with Sol and Lok, creating a perfect foil between the two that still manages to be balanced. I eagerly look forward to the next Cosmic Chaos book! If you need a break from reality with some spice and cuddly lions that adopt you into their pride, this is the one for you!
      ― Katlin Kerrison, Story on the Square in McDonough, Georgia | BUY

  • Sure, Lemming brings the hilarity, but she also brings the sweetness and the spice! Dory is SO close to getting her PhD when she’s abducted by aliens and plopped down on a new world. All she wants is to figure out a way home, but her new BFF, Toto the lion, and her new love interests, Sol and Lok, are making her feel more at home every day. But she’ll have to fight her way through the terrain of this new planet and defeat or befriend the wildlife before she can even attempt that. As a wildlife biologist, that shouldn’t be too hard. Key word: shouldn’t.
      ― Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia | BUY

About Kimberly Lemming

Kimberly Lemming is a USA Today bestselling author who is on an eternal quest to avoid her calling as a main character. She can be found giving the slip to that new werewolf that just blew into town and refusing to make eye contact with a prince of a far-off land. Dodging aliens looking for Earth booty can really take up a girl’s time. But when she’s not running from fate, she can be found writing diverse fantasy romance. Or just shoveling chocolate in her maw until she passes out on the couch.

ad

Book Buzz: I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming Read More »

Book Buzz: The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

ad

Kate Fagan, photo by Kristen LeQuire

I think that was the scariest thing for me going into fiction was, I have relied my entire career on conversations, on reporting, to understand what made a person tick and what made them do the things they had done. And also to be able to collect the details that made a book. I think, because I had done That for 15 or 20 years, I was really worried that I would not have the skill set, or the muscles would have atrophied to be able to build a character out of whole cloth, rather than relying on observing someone else. So that was really scary for me.

But I realized that a lot of the observations one makes as a journalist, that skill set of being able to observe things and knowing which details are most interesting and relevant, serves you really well in fiction as well, because that is the same muscles. If I’m going to write a profile on somebody my job as a journalist is noticing the details and conveying the things that separate that person from the one next to them. And that is very similar to what you’re trying to do when you’re building a character. So in the end, I feel like this thing, I was really scared about because I “don’t build characters in non fiction,” it is a similar skill set that you are using, which is noticing the details that make a place and a person differentiated from just any place or person.

― Kate Fagan, Interview, Friendly City Books

The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

What booksellers are saying about The Three Lives of Cate Kay

  • This is the perfect plane read. Cate flees a traumatic incident as a teen and runs away from her past for more than a decade. She finally comes into her own after years of hiding her identity, during which she has written a trilogy that becomes a worldwide phenomena. Along the way she falls in love, comes to terms with her past and discovers how she wants to live her future. A wholly entertaining and romantic romp, I dove right in and loved it! Cate is great, you’ll love her too.
      ― Maggie Robe, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | BUY

  • The Three Lives of Cate Kay is everything I’ve been wanting! The tagline “Seven Husbands” meets “First Lie Wins” is absolutely perfect but with all the depth and queer messiness that catapult this book forward. This is the book that I’ve passed to all of my other booksellers, just so that I can have someone to talk to about this. Fingers crossed on getting an event, because I need everyone to read this book!
      ― Kristin Kehl, Midtown Reader in Tallahassee, Florida | BUY

  • The Three Lives of Cate Kay is an adrenaline rush of a story that doesn’t compromise on sincerity. Whether she is exploring first love, queer identity, female friendship, or self-forgiveness, Fagan leaves everything on the page and delivers a novel that demands to be deeply felt by its readers.
      ― Courtney Ulrich Smith, Underbrush Books in Rogers, Arkansas | BUY

  • This was such a wonderful surprise! The jacket said “Not Pete’s usual cup of tea” but the plot description intrigued me enough to bring a copy home. And I’m glad I did. I was hooked from page one. It’s just a wonderful novel of love and friendship, lost and found over and over again, that really resounded with me. Thank you, Ms. Fagan!
      ― Pete Mock, McIntyre’s Books in Pittsboro, North Carolina | BUY

About Kate Fagan

Kate Fagan is an Emmy Award–winning journalist and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of What Made Maddy Run, which was a semi-finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for literary sports writing. She is also the author of three additional nonfiction titles, a former professional basketball player, and spent seven years as a journalist at ESPN. Kate currently lives in Charleston with her wife, Kathryn Budig, and their dog, Ragnar.

ad

Book Buzz: The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan Read More »

Blob by Maggie Su

The most surprisingly accurate description of being at loose ends in your early twenties that I’ve read. Vi is in the midst of an epic tailspin—a breakup, a failed class, an abandoned education—when she decides to take care of an apparently sentient blob she finds late one night behind a bar. Vi feels like the antihero of her own life, with disappointment all around her, but she, like the alien blob she nurtures, has to find a way to live in the world, too. This is the funny, thoughtful, antithetical romance novel you never knew you needed—but now you do.

Blob by Maggie Su, (List Price: $26.99, Harper, 9780063358645, January 2025)

Reviewed by Emma Aprile, Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky

Blob by Maggie Su Read More »

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

I’ve been trying to think of words to describe Virginia Feito’s Victorian Psycho, and I’ve come up with: propulsive, visceral, disorienting, and riveting. The writing barrels you toward an ending that I was prepared to find shocking, but still managed to surprise me. I was amazed at how funny Feito is in the midst of the absolute chaos on the page and how big of a punch she managed to pack into a novella. You know exactly what you are getting into from page one: Virginia Feito grabs you by the neck (with her teeth) and does not relent until long after you’ve finished the book. Winifred Notty will haunt you, and since she can’t kill you, she will have to settle for that.

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, (List Price: $24.99, Liveright, 9781631498633, February 2025)

Reviewed by Chelsea Bauer, Union Avenue Books in Knoxville, Tennessee

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito Read More »

Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray

Murray’s novel of the life of editor Jessie Redmon Fauset takes readers deep into the world of the Harlem Renaissance. The story focuses largely on Fauset’s relationship with W. E. B. DuBois. The novel features cameos by many familiar writers of the time, including Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, and Nella Larsen. Recommended for historical fiction fans and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the Harlem Renaissance literary scene.

Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray, (List Price: $29, Berkley, 9780593638484, February 2025)

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

Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray Read More »

Old Soul by Susan Barker

I am not the most familiar with the conventions of horror novels, so they always seem to startle and surprise me when I make my way to one! Old Soul is everything you could desire from the genre: spooky and thrilling, gory and macabre, the mystery at its core kept me reading into the night even as I burrowed under the covers (for protection, ya know). I need you to read this one so we can talk about it!

Old Soul by Susan Barker, (List Price: $29, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780593718292, January 2025)

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

Old Soul by Susan Barker Read More »

Suggested in the Stars by Yoko Tawada

The characters that populate Yoko Tawada’s Suggested in the Stars are out of step with one another but cross paths, time, and space, all with what can only be described through Hamlet’s words, words, words. Tawada returns to the characters from Scattered All Over the Earth and their search for Hiruko’s homeland, Susanoo’s language, and the connection between them born of globalization and climate change. Full of light climate dystopia, this book turns your brain around through Tawada’s (and her translator Margaret Mitsutani’s) deft use of language. I am already greatly anticipating the third installment in this trilogy in 2025. I need more of this weird little series, but also don’t want it to end!

Suggested in the Stars by Yoko Tawada, (List Price: $16.95, New Directions, 9780811237932, October 2024)

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

Suggested in the Stars by Yoko Tawada Read More »

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Wow. If there’s one thing Grady Hendrix is going to do, it’s researching a topic thoroughly. This is a beautifully haunting thought-provoking story about societal views and motherhood while also dabbling with witchcraft. There are moments where you laugh, feel scared, and even cry. That’s the beauty of this book, everything comes with a price.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix, (List Price: $30, Berkley, 9780593548981, January 2025)

Reviewed by Caylee Wilson, Midtown Reader in Tallahassee, Florida

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix Read More »

Blob by Maggie Su

Built on the premise of Build-a-Bear gone funhouse mirror build-a-boyfriend, Blob really is a love story, but maybe not in the way that you expect. Sure, Vi finds a sentient blob outside of a drag show in her Midwest college town, and sure she tries to turn that blob into the perfect boyfriend through the power of cereal, television, and wishful thinking, but at the core Blob is about falling back in love with the parts of yourself that you’ve thought you lost forever.

Blob by Maggie Su, (List Price: $26.99, Harper, 9780063358645, January 2025)

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

Blob by Maggie Su Read More »

We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin

Emily Austin has the ability to make those of us that think differently feel seen. She tackles tough subjects in this novel–complex family dynamics, being an outsider in your community and battling mental illness. She does it with care, humor and wit! You’ll grow to care for Sigrid and Margit so quickly. You’ll want to be a rat at the fair with this novel as the prize!

We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin, (List Price: $27.99, Atria Books, 9781668058145, January 2025)

Reviewed by Kelley Barnes, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin Read More »

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

I loved the way this book explored the ideas of trauma, PTSD, and loss, as well as how resilience and strength can grow out of them. The changing timelines and character points of view kept me engaged and wanting to learn more about each new storyline and person that was introduced. The ending brought together the past and the present in a beautiful way and showed the power we all have to preserve and learn from our past traumas, whether they be our own or those of our ancestors.

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson, (List Price: $30, Ballantine Books, 9780593358368, January 2025)

Reviewed by Baldwin & Co. in New Orleans, Louisiana

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson Read More »

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

Charmaine Wilkerson is quickly becoming a must-read author for me. I loved Black Cake and her new novel is equally as good. The book follows the journey of a clay jar that was made by an enslaved potter in South Carolina. The jar stays with the African American family for decades and sees their escape to freedom and the prosperity of future generations. But there are tragic consequences for the family when, over time, the jar becomes a valuable artifact.

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson, (List Price: $30, Ballantine Books, 9780593358368, January 2025)

Reviewed by Kathy Clemmons, Sundog Books in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson Read More »

Blob by Maggie Su

So weird and wonderful! A funny, moving look at what it means to be real, to grow, and to truly connect with yourself and others

Blob by Maggie Su, (List Price: $26.99, Harper, 9780063358645, January 2025)

Reviewed by Susan Williams, M Judson Booksellers in Greenville, South Carolina

Blob by Maggie Su Read More »

Blue Light Hours by Bruna Dantas Lobato

A sparse novel about the desire to be independent and the struggle to remain connected that we all experience when we leave home. The switch in narration in the second and third sections pulled me out of the story a bit but served to highlight the growing distance between mother and daughter.

Blue Light Hours by Bruna Dantas Lobato, (List Price: $17, Grove Press, Black Cat, 9780802163776, October 2024)

Reviewed by Melissa Taylor, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

Blue Light Hours by Bruna Dantas Lobato Read More »

The Champagne Letters by Kate MacIntosh

Natalie is trying to pick up the pieces after she is blindsided by a divorce, and Barbe-Nicole is trying to keep her family’s wine-making business afloat after her husband’s untimely death. Both women face challenges as they navigate new lives, but each one’s story takes place in a different time. Natalie takes off for Paris to heal and explore in today’s time, while Barbe-Nicole is the famed Madame Clicquot struggling to produce and sell champagne during the 1800s. Told in alternating time periods, this story will appeal to anyone who believes in second chances, the timeless power of choice, and the healing properties of a lovely glass of wine.

The Champagne Letters by Kate MacIntosh, (List Price: $28.99, Gallery Books, 9781668061886, December 2024)

Reviewed by Mary Jane Michels, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina

The Champagne Letters by Kate MacIntosh Read More »

Scroll to Top