The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Holidays

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

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Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson
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It’s short, it’s quirky, and absolutely a holiday treat of a read. Fewer pages doesn’t mean fewer complications or changes of missed clues. The trademark wry humor and references to classic mystery tropes still resonate and make this a playful and perfect gift to yourself or others.

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson, (List Price: $19.99, Mariner Books, 9780063412866, October 2024)

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

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Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake

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Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake
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A Sapphic Christmas second-chance romance — what more do you need to know? Two musicians, one who left the other at the altar, are in a forced proximity situation at Christmas! The dynamic between Charlotte and Brighton is excellent, and I loved how important music was to the story. A perfect holiday book to devour in December.

Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake, (List Price: $19, Berkley, 9780593550595, October 2024)

Reviewed by Amber Brown, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina

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The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

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The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
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If Knives Out and Hallmark Christmas movies had a baby and Agatha Christie was the nanny, it would be this book. Seriously Maggie and Ethan are everything, and I want to spend all my holidays with them. This book is smart, witty, and uplifting. Is it possible to get Ally Carter to write an entire series with these two characters?

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter, (List Price: $24.99, Avon, 9780063276680, September 2024)

Reviewed by Michelle Whittaker, Fonts Books in Mclean, Virginia

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Only for the Holidays by Abiola Bello

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Only for the Holidays by Abiola Bello
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In this brand new YA romance novel, city girl Tia Solanke is NOT looking forward to the holidays. She and her boyfriend, Mike, are on a break, and her mother’s solution is to take a Christmas getaway to the picturesque Saiyan Hedge Farms. Tia takes an instant dislike to the countryside and after the final straw, falling in horse manure and being chased by sheep, she decides to sneak back to London for Mike’s birthday. Quincy needs some help. His family will be the first Black family to ever host the Winter Ball (aka the biggest event of the year), and he is in need of a date after breaking up with his girlfriend. At first, Quincy and Tia don’t see eye to eye, but they soon realize that they both have something to gain by pretending to be a couple. Quincy needs a date to the ball, and Tia, a ride back to London just in time for Mike’s birthday. Soon, fake feelings turn real, and Tia and Quincy realize that maybe what they were looking for is right in front of them…

Only for the Holidays by Abiola Bello, (List Price: $19.99, Soho Teen, 9781641296106, October 2024)

Reviewed by Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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The Holiday Honeymoon Switch by Julia Mckay

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The Holiday Honeymoon Switch by Julia Mckay
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If you’re looking for a little spicier Hallmark Christmas movie-type story, then look no further! Best friends Holly and Ivy actually aren’t fond of Christmas, thank you very much. But they find themselves planning a Christmas wedding for Holly anyway. But when Holly is jilted the night before the wedding, they decide to trade their holiday trips. Holly goes to the remote cabin Ivy has booked and Ivy takes the Hawaiian honeymoon that Holly can’t face. But they both find a little more than they were looking for.

The Holiday Honeymoon Switch by Julia Mckay, (List Price: $19, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780593716281, October 2024)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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We Celebrate the Light by Jane Yolen

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We Celebrate the Light by Jane Yolen
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An astonishingly gorgeous rendering of the significance of light in the cultural lives of communities around the world. It is a celebration of the natural rhythms that unite us all and the cultural practices that make us unique.

We Celebrate the Light by Jane Yolen, (List Price: $18.99, Rise x Penguin Workshop, 9780593752296, October 2024)

Reviewed by Damarius Johnson, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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Santa’s First Christmas by Mac Barnett

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Santa's First Christmas by Mac Barnett
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I never thought about how Santa celebrated Christmas Day. Well for years he couldn’t, he had to start to make the toys for the next year. One year, the elves decide to change all that and create a special day just for Santa. This is my new favorite book. So funny and creative

Santa’s First Christmas by Mac Barnett, (List Price: $18.99, Viking Books for Young Readers, 9780593524978, October 2024)

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

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Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishøi

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Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishøi
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This is a winter novel for those of us who name Hans Christian Anderson’s stories among our favorite fairy tales. Ronja’s voice is perfect – poignant and descriptive but still true to a ten-year-old. I felt for her and for Melissa, her older sister, dealing with a parent whose good intentions were never going to see the family through to the happy Christmas Ronja envisioned. The moment I finished the book, I immediately flipped back to the first page to reassess the beginning in light of how it ends… and nearly got sucked back into re-reading the entire novel.

Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishøi, (List Price: $20, Grove Press, 9780802163493, November 2024)

Reviewed by Ginger Kautz, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina

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A Stickler Christmas by Lane Smith

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A Stickler Christmas by Lane Smith
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There’s always that one book that’s so weird it’s wonderful. If that’s your holiday jam, Stickler will definitely stick with you. And yeah, we all know that one kid who really might just love a really cool stick for Christmas.

A Stickler Christmas by Lane Smith, (List Price: $18.99, Random House Studio, 9780593815281, October 2024)

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

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Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

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Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
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Olafdottir takes us to Iceland a few days before Christmas where a midwife, Domhildur, has just delivered her 1,922nd baby. She comes from a long line of midwives on her mother’s side and her father’s family work as undertakers. Her family deals with beginnings and endings, life and death, and sunlight and darkness. “I have come to the conclusion that the one who calls himself the master of all creatures is in fact the most vulnerable of all animals…the most fragile of the fragile on the planet.” These words, written by Domhildur’s great-aunt, are discovered in some manuscripts left in a closet after her death. Domhildur reads her great-aunt’s reflections on humans, life, and loves, while a storm is moving into Reykjavik. Will the prediction in these pages come to be reality? Will mankind be “the most short-lived species on earth”?

Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir (List Price: $17, Grove Press, Black Cat, 9780802160164, December 2022)

Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

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Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
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A Fall Read This Next! Selection

This tiny gem is destined to be a Christmas classic. Think in terms O’Henry’s The Gift of the Magi. Alice Munro and Raymond Carver also come to mind. Based on actual events in Irish history only recently brought to light, the story follows Bill Furlong, a coal merchant, husband, and father to five daughters, and his discovery of a coverup by the church. The town is largely controlled by the church in this 1985 setting, but he still risks his livelihood, reputation, and marriage to right a wrong. Readers who enjoy stories of characters confronting their pasts, embracing hope, and being quiet heroes will find much to love here. When I first read it I thought: “good story”. But I have picked it up over and over again, read and reread it, marveling at its depth charge emotional impact.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, (List Price: $20, Grove Press, 9780802158741, November 2021)

Reviewed by Kelly Justice from Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, VA


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