The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Psychological

All I Want by Darcey Bell

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All I Want
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I thought I had this all figured out until the very last page, (that I had to reread several times, mind you), which then made me rethink the entire novel! Now, that’s the sign of a good book. I am still thinking about Emma and Ben and their country mansion…and whose truth I should believe. A compulsive read!

All I Want by Darcey Bell, (List Price: $17.00, Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 9781982177270, January 2022)

Reviewed by Jill Naylor, .novel in Memphis, Tennessee

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Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger

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Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger
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WOWZA! Was not expecting this! This fast paced thriller will leave you stunned. When Wren falls hard for a man she met through a dating site she is heartbroken when he ghosts her. Was it because she showed her soul? Never read a story quite like this. Can see as a movie. Don’t read alone.

Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger, (List Price: $27.99, Park Row, 9780778311041, October 2021)

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


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Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea

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Twenty Years Later
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A Fall Read This Next! Selection

A great plot that incorporates family, lifelong friendship, betrayal, and the specter of 9/11. Avery seems like an all-American girl who has achieved her dream job. She is the new anchor for a well-received news/life show. It appears she has an amazing life. And she does, unfortunately much of it is in a deeply buried past. Walt is an unwilling retired FBI agent who has hidden away from life in the remote area of Jamaica. Their lives collide when Walt’s early career intersects with Avery’s current career. The plot is deep with several sub-plots that keep you guessing about how it will all come together. The ending is very unexpected on several fronts. Any good crime and mystery fan will enjoy this book.


Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea, (List Price: $27, Kensington, 9781496727169, December 2021)

Reviewed by Jackie Willey, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina

 

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Lean Fall Stand by Jon Mcgregor

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Lean Fall Stand
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Doc Wright leads expeditions to Antarctica. It’s been a hard adjustment for his wife and children to be gone for many months at a time but they’ve had 30 years or more to adjust to someone who is just not ever really around. When his current expedition encounters a sudden storm, he struggles to radio for help and is injured. Wright wakes up in the hospital with jumbled memories and unable to communicate. As he begins a difficult convalescence, his wife and children must help with his caregiving, a role not eagerly embraced by any of them. This is a great read and highly recommended!

Lean Fall Stand by Jon Mcgregor, (List Price: 26, Catapult, 9781646220991, September 2021)

Reviewed by Mary Patterson, The Little Bookshop in Midlothian, Virginia

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Mrs. March by Virginia Feito

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Mrs. March
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Trying to emerge from Mrs. March’s head was like clawing my way out of a dark, tangled forest of screaming trees… and I loved every second of it. Plus, those mint green kidskin gloves sound f*cking fabulous.

Mrs. March by Virginia Feito, (List Price: 26, Liveright, 9781631498619, August 2021)

Reviewed by Danielle Raub, Itinerant Literate Books in North Charleston, South Carolina

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Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

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Intimacies
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Kate Kitamura’s Intimacies details a few months in the life of an interpreter at The Hague who is looking for belonging to a place and perhaps to a partner. Just as she has to see beyond the words in her work, she has to interpret the actions of her married lover as well as the alleged atrocities of a war criminal she works with at the International Court. This novel is both quiet and thrilling.

Intimacies by Katie Kitamura, (List Price: 26, Riverhead Books, 9780399576164, July, 2021)

Reviewed by Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez, Megan McDowell (Trans.)

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The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
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A gloriously unsettling collection of the weird and macabre, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed is as enthralling as it is disturbing and will envelop readers in a loving and nightmarish embrace.Perfect for fans of Samanta Schweblin, Carmen Maria Machado, and Abbey Mei Otis.

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez, Megan McDowell (Trans.) (List Price: $27, Hogarth, 9780593134078, 1/12/2021)

Reviewed by Zach Claypole White, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker

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The First Day of Spring
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This was pretty intense. Right from the get-go, you’re plunged into the life of a very troubled 8 year girl who manipulates, steals, and cheats her way through life until she is sent off to reform school until she’s 18. Now she’s trying to put here life together. She has a young girl of her own who she loves her with a passion her own mother never felt but forces are conspiring against her, her past rising to trip her up unless she fights back with all her will. This is a real knuckle-biter!

The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker (List Price: $27, Riverhead Books, 9780593191569, 5/18/2021)

Reviewed by Pete Mock, McIntyre’s Fine Books in Pittsboro, North Carolina

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The Plot by Jean Hanff

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What a fascinating and eclectic novel this is! It starts out as a sardonic look at the writing life, the trials and tribulations that all but the biggest best sellers face. Our guide is Jake Bonner, erstwhile golden, now a down on his luck teacher at a third rate MFA program. That is until he meets a student who has an idea that will storm the literary world. An idea that dies with the student shortly after until Jake resurrects it and changes his life forever. From there it morphs into thriller land while exploring such themes as cultural appropriation, the ethics of borrowing, and what is an idea and who does it belong too, as whiffs of Stephen King (Misery), John Boyne (A Ladder to the Sky) trail through the pages while she name drops Marilynne Robinson and others. This is going to be a fun one to talk with others about and I can’t wait.

The Plot by Jean Hanff (List Price: $39.99, Celadon Books, 9781250790767, 5/11/2021)

Reviewed by Pete Mock, McIntyre’s Fine Books in Pittsboro, North Carolina

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