The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Siblings

Book Buzz: Beth is Dead by Katie Bernet

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Katie Bernet, photo credit Justin Conway“I really enjoyed writing from Beth’s perspective. When I first read Little Women, I didn’t much like Beth. Honestly, she freaked me out. I couldn’t understand how she could accept her own untimely end with such ease. I wanted to shake her and say, “Aren’t you going to fight? Don’t you want to live?” Of course, she did. Writing Beth Is Dead helped me understand that Beth March never wanted to die, but she wasn’t given a choice, and she faced the unimaginable with bravery and strength..”
  ― Katie Bernet, Interview, Nerd Daily

Beth is Dead by Katie Bernet

What booksellers are saying about Beth is Dead

  • Fantastic update to the classic story of Little Women – with modern sisters searching for Beth’s killer (which definitely wasn’t natural causes this time around). Great debut, excited to see what Katie Bernet does next.
      ― Alissa, South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina | BUY

  • This is one of the most creative classic-book retellings I’ve read in a long time! It proves that these characters stand the test of time, because Jo, Beth, Meg, and Amy adapt perfectly to a contemporary setting that highlights the ups and downs of social media and sibling rivalries…But the real interest of this novel, and the topic I’m still thinking about, is the idea of storytelling, and who gets to tell a family’s story.  
      ― Lady, The Snail on the Wall in Huntsville, Alabama | BUY

  • Little Women is reimagined in a modern-day family and unfortunately, Beth is dead in chapter one. But who is responsible? Is it one of her famous sisters or someone else close to them? The answer unravels through twists and turns in this compelling novel.
      ― Rae Ann, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee | BUY

About Katie Bernet

Katie Bernet lives in Dallas, Texas. As one of three sisters, she’s a diehard fan of Little Women. Beth Is Dead is her debut novel.

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Dandelion Is Dead by Rosie Storey

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Dandelion Is Dead by Rosie Storey
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Perfect for readers of Dolly Alderton’s Good Material. Wild story that is full of heart. I fell in love with Poppy, Jake AND Dandelion. Twisty family drama with themes of sisterhood, friendship, grief, and full of life-imploding moments. I can see this one on the big screen. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time. Should be HUGE with the indies!

Dandelion Is Dead by Rosie Storey, (List Price: $30, Berkley, 9780593954348, January 2026)

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

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Buffalo Fluffalo and Puffalo by Bess Kalb

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Buffalo Fluffalo and Puffalo by Bess Kalb
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This book’s organization and illustrations are a 10/10. Love it! And the message is precious! I honestly think this would be a great book to get to for a child who is about to become a big sibling!

Buffalo Fluffalo and Puffalo by Bess Kalb, (List Price: $18.99, Random House Studio, 9780593810309, September 2025)

Reviewed by Samantha Steele, Plenty Downtown Bookshop in Cookeville, Tennessee

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In a Distant Valley by Shannon Bowring

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In a Distant Valley by Shannon Bowring
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I inhaled this book! I have loved all of the Dalton series books, and the end to the series did not disappoint. Spending time with the same characters and getting in the heads of the other minor characters from previous books gives you a giant hug that gets you through the day. Shannon has a way in her writing that makes you feel like you are a part of the story. She makes the place in Maine seem like its own character. I am going to miss Tru, Bev, Nate, Rose, and all the town folk who make this story so vivid. The line “With each mouthful of champagne, Trudy feels lighter and fuller at the same time” Is just an example of the beauty of her writing. There is so much more to love in her newest book, and I can’t wait to see what she does next! Amazing

In a Distant Valley by Shannon Bowring, (List Price: $19, Europa Editions, 9798889661405, October 2025)

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

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Book Buzz: The Hounding by Xonebe Purvis

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Xonebe Purvis, photo credit Michael Guppy/Henry HoltThere are many examples of this kind of thing throughout history. I was actually inspired by a specific historical event; I came across the true story of a village in Oxfordshire in the 1700s in which a great rumor was said to be spreading that five sisters had been “seized with frequent barking in the manner of dogs.” I was obviously fascinated to imagine how the girls’ community would have responded to their case, and how this rumor spreading might easily have become dangerous and even violent…I agree [that the] incredibly sinister aspect of Shirley Jackson’s work, the vilification of the mundane…is definitely terrain that The Hounding shares with Jackson’s stories. Like her, I’m very interested in thinking about the everyday awfulness of people, but I also wanted to try to understand even my most detestable characters. I really wanted to find a degree of sympathy for all of them in order to inhabit their thoughts and feelings.

― Xonebe Purvis, Interview, Indies Introduce, American Booksellers Association

The Hounding by Xonebe Purvis

What booksellers are saying about The Hounding

  • I am in awe. I am definitely going to have to sit and think about all this book laid out in terms of themes, parallels and symbolism. From the wildness of grief, not know what you become as you age, to poignant commentary of societal views of women who desire freedom and autonomy. This book juggles all this really well with a gripping story, but also simple and straight to the point; no unessesary fluff. Which is really nice. The ending mad me cry for sure, it is so heartbreaking but hopeful at the same time.
      ― Meghan Haile, The Lynx in Gainesville, Florida | BUY

  • Languid like the Thames and scorching like the relentless summer it takes place in, The Hounding threads and winds beautifully in the alternating perspectives of five villagers who all hold their own convictions about the Mansfield sisters. I devoured this debut, and I remain haunted by it still.
    ― Taylor Brown, Underbrush Books in Rogers, Arkansas | BUY

  • Ah, yes, the crime of being female and not bowing to patriarchal and societal expectations. I finished this book and immediately wanted to go out into the street and start barking like a dog. Xenobe Purvis is serving up approachable allegory, a modern classic, that will be the talk of the town in August! There’s a lot for a reader to unpack as the story explores how being different gets twisted into being other, which quickly morphs into being dangerous. It’s a quick read, layered with meaning, brimming with atmosphere, and full of questions… is it safer or easier to be a girl or a dog? How do people come to such hatred and violence? And where does the real danger lie in our society? Told with expert technique, lovely prose where every word seems to hold two meanings, and alarming accuracy, The Hounding will follow you around like a stray dog long after finishing the last page.
    ― Emily Lessig, The Violet Fox Bookshop in Virginia Beach, Virginia | BUY

About Xonebe Purvis

Xonebe Purvis was born in Tokyo in 1990. She studied English Literature at the University of Oxford, has an MA in creative writing from Royal Holloway, and was part of the London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme. She is a writer and literary researcher, with essays published in the Times Literary Supplement, the London Magazine, and elsewhere.

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Sync by Ellen Hopkins

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Sync by Ellen Hopkins
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Loved this book. It had a really engaging plot and it is my favorite realistic fiction book I have ever read. This book is great for older teens and young adults. This book did a really good job of keeping the reader engaged and entertained. Whether you like cliffhangers or not, you’ll love this book! I can not wait for the sequel to come out, and I definitely recommend this book to all young adult readers.

Sync by Ellen Hopkins, (List Price: $13.99, Nancy Paulsen, 9780593463260, August 2025)

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

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Spotlight On: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

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Sally Rooney in Merrion Square, Dublin; Photograph by Ellius Grace, New York Times

Interestingly, the first voice that came to the page for me in this project was Margaret’s — the character who becomes entangled in Ivan’s life in the course of the book. It certainly wasn’t that I sat down thinking, I have to write a book where the male voice is central. I just felt my way through the story that seemed to emerge when I encountered these characters, which is what I always try to do. Of course I had moments of self-reflection and self-consciousness, because I was thinking, What do I know about this form of interiority and specifically — which is different from Connell in “Normal People” — relationships between men?
–Sally Rooney, InterviewThe New York Times

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

What booksellers are saying about Intermezzo

  • Intermezzo is the book I’ve been waiting for Sally Rooney to write, the one I always believed she had in her, by far her best to date. The auspicious talent she’s displayed in her previous novels (all of which I’ve loved to varying degrees), most notably her almost unrivaled ability to identify and animate the emotional valences that exist between people in relationships, has been honed and deepened in Intermezzo, resulting in an abundantly rich emotional journey for readers. The personal-is-political ethos that would all too often result in didacticism and character speechifying has been fully metabolized by Intermezzo’s characters, resulting in full, complex, utterly compelling people. Rooney’s latest is an utterly masterful home-cooked meal, so rich, so satisfying, so nourishing, but never fussy, not bespoke, clearly made by a human’s hands and heart. Intermezzo will engross you, transport you, leave you full. It’s wonderful.
      ― Matt Nixon, A Cappella Books in Atlanta, Georgia | BUY

  • Again, Sally Rooney has written a tender, devastating, and hopeful triumph of a novel. Intermezzo introduces us to Peter and Ivan, brothers who are grieving their father. In the uprooted days that follow, we see them and the people they love as they come to terms with the new shape of the world they live in, and witness the evolution of their complex connections to each other. This is a book that you can speed-read, careening as you experience the depths of love, loss, grief, and purpose that fill these pages. If I were you, though, I’d read slowly, savoring each gem of a page.
      ― Maya Shenoy, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | BUY

  • Easily the best Sally Rooney book. While her writing is stellar, as always, there is something about Peter and Ivan’s story that immediately draws you in. You just have to root for these messy and complicated people as they figure out life and love.
      ― Kelley Barnes, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina | BUY

  • This is the millenial’s Mrs. Dalloway – and the best Sally Rooney yet. Intermezzo follows the aftermath of grief on two very different brothers – a chess champion and a high-strung but tenderhearted barrister – and their attempts at meaningful romantic relationships. It’s Rooney, so the characters also act as entry points into larger social commentary, but the lessons she’s imparting are always graceful, never heavy-handed. Small, interpersonal moments cartwheeling out into moving, philosophical passages that made it so I almost couldn’t read this book in public, because it kept making me cry. A total triumph.
      ― Rachel Knox, Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg, Florida | BUY

  • A triumph of a novel that will intensify the fandom of existing Rooney devotees (me!) and doubtless create many new ones. I was entranced by the beautiful sentences, prose whose style was outmatched only by its substance, and the gorgeous complexity of each character as they fought for love, belonging, and understanding. This is a multi-dimensional love story, but above all a love story between brothers. Somehow Rooney is able to lean on archetypes while also subverting and reinventing them, and Peter and Ivan (and Sylvia, and Margaret, and Naomi) will remain in my heart for a long time, stirring me as flesh and blood people do. With one of the tenderest and most perfect endings I can think of in recent contemporary literature–brought me to tears. A standing ovation from me!
      ― Kristen Iskandrian, Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama | BUY

About Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney is an Irish novelist. She is the author of Conversations with Friends; Normal People; and Beautiful World, Where Are You. She also contributed to the writing and production of the Hulu/BBC television adaptation of Normal People.

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Spotlight On: Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

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Coco Mellors, photo credit Zoe Potkin

Certain themes really choose writers. Addiction is a theme I never really chose to write about, but I cannot escape it. I’ve been sober for eight years and I come from a family of addicts and alcoholics, almost all of whom are sober as well, so I was interested in writing about addiction in families. I’m also interested in sobriety in families and how that can get passed down through generations. What does it look like to be long-term sober but still self-destructive? What does it look like to be newly sober and starting to heal? What does it look like to have never drunk or done drugs, but still have the impulse to escape yourself, which I think Bonnie has.
–Coco Mellors, Interview, The Guardian

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

What booksellers are saying about Blue Sisters

  • While the characters and circumstances in this heartfelt novel are more than a little implausible, one can’t help but be drawn in by these unforgettable sisters and their complicated bond. I only wish there were more scenes of the entire foursome together, though I suppose, that’s the point. As the sisters grieve the loss and transformation of their relationships, we feel it too.
      ― Carroll Gelderman, Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans, Louisiana | BUY

  • I loved this complicated family drama. So good!
      ― Jessica Nock, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina | BUY

  • Coco Mellors new novel Blue Sisters is hypnotic. Occasionally, you feel the need to step away from the book because of the seriousness of the subject matter — family, addiction, love, death, etc. — and you want to sit and think a bit about what you just read, except Mellors’ prose has you beguiled, and it will never relinquish its grasp of your focus.
      ― Michael Yetter, Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati, Ohio | BUY

  • Blue Sisters follows 3 of the 4 Blue sisters as they all are grappling with the death of their beloved sister Nicky. Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky struggle in connecting with each other in the aftermath and end up making questionable decisions. This is a beautiful look at sisterhood in all its messiness, grief, devotion, and love. Cannot wait for others to read about the Blue sisters.
      ― Claire McWhorter, River & Hill Books in Rome, Georgia | BUY

About Coco Mellors

Coco Mellors grew up in London and New York, where she received her MFA in fiction from New York University. Her debut novel, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, was a Sunday Times bestseller, has been translated into over fifteen languages, and is currently being adapted for television. She lives with her husband and son in New York.

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When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson

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When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson
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I have waited for this book for 10 years. In 2014 I read I’ll Give You the Sun and it changed my life from the very first page. Since its release, I have patiently waited for the next book that I would adore from Jandy Nelson–When the World Tips Over is that book. The correct word does not exist for how incredibly beautiful this story is. Jandy Nelson’s talent for creating characters that feel like your own peers (even at the age of 26) is completely unmatched–throughout the progression of this story, I felt like I was traveling through Northern California as a close confidant to each of the Fall siblings. As a young reader, I’ll Give You the Sun felt like home to me (and it always will). I felt understood, adored, appreciated, and like there was a little bit of magic inside of me. When the World Tips Over now gets to provide all those exact same feelings to young readers today–though that does not take away from adult readers like myself, who are also incredibly touched, moved, and changed by this story. Told through many different perspectives, readers are able to latch on to and understand each character and what makes each individual story important for the narrative that is being told. Dizzy, Miles, Wynton, and Cassidy are characters that make sure they will never be forgotten even after the last page is turned.

When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson, (List Price: $21.99, Dial Books, 9780525429098, September 2024)

Reviewed by Abbie Cyr, Sassafras on Sutton in Black Mountain, North Carolina

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Spotlight On: Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark

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P Djeli Clark, photo credit the author

This story was absolute FUN to write. Yes, I have fun writing all my stories. Readers can see it in the humor I imbue in those tales, even when the topics are serious. But there was a different kind of freedom with The Dead Cat Tail Assassins. I wasn’t bound to our world. Or our histories. I wasn’t trying to deliver some deeper message on real-life colonialism or racism or the like. I set out to just tell a story that was fast-paced, punchy, full of action, thrills, and, when called-for, sheer hilarity. As I pitched it to my editor, this is John Wick meets Dungeons & Dragons.

― P. Djèlí Clark, Disgruntled Haradrim

Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark

What booksellers are saying about Dead Cat Tail Assassins

  • Clark has a way of drawing you in immediately to his elaborately created and detailed worlds of magic and mystery. You’re immediately thrown into a city in the midst of festival revelry where an incredibly deadly (and also dead) group of assassins are on the prowl. I love how Clark can make you feel so much empathy and compassion for an assassin; how his stories revolve around a code of ethics. Really well done and a lot of fun!
      ― Jamie Southern, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina | BUY

  • First of all, you have to love a god that’s the patron of both assassins and chefs. This is another banger from Clark. So much vicious fun. Highly recommended!
      ― Robin Wood, Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida | BUY

  • A bloody romp of a good time—The Dead Cat Tails Assassins has the world-building of an epic without the overwhelming page count. It’s one of the most vivid and engrossing fantasies I’ve read in years. Absolutely not to be missed.
      ― Courtney Ulrich Smith, Underbrush Books in Rogers, Arkansas | BUY

  • The Dead Cat Tail Assassins leads you astray, trips your feet out from under you, and then dunks your head underwater, all in the span of one night. This novella is an action-packed romp through a gloriously rich and well-defined world. Clark crafts a succinct and enthralling story that carries you through till the last page, offering a wide cast of vivid characters (mostly assassins) who capture your attention and your heart. On top of all of that there lies a time paradox to challenge and twist your perception of the world itself.
      ― Faith Skowronnek, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | BUY

About P. Djèlí Clark

Born in New York and raised mostly in Houston, P. Djèlí Clark spent the formative years of his life in the homeland of his parents, Trinidad and Tobago. He is the author of the novel A Master of Djinn and the novellas The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, Ring Shout, The Black God’s Drums, and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. He has won the Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards and been nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Sturgeon Awards. His stories have appeared in online venues such as Tor.com, Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Apex, Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and in print anthologies, including Griots, Hidden Youth, and Clockwork Cairo. He is also a founding member of FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction and an infrequent reviewer at Strange Horizons.

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Spotlight On: Smothermoss by Alisa Alering

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Alisa Alering, photo credit Lance Thorn

It’s too easy to equate character strength with physical power. So what is strength? What does it mean to be truly tough? Is suffering what makes you strong? Is continuing to persist, to exist on your terms in the face of overwhelming opposition or little hope of change—is that strength? (Recently, reading K.X. Song’s novel An Echo In the City about the 2019 Hong Kong protests I was impressed with the characters’ repeated acknowledgment that they knew they couldn’t win and yet that was no reason to stop fighting). Is strength merely preserving some core kernel of your true self deep down when all the world tells you that what you are, what you believe, what you feel is not right, not okay, not even real? Does that internal personal act of truth and private rebellion equate with strength? Is real strength the ability to ask for what you want and keep asking? Is it the ability to make hard choices in the face of disappointment or compromise?

― Alisa Alering, Interview, We Are Grimoire

Smothermoss by Alisa Alering

What booksellers are saying about Smothermoss

  • Alering thrills and excites with Smothermoss, the story of two sisters navigating adolescence and dark forces in the Appalachian mountains. Sprinkled with magic and charm, this lush adventure through the wilderness had me ensnared from the very first page..
      ― Alea Lopes, Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida | BUY

  • A hauntingly eerie tale about two sisters, Shelia and Angie, set in the 1980s Appalachia. When two hikers turn up brutally murdered, Shelia and Angie get roped into hunting the killer. The imagery in this novel was so raw and creepy. I haven’t looked at rabbits the same since finishing this book. Angie draws creepy tarot cards with images you would see in your worst nightmare. This is a weird novel but a fun one, trust me!
      ― Anna Anabseh, Underground Books in Carrollton, Georgia | BUY

  • I loved almost everything about this book: the imagery, the writing, the characters, and the magical “reality”. I can’t wait to see what this author writes next!
      ― Alexandra Bender, Fonts Books in McLeann, Virginia | BUY

  • A creeping mystery and a building sense of dread run through this story of self discovery. Smothermoss delivers absorbing imagery, troubling questions, and no easy answers, but but reminds the reader that life goes on regardless, and while there’s life, there’s hope.
      ― Arthur Acton, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina | BUY

  • A lyrically beautiful Southern Gothic story set in the Appalachian mountains, Smothermoss is an edge-of-your-seat yet gorgeous read. Two very different sisters exist in communion with the flora and fauna where the mountain plays a pivotal role. Both Sheila and Angie are trying to figure out their place in the world as kids in the 1980s. When a double murder in their small community put everyone on high alert, Angie is certain she can catch the killer. Smothermoss reads like a fairy tale with thrilling moments that could lead to devastation. Highly recommend.
      ― Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia | BUY

About Alisa Alering

Alisa Alering grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania and now lives in Arizona. After attending Clarion West, their short fiction has been published in Fireside, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Podcastle, and Cast of Wonders, among others, and been recognized by the Calvino Prize. A former librarian and science/technology reporter, they teach fiction workshops at the Highlights Foundation.

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Into the Goblin Market by Vikki VanSickle

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Into the Goblin Market by Vikki VanSickle
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A cute cautionary tale with beautiful art. I love how the wolf follows Millie around in the illustrations, and how Millie was able to outsmart the traps. The narration was easy to understand and fun. A great read for children.

Into the Goblin Market by Vikki VanSickle, (List Price: $18.99, Tundra Books, 9780735268562, July 2024)

Reviewed by Kamilah Wong, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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Blue Window by Adina Rishe Gerwirtz

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Blue Window by Adina Rishe Gerwirtz
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I Am a Candlewick Frequent Blurber! On the shortest day of the year, Max, Susan, Nell, Jean, and Kate tumbled through Mrs Grady’s cobalt blue window. On the other side, things were the same (there were animals, people, and chicken for dinner) but at the same time very very very different. In this mesmerizing new portal fantasy from the author of Zebra Forest, five children learn who they are, discern how they fit into an ancient prophecy, and learn just what they can do when they set their minds to it.

Blue Window by Adina Rishe Gerwirtz, (List Price: $18.99, Candlewick, 9780763660369, April 2018)

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

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All-Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky

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All-Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky
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One of my favorites from the Tombolo Books Book Club this year! Ruth Madievsky’s debut is a buzzing bar sign of a book, telling the story of a young woman and her toxic relationship with her older sister Debbie in Los Angeles. After Debbie goes missing, our narrator has to decide whether to let her go and become her own person – or to stay mired in their fraught dynamic and the substances that kept them bound together. This book just felt like (cruel) summer to me – a hot, hazy fog of a book that I still think about.

All-Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky, (List Price: $17.95, Catapult, 9781646222254, July 2024)

Reviewed by Rachel Knox, Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg, Florida

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Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi

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Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi
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“Sisters never stand a chance to be friends. We’re pitted against each other from the moment we’re born. A daughter is a treasure. Two is a tax. God, how they must have wanted a boy when they tried a do-over after a dead baby girl.” One of the most fraught relationships in humanity is sisterhood. In Yolk, Choi takes on that relationship and explores it through both the joy and pain. Coming of age, learning to live on one’s own, and navigating modern romance are all tackled in turn with the grace and realism for which readers have learned to love her writing. Come for the angst, stay for the characters you may just love like sisters. Content warnings for disordered eating, depression and anxiety, absent parent, and cancer.

Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi, (List Price: $12.99, Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 9781534446014, March 2022)

Reviewed by Faith Parke-Dodge, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

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