Books

Where the heck did January go? Who cares, it’s February, and there are a ton of exciting books coming out. It’s looking like a great month for fantasy, which is perfect to escape into when it’s cold and still a bit dreary outside. I’m personally already looking forward to National Discount Chocolate Day on February

With the new legislative season in full swing, now is a crucial time to write to your representatives. We’re seeing unbelievable numbers of new proposals to outlaw intellectual freedom, to criminalize library workers and educators for providing queer and/or diverse literature to their communities, to ban drag shows (including drag storytimes), and to make being

In 1967, the Supreme Court invented a new legal principle called qualified immunity that limited the public’s right to sue certain government employees. Seemingly designed to protect government officials from frivolous lawsuits, in practice, it mostly shields the police from being sued for misconduct, even if they’ve violated someone’s constitutional rights. In effect, it makes

After nearly three months of striking, the HarperCollins Union, representing about 250 employees across sectors of the publisher, have reached a tentative deal. This happened quickly after the publishing giant agreed to meet with the Union to discuss their demands. It comes on the heels of the publisher also announcing a 5% reduction in its

Christie Tate confronted her eating disorder head-on. She worked through her tendency to date men with alcoholism and even found a healthy relationship with a man she would eventually marry. This meant she’d tackled her issues, right?  Tate recounted this recovery process in the New York Times bestseller Group, but it turns out the work

Russell Books is an iconic new and used bookstore in Victoria, BC, Canada. It was started in 1961 in Montreal by Reg Russell and relocated to Victoria in 1991. It’s now being run by the third generation of the family: Reg Russell’s granddaughter, Andrea Minter, and her husband, Jordan. It started as a 300 square

Pura Belpré Honor author Laekan Zea Kemp (Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet) offers a sweet ode to the special bond between grandmother and grandchild in A Crown for Corina, her first picture book. Corina is celebrating her birthday in Abuela’s garden, where her grandmother helps her select meaningful blooms to incorporate into her flower corona,

Twilight fans rejoice! Stephenie Meyer has announced that two new Twilight books will be released. The details, though, aren’t all there yet. The author mentioned having an outline and one chapter written, but also spoke on how she’d like to explore new territory, saying “I want to do something brand new. For me, a lot

Copenhagen, 1940When the Germans march into Denmark, Baron Henrik Ahlefeldt exchanges his nobility for anonymity, assuming a new identity so he can secretly row messages for the Danish Resistance across the waters to Sweden. American physicist Dr. Else Jensen refuses to leave Copenhagen and abandon her research–her life’s dream–and makes the dangerous decision to print

In 2022, I read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, and I, like so many, many others, fell in love with it. So much so that in 2023, I’m looking for more books like it. It’s a lot harder than you think. Tomorrow3 is a pretty unique book. It rests across a few

“If it’s not facing 297 years in prison, it’s not a problem.”–Richardson family motto The twenty-one years that kept Rob separated from his wife, Fox, and their six sons was long enough. As Rob survived two decades at America’s bloodiest penitentiary and Fox raised their sons solo, they never stopped fighting for Rob’s freedom and

Haymarket, a Chicago-based independent nonprofit book publisher, is offering free Black History books to combat book bans and the attack on education coming from the right. The publishing company released a statement February 2nd stating how they stand in solidarity with those in Florida and across the U.S. who are fighting book bans and education

Katee Robert returns with Radiant Sin, the fourth installment of her popular Dark Olympus series, which gives sexy updates to the classic love stories of Greek mythology. This time around, Robert uses the tale of Apollo and Cassandra as inspiration for a modern workplace romance. In the original myth, Apollo was the god of prophecy

If you love the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, then you know all about character alignments. You’ve probably played characters from all different kinds of backgrounds will all kinds of motivations. Deciding alignments for your characters can be pretty easy? But figuring out what your own Dungeons & Dragons alignment is? Well, that’s a much

Anita Yokota is both a licensed counselor and an interior designer, and she marries the two paths ingeniously in Home Therapy. I’ve seen a lot of “happy home” guides seeking to give readers more serenity through organization hacks and design principles, but none pulls in the teachings of therapy to the degree that Yokota’s book

Barbra Streisand is an EGOT winning (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) performer with a career spanning six decades and many mediums. She won a Golden Globe for directing; she wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the major studio film Yentl; and she is one of the best-selling artists of all time — to name just

When a whirlwind romance leads to a brutal murder and the disappearance of a young Nigerian woman, PI Emma Djan resorts to dangerous undercover work to track her down in Accra. Just as things at work are slowing down for PI Emma Djan, an old friend of her boss’s asks for help locating his missing

It’s been a month since my dog passed away. It was unexpected, and it broke my heart. We knew she was sick, but I didn’t think it was anything serious. And then suddenly, during a scheduled vet appointment, we were told she had to be put down that day. Five days before that was her

We’re living in an age of reboots. Everywhere you turn, another classic show or movie is getting a fresh start or a cast reunion. So it feels very much of the moment to have a romance set during the production of a beloved TV series’ 20th anniversary special. The Reunion, Kayla Olson’s adult debut, opens

In the 2023 Grammy Awards, Viola Davis won in the Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording category for her narration of her memoir, Finding Me. This win secured her a membership in an exclusive club of people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. Including Davis, only 18 people have EGOT

Some of the most fascinating novels explore the tensions between traditional ways of life and the lure of more modern ways of being. This is what roils the plot in Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀’s second novel, A Spell of Good Things. For at least two of its main characters, teenager Ẹniọlá and fledgling doctor Wuraọlá, the tension

Hello everyone, it’s your Publishing Auntie Jenn, here to sit next to you as we all wonder: What is going on with publishing right now? The general answer is “a lot.” Let’s get the housekeeping out of the way: I do not have any insider information, just almost 20 years of experience working in publishing

My friend writes a book. It’s a utopian work of speculative fiction, clever and imaginative and hopeful—a brilliant blend of art and activism. I bring flowers to her book launch and find a seat near the back of the cozy community garden where we’re gathered. Even before the reading starts, the space is abuzz with

“I often look up lists made by users on Goodreads, [and] DiverseBooks.org has a resource page with links to various sites or LGBTQ Reads by Dahlia Adler. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s hard to naturally find such books, as they are often published by smaller publishers with not enough advertising resources. That’s why it’s important to take

In many romance novels, love requires exposure: of one’s true desires and inner secrets, often of one’s most vulnerable self. In this month’s best romances, characters can only find happiness after first finding themselves—and sharing that truth with their partner. ★ Behind the Scenes Karelia Stetz-Waters pens a tender love story in Behind the Scenes.

Colleen Hoover’s romance novel Reminders of Him has been out for a little over a year now, and CoHo fans are loving it. Did you devour Reminders of Him and looking for more? Read on to find more books like Reminders of Him, Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel. Colleen Hoover has written over 20 books and

A powerful picture book about the transatlantic slave trade, Kwame Alexander and Dare Coulter’s An American Story opens with a question: “How do you tell a story that starts in Africa and ends in horror?” It might seem an impossible topic to teach children, and yet, as the book’s title suggests, it’s an essential part

Hello. I am a fully-grown adult who loves reading young adult fiction. And I’m not alone. Over half of today’s YA readers are over the age of 18. Sure, young adult literature focuses on teenagers, but no matter your age, it’s easy to identify with the trials and tribulations of self-discovery and coming of age.

Journalist Mark Whitaker’s (Smoketown) riveting Saying It Loud: 1966—The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement chronicles a key moment in the movement for racial justice in the United States: the shift in 1966 from the nonviolent organizational tactics associated with Martin Luther King Jr. to an emergent focus on Black Power as a

Social media seems harmless enough, right? Wrong! It’s a scary place, and if you don’t know how to navigate the wild world of Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, etc., well then you might just find yourself lost in the weeds. Thank goodness we have social media influencers. Their whole job is to make sense of the world