Category: Book News

BOOK NEWS: March 25, 2025

BOOK NEWS: March 25, 2025

Posted on by Jaymie

Here are some of the books releasing this week.

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults

Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker – Cincinnati tries to resolve her family’s problems by returning the items her ancestor “rescued.”
Isle of Ever (Older Middle Grade) – First in a new series from Jen Calonita. A young woman needs to find a long-missing island in order to inherit from an unknown relative  which would change life for her and her mother.
Lovely Dark and Deep – Faith becomes a “Red Stripe” at her school for magic, meaning too dangerous for regular classes, leaving her an outcast at the one place that used to feel like home. But she and her fellow Red Stripes are the only ones who can put a stop to the dangerous and dark things happening around the school.

Books for Adults

The Big Fix (Hardcover) – A tussle at an estate sale with a man at an estate sale leaves a woman on the run with a fixer whose recent “fix” fell apart. This is at the top of my list for this week!
Cover Story (Trade Paperback, LGBTQ+) – In 2005 a lesbian publicist, charged with keeping gay stars in the closet, starts to fall for her latest client who needs to appear straight for a move role.
Essence of Foul Play (Trade Paperback) – First in a new Aroma Wellness mystery series. A woman trying to open her dream spa is instead the prime suspect in a murder case.
A Fortune Most Fatal (Trade Paperback) – Book 2 in the Miss Austen Investigates series. Miss Austen tries to unmask a swindler.
Just Our Luck (Trade Paperback) – Two down on their luck folks fake a relationship after one wins the lottery and the other is caught up in the excitement. This looks great!
The Plot Twist (Trade Paperback) – A rom-com author and a long-time crime novelist, both with writer’s block, try swapping plots to meet their deadlines.
Summer in the City (Trade Paperback) – A struggling screenwriter finds inspiration in her city neighbor, a man she’s hated since their stairwell hook up two years ago. Soon, the two agree to help each other out of a jam, but the partnership doesn’t mean a thaw to their feud.
Late Star Trek: The Final Frontier in the Franchise Era (Trade Paperback) – A look at the recent history of the Star Trek franchise as it has tried to relaunch after the heyday of the 1990s. I’m looking forward to reading this one!

 

 

BOOK NEWS: March 18, 2025

BOOK NEWS: March 18, 2025

Posted on by Jaymie

Here are some of the books releasing this week.

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults

Who Is Carol Burnett?
Embergold – A young woman finds herself “sacrificed” to a dragon, but that’s only the first secret she uncovers. This could be cool – feels a little like Beauty and the Beast or Damsel.
True Life in Uncanny Valley – A young woman applies for a job as a summer nanny to her half-brother in order to get a glimpse of the father she’s never known.

Books for Adults

Code Word Romance (Trade Paperback) – In order to get out of soul-crushing debt, a young woman agrees to pose as a powerful prime minister who has become the target of assassins.  But her in-room bodyguard is an old flame. Yes, please!
Fake It Like You Mean It (Trade Paperback) – A young woman and the pain-in-the-ass nurse caring for her grandmother go along with a dementia-induced delusion that they are madly in love, certain that her grandmother will forget the ruse in the morning. But she doesn’t, and they have to keep faking it.
A Geek Girl’s Guide to Arsenic (ebook, REISSUE)- This completed series from Julie Anne Lindsey is being REISSUED, and I am here for it. I loved the whole series! Book 2 is out this week.
The Library Game (Hardcover) – Book 4 in the Secret Staircase Mystery series. Tempest is hired to help turn an old home into a public library, but problems keep cropping up – like disappearing dead bodies – and it seems like someone is recreating classic crime novels in real life.
Pomona Afton Can SO Solve a Murder (Hardcover) – An heiress finds her trust fund frozen when her grandmother is killed. If she wants her lifestyle back, she is going to have to investigate a murder. Yes, please!
The Third Rule of Time Travel (Trade Paperback) – A scientist finds a way to time travel that does not allow for any changing or interfering with the timeline, but then finds her own time observations changing her present life.
Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry (Hardcover) – From the author of The Making of Biblical Womanhood. Considers what the rise of the “pastor’s wife” role in traditional evangelicalism cost the Church in terms of female leadership, ordination, etc.. I need to catch up on both of these books!

BOOK NEWS: March 11, 2025

BOOK NEWS: March 11, 2025

Posted on by Jaymie

Here are some of the books releasing this week.

Books for Kids

Moving Day – A Victorian home is moved to a different part of town while the community watches.
No Huddles for Heloise – Heloise has a problem – penguins huddle for protection and warmth, but Heloise NEEDS her personal space.
Zero! The Number that Almost Wasn’t – A picture book of the history of zero.

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults

The Griffin’s Boy – A princess helps a griffin trainer who doesn’t want to be separated from his friend. But when animals start going missing from the king’s menagerie, could the trainer be the culprit?
Last Chance Academy: A Study in Secrets – First in a new series. Meg is sent to a boarding school following the death of her mother. While it seems like just another strict school at first, Meg and her friends start to discover the school’s secrets.
Serge & Roscoe – A veteran counting down the days to retirement and a rookie are teamed up to help with Search and Rescue during out-of-control wildfires.
History Smashers: Earth Day and the Environment – The latest in this series by Kate Messner.

Books for Adults

All the Other Mothers Hate Me (Hardcover) – When her son’s bully goes missing after a school trip and her son becomes the prime suspect, a party girl has to get her act together for her son’s sake.
A Drizzle of Magic (e-book) – First in the new Pobyd Perfections Bakery cozy fantasy series, a spin off from The Weary Dragon Inn series. Magical creatures in a seaside town are being threatened even though the end of the recent war was supposed to mean they were finally able to use magic openly.
Fan Service (Trade Paperback) – When a down and out actor seems to have turned into a werewolf, he reaches out to the woman who has made it her life’s work to catalog his old werewolf detective series. Even if she hates him, she’s the only person who might be able to help him figure out what is going on. This sounds amazing!
The Four Queens of Crime (Hardcover) – A new female detective asks the four Queens of Crime – Christie, Sayers, Marsh, and Allingham – to help her solve a real life murder. Yes, please!
Go Luck Yourself (Trade Paperback, LGBTQ+) – Book 2 in the Royals and Romance series following The Nightmare Before Kissmas (♥♥♥½). The “spare” prince of Christmas investigates a theft of joy that seems to have come from St. Patrick’s Day. I love the world building in this holiday royalty series – it’s such a clever idea.
Hard to Get (Trade Paperback) – Book 3 in the Big Love from Galway series. Small town math teacher meets a sexy singer who might help him change his “vanilla” self-perception.
Story of My Life (Trade Paperback) – Something new from Lucy Score!!! First in the Story Lake series. A writer long past her last chance deadline buys a house in a small town on a whim and finds some things she never expected. This too will be a drop everything and read sort of book.
The Usual Family Mayhem (Trade Paperback) – From the author of Moorewood Family Rules. In an effort to save her job, a woman pitches her grandmother’s bakery as an investment opportunity, but her grandmother wants no part of it. Kasey thinks she’s keeping secrets  – and she’s afraid they have something to do with the mysterious deaths around town of abusive men. Sounds like Pies Before Guys, and I am here for it.

 

 

BOOK NEWS: March 4, 2025

BOOK NEWS: March 4, 2025

Posted on by Jaymie

Happy March! February kept a relentless pace for me in my non-book life, so I’m hoping that March is more gentle all the way around. Here are some of the books releasing this week.

Books for Kids

 

Will the Pigeon Graduate? – A graduation book starring the Pigeon!
Next Year in the White House – The story of President Obama’s first Seder held at the White House.
Mad Scientist Mom: Saved By the Smell – First in a new chapter book series from Jarrett Lerner about a boy with a Mad Scientist Mom.
Pablo and Splash: Frozen in Time – Graphic novel chapter book starring two time-traveling penguins.

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults

Princess Swap: Snow White and the Dragon – Snow White and Sleeping Beauty swap stories in this second book in the Princess Swap series, the only middle grade book on the list this week.
I Am Made of Death – Desperate for money, Thomas takes a job as an interpreter for an heiress who is voluntarily mute after a childhood trauma. Now, Vivienne’s voice is deadly to anyone who hears her, and she is desperate to get her life back. This sounds spooky!
Oathbound – Book 3 in the Legendborn Cycle.
Our Infinite Fates – Remembering all of her past lives and how they have ended – murdered before her 18th birthday – a young woman looks for a way to break the cycle of love and loss she’s trapped in.
Take a Chance on Me – A young woman fleeing a viral video heads to London to stay with her father despite their conflicted relationship, and while there she finds love.
While We’re Young – Can a senior skip day in Philly repair a friendship for three teens who used to be besties?

Books for Adults

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave (Hardcover) – Book 5 in the Finlay Donovan series. Finlay’s awful neighbor is moving in when her home is off limits as a crime scene – which is handy when Finlay and Vero need to get close to her to find answers in their latest brush with murder. I need to get caught up on this great series!
Glory Daze (Hardcover) – Book 2 in the Glory Broussard Mystery series. Glory has no interest in getting caught up in another murder, especially one that involves her ex and the woman who ruined her marriage. But her daughter asks her to find out what she can about what happened to her father.
Promise Me Sunshine (Trade Paperback) – A young woman struggling after the death of her best friend encounters one person who sees through her mask of “fine” and offers to help her with her “live again” list.
Something Cheeky (Trade Paperback) – Zoe has a chance to see the musical she helped create in college finally come to life.
Tea You at the Altar (Trade Paperback, LGBTQ+) – Book 3 in the Tomes &Tea series. Lesbian pirates are seven days away from their wedding when roadblocks threaten to ruin their HEA.
Welcome to the Honey B&B (Trade Paperback) – A woman and her teenager move home to care for her ailing father and try to turn the family’s old farm house into a B&B to help with money.

BOOK NEWS: February 25, 2025

BOOK NEWS: February 25, 2025

Posted on by Jaymie

Here are some of the books releasing this week.

Books for Kids

The Cookie Vote – A new book in the Mr. TIffin’s Classroom series. (The Dinosaur Expert is my favorite  of the books I’ve read.) Mr. Tiffin’s class is going to the state capital, and the kids want to learn about how a bill becomes a law by making their own bill to choose a “state cookie.”
What Is the Bible? – A picture book about the Bible from Rachel Held Evans and Matthew Paul Turner.

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults

Tear This Down – A new book from Barbara Dee. When a student discovers her town’s namesake had some problematic beliefs about women, she decides the man’s statue in town should be replaced with one of a local suffragette.

Books for Adults

Big Name Fan (Hardcover, LGBTQ+) – First in the TV Detectives series. Two actresses who played TV detectives get the chance to solve a real-life murder. This sounds terrific!
Book Boyfriend (Trade Paperback) – A woman spends her time at a con for her favorite series with her work nemesis who thinks he can find love if he takes some tips from her favorite book boyfriends from the series.
Famous Last Words (Hardcover) – A literary agent at the end of her maternity leave, about to return to work, wakes up to a nightmare when she gets news that her husband has become a terrorist, a gunman holding people hostage.
Greenteeth (Trade Paperback) – A lake monster and a witch team up against forces of evil in this new cozy fantasy novel.
Not Quite by the Book (March 1 release) – Something new from Julie Anne Lindsey. A young woman, disappointed with her life’s trajectory, tries life as a recluse,  renting a house away from her family and her life where she can be alone.
Something Like Fate (Trade Paperback, March 1) – A woman from a family of women who have the power to have visions of “The One” finally has her vision, but reality – and her feelings for her best friend – might get in the way of her HEA.
Star Wars: Reign of the Empire – The Mask of Fear (Hardcover) – First in a new Star Wars series. These are the stories of the three architects of the Rebellion – Mon Mothma, Saw Gerrera, and Bail Organa – in the earliest days of the Empire.
Swordheart (Hardcover re-release of a previously-published story) – A woman who inherits her uncle’s estate finds an enchanted sword – and the warrior attached to it who is bound to protect whoever wields it. This sounds delightful! Another cozy fantasy on today’s list.
Three Bags Full (Trade Paperback) – First in  a new Sheep Detective series. A flock of sheep become amateur detectives when they try to discover who killed their shepherd.
Unlikely Story (Trade Paperback, March 1) – A therapist who is also secretly an advice columnist has fallen in love with someone she’s never met.

BOOK NEWS: February 18, 2025

BOOK NEWS: February 18, 2025

Posted on by Jaymie

Here are some of the books releasing this week.

Books for Kids

I Am Sally Ride – The latest picture book biography in the Ordinary People Change the World series.
Where Did TJ Go? – Writer and speaker Annie F. Downs brings kids and families this book on grief and loss, specifically infant loss. While the full description of the book will bring tears to your eyes, this could be a valuable resource for families experiencing loss.
The Woofmore On Thin Ice – Book 3 in the Woofmore early chapter book series. The Woofmore is counting on a positive review from a famous figure skater to bring more business to the hotel.

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults

Racing the Clouds (Older Middle Grade, 10-14 year olds) – Sage hopes a summer vacation spent with the grandparents she’s never met will help mend the rifts between her and her dad after what happened last year.
Truth Cursed – An orphaned young woman is trained by a rebel spy ring and sent to infiltrate the royal court.

Books for Adults

A Geek Girl’s Guide to Murder (e-book reissue) – This completed series from Julie Anne Lindsey is being REISSUED, and I am here for it. I loved the whole series! Book 1 is out this week.
Never Planned on You (Trade Paperback) – Ali encounters the man she once drunkenly got tattoos with in England, but now he’s the groom in the wedding she’s supposed to be planning.
An Overdue Match (Trade Paperback) – Book one in the new Checking Out Love series. The new librarian in town teams up with a tattoo artist to matchmake her patrons.
To Sicily with Love (Trade Paperback) – Book 4 in the Meet Me in Italy series. A woman who recently lost her parents discovers through a DNA test that she has family in Sicily and travels there to see if she can find herself once again.
Wooing the Witch Queen (Trade Paperback) – Book 1 in the Queens of Villainy series by Stephanie Burgis. A sorceress queen takes on an assistant to help her organize her magical library so she can concentrate on protecting her kingdom, not realizing that he is hiding things about himself. I’m looking forward to this one!
You Between the Lines (Trade Paperback) – A woman in an MFA program struggling with imposter syndrome encounters her high school nemesis in the program.

BOOK NEWS: February 11, 2025

BOOK NEWS: February 11, 2025

Posted on by Jaymie

Here are some of the books releasing this week.

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults

Bat and the Business of Ferrets – Book 4 in the Bat series. As Bat tries to adjust to the changes that come with a new grade, new classroom, and new teacher, he hopes to convince his teacher – and a classmate – that a class Ferret would be a good idea.
HiLo: The Great Space Iguana (Graphic Novel) – HiLo and his friends try to help a giant space iguana get home.
Montgomery Bonbon: Death at the Lighthouse AND Murder at the Museum – A young sleuth pretending to be a famous detective solves mysteries including a murder at a museum (Book 1) and one at a lighthouse (Book 2).
Unicorn Book Club (Graphic Novel) – Book 21 in the delightful Phoebe and her Unicorn series. Marigold and Phoebe create a book club. Yes, please!
Wicked Darlings – An aspiring journalist investigates her sister’s death

Books for Adults

Celebrity Crush (Trade Paperback) – An author suggests a fake dating scheme to the actor staring in the adaptation of her book to give them both some important positive PR.
Change of Heart (Trade Paperback) – A cynical lawyer is transported to a Hallmark channel-esque small town where she has to complete three tasks in order to get back to her real life.
Death at the Shipshape Bookshop (Trade Paperback) – An Alaskan bookstore owner becomes a part time sleuth after her bookshop is ransacked and someone is murdered in her back room.
Get Lost With You (Trade Paperback) – Book 2 in the Rock Bottom Love series. A single mom takes a second chance at love.
A Girl Like Us (Hardcover) – A party girl turned heiress investigates the family she married into looking for answers to questions that have already left someone dead.
The Last Hamilton (Trade Paperback) – When the last heir of Alexander Hamilton dies, her best friend and her husband team up to find out what happened. This sounds excellent!
The Launch Date (Trade Paperback) – Two rivals must team up to create first date scenarios as they compete for the same job at their dating app company.
The Perfect Rom-Com (Trade Paperback) – An aspiring writer becomes a ghostwriter in a trade off as she tries to sell her own novel. Yes, please!
Queens of Crime (Hardcover) – The five greatest women crime writers team up to solve a real life murder in 1930. This sounds so amazing.
A Victim at Valentine’s (ebook) – Book 5 in the Secret Bookcase Mystery series from Ellie Alexander. A bookshop owner tries to help local law enforcement solve a murder connected her her shop.
You Are Fatally Invited (Hardcover) – Mila is an aspiring writer hired by thriller master J.R. Alastor to help him host a thriller writer’s retreat which gives her an opportunity to plan a murder of her own. But then someone else is murdered and she’s drawn into solving the case. Another fantastic sounding story!
The Fearless Christian University (Trade Paperback, February 13) – A form professor and administrator in Christian Higher Ed explores the state of Christian Higher Ed and strategies to survive into the future.

BOOK NEWS: February 4, 2025

BOOK NEWS: February 4, 2025

Posted on by Jaymie

Happy February! Here are some of the books releasing this week.

Books for Kids

Cranky Chicken: The Cranky-verse – Three new stories starring Cranky Chicken and Speedy.

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults

The Secret of Moonrise Manor – Raven and her friends investigate a mummy found in a haunted hotel to see if it can answer her questions about her late mother’s death.
What Is the Story of Cinderella? – Explore the history of the story of Cinderella.
All Better Now – A new YA novel from the author of Scythe. A world-wide virus leaves survivors living with unprecedented contentment – and there are those who see their careers and livelihood at risk if they can’t capitalize on the old ways of anger and jealousy. I can’t wait to check this out!
The Liar’s Club – First in a new YA series about taking on the “king of campus.”

Books for Adults

The Bones Beneath My Skin (Hardcover) – A standalone novel from the author of the Cerulean Chronicles and the Green Creek series. A man who has lost everything heads to his family’s summer cabin to reassess his life and finds people living there. And one is a very special little girl – and someone’s out to find her.
Deep End (Trade Paperback) – A new standalone novel from the author of Bride. A diver and a champion swimmer who should have nothing in common but the water start a fling that threatens to upend their lives.
Dream Girl Drama (Trade Paperback) – A hockey player falls for a woman after an unexpected encounter, but then he discovers she’s his soon-to-be step-sister.
Eleven Numbers (e-book short story, February 1) – From the author of the Jack Reacher series. A math professor is summoned to the White House to help with cryptic Russian equations.

BOOK NEWS: January 28, 2025

BOOK NEWS: January 28, 2025

Posted on by Jaymie

Here are some of the books releasing this week.

Books for Adults

Beast of the North Woods (Hardcover) – Book 3 in the Monster Hunter Mystery series. Morgan investigates the death of an ice fisherman when his death is blamed on the Hodag. I loved book one, but haven’t read book 2 yet because the opening chapter was super violent. My husband read it and said the whole book isn’t that way, so I need to pick it up soon because I MUST read this Hodag story!
Here Beside the Rising Tide (Trade Paperback) – A writer and her family go back to the island she visited as a kid where her missing childhood friend seems to come out of the water, still 10 years old, telling her he’s trying to save the world.
If Tomorrow Never Comes (Trade Paperback) – A sick young woman waiting for a stem cell transplant and uncertain about her future throws caution to the wind and has a romantic moment with a stranger. A year later, when she’s healthy and connecting with her stem cell donor she discovers the woman’s boyfriend is the stranger she kissed a year ago.
A Lady Would Know Better (Trade Paperback) – An English Lord finds a woman on his property, freezing in the snow, with no memory of her name or her life.
Out of the Woods (Trade Paperback) – A couple facing a crisis-point 17 years into their marriage decide to go on an intense couples hiking trip to see if they can save their relationship.
The Outcast Mage (Trade Paperback) – First in the new Shattered Lands series about a mage who is trying to learn to use her magic before it destroys her.
Wedding Dashers (Trade Paperback) – Two travelers stranded in London while on the way to Ireland discover they are trying to get to the same wedding and face a series of travel disasters.
Enneagram in Real Life: Find Your Type, Understand Who You Are, and Take Steps Toward Growth (Hardcover) – A new Enneagram resource.
The Fix: How the Twelve Steps Offer a Surprising Path of Transformation for the Well-Adjusted, the Down-and-Out, and Everyone in Between (Hardcover) – Therapist and Enneagram practitioner Ian Morgan Cron brings this book – and a workbook – about the Twelve Steps to everyone to show how anyone can benefit from following the Steps.

BOOK NEWS: January 21, 2025

BOOK NEWS: January 21, 2025

Posted on by Jaymie

Here are some of the books releasing this week.

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults

Very Bad at Math (Graphic Novel) – A capable and super involved teen struggling in math discovers she has dyscalculia.
Love on Paper – Two teen writers with parents in the publishing business – who happen to be long-term rivals – attend a writing retreat.
The Rival – A new romance from Emma Lord. High school rivals become college rivals when Seb gets pulled off the waitlist and he and Sadie start vying for a spot writing for the school zine. Lord’s books are must reads for me.
The Wilde Trials – Exes participating in a set of dangerous pre-graduation trials at their school team up to help her find her blackmailer and find out why his brother died in the last Trials.

Books for Adults

Earl Crush (Trade Paperback) – An heiress corresponding with a single earl in financial trouble travels to him to offer up a marriage of convenience. Except the earl has no idea who she is, because his brother has been impersonating him to the woman.
Loose Lips (Hardcover) – Book 2 in the Ghostwriter Mystery series after The Busy Body. The ghostwriter attends a writing conference aboard a cruise ship. When one of the guests dies under mysterious circumstances, it’s investigation time again. Book 1 was excellent, so this is a must read for me!
Onyx Storm (Hardcover) – Book three in the Empyrean series after Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. I haven’t gotten to Fourth Wing yet – I need to catch up!
She Doesn’t Have a Clue (Trade Paperback) – A murder at a destination wedding draws a mystery writer into investigating. I can’t wait to read this one!