One of my most anticipated horror novels this year has been I'll Make a Spectacle of You, the debut from Beatrice Winifred Iker. Set at a Tennessee HBCU, it follows Zora, a grad student in Appalachian Studies who's researching religions, folklore, and hoodoo... and a beast that supposedly lurks the university woods at night. A... Continue Reading →
Last week, Once We Are Safe by Alessandra Carati become available in English. Translated from Italian, it follows a Bosnian family fleeing the Bosnian War in 1992. They end up in Milan, Italy, where they must rebuild a life. Still tethered to Bosnia, still hoping to at some point return, they spend decades in their... Continue Reading →
I loved Steven Rowley's The Guncle a few years ago, and I've been wanting to read more from. His newest release is a short story, The Dogs of Venice. Though first published as an audiobook five years ago, this new print edition reworks the story and gives it a Christmastime setting. Paul and his husband... Continue Reading →
Alex North has become one of my favorite authors in the past few years, so I was excited to read his brand new book, The Man Made of Smoke. Following several characters and a few timelines, it starts when young Dan has a brief encounter with a serial killer and one of the boys he'd abducted. Decades... Continue Reading →
Alex North has become one of my favorite authors in the past few years, so I was excited to read his forthcoming book, The Man Made of Smoke. It's due out in May, but I was lucky to receive a physical arc this month. The Man Made of Smoke has many of the themes that... Continue Reading →
One of my most anticipated books this fall was The Lightning Bottles by Marissa Stapley. Set in the Seattle grunge scenes of the 1990s, this dual-timeline novel is about star-crossed lovers—Elijah Hart and Jane Pyre—torn apart by fame and addiction. But when Elijah goes missing in Iceland in late 1994, Jane is forced to carry... Continue Reading →
It's back-to-school season, fall is almost here, and that makes it the perfect time to read Kristyn J. Miller's new novel, Given Our History. This dual-timeline, second chance romance is about two history professors (and former best friends) who haven't spoken in several years but are now back in each other's orbit. Clara and Teddy... Continue Reading →
Since 2019, Silvia Moreno-Garcia has become one of my favorite authors, and I've read nearly all of her books by now. However, I still hadn't read her first two novels. Now available in audiobook form, I've finally read her debut novel, Signal to Noise. It starts in Mexico City in 1988, when teenagers Meche, Sebastián,... Continue Reading →
I've been a big fan of mysteries and thrillers since I was young, though I haven't read nearly as many in the last few years. Thrillers still catch my eye, especially when they weave in some supernatural or horror elements, and this is what drew me to The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams. Combining a... Continue Reading →
Like Happiness is the debut novel by Ursula Villarreal-Moura, and what an impactful debut it is. Told in dual timelines between the early 2000s in the United States in 2015 in Chile, it examines a Chicana woman's young adulthood with a famous author friend and the complicated relationship they had until it all fell apart.... Continue Reading →
In late 2022, I enjoyed Rachel Kapelke-Dale’s sophomore novel, The Ingenue. This week, she published her third book, The Fortune Seller, about the clash of classes at Yale and in New York City finance. With dark academia vibes, horses, tarot cards, and complicated friendships, this book is part drama, part thriller. Special thanks to St.... Continue Reading →
A few years ago, I absolutely loved Constance Sayers’s debut novel, A Witch in Time. Now she’s back with her third release, The Star and the Strange Moon. Like her previous work, this one combines fantasy and horror seamlessly. It’s about a 1960s actress who goes missing, the cult horror film left behind and the... Continue Reading →
One of my most anticipated books this fall is Maybe Once, Maybe Twice by Alison Rose Greenberg. I’m always a sucker for novels about music, and that’s what first drew me to this one. It follows a singer-songwriter on the verge of success at 35. But in her past, she asked two different men to... Continue Reading →
Today, one of my favorite recent reads hits shelves: The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue. Set in Cork, Ireland between 2009 and 2010, it follows a young woman named Rachel as she finishes college, moves out for the first time, and finds herself in the middle of a messy romantic entanglement. It is a quick... Continue Reading →
In the past few months, I kept hearing about a new book called Orchid Child by Victoria Costello. The setting in Ireland caught my interest, but so did its unique premise of intergenerational trauma, epigenetics, and schizophrenia. I was intrigued to see where these interconnecting themes would go! Special thanks to NetGalley and Between the... Continue Reading →
In the past several years, I've been particularly drawn to stories by and about Somali people. Admittedly, part of this has been inspired by the singer K'naan, whose music I enjoy. Whether reading memoirs or novels or shorter fiction, there is a growing number of authors with roots in Somalia. This week, Idman Nur Omar... Continue Reading →
After loving Jane Igharo's first two books, Ties That Tether and The Sweetest Remedy, I was excited to read her latest novel, Where We End & Begin. Like her previous book, this second-chance romance is set in Lagos, Nigeria. It even features one of the characters from The Sweetest Remedy! Here, the love story is a... Continue Reading →
Following her first book, The Taste of Ginger, Mansi Shah is back with her second novel, The Direction of the Wind. I admit that I went into this book blind (something I've been doing more frequently lately), but I was instantly absorbed into this beautiful and impactful story. Following a mother and daughter traveling from... Continue Reading →
Last summer, I was excited to learn that Armando Lucas Correa had a new novel on the horizon, The Night Travelers. A few years ago I had picked up his debut novel, The German Girl, and his latest release returns to the same themes of escaping 1930s Germany on the St. Louis, a ship bound... Continue Reading →
Two years ago, Camilla Läckberg released The Golden Cage, a psychological thriller with a feminist plot and a noir vibe. I just got the audiobook this month and decided to listen to it as part of my Northern and Eastern Europe reading challenge. The book was translated from Swedish by Neil Smith, and the audiobook... Continue Reading →
I was recently perusing audiobooks when I came across Girl at War by Sara Nović. Its setting in an event I knew little about—the Croatian War of Independence—captured my interest, and I immediately bought the book. It was only then that I noticed I already have another book by the author, True Biz, which just... Continue Reading →
Two weeks ago, Carley Fortune released her debut novel, Every Summer After. This buzzy novel is sure to connect with a lot of readers this year - it's an emotional, second chances romance with small town and beach read vibes. I was pleased to get an advanced copy of it, and despite some initial reservations... Continue Reading →
Just one week ago, I was excited to learn of When We Return by Eliana Tobias. NetGalley included it in a newsletter, and I was drawn to this novel set in my husband's home country, Peru. I hadn't realized at the time that this is a sequel to the author's first novel, In the Belly... Continue Reading →
For the past four years, I've been "babysitting" some of my sister's books while she pursues her PhD. One of those books is LaRose by Louise Erdrich. Since November is Native American Heritage Month, I was planning to read a few novels by Indigenous authors, and my sister recommended LaRose. She'd read it as part... Continue Reading →
Amanda's Book Corner 