Skip to main content

The Author of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY Returns with a Delightful and Tender Story

A young man's life is turned upside down when he is hired by the most prestigious, secretive and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world.

Celebrate 40 Years of the American Girl Brand with the First American Girl Novel for Adults

In SAMANTHA: THE NEXT CHAPTER, Samantha Parkington is an adult searching for justice after her legacy is stolen in New York City in 1920.

S. A. Cosby Has Penned an Original Crime Novel Starring Harlem’s Unbreakable Hero

Luke Cage plays detective and superhero when he uncovers a conspiracy that turns vulnerable Americans into the unwitting pawns of a madman.

Julie Orringer's Spellbinding New Novel Spans Four Decades and 4,000 Miles

LUNA, PHOENIX, QUEEN illuminates the power of storytelling and explores the terror of losing the ability to make sense of our world.

Christine Pride and Jo Piazza Return with a Gripping and Thought-Provoking New Novel

A Black woman's interracial marriage is tested when a journalist investigates a decades-old murder tied to her wealthy husband’s family.

Imbolo Mbue's Captivating New Novel is about Love Lost --- and the Weight of Regret

Moving and full of life, EVERY STORY IS A LOVE STORY charts the uneven path from heartbreak to healing.

Latest Features and Contests


Bookreporter.com Bets On: AMERICAN HAGWON by Min Jin Lee

Min Jin Lee's last book, PACHINKO, came out in 2017, which in many ways feels like a lifetime ago. So I assumed that whatever she wrote next would both feel and be big. I am not talking about the page count, but rather the storyline, the complexity of the characters, and the messaging that she wanted to share.

The focus in AMERICAN HAGWON is on education, which starts young. It is not just about learning, but also about achievement. Mediocrity is unacceptable. Good is unacceptable. Very good is unacceptable. There is a quest for the promised land --- that of a select group of Ivy League colleges that have been noted as the only way that success will be achieved. 

» Click here to read more of Carol's Bets On commentary.
» Click here to read our review.


Bookreporter.com Bets On: HOLLYWOOD, ENDING by John Green

Ah, Hollywood. It's all glimmer and glamour on the outside. But what is it really like behind the scenes? John Green takes readers there in his latest book, HOLLYWOOD, ENDING, his first novel for adults.

Over the past decade, Green has seen cinematic adaptations of his novels that have given him insight into that world --- and he brings that knowledge to this book.

Here we are brought onto the set of an indie film being made about Andy Warhol, which is set in the days before his death. Andy Warhol Never Gets Old co-stars Juniper Castillo, who was a child actor, and Kai Laramie, who is appearing in his first movie. The title role is being played by someone whom theatergoers might not expect to see in a film like this: Marvel action hero Matthew Malone. He's “the face” of the movie, with Hollywood clout behind his name. Whether a big motion picture or a small one, he wants a hit.

» Click here to read more of Carol's Bets On commentary.
» Click here to read our review.


Bookreporter.com's Word of Mouth Contest: Tell Us What You've Read --- and You Can Win Two Books!

Let us know by Friday, October 23rd at noon ET what books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win PARTITA by Barbara Kingsolver and WHALE HARBOR by Mary Beth Keane in our Word of Mouth contest.

PARTITA, which is October's “Read with Jenna” Book Club pick, tells the story of a brief, passionate, life-changing love affair, wrapped up in what might be the greatest romance of all: our eternal human longing for art and beauty.

Inspired by the author's own family history, WHALE HARBOR is a sweeping multigenerational saga that follows 11 brothers as they are set on different paths between Ireland, England, Montana and New York.

» Click here to enter the contest.

Bookreporter Talks To...

As part of our mission to expand The Book Report Network, we have been shooting video interviews with authors and posting them on our YouTube channel. We also have been making them available as podcasts. Carol loves interviewing authors, so this feels like a natural.

THE BIRTHING TREE is a Bets On title, just like Amanda Peters' debut novel, THE BERRY PICKERS. Amanda shares the personal and professional inspirations behind the book. They include a childhood memory involving her grandmother, who had dementia and told her about a tree near the water where Mi'kmaq women used to give birth, as well as Amanda’s work with Nova Scotia's midwifery regulation committee. The conversation explores the importance of preserving Mi'kmaq traditions, intergenerational storytelling, and Amanda's personal journey reconnecting with her Indigenous heritage. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

Carol had a wonderful conversation with Jonathan Santlofer about his new thriller, TEN PERFECT GUESTS, which is a Bets On pick. Jonathan describes the book as a classic whodunit featuring 10 characters brought to an isolated island for a memorial, with an inheritance at stake. He wanted to use all classic tropes --- locked room, large cast, hidden motives --- without a detective figure. He explains that managing so many distinct characters was more difficult than anticipated, requiring a character chart and careful differentiation so readers would not need to look back. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

Hank Phillippi Ryan's new novel, MOTHER DAUGHTER SISTER STRANGER, is a Bets On selection. This multilayered domestic thriller centers on two sisters, Eliza and Bea Ramsey, the sole survivors of a plane crash that killed their parents. When Bea disappears on the 11th anniversary of the tragedy, Eliza must find Bea while caring for her 11-year-old niece, Piper. The book was inspired by Hank reflecting on lying to her mother as a teenager and then wondering if her mother had also lied to her --- questioning the truth of family history and legacy. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

» Click here for a complete list of our "Bookreporter Talks To" videos and podcasts, along with upcoming interviews.

Latest Reviews

This time, reluctant lawyer Andy Carpenter is serious about retiring. But when the local newspaper asks him to participate in their Christmas spread of local celebrities and their dogs, he brings Tara along for the ride. When the photographer comes to take pictures of Andy and the dogs, he instead opens the door to Sharon Lowery, who devised the newspaper story just to get his attention and beg him for help. Her brother, Jon, is wanted for murder and is on the run. However, if Andy agrees to hear Jon out, he'll turn himself in with the hope that Andy will represent him and reunite him with his dog. Andy decides to help Jon and slowly uncovers a web of conspiracies. Determined to keep him out of jail, Andy gathers the crew to investigate. 

Botswana sometimes feels like a small town, so when a client wanders into the detective agency, it comes as little surprise that Mma Ramotswe has met him once before. But Mr. B has not made the trip to Gaborone for pleasure. The animal rescue center he runs, Elephant Havens, is in peril. Someone in the surrounding villages is tarnishing its reputation, and Mr. B cannot fathom why. Determined as ever to aid a noble cause, Mma Ramotswe, her trusted associate Mma Makutsi, and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni travel to Maun to restore the community’s trust in the sanctuary. In navigating this precarious situation and others in THE BIG CATS DANCE PARTY, Mma Ramotswe and her associates once again must rely on their compassion, gentle humor and good sense to win the day.

Jonathan Stride's partner, Maggie Bei, is driving home after midnight when a call comes in: shots fired at the home of a Duluth judge. Moments later, she finds Gordon and Tracy Hartwick murdered in their bed. But someone is hiding in the judge's house, and as Maggie lays chase, she's forced to make a split-second decision that leaves the intruder dead. When Stride arrives at the scene, he has to give Maggie devastating news. The intruder had no gun. He wasn't the killer. She shot an innocent man. With Maggie facing a firestorm over her actions, Stride must discover who really killed Gordon and Tracy Hartwick --- and what secrets they were hiding that put them in the gunsights of a murderer.

FAIR ONES follows two Brooklyn women in their 40s who are reeling from the sudden and baffling death of their friend, Claire. Fair, Mara’s account, opens in the wake of initial shock as she and Jen come to grips with the enigma of Claire’s killing. Ones, told from Jen’s point of view, picks up a year later as she and Mara wrestle with new relationships and old secrets. In this vibrant, funny-sad fiction of companionship and solitude, the narrators’ inner and outer conversations, and their ongoing entanglement with the memory of Claire, explore the ways we create and define ourselves through others. 

Solace House by Will Maclean - Psychological Thriller/Horror

For Alex Lane’s wealthy university friends, the summer break stretches out before them. But for Alex, broke as usual, going home is not an option. So when the university offers him an unusual summer job clearing out a dilapidated Victorian mansion, Solace House, he jumps at the chance. Alex joins an unlikely crew of students and is particularly drawn to mercurial, red-headed Ella. As the students begin sorting through piles of old newspapers and magazines, dusty antiques and esoteric junk, Alex and Ella become enthralled by the elaborate and eerie journals of the house’s former owner, Edwin Flayne. As the students gradually uncover the house’s secrets, the rift between those who want to delve further and those who believe they’ve already gone too far grows ever wider.

Raven by Lyndsay Faye - Gothic/Historical Thriller

After an itinerant childhood spent first with her mother’s traveling theater troupe and then being passed around from relative to relative, Raven Helen Allan is relieved to finally settle down with Aunt Berenice in her Baltimore townhouse. But when the household is threatened with financial ruin, she must set out to earn her own living. Taking a job as a paid companion, Raven arrives at the crumbling Moldavia Manor. Her charge is a delicate young invalid named Lenore Legrand, who haunts the Gothic structure like a phantom. Living with them is Lenore’s devoted older cousin, Trevanion, who shares Raven’s interest in the occult and devotes his days to searching ancient texts for an Elixir of Life that might cure his cousin. Raven finds herself inexorably drawn to both cousins, as well as to the secrets hidden in the shadows of Moldavia Manor.

When former CIA operative Meg Dalton finds a shocking clue that suggests her long-missing daughter might still be alive, she’s forced into a desperate, high-stakes search for the truth. Fifteen years after little Ivy vanished without a trace at a Texas fair, Meg has built a career as a covert “operator” --- a soldier-for-hire who takes on dangerous black ops missions for the government. But during a botched assignment in Los Angeles, Meg encounters a woman wearing her daughter’s distinctive butterfly necklace, and everything she believes unravels. As Meg defies her handlers and goes rogue to chase the lead, she’s thrust into a deadly conspiracy linking global espionage, human trafficking and her own past sins.

This immersive travelogue investigates the town that inspired Washington Irving's famous short story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and dives into the storied history of the Headless Horseman’s stomping grounds. Within the pages you'll visit the village’s graveyard where Irving himself is buried and explore all the present-day spookiness of one of the strangest towns in the country. Blending cultural criticism and behind-the-scenes reporting, J. W. Ocker uncovers the tensions between tourism and tradition, profit and preservation, fiction and fact. With wit and curiosity, CHASING THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN tells the story of how one small town reinvented itself as America’s Halloween capital, complete with statues, street signs and an 18-foot-tall Headless Horseman.