BookBrowse Highlights
Hello Readers!
Our book club members are currently discussing How to Kill a Crime Writer by Sarah Lotz, a cozy tale of grief, ghosts, and murder.
In First Impressions, we explore Rowan Beaird’s family drama Tenderness, in which a wedding, a cult backstory, and a remote island setting combine into a work of quiet character fiction.
Our Editor’s Choice review features Caleb Azumah Nelson’s reflective novel Small Worlds, about a young Londoner coming of age over three summers. Find more summer-appropriate reads from our reviewers in the latest backlist e-zine issue, and supplement your TBR with previews of August releases.
Plus, reading is better when we do it together! Join us in the BookBrowse Reading Challenge for fun with other members and a chance to win a free T-shirt. Read the rules and get started here.
Thanks for reading,
The BookBrowse Team
Book Club Discussions
Discussions are open to all! If you’d like to participate, you can do so by creating an account here. Please note that discussions can contain spoilers.
How to Kill a Crime Writer by Sarah Lotz
From the Jacket
After the untimely death of her bestselling crime novelist mother, a young woman teams up with the fictional "ghost" of the heroine from her mother's series in order to solve her mother's murder.
From the Discussion
“I would definitely recommend this for a cozy reader. It is set in a small village with interesting characters and cats. Lots of red herrings and clues throughout.” —Joy_B
“I really enjoyed the book. I liked the interactions between the main characters and the grief journey.” —Rosemary_Coffman
See what people are saying in response to this question: Niamh often compares people to desserts, and she herself thinks she’d be a box of cake mix that no one’s bothered to make yet. Any thoughts about what kind of dessert you’d be?
First Impressions
Each month, we share books with BookBrowse members to read and review. Here are their opinions on one recently released title.
Tenderness by Rowan Beaird
“Set in the 1970s on a remote island off the coast of Virginia, Tenderness unfolds over the weekend of Shay and Andrew's wedding. Having recently escaped a violent cult, Shay arrives carrying emotional scars and secrets from her past. As family and friends gather to celebrate, tensions simmer beneath the surface. Shay's brother, William, hopes to reconnect with her, while Joel, a former boyfriend, struggles with unresolved feelings. Rumors of an uninvited guest only add to the growing unease. This is a slow-burn literary suspense novel that leans more heavily into family drama and character exploration than cult thriller.” —jillg
“I enjoyed the author's writing very much. Her descriptions are excellent; I felt I could actually see what was happening. I believe this would be an excellent choice for a book group.” —Carolyn_L1
“This is a thoughtful, character-driven novel that explores love, family, and the complicated choices we make. Readers who enjoy quieter stories with strong emotional undercurrents and well-developed characters will likely find much to appreciate here.” —Debra_F
For Members
This special backlist issue of The BookBrowse Review contains reviews and "beyond the book" articles for 14 titles, including "summer" reads chosen by our reviewers, such as Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, Tove Jansson's The Summer Book, and Akwaeke Emezi's You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty.
We also bring you new paperbacks, recommended titles for book clubs with discussion questions, and more.
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Editor’s Choice
Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson
In the summer of 2010, after exams are complete, eighteen-year-old Stephen, the central character in the novel Small Worlds, has long days and nights. Stephen works for his Auntie Yaa, who owns an Afro-Caribbean shop, a place of nostalgia for Londoners from Ghana reminded of that evocative land they left behind. While Stephen can't fathom such a personal risk, he wonders what it's like to pack up your life. What stays and what gets folded into a case?
Stephen's parents are Ghanaian immigrants who met in their home country while with friends at the beach. … continued
Review by Valerie Morales
BookBrowse Merch
What’s summer without summer reading?
Check out our new Booked for the Summer T-shirt, and get all your BookBrowse merchandise here.
We have T-shirts, coffee mugs, totes, and more, designed to show your love of books and/or BookBrowse.
August Previews
We know it can be tough to keep up with all the new books coming out every month, so we do the hard work for you.
We've carefully selected 100+ of the most noteworthy books publishing in August and are continually updating our selections—check them out and get yourself on the library waitlist ahead of the crowd!
Paying BookBrowse members can see, sort, and download the full list of previews for all months. Non-subscribers can view books up to the current month and a limited selection of future months.
If you don’t already, you may also wish to subscribe to our Publishing This Week newsletter.
