Happy last day of April! Can you believe it??? Everything here in Maine is so green. It’s true – I can see it out the windows. I have my hammock set up in my library now, and I spent the weekend reading old horror novels that frightened me as a child. It was pretty much perfect. (Even if I didn’t think the books I read were scary anymore.) And now I am enjoying Spring by Ali Smith, the third book in her Seasonal Quartet. (Spoiler: It’s fantastic.) And speaking of reading, I have a few of today’s amazing new releases to tell you about. And you can hear about more awesome reads on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Trisha and I talked about The Invited, Mama’s Boy, Let’s Tell This Story Properly, and more great books.
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Moscow hides a million secrets. This ex-CIA agent is about to discover an all-American deception in the underbelly of the Russian capital. Charles Jenkins is lured to Moscow for one last assignment, but nothing adds up. And as he gets dangerously closer to the truth, he finds himself abandoned by the agency he serves. In the game of spy vs. spy, there are no winners. From the New York Times bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite series comes a new edge-of-your-seat thriller of espionage, spy games, and treachery. Read The Eighth Sister by Robert Dugoni. Prime members read for free.
Aru Shah and the Song of Death (Pandava Series) by Roshani Chokshi
If you listen to the podcasts, you already know that I am a HUGE fan of the first book in this series. If you haven’t read the first book, I’m not going to spoil anything here for you. I just wanted another chance to endorse it, because they’re both fantastic. It starts with a young girl named Aru Shah, who touches a magic artifact in a museum, all to impress the school bullies. Unfortunately, whoops, it sets off the end times. Which means F-U-N for us! I love Aru Shah. She can be foolish and selfish, but she’s also brave, clever, and compassionate. And her nervous pigeon sidekick is great. Give these books to the Harry Potter lovers in your life. (After you’ve read them yourself, because really, they’re wonderful.)
Backlist bump: Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Series) by Roshani Chokshi
Walking on the Ceiling by Aysegül Savas
In this beautiful meditation on grief and memory, Nunu, a young Turkish woman, moves from Istanbul to Paris after the death of her mother. There she meets M., a British writer she has long-admired. As their friendship grows, she finds herself telling him things she hadn’t even admitted to herself, about her family, her country, and her grief. And she’s left wondering what she should keep to herself. It’s a wonderful debut.
Backlist bump: Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday
The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal
The author follows her wonderful American debut, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, with this charming, emotional novel about three Punjabi sisters traveling to their homeland to lay their mother to rest. The Shergill sisters have never been close, each one so different from the others, but they cannot refuse their mother’s dying wish: that her daughters travel together to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to carry out her final rites. On their life-affirming journey, the sisters will learn things about their mother, each other, and themselves, that will change their lives forever.
Backlist bump: Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Thanks so much for visiting me here each week! Y’all are the best.
xoxo,
Liberty