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New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Welcome to the first Tuesday of spring! It was a beautiful Sunday in Maine this weekend, and it made things feel better. I love the spring, especially how it stays light later. I am not quite the creature of darkness I used to be when I was younger, lol.

I have a bit of a different newsletter for you today, in that I haven’t read any of the books I am going to talk about. I did read several books for this week, but for various reasons, they didn’t work for me. And I know that you know how hard I work to find things I want to recommend, so you can understand how disappointed I feel. But it happens! So instead, I am going to tell you about three that I can’t wait to read.

Of course I also want to get so many of today’s new releases, including Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou, JERKS by Sara Lippmann, and The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller. For this week’s episode of All the Books! Patricia and I discussed Disorientation, Swan Lake: Quest for the Kingdoms, Comeuppance Served Cold, and more.

cover of Savvy Sheldon Feels Good as Hell by Taj McCoy; illustration of a plus-sized Black woman in a yellow dress and sunglasses in front of a Black man in jeans and a white t-shirt walking a small brown dog

Savvy Sheldon Feels Good as Hell by Taj McCoy

One thing I am excited about this week is that I am going to be a guest on the When in Romance podcast! Romance is a genre I do not read nearly enough of, so I am trying to change that. I have read a couple monster romances this week—monster as in featuring creatures, not monster as in page count—and I hope to add this one soon. It’s about a woman named—you guessed it—Savvy Sheldon, who decides to renovate her life from top to bottom after a break-up. But along the way she realizes, it’s not about changing herself but changing how she sees herself. Plus there are kissing parts!

cover of Overdue: Reckoning with the Public Library by Amanda Oliver; featuring photo of a stamped library card in the back of a book

Overdue: Reckoning with the Public Library by Amanda Oliver

And as many of you know, I am a library brat, meaning I grew up in the library. I spent most of my time there when I was young, because 1) my mom was a librarian 2) that’s where the books were, and 3) I loved whistle seats. So I will always read everything I can about libraries. In this book, Oliver takes a much-needed look at the way libraries and librarians in contemporary society are expected to do so much more that check out books, and how they are often at the center of so many of today’s issues.

As You Look (A Yolanda Avila Mystery, 1) by Veronica Gutierrez; photo of a sunset setting a large city in the distance

As You Look (A Yolanda Ávila Mystery, 1) by Verónica Gutiérrez

And last, but not least, I am looking forward to this queer mystery from an indie press! Yolanda Ávila is a former LAPD cop-turned private investigator with a lot of guilt and premonitions. And they might be coming true when her godson is kidnapped and his parents are charged with murder. She will have to rely on facts and feelings to solve the case. I am so ready for a badass middle-aged lady detective! (Speaking of which, I am also excited to read another of today’s new releases, Comeuppance Served Cold by Marion Deeds. Patricia talked about it on this week’s episode and it sounds delightful!)

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

upside down orange cat; photo by Liberty Hardy

This week: I’m currently reading On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton and 100 Animals That Can F*cking End You by Mamadou Ndiaye. Outside of books, I have been working on puzzles and latch hook pieces while I watch regular NBA season come to the end. And in music, the song stuck in my head is Everybody Wants You by Billy Squier. (Who I called Billy Squirrel when I was little, because it made me laugh.) And as promised, here is a cat picture: Zevon is doing his best snake impression. Look at that little fang!


Thank you, as always, for joining me each week as I rave about books! I am wishing the best for all of you in whatever situation you find yourself in now. And yay, books! – XO, Liberty ❤️