Newsletters Dev – Page 10 – getting it done!

Skulls and Cinema and Other Scary Things

Post author By Emily Martin
Post date January 26, 2024

Sponsored by

Hi, scary story fans! It’s me, Emily, your friend in all things frightful. I’m hot off catching my first Sundance movie of 2024, which was an adaptation of the horror novel Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist. I was so excited to see a horror novel I read years ago finally adapted into a movie. Is there a horror film you’ve been dying to see as a film adaptation? I know I have quite a few, and you know I will share them with you today. But before that…

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

Handbook for the Recently Deceased Blank Journal by n3do

Speaking of movies, are you getting excited about the new Beetlejuice sequel? If that’s your thing, then maybe you need to grab a replica of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased. Along with the handmade journal, you’ll get a bunch of other Beetlejuice goodies with your order. $43.

New Releases

Bone Pendant Girls by Terry S. Friedman

For this week’s new horror releases, skulls are in. In a big way. Just check out these creepy skull covers. Bone Pendant Girls follows Andi Wyndham, who has communicated with ghosts since she was a kid. But when she discovers pendants made of human bones, Andi will have to use her skills to solve the mystery of many missing girls.

Shook! A Black Horror Anthology, edited by Bradley Golden

Anthology lovers, make sure you pick up this jam-packed horror anthology featuring Black authors and artists. This book includes work from David Walker, John Jennings, Rodney Barnes, and more. And yeah, of course we get more creepy skulls. Why wouldn’t we?

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Which books am I excited to see turned into adaptations? So many, but Mexican Gothic is up there for me. When I first read this book, I was floored, and I would love to see what this movie would look like. This one is going to have some really eery visuals; I can tell already. Mexican Gothic is being adapted as a limited series for Hulu, but there is no release date yet!

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

The Last House on Needless Street is a book that I have trouble imagining as a movie, which is why I’d like to see a film adaptation of this one so badly. If you’ve read it, maybe you already know what I mean. If you haven’t read this one yet, you are in for a treat. The film rights for this book were purchased by Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish’s Imaginarium Productions back in 2021. Now we’re all just patiently waiting to see what they do with it.

Well, horror fans! I hope to see you at the movies soon. Until next time, you can follow me (and message me) on Instagram at emandhercat. Sweet dreams!

Kissing Books

“Pretending” Romances

Post author By P.N. Hinton
Post date January 26, 2024

Sponsored by

Welcome to the Kissing Books newsletter. If you’re a regular reader, I’m glad to see you again. If this is your first time here, I’m glad that you joined us. I’m PN Hinton, and I’ll be your guide through all things romance-related.

It’s the last week of January 2024, y’all, and to say it’s been a doozy of a month would be a massive understatement. But hey, we’re still here, right? And sometimes (not always), that can be worth the price of admission. I’m dealing with quite an upheaval myself, but I keep telling myself this, too, shall pass. If you’re going through a similar storm, here’s hoping that it passes quickly. If it has been smooth sailing for you, I sincerely hope it stays that course because man…these storms can be brutal.

Bookish Goods

“Sucker For” Trope Sticker by CanlasDesignCo

These stickers immediately made me think of the candy that came with Valentine’s boxes. I’m sure we all had more than a few of these growing up, courtesy of elementary classmates. And with the variety of options here, there is bound to be at least one trope that you want to let the world know you’re a sucker for. $3.

New Releases

Mother Pucker by Swati M. H.

Physical therapist Shayla is a widowed single mom whose primary focus is being there for her son Kai. Her latest client, Rowan, is taking a lot more patience than she expected, though, especially since he seems determined to charm her panties off. She decides to give in just once so that they can get it out of their systems. But as everyone knows, when the attraction level is this high, once is never enough.

Work It Out by Eva Siedler

Jake has only three months to get the body he wants so he can be in the running for the starring role in an upcoming action flick. Rayah is the owner of the resort he goes to for this endeavor, and had her hands full before her superstar super secret client checked in. Soon, it becomes an all-around balancing act for both of them to do what is necessary to be successful while also trying to manage the attraction that is growing between them.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Pretending With the Playboy by Tracey Livesay

Carter is a bachelor by design and aims to keep it that way. That is, until he finds out that his beloved aunt is in dire health and fakes an engagement with Lauren, her protegée. Even though Lauren has been burned by Carter before, she goes along with the fake engagement for his aunt’s sake. But when it goes public, and there is a larger audience to fake it for, she is torn between calling it quits altogether or risking her heart getting broken once again.

Pretending He’s Mine by Mia Sosa

Julian is a Hollywood agent who has his hands full with managing his best friend and superstar Carter, and trying to ignore his attraction to his younger sister Ashley. But when she turns up on his doorstep needing a place to stay, he can’t turn her down. He also has a hard time not agreeing to act as her fake boyfriend for Carter’s upcoming wedding and soon finds it difficult to continue to say no to the temptation that the younger woman presents.

Take this quiz and find out what kind of lover you are.

Here are some of the awesome romances headed our way in 2024.

And that’s all I have for y’all today. I’ll be back in your inboxes on Thursday with another round of recommendations. In the meantime, you can find me over on Instagram under @pns_bookish_world. Until then, happy reading, and stay hydrated!

Giveaways

012624_CascadeFailure_OSGiveaway

Post author By Karen Green
Post date January 26, 2024

We’re giving away three copies of Cascade Failure by L. M. Sagas to three lucky Riot readers!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the image below!

There are only three real powers in the Spiral: the corporate power of the Trust versus the Union’s labor leverage. Between them the Guild tries to keep everyone’s hands above the table. Branded a Guild deserter, Jal lands a ride on a Guild ship, but this crew is a little…different. They’re also in over their heads. Responding to a distress call from an abandoned planet, they find a mass grave, and a live programmer who knows how it happened. This isn’t the first dead planet, and it won’t be the last. Unless the crew of the Ambit can stop it.

What's Up in YA

Cold Reads + A Little More Than Magic: YA Book Talk, January 29, 2024

Post author By Kelly Jensen
Post date January 26, 2024

Sponsored by

Hey YA Readers!

My favorite holiday is later this week, and for the first time in several years, the weather looks to be spectacular for prognostication. Will Willie see his shadow on Friday or not? Honestly, it’s hard for me to care thinking about 50 degrees in early February after this last, err, month of nonsense.

Whether or not you care about the big rodent’s day, I do know you’re here for books, and that, I’ve got in spades!

Bookish Goods

Book It! Alumni Sticker by SGBagTags

Tap the nostalgia button for a moment with this fun vinyl “Book It! Alumni” sticker. It’ll look great on your water bottle, your planner, or the paper journal you keep to track your reading. $4.

New Releases

We’ve got a roster of great new books on shelves this week. I’m going to highlight two very different ones below, and as always, you can check out the entire list here.

Poemhood: Our Black Revival: History, Folklore & the Black Experience: A Young Adult Poetry Anthology by Amber McBride, Erica Martin, Taylor Byas

Beginning with the knockout cover, this book promises to be nothing short of the kind of collection of Black poetry—both contemporary and historical—that YA readers deserve. Among some of the contributors are Kwame Alexander, James Baldwin, Ibi Zoboi, Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni, and Gwendolyn Brooks, and the poems dive into the Black experience.

These Deadly Prophecies by Andrea Tang

Tabatha Zeng is the apprentice to one of the world’s most well-known sorcerers. Though it’s been an interesting job, she definitely wasn’t anticipating how much crime-solving the role would require. So when her boss predicts his own death and that prediction comes true, Tabitha is one of the prime suspects, along with the sorcerer’s youngest son, Callum.

Tabitha and Callum want to prove their innocence and team up to get to the bottom of the murder. But can Tabitha actually trust this guy?

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

To Antarctica

Do you have settings and places that you are obsessed with? I’m assuming most of us do, whether it’s someplace real or imagined. A lot of mine tend to be very cold places, and I assume part of it is because it makes me feel better about how temporary it is in my neck of the woods (even though winter does sometimes feel 6 months long).

Antarctica is probably my favorite setting to read about, and indeed, I love every video that hits my TikTok For You page of folks on a cruise to the big white continent.

I ended my 2023 reading year with a book set in Antarctica that releases in a couple of weeks and it made me think about some other books set in the region. Let’s head south to the southernmost pole, where, for those of us in the northern hemisphere, we can revel in their summer (okay, it’s still cold, but we can imagine).

A Suffragist’s Guide to the Antarctic by Yi Shun Lai (Feb 13)

This book has everything: a historic setting, the Suffragist movement, a girl on an Antarctic exposition, and a survival story.

Clara Ketterling-Dunbar is part of The Resolute, a team of 28 crew members on an Antarctic exposition. It is November 1914, and the ship is stuck on ice 100 miles from the continent. How will the team survive? How will Clara figure out who she is amid a crew who is not necessarily happy there is a woman on board?

As a heads up: this book has sexual assault and harm to animals–the first is not unpunished, and the second is not out of gross cruelty but survival.

If you love survival, discussions of feminism and what it does or does not entail, and reading about the perceptions held by people around the globe about Americans in this era, don’t miss this one.

Up To This Pointe by Jennifer Longo

Harper thought she knew her entire life and had a plan with her best friend: they’d been ballerinas forever. When they graduated, they’d get positions in the San Francisco Ballet, a loft downtown, and they’d live their dreams. Together.

Things don’t turn out that way, though, which is how Harper ends up in Antarctica. It was some string-pulling and some creative truth-telling that got her there, but it’s an opportunity to rethink her future. To make plans and unmake some, too.

It Looks Like Us by Alison Ames

One of the largest tech companies in the world is sponsoring an internship for teens to study climate change in Antarctica. Riley Kowalski jumps at the chance, along with three others. Riley hoped it could be a restart, as she’d had a very public panic attack at school and could not escape the ridicule of classmates.

But when the teens get to the research station, they don’t seem to be alone. Riley thinks she sees something, but she can’t be sure. Her anxiety can play tricks on her.

As their research leader experiences some bizarre physical changes, though, the teens are realizing that there is something out there and it wants to take them down.

Another YA book that offers some Antarctica is the third book in Marie Lu’s “Legend” series, Rebel.

As always, thanks for hanging out. I’ll see you on Thursday with your YA book news and paperback releases.

Until then, happy reading!

–Kelly Jensen

The Kids Are All Right

Lunar New Year, Big Families, And More!

Post author By Margaret Kingsbury
Post date January 26, 2024

Sponsored by

Happy Sunday, kidlit friends! I’m so happy for Vashti Harrison, the winner of the Caldecott Award for Big, and the first Black woman to win the award! I’m surprised there were a couple of honor Caldecotts I hadn’t read yet. And I haven’t read the Newbery winner either—The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers. I don’t know about you, but my library holds list is about to explode! There are a ton of winning and honor books in other categories I’m eager to read, too, or that I’ve already read and loved! You can check out the winners here.

Thousands of kidlit authors and professionals have signed the KidLit4Ceasefire letter to President Biden urging a ceasefire in Gaza. Today is the last day to sign it.

Bookish Goods

Lunar New Year Magnetic Bookmark by ApsaraLabels

This magnetic bookmark is adorable and would be a perfect gift for Lunar New Year. $7

New Releases

Too Much by Laurel Goodluck, illustrated by Bridget George

Russell loves his big Native American family, but when he gets a part in a play, he feels overwhelmed by all their family get-togethers and frustrated at being unable to practice his part in the play as often as he would like. When it comes time for his performance, however, his big Native family is exactly who he wants to see in the crowd watching and supporting him. This is a joyful and relatable celebration of a Native American family.

Amil and the After by Veera Hiranandani

This is a lovely companion novel to The Night Diary, which follows Amil’s twin sister Nisha in 1947 during the Partition. Now, the family has settled in Bombay, at least for now. Amil misses his old home in Pakistan and struggles in school because of his dyslexia. He makes a friend with their shared interest in drawing, but his new friend is in much worse circumstances than Amil and his family. Interspersed throughout the novel are Amil’s drawings in black and white.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

The Lunar New Year starts February 10th, so I wanted to round up some Lunar New Year children’s books.

The Lucky Red Envelope by Vikki Zhang

This beautiful interactive board book has over 140 flaps and follows Yue and her family as they celebrate the Lunar New Year in China. Richly detailed illustrations show the family attending a Lunar New Year parade, having a feast with the family, exchanging red envelopes, and so much more. Each page has many small flaps for kids to explore. There are also more details about the Lunar New Year throughout, like flaps that reveal which years are which Zodiac animal, the legend of the Nian monster, and more.

Lunar New Year by Natasha Yim, illustrated by Jingting Wang

This picture book also follows a Chinese family as they prepare for and celebrate the Lunar New Year. It opens with two sisters cleaning a statue of the Kitchen God, with the older sister explaining who the Kitchen God is. The family picks flowers, writes poems on red paper, flies kites in the shape of the Zodiac animals, and more. What I really enjoy about the Celebrations & Festivals series is the extensive back matter. In this picture book, the back matter includes instructions on how to make red envelopes, a dumpling recipe, riddles, a quiz, how the Lunar New Year is celebrated in other countries, and much more.

Wish Soup by Junghwa Park

The Korean Lunar New Year is called Seollal, and this delightful picture book follows Sohee as she prepares for Seollal. She’s so excited to eat as many bowls of tteokguk as she can so she can be a big girl. Each bowl of soup is supposed to make you one year older. However, every time she tries to eat her soup, she’s interrupted with pleas for help. She sets the table, helps her younger sibling get dressed, and lets everyone know breakfast is ready. When she returns to eat her soup, she finds that her younger sister has stolen everyone’s tteokguk. Now, there’s no way for Sohee to become a big girl, or so she thinks.

Alex’s Good Fortune by Benson Shum

This is a funny and sweet reader about the Chinese New Year. Alex is so excited to show her best friend Ethan her family’s Lunar New Year traditions. The two fold dumplings with Nai Nai, attend a pattern festival, share a family feast, and more. Back matter includes more information about the Chinese New Year and a dumpling recipe. Shum’s illustrations are just always so joyful and child-friendly.

We had a lot of indoor time the past week. Because Nashville is ill-prepared for snow, my daughter had a week off of school. We tried to get outside every day, but the freezing temperatures prevented a lot of outdoor playtime. Her favorite indoor games inevitably involve pretend playing with her cat stuffed animals. We had three birthday parties for different cats, many trips to the vet, several baths, hotel visits with the cats, and much more. She even invented a cat restaurant called Meowrant. I don’t recommend their tea.

If you’d like to read more of my kidlit reviews, I’m on Instagram @BabyLibrarians, Twitter @AReaderlyMom, Bluesky @AReaderlyMom.bsky.social, and blog irregularly at Baby Librarians. You can also read my Book Riot posts. If you’d like to drop me a line, my email is kingsbury.margaret@gmail.com.

All the best,

Margaret Kingsbury

Giveaways

012524_EACGiveawaySend(Internal)-HTP

Post author By Karen Green
Post date January 25, 2024

We’re partnering with HTP Books to give away a year of hardcover titles customized for you!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the image below!

Here’s a bit more about our partner: HTP Books newsletter celebrates books and popular culture, connecting readers, booksellers, librarians, and book clubs with relevant content and resources.

Swords and Spaceships

African and Africanfuturist SFF

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date January 25, 2024

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, coming at you with new releases and a bit of African SFF, and…how the heck is it almost the end of January? Who gave this year permission? I haven’t gotten hardly anything done! (I haven’t read nearly enough books…but I imagine that’s a common affliction.) Well, that’s how the calendar goes, I guess. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here are two places to start: Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, which provides medical and humanitarian relief to children in the Middle East regardless of nationality, religion, or political affiliation; and Ernesto’s Sanctuary, a cat sanctuary and animal rescue in Syria that is near and dear to my heart.

Bookish Goods

Journal With Afrofuturist Cover by thetrinigee

Since we’ve got a bit of an African SFF theme going in this newsletter, I wanted to get something that celebrated Afrofuturist or Africanfuturist imagery. And this is one cool-looking journal cover image. (They also have it as a tote bag!) $25

New Releases

Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase

Nelah is trapped in a marriage with a police officer who tracks her constantly using microchip monitoring, though to anyone looking from the outside, her life seems perfect. Even that appearance is shattered after a car accident; desperate, she hides the body of her victim. But the mundane horrors of her life are soon joined by the supernatural as her victim’s ghost begins to hunt down all those she loves. If she wants to save those she has left, she will need to unravel the conspiracy they were about to expose.

Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley

Rowena is the curator of a vast archive of twenty-first-century internet material. One day, she finds a story that was posted during the summer of 2024, in which the number 381 is used repeatedly. As she follows the story of this fantasy character, she begins to question her own life path and choices.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

With Womb City coming out, I wanted to grab a couple of other SFF books by African authors!

Jah Hills by Unathi Slasha

Jah Hills is alone in the bush of Kwafindoda, waiting for the elders to deliver him home. But he is instead tricked and transformed into an isithunzela, a creature that is trapped in a wardrobe by day and free by night to travel between the realms of the dead and the living. When he finally escapes, his only wish is to return home…but home is no longer home.

Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

The Kintu clan in Uganda is a bloodline cursed by the actions of their leader in 1750. As the history of their nation unfolds, different members of the clan work to reconcile the curse, their history, and the unfolding of time and modernity.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Unusual Suspects

Winter/Spring 2024 Adaptations Releasing

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date January 25, 2024

Sponsored by

Hi, mystery fans! I will watch anything that Michelle Yeoh is in, so my weekend plans absolutely include watching her new movie on Netflix, which looks like a dark comedy crime family film: The Brothers Sun.

Bookish Goods

Read Your Heart Out tee by ChickenTee

This one comes in a ton of options, plus it has about 28 colors to choose from. ($15)

New Releases

Silent Judgment by Zaire Crown

For fans of urban thrillers, assassins, and plots that feel like they’re ripped from the headlines!

Amelia Chess is a Black conservative TV personality who has made herself known for attacking marginalized communities, including her own. Now, after her most recent opinion on a police shooting, she is faced with death threats, and a bodyguard is brought in. Silence, known as a street executioner, has zero desire to be Amelia’s bodyguard, but he has no option when a kingpin calls in an owed favor…

Not Dead Enough by Tyffany D. Neiheiser

For fans of YA thrillers and the how-is-the-dead-guy-messaging-me?! trope.

Charlotte is a high school junior with PTSD: her boyfriend Jerry, who was physically abusive, died in a car accident she survived on prom night. She’s doing her best to put her life back together while keeping the past abuse secret…until she suddenly starts receiving messages from Jerry’s phone and is forced to face the past and question: if the ghost of Jerry isn’t after her, then who is…?

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Danika Ellis, who is steering Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge, has also been offering helpful selections for other book challenges, including PopSugar’s 2024 reading challenge. Being that the first reading challenge I ever did (years back) was PopSugar’s, I thought it would be fun to offer some mystery book options for some of the first prompts.

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

#2: a Bildungsroman / coming-of-age story

For the challenge: you have a teen boy navigating identity, culture, and finding his way and place when his roots can feel as if they conflict with his current daily life.

Adding a mystery: Jay Reguero is a senior in high school when he learns that his cousin Jun has died in the Philippines. Unable to comprehend how Jun died in relation to the Government’s current war on drugs, he plans on spending his spring break in the Philippines with family as a cover to investigate Jun’s death.

Bonus: the audiobook is narrated by Ramón de Ocampo (Red, White, and Royal Blue)!

(TW addiction/ discussions of sex trafficking/ past rape, not detailed)

Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng

#5: a book about K-pop

For the challenge: An all-girl pop group disbanded after a member died by suicide. Now, one of the past members signs up for a K-pop workshop with the chance to train in Korea.

Adding a mystery (thriller/ psychological horror): While one past group member is in the workshop to become a K-pop star, another past group member has arrived to infiltrate and find out what really happened to the past member that died…

Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing by Maryla Szymiczkowa

#13: A book originally published under a pen name

For the challenge: Maryla Szymiczkowa is the pen name for Jacek Dehnel and his partner Piotr Tarczyński, who currently live in Warsaw.

Adding a mystery: Zofia Turbotynska is bored with her life in 1893 Cracow, Poland. She’s 38 and married to a professor who doesn’t value all the help she’s given to his career. So when a woman disappears from a nursing home, Zofia naturally decides to investigate herself — she is smart and loves mystery novels, so why not!

(TW mentions infertility/ discussions of addiction/ past domestic abuse mentioned)

News and Roundups

Alex Segura returns to the scene of the comic book crime with the new novel Alter Ego (Secret Identity follow-up!)

Congrats to the mystery books that won at the ALA Youth Media Awards winners (and also all the other genre books): The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist (The Robert F. Sibert Award for the most distinguished informational book for children) and Promise Boys (The Odyssey Award for best audiobook production).

Monsieur Spade Makes Clive Owen a Classic Noir Hero in the Best Kind of Fanfiction: TV Review

Hey YA Extra Credit: Madcap Mysteries

Winter/Spring 2024 Adaptation Preview

(At least 5 adaptations!) Oscar Nominations 2024: Oppenheimer Dominates With 13 Nods, Poor Things Follows With 11

This British Miniseries Pairs Jane Austen With a Murder Mystery

Defunding liberal arts is dangerous for health care: “Through literature, poetry, theater, and visual arts, students acquire important professional capacities, such as tolerance of ambiguity, skillful clinical communication, and sensitivity in listening to and learning from patient stories.”

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. Check out this Unusual Suspects Pinterest board and get Tailored Book Recommendations!

Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Litsy — you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own, you can sign up here.

Read This Book

Read This Book…

Post author By Tirzah Price
Post date January 25, 2024

Sponsored by

Welcome to Read This Book, a newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age categories to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!

Content warning for domestic abuse and wildfire destruction.

Today’s pick is a recent release that is perfect if you like literary mysteries and are looking for a good readalike to Jane Harper!

Radiant Heat by Sarah-Jane Collins

Alison is a thirtysomething artist living a reclusive life in the small town she grew up in, painting commissions. When a wildfire nearly destroys her home and takes Alison’s life, she’s incredulous to be alive. When she discovers a strange car in her driveway with a dead woman inside, killed by the radiant heat, she’s horrified. But that horror turns into fear when she discovers her own name and address on a piece of paper with the woman. Alison can’t imagine why a stranger would be seeking her out, but when she starts her own investigation, it leads to a past she’d rather forget and a mystery she can’t ignore.

This book has all the markers of a great psychological thriller — a protagonist with a secret past, a natural disaster that forces a community to a breaking point, and lots of secrets. The writing has a literary edge that is very absorbing, and while Alison has her secrets, the writing is such that I never felt as though secrets were being kept from the reader for the sake of keeping secrets. On the surface, it feels like a thriller about paranoia, fear, and survival, but if you dig deeper, it’s a chilling account about obsession and how far one woman will go to protect herself. The environmental aspect of the story — the wildfires that affect the entire community — goes hand in hand with Alison’s story. It’s a metaphor for how something terrible and large can happen to you, and there is no ducking it: you can’t run from it, and it destroys everything in its path. The only thing to do is face the fallout and try to get ahead of it. The book weaves flashbacks and present tension well, and I genuinely wasn’t sure how it would be resolved. Overall, this was a great pick if you’re looking for a standalone Australian-set psychological thriller in the vein of Jane Harper!

Happy reading!
Tirzah

Find me on Book Riot, Hey YA, All the Books, and Instagram. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, click here to subscribe.

True Story

Nonfiction Perfect for Your Weekend Reading

Post author By Kendra Winchester
Post date January 25, 2024

Sponsored by

There are few things that I love more than creative nonfiction. There’s just something about the prose, the storytelling that draws me in and keeps my attention. So today, we’re looking at a couple of recent creative nonfiction favorites that will be perfect for your TBR. But first, let’s jump into bookish goods.

Bookish Goods

Crochet Flower Bookmark by AnhsEmFash

I love that crochet is having a moment. And these flowers are a beautiful way to celebrate the joy that is crochet art. Plus, they’re bookmarks! $11

New Releases

The Cancer Factory: Industrial Chemicals, Corporate Deception, and the Hidden Deaths of American Workers by Jim Morris

Jim Morris tells the story of one of the worst documented work-related cancer outbreaks in North American history. We follow the lawyer who worked to get justice for the workers who gave their lives and well-being to their workplace, only to have the companies they worked for deny their involvement in their workers’ illnesses.

Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism by Jenn M. Jackson, PhD

Dr. Jenn M. Jackson examines the history of Black women’s activism. Over the course of 11 essays, Dr. Jackson looks at the roles several Black women had in the political and civil rights movements.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice by Cristina Rivera Garza

Cristina Rivera Garza’s sister, Liliana, was in college when she was murdered by an ex-boyfriend. Decades later, Cristina goes to Mexico City in search of her sister’s case file. But when the police inform her that Liliana’s case file was lost, she decides to make a sort of file of her own, an act to force the world to bear witness to her sister’s life. The rest of the book is about Rivera Garza’s memories of her sister while they were growing up. We learn about all the squabbles they had as kids and all the love they shared as they got older. Rivera Garza also interviews Liliana’s friends from college in Mexico City. This way, she creates a collection of snapshots of her sister’s life leading up to the time of her death. This incredible memoir is one of the best that I read in 2023. It’s a truly stunning testament to sisterly love.

Upstream: Essays by Mary Oliver

Last year, Pushkin released a new audiobook of Mary Oliver’s incredible essay collection, Upstream. Hala Alyan, Joy Sullivan, and Kate Baer read different sections of the collection, each introducing their portion with some personal thoughts on why they treasure Oliver’s writing. The collection itself is a meditation on the natural world. Oliver writes her prose with a poet’s eye for word choice, each sentence carefully crafted. I’d never read Mary Oliver before, so Upstream was such a perfect choice as an introduction to her work. So, if you’re looking for a place to start reading Oliver’s extensive backlist, I’d definitely recommend you start with Upstream. And if you’re already familiar with her work, Pushkin’s new audiobook edition of this essay collection is a must-listen.

That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.

Happy Reading, Friends!

~ Kendra