Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For October, we’re looking at vampire horror, historical fiction spanning the 1800s and 1900s, literary fiction, a twisty new thriller with an unusual premise, ecologically themed nonfiction, a story of a spinach empire, and an audiobook about a safari that takes a murderous turn.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Horror, Historical Fiction, Eleanor Roosevelt, Picasso, Montana, An Experimental Thriller, The Prairie, Hawaii, Spinach, and a Safari Gone Wrong”Category: romance (books)
Book Buzz: Espionage, Curses, Romance, Surreal Historical Mystery Sequels, Contemporary Mystery Debuts, Audiobooks, and Healthy Nonfiction Reads
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For September, we’re looking at a new-ish contemporary espionage thriller series, this year’s If All Arkansas Read the Same Book pick, romances and mysteries–both historical and contemporary, audiobooks in a range of genres, and nonfiction on healthy living.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Espionage, Curses, Romance, Surreal Historical Mystery Sequels, Contemporary Mystery Debuts, Audiobooks, and Healthy Nonfiction Reads”Book Buzz: Summer 2025 Book Tasting Edition
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For July, we’re looking at the book menus used for yesterday’s book tasting, and filling in the gaps of what hasn’t already been covered on the blog.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Summer 2025 Book Tasting Edition”Book Buzz: Beach and Summer Reads
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For June, we’re looking at the perfect read for summer, whether you’ll be at the beach or on a staycation.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Beach and Summer Reads”Book Buzz: Historical Romances, Assyrian Queens, Oklahoma-Based Reservations, Coming-of-Age Audiobooks, Turkish Cookbooks, and Modern Manners
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For February, we’re looking at a historical romance set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a fictional look at the only ruling queen of Assyria, a mystery set on a fictional Oklahoma reservation, a coming-of-age audiobook, a delectable cookbook from a Turkish-American baker, and a guide to teaching children manners in the modern age.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Historical Romances, Assyrian Queens, Oklahoma-Based Reservations, Coming-of-Age Audiobooks, Turkish Cookbooks, and Modern Manners”Katherine Center’s The Rom-Commers

Emma Wheeler loves rom coms and she loves screenwriting. In a different world, maybe she would have been a professional scriptwriter, but in this one, she’s a full-time caretaker for her father living in Texas and takes on writing opportunities as they come. That is, until she gets the chance to help Charlie Yates, one of Hollywood’s premier screenwriters, rework his rom com screenplay. Charlie is one of her favorite writers, so it seems like a match made in heaven. But Emma quickly realizes that this script is absolutely awful and that the jaded Charlie hates the entire genre, despises cowriting gigs, and doesn’t even believe in love. Even worse, she maybe, kind of, starts to fall in love with him anyway.
Thanks so much to Mary-Esther for recommending this book to me! I don’t usually read romances, but I trust Mary-Esther’s judgment, and when she told me I had to read this one, I did. And I am so glad I did because it was a lot of fun!
Continue reading “Katherine Center’s The Rom-Commers”Crystal King’s In The Garden of Monsters

Julia Lombardi has no memories of her life before a couple of years ago. In the meantime, she has worked as a model for artists living in post-World War II Rome. When the famous surrealist Salvador Dalí offers her the chance to work as his model for Persephone in an eerie gothic garden called the Garden of Monsters, she jumps on the chance, despite her misgivings. Dalí is offering her a lot of money, and it will only be a week. No matter how bizarre the infamously eccentric artist is or how insufferable his domineering manager wife is, it will only be seven days. What could possibly go wrong?
However, as Julia soon sees, a lot can go wrong in seven days. The Dalís are even more strange and difficult than she had ever bargained for, Dalí himself begins to insist she is Persephone and forces her to eat pomegranate seeds, she hears unsettling whispers in the garden, and she can’t shake the feeling that their intense, mysterious, magnetic, handsome host Ignazio is someone she knows from somewhere. Amid the days of indulging Dalí’s increasingly tyrannical artistic whims and the nights of feasting on elaborate, sumptuous themed banquets in the historic palazzo attached to the garden, Julia herself starts to wonder if she is Persephone. . . .
Continue reading “Crystal King’s In The Garden of Monsters”Book Buzz: Sequels, Historical Thrillers Galore, Love Ice and Fire Style, and Experimentals Kits
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For September, we’re looking at a long-awaited follow-up, historical thrillers from a range of time periods, a new-ish contemporary romance series, and our very own Experimentals STEM and STEAM kits.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Sequels, Historical Thrillers Galore, Love Ice and Fire Style, and Experimentals Kits”Book Buzz: Jamaican Fiction, Historical Fiction, Social Satire, Funny Romances, Outlaws, and Midwives
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For August, we’re looking at a coming-of-age novel set in Jamaica, historical fiction that ranges from the Napoleonic Era to the mid-20th century, Kevin Kwan’s latest book, an amusing contemporary romance about cyclists, new Western reads, glamorous historic true crime, and a historical romance audiobook set in the American West.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Jamaican Fiction, Historical Fiction, Social Satire, Funny Romances, Outlaws, and Midwives”Book Buzz: Magical Realism, Summer Romances and Chick Lit, Comedic Mysteries, Sushi, and Audiobook Adventures
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For July, we’re looking at magical realistic literary fiction set in the Dominican Republic, YA and adult chick lit and romance reads, comic mysteries that take on corporate America and the cozy genre, a how-to guide for making your own sushi, and a range of both fiction and nonfiction audiobooks.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Magical Realism, Summer Romances and Chick Lit, Comedic Mysteries, Sushi, and Audiobook Adventures”