Book obsessions are moods we fall into all the time. When you're looking for your next book, it's fun to hunt it down. We LOVE shopping in stores but also reading the book newsletters we receive. Bookshop.org supports a collection of independent book stores, and it's fun to read their recommendations. In fact, we happen to find our next reads on their lists a lot of the time. We'd encourage you to check out their site while we link to 4 books to check out below. One just came out in February 2021 and the other 3 are from 2020 and 2019. Different genres with different moods.
By Anna Malaika Tubbs
Published February 2021
Description
Much has been written about Berdis Baldwin's son James, about Alberta King's son Martin Luther, and Louise Little's son Malcolm. But virtually nothing has been said about the extraordinary women who raised them.
In her groundbreaking and essential debut The Three Mothers, scholar Anna Malaika Tubbs celebrates Black motherhood by telling the story of the three women who raised and shaped some of America's most pivotal heroes.
Berdis Baldwin, Alberta King, and Louise Little were all born at the beginning of the 20th century and forced to contend with the prejudices of Jim Crow as Black women. These three extraordinary women passed their knowledge to their children with the hope of helping them to survive in a society that would deny their humanity from the very beginning–from Louise teaching her children about their activist roots, to Berdis encouraging James to express himself through writing, to Alberta basing all of her lessons in faith and social justice. These women used their strength and motherhood to push their children toward greatness, all with a conviction that every human being deserves dignity and respect despite the rampant discrimination they faced.
These three mothers taught resistance and a fundamental belief in the worth of Black people to their sons, even when these beliefs flew in the face of America's racist practices and led to ramifications for all three families' safety. The fight for equal justice and dignity came above all else for the three mothers.
These women, their similarities and differences, as individuals and as mothers, represent a piece of history left untold and a celebration of Black motherhood long overdue.
“The Three Mothers is a fascinating exploration into the lives of three women ignored by history after raising sons who helped shape a movement. By tracing the intellectual, political, and emotional strands of each woman's life, Anna Malaika Tubbs uncovers hidden complexities within black motherhood that illuminate our understanding of the past while also shedding light on the overlooked contributions of black women today. An eye-opening, engrossing read!”
— Brit Bennett, New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half and The Mothers
About the Author
Anna Malaika Tubbs is a Cambridge Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and a Bill and Melinda Gates Cambridge Scholar. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a BA in Anthropology, Anna received a Master's from the University of Cambridge in Multidisciplinary Gender Studies. Outside of the academy she is an educator, DEI consultant, and the First Partner of Stockton, CA. She lives with her husband, the mayor of Stockton, Michael Tubbs, and their son Michael Malakai.
Source: Bookshop.org
The Bride Test was recommended by author Roxanne Gay in a recent newsletter. The story revolves around a man with Aspergars and a neuro-typical woman who are in a relationship. Since our middle son has Aspergars, it caught our attention. The author herself learned she was on the spectrum as an adult and that is fascinating as well.
The author gave a pretty cool interview to NPR. The audio is worth the listen. “In Helen Hoang's Novels, Autism Is No Bar To Love And Happiness”
“I want to believe that I can be a main character, I can be a leading character in my life, that I can have a happily ever after, that I can find true love, and I can get married, and conquer, and be happy.”
-Helen Hoang
Photo Credit: Petra Mayer/NPR
Published May 2019
Description
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Kiss Quotient comes a romantic novel about love that crosses international borders and all boundaries of the heart…
Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions–like grief. And love. He thinks he's defective. His family knows better–that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.
As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can't turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn't go as planned. Esme's lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She's hopelessly smitten with a man who's convinced he can never return her affection.
With Esme's time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he's been wrong all along. And there's more than one way to love.
“Everything you want a romance novel to be.”—NPR
“Hoang sheds light on a rarely represented segment of society, literally rewriting who is deserving of the leading role in a romantic novel.”–Vogue Hong Kong
“The Bride Test is positively delightful….It's smart, honest, and achingly romantic, just as sexy as it is sweet.”–Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones and the Six
Helen Hoang is that shy person who never talks. Until she does. And the worst things fly out of her mouth. She read her first romance novel in eighth grade and has been addicted ever since. In 2016, she was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in line with what was previously known as Asperger's Syndrome. Her journey inspired The Kiss Quotient.
Source: Bookshop.org
The Wrong Family: A Thriller
By Tarryn Fisher
Published Dec 2020
Description
An Instant Bestseller -The New York Times-USA Today-The Globe and Mail-The Toronto Star
A MOST-ANTICIPATED BOOK FROM BUSTLE – E – USA TODAY – REFINERY29 – POPSUGAR – BOOKRIOT– HUFFINGTON POST – CRIMEREADS – GOODREADS – THE TEMPEST
From the author of the instant New York Times bestseller The Wives comes another twisted psychological thriller guaranteed to turn your world upside down.
Have you ever been wrong about someone?
Juno was wrong about Winnie Crouch.
Before moving in with the Crouch family, Juno thought Winnie and her husband, Nigel, had the perfect marriage, the perfect son–the perfect life. Only now that she's living in their beautiful house, she sees the cracks in the crumbling facade are too deep to ignore.
Still, she isn't one to judge. After her grim diagnosis, the retired therapist simply wants a place to live out the rest of her days in peace. But that peace is shattered the day Juno overhears a chilling conversation between Winnie and Nigel…
She shouldn't get involved.
She really shouldn't.
But this could be her chance to make a few things right.
Because if you thought Juno didn't have a secret of her own, then you were wrong about her, too.
From the wickedly dark mind of bestselling author Tarryn Fisher, The Wrong Family is a taut new thriller that's riddled with twists in all the right places.
“So, those sounds they always told me are just the house settling? I'm scared s*tless of them now, thanks to this book. It's not just a stunning thriller–it's a force of reflection, as full of empathy and truth as it is shocking twists and turns. Fisher's bold prose lays bare all our everyday malices: the way we judge other people, justify small evils, and sabotage ourselves with impossible ideals. THE WRONG FAMILY is a mirror–and no one wields a mirror quite like the queen of dark what-ifs: Tarryn Fisher.”–Megan Angelo, author of Followers
About the Author
Tarryn Fisher is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of nine novels. Born a sun hater, she currently makes her home in Seattle, Washington, with her children, husband, and psychotic husky. She loves connecting with her readers on Instagram.
Source: Bookshop.org
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
By Marie Benedict
Published December 2020
Description
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER
“A stunning story… The ending is ingenious, and it's possible that Benedict has brought to life the most plausible explanation for why Christie disappeared for 11 days in 1926.”–The Washington Post
The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Only Woman in the Room returns with a thrilling reconstruction of one of the most notorious events in literary history: Agatha Christie's mysterious 11-day disappearance in 1926.
In December 1926, Agatha Christie goes missing. Investigators find her empty car on the edge of a deep, gloomy pond, the only clues some tire tracks nearby and a fur coat left in the car–strange for a frigid night. Her World War I veteran husband and her daughter have no knowledge of her whereabouts, and England unleashes an unprecedented manhunt to find the up-and-coming mystery author. Eleven days later, she reappears, just as mysteriously as she disappeared, claiming amnesia and providing no explanations for her time away.
The puzzle of those missing eleven days has persisted. With her trademark historical fiction exploration into the shadows of the past, acclaimed author Marie Benedict brings us into the world of Agatha Christie, imagining why such a brilliant woman would find herself at the center of such murky historical mysteries.
What is real, and what is mystery? What role did her unfaithful husband play, and what was he not telling investigators?
Agatha Christie novels have withstood the test of time, due in no small part to Christie's masterful storytelling and clever mind that may never be matched, but Agatha Christie's untold history offers perhaps her greatest mystery of all.
Fans of The Secrets We Kept, The Lions of Fifth Avenue, and The Alice Network will enjoy this riveting saga of literary history, suspense, and love gone wrong.
Also By Marie Benedict:
The Other Einstein
Carnegie's Maid
The Only Woman in the Room
Lady Clementine
About the Author
Marie Benedictis a lawyer with more than ten years' experience as a litigator at two of the country's premier law firms and for Fortune 500 companies. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston College with a focus in history and art history and a cum laude graduate of the Boston University School of Law. Marie, the author of The Other Einstein, Carnegie's Maid, The Only Woman in the Room, and Lady Clementine, views herself as an archaeologist of sorts, telling the untold stories of women. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family.
Source: Bookshop.org
