Starred Review

Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder

by Rachel McCarthy James

For millennia, the axe has served as a vital survival tool but also a weapon exemplifying the bloody nexus of technology and human violence, according to Rachel McCarthy James's bewitching Whack Job. "Every murder weapon has an innate interest," James says, and she claims none more so than the ubiquitous axe, the star attraction in this eclectic mix of 12 true stories of murder by hatchet. From the neolithic to the present, each story highlights a particular axe and how it exemplified the blade's evolution

Read More »

Dream for the Land

by Laekan Zea Kemp, illus. by Leo Espinosa

Dream for the Land is a moving and ultimately hopeful look at how one family in the Southwestern U.S. works and dreams of rain during a megadrought.

A child with brown skin and messy pigtails chases bunnies away from crops on her family's small farm. But this is the second batch of tomatoes that looks "withered on the vine" and the squash is being destroyed by spider mites. When a horned toad "skitters across the soil," Pá demonstrates how to catch it, kiss its head, and make a wish. The hardworking

Read More »

Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me

by Django Wexler

The second novel in the Dark Lord duology by Django Wexler (Ashes of the Sun) brings the battle between humans and wilders to a thrilling end. The hilarity and obscenity from the first volume (How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying) continue in Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me, in which plot twists, double crosses, and near-death experiences abound.

Davi, the new Dark Lord, is tasked with leading a horde of wilders (nonhuman beings whom humans love to slaughter) to attack the Kingdom. In Davi's

Read More »

The Listeners

by Maggie Stiefvater

War comes knocking at the doors of an Appalachian luxury hotel built on a mystical mountain spring in this assured, propulsive adult debut from powerhouse YA author Maggie Stiefvater (The Raven Cycle)

The morning of January 25, 1942, starts out like any other for June Hudson, mountaineer and general manager of the Avallon, a West Virginia luxury hotel. On the agenda is a ball--a demonstration that life at the hotel will remain unchanged despite the entrance of the U.S. into World War II. The Avallon attracts

Read More »

Mansion Beach

by Meg Mitchell Moore

Meg Mitchell Moore's absorbing ninth novel, Mansion Beach, exposes the darkness behind the glittering facade of a picture-postcard summer on Block Island, R.I. Through the intertwined lives of three women, Moore (The Islanders; Vacationland) delves into the strictures of class, the ache of star-crossed love, and the explosive power of secrets.

Former lawyer Nicola Carr is starting fresh with a summer internship at a marine institute. Nicola is annoyed and intrigued by loud, decadent parties at the mansion

Read More »

Welcome

Shelf Awareness is a free e-newsletter about books and the book industry. We have two separate versions:

For Readers: Every Friday, discover the 25 best books published that week as selected by our industry insiders. Sign up now.

For Book Trade Professionals: Receive daily enlightenment with our FREE weekday trade newsletter. Sign up now.

Learn more about Shelf Awareness.

Shelf Discovery

So Far Gone

by Jess Walter

So Far Gone is a thriller, a family drama, and a think piece all in one, about a man forced to reckon with questions of faith and politics and what we will do to save the ones we love.

Read Full Review »

One Final Turn

by Ashley Weaver

The exciting conclusion to Ashley Weaver's Electra McDonnell mystery series sends her safecracker-turned-spy to Lisbon to rescue a group of British POWs.

Read Full Review »

This Moth Saw Brightness

by A.A. Vacharat

In this enigmatic, entertaining debut, 17-year-old 'Wayne Le participates in a "consensual health and nutrition study" at Johns Hopkins University that may or may not be a secret government project.

Read Full Review »

Food Person

by Adam Roberts

Food Person is a delightful novel about Isabella, a ne'er-do-well food writer whose life goes off the rails when she loses her job and decides to take a ghostwriting job for a wayward celebrity.

Read Full Review »

Far and Away

by Amy Poeppel

Amy Poeppel's warm, hilarious fifth novel explores culture shock, complicated family dynamics, and the meaning of home through a Dallas-Berlin house swap.

Read Full Review »

Battle of the Bookstores

by Ali Brady

Ali Brady's piquantly tender fourth rom-com features two rival booksellers competing professionally–and fighting a mutual attraction–in a cozy Boston-area neighborhood.

Read Full Review »

Aftertaste

by Daria Lavelle

Aftertaste, an engaging debut novel, imagines sharing a last meal with a lost loved one, lured from beyond the pale by a sensitive chef with a talent for "tasting" the ghost's favorite cuisine.

Read Full Review »

Only Smoke

by Juan José Millás, trans. by Thomas Bunstead, Daniel Hahn

This captivating and thought-provoking modern fairy tale follows a young man who finds the specter of his father in the pages of a collection of stories by the Brothers Grimm.

Read Full Review »

Notes on Infinity

by Austin Taylor

Austin Taylor's blazingly insightful debut novel traces the meteoric rise of a biotech startup whose founders are convinced they've found the key to prevent aging.

Read Full Review »

The Village Beyond the Mist

by Sachiko Kashiwaba, trans. by Avery Fischer Udagawa, illus. by Miho Satake

Sachiko Kashiwaba's charming 1975 novel, The Village Beyond the Mist, which inspired Hayao Miyazaki's film Spirited Away, invites young audiences to Misty Valley.

Read Full Review »

Amelia, if Only

by Becky Albertalli

A queer teenager traveling to meet her favorite Internet celebrity realizes she is attracted to her best friend in this sweet and sincere YA rom-com.

Read Full Review »

Flashlight

by Susan Choi

In this gripping novel, Susan Choi's seemingly disparate clues coalesce in a tale of espionage and global conflict, and the heartrending ways in which world struggles play out in individual lives.

Read Full Review »

Cat Fight

by Kit Conway

A panther sighting brings drama and intrigue to a suburban neighborhood in England in this exceptional debut sizzling with secrets and deceit.

Read Full Review »

The Backwater

by Vikki Wakefield

A young woman suspected of killing her family and on the run for 12 years turns to an out-of-work journalist to tell her story in this tension-laden thriller.

Read Full Review »

Wide Eyed Editions:  Bold, Brilliant, and Latine: Meet 52 Latine and Hispanic Heroes from Past and Present by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris, illustrated by Sol Cotti

Media Heat

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Today: Matt Groark, author of The Meat Teacher Cookbook: The Ultimate Backyard BBQ Guide for an A+ in Pitmastery (Harper Influence, $36, 9780063288416).

The View: Bob the Drag Queen, author of Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert (Gallery Books, $27.99, 9781668061978).

Kelly Clarkson Show: Prabal Gurung, author of Walk Like a Girl: A Memoir (Viking, $32, 9780593493274).

Jimmy Kimmel Live: Glennon Doyle, co-author of We Can Do Hard Things: Answers to Life's 20 Questions (The Dial Press, $34, 9780593977644).

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

CBS Mornings: Sheryl G. Ziegler, author of The Crucial Years: The Essential Guide to Mental Health and Modern Puberty in Middle Childhood (Harvest, $29.99, 9780063378650).

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Fresh Air: Molly Jong-Fast, author of How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir (Viking, $28, 9780593656471).

Good Morning America: George Takei, co-author of It Rhymes With Takei (Top Shelf Productions, $29.99, 9781603095747).

Tonight Show: Edward St. Aubyn, author of Parallel Lines: A Novel (Knopf, $28, 9780593535349).

Thursday, June 5, 2025

Fresh Air: Ocean Vuong, author of The Emperor of Gladness (Penguin Press, $30, 9780593831878).

The View: Bill Clinton and James Patterson, authors of The First Gentleman: A Thriller (Little, Brown, $32, 9780316565103).

Kelly Clarkson Show: Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Atmosphere: A Love Story (Ballantine, $30, 9780593158715).
Powered by: Xtenit