reviews

The Edgar Award nominees and Audie Awards finalists are revealed. USA Today launches its Winter Book Challenge, a bingo card full of book categories, to help readers stretch and track their reading goals. Christian rom-coms are flourishing. Plus, new title bestsellers.

Ayelet Tsabari wins the Association of Jewish Libraries Jewish Fiction Award for her novel Songs for the Brokenhearted. Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced her forthcoming memoir, A Different Kind of Power, which arrives in June. Vanessa Bryant will publish Mamba & Mambacita Forever in August. Also buzzing are memoirs from Rick Astley, Neko Case, Keeonna Harris, and Lola Kirke. Anne Allan’s royal biography Dancing with Diana will become a feature documentary, while John Ridley is developing Isaac Asimov’s The Caves of Steel for the big screen. And Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist and playwright Jules Feiffer has died at the age of 95. 

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros leads holds this week. People’s book of the week is Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett. The Novel Prize shortlist is announced. Elizabeth Gilbert and Rebecca Ross announce forthcoming fall titles. Plus, this week’s new releases.

The Canada Reads 2025 longlist arrives. Poets & Writers publishes its 20th annual look at debut poets. Longlists are announced for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, United States and Canada, which honors books published by small presses. Sustainable Marketing: The Industry’s Role in a Sustainable Future by Paul Randle & Alexis Eyre wins the Leonard L. Berry Marketing Book Award. Harlequin is eliminating its Canary Street Press and Graydon House imprints. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Neko Case, Pagan Kennedy, and Charles Baxter.

Kirkus publishes its spring 2025 preview. Mystery Writers of America names Laura Lippman and John Sandford as its Grand Masters for 2025. Matt Bomer will narrate a new audiobook of Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life. Melville House plans to publish a paperback version of the Jack Smith report shortly after Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Fantasy Magazine will be relaunched this spring. Plus new title bestsellers and interviews with Mike Mignola, Scott Turow, and Pico Iyer.

George Lichman fights crime and reads it too.

She has a wonderful talent for situating books within larger contexts and discourses, allowing librarians to understand how different works might fit within their communities.

In reviews that showcase his enjoyment and knowledge of speculative fiction, Matthew accurately and expressively describes plot details and thoughtfully conveys the reading experience, along with offering apt comparisons and read-alikes.

In every review, TJ’s storytelling ability reflects his exceptional talent to capture each book’s premise and get to its core.