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Big Books of the Week

Blood Moon by Sandra Brown (Grand Central) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano (Minotaur)

Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron; LJ starred review)

Far From Home by Danielle Steel (Delacorte)

These books and others publishing the week of March 3, 2025, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Ten LibraryReads and nine Indie Next picks publish this week.

Hall of Fame picks include Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn (Berkley), Ward D by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen), and Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano (Minotaur)

The Shots You Take by Rachel Reid (Carina Adores; LJ starred review)

“Riley is drowning in grief, and Adam, his ex-best friend and first love, slips back into his life determined to offer support and make amends for some seriously devastating decade-old mistakes. The emotional maturity of these two forty-something men will land perfectly with readers looking for heartfelt romance.”—Jessica Freytag, Granville Public Library, OH

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron; LJ starred review)

“A gripping novel of a father and his children residing on a remote island, frantic to protect the last remaining seeds for future generations. Their lives are disrupted when an injured woman washes ashore. Mutual interest in the natural world enhances their passionate connection, despite a tense urgency for the truth. An immersive novel of family, nature, and the ties that bind.”—KC Davis, LibraryReads Ambassador, CT

It is also the #1 Indie Next pick:

“An achingly beautiful novel, a page-turning thriller, and an ode to the landscapes disappearing before our eyes. It so perfectly captures the deep heartbreak of loving a place in your very bones and knowing there is nothing you can do to save it. Still, the book was full of hope.”—Nina Lundstrom, Maria’s Bookshop, Durango, CO

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tor.com; LJ starred review)

“Sisters Esther and Ysabel are among the lucky few to have found their way home after getting lost in the land of Faerie. When Esther falls in love with a stranger, a darkness threatens to separate the sisters forever. An enchanting story of the bonds of sisterhood and the magic of Faerie for readers who love a good riddle song, or murder ballad.”—Mara Bandy Fass, Champaign Public Library, IL

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“This is a perfect little jewel of a book. It reads like a fairy tale I’d somehow missed as a child, but told in prose that weaves and shimmers and feels to always have a meaning just at the edges of my reach. Sapphics stay winning.”—Becca Title, Meet Cute Romance Bookshop, San Diego, CA

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (S. & S.)

“Beth is in mourning due to the death of her son when her first love moves back to town and a chain of events takes place that alters their lives. Unfolding with the urgency of a thriller, this novel deftly explores topics such as first love, sacrifice and deep loyalty.”—Theresa Bond, Middlesex Public Library, NJ

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Broken Country is a novel filled with love and broken hearts. Told in three timelines, each filled with so much love and loss. I forced myself to slow down and enjoy every sentence. The mystery kept me riveted to my chair, within reach of a box of tissues.”—Leslie Jennings, Brewster Book Store, Brewster, MA

Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone (Dial Trade Paperback; LJ starred review)

“Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again in this heartwarming, slow-burn romance. This is a beautifully written love story that features the exploration of grief.”—Karen Troutman, LibraryReads Ambassador

The Notable Nonfiction pick is Sucker Punch: Essays by Scaachi Koul (St. Martin’s)

“Koul focuses her second collection of essays on life in the midst and aftermath of a divorce (and a global pandemic). With bracing wit and a keen eye towards honesty, Koul offers up her vulnerability as a strong woman working through a hard time—after thinking she'd found a happily ever after. Readers who enjoyed One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter will be eager to see how she’s grown and gained new insight.”—Kaite Stover, LibraryReads Board

The Bonus Pick is The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami (Pantheon) *Good for Book Clubs

“In the near future, dreams are monitored by an algorithm that determines if you are at risk of hurting yourself or others. Everyone, everywhere is monitored and given a risk assessment score. Sara steps off a plane and is ushered to a detention center to be held until she is no longer a danger. Weeks, months go on and Sara is still kept away from her family, made to work for free, and monitored at every move. It seems that every time she is ready to leave, one guard in particular gives her a bad check mark and the clock starts again. She makes friends of sorts with the other women as tensions rise and a revolution is on the horizon.The book starts off like Orwell’s 1984 and then ends up more like Orange is the New Black, but the scary part is how real it feels, how it might not be a reality that far off.”—Kimberly McGee, Lake Travis Community Library, Austin Texas

Six additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

The Passenger Seat by Vijay Khurana (Biblioasis)

“Join two teen boys in a joyride to nowhere as they light out for the territories with Chekhov’s gun behind the front seat. Khurana’s debut novel rumbles like a ‘67 Impala; readers will long for their seatbelts as it peels off toward its inevitable conclusion.”—Austin Carter, Pocket Books Shop, Lancaster, PA

Optional Practical Training by Shubha Sunder (Graywolf)

“Elegantly written, Optional Practical Training chronicles coming of age as a young immigrant with nuance and wit. Through intimate glimpses of a very specific point in Pavitra’s life, this book sharply investigates larger questions of agency and self.”—Kazumi Fish, Yu & Me Books, New York, NY

Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton (Pantheon)

“Dalton’s prose is as light and quick-footed as the hare who lives with her. She captures everything I love about good nature writing: observations that leave you with a new sense of astonishment and appreciation for the small lives interwoven with our own.”—Shannon Guinn-Collins, Bookworks, Albuquerque, NM

Red Dog Farm by Nathaniel Ian Miller (Little, Brown)

“A moving and well-crafted story of a young man’s return to his family’s struggling cattle farm in western Iceland. Told with wit, insight, and a keen eye for the landscape of the human heart.”—Ann Woodbeck, Excelsior Bay Books, Excelsior, MN

Count My Lies by Sophie Stava (Gallery: Scout)

“Count My Lies is an absolute thrill ride! A woman lies her way into the lives of a couple and their young daughter. But is she the only one keeping secrets? Order some take-out and settle in. Once you start reading, it’s impossible to stop!”—Mary O'Malley, Skylark Bookshop, Columbia, MO

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica, tr. by Sarah Moses (Scribner; LJ starred review)

“In a world broken by climate disaster, a young woman is a low-level member of a cult cloistered in a convent. Control and abuse maintain order, but at least she is fed and safe. As she tries to piece her past together, we experience the horrors outside and inside, past and present.”—Alana Haley, Schuler Books, Grand Rapids, MI

In the Media

People’s book of the week is The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker (Random). Also getting attention are The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu, tr. by Jesse Kirkwood (Putnam), and Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister (Morrow; LJ starred review). Recommended “On-Air Fiction” includes First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison (Berkley; LJ starred review), Back After This by Linda Holmes (Ballantine), and Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley (Crown). There is also an interview with Dylan Mulvaney about her new memoir, Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer (Abrams Image).

There is an interview with Ruby Franke’s husband and son; Shari Franke’s book, The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom (Gallery), was recently released. There is a feature on Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles, I’m That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams (Harper Influence). Plus, Anthony Bourdain’s former assistant Laurie Woolever writes about “the Tony I knew” in her new memoir Care and Feeding (Ecco). 

Reviews

NYT reviews See Friendship by Jeremy Gordon (Harper Perennial): “Gordon’s smart novel on the warping effects of nostalgia and technology asks us to follow some Forsterian advice from a century ago: Only connect”; Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron; LJ starred review): “It’s a rare novel that has so many simultaneous sources of trouble, and it’s to McConaghy’s credit that her plot’s many interlocking escalations only rarely seem forced”; Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton (Pantheon): “Dalton’s clear, measured prose and Denise Nestor’s delicate drawings provide a gentle cottagecore vibe and a bit of solace in a world that has now returned to an even more frenetic state”; The Passenger Seat by Vijay Khurana (Biblioasis): “Vijay Khurana’s unsettling and powerful debut novel, follows two teenagers on the fragile cusp of manhood in a Canadian border town”; and Taking Manhattan : The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America by Russell Shorto (Norton): “It is hard to love the city and to recognize its horrors. But it is possible; there is proof; Russell Shorto has done it.” Plus, more reviews from the weekend.

Washington Post reviews The Last Visitor by Martin Griffin (Pegasus): “A trimmed-down Last Visitor would have been more suspenseful, but if readers stay put on this most isolated of isolated islands, the final showdown makes the extended sojourn worthwhile”; Every Tom, Dick & Harry by Elinor Lipman (Harper): “Every Tom, Dick & Harry is not a rom-com packed with LOL moments; instead, it’s a master class in writing about small-town life without tropes or judgment”; and The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball by John W. Miller (Avid Reader): “Miller captures the flawed man and nearly flawless manager in all his profane genius.”

The Guardian reviews Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Knopf): “Dream Count sings with the sheer concentration of the kind of experience novels usually ignore.”

Briefly Noted

Read Across America Week kicked off yesterday.

Audiofile announces the March 2025 Earphones Award winners. 

Time recommends 12 books for March.

Washington Post highlights new books for March.

CrimeReads suggests 10 new books for the week.

LA Times shares 10 books to read in March. 

LitHub previews 26 March paperback releases.

USA Today recommends “15 new releases from February you should read.”

Authors on Air

Several adaptations were awarded Oscars last night:  Emilia Pérez, based on the French-language novel Écoute by Boris Razon; Conclave, based on the novel by Robert Harris; I’m Still Here, based on the Brazilian-language memoir by Marcelo Rubens Paiva; Wicked, based on the novel by Gregory Maguire; and Dune: Part Two, based on the novels by Frank Herbert. Hollywood Reporter has a list of all the winners.

Vulture previews 28 book to screen adaptations.

CBS Sunday Mornings looks into the “hidden side of Johnny Carson” and shares an excerpt of the book Carson the Magnificent by Bill Zehme, with Mike Thomas (S. & S.; LJ starred review).

Apple Original Films will produce a documentary of Bono’s show adapted from his memoir Surrender. Kirkus has the story.

Mary Ellen Matthews, The Art of the SNL Portrait (Abrams), visits Today.

Giada De Laurentiis, Super-Italian: More Than 110 Indulgent Recipes Using Italy's Healthiest Foods (Rodale), will appear on The Tonight Show.

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