The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm reading Rebecca Serle's upcoming novel in which the main protagonist receives decades of love-life predictions, Expiration Dates; I'm reading Amy Tintera's upcoming novel, in which the main protagonist may or may not have murdered her best friend and is tracked down by a podcast investigating the mystery, Listen for the Lie; and I'm listening to James McBride's novel exploring a poor 1930s Pennsylvania neighborhood and its' Jewish and Black families' purposes and missions, which sometimes intersect and other times conflict, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
What are you reading these days, bookworms?
01 Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
Every time Daphne Bell meets a potential love interest, she receives a mysterious slip of paper that details how many days she will spend with that person.
For twenty years, Daphne receives this guidance, sure that the universe is looking out for her and her love life. As predicted, she spends three days with Martin in Paris, five weeks in San Francisco with Noah, and three months with Hugo.
Then one evening she goes on a blind date, but the slip of paper she receives has no number on it. It simply says the name of her date. It seems as though Jake is meant to be her forever match. But Daphne doubts the prediction--and her inability to tell Jake about her years of outside guidance builds a barrier between them.
I'm reading Expiration Dates, scheduled for publication March 5, courtesy of NetGalley and Atria Books. Rebecca Serle is also the author of One Italian Summer, In Five Years, and other novels.
02 Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
Lucy is found wandering the streets of her small Texas town, covered in her best friend Savvy's blood. Everyone assumes she killed Savvy, and Lucy can't escape the suspicions and resentment surrounding the mysterious conditions of Savvy's death.
Lucy moves to Los Angeles to start a new life, but when the host of the ultra-popular true-crime podcast "Listen for the Lie" tracks her down, Lucy must do the one thing she swore she'd never do: return to the scene of Savvy's murder to try to solve the mystery once and for all.
I'm reading an advance digital edition of Listen for the Lie, scheduled for publication March 5, courtesy of NetGalley and Celadon Books.
03 The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
James McBride's Heaven & Earth Grocery Store tracks the victories, missteps, losses, and love among a host of characters in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in the 1930s.
Chicken Hill is a hardscrabble neighborhood where Jewish families live alongside Black families--outside the sphere of power and wealth of the white members of Pottstown.
Their cultures conflict in some ways, but their stories and existences overlap, and their challenges intersect when a young boy is taken from the community, culminating in a mysterious death, which raises questions decades later.
I'm listening to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store as an audiobook.
McBride is also the author of Deacon King Kong and The Good Lord Bird.