Latest news with #ClareMulroy
USA Today
19-02-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Steamy romance books can be empowering, too
Steamy romance books can be empowering, too Good morning booklovers! USA TODAY books reporter Clare Mulroy here to give you another look at this week's news in books. Have you ever heard someone mention they love spicy romance books? Ever seen a social media post rate a book using a scale of chili pepper emojis? These steamy novels are hot right now (literally) and continue to dominate bestseller lists. But they're often dismissed as guilty pleasure books or fluff. This Valentine's Day, I wanted to find out why. So I headed over to an event hosted by Spotify to celebrate spicy audiobook listening and asked Kennedy Ryan, the bestselling romance author of 'Before I Let Go.' I called 'Twisted Love' author Ana Huang and paranormal romance author Kimberly Lemming. I chatted with readers and romance publishers and found that attitudes toward steamy novels are shifting away from guilty reading to empowering as they demystify conversations about sex and center female pleasure. 'What is so guilty about reading stories about love and connection and happy endings?' Huang asked me. 'Why is it only that the 'substantive' books are the ones that are sad and challenging?' In other book news, 'The Let Them Theory' by Mel Robbins has overtaken Ali Hazelwood's new 'Deep End' for the No. 1 spot on the USA TODAY Best-selling Booklist. Robbins' self-help guide promises to help readers relinquish 'the power you give to other people' to find happiness and success. Plus, there's still time to enter our Winter Book Challenge. If you fill out our bingo card and write into us by March 21, you'll be entered in a sweepstakes to win a $100 gift card!
USA Today
05-02-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
New books we can't stop thinking about
New books we can't stop thinking about Hi booklovers! It's Clare Mulroy here, USA TODAY's Books Reporter. Here's this week's news in books. Recently, I read a book that stopped me in my tracks. More specifically, it had me in tears within four pages, a feat that no other book has accomplished in my long journey as a reader. I'm talking about 'This is a Love Story' by Jessica Soffer, which traverses a couple's decades together in the backdrop of Central Park. It's an exquisite ode to New York, dripping with vignettes of city life and love. If that doesn't entice you (though I hope it will), we've got plenty more reads to recommend. Our monthly recap of January new releases includes 15 novels across genres for you to dive into, from contemporary romance to fantasy to historical fiction. Some of my favorites are: ' Homeseeking ,' a story of childhood friends who fall in love, lose each other and reconnect across the Chinese diaspora and U.S. over sixty years. ,' a story of childhood friends who fall in love, lose each other and reconnect across the Chinese diaspora and U.S. over sixty years. ' We Could Be Rats ,' a heart-wrenching (but also hilarious) tribute to sisterhood, queerness and mental health. ,' a heart-wrenching (but also hilarious) tribute to sisterhood, queerness and mental health. 'Good Dirt,' from the author of 'Black Cake,' which follows a wealthy Black New England family and the public spectacle that surrounds them after their son is murdered. Also on our list is 'Onyx Storm,' which is still holding strong at the top of the USA TODAY Best-selling Booklist. Freida McFadden's latest, 'The Crash,' also joins the ranks this week at no. 3. And if you haven't started reading for our Winter Book Challenge – there's still time! We're raffling off a $100 gift card to those who submit a completed bingo card. See the full challenge rules here.
USA Today
29-01-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
E-books go local: New Bookshop.org app benefits indie bookstores
E-books go local: New app benefits indie bookstores Good morning booklovers! USA TODAY books reporter Clare Mulroy here to give you another recap of the week's biggest news in books. has launched a Kindle alternative – an e-reading platform that delivers profits directly to independent booksellers. Founder and CEO Andy Hunter talked to USA TODAY about his mission to create an app that keeps dollars in the pockets of local business people instead of in the hands of 'billionaires and giant e-commerce companies.' The now-available platform, called Ebooks, works for Apple and Android devices and is accessible on web browsers. Want to read more this year? This week, we've got tips from professional readers and booklovers to fit more reading into your busy schedule. Among our favorite suggestions: Bring a book, whether it's a physical copy or an ebook, with you whenever you leave the house so you can read during downtime instead of scrolling through your phone. Read at least 50 pages of the book and, if you don't connect with the story, don't be afraid to 'DNF' and move on to a new one. In case you missed it last week, our Winter Book Challenge is live! If you fill out our bingo card and submit your reading list to us, you'll be entered to win a $100 gift card! Deadline to enter is March 21. USA TODAY Best-selling Booklist recap: Not one, not two, but four versions of Rebecca Yarros' 'Empyrean' series top the USA TODAY Best-selling Booklist this week, including the new 'Onyx Storm' and its deluxe limited edition. Dystopian classics '1984' by George Orwell and 'Fahrenheit 451' by Ray Bradbury showed up in the Top 10 books this week. If you're one of the people looking to read more about hellish societies, check out 10 books like '1984' that we recommend.
