Latest news with #JessicaSoffer
USA Today
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
15 new releases from February you should read
15 new releases from February you should read The best cure for your winter blues is a good book. We still have weeks left in the coldest season, but there are plenty of new books packed with sizzling stories to transport your mind. February saw a host of new titles, including releases from beloved authors like Ali Hazelwood, TJ Klune and Curtis Sittenfeld. Plus, the actor who played the ever-quotable Hamilton 'Ham' Porter on 'The Sandlot' wrote a children's book with life lessons based on America's pastime. What should I read next? 15 February new releases From contemporary fiction to memoir to thriller, these new releases from February cover whatever genre you're in the mood for and are stocked at a bookstore near you. Here are the books we think you should read next. For a look at all the 2025 titles we're excited about, check out USA TODAY's most anticipated releases list. 'Maya & Natasha' by Elyse Durham This engrossing historical fiction follows twin sisters, Maya and Natasha, who are born – and abandoned – during the Siege of Leningrad in 1941. Growing up in a Russian ballet academy, the sisters go through the growing pains of adolescence and ambition until a shocking betrayal charts them on separate, fractured courses. Set in the backdrop of the Cold War, this novel is perfect for ballet lovers but a touching, thrilling heartbreak for any reader. 'This is a Love Story' by Jessica Soffer Jessica Soffer pens a lyrical ode to Central Park and long-term relationships in 'This is a Love Story.' The novel follows Jane and Abe through decades in New York City, now remembering together as Jane is on her deathbed. With masterfully woven vignettes of city life and tributes to enduring love, 'This is a Love Story' is a book that makes you grateful for life's little treasured moments. Read our full review here. 'Bibliophobia' by Sarah Chihaya In 'Bibliophobia,' book critic and essayist Sarah Chihaya gets at the provoking, unsettling, seductive feeling of a 'Life Ruiner' book. For Chihaya, that was Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye,' which cracked open her own feelings on race and being Japanese American in a predominantly white suburb. Told through pivotal texts, 'Bibliophobia' is a memoir of survival, mental health, cultural identity and the life-alternating capacities of literature. 'The Echoes' by Evie Wyld In 'The Echoes,' a young woman, Hannah, mourns her recently deceased boyfriend, Max, who is now haunting their shared London flat. From his new vantage point among the cobwebs, Max sees Hannah and their relationship in a more intimate, vulnerable light, including the family secrets that made her flee Australia. A ghost story on many levels, 'The Echoes' is a heart-wrenching look at grief, generational trauma and what we hide from those we love. 'Waiting for the Long Night Moon' by Amanda Peters The author of 'The Berry Pickers' brings readers a new collection with stories of the Indigenous experience across time and place. 'Waiting for the Long Night Moon' traverses through the first contact with European settlers to the forced removal of Indigenous children, all the way to the modern fight for clean water. Holding grief and joy in each hand, Peters' latest tells of tradition, systemic discrimination and resilience. 'Mainline Mama' by Keeonna Harris Activist and prison abolitionist Keeonna Harris' powerful memoir recalls Harris' challenges as a 'mainline mama' – a parent tasked with raising a child with an incarcerated partner – starting at just age 15. This poignant look at self-love and radical resistance interrogates the prison industrial complex and the families it impacts most. 'Deep End' by Ali Hazelwood It's one of Hazelwood's 'spiciest' books yet. In 'Deep End,' two student athletes Scarlett and Lukas, enter dangerous waters when they agree to an arrangement based on shared proclivities. The tone and topics Hazelwood treads into with "Deep End" are heavier than most of her other books. But she still delivers the witty characters, relatable issues and delicious tension fans have come to love. 'The Bones Beneath My Skin' by TJ Klune The author of 'The House in the Cerulean Sea' is back with an action-packed sci-fi road trip thriller. In this novel, we travel with sardonic journalist Nate Cartwright to his family's summer cabin in a remote mountain town, where he encounters a man named Alex and a young girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader and is anything but what she appears. 'The Bones Beneath My Skin' is edgier than Klune's other comforting reads, but readers will still find beloved found family tropes here. 'Junie' by Erin Crosby Eckstine 'Junie' follows a 16-year-old girl who has been enslaved on the Bellereine Plantation in Alabama since she was born. By day, she cooks, cleans and tends to the white master's daughter. By night, she dreams of poetry and roams the forest grieving the sudden death of her older sister, Minnie. When guests arrive in town with a plan that will uproot Junie's life, her act of desperation wakes Minnie's spirit from the grave, also unveiling horrifying secrets about Bellereine. 'Notes on Surviving the Fire' by Christine Murphy 'Notes on Surviving the Fire' brings readers an unflinching look at the insidious nature of rape culture. It follows Sarah, a Ph.D. student in Southern California and her best friend Nathan, the only person that believes Sarah when she reports a fellow student for raping her. When Nathan is found dead of an apparent heroin overdose, Sarah knows something isn't right. Her journey for vengeance thrusts her uncovering a disturbing pattern of campus deaths. 'Show Don't Tell' by Curtis Sittenfeld Sittenfeld's latest is a short story collection that threads tales of marriage, friendship, fame and ambition, even revisiting the beloved character Lee Fiora from her 2005 bestseller 'Prep.' In one story, a woman reconnects with old friends after her divorce. In another, a married artist embarks to disprove the 'Mike Pence Rule,' the former vice president's personal rule against one-on-one dinners with women who aren't his wife. 'The Garden' by Nick Newman It's hard to describe 'The Garden' in just a few sentences – this strangely satisfying speculative tale pulls you in quickly and leaves your head spinning. Elderly sisters Evelyn and Lily live in a secluded, walled garden in an unknown dystopian world. They don't know what came before the garden or what lies outside of it, only that they must tend to it per the almanac written by their mother. But when they find an injured, skittish boy hiding within the house, their dormant life is irreversibly upended. 'A Killing Cold' by Kate Alice Marshall In this thriller, Theodora finds herself caught in a whirlwind romance with the charming and wealthy Connor Dalton. Now he's bringing her to Idlewood, his family's winter retreat, to win over skeptical relatives. But the trip turns eerie fast – Theo can't shake an eerie sense of deja vu and she's getting threatening text messages. Even more ominous is the photo she finds of herself as a young child taken at Idlewood. 'Blood Ties' by Jo Nesbø The latest from the 'king of Nordic noir,' 'Blood Ties' follows murderous brothers Carl and Roy Opgard (last seen in Nesbo's novel 'The Kingdom,' though 'Blood Ties' can be read as a standalone). Carl and Roy have worked their way to the top of small town Os, but their success is threatened by the town sheriff who, working to uncover years of unsolved murders, is determined to expose the dark secrets that got them there. 'Alligator Tears' by Edgar Gomez This memoir in essays from the author of 'High-Risk Homosexual' is a big-hearted, humorous portrait of a queer coming-of-age in Central Florida. Through stories of family and found family, traveling from the dentist's office to the Pulse nightclub in Orlando to New York book launches, Gomez pens an intimate commentary on poverty, class, the myth of the American dream and the importance of queer community. Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@
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.
