Episode 532 || June 2025 New Release Rundown
This week on From the Front Porch, it’s another New Release Rundown! Annie, Erin, and Olivia are sharing the June releases they’re excited about to help you build your TBR. When you purchase or preorder any of the books they talk about, enter the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order!
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 532) or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Annie's books:
Flashlight by Susan Choi (6/3)
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (6/3)
Among Friends by Hal Ebbott (6/24)
Olivia's books:
The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark (6/3)
King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby (6/10)
The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick (6/17)
Erin's books:
A Family Matter by Claire Lynch (6/3)
Kakigori Summer by Emily Itami (6/10)
Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess (6/10)
From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.
Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
This week, Annie is reading Audition by Katie Kitamura. Olivia is reading The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls by Judith Rossell. Erin is listening to Audition by Katie Kitamura.
If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.
Our Executive Producers are...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.
Transcript:
[squeaky porch swing] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out] "For a mind given to buzzing, anxious distraction, a clear sense of desire was like the edge of a pool, a thing off which she could push." - Hal Ebbott, Among Friends
[as music fades out] I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. Today I’m joined by Bookshelf operations manager Olivia and online sales manager Erin to give you a rundown of our favorite new books releasing in June. If you’re a new or newish listener, you might not realize that From the Front Porch is a production of The Bookshelf, which is a small, independently-owned bookstore in rural South Georgia. By listening to our show and recommending it to your friends, you’re helping to keep our indie bookstore in business. And if you like what you hear, one way you can financially support us is through Patreon. Last year, you might know we read the classic American novel Lonesome Dove with over 1,000 Patreon supporters, and this year we kicked off our 2025 reading of Don Quixote. For $5 a month, you can access our monthly Conquer a Classic recaps, as well as our Porch Visits, monthly live Zoom Q&As where we talk about everything from pop culture to nail polish to what books you should take on your next vacation. To learn more about our Patreon tiers and benefits, just visit patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. Now back to the show. Hey guys.
Erin [00:01:56] Hi.
Olivia [00:01:59] Hey.
Annie Jones [00:01:59] Welcome to June. Happy summer. It's so hot.
Erin [00:02:02] Sweating in my office.
Olivia [00:02:07] We have air conditioning and it works.
Annie Jones [00:02:12] Listen, we could pretend that we're recording this in June, but I'm going to go ahead and give you a peek behind the curtain, dear listener, and tell you that for all kinds of reasons, we're recording this episode quite early. And also to let you know that this is the last New Release Rundown. This is the last one of these you will hear for a couple of months. We will be back in early September. I don't know who knows this, but multiple people here are going on maternity leave. And so I am recording a bunch of episodes early so that I can take a little bit of time off and so Olivia can take some time off when she also gives birth later this year.
Erin [00:02:59] So exciting
Annie Jones [00:03:01] Yeah, we're going to be MIA. The podcast will not be MIA. I'm doing a bunch prep work to pre-record some episodes. But New Release Rundown. It was one thing when it was going to be one person gone. And then when two people are absent, I mean, no offense, Erin.
Erin [00:03:19] None taken.
Annie Jones [00:03:20] I feel like the banter is part of the charm and you'd be banterless.
Erin [00:03:25] Nobody wants to hear this voice for 45 minutes. It's okay.
Olivia [00:03:30] When we hire people here, we always tell them that everything happens at one time. And we're just trying to stay as true to that as possible with our pregnancy plans as well.
Annie Jones [00:03:41] Yes. We're really on brand with what we tell our new staffers. So, Erin and I will be back in September with a new release episode, but then the three of us, I think the plan is to be back together in October for a New Release Rundown episode. So, in the meantime, you'll be hearing all kinds of fun episodes this summer. Again, we did some prep work in advance and I did, for a minute, have like New Release Rundown episodes, because we can record these early. Like, these are preview episodes, but it was like record five in a day. It just became too much for staff. We got other stuff going on also. So, I know this is shocking to people. We don't just do a podcast. We don't just record episodes. In fact, off air we were talking about we're already prepping Advent boxes. Like we are really working hard to get some of this work done before some absences are taken this summer. So, as with our other episodes, we are going through our June new release books that we are most excited about. You can keep in mind that Erin has made browsing the podcast book selections so easy. You can go to bookshelfthomasville.com and type episode 532 into the search bar. You'll see all of today's books listed there, ready for you to pre-order or purchase. And as usual, you can use the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout to get 10% off your order of today's titles.
[00:05:11] So we are here with June titles that we want to talk about. I will kick us off. My first book I want to talk about is Flashlight. This is by author Susan Choi, who most people will be familiar with because she is a prolific writer. Most recently, she wrote the book Trust Exercise, which I read but did not love, but I was kind of in the minority. It was one of those award-winning literary fiction books that I liked but didn't love. As I recall, Hunter maybe really enjoyed it. But I was intrigued by the premise of Flashlight. So the premise a Flashlight as it was presented by the publisher is Louisa and her father are vacationing with her mother, with Louisa's mother on the coast of Japan. And they are walking along the coast one night and the next morning Louisa is found barely alive and her father is missing. And thus begins this story. It's not maybe the suspense story that it sounds like it could be based on that premise, but instead what unfolded was now I fully understand Susan Choi's genius because what unfold did was yes, a little bit of mystery. Like where did this father go? Like did he drown? What happened to him? What happened the little girl? But it also becomes this historical fiction about the history of Japan and North and South Korea, which is something I did not know I was interested in, but I was completely interested in once the book began.
[00:06:48] The book goes back and forth in not only time, but in perspective. So we get Louisa as she is a child, but also growing up and into herself. We get her mother, who is an American woman who married her father. And her father is an ethnic-born Korean who is raised in Japan. And so that's why you kind of get this history of North and South Korea and then Japanese culture as well. I loved this and here's what I will say. I don't really want to say much more because I found it so delightful to keep reading and to not know kind of what was unfolding next. I knew with Susan Choi I wasn't going to get like a murder suspense story, but I thought I might get this suspenseful narrative, almost like Angie Kim, maybe Angie Kim's latest. But instead I got this really well-written literary fiction, historical fiction, telling the story of these three different people in this family and learning about how trauma maybe affected each of them. It kind of is reminiscent of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy in that way. I adored this book.
[00:08:07] Listen, this book is long and so I read this electronically. Typically, I read books on my Kindle or an audiobook format that are a little shorter because I just feel like I get a little bogged down in the Kindle. I forget I'm reading the book on the Kindle. And I devoured this on my Kindle and I think it's going to clock in-- I don't know, I've not seen the physical copy, but I think it’s going to clock it in at around 500 pages. And so it never felt that long to me. I was completely hooked. I trusted her to take me wherever she wanted me to go and I really loved it. So if you're a literary fiction fan, this is easily going to be for you. But if you like a little bit more plot driven fiction, I still think this is going to work because of the hook of where did the dad go. I think that will keep you kind of reading where Susan Choi takes you. So I love this book. It's called Flashlight. It's out this week by Susan Choi.
Olivia [00:09:02] I feel like you always kind of get me at the start with your books. You're just like, so this person died and disappeared. But then we go into historical study and the characters psychoanalysis of where this all came from.
Annie Jones [00:09:13] Yes, it starts off, you think it's an Olivia pick, but it's not.
Olivia [00:09:20] I was like oh, no. But you were so close.
Annie Jones [00:09:23] So close.
Olivia [00:09:25] My first book is The Ghost Rider by Julie Clark. This is out June 3rd. She's written two other books that I think were really big like The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell, I believe they were. I hadn't read either of them, but after reading this one, I would trust her to write a good thriller. I read this in one sitting because it was just short chapters and the plot just kept going and going and I loved it. This is about Olivia Dumont.
Annie Jones [00:09:57] You're already sold.
Olivia [00:09:59] She's great, right? She is a ghostwriter and she specifically chooses like underrepresented women's voices, like famous women who she will ghost write their memoirs for. She's kind of in some hot water because she went on either a podcast or some radio talk show. And she called out a male counterpart for not always being truthful in the ghost writings that he does for the male sector of the world. So then he sued her and now she's going broke because she owes him a ton of money. She's about to lose her house and she's essentially been blacklisted from the market because she used her voice and called out another writer. But then her agent calls her because there is an infamous horror writer, Vincent Taylor, who has requested her specifically to write his memoir. He's up there in age, and so the assumption is that this is about his life as a writer. Vincent's past (we know this going in so this isn't a spoiler at all) when he was growing up, I think he was like 13 or 14, he came home from the fair at the last day of school and found his brother and sister both murdered in his house. And the town's general assumption was that Vincent killed them because he had always been edgy to the point of possible violence, but nothing was ever proved. And so people just kind of moved on. They kept their assumptions about him. And then he became this infamous horror writer, probably--
Annie Jones [00:11:54] Because of course.
Olivia [00:11:56] Yes, as one does when you supposedly murder your brother and sister. And now Olivia has been asked to write his memoir. And we know, but nobody else knows except for Vincent and Olivia, that Olivia is actually Vincent's daughter. Yes. So when she gets there, she's assuming she's writing his memoir. And he lets her know that actually he wants to write about the night that everything happened almost like a tell all. And so from there it just escalates and escalates, but it was so good. I loved every second of it. Again, short chapters, you just like fly through. It's all from Olivia's point of view and she wasn't unreliable in any way, shape or form. I did really like that as a character. And Vincent was way more complicated of a character than I thought he was going to be, which was also kind of refreshing. It's very well done.
Annie Jones [00:12:57] I like the sounds of this. It feels like there's a whole genre of books that's like Who Was Maud Dixon? Like these writers writing about other writers.
Olivia [00:13:06] Magpie murders. Yes, I do really like that as well. You don't get his book in there at all, like the book that she is writing about. But you do get the diary excerpts and the point of view from his deceased sister the days leading up to the murder, which was really cool because you're following it as Olivia is also uncovering stuff while talking to her father. Sometimes you know more than Olivia.
Annie Jones [00:13:36] Physical format or how do you read it?
Olivia [00:13:41] Why can't I remember? This is last weekend.
Annie Jones [00:13:46] I'm just curious for my own.
Olivia [00:13:48] I read it on my Kindle.
Annie Jones [00:13:50] Okay, I was like where can I download it or whatever? Because that sounds good for a reading slump, too.
Olivia [00:13:57] Yeah, it's really fast and I think it'll have like special sprayed edges as well. So if you're into that.
Erin [00:14:04] The father-daughter relationship complicates it too a little bit.
Olivia [00:14:08] Yeah, very much so actually.
Annie Jones [00:14:11] How long do you guys think sprayed edges are going to last with tariffs?
Erin [00:14:18] Are the tariffs on paint especially?
Olivia [00:14:20] The internet could have seen our faces during this. I give it 2026 like into 2026 and then were done.
Annie Jones [00:14:31] I'm just thinking the cost of production is rising. And so how long are we going to spray edges? Or maybe we keep spraying edges, but we're not doing intricate designs. I just wonder. I don't know. As we just keep watching hardback books get closer and closer to $35, and I'm like, how much longer do we have?
Olivia [00:14:56] Well, I think it's too soon for them to stop because it's just become a trend now and the publishers like to push things until like four to six months after they've gone out of fad.
Annie Jones [00:15:07] Yeah, that's right. It takes some a minute. They're like, wait, Taylor Swift is a big deal? Let's put out some books about her in two years.
Erin [00:15:21] Well, I do think the sprayed edges are about the whole thing about the beauty of books, displaying them, showing them off the beauty of them. And that's timeless. That's never goes away. So maybe it'll continue. Maybe people will still be looking for beauty in the midst of tariffs and taxes.
Annie Jones [00:15:40] Yeah, it depends on how much they are. But you're right. I do think books are a beautiful object.
Erin [00:15:51] And it makes them a collector's item, which makes them more valuable. So maybe they'll just keep doing it. I don't know. I like it. I like the trend. I'm here for it.
Annie Jones [00:15:58] What's that romcom it's so striking on the shelf right now by the time this comes out, but it's like that summer in the big apple or...
Erin [00:16:07] I think it's Summer in the City by Alex Astor.
Annie Jones [00:16:10] Yes, it's got this really great-- I don't even care that much about sprayed edges, but I almost took it home the other day because I was like, well, this one's fun.
Olivia [00:16:19] Yeah, they just catch your eye.
Annie Jones [00:16:21] Yeah, they do.
Erin [00:16:23] Okay. Well, this book, I don't think it's going to have sprayed edges, but it's okay. It's still worth reading. It's called A Family Matter by Claire Lynch. It's out already. Came out June 3rd. We meet Dawn, who is a young mother in Britain in 1982. And she is happy she's married. She has a small daughter named Maggie, but she feels like she never got the chance to find out who she was. She got married young. I think she's like 23. At 22 she got married young, had a child young and is just now trying to come into herself and find out kind of who she is. So she's just at a jumble sale, which I think that must be a British thing. We don't call them jumble sales here. It's like a community yard sale. Yeah, like a yard sale where everybody brings stuff in.
Annie Jones [00:17:12] What do we call those?
Erin [00:17:14] I don't know.
Annie Jones [00:17:15] A junk sale? A bazaar?
Erin [00:17:17] Yeah. A bizarre. I think everyone brings their stuff and they sell their own stuff at their own table.
Annie Jones [00:17:24] A jumble sale is kind of fun.
Erin [00:17:25] A jumble. I know. I like the visual that it gives us. But she meets a fun woman named Hazel and they strike up just a great conversation. They start doing things together, going to the movies, just hanging out, and in in one fraught moment, it becomes a romantic relationship. And so she ends up having an affair and she decides right away, like, I don't really love my husband. That was kind of obvious. And so, I'm just going to tell him and we're going to get a divorce. And I'll go on my way with Hazel and everything will be fine. Well, it's not fine. Spoiler alert. She tells her husband and I don't even really know that her husband is so upset about it. But I think when he starts to tell other people about it, they start telling him you should be very upset about this. You should be worried about your child and you should fight her for custody. She should not have custody. So that's sort of unfolding in one timeline. And then the other timeline is in 2022 where we meet a man named Heron like the bird Heron. And you're learning about him and come to find out he was Dawn's husband. So we're learning about him. It's just him, his daughter and he's just learned he has terminal cancer. So he's going through some stuff in his home, trying to get rid of things, all while trying to hide this cancer from his daughter, Maggie, who cares a lot about him. And so as his secrets are coming out when they're literally like unpacking stuff from the attic, getting ready for his impending death in a way.
[00:19:02] Secrets start to come out about what happened with Dawn back in 1982. Like, where did she go? We don't know. Like did she die? Did she leave? What happened? And so you're getting like one chapter and then the other you're going back and forth between why Dawn is not a part of Maggie and Heron's life right now. Why is she not in touch with them? To me, it was a little bit about historical fiction about Britain in the 1980s. And you would think 1980s people didn't have a problem with like a lesbian or gay relationships then, but they did. They very much did still. And the author even goes into it in a very interesting author's note at the end about the legal system in Britain at that time and how long it really took for same-sex marriages to be approved and things like that. So that was interesting to me, the historical aspect of it, but really it's just this family dealing with secrets. And as one reviewer said, this book is about like the shelf life of love. Like how long of a shelf life does love have? And I thought that's a great way to describe it because it's like how can you take that love that Maggie's been holding for her mom this whole time mixed with the anger and the betrayal and the frustration and what can happen at the end? And it has a very redemptive ending. So I'll just leave it at that. So it's called A Family Matter by Claire Lynch on June 3rd.
Annie Jones [00:20:22] I saw that in the publisher catalog and was curious about it.
Erin [00:20:25] I think it might only be like 240 pages. It's a very quick read.
Annie Jones [00:20:32] Okay, my next one is one that is highly anticipated and I read it so that I could talk to you about it. So it is Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Came out this week. Chances are one is on its way to your mailbox now because you were so excited, you pre-ordered. Listen, it's great. It's not my favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid, but it is really good. And I think one thing Kyndall on staff and I were talking about is Taylor Jenkins Reid is to me a reliable author in the same vein as, for example, Emily Henry. I could rank my favorite Emily Henry novels, but the truth is I like them all. They're reliable. I enjoy them. And I think Taylor Jenkins Reid does such a good job of storytelling. She's just a really good storyteller and she chooses subject matter that I am naturally interested in. I really loved Carrie Soto. Is tennis my thing? Not necessarily. Are sports? Yes. Are sports adjacent things? Yes. And so this one actually, Olivia, this is another book that I feel like has an Olivia element to it.
Olivia [00:21:33] Kyndall has been trying to get me to read this so hard.
Erin [00:21:35] She's been trying. She even left the ARC upstairs for you on the table. You just got to grab it.
Olivia [00:21:40] Yeah. I know I'm so scared.
Annie Jones [00:21:40] Well, truthfully, I don't know that it's for you, but of all the Taylor Jenkins Reid books, this is the one I would put in your hands.
Olivia [00:21:49] This would be closest.
Annie Jones [00:21:50] Yes, this would be the closest. But this book is about space and space travel. And so we meet Joan Godwin really in one of the most tense moments of her career because she is down on the ground mission control like I pictured. I have watched a lot of space movies, but I pictured like the Apollo 13 movie, all the crew on the ground guiding the people who were in the shuttle. So that's where we first meet Joan. It's during this high intensity moment of her being mission control kind of on the ground. And then we go back, I think, just a couple of years to the summer of 1980 when Joan, an astronomer, finally gets recruited by NASA. She's been applying for years, never kind of made it, and she finally gets recruiting by them. And she, along with a team of other people, go through the process of training to become astronauts. So it's very summery because it's set in the heat of Texas. Essentially camp while they're trying to prep for their mission and just training to be astronauts. It's not necessarily about a particular mission at that This is Joan's book. This is a book about Joan. The other characters, I will say, there are so many other characters. It took me a minute to fully get into it because I couldn't figure out who was important to care about because there were just so many people. But now, as I'm considering how I would hand sell it, I think there's a Top Gun element to this book where it feels very much like you're getting used to all these people and how they interact and their different personalities and how they would work on a shuttle together or on a mission together.
[00:23:34] I think the movie was called like Fly Me to the Moon. It was pretty good actually. It was like Channing Tatum weirdly and Scarlett Johansson. Anyway, that was a really fun movie last year that came out about space. If you like anything like that, I do think you will like this. And once I got accustomed, it took me about 50 pages to figure out who was who. And once got that down, I really did love it. And I discovered this book is really Joan's story to tell. The subtitle, I believe, in this book is Atmosphere: A Love Story. And there are a few different things at play that I won't spoil for you here, but I will say there is a romantic relationship that certainly plays a really big role in these books. There's also some really lovely familial relationships. Actually, some relationships I might have liked to have seen more of, but I respect Taylor Jenkins Reid for keeping it short and sweet. I mean, her books are always I think a little bit fewer than 300 pages. And so she tells a pretty concise story.
[00:24:31] This is a great summer book. Again, if I were ranking my Taylor Jenkins Reid books, I don't think this one would be at the top. However, much like the book Erin was just talking about, there is a fantastic author's note that I hope stays from the ARC to the physical copy because she does a beautiful job of writing about why she wanted to write about space and why she wanted to write a book like this that really elevated the experience for me after I read it. I really liked it. And I think if you're looking for a summer adventure romance, this will be for you. It's a great summer book. So that is Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid out this week. I think if you are a fan of hers, you won't be disappointed.
Olivia [00:25:14] I'm so scared that it would be like a Ministry of Time situation for me, where I'm like I'm going into this for the time travel or the space and what I'm getting is a rom-com.
Annie Jones [00:25:25] Yeah. I will say that is what Ministry of Time became. This is not a romance novel. There is a lot of character development, but because of the pacing, and maybe this is where Kyndall is coming from for you, because of the pacing, the mission is really important. And feels like she did a lot research on what it would be like to space travel and then to be on the ground helping control that mission. That part is super intense and really good writing, like really good. And then you would just have to deal with the chapters that are also about Joan as a person developing.
Olivia [00:26:04] Do we need it? Do we need to know Joan that well?
Annie Jones [00:26:08] Right, that's what you would have to decide. Like how attached are you to Joan and to her personal growth?
Olivia [00:26:16] When there's space versus personal growth, it's always going to be space.
Erin [00:26:22] If you don't grab the ARC soon, I'll probably just snatch it, read it, bring it back to you.
Olivia [00:26:28] You snatch that, read it, bring it back. I think I'm trying to save a bunch of reads for like maternity leave where I'm just like I need something that I don't have to worry or think too hard about. Okay, my next book I am also super excited about and I do think is highly anticipated in very specific circles.
Annie Jones [00:26:48] Absolutely.
Erin [00:26:48] In a circle of one. Olivia?
Olivia [00:26:52] This is The King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby out June 10th.
Erin [00:26:57] We do love him.
Olivia [00:26:58] He is amazing. And every time I find someone who has also read him, they have loved his books just as much as I have.
Annie Jones [00:27:07] Yeah, he's a great writer.
Olivia [00:27:09] So this is about a trio of siblings, the Carruthers. I just cut the U out in the middle. But Roman is the eldest. He is finally coming home after a long stint of just being away and needing to be away because of the complicated family history. He has left his next eldest sister, Neveah, and his youngest brother, Dante, there to take care of the family crematorium alongside their father. And a crematorium that you note in an essay Cosby novel will be used exactly how you think it will be.
Erin [00:27:51] For revenge. I'm just kidding.
Olivia [00:27:53] If you know, you know. So he's coming home because his father was just ended up in a coma after a very suspicious car accident that he got into. And they're worried that he won't wake up. So Roman is kind of coming home, not only to take care of his siblings, but also to possibly say goodbye to his father. When he gets there, he finds out that his brother Dante tried to wrangle himself into the local notorious gang that is absolutely cutthroat and ruthless. And now he owes them hundreds of thousands of dollars. And these are the type of people that you do not want to owe money to. I mean, dare I say you probably don't want to owe money to any gang. But this gang specifically feels I would say number one least want to owe money to. And so Roman is now handling all of this as the eldest sibling does. Thank you to your eldest sibling. Am I the only youngest here?
Erin [00:29:02] I'm a middle. So yeah.
Annie Jones [00:29:07] All of us are represented here. Wow, what a diverse podcast.
Olivia [00:29:11] Can you tell from the personalities, everybody? But Roman has to get Dante out of this mess. And his way of doing that is he's hired this guy. Roman went to school for financial stuff. So basically he's going to work his way into the gang and destroy them from within. Because if you've read a lot of gang or mafia things, if you cut the top head off, another one resurges.
Annie Jones [00:29:38] Correct, the Sopranos taught me that.
Olivia [00:29:41] There you go. And so Roman's like I'm going to get in there, make an in with them and then just kill them all. And so he hires his buddy to help him do this and they get started. And in true SA Cosby fashion, this book is gratuitously gruesome. But what I will say, I was just talking to a customer about this, it's not overly gratuitous in that like that was unnecessary. All of the gruesome acts that are in this book-- how many times can I say gruesome while describing the book? They're necessary to the plot because you need to understand the dire situation that they are in while owing money to these people, and the stress that is placed on the family and the weight that this is on Roman and especially Dante, who, poor Dante.
Erin [00:30:43] Yeah.
Olivia [00:30:44] The book is so well done. I loved all three of the characters. I was actually nervous to start this one because the publishers comped it to The Godfather, which I know I've told you guys, but I don't know if I've told the podcast listeners, I tried to do a movie poster last year. I failed.
Annie Jones [00:31:02] Did y'all give up?
Erin [00:31:06] I wondered how that was going.
Olivia [00:31:08] Yeah, I hate to say that. But yeah.
Annie Jones [00:31:13] I'd love the updates.
Olivia [00:31:13] We watched The Godfather because it was one of the movies that you're supposed to watch. I did not like it. That was way too long and really boring. And the lines that people picked out in The Godfather to repeat are not the standout moments. It was really weird. And so going into this book knowing that they comped it to The Godfather, I was like, I don't think I'm going to like this. But I loved it. If The Godfather had been more like this, I would have loved that movie. All three to four hours of it. And then sequels, is it necessary? No. But I'd read a sequel of this one
Erin [00:31:54] Is this like The Departed, would you say? Like it's got the undercover aspect, right?
Olivia [00:32:00] No, just because there's no Leo in this. I'm so sorry.
Erin [00:32:04] Okay.
Olivia [00:32:05] But I'm only a Leo stan in The Departed. I feel like I need to say that.
Erin [00:32:10] Understood.
Olivia [00:32:11] I don't think there's a Leo character in this for me. I'm not good at picturing things in my head. So that's a hard comp. But it was really well done. That's the King of Ashes by SA Cosby.
Erin [00:32:25] I've also heard from people who have heard SA Cosby speak in person that he is just a nice, a good person, like just a good person. And you love to hear that about authors. It makes me like their work even more. Well, from murder to Japan. And here we go. No, it's okay. There's no murder in this one that I know of. But this is one of my, again, we're talking about circles of anticipation. I'm in the middle of this one. It's called Kakigori Summer by Emily Itami. Emily Itami for me is an author that I'm like, why don't I hear about her more? I love her book. She wrote Fault Lines probably three years ago, four years ago. And it was one of my favorite books of that year. And so I hand sell it to people. I love her books. I've told people about them. And now she's coming up with another one. And I am so excited. I have not finished this one yet, but I am eagerly working my way through it. It's about three. Their Japanese names, so I'm sorry if I'm messing up the pronunciation, but I think it's AI, Ray, and Kiki. And AI is the youngest sister and she is a talented Japanese pop star. And she was caught by paparazzi with the married manager of her record label. So she's single, she was caught kissing him and it's all over the tabloids. It's all over the news in Japan and she's being shamed for it because they talk about how in Japan, if you're like a pop star, you're supposed to be like this-- not saint necessarily, but you're supposed to be considered this pure standalone person so that all your fans can imagine themselves with you. They don't want you to be in a relationship, they don't want you to have a boyfriend, they definitely don't want you to kissing a married man. So she's sort of a hiding out from all the paparazzi and from all this bad publicity.
[00:34:29] And her sister Ray is an investment banker in London. She's the oldest sister. And Kiki is a middle sister; she is a single mother who's like working in a nursing home in Japan. And so Ray and Kiki decide, all right, we've got to be good sisters. We've got go get her and we're going to take her to this small little village where their great grandmother lives. And she's like a super strict, very traditional great grandmother. And so they take her to this remote village called Ikimura. And this is a place that holds hard memories for them because this is the place their mother died a long time ago. And so they've sort of grown up under their great grandmother's care. This is a really small town. So a lot of people knew them and knew their mom. And so it's a hard place to go back to, but they go and spend the summer there as the book is called. And it allows them time to work through what they're all going through personally and what they've been through as sisters in this peaceful place. And I had to look up what a Kakigori is. I was like, what is this book about? But it's a Japanese shaved ice dessert. And so if you could put it in American terms, it would be like a snow cone summer or something like that. Not to minimalize how delicious I'm sure a Japanese Kakigori is, but I'm looking forward to this. If you love family dynamics, especially three sisters, I always love a sister dynamic. So I'm really, really excited to get through this one and see what Emily Itami has written this time. And this comes out June the 10th.
Annie Jones [00:36:07] That sounds good. I'm just looking at my list and y'all's lists, but when I am short of attention span, I just think back to the pandemic. Summer books were my favorite. And I think it's because so many of them are either shorter or they're more propulsive or it's like they anticipate that our attention span is going to be different in the summer. I don't know. And so there are so many books coming out this summer that I'm like that sounds really good.
Erin [00:36:36] Yeah, June is a great month.
Annie Jones [00:36:38] Yeah, I think it's where my head is at right now. That's the kind of book I need. So my last book is again one that I am really looking forward to hand selling. It's called Among Friends. This is by Hal Ebbott. It's a debut novel put out by Riverhead. And I will say as much as e-reading is not necessarily my preferred way of reading or processing books. I saw this book on Riverhead's Instagram and immediately was drawn in by the cover. I went to Edelweiss, yes, I requested a physical ARC, but it was just an immediate gratification thing where like I went Edelweis, I downloaded the copy and there is something to be said for that momentum of I saw it and now I got to read it! So I downloaded it to my Kindle, and I read this in e-reader format. It's out on June 24th. This is an Annie book through and through. Basically, we have Emerson and Amos. They are two men in their late 40s, early 50s. They've been best friends since at least college. You get a sense of their history the more the novel progresses, but you can tell how very close they are because immediately you see these two men communicating more with each other than they do with their respective wives. And so you just get a sense that these two men have a deep history, they really love each other platonically. There's not necessarily a hint of romantic love. It's just like these men have known each other since they were kids and since they were younger and they have secrets and a history.
[00:38:15] So Emerson is turning 50. And Amos and his family join them at their country house in, I think, upstate New York. So already, again, there's certain tropes I love when I'm reading a summer book. Maybe it's a summer house in Maine. Maybe we're dealing with a lake in Michigan. Upstate New York will take it. Anything that's built around a house or a weekend together. So Amos and his wife and daughter come and join Emerson and his life and daughter. And you can tell not only are Emerson and Amos close, but over the years these families have just developed a close dynamic. They clearly do this all the time. This is not unusual. However, there is some tension. Immediately you, the reader, know, well, something's off here. And you don't know is it maybe an issue of class or money? Emerson's family has a country home. We don't get the sense that Amos and his family have that. Maybe Emerson comes from money. Maybe Amos didn't. So there's some underlying tension. And you don't know if it's because 50th birthday is like lots of feelings, or is there marital trouble? Like what is going on?
[00:39:23] This book is, in my mind, a delicious slow burn where you're just waiting to find out why-- like, as a reader, I felt tense reading it. I was like, what is this going on here? It almost reminded me of The Dinner by Herman Koch. I just kept waiting over the course of this country weekend when everything was going to blow. Because you just kind of got the sense that something was going to happen, and it does. Listen, this book is so good. If you liked the Paper Palace, I think you'll like this. If you like the dinner, I you'll think you like this. It is a simmering intensity that I really enjoyed. Again, mostly set over the course of one weekend in the country for Emerson's 50th birthday. So this is called Among Friends by Hal Ebbott. I can't believe it's a debut. I think it was really smart, well-written. A slow burn that kept me turning the page. So, yeah, I hope people will give it a go.
Erin [00:40:15] There's a lot of buzz around it. I see it a lot. I see it everywhere. I see people talking about it.
Annie Jones [00:40:21] I loved the cover. It's got a great cover. I don't know if y'all feel this way, but when I read on my Kindle-- I think we might've talked about this on a recent episode, but it's hard for me to remember what I'm reading because it's not laying on my nightstand. I don't see it all the time. But sometimes I also finish a book on my Kindle and I really want the physical copy because I want the representation that I finished it. And this is a cover that I really like and I'd like to have it on my shelf. I really liked it.
Olivia [00:40:52] This is probably a really good podcast to like go on hiatus because there's so many highly anticipated titles.
Annie Jones [00:40:59] Yes. Go ahead and stock up for summer.
Erin [00:41:03] Read them all summer. Just all of them.
Olivia [00:41:07] Yeah, just buy all nine and your set.
Annie Jones [00:41:07] And you'll be covered till September.
Olivia [00:41:11] You get a range of genres. They're all great summer reads.
Annie Jones [00:41:15] Yeah. Genius.
Olivia [00:41:18] Because my next one is also highly anticipated. But I actually think you two might also like this book as well.
Annie Jones [00:41:23] I'm curious about this. I was wondering about this this.
Olivia [00:41:26] This is the newest book by Nikki Erlick who wrote The Measure that I thought was absolutely incredible. That came out two years ago, I think. They kept it in hardcover for a very long time.
Erin [00:41:37] They did, I know. That's why I was confused.
Olivia [00:41:40] Which should just be the tribute to how well done that book was. She's very good at highly realistic fiction. In The Measure, it was everyone got a box with a piece of string that correlates to the length of their life. And you followed five characters through it. This one is called Poppy Fields. It's out June 17th. And this is about a highly controversial treatment center out in California that's called the Poppy Fields. And people who have experienced deep grief of any kind can apply to go to this treatment center where they then go into like an induced coma sort of sleep for either a month to two months. And when they wake up, their grief is basically lessened. It's like the overwhelming grief that was prohibiting them from living their daily lives the way they wanted to is no longer there. They'll still love that person. They still feel their feelings for that person, but it's not hindering them any longer. And a lot of people needed that. I think the treatment center in the book they talked about, they had 100,000 people go through the treatment center in two to three years. But obviously with a treatment like that, there's also groups of people who do not think this is safe. Do not think it's okay. That you should feel your feelings. That this is almost like cheating your way out of a situation.
[00:43:15] But also there is a known side effect that has caused controversy as well, where it's like you have a 20% chance of when you wake up you will no longer feel grief. Your memories of that person don't really contain love anymore. You remember being friends with them at a friend level. And so for some people that's fine. But if you think about like a parent who lost a child, if they wake up with that symptom and now their child to them is just like a memory of an acquaintance or a friend, that's highly detrimental to not only their wellbeing, but the people around them who are also experiencing that same grief but didn't go to sleep. We follow three people who met actually by coincidence in the Kansas City airport, one that I am very familiar with, because Mr. Lewis lives in Kansas City. Yeah, and they met because the tornado struck like a couple miles like 20 minutes away from the airport, so everyone went into lockdown.
[00:44:13] The two women met in the bathroom because it's the tornado shelter. And they were talking and they both realized they're going to Poppy Fields. And then they had to rent a car because all of the planes were grounded for like 24 to 48 hours. And they met this guy, Ray, who was also going to Poppy Fields. And that kicks off their road trip in this like yellow minivan. And they're driving from Kansas City all the way to California to Poppy Fields. I was nervous about this part because I was like, I don't want three people who are just grieving on a road trip and I have to hear sad stories.
Annie Jones [00:44:54] That doesn't sound fun to you?
Olivia [00:44:57] Maybe somebody else's book, not the one I'm looking for. And that is not what Nikki Erlick did. I'm not going to tell you all the reasons for going to Poppy Field because you do slowly get glimpses into what's going on. And I do really enjoy that, slowly figuring out why Ava's going, why Ray is going. One of them is going there to go to sleep. I will say that. And then the other two are going there for other reasons. And so, they have their own conversations going because obviously they all know why they're going there. And now there's a lot to talk about, especially with the controversy surrounding the treatment center. Throughout their chapters, you also get side chapters of the woman who started the treatment center. Her name's Ellis, and she obviously has a lot of thoughts on it as well, but she's also a very down-to-earth and grounded person. She doesn't take the side effect for granted. Like she knows the name of every single person who has experienced that side effect and, and feels pain for what they're going through.
[00:46:00] She has a lot of hesitations moving forward because everyone wants a second treatment center. She only wants it if it can be done the right way. And so there's a lot going on in her life as well. But it's kind of nice that you get to see that this treatment center isn't run by just this billionaire who wants to make money. You go there for free. She vets all of the applications. You get some of the applications throughout the chapters as well. And she does really care for all the people who are going to her treatment center. And she wants to make the world a better place and she feels like this is how she can do it. Nikki Erlick is just really great. Her writing is just really well done. And the chapters in this book are like anywhere from three to six pages. They are so short and they're so concise and they've just done really well. I will probably read whatever she writes. She's just really, really good at this
Annie Jones [00:46:56] I'd like to go back and reread-- like you, Olivia, maybe I'm being pie in the sky probably. What else is new? But I just keep thinking it will be nice to maybe read some things for fun this summer. Who's to say if that actually will happen, but I would like to back and read The Measure. And this one sound really good, too.
Olivia [00:47:15] Yeah, it is. It's so well done. I think both of you would like it.
Erin [00:47:19] I'm looking forward to that. I didn't know that she was coming out with another one. I do like how she writes. I feel like her books, especially The Measure, I guess, was one that everybody wanted to talk about because it's like would you want to know? It's a great book called book. It's a book that we all talked about once we read it. So I have a feeling this one will be the same as well.
Olivia [00:47:41] Yeah, she's a great book club choice.
Erin [00:47:43] Okay. My last book is called Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess. It sounds much more gory.
Annie Jones [00:47:53] Sounds like an Olivia book.
Erin [00:47:55] I have the ARC
Olivia [00:47:57] It's coming out June 10th. This one is on my radar because Annabel Monaghan is a big fan of Karen's and I think they are friends and she keeps promoting this and I was like I've got to read this. Because I think it got a Kirkus review, maybe a starred one, I'm not sure. But anyway, it's a great book, guys. I have just started it. I said it's the coziest of murder mysteries. It is cozy. It's about Cath, and we meet her when her mother has just passed away. And listen, her mother was not there for her. Her mother was not in her life. I think she was mostly raised by her grandfather. And so her mother had not been there in her life as a constant presence. Her mother has just died and she's going through her things. And she finds a pamphlet, a brochure for an immersive experience in England that her mother bought two tickets for. And it's basically an immersive like murder mystery. So you go and this whole town puts it on. So they choose the suspects, they choose the victim, they set up the clues, all that to attract tourists to come. And it's in the Peak District of England, which is one of the places I want to visit the most. It's like a lot of land, obviously it's a huge area. But inside the Peak District is that cliff where Keira Knightley filmed the scene where she's on the cliff in Pride and Prejudice and the wind is blowing there. So that's really the only reason I want to go there, but this being set there gives it an up in my perspective.
Erin [00:49:28] But Cath calls, she can't get a refund for the trip. So she decides like what the heck? I might as well go. So she decided to go. After all, she decides to go to England. Her mom had bought a cottage for the two of them, but the company said, well, we can't refund you the whole thing, but we'll refund you part of it if you don't mind having roommates. Like if you come and you stay in a more bunk bed situation.
Annie Jones [00:49:54] No, not worth it Cath.
Olivia [00:49:59] Adults should not stay in bunk beds.
Annie Jones [00:50:02] Should not have to sleep in a bunk bed.
Olivia [00:50:05] Poor choice, but I think it lends itself well to this plot where she meets Wyatt and Amity. Wyatt works in like a flower shop, I think, and Amity is a rom-com writer, and she's just there to get content for her next novel. So the town puts this on and they end up gathering clues, interviewing suspects, and trying to actually solve the murder over this week. And as you can imagine, you can probably predict, in the middle of it there's a little bit of a romance. I don't know that this is the highlight of the book, but there is a little romance with a local man for Cath. And obviously, Amity, Wyatt and Cath all learn more about themselves and about each other and about why they're there. And in the meantime, actually, Cath finds out more about her mom. Like, why was her mom drawn to this place? Why did her mom buy these tickets for them and she's not even been a part of Cath's life for her whole life? So it's a truly, I think, heartwarming book, but also you've got the murder mystery aspect of it, but it's poignant. It's about a daughter dealing with grief, grieving someone who really wasn't even there to begin with. But it's so sweet and I can't wait to finish it. It's called Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess. It comes out June 10th.
Annie Jones [00:51:27] Well, that's so different from what I was expecting when you said the title.
Olivia [00:51:32] when I read the title of the ARC.
Erin [00:51:36] It sounds like a bad fraternity thing gone wrong.
Annie Jones [00:51:40] Yeah, sounds like a sorority killer story, which I'd be interested.
Erin [00:51:43] It's not bad at all. It's very sweet and heartwarming. I'd be interested. Annie's like, "Write that book.".
Annie Jones [00:51:49] Yeah. Although I am curious.
Olivia [00:51:52] And does anyone get murdered?
Erin [00:51:53] I don't think anyone actually gets murdered. I will let you know once I finish it.
Annie Jones [00:52:00] What did Karen Dukess write?
Erin [00:52:03] She's written other things and I don't have it written down, but this is on her first book.
Annie Jones [00:52:11] The Last Book Party. That was a Nancy pick a while ago, a couple years ago, I think. Well, I will echo Olivia's sentiment, I think all nine of those books could get you through the summer and cover a wide range of genres and could be really enjoyable reading experiences. So if you'd like to buy the books we've talked throughout today, you can go to bookshelfthomasville.com. Type episode 532 into the search bar, and you'll see all of the books we've talked about today listed where you can pre-order or purchase. We will be back with a New Release Rundown episode in September, but don't worry, the podcast is not going on hiatus. We will have other episodes throughout the summer for you. Just no New Release Rundown episodes for July and August, which really isn't that much now that I'm saying it out loud. You'll be fine. You, the listener, will be fined.
Olivia [00:53:00] You'll survive.
Annie Jones [00:53:02] You'll be okay. This week, I'm reading Audition by Katie Kitamura. Olivia, what are you reading?
Olivia [00:53:12] I'm reading The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls by Judith Rossell.
Erin [00:53:16] I'm actually started listening to audition by Katie Kitamura.
[00:53:18] Annie Jones: From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website:
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:
Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of From the Front Porch and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
Our Executive Producers of today’s episode are…
Cammy Tidwell, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell, Gene Queens, Beth, Jammie Treadwell…
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins
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