Episode 575 || April 2026 New Release Rundown
This week on From the Front Porch, it’s a New Release Rundown! Annie, Erin, and Olivia share the March 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 575), or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Annie’s books
○ The Midnight Show by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne (4/7)
○ Love by the Book by Jessica George (4/7)
○ Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead by Mai Mguyen (4/14)
Olivia’s books
○ The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke (April 7th)
○ Anna-Jane and the Endless Summer by Paige Classey (April 28th)
○ We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune (April 28th)
Erin’s books
○ Like This, But Funnier by Hallie Cantor (April 7th)
○ Small Town Girls by Jayne Anne Phillips (April 21st)
○ The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliva (April 28th)
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 The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian. Olivia is reading Young World by Soman Chainani. Erin is reading Detour by Jeff Rake and Rob Hart.
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...Ashley Ferrell, Beth, Cammy Tidwell, Gene Queens, Jammie Treadwell, Joseph Shorter IV, Kimberly, Linda Lee Drozt, Nicole Marsee, Stephanie Dean, and Wendi Jenkins.
Transcript:
[00:00:01] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the South.
It never occurred to me to think of myself as part of a long and ongoing tradition of loss-- to break from the illusion that my experience was singular. -Mai Nguyen, Clio Dong Would Rather Be Dead.
[00:00:41] I'm Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. Today, I'm joined by the Bookshelves Operations Manager, Olivia, and Bookshelf Floor Manager, Erin, to give you a rundown of our favorite new books releasing in April. Do you like hearing from Olivia and Erin each month? Well, what if I told you there was a way to have book selections by Bookshelf staffers like Olivia and Erin delivered to your door or to your ears each month. Our Shelf Subscription program offers just that. Each month, members of our team selects their favorite book of the month to mail out to shelf subscribers. There's a local pickup option, too, for those closer to our home in downtown Thomasville. This year, we're offering two adult Shelf Subscription options, the Annie, Lots of Literary Fiction and Nonfiction, and the Revolving Shelf Subscription, which is perfect for the adventurous, eclectic reader. Revolving Shelf subscribers will receive books chosen by Olivia, Shop Mom Susie. Shop Dad Chris, and Nancy.
[00:01:42] If you're more of an audiobook listener, in 2026 we have you covered with our audiobook subscription, offered in partnership with our friends at Libro.fm You'll receive digital audiobooks selected each month by Bookshelf floor manager, Erin. For more information about our Shelf Subscription program, including kid-lit options selected each month by me, and sure, Isaac too, you can visit bookshelfthomasville.com/pages/shelf-subscriptions, or simply click Shelf Subscriptions at the top of our homepage. There's a link in the show notes too. This year is actually our 10th anniversary of our Shelf Subscription program. And we're so proud of what literature we send out into the world each month. If you love our tastes here, I suspect you'd love them delivered to your mailbox too. Now, back to the show. Guys, Shelf Subscription feels like a theater thing that I'm supposed to say over and over again to get my spit out or something.
Erin [00:02:42] Mommy made me mash my M&Ms.
Annie Jones [00:02:46] Every time I say it, I'm like, oh, just enunciate as best you can to move on. It feels like tongue twister every time I read that copy. Welcome. Hi, Olivia. Hi, Erin.
Olivia [00:02:57] Hello.
Erin [00:02:58] Good morning.
Annie Jones [00:02:59] Okay, so we have April new releases to talk about today. I don't know how you guys feel. Olivia, I know you are also doing summer catalogs. So I think you are in the same boat as me right now. But I'll be honest, I feel like I'm reading for spring lit lunch, Literary First Look. I'm getting summer ARCS. I'm also trying to pick Shelf Subscriptions and I don't even know what month it is. I looked at these notes and I was like what month are we talking about? What releases are we talking about today? I don't know. I feel like this happens all the time, but this month in particular, I just feel like, what month are we in? I don't know.
Olivia [00:03:39] Well, and in the kid’s catalogs, I can't tell you the number of Halloween picture books that I've already read.
Erin [00:03:45] What? Which actually has worked out fine since it's a bit of a cold, cold...
Annie Jones [00:03:51] Yes. That's also throwing me off. It was 90 degrees here a few days ago or three days ago, and now it's like wind chill of 20. And I'm like, my body, my brain, everything feels a little out of sorts. And when I was looking at what we were recording today, I was like, okay, wait, which month is this? I don't know.
Olivia [00:04:14] April, Surprisingly, yes. I had to defrost my windshield this morning.
Erin [00:04:17] Me too!
Annie Jones [00:04:19] Me too. I thought, is that ICE on my windshield? And I had bought not a lot, but like I had brought two new spring plants for my front stoop and some flowers for my back. And now I had to bring them all inside. I have to bring it all inside, so there's just a fort. I'm talking to you from a jungle. You can't see it. It's over here. But yeah, all my plants are surrounding me. And wait, I'm so sorry, but speaking of plants and spring, this morning, Jordan was in the kitchen with Isaac and I heard a gasp and Jordan Jones doesn't gasp and I thought, oh no, like I pictured coffee on the baby.
Olivia [00:05:00] I went to blood.
Annie Jones [00:05:01] Right, like a dropped knife or like something has happened. I go in there and Jordan's just standing there and I'm like, are you okay? And Isaac's fine, he's in his little basket. I was like, is everything okay? And Jordan goes, "There was a bee in my pants." And I was like, what? And sure enough, a giant carpenter bee was flying in our kitchen window. And he said, that bee was in my pajama pants. And I said, "For how long? Did you sleep with a bee in your pajama?" And he says, "I could feel something while I was standing here. And I'm like, what is that? And then it started to move." And he's said, "And then that bee flew out of my pants."
Olivia [00:05:47] There's a new nightmare unlocked.
Erin [00:05:48] I know.
Annie Jones [00:05:49] Olivia, I did think of you because it was very unsettling. It's been a weird morning here. I did check. I was like is it Friday the 13th? No, it's Wednesday. There's weird vibes in our house this morning. And I was, like, what is going on? And then I thought, oh my gosh, if Olivia found a bee in her pants...
Olivia [00:06:09] I'd call out... [Crosstalk] Like, I'm actually at the ER having a panic attack.
Annie Jones [00:06:16] I know looking back, like a slight gasp is honestly pretty impressive. That's as most as Jordan ever [inaudible].
Olivia [00:06:22] My pants would have been off so fast.
Annie Jones [00:06:26] That's what was so confusing. His pants were still on. I was like, what happened?
Olivia [00:06:30] You trust that there's no other bees in your pants right now? Because one bee in my pants is too many.
Annie Jones [00:06:37] We still don't know how it got in his pants. He'd stepped outside briefly to let Sam out and we guess that's what it is. Anyway, these are important everyone.
Olivia [00:06:49] Don't let them in your pants. Life lessons From the Front Porch.
Annie Jones [00:06:56] I'm so sorry to derail us this morning. I know we're on a time crunch, but I just was like I have to tell you that there was a bee in Jordan's pants this morning! Okay, so each of us has three books releasing in April to talk to you about today. As we go through these new releases, as with every new release episode, you can keep in mind that Perry, our online sales manager, has made browsing our podcast book selections super easy. Just go to bookshelfthomasville.com and you can type episode 575 into the search bar. You'll see all of today's books listed ready for you to pre-order or purchase. And then you can use the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout and get 10% off your order of todays titles. Okay, I will kick us off with a book that I read months ago, which may be why I'm feeling a little discombobulated, but The Midnight Show by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorn finally releases next week, April 7th. So I loved this book. To me, it is an Annie/Olivia. Actually, Erin, I think you would like it too. But if we're thinking about the Venn diagram of like literary fiction and thriller suspense, like I do think there's some overlap here.
[00:08:11] This is a story about a 1980s New York comedy scene. The Midnight Show is the name of the show that is definitely inspired by Saturday Night Live. So it's a novel, it's fictional book about this midnight show. And it is an oral history format. So I was telling the ladies at Literary Lunch earlier that I'm tired of the Daisy Jones comp, but I don't really like it's the most recognizable comp as a bookseller. And so I feel like I use it frequently. We all use it frequently. But it is that oral history format where there's clearly a documentarian in the modern era working on this piece about the Midnight Show. And they are doing all these interviews. And the book is told in emails, in interviews, maybe even a text or two. All about the midnight show and in particular the women who made up the Midnight Show. So I actually sort of hated the book Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. But one of the things I loved about that book was her kind of deep dive into the New York comedy scene that's another book that kind of had a fictional Saturday Night Live situation. And so if you take those parts of that book and then add maybe a mystery element and the oral history format, I think you will get The Midnight Show. The mystery that's at the heart of the book is Lillian is one of the up-and-comer comedians who makes The Midnight show work. She's a great improv comedian. She becomes immensely popular.
[00:09:57] During the run of the show, when the show is at its peak, she goes missing and no one has kind of heard from her since and so you the reader and the documentary or journalism crew, nobody knows what happened to her. They don't know did she jump off the bridge and take her own life? Did she try to disappear and start another life? Was she the victim of a violent crime? And so that is what propels the novel forward. I loved the 1970s, 1980s New York setting. As somebody who read that SNL oral history that came out so many years ago, I loved reading because I definitely think they did some research. I even looked to see if either of these authors were comedians or comedy writers because I think the stuff about the 1970s, 1980s comedy scene and in particular how women were treated in that scene-- this is obviously way pre Me Too movement. And so it's interesting to kind of watch these women come of age in this atmosphere. And so I loved those parts of the book. And then I also really was invested in the mystery element of the story. So I really like this one. I read the physical format. I do wonder-- and Erin and I talked about this-- if it'd be a great audio book just because of that oral history format. But it is called The Midnight Show. It's by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorn. I flew through this one too. I think it would make a great like break kind of read. It releases next Tuesday.
Olivia [00:11:36] Did you picture, like, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler when you were reading it?
Annie Jones [00:11:40] You know who I pictured? Well, I pictured like old school, like Gilda Radner. Like one of the characters, I was like, oh, that's Gilda Radner, like a 1970s, 80s.
Erin [00:11:49] Little older reference, yeah.
Annie Jones [00:11:51] Yeah, like that era. So I didn't picture Tina and Amy, but I did picture Gilda. I pictured Gilda and there's another woman I picture, but do not recall her name at this moment. Jane. Okay. Okay, that's who I pictured.
Olivia [00:12:05] Jane from this season.
Erin [00:12:09] From SNL.
Annie Jones [00:12:09] Yeah, from the old... Sorry, Olivia. Yeah. Old school SNL. I do like Jane from this season. She's grown on me. Yeah. Good. And she's grown. Actually, I'm sorry, the Harry Styles episode, I thought I would like the Ryan Gosling episode. The Harry Styles episode was great. I think I liked almost every skit.
Olivia [00:12:25] These skits were so good. Honestly, they've been on a good streak as of-
Annie Jones [00:12:30] Yeah, I think so too. They've not been on their game. I think it's just hard to do comedy right now. But I do think the last few episodes, but the Harry Styles one was a pleasant surprise to me.
Olivia [00:12:49] Who knew? Lauren.
Annie Jones [00:12:50] Lauren knew.
Olivia [00:12:50] Okay, my first book, and I feel like either one of you are going to read this or have it on your TBR, but it's The Ending Rites Itself by Evelyn Clark, who, as Annie did tell me, is actually V.E. Schwab and her friend Pat Clark. [Crosstalk].
Erin [00:13:08] I love a good pseudonym compare like putting people together.
Olivia [00:13:14] Yeah. I have never heard of Kat Clark, but obviously everyone knows who V.E. Schwab is. This is about six authors who all get invited to a private island owned by this like world renowned author. So it is a plot we've seen before, done again.
Erin [00:13:34] How can I get in on that invitation is what I want to know. People are always being invited to private islands.
Olivia [00:13:42] It's all about who you know, Erin.
Erin [00:13:44] I know.
Olivia [00:13:46] These authors all write different genres, but they're all invited here under the premise of being guided by this author. His name's Arthur Fletch, which I'm just like, great, great name.
Annie Jones [00:13:59] That is a good name.
Erin [00:14:00] It's a great name.
Olivia [00:14:00] It's a really good name. But when they get there, and this is not a spoiler, it is in the little summary of it, they find out Arthur Fletcher is dead. And he died before he finished his very last novel. And it's like the last in a series. So he left it off on like a really pivotal point. It is the last like 10% of the novel and the line that he left off, I wrote it down because I was just like, good job. The last line he wrote is the main character saying, I should have known. And that's where these people are supposed to pick up this book. They have 72 hours to write an ending. Whoever writes the ending that they'll use, it'll be anonymous that they wrote it. But then they get this like $2 million book deal with this big wig editor. So stakes are high. What I will tell you, that's all I'm going to tell you about the plot. But I will say, about 50% of the way through, I looked down and I was like, man, nothing much has happened here. It's just really like a lot of like going into these authors and who they are and what brought them here. And it's interesting like I did not look at where I was in the book until 50%. So it keeps your interest, but you realize halfway through you're just like I feel like someone was supposed to die by now. And they hadn't yet. And then I think it literally-- because I read this on an e-galley, at the 50% mark, a huge plot twist happens and everything picks up from there. So the ending you fly through. The other thing I do want people to know is this is not a thriller. I would not classify this as a thriller. I would classify this as a straight mystery. And I want people to know that because I don't want you going into it thinking like this is going to be suspenseful and I'm going to be on the edge of my seat the whole time. That is not the case. It's just a really well written mystery.
Annie Jones [00:15:59] Interesting.
Olivia [00:16:00] The characters are really good because these are two authors. So when they write authors, they know the stereotypes and tropes going into these characters. One of them is a horror writer, you have a YA writer, a romance writer. A husband and wife detective duo, and then an up-and-coming crime writer. So it is a lot of fun. I did really like the characters and I'm interested to see what they do next because I do think they're going to do more and I feel like they can only go up from here.
Annie Jones [00:16:31] I was very curious about this one when you talked about it because I think we put it in the literary first look guide. This is fascinating to me.
Olivia [00:16:43] Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Definitely worth the read.
Erin [00:16:46] What's interesting is they have a very different type of writer. So they were open to it being like finishing it with a romance plot line or finishing it with a different thing. So I'll be curious to see-- you don't have to tell us-- who is the one that finishes the book.
Annie Jones [00:17:00] Yeah, who gets the deal?
Erin [00:17:02] I mean, we'll have to read it to find out.
Olivia [00:17:04] Yeah.
Erin [00:17:05] Olivia's face like I'm not giving anything away.
Annie Jones [00:17:08] No hints.
Olivia [00:17:08] You can't get it from me.
Erin [00:17:09] No hints! Okay, my first book is called Like This, But Funnier by Hallie Cantor. It comes out next week, April 7th. Just the cover of this book is striking. It's got like a couch; she's underneath the couch.
Annie Jones [00:17:26] So fun. It feels very of the moment. It reminds me of myself.
Erin [00:17:31] There's a box of tissues underneath the couch.
Annie Jones [00:17:32] Yeah, as yesterday, I was just lying in Isaac's nursery, just waiting for anybody to notice that I was in there, just lying on the floor.
Erin [00:17:40] Sometimes you need a good just lay on the floor moment. It's okay. Yeah. The main character in this book is named Caroline. She is a comedy writer in Hollywood and her husband is thriving. He's a psychologist. And the book feels a bit-- no, I have not read all this book yet, just to be fair. But the book feels a big semi-autobiography because Hallie herself is a comedy writer in Hollywood with a husband who is a psychologist. Hallie's not struggling. She's written on many huge shows, including Arrested Development, one of my favorite shows. But I do think she drew from life a bit on this one. In the book, Caroline and her husband talk, keeping privacy, but they talk about his patients at the end of the day, at night, and Caroline happens upon some notes that her husband has written about a particular patient that he has dubbed the teacher. That's what he calls her in his notes. And it's fascinating. There's a line that just grabs Caroline. And in the heat of the moment at her next pitch meeting with executives, she brings this up. Like, what if we did this? And they love it. And now she's stuck because, oh my gosh, she just shared this very specific bit of information about one of her husband's patients and now they're going to make a show about it with huge movie stars. And she is in position where her career is about to start taking off because of this, yet she's stuck because she did something very bad. So as you can imagine, there's a lot of anxiety spiraling on her part. She actually ends up befriending this patient in real life, which makes it even more awkward. I know. Lots of blurry lines here.
Annie Jones [00:19:27] Lots of boundaries being crossed.
Erin [00:19:29] We love it in fiction, don't we? But so Carolyn is desperately trying to shut down this project before it comes to light that she's given away this information. Meanwhile, her husband is also like who didn't really want to have kids before is now starting to say, well, actually, why don't we think about it? And why don't we go ahead and freeze your eggs and do all these things so that we can think about kids. And so now she is dealing with that as well. But it's like from all the reviews, it's really just a skewering of Hollywood and what goes into making a show and kind of the absurdity that is the in entertainment industry. And she's a part of it so she she can poke fun at it with a bit of with a bid of reprieve because she's on the inside. But it sounds funny. It kind of reminds me the premise of it and the vibe of it kind of reminds me of, I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie. It was a book that came out one or two years ago, but just that sort of dry neurotic main character who's experiencing some things, but at the heart of it there's goodness and some good feelings and things like that. So it got a Kirkus star review. I always trust Kirkus. So I'm excited to read this one when it comes out. It comes out April the 7th next week.
Annie Jones [00:20:58] That is on my list because the cover, you're right, is really striking and it sounds really funny, like really kind of dark comedy-esque. So that one is on my list too. I'm looking forward to reading that one. Okay, my next one is Love by the Book. This is by Jessica George. It also releases next week. This is definitely character-driven fiction Jessica George wrote-- and I'm pretty sure I'm pronouncing this correctly-- Mema, which came out a few years ago and was a Jenna Bush Hager pick. This is the latest, so this is like the sophomore novel for Jessica George. It is being billed as a platonic love story. So rather than an emphasis on the romantic relationships, the relationship between these two friends is where Jessica George is really focusing her attention. So we have Remy. Remy is a published author. The paperback of her new book has just released. The book opens with this really fun kind of author event in this author interview where you understand that Remy wrote a fictional book about friendship, about these four really kind of, I guess, lifelong best friends. And she loosely based it on her own friendship story. And so she's got this really close-knit group of friends. They're all very fun. Jessica George takes her time introducing you to each friend in a way that at first I was a little annoyed by, but then I kept reading and was intrigued. So Remy's got these four best friends. That is her support system. Those are the people she loves. And then pretty quickly, one friend gets pregnant. One friend moves to America. This is set in the UK. One friend goes back and gets with her ex. And so very quickly, and I think I won't speak for you guys, but I have had seasons like this in my life where all of a sudden you look around and you're like, wait, where'd my friends go? Where'd my friend go?
Olivia [00:22:55] You wrote a book about it.
Annie Jones [00:22:57] Yes, in fact, if you're interested in this, you might also be interested in the paperback release of Ordinary Time. And so I felt for Remy because I have been there where just in a certain life stage you just kind of all of a sudden realized, oh no, I don't have these friends that I thought I had. So that's Remy. Then we're also introduced to Simone and Simone if Remy is close to her friends. Simone is really close with her family. She's kind of in this conservative immigrant family. They all are deeply invested in each other's lives. She is a schoolteacher. And this is not a spoiler because it is alluded to on the back of the book, but Simone goes over to her sister's house for dinner and her sister is introducing her to her new boyfriend. The parents are there, the door opens and Simone and the boyfriend lock eyes. This is when you, the reader, and Simone's family realize that Simone is not just a teacher, she is also a sex worker. And Simone's sister's boyfriend recognizes Simone from this other line of work. And so this family bond that Simone has always had starts to fracture. So Remy is kind of in crisis, Simone is in crisis and they run into each other at, I believe, a bookstore and they eventually develop a really close-knit friendship. And it's kind of about how friendship can save us and how the right friend at the right time can be a real gift. I do feel like we get obviously a ton of-- as somebody who goes through summer catalogs, I can tell you, we get a ton of romances every quarter. We get a ton of romance novels. And so I do like that this is just a book about two friends and kind of how they navigate the world together. I don't think we get a ton of friendship novels. And so, I like that Jessica George has decided that this relationship is worth writing about. So, this one releases next week. In my mind, this is not particularly plot driven. Like certainly things happen in the friendship, but I wouldn't go into it thinking this is going to be some kind of propulsive novel. It was pretty shocking for Simone to have this moment, but I don't think the novel is full of those kind of bombastic, gotcha moments. Instead, it's more a quiet book about Remy and Simone and their friendship. So that is Love by the Book by Jessica George. It releases next week.
Olivia [00:25:26] Well, it's time for my middle grade of the month. Okay. This one I think a lot of people are going to like this one. It's Anna-Jane and the Endless Summer by Paige Classey. I haven't read anything by Paige classy before. This is out at the end of the months, April 28th. This is about Anna-Jane, obviously. It's also written in verse, which I'm just going to throw in there because I do love a middle grade novel that is written in verse.
Annie Jones [00:25:52] I do too.
Olivia [00:25:53] I think they do it so well.
Annie Jones [00:25:55] It's hard to do. It's impressive.
Olivia [00:25:57] It is. And you fly through, so you feel really good about yourself too.
Annie Jones [00:26:01] Yeah. You can check this one off the list.
Olivia [00:26:03] Exactly. So this is about Anna-Jane, who she goes to the same summer camp every year. And she goes with her best friend. I forget her best friends name, but not important right now. She and her best friend do not go to school together during the year. That's important because this makes the summer camp this much more important in Anna James' life. She feels like she can't be herself at her regular school, so this summer camp is the one place where she feels like she belongs and she has her people. This summer things have been changed. Now, a boy from her school is there, and so she feels she maybe can't her true self. And then all of a sudden the most popular girl who's in her age group as a camper starts to befriend Anna-Jane in a very casual way at first, but Anna-Jane doesn't realize that this actually makes her best friend feel alienated, like they're in competition and she's losing. So now she's lost her best friends, gained a new friend that she does like, and there's boy from her school here on top of that.
Annie Jones [00:27:08] Oh no, there's more? That's a lot!
Olivia [00:27:12] Get ready. So they go on this like pizza and movie trip to the local town as like they were really good so this is their prize. And there's like no townspeople around. There's no one walking about, it's a Friday evening, feels a little weird, there's no one else at the pizza restaurant and the people who run the pizza restaurants look a little bit confused as to why they're there.
Annie Jones [00:27:41] Are they there with their grownups or they're alone?
Olivia [00:27:43] They're there with their camp leaders and their group. Okay. So they're and none of their phones are working. No one can find cell service. I think Anna-Jane is the only one who can and she quickly sends a message to her mother and then gets one back and her mother is like I'm on the way. That's all she says. So Anna-Jane is like something's going on. They immediately change this trip. They're not going to the movies anymore, they're just going straight back to camp for reasons unknown to the campers. And then they get back and the next couple of days they lose internet service, they lose cell service, and they have no communication with the outside world. It's just gone dark.
Annie Jones [00:28:24] Is this a post-apocalyptic novel? Did this take a twist, or is it the rapture?
Olivia [00:28:30] It's not the rapture.
Annie Jones [00:28:35] This is left behind for children?
Olivia [00:28:42] No, this did take a twist. You were correct. You were following very well.
Annie Jones [00:28:47] Okay. Fascinating
Olivia [00:28:49] The camp has now gone into survival mode with all of the campers, all of the camp leaders. They realize that something viral is happening outside because there are animals coming in who are very clearly sick and they find a little boy who lived in a house across the lake who just came over looking for help and they had to quarantine him for a while. So they do figure out that part, but the rest of it is like what are we supposed to do? Anna-Jane's mom never shows up. And now all these campers are putting their survival skills to the test because they now have to hunt for food and survive. It is so well done. It's so fun, too. I think last summer, for our summer reading for middle grade, I put Megan E. Freeman's alone. And this is a perfect comp title to this. And I do think kids really enjoyed that novel because it was a girl in a very similar situation. She didn't have the rest of a camp group with her. She was literally alone, but it is a very similar situation written in verse, just like Megan E. Freeman's books. And it has you on the edge of your seat because you're just like what is about to happen? What is the conclusion of this going to be? Are these people here forever or are they going to get help? Because we're not hearing the side from the outside world. We're only seeing it through Anna-Jane's eyes. It was so good.
Annie Jones [00:30:23] That is a very Olivia middle grade novel. I like that at first it sounded like some kind of like traditional Judy Blume book.
Erin [00:30:32] Yeah, like coming of age.
Annie Jones [00:30:33] Yeah. Like complicated friendships right on the cusp of adolescence. No, this sounds great.
Olivia [00:30:40] Yeah. Anna-Jane and The Endless Summer.
Annie Jones [00:30:42] Okay. All right. I think I'll be reading that.
Erin [00:30:45] It's like Tilt for middle grade.
Annie Jones [00:30:48] Yeah. I'm interested. I do want to put an aside. This is a PSA specifically to Olivia because of where you live, but did you know about the rabid raccoon that's been found in Thomas County?
Olivia [00:31:00] Sorry, should I not be laughing?
Annie Jones [00:31:02] I just feel like where you live, you just should keep an eye on Leslie. Well, the raccoon is dead now, but has been identified in Thomas County. So keep an eye, you live in the wilderness, so.
Olivia [00:31:24] Leslie doesn't really approach other animals, but I will in case those animals do approach her.
Annie Jones [00:31:29] I saw that news alert and I was like, am I being punked? No.
Olivia [00:31:34] Maybe this is the start of it.
Annie Jones [00:31:36] Right? I know. Knock on wood.
Olivia [00:31:40] I shouldn't look so excited by that.
Annie Jones [00:31:41] Yeah, knock on wood, I don't like it.
Erin [00:31:45] Well, I don't know how to follow a rabid raccoon with a book, but here we go. My next book is called Small Town Girls by Jane Ann Phillips. It comes out April 21st. I did not read her previous book Nightwatch, but obviously it was super popular here at the store. It won the Pulitzer Prize. Like, she's an incredible author of fiction, and this is her first work of non-fiction. I saw somewhere that Oprah said that this is her most anticipated book of 2026. And I'm like, go Jayne Anne. I don't know if that was a blurb from the publisher or what, but I'm excited for her. And I've seen a lot of other rave reviews, but if you look at the cover, which the cover is great, it has a picture of some-- I don't even know what time it's set in, but it's a picture of a bunch of girls kind of sitting on bleachers like from I would guess maybe the 70s, and just based on her age, that's probably where it was. But it's just fun. It makes you want to pick it up and read it. And you could think that it's like a memoir, but it's actually a collection of short essays. Like, so some of them are about her.
[00:32:59] She was born in West Virginia in like a small town, but with a booming like coal. It's West Virginia coal industry. It's right there altogether, but many of her collections do touch on that on her childhood and growing up in West Virginia and how much it's affected who she is and how it shaped who she was. And she looks back at her childhood with some fondness and also just with the realization that she did come from a small, poor coal town in West, Virginia. And so she can look back at that with a little bit of distance now as an adult for what it was lacking in her childhood. But she also writes about her mother. Her mother lived with her for the last 18 months of her life and Jayne Anne took care of her in her dying days and she passed away- her mom did. So she writes essays about that. She writes an essay about the novelist, Stephen Crane, who wrote The Red Badge of Courage. And she also writes about-- which I had to look this person up, but there's another author named Breece DJ Pancake. What a name. But it's another West Virginia writer who's a contemporary of hers, like same age, but passed away in 1979. And so she writes about him. And so I think if you like-- which I do, I love a collection of short stories, short essays. I say it should be short essays, not stories because they're all nonfiction. But I think she's taking her prowess at fiction and really applying it to her life, to nonfiction, to storytelling. So I think if you appreciated other memoirs about people's lives or collection of short essays about other people's lives, I wouldn't necessarily call her a celebrity, but she's definitely a very well-known author. And I love the perspective she has on growing up in a small town. Some of us have also grown up in a small town. It's fun to hear about other people's experiences, but this one has gotten a lot of rave reviews. I'm looking forward to picking it up when it comes out April the 21st.
Annie Jones [00:35:11] That one's on my list too. And based on the description of small town girls, I honestly had to look up Jayne Anne Phillips. And then when I realized, then I immediately recognized the book Night Watch. And I was like, oh, but this is not what you would expect maybe for her to do next. So I'm intrigued, I'm really intrigued by it.
Erin [00:35:32] Me too.
Annie Jones [00:35:33] Okay, my next one is Cleo Dong Would Rather Be Dead. This is by Mai Nguyen. This releases on April 14th. This is going to be a hard sell, but hear me out. It's just a tough read, but it is so good. It is so well written. Mai Nguyen wrote Sunshine Nails, which was kind of a fun book. I don't know if it got a ton of attention, but it was fun. It was about a nail salon in Canada. She's a Canadian writer. I really liked that book. So this is her follow-up to that. It is about a woman named Cleo. Cleo goes to give birth to her first child, a daughter named Daisy, and her daughter dies within 24 hours of being born. At the same time, Cleo's best friend, who like they've done everything together, she gives birth to like across the hall and her baby survives. And so not only is Cleo dealing with the loss of a child, which is brutal, and in a word that Cleo hates, unimaginable, but she grows to really loathe that term. So Cleo is dealing with that, but she's also forced to face her worst fears every time she sees her best friend who has this baby, who is what she should have had. So the book I do need to tell you it's brutally sad. I mean, I sat at my dining room table and sobbed over this book. And part of me was like I don't know if I would have sobbed over it two years ago. But it was very upsetting to me. And yet I really wanted to read it because it's a really beautiful story and it is ultimately redemptive. So it's a lot about grief. And in particular, it's being billed from the publisher. It is brutally sad, but the publisher is billing it as a dark comedy because Cleo goes to her daughter Daisy's funeral and the funeral director pulls Cleo aside and is like, hey, I think you'd be perfect to work here. And so Cleo, like in her cloud of grief and much to the dismay of her husband, winds up going to work at the funeral home.
[00:37:45] And so it becomes in part like this workplace comedy about Cleo and this kind of quirky cast of characters who all work at this funeral home, in particular the boss named Kenneth, who I think he will live in my brain for so long. He reminds me Carrie Winfrey wrote a great boss character in Faking Christmas. And it's a very similar vibe. And so there is some levity to this book. Yes, I did sob, but it is also very funny, very poignant, kind of just about, yeah, the cloud of grief and navigating it and how are you supposed to move forward. The funeral home setting weirdly adds this element of funny. I think we've talked, I don't remember if it was off air or during literary first look or something, but I think the Emily Austin books are a great comparison. Like everybody in-- wait, I don't want to get it confused with those mystery books. Everybody in This Room will Someday Be Dead. Sorry. Then all of a sudden I was like, oh, those mystery books Olivia loves.
Olivia [00:38:55] That's his next book, yeah.
Annie Jones [00:39:00] Anyway, so if you like Emily Austin, I think you will like this. I will also say, I've finished this no problem. It's a quick book because you're so invested. And like I said, there is a redemptive element to it. There is an author's note at the end that I kind of wish had been at the beginning. But the whole time I was reading the book, I did think it was so visceral. And Mai Nguyen, after Sunshine Nails came out, Sunshine Nail released and she went to give birth to her first child and the child didn't make it. And so this book is very much based on-- this was like her way of writing through her grief. And so in that way, it is a tough sell, but I think somebody else reviewed this. I read a review that was like you kind of want to keep reading to let Mai Nguyen know I'm sitting in this with you. I don't know. Especially once I read the author's note at the end, I was like, well, I'm so glad I finished this because I want to bear witness to this woman's grief. And the story is really good. It's a really good book. So I really liked it. I hope people will give it a try. I know that it could be a little too much for some people, but I can't stress enough how poignant, thoughtful, sad, but also very funny. It is. And so, Cleo Dong Would Rather Be Dead. It's by Mai Nguyen. It releases on April 14th.
Olivia [00:40:29] I would like to say, I feel like there are a lot of professions in which you could look at a customer and be like you would be a good fit here. I wouldn't expect that at a funeral.
Annie Jones [00:40:38] Yeah, right. And at first, you're like, Kenneth, what are you doing? And it's like then you get to know all the people who work at the funeral home. And you kind of realize something has led each of them there. And Kenneth has a way of like seeing somebody and Cleo needed a sense of purpose. Anyway, the boss in this book, he is weird. Like I wouldn't want to be exactly like him, but it's admirable. He's lovely.
Olivia [00:41:11] Okay. I'm very excited to talk about this one. It is by my most favorite author, T.J. Klune. It is his newest book. I actually think it might be considered a novella because it is very short. It's We Burn So Bright and it's out at the end of the month, April 28th.
Annie Jones [00:41:26] Honestly, I'm glad it's a novella. He just keeps putting them out, man.
Erin [00:41:30] I know.
Olivia [00:41:31] It is impressive. But I will say a couple of them he's rewriting from books that he had self-published.
Annie Jones [00:41:36] He's done before. That's right. Okay.
Olivia [00:41:38] This one is brand new. And I would say TJ Klune puts out a lot of different ideas out into the world. This one is most akin to Under the Whispering Door, which did get a lot of the same audience members as House in the Cerulean Sea because it wasn't too far-fetched of a fantasy novel. So I do think if you liked Under the Whispering Door, you will like We Burn So Bright. You will most likely cry. Just a heads up if that's like a deterrent for you. I feel like a lot of people like crying these days. I teared up.
Erin [00:42:18] Wow, Olivia.
Annie Jones [00:42:20] Yeah, guys. No tissues needed, but it was the end of this book really hits you. So this is about a rogue black hole is headed towards earth. Obviously, there's nothing we can do about a rogue black hole. You can't stop those from coming. Everyone now knows that we're living our last days on earth. And we follow a couple, Don and Rodney, as they travel across the country because they have some unfinished business with, as you learned-- this isn't a huge spoiler-- their son. And their goal is to make it there before the end of the world happens. Which sounds like super post-apocalyptic, all of that stuff, and then people are like, oh no, not for me. I'm not going to say this is character-driven. I don't think it is. There's a lot that happens in this book. But you do get to meet people at these final moments and people find themselves in different places. So there's one time that they basically meet like a commune of hippies who are like, we're going to live our last days as our happiest selves. And then they meet people who have made some drastic decisions in their last days and not great decisions. And they are not safe there. So they leave really quickly. But then you get to the end of this book and he goes into basically what the unfinished business is and what they are doing. And that is where you may or may not stop. But you need it because at that point you're just like, I really like Don and Rodney. I don't understand why they wouldn't have reached out and done this prior to the end of the world. And so you do need to see that from them because you're just like, I know you're good people, so what's going on? You don't seem like the type of people who would leave your child in this position where they might not hear from you. It's so good.
Annie Jones [00:44:31] It sounds good.
Olivia [00:44:32] It's just so beautifully written. And I do like the caveats of people in their last moments that he plugs in there, which to me felt very akin to all the water in the world, which I read back in January, if I want to say last year. But it's these people at moments where it's the rawest form of them because it's at the end of the world, so who else are you going to be? And it's also Don and Rodney at the end of the world and who they want to be. So they're looking back at their lives and being like did we make the right decisions in what we did? Yeah, it was really good and it felt very... Besides the rogue black hole, very un-fantasy for T.J. Klune.
Annie Jones [00:45:15] I was going to say, listen, I still have and I'm determined, but you guys know how reading backlist is. It's like when am I supposed to do this? But I do still have my copy of House in the Cerulean Sea and I will be reading it. But this because it's novella... And I do like an end of the world stories. Did you guys ever see the movie Seeking a Friend for the End of the World? It's got Steve Carell and it's fantastic. Jordan and I love that movie and it is kind of similar in that there's like an asteroid or something headed to Earth, I can't remember. But you get to see all these different characters and how they cope, and I think it's just an interesting look at human nature. So I think this might be finally how I can get into T.J. Klune. Yeah, so I'm excited.
Erin [00:46:02] That's great. It's a great way for people to experience his writing. If they're not ready to jump into the Wolfsong or whatever, this is a great introduction. I might even pick this up.
Olivia [00:46:12] I thought you were going to say this is a great for people to experience the end of the world.
Erin [00:46:16] No.
Olivia [00:46:17] And I was like you're right. It really is.
Annie Jones [00:46:19] You're right, Erin. It's a great way to do it.
Olivia [00:46:22] Don't you want to know how you would be at the end of the world?
Erin [00:46:25] Yeah. I've read enough books about it that I've thought a lot about that.
Annie Jones [00:46:29] I feel like just generally as a staff, we all probably do know how we would be at the end of the world. Although, I do remember working the pandemic with Olivia and I did come home one day to Jordan and I said, "I've always wondered how I'd react at the end of world and turns out I just go to work every day." Go to work as if nothing's wrong.
Erin [00:46:47] Keep doing it.
Olivia [00:46:49] The border and puzzles.
Annie Jones [00:46:51] Yeah. It's fine.
Erin [00:46:54] Okay. Well, I will finish us up with one. I wondered if this would be something Olivia would like, but I do think it's going to be more literary to literary, but it's called The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliver. It comes out April 28th. I haven't heard a lot about this book. I think it's being published-- can't remember who's publishing it, but it sounds like a large publishing house. But there's a little hint of science fiction. It's on top of a compelling multi-generational family drama. So, I don't mind if I do. It's right up my alley. It's set in 1980 and it focuses on Carol. She's a mom who's just had a baby. She's married. She is frustrated. She's still trapped in her house as a new mother is still figuring this out. She's at odds with her husband, postpartum, all that stuff, but her attentions are distracted when people start realizing that there are these lights and signals that are happening in the sky and as they look into them more, they realize that they are being traced back to intelligent life on a planet called Ross 128B. It's a planet. It's 11 light years away. And so it like brings together the United States. Like in this world, Jimmy Carter gets re-elected for a second term. Which I just thought wasn't funny.
Annie Jones [00:48:15] Interesting, I do love an alternate history.
Erin [00:48:19] I don't think that's the focus of the book, but I did just think what a funny president to be like let's give them a second term.
Annie Jones [00:48:28] Yeah! What would have happened then?
Erin [00:48:32] Let the peanut farmer run the country. Okay. But basically the whole thing starts to bring together the United States, the world, because everyone is caught up in this trying to correspond. How can we talk back to this intelligent life on this other planet?
Olivia [00:48:51] I want this to happen so badly. I want you guys to know this.
Annie Jones [00:48:54] And for a moment like this.
Olivia [00:48:55] Let's make it happen.
Erin [00:48:59] Well, what I love about this book is because like I'm imagining being in that scenario. And yes, it's like suddenly the universe feels infinite. Like we know it is already, but for them in this book realizing that there are possibilities beyond their imagination and that there's the possibility that we could live on other planets that's amenable to human life. And it has a deep effect on her son, Michael, who's a baby when the book is started. And she also goes on to have a daughter, Rosanna, who ends up being one of the leading scientists when she grows up that helps start to communicate with the other life forms on 128B. So at this point, when we catch up with Rosanna as an adult, their mom, Carol, their relationship has been fractured because Carol has really left the family to join this religious cult that's sort of built around communicating with these life forms on other countries and on other planets. But the themes of this book, which I haven't read it yet, I'm so excited to read this just based on the blurb and all the reviews and the plot. But the themes in this book are of course about the ways that we interact with each other like on this small scale, and then also the ways that we are responsible for communicating with others on a global scale and now on a planetary scale. And so it's about how those choices can impact your relationships for generations to come. So it's coming out April 28th. It's called the Radiant Dark.
Olivia [00:50:36] I have this ARC and I've been debating whether or not to read it, because I am worried that where I want it to go, it will not.
Erin [00:50:41] No, right. I am curious how the scientific it will be and just how family drama it will be. So if you read it, let me know.
Olivia [00:50:51] I'm about to go see Project Hail Mary. So I might be in the mood for [crosstalk].
Erin [00:50:54] I know, that's the thing. I'm excited.
Annie Jones [00:50:56] Like, that's why when I read Celestial Lights, like, I don't think it will be sciency enough for Olivia, but I was like I'm not going to reread Project Hail Mary, although maybe that would be fun, but not in my current life stage. It would be so much fun, but I can't.
Erin [00:51:11] It makes a great audiobook. You can fly through it.
Annie Jones [00:51:13] Yeah, that true. But by reading Celestial Light, it kind of got me in the mood. You know what I mean? I was, like, oh yeah. Anyway, and so this sounds like another one that could kind of get you in the mood. And again, kind of that what happens when this almost catastrophic or otherworldly thing happens to us and our human life. Anyway, that sounds fascinating. Lots of good ones this month. Okay, so those are our April new releases we wanted to feature. Don't forget, Perry has put all these books on the website. You can go to bookshelfthomasville.com. Today's episode number is 575 and you'll see all the books listed for today. You can pre-order purchase. Don't forget, you can use the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order of today's titles. This week, I'm reading The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian. Olivia, what are you reading?
Olivia [00:52:10] I'm reading Young World by Soman Chainani.
Annie Jones [00:52:14] And Erin, what are you reading?
Erin [00:52:16] I am finally getting to read Detour by Jeff Rake and Rob Hart.
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:
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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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