Celebrate Women’s History Month 2023

Last month (on May 9, 2022), Sally Brewster, owner of Park Road Books, curated a list of must-reads for the new Summer season.

Here are 19 titles to get you through summer and beyond!

Any Other Family by Eleanor Brown  (7/22, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $27.00, HC). Three sets of parents find themselves intertwined after adopting four biological siblings, having committed to keeping the children as connected as possible. / Women’s Fiction

Bartender’s Cure: A Novel by Wesley Stratton (6/22, Flatiron Books, $27.99, HC). Samantha is a bartender, at the perfect neighborhood bar. A debut novel, filled with cocktail recipes and bartending tips and tricks. / Debut Fiction, Women’s Fiction

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory (5/22, Hyperion, $15.99 TP). Isabel is an overworked/underpaid assistant book editor. When she volunteers to work with a high-profile author, she finds not only a possible promotion, but love. / Romantic Comedy; BIPoC Fiction

Child: A Memoir by Judy Goldman (5/22, U. of SC Press, $19.99, TP). The story of Judy’s relationship with Mattie Culp, the Black woman who worked for her family as a live-in maid and helped raise her. It is also the story of Mattie’s child, who was left behind to be raised by someone else. / Memoir, African-American History

I Wish for You by David Wax (4/22, Roaring Brook Press, $18.99 HC). From courageous lions and wise owls to playful dolphins and wolves finding their voices, this lushly illustrated book explores the values we can draw from the wondrous and inspiring natural world around us. / Picture Book; New Baby; Animal Picture Books

Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda (7/22, Scribner, $27.99 HC). This book opens with the disappearance of a journalist who is investigating a string of vanishings in the resort town of Cutter’s Pass—will its dark secrets finally be revealed? / Thriller; Suspense

Lessons in Chemistry (4/22, Doubleday $29.00 HC). In 1960s California, Elizabeth Zott is a one-of-a-kind scientist. But her career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show. / Feminist Fiction; Humor

Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh (3/22, Pamela Dorman,  $28.00 HC). Emma loves her husband Leo and their young daughter Ruby. But almost everything she’s told them about herself, even her name, is a lie.When the very darkest moments of Emma’s past finally emerge, she must somehow prove to Leo that she really is the woman he always thought she was…/ Women’s Fiction; Suspense/Thriller

Love Marriage: A Novel by Monica Ali (5/22, Scribner, $27.99 HC). 26-year old med student Yasmin Ghorami is engaged to Joe Sangster, whose mother is a famous feminist. And as the wedding draws near, misunderstandings, infidelities, and long-held secrets upend both Yasmin’s relationship and that of her parents, a “love marriage,” according to the family lore that Yasmin has believed all her life. / Fiction; Cultural Heritage; Family Life

Marrying the Ketchups: A Novel by Jennifer Close (4/22, Knopf, $28.00 HC). A comedy of manners about three generations of a Chicago restaurant family and the deep-fried, beer-battered, cream cheese-frosted love that feeds them all. / Family Life; Fiction

Portrait of a Thief: A Novel by Grace D. Li (4/22, Tiny Reparations Books, $26.00 HC). Ocean’s Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, this heist novel is inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity./ Crime; Asian-American Fiction; Mystery

Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel by Shelby Van Pelt (5/22, Ecco, $27.99 HC). A widow takes a night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. There, she becomes acquainted with Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova./ Literary Fiction; Animals

Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels & Crooks by Patrick Radan Keefe (6/22, Doubleday $30.00 HC). Twelve works of literary journalism. Subjects include: the intricacies of forging $150,000 vintage wines, exploring Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain, bringing down a black market arms merchant. / True Crime / Biography & Autobiography

Skinship: Stories (4/22 Vintage $17.00 TP). This debut collection centers on a constellation of Korean-American families. Through an array of lives, Choi explores where first and second generations either clash or find common ground, where meaning falls in the cracks between languages, where relationships bend under the weight of tenderness and disappointment, where displacement turns to heartbreak. / Asian-American Fiction; Family Life; Short Stories

This Time Tomorrow: A Novel by Emma Straub (5/22, Riverhead, $28.00 HC). On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn’t just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush, it’s her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. / Family Life; Science Fiction

Trust by Hernan Diaz (5/22, Riverhead, $28.00 HC). In the 1920s, Wall Street tycoon Benjamin Rask and his wife, Helen, had a life of seemingly endless wealth and extravagance. But at what cost did they acquire their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit. A novel within a novel. / Historical Fiction

Unlikely Animals: A Novel by Anne Harnett (4/22, Ballantine, $28.00HC). A medical school dropout comes back to her NH hometown to care for her father, who is dying from a mysterious brain disease. He’s also having visions of ghosts and small animals. Set against the backdrop of a town in the throes of an opioid crisis. / Family Life; Literary; Humorous

Upgrade: A Novel by Blake Crouch $28.00 (7/22, Ballantine, HC). Logan Ramsay feels a little… sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking, memorizing…Logan’s genome has been hacked./ Sci-Fi Thriller

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill (5/22, Doubleday $28.00 HC). A fantasy novel, set in 1950s America. Thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a woman’s place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are. / Coming of Age; Fantasy; Feminist Fiction

 Park Road Books in Charlotte, NC, is the partnered bookstore for WNBA-Charlotte Chapter. We are thrilled to have this seasonal Reading Preview event with them. For self-published authors, one of the benefits of being a WNBA-Charlotte Chapter member is waived shelving fees at PRB.  

JOIN OR RENEW WITH THE WNBA-CHARLOTTE  a volunteer association dedicated to books and the people who work with and love them, WNBA-Charlotte is focused on helping the Queen City’s literary community thrive. Please join us again for the 2022-23 year

Benefits include:

• Free stocking for self published authors at Park Road Books, Charlotte, NC

• Access to our national book club (monthly meetings on Facebook)–a great way to share and discuss books with fellow book lovers.

• Listing in blogrolls on WNBA websites, locally and nationally.

• Discounts on fellow members’ editing, marketing, and publicity services.

• Writing and publicity opportunities in The Bookwoman, WNBA national newsletter.

• Members-only access to the WNBA national website and opportunities to network with members in all chapters.

*Remember, as a chapter member, self-published authors are waived their shelving fees at Park Road Books. One of our members member benefits,  special discounts for current WNBA-Charlotte members. Go to their PRB Consignment Program page section and learn more.