Hi Book Lovers,
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Welcome back to TBB, your check-in for what’s new, noteworthy, and worth your reading time.
First, a round of applause for this newsletter finally making it out of my drafts folder and into your inbox. As someone who considers herself a competent user of technology, the number of issues I encountered getting this one out was genuinely humbling. Either the universe hates me or I am more tech illiterate than previously believed. Moving on.
Last month I knocked The Shampoo Effect, Once and Again, and The Someday Garden off my summer TBR. Pleasantly surprised by the first, appropriately happy with the second, and unfortunately underwhelmed by the third. I also managed to finish more books than usual this month, somewhere around ten, which I attribute entirely to the fact that I spent a truly absurd amount of time making paper chains and planning food pairings for my daughter’s first birthday party. Her theme was One For The Books, naturally, and I had way too much fun pairing every dish with one of her favorite reads (to no one’s surprise).
In the book world this month: some of our favorite small towns are finally coming to our screens, Bookstore Romance Day is almost here, the Atlantic is out here trying to ruin our hobby, the Emmy nominations gave us a lot to celebrate, and there is more Elin Hilderbrand content than any Hilderbabe could reasonably consume.
As always, the TBR grows. The wallet suffers. We read anyway.
Let’s get into it.
Return to Sender by Stephanie Parente (July 28)
Violet is barely holding it together after her father’s sudden death left her responsible for her rebellious teenage sister Phoebe. Then Phoebe discovers a love letter in their apartment, returned undelivered, from a man begging someone to give him another chance. When Phoebe insists they track him down to reunite two strangers’ love story, Violet agrees purely because it’s the first time she’s seen her sister smile since their father died. What follows is a cross-country road trip, a grumpy stranger named Cole, and an agaonizing slow burn.
Debut + road trip + grief + sisters + grumpy x sunshine + slow burn + opposites attract + emotional
The Good Parts by Evann Normandin (July 28)
The debut that sold at auction for seven figures and is being compared to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Rebecca Serle’s In Five Years. After Landon receives a letter from his wife Rose informing him that she has taken an irreversible memory-erasing pill and no longer remembers their life together, he tracks her down in Edinburgh, where she is building a new life with no knowledge of who he is. He reenters her life as a stranger, determined to make her fall for him all over again. A dual timeline romance that asks genuinely uncomfortable questions about love, grief, memory, and what gives any of us the right to decide how another person heals.
Debut + second chance + memory loss + speculative + Edinburgh setting + dual timeline + grief + emotionally devastating
How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle by Alissa DeRogatis (August 4)
The title alone had me adding this to my TBR and I think this might have a holiday setting for your winter TBRs! From the author of Call It What You Want, this one is a fresh, sharp rom-com about a romance novelist who has completely lost faith in romance. Ainsley Green just got dumped by the man she thought was her happily-ever-after, has a book due yesterday, and cannot write a single word. Her best friend Lucas suggests the obvious cure: get out there and live one real meet-cute.
friends to lovers + writer FMC + meet-cute plan gone wrong + humor + post-breakup + banter
Lost and Found by Tarah DeWitt (August 4) — Spunes, OR #3
Bea always wanted to be a mom. She just never expected she would have to lose her best friend to do it. A year into her grief, armed with her late best friend’s eggs and a bucket list to complete, Bea’s world is upended in every direction at once. When she needs a place to stay, longtime friend and firefighter Silas steps in without hesitation — a man quietly recovering from his own accident and carrying feelings for Bea he has never once acted on. This one has been generating a lot of buzz and I must admit the premise is unique.
Series (Spunes, OR #3) + friends to lovers + firefighter MMC + grief + forced proximity + slow burn + emotionally devastating + he falls first
Let’s Kiss and Tell by Joss Richard (August 11) — ✹Top Pick✹
From the author of It’s Different This Time comes a workplace fake-dating romance that has early readers calling it the summer romance of the year! Lucy Reid is a sex columnist who has built her entire career around proving that you do not need a partner to be happy. Marshall is the new senior news writer at her company who needs a fake girlfriend for his ex’s wedding. Their arrangement is mutually beneficial and professionally tidy, right up until it is neither. Ninety-nineties rom-com energy, sharp banter, and a slow burn that Carley Fortune called intimate, tender, and impossibly hot. Sarah Adams called it the rich, decadent romance of the year! Pinch me!
Standalone + workplace romance + fake dating + sex columnist FMC + slow burn + 90s rom-com vibes + spicy
Maggie and Arthur’s Magic Moment by Leslie René (July 28)
This one is going straight to my Fall TBR! Professor Maggie Linden attends a magical masquerade on Beltane and kisses a masked stranger who then turns out to be the brooding, insufferable, unfortunately handsome alchemist she has just been forced to share a tiny basement office with after a dangerous spell renders the rest of their academic building uninhabitable. The man she kissed does not know it was her and she is, of course, not about to tell him.
Debut + magical academia + grumpy x sunshine + forced proximity + masquerade + hidden identity + slow burn + cozy
Heart of Glass by Jennifer Hillier (August 25)
Twenty-five years ago, a charming drifter named Sam met three inseparable teenage girls at a coastal Washington amusement park. Days later, one of them turned up dead in a cranberry bog. Sam confessed to her murder alongside four others and has been in prison ever since. Now, on a true crime documentary, he recants his confession to one of the murders, just as the body of a reality TV personality washes ashore in Seaside, Washington.
psychological thriller + true crime + dual timeline + cold case + coastal Washington + dark secrets + reality TV element
The Unknown by Riley Sager (August 4)
In 1926, five women vanished from a remote Vermont island commune, leaving only their dresses hanging from the branches of an oak tree. One hundred years later, struggling actress Marin Keane lands a role in a major motion picture about the unsolved mystery, and learns the role requires a weeklong research trip to that very island. New Avalon is not your ordinary island. If you have read any Riley Sager you already know what you are getting into.
psychological thriller + dual timeline + island setting + film production + supernatural + dual timeline + atmospheric
The Women in White by Sarah Pekkanen (August 4)
In 1964, four young women at a prestigious university became the subjects of controversial parapsychology experiments. On the cusp of a historic breakthrough, they vanished, and the program was erased from history. Decades later, newly divorced Riley Bell accepts a caretaker position with an elderly widow named Betty, whose home is frozen in another era entirely. No microwave, no internet, a beehive hairstyle. As Riley slowly uncovers Betty’s connection to those four vanished women, the mystery that was buried six decades ago starts forcing its way back to the surface. Inspired by real parapsychology research at Duke University!
psychological thriller + dual timeline + paranormal elements + 1960s setting + caretaker + cold case + atmospheric
Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty (August 25) — ✹Top Pick✹
Ten years after Big Little Lies broke our hearts and our trust, Liane Moriarty is bringing Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie back! Their children are now in high school. The playground politics have been replaced by something considerably darker: drugs, sex, alcohol, and secrets.
Sequel (Big Little Lies #2) + women’s fiction + family drama + mystery + suburban secrets + Australian setting + dark humor + page-turner
The Project by Annie Lord (August 4)
From Vogue’s dating columnist and author of Notes on Heartbreak comes a debut novel described as the rom-com a generation of women has been waiting for. Daisy and her best friend Maya are tired of London’s dating scene and the depressingly average men it keeps producing. After Daisy has a particularly regrettable one-night stand with her most annoying friend James, they hatch a plan: use James as their project, transforming him into the kind of man actually worth dating. James, for his part, is quite happy to go along with any arrangement that means spending more time with Daisy. What happens next is funny, messy, emotionally honest, and genuinely surprising.
Debut + friends to lovers + London setting + dark banter + self-discovery + workplace + slow burn
Meet Me in the Garden by Nina LaCour (August 4)
Nina LaCour’s adult debut is a sweeping family saga inspired by her own Creole roots. New Orleans, 1944: Odette Honore is glamorous and admired in her Creole community, but harbors two secrets she can only share with her beloved cousin Delphine: she is in love with a woman, and she longs to be an artist. Delphine has a white secret lover of her own. Spanning decades, coasts, and the history of the Great Migration, this is a book about love in all its forms, the art we make when we are free, and the choices that define us long after we make them.
historical fiction + queer romance + family saga + Creole + New Orleans + Great Migration + dual timeline
The Lion and the Deathless Dark by Carissa Broadbent (August 4) — Bloodborn Duet #1
Carissa Broadbent returns to the Crowns of Nyaxia world with the first book in a brand new duology. Kyrene is a bounty hunter in a world ravaged by ten years of war between humans and vampires, operating under eternal night with a blessed sword from the goddess of justice. After a devastating personal loss, she commits a crime that makes her a target for mortals and gods alike. Her only path to survival and revenge: make a deal with her enemy.
Series (Bloodborn Duet #1, Crowns of Nyaxia #5) + dark fantasy romance + enemies to lovers + vampire + morally grey MMC + feral FMC + slow burn
The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson (August 18)
On Kindle Unlimited! Every person Harlow Carrenwell kisses dies immediately and she considers this a feature, not a bug. The poison-lipped youngest daughter of Lunameade’s magical founding family has used her kiss to eliminate her family’s opposition and her first husband. Her new betrothed is next. But Harlow has a secret double life: when she is not acting as her family’s assassin, she is moonlighting as a vigilante for abused women in their walled city. Then she kisses her next mark and he does not die. Worse, her invincible partner in passion is her betrothed Henry Havenwood, and now he knows everything. Described as Promising Young Woman meets dark romantasy.
Standalone + dark fantasy romance + vigilante FMC + arranged marriage + enemies to lovers + slow burn + poison magic + content warnings apply
What is at the top of your TBR this month? Share in the comments.
My favorite read from this time last year
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
In the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world, three tiny figures sit at the end of a pier. Most people think it is just the sea. Louisa, an aspiring artist who inexplicably inherits the painting, knows otherwise — and sets out to find the teenagers who inspired it. What follows is a story about friendship, grief, and healing. This one had me laughing out loud at Louisa and Ted’s banter and then I’d turn the page and find myself devastated. Truly a beautiful story.
Found family + dual timeline + coming of age + art + grief + friendship + tear jerker + summer vibes + multi POV
The latest news in book to screen adaptations.
ICYMI In case you missed last month’s coverage
Love, Theoretically being adapted at Amazon MGM with Sofia Alvarez directing and Colleen Hoover producing; The Love Hypothesis trailer dropping at ObsessedFest with a September 23rd premiere date on Prime Video; Every Year After Season 2 confirmed adapting One Golden Summer; Beach Read kiss photos dropping with a May 7, 2027 theatrical date confirmed; You Deserve to Know heading to Hulu with Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley reuniting; Dungeon Crawler Carl greenlit at Peacock; Practical Magic 2 trailer dropping with a September 11th theatrical date; Better Than the Movies holding an open casting call for Liz and Wes; This Summer Will Be Different officially in development at Netflix; Shield of Sparrows heading to Amazon with Derek Kolstad writing; and Powerless officially at Prime Video with the Anyone But You director and Maxton Hall showrunner attached. Full write-ups in last month’s newsletter here.
Rose Hill The cast is here and I am losing my ever loving mind
Prime Video officially announced the cast of Elsie Silver’s Rose Hill adaptation and production has already begun. The four-book series (Wild Love, Wild Eyes, Wild Side, Wild Card) follows best friends and neighbors West Belmont, a rancher with commitment issues, and Ford Grant, the brooding record label owner Forbes once dubbed the “World’s Hottest Billionaire,” who has quietly been in love with West’s sister Rosie for years. When country-pop star Skylar Stone rolls into their rugged Canadian mountain town, everything heats up considerably. The cast (see below!!) : Jake Weary (Animal Kingdom, The Waterfront) as West. Sean O’Pry, the model you definitely know from Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” music video, as Ford. Hannah Galway (Under the Banner of Heaven) as Rosie. And Broadway star Sadie Dickerson as Skylar. Filming runs from late July through October, which means we are looking at a 2027 premiere. I will be waiting very impatiently. Watch the short teaser here.
Courtesy Images
Rome, Kentucky Is Coming to Screen The Walker siblings are getting a TV show and Sarah Adams said it best: this is a dream come true
Announced at San Diego Comic-Con during the “Romance On the Big Screen: Why It’s About Damn Time” panel, Sarah Adams’ beloved When in Rome series is officially being adapted by Rebelle Media and Amazon MGM Studios. The full Walker family is coming to television (When in Rome, Practice Makes Perfect, Beg, Borrow, or Steal, and In Your Dreams) with each book following a different member of the family and their own love story set in the charming small town of Rome, Kentucky (oh how I wish I could visit this fictional town and get a pie from the sexy Noah!!). Adams confirmed the news on Instagram with approximately a thousand exclamation points and I felt every single one of them.
If you have not read this series yet, When in Rome is where you start: a burnt-out pop star stranded in a small Kentucky town, a grumpy pie shop owner, and a slow-burning love story filled with so much heart.
After much deliberation, my favorite (subject to change as I am fickle) is Beg, Borrow, or Steal. It is that damn scene blocking that I cannot get out of my head.
Love and Other Words Magic Hour Entertainment is adapting my favorite Christina Lauren book
Magic Hour Entertainment has acquired the rights to adapt Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren as a feature film. The book follows Macy and Elliot, childhood best friends turned first loves who reconnect after more than a decade apart and are forced to finally confront the heartbreak that took them away from each other. It is genuinely one of the most emotionally devastating and satisfying love stories Christina Lauren has ever written. For reference, Magic Hour is also behind the Love, Theoretically adaptation, which means they hold my heart in their hands with these adaptations. I need Macy and Elliot done justice and the setting needs to be perfect. The bar is high.
Peculiar Stars Rebecca Yarros is getting an Apple TV adaptation …oh and the book isn’t even out yet
Apple TV won a competitive bidding war to adapt Rebecca Yarros’ upcoming novel Peculiar Stars before it even publishes. The book follows Callista Moran, who gets stranded on a deserted island for eighteen months after a cyclone with a member of her fiancé’s family, and discovers that survival has a way of upending everything she thought she knew about love. When they are finally rescued, re-entering their world of privilege, expectation, and secrets proves more dangerous than the island they left behind. The book publishes November 17th (pre-order it now for a gift to future you!)
Yarros herself wrote on Instagram: “I’ve never had the privilege of announcing a film adaptation for one of my novels before it even releases, so please excuse the over usage of exclamation points because WHAT EVEN IS HAPPENING?!?!”
This Summer Will Be Different The full cast is here and filming has already started on PEI
We reported last month that This Summer Will Be Different was officially in development at Netflix. Since then everything has moved at remarkable speed (is this a good thing? I don’t know! I’m sweating I’m so nervous!) The full lead cast has been confirmed (See below): Sophie Nélisse (Yellowjackets, Heated Rivalry) as Lucy; Francesca Reale (Stranger Things) as Bridget; and Roby Attal (The Haunting of Bly Manor) as Felix. Sophie is a great choice for Lucy imho.
Filming on Prince Edward Island began July 29th and runs through mid-October. The series is 10 episodes, created and showrun by Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart (Workin’ Moms), with Carley Fortune executive producing.
Don’t Say Good Luck Not technically book to screen — but bookishly adjacent enough that I need to talk about it
This one is technically original, not an adaptation, but it was written by Laura Hankin, the author of One Star Romance [my review here], and it is the first screenplay she has written, inspired by her own experience as a theater kid whose family was going through something really hard at the same time. Hankin wrote the story, and Julia Hart (Better Than the Movies, Stargirl) directed and co-wrote the script alongside her husband Jordan Horowitz. Sunny Sandler, Adam Sandler’s daughter, stars as Sophie Birenbaum, a high school student who is gearing up for the lead role in her school’s production of Waitress when her mother’s cancer returns. The cast also includes Melanie Lynskey, Max Greenfield, Stephanie Beatriz, Bebe Neuwirth, Steve Buscemi, and Jon Lovitz (truly an eclectic bunch that has me intrigued). The trailer is out and it looks to be a tear jerker! It premieres on Netflix on August 14th.
Random news bites from the literary world—from fun headlines to upcoming releases from the authors we love.
Taylor Jenkins Reid just announced her next book
We have a new Taylor Jenkins Reid book and it sounds nothing short of fabulous. The Last Days of Vic and Coco follows Victoria Lucchese and Colette Wilson, two best friends who have spent years driving across America running a pool hustle, tricking overconfident men out of their money and living completely on their own terms. Then the summer of 1974 arrives and everything shifts. Vic falls in love, Coco does not, and the friendship that has held both their worlds together begins to crack under the weight of growing up and growing apart. TJR described it as her love letter to female friendship and said she stole so much from her own life to write it, and now I have goosebumps already. This will be her tenth novel, her fifth piece of historical fiction, and her first story centered entirely around platonic love. Out March 2, 2027. Every major bookseller has exclusive edition variants so start researching now. Preorder it immediately.
Cara Bastone Announced Her Next Book
Cara Bastone announced I’ve Got You, the next book in her Hearts of New York series. A woman who has sworn off children suddenly finds herself taking care of her nephew and living in close quarters with her single-dad landlord in what promises to be the most moving, hopeful slow burn romance she has written yet. Promise Me Sunshine is one of my absolute favorite reads of the past few years. [Read my review of Promise Me Sunshine here.] If you have not read Cara Bastone yet, she writes the kind of romance that feels like something that could actually happen to a real person, and her heroes are specifically the kind of men who are refreshingly not crippled by their own masculinity. Start with Promise Me Sunshine and thank me (or curse me) later. I’ve Got You is out March 16, 2027.
The Atlantic Declared the End of Reading Spoiler: reading is not over
On July 8th, Atlantic staff writer Rose Horowitch published a piece titled “The End of Reading Is Here,” declaring that humanity is moving into what she calls a post-literate era. According to a Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, fewer than half of U.S. adults reported reading a book in the previous year in 2022 (yikes!!), and reading for pleasure in the U.S. has dropped roughly 40 percent over the last two decades. The piece also cites declining comprehension among students and raises genuinely interesting questions about what a society that stops reading slowly loses. NPR interviewed Horowitch about it. Dozens of Substack writers pushed back. The New York Times ran a companion piece arguing there is more to the story. Truly opinions abound on the piece.
What do I think? I think we are all here, subscribed to a book newsletter, reading about books, and that means something. The reading community is not going anywhere — and frankly, Hollywood needs us! The book to screen pipeline has never been more robust, particularly for romance, and the numbers back it up (more on that below). The broader questions the piece raises about comprehension, attention, and what we lose when we stop sitting with long-form writing are worth thinking about seriously. The piece is paywalled but NPR's conversation with Horowitch is free and worth your commute.
NPR interview with Rose Horowitch
Romance Is On the Big Screen and Hollywood Knows It
In what feels like direct opposition to the Atlantic’s piece discussed above, at San Diego Comic-Con this month, a panel called “Romance: On the Big Screen: Why It’s About Damn Time” brought together the founders of Magic Hour Entertainment and Rebelle Media alongside Christina Lauren themselves to talk about the surge in romance adaptations. Veronica Roth opened the panel by noting that romance accounts for 23 percent of all book sales, and the room erupted.
According to a new study by Ampere Analysis, romance novel adaptations have increased by 73 percent on streaming services in just three years. The panelists pushed hard for “elevated” and “prestige” romance — high budgets, real chemistry reads, and casting that serves the story rather than the algorithm. “You can tell with Off Campus that the whole creative team cared so much about the genre,” said one panelist. “They were students of it.” This is the energy I want for every single adaptation.
And the Emmy goes to…Romance, hopefully Speaking of romance book to screen
Emmy nominations dropped July 8th and book adaptations showed up in a big way. The highlights for our little corner of the book world: People We Meet on Vacation received multiple nominations including Outstanding Limited Series, and Emily Henry received her very first Emmy nomination as an executive producer on the show. Remarkably Bright Creatures earned three nominations including Outstanding Movie and Outstanding Lead Actress for Sally Field. Bridgerton Season 4 received nominations across drama categories. And Margo’s Got Money Troubles had a strong showing with multiple nominations including for Elle Fanning, who received her first Emmy nomination for the role she also produced. These are some of the best adaptations all year so heres to hoping for romance sweep! The 78th Emmy Awards air September 14th on NBC so tune in to find out.
The Midnight Librarian by Matt Haig A sequel to The Midnight Library
Matt Haig just announced on Instagram that he is writing The Midnight Librarian, a sequel to The Midnight Library. We don’t have plot details yet but given that The Midnight Library has sold over 15 million copies worldwide and fundamentally changed how a lot of readers think about regret and second chances, this news has us all buzzing.
Bookstore Romance Day is August 15th Nearly 700 stores. Find yours.
Bookstore Romance Day is back on August 15th and this year is the biggest yet with nearly 700 participating independent bookstores across the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. The event was founded in 2019 by bookseller Billie Bloebaum and has grown every single year since. Stores are celebrating with author signings, blind date books, exclusive merch, giveaways, and in at least one glorious case, a pop-up tattoo artist. If you have a local independent bookstore you love it’s a great excuse to visit and buy more books! I’ll be putting something together in honor of the holiday so keep your eyes peeled.
Find your nearest participating store at bookstoreromanceday.org and if your favorite bookstore is not on the list yet, send them the link because registration is still open.
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’s men have entered the chat Some casting updates
The male leads in Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow have been announced. Alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sky Yang will play Sam Masur and Sean Kaufman (The Summer I Turned Pretty) will play Marx Watanabe. Sean Kaufman as Marx is a genuinely interesting choice and I am very curious to see what he does with it. If you have not read the book yet, fix that before the film arrives. It will ruin you.
Courtesy Images
That’s a Wrap on Beach Read
Filming officially wrapped on Beach Read as Yulin Kuang posted on instagram “We made something truly special together this summer, excited to dive into the edit!” I am also excited Yulin, albeit a bit apprehensive.
Elin Hilderbrand Is Having a Summer Here is where to actually devote your time
Elin Hilderbrand is everywhere right now. Not just on shelves. In your ears, in your glossy magazines, on your television. The Five-Star Weekend dropped on Peacock on July 9th and the reviews have been warm. But beyond the show itself, there is a lot of great Elin content floating around this month. Here is what I would actually prioritize:
Worth your commute: Reese’s Book Club’s Bookmarked podcast episode with Elin is genuinely one of the most fun author conversations I have listened to this summer. She talks the show, the literary empire she built around the magic of Nantucket, and which authors she would invite to her own five-star weekend. Her picks: Judy Blume for childhood, Danielle Steel for high school, Laurie Colwin for early adulthood, and Margaret Atwood for present day. Listen on Spotify or Apple Music.
Worth your Sunday morning: The Boston Magazine profile is the most in-depth Elin feature I have read in some time. Whether you have read every Elin novel or you are newly acquainted with the Queen of the Beach Read, it is a genuinely lovely piece about what it means to build a life and a career around a place you love. Worth it.
Worth a skim: The Readers Digest interview about the Five-Star Weekend adaptation is charming. This instagram post by Veranda Magazine that details the design secrets behind the Five-Star Weekend adaptation.
Worth watching: If you have not watched The Five-Star Weekend you can stream it on Peacock.
It’s that time again — picking my Book of the Month box!
—> Not sure what I’m rambling about? Book of the Month is a monthly subscription where you pick one book from 5-7 curated options. You can also add extra books to your box (called “add ons”), but you can’t use an add on as your main pick. Still, it’s a fun way to grab more than one read! If you’re curious or want to join, you can sign up here for $5! (Psst, many of the books are also featured in the Hot New Releases section.) Here are the picks for August:
My main selection is Return to Sender because a cross-country road trip with a grumpy man is always a winner. Then I added Maggie and Arthur's Magic Moment because magical academia and a grumpy rival alchemist is exactly the kind of cozy fall read I want waiting for me when the temperature drops below eighty (God willing). Finally, Games: A Love Story because I have been told it is one part Fifty Shades, one part Bright Young Women, and one part Normal People and I genuinely do not know what to do with that information except read it and find out. You can read more about my picks below.
Thank you for being here and talking books with me!
Keep the pages turning,
Wow, outstanding content can’t wait to read more!
I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Games: A Love Story because I have heard the same things about it, and I also cannot really reconcile that description into one book.