Enjoy these recommendations from our friends at Bookish, Fort Smith, Arkansas’s only independently owned bookstore located in The Bakery District.
This New Dark
by Chase Dearinger
In This New Dark, Chase Dearinger plunges us into the troubled town of Seven Suns, Oklahoma, exposing the supernatural rot that has settled in its center and the horrors of poverty, abandonment, and the rough road leading to self-acceptance. As Randy, Wyatt, and Esther battle demons inherited, imaginary, and all-too-real, they must find ways to rise above their self-imposed limitations and painful pasts.
Like the works of Stephen King that Randy devours, Dearinger’s narrative offers more than just heinous, original monsters and generous spatters of gore (though both are in these pages). It delves deep into the guarded hearts, outsized ambitions, and festering hurts of an entire community.
Dearinger will draw readers into Seven Suns’s dingy bars and wild spaces. With this gritty debut, Dearinger holds his own in the contemporary horror genre.
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies
by Catherine Mack
Hold onto your sun hats for a rollercoaster of a summer read: Bestselling author Eleanor Dash is on an Italian book tour, hoping to kill off her character, Connor Smith. But when someone targets the real Connor Smith, Eleanor is enlisted to help solve the case, facing literary rivals, rabid fans, and an unexpected ex.
Lies and Weddings
by Kevin Kwan
Rufus faces his family’s financial crisis. His mother’s scheming has led him to a choice—marry for money or follow his heart. Amidst scandals rocking the family legacy, a buried tragedy threatens to unravel it all. Kwan’s yarn intricately weaves love, money, and deception across the glamorous backdrop of the global elite.
The Cemetery of Untold Stories
by Julia Alvarez
In her latest novel, poet and icon Julia Alvarez crafts a luminous tale centered on Alma Cruz, a writer who transforms her Dominican homeland into a graveyard for unfinished tales. As her characters rebel and rewrite themselves, the novel explores whose stories are told and who is forgotten, celebrating the enduring power of storytelling.
WORDS Sara Putman, Bookish
