Spring means longer days, which also means more time to read.
As flowers start to bloom and the weather slowly gets warmer, the conditions become only more perfect to lay outside in the grass with a tantalizing read. From insightful social commentaries to nail-biting mystery collaborations, the literary sphere is delivering a whole swath of new novels that are sure to keep book fanatics busy this upcoming season.
Continue reading for the Daily Bruin’s list of curated reads this spring.
“Yesteryear” by Caro Claire Burke
“Yesteryear” is taking readers back in time – literally.
Caro Claire Burke’s debut novel, which hit shelves April 7, follows Natalie Heller Mills, a popular influencer who shares and sells pioneer living. Natalie belongs to a class of social media personalities known as “tradwives.” She lives an affluent, charming and rustic life complete with six children and flourishing businesses. However, one morning, Natalie wakes up and finds her and her family on a farm in 1855. Natalie is disillusioned with the brutality of the past and becomes increasingly determined to figure out a way to return to the present.
Burke first covered the topic of tradwife discourse on her podcast, “Diabolical Lies,” co-hosted by Katie Gatti Tassin, which provides cultural and political commentary across a variety of topics. Alongside engaging with the internet discourse, “Yesteryear” examines the patriarchy, motherhood and faith by using the false idea of conservative living to explore what Burke dubs the “grand performance of womanhood.”
With wit and insight, Burke interrogates the fallacy of tradition and the ways in which women perform.
– Julia Kinion
“The Ending Writes Itself” by Evelyn Clarke
Evelyn Clarke’s debut mystery novel promises multiple pens and plot twists.
“The Ending Writes Itself” arrived on shelves April 7, written under the pseudonym of authors Cat Clarke and V.E. Schwab. The novel pits six authors against each other in a competition to write the best ending for an unfinished manuscript left posthumously by eccentric novelist Arthur Fletch. With a huge sum of money and the future of their careers on the line, the characters have 72 hours to complete the challenge and uncover the mystery behind Fletch’s death.
Evelyn Clarke marks both Clarke’s and Schwab’s first time co-writing a book, with Schwab most well known for her fantasy bestsellers including the “Shades of Magic” series, and Clarke having previous experience as a writer in both the publishing and film industries as the author of young adult novel “Entangled.” With a friendship of more than 15 years as authors, Clarke and Schwab have both experienced the disillusionment and struggle within the publishing industry, which their new novel illuminates.
With its bitingly modern take, readers will surely be scrambling to reach the novel’s killer end.
– Gwendolyn Lopez
“The Things We Never Say” by Elizabeth Strout
Elizabeth Strout is ready to say the things we don’t in her new novel.
The author’s new book, “The Things We Never Say,” will hit bookshelves May 5. The novel arrives less than two years after Strout’s previous book, the acclaimed “Tell Me Everything.” Like her other works, “The Things We Never Say” is set in a New England community. As it is, most of Strout’s original characters fall within an interconnected universe tracing to her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Olive Kitteridge.”
“The Things We Never Say” will dedicate a significant part of its focus to a burning question: “How is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us?” The vessel for such inquiries is Artie Dam, an 11th-grade history teacher in a three-decade-long marriage who is beginning to come to terms with his own feelings of isolation. Weaving together rumination about parenthood, friendship and loneliness across 224 pages, readers will follow Artie as he changes.
With Strout’s thoughtful touch for compelling fiction, the secrets of her latest story are sure to entertain readers of all ages.
– Reid Sperisen
“Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It” by Brooke Averick
Phoebe Berman might be losing it, but this spring’s perfect read has been found.
Internet personality Brooke Averick’s debut novel, “Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It,” will be released May 26. The story finds the titular protagonist – a hopeless romantic with severe intimacy anxiety – a month away from her 30th birthday, determined to lose her virginity before her big day. The mission quickly leads her to navigating three potential partners all at once – ingredients for a rollercoaster of a romantic comedy.
Averick is best known for co-hosting TMG Studios’ award-winning show “Brooke and Connor Make A Podcast” alongside comedian Connor Wood. While this is the author’s first book, she has made her passion for reading and her lifelong novelist dreams well known throughout the podcast since its launch in 2022. “Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It” hits shelves less than a month before Averick turns 30 herself, and its accompanying book tour includes three stops in Los Angeles.
This highly anticipated release is sure to prove there’s never a bad time to start.
– Victoria Munck
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