August 12, 2025
In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of August 11th and August 18th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks feature for August, which includes Indie Next, LibraryReads, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, Oprah's Book Club, the PBS Books Readers Club, the "Read with Jenna" Book Club, Reese's Book Club, and the Target Book Club.
August 12, 2025
This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we think is a great summer reading selection. Read more about it, and enter our Summer Reading Contest by Wednesday, August 13th at noon ET for a chance to win one of five copies of THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN by Marjan Kamali, a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection that is now available in paperback and is this month's Target Book Club pick. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!
Editorial Content for Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Rhys Bowen is a publishing phenomenon. Churning out bestseller after bestseller, her homespun novels cover a wide range of topics that keep her readers coming back for more. MRS. ENDICOTT’S SPLENDID ADVENTURE surely will delight the masses and have the streaming services fighting over who makes the film version (my money is on Netflix). After all, a woman conquering hardship to march stalwartly into a new phase of her life with renewed independence and fortitude is a sure thing, no matter what era one is reading such stories. Read More
Teaser
Surrey, England, 1938. After 30 devoted years of marriage, Ellie Endicott is blindsided by her husband’s appeal for divorce. It’s Ellie’s opportunity for change too. The unfaithful cad can have the house. She’s taking the Bentley. Ellie, her housekeeper Mavis, and her elderly friend Dora --- each needing escape --- impulsively head for parts unknown in the South of France. With the Rhône surging beside them, they have nowhere to be and everywhere to go. Until the Bentley breaks down in the inviting fishing hamlet of Saint Benet. Here, Ellie rents an abandoned villa in the hills, makes wonderful friends among the villagers, and finds herself drawn to Nico, a handsome and enigmatic fisherman. But fates soon change when the threat of war encroaches.
Promo
Surrey, England, 1938. After 30 devoted years of marriage, Ellie Endicott is blindsided by her husband’s appeal for divorce. It’s Ellie’s opportunity for change too. The unfaithful cad can have the house. She’s taking the Bentley. Ellie, her housekeeper Mavis, and her elderly friend Dora --- each needing escape --- impulsively head for parts unknown in the South of France. With the Rhône surging beside them, they have nowhere to be and everywhere to go. Until the Bentley breaks down in the inviting fishing hamlet of Saint Benet. Here, Ellie rents an abandoned villa in the hills, makes wonderful friends among the villagers, and finds herself drawn to Nico, a handsome and enigmatic fisherman. But fates soon change when the threat of war encroaches.
About the Book
Blindsided by betrayal in pre-WWII England, a woman charts a daring new course in this captivating tale of resilience, friendship and new love by the bestselling author of THE ROSE ARBOR and THE VENICE SKETCHBOOK.
Surrey, England, 1938. After 30 devoted years of marriage, Ellie Endicott is blindsided by her husband’s appeal for divorce. It’s Ellie’s opportunity for change too. The unfaithful cad can have the house. She’s taking the Bentley. Ellie, her housekeeper Mavis, and her elderly friend Dora --- each needing escape --- impulsively head for parts unknown in the South of France.
With the Rhône surging beside them, they have nowhere to be and everywhere to go. Until the Bentley breaks down in the inviting fishing hamlet of Saint Benet. Here, Ellie rents an abandoned villa in the hills, makes wonderful friends among the villagers, and finds herself drawn to Nico, a handsome and enigmatic fisherman. As for unexpected destinations, the simple paradis of Saint Benet is perfect. But fates soon change when the threat of war encroaches.
Ellie’s second act in life is just beginning --- and becoming an adventure she never expected.
Audiobook available, read by Barrie Kreinik
Editorial Content for The White Crow: A Philomena McCarthy Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Michael Robotham calls Australia home, but as a former investigative journalist, he has traveled all over the world. This certainly has provided him with the unique perspective that drives his highly suspenseful crime fiction. Read More
Teaser
Philomena McCarthy has defied the odds to become a young officer with the Metropolitan Police despite her father and her uncles being notorious London gangsters. On patrol one night, Philomena finds a barefoot child, covered in blood, who says she can’t wake her mother. Meanwhile, three miles away, a London jeweler has a bomb strapped to his chest in his ransacked store, and millions are missing. These two events collide and threaten Philomena’s career, her new marriage, and her life. In too deep, and falling further, she must decide who she can trust --- her family or her colleagues --- and on what side of the thin blue line she wants to live.
Promo
Philomena McCarthy has defied the odds to become a young officer with the Metropolitan Police despite her father and her uncles being notorious London gangsters. On patrol one night, Philomena finds a barefoot child, covered in blood, who says she can’t wake her mother. Meanwhile, three miles away, a London jeweler has a bomb strapped to his chest in his ransacked store, and millions are missing. These two events collide and threaten Philomena’s career, her new marriage, and her life. In too deep, and falling further, she must decide who she can trust --- her family or her colleagues --- and on what side of the thin blue line she wants to live.
About the Book
Ambitious young London police officer Philomena McCarthy returns in this “spectacular” (Booklist) psychological thriller by the author of WHEN YOU ARE MINE.
Philomena McCarthy has defied the odds to become a young officer with the Metropolitan Police despite her father and her uncles being notorious London gangsters.
On patrol one night, Philomena finds a barefoot child, covered in blood, who says she can’t wake her mother. Meanwhile, three miles away, a London jeweler has a bomb strapped to his chest in his ransacked store, and millions are missing.
These two events collide and threaten Philomena’s career, her new marriage, and her life. In too deep, and falling further, she must decide who she can trust --- her family or her colleagues --- and on what side of the thin blue line she wants to live.
Told in real time from multiple points of view, THE WHITE CROW is a “tense, fast-moving, and hard to put down” (Belfast Telegraph) suspense novel filled with dark psychological tension, moral complexity and emotional stakes. A standout in female-led police procedural fiction, it’s a twisty thriller that confirms Michael Robotham at the top of his game.
Audiobook available, read by Katy Sobey
Editorial Content for The Dead Husband Cookbook
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Danielle Valentine’s 2023 release, DELICATE CONDITION, introduced readers to a writer who seamlessly blended horror with real life. The book revolved around contemporary issues of motherhood, patriarchal control, and the gaslighting of women that occurs in marriages, doctors’ offices and beyond. With THE DEAD HUSBAND COOKBOOK, Valentine once again delights readers with her delicious fusion of fact and horror, relatable women and devious men. But this time, the women know far more than they’re letting on. Read More
Teaser
When infamous chef, restaurateur and television personality Maria Capello's husband died, the media circus was intense. Whispers claimed Maria murdered her husband to build her culinary empire on his bones, and that there was an all-too-grisly reason his body was never recovered. Yet for the past few decades, the Capello family maintained their stony silence --- until now. Thea Woods has no idea why she was chosen to work with Maria on her sure-to-be-infamous memoir, but she doesn't question her luck. Spirited away to the Capellos' rustic upstate farm, she's soon embroiled in the mystery --- and cut off from the rest of the world. As the true story of Maria's past unfolds and the stench of rot hidden behind the kind coastal grandmother veneer rises, Thea finds herself trapped...and desperately afraid.
Promo
When infamous chef, restaurateur and television personality Maria Capello's husband died, the media circus was intense. Whispers claimed Maria murdered her husband to build her culinary empire on his bones, and that there was an all-too-grisly reason his body was never recovered. Yet for the past few decades, the Capello family maintained their stony silence --- until now. Thea Woods has no idea why she was chosen to work with Maria on her sure-to-be-infamous memoir, but she doesn't question her luck. Spirited away to the Capellos' rustic upstate farm, she's soon embroiled in the mystery --- and cut off from the rest of the world. As the true story of Maria's past unfolds and the stench of rot hidden behind the kind coastal grandmother veneer rises, Thea finds herself trapped...and desperately afraid.
About the Book
One husband, well done.
When infamous chef, restaurateur and television personality Maria Capello's husband died, the media circus was intense…and quick to cast the blame. Whispers claimed Maria murdered her husband to build her culinary empire on his bones, and that there was an all-too-grisly reason his body was never recovered. Yet for the past few decades, the Capello family maintained their stony silence --- until now.
Thea Woods has no idea why she was chosen to work with Maria on her sure-to-be-infamous memoir, but she doesn't question her luck. Spirited away to the Capello's rustic upstate farm, she's soon embroiled in the mystery --- and cut off from the rest of the world. It should be the job of a lifetime, but something's not quite right with the close-knit clan, and Damien Capello isn't the only one to go mysteriously missing over the years. As the true story of Maria's past unfolds and the stench of rot hidden behind the kind coastal grandmother veneer rises, Thea finds herself trapped...and desperately afraid.
Because there are reasons why Damien's body was never found...and why, in over 30 years, Maria Capello has never revealed the secret ingredient in her most famous recipe.
Audiobook available, read by Lauryn Allman















