Newbies and veteran cruisers will love hitting the seas with Emma’s Straub’s newest, “American Fantasy.” Straub, a prolific writer who never seems to take life too seriously, is at the top of her game with a page turner that focuses on a fateful 4-day celebrity cruise out of Miami that effects change in a number of characters. Their engaging stories gradually unfurl as they board the ship with more emotional baggage than clothes jammed into their overstuffed bags. More than

Early in the morning of November 29, 2019, a young man plunged to his death from the balcony of a luxury apartment overlooking London’s Thames River. His body was not discovered until four days later, three days after his parents notified the London police that he was missing. Patrick Radden Keefe is a staff writer for The New Yorker. His recent book, “London Falling,” details the events leading up to Zac Brettler’s death and the painstaking efforts of his parents to learn t

Michelle Collins Anderson’s, “The Moonshine Women,” is a novel full of beautiful descriptions—the land, the animals, the people, the scents, and even tastes all come to life with her prose. The story has it all, family drama, romance, adventure, and even a Cinderella moment or two. The book is set in the early 1900s when most farmers in the Ozarks made moonshine for their own consumption and trading. Grandma Lidy passed down the Strong family recipe to her son Hiram and he

Look around—nature is waking up from winter’s nap, fields and forests bursting to the brim with color. “A World of Wonders” appears each year, an ongoing promise of new life alive in pastel petals and bowers of leafy green. In April, we celebrate a planet that continues to serve us, Earth a steadfast friend that continually gifts us with her wonders. In honor of Earth Day, Clover suggests books that glorify a world we must never take for granted—from trees’ towering majesty,

Be careful what you wish for could be the theme of “Yesteryear” a searing, page turning debut by Caro Claire Burke. In this creative, satirical novel dreams turn into nightmares when greed and power nudge out kindness, honesty and integrity, positive qualities that Natalie loses sight of as she hurdles forward, her young children, husband, friends and extended family be damned. For Natalie it’s all about racking up thousands more followers on social media as she creates a pe

“How to Survive in the Woods,” by Kat Rosenfield, is a chilling novel fraught with tension. Themes of betrayal, loyalty, and survival, both in nature and in relationships, are imbued in this 300-page book. Emma is a young, brilliant entrepreneur who has created an international company that develops exercise, health supplements, and behavioral programs based on a person’s genetic profile. She has become one of the wealthiest women in the world in very short order. He

We’ve always known who the villain is in Cinderella, the stepmother who makes life miserable for the pretty, hardworking young woman in her care, a girl with a heart of gold. Author Rachel Hochhauser switches things up in “Lady Tremaine,” imagining a far different stepmother in her protagonist Ethel, known as Lady Tremaine. Ethel has her hands full with Elin, a stepdaughter who’s spoiled and entitled. Ethel was the daughter of a brewer, her upbringing far from regal. She acq

Dr. Hugo Rustin, chief surgeon at the Imperial College Hospital, arrives at work days after top officials have fled the capital city in response to The Emergency, a total collapse of the orderly society he and his family have lived in for years. He was fully expecting to be named director of the institution after the approaching retirement of its current chief executive. He is astonished to learn that, like the whole of society, the hierarchy of the hospital has been upended

The City of El Paso is often referred to as the "Ellis Island" of the United States' southern border. Translated as "mountain pass," El Paso has a twin city across the Rio Grande, Ciudad Juárez. Crossing the Pasa Del Norte Bridge, from Juárez Avenue to South El Paso Street, immigrants seeking to enter the U.S. leave behind their beleaguered pasts and embrace opportunity, promise, and hope. Ulloa opens her book by recounting the August 3rd, 2019 mass shooting at the El Pas

Two couples who live across the street from each other in Rochester, New York, become enmeshed in a situation that threatens the happiness of their families, impacting them and their children for years to come. The affair occurs early in “Lake Effect,” by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, rendering the novel unputdownable, pages flipping as we try to understand the why behind the end of two marriages and the beginning of a new one. This immersive story is told in three parts, beginn

Irish author Colm Toibin has published 11 novels, multiple short story collections, screenplays and commentary. He was professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester, and is currently Silverman Professor of Humanities at Columbia University Toibin’s Ellis Lacey novels, “Long Island” and “Brooklyn,” his most recent, follow the story of an Irish immigrant over two decades. Each novel is woven through with themes of love, loss and deep family ties. Toibin’s late

Celia, the protagonist in the novel “Evil Genius” narrates her dramatic, sad story over a period of days. Celia progresses from living a predictable life as a phone operator in San Francisco to that of a woman on the run after being a suspect in two murders that occurred in her own home. Celia is a naive and innocent 19-year-old when her mentally unstable and dying mother begs the attentive hospital scrub tech to take care of her daughter by marrying her. Celia complies

No matter your age, the richness friends bring to life is a sweet treat we crave—human beings and bee-beings alike. Anytime is a good time to celebrate the special ones we joy in calling our co-hearts, so “Pal Around with Me” as we crack open a trio of March Picks with a focus on friendship. Clover knows, and you do too, there’s no blessing bigger than a buddy, friend or bestie, no matter what you call them, they deliver 24-7. Give them a hive-five—it will mean a lot! Page On

“The Infamous Gilberts,” by Angela Tomaski, is a dark, humorous novel that spans several decades. The story focuses on the wealthy, yet eccentric, Gilberts, a family who live in a once stately English manor known as Thornwalk. The country manor is now crumbling and has been sold to a luxury hotelier to be transformed, erasing all of its history, character, secrets and memories. The story is narrated by the Gilberts’ neighbor and friend Maximus. He leads readers on a room-to-

Two motherless Black babies are born in the small, fictional town of Honeysuckle, Louisiana, in the 1940s, friends “since (they) smiled with their milk teeth.” Their bond extends for years making for a riveting story, the central narrative in “Kin,” another bestseller by Tayari Jones, whose previous novel “American Marriage” garnered rave reviews. “Kin” is certain to be welcomed for its strong, lovely voice, descriptive words, colloquial phrases, and heartfelt plot. Two ende

January 7, 2025, marked the outbreak of several of the costliest wildfires in the history of the United States. The Palisades fire and the Eaton fire, both in Los Angeles County, burned for 24 days before being confined on January 31. Fueled by underbrush starved for moisture (the area had seen no measurable rainfall for eight months) and Santa Ana winds of epic velocities, the two fires combined to kill more than 30 people and destroy more than 16,000 buildings. NBC TV jour

Fairytale retellings have been around for many, many years. The story of Cinderella in particular has been re-imagined in countless ways, even earning its place as a sports analogy. So, it is understandable why I was hesitant to pick up Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser - I couldn’t imagine how Cinderella’s story could be retold in any unique way. I was completely wrong. In Lady Tremaine , debut author Rachel Hochhauser puts her focus not on the story of Cinderella, but inst

With a list of bestsellers to her name, and an ardent following, books by Anna Quinlen are enthusiastically welcomed. Her newest, “More Than Enough,” is beautifully written, with believable characters dealing with common issues we all face. This time around the author's focus is on family, identity and secrets long kept. Forty-year-old Polly, a New York City resident, has been happily married for six years to Mark, her second husband, a vet at the Bronx Zoo. Polly is a dedi

In Rebecca Fallon’s debut novel, twins Sebastian and Viola, spend their lives from age 7 through their 20s inescapably longing to know their deceased actress mother and resenting their father’s refusal to let them know about her. “Family Drama” is set mainly in Harvard between 1997 and 2013. When the twins were 7-years-old, they watched as their mother, Susan Bliss, was buried at sea in the Atlantic Ocean following a terminal illness. They are confused; their father

A woman whose family is lost in a tsunami “adopts” a homeless young girl and raises her as a boy. A college-bound young woman commits her special needs older brother to a state institution after the death of their mother. A young man suffers a serious allergic reaction after his girlfriend’s younger sister switches sandwiches at a picnic. These, and other of the six stories in Lauren Groff’s latest short story collection, “Brawler,” involve death or other tragic outcomes l