A Sister’s Ghost, a Fish in a Jar, and Romance Day This Saturday
- Tim Pinel
- Aug 5
- 3 min read
Thank You for Finding Waldo With Us!
A huge thank you to everyone who hunted for Waldo throughout July and joined us at Queen Takes Book for Saturday’s celebration! We loved seeing your smiles, creativity, and love for local.
A special thanks to all the amazing local businesses who participated in this year’s Find Waldo Local campaign - your support makes our community stronger.
For everyong reading this email, please take a moment to find them online, follow their pages, and keep showing up for local through your purchases, recommendations, and reviews.
2025 Participating Businesses:
Celebrate Bookstore Romance Day THIS SATURDAY!
Last Chance to get Tickets to meet Kate Myers Live
It's your final chance to secure your seats to our special book club series - Quotes and Liner Notes - in partership with the Collective Encore (Columbia Lakefront). August features Maryland author Kate Myers live and in conversation on Monday, August 11.
We'll be discussing her latest book, Salty, a yacht-based, beach-read mystery mixing family drama with satire of the ultra-rich set in the Caribbean.
Tickets include beachy vibes, light bites, non-alcoholic refreshments, and 10% off book purchase. Themed cocktails & Encore menu options available for purchase.
New Releases - August 5, 2025
New in Fiction
Grief can be strange, and Ghost Fish leans into that strangeness in a gentle, offbeat way.
After the death of her sister, Alison flees small-town Georgia for New York, only to find herself haunted by what she believes is her ghost, now appearing as a tiny fish in a glass jar. What unfolds is a tender, surreal exploration of loss, memory, and the messiness of starting over.
There’s a quiet magic to this book, as it balances the absurd with the emotional, never pushing too hard, but always keeping you just a little off-center. Alison's worldview as she navigates the challenges of NYC while simultaneously exploring new relationships and the memory of her sister is the heart of the story, while the setting, from East Village diners to a dreamy stint in Key West, adds warmth and texture.
For a short novel, it covers a lot: sisterhood, loneliness, love, healing. It’s a little weird, a little sad, and surprisingly hopeful. It's a story that stays with you, like a whisper you’re not quite ready to forget.
This romantasy finale delivers the goods: battles, betrayals, high-stakes gods, and a star-crossed love worth rooting for. In The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk, Carissa Broadbent wraps up the Shadowborn duology with an epic return to the dark, richly imagined world of Nyaxia.
Asar and Mische, both scarred by past choices, are thrown back together in a desperate fight to save their realm, and each other, from destruction. What stands out is the balance: sweeping action without losing character depth, tender romance layered into a story full of blood, power, and divine chaos.
]This is a big story, and it moves fast, but the emotional core stays sharp, especially as old wounds resurface and hard decisions come due. Fans of Broadbent’s earlier work will find familiar rhythms here ... brooding men, morally tangled stakes, love forged in fire, but also something deeper and more resolved. A satisfying end, and a fun one to get lost in.
Also Available Today in Fiction
New in Nonfiction
Sometimes a memoir surprises you, not just by telling a good story, but by shifting the way you see the world. Bringing Up Beaver does exactly that. It begins with an orphaned beaver kit (i.e. a babe beaver) and ends with something like transformation, not just for the animal, but for the people who care for him.
John Aberth writes with quiet humor and curiosity as he recounts the months spent raising BK, a small beaver displaced by human machinery and gently reintroduced to the wild. The story is full of small, delightful moments: feeding by hand, building a backyard pond, watching instinct kick in as BK learns to build, swim, and partner. But it’s also about the human need to reconnect with nature and reconsider how we live alongside other species.
This is a thoughtful, heartwarming book - not sentimental, but sincere. For animal lovers, nature readers, or anyone curious about the wild world right outside our fences, it’s well worth the time.
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