Every nine years, the Game of Nines begins again. A cryptic letter arrives. A body turns up. And the killer dares the authorities to stop them before time runs out.

This is where "Game of Nines" by James Patterson and Max DiLallo sinks its hooks into listeners. It’s not just another serial killer story; it’s a psychological chess match ...Read more

We’ve all heard the phrase: You can’t change your stars. Wesley Farnsworth doesn’t argue with its sting — he remembers living under it. But his new book, "The Blueprint of Becoming: A Practical Guide to Faith, Failure, and Finding Your Way Forward," makes a persuasive case that the line is a lie we don’t have to keep believing.

With ...Read more

Therapy is expensive, TikTok advice is terrifying, and your obscurely named group chat is one bad breakup away from a meltdown. Whether you’re creatively blocked, romantically jaded, existentially bored, or convinced the world is one bad headline away from total collapse, books are cheaper than therapy and judgment-free.

BookTrib’s staff ...Read more

Pity the evil queen in "Snow White" asking the magic mirror who was the fairest of all, waiting anxiously for the reply. Today, all the queen would need to do is upload an image of herself to an AI beauty analysis app and wait 10 seconds for the results.

Beauty analysis apps score your face “plain, pretty or gorgeous,” or “attractive, ...Read more

Looking for a quick fantasy read that hits the spot? Lisa Lacriola serves up just what you need in the second installment of her Species Chronicles, "The Order of the Wolf: Covenant."

The story follows Toni Luello after the events of the first book, "The Order of the Wolf: Lineage," where the disappearance of her great-aunt leads Toni to ...Read more

Debut novel "The Amalfi Secret" by Dean and Catherine Reineking takes readers on a pulse-pounding chase through sun-drenched Italian locales and shadowy halls of power.

This mystery thriller opens on the picturesque Amalfi Coast, where Gabe Roslo meets up with his grandparents for a family vacation. It’s a heartfelt reunion after a year or so...Read more

We accidentally left for our vacation in Maine a day early. I take full credit — or blame — it depends on who tells the story. There’s nothing wrong with leaving a day early, except that when you get there you won’t have a place to stay.

A quick online search landed us a reservation just outside a picturesque New England town we’d ...Read more

Every anthology has to choose its organizing principle, but few feel as alive as the one guiding "Coven of the East: Reimagining Asian Women’s Magical Histories." Editors Angela Yuriko Smith and Pauline Chow map the 22 entries against the 22 Major Arcana of the Rider–Waite–Smith tarot. It’s a clever structure, intuitive, almost organic, ...Read more

In "A Spell for Midwinter’s Heart," author Morgan Lockhart whisks the reader away into a small mountain town filled with magic. This book hits all the marks I want from a romance for the holiday season: cozy, fantastical, and filled with eclectic characters and local business owners rising up against the industrial complex.

Our protagonist, ...Read more

There are countless reasons why the woods make for a great setting in novels.

In the woods, it’s easy for us to get lost, easy to think we’re progressing towards a destination only to find ourselves back where we started, easy to disappear. In the woods, technology is unreliable, and often we find it best to leave our phones behind. Our ...Read more

Because I love, love, love saving time, I am looking forward to the first weekend in November when the entire nation will save 60 minutes — not the Sunday night news program but an hour on the clock.

Of course, nobody likes to mention the fact that the only reason we are “saving” an hour is because an hour was stolen from us in the spring...Read more

At a time when women’s rights are once again threatened, it’s worth looking back at what feminist authors warned us about decades ago. When Margaret Atwood published "The Handmaid’s Tale" in 1985, she was part of a powerful wave of women writing feminist dystopian science fiction, which we now call speculative fiction.

The late 20th ...Read more

Wendy B. Correa’s new memoir "My Pretty Baby: Seeking Truth and Finding Healing," details a fascinating life defined by resilience and accomplishment in the face of childhood trauma and a dysfunctional family environment. As Correa deftly shows in this writing debut, life is not so much about what happens to you as it is what you do with what ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — When South Carolina state Sen. Josh Kimbrell kicked off his campaign for governor inside of a restaurant in Inman, he brought out a table after his speech to sign a piece of paper.

It was the Moms for Liberty Parent Pledge, which he signed after promising to create an office of parental rights if he were elected governor.

�...Read more

They say birds of a feather flock together and while that may be true most of the time, I have proof it is not true all the time. Our 12-year-old grandson and a jet-black Cayuga duck sitting beside him, with its long neck and head resting on the boy’s shoulder, have been flocking together for weeks.

The boy says it all began because the duck�...Read more

In "Danger, No Problem," author Cindy Fazzi has written an engaging mystery about one man’s continuous pursuit of the one he let get away. The story unfolds over 20 years, with chapters alternating between the past (1998, 2008) and the present, illustrating how Domingo’s relationship with his target, Monica Reed, evolved and ultimately led ...Read more

I am an accidental gardener. If anything I plant grows to maturity, and by some fluke of nature becomes edible, it is sheer accident.

If we had to survive on what I grow, we would both be very, very thin. Spaghetti thin. We are not spaghetti thin; we are more like rigatoni.

Several years ago, I dreamed of growing potatoes. I threw some ...Read more

There’s something about a small town that makes it the perfect setting for a thriller. On the surface, you’ve got quiet streets, neighbors who wave as they pass, kids riding their bikes without a care. But scratch just a little deeper and you’ll often find lies stacked as neatly as wood piles, secrets pressed down tightly, hidden well, ...Read more

It’s always a treat as a reader to find a book that delivers a powerful social message as well as tells a good story, and that’s exactly what we get in "Under Their Watch" — Charlie Ketchey’s compelling and moving novel about the challenges facing a pair of dedicated child-care workers.

Child-care caseworker Cameron Springer and John ...Read more