This is the first book by Corban Addison I read, and I positively fell in love with it. It is as good, though heartbreaking, as the cover suggests, and the title is extremely lyircal. Altogether, it’s a pretty tempting package.

Synopsis: “When a tsunami rages through their coastal town in India, 17-year-old Ahalya Ghai and her 15-year-old sister Sita are left orphaned and homeless. With almost everyone they know suddenly erased from the face of the earth, the girls set out for the convent where they attend school. They are abducted almost immediately and sold to a Mumbai brothel owner, beginning a hellish descent into the bowels of the sex trade.”

Firstly, I’m a sucker for alliterative titles. Secondly, this books cover is the first thing that pulled me in. The book was pretty phenomenal as well.

Synopsis: “Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar. But when her eldest sister, Grey, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister’s ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind.”

It’s true that I was seeing buzz about this book from other readers, but it’s really the cover art blended with that intriguing title that caused me to jump at it so quickly, and I’m really glad I did. It was well worth it.

Synopsis: “In 1893, there’s no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters–James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna–join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women’s movement into the witch’s movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.”

How could you not read a book with that title? Plus, mixed with the cover art? Talk about inviting and weird from the start. And definitely not disappointing. Sedaris is hilarious.

Synopsis: “David Sedaris has written yet another book of essays (his sixth). Subjects include a parasitic worm that once lived in his mother-in-law’s leg, an encounter with a dingo, and the recreational use of an external catheter. Also recounted is the buying of a human skeleton and the author’s attempt to quit smoking In Tokyo.

Master of nothing, at the dead center of his game, Sedaris proves that when you play with matches, you sometimes light the whole pack on fire.”

I haven’t yet read enough Isabel Allende, and she’s one of those writers that should be savored. This book has always been intriguing, and the title is one that really blips a radar. Not to mention the cover is exquisite.

Synopsis: “In one of the most important and beloved Latin American works of the twentieth century, Isabel Allende weaves a luminous tapestry of three generations of the Trueba family, revealing both triumphs and tragedies. Here is patriarch Esteban, whose wild desires and political machinations are tempered only by his love for his ethereal wife, Clara, a woman touched by an otherworldly hand. Their daughter, Blanca, whose forbidden love for a man Esteban has deemed unworthy infuriates her father, yet will produce his greatest joy: his granddaughter Alba, a beautiful, ambitious girl who will lead the family and their country into a revolutionary future.”

Once again, the title and the cover art in all their steam punk glory make this one really intriguing. It just tells me there’s something fascinating inside. I haven’t yet gotten to it, but I’m looking forward to it.

Synopsis: “Imprisoned for life aboard a zeppelin that floats high above a fantastic metropolis, the greeting-card writer Harold Winslow pens his memoirs. His only companions are the disembodied voice of Miranda Taligent, the only woman he has ever loved, and the cryogenically frozen body of her father Prospero, the genius and industrial magnate who drove her insane.”

This title seems very dark and brooding. It doesn’t give much away but it draws the reader in. And you can’t help but wonder about the significance of the cover art. Definitely interested in this new thriller.

Synopsis: “The discovery of a girl abandoned by the side of the road threatens to unearth the long-buried secrets of a Texas town’s legendary cold case in this superb, atmospheric novel.”

Honestly, this just seems like the title to read during a pandemic. As I’m sitting in a State where things just continue to get worse, I feel like everyone is still just flirting with being “this close to ok.” Perhaps that’s what grabs me. Either way, this looks compelling.

Synopsis: “On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home from work when she spots a man precariously standing on the side of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls over and jumps out of the car into the pouring rain. She convinces the man to join her for a cup of coffee, and he eventually agrees to come back to her house, where he finally shares his name: Emmett.

Over the course of the emotionally charged weekend that follows, Tallie makes it her mission to provide a safe space for Emmett, though she hesitates to confess that this is also her day job. But what she doesn’t realize is that he’s not the only one who needs healing — and she’s not the only one with secrets.

There’s something so haunting about this title/cover combo. I can tell there are a million things being said in one image. It’s so compelling and makes me want to peek inside.

Synopsis: “As the fictional African village of Kosawa is slowly being destroyed by an American oil company and their government seems to only care about its own interests, the people who live there decide to fight back. This exploration of capitalism, colonialism and what a difference the little guy will really make you think.”

There are a couple of things going on here. First of all, the title reference to Shakespeare. And if you analyze the image and see the slightly creepy theater face with a forced smile is made up of pills, you realize just how much thought went into the symbolism and imagery of the cover art. I find myself really drawn to this one.

Synopsis: “Miranda’s marriage is over and her job as a college theater director is in peril. In short, her life is in shambles, all because of debilitating nerve pain from the accident that ended her stage career. She’d do anything to make it go away. And then, three strange benefactors offer to do just that, in this darkly comedic story that’s uniquely unsettling.”