We are so excited that Alka Joshi’s debut novel THE HENNA ARTIST [MIRA Books]–penned in homage to the author’s own brilliant, creative, charismatic mother–is the latest Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine Pick! The luminous novel, set in post-Raj 1950s Jaipur, follows the rise of a young woman who uses her talents, determination, and insights into court intrigue to make her independent way in conservative Indian society. And to help (read more…)

How are creatives staying inspired this season while doing their part staying at home? L&L thought they’d check in on our fantastic authors to find out! First up in Los Angeles: Sam Lansky, whose much-buzzed-about debut novel BROKEN PEOPLE (June 9, Hanover Square Press) has been called “profound and affecting” by Chloe Benjamin (The Immortalists). The Class By Taryn Toomey: This highly addictive, impossible-to-describe cathartic movement practice is one-part full-body (read more…)

In the debut dual-narrative The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim [Park Row, September 2020], a young woman returns to her childhoom home in L.A. for a brief visit, only to find herself having to investigate the fate of her immigrant mother, Mina. The novel is both a love letter from the author to her own mother and a poignant survival story of immigrant women—in this case, (read more…)

Escape into a thriller with a fresh premise, by an author with an enviably authory name: Someone’s Listening [Graydon House, July 28] by Seraphina Nova Glass. The novel’s hero, Dr. Faith Finley, is what they call “the whole package”: she’s a young, beautiful renowned psychologist, host of the wildly popular “Someone’s Listening with Dr. Faith Finley,” and a soon-to-be bestselling author. And of course she’s married to the perfect man, (read more…)

It is mindboggling that a relatively harmless social network in L.A. called the Mara Salvatrucha Stoners–bound by rock ‘n’ roll and born simply out of a survival instinct by El Salvadorean immigrants who fled violence in their native country–would become the street gang known as MS-13. But this definitive account is not a mere historical rundown of the gang’s roots–it is also the story of a former MS-13 member and (read more…)