Recommendations and Reviews

Highlights of what we've been reading and loving.

Book Bites: Feast!

Are you ready to cozy up with a book as the calendar turns to cooler months? You've come to the right place — we're still in the middle of the big fall publishing push, and we've been spoiled by all of this year's wonderful new releases. Here, we're collecting another dozen of our very top picks, including new efforts from familiar names like Jason Reynolds, the Pumphrey brothers, Sophie Blackall, Stuart Gibbs, Eoin Colfer, Mary Kay Andrews, and Viet Thanh Nguyen. In other words, it's an absolute feast — dig in!

Book Bites: Extra, Extra!

Folks, the shipments of new books are coming in fast and thick, so we're back ahead of schedule with another batch of staff reviews highlighting a more of our recent favorites that have hit our shelves in the last... 20 minutes or so. There's something below for everyone — sweet read-alouds, gripping YA, rom-coms, thrillers, and weighty nonfiction. Grab a stack and dig in — quick, before another new shipment arrives and we do this all over again!

Book Bites: Sep-Tome-Ber

September is here! Has it brought us any cooler weather? No, not really. But what it has delivered is just as good — we've officially entered Big Fall Publishing Season, and great new books are coming fast and thick. Here, we're highlighting a dozen of our very favorites from the first half of the month, including new books by longtime favorites like Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, Cressida Cowell, Lauren Groff, and more. Stay tuned next week for another round of reviews... and in the meantime, we highly recommend investing in some new shelving. You're going to need it.

Book Bites: Favorites Fresh and Familiar

Have you been doing a lot of reading lately? Books have been flying off of — and onto — our shelves the last two weeks. Our new arrivals section is packed with exciting titles from favorite authors as well as fresh new voices we can't wait for you to meet. There's something here for everyone, ages three on up. Which will you read first?

Book Bites: Books Are Golden

Have you been doing a lot of reading this summer, friends? As we continue to rack up triple-digit days, we find that we honestly don't have the energy for much else. It suits us fine, really — our industrial-strength A/C has been keeping us nice and cool and it's great to catch up on some of the new books coming out that we might not have had time for otherwise... at least until next week's new releases arrive and we start all over again. In the meantime, we've collected a dozen of our new favorites below — read on!

Book Bites: Bad Joke, Good Books

Q: Is that a hole in your bookshelf?

A: You'd better Patchett! (Sorry, sorry.)

It's true, though: There's a new novel from the one and only Ann Patchett gracing our shelves (but it would look much better on yours), plus fresh offerings from other fast favorites like Elizabeth Acevedo, Peter Heller, or Gillian McAllister. What are you looking for in your next book: A good family read-aloud? A graphic novel? Romantic banter? Family drama? An overlooked piece of history? You'll find all of that and more below. Read on!

Book Bites: Bed of Proses

Not to sound like a broken record over here, but it's been the same story for weeks: It's way too hot outside to do much of anything except lounge around with a cold beverage and a stack of new books. This week, we're serving up a refreshing mix of cozy mysteries, romance, middle grade, and more to help keep your mind off of the 100+ degree heat. Stop by and see us if you need to freshen up your shelf — the shop A/C is marvelously cool, and we can't wait to talk books with you.

Book Bites: Twelve Good Books and True

Anyone else hoping to never hear the phrase "heat dome" ever again? The silver lining in all of this is that nobody can blame you for lounging around and reading all day — after all, what else is there to do? Stop by and see us if you're in need of a fresh stack. The shop A/C is working great, and we have plenty of new temptations to distract you from the weather or keep you company by the pool. If the dozen new titles below don't catch your eye, fret not — we've got plenty more where that came from. 

Book Bites: Cool Books for Hot Weather

Could it get any hotter? (Don't answer that.) There's only one thing to do in weather like this: Pay us a visit and head home with a pile of books to read. Happily, it's a great time of the year for new releases. We've got a fresh batch of sweet picture books, adventurous middle grade, beach reads, mysteries, literary masterpieces, memoirs, and more waiting for you on our shelves. Read about a few of our new favorites, then stop in and enjoy a blast of our cranked A/C. Don't forget to pick up your Summer Reading Bingo card — it's a great time to kick back and fill in some squares. (Just maybe not "read outside.")

Book Bites: Icons

Boy, are y'all in for a treat. Consider the following list of authors: Julie Murphy. Lisa See. Isabel Allende. Ali Hazelwood. Helen Ellis. Now, you might assume that you just read an incomplete list of Blue Willow's favorite authors. And you wouldn't be wrong. But what makes that list extra exciting is that each of these powerhouse authors has a new book on our shelves, waiting for you to swing by and snap it up. And that's not all — we're also buzzing about a fun YA that's perfect for Pride, a brand new middle grade fantasy, the latest from Andre Dubus III... even a rip-roaring tale of a pirate queen. You'll find all of that and more in our latest roundup of staff picks. Read on!

Pages