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…)

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…)

Our ideal TLA dinner pairing? A meal at Houston’s Beard Award-winning Oaxacan restaurant Xochi, and a chance to meet YA author Adi Alsaid, who has penned the starred-reviewed novel WE DIDN’T ASK FOR THIS [Inkyard Press, April 2020]. But since we couldn’t make it out to Houston, we decided to bring Xochi and Adi to you. See below for a round-up of recipes from Xochi for the more gifted culinarians (read more…)