Judy Blundell is most well-known for her YA novel What I Saw And How I Lied which won the National Book Award in 2008. She is also quite popular among Star Wars fans, however they know her as Jude Watson, her pseudonym.
June Baby (2026) (Thousand Voices) Shannon Garvey "A real find . . . Shannon Garvey is a writer of depth and vivid detail, and I was swept away by her story of Ruth's breathless summer of decision. This absorbing novel is an honest examination of the choices - of love, friendship, and vocation - a young woman faces, that feels fresh and alive."
Rock the Boat (2021) Beck Dorey-Stein "What a cocktail of a book, topped with frothy, delicious wit. Beck Dorey-Stein nails the pathos and comedy of that slippery, sideways path to (sigh) adulthood. We can be awful to the people we feel safest with—those who love us and who have known us the longest—and Dorey-Stein captures that truth beautifully. I’m wildly grateful to have discovered a novelist who delivers this amount of sheer pleasure on a page."
Lucy Clark Will Not Apologize (2021) Margo Rabb "Margo Rabb takes the elements of storybook and fable and twines them through a crackling murder mystery. Tender and fierce, witty and wise, this is a tale of the route we take when we grow up and into the love we deserve."
The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano (2021) Donna Freitas "Nine choices, nine fates, one woman. Donna Freitas takes a woman’s most intimate decision and casts a refracting light on the pressures, regrets, and joys that can accompany it. With crystalline prose that crackles with wit and emotional intensity, she reveals how a woman’s effort to be true to her own choices can be a struggle that requires not only everything she has, but everything she might become. Starkly honest, absorbing, and wholly original."
The Music of Bees (2021) Eileen Garvin "I knew nothing about bees before reading this marvelous book, but now I’m craving honey. Who knew that the intricate miracle that is a beehive can contain such deep, surprising life lessons? This emotionally resonant story strikes to the heart of how grief can crack you open, but lead to unexpected new ways to connect."
Good Eggs (2021) Rebecca Hardiman "Bracing, hilarious, warm, this novel is as wayward and mad as the human heart. Hardiman takes elements I thought I knew—the sulky teen jealous of the pretty sister, the dotty grandmother, the house-husband succumbing to temptation—and takes a left turn, every time. You just want to pull up a chair to this novel, if you know what I mean. An absolute delight."
Happy and You Know It (2020) Laura Hankin "Laura Hankin balances a sharp eye for the mad dynamics of a high-stakes playgroup with warm understanding of the occasional desperation of new motherhood. This book is bracing, fresh, and hilarious, like sticking your head in a freezer on a hot day."
Last Couple Standing (2020) Matthew Norman "This warm and witty tale of a devoted couple willing to throw out that pesky ‘forsaking all others’ rule in order to stay together crackles with fierce energy and emotional truth."
The Jetsetters (2020) Amanda Eyre Ward "[Amanda] Ward reveals she has a way with humor. . . . The author’s eye for forced fun is exquisite. . . . There is a real poignancy in this novel, as wounded characters struggle to regain childhood loyalties. Ward nails how family expeditions are ruined and saved, over and over again, by fleeting moments of connection and the consensus to survive without killing one another."
Girl in the Blue Coat (2016) Monica Hesse "In an occupied city, a young woman's daring transforms into true courage when she confronts a mystifying disappearance. From page one, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Enthralling."
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