Paperback Picks<\/h2>\n
Every new paperback release table in town is awash in pastel pinks and glowing yellows as publishers try to coax readers out of their winter torpor with vibrant tales of romance and intrigue.<\/p>\n
And Seattle book lovers should have a little extra spring in their step this month, because two local authors are launching the paperback editions of their beloved 2025 novels. In other words, it\u2019s a great month to visit your friendly neighborhood booksellers.<\/p>\n
\u201cStorybook Ending\u201d<\/span><\/strong> by Moira Macdonald (Dutton, $19). Macdonald has written for The Seattle Times for a little over two decades. In fact, she used to write this very column every month, so it makes sense that her big-hearted debut novel, which revolves around a case of mistaken identity, takes place in a Seattle independent bookstore and features a bookseller as one of the main characters. Macdonald will debut the paperback edition of \u201cStorybook Ending\u201c at Third Place Books Ravenna, the shop that inspired the bookstore in the novel, on April 8.<\/p>\n \u201cMurder by Memory\u201d<\/strong> by Olivia Waite (Tordotcom, $17.99). Seattle romance author Waite, who writes a column about romance books for The New York Times, stepped out of her comfort zone with her latest novella. It\u2019s the first volume in a cozy sci-fi mystery series set on a gigantic starship in the middle of a decades-long interstellar journey. When technology allows the ship\u2019s tenants to enter new bodies at will, the question of \u201cwhodunit\u201d becomes a lot more complicated.<\/p>\n \u201cHow Soccer Explains the World\u201d<\/strong> by Franklin Foer (Harper Perennial, $18.99). When Atlantic writer Foer first published this book back in 2004, Americans only thought of soccer as something they had to drive their kids to a couple of times a week. But now that big cities like Seattle have their own thriving MLS and NWSL teams, and the World Cup is coming to North America, Foer is rereleasing his meditation on the planet\u2019s favorite sport and what it means for globalization in an updated edition with a new preface.<\/p>\n \u201cAudition\u201d<\/strong> by Katie Kitamura (Riverhead, $18). One of the most celebrated novels of the last year, adored by everyone from Time magazine to The New York Public Library to Barack Obama, finally arrives in paperback. It\u2019s about a middle-aged actress who is struggling with big questions of identity and expectations, but it reads like a page-turning literary thriller.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Doorman\u201d<\/strong> by Chris Pavone (Picador, $19). In the mold of twisty class-based thrillers like \u201cThe Maid\u201d and \u201cThe Housemaid,\u201d Pavone\u2019s best-selling murder mystery explores questions of wealth, fame and privilege in a prestigious Manhattan apartment building.<\/p>\n \u201cSaving Five\u201d<\/strong> by Amanda Nguyen (Picador, $19). Nguyen\u2019s spacefaring career as an astronaut at NASA and Blue Origin would already make her a compelling candidate for a memoir. But \u201cSaving Five\u201d also tells the story of how Nguyen was sexually assaulted as a Harvard student, and how the justice system\u2019s frustratingly insufficient response to that crime inspired her to become a passionate advocate for survivors of sexual assault.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Killing Spell\u201d<\/strong> by Shay Kauwe (S&S\/Saga Press, $18). With headlines about flooding in Hawai\u02bbi fresh in our minds, Kauwe\u2019s dystopian fantasy novel unfortunately feels a little more realistic on its release than it might have a year ago. It\u2019s set 200 years after the Hawaiian Islands were lost to a disastrous flood, and it\u2019s about a Native Hawaiian struggling to form a new homeland for her diaspora in a world where magic has reawakened.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t Tell Me How It Ends\u201d<\/strong> by Adrienne Thurman (Dial Press Trade Paperback, $18). An embittered young woman swears that she\u2019s done with love in this debut romance novel. But can you really be that far removed from romance when your sister is a busybody who also happens to own a matchmaking business?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNo More Tears\u201d<\/strong> by Gardiner Harris (Random House Trade Paperbacks, $20). For decades, Johnson & Johnson \u2014 makers of the ubiquitous baby shampoo \u2014 was one of the most trusted manufacturers of pharmaceuticals. But as a reporter for The New York Times and in his latest book, Harris revealed the truth about the corporation\u2019s many harmful lies and cover-ups, including a study that suggested Johnson\u2019s Baby Powder causes cancer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnnie Knows Everything\u201d<\/strong> by Rachel Wood (Dial Press Trade Paperback, $20). If you know someone who\u2019s interested in the romance genre but who balks at authors who spend too much time on the love story and not enough attention on the rest of the plot, \u201cAnnie Knows Everything\u201d could be the book for them. Wood\u2019s latest romance features a huge cast of fascinating characters and lots of interesting details about working in the tech industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSky Daddy\u201d<\/strong> by Kate Folk (Random House Trade Paperbacks, $18). Walter Kirn\u2019s \u201cUp in the Air\u201d meets the \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d series in this eccentric novel about Linda, a social media content moderator who is sexually attracted to airplanes.\u00a0<\/p>\n