The Book Bag

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Release Day! Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen ~ My Thoughts #PaperGhosts

Happy Release Day!

Congrats Sarah

on the release today of

Paper Ghosts!

Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen

Magical Realism, Fiction, 288 pages

Published September 1, 2026 by St. Martin's Press

Part ghost story, part love story and steeped in magical realism, Paper Ghosts will transport you to a place where old secrets echo through the years and love finds a way of bringing us home.

Every family has its secrets . . .The Wester women live inside theirs.

For decades, the women of Wester House have unsettled and fascinated their small, timeless North Carolina town. Their home is full of whispers, old griefs, and uncanny knowing. But when Willamena Wester reaches out to the granddaughter she once pushed away, long-buried truths begin to stir.

1976:

Restless young Willamena falls for a stranded musician who brings freedom and the promise of another life to her carefully controlled world. Their brief, incandescent love story promises to escape the pull of the Wester legacy until Willamena makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever.

Present Day:

Returning home is the last thing Bailey Wester wants. Yet as she reconnects with Willamena, the grandmother she feared, Bailey begins to understand the love, heartbreak, and impossible choices that shaped the women in her family and realizes the past may not have been trying to haunt them after all.

A luminous novel filled with Sarah Addison Allen’s stunning prose and signature blend of romance, Southern charm, and wonder, Paper Ghosts reminds us that in order to have the future we really want, sometimes we need to live with the past, and not let go of it.

My thoughts about Paper Ghosts ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First line—"1976 - The morning was bright and clear with a whisper of fog floating around the edges of town, blurring the periphery."

I love it when I can escape into one of Sarah Addison Allen's novels. And what better way to escape than into this wonderful ghost story. I loved everything about it and was completely satisfied when I finished Paper Ghosts. What a beautiful story of the past and present coming together to make everything right.

I don't know it this is a spoiler or not so I'm not going to say much here, but when I found the reference to 'paper ghosts', I thought it was perfect. I had never thought of it that way.

I've read all of Ms. Allen's books and have loved each one more than the last. I highly recommend this one!

I received an eARC of Paper Ghosts and this is my honest opinion.

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About the author

Sarah Addison Allen is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of eight novels. A native of Asheville, North Carolina, Allen is credited with bringing "Southern Magical Realism" to a mainstream audience. Her work, characterized by its romantic, lyrical prose and its exploration of family dynamics through a supernatural lens, has been translated into more than thirty languages and sold millions of copies worldwide.

Allen’s debut novel, Garden Spells (2007), became a breakout success and an indie bookseller favorite, spending weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Her subsequent works—The Sugar Queen (2008), The Girl Who Chased the Moon (2010), The Peach Keeper (2011), Lost Lake (2014), First Frost (2015) and Other Birds (2022)—have each been bestsellers, garnering acclaim for their quiet magic and subtle, folkloric elements integrated into contemporary Southern life.

The daughter of a journalist father and a mother who was a celebrated cook, Allen grew up in a household where storytelling and food were the primary love languages, elements that now define her fiction. She attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, graduating with a degree in Literature. At age 39, Allen took a hiatus from publishing following a diagnosis of late-stage breast cancer. Her return to writing was marked by a shift toward more poignant narratives.

Allen’s most recent project, Paper Ghosts (2026), continues her tradition of blending mystery with the supernatural. She currently resides in Asheville, North Carolina with her family.

Connect with Sarah

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram

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Release Day! Mother Daughter Sister Stranger by Hank Phillippi Ryan ~ My Thoughts #MotherDaughterSisterStranger

Happy Release Day!

Congrats Hank

on the release today of

Mother Daughter Sister Stranger!

Mother Daughter Sister Stranger by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Mystery, Psychological Thriller, 352 pages

Published September 1, 2026 by Minotaur Books

Every family has its story. This one’s deadly.

Eliza Ramsey and her sister Bea are the sole survivors of the fiery plane crash that killed their parents—and share a bond they vow is unbreakable. But now, eleven years later, on the exact anniversary of the tragedy, Bea fails to retrieve her pre-teen daughter from a sleepover at Eliza’s. Eliza knows her sister would never leave her precious Piper behind—even in her care—and fears the worst.

Piper is confused at her mother’s absence. Her father, Bea's recent ex, is out of town and uninterested in Bea’s whereabouts. Police are dismissive. But Eliza is terrified. Especially as it becomes clear that Bea might have planned her own disappearance.

The Ramsey’s lives have already crashed and burned once—and now, Eliza discovers she must protect her niece from the horrifying truth about her family’s sinister history—and together, they must prevent their lives from going up in in flames once again.

A missing influencer. Her frightened daughter. And a sister on a desperate search for a happy ending. But someone knows the deadly key to their shared past—and now won’t stop until they’ve written a terrifying final chapter. Mother, daughter, sister—stranger.

My thoughts about Mother Daughter Sister Stranger ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First line—"I remember the falling. Only the falling."

I always know when I start a story by Hank Phillippi Ryan that it is going to be a good one, one that will keep me guessing until the end and make me want more. Mother Daughter Sister Stranger did that for me. I went round and round trying to figure out whodunnit and not getting it right. And this whole story takes place for Eliza and Piper in a matter of only three days. And what a dramatic, suspenseful three days they were.

There is so much going on in this story and I found myself bouncing around, wondering -- is this person a friend or a foe, should they trust this person or not. So much to think about and consider.

Mother Daughter Sister Stranger will take you on an exciting ride, one you will not soon forget. I highly recommend it!

I received an eARC of Mother Daughter Sister Stranger and this is my honest opinion.

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About the author

Emmy Award winning true crime reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan is the USA Today bestselling author of 17 thrillers, including The Murder List and One Wrong Word. Her upcoming novel is Mother Daughter Sister Stranger, out September 1 from Minotaur Books. Mary Kubica says: "Ryan triumphs--readers will devour this in one sitting!"

Her current thriller is All This Could Be Yours, an instant USA Today bestseller, the 2026 Mary Higgins Clark Award winner, and now nominated for the 2026 Anthony and Macavity Awards for Best Novel of the Year.

Her fiction is inspired by a lifetime of investigating true crime during her storied career as an on-air reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV, where she was awarded multiple honors for her groundbreaking journalism, including an unprecedented 37 Emmy Awards. Her work has resulted in new laws, people sent to prison, homes removed from foreclosure, and millions of dollars in refunds and restitution for victims.

A TedX speaker and in-demand literary moderator, Hank was a founder of Mystery Writers of America University, and the past president of national Sisters in Crime. She is also a board member of International Thriller Writers.

A Chicago native with roots in Indianapolis, Ryan lives in Boston with her husband, a nationally renowned civil rights and criminal defense attorney. ~ Amazon

Connect with Hank

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | BookBub

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Monday, August 31, 2026

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? August 31, 2026 #IMWAYR

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

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Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week.

Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

Falling for Peachtree Bluff

(Peachtree Bluff #5)

by Kristy Woodson Harvey

print ARC for review

Pub date ~ September 15

The Backside of Hades

(Deadwood Undertaker #4)

by Ann Charles & Sam Lucky

e-book from my TBR shelf for a challenge

Published September 2022

What I recently finished

The Blackbird Season

by Kate Moretti

print from my TBR shelf for a challenge

Published September 2017

Angel on Board

by E. J. Thornton

e-book from my TBR collection for a challenge

Published January 1998

Shibby Magee

by Carrie Kabak

audio-book from the author

Published March 2026

Read my thoughts here

What I am going to read next

(this is always subject to change)

😊

A Fire Sparkling

by Julianne MacLean

e-book from my TBR shelf for a challenge

Published August 2019

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Tuesday, August 25, 2026

On Tour! This Never Happened by Kent Heckenlively ~ Excerpt! #ThisNeverHappened @pumpupyourbook

Can a call girl enter politics and escape with her life and morals intact?

This Never Happened: A Call Girl in D.C. by Kent Heckenlively

Political Thriller, Romance

Published June 23, 2026 by Manhattan Book Group

Heidi Scherzinger is just a typical working girl in Chicago in 1972. Well, maybe not so typical. In fact, she’s running Chicago’s most successful independent call girl outfit when she’s summoned to meet with Sonny Battaglia, the country’s most powerful Mob boss.

The other local call girl agencies are complaining about her success, so Sonny offers her a deal: either she gets whacked, or she relocates to Washington, D.C., where she’ll be working for the “Agency” under the control of the creepy Sidney Gottshalk, the resident blackmail specialist.

The Agency wants blackmail material on all the horny Democrats flooding the Capitol in the run-up to the presidential election, trying to defeat President Nicholas Dixon as he runs for a second term.

The always efficient Heidi quickly sets up a first-class operation, aided by the quietly competent Milton Greenbaum. What follows is a Florence Gump-style adventure through a 1970s Washington, D.C., that might be just a little different than the version you read about in your history books.

This Never Happened: A Call Girl in D.C.

is available from Amazon

Watch the Book Trailer

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Excerpt

My Life Now – November 21, 2024

Most of those who’d want to kill me for telling this story are either dead or living in a nursing home.

I’m not dead, I’m not in a nursing home, but I am living in a “senior community.”

I’m the kind of woman you’ll often see is such a setting, teaching a morning and afternoon Pilates class, then checking out a lecture or play in the evening with her friends. I dress immaculately, my hair and makeup are always perfect, people often wonder if I’m in my mid-fifties or early sixties, (seventy-six, thank you very much) and truth be told, often getting propositioned by the Viagra crowd of men convinced they’ve still got it.

The truth is I’ve always loved sex and I’m pretty good at getting men and women to fall in love with me. But I’ve also mastered the art of convincing a person I’m fascinated by them, while at the same time remaining just out of reach. They know I’ll come and play for a few hours, especially if the money and conversation is good.

And there’s nobody better than me, man or woman, at listening to what the powerful are really saying while they’re trying to get me into bed, or do the commitment thing (no, thank you). That’s why I was on the payroll of the Agency for such a long time, although, truth be told, most of them are a bunch of psychotic morons.

You might call me a prostitute, call girl, hooker, or even a whore if you’re feeling particularly righteous, but I prefer the term courtesan.

Everything in life can be done poorly, or with style.

For example, President John Francis Fitzgerald did everything with a certain devil-may-care nonchalance, from bedding beautiful actresses to getting himself shot in Texas.

By contrast, President Nicholas Milhous Dixon could find the grey cloud on the

sunniest of days, and that partially explains how he went from winning the biggest landslide in American history to resigning in disgrace a year and a half later.

I say only partially, because there’s the part I played, that nobody’s ever really understood. You see, I’m the woman who’s been whispered about for years, the main player in the story you thought you knew, protected by forces more powerful than you can imagine.

But was it really my fault?

Maybe after fifty years it’s time to finally tell the story.

I’ll let you be the judge of whether I’m a hero or a villain.

– Excerpted from This Never Happened by Kent Heckenlively, Manhattan Book Group, 2026. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

Kent Heckenlively is an attorney, science teacher, and two-time New York Times bestselling author. He is best known as coauthor of the Plague series – Plague, Plague of Corruption & Ending Plague) with Dr. Judy Mikovits and Dr. Francis Ruscetti, winner of the Distinguished Service Medal from the National Institutes of Health. His book, Plague of Corruption reached #2 on the New York Times Bestseller list in June of 2020, has sold more than 200,000 copies to date, and is being turned into a documentary narrated by Liam Neeson. Kent has published numerous non-fiction books, focusing on the tech sector, controversies in medicine, and media bias.

His most recent two books, Twilight of the Shadow Government and Catastrophic Disclosure, focus on government corruption.

This Never Happened is his third novel and reflects his belief that we all need a fun book for the summer. With more than 15,000 Amazon reviews, a 4.7 average ranking out of 5.0 stars, more than 750,000 of his books in print, critical praise from Kirkus Reviews, including a highly coveted, “Kirkus preferred review” for his book on interferon, as well as his books being translated into ten languages, Kent is quickly becoming a powerhouse in the literary world.

Visit his website at www.kentheckenlivelybooks.com

Connect with him on X at https://x.com/KentHecken