Libsyn Directory

2025 Bookreporter Bets On Selections: Books We're Betting You'll Love

Release Date: 12/18/2025

Bookreporter Talks To

Patricia Finn joins Carol Fitzgerald to discuss her novel, THE GOLDEN BOY, a complex, non-linear narrative about marriage, friendship and redemption that spans multiple timelines. The book explores themes of memory, identity, exile and atonement through the lives of Stafford and Agnes, a wealthy couple who are living on Maui when readers first meet them. The novel’s structure consists of three parts: marriage (a 24-hour period on Maui), friendship (non-linear memories) and found family. This is Patricia’s first novel at the age of 71, and she talks about how her background — which...

“Bookaccino Live” Book Group: Lily King

Bookreporter Talks To

Lily King joined us for February’s “Bookaccino Live” Book Group to discuss her most recent novel, HEART THE LOVER, which is an instant New York Times bestseller and a Bookreporter Bets On selection. Eight readers joined us on camera to ask Lily questions about the plot and its various twists (spoilers ARE included), as well as character development, her writing process, the book’s title and cover, and much more. Other members of the audience, who submitted their questions via Zoom’s Q&A feature, were curious to know about Lily’s involvement with the production of the...

Sadeqa Johnson: Keeper of Lost Children

Bookreporter Talks To

Sadeqa Johnson joins Carol Fitzgerald to discuss her latest novel, KEEPER OF LOST CHILDREN. Like her earlier two works of historical fiction, it is a Bookreporter Bets On selection. Sadeqa shares that she found a piece about the Brown Babies when she was doing research for THE HOUSE OF EVE. The story was calling to her, but she put it aside to finish that book. She learned more about the Brown Babies and Mabel Grammer, the inspiration for her character Ethel Gathers, in both Ebony and Jet magazines. Bringing these children from Germany to the United States brought lots of press;...

Wendy Walker: Blade

Bookreporter Talks To

Wendy Walker joins Carol Fitzgerald to discuss her new thriller, BLADE, a Bookreporter Bets On selection that is set in the world of competitive figure skating. The novel, which draws from Wendy's personal experience as a competitive figure skater (she trained in Colorado from ages 13 to 16), features alternating timelines that follow attorney Ana Robbins, who returns to her former skating facility to defend a young skater accused of murder. Wendy talks about the book’s themes of isolation, the pressure on young athletes, and the psychological impact of competitive sports. The dual-timeline...

Ashley Elston: Anatomy of an Alibi

Bookreporter Talks To

Ashley Elston joins Carol Fitzgerald to talk about her New York Times bestseller, ANATOMY OF AN ALIBI, which also is a Bookreporter Bets On selection. Ashley reveals that she rewrote the book three times, changing structure, timeline and point of view. She shares the character she began with, and how the others evolved, as well as what stayed the same from the very start. Ashley was thinking about the Murdaugh family murders and how technology can help with an alibi as much as it can hurt it. She confirms that she is under contract for a new book and updates us on what is happening with...

Paula McLain : Skylark

Bookreporter Talks To

Paula McLain joins Carol Fitzgerald to discuss her latest novel, SKYLARK. Paula has been enthralled with Paris since her 2011 bestseller, THE PARIS WIFE. Her new book features dual timelines set in Paris --- one in 1664 and the other in the 1940s during the Nazi occupation. The characters face parallel struggles across different time periods. Both storylines address how people find meaning and hope through connections with others. In SKYLARK, the underground tunnels beneath Paris serve as a space of refuge and resistance throughout history. Paula conducted extensive research, including...

“Bookaccino Live” Book Group: Allen Levi

Bookreporter Talks To

Allen Levi joined us for January’s “Bookaccino Live” Book Group to discuss his New York Times bestselling debut novel, THEO OF GOLDEN. The audience clearly was mesmerized by the insight he gave into the characters and setting. Allen talked about his inspiration for writing the book and expressed his appreciation for how it has resonated with so many people. He thoughtfully responded to a number of reader questions. Some were asked by attendees who appeared on the virtual stage, while Carol Fitzgerald shared questions and comments from those who were camera-shy or weren’t able...

Belle Burden: Strangers

Bookreporter Talks To

Belle Burden joins Carol Fitzgerald to discuss her memoir, STRANGERS, which details how her husband abruptly left their marriage during the early days of the pandemic. The book, which is a Bookreporter Bets On selection, chronicles Belle's journey from shock and grief to rebuilding her life as a writer and single mother. Belle started writing about her experience after her divorce was finalized in 2022, feeling "a burning need to write down what had happened." She initially wrote a piece for the New York Times “Modern Love” column, which ran in June 2023....

Rebecca Armitage: The Heir Apparent

Bookreporter Talks To

Rebecca Armitage joins Carol Fitzgerald to discuss her debut novel, THE HEIR APPARENT, which was a Reese's Book Club pick and a Bookreporter Bets On selection. Rebecca describes the book as a modern-day fairy tale. Lexi, who is living in Tasmania and training to be a doctor, is summoned home after a skiing accident kills her father and critically injures her brother. Her grandmother is the Queen of England; she is the heir apparent and must return to London. Carol loved the cinematic opening scene with the helicopter landing to whisk Lexi away from her life in Australia. Rebecca drew upon...

2025 Bookreporter Bets On Selections: Books We're Betting You'll Love

Bookreporter Talks To

Carol Fitzgerald shares commentary about her 42 Bookreporter Bets On selections from 2025. These are books that she is betting Bookreporter readers will love! (* means a video/podcast interview with that author is available.) Fiction Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall * The Correspondent by Virginia Evans * The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb Heart the Lover by Lily King * Buckeye by Patrick Ryan Speak to Me of Home by Jeanine Cummins * Culpability by Bruce Holsinger * The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage (* to come) Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson * More or Less Maddy by Lisa...

More Episodes

Fiction

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall *
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans *
The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb
Heart the Lover by Lily King *
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

Speak to Me of Home by Jeanine Cummins *

Culpability by Bruce Holsinger *

The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage (* to come)

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson *

More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova *

What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange *

When the Cranes Fly South written by Lisa Ridzén, translated by Alice Menzies
What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown
Pictures of You by Clare Leslie Hall *
Days You Were Mine by Clare Leslie Hall *

Historical Fiction

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis *

Atmosphere: A Love Story, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter *
Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray *
The Lost Baker of Vienna by Sharon Kurtzman *
Last Call at the Savoy by Brisa Carleton *
Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely? by Sarah McCoy

Thrillers & Mysteries

The Doorman by Chris Pavone *
Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow *
Apostle’s Cove by William Kent Krueger
The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark *
All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan *

The Unraveling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline

She Didn’t See It Coming by Shari Lapena
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
Saltwater by Katy Hays *
Please Don’t Lie by Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt
The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict *
The Oligarch's Daughter by Joseph Finder *
The Break-In by Katherine Faulkner
The Note by Alafair Burke
The Maid’s Secret: A Maid Novel, by Nita Prose *

Memoirs & Other Nonfiction

Dear Sister: A Memoir of Secrets, Survival, and Unbreakable Bonds, by Michelle Horton *
Seeking Shelter: A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America, by Jeff Hobbs *
This Happened to Me: A Reckoning, by Kate Price
Boat Baby: A Memoir, by Vicky Nguyen *

Our Latest “Bookreporter Talks To” Interviews:

Vicky Nguyen: https://youtu.be/ssPMpaokVp8

Brisa Carleton: https://youtu.be/aE2cCH4oMsk

Alex DeMille: https://youtu.be/EstkI7Caul8

Lily King: https://youtu.be/ir_IaUnaru4

Virginia Evans: https://youtu.be/6FtYT5KRW2Q

Hank Phillippi Ryan: https://youtu.be/7O3gIC1IJN4

Sharon Kurtzman: https://youtu.be/CMCnGJitKMY

Francesca Serritella: https://youtu.be/XmmvtzilXg0

Bruce Holsinger: https://youtu.be/KukE7DscmsY

Our Latest “Bookaccino Live” Book Group Events:

Clare Leslie Hall: https://youtu.be/j0j3_ScryJg