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Practice Makes Perfect
After facing numerous rejections, Jeneva Rose successfully published her psychological thriller, The Perfect Marriage, via the British independent publisher Bloodhound Books in 2020. The promotional video she shared on TikTok in 2021 gained significant traction, leading to a U.S. re-release by Blackstone in 2024. Combined sales of both editions have reached an impressive 942,000 print copies. Following the success of several other titles, Rose’s sequel, The Perfect Divorce, has debuted at the top of our hardcover nonfiction list.
Read Me
Tahereh Mafi first introduced readers to the Shatter Me series with her 2011 novel of the same name. Over the past ten years, this young adult dystopian saga expanded to include six novels and five novellas, all focusing on a rebellion against a global authoritarian regime known as the Reestablishment. Now, four years after concluding the main series with Believe Me, Mafi is launching a spin-off series starting with Watch Me, which has debuted at #2 on our children’s fiction list. In an interview with PW, Mafi expressed that her return to the Shatter Me universe was inspired by the increasingly dystopian nature of the real world. “It was a balm to escape into something familiar,” she remarked. “I had the authority to try and reassemble a bit of humanity on the page.”
Into the Sunset
Lyla Sage is riding high on our trade paperback list with Wild and Wrangled. The artwork by Austin Drake for Sage’s Rebel Blue Ranch series has ushered in a new trend of illustrated western covers. PW explored the refreshing aesthetic change happening within romance publishing in its May 12 issue.
Imitation of Life
The bestseller charts reflect a nostalgic return: ranking #8 in children’s fiction, My Return to the Walter Boys serves as the sequel to Ali Novak’s 2014 novel, My Life with the Walter Boys. Novak’s journey began on Wattpad, where she posted her writings starting at the age of 15. A collaboration between Wattpad and Sourcebooks helped bring the original Walter Boys story to print. The narrative follows 16-year-old Jackie, who, after losing her family in a car accident, relocates from New York City to live with her mother’s close friend in Colorado. Here, she finds herself on a ranch filled with 11 boys and one less-than-friendly sister. The original book has sold 160,000 print copies and was adapted into a Netflix series in 2024, with a second season expected later this year.
Source
www.publishersweekly.com