Last Friday night, a pickup truck crashed into the Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, Vt., damaging one of the entrances. The Manchester Journal reported the vehicle was traveling at an estimated 60 miles per hour at the time of the crash. At the roundabout in front of the bookstore, the driver failed to negotiate the turn and slammed into the bookstore front, not far from the entrance nearest the parking lot. No injuries were reported in the store, which was closed for the day.

The vehicle's driver, who injured himself and two passengers, was charged with driving under the influence, grossly negligent operation of a vehicle, and leaving the scene of a crash. K-9 Officer Benjamin Doucette said that shortly before the crash, the vehicle's occupants had attempted to enter a local restaurant, but were denied service. While exiting the parking lot there, the vehicle struck at least one car, then continued north on Main Street at a high rate of speed before hitting the bookstore.

The Northshire Bookstore is open and customers are being asked to use the Bonnet Street entrance or enter through the Colburn Cafe.

The Reading Attic in Marietta, Ga., has expanded by adding several bookshelves and a curated selection of books to its downstairs neighbor Tiny Bubbles Tea Bar, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.

The selection within Tiny Bubbles Tea Bar offers a cross-section of what's available in the Reading Attic, with an emphasis on children's books and bestsellers. It is located at the back of the tea bar in an area that used to be focused on gifts.

Bookstore co-founders and mother-and-daughter team Caroline Tillman and Elizabeth Kunetz explained that the main reason for the expansion was accessibility. The bookstore is located on the second floor of an historic building at 21 West Park Sq., and because of its historic status, the building has no elevator and is exempt from ADA requirements. They also hope that it will help introduce the bookstore to a wider audience.

"We've always wanted to have front access onto the Square," Tillman told the Marietta Daily Journal.

"Hopefully, moms with strollers can get a taste and can leave their stroller towards the back (of the first floor) where it's not as easily transportable by others," Kunetz added. "Then they can head up to the real children's area where the wider selection will be."

Tillman and Kunetz began discussing the possibility of an expansion with Felecia Prezzano and Brielle Gaines, owners of Tiny Bubbles, about two months ago. Construction on the new bookshelves began approximately two weeks ago.

Prezzano said: "We decided that bringing them downstairs would be a good avenue for them... and it'd be a great benefit to us having our guests sit there and be able to read some of their stuff."

The Reading Attic celebrated its one-year anniversary in June.

The virtual events for Bookstore Romance Day 2024 have been announced. 

While the annual celebration of the romance genre, its readers, and independent bookstores is scheduled for Saturday, August 17, there will be events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that weekend, and all of the virtual events are free.

On August 16, festivities will begin with a Kick-Off Party featuring a panel of five romantasy authors.

Events will continue the following day with panels focused on romance set outside of the U.S. or Western Europe; sports romance; road trip romance; romance with protagonists in STEM; and Queer romance.

And on Sunday, August 18, there will be panels highlighting "lower-heat" romance; romance featuring protagonists in the arts; and YA romantasy.

Bookseller Billie Bloebaum founded Bookstore Romance Day in 2019 to help bring the romance community and indie bookstores together. More information about the virtual events, including participating authors, can be found here.

If you've ever wanted to work at Shelf Awareness, here's the chance: we're seeking a sales and marketing assistant. This is a great opportunity for a highly motivated, detail-oriented person who would like to join a team passionate about indie bookstores, bookselling, and the publishing industry. For more information, click here.

Congratulations to Carmichael's Kids, Louisville, Ky., which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this coming Sunday, August 11, when all purchases will have a 10% discount. In addition, the store will hold a costume parade at noon featuring Dog Man; will collect gently used stuffed animals or new dog toys to benefit the dogs at Animal Care Society; a chance to spin the prize wheel and win a prize with every purchase, and games to win additional prizes; a free anniversary tote to the first 100 people who make a purchase; complimentary facepainting and balloon animals; and complimentary birthday treats from Gilberto Gelato and Bae's Bakery.

The store noted: "In August 2014, Carmichael's Bookstore was able to realize a long-held dream when we opened Carmichael's Kids. A specialty store, it was able to carry a deeper inventory of children's books and had room for toys, games, and stuffed animals that other locations did not. Whether you have come in to get a quick present on the way to a birthday party, to ask for a recommendation when your middle-grade reader was in a reading slump, to browse through our special issues section when things get tough, or to spend some quality time reading together in our book nook, you are such an important part of our story. It has been our pleasure and privilege to watch an entire generation of Louisville readers grow up in this store and we are happy to invite them back to celebrate with us."

The Book & Cover, Chattanooga, Tenn., posted on Facebook: "Door tree got a little midsummer makeover & they're bringing *~romance~* for our upcoming Bookstore Romance Day celebrations!"

At the Hachette Book Group mass merchandise division:

Jerry Jensen has rejoined the company as the executive director of mass merchandise. He was most recently at Simon & Schuster, responsible for sales of adult titles into all club accounts. Before S&S, he was an important part of the HBG mass merch team.

Dan Kosack has been named director, mass merchandise, effective August 19. He joins HBG from Ingram Content Group, where he worked as a senior national account manager. Before that, he spent many years as national accounts manager for Walmart at Penguin Random House.

Avi Molder has been named national account manager, airports, effective August 19. He has been a member of the digital team.

Molly McLaughlin has been promoted to associate national accounts manager. In addition to sales responsibility for the warehouse clubs, she will be a key point of contact for the Readerlink account.

Tishana Knight, senior national accounts manager, will now serve as the inventory and operational point person for the mass merch channel while keeping her sales responsibilities for grocery/drug and specialty accounts.

Heart of the Hive: Inside the Mind of the Honey Bee and the Incredible Life Force of the Colony by Hilary Kearney, photographs by Eric Tourneret (Storey Publishing).

Tomorrow:
Drew Barrymore Show repeat: Sharon Brous, author of The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World (Avery, $29, 9780593543313).

Kelly Clarkson Show repeat: James Patterson, co-author of Eruption (Little, Brown, $32, 9780316565073).

Hamnet, the film adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's award-winning novel, has begun production in Wales, Screen Daily reported. Starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, the project is being directed by Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), who co-wrote the screenplay with O'Farrell.

Liza Marshall is producing Hamnet for Hera Pictures with Sam Mendes and Pippa Harris at Neal Street Productions and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment.

The Stirrings: A Memoir in Northern Time by Catherine Taylor won the £4,000 (about $5,120) TLS Ackerley Prize, honoring "a literary autobiography of outstanding merit, written by an author of British nationality, and published in the U.K. in the previous year." The award is given in partnership with the Times Literary Supplement. 

Taylor said: "I've never won anything, actually, so I'm really pleased. It's an amazing pedigree, the Ackerley Prize, and I am following in the footsteps of Lorna Sage and Blake Morrison, for example, who are two of my favorite writers. I'm not going to say anything else, except that my mother probably wouldn't have wanted me to write the book, but I think she'd have been--not surprised that I wrote it, but I know she'd have been proud this evening. Thank you so much."

Chair of judges Peter Parker said: "Our shortlist this year consisted of three very different, wholly involving, startlingly candid and beautifully written memoirs. We hope that by drawing attention to these books we will encourage everyone to buy and read all three of them, but the winner... is Catherine Taylor's The Stirrings."

Julia Kelly's second Parisian Orphan mystery, Betrayal at Blackthorn Park, gives newly minted British spy Evelyne Redfern a chance to test her skills in the field, while giving readers a glimpse into the innovations and intrigue involved in winning World War II.

Kelly (A Traitor in Whitehall; The Last Garden in England) sets her narrative in the fall of 1940, just as Evelyne returns to London after completing spy "finishing school" in Hampshire and a test mission in Yorkshire. Evelyne is surprised to learn that her first field assignment will involve testing the security measures at Blackthorn Park, the titular manor house requisitioned by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) for the manufacture and testing of explosives. Prime Minister Winston Churchill is scheduled to visit Blackthorn soon for a weapons demonstration, and the estate has received reports of theft, which Evelyne is firmly told not to investigate.

With her handler, the aggravatingly handsome David Poole, Evelyne leaves London (and her best friend, Moira) behind for Sussex, where she poses as the cousin of a local woman and begins her assignment. Before she can complete her security tests, however, she finds Sir Nigel Balram, the head of engineering at Blackthorn, shot dead in his office. It looks at first glance like a suicide, but Evelyne and David aren't convinced--which means they must work together to both discover a motive and catch a killer before Churchill's visit, before things go (more) terribly wrong.

Told from Evelyne's sharp, observant viewpoint, Betrayal at Blackthorn Park delves into the politics of spycraft and the odd-but-true details of weapons invented during the war: boiled sweets used in timing devices, sugar plates fitted into bombs, and other innovative ideas. As Evelyne and David interview the scientists and other staff at Blackthorn (with the help of an eager young constable), they also uncover a nest of secrets and lies, professional and personal jealousies, clandestine affairs, competition between colleagues, and the strong opinions of the housemaid Jane. Class, education, gender, and ambition also play a role, giving multiple people motives for murder and sabotage. As Churchill's visit draws nearer, and other members of staff find themselves in danger, Evelyne must use not only her freshly developed spying skills but her considerable grit and chutzpah to catch the killer.

Tautly plotted, with layered historical detail and plenty of dry wit, Evelyne's second adventure is a satisfying mystery and a slice of (nearly) top-secret wartime history. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Shelf Talker: Julia Kelly's second World War II mystery deftly mixes murder, sabotage, and clandestine weapons at an elegant Sussex manor house.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. Play a Bigger Game by Markus Kaulius
2. A Photo Finish by Elsie Silver
3. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
4. A Thousand Broken Pieces by Tillie Cole
5. Twisted Love by Ana Huang
6. If We Ever Meet Again by Ana Huang
7. The Inmate by Freida McFadden
8. The Body in the Backyard by Lucy Score
9. All about Yvie by Yvie Oddly
10. If the Sun Never Sets by Ana Huang

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]