Hi All,

This month, any purchase from my Bindery (through Bookshop . org ) supports Quiet Quail Books, an Indigenous bookstore in Southern California.

Quiet Quail Books

Quiet Quail Books is a California Indigenous-owned bookseller located in San Bernardino, CA. Quiet Quail Books curates book lists and book sales of various Indigenous authored books and diverse books across all genres. Our goal is to get as many quality Indigenous authored books into people's hands and communities. We are a digital online store, do pop-up bookstores in person on a monthly basis, and have a bookstore hybrid office in San Bernardino, CA. Every book you purchase from our list helps us towards funding our supplies for our pop-up schedule. Thank you so much for your support! 

To find out more information about our office and other interests, visit our website: quietquailbooks.com

Cozy Quillers! Our April book club pick is Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto and I can't wait to dive into this cozy mystery with you!

A little about the book:

Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady--ah, lady of a certain age--who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown.

Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to.

Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing--a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn't know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands.

Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?

For those new to the Cozy Quill, we host our book club discussions in our members-only Discord under the Book Club category. The format is very much like the Fable App, if you're familiar. Basically, we create 2-3 chapter clumps for you to pop into to discuss the story as you're reading.

We don't do a live event around book club, but if you would like to host a virtual discussion, let myself or our Discord mods know and we'll get that set up for you!

NOTE: This book is a step outside our usual cozy fantasy vibes, but I've heard such great things about this story. All content warnings are listed in Storygraph, and if this feels a bit too much this month, we'll see you in the next one.

Happy reading,

Meg

My friends, I'm delighted to share the winner of our first Cozy Quill coloring pages giveaway! Congrats to SARA of SarasBookishMacarons!

Sara posted this adorable dragon bunny, illustrated by our very own Alexa G Illustration. I love it so much! The wings are absolutely PERFECT.

Sara, you'll receive a Twig's Traveling Tomes physical ARC and the new Love Cycle box from Cliche Tea!

Thank you all for participating this month. Don't worry, we'll do this giveaway again in May, so keep your eyes peeled for that announcement.

In the meantime, if you'd like to submit your own coloring page art, we love to share it! Here's the GOOGLE FORM.

DOWNLOAD PAST COLORING PAGES HERE

xx,

Meg

Hi folks!

The Trans Rights Readathon is over, and I hope you all discovered some great books. It was a bit different for me this year as it was my first one as a trans author, and I was knee deep in a new WIP so didn’t read as much as usual.

But I DID read two incredible books, three fantastic short stories, and have two more books on the go!

Books I read:

Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa.

I cried 5 times while reading this book. It’s so, so emotional and so gorgeous.

A non-binary Mexican American teenage artist falls for a waiter at their parents’ restaurant. But ICE is a spectre in the background, threatening their happiness.

SO good.

The Spirit Bares its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White.

This is INCREDIBLE.

About a young transmasc medium who tries to escape an arranged marriage but ends up in a school for ‘sick’ girls.

As a trans man who was raised in an institution, it hit hard in a really cathartic way.

Short stories:

Making the Team by Akiva Lee.

Read for free on Akivaleewrites.com

Loved this adorable short story, about a trans swimmer falling for his team captain! It is sweet and spicy, featuring transmasc rep and Jewish rep.

Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue by Charlie Jane Anders.

Read for free on Boston Review.

Loved this terrifying short story.

In a dystopian future, a trans woman is forced to undergo a horrifying procedure, administered by her childhood friend.

Sad, scary, but cathartically enraging.

To Balance the Weight of Khalem by RB Lemberg.

Read for free on Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

I adored this fantasy short story, about a young refugee trying to survive, setting out to sea for an uncertain future.

Current reads:

Somadina by Akwaeke Emezi

I’m halfway through and it’s really intriguing so far! About a girl in a magical land with mysterious powers, trying to find her kidnapped twin brother.

YA fantasy inspired by indigenous Igbo culture.

The Exodontists by Drew Huff (ARC)

I’m a third in, it’s freaking me out in the best way!

A family of creepy supernatural dentists try to find a solution when their warehouse lair is taken over by a Halloween costume store.

Drew also did the cover for my book, so talented!

Much love,

Disco

Ok fam, here are the new releases for April, below are the ones I've been notified about since posting this:

Ok since posting I've been made aware of:
Bleed Blue by Moxie St. Henry coming out on 4/6
Queenslander by Laura Garden coming out on 4/21

If I'me made aware of any more I'll update y'all! Tell me in the comments what you are most excited for!

Happy April everyone!! And since I HATE April fools pranks we are going to skip that and just announce our April reads! I am extra excited for the books that won the polls!

For our fantasy pick we will be reading The Book of Fallen Leaves by A.S. Tamaki

Our thriller pick of the month is If You Lie by Caleb Stephens

Make sure to join my discord so that we can all discuss!

Hi guys!

It's the time for our seasonal giveaway (where is time flying by AHH) and as I've had so much issues with my post office these last few weeks, we're going digital for this giveaway. Hopefully for the next season we can resume our mail giveaway but as of now, I'd rather make sure you guys receive your giveaway in time🥰

Before we dive into it, I just wanted to apologise that it has been a bit quieter in here! I do plan to send a longer email but this has been a crazy busy time with my health and life in general and hopefully we can get back on track but I am also looking to see how we can keep going sustainably! Thank you for sticking around 🤎

For this giveaway, you can choose to get a giftcard to any of the following:

• Bookshop.org or any indie bookshops

• Any small business that do any Cozy Hobbies, Teas or anything to support your slow living

• Steam or Indie Games giftcard

• Really anything within the same theme as above but might not exactly fit! (Feel free to DM/email me to dicuss this)

As usual, fill out this form before April 17th and I will be in touch with the winner! Can't wait to see what you guys choose for your giftcard🥰

🃏The Bookish Prankster This or That

Pick one from each pair but choose wisely!

Spine Cracker OR Dog-Ear Dealer

Fake Spoilers OR Cliffhanger Ending

Cover-less Books OR Upside-down Shelving

Glitter in Pages OR Invisible Bookmarks

Audiobook at 3x OR Reading the Last Page First

Book Snobbery OR Plot Twist Paranoia

🎭 The April Fools' Would You Rather

1. Would you rather have every book you touch turn into a How-To manual for tax law.. OR have every book end with and then they woke up and it was all a dream?

2. Would you rather accidentally tell someone the ending of their favorite series OR have someone glue two random pages of your current read together?

3. Would you rather only be allowed to read books with Comic Sans font OR only be allowed to read books with neon yellow covers?

4. Would you rather find a $20 bill inside a library book OR find a signed first edition of your favorite book at a garage sale for $1 but the signature is from the wrong author?

💡 How to Play Along

I’m a total Dog-Ear Dealer. I know, I know it’s a bookish sin, but sometimes a bookmark is just too far away! Also, if a book ends with'it was all a dream, I am officially retiring from reading forever.

❗️Tell me in the comments: What is the funniest or most evil thing you could do to a book lover within reason, of course?

Like the good corporate girlie I am, I think in quarters. So here are my top 5 new-to-me fiction reads of the 100+ I read in the first 3 months of the year. (And in full transparency, I'm writing this on the 28th in hope to tempt the book gods to give me another stellar read in the next few days!)

1. The Poet Empress by Shen Tao - I'm as surprised as you are that a non-Robin Hobb fiction book made it on this list. But this one has everything that I love in fantasy: political intrigue, well-drawn characters, and interesting themes to explore.

1. We Could be Rats by Emily Austin - Q1 2026 is when I discovered Emily Austin, an author I've been sleeping on for too long. I still have one more of her published novels to read, but this has been my favorite and is well-deserving of being on this list. I love a queer literary fiction book!

1. Almost Life by Kiran Millwood Hargrave - this absolutely was a sleeper pick...when I picked it up, I couldn't even remember why I ordered it through Book of the Month subscription. But, messy lesbians books have been a theme of this quarter and this has been my favorite of the bunch.

1. Midnight at the War by Devi S. Laskar - one of my favorite things of getting ARCs from publishers is getting to hype up books that absolutely deserve it, and this is one of them. This April release is incredibly timely, as our main character not only has a messy personal life, she seeks to humanize the brown people in the Middle East she reports on professionally.

1. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans - I'm sure you've heard of this one. I read it because my TikTok friend Kris sang it's praises, and I'm so glad I did. This is warm and cozy, but very real. And I absolutely love that our protagonist is an older woman.

Good morning, mis internet amigxs,

Apologies the link is a bit late, but we'll be chatting with Alvaro Enrigue on Monday, April 6th at 8:00 PM EST in lieu of our early sprints. The link for the chat is below. I ask that you DO NOT SHARE the link, as our chat with Alvaro is for Bindery subscribers only. In addition, since the chat will be recorded, please mute yourselves and turn off video before joining the chat.

Topic: Bien Leidos Author Chat with Alvaro Enrigue
Time: Apr 6, 2026 08:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83432287765?pwd=a5atXzvCQ072Xi7i90zPKrQKajA7K8.1

Meeting ID: 834 3228 7765
Passcode: 230846

One tap mobile
+13052241968,,83432287765#,,,,*230846# US
+13017158592,,83432287765#,,,,*230846# US (Washington DC)

Join instructions
https://us06web.zoom.us/meetings/83432287765/invitations?signature=NscYey0S6T-YXYtmrydX8H7wUOpclMSOIH3y7hhbV8I

Hi guys, here is the final vote for REVENGE! This will be the Wildcard category, so every book that has come 2nd so far is up for the running!

Truth and Courage!

Ed and Will

First, let's talk book club books.

Regrettably, I DNFed The Year of the Witching. This one just was not for me.

I made it to the last quarter of The Night Watchman and then was confirmed to moderate Bookcon and all plans changed. I then was confirmed to moderate Bay Area Book Festival.

My immediate reading priority: read all of the panel for Bookcon, finish The Night Watchman, read April's bookclub books, start reading the panel for May!

So far I've read:

Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass

This one was a small town thriller with a missing husband who could be an attacker, and a senior community with a podcast who helped solve it all. ADORED.

Sundown Girls by LS Stratton

This was a YA thriller with a supernatural bent and focus on the history of sundown towns. UNPUTDOWNABLE. Kept you guessing to the very end.

How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine

Also a YA thriller with slashers. Fans of My Heart is a Chainsaw will love the movie references in this one! This one also has a bit of a supernatural bent.

You guys, I've already lost track of the body count! It's A LOT.

I'm currently reading Who's All Going by Lisa Springer

Another YA thriller! These have all been so great. This one is has influencers, a resort, a wellness cult. Hard to put down.

Have you read any of these?

Hello All,

As a reminder, today is the absolute last day to get a 15% discount on my Must Reads Indigenous Books list .

If you see anything not already on your bookshelf, please buy it! My hope is that this sale is successful and Bookshop continues to offer us discounts! (I have so many more lists I want to create!)

As a reminder, any order purchased today supports Black Walnut Books, an Indigenous queer woman owned bookstore.

Tomorrow, we change bookstores!

We have a new merch launch! We're announcing it here first in-case anything sells out. Everyone here will also receive a discount:

Pit Fighter - 5%

First Swords - 10% (up from the usual 5%)

Bright Stars - 15% (up from the usual 10%) Code - BrightStar15

Check the new merch on Fourthwall - https://thebrothersgwynne-shop.fourthwall.com/collections/all

Truth & Courage,

Will & Ed

We have a new merch launch! We're announcing it here first in-case anything sells out. Everyone here will also receive a discount:

Pit Fighter - 5%

First Swords - 10% (up from the usual 5%) Code - FirstSword10

Bright Stars - 15% (up from the usual 10%)

Check the new merch on Fourthwall - https://thebrothersgwynne-shop.fourthwall.com/collections/all

Truth & Courage,

Will & Ed

We have a new merch launch! We're announcing it here first in-case anything sells out. Everyone here will also receive a discount:

Pit Fighter - 5% (CODE PITFIGHTER5)

First Swords - 10% (up from the usual 5%)

Bright Stars - 15% (up from the usual 10%)

Check the new merch on Fourthwall - https://thebrothersgwynne-shop.fourthwall.com/collections/all

Truth & Courage,

Will & Ed