I’m kicking off a new series today where I’ll cover all the latest news happening in the world of books, from book to screen adaptations to behind-the-scenes publishing drama and anything else I can find that you should know about in the literary world.

My goal is to round up the latest news at least once a month, so you can stay on top of everything happening with the books and authors you love. Grab your tea or coffee and put down your book because we’ve got some exciting (and controversial) stories to dive into.

 

 

Book To Screen News

Devney Perry’s smash new romantasy Shield of Sparrows is going to be a movie! Devney announced on her Instagram that the rights were picked up by Amazon MGM studios. Interestingly, the script will be written by Derek Kolstad, who is known for the John Wick movies.

This won’t be the first of her books to show up on screen, her small town romance series called The Edens is also in development with CBS studios for a TV series adaptation.

Shield of Sparrows is easily one of my favorite books of 2025 so far. I adored the storytelling and female main character! She’s unique in that she’s not an incredible warrior or spy. Odessa is a woman thrust into a heroine’s role who basically flounders her way through, but is so easy to root for. I highly highly recommend the book and can’t wait to see it adapted!

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The next piece of news is for my fellow Gilmore Girls fans! Macmillan Audio announced recently that Alexis Bledel is going to narrate the 50^th anniversary of Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. This book and movie (starring Alexis Bledel) were huge favorites of my generation, so I know plenty of people are going to be thrilled by this news!

I actually…never read the book? I have to admit though, its definitely going on my TBR now with her as the narrator. It’s a children’s book about Winnie Foster and her interactions with her neighbors, the Tuck family, who have an enchanted spring on their property that allows them to live forever.

Alexis herself said “Narrating this beloved story for its 50th anniversary edition is a wonderful journey back into a tale that challenges us to think about what it truly means to live a meaningful life”

 

 

Publishing News

This first piece of news is a recent scandal that shocked the book world. On May 18, one of my favorite bookstagrammers Tina from TBR, Etc broke the news that the Chicago Tribune newspaper included a Summer Reading recommendations segment in their actual printed newspaper that featured BOOKS THAT DON’T ACTUALLY EXIST!!

The article was written with the use of AI and it generated a book list of made up books by famous authors like Taylor Jenkins Reid and Andy Weir. I have so many thoughts:

1. At the most basic level, how does the writer not realize that these books aren’t real? TJR? She’s one of the most famous authors in the world and everyone knows her new book this year is called Atmosphere.
2. It’s a bit disgusting what passes for “journalism” these days. As media outlets try to cut costs and staff, writers are clearly using AI to write stories for them. It just proves that you absolutely cannot trust what you read on the internet and it’s always important to fact check anything and everything.
3. As a small content creator who has seen my blog get crushed by Google, I’m fighting to stay alive and it’s incredibly disheartening to see incorrect info generated by AI in established publications. Friendly reminder that us small creators are the ones who actually take time to read the books and provide real book recommendations. Every like, follow, subscribe or page view means the world to us and helps keep us afloat!

On a lighter note, I just had to laugh at the blurb for Andy Weir’s fake book – it literally describes the novel as a new thriller about a programmer who discovers AI has become sentient and has been secretly influencing global events for years. A little too on the nose??

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This next piece of news is from earlier this year, but I just noticed it recently so I thought it was worth sharing!

Simon & Schuster’s flagship U.S. imprint has announced it will no longer require authors to obtain blurbs. If you’re not familiar with the term, blurbs are those promotional endorsements from other writers. You’ll often find them directly on the back cover of the book or within the pages. Simon and Schuster Publisher Sean Manning outlined this decision in an essay for Publishers Weekly, expressing concerns that the practice fosters an “incestuous and unmeritocratic literary ecosystem” where connections often outweigh talent. He emphasized that the time spent soliciting blurbs detracts from the primary goal of producing high-quality literature.

While the new policy eliminates the expectation for authors to secure blurbs, unsolicited endorsements will still be welcomed and used at the publisher’s discretion.

I’ve heard from within the book world that sometimes authors provide blurbs without even reading the book (or after reading only a summary or a few chapters), simply because they don’t have enough time to read and provide a thoughtful description for every book they receive.

As a result, I’m personally a huge fan of this process change. I never paid much attention to blurbs in the first place, since I know they’re not always based on a full read. Plus, what author is going to say something negative about a book from a friend or author within the same publishing house?

Do you ever read blurbs from authors and have they influenced you to read a book in the past?

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A few days ago, Reese Witherspoon took to social media to announce the title of her new book that she’s co-writing with Harlan Coben. It’s called Gone Before Goodbye and it’s a thriller we know almost nothing about so far except the title.

This announcement hasn’t exactly gone over well in the book community. Reese is obviously a huge celebrity and has one of the most popular book clubs on the planet. She just recently made a controversial choice for her May book club pick by selecting Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, who’s books hit the bestseller list each summer. Normally, Reese used her platform to uplift lesser known authors – women who would greatly benefit from the boost. Instead, she went with the author who has movie rights for every single one of her books so far. A clear money grab.

And now, she’s “co writing” a book with one of the best selling thriller authors of our generation. I know I’m ranting, but this really feels like Reese just wants to add “fiction author” to her list of accolades and the publisher knows anything with her name on it will sell like gangbusters.

Meanwhile, there are so so many actually talented writers who are going unnoticed because they don’t have a social media presence or name recognition already.

I’m just very over this trend of celebrities putting their names on fiction novels and everyone fawning over this accomplishment.

What are your thoughts?? Let me know in the comments if you’ve read any fiction books by celebrities or whether you’ll pick up this new one from Reese.