Hi Everyone!

It's been a long time since I've updated this, and for that, I apologize. Life has been LIFE-ing, but I'm excited to get back into updating this more frequently and showing you all what I am reading!

For those of you who follow me on Instagram@asreadbymerisha, you'll know that I have been supporting debut authors with my Margins to the Middle book club. It's been so great providing book tours for authors and hopefully providing more reach for their book babies. With that being said, I want to bring that community to Bindery. I'm rebranding Unbound Narratives to Margins to the Middle so that I can share the books we are reading with this community as well. To date, we've supported:

• Adrienne Thurman - Don't Tell Me How It Ends

• Heather Eng - Double Happiness

• Haili Blassingame - They All Fall In Love at the End

• Natalie Messier - Every Version of You

• Jasmine Smith - Death Card

But don't worry! We have other debut authors lined up for this year and next, including a Bindery author that I will introduce for this month's book club!

So continue to follow along as I build this community. I'm so happy you all are here and can't wait to see how this grows!

Hi all!

Many apologies for being MIA. I've been reading and trying to beat the heat, but I'm happy to share with you a debut that I just finished and think you should add to your TBR.

Soft Spots by Leila Renee will be published in August, and it's an incredible debut. It follows Robin, a young Black college grad who has run away from her family. In her new home, she's focused on joining a teacher program (Like Teach For America) and becoming the best English teacher she can be. She meets Naomi, her roommate and fellow corps member, and develops an intense obsession immediately. The story unfolds over the course of 5-6 months and includes Robin's struggles with leaving her family behind, the abuse she suffered while at home, the observations she makes as a new teacher, and the parallels between her life and Naomi's.

I highly recommend if you enjoy character driven stories with heavy emotional themes.

happy friday, friends!

I've been incredibly busy finishing final projects for school, but I'm still reading!

I've started All My Rage, leaning into an immersive read as I want to annotate as I'm reading, and I'm drawn into the story told from multiple POVs. If you aren't following along, make sure you check in for updates and to join the discussion!

I've also started Judge Stone on audio, and am loving Viola Davis as the narrator!

What are you all reading this weekend?

Very much excited to kick off my first book club with All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir!

All My Rage (2022) made Tahir the first Muslim and Pakastani-American woman to win the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

Make sure you head over to Discord for updates, and who knows, maybe even a chance to discuss on live as well!

Hello!

I'm so excited to share this community with you all!

If you're new to Bindery, take some time to check out some other tastemakers and books published by Bindery (a personal recommendation is Cry, Voidbringer!)

Unbound Narratives will explore books from across different genres, different voices, and different perspectives.

I'm happy to be in conversation with you all about all things books, old and new!