Welcome to your monthly update from Watermark Book Company!

Below, you'll find what's new in the store, upcoming events,

book reviews, and more!

Hello to all of my happy readers!!!

Is it May? No way! I cannot believe how time is flying at the moment. I have had such a busy April. I am so grateful for the nice weather that we have been having. I am at about seven weeks of hiking and I am really loving it. I hurt my left knee, I should say re-injured it, and that has been a pain. But I still am getting out there about three to four times a week. I am so much happier for it. My hiking buddy went out of town for a couple of days, and Amberly knows how important hiking is to me, so she volunteered to hike with me and I was sooooooo pleased. It was pouring rain the day we went; we both looked like drown rats, but happy ones.

I have been getting back into my art and that has really brought me some new and much-needed calm. May is my hubby's birthday month and Mother's Day. We leave on my hubby's b-day to fly to Florida to see my John, youngest of the upper three kiddos, graduate from high school. I am very excited to see my boys. They live about two hours from Orlando. We will be staying in the Orlando area, and we are getting a big enough room for the boys to come visit and stay with us. Amberly is also going with us. She is like a true member of our family, celebrating birthdays and all major experiences. Seeing my ex-husband is very hard and challenging, so she will help be a support for that as well. I also guess my birth mom is going to be there too. I have not seen her in something like twenty-five years, so that is stressful. She abandoned me when I was nine years old, and we only communicated very minimally from the time I was eighteen to about twenty-two. So...this will be weird and tough. I am so looking forward to going to Universal Studio with my kids. My oldest has already informed me that he has gotten the time off work already approved. Yay!

Having author events again has really breathed some life back into us here at the shop. I really do think we are working so hard and I am seeing it pay off.

Left: Lovely tulips given to me by Linda Stewart Henley. I just came in today and they made me smile.

Above: Cat...Isla, living her very best life :)

I finished Kate's War, by Linda Stewart Henley—we just hosted her last weekend, and it was one of our most successful author events EVER! Historical fiction is not my favorite genre to read, but I always appreciate Linda's personal touches and her thoughtfulness bestowed upon her characters. She does a great deal of research and it shows. I really think this is the best one out of her three titles. I was feeling a little down last week, so I picked up a suspenseful book, an advanced read not out till August 6th: The Chamber, by Will Dean. Totally awesome, dark, and science forward. Everything I really love in a book. It is about saturation divers on a deep- sea dive and things start to go terribly wrong. Out of control. I was hooked!

I listened to Piglet, by Lottie Hazell, and I am so glad that I stuck it out—what a listen. Super good story. Makes you really think about family, relationships with people, and our relationship with food. I really enjoyed every bite of this book. I am well into listening to The Manicurist's Daughter, by Susan Lieu. So far, I really like it. I tend to very much enjoy memoirs about other cultures and experiences. Her mom was Vietnamese and the daughter was born in the US. Her mom was driven and successful. She had two VERY successful nail salons, and she owned her own home, and she decided to go and get a tummy tuck for herself. She never woke from the surgery. Was this surgeon praying on immigrants? I will report more later. This month I am going to read The Once & Future Witch Hunt: A Descendant's Reckoning from Salem to the Present, by Alice Markham-Cantor. She is a descendant of Martha Carrier, and she writes about the trials and brings witch hunting into the present day. I am very curious about this book, which is set to be out on May 8th. I also hope to read Bless Your Heart, by Lindy Ryan. First, I LOVE the name Lindy, and also there is this quaint-looking southern woman on the cover and she has vampire fangs...yes please. I will finish listening to The Manicurist's Daughter. I will also listen to Table for Two, by Amor Towles. I also hope to listen to Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies, by Catherine Mack.



Happy Reading and Stay Safe!

Brandy~

Author Events, Book Signings, and Shop Updates

Margaret Willson was a delight to host! We still have SIGNED copies of her book,

Woman, Captain, Rebel—come get a copy before they're gone.

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Brandy led the way in the Procession of the Species!

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Kourtney won one of our Anniversary Celebration raffle baskets!

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Independent Bookstore Day was a success!

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This Just In

You asked for spiral-bound notebooks, and we answered: Decomposition Books!

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New designs of our classic Peter Pauper Press lined journals.

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We still like a good-old-fashioned address book here at the bookshop.

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This Just In for Kids

New drawing and coloring kits from Tiger Tribe.

Perfect for road trips.

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📙 New in Paperback📙

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📗 New in Hardcover📗

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Upcoming Events

May

Saturday, May 4th 12:00pm–3:00pm

Local Author Meet-and-Greet with Kerri Hakoda

We're excited to host local author Kerri Hakoda for a meet and greet! She will be here from 12:00pm to 3:00pm signing copies of her new mystery thriller, Cold to the Touch! Discover an awesome new novel and meet the author!

Jaycee really enjoyed this read.

Wednesday, May 8th

6:00 pm at the Anacortes Public Library

Author Event with Reverend Terry B. Kyllo

We're pairing up with the Anacortes Public Library to present Reverend Terry B. Kyllo and his new book, Go and Do Likewise: Following Jesus Into Our Common Humanity.

We will be selling books at the event—get one and have it personalized by the author!

Sunday, May 12th

Mother's Day–We Are Open!

We are open our regular Sunday hours—11:00am - 4:00pm—on Mother's Day!

Treat the moms in your life to a trip to the bookshop.

Saturday, May 25th 12:00pm–3:00pm

Local Author Meet-and-Greet

We will host local author Dr. Katie Eastman here in-shop for a meet-and-greet.

She'll be here from 12:00pm–3:00pm to sign copies of her inspirational book

and answer any questions you might have!

Monday, May 27th

Memorial Day–We Are Open!

We will be open our regular weekday hours—9:30am - 5:30pm—on Memorial Day.

June

Saturday, June 15th 12:00pm–3:00pm

Local Author Meet-and-Greet with Susan Marie Conrad

Susan Marie Conrad will join us to celebrate the reissue of her book

Inside: One Woman's Journey Through the Inside Passage.

Stop in between 12:00pm and 3:00pm to meet the author and buy a personalized copy!

Sunday, June 16th

Father's Day–We Are Open!

Wednesday, June 19th

Juneteenth

We will be open on this holiday!

Watermark Book Club

This month, Watermark Book Club is reading

Carrie Soto Is Back, by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

This is a closed book club. If you'd like to join the waitlist,

please respond to this email and let us know!

In the meantime, feel free to follow along with what we're reading.

Here is what Amberly had to say about it:

When retired tennis champion Carrie Soto's record is taken by a young new player, she makes the decision to come "back." Carrie is fiercely ambitious. You sort of love her, and you sort of hate her...But you are absolutely rooting for her throughout the story!