Headed out on Vacation?
Dragon Approved: The Spine’s Picks for Fierce Local Reads
At The Spine Bookshop, I proudly spotlight local and independently published authors as the heart of my collection. With summer just around the corner, I’ve handpicked four standout titles that are perfect for your warm-weather reading list. These titles can be purchased at our website, thespinebookshop.com, or by coming into the shop at 304 S. Lowry St, Suite A3, Smyrna, TN.
Cimarron Falls – Julie Adkison
Dean Davidson isn’t the type to get involved in other people’s affairs—especially not by writing to a beautiful young stranger. But that’s exactly what he did. Just days later, the girl is found dead at the base of Cimarron Falls.
Erica Davidson, a sharp and successful attorney from Nashville, returns to her hometown of Ridgway, Colorado, to support her parents through the fallout. What starts as a visit quickly turns into something far more complicated. Erica is pulled into a web of buried secrets, potential murder, and even echoes of a classic John Wayne film shot nearby.
Partnering with the town marshal, she digs into the mystery surrounding the girl’s death—all while confronting a chilling memory from her own childhood in the same area. Could the past and present be connected?
With her father now battling dementia, Erica and her sisters must set aside their own strained relationships with him to uncover the truth. What they find could alter their lives forever—and change the course of Erica’s career.
A Song That Never Ends – Mark A. Gibson
Home.
For over three hundred years, that’s what the Hamilton family has called a shrinking swath of farmland in the Appalachian foothills of South Carolina.
Home.
That’s the failing tobacco farm where Walter and Maggie Hamilton choose to raise their three children. Walter has big plans to make the farm more profitable, but his plans are interrupted by World War II and family heartbreak. Walter returns from the war a changed man and finds Maggie, too, has changed, neither of them for the better. But at least their family is together again at…
Home.
More than anything, that’s where their eight-year-old son, Jimmy Hamilton, wants to be. However, after an unspeakable tragedy, he’s sent away from the only life he’s ever known to live with a kindly uncle in North Carolina.
Home.
That’s where Jimmy is finally going to be, unless fate has plans of its own…
A Song that Never Ends is the first installment of the Hamilton Place series, an epic family saga extending from the Great Depression to present day. Through war and peace, love and loss, triumph and tragedy, follow the Hamilton family on their journey from a run-down farm in South Carolina, through the jungles of Vietnam, to the top of the world in New York City, and beyond the gardens of stone at Arlington.
Signs and Signals – L.H. Bulmer
“You gave me a sign. I gave you a signal. That makes us family.”
Indya Sterling
After losing both of my parents and landing in foster care, heartache and mistrust became constants in my life. The road I ended up on wasn’t one they would’ve chosen for me, and it certainly wasn’t what I wanted for my daughter, born deaf, when I became a mother as a teenager. But now, we’re walking a different path. One filled with everything my Mama would’ve hoped for me—friendship, love, and family.
Atlas Kensington
Living in Riverside, Oregon, has always been a mixed bag. Sure, being the star centerfielder for the Riverside Legends has its perks. But in a town where gossip spreads faster than wildfire—and with my mother and ex-girlfriend fueling the flames—privacy is a luxury I’ve never known. My life has revolved around baseball and the dream of a World Series win… until one night turned everything upside down.
When Indya and Atlas cross paths, their worlds collide in a story of second chances, unexpected love, and the powerful challenges of single parenthood. As they face their pasts and navigate their present, they begin to imagine a future together.
Can their love withstand the storms that threaten to pull them apart?
Join Indya and Atlas in a moving tale of resilience, romance, and the unspoken ties that make a family.
Nicca’s Light – Meredith Howlin
★Evil is coming★
The world has no magic left to stop it… until Sophia.
Centuries ago, a dark sorceress escaped through a portal, vanishing into the future with one goal: total destruction. Now, that future is here—and so is the one thing she’s after. If she finds it, nothing can stop her.
But Nicholas, an ancient guardian, has been waiting. Waiting for the rebirth of the druid who holds the power to stand against her.
He finds her when she’s just six years old—abandoned, starving, afraid. Her name is Sophia. He places her in a safe home, swearing to protect her from the shadows, hoping she’ll have a few happy years before her destiny catches up.
Sophia has always longed to belong, but it’s hard to be normal when you’re the first druid in history to awaken all four magical powers—and risk madness if you can’t control them. While her friends worry about school dances and crushes, she’s battling ancient magic and overwhelming expectations.
Then there’s Nicholas—her mysterious, protective guardian. Beautiful. Distant. Untouchable. Sophia wants more than anything for him to see her as more than just a responsibility. But she fears he’ll never see past the child she once was.
The world depends on Sophia… but she’s never felt more alone.
As she travels to Ireland to embrace her legacy, Nicholas must decide: will he guide her from a distance, or risk everything by stepping into the fire beside her? Especially since none of this would have happened… if not for him.
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Lindsay Schultz is the founder of The Spine Bookshop in Smyrna, TN, where banned books are always welcome and spine puns are fully intentional. A lifelong reader with a BA in English from MTSU and an MBA from Strayer, she turned her love of books into a mission-driven indie bookstore. Lindsay fights book bans like it’s her job (because it kind of is) and champions diverse, independent voices. When she’s not slinging stories or rallying for the right to read, she’s chatting with readers, uplifting local authors, and appearing on panels—usually with a book in one hand and coffee in the other.
