✍️ Associate Editor at @justreadingnook 📖 / Writes what's new on best-seller chart and indie finds 📚
Joined March 2016
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- Following92
- Followers135
- Likes3.9K
Olive Stevens retweeted
Longlisted and worth every page. 📚
#Arvo by @LyveWyers has made the longlist for The Chicken House's Broken Binding Prize. Have you read it yet?
Read our review here: tr.ee/ss1xw9
Olive Stevens retweeted
A book I've wanted to read for a while...but life kept getting in the way.
@SLChalmersbooks you hit it out of the ballpark.
Scott’s Tulsa
by S.L. Chalmers
★★★★★ Exceptional
A murdered woman, a blackmailed heiress, and a weary private eye who just wanted to be left alone. Scott’s Tulsa is disciplined, atmospheric noir set in 1948 Oklahoma, anchored by an ex-ballplayer and former Army captain turned PI. With a grounded plot, a lived-in supporting cast, and period detail that holds up under scrutiny, it’s classic mystery done right.
Reviewed by @GaiusKonstantin for #JustReadingNook
🔗 Full review: tr.ee/yHdyNE
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#BookReview #NookSeal #ScottsTulsa
Olive Stevens retweeted
Scott’s Tulsa
by S.L. Chalmers
★★★★★ Exceptional
A murdered woman, a blackmailed heiress, and a weary private eye who just wanted to be left alone. Scott’s Tulsa is disciplined, atmospheric noir set in 1948 Oklahoma, anchored by an ex-ballplayer and former Army captain turned PI. With a grounded plot, a lived-in supporting cast, and period detail that holds up under scrutiny, it’s classic mystery done right.
Reviewed by @GaiusKonstantin for #JustReadingNook
🔗 Full review: tr.ee/yHdyNE
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#BookReview #NookSeal #ScottsTulsa
Olive Stevens retweeted
I've written reviews for other authors for the Nook. Now I'm on the receiving end, and I finally get it. Someone picks up your book, reads it, and leaves a review that makes your whole day.
Thank you, @CJSimone333, for taking a chance on my book and loving my characters like they're your own. I'm still trying to find the words. For now, all I've got is whew! 🥹❤️
Olive Stevens retweeted
A boy staring into a mirror. A graduation no one attends. A rant about Hollywood gunplay. Two grown men playing a homemade board game called Mobopoly.
On paper, any of these scenes could be cut. In Fading Away: Dark Bay, every one of them is load-bearing.
In her latest feature, @justcastellon breaks down the quiet engineering behind @GaiusKonstantin’s mafia novel: why the sex happens behind closed doors, why Sheepshead Bay gets painted twice, and why one word from Sammy “The Bull” Gravano changes everything.
For writers, it is a lesson in restraint. For readers, it is a reason to pick the book up again.
Feature by @justcastellon for #JustReadingNook
The Second Pour:
Rereading Fading Away: Dark Bay With the Lights On
Back in May, I read this novel by @GaiusKonstantin like a woman sitting in a dim café after midnight, whisky neat, letting a man tell me his story until 3 a.m. I didn’t analyze it. I felt it.
This time, I went back as his publisher. Same table. Same whisky. Only now, I asked them to turn the lights on.
The plot can’t ambush you on a second read. What’s left is the craft. And with #DarkBay, a lot is left standing. The slow start, the throwaway scenes, that brick wall of an ending. None of it is an accident.
🔗 Read the feature: tr.ee/Pjd8U1
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#BookFeature #FadingAwayDarkBay #GaiusKonstantine #MafiaFiction #BrandBureau #JustReadingNook
Olive Stevens retweeted
A nice corollary to my Deconstructing Dark Bay series.
Justine shares her reaction to the second pass as a reader, and it's quite informative.
P.S. Skittles
I'm reading a book set in 1948 and there are numerous dated terms. Had the author not used them and went with 2026 vernacular, I would dock him a star.
I trust my meaning is clear.
The Second Pour:
Rereading Fading Away: Dark Bay With the Lights On
Back in May, I read this novel by @GaiusKonstantin like a woman sitting in a dim café after midnight, whisky neat, letting a man tell me his story until 3 a.m. I didn’t analyze it. I felt it.
This time, I went back as his publisher. Same table. Same whisky. Only now, I asked them to turn the lights on.
The plot can’t ambush you on a second read. What’s left is the craft. And with #DarkBay, a lot is left standing. The slow start, the throwaway scenes, that brick wall of an ending. None of it is an accident.
🔗 Read the feature: tr.ee/Pjd8U1
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#BookFeature #FadingAwayDarkBay #GaiusKonstantine #MafiaFiction #BrandBureau #JustReadingNook
Olive Stevens retweeted
The Second Pour:
Rereading Fading Away: Dark Bay With the Lights On
Back in May, I read this novel by @GaiusKonstantin like a woman sitting in a dim café after midnight, whisky neat, letting a man tell me his story until 3 a.m. I didn’t analyze it. I felt it.
This time, I went back as his publisher. Same table. Same whisky. Only now, I asked them to turn the lights on.
The plot can’t ambush you on a second read. What’s left is the craft. And with #DarkBay, a lot is left standing. The slow start, the throwaway scenes, that brick wall of an ending. None of it is an accident.
🔗 Read the feature: tr.ee/Pjd8U1
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#BookFeature #FadingAwayDarkBay #GaiusKonstantine #MafiaFiction #BrandBureau #JustReadingNook
Olive Stevens retweeted
"Four names. One woman. A past that refuses to stay buried."
Just Reading Nook has given The Book of Revelations a terrific four-star review, calling it “a layered, quietly ambitious novel” with “shifting voices that come together in a way that feels earned.”
My thanks to @olivesstevens for recognizing what makes this story different.
Discover The Book of Revelations: amazon.com/dp/B0GQJ868XF
The Book of Revelations
by @MitchellDHadley
★★★★☆ Strong
Four names, one past she can’t outrun. The Book of Revelations is a layered, quietly ambitious novel that reveals Nan Jaffe one fragment at a time through the people who only ever saw part of her. With vivid period detail, trauma handled with restraint, and shifting voices that come together in a way that feels earned, it’s a moving read for literary fiction lovers and book clubs alike.
Reviewed by @olivesstevens , edited by @GaiusKonstantin for #JustReadingNook
🔗 Full review: tr.ee/UDksm3
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#BookReview #NookSeal #TheBookOfRevelations
Olive Stevens retweeted
@MitchellDHadley goes under the microscope.
JRN reviews The Book of Revelations, and it sounds like my kind of tale.
The Book of Revelations
by @MitchellDHadley
★★★★☆ Strong
Four names, one past she can’t outrun. The Book of Revelations is a layered, quietly ambitious novel that reveals Nan Jaffe one fragment at a time through the people who only ever saw part of her. With vivid period detail, trauma handled with restraint, and shifting voices that come together in a way that feels earned, it’s a moving read for literary fiction lovers and book clubs alike.
Reviewed by @olivesstevens , edited by @GaiusKonstantin for #JustReadingNook
🔗 Full review: tr.ee/UDksm3
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#BookReview #NookSeal #TheBookOfRevelations
My new book review just dropped at the Nook 📚🚨
#TheBookOfRevelations by @MitchellDHadley lowkey ate. One girl, four names, and a past that refuses to leave her on read. Told in fragments and it hits different💀
The Book of Revelations
by @MitchellDHadley
★★★★☆ Strong
Four names, one past she can’t outrun. The Book of Revelations is a layered, quietly ambitious novel that reveals Nan Jaffe one fragment at a time through the people who only ever saw part of her. With vivid period detail, trauma handled with restraint, and shifting voices that come together in a way that feels earned, it’s a moving read for literary fiction lovers and book clubs alike.
Reviewed by @olivesstevens , edited by @GaiusKonstantin for #JustReadingNook
🔗 Full review: tr.ee/UDksm3
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#BookReview #NookSeal #TheBookOfRevelations
Olive Stevens retweeted
The Book of Revelations
by @MitchellDHadley
★★★★☆ Strong
Four names, one past she can’t outrun. The Book of Revelations is a layered, quietly ambitious novel that reveals Nan Jaffe one fragment at a time through the people who only ever saw part of her. With vivid period detail, trauma handled with restraint, and shifting voices that come together in a way that feels earned, it’s a moving read for literary fiction lovers and book clubs alike.
Reviewed by @olivesstevens , edited by @GaiusKonstantin for #JustReadingNook
🔗 Full review: tr.ee/UDksm3
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#BookReview #NookSeal #TheBookOfRevelations
Olive Stevens retweeted
JRN has been busy while I was away.
Justine takes a look at a fresh and worthwhile read.
Nice work @secretcoran
The Life Out Loud
by SR Stacy
★★★★★ Exceptional
A stolen Velázquez, a mafia heir, and four years of anonymous letters. Life Out Loud is sharp, funny, and surprisingly tender romantic suspense, anchored by a morally gray art thief who refuses to play the damsel. With mafia danger, family warmth, and a slow-burn pen-pal romance, it’s a swoony, hard-to-put-down standout.
Reviewed by @justcastellon for #JustReadingNook
🔗 Full review: tr.ee/99FunL
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#BookReview #NookSeal #LifeOutLoud
Olive Stevens retweeted
Loved this author when I was younger, glad to see he still has some surprises up his sleeve.
The French Illusion
by John Grisham
📚 New on the Nook: The French Illusion Takes John Grisham Out of the Courtroom and Into the Spy Game
No trial. No jury. No closing argument. Grisham’s first true espionage thriller turns a Paris honeymoon into a ransom demand. Two families racing deadlines. Three agencies chasing a cold trail. A young prosecutor asked to walk straight into danger. Grisham is still Grisham, clean, fast, and built for one more chapter, but this time the stakes cross borders, and you’ll never look at a honeymoon itinerary the same way again.
Featured by The Nook Desk for #justreadingnook
🔗 tr.ee/qjFhFs
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#justreadingnook #BookFeature #JohnGrisham #TheFrenchIllusion
The Nook is dropping a new bestseller feature 🚨 John Grisham left the courtroom and went full spy mode in #TheFrenchIllusion. Paris honeymoon ➡️ ransom demand ➡️ CIA bait. The first act ate. 💀🇫🇷
The French Illusion
by John Grisham
📚 New on the Nook: The French Illusion Takes John Grisham Out of the Courtroom and Into the Spy Game
No trial. No jury. No closing argument. Grisham’s first true espionage thriller turns a Paris honeymoon into a ransom demand. Two families racing deadlines. Three agencies chasing a cold trail. A young prosecutor asked to walk straight into danger. Grisham is still Grisham, clean, fast, and built for one more chapter, but this time the stakes cross borders, and you’ll never look at a honeymoon itinerary the same way again.
Featured by The Nook Desk for #justreadingnook
🔗 tr.ee/qjFhFs
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#justreadingnook #BookFeature #JohnGrisham #TheFrenchIllusion
Olive Stevens retweeted
Who in their right mind would buy those luxury bags looted in the Paris riots? Most major luxury houses now embed NFC or RFID chips in their bags for anti-counterfeiting and tracking.
Looted luxury bags from Paris riots have hit the resale market: 'You could have a stolen bag' trib.al/SaRiGOs
The Nook just dropped another 5-star 🔥
POV: you steal a Velázquez and the mafia heir who clocked you starts writing you letters. 💌 Digger is that girl. Zero damsel energy. Pen pals to lovers, mob drama, slow burn that slaps. No notes. #LifeOutLoud by @secretcoran
The Life Out Loud
by SR Stacy
★★★★★ Exceptional
A stolen Velázquez, a mafia heir, and four years of anonymous letters. Life Out Loud is sharp, funny, and surprisingly tender romantic suspense, anchored by a morally gray art thief who refuses to play the damsel. With mafia danger, family warmth, and a slow-burn pen-pal romance, it’s a swoony, hard-to-put-down standout.
Reviewed by @justcastellon for #JustReadingNook
🔗 Full review: tr.ee/99FunL
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#BookReview #NookSeal #LifeOutLoud
Olive Stevens retweeted
#LifeOutLoud by @secretcoran is easily one of my most enjoyable reads. I had so much fun with Life Out Loud! Digger is everything I love in a heroine: morally gray, smart-mouthed, and no damsel. She walks into a dangerous underworld and earns its respect on her own terms. Funny, tender, and wildly romantic.
The Life Out Loud
by SR Stacy
★★★★★ Exceptional
A stolen Velázquez, a mafia heir, and four years of anonymous letters. Life Out Loud is sharp, funny, and surprisingly tender romantic suspense, anchored by a morally gray art thief who refuses to play the damsel. With mafia danger, family warmth, and a slow-burn pen-pal romance, it’s a swoony, hard-to-put-down standout.
Reviewed by @justcastellon for #JustReadingNook
🔗 Full review: tr.ee/99FunL
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#BookReview #NookSeal #LifeOutLoud
Olive Stevens retweeted
THE RUNAWAY PRINCE 👑
Now available in Ebook, Paperback and Hardcover 👉 tr.ee/eFhp0h
Also available in Barnes and Noble, Foyles, Waterstones and other book retailers
#Booktok #bookstagram #newrelease #TheRunawayPrince
Olive Stevens retweeted
I’m really happy to finally share this on the Nook. This isn’t a writing manual or a how-to. It’s a style in writing. His style. It’s also @GaiusKonstantin’s way of opening up about how “Fading Away: Dark Bay” was written and why.
Pace. Supporting characters. Settings. The scenes that seem small until you realize what they’re really doing. All four parts, expanded and in one place.
If you’ve read the book, this will send you straight back to it. If you haven’t, it might be the push you need.
BEHIND THE BOOK
As promised, the Dark Bay series by @GaiusKonstantin you followed here on X is now one full article. 📖
This isn’t a how-to manual. It’s a look under the hood. The point of deconstructing Fading Away: Dark Bay is to show how it was written, the choices behind it, and why each one was made.
Pace. Supporting characters. Settings. The scenes that look like filler but aren’t. All four pieces, expanded and in one place.
Why the opening is slow on purpose. Why Luther is the MC’s mirror in reverse. Why Sheepshead Bay gets described twice. Why a Mafia-themed Monopoly board matters more than you think.
And yes, the clues to the ending are still in there. 🎶
Read it on #JustReadingNook 👉 tr.ee/F9t5dM
#FadingAwayDarkBay #GaiusKonstantine #CrimeFiction #MafiaFiction #BehindTheBook
Olive Stevens retweeted
BEHIND THE BOOK
As promised, the Dark Bay series by @GaiusKonstantin you followed here on X is now one full article. 📖
This isn’t a how-to manual. It’s a look under the hood. The point of deconstructing Fading Away: Dark Bay is to show how it was written, the choices behind it, and why each one was made.
Pace. Supporting characters. Settings. The scenes that look like filler but aren’t. All four pieces, expanded and in one place.
Why the opening is slow on purpose. Why Luther is the MC’s mirror in reverse. Why Sheepshead Bay gets described twice. Why a Mafia-themed Monopoly board matters more than you think.
And yes, the clues to the ending are still in there. 🎶
Read it on #JustReadingNook 👉 tr.ee/F9t5dM
#FadingAwayDarkBay #GaiusKonstantine #CrimeFiction #MafiaFiction #BehindTheBook