May 2016

The day has finally come for Neil Gaiman's livestreamed discussion event with The Time Traveler's Wife author Audrey Niffenegger.  Tune in to Neil's Facebook page today at 2:45pm Eastern/11:45am Pacific to see them discuss Neil's new collection of nonfiction essays and even answer questions from fans.  Don't miss this chance to see what promises to be a great discussion, and definitely pick up a copy of The View from the Cheap Seats, on sale today.

Every BEA, Library Journal and the AAP host their Shout ‘n Share event, where librarians gather to rave about the upcoming books they’re excited about. You can find the entire event recap written up on Library Journal's wesite, but I would like to extend a special congratulations to all the HarperCollins titles mentioned:

• Brighton by Michael Harvey
• The Rift Uprising by Amy S. Foster
• The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgwick
• News of the World by Paulette Jiles
• A House Without Windows by Nadia Hashimi
• The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg
• Darling Days by iO Tillet Wright

Many of these can be download as egalleys from Edelweiss, so I hope you take your colleagues' recommendations and dive right in for the long weekend!

-Amanda

In our Under the Radar, Over the Moon monthly video series, we talk about debut and midlist titles that we've absolutely fallen in love with.  But of course we're not the only ones raving about these amazing books.  We've collected just a sampling of the love rolling in for just a few of the titles we've talked about, so I hope that if our crazy videos alone weren't enough to persuade you to check out these books, these great reviews will give you that final push!

Kirkus adores Sarong Party Girls by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan:  “Lu-Lien Tan offers a fascinating insight into Singapore's club scene and social castes, and she does so in an irreverent, likable voice made more notable for its patois, Singlish… After the turbulence of Jazzy's journey, the final message is a positive one. A rowdy tale, memorable language, and a very distinctive protagonist.”

Publishers Weekly Starred Review for Night of the Animals by Bill Broun:  "Through precise and eloquent prose and a hint of political satire, Broun creates a near future filled with bioelectric technology and characters with patois as diverse as their desires. Broun’s novel is strange, witty, and engrossing, skipping through madness and into the realm of myth.”

NPR.org Rave Review for Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman:  “…it's a perfectly constructed literary novel…nearly impossible to put down…Wasserman's characters are so flawlessly realized…beautifully done—poetic and beautiful…masterful…. Wasserman does so many things right in Girls on Fire, it's hard to count them all…hypnotically beautiful. There's not a false step in it, and you never want it to end…Girls on Fire is an inferno—it's brutally gorgeous, and you know it could explode anytime, but you can't turn away, even for a second.”

Ivy Pochoda, author of Visitation Street, on The Lost Girls by Heather Young:  “Heather Young is a master weaver of plot, time, and character. Her prose is confident, her story ambitious. The result—The Lost Girls—is a haunting and dynamic debut that never falters.”

There's still time to download egalleys for many of these from Edelweiss, so I hope you'll dip in!  If you haven't already discovered the magic that is Under the Radar, Over the Moon, definitely check out our archived videos for some good laughs and great books.

-Amanda

We're excited to announce that two of HarperCollins's books are in the running for the Library of Virginia's Annual People's Choice Awards in the fiction and nonfiction categories.  Adriana Trigiani, the New York Times bestselling author of All the Stars in the Heavens, originally hails from Virginia, and Kristen Green's Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County reveals the provocative true story of the period after the Brown v. Board of Education decision when one Virginia school system refused to integrate.

Voting is not restricted to Virginia residents, so feel free to visit the Library of Virginia's website to read official rules and share your love for these two books by voting!

-Amanda

Many of you may remember Gilly Macmillan's debut psychological thriller What She Knew, which was nominated for an Edgar, became a New York Times bestseller, and was a LibraryReads pick!  Now she's returned with The Perfect Girl, and let me tell you, this book really delivers the gripping tension, startling twists, and compelling characters you've come to expect.

The Perfect Girl takes place in the 24 hours after 17-year-old Zoe's first piano recital in three years.  Years before, Zoe was involved in an accident that left 3 of her classmates dead, and she and her mother Maria created new lives in another town to escape that infamous past.  And in those three years, their new lives have seemed pretty good, until the dust clears on the night of Zoe's recital, and Maria is found dead.  What happened that night, and what happened during the accident three years prior?  Gilly Macmillan reveals the tantalizing clues one by one through three characters' points of view as everyone struggles to come to terms with the aftermath.

 I was absolutely captivated by Zoe, with her genius IQ and the unique way she subsequently interacted with the world.  Your heart-strings will be pulled in many different directions at the same time you're tearing through the pages to reach the final mind-blowing reveal.  I couldn't put it down, and I know you won't be able to either, but what are weekends for if not reading binges?  Download the egalley here and start tonight!

-Amanda

I hope you all have been steadily reading away this month and nominating all your favorite books for LibraryReads's top ten books published that month.  The deadline for the July 2016 list is speedily approaching (May 20), so make sure you've submitted any nomination for books you've already read, and if you're looking for one more book to squeeze in before the deadline, we've pulled together a few excellent suggestions:

The Muse by Jessie Burton: From the internationally bestselling author of The Miniaturist comes a captivating and brilliantly realized story of two young women—a Caribbean immigrant in 1960s London and a bohemian woman in 1930s Spain—and the powerful mystery that ties them together.  Download the egalley here.

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel meets The Italian Job in internationally-bestselling author Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg’s witty and insightful comedy of errors about a group of delinquent seniors whose desire for a better quality of life leads them to rob and ransom priceless artwork.  Download the egalley here.

Sarong Party Girls by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan: A brilliant and utterly engaging novel—Emma set in modern Asia—about a young woman’s rise in the glitzy, moneyed city of Singapore, where old traditions clash with heady modern materialism.  Download the egalley here.

We hope you enjoy!  If you're not yet participating in LibraryReads, visit their website to find out how you can join in the fun.

-Amanda

Here at LLF, we love ALL libraries, big and small, old and new. And while we've been lucky enough to visit some of the best, the world is a big place with many shelves left to explore. Travel and Leisure has compiled a fantastic list of 20 libraries from around the world so beautiful "they'll bring out the bookworm in everyone." Click the link below to check out the full list! 

TRAVEL AND LEISURE: 20 Libraries So Beautiful They'll Bring Out the Bookworm in Everyone

The Baroque library hall in the National Library of the Czech Republic

Photo credit: BrunoDelzant – Flickr (link)

The winners of the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards were announced this weekend, and LLF would like to wish a hearty congratulations to Paul Tremblay and A Head Full of Ghosts for winning the Superior Achievement in a Novel category!

The Bram Stoker Awards are announced every year by the Horror Writers Association (HWA), the premier organization of writers and publishers of horror and dark fantasy.  Other categories include Superior Achievement in a First Novel, in a Graphic Novel, in a Screenplay, and many others.  You can see the full list of 2015's winners on the HWA's website here.

A Head Full of Ghosts was one of my favorite books we published last summer, and I still get shivers thinking about the creepy and smart twists and turns.  If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, I hope all you horror fans out there will now put this chilling novel at the top of your TBR lists!

Once again, a round of applause for Paul Tremblay and A Head Full of Ghosts!  And don't miss Paul's next novel, Disappearance at Devil's Rock, on sale June 21.

-Amanda

New York Times-bestselling and LibraryReads-winning author Dorothea Benton Frank's novels are known for their trademark wit, charm, and rich characters, as well as the beautiful Carolina Lowcountry setting.  In her latest novel, All Summer Long, she tells the story of a New York couple, deeply in love for more than 14 years, who decide to move down South and the tumultuous, hot summer that follows.  There's still time to download the egalley before the novel goes on sale May 31, but today we have a special treat!  Dottie Frank stopped by our video studio to leave a message for all the wonderful librarians out there.

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Coming to BEA? Stop by Booth #2141 for Galleys of these Upcoming Titles…Read More »

Anyone looking for their next immersive fantasy read needs to take a look at The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst, the first book in a new epic fantasy series.

Sarah is an award-winning YA author breaking into the adult realm with the story of a young girl training to be queen.  But in the kingdom of Renthia, the queen has a special task: she must control the spirits that reside in all natural things–trees, water, wind–and keep them from killing the humans. 

Only a few women are born with the ability to control the spirits, and Daleina learns at a young age that she's one of those women.  She's taken to a school with the other women with this ability, and as she trains to better control her powers, Daleina also discovers there's something dark and very wrong going on in the kingdom. 

Daleina is a great heroine to get behind; she's strong and intelligent, and gathers a great group of characters to help her along the way as she faces political intrigue, violent magic, and malevolent spirits in her quest to protect the realm. 

This is a fabulous start to what is sure to be an exciting series, so definitely download the egalley from Edelweiss and dive in!

-Amanda