June 2016

A witty and winning new voice comes alive in this infectious road trip adventure with a rock-and-roll twist.  Deborah Shapiro’s debut, The Sun in Your Eyes, blends the emotional nuance of Elena Ferrante with the potent nostalgia of High Fidelity, in a story of two women—one rich and alluring, the other just another planet in her dazzling orbit—and their fervid and troubled friendship.

In today’s post, Deborah shares her special relationship with libraries.

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At the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, there’s an inscription by the entrance. It starts: “Here are enshrined the longing of great hearts…” I’ve always thought that’s a wonderful way to describe both what literature can be and the place that houses it. I don’t remember my first trip to that building, but it would’ve been over fifteen years ago, when I was recently out of college and living a few blocks away from that library. I’d been thrilled to find a room in a share with two strangers. It was a “garden” apartment, the kind of New York real estate euphemism for “you might wake up one morning to find weird mushrooms growing through the crumbling grout in your dank bathroom.” But I loved it. And I loved that it was so close to that wonderful library. At the time, I couldn’t afford to buy most of the books I wanted to read. But the library had just about whatever I could think of. More than that, getting a library card felt like a kind of accomplishment, like I was officially part of the city.

…

Guest Post: Deborah Shapiro, author of THE SUN IN YOUR EYESRead More »

In honor of the official beginning of summer earlier this week, we would like to celebrate the oncoming heat (read, already-here-heat) with a few steamy reads for you to enjoy on the beach, in a hammock, or in the wondrous life-saver that is air conditioning.  Request the egalleys and beat the heat this summer.

Wild at Whiskey Creek by Julie Anne Long: The USA Today bestselling author continues her sexy, new contemporary romance series set in Hellcat Canyon, California—where you can find whatever you’re looking for, whether it’s love… or trouble.  Request the egalley here.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne: Debut author Sally Thorne bursts on the scene with a hilarious and sexy workplace comedy all about that thin, fine line between hate and love.  Request the egalley here.

A Scot in the Dark by Sarah MacLean: The second book in Sarah’s witty and romantic Scandal & Scoundrel series featuring a sexy Scot and his young ward who’s keeping a scandalous secret.  Request the egalley here.

If you're heading down to Orlando next week, we hope to see you there!  Come see us at booth #1403, and we can commiserate about the heat together.  And we can show you even more hot upcoming reads.

-Amanda

Bill Lascher's Eve of a Hundred Midnights is the unforgettable true story of two married journalists on an island-hopping run for their lives across the Pacific after the Fall of Manila during World War II.  It has received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Booklist, who says, "Propulsive. … [A] remarkable book, which is part history, part a celebration of war correspondence, but, mostly, a love story. … Lascher conveys the privation, danger, and romance of this time in an utterly detailed and beguiling way.”  To celebrate his book birthday today, the author has stopped by LLF to share his own personal connection to and love for libraries.

***

Writing Eve of a Hundred Midnights has been an exercise in treasure-hunting. I've mined the resources and expertise of university special collections, government archives, and my local public library (the Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon) to flesh out an already-fascinating story. But they offer more than inter-library loan agreements and extensive microfilm collections.

When I was a child, my parents ran a small appellate law practice in Downtown Ventura, California, a block uphill from the public E.P. Foster Library. If I wasn't imagining the overgrown lot that separated the office from the library as a jungle full of treasures, then I was at the library looking for books about pirates, ancient treasures and adventurous knights (another half block away was the Ventura Bookstore, where frequent visits with my parents developed my love for independent bookstores). But though The Library was a frequent destination, it would be years before I truly treasured libraries.

I began to do so as a student at Oberlin College. Mudd, the school's alien spaceship of a library was the gravitational center around which all my college experiences seemed to orbit. I kept up with news on the the election of George W. Bush and the September 11 attacks in the library's print copies of the New York Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. On a wall by the main stairway, I found humor in the notes then-Library Director Ray English wrote to answer students' random questions. Every time I entered the stairwell, I cringed as I passed "Falling Man," the depressive Max Schumann painting that hung on the wall.

…

Guest Blog Post: Bill Lascher, author of EVE OF A HUNDRED MIDNIGHTSRead More »

If at any point in your life, you've felt the burning desire to help someone find the perfect book, the book that will speak to their soul or bring a smile to their face, I unreservedly urge you to download the egalley for The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan.  She's the New York Times-bestselling author of Little Beach Street Bakery and has now composed a love letter to librarians, booksellers, and book talkers of all kinds.

When timid librarian Nina's library is closed down, she makes a huge leap of courage and buys a massive van to convert into a bookmobile.  She makes her way up into the Scottish Highlands to pick up her new van, and it's there she's captivated with the beautiful land and the quaint small towns.  As she struggles to establish her new business, she also encounters a grumpy landlord, a mysteriously taciturn teen, and the varied reading tastes of a village.

This book was an absolute joy to read.  Nina is very relatable, and I loved watching her grow as a person while she helped other people in these small communities with her book suggestions and enthusiasm for reading.  

If you've ever been that friend who's always letting people borrow your books, you'll find another friend in The Bookshop on the Corner.  It's the perfect weekend read, so I hope you download the egalley today and let us know what you think! LibraryReads nominations are due July 20.

-Amanda

This past April, we celebrated the publication of The Body in the Wardrobe, the 23^rd in Katherine Hall Page’s Faith Fairchild series.  She has also published for middle grade and YA readers as well as a collection of short stories, Small Plates (2014), and a series cookbook, Have Faith in your Kitchen (Orchises Press). She has been awarded Agathas for Best First, Best Novel, and Best SS and also was nominated for additional Agathas, an Edgar, Macavity, Mary Higgins Clark and the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance Literary Award for Crime Fiction. She is the recipient of Malice Domestic 28^th’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  Today, Katherine has stopped by to share why libraries mean so much to her.

***

Carded

I’m just back from walking to the local library, a pleasant mile round trip along the main street of my small suburban Boston town. The lilacs have passed their peak, but the dogwood and rhodies are in full bloom. I recently realized that I have been fortunate enough to live within walking distance of libraries in all the places I have lived during my adult life. I’d like to say that I chose dwellings based on their proximity to my favorite place—the library—but it has been pure luck or we could call it kismet.

This trip was to consult with the reference library about research I’m doing on mid-twentieth century Broadway musicals and their producers as background for the book I’m writing next. Yes, I could go into the Minuteman network and search the catalog or Google various sources on my home computer, but Laura is a wizard at this stuff (hence her job) and it’s so much more fun to do a search with her. It also has the added benefit of getting me out of the house. When I speak to school groups, I tell kids if they want to be writers, they have to like to be alone and indoors a lot.

…

Guest Blog Post: Katherine Hall Page, author of THE BODY IN THE WARDROBERead More »

Join New York Times bestselling author Sophie Hannah over the next eight weeks for a free serialization of the complete audiobook of After the Funeral in eight parts. The first episode aired on Tuesday, with a special introduction by Sophie Hannah. Visit the podcast homepage here to start listening!

Hannah is the author of numerous psychological thrillers, as well as The Monogram Murders, the first Hercule Poirot novel authorized by the estate of Agatha Christie. Her second Poirot novel, Closed Casket, is coming September 6th. At the end of the podcast, you'll get a sneak peek from Closed Casket!

Praise for Hannah’s New York Times bestseller The Monogram Murders:

"I was thrilled to see Hercule Poirot in such very, very good hands."—Gillian Flynn

"Perfect … a pure treat."—Tana French

"As tricky as anything written by Agatha Christie." —Alexander McCall Smith

"Sharply written and rigorously plotted, this Poirot mystery rivals many of Christie's own."—NPR

Start listening to the podcast now.

Immediately after we heard that we would be publishing Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, we instantly knew we were looking at a big book.  Hidden Figures is the phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space.  A lot is in store for this fascinating new book, and we want to share the news!

Fox 2000 Film Adaptation in the Works

• Movie production underway, with filming in Atlanta, GA already wrapped
• Directed by Ted Melfi (St. Vincent), produced by Pharrell Williams, and starring Taraji P. Henson (Empire), Kirsten Dunst, Octavia Spencer (The Help), and Kevin Costner
• Movie trailer release in early September
• Wide release scheduled for Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, January 2017
• Trade Paperback movie tie-in edition on sale 12/6/16 (9780062363602, $15.99)

Early Interest from Major Media

• Front page coverage in New York Times Arts Section—author quoted in "Oscars Less White? There's No Shortage of Black Films in 2016" on 5/10. Click to read.
• Additional New York Times piece with focus solely on book and movie, 5/20. Click to read.
• Confirmed coverage on CBS This Morning at publication

National Marketing Campaign

• mini-documentary book trailer shared widely, early June
• National Broadcast and Print Media Campaign
• Deep distribution of Advance Reader's Edition, late June
• Heavy cross-promotion with Fox 2000 throughout late Summer into 2017
• Major outreach to reading groups
• Official Author Website: http://www.margotleeshetterly.com
• Official Author Twitter: @margotshetterly

 Hidden Figures promises to be one of the big books of the fall, so make sure to check back for more information!

-Amanda

If you haven't already seen the news, HarperCollins Publishers has recently become the first publisher to team up with Facebook to host live videos with authors and staff.  New videos will be streamed five days a week and will be shared on the HarperCollins Facebook page and the Book Studio 16 page, where you can find all kinds of great videos.  

This week is the program's launch week, and who else would be the first HarperCollins staff members participating other than Library Love Fest?!

Go to our Facebook page this Friday (6/10) at 10:30am to hear us chat about who we are, what we do, excellent books, and some of the great things we have coming up!  And if you have any burning questions for us, you can also submit questions and comments during the live chat.

We hope to (virtually) see you there!

-The LLF Team

EDIT: This giveaway is now closed.

My book-buzzing hero, Kate McCune* has once again hit the nail on the head with her perfect summation of Michael Harvey's forthcoming book, Brighton. It's getting starred reviews all over the place, I'm thrilled to say. Check out Kate's write-up on her blog here—and ask us for a copy of Brighton by emailing librarylovefest@harpercollins.com. We'll be more than happy to send it your way.

*HarperCollins sales rep

—Virginia

Bestselling author Laura Lippman's latest standalone, Wilde Lake, went on sale at the beginning of May to instant critical acclaim.  It was chosen as a LibraryReads pick, received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly, and was called “A heady brew of twisting tale and accelerating introspection” by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Now, the New York Times will feature a full page review of Wilde Lake in their June 5 issue, saying, "Wilde Lake is engrossing, suspenseful and substantial, its wit easing a sober, somewhat elegiac air.”  You can read the full review here.

This really is one of Lippman's most compelling novels yet, that challenges our notions of memory, loyalty, responsibility, and justice in an evocative and psychologically complex story about a long-ago death that still haunts a family.  If you haven't already snapped it up, I definitely encourage you to check it out today.

-Amanda

 

Our Books Are Universal!

Visit us at booth #1403 this June 24-27 at ALA Annual in Orlando, FL to catch a sneak peek at our Fall 2016/Winter 2017 titles and meet some literary stars!  Check out our video below for more information about our adult title presentation, and make sure to take a look at our schedule of events so you don't miss an opportunity to meet some stellar authors.

  

HarperCollins Adult Book Buzz

Saturday, June 25, 2016
8:30-10:00 am
OCCC Room W203

Refreshments will be served and seating is limited, so RSVP to librarylovefest@harpercollins.com today!

See you there!
Virginia, Amanda, and Chris

 

Meet our Authors at Booth 1403

Saturday, June 25
8:30-10:00am
AAP's Bookalicious Breakfast
Rosen Centre Hotel/Grand D
Featuring Jacqueline Woodson / Another Brooklyn

*Click here to RSVP

10:30-11:30am booth signing
Nadia Hashimi / A House Without Windows

Sunday, June 26
8:00-10:00am
RUSA's Literary Tastes Breakfast (refreshments/continental breakfast. First come, first served)
Rosen Centre Hotel/Grand A
Featuring Karin Slaughter / The Kept Woman

8:30-10:00am
UFL's "Isn't It Romantic?"
OCCC Room W101A
Featuring Susan Wiggs / Family Tree
and Shelley Shepard Gray / A Daughter's Dream

10:30-11:30am
UFL's "Reads Like Fiction: Nonfiction You Can't Put Down"
OCCC Room S330 A-B
Featuring Elizabeth Lesser / Marrow

11:00am-12:00pm booth signing
Karin Slaughter / The Kept Woman
 
12:00-1:00pm booth signing
Elizabeth Lesser / Marrow
 
1:00-2:00pm booth signing
Susan Wiggs / Family Tree

1:30-2:15pm
Book Buzz Theater
Mid 2200 aisle near booths #2251 and #2247
Featuring HarperCollins Publishers and Harlequin

2:00-3:00pm booth signing
Shelley Shepard Gray / A Daughter's Dream
 
3:00-4:00pm booth signing
Nora McInerny Purmort / It's Okay to Laugh
 
4:00-5:00pm booth signing
Lisa Turner / Devil Sent the Rain
 
5:30-7:30pm
UFL's The Laugh's On Us*
Rosen Plaza Hotel/Ballroom A
Featuring Nora McInerny Purmort / It's Okay to Laugh

     *HarperCollins is a proud sponsor of United for Libraries (UFL).
      Call 1-800-545-2433 ext 2161 for tickets

Monday, June 27
9:00-10:00am booth signing
Lisa Fenn / Carry On

10:30-11:30am
AAP's Mystery Authors Panel
OCCC Room S329
Featuring Lisa Turner / Devil Sent the Rain
 
2:00-4:00pm
United for Libraries Author Gala Tea*
Rosen Plaza Hotel/Ballroom A
Featuring Lisa Fenn / Carry On
     *HarperCollins is a proud sponsor of United for Libraries (UFL).
      Call 1-800-545-2433 ext 2161 for tickets

Perennial fan favorite and New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank's latest novel All Summer Long went on sale yesterday, and to commemorate the event, the Mayor of Charleston has officially proclaimed May 31st to be Dorothea Benton Frank Day.

Booklist has called All Summer Long “[A] glitzy exploration of the bonds of love, marriage, friendship, and loyalty,” so I hope you check out this latest novel of wit, charm, and rich characters, but before you race off to the shelves, we also have a great video from the author talking about her love for libraries:

 

 

Help celebrate Dorothea Benton Frank Day and don't miss All Summer Long, on sale now.

-Amanda