April 2017

Hello there, dearest librarians! This month's staff suggestions for the July LibraryReads list features some serious heavy-hitters, including Joshilyn Jackson, Matthew Quick, and even Wesley Snipes. Yes, THAT Wesley Snipes. Fantasy, romance, mystery—July has it all. We hope you find something your patrons will love while soaking up the summer rays (accompanied by a responsible amount of sunscreen!) 

Don't forget: the deadline to vote for the July LibraryReads list is May 20th. Happy reading!

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The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson
For fans of: The Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown and Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson
With empathy, grace, humor, and piercing insight, the author of Gods in Alabama pens a powerful, emotionally resonant novel of the South that confronts the truth about privilege, family, and the distinctions between perception and reality—the stories we tell ourselves about our origins and who we really are.
"Book clubs will find much to talk about in this multi-generational, Southern tale of sisters, friendship, and small-town life, including the author’s signature quirky characters and deft touch with serious topics such as aging, race, and cultural identity."
—Library Journal  review

Click here to download the egalley from Edelweiss
LibraryReads deadline: May 20th

The Reason You're Alive by Matthew Quick
For fans of: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman and The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
The New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook offers a timely novel featuring his most fascinating character yet, a Vietnam vet embarking on a quixotic crusade to track down his nemesis from the war.
"Quick’s prose is sharp and cutting…. The Reason You’re Alive is a compact powerhouse of a novel. Though brief, it’s subversive, unexpected, and utterly compelling."
—Booklist  review

Click here to download the egalley from Edelweiss
Public Librarian? Click here to request a physical galley
LibraryReads deadline: May 20th

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LLF Staff Suggestions for July LibraryReads ListRead More »

If you missed yesterday's Booklist mystery webinar, do not fret—we've got you covered. Check out the list below for details on all the titles we buzzed about today. 

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The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
For readers of Gillian Flynn and Tana French comes one of the decade’s most anticipated debuts, to be published in thirty-five languages around the world and already in development as a major film from Fox: a twisty, powerful Hitchcockian thriller about an agoraphobic woman who believes she witnessed a crime in a neighboring house.

Check back soon for the egalley on Edelweiss
LibraryReads voting deadline: November 20th

Odd Child Out by Gilly Macmillan
From the New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew comes a whip-smart suspense novel about the secrets families tell one another—perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Tana French.

Check back soon for the egalley on Edelweiss
LibraryReads voting deadline: August 20th

The Second Sister by Claire Kendal
An obsessive quest to solve the mystery of her older sister’s disappearance puts a young woman in mortal jeopardy in this taut, sophisticated novel of psychological suspense from the author of the “truly riveting” (New York Times) The Book of You. An intoxicating cocktail of loyalty and secrets, lies and betrayal, reminiscent of Rosamund Lupton’s Sister and Kimberly McCreight’s Reconstructing Amelia.

Check back soon for the egalley on Edelweiss
LibraryReads voting deadline: July 20th

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Couldn’t Make BOOKLIST’s Mystery Webinar Yesterday? Here’s What You Missed…Read More »

Allan J. Lichtman hit the spotlight last year when he predicted that Donald Trump would win the election and it was revealed that he has correctly predicted every Presidential election since 1984.  

But Lichtman's latest prediction is, now that Trump has been elected, he will soon be impeached, and in his forthcoming book The Case for Impeachment (on sale 4/18), Lichtman illuminates exactly how the impeachment of President Trump might work by showing how his actions—past or future—make him uniquely vulnerable to impeachment proceedings.

Politico ran an excellent piece on the book earlier this week, and a special website is now live with all kinds of additional content, including 

• Quotes from the book
• Downloadable and sharable “Cases” from the book, highlighting the various reasons Congress can/should begin impeachment proceedings 
• Coming Soon: News/Blog feature with updates from the author

Visit TheCaseForImpeachment.com for all this and more, and make sure you're up-to-date about what could happen in the coming months by picking up a copy of The Case for Impeachment when it hits shelves next week.

-Amanda

The May LibraryReads list has just been announced, and librarians across the country have chosen Bryn Chancellor's Sycamore as one of their favorite books coming out in May.  We're always excited when a debut author makes the list, but no one is as excited as Bryn herself.  Check out the delightful message below from the author to librarians everywhere.

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            Having librarians choose Sycamore as a top book to read feels a little like a rock star pulled me onstage and belted out my favorite song. I’m a bit star-struck, giddy, barfy, the drumbeat and reverb high in my cheeks. Because, librarians? You’re cool. Like, cool cool. You with your facts and information, your smarts and hearts, guardians of free expression, champions of books, readers extraordinaire.

            I was a reader long before I was a writer, the kid tucked away in the corners of the small public library in my small hometown, or under the covers as the summer’s long light waned. My mom always likes to tell the story of how I surprised her by reading a note aloud when I was around three years old. Startled, she said, “I didn’t know you could read,” and I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Yeah.” In some ways, that’s how reading still feels: like something I have always known how to do. Yet it also stands out as one of the saving graces of my life, the act to which I have turned again and again to find solace, to escape, to expand and enrich my mind. Reading is simultaneously the most ordinary and the most wildly magic habit of my life.

            The habits of reading also sidled their way into the fictional world of Sycamore. Jess Winters, a teenage girl who goes missing, is a reader, obsessed with lines and words—Frankenstein to Shakespeare to Edna St. Vincent Millay—that get stuck in her head, a habit that I’ll confess is a bit close to home. Jess and her best friend, Dani Newell, first connect over Maus, their assigned history text. Esther Genoways, the town’s former high school English teacher, shares poems and art and hands off books and advice. Since readers and books were everywhere in my life, I suppose it’s no wonder I can’t imagine a world without them.

            I’m often told, and I accept, that I write about ordinary people, though I do find myself questioning what we mean by ordinary and why that strikes us as notable. Nonetheless, one of my favorite responses to the book so far is that it made the reader see the full poetic inner lives of ordinary people, and that after he finished it, he had started writing poetry in the mornings. My goodness, yes. How might the world look if we all began our mornings with poems?

            Librarians, you beloved, badass rock stars, thank you forever for this wicked guitar riff in my heart, but more importantly for your work in putting books into people’s hands.

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Thank you so much, Bryn, for sharing those lovely words.  And also a great round of applause for making the Top 10 LibraryReads list!  Librarians, if you haven't yet read this stunning coming-of-age story, mystery, and moving exploration of the elemental forces that drive human nature, there's still time to request the egalley from Edelweiss.

-Amanda

Couldn't make today's Library Journal webinar where our own Virginia Stanley buzzed about some of the hottest upcoming sleeper hits coming this summer? No problem! Below you will find details on all the titles she talked about. And better yet, you can still sign up to receive the archived version of the event! Just click here for more details.

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Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor
An award-winning writer hailed as "amazing, sensitive, and thoughtful” by Kevin Wilson makes her debut with this mesmerizing page-turner in the spirit of Everything I Never Told You and Olive Kitteridge: a coming of age story, a mystery, and a moving exploration of the elemental forces that drive human nature—desire, loneliness, grief, love, forgiveness, and hope—witnessed through the lives of one small Arizona town.
"Chancellor’s absorbing first novel begins quietly, quickly gains momentum, and ends explosively…. a must for readers of literary fiction with an over-the-top final twist." —Library Journal  review

Click here to download the egalley from Edelweiss

Everybody's Son by Thrity Umrigar
The bestselling, critically acclaimed author of The Space Between Us and The World We Found deftly explores issues of race, class, privilege, and power and asks us to consider uncomfortable moral questions in this probing, ambitious, emotionally wrenching novel of two families—one black, one white.
"…uncompromising in its portrayal of what power reveals about those who wield it." —Booklist 

Click here to download the egalley from Edelweiss
LibraryReads voting deadline: April 20th

Driving Miss Norma by Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle
As featured on the popular Facebook page of the same name with over 500k devoted followers, an inspiring memoir chronicling the remarkable cross-country journey of the effervescent 90-year-old Miss Norma, who in the face of terminal illness chooses to hit the road in an RV with her son, daughter-in-law, and 73-pound poodle Ringo, and say “yes” to all that life offers—and teaches us how to really live.
"I finished this morning and how I got through it without sobbing out loud is a miracle. I expect libraries should buy lots as copies will be returned with water damage due to the flowing of tears…. a fabulous book." —Robin Beerbower, Salem Public Library

Click here to download the egalley from Edelweiss

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-Meets-West story about community, friendship, and women’s lives at all ages—a spicy and alluring mix of Together Tea and Calendar Girls.
“I loved this novel—it’s so big-hearted and earthy and funny. Best of all, it turns many preconceptions upside down, and opens up a world that so many of us have only glimpsed. A rattlingly good story.”
—Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Click here to download the egalley from Edelweiss
LibraryReads voting deadline: April 20th

The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh
A blistering thriller from the Edgar-nominated author of Shovel Ready—a speculative modern Western with elements of Cormac McCarthy, Jim Thompson, and the Coen brothers that is wickedly funny, razor-sharp, and totally engrossing.
“Adam Sternbergh is a genre-bender of the highest caliber. Part thriller, part Western, part pulpy whodunit, The Blinds is a propulsive and meaningful meditation on redemption and loss. It’s witty, electrifying, vivid, and thoroughly original.” —Dennis Lehane, author of Since We Fell

Click here to download the egalley from Edelweiss
LibraryReads voting deadline: June 20th

The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld
A haunting, richly atmospheric, and deeply suspenseful novel from the acclaimed author of The Enchanted about an investigator who must use her unique insights to find a missing little girl.
“Rene Denfeld has a gift for shining bright light in dark places. The Child Finder is a gorgeous, haunting gem of a novel. Raw and real yet wrapped in a fairy tale, as lovely and as chilling as the snow.”
—Erin Morgenstern, New York Times bestselling author of
The Night Circus

Click here to download the egalley from Edelweiss
LibraryReads voting deadline: July 20th

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
A mesmerizing debut psychological thriller full of delicious twists about a coolly manipulative woman who worms her way into the lives of a wealthy “golden couple” from Connecticut to achieve the privileged life she wants.
“Gillian Flynn meets Joy Fielding in Liv Constantine’s The Last Mrs. Parrish. In an age of great anti-heroines, comes the most unlikeable one yet, the coldly devilish Amber Patterson. This thriller delivers the most satisfying ending since B.A. Paris’ smash hit Behind Closed Doors—and a victorious romp of revenge.”
—Jenny Milchman, USA Today bestselling author of Cover of Snow

Click here to download the egalley from Edelweiss
LibraryReads voting deadline: August 20th

The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker
An exhilarating saga of the Vikings that conjures a brutal, superstitious, and thrilling ninth-century world and the birth of a kingdom—the debut installment in a historical literary trilogy that combines the bold imagination and sweeping narrative power of Game of Thrones, Vikings, and Outlander.
“A terrific historical epic…Posing thoughtful questions about the nature of honor and heroism, and devoting significant attention to women’s lives, the novel takes a fresh approach to the Viking adventure genre…The action scenes will have the blood humming in your veins.”
—Booklist  review

Click here to download the egalley from Edelweiss
LibraryReads voting deadline: June 20th

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Have you read any of these titles? We'd love to know what you think! Email us at librarylovefest@harpercollins.com. 

-The LLF team

Today HarperCollins launched a special new website as part of our year-long celebration of the company's 200th anniversary.  

HarperCollins was first founded in New York City in 1817—but the Big Apple has also been home to many of the bestselling, most renowned authors HarperCollins has published over the last 200 years—including Harper Lee, Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain), Zora Neale Hurston, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Betty Smith, Richard Wright and Maurice Sendak.

Visit www.harpercollins200audiotour.com to take a virtual journey to the New York City homes of these and more beloved authors.

And don't forget to check out www.hc.com/200 to learn even more about HarperCollins history.

-Amanda