May 2019

On this week's episode of The Library Love Fest Podcast, Senior Editor Jessica Williams interviews author Kate Elizabeth Russell.

Kate's debut novel, My Dark Vanessa, explores the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher. It is a brilliant, all-consuming read that marks the explosive debut of an extraordinary new writer.

Stephen King says: “I had the feeling you get at the end of some books, when you know the next one won’t be as good. My Dark Vanessa is a hard story to read and a harder one to put down…a well-constructed package of dynamite.”

The announcement of this book set off an industry-wide frenzy, selling in 25 territories and counting. Check out the Entertainment Weekly announcement here. My Dark Vanessa was also named a BookExpo 2019 Buzz Book! Find out more here.

Listen to the episode here:

We are all big fans of this book here at LLF and we can't wait for you to read it, too! It's truly a beautiful and unique reading experience.

You can also see Kate at ALA this June. She will be signing at our booth #1222 at 9 AM on Monday, June 24. She will also be speaking at the United For Libraries Gala Author Tea later that day at 2 PM.

Find out more about the book and download an egalley on Edelweiss and NetGalley now. LibraryReads votes are due December 1st, 2019.

-Lainey

We are excited to share that William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, has FIVE titles nominated for the 2019 Anthony Awards!

BEST NOVEL

November Road by Lou Berney (William Morrow): Set against the assassination of JFK, a poignant and evocative crime novel that centers on a desperate cat-and-mouse chase across 1960s America—a story of unexpected connections, daring possibilities, and the hope of second chances from the Edgar Award-winning author of The Long and Faraway Gone.

Sunburn by Laura Lippman (William Morrow): New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman returns with a superb novel of psychological suspense about a pair of lovers with the best intentions and the worst luck: two people locked in a passionate yet uncompromising game of cat and mouse. But instead of rules, this game has dark secrets, forbidden desires, inevitable betrayals—and cold-blooded murder.

 

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL

If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin (William Morrow Paperbacks): Reminiscent of the bestsellers of Laura Lippman and Harlan Coben—with a dose of Big Little Lies or Stranger Things—an absorbing, addictive tale of psychological suspense from the author of the highly acclaimed and Edgar Award-nominated What Remains of Me and the USA Today bestselling and Shamus Award-winning Brenna Spector series, in which a seemingly open-and-shut police case with a clear-cut hero and villain turns out to be anything but simple.

Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day (William Morrow Paperbacks): From the critically-acclaimed author of The Day I Died comes a terrifying twist on a locked-room mystery that will keep readers guessing until the last page, set in a remote dark sky park.

 

BEST CRITICAL OR NON-FICTION WORK

Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession by Alice Bolin (William Morrow Paperbacks): In this poignant collection, Alice Bolin examines iconic American works from the essays of Joan Didion and James Baldwin to Twin Peaks, Britney Spears, and Serial, illuminating the widespread obsession with women who are abused, killed, and disenfranchised, and whose bodies (dead and alive) are used as props to bolster men’s stories. Smart and accessible, thoughtful and heartfelt, Bolin investigates the implications of our cultural fixations, and her own role as a consumer and creator.

The Anthony Awards will be voted on by attendees at the 50th annual Bouchercon® World Mystery Convention in Dallas, Texas and presented on Saturday, November 2.

-Chris

                           

You voted, they counted, and the winners have been announced. We are excited to share that Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey has been selected for the June LibraryReads list! A huge congratulations to all the titles on the list! See the full list here.

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey: New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey delivers a fun, sexy romantic comedy—perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne—about a party planner and a professional baseball player-turned house flipper whose fake relationship takes a very real turn.

Request the egalley from Edelweiss
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Thanks to all who participated and submitted votes for the June LibraryReads list! Be sure to submit your votes for the July LibraryReads list by June 1st. You can see our recommendations here. Click here to learn more about LibraryReads.

-Chris

On this week's episode of The Library Love Fest Podcast, I sat down with Associate Editor Elle Keck and Editor Nicole Fischer to hear more about How to Write a Romance, an upcoming romance writer's journal from Avon Books.

Sharing wisdom and expertise from editors, How to Write a Romance guides you through the basic construction of a romance novel and highlights the most common pitfalls to avoid. It also includes 180 prompts touching on every aspect of romance writing: dialogue, character development, scene description, situational entries, and more.

This is a great resource for writers and romance readers alike. Be sure to listen to the interview with Elle and Nicole below:

Want to start reading romance novels but don't know where to start? We asked the Avon editors featured in this podcast interview to list their top five romance recommendations!

Elle's Top Five:

1. The Soldier's Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian
2. Love On My Mind by Tracey Livesay
3. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
4. Dangerous Games by Tess Diamond
5. The Winter King by C.L Wilson

Nicole's Top Five:

1. Destiny’s Surrender by Beverly Jenkins
2. Ten Kisses to Scandal by Vivienne Lorret
3. A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole
4. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
5. Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

We hope you enjoyed this exclusive interview with two of our Avon editors. Be sure to check out How to Write a Romance, available July 9, 2019.

-Lainey

On this week's episode of The Library Love Fest Podcast, Sarah Lambert, the Marketing Assistant at Harper, called her author Jaclyn Moriarty to talk about her upcoming U.S. adult debut, Gravity Is the Thing.

Gravity Is the Thing tells the story of single mother and cafe owner Abigail Sorenson. Twenty years ago, her brother Robert went missing one day before her sixteenth birthday, never to be seen again. That same year, she began receiving scattered chapters in the mail of a self-help manual, the Guidebook, whose anonymous author promised to make her life soar to heights beyond her wildest dreams. Now, two decades after receiving those first pages, Abi is invited to an all-expenses paid weekend retreat to learn “the truth” about the Guidebook.

Gravity Is the Thing is a smart, unusual, wickedly funny novel about the search for happiness that will break your heart into a million pieces and put it back together, bigger and better than before.

A book Marian Keyes calls “one of the most magical, different, interesting, likable, lovable, beautiful, sad, lovely, immensely uplifting books I have ever read. I read it in an agony of loving it but also being so humbled by the fact that if I lived to be 7,022 years old I would never be able to write a book as good as this. You will adore it—it’s an instant classic.”

Be sure to listen to the interview below!

You can download an egalley on Edelweiss and NetGalley now.

-Lainey

We are so excited to announce that Patti Smith’s New York Times bestselling and
National Book Award-winning book, Just Kids, has been declared the 2019
One Book, One New York winner!

In Just Kids, Patti Smith’s first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal days of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel in the late sixties and seventies. An honest and moving story of youth and friendship, Smith brings the same unique, lyrical quality to Just Kids as she has to the rest of her formidable body of work—from her influential 1975 album Horses to her visual art and poetry. 

This is the third annual campaign in which New Yorkers vote on their favorite out of five books selected. This is the first year that all five selections were written by women! 

See the official press release here. There will also an event with Patti Smith at Symphony Space as part of the PEN America World Voices Festival on May 10th.

In celebration of Just Kids being selected, Ecco is donating 1,000 copies of Just Kids to New York City's 219 public library branches in an effort to ensure free access to the winning book!

Be sure to check out Just Kids and the Just Kids Illustrated Edition, available now!

-Lainey

Looking for a new mystery read? Check out this list of upcoming mystery titles from the May 1st Booklist mystery issue.

I Spy by Claire Kendal

• From the author of The Book of You and The Second Sister, a twisty new thriller—perfect for readers of J.P. Delaney and Emily Elgar. Holly always wanted to be a spy. When at last she is given the chance, the experience proves more dangerous—and intimate—than anything she imagined.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss
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Too Close by Natalie Daniels

• A haunting, edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller about a woman who has been institutionalized for a heinous crime, and the psychiatrist assigned to her case who must uncover the truth beneath the madness.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss
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The Man in the White Linen Suit by David Handler

• The next clever, witty, and touching installment in the Edgar award-winning Stewart Hoag mystery series finds the beloved ghostwriter-sleuth and his faithful neurotic basset hound, Lulu, back in 1990’s New York City, investigating a bestselling author’s stolen manuscript and three murders linked to the crime.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss

Careful What You Wish For by Hallie Ephron

• From the New York Times bestselling author of There Was an Old Woman comes a novel about a professional organizer with a deadly problem she may not be able to clean up.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss
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Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

• The revered New York Times bestselling author returns with a novel set in 1960s Baltimore that combines modern psychological insights with elements of classic noir, about a middle-aged housewife turned aspiring reporter who pursues the murder of a forgotten young woman.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss
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The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter

• New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter returns with another electrifying thriller in the beloved Will Trent mystery series, this time pitting Will and Sara against a mysterious group planning to unleash a deadly epidemic.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss
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The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz

• An electrifying first novel from “a riveting new voice in American fiction” (George Saunders): A young woman returns to her childhood home in the American South and uncovers secrets about her father’s life and death.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss
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Cold Storage by David Koepp

• For readers of Andy Weir and Noah Hawley comes an astonishing debut by the screenwriter of Jurassic Park: a wild and terrifying adventure about three strangers who must work together to contain a highly contagious, deadly organism.
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The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

• A heart-pounding debut from the creator of the hit Scandinavian television show The Killing. A psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen. His calling card is a “chestnut man”—a handmade doll made of matchsticks and two chestnuts—which he leaves at each bloody crime scene.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss
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The Playground by Jane Shemilt

• Big Little Lies meets Lord of The Flies in this electrifyingly twisty follow-up to Jane Shemilt’s breakout debut The Daughter. 
  Over the course of a long, hot summer in London, the lives of three very different married couples collide when their children join the same tutoring circle, resulting in illicit relationships, shocking violence, and unimaginable fallout.

The Lying Room by Nicci French

• In this thrilling standalone from the internationally bestselling author of the Frieda Klein series, a married woman’s affair with her boss spirals into a dangerous game of chess with the police when she discovers he’s been murdered and she clears the crime scene of all evidence.

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

• A powerful and taut novel about racial tensions in LA, following two families—one Korean-American, one African-American—grappling with the effects of a decades-old crime.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss

The Butterfly Girl by Rene Denfeld

• The dark and haunting companion to Rene Denfeld’s acclaimed novel The Child Finder, a riveting story of lost children and one haunted woman’s search for what may never be found.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss

Sins of the Fathers by J. A. Jance

• Seattle investigator J. P. Beaumont is drawn into an intriguing, and shockingly personal, case in this superb tale of suspense from New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance.

The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan

• The New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew conjures a dark and unpredictable tale of family secrets that explores the lengths people will go to hurt one another.
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Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay

• The New York Times bestselling author of A Noise Downstairs and No Time for Goodbye returns with an edge-of-your-seat thriller that does for elevators what Psycho did for showers and Jaws did for the beach—a heart-pounding tale in which a series of disasters paralyzes New York City with fear.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss
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A Cruel Deception by Charles Todd

• In the aftermath of World War I, nurse Bess Crawford attempts to save a troubled former soldier from a mysterious killer in this eleventh book in the beloved Bess Crawford mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd.

The Network by L.C. Shaw

• A pulse-pounding, page-turning thriller involving corruption, secrets, and lies at the very deepest levels of government and media.

A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie

• New York Times bestselling author Deborah Crombie returns with a mesmerizing entry in her “excellent” (Miami Herald) series, in which Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James are pulled into a dangerous web of secrets, lies, and murder buried beneath the surface of a picturesque Cotswolds village.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss

The House of Brides by Jane Cockram

• Jane Cockram makes her thrilling debut with this page-turning tale of psychological suspense in which a young woman whose life is in tatters flees to the safety of a family estate in England, but instead of comfort finds chilling secrets and lies.
• Request the egalley from Edelweiss