Library Love Fest

The December LibraryReads List is Here!

See our full announcement of all HarperCollins titles that made the list and find links to egalleys here. 

Thank you for voting!

-Lainey

New Podcast Episode: An interview with Danya Kukafka, author of NOTES ON AN EXECUTION

This week on the podcast, we feature a conversation between LLF's Lainey Mays and author Danya Kukafka. Danya's Notes on an Execution is a gripping and atmospheric work of literary suspense that deconstructs the story of a serial killer on death row, told primarily through the eyes of the women in his life. It's our Lead Read title for the Winter 2022 season!

Check out some of the rave reviews coming in:

"A searing portrait of the complicated women caught in the orbit of a serial killer. Notes on an Execution examines a culture that romanticizes men who kill while also exploring the lives of the overlooked women altered by this violence. Compassionate and thought-provoking."

—Brit Bennett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half

 

"Provocative, intelligent, thrilling, moving."

—Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train

 

“Notes on an Execution is seriously important crime fiction that trains the lens on a serial killer's victims rather than on the criminal himself and shows how the legacy of violence endures for decades, leaving a tidal wave of collateral damage in its wake. Kukakfa's story is unflinching and unromantic yet wrenching and devastating in equal measure. Never falling into the easy trap of sensationalism, Notes on an Execution pushes women to the forefront of a narrative that has too often overlooked them and all they suffer.”
—Ivy Pochoda, award-winning author of These Women and Wonder Valley

Listen to the episode below:

Danya mentioned Savage Appetites by Rachel Monroe and The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich as books of Crime/True Crime she is loving right now. She also mentioned the following podcasts: One Click and Missing on 9/11. 

Also discussed: Tori Telfer's Lady Killers and Confident Women.

Check out the article about her love for pickles here.

Notes on an Execution is on sale January 25, 2022.
LibraryReads votes are due December 1, 2021!

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-Lainey

The Library Love Fest Podcast has over 50K listens!

The Library Love Fest Podcast hit a milestone this week—we have over 50,000 listens! We started this podcast as a way to dive deeper into our books in a digestible audio format that you could listen to while on the way to work each day, while shelving books, or sitting behind the reference desk. That vision has grown to include many different formats that show off our phenomenal books. Whether that be through editor conversations where we hear an author's 'behind-the-scenes' relationship with their editor or hearing about upcoming audiobooks where we play a short clip to intrigue; we love curating this archive of book-related information that will be sure to cater to every kind of reader.

Thank you again for listening! Now, share it with a friend!

-Lainey

 

I've highlighted a few of our most popular episodes—including each of our series—below:

 

LibraryReads Announcements (monthly):

 

Editors Unedited:

 

Updates from Imprints and other departments at HarperCollins:

 

Author interviews conducted by the LLF team:

 

Thank you for 50K! If you don't already, subscribe anywhere you download podcasts for the weekly episodes to directly download to your feed.

LLF Staff Suggestions for the January LibraryReads List

Hello, librarians!

We are back for another round of LibraryReads suggestions for the January LibraryReads list. Reminder: votes for the January LibraryReads List are due December 1st.

Happy reading!

-The LLF Team (Virginia, Lainey, and Essie)

***

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

"A searing portrait of the complicated women caught in the orbit of a serial killer. Notes on an Execution examines a culture that romanticizes men who kill while also exploring the lives of the overlooked women altered by this violence. Compassionate and thought-provoking."
—Brit Bennett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half

Request the egalley and ALC on Edelweiss+
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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor

"Cantor succeeds brilliantly with this audacious revisionist murder mystery featuring characters from The Great Gatsby.... Cantor successfully captures the style and tone of the 1925 novel with vivid details.... Proving once again that it is 'hard to forget the past,' Cantor’s admirably convincing act of literary skullduggery offers many rewards."
—Publishers Weekly ⭐️ review

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

Watch Jillian Cantor on Door to Door:

 

 

Wahala by Nikki May

"I couldn't get enough of the four women at the heart of Nikki May's utterly winning debut novel, Wahala. Every evening, I sank into my bubble bath, eager to return to the lives of May's deep and complex characters...Their loves and wahala ("trouble") brought to mind Sex & the Citybut felt more modern, more real. When I closed Nikki May's delicious, hilarious novel, I felt I was returning to joy. I knew it was time to call my friends...time to get into some good wahala of my own."
—Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters and The Lifeguards

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

"How High We Go in the Dark is wondrous not just in the feats of imagination, which are so numerous that it makes me dizzy to recall them, but also in the humanity and tenderness with which Sequoia Nagamatsu helps us navigate this landscape, to find a way to survive while holding onto the things that make us human. This is a truly amazing book, one to keep close as we imagine the uncertain future."
—Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here

"Nagamatsu blends literary and visionary verve in a narrative that’s garnering comparisons to Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven."
—Library Journal

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

"An exquisitely detailed fantasy with a strong, vulnerable protagonist. The intimate prose makes Tan’s wonderful debut an immersive experience; share with fans of Shelley Parker-Chan and Katherine Arden."
—Library Journal ⭐️ review

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

I Came All This Way to Meet You by Jami Attenberg

“[Attenberg’s] frank and charming writing creates an intimacy with the reader. A fantastic choice for those who love writers’ memoirs, such as Alexander Chee’s How to Write an Autobiographical Novel.”
—Booklist

“This stunning work explores home not solely as geographic place but also as a mobile metaphor for the relationships we consistently run to and away from.”
—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy and Long Division

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

South to America by Imani Perry

“[Perry] melds memoir, travel narrative, and history in an intimate, penetrating journey through the South…. A graceful, finely crafted examination of America’s racial, cultural, and political identity. Perry always delivers.”
—Kirkus ⭐️ review

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

End of Days by Brad Taylor

Pike Logan must stop a deranged fanatic bent on igniting an international conflagration in this explosive, action-packed thriller from New York Times bestselling author and former special forces officer, Brad Taylor.

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

The Hummingbird by Sandro Veronesi

“Cleverly structured like a jigsaw puzzle...Veronesi’s dark modern chronicle shimmers with intelligence and flashes of pathos.”
—Publishers Weekly ⭐️ review

“Excellent: Marco Carrera is a compelling main character, a devoted father an oblivious husband, a dutiful son and an inadequate brother. The novel's conclusion is a beautiful study of the resilient bonds of flawed love.”
—Times Literary Supplement (London)

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

Find Me by Alafair Burke

"Edgar finalist Burke’s scintillating sixth novel featuring NYPD Det. Ellie Hatcher.... Ellie’s intelligence, insight, and lingering grief over her father will keep readers turning the pages. Appealing characters match the meticulous plotting. Burke reinforces her place in the top rank of suspense writers."
—Publishers Weekly ⭐️ review

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

Just Like The Other Girls by Claire Douglas

“Just Like the Other Girls is a chilling novel showcasing Claire Douglas's trademark brilliantly claustrophobic settings and tightly plotted twists. Impossible to know which of the well-drawn characters to trust and very hard to put down.”
—Gilly MacMillan, bestselling author of What She Knew

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

The Other Family by Wendy Corsi Staub

"The prolific Corsi Staub turns in a stellar performance, creating a palpable sense of dread and generating the kind of suspense that keeps readers glued to the page."
—Booklist

"...domestic suspense turned up to 11, the gripping tale of one family's cross-country move to Brooklyn—and the explosive revelations that follow when one woman is finally forced to reckon with her past. From her pitch-perfect characterizations to her unerring sense of plot and pace, Wendy Corsi Staub displays a command of the form that's not merely masterful—it's practically diabolical.”
—Elizabeth Little, author of Pretty as a Picture

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

Midnight in Everwood by M.A. Kuzniar

"A glittering rush of sugar-sweet enchantment laced with sparkling prose and bewitching storytelling. Beware of entering this magnificent world; Everwood will dazzle and seduce you and then steal you away."
—Stephanie Garber, bestselling author of Caraval

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

The Family You Make by Jill Shalvis

"Bestseller Shalvis (Love for Beginners) launches the Sunrise Cove series with a charming, emotional romance featuring a cast readers will quickly come to see as old friends."
—Publishers Weekly 

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2021

 

 

Click here for more great January reads!

 

The deadline to submit your votes is December 1!

***

We hope you enjoy the books! For more information about LibraryReads, visit their website. Remember: Vote early! Vote often!

-Lainey

Making their grand debut...

Check out these forthcoming debut novels that were included in our recent Library Journal and Booklist ads!

• Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim (on sale 12/7/21): An epic story of love, war, and redemption set against the backdrop of the Korean independence movement, following the intertwined fates of a young girl sold to a courtesan school and the penniless son of a hunter.
  
  
• Velorio by Xavier Navarro Aquino (on sale 1/4/22): Set in the wake of Hurricane Maria, Xavier Navarro Aquino’s unforgettable debut novel follows a remarkable group of survivors searching for hope on an island torn apart by both natural disaster and human violence.
  -Also available in a Spanish edition!
   
• Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan (on sale 1/11/22): A captivating debut fantasy inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e, in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm and sets her on a dangerous path—where choices come with deadly consequences, and she risks losing more than her heart.
  
  
• How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu (on sale 1/18/22): For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague—a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice. 
  
  
• Wahala by Nikki May (on sale 1/11/22): An incisive and exhilarating debut novel of female friendship following three Anglo-Nigerian best friends and the lethally glamorous fourth woman who infiltrates their group—the most unforgettable girls since Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda.
  
  
• Shadows of Pecan Hollow by Caroline Frost (on sale 2/8/22): Set in Texas in the 1970s and 90s, Shadows of Pecan Hollow is a literary debut about a fierce woman and the partner-in-crime she can’t escape, perfect for readers of Where the Crawdads Sing and Valentine.
  
  
• Nightshift by Kiare Ladner (on sale 2/8/22): A haunting, compelling debut novel of complex female friendship and obsession, following one young woman’s decision to abandon her normal life and join the otherworldly, nocturnal existence of London’s nightshift workers.
  
  
• Asking for a Friend by Andi Osho (on sale 2/1/22): Comedian Andi Osho’s hilarious and uplifting debut novel features her trademark wit and is perfect for fans of Jasmine Guillory and Mhairi McFarlane. 
  
  
• Garden Variety by Christy Wilhelmi (on sale 3/29/22): Upbeat women’s fiction about an urban community garden, life’s growing pains, and how fellow gardeners rally and come together to save their own. Includes a PS section with gardening tips and information.
  
  
• The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers (on sale 3/1/22):For the audience of Fiona Davis and Lisa Wingate, a vibrant historical debut set in 1947 North Carolina following a young female seamstress who uncovers dangerous truths about the Big Tobacco empire ruling the American South.
  
  
• The Blood Trials by N. E. Davenport (on sale 4/5/22): Blending fantasy and science fiction, N. E. Davenport’s fast-paced, action-packed debut kicks off a duology of loyalty and rebellion, in which a young Black woman must survive deadly trials in a racist and misogynistic society to become an elite warrior.
  
  
• The Caretakers by Amanda Bestor-Siegal (on sale 4/12/22): Set in a wealthy Parisian suburb, an emotionally riveting debut told from the point of view of six women, and centered around a group of au pairs, one of whom is arrested after a sudden and suspicious tragedy strikes her host family—a dramatic exploration of identity, class, and caregiving from a profoundly talented new writer.
  
  
• Hope and Glory by Jendella Benson (on sale 4/19/22): A brilliant debut by a British-Nigerian author—a heartfelt family drama that will delight book club readers and fans of books like Transcendent Kingdom, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, and The Girl with the Louding Voice.
  
  
• Cover Story by Susan Rigetti (on sale 4/5/22): Catch Me If You Can meets Sweetbitter in this debut novel about an ambitious and impressionable young woman who gets caught up in a charismatic con artist’s scam.
  
  

-Lainey