Hello, librarians! We hope you've been having a wonderful fall! We're back with our staff suggestions for the January LibraryReads list! Before we dive in, we have an important update!
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My Dark Vanessa Update!
The excitement and conversation surrounding My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell has been truly special. Thank you, librarians, for all your support.
We want to let you know that My Dark Vanessa will now be publishing on March 10, 2020.
If you haven't yet read this unforgettable debut novel, we highly recommend you do so now.
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
For fans of: My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent and The Girls by Emma Cline
Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher, a brilliant, all-consuming read that marks the explosive debut of an extraordinary new writer.
"Russell’s novel, alternating between past and present, presents a damning indictment of sexual predation, as she starkly elucidates the ways in which abuse robbed Vanessa not only of her childhood but also of her own once-promising future. It also prompts readers to interrogate their own assumptions about victimhood, consent, and agency. This is a frighteningly sharp debut."
—Publishers Weekly 
review
"A deeply relevant debut novel…[that] enlightens even as it chills."
—Library Journal review
"A gut-wrenching debut."
—Kirkus 
review
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LibraryReads Votes Due: February 1, 2020
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Reading Suggestions for January
All the Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White
For fans of: The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams and The Summer Country by Lauren Willig
The New York Times bestselling authors of The Glass Ocean and The Forgotten Room return with a glorious historical adventure that moves from the dark days of two World Wars to the turbulent years of the 1960s, in which three women with bruised hearts find refuge at Paris's legendary Ritz hotel.
Praise for The Glass Ocean: "Williams, Willig, and White work together again to create a riveting historical mystery…. 'Team W' takes readers on a voyage, filled with twists and turns, in which secrets abound, no one can be trusted, and history isn’t always what it seems."
—Booklist
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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019
Highfire by Eoin Colfer
For fans of: The Oracle Year by Charles Soule and Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series comes a hilarious and high-octane adult novel about a vodka-drinking, Flashdance-loving dragon who lives an isolated life in the bayous of Louisiana—and the raucous adventures that ensue when he crosses paths with a fifteen-year-old troublemaker on the run from a crooked sheriff.
Click here to read a behind-the-book essay from Eoin Colfer!
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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019
The End of the Ocean by Maja Lunde
For fans of: Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins and The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
From the author of the #1 international bestseller The History of Bees, a captivating story of the power of nature and the human spirit that explores the threat of a devastating worldwide drought, witnessed through the lives of a father, a daughter, and a woman who will risk her life to save the future.
"Lyrical, atmospheric, and eerily prescient, The End of the Ocean is my favorite kind of speculative fiction. Lunde expertly weaves together both a warning and a gorgeous literary work of love and survival that will leave you wishing for rain."
—Christina Dalcher, bestselling author of Vox
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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019
Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey
For fans of: 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne and
My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren
The New York Times bestselling author of Fix Her Up returns with a unique, sexy romantic comedy about a young married couple whose rocky relationship needs a serious renovation.
"Books by Tessa Bailey are an insta-buy for me."
—Sally Thorne, USA Today bestselling author of
The Hating Game and 99 Percent Mine
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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019
Little Gods by Meng Jin
For fans of: Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo and
The Leavers by Lisa Ko
Combining the emotional resonance of Home Fire with the ambition and innovation of Asymmetry, a lyrical and thought-provoking debut novel that explores the complex web of grief, memory, time, physics, history, and selfhood in the immigrant experience, and the complicated bond between daughters and mothers.
"Meng Jin is a writer whose sweep is as intimate as it is global. Little Gods is a novel about the heart-wracking ways in which we move through history and time. A fierce and intelligent debut from a writer with longitude and latitude embedded in her vision."
—Colum McCann, bestselling author of Let the Great World Spin
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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019
The Gimmicks by Chris McCormick
For fans of: Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett and
The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan
Set in the waning years of the Cold War, a stunning debut novel about a trio of young Armenians that moves from the Soviet Union, across Europe, to Southern California, and at its center, one of the most tragic cataclysms in twentieth-century history—the Armenian Genocide—whose traumatic reverberations will have unexpected consequences on all three lives.
"The Gimmicks is a gorgeous epic that astounds with its scope and beauty. With empathy and humor, McCormick unravels the ties between brotherhood and betrayal, love and abandonment, and the fictions we create to live with the pain of the past. This novel will blow you away."
—Brit Bennett, New York Times bestselling author of The Mothers
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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick by Zora Neale Hurston
For fans of: Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
From "one of the greatest writers of our time" (Toni Morrison)—the author of Barracoon and Their Eyes Were Watching God—a collection of remarkable stories, including eight lost Harlem Renaissance tales now available to a wide audience for the first time.
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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019
Hunter Killer by Brad Taylor
For fans of: Red War by Vince Flynn and Spymaster by Brad Thor
Pike Logan tracks highly-trained Russian assassins to Brazil in this blistering, action-packed thriller from New York Times bestselling author and former Special Forces Officer Brad Taylor.
"Brad Taylor knows his stuff. His new Pike Logan novel, Hunter Killer, has the gun metal ring of authenticity and the crisp writing of a military communique…. It makes you pause and think while you’re being thoroughly and rapidly entertained. It’s an excellent read, and I greatly enjoyed it."
—Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Cuban Affair
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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019
Hunting for a Highlander by Lynsay Sands
Also from the author: Immortal Born and The Wrong Highlander
Four Buchanan brothers have found their brides…only three more to go in this scintillating romance from New York Times bestselling author Lynsay Sands.
Praise for Lynsay Sands: "Sands is skilled at crafting genuine characters with deep familial ties…"
—Publishers Weekly
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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019
For more great reading suggestions for January, check out our
January LibraryReads Suggestions Edelweiss catalog!
The deadline to submit your votes is December 1!
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We hope you enjoy the books! For more information about LibraryReads, visit their website. Remember: Vote early! Vote often!
-Chris