Hello, librarians!
As we make our way through this final, agonizing stretch of winter, our hearts and minds have already moved on to spring. And it's not just the sunshine and warmth and blossoming of life that we have to look forward to—spring also brings with it a wealth of mesmerizing, powerful, unforgettable new books.
Keep reading to discover books coming this May and June that have us excited. It is our hope that you'll find one or two (or ten!) that grab hold of your head and heart and won't let go.
GREAT NEWS: All of these titles and more are now available on NetGalley! To be added to our Auto-Approved List for unlimited egalley downloads on NetGalley, please fill out this form.
To see the full list of titles from HarperCollins Publishers now available on NetGalley, click here.
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The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames
For fans of: The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
In this stunning debut novel, a young woman tells the story behind two elderly sisters’ estrangement, unraveling family secrets stretching back a century and across the Atlantic to early twentieth-century Italy.
"With her story of an 'ordinary' woman who is anything but, Grames explores not just the immigrant experience but the stages of a woman’s life. This is a sharp and richly satisfying novel."
—Publishers Weekly 
review
"Right from the first page, I was transported to Calabria, Italy and into the lives of Stella Fortuna and her sister Tina. Spanning decades, from the native beauty of their mountain village to the suburbs of Connecticut, this is a heartfilled, cinematic story of immigration, love, family and resilience. An unforgettable novel filled with characters I don’t think I’ll ever forget."
—Nancy Pearl, librarian and author of George & Lizzie and the Book Lust series of reading recommendations
Click here to learn more about this unforgettable debut.
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LibraryReads Votes Due: April 1, 2019
The Last Time I Saw You by Liv Constantine
For fans of: The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware and A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena
The internationally bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish follows that success with an addictive novel filled with shocking twists about the aftermath of a brutal high-society murder.
"The Last Time I Saw You is a thrilling murder mystery rife with lies, scandal, obsession, and revenge. With unreliable characters, a sinister storyline, and a handful of twists to boot, Liv Constantine raises the bar high. A must-read!"
—Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl and When the Lights Go Out
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LibraryReads Votes Due: April 1, 2019
The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins
For fans of: The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
A servant and former slave is accused of murdering her employer and his wife in this astonishing historical thriller that moves from a Jamaican sugar plantation to the fetid streets of Georgian London—a remarkable literary debut with echoes of Alias Grace, The Underground Railroad, and The Paying Guests.
"Collins’ debut novel administers a bold and vibrant jolt to both the gothic and historical fiction genres…. Most of all, she has created in her title character a complex, melancholy, and trenchantly observant protagonist…as dynamic and compelling as any character conceived by a Brontë sister….
[a] gripping, groundbreaking debut."
—Kirkus Reviews 
review
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LibraryReads Votes Due: April 1, 2019
How to Forget by Kate Mulgrew
For fans of: Between Them by Richard Ford
In this profoundly honest and examined memoir about returning to Iowa to care for her ailing parents, the star of Orange Is the New Black and author of Born with Teeth takes us on an unexpected journey of loss, betrayal, and the transcendent nature of a daughter’s love for her parents.
"Actress Kate Mulgrew has gone deep to deliver a beautifully written, searingly honest collection of memories about her parents who are in the final chapters of their lives.
The biggest mistake a reader could make is to presume one needs to be a follower of Ms. Mulgrew’s dramatic work in order to connect to the voice in this book. That simply isn’t the case. This is an entirely relatable, universal story about family. It is a powerful and at times very funny read (her parents were very quick-witted!) written in prose so beautiful it borders on poetic. I absolutely love this book."
—Virginia Stanley, Director of Library Marketing, HarperCollins Publishers
Click here to read more insights from Virginia on this must-read memoir.
Join Us for a Facebook Live Interview with Kate Mulgrew: This Friday, March 8th, from 10:30-11:30am EST, actress and author Kate Mulgrew will discuss her upcoming memoir How to Forget with Library Love Fest's Virginia Stanley.
Tune in to the Library Love Fest Facebook page to watch! You can also sign up for our Facebook event to receive reminders!
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LibraryReads Votes Due: April 1, 2019
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
For fans of: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang and My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan
Award-winning author Sonali Dev launches a new series about the Rajes, an immigrant Indian family descended from royalty, who have built their lives in San Francisco—a compelling, heartwarming romance between two strangers from completely different worlds, and a poignant exploration of cultural assimilation, identity, and the meaning of the word home.
"A profound, unique talent, Sonali Dev grabs the reader by the heart."
—Kristan Higgins, New York Times bestselling author of Good Luck with That
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LibraryReads Votes Due: April 1, 2019
Aloha Rodeo by David Wolman and Julian Smith
For fans of: The Three-Year Swim Club by Julie Checkoway and Smokejumper by Jason A. Ramos
In the spirit of The Boys in the Boat comes the captivating true story of the Hawaiian cowboys who changed rodeo and the West forever.
"This inspiring and impeccably crafted story of against-all-odds triumph is one that movie-makers surely will yearn to produce, seeing in Wolman and Smith’s elegantly told Aloha Rodeo a new Chariots of Fire, with Cheyenne’s Frontier Days standing in for the Paris Olympics, the islands of Hawaii for the British Isles, and, at center stage, three brave cowboys, no hats and all cattle. I loved this book, truly."
—Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfectionists and Pacific
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LibraryReads Votes Due: April 1, 2019
For more great reading suggestions for May, check out our
May LibraryReads Suggestions Edelweiss catalog!
The deadline to submit your votes for LibraryReads is January 1!
Looking Ahead: Reading Suggestions for June
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
For fans of: The Leavers by Lisa Ko and Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
A poignant and suspenseful drama that untangles the complicated ties binding three women—two sisters and their mother—in one Chinese immigrant family and explores what happens when the eldest daughter disappears, and a series of family secrets emerge, from the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Translation.
"This isn’t a novel––it’s a puzzle box of familial secrets, some dark, others luminous, all of it haunting, mysterious, and completely satisfying. I was utterly spellbound."
—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
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LibraryReads Votes Due: May 1, 2019
The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz
For fans of: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones and A Separation by Katie Kitamura
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.
"The Gone Dead is one of the greatest novels ever placed Mississippi. The southern novel will never be the same after this book. Billie James, the protagonist of The Gone Dead, holds more mystery, lyricism, tragedy, nuance than most characters I’ve read in recent years."
—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
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LibraryReads Votes Due: May 1, 2019
The Sentence Is Death by Anthony Horowitz
Also from the author: Forever and a Day, The Word Is Murder, and Magpie Murders
Death, deception, and a detective with quite a lot to hide stalk the pages of Anthony Horowitz’s brilliant murder mystery, the second in the bestselling series starring Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne.
Praise for The Word Is Murder:
"Actually, the word is not murder, it’s ingenious…. a masterful meta-mystery."
—Booklist 
review
"Deduction and wit are well-balanced, and fans of Peter Lovesey and other modern channelers of the spirit of the golden age of detection will clamor for more."
—Publishers Weekly 
review
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LibraryReads Votes Due: May 1, 2019
The Perfect Fraud by Ellen LaCorte
For fans of: The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy and Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris
In this propulsive debut thriller, two women with their own dangerous secrets are thrown together by a chance meeting that plunges both their lives into chaos, with a sick little girl’s fate hanging in the balance.
"The Perfect Fraud is equal parts dark, creepy thriller and compelling character study with a little bit of magic and a little bit of heartbreak thrown in for good measure. Mothers and daughters, hindsight and clairvoyance, sickness and health twist and trade places in a delicious slow simmer and in ways we never see coming, and gluten-free eating finally gets the sendup it so richly deserves."
—Laurie Frankel, author of This Is How It Always Is
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LibraryReads Votes Due: May 1, 2019
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
For fans of: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
New York Times bestseller Tessa Bailey delivers a fun, sexy romantic comedy perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne.
"Tessa Bailey’s alpha heroes will make you combust!"
—Laura Kaye, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
"Tessa Bailey’s books completely, utterly, totally wreck me."
—Sophie Jordan, New York Times bestselling author
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LibraryReads Votes Due: May 1, 2019
The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung
For fans of: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry and Chemistry by Weike Wang
An exhilarating, moving novel about a trailblazing mathematician whose research unearths her own extraordinary family story and its roots in World War II.
"Reading The Tenth Muse is like setting out on a boat for a short trip and finding the way back barred by waves that grow taller and taller. And then the boat itself turns out to be a riddle; a paper boat, each leaf bound to the other with equations of fearsome beauty. Arresting in scope and its treatment of time, its prose at turns crystalline and richly balletic, this story pulls puzzle from puzzle—human, historical, and all too contemporary."
—Helen Oyeyemi, author of Boy, Snow, Bird and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
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LibraryReads Votes Due: May 1, 2019
For more great reading suggestions for June, check out our
June LibraryReads Suggestions Edelweiss catalog!
The deadline to submit your votes for LibraryReads is January 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