Author name: Library Love Fest

Andrew Mayne's debut novel, Angel Killer, was a runaway self-published hit, and it continued running when HarperCollins got hold of it. Amanda and I are big fans of Jessica Blackwood, the lead FBI agent character, and the very interesting way Andrew weaves the art of illusion with crime-solving.

We are giving away 15 copies of Angel Killer to the first people to email us at librarylovefest@harpercollins.com, so get your clicker fingers ready and Go! I'll wait.

Now that you've emailed us, here is a behind the scenes look at Andrew's progression as writer.

***

I was eight and bored. I’d finished the latest Encyclopedia Brown mystery and was searching for something new to read. A boy detective myself, but despite letting it be known around the neighborhood my investigating skills were for hire, business was scarce. So I was looking for a way to kill time between cases.

Snooping around the guest bedroom closet I discovered several boxes of books my father had stowed away. What a treasure! These weren’t the small books about giant red dogs or boy detectives I was familiar with. No, the dogs here had names like Cujo and terrorized their families! The detectives drank martinis instead of chocolate milk and dispatched villains with bullets, not brainteasers! The covers were filled with alien worlds, menacing eyes and scantily dressed women wrapped around suave men who would kill you as soon as say “Hello”.

We’ve all opened that door. It starts with a cover that tingles your curiosity. Next, you’re haunting bookstores in search of more adventure. Those books made me want to be a storyteller with my own tales. I lied about my age to go from high school to star of my own magic show performing in places I was too young to set foot inside. I worked circuses, cruise ships and headlined a casino revue in Japan. I created behind the scenes for Penn & Teller, David Blaine and spent several years helping famous skeptic, James Randi, investigate faith healers, mediums and other fraudsters.

Along the way I kept writing and sharing stories to anybody who would listen, including the showgirls I lived with in Japan who I’d read to at night as they gathered around in their pajamas. We should all have such muses…

Eventually I decided to take writing seriously and wrote a novella for fans of my podcast (now over 10,000 listeners). It climbed the eBook charts, motivating me to write more. Even before A&E picked up my TV pilot, a retailer declared me the fifth best-selling independent author in the UK that year. It was an encouraging start, to say the least.

I wrote Angel Killer to tell something close to home. Dinner as a kid was filled with my father’s ATF agent stories hunting moonshiners, body-guarding presidents, investigating bombings and chasing international hit men. This inspired my brother to become an FBI agent and me to write in safety.

Jessica Blackwood possesses some of my experiences but in important ways the mirror opposite. I was a magician born into a law enforcement family. She’s from a showbiz family whose moral code compelled her to become a cop. I’m a man in a male-dominated industry, who takes things for granted. Jessica is someone who has to work for everything and overcome the biases of the people around her.

Her story is all the things I know and don’t know. Which is why the curious boy detective/magician is excited to be bringing Angel Killer to a larger audience. I hope you enjoy it.

Best,

Andrew Mayne

***

 Annie

In Keija Parssinen's novel, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis, the eponymous character is a teenage basketball protege and overall exceptional athlete. So dig deep and employ all your athletic prowess to get a copy of this book as fast as possible because it.is.good! I read this over the holidays and was so taken by the characters. 

Keija has popped into Library Love Fest to share with us her history with libraries – a unique take since she grew up in Saudi Arabia. Welcome, Keija!

***

In Saudi Arabia, where I grew up in the 1980s, we depended on libraries to keep us in books. It was hard to get certain titles past airport customs, where men would open up your suitcase and dispense with anything that looked suspicious—which most books written in English did. Getting anything through the mail took ages, and customs worked hard on that end, too; a friend told the story of how she once received a coffee table book on art that had all the naked women cut out of the paintings. So the oil company and school libraries were it for entertainment, and I’ve loved and relied on the blessed institutions ever since.

In my current hometown of Columbia, Missouri, the public library is so beautiful that I usually try to take out-of-town visitors there to marvel at its elegance. But the Columbia Public Library (part of the Daniel Boone Regional Library system) isn’t just pretty; it is also a cutting-edge model for how libraries can serve their communities, providing a spacious and whimsical indoor play space for children, daily baby and toddler music classes, thousands of books, CDs, and DVDs, free internet access, and adult education classes on everything from the job search to filing taxes. I rely on it as a workspace, as well as a place to take my son on long winter days, when cabin fever strikes hard.

When my first book, The Ruins of Us, was published in 2012, libraries took on a new role in my life. They became conduits through which I could connect with countless new readers. It was exciting to see my book on the shelf at the library and to know that people in my community were reading about the characters that had taken me years to create. In 2013, the library selected Ruins for its One Read program, one of the longest-running and most extensive community reading programs in the nation. Besides the obvious thrill that such an experience offers, I also befriended several of the librarians and learned quickly what a badass, smart, curious-minded group they are, always hungry for compelling new books, always thinking creatively about how to reach more readers of all ages. And so my early love affair with libraries has thus deepened into a long-term, committed relationship. I can’t wait to see my second novel, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis, covered in that crinkly protective sheath and sitting on the shelf at the library, awaiting the arrival of a new reader.

****

Thank you so much, Keija!

Make sure you snag a copy, lovely readers.

– Annie

A powerful and global debut memoir, FInding Samuel Lowe follows Paula Williams Madison's quest to track down her maternal grandfather and reunite with a family that never knew she existed.

When Nell's Jamaican mother left her Chinese father after learning he would be welcoming a Chinese bride, Nell never saw him again, later learning he'd returned to China with his new family.  Even after moving to America, Nell's Asian features set her apart from her Harlem neighbors, creating a sense of loneliness that instilled a perpetual sense of loss in her daughter Paula.

Now a grown woman, with a successful career behind her and her own grandchild just arrived, Paula has decided the time has come to search out Samuel Lowe and reunite with her mother’s family. With her brothers beside her and with the help of generous strangers, Paula tracks her grandfather’s life, from China to Jamaica and back, ultimately reconnecting with relatives who had not even known to look for her.

Finding Samuel Lowe has recently received a starred review from Booklist, calling it, "A profoundly moving and revelatory memoir of far-reaching discovery and affirmation," and it will be featured in the Spotlight on Multicultural Literature in the February 1 issue.  Be sure to pick up a copy to read the rest of the review and learn more about this inspiring story.

If you'd like to learn more about Paula's quest to track down her grandfather, you can download an egalley here and start reading today!

-Amanda

Between New Year's Eve sparklers and all these starred reviews from Library Journal in January, my eyes have had no time to recover!  Please join me in giving these authors and titles a round of applause for starting the new year with a bang.

Driving the King by Ravi Howard: "this novel is a personal, poignant portrayal of how the lives of African Americans could be so easily derailed by racial inequality under the law." —Library Journal starred review

Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell: "The multitude of points of view exemplifies the best of third-person omniscience, revealing innermost secrets, hopes, and fears." —Library Journal starred review

American Ghost by Hannah Nordhaus: "Every aspect of the account is enlightening, well written, and entertaining" —Library Journal starred review

Hush Hush by Laura Lippman: "After writing several excellent stand-alone novels (After I’m Gone), Lippman returns to her popular series sleuth in this compelling mystery about a good mother gone bad." —Library Journal starred review

The Siege Winter by Ariana Franklin and Samantha Norman: "The rigidity of status in feudal society rightly permeates every scene, but Norman and Franklin excel at showing how the war impacts everyone in this richly researched, female-driven historical mystery." —Library Journal starred review

Congratulations!

-Amanda

Hello Lovelies,

May you all have a wonderfully happy and safe New Year and thank you all for being so supportive and involved in our Library Love Fest!

Look forward to seeing you in 2015!

Virginia, Annie and Amanda

I had never watched Dancing With the Stars but I was over a friend’s house one night and it was on and I was mesmerized. Amy Purdy was so good! Graceful and incredibly talented and then I realized she had no legs and I was blown away.

In this poignant and uplifting memoir, On My Own Two Feet, Amy reveals the story of how at 19 she contracted bacterial meningitis and was given less than a two percent chance of survival, but through hard work and determination she defied the doctors and went on to become the top adaptive snowboarder in the world (a three-time World Cup Para-Snowboard Gold Medalist, and the 2014 Paralympic Bronze Medalist!).

Losing her legs also led her to find a spiritual path that has given her internal strength to keep defying the odds. Her memoir urges readers to live life to the fullest, because we are all a lot more capable than we could ever imagine.

In October, Amanda wrote about how much she enjoyed The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman, a brilliant and unique dystopian thriller about 15-year-old Ice Cream Star, who must risk her own life to save her brother's.

This book has been getting crazy amazing peer reviews from Kate Atkinson and Jonathan Safran Foer (to name a few), and December brought with it several starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist! 

"Newman’s novel is ambitious, taking on race, sex, class, religion, politics, and war all at once. What sets the work apart is its unapologetic narrator, whose fantastically unbridled, wholly teenage point of view renders each page a pleasure to read.” - Publishers Weekly

"…a richly detailed dystopian epic that blends elements of American history, popular culture, and political allegory with romance and thriller pacing. This suspenseful, provocative tale is The Hunger Games meets Lord of the Flies and The Walking Dead, only much, much better." –Booklist

I think this can only mean one thing….download your egalley now and then populate your shelves with it! 

– Annie

The Bookseller is a provocative and hauntingly powerful debut novel that follows Kitty Miller, a woman in the 1960s who wrestles to reconcile her daily life as a single bookstore owner with the alternate reality she suddenly begins to dream about each night, in which she is a happily-married wife and mother.  This book is great for fans of books and films about the "road not taken," like Sliding Doors, and women's narratives about the struggles of motherhood verses independence.  The author convincingly weaves her tale of dream worlds verses reality, both as fleshed out as the other, and readers will be enthralled with Kitty's two lives and the choices she must make.

Check out an egalley from Edelweiss here.  Voting for the March LibraryReads list ends January 20, so just enough time to do a little early holiday reading!

-Amanda

Booklist released their Editors' Choice list for 2014, so please join me in a round of applause for the picks from HarperCollins:

John Quincy Adams by Fred Kaplan: an illuminating biography of one of the most overlooked presidents in American history—a leader of sweeping perspective whose progressive values helped shape the course of the nation.

Us by David Nicholls: a new novel from the author of One Day about one man’s efforts to salvage his marriage—and repair his troubled relationship with his teenaged son—during the course of a trip around Europe.

All I Love and Know by Judith Frank: a searing drama of a modern American family on the brink of dissolution, one that explores adoption, gay marriage, and love lost and found.

Lovers at the Chameleon Club by Francine Prose: A richly imagined and stunningly inventive literary masterpiece of love, art, and betrayal, set in Paris from the late 1920s into the dark years of World War II, that explores the genesis of evil, the unforeseen consequences of love, and the ultimate unreliability of storytelling itself.

The Story of the Jews by Simon Schama: a magnificently illustrated cultural history that details the story of the Jewish experience, tracing it across three millennia, from their beginnings as an ancient tribal people to the opening of the New World in 1492 to the modern day.

Congratulations everyone!  Check out the entire list here.

-Amanda

LibraryLoveFest to the rescue!  We come to you once again with the perfect selection of gifts for the book lovers in your life.  This time, we turn our sights on The Adventurer.  Regardless of whether they prefer to climb mountains or watch documentaries, these books will satisfy the most restless of hearts.

Lives in Ruins by Marilyn Johnson: a vastly entertaining read that celebrates archaeological geekery and leaves us with a profound appreciation for the largely unsung work of the real life Indiana Joneses, from the author of This Book is Overdue! and The Dead Beat.

Don't Give Up, Don't Give In by Louis Zamperini: an inspirational new book by American hero Louis Zamperini—subject of Laura Hillenbrand's #1 bestseller Unbroken and its upcoming film adaptation—collecting his wisdom, values, lessons, secrets, and other insights gleaned from his remarkable life.

The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick: a funny, feel-good story of a young man who, in the aftermath of his mother’s untimely death, goes on a quest to find his biological father and forms an unlikely family with three other outsiders, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook.  Make sure you also check out his upcoming new book, Love May Fail.

Go forth, my gift-giving adventurers, and discover the great reading that awaits you this season!  

-Amanda

I believe it's safe to assume at this point that Neil Gaiman needs no introduction. Fans will be ecstatic to learn that the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neverwhere, The Graveyard Book, and American Gods is releasing his third collection of short stories early next year, entitled Trigger Warning.  This story collection is comprised of previously published pieces of short fiction—stories, verse, and a very special “Dr. Who” story that was written for the 50th anniversary of Dr. Who in 2013—as well as a completely new short story written expressly for this collection.

You can download an egalley here! *claps hands in excitement*

For all you librarian Gaiman fans out there, we've teamed up with Neil and his publisher William Morrow to give away 100 posters Neil made exclusively for librarians.  Click here to find out more and enter for a chance to win!

-Amanda

I'm late to the party here because Marisa de los Santos has gotten critical praise all over the place for her novels Belong to Me, Love Walked In, and Falling Together, and until The Precious One, I had never read any of her work! What a dope I am.

This novel is beautifully written, has a great story of fractured and mended families, and a genuine, relateable love story. 

After 15 years of silence Taisy Cleary's genius, cold, unapologetic father invites her for a visit and requests she pen his memoir. Determined to sort out her feelings for him, curious to connect with her half-sister Willow, and perhaps interested in seeing what the love of her life (who her father had a hand in running off) is up to, Taisy accepts. 

Told in the funny, smart voice of Taisy and the earnest, heart-breakingly young voice of Willow, this is a great novel full of secrets, love, obsession, and forgiveness.

Download an egalley now! SO GOOD!

– Annie

Well folks, it's about that time of year again.  The lights are up, the tree is decorated, the candles are lit, and you're just now realizing that you still have a lot of people who still need gifts.  Have no fear!  We've picked out a few excellent titles—all culled from various lists of the best books of 2014—that are sure to warm someone's heart this season.

Us by David Nicholls: Chosen as one of Library Journal's Top 10 of 2014, this new novel from the author of One Day follows one man as he attempts to save his marriage and salvage his relationship with his son during a trip across Europe.

The Bees by Laline Paull: Also chosen as a best book of 2014 by Library Journal, this brilliantly imagined debut is set in the world of bees, and follows one worker bee as she changes her society forever.

This is the Water by Yannick Murphy: Chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the best novels of 2014 in their Fiction category, this is a suspenseful story about a teenage swim team that is threatened one promising season by the dark undercurrents of their parents moral failings and a killer who swims in their midst. 

Savage Harvest by Carl Hoffman: Critically acclaimed journalist and author Carl Hoffman travels to the remote coast of New Guinea to uncover the mystery surrounding the disappearance of 23-year-old Michael C. Rockefeller in 1961, delving into the complex spiritual world of Asmat tribe, one that included head hunting and cannibalism—chosen by Kirkus as a best nonfiction book of 2014.

We wish you the best of luck on your gift hunting!  Be sure to check back here occasionally leading up to the big day for more fun gift ideas.

-Amanda

Marilyn Johnson is no stranger to the library world. Her charm, intelligence and humor made This Book is Overdue! a big success, and now she has used her talents to showcase the world of archaeologists. Lives in Ruins is a fantastic read (hint hint: I hear now is a good time for gift giving), and Marilyn has been kind enough to share some thoughts on how these two professions might not be as different as you think.

*****

Marilyn Johnson reports from the trenches:

“One question keeps popping up as I hit the road to speak about my new book, Lives in Ruins. How did I come to write about archaeologists? I am not an archaeologist, or even a scientifically-minded person. I enjoy looking at nature— through the window. I don’t like insects and rarely get my hands in the dirt. And yet, something about the profession fascinates me, and the people who practice it seem to me to be in the same general business as librarians and archivists and even obituary writers, the subjects of my other books — they are all engaged in the mostly uphill battle to preserve bits of our cultural memory. Yet when I proposed archaeologists as the subject of my next book, my publisher looked at me as if I’d gone bonkers. Who in her right mind thinks librarians and archaeologists are in the same business? 

…

The Difference Between Librarians and ArchaeologistsRead More »

Krassi Zourkova has a pretty interesting and impressive background. She grew up in Bulgaria and came to the US to study art history at Princeton. After college, she graduated from Harvard Law School and has practiced finance law in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

If that's not enough, she's a poet! Her poems have appeared in various literary journals, and her essay, Book Collecting in the Absence of Books, about compiling a personal library under Communist censorship, won first prize in essay contests at Princeton and Harvard.

Her debut novel, Wildalone, is full of myth, magic, romance, and mystery. Thea Salvin, a Princeton freshman, is drawn into a love triangle with two very mysterious brothers and discovers terrifying secrets about her family —think Twilight and A Discovery of Witches.

Library Journal gave it a starred review and says:

"Zourkova pulls off a balancing act that few debut authors manage: a clever, dark romance steeped in mystery, with a bittersweet thread of melancholy and keen sense of place. Fantasy and romance lovers, as well as those who liked Donna Tartt’s The Secret History or Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin should enjoy this."

In the above video, Krassi discusses her love of libraries and how important they were to her childhood in Bulgaria. Download an egalley here!

– Annie

Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

Warm up at the HarperCollins Adult Book Buzz!

Saturday, January 31, 2015
8:30-10am
McCormick Place Convention Center (West)
Room W190b

Refreshments will be served and seating is limited, so RSVP to librarylovefest@harpercollins.com today!

For a complete list of author signings, click here!
Visit Booth 4526 for galleys and giveaways!

Such a fan of this book! Orphan Number Eight is a stunning debut novel in the vein of Sarah Waters’ historical fiction, and a great choice for book clubs since it’s inspired by true events and has significant moral dilemmas. A lot of things to discuss!

1919. Rachel Rabinowitz is a smart, lively four-year-old living with her brother, Sam, and their parents in a crowded tenement on the Lower East Side of New York City. When tragedy strikes the family, Rachel is separated from her brother and sent to a Jewish orphanage where Dr. Mildred Solomon is conducting medical research using the children as her subjects.

Rachel is given x-ray treatments that leave her permanently disfigured, and suffers through years of harassment at the orphanage, relieved only by her deepening friendship with Naomi. At fifteen, she betrays her friend and runs away to Leadville, Colorado to find the brother she lost and discovers a family she never knew she had.

Fast forward to 1954, and Rachel is a nurse at Manhattan’s Old Hebrews Home. She thinks she has put her painful childhood behind her…until elderly Dr. Solomon becomes her patient, forcing her to confront the past.

This is a beautifully written novel about the unexpected choices we are compelled to make that can shape our destinies. Plus the imagery of NYC is lush! You can hear the ocean at Coney Island, feel the heat from walking city streets in Summer, and visualize each building from tenement to orphanage. So good!

Download an egalley now!

– Annie

Rescue at Los Baños, similar to Ghost Soldiers and Unbroken, is the incredible untold true story of one of the greatest military rescues of all time.

As the Pacific War was ending in 1945, 2,146 POWs held at the Los Baños prison camp in the Philippines knew that their chances of survival were slim if help did not arrive soon. General Douglas MacArthur authorized the 11th Airborne Division to embark on a dangerous mission that has gone down in history as “a textbook operation for all ages and all armies.”

Weaving together personal interviews, diaries, memoirs and archival research, Bruce Henderson, the author of Hero Found and The Sea Will Tell, tells the story of this incredibly brave group of POWs of all ages, male and female, and the young American and Filipino men who risked their lives to rescue them. 

– Annie

 Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon is a heart-wrenching but ultimately redemptive story of psychological suspense told from the point of view of the father of a boy who is unaccounted for after a school shooting, making it perfect for fans of Reconstructing Amelia and Defending Jacob, and great for book clubs.  Since the novel discusses such a timely topic, it is unsurprising that people can't stop talking about it, including our very own Virgina, who absolutely loved this book.

She recently shared an early galley with Jen Dayton, a librarian at Darien Library in Connecticut, who also couldn't wait to share her thoughts on this gripping tale so poignantly targeted to today's society.  Check it out!

 You can download an egalley from Edelweiss here.  Please feel free to let us know what you think!

-Amanda

Yesterday, we posted about Hazel Gaynor, author of A Memory of Violets, and her love for her local library.  Hazel recently shared with us an article from U.K. news source The Guardian about how the library patrons of the United Kingdom have banded together in attempts to save their local libraries, attempts that already met with great success when the city of Liverpool cancelled the closure of 11 out of its 18 public libraries following protests.  Now that Book Week Scotland has started this week, The Guardian will be sharing some of their favorite love letters to libraries, starting with selections from some of the greatest literary minds:

"I ransack public libraries, and find them full of sunk treasure.” —Virginia Woolf

"The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.” —TS Eliot

"With a library you are free, not confined by temporary political climates. It is the most democratic of institutions because no one – but no one at all – can tell you what to read and when and how.” —Doris Lessing

Even though we're way over here across the pond, anyone can still show your support for libraries and share your love and belief in their value as a cultural institution by writing to your local library or government about how much libraries mean to you.  Share the love, people!

-Amanda

Historical fiction fans, please take note: Hazel Gaynor has written another winner! Her first novel, The Girl Who Came Home was a New York Times bestseller and her latest book, A Memory of Violets is fantastic!

I am such a sucker for sister stories, and this one is touching. Tilly Harper, a young woman newly employed at Mr. Shaw's Home for Watercress and Flower Girls, finds the diary of an orphaned flower seller who was separated from her sister in Victorian England and begins a journey to learn the fate of the long lost sisters.

Hazel recently stopped by the office and was chatting about her local library in Ireland and how important it was to her, and we immediately asked her to write a bit about it, and send us pictures. So she did. Cause she's lovely!

***** 

I’m so excited to share with you my forthcoming novel A Memory of Violets, set around the lives of London’s flower sellers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The novel was inspired by my love of Pygmalion/My Fair Lady and from many years living in London and walking around the atmospheric cobbled streets of Covent Garden.

In my home town of Kilcullen, County Kildare, Ireland, we have a lovely little library that was built in 1925 as the local boy’s school. Julie O’Donoghue has been the librarian here for over thirty years, sharing her passion for books with the local community. My children, aged 7 and 9, love visiting the library and always come home with a huge pile of books. The house is wonderfully peaceful for the next hour! Julie does such a great job supporting local writers and helping me source research books for my novels. She also hosted a lovely launch party at the library for my debut novel The Girl Who Came Home.

I believe libraries are incredibly important and was so thrilled and excited to learn that Library Journal has selected me as one of their Ten Big Breakout Authors for 2015. What an honour! 

Finally, I thought you might enjoy this quote from English columnist and writer, Caitlin Moran:

‘A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life raft and a festival. They are cathedrals of the mind; hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination.’

Thank you for reading A Memory of Violets. I do hope you enjoy it.

*****

How sweet is that library?! And you can see Julie in the picture with Hazel, and of course I had to include Hazel's two boys (isn't that picture great?).

Please download an egalley now, or snag a copy when it goes on sale in February.

– Annie 

 Of Things Gone Astray, by debut author Janina Matthewson, tells a story of loss—but in a fantastical way you've never seen before.  It begins on a seemingly normal morning in London, when a group of people all lose something dear to them—something dear, but peculiar: the front of their house, their piano keys, their sense of direction, their place of work.  In the words of the author herself, "I was interested in how, in the short term we’re so easily upset, so easily knocked off course, and how quickly we can recalibrate afterwards. There’s a kind of dexterity to it, I think, how we step around things that fall in our path to simply carry on with our lives."  This novel has become a true in-house favorite, as well as garnering a lot of early praise from booksellers all across the country: 

"It was a great exploration of the process of dealing with loss, the different ways people take when change happens." —Colleen Schultz Joseph-Beth, Lexington KY

"This fantastical story will make you want to lose something  just to see what you might find." —Claire Roser, Maria’s Bookshop, Durango CO

"Sweet, melancholy, and a little bit magical…This book is full of wise moments, best to be savored, but scattered with a sharp sense of humor in the face of life's unexpected twists." —Sarah Berman, Concord Bookshop, Concord MA

Make sure you check out this magical fable by downloading an egalley from Edelweiss today.

-Amanda

Debut novel One Step Too Far tells the story of Emily Coleman, a young woman with a seemingly perfect life who one day just walks away from it all, leaving no trace and no explanation.  Throughout the novel, the reader gets tantalizing little hints as to what made Emily completely give up her old life, but let me tell you, you will not be able to guess her secret until the final reveal.  Originally published in the U.K., One Step Too Far's e-book edition hit #1 on Amazon.uk in April 2013, and all of us LibraryLoveFest gals have absolutely loved it.  And so, we are very excited to welcome to our humble site author Tina Seskis with a special message for librarians!

***

When I was nine or ten a new library was built in our village.  I remember to this day the thrill of entering for the very first time this super-new, super-modern building that smelled of paint and new (bright blue) carpet, and best of all had lines and lines of Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew books, and, as I discovered as I got older, Agatha Christie books, which I would fight over with my mum!  We used to go as a family every Thursday evening, and every week it felt like such a treat to get these books stamped to take home, all for me.  At the time we didn't have many books in our house, and I am convinced that my love of reading was borne out of my love of that library.

When I had my own son I started taking him to our local library in North London pretty much as soon as he could walk.  It is a very different experience, in that it is far from brand new, and there are banks of computers,  and rows of DVD's, and the odd homeless person reading the papers to stay warm, and the children's section has play equipment and bright rugs and even a slide, but the principle has remained the same.  I would let my son pick a huge load of books each week and we would take them home and it would feel like we'd won a competition, and we'd work our way through them every night before bed.  And when we moved temporarily to Manly, in Sydney, Australia, the first thing we did was join the library, and it was where we spent many an hour when it was raining, which, surprisingly for Australia, was fairly often.

So for me now knowing that my own books are available for loan in libraries throughout the world makes me very proud, and incredibly grateful for the principle of libraries—and I hope that they will continue to be funded and supported, so that children can continue to find life-long inspiration and a love of reading, entirely for free.  —Tina

***

Thank you for stopping by, Tina!  Make sure you grab an egalley today and check out One Step Too Far for yourself.

-Amanda

Exciting News!! We have just sent the fourth CD in our Beyond the Book series to print!

Michael Perry, New York Times bestselling author of Population: 485 and Visiting Tom, has written his first adult novel and it is great! It's the story of low-key Harley Jackson who discovers that one of his cows bears the image of Jesus Christ. When this "miracle" is revealed pilgrims, grifters, and the media descend upon his little Wisconsin town and disrupt life completely. The Jesus Cow is a comic yet sincere exploration of faith, a hilarious and improbable tale with a big heart and an explosive climax.

We will have CDs for distribution at Midwinter, but if you won't be there, don't worry! You can listen to Mike read, discuss and play his original music by visiting Soundcloud. He is so engaging and his songs are beautiful. Please go listen and let us know what you think.

– Annie

How is it holiday time again???? I don't even know, but we can't ignore them, so I'm here to provide you with a few suggestions for the Celebrity-lovers in your life! 

Lady Parts by Andrea Martin: Tony and Emmy award winning, library loving, delightful human, Andrea Martin has written a very funny, entertaining and moving memoir about motherhood, relationships and her very varied and full life in show business.

Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming: Alan Cumming, of The Good Wife and Cabaret fame, hasn’t written a typical rise to fame story. Instead this book is about how the complicated relationship with his father, as well as deeply hidden family secrets, made him who he is today. 

Yes Please by Amy Poehler: What is there to say? Amy Poehler, America’s sweetheart, comic genius, Leslie Knope, Weekend Update mastermind, has written a book. It’s funny and perfectly her voice and intelligent and a must read. Fun fact: the audio book version of this is particularly special!

I Must Say by Martin Short: Rounding out the heavy hitter list is Martin Short, Andrea Martin's BFFL and long time respected comedian who shares stories of his life and career. From his start in Canada’s Second City Comedy Troupe to hit movie and TV, Short is very candid and charming and includes stories with all of his famous friends.