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Here, There and Everywhere
It has been a power-packed last eight days!
Last Thursday night, I went to see Lisa See in Manasquan, NJ with my friends, Annmarie and Resa, at an event hosted by BookTowne. I had a chance to catch up with Lisa before the event, which celebrated the release of her new novel, DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN AND MOON, my latest Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. She was on a tour going to a city a day!
Lisa's talk that evening was informative as she walked us through both her research and her writing process. She loves meeting with book groups and has worked with a tea company to create a tea sampler that reflects the teas that the characters in the book would have enjoyed. It's available to buy here. I also loved meeting about a dozen of our readers who were in the audience. And yes, I had bookmarks on hand to share!
My husband knows Lisa as well, so on Friday night, we both went out to Doylestown, PA for an event organized by The Doylestown Bookshop. I have been to their events before, but this time it was held in a church, the largest venue that I have seen them use. Tom enjoyed the program. Lisa has created a “Step Inside” feature for each of her books, and they give readers more historical background on the events portrayed in her stories. If anyone can figure out how one of the characters came to have a little white poodle, Lisa is very curious about that.
On Monday evening, I did my 10th Summer Reading Preview Program at the Avalon Free Public Library, which is always fun. It was made all the more special by seeing Jen Gensemer, who first invited me to do this program for the Yacht Club of Stone Harbor, and Marilyn Simms. Together they run a book club at the Yacht Club. We met years ago at Book Expo, so this has been a very long friendship. We stayed with my good friend, Beverley Wilson. Our husbands love to play golf and talk cars together. And in a real first, Tom came to this program. This was the first time that he was at one of my events.
Back home, I did an interview with John Searles. His upcoming novel, SINGLE GIRLS (on sale July 7th), is such fun as it looks back on the early days of Cosmopolitan with Helen Gurley Brown and the young editors who joined her. It captures the uniqueness of the magazine. It will be a Bets On selection, and my interview with John will run in July.
Yesterday, I interviewed Jenny Jackson about THE SHAMPOO EFFECT, which releases on Tuesday and I think could very well be the beach-read novel of the summer. In it, Caroline has come to Greenhead for a writing fellowship. She enters into a relationship with one of the locals, Van, who has a very tight friend circle. She has enough to contend with being an outsider. Then layer in Bailey, one of the women in the group, who is pregnant with Van's baby and has no interest in getting married. But like the others, Bailey has little use for Caroline becoming a part of their circle. The book is so well done. It also will be a Bets On pick, and my interview with Jenny will run in July as well.
Bruce Holsinger joined us on Wednesday evening for this month’s “Bookaccino Live” Book Group event. We discussed his national bestseller, CULPABILITY, which was a Bets On selection when it released last July. This suspenseful family drama is about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.
Bruce offered many interesting tidbits about the origin of the book’s plot, title and cover art, and he described the moment when he found out that it was going to be an Oprah’s Book Club pick. Six readers joined the conversation on camera with questions about Bruce's storytelling and comments on how AI has quickly infused our lives. They also talked about how they related to the novel’s various characters. We closed out the program with Bruce sharing what’s next for him.
Click here to watch the event or here to listen to the podcast. This is our last “Bookaccino Live” Book Group program of the season as we will be taking July and August off. We will be back in September and will announce our author guest as soon as the details have been confirmed.
My latest “Bookreporter Talks To” interview is with Lori Foster. Her new novel, THE LAKE HOUSE, is the second installment in her Firefly Summer series, following last year’s THE GUEST COTTAGE (though it easily can be read as a stand-alone title).
The book is set in Bramble, Kentucky, and Bronwyn Miller says in her review that it “would be perfect to toss into your bag as you head to the beach or the lake, or as you’re relaxing in your yard when you need a sweet escape from the everyday.”
Lori talks about being a linear writer, allowing the story to bring her along. The role of her new character, Brogan Rafferty, as an inexperienced caregiver provides both emotional depth and comic relief, grounding the novel in relatable human experiences. Amusingly, Lori enlisted her loved ones during a Sunday gathering to help her do the math on the ages of her characters across these two books, which became a fun family activity.
Click here to watch the interview or here to listen to the podcast.
We hosted our “Bookaccino Live” Summer Preview event last Wednesday evening. I presented 46 books that are either out now or soon to be released this summer that we think you will enjoy reading. Included are fiction; historical fiction; thrillers and mysteries; and memoirs, biographies and other nonfiction. Click here to watch the presentation and here to see a list of the featured titles.
Don’t miss our Fall Preview evening program on Wednesday, September 16th!
Join Us for Our July “Bookaccino Live”
Book Preview Event on Wednesday, July 8th!
This is your last Weekly Update newsletter reminder to sign up for next month's “Bookaccino Live” book preview afternoon event, which will take place on Wednesday, July 8th at 2pm ET.
The focus will be on titles releasing between July 7th and August 4th, along with a few from September, that we think will appeal to you. Click here to sign up. Those who join us live will be asked to answer a survey about the books from the presentation that they are most interested in reading and will be eligible to win a prize.
Two women's lives converge in a house containing devastating secrets that refuse to stay buried in Lisa Jewell’s new domestic thriller, IT COULD HAVE BEEN HER, which Alice Feeney calls “deliciously dark” and “devilishly addictive.”
Here’s what Ray Palen says about the book in his review: “Just when you think Lisa Jewell will pull back and present a happy resolution, you are smacked in the face with another moment of unimaginable horror that represents the bleakest side of humanity. She now has produced consecutive novels that demonstrate the depths to which she will go in order to depict human depravity within the framework of a titillating mystery/thriller. I cannot wait for more.”
I am so looking forward to reading IT COULD HAVE BEEN HER, and I wish that I had caught an event with Lisa.
Jenny Jackson’s New York Times bestselling debut novel, PINEAPPLE STREET, was a “Good Morning America” Book Club pick and a Bets On selection. As I mentioned earlier, her second book, THE SHAMPOO EFFECT, is also a Bets On title --- and this time it's a “Read with Jenna” Book Club pick for July.
Norah Piehl has our review and says, “If you're heading out on vacation soon --- or even if you’re doing more of a staycation --- THE SHAMPOO EFFECT just begs to be part of your summer reading plans this year. It's not just that delightfully beachy cover (though that certainly helps set the mood). Jenny Jackson's second novel offers the perfect blend of substance and style, all served up with plenty of small-town scandal.”
Enter Our New Word of Mouth Contest
THE SHAMPOO EFFECT is one of our current Word of Mouth prize books; the other is the aforementioned SINGLE GIRLS by John Searles. Let us know by Friday, July 10th at noon ET what books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win both these titles.
Another upcoming Bets On title is WHEN YOU LOVED ME by Beatriz Williams. In this timeless story of love and atonement, a young widow returns to her late father’s New England estate, only to be drawn into the hunt for the rumored pirate treasure that consumed his life.
According to Pamela Kramer in her review, “There are surprising twists and beautiful turns. Williams excels in writing about non-traditional families, and Lucy's family fits that mold perfectly.” She goes on to say, “WHEN YOU LOVED ME has it all. There's plenty of action, romance and family drama, and readers are given a peek into the lives of the rich and famous. It's engaging, fascinating, moving and, above all, entertaining. This is Beatriz Williams at her best.”
I so agree with Pamela! Don’t miss my interview with Beatriz and my Bets On commentary in July.
Other books we’re reviewing this week include:
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THE MISSED CONNECTION: Tia Williams, the New York Times bestselling author of SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE, is back with an intensely romantic novel about a woman who searches for her handsome seatmate on a European flight --- and the unexpected places that her hunt for love leads her.
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THE FRENZY: In her latest short story collection, the legendary Joyce Carol Oates plunges readers into the lives of her characters at moments of crisis and confusion, when much of what they understand about themselves and those they love comes undone.
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NINE LIVES: When she begins to peer into the lives of her glamorous neighbors, one woman discovers a terrifying secret in this riveting psychological thriller with nine lives worth of twists from Catherine Steadman, who wrote the Reese’s Book Club pick SOMETHING IN THE WATER.
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THE ORIGINAL: Priya Parmar’s new novel revolves around the tumultuous life of screen icon Katharine Hepburn, a star whose fierce independence, passionate spirit and fluid sexuality shattered Hollywood’s rules and redefined what it meant to be a woman in film.
Summer Reading Contest Update
We gave away MIDNIGHT PATRIOTS: An Einstein-Chaplin Thriller by Paul Levine in this week’s Summer Reading contest. Our next two prizes will be MOST ARDENTLY YOURS by Freya Sampson and TEACH THE TORCHES TO BURN by Christina Dodd. These contests will be up at noon ET on Tuesday, July 7th and Wednesday, July 8th.
Vote in Our New Poll --- and Check Out Results from the Last Poll
When you go on vacation, what do you do about books? Do you bring them with you, purchase them along the way, or do you not read books on vacation? Be sure to let us know what you do by answering our latest poll by Friday, July 10th at noon ET.
In our previous poll, we asked you which of 35 fiction titles that are being published this month you are looking forward to reading. Below are your top five picks, and you can see all the results here.
News & Pop Culture
Reader Mail:
Our bookmarks are reaching readers.
Bobbie wrote, “Thank you for the bookmarks. I will deliver them to my book club at the next meeting. It was very nice of you to send them and so very fast too.”
Deanna wrote, “Thank you so much for the bookmarks! They look great, and I can't wait to share them with my group.”
Amy wrote, “I want to thank you for the stack of bookmarks. I run three book groups at Baker Free Library here in Bow, NH. I handed the bookmarks out this month to some excited readers. Look for an increase in readership from New Hampshire!”
We have more bookmarks to mail. I am hoping to have time next week to do that.
This note really made me smile. Janet wrote, “My sister, Francine, and I were so happy to meet you at the Lisa See event at BookTowne. We are big fans of Bookreporter.com, and we absolutely love your interviews. We want your readers to know that you are just as nice in person as you are online! Thanks for the bunch of bookmarks. They have already found good homes with book lovers.” Yes, I carry bookmarks with me everywhere. And if I am with Annmarie, she reminds me to hand them out!
Abby wrote about being a winner in a recent Word of Mouth contest: “It’s Christmas in June here in Morristown, New Jersey. A true pair of aces! Thank you to Bookreporter for having these books sent to me. I have finished A PAIR OF ACES as it arrived first. I can’t wait to get into WHISTLER. I love all you do for us with books and authors. I look forward to your newsletters every week. Happy Reading!”
“I Will Find You” on Netflix: This series is an adaptation of Harlan Coben's thriller of the same name. Tom and I are enjoying it. The action is really sharp like it is in the book.
“America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders” on Netflix: Yep, I watched season three of this series about the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Their routine is called Thunderstruck, and it's insane. It's interesting to see how the women on the squad are navigating social media and sponsorships.
Here is a terrific article from the Wall Street Journal about the success of Allen Levi's THEO OF GOLDEN.
Here is nice news from the woman who founded Novel Travels: “It has been a little while, and I wanted to reach out with some news I am proud of. Novel Travels was just featured in the New York Times, and the timing could not have been better. My third New York tour with Fiona Davis just sold out, which still feels a little surreal given that the whole company started with a cold message to her years ago.”
Paul Simon: The Quiet Celebration Concert is now streaming on Hulu. The nearly two-hour film captures Paul Simon's live comeback following his hearing loss. It features the first-ever live performance of his acclaimed album, Seven Psalms, along with beautifully reimagined versions of classic hits. Greg and I caught the last tour and once again will be seeing him on July 8th. We have decided that we will go to all of his “last concerts.” I still wish there was a film of the tour that he did in 2018. While it was not the last tour, it was a brilliant one, and I know footage of it exists.
Kicking off on Netflix today is a documentary about Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, Chris & Martina: The Final Set, where they “discuss the unseen side of their rollercoaster relationship, headline-making doubles competitions, and how cancer diagnoses strengthened their bond." Sadly, Chris Evert announced yesterday that her ovarian cancer has returned.
Mercury goes retrograde from June 29th to July 23rd. We have had a number of things go awry around the house here, and I keep telling my husband that we are on an accelerated version of this astral phenomenon. In one day, my laptop went blue screen (still under warranty), the water heater broke, and the transmission died in one of Tom's cars. And those are just a few of the crazy things that we were juggling. Just getting data off my laptop has been a big deal. Maybe Mercury retrograde will end early for us!
As July 4th is falling on a Saturday, and the holiday weekend includes Friday, we will not be doing an update next week. We are going to try to snag a couple of days for R&R, which for us is Reading and Relaxation. So our next update will be on Friday, July 10th. Have a firecracker 4th, and enjoy any 250th anniversary remembrances that you will attend.
Read on, and have a great TWO weeks.
Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)
P.S. For those of you who shop online, if you use the store links that appear on our site for shopping, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop/IndieBound. As you read our reviews and features, we would appreciate your considering this as you buy!
Featured Review:
IT COULD HAVE BEEN HER by Lisa Jewell
IT COULD HAVE BEEN HER by Lisa Jewell (Domestic Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by a full cast
Jane Trevally is walking her dogs on her country estate when a small white terrier appears, alone and with no sign of the teenage girl he’d been staying with nearby. When the teenager is reported missing, Jane offers to return the dog to his registered owner, hours away in London. Arriving at a run-down house called Thornwood in the deepest backwaters of Hampstead, she is immediately on alert --- because Jane has a dark history with this house. The man who answers the door is not the man Jane remembers from her past. Then, through the window of the house, Jane catches a glimpse of a haunted-looking woman. Conjuring her memories from 25 years ago, Jane knows this unsettling house holds the key --- to the missing teenager, to her own traumatic story, and to the dark secrets of the past. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
Click here to read our review.
Featured Review:
THE SHAMPOO EFFECT by Jenny Jackson
July’s “Read with Jenna” Book Club Pick
and an Upcoming Bookreporter.com Bets On Title
THE SHAMPOO EFFECT by Jenny Jackson (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Marin Ireland
When Caroline Lash arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she falls head-over-heels for Van Whittaker. Born and raised in this picturesque coastal village, Van runs with the same crowd he did as a kid: his ex-girlfriend, Bailey; Augusta, who is old money, horsey and snobbish; and Fran, who is too fed up with boys to ever consider marrying one. Together, the group runs wild through the marshes, beaches and bars of Greenhead, drinking on houseboats and spending long afternoons sunbathing with their children. But when Bailey discovers that she is pregnant with Van’s baby, the delicate balance of the group’s friendship is thrown off. Soon Caroline is cast out of the circle. What she does next exposes long-held secrets and works the entire town of Greenhead into a lather. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to see why the book is July's “Read with Jenna” Book Club pick.
Click here to read our review.
THE SHAMPOO EFFECT will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick.
Don't miss Carol's interview with Jenny Jackson
and her Bets On commentary in July.
Featured Review:
WHEN YOU LOVED ME by Beatriz Williams
An Upcoming Bookreporter.com Bets On Title
WHEN YOU LOVED ME by Beatriz Williams (Historical Romance/Mystery)
Audiobook available; read by Sarah Mollo-Christensen, Kate Walsh and Christian Leatherman
When young widow Lucy Cooper returns to her family’s crumbling Winthrop Island estate, she’s forced to confront both her estranged father’s mysterious death and the man she’s never truly forgotten. Thirteen summers ago, Lucy fell hard for Ben Ressler, a golden-boy athlete whose presence shattered her closest friendship and changed her life forever. Now Ben is back, his own career derailed by tragedy. As Lucy investigates her father’s obsession with a rumored pirate treasure, long-buried secrets and emotions resurface. WHEN YOU LOVED ME is a sweeping, emotionally charged story of first love, forgiveness, and the risk of opening your heart to a second chance. Reviewed by Pamela Kramer.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here for the discussion guide on ReadingGroupGuides.com.
Click here to read our review.
WHEN YOU LOVED ME will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick.
Don't miss Carol's interview with Beatriz Williams
and her Bets On commentary in July.
Bookreporter.com Bets On:
DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN AND MOON by Lisa See
DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN AND MOON by Lisa See (Historical Fiction)
Lisa See is well known and respected for her fiction that includes a little-known story of historical significance, as well as one of female friendship. DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN AND MOON brilliantly does just that.
The novel is set in Los Angeles when it was a dusty pueblo town in 1855. The idea for the book came to Lisa over 30 years ago as she was doing research for her nonfiction work, ON GOLD MOUNTAIN. She saw details about the Night of Horrors, which occurred on October 24, 1871. An angry mob of roughly 500 white and Latino people attacked the city's Chinese quarter, murdering 19 Chinese men and boys.
The story stayed with Lisa, and around it she constructed a narrative based on four women who were known to have lived during that time, making one into a composite character.
- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read our review.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here for the discussion guide on ReadingGroupGuides.com.
- Click here to watch our “Bookreporter Talks To” interview with Lisa See.
- Click here to listen to a podcast of the interview.
- Click here to visit Lisa See's website.
- Click here for Lisa See's “Step Inside” feature, where you will find photographs, videos, and so much more to explore about the book.
- Click here for Lisa See's book tour schedule.
Click here to read more of Carol's Bets On commentary.
Featured Review:
THE MISSED CONNECTION by Tia Williams
THE MISSED CONNECTION by Tia Williams (Romance)
Audiobook available, read by Khaya Fraites
As a booked-and-busy casting agent, Sasha Cruz is always casting. She’s all about finding the perfect person to slot into the perfect role. What she doesn't do, however, is relationships. On a flight to Paris for work, a chance encounter with her type changes everything. Sasha is seated next to a broodingly attractive mystery man, and sparks fly --- but they never exchange contact information. Convinced she’s lost out on her soulmate, Sasha emails her work friend for help but accidentally writes to the entire company worldwide. The international manhunt to find Seat F begins. Meanwhile, Sasha takes matters into her own hands. She hires a smoldering detective she knew in another lifetime --- who complicates matters in unforeseen (and irresistible) ways. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.
- Click here to read more about the book.
Click here to read our review.
Featured Review: THE FRENZY by Joyce Carol Oates
THE FRENZY: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates (Psychological Suspense/Short Stories)
Audiobook available, read by a full cast
In THE FRENZY, Joyce Carol Oates plunges us into the lives of her characters at moments of crisis and confusion, when much of what they understand about themselves and those they love comes undone. A young woman on a supposedly romantic weekend trip to Cape May, New Jersey, turns the tables on her older, married lover. A freak bicycle accident on a bridge haunts one family for decades. A girl jealous of her popular cousin discovers she is the lucky one. A widow waits at her riverside house for her dead husband's return. A young man hiking in the woods comes upon a couple in a heated, possibly violent argument. Should he intervene? Reviewed by Ray Palen.
- Click here to read more about the book.
Click here to read our review.
Featured Review: NINE LIVES by Catherine Steadman
NINE LIVES by Catherine Steadman (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Catherine Steadman
Reeling from a very recent divorce, Frankie has moved into a glamorous London neighborhood. This is a new chapter in her life. She’s decided to put down roots with her beautiful Persian cat, Blue. But little doubts about her perfect new life start to grow, and when Blue returns one night from slipping into places he shouldn’t, Frankie’s concerns solidify. Two words are roughly scratched into his collar: help me. Unsettled and unwilling to ignore the incident, Frankie roots out an old unused “cat cam” collar. What slowly begins as a voyeuristic fascination with her neighbors and the secrets they’re hiding soon turns into a perilous quest for the truth that threatens to bring untold terrors to her doorstep. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
- Click here to read more about the book.
Click here to read our review.
Featured Review: THE ORIGINAL by Priya Parmar
THE ORIGINAL by Priya Parmar (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Cassandra Campbell
When a young Katharine Hepburn loses her beloved brother, she makes two decisions: she will become famous, and she will never let anyone hurt her again. Leaving home at 21 to pursue an acting career, Kate is lured to Hollywood, accompanied by her lover, Laura. Los Angeles in the early 1930s is a town full of secrets, and Kate has plenty to hide. Soon she is scooped into the studio system and launched as a star. But stars must play by the rules, and Kate --- brilliant, bisexual and strong-willed --- refuses to conform. Surrounded by a legendary circle of intimates, Kate navigates a web of sex, ambition and betrayal. As her career ascends, she faces an agonizing choice: be the star everyone wants her to be, or risk everything to become the woman she always was. Reviewed by Pauline Finch.
- Click here to read more about the book.
Click here to read our review.
Bookreporter.com's 22nd Annual
Summer Reading Contests and Feature
Summer is here! At Bookreporter.com, this means it's time for us to share some great summer book picks with our Summer Reading Contests and Feature.
We are hosting a series of 24-hour contests for these titles on select days through mid-August, so you will have to check the site each day to see the featured prize book and enter to win.
We also are sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here.
Our next two contests will be up at noon ET on Tuesday, July 7th and Wednesday, July 8th. The prize books will be MOST ARDENTLY YOURS by Freya Sampson and TEACH THE TORCHES TO BURN by Christina Dodd.
This year's featured titles are:
Click here to read all the contest details
and learn more about our featured titles.
What’s New This Month on ReadingGroupGuides.com
We currently are featuring the following guides on ReadingGroupGuides.com:
Please note that these titles, for which we already had the guides when they appeared in hardcover, are now available in paperback:
Click here to visit ReadingGroupGuides.com.
RASPUTIN SWIMS THE POTOMAC by Ben Fountain (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Ron Butler
Reporter Clarence Thomas Jr. is looking for a great story, former country music teen star Faith Spack has parlayed her fame into a job at the White House, and the two-term incumbent president is campaigning for a constitutionally dubious third term. After an outbreak at a campaign rally, a mysterious new pandemic of “weeping sickness” sweeps the nation. Desperate to retain power, the president enlists the mystical pro wrestler Rasputin to help ensure his reelection and guarantee additional seasons of his presidential reality TV show, “The Real West Wing.” But as Rasputin’s appeal threatens to exceed the president’s, and the wrestler’s supposedly supernatural powers start to seem like the real thing, the campaign finds itself trapped in a spandex-clad destiny no number of executive orders can control. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.
THE TYPING LADY: And Other Fictions by Ruth Ozeki (Fiction/Short Stories)
Audiobook available; read by Jeff Ebner, George Newbern and Akie Kotabe
In this spirited and emotionally resonant collection, award-winning novelist Ruth Ozeki turns her singular gaze to the short story, exploring childhood ambition, youthful desire, midlife reinvention, and the unsparing clarity of old age. A college student falls for her professor and learns to transmute longing into language. A disquieted husband watches with tenderness and unease as the ghost of his wife’s ambition roams the woods outside their home. A long-deceased Beat poet hijacks the mind of a young publishing assistant during a sales meeting, railing against the state of modern literature. A curious grandmother creates a fake online dating profile to spy on her granddaughter’s romantic life --- and sets in motion a deception she can’t control. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.
THE HOUSEWIVES UNDERGROUND: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the JFK Assassination Our Most Enduring Mystery by Kaitlyn Tiffany (History)
Audiobook available, read by Kirsten Potter
In the winter of 1967, the official account of the Kennedy assassination was beginning to unravel. A scattered group of Americans had pointed to major problems with the report prepared by President Johnson’s handpicked Warren Commission. Many of the most serious criticisms of the government’s work came from a source that surprised some: women who, within the community of critics, outnumbered the men two to one. Politicians and reporters dismissed these women, referring to them as “scavengers” and suggesting they were eccentrics with murder-mystery fixations or crushes on the deceased President Kennedy. But Kaitlyn Tiffany resurrects the story of Maggie Field, Shirley Martin and Sylvia Meagher, whose collaboration and friendship reshaped both their own lives and our national memory. Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro.
THE AU PAIR by Teddy Wayne (Domestic Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Eric A. Altheide
Steven Hammer was once a literary star. Now, his career is floundering, his marriage to a high-powered woman is crumbling, and the only bright spot in his life is Astrid, the Norwegian au pair who cares for their children --- and reveres his neglected novels. But what begins as a secret infatuation soon spirals into a scandal that makes them both infamous. As a headline-grabbing trial captivates the world with a salacious story of sex, power and betrayal, Steven must confront the wreckage he’s created --- and the deeper insecurities that fueled it. Is Astrid an innocent young woman caught up in a case beyond her control, or a calculating femme fatale? And how far will he go, driven by desperation and obsession, for her professed love? Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
MEET ME AT THE SEASIDE COTTAGES by Jenny Colgan (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Eilidh Beaton
Janey Carter has a lot to be grateful for, including a home by the sea in the Scottish isles. But since her husband left, her confidence has taken a nosedive. And then, out of the blue, her 30-year-old daughter, Essie, announces she’s moving back home. Essie has just lost her job, she can’t afford her rent in Edinburgh, and her boyfriend isn’t ready to commit. No sooner is Essie back under her mother’s roof than an unusual opportunity pops up: the shabby and unloved Seaside Cottages next door come up for sale. Janey has some experience renovating the island’s famous stone fisherman’s cottages, and Essie needs something to do. Mother and daughter slowly bond over the shared challenge, which delivers some much-needed revelations for Essie and offers Janey a surprise second chance at love as well. Reviewed by Pamela Kramer.
THREE HITMEN AND A BABY: An Assassins Anonymous Novel by Rob Hart (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Amy Landon and Neill Thorne
Valencia receives troubling news that her brother has gone missing. Her fellow Assassins Anonymous members --- Mark, Astrid and Booker --- offer to watch her baby girl, Lucia, while she's gone. Shortly after Valencia leaves, Mark is summoned to the lair of Zmeya, a Russian mob boss calling in a deadly favor. She wants him to kill Astrid. Mark refuses, but Zmeya reveals that she knows the identity of Mark’s ex-girlfriend…and his son. Either Astrid goes, or they do. Meanwhile, Lucia spikes a dangerously high fever, and when Booker and Astrid take her to urgent care, they realize too late that their fabricated identities are a real liability. Suddenly the splintered group is on the run from both the Russian mob and the police as they try to find refuge in a city full of surveillance cameras --- all without killing anyone. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
SOCIAL ANIMALS by Camille Perri (Fiction/Humor)
Audiobook available, read by Ellen Adair and Mark Bramhall
Val Caruso, Alex Reed and June Kennerson come from completely different worlds. Val is a tough-talking private investigator; Alex is reticent, nervous and on the run from her past; and June is an athlete turned housewife whose true love is her pup. When Val is hired by June’s husband to find out if June is cheating on him, it sets these three women on a collision course. Amid a colorful cast of characters who spend time at the shabby but beloved Hamilton Dog Park, they find they have more in common than they thought. But when their secrets catch up with them, will their newfound friendships be able to withstand the pressure? Or will they find themselves in the doghouse? Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.
GOOD COMPANY by Kate Christensen (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Teri Schnaubelt
Ever since her father broke her heart when she was nine, Julia Heimdahl has tried to be good company for bad men: a jovial drinking companion, an easygoing, witty non-complainer, one of the boys. Now a literary novelist in late middle age and late mid-career, she is at a moment of crisis, although she doesn’t know it yet. GOOD COMPANY takes place over the course of a weekend-long book festival at Baldwin College, which happens to be Julia’s alma mater, where she has come to promote her recently published memoir. She’s been placed on a panel with a fellow memoirist named Ellis Blackwell, a man so outrageously flirtatious and fawningly flattering that Julia is almost too disarmed to recognize how dangerous he is. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
BUZZ BUSBY: Father of Washington, DC, Bluegrass by Kip Lornell and Tom Mindte (Biography)
Buzz Busby’s move to Washington, DC, in 1951 helped launch bluegrass in the nation’s capital while the intensity of his mandolin playing drew raves for its unrelenting pace and innovative style. Kip Lornell and Tom Mindte draw on interviews and some 50 hours of Busby speaking about his life to tell the story of a largely forgotten bluegrass virtuoso. Busby and his band, the Bayou Boys, stood front and center on a mid-1950s DC-area TV show that, though short-lived, catalyzed the formation of the city’s bluegrass community. Time with the Louisiana Hayride and classic, if little-heard, bluegrass sides like “Lonesome Wind” seemed to promise a bright future. But a devastating car wreck and a host of legal and personal troubles triggered a long decline into drug and alcohol abuse that undermined Busby’s career. Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott.
Noteworthy Books Releasing on
June 30th, July 1st and July 7th
Below are some notable titles releasing on June 30th, July 1st and July 7th that we would like to make you aware of. We will have more on many of these books in the weeks to come. For a list of additional hardcovers and paperbacks available the week of June 29th, see our “On Sale This Week” newsletter here. You will find a list of additional hardcovers and paperbacks available the week of July 6th in the June 30th “On Sale This Week” newsletter.
June 30th
THE AU PAIR by Teddy Wayne (Domestic Thriller)
Award-winning author Teddy Wayne follows his breakout sensation, THE WINNER, with another seductively twisty page-turner about the explosive impact of a beautiful Norwegian au pair on a celebrated novelist and his wife.
DEAD BUT DREAMING OF ELECTRIC SHEEP by Paul Tremblay (Psychological Thriller/Dystopian Horror)
Philip K. Dick meets the Coen Brothers in this genre-bending near-future tech nightmare that is as bitingly funny as it is horrifically believable from the New York Times bestselling author of HORROR MOVIE.
THE SHAMPOO EFFECT by Jenny Jackson (Fiction)
An ambitious young woman insinuates herself into a tight-knit social set, shaking up friendships and marriages in a small seaside town.
TEACH THE TORCHES TO BURN by Christina Dodd (Historical Mystery)
“My Lady Jane” meets Knives Out in Fair Verona, as New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd brings you the wedding of the season star-crossed with poison most discreet.
July 1st
THE DELIVERY by Gregg Hurwitz (Psychological Thriller)
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Orphan X series comes a tense novella, a psychological thriller about an AI companion that will do anything to serve --- with terrifying consequences.
July 7th
DEAD MEN DON'T PLAY FETCH: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
Bestselling author David Rosenfelt returns with DEAD MEN DON'T PLAY FETCH as Andy Carpenter investigates a wealthy dog lover's unusual death.
EVERYTHING WAS BEAUTIFUL AND NOTHING HURT by Ben Reeves (Fiction)
For fans of Fredrik Backman and Virginia Evans comes an unforgettable and exquisitely moving novel about finding beauty, hope and meaning in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death.
HELPLESS by Jessica Knoll (Psychological Thriller)
From the New York Times bestselling author of LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE and BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN comes a smoldering erotic thriller with a singular, mind-bending ending.
AN INFINITE LOVE STORY by Chanel Cleeton (Historical Romance)
When an astronaut is lost in space, his wife relives their epic love as she attempts to unravel what truly happened to him in this sweeping love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s Space Race.
LOVE YOU MORE by Emily Giffin (Fiction)
A woman is newly engaged to a man she adores when she receives a call from her first love with news that shatters her carefully ordered world in this emotionally powerful novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE SUMMER PACT.
MAN OVERBOARD! by Kathleen Rooney (Fiction/Dark Humor)
From the nationally bestselling author of LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK comes a funny and moving novel in which a former college swimmer falls off a cruise ship and must keep treading water as memories and regrets wash over him.
SINGLE GIRLS by John Searles (Historical Fiction)
SINGLE GIRLS is an infectious and utterly charming fictionalization of the iconic Helen Gurley Brown’s early years at the helm of Cosmopolitan and the intrepid group of women she took under her wing to create one of the most talked-about magazines of all time.
Click here to see the latest “On Sale This Week” newsletter.
From left to right: Ann Patchett, John Searles, Jessica Knoll
Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events
Here are eight upcoming virtual book and author events that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links for more info and to register.
Every Monday night through July 13th at 7:30pm ET: “Lisa Live”: Join Lisa Scottoline on Facebook as she reveals her inspirations behind her upcoming thriller, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. And then, on July 13th, join “Lisa Live” for her Virtual Publication Celebration.
And be sure to join in the Preorder Sweepstakes for THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING, where you have a chance to win prizes such as a Louis Vuitton coin purse and the grand prize of an Apple iPad. Lisa will be giving away an exciting prize each week during “Lisa Live.” That’s one prize each week leading into the book’s publication on July 14th!
Wednesday, July 1st at 4pm ET: Book Passage: Join Book Passage for a lively conversation between #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Patchett and Elaine Petrocelli as they discuss Patchett’s new book, WHISTLER. This moving and luminous novel explores the sweetness and impermanence of life, as well as the power of connection to defy time.
Tuesday, July 7th at 9pm ET: Killer Author Club: Kimberly Belle, Heather Gudenkauf and Kaira Rouda will talk to Dervla McTiernan about her new thriller, THREE REASONS FOR REVENGE. This gripping high-stakes novel of suspense is about three seemingly unconnected people, caught in a lethal web of deceit and unhealed wounds.
Wednesday, July 8th at 2pm ET: “Bookaccino Live” Book Preview Afternoon Event: Carol Fitzgerald will present titles releasing between July 7th and August 4th, along with a few from September, that we would like to get on your radar. Included will be fiction; historical fiction; thrillers and mysteries; and memoirs, biographies and other nonfiction.
Wednesday, July 8th at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with John Searles about his new novel, SINGLE GIRLS, an infectious and utterly charming fictionalization of the iconic Helen Gurley Brown’s early years at the helm of Cosmopolitan.
Wednesday, July 8th at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray will talk about their new novel, A PAIR OF ACES, in which two trailblazing women on opposite sides of the law --- a prosecutor and a madam --- team up to bring down notorious Mob boss Lucky Luciano in 1930s New York.
Wednesday, July 8th at 9:15pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: David Ellis will talk to special guest host Alex Finlay about his latest book, KEEP THEM CLOSE, a new domestic thriller about betrayal and murder inside one twisted family.
Thursday, July 9th at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Jessica Knoll will talk to special guest host Julie Clark about her new novel, HELPLESS, a smoldering erotic thriller with a singular, mind-bending ending.
"Bookreporter Talks To" Videos & Podcasts
“Bookreporter Talks To” is a video and podcast series that delivers long-form, in-depth author interviews. For years, Carol has moderated book festivals and author events around the country. But we know that readers often do not live where they can attend an author event. Our goal is to bring these author interviews to readers, wherever they may be. Watch on video, or listen as a podcast. (The podcasts include audio excerpts.)
Here is our latest interview:
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Lori Foster (THE LAKE HOUSE: A Firefly Summer Novel) Video | Podcast
Other authors we've interviewed recently include:
Upcoming interviews include:
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Rachel Beanland (THE HALF LIFE)
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Jenny Jackson (THE SHAMPOO EFFECT)
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John Searles (SINGLE GIRLS)
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Beatriz Williams (WHEN YOU LOVED ME)
Click here for a complete list of our
"Bookreporter Talks To" videos and podcasts.
Our Latest Poll: Taking Books on Vacation
When you go on vacation, what do you do about books? Please check all that apply.
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I bring physical books (hardcovers or paperbacks) that I have bought.
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I bring physical books from the library.
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I bring e-books that I have bought and downloaded.
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I bring e-books that I have downloaded from the library.
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I bring physical audiobooks that I have bought.
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I bring physical audiobooks from the library.
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I bring audiobooks that I have bought and downloaded.
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I bring audiobooks that I have downloaded from the library.
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I buy physical books while I am on vacation.
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I buy physical audiobooks while I am on vacation.
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I buy and download e-books while I am on vacation.
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I download e-books from the library while I am on vacation.
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I buy and download audiobooks while I am on vacation.
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I download audiobooks from the library while I am on vacation.
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I do not read or listen to books when I go on vacation.
Click here to vote in the poll by Friday, July 10th at noon ET.
Word of Mouth Contest: Tell Us What
You've Read --- and You Can Win Two Books!
Tell us about the books you’ve read with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from June 26th to July 10th at noon ET, three lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of THE SHAMPOO EFFECT by Jenny Jackson and SINGLE GIRLS by John Searles.
To make sure other readers will be able to find the books you write about, please include the full title and correct author names (your entry must include these to be eligible to win). For rules and guidelines, click here.
- To see reader comments from previous contest periods, click here.
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