Editorial Content for The Pairing
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Reviewer (text)
Longtime best friends and more recent lovers Theodora (Theo) and Kit have a massive falling-out just as they’re supposed to be embarking on a food lovers tour of Europe. Four years later, the two --- who were once inseparable --- haven’t spoken in years. Read More
Teaser
After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, Theo and Kit exited each other's lives once and for all. Theo has found confidence as a hustling bartender by night and aspiring sommelier by day, with a long roster of casual lovers. Kit, who never returned to America, graduated as the reigning sex god of his pastry school class and now bakes at one of the finest restaurants in Paris. All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Separately. It's not until they board the tour bus that they discover they've both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they're trapped with each other for three weeks.
Promo
After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, Theo and Kit exited each other's lives once and for all. Theo has found confidence as a hustling bartender by night and aspiring sommelier by day, with a long roster of casual lovers. Kit, who never returned to America, graduated as the reigning sex god of his pastry school class and now bakes at one of the finest restaurants in Paris. All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Separately. It's not until they board the tour bus that they discover they've both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they're trapped with each other for three weeks.
About the Book
In #1 New York Times bestselling author Casey McQuiston's latest romantic comedy, two bisexual exes accidentally book the same European food and wine tour and challenge each other to a hookup competition to prove they're over each other --- except they're definitely not.
Theo and Kit have been a lot of things: childhood best friends, crushes, in love, and now estranged exes. After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, they exited each other's lives once and for all.
Time apart has done them good. Theo has found confidence as a hustling bartender by night and aspiring sommelier by day, with a long roster of casual lovers. Kit, who never returned to America, graduated as the reigning sex god of his pastry school class and now bakes at one of the finest restaurants in Paris. Sure, nothing really compares to what they had, and life stretches out long and lonely ahead of them, but --- yeah. It's in the past.
All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Solo. Separately.
It's not until they board the tour bus that they discover they've both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they're trapped with each other for three weeks of stunning views, luscious flavors, and the most romantic cities of France, Spain and Italy. It's fine. There's nothing left between them. So much nothing that, when Theo suggests a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot Italian tour guide first, Kit is totally game. And why stop there? Why not a full-on European hookup competition?
But sometimes a taste of everything only makes you crave what you can't have.
Audiobook available, read by Emma Galvin and Max Meyers
Editorial Content for There Are Rivers in the Sky
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Reviewer (text)
Elif Shafak is a bestselling author, a renowned women’s rights activist, a columnist and a political commentator. Her previous novel, THE ISLAND OF MISSING TREES, was a Reese’s Book Club pick, and she has been a finalist for the highly respected Booker Prize. But each of her works treads new ground; she is a truly distinguished yeoman of modern literature. Read More
Teaser
In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia --- erudite but ruthless --- built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives. THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop that remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and a harbinger of death, rivers --- the Tigris and the Thames --- transcend history, transcend fate: “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.”
Promo
In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia --- erudite but ruthless --- built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives. THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop that remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and a harbinger of death, rivers --- the Tigris and the Thames --- transcend history, transcend fate: “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.”
About the Book
From the Booker Prize finalist author of THE ISLAND OF MISSING TREES, an enchanting new tale about three characters living along two rivers, all under the shadow of one of the greatest epic poems of all time. "Make place for Elif Shafak on your bookshelf... you won't regret it." (Arundhati Roy)
In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia --- erudite but ruthless --- built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.
In 1840 London, Arthur is born beside the stinking, sewage-filled River Thames. With an abusive, alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Arthur’s only chance of escaping destitution is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a leading publisher, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums and one book in particular catches his interest: Nineveh and Its Remains.
In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a 10-year-old Yazidi girl, is diagnosed with a rare disorder that will soon cause her to go deaf. Before that happens, her grandmother is determined to baptize her in a sacred Iraqi temple. But with the rising presence of ISIS and the destruction of the family’s ancestral lands along the Tigris, Narin is running out of time.
In 2018 London, the newly divorced Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband. Orphaned and raised by her wealthy uncle, Zaleekah had made the decision to take her own life in one month, until a curious book about her homeland changes everything.
A dazzling feat of storytelling, THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop that remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and a harbinger of death, rivers --- the Tigris and the Thames --- transcend history, transcend fate: “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.”
Audiobook available, read by Olivia Vinall
Editorial Content for Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation
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Reviewer (text)
In July 2023, I was able to remove an item from my life bucket list. Traveling through the South after attending a wedding and a stop in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I made a short side trip to Dayton, where the trial of John Scopes took place in 1925. History has named it “The Scopes Monkey Trial,” but the actual charge was teaching evolution in a public school, which was in violation of the Butler Act, a law passed by the Tennessee legislature. Read More
Teaser
“No subject possesses the minds of men like religious bigotry and hate, and these fires are being lighted today in America.” So said legendary attorney Clarence Darrow as hundreds of people descended on the sleepy town of Dayton, Tennessee, for the trial of a schoolteacher named John T. Scopes, who was charged with breaking the law by teaching evolution to his biology class in a public school. In KEEPING THE FAITH, Brenda Wineapple explores how and why the Scopes trial quickly seemed a circus-like media sensation, drawing massive crowds and worldwide attention. She takes us into the early years of the 20th century --- years of racism, intolerance and world war --- to illuminate, through this pivotal legal showdown, a seismic period in American history.
Promo
“No subject possesses the minds of men like religious bigotry and hate, and these fires are being lighted today in America.” So said legendary attorney Clarence Darrow as hundreds of people descended on the sleepy town of Dayton, Tennessee, for the trial of a schoolteacher named John T. Scopes, who was charged with breaking the law by teaching evolution to his biology class in a public school. In KEEPING THE FAITH, Brenda Wineapple explores how and why the Scopes trial quickly seemed a circus-like media sensation, drawing massive crowds and worldwide attention. She takes us into the early years of the 20th century --- years of racism, intolerance and world war --- to illuminate, through this pivotal legal showdown, a seismic period in American history.
About the Book
The dramatic story of the 1925 Scopes trial, which captivated the nation and exposed profound divisions in America that still resonate today --- divisions over the meaning of freedom, religion, education, censorship and civil liberties in a democracy.
“No subject possesses the minds of men like religious bigotry and hate, and these fires are being lighted today in America.” So said legendary attorney Clarence Darrow as hundreds of people descended on the sleepy town of Dayton, Tennessee, for the trial of a schoolteacher named John T. Scopes, who was charged with breaking the law by teaching evolution to his biology class in a public school.
Brenda Wineapple, the award-winning author of THE IMPEACHERS, explores how and why the Scopes trial quickly seemed a circus-like media sensation, drawing massive crowds and worldwide attention. Darrow, a brilliant and controversial lawyer, said in his electrifying defense of Scopes that people should be free to think, worship and learn. William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic nominee for president, argued for the prosecution that evolution undermined the fundamental, literal truth of the Bible and created a society without morals, meaning and hope.
In KEEPING THE FAITH, Wineapple takes us into the early years of the 20th century --- years of racism, intolerance and world war --- to illuminate, through this pivotal legal showdown, a seismic period in American history. At its heart, the Scopes trial dramatized conflicts over many of the fundamental values that define America, and that continue to divide Americans today.
Audiobook available, read by Gabra Zackman
Editorial Content for A Sorceress Comes to Call
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Reviewer (text)
One of the many classic fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm was “The Goose Girl.” It’s about a pure-hearted princess whose evil servant wants the princess’s life for her own.
In the hands of T. Kingfisher, a dark retelling of this story will be something to savor. A master of gothic horror and fantasy, she has an encyclopedic knowledge of ancient folklore and related tales. As such, she often reaches into these stories as the basis for her own fiction. A SORCERESS COMES TO CALL is her homage to “The Goose Girl.” Read More
Teaser
Cordelia knows her mother is…unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend. Unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t evil sorcerers. When her mother unexpectedly moves them into the manor home of a wealthy older Squire and his kind but keen-eyed sister, Hester, Cordelia knows this welcoming pair are to be her mother's next victims. As her mother's plans darken, she must decide how to face the woman who raised her to save the people who have become like family.
Promo
Cordelia knows her mother is…unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend. Unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t evil sorcerers. When her mother unexpectedly moves them into the manor home of a wealthy older Squire and his kind but keen-eyed sister, Hester, Cordelia knows this welcoming pair are to be her mother's next victims. As her mother's plans darken, she must decide how to face the woman who raised her to save the people who have become like family.
About the Book
From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes A SORCERESS COMES TO CALL --- a dark reimagining of the Brothers Grimm's "The Goose Girl," rife with secrets, murder and forbidden magic.
Cordelia knows her mother is...unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms --- there are no secrets in this house --- and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend. Unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him.
But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t evil sorcerers.
When her mother unexpectedly moves them into the manor home of a wealthy older Squire and his kind but keen-eyed sister, Hester, Cordelia knows this welcoming pair are to be her mother's next victims. But Cordelia feels at home for the very first time among these people, and as her mother's plans darken, she must decide how to face the woman who raised her to save the people who have become like family.
Audiobook available, read by Eliza Foss and Jennifer Pickens
Editorial Content for The Murders in Great Diddling
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Reviewer (text)
What does it take to kill a person?
Berit wrote the question in her notebook. She leaned forward into her luxurious green leather desk and looked at it again. She began jotting notes, words, boxes and texts, and adding little questions to that first big one. It was so still that she could hear the pen scratching on the paper. Read More
Teaser
The small, rundown village of Great Diddling is full of stories. The way the villagers avoid outsiders, the furtive stares and whispers in the presence of newcomers --- author Berit Gardner can sense the edge of a story waiting to be unraveled, and she's just the person to do it. In fact, with a book deadline looming over her and no manuscript, Berit doesn't just want this story. She needs it. Then, while attending a village tea party, Berit becomes part of the action herself. An explosion in the library of the village's grand manor kills a local man, and the resulting investigation and influx of outsiders sends the quiet, rundown community into chaos. The residents of Great Diddling rewrite their own narrative and transform the death of one of their own from a tragedy into a new beginning.
Promo
The small, rundown village of Great Diddling is full of stories. The way the villagers avoid outsiders, the furtive stares and whispers in the presence of newcomers --- author Berit Gardner can sense the edge of a story waiting to be unraveled, and she's just the person to do it. In fact, with a book deadline looming over her and no manuscript, Berit doesn't just want this story. She needs it. Then, while attending a village tea party, Berit becomes part of the action herself. An explosion in the library of the village's grand manor kills a local man, and the resulting investigation and influx of outsiders sends the quiet, rundown community into chaos. The residents of Great Diddling rewrite their own narrative and transform the death of one of their own from a tragedy into a new beginning.
About the Book
The best stories are the ones we didn't know needed to be told.
The small, rundown village of Great Diddling is full of stories --- author Berit Gardner can feel it. The way the villagers avoid outsiders, the furtive stares and whispers in the presence of newcomers.... Berit can sense the edge of a story waiting to be unraveled, and she's just the person to do it. In fact, with a book deadline looming over her and no manuscript (not even the idea for a manuscript, truth be told), Berit doesn't just want this story. She needs it.
Then, while attending a village tea party, Berit becomes part of the action herself. An explosion in the library of the village's grand manor kills a local man, and the resulting investigation and influx of outsiders sends the quiet, rundown community into chaos. The residents of Great Diddling, each one more eccentric and interesting than any character Berit could have invented, rewrite their own narrative and transform the death of one of their own from a tragedy into a new beginning. Taking advantage of Great Diddling's new notoriety, the villagers band together to start a book and murder festival designed to bring desperately needed tourists to their town. What they couldn't have predicted is how the new story they've begun to tell will change all their lives forever.
Uplifting, charming and laugh-out-loud funny, THE MURDERS IN GREAT DIDDLING by New York Times bestselling author Katarina Bivald is a celebration of the life-changing magic of books and the people who love them.
Audiobook available, read by Helen Lloyd
Editorial Content for House of Bone and Rain
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Time stops for Gabe and his childhood friends when they learn that their friend Bimbo’s mother, Maria, has been murdered. Words are only a token of comfort in the wake of such an enormous loss. Gabe, Paul, Tavo and Xavier know they have to be there for Bimbo in his time of need. Upon arriving at his side, they can see how anger has consumed him. A void has been left in his heart, and now he wants revenge. There is little question of Gabe and the others being all in for Bimbo as they have been a strong group for years. Read More
Teaser
For childhood friends Gabe, Xavier, Tavo, Paul and Bimbo, death has always been close. Hurricanes. Car accidents. Gang violence. Suicide. Estamos rodeados de fantasmas was Gabe’s grandmother’s refrain. We are surrounded by ghosts. But this time is different. Bimbo's mom has been shot dead. We’re gonna kill the guys who killed her, Bimbo swears. And they all agree. Feral with grief, Bimbo has become unrecognizable, taking no prisoners in his search for names. Soon, they learn Maria was gunned down by guys working for the drug kingpin of Puerto Rico. No one has ever gone up against him and survived. As the boys strategize, a storm gathers far from the coast. Hurricanes are known to carry evil spirits in their currents and bring them ashore, spirits that impose their own order.
Promo
For childhood friends Gabe, Xavier, Tavo, Paul and Bimbo, death has always been close. Hurricanes. Car accidents. Gang violence. Suicide. Estamos rodeados de fantasmas was Gabe’s grandmother’s refrain. We are surrounded by ghosts. But this time is different. Bimbo's mom has been shot dead. We’re gonna kill the guys who killed her, Bimbo swears. And they all agree. Feral with grief, Bimbo has become unrecognizable, taking no prisoners in his search for names. Soon, they learn Maria was gunned down by guys working for the drug kingpin of Puerto Rico. No one has ever gone up against him and survived. As the boys strategize, a storm gathers far from the coast. Hurricanes are known to carry evil spirits in their currents and bring them ashore, spirits that impose their own order.
About the Book
In the latest from Shirley Jackson and Bram Stoker award-winning author of THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME, a group of young men seek vengeance after one of their mothers is murdered in a Puerto Rican slum.
For childhood friends Gabe, Xavier, Tavo, Paul and Bimbo, death has always been close. Hurricanes. Car accidents. Gang violence. Suicide. Estamos rodeados de fantasmas was Gabe’s grandmother’s refrain. We are surrounded by ghosts. But this time is different. Bimbo's mom has been shot dead. We’re gonna kill the guys who killed her, Bimbo swears. And they all agree.
Feral with grief, Bimbo has become unrecognizable, taking no prisoners in his search for names. Soon, they learn Maria was gunned down by guys working for the drug kingpin of Puerto Rico. No one has ever gone up against him and survived. As the boys strategize, a storm gathers far from the coast. Hurricanes are known to carry evil spirits in their currents and bring them ashore, spirits that impose their own order.
Blurring the boundaries between myth, mysticism and the grim realities of our world, HOUSE OF BONE AND RAIN is a harrowing coming-of age-story; a doomed tale of devotion, the afterlife of violence and what rolls in on the tide.
Audiobook available, read by Jean-Marc Berne and Daya Mendez













