Skip to main content

Editorial Content for Please Tell Me

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

I really liked the premise of PLEASE TELL ME by Mike Omer. An eight-year-old is abducted and then returned, but she refuses to talk about her ordeal or anything else. She begins seeing a local therapist, and what she reveals is unsettling, to say the least. Read More

Teaser

When eight-year-old Kathy Stone turns up on the side of the road a year after her abduction, the world awaits her harrowing story. But she doesn’t speak at all, not even to her own parents. Child therapist Robin Hart is the only one who’s had success connecting with the girl. Robin has been using play therapy to help Kathy process her memories. But as their work continues, Kathy’s playtime takes a grim turn: a doll stabs another doll, a tiny figurine is chained to a plastic toy couch. All of these horrifying moments, enacted within a Victorian doll house. Every session, another toy dies. But the most disturbing detail? Kathy seems to be playacting real unsolved murders. Soon Robin wonders if Kathy not only holds the key to the murders of the past but if she knows something about the murders of the future.

Promo

When eight-year-old Kathy Stone turns up on the side of the road a year after her abduction, the world awaits her harrowing story. But she doesn’t speak at all, not even to her own parents. Child therapist Robin Hart is the only one who’s had success connecting with the girl. Robin has been using play therapy to help Kathy process her memories. But as their work continues, Kathy’s playtime takes a grim turn: a doll stabs another doll, a tiny figurine is chained to a plastic toy couch. All of these horrifying moments, enacted within a Victorian doll house. Every session, another toy dies. But the most disturbing detail? Kathy seems to be playacting real unsolved murders. Soon Robin wonders if Kathy not only holds the key to the murders of the past but if she knows something about the murders of the future.

About the Book

After a year in captivity, a kidnapped child escapes --- only to reveal horrific truths that lead her psychologist on a race against time --- in this thriller from New York Times bestselling author Mike Omer.

When eight-year-old Kathy Stone turns up on the side of the road a year after her abduction, the world awaits her harrowing story. But Kathy doesn’t say a word. Traumatized by her ordeal, she doesn’t speak at all, not even to her own parents.

Child therapist Robin Hart is the only one who’s had success connecting with the girl. Robin has been using play therapy to help Kathy process her memories. But as their work continues, Kathy’s playtime takes a grim turn: a doll stabs another doll, a tiny figurine is chained to a plastic toy couch. All of these horrifying moments, enacted within a Victorian doll house. Every session, another toy dies.

But the most disturbing detail? Kathy seems to be playacting real unsolved murders.

Soon Robin wonders if Kathy not only holds the key to the murders of the past but if she knows something about the murders of the future. Can Robin unlock the secrets in Kathy’s brain and stop a serial killer before he strikes again? Or is Robin’s work with Kathy putting her in the killer’s sights?

Audiobook available, read by Marcella Cox

Editorial Content for Technically Yours

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

Pearl Harris is excited to be moving back home to Chicago after spending a few years in California. She has a great new job at OurCode, a nonprofit whose mission --- helping girls and nonbinary youth gain experience in tech fields --- she believes in deeply. But the night of her first big fundraising dinner throws her more than one curveball. Read More

Teaser

Pearl Harris has learned the hard way to be careful in work and in love. She has the chance to make lasting change at OurCode --- a nonprofit aimed at inspiring high schoolers to code --- but a recent scandal puts its reputation at risk. Further complicating things, Pearl didn't expect the one man she never stopped thinking about to join as the newest member of her board of directors. Cord Matthews fell for Pearl when they met in an elevator eight years ago. But when she broke his heart, he decided love wasn't for him. When they reconnect after years with no contact, Cord is tempted to consider breaking his ban on serious relationships. But going public with a romance between them might derail Pearl’s career and the progress she’s made at OurCode.

Promo

Pearl Harris has learned the hard way to be careful in work and in love. She has the chance to make lasting change at OurCode --- a nonprofit aimed at inspiring high schoolers to code --- but a recent scandal puts its reputation at risk. Further complicating things, Pearl didn't expect the one man she never stopped thinking about to join as the newest member of her board of directors. Cord Matthews fell for Pearl when they met in an elevator eight years ago. But when she broke his heart, he decided love wasn't for him. When they reconnect after years with no contact, Cord is tempted to consider breaking his ban on serious relationships. But going public with a romance between them might derail Pearl’s career and the progress she’s made at OurCode.

About the Book

Eight years ago, he fell in love with a stranger he couldn’t have. Today, she’s back in his life and the sparks between them threaten to set her career on fire.

Pearl Harris has learned the hard way to be careful in work and in love. She has the chance to make lasting change at OurCode --- a nonprofit aimed at inspiring high schoolers to code --- but a recent scandal puts its reputation at risk. Further complicating things, Pearl didn't expect the one man she never stopped thinking about to join as the newest member of her board of directors.

Cord Matthews fell for Pearl when they met in an elevator eight years ago. She’s just his type: smart, capable and makes him laugh, but when she broke his heart, he decided love wasn't for him. When they reconnect after years with no contact, Cord is tempted to consider breaking his ban on serious relationships. But going public with a romance between them might derail Pearl’s career and the progress she’s made at OurCode.

While Pearl and Cord are both hesitant to trust their feelings and take a risk, it soon becomes impossible to keep ignoring the electricity between them. Cord is a skilled programmer, but a workplace romance might spell disaster for both of them --- and love isn’t easily debugged.

Audiobook available, read by January LaVoy and Joe Arden

Editorial Content for Medusa

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Following the release of her critically acclaimed graphic novel for young adults, MEDUSA, Jessie Burton returns with a novel of the same name and story. This time, her electrifying, candescent prose takes the place of images. Readers go beyond the myth and the monster to meet the girl behind the legend. Read More

Teaser

Exiled to a far-flung island after being abused by powerful Gods, Medusa has little company other than the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. Haunted by the memories of a life before everything was stolen from her, she has no choice but to make peace with her present: she is Medusa the Monster. But when the charmed and beautiful Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is blown open, unleashing desire, love --- and betrayal.

Promo

Exiled to a far-flung island after being abused by powerful Gods, Medusa has little company other than the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. Haunted by the memories of a life before everything was stolen from her, she has no choice but to make peace with her present: she is Medusa the Monster. But when the charmed and beautiful Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is blown open, unleashing desire, love --- and betrayal.

About the Book

From New York Times bestselling author Jessie Burton, a dazzling retelling of the Greek myth of Medusa, illuminating the woman behind the legend.

Exiled to a far-flung island after being abused by powerful Gods, Medusa has little company other than the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. Haunted by the memories of a life before everything was stolen from her, she has no choice but to make peace with her present: she is Medusa the Monster. But when the charmed and beautiful Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is blown open, unleashing desire, love --- and betrayal.

For readers of CIRCE and ARIADNE, MEDUSA is an astonishing reinvention that brings to vivid life a heroine history has set in stone.

Audiobook available, read by Alisha Bailey

Editorial Content for Yours for the Taking

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

Astute readers know that a utopian tale is usually a dystopia in disguise. The word utopia, coined by Thomas More in the 1500s, literally means “no place,” whereas a dystopia is a “bad place.” Utopias are fantasies, but dystopias are all too real. Even in the realm of sci-fi or speculative fiction, utopias are hard to imagine, while dystopias make sense. The literary trick is to try to build a utopia in order to illustrate a dystopian concept. Read More

Teaser

The year is 2050. Ava and her girlfriend live in what's left of Brooklyn. Although they love each other, it's hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world. Soon, it won't be safe outside at all. The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world. When Ava is accepted to live Inside and her girlfriend isn’t, she’s forced to go alone. But her heartbreak is quickly replaced with a feeling of belonging: Inside seems like it’s the safe space she’s been searching for...most of the time. Other times she can’t shake the feeling that something is deeply off.

Promo

The year is 2050. Ava and her girlfriend live in what's left of Brooklyn. Although they love each other, it's hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world. Soon, it won't be safe outside at all. The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world. When Ava is accepted to live Inside and her girlfriend isn’t, she’s forced to go alone. But her heartbreak is quickly replaced with a feeling of belonging: Inside seems like it’s the safe space she’s been searching for...most of the time. Other times she can’t shake the feeling that something is deeply off.

About the Book

A thrilling queer debut novel set several decades in the future and following an unforgettable cast of characters as they become swept up into a strange and exclusive new society.

The year is 2050. Ava and her girlfriend live in what's left of Brooklyn, and though they love each other, it's hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world. Soon, it won't be safe outside at all. The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world.

Jacqueline Millender is a reclusive billionaire/women’s rights advocate, and thanks to a generous donation, she’s just become the director of the Inside being built on the bones of Manhattan. Her ideas are unorthodox, yet alluring --- she's built a whole brand around rethinking the very concept of empowerment. 

Shelby, a business major from a working-class family, is drawn to Jacqueline’s promises of power and impact. When she lands her dream job as Jacqueline’s personal assistant, she's instantly swept up into the glamourous world of corporatized feminism. Also drawn into Jacqueline's orbit is Olympia, who is finishing up medical school when Jacqueline recruits her to run the health department Inside. The more Olympia learns about the project, though, the more she realizes there's something much larger at play. 

When Ava is accepted to live Inside and her girlfriend isn’t, she’s forced to go alone. But her heartbreak is quickly replaced with a feeling of belonging: Inside seems like it’s the safe space she’s been searching for…most of the time. Other times she can’t shake the feeling that something is deeply off. As she, Olympia, and Shelby start to notice the cracks in Jacqueline's system, Jacqueline tightens her grip, becoming increasingly unhinged and dangerous in what she is willing to do --- and who she is willing to sacrifice --- to keep her dream alive.

At once a mesmerizing story of queer love, betrayal and chosen family, and an unflinching indictment of cis, corporate feminism, Gabrielle Korn's YOURS FOR THE TAKING holds a mirror to our own world, in all its beauty and horror.

Audiobook available, read by Jasmin Savoy Brown

Editorial Content for The Couple in the Photo

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

Lucy and Adam, and Cora and Scott, have been best friends for years. Each couple has two children, who also are best friends. It’s common for Cora and Scott to show up at Lucy and Adam's door with a bottle of wine for a spontaneous evening --- maybe order a pizza and watch the kids romp. And it’s not unusual for Lucy and Adam to drop by Cora and Scott’s for a barbecue. Read More

Teaser

Lucy and her husband, Adam, have been best friends with another couple, Cora and Scott, for years. They vacation together, co-own a beach cottage, and their children are inseparable. So Lucy is devastated when, while looking at a colleague’s photos of a trip to the Maldives, she spots a picture of Scott, apparently on vacation with another woman. Then she learns that the woman in the photo has gone missing. Lucy can’t help but fear that Scott was involved. But searching for answers might uncover secrets about Scott, Cora and even her own husband that could destroy the picture-perfect lives they have built together. Or maybe she was never part of the picture at all. Is it possible that everyone knows more than they are letting on? If so, what are the consequences of exposing the truth?

Promo

Lucy and her husband, Adam, have been best friends with another couple, Cora and Scott, for years. They vacation together, co-own a beach cottage, and their children are inseparable. So Lucy is devastated when, while looking at a colleague’s photos of a trip to the Maldives, she spots a picture of Scott, apparently on vacation with another woman. Then she learns that the woman in the photo has gone missing. Lucy can’t help but fear that Scott was involved. But searching for answers might uncover secrets about Scott, Cora and even her own husband that could destroy the picture-perfect lives they have built together. Or maybe she was never part of the picture at all. Is it possible that everyone knows more than they are letting on? If so, what are the consequences of exposing the truth?

About the Book

Be careful who you sleep with. They've already made their bed.

Lucy and her husband, Adam, have been best friends with another couple, Cora and Scott, for years. The four are practically family --- they vacation together, co-own a beach cottage, and their children are inseparable. So Lucy is devastated when, while looking at a colleague’s photos of a trip to the Maldives, she spots a picture of Scott, apparently on vacation with another woman.

Then she learns that the woman in the photo has gone missing. Lucy can’t help but fear that Scott was involved. But searching for answers might uncover secrets about Scott, Cora and even her own husband that could destroy the picture-perfect lives they have built together. Or maybe she was never part of the picture at all. Is it possible that everyone knows more than they are letting on? If so, what are the consequences of exposing the truth?

Audiobook available, read by Naomi Frederick

Editorial Content for No Way Out: A DI Adam Fawley Thriller

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Cara Hunter, one of Britain’s queens of crime, brings us her latest effort, NO WAY OUT. Set during Christmas time in Oxford, England, the book revolves around a horrific tragedy: a house fire.

Prior to diving into this incident, the novel opens with a report from a firefighter who was called to the scene. Hunter gives us an explicit walkthrough of what happened and the extreme damage done to the house, where it appears no one survived. The residents are identified as Michael and Samantha Esmond, along with their two children: three-year-old Zachary and 10-year-old Matty. Read More

Teaser

It's Christmas in Oxford, and firefighters have pulled two children from the smoking ruin of their home. The mystery deepens when it becomes clear that the parents are nowhere to be found. Why were the children left in the house alone? Why is neither parent answering their phone? Were they kidnapped? Murdered? From the start, DI Adam Fawley knows that this house fire is the scene of a crime, not an accident. Then new evidence comes to light and confirms the team’s worst suspicions. The blaze was arson. Who would have torched a seemingly happy family’s home on Christmas? As DI Fawley and his team of detectives sift through the evidence, old tensions and new problems in the family are slowly revealed. Something terribly out of the ordinary has happened, and the truth slowly begins to reveal itself.

Promo

It's Christmas in Oxford, and firefighters have pulled two children from the smoking ruin of their home. The mystery deepens when it becomes clear that the parents are nowhere to be found. Why were the children left in the house alone? Why is neither parent answering their phone? Were they kidnapped? Murdered? From the start, DI Adam Fawley knows that this house fire is the scene of a crime, not an accident. Then new evidence comes to light and confirms the team’s worst suspicions. The blaze was arson. Who would have torched a seemingly happy family’s home on Christmas? As DI Fawley and his team of detectives sift through the evidence, old tensions and new problems in the family are slowly revealed. Something terribly out of the ordinary has happened, and the truth slowly begins to reveal itself.

About the Book

From Cara Hunter, author of the New York Times bestseller MURDER IN THE FAMILY, comes book three of her DI Adam Fawley series, one of Britain’s most enduringly popular and mega-selling crime series. Fawley investigates a ghastly house fire on Christmas Day and launches an investigation that shocks a community.

It's one of the most disturbing cases DI Adam Fawley has ever worked.

It's Christmas in Oxford, and firefighters have pulled two children from the smoking ruin of their home. The mystery deepens when it becomes clear that the parents are nowhere to be found. Why were the children left in the house alone? Why is neither parent answering their phone? Were they kidnapped? Murdered? From the start, DI Fawley --- still reeling from his own personal tragedy --- knows that this house fire is the scene of a crime, not an accident.

Then new evidence comes to light and confirms the team’s worst suspicions. The blaze was arson. Who would have torched a seemingly happy family’s home on Christmas?

As DI Fawley and his team of detectives sift through the evidence, old tensions and new problems in the family are slowly revealed. Something terribly out of the ordinary has happened, and the truth slowly begins to reveal itself.

A gripping and provocative tale of arson, murder and family intrigue, NO WAY OUT is everything you’d expect from one of Britain’s queen of crime, Cara Hunter.

Audiobook available; read by Lee Ingleby, Emma Cunniffe and Roy McMillan

Editorial Content for Second Chances in New Port Stephen

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

TJ Alexander, the critically acclaimed author of the queer love stories CHEF’S KISS and CHEF’S CHOICE, pens their first holiday romance with SECOND CHANCES IN NEW PORT STEPHEN. This hilarious and poignant rom-com is led by Eli Ward, a trans man who is visiting his home state of Florida to spend Christmas with his parents for the first time since his transition. Read More

Teaser

Eli Ward hasn’t been back to his suffocating hometown of New Port Stephen, Florida, in ages. Post-transition and sober, he’s a completely different person from the one who left years ago. But when a scandal threatens his career as a TV writer and comedian, he has no choice but to return home for the holidays. Just when he thinks this trip couldn’t get any worse, Eli bumps into his high school ex, Nick Wu, who’s somehow hotter than ever. Divorced and in his 40s, Nick’s world revolves around his father, his daughter and his job. But even a busy life can’t keep him from being intrigued by the reappearance of Eli. Against the backdrop of one weird Floridian Christmas, the two must decide whether to leave the past in the past…or move on together.

Promo

Eli Ward hasn’t been back to his suffocating hometown of New Port Stephen, Florida, in ages. Post-transition and sober, he’s a completely different person from the one who left years ago. But when a scandal threatens his career as a TV writer and comedian, he has no choice but to return home for the holidays. Just when he thinks this trip couldn’t get any worse, Eli bumps into his high school ex, Nick Wu, who’s somehow hotter than ever. Divorced and in his 40s, Nick’s world revolves around his father, his daughter and his job. But even a busy life can’t keep him from being intrigued by the reappearance of Eli. Against the backdrop of one weird Floridian Christmas, the two must decide whether to leave the past in the past…or move on together.

About the Book

A trans man returns to his Florida hometown for Christmas after his career goes up in flames, only to cross paths with his high school ex in this charming rom-com about family and second chances from the author of the “delectable” (Time) CHEF'S KISS.

Eli Ward hasn’t been back to his suffocating hometown of New Port Stephen, Florida, in ages. Post-transition and sober, he’s a completely different person from the one who left years ago. But when a scandal threatens his career as a TV writer and comedian, he has no choice but to return home for the holidays. He can only hope he’ll survive his boisterous, loving, but often misguided family and hide the fact that his dream of comedy success has become a nightmare.

Just when he thinks this trip couldn’t get any worse, Eli bumps into his high school ex, Nick Wu, who’s somehow hotter than ever. Divorced and in his 40s, Nick’s world revolves around his father, his daughter and his job. But even a busy life can’t keep him from being intrigued by the reappearance of Eli.

Against the backdrop of one weird Floridian Christmas, the two must decide whether to leave the past in the past…or move on together.

Audiobook available, read by Aden Hakimi and Feodor Chin

How many print books and e-books did you read in 2023? How many audiobooks did you listen to?

December 15, 2023, 664 voters

December 15, 2023 - January 5, 2024

Here are reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for the contest period of December 15 - January 5.

We wrap up this year’s Holiday Author Blog series with Allison Pataki, the New York Times bestselling author of THE TRAITOR'S WIFE, THE ACCIDENTAL EMPRESS, SISI, THE QUEEN'S FORTUNE and THE MAGNIFICENT LIVES OF MARJORIE POST, as well as the memoir BEAUTY IN THE BROKEN PLACES. Her upcoming novel, FINDING MARGARET FULLER, publishes on March 19th and is an epic imagining of the life of Margaret Fuller --- America’s forgotten leading lady and the central figure of a movement that defined a nation. In 1985, Allison’s aunt gave her and her siblings a copy of the just-released THE POLAR EXPRESS for Christmas. It quickly became a Christmas Eve tradition that her family would gather around and read Chris Van Allsburg’s beloved book before bedtime. What a joyous, comforting and emotional experience it was…and continues to be!