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July 28, 2023

Last weekend was the perfect summer weekend for reading --- it was sunny, not humid and not broiling hot. I had declared it a weekend of reading. I started with EVERYONE HERE IS LYING by Shari Lapena. I have coined Shari “The Queen of the One-Sit Read.” Once I start reading one of her books, I do not stop until the last page has been turned. And that is exactly what I did. I moved from the reading chair in what we have dubbed the “Cleopatra” reading tent (which is turquoise, of course) to the side of the pool where I could stand and read when I was not floating and reading. Shari completely delivered --- again. More on the book below as we are reviewing it this week!

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What is the format of the book you are currently reading? Please check all that apply, as we know many of you may be reading more than one book.

July 28, 2023, 769 voters

July 28, 2023 - August 11, 2023

Here are reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for the contest period of July 28 - August 11.

Interview: Jamie Day, author of The Block Party

Jul 27, 2023

In Jamie Day’s THE BLOCK PARTY, an upcoming Bookreporter.com Bets On pick, the residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal. On the night of the annual summer block party, there has been a murder. But who did it and why takes readers back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold. In this interview conducted by Carol Fitzgerald, the president and co-founder of The Book Report Network, Jamie talks about the inspiration for the book, the decision to take readers back to what happened the year prior to the block party, why the story is told from two characters’ points of view, the creation of an online message board that appears in the novel, and what readers can anticipate from Jamie next.

July 27, 2023

Reader Nancy Sharko Reports on a Library Event Featuring Ann Napolitano

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On Tuesday, July 25th, Ann Napolitano appeared at the Ramsey Free Public Library in Ramsey, NJ to talk about her latest novel, HELLO BEAUTIFUL, a New York Times bestseller and Oprah's 100th book club pick. Nancy Sharko, a reader of ours who attended the event, reports on Napolitano’s appearance and some of the insights she shared with the audience.

Rachael Stark

Journalist Rachael Stark is an avid reader, a researcher and a former nursing school student at Trocaire College.

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Samantha Downing, author of A Twisted Love Story

Wes and Ivy are madly in love. It's the type of romance people write stories about. But what kind of story? When it's good, it's great. Flowers. Grand gestures. Deep meaningful conversations where the whole world disappears. When it's bad, it's really bad. Vengeful fights. Damaged property. Arrest warrants. But their vicious cycle of catastrophic breakups and head-over-heels reconciliations needs to end fast. Because suddenly, Wes and Ivy have a common enemy --- and she's a detective. There's something Wes and Ivy never talk about. The night of their worst breakup, when one of them took things too far, and someone ended up dead. If they can stick together, they can survive anything --- even the tightening net of a police investigation. Because one more breakup just might be their last.

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Leesa Cross-Smith, author of Goodbye Earl: A Revenge Novel

In 2004, Rosemarie, Ada, Caroline and Kasey are in their final days of high school and on the precipice of all the things teenagers look forward to when anything in life seems possible. In 2019, Kasey has returned to her small Southern hometown of Goldie for the first time since high school --- and she still hasn’t told even her closest friends the truth of what really happened that summer after graduation, or what made her leave so abruptly. Now reunited with her friends in Goldie for a wedding, she’s determined to focus on the simple joy of being together again. But when she notices troubling signs that one of them might be in danger, she is catapulted back to that fateful summer. This time, Kasey refuses to let the worst moments of her past define her.

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Samantha Downing, author of A Twisted Love Story

Wes and Ivy are madly in love. It's the type of romance people write stories about. But what kind of story? When it's good, it's great. Flowers. Grand gestures. Deep meaningful conversations where the whole world disappears. When it's bad, it's really bad. Vengeful fights. Damaged property. Arrest warrants. But their vicious cycle of catastrophic breakups and head-over-heels reconciliations needs to end fast. Because suddenly, Wes and Ivy have a common enemy --- and she's a detective. There's something Wes and Ivy never talk about. The night of their worst breakup, when one of them took things too far, and someone ended up dead. If they can stick together, they can survive anything --- even the tightening net of a police investigation. Because one more breakup just might be their last.

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Chandler Baker, author of Cutting Teeth

Darby, Mary Beth and Rhea are on personal quests to reclaim aspects of their identities subsumed by motherhood --- their careers, their sex lives, their bodies. Their children, though, disrupt their plans when an unsettling medical condition begins to go around the Little Academy preschool: the kids are craving blood. Then a young teacher is found dead, and the only potential witnesses are 10 adorable four-year-olds. Soon it becomes clear that the children are not just witnesses, but also suspects...and so are their mothers. As the police begin to look more closely, the children’s ability to bleed their parents dry becomes deadly serious.

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