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Bookreporter.com Bets On...

With thousands of books published each year and much attention paid to the works of bestselling and well-known authors, it is inevitable that some titles worthy of praise and discussion may not get the attention we think they deserve. Thus throughout the year, we will continue this feature that we started in 2009, to spotlight books that immediately struck a chord with us and made us say “just read this.” We will alert our readers about these titles as soon as they’re released so you can discover them for yourselves and recommend them to your family and friends.

Below are all of our selections thus far. For future "Bets On" titles that we will announce shortly after their release dates, please visit this page.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

February 2015

I love it when authors take on new challenges and push their craft to a new level. That is what Kristin Hannah has done with THE NIGHTINGALE. About seven months into writing her first draft, she realized that this had the potential to be a bigger book than anything she had written before. The storyline of World War II France was giving her a wide landscape, and the characters of the two sisters were solid, but this was a story that was going to take time to tell. She wanted to look at the war through the eyes of women, as she felt that the subject had been told mainly through the lens of men in the past.

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Fear the Darkness by Becky Masterman

January 2015

FEAR THE DARKNESS is Becky Masterman’s follow-up to the Edgar Award and CWA Gold Dagger finalist RAGE AGAINST THE DYING starring ex-FBI agent Brigid Quinn. From the start, Masterman delivered a strong character in Brigid --- someone with a past that has shaped her, but not one that has crippled her. I love that she is not perfect, but instead embraces her flaws.

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The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward

January 2015

THE SAME SKY by Amanda Eyre Ward has a two-threaded storyline. One is about Carla, a young girl living in Honduras who is caretaking her six-year-old brother after her mother moves to Texas. The goal is that she will make enough money to bring the children north. She sends them money as she can and talks to them weekly. The children live in abject poverty, scouring garbage dumpsters for food; the brother starts sniffing glue. Carla decides they will head north through Mexico as they are starving and fearful for their lives.

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The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

January 2015

I have been “on board the praise train” for THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins since I first started reading it. I clearly remember picking it up late one Thursday night, getting about 10 pages in and forcing myself to stop. I knew that if I kept reading, there was no way I was going to be able to put it down, and I had a huge day of my “Friday writing” scheduled for the next day. But as SOON as I typed the last word that Friday, I dashed for it to start reading and did not stop until I was done. (I now understand what a child feels like being told to stop playing a video game to do homework!)

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The Secret Wisdom of the Earth by Christopher Scotton

January 2015

THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH by Christopher Scotton blends a coming-of-age story with a look inside the world of modern-day coal mining, known as fracking, and its impact on a community.

Fourteen-year-old Kevin and his mom have moved from Indiana to Medgar, Kentucky, a coal town deep in Appalachia following the death of his three-year-old brother, Joshua, in a horrific accident for which Kevin has been blamed. His mom’s grief has overwhelmed and paralyzed her, leaving Kevin to reach out to his grandfather, Pops, to help him heal. This man, a veterinarian, brings a lot of heart and soul, as well as wisdom, to the story, besides being an anchor for Kevin.

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Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar

January 2015

Confession here: As I was not an English major, I do not have an encyclopedic memory of the work of Virginia Woolf. I had heard of the Bloomsbury Group, but knew little about their members. I am happy to share that after reading VANESSA AND HER SISTER, I am pop quiz-worthy on the latter topic. In this book, Priya Parmar has crafted a fictionalized diary of Vanessa Stephen Bell, otherwise known as the sister of Virginia Woolf.

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The Bishop's Wife: A Linda Wallheim Mystery by Mette Ivie Harrison

January 2015

I am intrigued by the Mormon culture, thus when I saw that THE BISHOP’S WIFE is set in that community in Salt Lake, I was eager to read it. The bishop’s wife, Linda Wallheim, is a devout Mormon, the mother of five boys and the wife of a bishop. While tending to parishioners in their ward with meals and baked goods, Linda is seeing an undercurrent that is troubling her. There is a fear among some of the women who seem to harbor secrets in their obedient lives.

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My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni

November 2014

I have been a longtime fan of Robert Dugoni, and his talent has only improved with time. MY SISTER’S GRAVE  has everything: terrific plotting, well-drawn characters and solid writing. It’s a cross between a legal thriller and a police procedural. While reading it, I was dropped into a zone with a fast-paced story that grabbed me and wrapped me up in the adventure and storyline.

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A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age by Matt Richtel

October 2014

I heard Matt Richtel speak about A DEADLY WANDERING: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention last May, and the storyline intrigued me. Reggie, a teen, was driving to work one early morning. He crossed the yellow line into the other lane, more than once, and that precipitated an accident that killed two prominent rocket scientists who were fathers and husbands. Prior to the accident, it was learned that the teen was texting, though he does not remember doing this. Texting for him is something he did all day, not thinking about how it distracted him.

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The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs

October 2014

Back in the spring, I read Jeff Hobbs’s first work of nonfiction, THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PEACE: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League, and I have not stopped talking about it since. It’s a book I cannot get out of my head. To me, it’s not just the story of Robert Peace, but also a commentary on the racial divide in this country, as well as a background history on the downfall of the inner city.

As the book opens and we are introduced to Rob’s world, Jeff sets the stage with a history of Newark that is informative and articulates why the city, like many American cities, has deteriorated. This setup paves the way for Rob’s story to unfold.

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