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Winter Reading 2016

Winter Reading

Winter Reading 2016

At Bookreporter.com, we kicked off 2016 with our second annual Winter Reading Contests and Feature. We hosted a series of 24-hour contests spotlighting a book releasing this winter and gave five lucky readers a chance to win it.

Even though our contests have wrapped up, we encourage you to take a look at this year's featured titles, as these are the books you'll want to read during the winter months --- and into the warmer ones!

- Click here to see the winners of our 2016 Winter Reading contests.

Angels Burning by Tawni O'Dell - Psychological Thriller/Mystery


When a girl is beaten to death, Chief Dove Carnahan is faced with solving the worst crime of her law enforcement career. She identifies the young lady as a daughter of the Truly family, a notoriously irascible dynasty of rednecks and petty criminals. During her investigation, the man convicted of killing Dove’s mother years earlier is released from prison. Still proclaiming his innocence, he approaches Dove with a startling accusation and a chilling threat that forces her to face the parallels between her own family’s trauma and that of the Trulys.

Calming Therapy: An Anti-Stress Coloring Book by Running Press - Art/Crafts & Hobbies


Color yourself calm with this beautiful and therapeutic coloring and doodle book. Focusing on completing detailed patterns and adding color creatively has a relaxing, stress-busting effect. Even amateur artists can create something exquisite, as no drawing skills are required.

Dog Love by Ann DeVito - Pets/Art


From Schnauzers to Chihuahuas, Mastiffs to Maltipoos, crime-sniffing Blood Hounds to chic Bichons, dogs have charmed humans across the world for centuries with their lovable quirks and appealing personalities. In DOG LOVE, Ann DeVito brings man’s best friend to life with a collection of vibrant illustrations and snappy descriptions that pay loving homage to pups from all walks of life --- no pun intended --- from sophisticated, recognized breeds to lovable mutts and everything in between.

The Flood Girls by Richard Fifield - Fiction


In Quinn, Montana, nearly all of the volunteer firemen are named Jim, the only bar in town refuses to serve mixed drinks (too much work), the locals hate the newcomers (then again, they hate the locals, too), and the town softball team has never even come close to having a winning season. Until now. Rachel Flood has snuck back into town after leaving behind a trail of chaos nine years prior. She’s here to make amends, though nobody wants to hear it, especially her mother, Laverna. But with the help of a local boy named Jake and a little soul-searching, she just might make things right.

The Friends We Keep by Susan Mallery - Fiction


After five years as a stay-at-home mom, Gabby Schaefer can't wait to return to work. But when her plans are derailed, she must fight for the right to have a life of her own. Hayley Batchelor believes that a woman who was born to be a mom should risk everything to fulfill her destiny --- no matter how high the cost. A great new guy tempts divorcée Nicole Lord to believe maybe the second time's the charm…but how can she trust herself to recognize true love? As their bonds of friendship deepen against the beautiful backdrop of Mischief Bay, Gabby Hayley and Nicole will rely on good food, good wine and especially each other to navigate life's toughest changes.

Georgia: A Novel of Georgia O'Keeffe by Dawn Tripp - Historical Fiction


In 1916, Georgia O’Keeffe is a young, unknown art teacher when she travels to New York to meet Alfred Stieglitz, the famed photographer and art dealer, who has discovered O’Keeffe’s work and exhibits it in his gallery. O’Keeffe is quickly drawn into Stieglitz’s sophisticated world, becoming his mistress, protégé and muse, as their attraction deepens into an intense and tempestuous relationship and his photographs of her create a sensation. Yet, as her own creative force develops, Georgia begins to push back against what critics and others are saying about her and her art. And soon she must make difficult choices to live a life she believes in.

Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova - Fiction


A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their 20s, and respected police officer, Joe O'Brien begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s disease.

Love in Lowercase written by Francesc Miralles, translated by Julie Wark - Romantic Comedy

When Samuel, a lonely linguistics lecturer, wakes up on New Year’s Day, he is convinced that the year ahead will bring nothing more than passive verbs and un-italicized moments --- until an unexpected visitor slips into his Barcelona apartment and refuses to leave. The appearance of Mishima, a stray, brindle-furred cat, becomes the catalyst that leads Samuel from the comforts of his favorite books, foreign films and classical music to places he’s never been (next door) and to people he might never have met (a neighbor with whom he’s never exchanged a word).

Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz - Thriller


Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He's also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as part of the off-the-books black box Orphan program, designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence assets --- i.e. assassins. He was Orphan X. Evan broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear. Now, however, someone is on his tail and determined to eliminate him.

A Place for Us by Harriet Evans - Fiction


When Martha, a wife and mother of three, sits down to write out the invitations to her 80th birthday celebration, she knows that what she is planning to reveal at the party could ruin the idyllic life she and her husband David have spent over 50 years building. As the story unfolds, each character reveals the secrets, joys and tragedies they are wrestling with through the confines of the family. What will happen when Martha finally tells the truth?

Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica - Psychological Thriller


Heidi Wood has always been a charitable woman. Still, her husband and daughter are horrified when Heidi returns home one day with a young woman named Willow and her four-month-old baby in tow. Despite her family's objections, Heidi invites Willow and the baby to take refuge in their home. Heidi spends the next few days helping Willow get back on her feet, but as clues into Willow's past begin to surface, Heidi is forced to decide how far she's willing to go to help a stranger.

Seized: The Profiler, Book 3 by Elizabeth Heiter - Psychological Thriller


What should have been a routine investigation for FBI profiler Evelyn Baine turns ominous when she's kidnapped by a dangerous cult of survivalists. As her worst nightmares become a reality, she begins to question what she's seeing. As the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team closes in, Evelyn suspects she's stumbled onto an emerging terrorist threat --- and a cult leader who has a score to settle with the FBI. If Hostage Rescue breaches the compound, Evelyn is dead for sure. If they don't, the cult may unleash a surprise attack that could leave the whole country shattered.

Unbecoming by Rebecca Scherm - Psychological Thriller


In Garland, Tennessee, two young men have just been paroled. Both were jailed for a crime that Grace planned in exacting detail. The heist went bad, but not before she was on a plane to Prague with a stolen canvas rolled in her bag. And so, in Paris, begins a cat-and-mouse waiting game as Grace’s web of deception and lies unravels --- and she becomes another young woman entirely.

An Undisturbed Peace by Mary Glickman - Historical Fiction


A trio of outsiders linked by unrequited and rekindled love, Abrahan Bento Sassaporta Naggar, Dark Water of the Mountains, and a black slave named Jacob find themselves surrounded by the escalating horrors of President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act. As the US government implements the appalling logistics of transporting the Native American tribes of the South to the western side of the Mississippi River, Abe tries desperately to intervene --- and Jacob and Dark Water fight for their lives.

The Vatican Princess: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia by C. W. Gortner - Historical Fiction


Glamorous and predatory, the Borgias fascinated and terrorized 15th-century Renaissance Italy, and Lucrezia Borgia, beloved daughter of the pope, was at the center of the dynasty’s ambitions. Slandered as a heartless seductress who lured men to their doom, was she in fact the villainess of legend, or was she trapped in a familial web, forced to choose between loyalty and survival? THE VATICAN PRINCESS is the first novel to describe Lucrezia’s coming-of-age in her own voice.

A Voice from the Field by Neal Griffin - Thriller


Gunther Kane and his white supremacist group are using forced prostitution to finance the purchase of automatic weapons. Kane snatches young women off the streets and sells them to hundreds of men. When a victim is used up, she's killed and dumped. Physically recovered from being shot but struggling with PTSD, Tia Suarez almost doesn't believe her eyes when she glimpses a Hispanic teenager bound and gagged in the back of Kane's van. The look of terror on the woman's face makes Tia desperate to rescue her, and nothing will stop her.

The Wonder Garden by Lauren Acampora - Fiction


A man strikes an under-the-table deal with a surgeon to spend a few quiet seconds closer to his wife than he's ever been; a young soon-to-be mother looks on in paralyzing astonishment as her husband walks away from a 20-year career in advertising at the urging of his spirit animal; an elderly artist risks more than he knows when he's commissioned by his newly arrived neighbors to produce the work of a lifetime. In her debut collection, Lauren Acampora brings to the page the myriad lives of a suburban town and lays them bare.