June 25, 2015

Guess what! This newsletter marks the two-year anniversary of our co-authorship, and we couldn’t be more excited! In traditional anniversary style, it is customary on the second anniversary to exchange gifts of cotton. What was once merely the fabric of our lives is now the fabric of our friendship. And boy does it feel nice! Not just the cotton...having a great wingwoman in life&newsletters™. We may be independent ladies, but, as it turns out, two independent ladies is better than one. Here’s lookin’ at you, T. Swift and [insert celebrity friend here]!

Q: What did Vincent Van Gogh say when he heard ears are better in pairs?
A: “Can you repeat that please?”
Q: EARS ARE BETTER IN PAIRS!
A: Oh. “Two little, two late.”

When you’re done laughing, we have a list for you of some of the things that are better in twos: Shoes. Socks, too. Fudgesicles. Heads. Harper Lee books. Green lights. Coupons. Slices of pizza. Vacation days. Newsletters/month. Matches --- the fire-starting kind and the Tinder kind, too. Seats. $100. Great loves. Toms. Tums. Tam Tams. Advil. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Twins. Metaphors. Royal babies. Rainbows.

You know what else is better in twos? Lists! Here’s another list of our favorite famous duos: Statler and Waldorf. Siskel and Ebert. Khloé and Scott. Abbi and Ilana. Abbott and Costello. Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington. Han Solo and Chewbacca. Lucy and Ethel. Fries and Wendy’s milkshakes. Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin. Calvin and Hobbes. Ben and Jerry. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and justice. Guacamole and a few extra bucks.

Seriously, though. We’ve spent the past two years not only developing a wonderful work relationship and an impressive newsletter backlist; we also enjoy each other immensely IRL and via social media. We don’t just share everything at the office; we also share everything on Instagram. We imagine that the rest of you 20somethings out there know how it feels to have found the perfect work spouse.

If you’ve been reading our stuff over the past two years (#newsletters), you know by now that we’re crazy about the positive energy generated by creative collaborations. Walter Isaacson wrote an entire book about why collaborating is vital to a productive work environment, and, as Matty D. and Benny A. showed us last week, collaborating is also the key to greater success. We say: Happy work wife, happy work life!

In case you haven’t secured a book for your Fourth of July weekend, we’ve got not two but THREE book recommendations for you. Because third wheels are underrated.

THE WRONG MAN, written by former Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Kate White, is about Kit Finn, who meets rugged stranger Matt Healy while on vacation in the Florida Keys and agrees to have dinner with him when they’re both back in the city. But when Kit arrives at his luxury apartment ready for the date of a lifetime, she is shocked to learn that she has been taken in by the deceptions of a con man! Now the only way out is to expose the vicious puppet master who’s turned her life upside down.

THE INVASION OF THE TEARLING is Erika Johansen’s highly anticipated follow-up to last summer’s surprise hit, THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING. With each passing day, Kelsea Glynn is growing into her new responsibilities as Queen of the Tearling. By stopping the shipments of slaves to the neighboring kingdom of Mortmesne, she crossed the Red Queen, who is sending her fearsome army into the Tearling to take what is hers. But as the Mort army draws ever closer, Kelsea develops a mysterious connection to a time before the Crossing, and she finds herself relying on a strange and possibly dangerous ally: a woman named Lily, fighting for her life in a world where being female can feel like a crime.

DISCLAIMER by Renée Knight tells the story of documentary filmmaker Catherine Ravenscroft who, upon finding a mysterious novel at her beside, plunges into a living nightmare. Though ostensibly fiction, The Perfect Stranger recreates in vivid, unmistakable detail the terrible day she became hostage to a dark secret, a secret that only one other person knew --- and that person is dead. Now that the past is catching up with her, Catherine’s world is falling apart. Her only hope is to confront what really happened on that awful day…even if the shocking truth might destroy her.

In a book group? Then we want you! The 2015 Book Group Survey, presented by ReadingGroupGuides.com, is open here. Complete the survey, and because we know your time is valuable, you can then enter to win prizes. We have $2,500 in prizes. But please, be honest, and only do this if you are in a book group! Know someone else in a book group? Then pass this along!

Have you ever listened to an audiobook, or wanted to try one? Well, we have the perfect way for you to test this out with a one-month "free" (one of our favorite words) trial from Audiobooks.com. Download the app, find a book you like and listen for free for a month. Oh, and we are running a contest where you can win FREE three months of Audiobooks.com, and this will be combined with the one-month free trial if you win. Details here. It's a great way to listen/read the books you don't have time to read otherwise.

Lastly, the Beach Bag of Books 2015 giveaway is open until Monday, July 27th at noon ET. You have the chance to enter to win a selection of the featured titles here. There are only five winners for this, so enter now!

As fun as it is to celebrate us, we wouldn’t even be here if not for you, our readers! Thanks for sticking with us, through thick and thin. You keep us fresh! Therefore, let us leave you on this note.

5 Things We’re Obsessed With at This Very Moment, in no particular order:
1. Magic Mike XXL. Bonus: Check out Chan Chan's very...um...enlightening Reddit AMA.
2. Frozen margaritas! Olé! Buenos nachos!
3. Jerry Seinfeld's iconic NYC apartment recreated by Hulu.
4. Pixar's Inside Out...warming our hearts from the inside out.
5. Finally! A woman is going to be on the $10. #TeamTubman all the way!

Nicole Sherman (Nicole@bookreporter.com) + Emily Hoenig (Emily@bookreporter.com)

• BEACH TOWN by Mary Kay Andrews
• THE BOOK OF LIFE by Deborah Harkness
• THE FINISHER by David Baldacci
• THE GLAM GUIDE by Fleur De Force
• I TAKE YOU by Eliza Kennedy
• KILLER INSTINCT by S.E. Green
• KILLER WITHIN: Killer Instinct #2 by S.E. Green
• ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL by Jesse Andrews
• OPENING UP by Lauren Dane
• SINNER by Maggie Stiefvater
• THE UNDERGROUND GIRLS OF KABUL: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg

Click here to enter the contest.

You in a book group? We want to hear about it! We endlessly are asked, "Are twentysomethings in book groups?" We want to know the answer.

We've pulled together questions to tell us more about you and your group --- and how you discover and select books --- and talk about them. One person answering told us they loved this chance to really think about their book group. Another said, I got IDEAS from this survey. Love hearing this!

Those who complete the survey will be eligible to win one of the following prizes:
1 (one) Grand Prize - $250 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice.
10 (ten) First Prizes - $100 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice.
50 (fifty) Second Prizes - $25 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice.

The survey will be open through Wednesday, July 15th. If you are in a book group, we would appreciate your participation! And please share with your friends in book groups too!
 

BLUEPRINTS by Barbara Delinsky (Fiction)
Caroline MacAfee is a skilled carpenter, and her daughter Jamie is a talented architect. Together they are the faces of “Gut It!,” a home renovation series on local public television. But when Caroline is told the network wants her daughter to replace her as host, she is devastated. For Jamie, life changes overnight when, soon after learning of the host shift, her father and his new wife die in a car accident that orphans their two-year-old son. Who am I? Both women ask, as the blueprints they've built their lives around suddenly need revising. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.

BOOK OF NUMBERS by Joshua Cohen (Fiction)
The enigmatic billionaire founder of Tetration hires failed novelist Josh Cohen to ghostwrite his memoirs. The mogul, known as Principal, brings Josh behind the digital veil, tracing the rise of Tetration, which started in the earliest days of the Internet by revolutionizing the search engine before venturing into smartphones, computers and the surveillance of American citizens. Principal takes Josh on a mind-bending world tour, initiating him into the secret pretext of the autobiography project and the life-or-death stakes that surround its publication. Reviewed by Michael Magras.

THE BREAKING POINT: A Body Farm Novel by Jefferson Bass (Mystery/Thriller)
It’s been 10 years since Dr. Bill Brockton created the Body Farm --- the world’s first postmortem research facility dedicated to advancing the frontiers of forensic science --- and the researcher is at the pinnacle of his career. Calling him in for a number of high-profile cases, the FBI now wants him to identify the charred remains of a maverick millionaire, killed in a fiery plane crash. But a storm is about to hit Brockton with cataclysmic force. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

CASH LANDING by James Grippando (Thriller)
Every week, a hundred million dollars in cash arrives at Miami International Airport, shipped by German banks to the Federal Reserve. A select group of trusted workers moves the bags through Customs and loads them into armored trucks. Ruban Betancourt has always played by the rules. But the bank taking his house and his restaurant business going bust have driven him over the edge. He and his wife deserve more than life has handed them, and he’s come up with an elaborate scheme to get it. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

DAY FOUR by Sarah Lotz (Thriller)
Hundreds of pleasure-seekers stream aboard The Beautiful Dreamer cruise ship for five days of fun in the Caribbean sun. But on the fourth day, disaster strikes, and the ship is stranded in the Gulf of Mexico. Soon supplies run low, a virus plagues the ship, and there are whispered rumors that the cabins on the lower decks are haunted by shadowy figures. When, at last, the ship is spotted drifting off the coast of Key West, the world's press reports it empty. But the gloomy headlines may be covering up an even more disturbing reality. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

DISCLAIMER by Renée Knight (Psychological Thriller)
Finding a mysterious novel at her bedside plunges documentary filmmaker Catherine Ravenscroft into a living nightmare. Though ostensibly fiction, The Perfect Stranger recreates in vivid, unmistakable detail the terrible day she became hostage to a dark secret, a secret that only one other person knew --- and that person is dead. Now that the past is catching up with her, Catherine’s world is falling apart. Her only hope is to confront what really happened on that awful day…even if the shocking truth might destroy her. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.

THE FIXER by Joseph Finder (Thriller)
When former investigative reporter Rick Hoffman loses his job, fiancée and apartment, his only option is to move back into --- and renovate --- the home of his miserable youth, now empty and in decay since the stroke that put his father in a nursing home. As Rick starts to pull apart the old house, he makes an electrifying discovery: millions of dollars hidden in the walls. Yet the more of his father’s hidden past that Rick brings to light, the more dangerous his present becomes. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

FREEDOM’S CHILD by Jax Miller (Thriller)
Freedom Oliver was arrested for killing her husband, a cop, 20 years ago. She is now in witness protection, regretting ever making a deal with the Feds and missing her children with a heartache so strong it makes her ill. When she learns that her daughter possibly has been kidnapped, she ventures out on her own, and her troubled past comes roaring back at her: her husband’s vengeful, sadistic family; her brief, terrifying stint in prison; and the family she chose to adopt her kids who are keeping dangerous secrets. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS by Paul Tremblay (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
The lives of the Barretts are torn apart when 14-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism and contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts’ plight, resulting in what would become a hit reality TV show. Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry, at which point long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast begin to surface. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

THE INVASION OF THE TEARLING by Erika Johansen (Historical Fantasy/Adventure)
With each passing day, Kelsea Glynn is growing into her new responsibilities as Queen of the Tearling. By stopping the shipments of slaves to the neighboring kingdom of Mortmesne, she crossed the Red Queen, who is sending her fearsome army into the Tearling to take what is hers. But as the Mort army draws ever closer, Kelsea develops a mysterious connection to a time before the Crossing, and she finds herself relying on a strange and possibly dangerous ally: a woman named Lily, fighting for her life in a world where being female can feel like a crime. Reviewed by Carly Silver.

THE PRESIDENT’S SHADOW by Brad Meltzer (Thriller)
A young staffer with the National Archives in Washington, D.C., Beecher White is also a member of the Culper Ring, a 200-year-old secret society founded by George Washington and charged with protecting the Presidency. The alarming discovery of a buried arm has the President's team in a rightful panic. Who buried the arm? How did they get past White House security? And most important: What's the message hidden in the arm's closed fist? Indeed, the puzzle inside has a clear intended recipient, and it isn't the President. It's Beecher himself. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

SECOND LIFE by S. J. Watson (Psychological Thriller)
How well can you really know another person? How far would you go to find the truth about someone you love? When Julia learns that her sister has been violently murdered, she must uncover why. But Julia's quest quickly evolves into an alluring exploration of her own darkest sensual desires. Becoming involved with a dangerous stranger online, she's losing herself, losing control, perhaps losing everything. Her search for answers will jeopardize her marriage, her family and her life. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

SEVENEVES by Neal Stephenson (Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction)
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere. But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature threaten the intrepid pioneers until only a handful of survivors remain. Five thousand years later, their progeny embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown…to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth. Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard.

THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO US by Annie Barrows (Historical Fiction)
In the summer of 1938, Layla Beck’s father, a United States senator, cuts off her allowance and demands that she find employment on the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program. Within days, Layla has been assigned to cover the history of the remote mill town of Macedonia, West Virginia. But once she secures a room in the home of the unconventional Romeyn family, she is drawn into their complex world and soon discovers that the truth of the town is entangled in the thorny past of the Romeyn dynasty. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

THE WRONG MAN by Kate White (Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller)
While on vacation in the Florida Keys, Kit Finn meets Matt Healy, a rugged stranger she literally bumps into at her hotel. He offers to cook her dinner when they’re both back in the city. But when Kit arrives at his luxury apartment ready for the date of a lifetime, she is shocked. How could she have been taken in by the deceptions of a con man? And why has he targeted her? Now the only way out is to expose the vicious puppet master who’s turned her life upside down. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE FEMINIST REVOLUTION: A Story of the Three Most Inspiring and Empowering Women in American History: Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger, and Betty Friedan by Jules Archer (Historical , History, Young Adult 12+)
Today, feminism is as important as ever. Young readers still fighting for equality today need to know how the movement began years ago, with such basics as the right to vote, the right to birth control, and the right to equal employment. Leading historian Jules Archer’s account offers fascinating biographies of Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger, and Betty Friedan, with a full background of the political organizations they worked for and against. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

IMMACULATE by Katelyn Detweiler (Family & Relationships)
Mina is top of her class, girlfriend to the most ambitious guy in school, able to reason and study her way through anything. But when she suddenly finds herself pregnant --- despite having never had sex --- her orderly world collapses. There are those who brand her a heretic. And there are those who believe that miracles are possible --- and that Mina’s unborn child could be the greatest miracle of all. Reviewed by Corinne Fox.

THE SACRED LIES OF MINNOW BLY by Stephanie Oakes (Fiction, Youth Fiction)
The Kevinian cult has taken everything from seventeen year old Minnow: twelve years of her life, her family, her ability to trust. And when she rebelled, they took away her hands, too. Now their Prophet has been murdered and their camp set aflame and it's clear that Minnow knows something --- but she's not talking. As she languishes in juvenile detention, she struggles to unlearn everything she has been taught to believe. But when an FBI detective approaches her about making a deal, Minnow sees she can have the freedom she always dreamed of --- if she’s willing to part with the terrible secrets of her past. Reviewed by Cheyenne C., Teen Board member.

APOCALYPTIGIRL: An Aria for the End Times by Andrew MacLean (Comic Book, Fiction, Graphic Novel)
Alone at the end of the world, Aria is woman with a mission! Traipsing through an overgrown city with her only companion, a cat named Jelly Beans, Aria's search for an ancient relic with immeasurable power has been fruitless so far. But when a run in with a creepy savage sets her on a path to complete her quest, she'll face death head on in the hopes of claiming her prize and, if all goes according to plan, finally returning home. Reviewed by Jess Costello.