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November 25, 2015

20SomethingReads.com Newsletter November 25, 2015
#TWTF, Things We're Thankful For
Holiday Bundle of Cheer 2015 Feature + Contest
New Release Spotlight: THE HARDER YOU FALL by Gena Showalter
Reviews
#TWTF, Things We're Thankful For

We’re not quick to call ourselves holiday enthusiasts, but we’re not quite holiday bummers either. It’s nice to finally see a sibling or two, overindulge in some stuffing and the like, and, most importantly, to catch up on all the TV and movies we’ve missed over the past few weeks. How dare we let our TV-watching diligence slip!

In any case, just because we’re not all gung-ho about the festivities and prefer to laze around in our pajamas on the big turkey day doesn’t mean we aren’t thankful. We’re incredibly thankful --- for our families, our health, cashmere loungewear, and all of the beautiful men we get to see blown up on the big screen throughout the year. But seriously, sometimes it’s nice to participate in some annual self-reflection. We’re only sharing this with you, though; we don’t need everyone knowing what we’re grateful for.

We’re going to switch things up this year because --- unlike turkeys --- we’re not suckers for tradition. Like Walter Isaacson always says, “Innovation is cool.” Also, 2015 was a pretty mixed bag, and we think it’s important to commemorate the good with the bad. Instead of 20 things we’re thankful for, here are only 10 some-tings that inspire our gratitude. And after that, 10 things we didn’t care much for in 2015.

1. Justin Bieber’s comeback: If you told us a year ago that we’d be listening to Bieber songs on repeat, we would’ve laughed in your face. Look at us now. #Sorry #NotSorry

2. The legalization of gay marriage. To us, it's about damn time!

3. All of the great thrillers written by badass ladies this year. Including THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN; IN A DARK, DARK WOOD; THE LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE.

4. Cookie Lyon. Also real cookies. Take a bite.

5. All the creativity. Last seen in: the internet’s reaction to Drake’s “Hotline Bling” music video.

6. New emojis. Think about how much easier communication is now that we have a burrito emoji, among other things.

7. Kanye announcing his run for president. #Kanye2020

8. Adele reaching her full mid-20s potential with her new album. Le sigh. Also, being a secret comedy genius.

9. So many future sequels: Guardians of the Galaxy 2. 50 Shades Darker. 23 Jump Street. Blade Runner 2. Frozen 2. Kingsman: The Secret Service 2. Trainspotting 2. X-Men: Apocalypse.

10. Halloween candy. NOW ON SALE.

We are NOT thankful for:

1. The broken internet. Thanxxx a lot, Kim K.

2. A certain celebrity and his pet toupée running for president. This better be some Joaquin Phoenix-level performance art.

3. Places that are cash only because of the ongoing recession, though no one is calling it a recession. What a pain in the tuchus!

4. All the things that didn’t live up to our expectations. RIP “Blood and Oil.”

5. Online dating apps being unpleasant to navigate on most days.

6. Casual blizzards.

7. The Mets losing the World Series. Sorry, but we’re not in Kansas City anymore.

8. Dressgate. The internet giveth (see above) and the internet taketh away.

9. All the celebrity breakups. If Ariana and Big Sean can’t make it, what hope is there for the rest of us?

10. That E. coli outbreak at Chipotles across the country. Emoji burritos are amazing, but they’re not satiating our hunger!

In case you’re still racking your brain for what to be thankful for, here are three great books that may slide into your list last minute:

Add literary sensation to the list of Mary-Louise Parker’s achievements. The actress’s debut memoir/epistolary masterpiece, DEAR MR. YOU, renders the singular arc of a woman’s life through letters she composes to the men, real and hypothetical, who have informed the person she is today. Beginning with the grandfather she never knew, the letters range from a missive to the beloved priest from her childhood to remembrances of former lovers to an homage to a firefighter she encountered to a heartfelt communication with the uncle of the infant daughter she adopted.

Rupert Thomson is something of a writing chameleon, as he writes such different books each time, but one thing we can count on is the quality of his work. His latest book, KATHERINE CARLYLE, is the story of a young woman who, unmoored by the death of her mother, abandons the set course of her life and goes on a mysterious journey to the ends of the world. Instead of going to college, she disappears, telling no one where she has gone. What begins as an attempt to punish her father for his absence gradually becomes a testing ground of his love for her, a coming-to-terms with the death of her mother, and finally the mise-en-scène for a courageous leap to true empowerment.

We know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but no one ever said anything about its title. We can’t help but be intrigued by Hannah Rothschild’s debut, THE IMPROBABILITY OF LOVE, which is already a hit among critics. The story begins when Annie McDee purchases secondhand a painting that happens to be a lost masterpiece by one of the most important French painters of the 18th century. But who painted this masterpiece is not clear at first. Soon Annie finds herself pursued by interested parties who would do anything to possess her picture. In her search for the painting’s identity, Annie will unwittingly uncover some of the darkest secrets of European history --- as well as the possibility of falling in love again. Sounds like this one will appeal to fans of THE GOLDFINCH.

As all of the holidays near, our annual Holiday Bundle of Cheer Feature and Contest is in full swing. Enter between now and Thursday, December 17th at noon ET for your chance to win some great titles. Scroll down for more details. Or click here to enter.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

5 Things We’re Obsessed With at This Very Moment, in no particular order:
1. Glitter beards.
2. Black Friday sales.
3. Cyber Monday sales. We admit to it. We're #super consumers.
4. These very cool futuristic romance novel covers.
5. New Netflix murder series, "Making a Murderer," in the vein of the Serial podcast and HBO's "The Jinx."

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

 

Holiday Bundle of Cheer 2015 Feature + Contest

The holidays are right around the corner, and as our gift to you, we are spotlighting some amazing books. The deadline to enter the Holiday Bundle of Cheer Feature/Contest is Thursday, December 17th at noon ET. Enter for your chance to be one of five lucky readers who will win a copy of each of the featured titles below, along with some incredibly festive goodies.

This year's featured titles include:

Click here to enter the contest now!

 

New Release Spotlight: THE HARDER YOU FALL by Gena Showalter

Millionaire video-game creator Lincoln West has a dark and tragic past. The sought-after bachelor lives by a rigid schedule and a single rule --- one relationship per year, lasting no more than two months --- until a brash beauty dredges up long-buried emotions.

A reformed party girl, Jessie Kay Dillon is determined to walk the straight and narrow. But her love-hate sizzle with West is just too irresistible. They can't be near each other without tearing off their clothes, but the last thing she needs is to be his next two-month dump. Will she become the one exception? Because as any former girl-gone-wild knows: rules are made to be broken.

-Click here to see the New Release Spotlight feature.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt from the book.

-Click here to read more about the author.
-Click here for Gena Showalter's website.
-Click here for Gena Showalter's Facebook.
-Click here for Gena Showalter's Twitter.
-Click here for Gena Showalter's Instagram.

 

Reviews

ALL DRESSED IN WHITE: An Under Suspicion Novel by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Jan Maxwell
Five years ago, Amanda Pierce was excitedly preparing to marry her college sweetheart. Then, with their guests and families all gathered together, she disappeared. In present-day New York City, Laurie Moran realizes a missing bride is the perfect cold case for her investigative television series, “Under Suspicion.” She and her team set out to recreate the night of the disappearance at the Florida resort with Amanda’s friends and family in attendance. Laurie and “Under Suspicion” host Alex Buckley quickly realize everyone has a theory about why Amanda vanished into thin air. Reviewed by Amie Taylor.

AVENUE OF MYSTERIES by John Irving (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Armando Duran
Fourteen-year-old Juan Diego, who was born and grew up in Mexico, has a 13-year-old sister. Her name is Lupe, and she is a mind reader. Regarding what has happened as opposed to what will, Lupe is usually right about the past; without your telling her, she knows all the worst things that have happened to you. What might a teen girl be driven to do if she thought she could change the future? As an older man, Juan Diego will take a trip to the Philippines, but what travels with him are his dreams and memories; he is most alive in his childhood and early adolescence in Mexico. Reviewed by Roz Shea.

CORRUPTED: A Rosato & DiNunzio Novel by Lisa Scottoline (Legal Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Kate Burton
Thirteen years ago, Bennie Rosato took on Jason Leftavick, a 12-year-old boy who was sent to a juvenile detention center after fighting a class bully. Bennie couldn't free Jason, and to this day it's the case that haunts her. Jason has grown up in and out of juvenile prison, and his adulthood hasn't been any easier. Bennie no longer represents those accused of murder, but when Jason is indicted for killing the same bully he fought with as a kid, she sees no choice but to represent him. Forced to relive the darkest period of her life, Bennie will do everything in her power to get the truth --- and justice. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

CRIMSON SHORE by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Rene Auberjonois
Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast, together with his ward Constance Greene, travels to the quaint seaside village of Exmouth, Massachusetts, to investigate the theft of a priceless wine collection. But inside the wine cellar, they find something considerably more disturbing: a bricked-up niche that once held a crumbling skeleton. Pendergast and Constance soon learn that Exmouth is a town with a very dark and troubled history, and this skeleton may be only the first hint of an ancient transgression, kept secret all these years. But they will discover that the sins of the past are still very much alive. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

DEAR MR. YOU by Mary-Louise Parker (Memoir/Letters)
Audiobook available, narrated by Mary-Louise Parker
DEAR MR. YOU renders the singular arc of a woman’s life through letters Mary-Louise Parker composes to the men, real and hypothetical, who have informed the person she is today. Beginning with the grandfather she never knew, the letters range from a missive to the beloved priest from her childhood to remembrances of former lovers to an homage to a firefighter she encountered to a heartfelt communication with the uncle of the infant daughter she adopted. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

A DEATH IN THE FAMILY: A Detective Kubu Mystery by Michael Stanley (Mystery)
Faced with the violent death of his own father, Assistant Superintendent David “Kubu” Bengu, the smartest detective in the Botswana police, is baffled. Who would kill such a frail old man? Kubu's frustration grows as his boss, Director Mabaku, bans him from being involved in the investigation. The picture becomes even murkier with the apparent suicide of a government official. Are Chinese mine-owners involved? And what role does the US Embassy have to play? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE EXPLORERS GUILD: Volume One: A PASSAGE TO SHAMBHALA by Kevin Costner and Jon Baird, illustrated by Rick Ross (Historical Fantasy)
The Explorers Guild, a secret society of adventurers who journey to hidden worlds seeking out myths and uncovering legends, has but one mission among its members --- to go beyond our known boundaries and seek the truth. With the mystical city of Shambhala in the Guild’s sights, an epic adventure awaits. When several members set out in search of the veiled city, what was once an undertaking to seek truth quickly turns deadly and more complicated than anyone involved first believed. Reviewed by Amy Gwiazdowski.

THE GIRL IN THE ICE: A Konrad Simonsen Thriller written by Lotte and Søren Hammer, translated by Paul Norlen (Mystery/Thriller)
Under the heartless vault of Greenland's arctic sky, the body of a girl is discovered. Half-naked and tied up, buried hundreds of miles from any signs of life, she has lain alone for 25 years. When Detective Chief Superintendent Konrad Simonsen is flown in to investigate this horrific murder and he sees how she was attacked, it triggers a dark memory and he realizes this was not the killer's only victim. As Simonsen's team works to discover evidence that has long since been buried, they unearth truths that certain people would prefer stayed forgotten. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE GUILTY by David Baldacci (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Kyf Brewer and Orlagh Cassidy
Will Robie escaped his small Gulf Coast hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi after high school, severing all personal ties, and never looked back. Not until the unimaginable occurs. His father, Dan Robie, has been arrested and charged with murder. Unlike the missions Robie undertook in the service of his country, where his target was clearly defined, digging into his father's case only reveals more questions. Robie is drawn into the hidden underside of Cantrell, where he must face the unexpected and possibly deadly consequences of the long-ago choices made by father and son. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.

HOSTAGE by Kristina Ohlsson (Thriller)
Shortly after a crowded New York-bound Boeing 747 takes off from Stockholm, a bomb threat is found in one of the aircraft’s lavatories. Police superintendent Alex Recht teams up with the energetic and often abrasive Eden Lundell from the security service’s counterterrorism unit to deal with the hijacking. Fredrika Bergman, who is currently working at the Justice Department, returns to the police force to act as a liaison between the government and the police. The investigation team soon realizes that the plot behind the hijacking is far more complex than they initially thought. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE IMPROBABILITY OF LOVE by Hannah Rothschild (Fiction)
At a neglected secondhand shop, Annie McDee purchases a painting that happens to be a lost masterpiece by one of the most important French painters of the 18th century. But who painted this masterpiece is not clear at first. Soon Annie finds herself pursued by interested parties who would do anything to possess her picture. In her search for the painting’s identity, Annie will unwittingly uncover some of the darkest secrets of European history --- as well as the possibility of falling in love again. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

KATHERINE CARLYLE by Rupert Thomson (Fiction)
Unmoored by her mother’s death and feeling her father to be an increasingly distant figure, Katherine Carlyle abandons the set course of her life and starts out on a mysterious journey to the ends of the world. Instead of going to college, she disappears, telling no one where she has gone. What begins as an attempt to punish her father for his absence gradually becomes a testing ground of his love for her, a coming-to-terms with the death of her mother, and finally the mise-en-scène for a courageous leap to true empowerment. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.

THE MAGIC STRINGS OF FRANKIE PRESTO by Mitch Albom (Fiction)
Audiobook available, performed by Mitch Albom and a full cast
At nine years old, Frankie Presto --- a war orphan raised by a blind music teacher in a small Spanish town --- is sent to America in the bottom of a boat. His only possession is an old guitar and six precious strings. But Frankie’s talent is touched by the gods, and his amazing journey weaves him through the musical landscape of the 20th century. Frankie becomes a pop star himself but soon realizes that, through his music, he can actually affect people’s futures. At the height of his popularity, Frankie vanishes. Only decades later does he reappear --- just before his spectacular death --- to change one last life. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.

THE MURALIST by B. A. Shapiro (Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by Xe Sands
When Alizée Benoit, a young American painter working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), vanishes in New York City in 1940, no one knows what happened to her. Not her Jewish family living in German-occupied France. Not her arts patron and political compatriot, Eleanor Roosevelt. Not her close-knit group of friends and fellow WPA painters. And, some 70 years later, not her great-niece, Danielle Abrams, who, while working at Christie’s auction house, uncovers enigmatic paintings hidden behind works by those now-famous Abstract Expressionist artists. Do they hold answers to the questions surrounding her missing aunt? Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

PLAYING WITH FIRE by Tess Gerritsen (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Julia Whelan and Will Damron
In a shadowy antiques shop in Rome, violinist Julia Ansdell happens upon a curious piece of music --- the Incendio waltz --- and is immediately entranced by its unusual composition. Back home in Boston, from the moment Julia’s bow moves across the strings, drawing the waltz’s fiery notes into the air, something strange is stirred. The music has a terrifying and inexplicable effect on her young daughter, who seems violently transformed. Convinced that the hypnotic strains of Incendio are weaving a malevolent spell, Julia sets out to discover the man and the meaning behind the score. Reviewed by Judy Gigstad.

THE PROMISE: An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel by Robert Crais (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Luke Daniels and MacLeod Andrews
When Elvis Cole is secretly hired to find a grief-stricken mother, he's led to an ordinary house on a rainy night in Echo Park. Only the house isn't ordinary, and the people hiding inside are a desperate fugitive and a murderous criminal with his own dangerous secrets. LAPD K-9 Officer Scott James and his German shepherd, Maggie, track the fugitive to this same house, coming face-to-face with Mr. Rollins, a killer who leaves behind a brutally murdered body and enough explosives to destroy the neighborhood. Scott is now the only person who can identify him, but Mr. Rollins has a rule: Never leave a witness alive. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

RED TIDE: A Billy Knight Thriller by Jeff Lindsay (Thriller)
In Jeff Lindsay's long-awaited sequel to his debut novel, TROPICAL DEPRESSION, Billy Knight wants to ride out Key West’s slow season with the occasional charter and the frequent beer. But when he discovers a dead body floating in the gulf, Billy gets drawn into a deadly plot of dark magic and profound evil. Along with his plucky, gun-happy friend, Nicky, and Anna, a resilient and mysterious survivor of her own horrors, Billy sets out to right the wrongs the police won’t, putting himself in mortal peril on the high seas. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

THE THEORY OF DEATH: A Decker/Lazarus Novel by Faye Kellerman (Mystery)
Audiobook available, performed by Richard Ferrone
Former LAPD lieutenant Peter Decker is relishing the quiet and slow pace of his new job with the Greenbury police department. But then the body of a nude man is found deep within the woods. The death appears to be a suicide, but until the coroner’s ruling, the scene must be treated as a suspicious crime. Decker’s investigation takes him and former Greenbury colleague Tyler McAdams to Kneed Loft College, where they must penetrate enigmatic formulas and codes to solve a dark, twisted crime devised by some brilliant and depraved masterminds. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

YAPPY HOUR by Diana Orgain (Cozy Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by Caroline Shaffer
Every Friday night, the Roundup Crew, a group of dog-loving friends, meets at a neighborhood wine bar for Yappy Hour. When Rachel, the owner, mysteriously leaves town and asks her sister, Maggie, to run the bar in her absence, things get complicated fast. Maggie arrives to open up and finds a body sprawled on the floor, along with an incriminating letter with Rachel's name on it nearby. On impulse, she hides the letter from the hunky detective, Officer Brad Brooks, who is dispatched to the scene. When Rachel is declared the top suspect by the police, Maggie decides to investigate on her own. Reviewed by Maggie Harding.

 

 

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