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June 2, 2016

20SomethingReads.com Newsletter June 2, 2016
Hot, Hot Heat in Full Swing
Beach Bag of Books 2016 Feature + Contest
Reviews
Young Adult Reviews
Hot, Hot Heat in Full Swing
SELFIE ALERT: Maya G. with Emilia Clarke!<br />
SELFIE ALERT: Maya G. with Emilia Clarke!

We are officially, non-officially in summer. With #MDW behind us, we have the summer solstice, the Fourth of July and the Olympics to look forward to for the next few months...and this hot, hot heat. If you happen to live in NYC, or were visiting for the past weekend, you’d know we had quite the heatwave. Rest assured, the temps tamed down yesterday, and while we love any reason to drink a cold margarita...and read outside...it was a little too much, too soon. A reminder to all of you braving it along with us: hydrate, catch that A/C when you can and maybe pick up one of those little travel fans to beat the heat underground. We swear it’s fashionable streetwear these days.

In our last newsletter, we shared with you that the theatrical release of ME BEFORE YOU was quickly approaching, and now we’re in the final stretch! We caught a press screening last night (the movie hits theaters tomorrow), and it was totally divine. To no one’s surprise, Emily cried tears for days. As far as we can tell, the other moviegoers loved it too, so we think it’s safe to say the movie is going to be a hit. Sam Claflin’s cheeky smile did not disappoint, and Emilia Clarke and her very expressive eyebrows were, as expected, fan favorites.

Speaking of Emilia, one of our own, Maya Gittelman, was lucky enough to snag a selfie with the famed actress (not to mention the Mother of Dragons) at a recent event, which you can see in the pic above. Maya coordinates author appearances and signings for the Barnes and Noble on the Upper West Side, and Emilia’s appearance brought fans out in droves. Between "GOT" and Me Before You, it’s safe to say that “Milly” (as her inner circle refers to her) has us wrapped around her finger. Word around the office is that she’s a delight in person, and we say that pic says it all.

While things heat up on and off screens, we’re trying to find new ways to keep our cool. Nikki just discovered frozen rosé (frosé, if you will), and she hasn’t looked back. She can’t quite vouch for the science of it because she hasn’t made it herself --- YET --- but all signs point to yes, please. And Emily is trying to make Slurpees happen again (#Summer2004), even if her aging body isn’t quite on board. Our solutions may not be perfect, but they’re fun and cold, which is all that matters when humidity is peaking at 90 percent. It is Bud Light Lime season™, after all.

In other important early summer news, TSwift and Calvin Harris broke it off, and the public found out last night. Seems like Tay Tay is keeping her cool by just shaking it off. With her famous girl #squad in tow, we have no doubt she’ll have a fine time on the rebound. Not to mention that we’re expecting break-up song after break-up song in the coming months. Rumor on the street is that the DJ “did not cheat,” but we’re holding our breath for the real truth in Taylor’s memoir, circa 2025. We say: Boy, bye.

And since we’re on the topic of romance, we strongly suggest watching “The Bachelorette” if you don’t already. It’s mindless, stupid and sometimes terrible, but thoroughly entertaining. The men are a wild bunch, and Jojo’s milkshake is definitely bringing the boys to the yard. Tbh, the only guy who caught our eye is “Meat Chad,” the literal meathead who is playing the long game by openly negging Jojo on national television and riling up the rest of the guys. He may not be “the One,” but he’s definitely the one to watch. Did any of you read Chris Harrison’s book (THE PERFECT LETTER)? If so, tell us. We’re thinking it might be time.

One of our favorite 20SomethingReads.com features of the year is now live: Beach Bag of Books! From now through Monday, August 1st at noon ET, we’re giving readers the lucky opportunity to win one of five prize packages, complete with a copy of each of the featured titles and some summertime goodies. The books are excellent, with some recent releases and some hotly anticipated ones, so be sure to enter and share with your friends! Scroll down to see the full list of included titles, or click here to read more and enter.

If the only thing that deserves your final rose is a good book, here are a few choice selections:

DON'T YOU CRY, the latest by Mary Kubica, is set in downtown Chicago, where a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate, Quinn Collins, to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she's the person Quinn thought she knew. Meanwhile, in a small Michigan harbor town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where 18-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her charm and beauty, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more dark and sinister than he ever expected. It's definitely twisty. Carol and Rebecca met Mary at one of her New York appearances last week; she is really sweet, smart and well-spoken.

Mary Kay Andrews, the “Queen of the Summer Beach Read,” is back just in time with THE WEEKENDERS. Riley Griggs has a season of good times with friends and family ahead of her on the idyllic island of Belle Isle, North Carolina, when things take an unexpected turn. While waiting for her husband to arrive on the ferry one Friday afternoon, Riley is confronted by a process server who thrusts papers into her hand. And her husband is nowhere to be found. So she turns to her island friends for help and support, but it turns out that each of them has their own secrets. The clock is ticking as the mystery deepens...in a murderous way. Riley must find a way to investigate the secrets of Belle Island, the husband she might not really know, and the summer that could change everything.

Phaedra Patrick throws down a charming debut with THE CURIOUS CHARMS OF ARTHUR PEPPER. In it, 69-year-old Arthur Pepper’s simple life is upended on the one-year anniversary of his wife Miriam’s death. While sorting through Miriam’s possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he’s never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife’s secret life before they met --- a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places. Our thought: armchair travel beats no travel.

Stay cool and love deeply!

5 Things We’re Obsessed With at This Very Moment, in no particular order:

1. This interview with Emma Cline, whose debut THE GIRLS hits shelves 6/14
2. Blac Chyna + Rob K's new series on E!
3. Summer Rules™
4. Daenerys fire power moves on "GOT"
5. The 6/14 premiere of "Animal Kingdom" on TNT

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

 

Beach Bag of Books 2016 Feature + Contest

It's time to think about summer reading. We're talking about the kinds of books that you're glad you now have time to kick back with and enjoy. The way we see it, it wouldn't be summer without sun, surf and great reading. You supply the beach chair, and we'll provide the fantastic book ideas in our Fifth Annual Beach Bag of Books Feature and Contest. From now through Monday, August 1st at noon ET, five lucky readers will win a selection of the featured books.

This year's featured titles include (click on each title to read more):

Click here to enter the contest.

 
Reviews

BEYOND THE ICE LIMIT: A Gideon Crew Novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by David W. Collins
Five years ago, the mysterious and inscrutable head of Effective Engineering Solutions, Eli Glinn, led a mission to recover a gigantic meteorite from a remote island off the coast of South America. The mission ended in disaster when their ship foundered in a vicious storm and broke apart, sinking to the ocean floor. The tragedy revealed something truly terrifying: the meteorite they tried to retrieve was not simply a rock. Instead, it was a complex organism from the deep reaches of space. That organism has now implanted itself in the sea bed two miles below the surface --- and it’s growing. As Gideon Crew and his colleagues soon discover, the "meteorite" has a mind of its own and has no intention of going quietly. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

THE CURIOUS CHARMS OF ARTHUR PEPPER by Phaedra Patrick (Fiction)
Audiobook available, performed by James Langton
Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. But on the one-year anniversary of his wife Miriam’s death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam’s possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he’s never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife’s secret life before they met --- a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places. Reviewed by Jane Krebs.

THE DEFENSE by Steve Cavanagh (Legal Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Adam Sims
Former con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn gave up the law a year ago after a disastrous case, and he vowed never to step foot in a courtroom again. But now he doesn't have a choice. The head of the Russian mob in New York City, on trial for murder, has kidnapped Eddie's 10-year-old daughter: Eddie has to take this case whether he likes it or not. Using his razor-sharp wit and every con, bluff, grift and trick in the book, Eddie has 48 hours to defend an impossible murder trial. And if he loses this case, he loses everything. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE DOLL-MASTER AND OTHER TALES OF TERROR by Joyce Carol Oates (Horror/Short Stories)
In the title story of Joyce Carol Oates’ haunting collection of six “tales of terror,” a young boy becomes obsessed with his cousin’s doll after she tragically passes away from leukemia. As he grows older, he begins to collect “found dolls” from the surrounding neighborhoods and stores his treasures in the abandoned carriage house on his family's estate. But just what kind of dolls are they? Joyce Carol Oates evokes the “fascination of the abomination” that is at the core of the most profound, the most unsettling and the most memorable of dark mystery fiction. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

DON'T YOU CRY by Mary Kubica (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, performed by Kate Rudd and Kirby Heyborne
In downtown Chicago, a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate, Quinn Collins, to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she's the person Quinn thought she knew. Meanwhile, in a small Michigan harbor town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where 18-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her charm and beauty, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more dark and sinister than he ever expected. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

EVERYBODY'S FOOL by Richard Russo (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Mark Bramhall
In this long-awaited follow-up to 1993’s NOBODY’S FOOL, the irresistible Sully is staring down a cardiologist’s estimate that he has only a year or two left. It’s hard work trying to keep this news from the most important people in his life: Ruth, the married woman he carried on with for years; the ultra-hapless Rub Squeers, who worries that he and Sully aren’t still best friends; and Sully’s son and grandson, for whom he was mostly an absentee figure (and now a regretful one). Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

THE FIREMAN by Joe Hill (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Audiobook available, performed by Kate Mulgrew
A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one. The doctors call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton. To everyone else it’s Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies --- before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected, and blazes erupt everywhere. A mysterious and compelling stranger straddles the abyss between insanity and death. Known as The Fireman, he strolls the ruins of New Hampshire, a madman afflicted with Dragonscale who has learned to control the fire within himself, using it as a shield to protect the hunted…and as a weapon to avenge the wronged. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

GIRLS & SEX: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape by Peggy Orenstein (Family & Relationships/Social Science)
Audiobook available, read by Peggy Orenstein
A generation gap has emerged between parents and their girls. Even in this age of helicopter parenting, the mothers and fathers of tomorrow’s women have little idea what their daughters are up to sexually or how they feel about it. Drawing on in-depth interviews with over 70 young women and a wide range of psychologists, academics and experts, renowned journalist Peggy Orenstein goes where most others fear to tread, pulling back the curtain on the hidden truths, hard lessons and important possibilities of girls’ sex lives in the modern world. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

GIRLS ON FIRE by Robin Wasserman (Thriller)
Audiobook available, performed by Cassandra Campbell, Soneela Nankani and Allyson Ryan
On Halloween in 1991, a popular high school basketball star ventures into the woods and disappears. Three days later, he’s found with a bullet in his head and a gun in his hand. In the wake of this incident, bright but lonely Hannah Dexter is befriended by the charismatic, seductive Lacey Champlain. Lacey forges a fast, intimate bond with the impressionable Dex, making her over in her own image and unleashing a fierce defiance that neither girl expected. But as Lacey gradually lures Dex away from her safe life into a feverish spiral of obsession, rebellion and ever greater risk, an unwelcome figure appears on the horizon --- and Lacey’s secret history collides with Dex’s worst nightmare. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

HIDE AWAY: An Eve Duncan Novel by Iris Johansen (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Elizabeth Rodgers
World-famous forensic sculptor Eve Duncan has landed in a well-guarded hospital room in Carmel, California. But hidden danger looms for Eve, her beloved Joe Quinn, and Cara Delaney, the young girl they’ve both sworn to protect. With Cara’s enemies on the move, Eve has no choice but to flee the hospital. She turns to her daughter, Jane MacGuire, for help in getting out of the country. For years, Jane has been avoiding pressure to find a treasure thought to be buried in Scotland, but she’s finally succumbed to John MacDuff’s pleas to track it down. Eve and Cara join Jane in the remote mountains, but soon realize that nowhere is far enough away from the ruthless predators who are on their trail. Reviewed by Judy Gigstad.

THE HIGHWAYMAN: A Longmire Story by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by George Guidall
When Wyoming highway patrolman Rosey Wayman is transferred to the beautiful and imposing landscape of the Wind River Canyon, an area the troopers refer to as no-man's-land because of the lack of radio communication, she starts receiving “officer needs assistance” calls. The problem? They're coming from Bobby Womack, a legendary Arapaho patrolman who met a fiery death in the canyon almost a half-century ago. With an investigation that spans this world and the next, Sheriff Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear take on a case that pits them against a legend: The Highwayman. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

I'M FASCINATED BY SACRIFICE FLIES: Inside the Game We All Love by Tim Kurkjian (Sports)
ESPN baseball commentator Tim Kurkjian is fascinated by sacrifice flies. In fact, he is fascinated by so many aspects of baseball that he's written a book to show baseball fans where this fascination comes from and how they, too, can find it. In the aftermath of the Steroid Era that stained the game, at a time when so many players are so rich and therefore have a sense of entitlement that they haven't earned, Kurkjian shows readers how to love the game more than ever, with incredible insight and stories that are hilarious, heartbreaking and revealing. Reviewed by Ron Kaplan.

IMAGINE ME GONE by Adam Haslett (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Ellen Archer and Robert Fass
When Margaret's fiancé, John, is hospitalized for depression in 1960s London, she faces a choice: carry on with their plans despite what she now knows of his condition, or back away from the suffering it may bring her. She decides to marry him. IMAGINE ME GONE is the story of what unfolds from this act of love and faith. At the heart of it is their eldest son, Michael, a brilliant, anxious music fanatic who makes sense of the world through parody. Over the span of decades, his younger siblings struggle along with their mother to care for his increasingly troubled and precarious existence. Reviewed by Rebecca Kilberg.

LaROSE by Louise Erdrich (Fiction)
Audiobook available, performed by Louise Erdrich
Hunting along the edge of his property, Landreaux Iron accidentally kills his neighbor's five-year-old son, Dusty Ravich. Horrified at what he’s done, the recovered alcoholic turns to an Ojibwe tribe tradition --- the sweat lodge --- for guidance and finds a way forward. Following an ancient means of retribution, he and his wife, Emmaline, will give their son, LaRose, to Dusty's grieving parents. But when a vengeful man with a long-standing grudge against Landreaux begins raising trouble, hurling accusations of a cover-up the day Dusty died, he threatens the tenuous peace that has kept these two fragile families whole. Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy.

LIFE WITHOUT A RECIPE: A Memoir of Food and Family by Diana Abu-Jaber (Memoir)
On one side, there is Grace: prize-winning author Diana Abu-Jaber’s tough, independent sugar-fiend of a German grandmother, wielding a suitcase full of holiday cookies. On the other, Bud: a flamboyant, spice-obsessed Arab father, full of passionate argument. The two could not agree on anything: not about food, work, or especially about what Diana should do with her life. Grace warned her away from children. Bud wanted her married above all --- even if he had to provide the ring. Caught between cultures and lavished with contradictory “advice” from both sides of her family, Diana spent years learning how to ignore others’ well-intentioned prescriptions. Reviewed by Pauline Finch.

THE LONEY by Andrew Michael Hurley (Horror)
Audiobook available, read by Richard Burnip
When the remains of a young child are discovered during a winter storm on a stretch of the bleak Lancashire coastline known as the Loney, a man named Smith is forced to confront the terrifying and mysterious events that occurred 40 years earlier. At that time, his devoutly Catholic mother was determined to find healing for Hanny, his disabled older brother. And so the family embarked on an Easter pilgrimage to an ancient shrine. When the two brothers found their lives entangling with a glamorous couple staying at a nearby house, they became involved in more troubling rites. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

UNKNOWN REMAINS by Peter Leonard (Thriller)
Jack McCann is a high-stakes Wall Street trader who sneaks into his office early one morning to try and clear out his things and get out of Dodge; he knows he’s in trouble, deep legal trouble. Outside his office window, he hears a booming sound, and then the worst noise imaginable. He works in the World Trade Center, and it's September 11, 2001. His wife, Diane, is visited the next day by a grief counselor, and then the mob. She learns that Jack owes them $750,000; their personal bank accounts have been emptied, and she's totally broke. Lost in grief and shock, Diane soon discovers that her husband was not the loving spouse he appeared to be. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE WEEKENDERS by Mary Kay Andrews (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Kathleen McInerney
Riley Griggs has a season of good times with friends and family ahead of her on the idyllic island of Belle Isle, North Carolina, when things take an unexpected turn. While waiting for her husband to arrive on the ferry one Friday afternoon, Riley is confronted by a process server who thrusts papers into her hand. And her husband is nowhere to be found. So she turns to her island friends for help and support, but it turns out that each of them has their own secrets. The clock is ticking as the mystery deepens...in a murderous way. Riley must find a way to investigate the secrets of Belle Island, the husband she might not really know, and the summer that could change everything. Reviewed by Jamie Layton.

 

Young Adult Reviews

BEWARE THAT GIRL by Teresa Toten (Mystery)
Kate O’Brien's whole life has been a series of setbacks she’s had to snake her way out of, but she's determined to change that. As the scholarship student at the Waverly School in NYC, Kate has her work cut out for her: her plan is to climb the social ladder and land a spot at Yale. She’s already befriended the cosseted, mega-wealthy yet deeply damaged Olivia Sumner. When the handsome and whip-smart Mark Redkin joins the Waverly administration, he becomes especially close to Olivia, a fact she’s intent on keeping to herself. It becomes increasingly obvious that Redkin poses a threat to Kate, too, in a way she can’t reveal --- and can’t afford to ignore. Reviewed by Laura T., Teen Board Member.

THE OUTLIERS by Kimberly McCreight (Mystery)
It all starts with a text: Please, Wylie, I need your help. Wylie hasn’t heard from Cassie in over a week, not since their last fight. But that doesn’t matter. Cassie’s in trouble, so Wylie decides to do what she has done so many times before: save her best friend from herself. Reviewed by Maggie L., Teen Board Member.

THE SAFEST LIES by Megan Miranda (Romantic Suspense)
Kelsey's mother hasn’t set foot outside their front door in 17 years, since she escaped from her kidnappers with nothing but her attacker’s baby growing inside her. Kelsey knows she’s supposed to keep a low profile and stay off the grid for their protection, but that plan is shattered when her dramatic car accident and rescue by volunteer firefighter and classmate Ryan Baker sparks media coverage. A few days later, she arrives home to find her mother missing. Now, to have a chance at a future, Kelsey will have to face her darkest fears. Because someone is coming for her. Reviewed by Kate F., Teen Board Member.

 

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