If this was the summer of the quick engagement, this is the autumn of the memoir. Not quite exactly the same...I know, but close enough. Real talk: this fresh, crispy-aired season is already giving me all the feels. There’s nothing like keeping your windows open at night (because you no longer need AC) to catch that cool breeze. And, finally being able to step out in jeans and a jacket (without sweat dripping head to toe) is getting me excited for all the new season has to offer. This includes, but is not limited to, lots and lots of hotly-anticipated new biographies finally hitting the shelves, new TV to catch and a handful of movies (some book-to-screen, some not) that have been on my radar in recent months.
The first book to have on your radar is THIS WILL ONLY HURT A LITTLE by Busy Philipps, coming out October 16th. Maybe you know Busy from her "Dawson's Creek" days, maybe as Michelle William’s best friend, or maybe you follow her religiously on Instagram and watch every single one of her stories like I do. Whatever the case may be, her memoir is GREAT and you should run, not walk, to pick up a copy when it’s out. I know this because we received an advance copy of it in the office and I’m loving it. It’s juicy, honest and naturally, has Busy’s sense of humor all over it.
Another hot memoir for fall is Michelle Obama’s BECOMING, which will be in stores on November 13th. While this isn’t Michelle’s first book (you may recall AMERICAN GROWN, about the White House garden), it is her first memoir, which promises to be “deeply personal.” Political opinions aside, it seems like it will be an empowering story about womanhood in America. Her book tour was just announced and will be stopping in 10 cities across the US. If you happen to live in NYC or close by, she will speaking at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on December 1st. Tickets are extremely limited, but you can read about the tour and more here.
ACID FOR THE CHILDREN: A Memoir by Flea will be released on November 27th, just in time for the holidays and the P-E-R-F-E-C-T gift for the Red Hot Chili Peppers fan or classic rock music lover in your life. Patti Smith (who’s 2010 JUST KIDS memoir received rave reviews) wrote the foreword for the book, so you know it’s got to be good. Flea is an icon (and arguably, when the better bassists in the business) in the American music world and it’s about time we get his take on the rise and success of RHCP. You may even recall that he was the voice of Donnie in the children’s show, “The Wild Thornberrys.” What a trip down memory lane. If his work is anything like Anthony Kiedis’ SCAR TISSUE, we’re all in for a real treat. Read an excerpt here.
Two others to note: Sally Field’s IN PIECES (September 18th) and Tina Turner’s MY LOVE STORY: A Memoir by Tina Turner (October 16th).
It’s going to be difficult to follow up the high of Crazy Rich Asians (the next book in the series already has a green light to be made into movie magic), but there is A LOT to look forward in the upcoming months. First, the book-to-screen adaptation of A SIMPLE FAVOR hits theaters tomorrow. Based on the 2017 book of the same name by Darcey Bell, the drama/thriller focuses on a mom blogger who investigates the disappearance of her best friend in a small town. Starring Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick and Henry Golding (who plays Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians!), the movie is getting great pre-release buzz and the early reviews are pretty positive. Check out the trailer here.
I'm super excited for Colette, a book-related movie that will hit theaters next Friday, September 21st. The movie stars Keira Knightley as Colette (a remarkable fit, if you ask me; think: Pride & Prejudice and The Imitation Game), the famous French novelist, alongside Dominic West and Eleanor Tomlinson. It's based on the true story of Colette, who wrote under her husband's name. When one of the books became a bestseller, she decided to claim creative ownership and oust herself as the true author. In short, the movie looks fantastic, and is a very timely story considering the current conversation on gender roles in society. Watch the trailer here.
It seems like Mary Queen of Scots will definitely be an award-winner. While it doesn’t hit theaters until December 7th, there’s quite a bit to be hyped up on. First, the movie stars Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan, who were both nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars in 2018, and that’s almost all that needs to be said. Two stellar female stars, one stellar subject matter and cinematography that’s great enough to get anyone to the movies --- peep the trailer here. The movie is based on John Guy's 2004 biography MY HEART IS MY OWN: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots, and fun fact: It stars another cast member from Crazy Rich Asians!
Our very own Rebecca Munro, Editorial Manager for Teenreads.com, attended the book launch event the other night for THE DINNER LIST by author Rebecca Serle. Click here to read Rebecca's blog post about how the event went down at her favorite book store in NYC, McNally Jackson.
Here are some books to check out right now:
Gary Shteyngart's latest, LAKE SUCCESS, is the story of hedge-fund manager Barry Cohen who oversees $2.4 billion in assets. He's narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded, and divorced from the real world as most of us know it. Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his three-year-old son’s diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart. Meanwhile, his super-smart wife, Seema --- a driven first-generation American who craved the picture-perfect life that comes with wealth --- has her own demons to face.
In PIECES OF HER, Karin Slaughter tells the story of Andrea, who knows everything about her mother Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence, and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly 30 years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.
VOX by Christina Dalcher is a modern woman's nightmare. On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words per day, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial. This can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her. Soon women are not permitted to hold jobs. Girls are not taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke 16,000 words each day, but now women have only 100 to make themselves heard. For herself, her daughter and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.
For anyone in Hurricane Florence's path, stay safe!
5 Things To Obsess About This Very Moment, in no particular order:
1. The "Dr. Death" podcast
2. ON THE BASIS OF SEX trailer
3. The third season of the hit podcast "Serial" will begin September 20th
4. The Harry Potter series turned 20!
5. Everything to read up on about THE REAL LOLITA
Happy reading,
Nicole Sherman
AFTER NIGHTFALL by A. J. Banner (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Teri Schnaubelt
Imagine your closest friend utterly betraying you. Years later, when she seeks forgiveness, you invite her to your engagement party as a gesture of reconciliation. But seething hostilities rise to the surface, ruining everyone’s evening. After an awful night, your friend’s battered, lifeless body is found at the bottom of a rocky cliff. Newly engaged Marissa Parlette is living this nightmare. Desperate for answers, Marissa digs deep into the events of the party. But what she remembers happening after nightfall now carries sinister implications. The more she investigates, the more she questions everything she thought she knew about her friends, the man she once trusted, and even herself. Reviewed by Christine M. Irvin.
BONE ON BONE by Julia Keller (Mystery)
After a three-year prison sentence, Bell Elkins is back in Acker's Gap. And she finds herself in the white-hot center of a complicated and deadly case --- even as she comes to terms with one last, devastating secret of her own. A prominent local family has fallen victim to the same sickness that infects the whole region: drug addiction. With mother against father, child against parent, and tensions that lead inexorably to tragedy, they are trapped in a grim, hopeless struggle with nowhere to turn. Teamed up with former Deputy Jake Oakes, who battles his own demons as he adjusts to life as a paraplegic, and aided by the new prosecutor, Rhonda Lovejoy, Bell tackles a case as poignant as it is perilous, as heartbreaking as it is challenging. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE BOUNCER by David Gordon (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Richard Poe
Joe Brody is a strip club bouncer who has a highly classified military history and whose best friend from Catholic school is head mafioso Gio Caprisi. FBI agent Donna Zamora is a single mother stuck at a desk manning the hotline. Their storylines intersect over a tip from a cokehead that leads to a crackdown on Gio’s strip joint in Queens and Joe’s arrest. Outside the jailhouse, the Fed and the bouncer lock eyes, as Gordon launches them both headlong into a nonstop plot that goes from back-road gun show intervention to high-stakes perfume heist and manages to touch everyone from the CIA to the Flushing Triads. Beneath it all lurks a sinister criminal mastermind whose manipulations could cause chaos on a massively violent scale. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE BOY AT THE KEYHOLE by Stephen Giles (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Joel Froomkin
Nine-year-old Samuel lives alone in a once-great estate in Surrey with the family’s housekeeper, Ruth. His father is dead and his mother has been abroad for months, purportedly tending to her late husband’s faltering business. She left in a hurry one night while Samuel was sleeping and did not say goodbye. He misses her dearly and maps her journey in an atlas he finds in her study. Samuel’s life is otherwise regulated by Ruth, who runs the house with an iron fist. Only she and Samuel know how brutally she enforces order. As rumors in town begin to swirl, Samuel wonders whether something more sinister is afoot. Perhaps his mother did not leave but was murdered --- by Ruth. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
THE BREAKERS: A Sharon McCone Mystery by Marcia Muller (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Elizabeth Evans
On a foggy summer morning, private investigator Sharon McCone receives a call from her former neighbors, the Curleys. Their usually dependable daughter, Chelle, hasn't been answering their calls for weeks. Would Sharon check on her? Sharon arranges to visit the building Chelle had been living in and rehabbing in southwest San Francisco. Lurking behind a divider screen is a ghastly art gallery: portraits and caricatures of mass murderers, long ago and recent. What, an alarmed Sharon wonders, was Chelle doing in this chamber of horrors? And where is she now? Reviewed by Roz Shea.
CHARLOTTE WALSH LIKES TO WIN by Jo Piazza (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Tavia Gilbert
Charlotte Walsh is running for Senate in the most important race in the country during a midterm election that will decide the balance of power in Congress. Once the campaign gets underway, Charlotte is blindsided by just how dirty her opponent is willing to fight, how harshly she is judged by the press and her peers, and how exhausting it becomes to navigate a marriage with an increasingly ambivalent and often resentful husband. When the opposition uncovers a secret that could threaten not just her campaign but everything Charlotte holds dear, she has to decide just how badly she wants to win and at what cost. Reviewed by Amy Haddock.
CROSS HER HEART by Sarah Pinborough (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Antonia Beamish
Lisa lives for her daughter Ava, her job and her best friend Marilyn. But when a handsome client shows an interest in her, Lisa starts daydreaming about sharing her life with him, too. Maybe she’s ready now. Maybe it's time to let her terrifying secret past go. However, when her daughter rescues a boy from drowning and their pictures are all over the news, Lisa's world explodes. As she finds everything she has built threatened, and not knowing who she can trust, it's up to Lisa to face her past in order to save what she holds dear. But someone has been pulling all their strings and is determined to see Lisa and Ava suffer. Because long ago Lisa broke a promise. And some promises aren't meant to be broken. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
DEAD MAN RUNNING: An Alex McKnight Novel by Steve Hamilton (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Nick Sullivan
On the Mediterranean Sea, a vacationer logs on to the security-camera feed from his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. Rewinding through the feed, he sees an intruder. When he shifts to the bedroom camera, he sees the dead body. Martin T. Livermore is the key suspect in the abduction and murder of at least five women, but he's never been this sloppy before. When the FBI finally catches him in Scottsdale, he declares he'll only talk to one person: Alex McKnight. Livermore means nothing to McKnight, but it soon becomes clear that McKnight means something to Livermore...and that Livermore's capture was only the beginning of an elaborate, twisted plot with McKnight at the center. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
DEPTH OF WINTER: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by George Guidall
Welcome to Walt Longmire's worst nightmare. In Craig Johnson's latest mystery, DEPTH OF WINTER, an international hit man and the head of one of the most vicious drug cartels in Mexico has kidnapped Walt's beloved daughter, Cady, to auction her off to his worst enemies, of which there are many. The American government is of limited help and the Mexican one even less. Walt heads into the 110-degree heat of the Northern Mexican desert alone, one man against an army. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
DESOLATION MOUNTAIN by William Kent Krueger (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by David Chandler
A private plane has crashed on Desolation Mountain in a remote part of the Iron Lake Reservation, which kills a United States senator and most of her family. Cork O’Connor is joined by his son, Stephen, and a few Ojibwe men to sift through the smoldering wreckage when the FBI arrives and quickly assumes control of the situation. As he initiates his own probe, Cork stumbles upon a familiar face in Bo Thorson, a private security consultant whose unnamed clients have hired him to quietly look into the cause of the crash. The men agree to join forces in their investigation, but soon Cork begins to wonder if Thorson’s loyalties lie elsewhere. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE DRAMA TEACHER by Koren Zailckas (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Elizabeth Knowelden
Gracie Mueller is a proud mother of two and a devoted wife. Her life is complicated by the usual tedium and stressors, and she’s settled down comfortably enough. But when her husband’s failing career as a real estate agent makes finances tight, their home goes into foreclosure, and Gracie feels she has no choice but to return to the creatively illegal and high-stakes lifestyle of her past in order to keep all that she’s worked so hard to have. Gracie has a lot to hide about where she’s from, who she is and who she’s been. And when things inevitably begin to spin out of her control, more questions about the truth of her past are raised, including all the ones she never meant to --- or even knew to --- ask. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE FALL OF GONDOLIN written by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien and illustrated by Alan Lee (Fantasy)
In the Tale of THE FALL OF GONDOLIN are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwë, chief of the Valar: he is called the Lord of Waters, of all seas, lakes and rivers under the sky. But he works in secret in Middle-earth to support the Noldor, the kindred of the Elves among whom were numbered Húrin and Túrin Turambar. Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. Reviewed by Ray Palen and Stephen Hubbard.
FEARED by Lisa Scottoline (Legal Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Kate Burton
When three men announce that they are suing the Rosato & DiNunzio law firm for reverse sex discrimination --- claiming that they were not hired because they were men --- Mary DiNunzio and Bennie Rosato are outraged. To make matters worse, their one male employee, John Foxman, intends to resign, claiming that there is some truth to this case. The plaintiffs’ lawyer is Nick Machiavelli, who already has lost to Mary once and is now back with a vengeance --- determined not only to win, but to destroy the firm. It soon becomes clear that Machiavelli will do anything in his power to achieve his end…even after the case turns deadly. Reviewed by Roberta O’Hara.
FORTUNATE SON by J.D. Rhoades (Thriller)
Years ago, the Jakes brothers were found in a trailer where they’d been left by their mother. One found a happy home. The older son never did, but he always dreamed of the day when they would be together again. Thirteen years later, big brother appears, and he’s determined to reunite the family, even if he has to do it by kidnapping his younger brother. Their mother is in New Orleans, and she’s in trouble. Her sons are coming to the rescue, even if one of them is doing it at gunpoint. But things are rapidly spinning out of control in New Orleans. The Jakes boys, the disgraced former sheriff trying to chase them down, and an ambitious Louisiana deputy investigating the mother are in for far more danger than any of them bargained for. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SAVE YOURSELF by JM Holmes (Fiction/Short Stories)
Audiobook available, read by Damien Christopher
Bound together by shared experience but pulled apart by their changing fortunes, four young friends coming of age in the postindustrial enclave of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, struggle to liberate themselves from the legacies left to them as black men in America. JM Holmes’ debut follows a decade in the lives of Dub, Rolls, Rye and Gio as they each grapple with the complexity of their family histories, the newfound power of sex and drugs, and the ferocity of their desires. Reviewed by Maya Gittelman.
JOHN WOMAN by Walter Mosley (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Dion Graham
At 12 years old, Cornelius, the son of an Italian-American woman and an older black man from Mississippi named Herman, secretly takes over his father’s job at a silent film theater in New York’s East Village. Five years later, following his father’s death and his mother’s disappearance, Cornelius sets about reinventing himself --- as Professor John Woman, a man who will spread Herman’s teachings into the classrooms of his unorthodox southwestern university and beyond. But there are other individuals who are attempting to influence the narrative of John Woman and who might know something about the facts of his hidden past. Reviewed by Roberta O’Hara.
LAKE SUCCESS by Gary Shteyngart (Fiction/Humor)
Audiobook available, read by Arthur Morey and Soneela Nankani
Narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded, and divorced from the real world as most of us know it, hedge-fund manager Barry Cohen oversees $2.4 billion in assets. Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his three-year-old son’s diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart. Meanwhile, his super-smart wife, Seema --- a driven first-generation American who craved the picture-perfect life that comes with wealth --- has her own demons to face. Reviewed by Sarah Jackman.
LAST LOOKS by Howard Michael Gould (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by John Michael Higgins
Former detective Charlie Waldo now lives in solitude deep in the woods. He has left behind his career and his girlfriend, Lorena, to pay self-imposed penance for an awful misstep on an old murder case. But the old ghosts are about to come roaring back. Alastair Pinch is a onetime Royal Shakespeare Company thespian who now slums it as the "wise" Southern judge on a tacky network show. He's absurdly rich, often belligerent and typically drunk --- a damning combination when Alastair's wife is found dead on their living room floor and he can't remember what happened. Waldo's old flame Lorena, hiding peril of her own, draws him toward the case, and Alastair's greedy network convinces Waldo to take it on. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
LEVERAGE IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Susan Ericksen
For the airline executives finalizing a merger that would make news in the business world, the 9am meeting would be a major milestone. But after marketing VP Paul Rogan walked into the plush conference room, strapped with explosives, the headlines told of death and destruction instead. The NYPSD’s Eve Dallas confirms that Rogan was cruelly coerced by two masked men holding his family hostage. His motive was saving his wife and daughter --- but what was the motive of the masked men? With the help of her billionaire husband Roarke, Eve must determine whether the root of this crime lies in simple sabotage, or something far more complex and twisted. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.
THE LINE THAT HELD US by David Joy (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Macleod Andrews
When Darl Moody went hunting after a monster buck he's chased for years, he never expected he'd accidentally shoot a man digging ginseng. Worse yet, he's killed a Brewer, a family notorious for vengeance and violence. With nowhere to turn, Darl calls on the help of the only man he knows will answer: his best friend, Calvin Hooper. But when Dwayne Brewer comes looking for his missing brother and stumbles onto a blood trail leading straight back to Darl and Calvin, a nightmare of revenge rips apart their world. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
LITTLE GIRL LOST by Wendy Corsi Staub (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Hillary Huber
May 1968: In Harlem, a church janitor finds an innocent newborn in a basket. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, an elusive serial killer prowls slumbering families, leaving a trail of blood and a twisted calling card. October 1987: Amelia Crenshaw embarks on a search to discover the truth about the birth mother who abandoned her, never suspecting she’s on a collision course with a killer. Detective Stockton Barnes, a brash young NYPD detective, trails a missing millionaire whose disappearance is rooted in a nightmare that began 20 years ago. The past returns with a brutal vengeance as a masked predator picks off victims whose fates intertwine with a notorious murder spree solved back in ’68. Or was it? Reviewed by Ray Palen.
THE MAN I NEVER MET: A Memoir by Adam Schefter with Michael Rosenberg (Memoir)
Audiobook available, read by Adam Schefter
On September 11, 2001, Joe Maio went to work in the north tower of the World Trade Center. He never returned, leaving behind a wife, Sharri, and 15-month-old son, Devon. Five years later, Sharri remarried, and Devon welcomed a new dad into his life. For thousands, the whole country really, 9/11 is a day of grief. For Adam and Sharri Maio Schefter and their family, it’s not just a day of grief, but also hope. This is a story of 9/11, but it’s also the story of 9/12 and all the days after. Life moved on. Pieces were picked up. New dreams were dreamed. The Schefters are the embodiment of that. Reviewed by Melanie Reynolds.
THE MAN WHO CAME UPTOWN by George Pelecanos (Hard-boiled Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by James Shippy
Michael Hudson spends the long days in prison devouring books given to him by the prison's librarian, a young woman named Anna who develops a soft spot for her best student. Anna keeps passing Michael books until one day he disappears, suddenly released after a private detective manipulated a witness in Michael's trial. Outside, Michael encounters a Washington, D.C. that has changed a lot during his time locked up. But what hasn't changed is the hard choice between the temptation of crime and doing what's right. Trying to balance his new job, his love of reading, and the debt he owes to the man who got him released, Michael struggles to figure out his place in this new world before he loses control. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
MEG, JO, BETH, AMY: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters by Anne Boyd Rioux (Literary Criticism)
Audiobook available, read by Kimberly Farr
Soon after its publication, LITTLE WOMEN became an enormous bestseller and one of America’s favorite novels. Its popularity quickly spread throughout the world, and the book has become an international classic. When Anne Boyd Rioux read the novel in her 20s, she had a powerful reaction to the story. Through teaching the book, she has seen the same effect on many others. In MEG, JO, BETH, AMY, Rioux recounts how Louisa May Alcott came to write LITTLE WOMEN, drawing inspiration for it from her own life. Rioux also examines why this tale of family and community ties, set while the Civil War tore America apart, has resonated through later wars, the Depression, and times of changing opportunities for women. Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott.
THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Sophie Hannah (Historical Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Julian Rhind-Tutt
Hercule Poirot returns home to find an angry woman waiting to berate him outside his front door. Her name is Sylvia Rule, and she demands to know why Poirot has accused her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy. Poirot has no idea what she’s talking about and has never even heard of this man. Shaken, Poirot goes inside, only to find that he has a visitor waiting for him --- a man called John McCrodden, who also claims to have received a letter from Poirot that morning, accusing him of the murder of Barnabas Pandy. Poirot wonders how many more letters of this sort have been sent in his name. Who sent them, and why? More importantly, who is Barnabas Pandy, is he dead, and, if so, was he murdered? Reviewed by Ray Palen.
OHIO by Stephen Markley (Fiction)
Audiobook available; read by Corey Brill, Caitlin Davies, Gibson Frazier, Jayme Mattler, Joy Osmanski and Jonathan Todd Ross
On one fateful summer night in 2013, four former classmates converge on the rust belt town where they grew up, each of them with a mission, all of them haunted by regrets, secrets and lost loves. There’s Bill Ashcraft, an alcoholic, drug-abusing activist, whose fruitless ambitions have taken him from Cambodia to Zuccotti Park to New Orleans, and now back to “The Cane” with a mysterious package strapped to the underside of his truck; Stacey Moore, a doctoral candidate reluctantly confronting the mother of her former lover; Dan Eaton, a shy veteran of three tours in Iraq, home for a dinner date with the high school sweetheart he’s tried to forget; and the beautiful, fragile Tina Ross, whose rendezvous with the captain of the football team triggers the novel’s shocking climax. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
OUR HOUSE by Louise Candlish (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Elizabeth Knowelden and Elliot Hill
When Fiona Lawson comes home to find strangers moving into her house, she's sure there's been a mistake. She and her estranged husband, Bram, have a modern co-parenting arrangement: bird's nest custody, where each parent spends a few nights a week with their two sons at the prized family home to maintain stability for their children. But the system built to protect their family ends up putting them in terrible jeopardy. In a domino effect of crimes and misdemeanors, the nest comes tumbling down. Now Bram has disappeared and so have Fiona's children. As events spiral well beyond her control, Fiona will discover just how many lies her husband was weaving and how little they truly knew each other. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
PIECES OF HER by Karin Slaughter (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Kathleen Early
Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence, and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly 30 years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
READ ME by Leo Benedictus (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Mathew Baynton
READ ME holds a sinister mirror up to the ways in which we observe, judge and influence people. Leo Benedictus' prose draws readers into the dark, manipulative mind of a serial stalker as he targets women across London, escalating his efforts until he settles on Frances --- a bright young professional whose career is set to take off --- whose life he proceeds to unravel from the inside, out. Reviewed by Lorraine W. Shanley.
SWEET LITTLE LIES by Caz Frear (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Jane Collingwood
Cat Kinsella, a Detective Constable with the Metropolitan Police Force, is called to the scene of a murder, where young housewife Alice Lapaine has been found strangled. Cat and her team immediately suspect Alice’s husband, until she receives a mysterious phone call that links the victim to Maryanne Doyle, a teenage girl who went missing in Ireland 18 years earlier. The call raises uneasy memories for Cat --- her family met Maryanne while on holiday, right before she vanished. Though she was only a child, Cat knew that her father wasn’t telling the truth when he denied knowing anything about Maryanne or her disappearance. Did he do something to the teenage girl all those years ago? Could he have harmed Alice now? Reviewed by Amie Taylor.
SWIFT VENGEANCE by T. Jefferson Parker (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Will Damron
Returning hero and private investigator Roland Ford is on the trail of a mysterious killer who is beheading CIA drone operators and leaving puzzling clues at each crime scene. His troubled friend, Lindsay Rakes, is afraid for her own life and the life of her son after a fellow flight crew member is killed in brutal fashion. Even more terrifying is the odd note the killer left behind: "Welcome to Caliphornia. This is not the last." Ford strikes an uneasy alliance with San Diego-based FBI agent Joan Taucher, who is haunted by what she sees as the Bureau's failure to catch the 9/11 terrorists. As the killer strikes again, Ford and Taucher dash into the fray, each desperate for their own reasons. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.
TAILSPIN by Sandra Brown (Romantic Suspense)
Audiobook available, read by Victor Slezak
Rye Mallett, a fearless "freight dog" pilot, is asked to fly into a completely fogbound northern Georgia town and deliver a mysterious black box to a Dr. Lambert. As Rye's plane nears the isolated landing strip, more trouble than inclement weather awaits him. He is greeted first by a sabotage attempt on his plane that causes him to crash land, and then by Dr. Brynn O'Neal, who claims she was sent for the box in Dr. Lambert's stead. Despite Rye's "no-involvement" policy when it comes to other people's problems, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to the intrigue surrounding his cargo…and to the mysterious and alluring Brynn. Soon Rye and Brynn are in a treacherous 48-hour race to deliver the box before time runs out. Reviewed by Hillary Wagy.
TEXAS RANGER by James Patterson and Andrew Bourelle (Western/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Christopher Ryan Grant
Across the ranchlands and cities of his home state, Rory Yates' discipline and law-enforcement skills have carried him far: from local highway patrolman to the honorable rank of Texas Ranger. He arrives in his hometown to find a horrifying crime scene and a scathing accusation: he is named a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife, Anne, a devoted teacher whose only controversial act was ending her marriage to a Ranger. In search of the killer, Yates plunges into the inferno of the most twisted and violent minds he's ever encountered, vowing to never surrender. That code just might bring him out alive. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
TRUST ME by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Psychological Thriller)
An accused killer insists she's innocent of a heinous murder. A grieving journalist surfaces from the wreckage of her shattered life. Their unlikely alliance leads to a dangerous cat and mouse game that will leave you breathless. Who can you trust when you can't trust yourself? Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
VOX by Christina Dalcher (Dystopian Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Julia Whelan
On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words per day, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial. This can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her. Soon women are not permitted to hold jobs. Girls are not taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke 16,000 words each day, but now women have only 100 to make themselves heard. For herself, her daughter and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
WE ALL LOVE THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS by Joanne Proulx (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Josh Hurley
One frigid winter night, Mia and Michael Slate's comfortable world dissolves in an instant when they discover that their best friend has cheated them out of their life savings. At the same time, a few doors down, their teenage son passes out in the snow at a party --- a mistake the consequences of which will shatter not just their family, but an entire community. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
#MURDERTRENDING by Gretchen McNeil (Thriller/Suspense)
Welcome to the near future, where good and honest 8/18 citizens can enjoy watching the executions of society’s most infamous convicted felons, streaming live on The Postman app from the suburbanized prison island Alcatraz 2.0. When 18-year-old Dee Guerrera wakes up in a haze, lying on the ground of a dimly lit warehouse, she realizes she’s about to be the next victim of the app. Dee refuses to roll over and die for a heinous crime she didn’t commit. Can Dee and her newly formed posse, the Death Row Breakfast Club, prove she’s innocent before she ends up wrongfully murdered for the world to see? Or will The Postman’s cast of executioners kill them off one by one? Reviewed by Janine Chouinard.
BURIED BENEATH THE BAOBAB TREE written by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani with an afterword Viviana Mazza (Contemporary Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Robin Miles
A new pair of shoes, a university degree, a husband --- these are the things that a girl dreams of in a Nigerian village. And with a government scholarship right around the corner, everyone can see that these dreams aren’t too far out of reach. But the girl’s dreams turn to nightmares when her village is attacked by Boko Haram, a terrorist group, in the middle of the night. Kidnapped, she is taken with other girls and women into the forest where she is forced to follow her captors’ radical beliefs and watch as her best friend slowly accepts everything she’s been told. Still, the girl defends her existence. As impossible as escape may seem, her life --- her future --- is hers to fight for. Reviewed by Ilona K., Teen Board Member.
CATWOMAN: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas (Superhero Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Julia Whelan
Two years after escaping Gotham City's slums, Selina Kyle returns as the mysterious and wealthy Holly Vanderhees. She quickly discovers that with Batman off on a vital mission, Gotham City looks ripe for the taking. Meanwhile, Luke Fox wants to prove that as Batwing he has what it takes to help people. He targets a new thief on the prowl who has teamed up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Together, they are wreaking havoc. Selina is playing a desperate game of cat and mouse, forming unexpected friendships and entangling herself with Batwing by night and her devilishly handsome neighbor Luke Fox by day. Reviewed by Jeremy H., Teen Board Member.
DEADENDIA: The Watcher's Test (Book 1) by Hamish Steele (Graphic Novel)
Barney and his best friend Norma are just trying to get by and keep their jobs, but working at the Dead End theme park also means battling demonic forces, time traveling wizards and scariest of all --- their love lives! Follow the lives of this diverse group of employees of a haunted house, which may or may not also serve as a portal to hell, in this hilarious and moving graphic novel, complete with talking pugs, vengeful ghosts and LBGTQIA love! Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
FINDING YVONNE by Brandy Colbert (Contemporary Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Maya Barton
Yvonne has always had her trusted violin to keep her company, especially in those lonely days after her mother walked out on their family. But with graduation just around the corner, she is forced to face the hard truth that she just might not be good enough to attend a conservatory after high school. Yvonne meets a street musician and fellow violinist who understands her struggle. He's mysterious, charming and different from Warren, the familiar and reliable boy who has her heart. But when Yvonne becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she has to make the most difficult decision yet about her future. Reviewed by Jessica Cozzi.
FLING CLUB by Tara Brown (Romance)
For the young, rich and beautiful, summertime in the Hamptons means one thing: Fling Club. Only this time, Cherry Kennedy won’t be selecting a boy for a fleeting romance. Nope, this season, Cherry is out for revenge. Her target? The Fling Club founder and society darling who slept with Cherry’s now-very-ex-boyfriend. All Cherry needs is the perfect guy for her plan...and Ashley Jardine can’t afford to refuse. He scored almost a full ride to MIT. But that almost still costs a lot. Here, rich girls rule the shore, and everyone has a role to play. Reviewed by Juliette G., Teen Board Member.
GIANT DAYS by Non Pratt, BOOM! Studios (Fiction)
GIANT DAYS follows the hilarious and heartfelt misadventures of three university first-years: Daisy, the innocent home-schooled girl; Susan, the sardonic wit; and Esther, the vivacious drama queen. They become fast friends during their first week of university --- and it’s a good thing they do, because a friend who has your back is key --- something Daisy discovers when she gets a little too involved in her extracurricular club, the Yogic Brethren of Zoise. When she starts acting strange and life around campus gets even stranger, Esther and Susan decide it’s up to them to investigate the weirdness and save their friend. Reviewed by Marco M., Teen Board Member.
MIRAGE by Somaiya Daud (Science Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Rasha Zamamiri
In a world dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, Amani is a dreamer. But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects: she is kidnapped and taken to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half-Vathek Princess. The princess is so hated by her conquered people that she requires a body double. As Amani is forced into her new role, she can’t help but enjoy the palace’s beauty and her time with the princess’ fiancé. But Amani must play the princess to perfection...because one wrong move could lead to her death. Reviewed by Ilona K., Teen Board Member.
NOT EVEN BONES by Rebecca Schaeffer (Fantasy/Horror)
Nita doesn’t murder supernatural beings and sell their body parts on the internet --- her mother does that. Nita just dissects the bodies after they’ve been “acquired.” Until her mom brings home a live specimen and Nita decides she wants out; dissecting a scared teenage boy is a step too far. But when she decides to save her mother’s victim, she ends up sold in his place --- because Nita herself isn’t exactly “human.” She has the ability to alter her biology, a talent that is priceless on the black market. Now on the other side of the bars, if she wants to escape, Nita must ask herself if she’s willing to become the worst kind of monster. Reviewed by Jena Brown.
OUR STORIES, OUR VOICES: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America edited by Amy Reed (Anthology/Essays)
From Amy Reed, Ellen Hopkins, Amber Smith, Sandhya Menon and more of your favorite YA authors comes an anthology of essays that explore the diverse experiences of injustice, empowerment and growing up female in America. This collection of 21 essays from major YA authors --- including award-winning and bestselling writers --- touches on a powerful range of topics related to growing up female in today’s America, and the intersection with race, religion and ethnicity. Sure to inspire hope and solidarity to anyone who reads it, this anthology belongs on every young woman’s shelf. Reviewed by Grace P., Teen Board Member.
PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE by Ellen Hopkins (Contemporary Fiction/Novel-in-Verse)
A gun is sold in the classifieds after killing a spouse, bought by a teenager for needed protection. But which was it? Each has the incentive to pick up a gun, to fire it. Was it Rand or Cami, married teenagers with a young son? Was it Silas or Ashlyn, members of a white supremacist youth organization? Daniel, who fears retaliation because of his race, who possessively clings to Grace, the love of his life? Or Noelle, who lost everything after a devastating accident, and has sunk quietly into depression? One tense week brings all six people into close contact in a town wrought with political and personal tensions. Someone will fire. And someone will die. But who? Reviewed by Gabby B., Teen Board Member.
THE POINT by John Dixon (Science Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Brittany Pressley
Scarlett Winter has always been an outsider, and not only because she’s a hardcore daredevil and born troublemaker --- she has been hiding superhuman powers. Now she’s been recruited by a secret West Point unit for cadets with extraordinary abilities. With the power to control pure energy, she’s a human nuclear bomb --- and she’s not sure she can control her powers much longer. When a threat that endangers her fellow students arises from the school’s dark past, Scarlett must make a choice between being herself and becoming something even greater. Reviewed by Caitlyn K., Teen Board Member.
SMOTHERED by Autumn Chiklis (Contemporary Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Autumn Chiklis
Eloise “Lou” Hansen is graduating from Columbia University summa cum laude, and she's ready to conquer the world. Just a few minor problems: she has no job, no prospects and she’s moving back into her childhood bedroom. Lou is grimly determined to stick to a rigorous schedule to get a job and get out of her parents’ house. Shelly “Mama Shell” Hansen, on the other hand, is ecstatic, and just as determined to keep her at home. SMOTHERED is a hilarious story told via journal entries, text messages, emails, bills, receipts, tweets, doctor’s prescriptions, job applications and rejections, parking tickets and pug pictures, chronicling the year that Lou moves back home after college. Reviewed by Ilona K., Teen Board Member.
THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED by Kody Keplinger (Contemporary Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Whitney Dykhouse, Megan Tusing, Almarie Guerra, Carly Robins, Ron Butler and Scott Lange
It's been three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre. Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah's story --- that she died proclaiming her faith. But it's not true. I know because I was with her when she died. I didn't say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah's parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight...but I'm not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did --- and didn't --- happen that day. Reviewed by Olivia W., Teen Board Member.
THIS STORY IS A LIE by Tom Pollock (Suspense/Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds
Seventeen-year-old Peter Blankman is a math genius. He also suffers from devastating panic attacks. Pete gets through each day with the help of his mother, a famous scientist, and his beloved twin sister, Bel. But when his mom is nearly assassinated in front of his eyes and Bel disappears, Pete finds himself on the run. Dragged into a world where state and family secrets intertwine, Pete must use his extraordinary analytical skills to find his missing sister and track down the people who attacked his mother. But his greatest battle will be with the enemy inside: the constant terror that threatens to overwhelm him. Reviewed by Rachel R., Teen Board Member.
WHEN ELEPHANTS FLY by Nancy Richardson Fischer (Contemporary Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Caitlin Davies
When Lily Decker was seven, her mother, who had paranoid schizophrenia, tried to kill her. A secret has revealed that Lily’s odds for inheriting the disorder are even worse than she thought. Still, there’s a chance to avoid triggering the mental health condition, if Lily can live a careful life from ages 18 to 30, when schizophrenia most commonly manifests. But when a newspaper internship results in Lily witnessing a mother elephant try to kill her three-week-old calf, Swifty, Lily can’t abandon the story or the calf. With Swifty in danger of dying from grief, Lily must choose whether to risk everything, including her sanity and a first love, on a desperate road trip to save the calf’s life, perhaps finding her own version of freedom along the way. Reviewed by Rachel R., Teen Board Member.
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