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Michael Connelly’s Catalina Series Continues with the Second Installment, IRONWOOD

Sworn to protect a scenic island meant to be far from the evils of the mainland, Detective Sergeant Stilwell can feel danger closing in.

Katherine Center's New Novel is Set Aboard a Cruise Ship During a Destination Wedding

This witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance is about old crushes, bad timing, and plans that don’t go quite as expected.

THE BURNING SIDE Tells the Story of April and Leo, a Couple on the Brink of Collapse

When their house goes up in flames, family secrets and thorny histories emerge as they are forced to decide what is worth salvaging.

Rosie Walsh's New Novel is a Page-Turning Love Story with a Very Dark Secret at Its Heart

THE ONE DAY YOU WERE MY HUSBAND asks us what --- and whom --- we would give up to return to a first love and to the people we once were.

“The Sopranos” Star Jamie Lynn Sigler Opens Up about the Vicissitudes of Life

AND SO IT IS... offers readers an unflinchingly vulnerable exploration of the experiences that have transformed Sigler's life.

We're Giving Away a Different Summer Reading Title on Select Days Through August

Our next two contests will be up at noon ET on June 2nd and 4th. The prize books will be THE WINDSOR AFFAIR and ROAD TRIP.

Latest Features and Contests


Women's Fiction Author Spotlight: THE LAKE HOUSE: A Firefly Summer Novel, by Lori Foster

When Pixie Nolan first came to Bramble, Kentucky, the abandoned and desperate young single mother found hope, healing and a fresh start. With the loving support of her best friends, she is now happily raising her toddler son in a cozy cottage. She never expected to make an electrifying connection with a summer renter, a retired Navy SEAL with his own complicated past.

Brogan Rafferty arrives with an adorable baby girl in tow and settles into the lake house next door. But it’s no coincidence that Brogan has found Pixie, and his startling revelations make it clear she’s the key to healing old regrets and building new dreams. And when a hostile stranger turns up with shocking accusations against Bramble’s new hometown hero, Pixie must put her own fears and heartbreak away for good.

» Click here to read more in our Women's Fiction Author Spotlight.


Bookreporter.com's Word of Mouth Contest: Tell Us What You've Read --- and You Can Win Two Books!

Let us know by Friday, June 12th at noon ET what books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win A PAIR OF ACES by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray and WHISTLER by Ann Patchett in our Word of Mouth contest.

In A PAIR OF ACES, two trailblazing women on opposite sides of the law --- a prosecutor and a madam --- team up to bring down notorious Mob boss Lucky Luciano in 1930s New York. WHISTLER is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made, as well as the choices that were made for them.

» Click here to enter the contest.


Bookreporter.com's 22nd Annual Summer Reading Contests and Feature

Summer will be here before you know it! At Bookreporter.com, this means it's time for us to share some great summer book picks with our Summer Reading Contests and Feature.

We are hosting a series of 24-hour contests for these titles on select days through mid-August, so you will have to check the site each day to see the featured prize book and enter to win.

We also are sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here.

Our next two contests will be up at noon ET on Tuesday, June 2nd and Thursday, June 4th. The prize books will be THE WINDSOR AFFAIR by Melanie Benjamin and ROAD TRIP by Mary Kay Andrews.

» Click here to read all the contest details and learn more about our featured titles.

Bookreporter Talks To...

As part of our mission to expand The Book Report Network, we have been shooting video interviews with authors and posting them on our YouTube channel. We also have been making them available as podcasts. Carol loves interviewing authors, so this feels like a natural.

THE CALAMITY CLUB is Kathryn Stockett's first book since THE HELP, which was published in 2009, and is a Bets On selection. The story is set in Mississippi during the Great Depression and follows a group of scrappy, strong-willed women who work together to conquer challenges they face, knowing that there are no men to save them. The novel also addresses the societal expectations and hypocrisies of the 1920s and ’30s. Kathryn balances the book’s serious historical themes with humor. Initially she tried to write a cautious, bland tale that was different from THE HELP to avoid similar criticism, but she realized after a number of years that it lacked heart. Kathryn drew a lot of inspiration from her own mother, to whom THE CALAMITY CLUB is dedicated. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

Susan Patterson teamed up with her husband, James Patterson, to write THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER BOOK CLUB. Set in Lake Como, Italy, the story revolves around four mothers and their five daughters, exploring mother-daughter relationships through a book club. Three of the mothers met at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is Susan’s alma mater. The book evolved naturally from the success and themes of their previous collaboration, THINGS I WISH I TOLD MY MOTHER. Susan and James decided to structure chapters by character point of view to make it easier for readers to follow multiple characters. Lake Como was selected because it represents one of the most beautiful places, with a perfect landscape, mountains, water and food. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

Carol had a wonderful conversation with Jane Harper about her latest novel, LAST ONE OUT. This Bets On pick is set in Carralon Ridge, a dying rural Australian mining town that has become a shadow of its former self due to an industrial mining operation. It follows Ro Crowley as she returns annually to investigate her son Sam's disappearance on the eve of his 21st birthday five years earlier. This is Jane's first book with a female main character after five previous novels featuring male protagonists. She explains why Ro was the perfect character to tell this story. She also talks about the three houses near where Sam disappeared, which are almost characters themselves. Jane took a three-year break between books to avoid burnout and spend time with her young children. She returned refreshed to write this novel. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

» Click here for a complete list of our "Bookreporter Talks To" videos and podcasts, along with upcoming interviews.

Latest Reviews

At 77, Pepper Mills is too old to be a stranger in a strange land. She didn’t choose the Vista View Retirement Community of Austin, Texas --- that would be her three grown children --- but when she grudgingly moves in, she not only makes new friends, she falls in love. Then the exhaustion, vomiting and confusion start. She fears it’s cancer, dementia, a stroke. But a raft of tests later, the news is even more shocking: She’s pregnant. As word gets out, everyone wants a piece of her: the press and paparazzi, activists and medical researchers, belly-rubbers and rubberneckers all descending on Vista View while Pepper struggles to determine her next move. Soon she has some hard decisions to make --- and some she’s not allowed to make.

The Dorians by Nick Cutter - Science Fiction/Horror

On a remote island in the Canadian wilderness, five elderly volunteers from different walks of life are given a tantalizing offer: to stall their biological clocks or even reverse them, restoring their lost youth. The chance to put death on pause --- forever, perhaps. The remarkable secret lies in the high-tech harnessing of an ancient and extraordinary biological agent…one with no conscience yet possessed with a single-minded purpose that has helped it persist for eons: the will to survive. The dark heart of unbridled human ambition finds its apex in an unholy experiment that now tests the limits of both creator and subject, eclipsing all bounds of morality and sanity.

From his early military career and role among the Virginia gentry, to his leadership during the American Revolution and reluctant return to public service as the first president of the United States, AMERICAN PATRIARCH brings to life the man who was called on time and again by his peers to lead. It casts George Washington as the icon of American virtue who wrested America free from British control, gave credibility to the Constitution, and crafted the norms that would steady America as a nation for generations to follow.

NOLAN is an exploration of God, family, baseball and America --- and a tribute to one of the greatest pitchers to ever step on the mound. Nolan Ryan grew up in the small, hard town of Alvin, Texas, was graced with a fastball, and fell in love with a woman named Ruth. He then honored all three in his pursuit of hardball perfection. Alongside Nolan’s personal story, renowned sportswriter Tim Brown offers a thoughtful, deeply researched history of baseball in the Lone Star State, and an unforgettable account of three glorious decades in the Major Leagues.

The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean - Gothic Horror/Historical Fantasy

When Mercy Chan washes up on the shores of Hong Kong with no family, no money and no memories, the only refuge she finds is the infamous, ghost-infested slum of Kowloon Walled City. Since then, she has rebuilt her life, working for the local triad as a ghost talker and dealing with the angry and bitter spirits who haunt the district. But the past Mercy can’t remember isn't done with her. An unusually powerful ghost has infested Kowloon’s waterways, drowning innocents and threatening the district. It claims to know Mercy --- and secrets from her past that are best left forgotten. As Mercy is drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game with this malignant spirit, she begins to realize that the monster she fights within these walls may well be one of her own making.

No matter what’s going on in the May sisters’ lives, the one thing they can rely on is seeing each other for one week in May at their grandmother’s beachside home in gorgeous Coronado. As adults, Julia, Emily and Nora aren’t particularly close, but their promise to return each year keeps them anchored together. Until one May when Julia, the oldest and most dependable sister, doesn’t show. Suddenly, Nora and Emily start to question how much they truly know about their sister’s life. Told in alternating points of view, spanning from their time together with Grandma Vera as kids into their adult lives, THE MAY HOUSE explores how a decades-long family secret has unknowingly shaped each sister and, ultimately, how it brings them closer together.

The Author Weekend by Laura Zigman - Mystery/Dark Humor

Everything needs to be just right for bestselling mystery writer Faye Wader's first-ever fan weekend. Her sales might be slipping --- only a little! --- but her readers still love her enough to pony up for three days and two nights on Great Misery Island. The retreat is precisely planned by Faye and her beleaguered assistant, Jade. Faye's longtime agent and editor will be there, as well as Faye's number one fan, Peggy Mercer. When news comes that the weekend will be crashed by rival novelist Abby Schuss, Faye thinks things can't get worse…until one of the attendees is found dead in her room, setting off an unexpectedly murderous chain of events that make pre-pub anxiety seem like a day at the beach. How far is Faye willing to go to get exactly what she wants from her author weekend?

New Skin by Sarah Wang - Fiction

At 26, Linli Feng is still trying to escape her mother Fanny’s orbit. But after three years of estrangement, she is dragged back by Fanny’s latest medical catastrophe and forced to return home. For decades, Fanny has been addicted to plastic surgery. Now her disfigured face is in dangerous revolt, infected and collapsing yet again from black-market injectables. But Fanny has another secret in store. She has won a spot on “America’s Beauty Extreme,” a reality television competition in which botched plastic surgery addicts compete for reconstructive surgery as riveted audiences tune in. When Linli attempts to rescue Fanny from the sinister subculture that already has claimed her mother’s face, she must confront the corrosive reality of the American Dream that is at the fraught heart of their relationship. 

Last Seen by Lucy Clarke - Psychological Thriller

Seven years ago, two boys went missing at sea --- and only one was brought to shore. The Sandbank, a remote stretch of coast dotted with beach huts, was scarred forever. Sarah’s son survived all those years ago. But on the anniversary of the accident, he disappears without a trace. As new secrets begin to surface, The Sandbank hums with tension and unanswered questions. Sarah’s search grows more desperate, and she starts to mistrust everyone she knows. Someone saw everything on that fateful day seven years ago. And they’ll do anything to keep the truth buried.

Hannah “Cookie” Cooke, an interior decorator with a sideline making miniature reproductions of crime scenes for the local police department, lands her dream job when New Preston’s wealthiest couple hires her to renovate their historic New England home. But things go spectacularly wrong when her client, Chuck --- with whom she is having an affair --- is murdered at the housewarming party. The detective on the case commissions one of Cookie’s miniatures to help solve the baffling murder. While grappling with her own complicated role in Chuck’s life --- and the thorny layers of her own envies, resentments and ambitions --- Cookie delves into the strange details of his death. In untangling the mystery, Cookie reveals an ugly truth about New Preston’s elite that might prove deadly.