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End-of-the-Year Contest 2012

End-of-the-Year Celebration

End-of-the-Year Contest 2012

We are thrilled to announce a very special contest on Bookreporter.com featuring Carol Fitzgerald’s Bookreporter.com Bets On picks from this year. One Grand Prize winner will be awarded ALL of her 28 selections for 2012, while 28 others will win a copy of one of these titles.

Winners

GRAND PRIZE:

 

Lynn from Centreville, VA

 

ALL WOMAN AND SPRINGTIME:

 

Adrienne from Brookneal, VA


THE CHAPERONE:

 

Ann from Wappingers Falls, NY


CITY OF WOMEN:

 

Betty from Mequon, WI


DEFENDING JACOB:

 

Criss from Seabrook, TX


THE DEVOTED: A LOVE STORY:

 

Dave from Cedar Rapids, IA


THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB:

 

Doris from Oceanside, NY


GILDED AGE:

 

Elana from Berkeley, CA


GOLD:

 

Heather from Roswell, GA


A GOOD AMERICAN:

 

Jane from Clemmons, NC


HEADING OUT TO WONDERFUL:

 

Joanne from Kalamazoo, MI


HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER:

 

John from Arvada, CO


IN THE SHADOW OF THE BANYAN:

 

Kathy from Westerville, OH


THE INNOCENTS:

 

Kimbrell from Spartanburg, SC


THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS:

 

Lisa from Macomb, IL


LOVE ANTHONY:

 

Louise from Houston, TX


MARGARET FROM MAINE:

 

Lynette from Colorado Springs, CO


PARIS IN LOVE: A MEMOIR:

 

Marcie from Chantilly, VA


THE RULES OF INHERITANCE: A MEMOIR:

 

Robert from Collinsville, MS


THE SHORTEST WAY HOME:

 

Roberta from Alpharetta, GA


SOME GIRLS, SOME HATS AND HITLER: A TRUE LOVE STORY REDISCOVERED:

 

Roxanne from Burnaby, BC


THE STARBOARD SEA:

 

Sally from Winterset, IA


THOSE WE LOVE MOST:

 

Sarah from Burlington, VT


TIGERS IN RED WEATHER:

 

Shirley from Champaign, IL


TO THE LAST BREATH: A MEMOIR OF GOING TO EXTREMES:

 

Stefanie from Pflugerville, TX


TRUE SISTERS:

 

Susan from Newport, RI


TRUST YOUR EYES:

 

Tina from Georgetown, TX


THE WOMAN AT THE LIGHT:

 

Trudy from Novato, CA


THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU:

 

Wanda from Garnet Valley, PA
All Woman and Springtime by Brandon W. Jones - Fiction

 

Broken from growing up in one of North Korea’s forced-labor camps, Gi has learned to cope with pain by retreating into a realm of numbers and calculations. She becomes enamored of the brash and radiant Il-sun. But Il-sun’s pursuit of a better life imperils both girls when her suitor spirits them across the Demilitarized Zone and sells them as sex workers.

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty - Historical Fiction

Only a few years before becoming a famous actress and an icon for her generation, a 15-year-old Louise Brooks leaves Wichita to make it big in New York. Much to her annoyance, she is accompanied by a 36-year-old chaperone who is neither mother nor friend. Young Louise is known for her arrogance and her lack of respect for convention. Ultimately, the five weeks they spend together will change their lives forever.

City of Women by David R. Gillham - Historical Fiction

 

At the height of the Second World War, Berlin has essentially become a city of women. While her husband fights on the Eastern Front, Sigrid Schröder goes to work every day and dutifully cares for her meddling mother-in-law. Her tedious existence is turned upside down when she finds herself hiding a mother and her two young daughters, and she must make terrifying choices that could cost her everything.

Defending Jacob by William Landay - Psychological/Legal Thriller

Assistant District Attorney Andy Barber is happy with his wife and 14-year-old son, Jacob. But when a crime shatters their New England town, Andy is shocked to learn that Jacob is charged with the murder of a fellow student.

The Devoted: A Love Story by Jonathan Hull - Historical Fiction

 

From wartime Italy to the American West, Jonathan Hull takes readers on a heartrending passage through the lives of three families torn by history and bound by an unshakeable --- and at times forbidden --- devotion.

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe - Memoir

 

This is the inspiring true story of a son and his mother, who start a “book club” that brings them together as her life comes to a close. Over the next two years, Will and Mary Anne carry on conversations that are both wide-ranging and deeply personal, prompted by an eclectic array of books and a shared passion for reading.

Gilded Age by Claire McMillan - Fiction

 

Eleanor Hart had made a brilliant marriage in New York, but it ended in a scandalous divorce and 30 days in rehab. Now she finds that she will still need a husband to be socially complete. However, through one misstep after another, Ellie mishandles her second act. Her options narrow and future prospects contract, until she faces a desperate choice.

Gold by Chris Cleave - Fiction

 

Kate and Zoe met at 19 when they both made the cut for the national training program in track cycling. They are built to exploit the barest physical and psychological edge over equally skilled rivals. Now at 32, the women are facing their last and biggest race: the 2012 Olympics. Each wants desperately to win gold, and each has more than a medal to lose.

A Good American by Alex George - Historical Fiction

 

When Frederick and Jette must flee her disapproving mother in 1904, where better to go than America, the land of the new? By chance, they find themselves in Beatrice, Missouri. Not speaking a word of English, they embark on their new life together.
Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick - Fiction

 

Recently back from the war in Europe, Charlie Beale shows up in the quiet town of Brownsburg, Virginia. His job at the local butcher shop gives him the opportunity to meet all the townsfolk, including a beautiful teenage bride. Ultimately, Charlie’s obsession with Sylvan Glass threatens to destroy everything and everyone in its path.

History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason - Historical Fiction

 

Piet Barol has an instinctive appreciation for pleasure and a gift for finding it. He applies for a job as tutor to the troubled son of Europe’s leading hotelier: a child who refuses to leave his family’s mansion on Amsterdam’s grandest canal. As the young man enters this glittering world, he learns its secrets --- and soon, quietly, steadily, finds his life transformed as he in turn transforms the lives of those around him.

In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner - Historical Fiction

 

For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins the night her father comes home bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Over the next four years, as she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labor, Raami clings to the remaining vestige of childhood --- the mythical legends and poems her father told her.

The Innocents by Francesca Segal - Fiction

 

Adam Newman has been dating Rachel Gilbert since they were both 16, and now they are finally planning to marry. But as the vast machinery of the wedding gathers momentum, Adam feels the first faint touches of claustrophobia. And when Rachel’s younger cousin moves home, Adam starts questioning everything, suddenly torn between security and exhilaration, tradition and independence.

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman - Historical Fiction

 

Tom Sherbourne takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on a remote and isolated island when a boat carrying a dead man and a living baby hit his shore. His wife, Isabel, has already suffered several miscarriages, and even though Tom’s conscience is telling him otherwise, they keep the little girl. Two years later, they return to the mainland and are reminded that there is someone out there desperate to find her lost baby.

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova - Fiction

 

The subject of LOVE ANTHONY is autism, but that implacable disorder is only part of the story. Blending neuroscience and emotional insight, Lisa Geonva --- best known for 2008’s STILL ALICE --- delivers a heartfelt tale of two women who emerge from tragedy and betrayal to make a fresh start.

Margaret from Maine by Joseph Monninger - Romance

 

Margaret Kennedy lives on a dairy farm in rural Maine. Her husband Thomas --- injured in a war overseas --- will never be the man he was. When the President signs a bill in support of wounded veterans, Margaret is invited to the nation’s capital. Charlie King, a handsome Foreign Service officer, volunteers to escort her. As the rhododendron blossoms along the Blue Ridge Highway, the unlikely pair fall in love --- but Margaret cannot ignore the tug of her marriage vows.

Paris in Love: A Memoir by Eloisa James - Memoir

In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. PARIS IN LOVE chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

The Rules of Inheritance: A Memoir by Claire Bidwell Smith - Memoir

When both of her parents die of cancer, Claire Bidwell Smith finds herself alone in the world and inconsolable at the revelation that suddenly she is no one's special person. It is only when Claire eventually falls in love, marries and becomes a mother that she emerges from the fog of grief.

The Shortest Way Home by Juliette Fay - Fiction

 

Sean has spent 20 years in Third World war zones and natural disaster areas. But when burnout sets in, he is reluctantly drawn home to Belham, Massachusetts. There, he discovers that his steely aunt, overly dramatic sister and quirky nephew are having a little natural disaster of their own. When he reconnects with a woman from his past, Sean has to wonder if the bonds of love and loyalty might just rewrite his destiny.

Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler: A True Love Story by Trudi Kanter - Memoir


In 1938, Trudi Kanter fell deeply in love with Walter Ehrlich, a charming and romantic businessman. But as Hitler’s tanks rolled into Austria, the world this young Jewish couple knew collapsed, leaving them desperate to escape. This is the true story of Trudi’s astonishing journey from Vienna to Prague to blitzed London seeking safety for her and Walter amid the horror engulfing Europe.

The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont - Fiction

Set against the backdrop of the 1987 stock market collapse, THE STARBOARD SEA is an examination of the abuses of class privilege, the mutability of sexual desire, the thrill and risk of competitive sailing, and the adult cost of teenage recklessness.

Those We Love Most by Lee Woodruff - Fiction

 

Life is good for Maura Corrigan. Married to her college sweetheart, Pete, raising three young kids with her parents nearby in her peaceful Chicago suburb, her world is secure. Then one day, in a single turn of fate, that entire world comes crashing down and everything that she thought she knew changes.

Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann - Historical Fiction

 

Nick and her cousin, Helena, have grown up sharing sultry summer heat, sun-bleached boat docks, and midnight gin parties on Martha's Vineyard in a glorious old family estate known as Tiger House. However, after the Second World War, their lives start to crack. When Helena's children discover the victim of a brutal murder, it causes everyone's lives to unravel.

To the Last Breath: A Memoir of Going to Extremes by Francis Slakey - Memoir

Before Georgetown physics professor Francis Slakey set out to climb the highest mountain on every continent and surf every ocean, he had shut himself off from other people. But as his journey veered dangerously off course, everything about him began to change. TO THE LAST BREATH depicts the quest that leads Slakey around the globe, almost takes his life, challenges his fiercely held beliefs, and opens his heart.

True Sisters by Sandra Dallas - Historical Fiction

TRUE SISTERS tells the story of four women, brought together on the harrowing journey of the Martin Handcart Company, and united by the promises of prosperity and salvation in a new land. Through the ties of female friendships and the strength born from suffering, each one tests the boundaries of her faith and learns the real meaning of survival along the way.

Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay - Thriller

 

Thomas Kilbride is a map-obsessed schizophrenic so affected that he rarely leaves the self-imposed bastion of his bedroom. But with a computer program called Whirl360.com, he travels the world while never so much as stepping out the door. Then he sees something that anyone else might have stumbled upon --- but has not --- in a street view of downtown New York City: an image in a window. An image that looks like a woman being murdered.

The Woman at the Light by Joanna Brady - Historical Romance

 

One afternoon in 1839, Emily Lowry’s husband vanishes from Wreckers’ Cay, an isolated island off the coast of Key West where he tends to the lighthouse. Emily has no choice but to take over her husband’s duties tending the light to support her children. A runaway slave who washes up on the beach proves himself an enormous help and soon wins the hearts of the Lowry family. His place in Emily’s life, as steadfast now as the light, will forever change their futures.

The World Without You by Joshua Henkin - Fiction

 

On July 4, 2005, the Frankel family descends upon their summer home in the Berkshires for a memorial to Leo, the youngest Frankel sibling, who was killed while on assignment in Iraq a year before. Over the course of three days, the Frankels will contend with sibling rivalries and marital feuds, volatile women and silent men, and, ultimately, the true meaning of family.