December 10, 2024

December 10, 2024

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of December 9th and December 16th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to our End-of-the-Year contest featuring Carol Fitzgerald’s Bookreporter.com Bets On picks from 2024. One Grand Prize winner will be awarded all 40 books, while 10 other readers will receive four of these titles. The deadline for your entries is Friday, January 10th at noon ET.

Join Us Tomorrow Evening for Our
"Best of 2024" Reviewer Event!

This Week's Bonus News:
Enter to Win Our End-of-the-Year Celebration,
Featuring All 40 "Bets On" Titles from 2024

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

Here are four upcoming virtual book and author events that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links for more info and to register.

Wednesday, December 11th at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with Jillian Cantor about her new novel, THE GREATEST LIE OF ALL, in which a glamorous romance novelist and an aspiring starlet share an unexpected secret.

Wednesday, December 11th at 8pm ET: “Bookaccino Live” Best of 2024 Event: Join us for a special “Bookaccino Live” evening event as seven Bookreporter reviewers share their favorite books of 2024. Our guests will be Kate Ayers, Harvey Freedenberg, Pamela Kramer, Bronwyn Miller, Rebecca Munro, Ray Palen and Stuart Shiffman. We always look forward to hearing which titles resonated the most with our reviewers.

Thursday, December 12th at 7pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome bestselling authors Tessa Bailey, Ally Carter, Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone for a live virtual holiday romance panel. They will be in discussion about their latest, and spiciest, holiday rom-coms: Tessa's WINDOW SHOPPING, Ally's THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR, and Julie and Sierra's A JINGLE BELL MINGLE.

Tuesday, December 17th at 9pm ET: Killer Author Club: Kimberly Belle, Heather Gudenkauf and Kaira Rouda will talk to Jeneva Rose about her latest book, HOME IS WHERE THE BODIES ARE, a chilling family thriller about the (sometimes literal) skeletons in the closet.

On Sale the Week of December 9th in Hardcover

December 10th

BOOKED FOR MURDER: An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery by P.J. Nelson (Mystery)
Madeline Brimley left small town Georgia many years ago to go to college and pursue her dreams on the stage. But then she gets word that not only has her beloved, eccentric Aunt Rose passed, she's left Madeline her equally eccentric bookstore housed in an old Victorian mansion in the small college town of Enigma. When she arrives to claim The Old Juniper Bookstore and restart her life, Madeline is faced with unexpected challenges. The gazebo in the backyard is set ablaze, and a late-night caller threatens to burn the whole store down if she doesn't leave immediately. But Madeline ignores the threats and soldiers on. Until there's another fire and a murder in the store itself. Now with a cloud of suspicion falling over her, it's up to Madeline to untangle the skein of secrets and find the killer before she herself is the next victim.
Minotaur Books | 9781250909954

THE GOOD BRIDE by Jen Marie Wiggins (Domestic Thriller)
One year after a devastating hurricane, bride-to-be Ruth Bancroft is marrying her perfect groom in a quaint fishing village on the Gulf Coast. The weekend is carefully curated, with the displays of pomp and social media magic meant to promote an area still struggling to rebuild as well as bring Ruth’s estranged family back together. Yet as good intentions often go, this road to wed is hell and paved in complications. With tensions rising between the family and the bridal party, long-buried secrets come to light, and accusations start flying. Things officially spiral out of control when the oceanfront rehearsal dinner is rocked by a series of gunshots, and a high-profile guest goes missing. As the investigation gets underway, it turns out that everyone has something to hide.
Crooked Lane Books | 9798892420044

I MADE IT OUT OF CLAY by Beth Kander (Romantic Comedy/Magical Realism)
Nothing is going well for Eve: she’s single, turning 40, stressed at work and anxious about a recent series of increasingly creepy incidents. Most devastatingly, her beloved father died last year, and her family still won’t acknowledge their sorrow. With her younger sister’s wedding rapidly approaching, Eve is on the verge of panic. She can’t bear to attend the event alone. That’s when she recalls a strange story her Yiddish grandmother once told her, about a protector forged of desperation…and Eve, to her own shock, manages to create a golem. At first, everything seems great. The golem is indeed protective --- and also attractive. But when they head out to a rural summer camp for the family wedding, Eve’s lighthearted rom-com fantasy swiftly mudslides into something much darker.
Mira | 9780778368120

A MONSOON RISING: A Hurricane Wars Novel by Thea Guanzon (Fantasy/Romance)
After a lifetime of war, Alaric and Talasyn were thrust into an alliance between their homelands that was supposed to end the fighting. However, being married to their sworn foe feels far from peaceful. Now Talasyn must play the part of Alaric’s willing empress while her allies secretly plot to overthrow his reign. But the longer the couple are forced together, the harder it becomes to deny the feelings crackling like lightning between them. As the master of the Shadowforged Legion, Alaric has trained for battle all his life, but marrying a Lightweaver might be his most dangerous challenge yet. With tensions between nations churning, he needs to focus on the greater threat --- the Moonless Dark, a cataclysmic magical event that could devour everything. Only he and Talasyn can stop it. But saving their world from this disaster is a mere preface to his father’s more sinister schemes.
Harper Voyager | 9780063277304

THE REST IS MEMORY by Lily Tuck (Historical Fiction)
First glimpsed riding on the back of a boy’s motorcycle, 14-year-old Czeslawa comes to life in this mesmerizing novel by Lily Tuck, who imagines her upbringing in a small Polish village before her world imploded in late 1942. Stripped of her modest belongings, shorn, and tattooed number 26947 on arriving at Auschwitz, Czeslawa is then photographed. Three months later, she is dead. How did this happen to an ordinary Polish citizen? This is the question that Tuck grapples with in THE REST IS MEMORY, which frames Czeslawa’s story within the epic tragedy of six million Poles who perished during the German occupation.
Liveright | 9781324095729

On Sale the Week of December 9th in Paperback

December 10th

AGAIN AND AGAIN by Jonathan Evison (Fiction)
Eugene “Geno” Miles is living out his final days in a nursing home and struggling to connect with his new nursing assistant, Angel, who is understandably skeptical of Geno’s insistence on having lived not just one life but many --- all the way back to medieval Spain, where, as a petty thief, he first lucked upon true love only to lose it, and spend the next thousand years trying to recapture it. Who is Geno? A lonely old man clinging to his delusions and rehearsing his fantasies, or a legitimate anomaly, a thousand-year-old man who continues to search for the love he lost so long ago? As Angel comes to learn the truth about Geno, so, too, does the reader. As his miraculous story comes to a head, so does the biggest truth of all: that love --- timeless, often elusive --- is sometimes right in front of us.
Dutton | 9780593184165

THE DOOR-TO-DOOR BOOKSTORE by Carsten Henn (Fiction)
Small-town German bookseller Carl Kollhoff delivers his books to special customers in the evening hours after closing time, walking through the picturesque alleys of the city. These people are almost like friends to him, and he is their most important connection to the world. When Kollhoff unexpectedly loses his job, it takes the power of books and a nine-year-old girl to make them all find the courage to rebuild their bonds with each other.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335050090

THE FRENCH WINEMAKER’S DAUGHTER by Loretta Ellsworth (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
1942. Seven-year-old Martine hides in an armoire when the Nazis come to take her father away. Pinned to her dress is a note with her aunt’s address in Paris, and in her arms is a bottle of wine she has been instructed to look after if something happened to her papa. But when Martine arrives in the city, her aunt is nowhere to be found. 1990. Charlotte, a commercial airline pilot, attends an auction with her boyfriend, Henri, at Hotel Drouot, now the oldest auction house in Paris. Successfully bidding on a box of wine saved from the German occupation during the Second World War, Henri gives Charlotte a seemingly inferior bottle he finds inside the box. Cleaning the label, Charlotte makes a shocking discovery that sends her on a quest to find the origins of this unusual --- and very valuable --- bottle of wine.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063371811

A GIANT WIN: Inside the New York Giants' Historic Upset Over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII by Tom Coughlin with Greg Hanlon (Sports)
In A GIANT WIN, Coach Tom Coughlin reveals the intricacies of football, sharing details only a coach would know. He also details relationships with some of the most iconic players from the Giants, including Eli Manning and Michael Strahan. The book provides a frame for Coach Coughlin to discuss his life in football --- including his years with the Giants as an assistant coach in the late 1980s and 1990, when he helped win a Super Bowl working under Hall of Fame Head Coach Bill Parcells and alongside the coach he’d oppose in Super Bowl XLII: Bill Belichick.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538724651

HOLMES, MARPLE & POE: The Greatest Crime-Solving Team of the Twenty-First Century by James Patterson and Brian Sitts (Thriller)
In New York City, three intriguing, smart and stylish private investigators open Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations. Who are these detectives with famous names and mysterious, untraceable pasts? Brendan Holmes (The Brain) identifies suspects via deduction and logic. Margaret Marple (The Eyes) possesses powers of observation too often underestimated. Auguste Poe (The Muscle) chases down every lead no matter how dangerous or dark. The agency’s daring methodology and headline-making solves attract the attention of NYPD Detective Helene Grey. Her solo investigation into her three unknowable competitors rivals the best mysteries of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Edgar Allan Poe.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538710784

HOW TO GET A LIFE IN TEN DATES by Jenny L. Howe (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Dating as a plus-size woman has been exhausting for Haleigh Berkshire. It doesn't help that she's been madly in love with her best friend, Jack, for years. But one disastrous weekend in college taught her the hard way that they'll never be more than friends. With her sister's engagement celebration fast approaching, and her friends and family nagging her about a plus-one, Haleigh and Jack do what they do best: scheme. Haleigh agrees to let her friends and family set her up with 10 people --- and she's sure that, once none of them prove to be good matches, her loved ones will finally let her fade into romantic retirement in peace. To her surprise, some of Haleigh’s dates go better than expected, and she's actually having fun for the first time in forever. Until Jack starts breaking all the rules they’d made to mend their friendship in college.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250331465

IF I GO MISSING by Leslie Wolfe (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
I close the binder I’ve been writing in and walk into the living room. As I stare out of the window at your house next door, I think about all the things I stand to lose if someone comes for me. My handsome, loving husband, who has no idea what I’ve done. My family, who have supported me no matter what. This beautiful home near the ocean, where I thought I would be safe. Everyone says that I’m paranoid, but I just think I’m prepared. My secrets have placed me in terrible danger. So if the worst happens, this binder contains everything you’ll need to find me, hidden in a place only you could guess. You’ve always known me best of everyone, ever since we were girls. You’ll be able to put the pieces together and uncover the truth. Only you can find me. But you’ll need to do it fast. Because if you don’t, all your lies will come to light too.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538769539

IMPOSTER SYNDROME by Joseph Knox (Thriller)
Paperback Original
On the run from his shady past, Lynch has just arrived in London, still looking over his shoulder to make sure he isn't being followed. He runs into a young woman named Bobbie, who mistakes him for her brother, Heydon Pierce, who disappeared five years ago without a trace. At Bobbie's suggestion, Lynch goes to the Pierce family home, posing as Heydon to try and con some money out of them. Far from tricking them, his subterfuge is instantly discovered. He strikes the devil's bargain with them --- their silence for his cooperation in finding out what really happened to Heydon. But Lynch's investigation goes too deep and uncovers the fact that Heydon Pierce was tangled up with some dangerous and powerful people in London. Everyone has their own motives to keep Heydon well buried in the past.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464219269

MURDER CROSSED HER MIND: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery by Stephen Spotswood (Historical Mystery)
Vera Bodine, an elderly shut-in with an exceptional memory, has gone missing, and famed detective Lillian Pentecost and her crackerjack assistant, Willowjean “Will” Parker, have been hired to track her down. But there’s no shortage of people who might like to get a hold of what’s in Bodine’s head. Does her disappearance have to do with the high-profile law firm whose secrets she still keeps; the violent murder of a young woman, with which Bodine had lately become obsessed; or is it the work she did with the FBI hunting Nazi spies intent on wartime sabotage? Any and all are on the suspect list, including their client, Forest Whitsun, hotshot defense attorney and no friend to Pentecost and Parker. The clock is ticking to get Bodine back alive, but circumstances conspire to pull both investigators away from the case.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard | 9780593469057

THE NEXT GRAVE by Kendra Elliot (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Detective Evan Bolton is gutted by his latest investigation. His friend and mentor, retired detective Rod McLeod, has been murdered, his body left in the trunk of a junkyard car. When McLeod’s daughter and grandson abruptly vanish, Evan knows it’s not a coincidence. Search-and-rescue canine specialist Rowan Wolff agrees as she and her dog, Thor, track the missing family. The two cases converge in a puzzling twist. Evan discovers that McLeod has been reinvestigating old crimes --- solved but not forgotten. Evan takes them on, one by one, and a disturbing suspicion forms that someone in law enforcement has something to hide and would do anything to keep those secrets buried. But Evan and Rowan’s time is slipping away. They have to find the killer now. Before someone else disappears. Before someone else dies.
Montlake | 9781662511875

NOT IN MY BOOK by Katie Holt (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Peruvian American Rosie leaves her Tennessee hometown to pursue her dream of making it in New York as a writer. But her plan is derailed when she ends up in class with her archnemesis and ex-crush, Aiden Huntington --- an obnoxious, surly and gorgeous literary fiction writer. Rosie and Aiden regularly go to verbal battle in workshop until their professor reaches her breaking point. She allows them to stay in her class on one condition: they must cowrite a novel that blends their genres. The reluctant writing duo can’t help but put pieces of themselves into their accidentally steamy novel, and their manuscript-in-progress provides an outlet for them to confess their feelings --- and explore their attraction toward each other. But when they find themselves competing against each other for a potentially career-changing opportunity, the flames of old rivalry reignite.
Alcove Press | 9781639109753

WHAT THE WIFE KNEW by Darby Kane (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Dr. Richmond Dougherty is a renowned pediatric surgeon and an infamous tragedy survivor. He’s also very dead, thanks to a fall down the stairs. His neighbors angrily point a finger at the newest Ms. Dougherty, Addison. The sudden marriage to the mysterious young woman only lasted 97 days, and he’d had two suspicious “accidents” during that time. Now Addison is a very rich widow. As law enforcement starts to circle in on Addison and people in town become increasingly hostile, sides are chosen with Kathryn, wife number one and the mother of his children, leading the fray. Despite rising tensions, Addison is even more driven to forge ahead on the path she charted years ago. Determined at all costs to unravel Richmond’s legacy, she soon becomes a target --- with a shocking note left on her bedroom wall: You will pay.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063351967

On Sale the Week of December 16th in Hardcover

December 17th

DEFINITELY BETTER NOW by Ava Robinson (Fiction/Humor)
Emma is an alcoholic, but she’s been officially sober for an entire year. That’s 12 months of better health. But it’s also been 365 days of not dating. And with her new dating profile, Emma is ready to put herself back out there. Being assigned to plan her office’s holiday party feels like icing on the suddenly very overwhelming cake until her estranged father reappears with devastating news. But then there’s Ben, the charming IT guy who, despite Emma’s awkwardness and shortcomings, seems to maybe actually get her. Sobriety is turning out to be far from the flawless future Emma had once envisioned for herself. But as she allows herself to open up to Ben and confront difficult past relationships, she’s beginning to realize that taking things one day at a time just might be the perfectly imperfect path she’s meant to be on.
Mira | 9780778310594

INVISIBLE HELIX: A Detective Galileo Novel by Keigo Higashino (Mystery)
The body of a young man is found floating in Tokyo Bay. But his death was no accident; Ryota Uetsuji was shot. He'd been reported missing the week before by his live-in girlfriend, Sonoka Shimauchi. But when detectives from the Homicide Squad go to interview her, she is nowhere to be found. When they learn that she was the victim of domestic abuse, they presume she was the killer. But her alibi is airtight; she was hours away in Kyoto when Ryota disappeared, forcing Detectives Kusanagi and Utsumi to restart their investigation. But if Sonoko didn't kill her abusive lover, then who did? A thin thread of association leads them to their old consultant, brilliant physicist Manabu Yukawa, known in the department as "Detective Galileo." With Sonoko still missing, the detectives investigate other threads of association.
Minotaur Books | 9781250875563

On Sale the Week of December 16th in Paperback

December 17th

COLD VICTORY by Karl Marlantes (Historical Fiction)
Helsinki, 1947. Finland teeters between the Soviet Union and the West. Everyone is being watched. A wrong look or a wrong word could end in catastrophe. Natalya Bobrova, from Russia, and Louise Koski, from the United States, are young wives of their country’s military attachés. When they meet at an embassy party, their husbands, world-class skiers Arnie and Mikhail, drunkenly challenge each other to a friendly --- but secret --- cross-country wilderness race. If news of the race gets out and Mikhail loses, Natalya knows it would mean his death, her imprisonment and the loss of her two children. Meanwhile, Louise, who is childless, uses the race as an opportunity to raise money for a local orphanage, naïve to the danger it will bring to Natalya and her family.
Grove Press | 9780802163974

HARBOR LIGHTS: Stories by James Lee Burke (Fiction/Short Stories)
These eight stories from James Lee Burke moves from the marshlands on the Gulf of Mexico to the sweeping plains of Colorado to prisons, saloons and trailer parks across the South, weaving together love, friendship, violence, survival and revenge. A boy and his father watch a German submarine sink an oil tanker as evil forces in the disguise of federal agents try to ruin their family. A girl is beaten up outside a bar as her university-professor father navigates new love and threats from a group of neo-Nazis. A pair of undercover union organizers are hired to break colts for a Hollywood actor, whose “Western hero” façade hides darkness. An oil rig worker witnesses a horrific attack on a local village while on a job in South America and seeks justice through one final act of bravery.
Grove Press | 9780802163912

WHAT REALLY HAPPENS IN VEGAS: True Stories of the People Who Make Vegas, Vegas by James Patterson and Mark Seal (Biography)
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas --- until now. In WHAT REALLY HAPPENS IN VEGAS, full of surprises for both newcomers and Las Vegas regulars, James Patterson and Vanity Fair contributing editor Mark Seal transport readers from the thrill of adrenaline-fueled vice to the glitter of A-list celebrity and entertainment.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538710883

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