March 4, 2005

Headline: A Trio of Candid Interviews and a Trio of Innocent Voices

We are sharing three interviews with you this week. I love reading the author replies to our questions. To me, there is still a thrill that comes from reading what an author has to say about a book that I have enjoyed. Right now I have triple that pleasure.

This week our new One to Watch author is Alicia Erian, author of TOWELHEAD. It's a very intriguing --- and also disturbing --- novel about a teenage girl who is living with her Lebanese father in Houston. She is struggling with her awakening sexuality while living in a home grounded in old-world values. She is rudderless on what is right and what is wrong, but instead is working through each day with her teen instincts guiding her. I read this in early January at a time when I had a pile of "required" reading to do, but this book kept tugging at me to read another page...or a chapter...or two...until I finished it. Want to be one of our 10 advance readers of TOWELHEAD? Then send your name and mailing address to OneToWatch@bookreporter.com by Friday, March 11th to enter our random drawing.

Remember to mark your calendar/set your VCR or Tivo to watch/record the Oprah Winfrey Presents presentation of the movie THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD starring Halle Berry on Monday, March 6th at 9PM ET.

Have a great week. Going to repeat one of my son's favorite newsletter lines --- This week March came in like a lion. I really would have preferred a lamb/lamb start and end to March!

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

Bookreporter.com Talks to Richard Montanari, Author of THE ROSARY GIRLS

Bookreporter.com's Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight Team (Carol Fitzgerald, Joe Hartlaub and Wiley Saichek) interviewed Richard Montanari, author of THE ROSARY GIRLS. Montanari talks about the creation of his two main protagonists, the research he conducted for the law enforcement aspects of the novel, his love for Philadelphia, and how his own religious background has influenced his writing.

Read an interview with Richard Montanari here.

Bookreporter.com Talks to Elizabeth Flock, Author of ME & EMMA

Read our interview with Elizabeth Flock and a review of ME & EMMA here.

Bookreporter.com Talks to Pam Lewis, Author of SPEAK SOFTLY, SHE CAN HEAR

Bookreporter.com's Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight Team (Carol Fitzgerald, Joe Hartlaub and Wiley Saichek) interviewed Pam Lewis, author of SPEAK SOFTLY, SHE CAN HEAR. Lewis reveals which elements of her debut novel are based in truth and explains why she decided to write a book set in the 1960s and 1970s. She also discusses the authors who have influenced her writing and the challenges of producing novels as opposed to short fiction.

SPEAK SOFTLY, SHE CAN HEAR by Pam Lewis (Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
New York City, 1965: Carole, a shy and overweight student, befriends Naomi, an antisocial wild child. She introduces Carole to Eddie, a slick prep school dropout who is more than willing to help Carole lose her virginity. But what occurs that night will haunt her for years to come, as well as bind her, Naomi and Eddie in an uneasy and dangerous triangle from which Carole will try to escape.

Read our interview with Pam Lewis and a review of SPEAK SOFTLY, SHE CAN HEAR here.

One To Watch: Alicia Erian, Author of TOWELHEAD

Alicia Erian's book, TOWELHEAD, which will be in stores on April 1st, is set during the first Gulf War. A young woman is being raised by her Lebanese dad in Texas in a story that crosses traditions with new values and innocence with budding sexuality. We have 10 advanced reading copies of TOWELHEAD to give away to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it. A description can be found by clicking the link below. If you are interested, please send your name and mailing address to OneToWatch@bookreporter.com by Friday, March 11, 2005.

More about TOWELHEAD:

Painfully funny, tender, and sexually charged, TOWELHEAD is that rare thing: a gloriously readable novel unafraid to take risks. The story of a girl failed by her parents and by a conflicted America, TOWELHEAD is an ultimately redemptive and moving work that none of us can afford to ignore.

Read more about Alicia Erian and TOWELHEAD here.

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Our Latest Author, Jess Walter, Author of CITIZEN VINCE; Iris Johansen, Author of BLIND ALLEY and Jodi Compton, Author of SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS

Read more about our Suspense/Thriller Authors here.

CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? by Sophie Kinsella is Now in Paperback

Click here to read more about CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?

Debut Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Kevin Guilfoile, Author of CAST OF SHADOWS

Kevin Guilfoile's CAST OF SHADOWS is on-sale now. Read below for more about the book.

About the Book: A bereaved doctor undertakes a diabolical experiment in a shattering philosophical thriller that anticipates the moral, social, and metaphysical dilemmas science is poised to confront. Davis Moore is a fertility doctor in Chicago specializing in reproductive cloning, a controversial and closely regulated new practice, when his seventeen-year-old daughter is brutally raped and murdered. The case is investigated but never solved. Months later, Moore retrieves her belongings from the police, and finds among them a vial containing the killer's DNA. Tormented by grief, Moore entertains a monstrous thought: the possibility of cloning not his daughter but the man who killed her. How far would you go to look into the face of your daughter's murderer?
 
-Read more about CAST OF SHADOWS.
-Read what Jordan Pavlin, Guilfoile's Editor had to say about the first time she read CAST OF SHADOWS.
-Read more about Kevin Guilfoile.
-Get Kevin Guilfoile's tour schedule.

Click here to read more about Kevin Guilfoile and CAST OF SHADOWS.

One to Watch: Philip Beard, Author of DEAR ZOE

Read more about Philip Beard and DEAR ZOE here.

THE GAME by Laurie R. King is Now in Paperback

Acclaimed by critics and readers the world over, Laurie R. King's bestselling series featuring Mary Russell and her husband and partner, Sherlock Holmes, has been hailed as "lively adventure in the very best of intellectual company" (The New York Times).

Click here to read more about THE GAME by Laurie R. King.

This Week's Reviews and Features

VANISHING ACTS by Jodi Picoult (Fiction)
Reviewed by Lourdes Orive
Raised in rural New Hampshire by her widowed father, Delia Hopkins now has a young daughter, a handsome fiancé, and her own search-and-rescue bloodhound. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall. And then a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret that changes the world as she knows it.

IRELAND: A Novel by Frank Delaney (Fiction)
Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara
In Frank Delaney's epic novel, a traveling storyteller arrives unannounced at a house in the Irish countryside. In exchange for a bed and a warm meal, he tells stories of Ireland's history. One of his listeners, a nine-year-old boy, grows so entranced by the storytelling that, when the old man leaves abruptly under mysterious circumstances, the boy devotes himself to finding him again.

MISSING PERSONS by Stephen White (Mystery)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Alan Gregory's friend and fellow therapist, Hannah Grant, has died mysteriously and suddenly at the office. The police are baffled, leaving another apparent homicide unsolved in Boulder, Colorado. Only Alan has the means to decipher Hannah's clues, a quest that will take him to Las Vegas and lead him to question the integrity of those closest to him.

LOST LAKE by Phillip Margolin (Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
At the start of this ambitious work by Phillip Margolin, a Little League game erupts in violence. The identity of one of the participants threatens to expose a secret military unit that was headed by Morris Wingate, a former U.S. military general who is now a candidate for the presidency.

BLOOD MEMORY by Greg Iles (Thriller)
Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
Suspended from the FBI task force after blacking out at a murder scene, forensic expert "Cat" Ferry returns to her hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. When some of Cat's forensic chemicals are spilled in her childhood bedroom, two bloody footprints are revealed. This discovery sets in motion a quest to piece together Cat's past -- buried memories that could tie her father's murder to the grisly deaths now occurring in New Orleans.

THE LAST KINGDOM by Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction)
Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds
In a departure from his bestselling Richard Sharpe series, Bernard Cornwell has written this insightful novel about King Alfred the Great, one of the most crucial (but oft-forgotten) figures in English history. 

THE DEVIL'S RIGHT HAND by J.D. Rhoades (Thriller)
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
While trailing a guy who missed his court date, bail bondsman Jack Keller finds himself entangled in a murder investigation. Unfortunately, both the police and the victim's vindictive family believe he is involved.

MY LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES: A Survivor's Tale by James Atlas (Memoir)
Reviewed by Carole Turner
According to writer James Atlas, it's no easy task to come to terms with one's own mortality but it's necessary, especially at midlife. This late middle-aged man reflects on his own life, searching to understand what is really essential and be well prepared for what may lie ahead.

THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME by Kage Baker (Science Fiction)
Reviewed by Pauline Finch
Is Alec Chesterfield a true picaresque hero or a latter-day Flying Dutchman? Kage Baker creates a character who is, literally, a man of all time. He's a drifter, an outsider, a risk-taker, a heartbreaker, a goon, a gentleman, a thief, a saint --- and more.

DEMON RUMM by Sandra Brown (Contemporary Romance)
Reviewed by Judy Gigstad
Originally published in 1987 as LOVESWEPT #197, this romance novel by Sandra Brown centers on the efforts of a Hollywood heartthrob to study and become the character he plays in his latest movie script --- a deceased aeronautical daredevil named Demon Rumm.

GOOD CATHOLIC GIRLS: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church by Angela Bonavoglia (Current Events/Religion)
Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott
A self-described "itinerant Catholic," Angela Bonavoglia tells the true stories of courageous women from all over the world who stepped forward to challenge the male authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

Click here to read this week's review and features.

Bookreporter.com Blog

Where do you buy most of your books?

Chain Bookstore: (Barnes & Noble, Borders, Booksamillion, etc)
Local Independent Bookstore
Mass Stores: (Wal-Mart, Target, etc)
Warehouse Clubs: (Costco, BJs, etc)
Online Bookstore - (Amazon, BN.com, etc)
Mail Order Book Club (Book of the Month Club, etc)
I do not buy books, but rather use my local library.
I do not buy books.

When you shop, how many books do you typically buy?
1
2-3
4-6
7 or more
I do not buy books.

Question: Name one author or book that you discovered on Bookreporter.com.

Please note: Our next question update will be on March 18th.

Answer the Question of the Week here.

Tell us what books YOU are reading and loving --- or even those you don't.

This week we have some great prizes: FIVE readers each will win a copy of ME & EMMA by Elizabeth Flock and MISSING PERSONS by Stephen White. Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on March 18th.