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September 14, 2007

Bookreporter.com Newsletter

September 14, 2007

This Week on Bookreporter.com

Fun Reading...and Fall Book Fairs and Festivals

Bookreporter.com Talks to Markus Zusak, Author of THE BOOK THIEF

New Featured One to Watch Author: Peter Pezzelli, Author of ITALIAN LESSONS

Featured Suspense/Thriller Author: John Hart, Author of DOWN RIVER

Featured Suspense/Thriller Author: Mark Gimenez, Author of THE ABDUCTION

Featured Debut Suspense/Thriller Author: Emily Benedek, Author of RED SEA

Featured Debut Suspense/Thriller Author: Chelsea Cain, Author of HEARTSICK

Featured One to Watch Author: Joshua Henkin, Author of MATRIMONY

Featured One to Watch Author: Shobhan Bantwal, Author of THE DOWRY BRIDE

Featured One to Watch Author: Gail Tsukiyama, Author of THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS

Featured One to Watch Author: Sarah Addison Allen, Author of GARDEN SPELLS

Featured One to Watch Author: Robert Goddard, Author of NEVER GO BACK

Featured One to Watch Author: David Gibbins, Author of CRUSADER GOLD

ALMOST DEAD by Lisa Jackson - A New York Times Bestseller

This Week's Reviews and Features

Quick Links to Features On The Book Report Network
 
Bookreporter.com
Past Reviews
Can't See the Graphics? Read This Newsletter Online
Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight Promotion
Debut Suspense/Thriller One to Watch Promotion
Mystery Mayhem Promotion

Historical Fiction Promotion

One to Watch Promotion
Books Into Movies
Bestseller Lists
Coming Soon
New in Paperback
ReadingGroupGuides.com

Summer Beach Bag of Books Promotion

Fun Reading...and Fall Book Fairs and Festivals

I am looking out the window, and I am happy the leaves still are green on the trees outside my window. On the drive home the other night a yellow leaf landed on my windshield, and I felt like fall was looking me in the face and it was not pretty. I am not ready for fall foliage yet. Our office renovation had me sequestered inside a windowless office for such a long time that I need more summer.

I also think we need a holiday every week to make life more balanced. Last week we had Labor Day. This week my boys were off from school yesterday for Rosh Hashanah. I think we need this every week. It would be a day for us all to get out of the routine. We can rotate what gets celebrated and rotate the days of the week we celebrate, but I think a break in routine is in order these days. Think of the extra reading time we would have!

This week I escaped with CONFESSIONS OF A PREP SCHOOL MOMMY HANDLER, a memoir by Wade Rouse. If you want to read a FUNNY but thought-provoking book, this is it. Rouse was the Public Relations director at a swanky prep school where his real role was "handling the mommies." I ended up reading parts of this book to the staff at the office, my kids at the house and just about anyone who would listen wherever I could find them. The descriptions of these women and their lives are over-the-top. Rouse's writing is well crafted and full of great comedic timing. I laughed out loud reading it --- a lot. Want to see what I am talking about? Read an excerpt here

I wrote a blog earlier today about the television shows and movies that I enjoy. Many mirror my reading interests, so I thought I would share them. I have been noodling this blog for a while, and I knew I had to write it when I saw Kathy Reichs's new one, BONES TO ASHES, on our review lineup. I love "Bones," which was inspired by her book series. I also have a special Netflix offer I am sharing in a reader contest. Click here to see the blog and contest details.

I wanted to pass along info about a project that will be of interest to our readers who love thrillers. Fifteen distinguished authors --- including Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, Joseph Finder, Jim Fusilli, David Hewson, James Grady, S.J. Rozan, Erica Spindler, John Ramsey Miller, David Corbett, John Gilstrap, Peter Spiegelman, Ralph Pezzullo, Lisa Scottoline and P.J. Parrish --- have joined together to create a single audiobook, THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT, with each author contributing a chapter to the ongoing story. The book is serialized and is hailed as the first-ever audio serial book. Deaver wrote the opening chapter, handed it off to the other authors to each do their own chapter, and then he returned at the end to do the two last chapters to wrap up the story. Click here to learn more about this exciting project available exclusively on Audible.com and to see a video where participants talk about the writing!

Things continue to buzz here at the office. We are launching a new One to Watch author feature this week for Peter Pezzelli. His new book, ITALIAN LESSONS, will hit stores on September 25th. Here, Pezzelli tells an unforgettable tale of Italian-American life, family and identity. Do you want to enter to be one of 20 advance readers? Then fill out this form by Friday, September 21st.

We are featuring an interview this week with Markus Zusak, author of THE BOOK THIEF. A bestselling title and a Book Sense pick in 2006, this unforgettable novel was released in paperback this week. We have advance reader comments for THE ABDUCTION by Mark Gimenez, GARDEN SPELLS by Sarah Addison Allen and NEVER GO BACK by Robert Goddard. And M.J. Rose, author of THE REINCARNATIONIST, answers readers' questions, which you can see here.

Our poll this week continues to ask about airport bookstores and whether you browse or buy while you are waiting to fly. With the number of delays this summer, there was lots of time for airport shopping! Our Word of Mouth titles are THE BONE GARDEN by Tess Gerritsen, CONFESSIONS OF A PREP SCHOOL MOMMY HANDLER by Wade Rouse (so you can win the book that won my laughs this week) and YOU'VE BEEN WARNED by James Patterson and Howard Roughan. Tell us what you are reading and rate the titles 1-5 by noon on September 21st to ensure that you are in the running to win these books.

Want to win a terrific prize to give to a favorite aunt? Take a look at our contest for THE FARADAY GIRLS, which is running until September 28th. You could win an amazing collection of items that evoke the spirit and sentiment of the girls in the book and what they send their aunt. Click here for details.

I am reading a YA novel that is getting lots of buzz called BEFORE I DIE by Jenny Downham. It will be in stores September 25th. The plot goes like this, and I am picking up from the publisher notes as I just started reading, but this is what intrigued me to read it: "Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is Sex. Released from the constraints of ‘normal’ life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa’s feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, and her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time finally runs out." A powerful book from all I have heard.

For those of you who like getting out to meet authors, here are two book festivals to get on your radar. The first is the National Book Festival in Washington, DC, which takes place on the mall on Saturday, September 29th. You can see the schedule here. The second is the Miami Book Fair, in Miami. The Street Fair is the 9th-11th, while there are bookish events from the 4th-11th. The full schedule still is coming together, but bookmark this and keep checking back. There are other events, which you can see here. The boys will be with me in Miami since they have a break from school at that time. See why I love vacation days? I truly think experiences like this can be more valuable than class time.


Cory's fall baseball season kicks off at 8:30 tomorrow, which is an ungodly hour for baseball, but my knitting and I will be there. Here's to chatting up books with the moms in the stands. Have a great week...hold onto summer a while longer with your reading.

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)
 

Click here to enter our Word of Mouth contest.

 

Bookreporter.com Talks to Markus Zusak, Author of THE BOOK THIEF

Markus Zusak is the award-winning author of I AM THE MESSENGER and THE BOOK THIEF, which is now available in paperback. In this interview with Bookreporter.com's Brian Farrey, Zusak discusses the appeal of reading and writing, and describes his experience in Germany while researching THE BOOK THIEF. He also addresses the similar threads that run through his work and even shares a poignant childhood memory.

THE BOOK THIEF
 by Markus Zusak
(Historical Fiction)

Living in Germany during World War II, young Liesel Meminger scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist --- books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids. Reviewed by Brian Farrey.

-Click here to read a review of THE BOOK THIEF.
-Click here to read an excerpt from THE BOOK THIEF.
-Click here to see the reading group guide for THE BOOK THIEF.

Click here to read our interview with Markus Zusak.

 

New Featured One to Watch Author: Peter Pezzelli, Author of ITALIAN LESSONS

Our newest featured One to Watch author is Peter Pezzelli, whose first book, HOME TO ITALY, was a Book Sense pick in 2004. With his trademark warmth, humor and wisdom, Pezzelli's new novel, ITALIAN LESSONS (which releases on September 25th), weaves an unforgettable tale of Italian-American life and family, hope and heartbreak, lessons learned and lessons deferred, and a love that can heal time's greatest wounds.

We have 20 copies of ITALIAN LESSONS to give away to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it. If you are interested, please fill out this form by Friday, September 21st.

-Click here to read Peter Pezzelli's bio.
-Click here to see Peter Pezzelli's backlist.

More about ITALIAN LESSONS:
Fresh out of college, Carter Quinn has returned to his home in North Providence, Rhode Island, unsure of just about everything except his plans to go to Italy and pursue the woman of his dreams. To do that, he needs to learn to speak Italian, and only one man is right for the job --- Giancarlo Rosa...if Carter can survive him.

Giancarlo is nobody's fool. The middle-aged music professor does offer Italian lessons, but only to those who are truly motivated. If Carter wants to learn, he will have to prove himself: lessons three times a week, hours of studying, strict discipline. And there will be no questions about the professor's life --- why he hasn't written music in years, why he lives alone, and why he left his homeland in the first place. Carter may see Italy as a land of romance, but Giancarlo knows just what disappointments and betrayals live under the Abruzzo sky. What begins as an apparent mismatch between mentor and student soon blossoms into something deeper --- a friendship that carries them into the old country, where forgotten secrets may hold the key to a new lease on life.

Now, in a land of sun, wine, new romance and old wounds, two men will embark on separate, unpredictable journeys that will take them deep into the untraveled places of the heart...
 

Click here to read more about Peter Pezzelli and ITALIAN LESSONS.


 

Featured Suspense/Thriller Author: John Hart, Author of DOWN RIVER

John Hart's first novel, THE KING OF LIES, was a bestseller when it was released in 2006. His second work of fiction is DOWN RIVER, and it tells the haunting story of Adam Chase as he returns to the hometown he was exiled from to reclaim his life. The book will be available on October 2nd and promises to be a worthy follow-up to his debut.

-Click here to read an excerpt from DOWN RIVER.
-Click here to read fast facts about John Hart.
-Click here to read John Hart’s bio.
-Click here to see John Hart's backlist.
-Visit the author’s website, www.JohnHartFiction.com.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about DOWN RIVER:
Adam Chase has a violent streak, and not without reason. As a boy growing up in Rowan County, North Carolina, he saw things that no child should see, suffered wounds that cut to the core and scarred thin. The trauma left him passionate and misunderstood --- a fighter. After being narrowly acquitted of a murder charge, Adam is hounded out of the only home he’s ever known, exiled for a sin he did not commit. For five long years he disappears, fades into the faceless gray of New York City. Now he’s back and nobody knows why, not his family or the cops, not the enemies he left behind.


But Adam has his reasons.

Within hours of his return, he is beaten and accosted, confronted by his family and the women he still holds dear. No one knows what to make of Adam’s return, but when bodies start turning up, the small town rises against him and Adam again finds himself embroiled in the fight of his life, not just to prove his own innocence, but to reclaim the only life he’s ever wanted.

Bestselling author John Hart holds nothing back as he strips his characters bare. Secrets explode, emotions tear, and more than one person crosses the brink into deadly behavior as he examines the lengths to which people will go for money, family, and revenge.


A powerful, heart-pounding thriller, DOWN RIVER will haunt your thoughts long after the last page is turned.
 

Click here to read more about John Hart and DOWN RIVER.


 
Featured Suspense/Thriller Author: Mark Gimenez, Author of THE ABDUCTION
Our second featured Suspense/Thriller author is Mark Gimenez, who wrote the bestselling THE COLOR OF LAW. His second novel, THE ABDUCTION, is an explosive thriller that revolves around the kidnapping of a young girl and the reunion of an estranged father and son who race against time to try to rescue her.

-Click here to read a review of THE ABDUCTION.
-Click here to read a second excerpt from THE ABDUCTION.
-Click here to read an interview with Mark Gimenez.
-Click here to read fast facts about Mark Gimenez.
-Click here to read Mark Gimenez's bio.
-Click here to read critical praise for THE ABDUCTION.
-Visit the author's official website, www.MarkGimenez.com.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

-Click here to see advance reader comments.

More about THE ABDUCTION:
Ben Brice lives alone in the New Mexico wilderness where he battles memories of Vietnam with oceans of Jim Beam. Miles away in Texas, his estranged son, John, an Internet geek-turned-billionaire, half watches his daughter Gracie's soccer game while conducting business on his cell phone. When her mother Elizabeth arrives, the coach reports that her uncle has already collected Gracie. But Gracie has no uncle --- she was kidnapped.

From international bestselling author Mark Gimenez comes a terrifying child-in-jeopardy thriller in which dark family secrets make the finding of ten-year-old Gracie Brice more uncertain with every passing minute. And so begins a furious race against time to save Gracie from unknown kidnappers. With the FBI camped out in the Brice mansion, the family offers a reward of $25 million. Somehow, Ben and John Brice must find Gracie before it is too late. As the story unfolds with riveting twists and turns, the reader discovers that behind the kidnapping is an extraordinary government plot that could change the course of American history. And time is running out…

 

Click here to read more about Mark Gimenez and THE ABDUCTION.


 

Featured Debut Suspense/Thriller Author: Emily Benedek, Author of RED SEA

One of our featured Debut Suspense/Thriller authors is Emily Benedek, whose first novel, RED SEA, releases on September 18th. Its main character, Julian Granot, is based on a real-life elite commando leader and counter-terror expert with whom Benedek came into contact as a journalist reporting on counterterrorism for Newsweek.

-Click here to read a third excerpt from RED SEA.
-Click here to read Emily Benedek's bio.
-Visit the author's official website, www.EmilyBenedek.com
.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about RED SEA:
After four commercial airliners are blown out of the sky in international airspace, retired Israeli Special Forces commander Julian Granot is called in to investigate. With the help of an intrepid American journalist, Marie Peterssen, and Morgan Ensley, a maverick FBI agent, Granot makes the horrifying discovery that the crashes were meant to conceal a more diabolical attack. Through an investigation that leads from Jordan to Iraq, through London and Cyprus to New York, Granot and his unorthodox team uncover plans for a scenario that has frightened American security experts for years: a nuclear bomb slipped onto a container and rigged to explode in a major US seaport. Meanwhile, Marie discovers a startling personal connection to the Islamist terrorist behind the plot, a secret that jeopardizes her life and the entire mission.

Based on a real-life elite commando leader and counter-terror expert, Julian Granot is a mysterious, ruthless, but ultimately human and sympathetic spymaster extraordinaire. Marie is a fully-drawn female hero who isn't afraid to get her hands dirty --- or fall in love.

 

Click here to read more about Emily Benedek and RED SEA.


 
Featured Debut Suspense/Thriller Author: Chelsea Cain, Author of HEARTSICK
In Chelsea Cain's first novel, HEARTSICK, Portland detective Archie Sheridan is finding it difficult to stay away from the beautiful serial killer who tortured him for 10 days before turning herself in. When another killer begins snatching teenage girls off the streets of Portland, Archie has to pull himself together enough to lead the new task force investigating the murders.

-Click here to read a review of HEARTSICK.
-Click
here to read an excerpt from HEARTSICK.
-Click here to read an interview with Chelsea Cain.
-Click here to read critical praise for HEARTSICK.
-Click
here to read Chelsea Cain's bio.

-Click here to view a trailer for HEARTSICK.
-Visit the author's official website, www.ChelseaCain.com.
-Click
here to see our advance copy winners.

More about HEARTSICK:
Damaged Portland detective Archie Sheridan spent ten years tracking Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful serial killer, but in the end she was the one who caught him. Two years ago, Gretchen kidnapped Archie and tortured him for ten days, but instead of killing him, she mysteriously decided to let him go. She turned herself in, and now Gretchen has been locked away for the rest of her life, while Archie is in a prison of another kind --- addicted to pain pills, unable to return to his old life, powerless to get those ten horrific days off his mind. Archie’s a different person, his estranged wife says, and he knows she’s right. He continues to visit Gretchen in prison once a week, saying that only he can get her to confess as to the whereabouts of more of her victims, but even he knows the truth --- he can’t stay away.

When another killer begins snatching teenage girls off the streets of Portland, Archie has to pull himself together enough to lead the new task force investigating the murders. A hungry young newspaper reporter, Susan Ward, begins profiling Archie and the investigation, which sparks a deadly game between Archie, Susan, the new killer, and even Gretchen. They need to catch a killer, and maybe somehow then Archie can free himself from Gretchen, once and for all. Either way, HEARTSICK makes for one of the most extraordinary suspense debuts in recent memory.

 

Click here to read more about Chelsea Cain and HEARTSICK.


 

Featured One to Watch Author: Joshua Henkin, Author of MATRIMONY

One of our featured One to Watch authors is Joshua Henkin, whose second novel, MATRIMONY (following SWIMMING ACROSS THE HUDSON), releases on October 2nd. Here, Henkin presents a beautifully detailed portrait of what it means to share a life with someone --- to do so when you're young, and to try again, afresh, on the brink of middle age.

-Click here to read an excerpt from MATRIMONY.
-Click here to read Joshua Henkin’s bio.
-Click here to see Joshua Henkin's backlist.
-Click here to read critical praise for MATRIMONY.
-Visit the author’s website, www.JoshuaHenkin.com.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about MATRIMONY:

From the moment he was born, Julian Wainwright has lived a life of Waspy privilege. The son of a Yale-educated investment banker, he grew up in a huge apartment on Sutton Place, high above the East River, and attended a tony Manhattan private school. Yet, more than anything, he wants to get out --- out from under his parents’ influence, off to Graymont College, in western Massachusetts, where he hopes to become a writer.

When he arrives, in the fall of 1986, Julian meets Carter Heinz, a scholarship student from California with whom he develops a strong but ambivalent friendship. Carter’s mother, desperate to save money for his college education, used to buy him reversible clothing, figuring she was getting two items for the price of one. Now, spending time with Julian, Carter seethes with resentment. He swears he will grow up to be wealthy --- wealthier, even, than Julian himself.

Then, one day, flipping through the college facebook, Julian and Carter see a photo of Mia Mendelsohn. Mia from Montreal, they call her. Beautiful, Jewish, the daughter of a physics professor at McGill, Mia is --- Julian and Carter agree --- dreamy, urbane, stylish, refined.

But Julian gets to Mia first, meeting her by chance in the college laundry room. Soon they begin a love affair that --- spurred on by family tragedy --- will carry them to graduation and beyond, taking them through several college towns, over the next ten years. Then Carter reappears, working for an Internet company in California, and he throws everyone’s life into turmoil: Julian’s, Mia’s, his own.

Starting at the height of the Reagan era and ending in the new millennium, MATRIMONY is about love and friendship, about money and ambition, desire and tensions of faith. It asks what happens to a marriage when it is confronted by betrayal and the specter of mortality. What happens when people marry younger than they’d expected? Can love endure the passing of time?

 

Click here to read more about Joshua Henkin and MATRIMONY.


 

Featured One to Watch Author: Shobhan Bantwal, Author of THE DOWRY BRIDE

Shobhan Bantwal's debut novel, THE DOWRY BRIDE, is now available in stores. In this moving work, Bantwal introduces Megha, a woman forced to flee her home after overhearing a plot for her murder --- by her own husband and mother-in-law! With nowhere to go, Megha seeks refuge with Kiran. The relationship that develops will challenge her views on love and tradition.

-Click here to read an excerpt from THE DOWRY BRIDE.
-Click here to read Shobhan Bantwal’s bio.
-Click here to read critical praise for THE DOWRY BRIDE.
-Visit the author’s website, www.ShobhanBantwal.com.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about THE DOWRY BRIDE:
One sultry night, a young bride overhears an extraordinary conversation. The voices speak of a plot to murder a wife who has failed to produce a child and whose family has failed to produce the promised dowry.

Megha is sick with horror when she realizes she is the intended victim. Her husband --- the very man who tied the sacred necklace of marriage around her neck --- and his mother are plotting to kill her! In the moment of panic, she runs for her life. Frantically racing through Palgaum’s deserted streets, her way lit only by the lights strung up for the Diwali festival, her single goal is to escape death by fire. But fleeing from her would-be killers seems impossible --- unless she can find someone to help her.

To approach her best friend would bring scandal to an innocent woman's doorstep, and turning to her own strict, conservative family is out of the question. Instead, with nothing but the sari she wears and a memory of kindness, Megha finds her way to Kiran, the one man who has shown her friendship and respect. Hiding her in his apartment, Kiran becomes her protector. But the forbidden attraction that grows between them can only bring more danger
.

Caught between tradition and the truths buried in her heart, a dowry bride will discover the real cost of the only things worth having in life.

 

Click here to read more about Shobhan Bantwal and THE DOWRY BRIDE.


 

Featured One to Watch Author: Gail Tsukiyama, Author of THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS

Gail Tsukiyama has written such bestsellers as WOMEN OF THE SILK and THE SAMURAI'S GARDEN. Her latest novel, THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS, takes place in Tokyo, where two orphaned brothers are growing up with their loving grandparents. Life seems full of promise for these ambitious young men --- but then the attack on Pearl Harbor changes everything. This incredibly moving story that spans almost 30 years is now available in stores.

-Click here to read a review of THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS.

-Click here to read an excerpt from THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS.
-Click here to read an interview with Gail Tsukiyama.
-Click here to read Gail Tsukiyama's bio.
-Click here to see Gail Tsukiyama's backlist.
-Click here to read critical praise for THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS.
-Click here to visit the author's official website.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.


More about THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS:
It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers are growing up with their loving grandparents, who inspire them to dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows unusual skill at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of creating hand-carved masks for actors in the Noh theater.

Across town, a renowned sumo master, Sho Tanaka, lives with his wife and their two young daughters: the delicate, daydreaming Aki and her independent sister, Haru. Life seems full of promise as Kenji begins an informal apprenticeship with the most famous mask-maker in Japan and Hiroshi receives a coveted invitation to train with Tanaka. But then Pearl Harbor changes everything. As the ripples of war spread to both families’ quiet neighborhoods, all of the generations must put their dreams on hold --- and then find their way in a new Japan.


In an exquisitely moving story that spans almost thirty years, Gail Tsukiyama draws us irresistibly into the world of the brothers and the women who love them. It is a world of tradition and change, of heartbreaking loss and surprising hope, and of the impact of events beyond their control on ordinary, decent men and women. Above all, THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS is a masterpiece about love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers.
 

Click here to read more about Gail Tsukiyama and THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS.


 

Featured One to Watch Author: Sarah Addison Allen, Author of GARDEN SPELLS

In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it, in her debut novel, GARDEN SPELLS, which is now available in stores.

-Click here to read a review of GARDEN SPELLS.
-Click here to read an excerpt from GARDEN SPELLS.
-Click here to read an interview with Sarah Addison Allen.
-Click here to read Sarah Addison Allen's bio.
-Visit the author's official website, www.SarahAddisonAllen.com.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.
-Click here to see advance reader comments.

More about GARDEN SPELLS:
The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.

A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants --- from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys --- except for Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before.

When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire’s quiet life is turned upside down --- along with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind, as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy --- if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom --- or with each other.

Enchanting and heartfelt, this captivating novel is sure to cast a spell with a style all its own…

 

Click here to read more about Sarah Addison Allen and GARDEN SPELLS.


 

Featured One to Watch Author: Robert Goddard, Author of NEVER GO BACK

Robert Goddard's novel, NEVER GO BACK, is now available in the U.S. for the first time. In this spellbinding mystery by the master of “the clever twist,” a group of ex-RAF comrades journey to a Scottish castle for a reunion. But by the time they reach their destination, two of them are dead.

-Click here to read a review of NEVER GO BACK.
-Click here to read an excerpt from NEVER GO BACK.
-Click here to read an interview with Robert Goddard.
-Click
here to read Robert Goddard's bio.
-Click
here to see our advance copy winners.
-Click here to see advance reader comments.


More about NEVER GO BACK:
Harry Barnett is leading a contented life in Vancouver with his wife and daughter when he is brought back to England by the death of his mother. He intends to spend just a few days sorting out her affairs when a chance meeting he will regret for the rest of his life makes him change his plans. Two old acquaintances from his National Service days track Harry down to his mother’s house --- the last address they had for him. A lavish reunion has been organized to mark the fiftieth anniversary of their RAF days. Harry decides to go.

During the war, Harry and his fellow RAF conscripts spent three months in a Scottish castle where they acted as guinea pigs in a psychological experiment. The reunion is to take place in the same castle. It will be a chance to see friends, settle old scores and lay a few ghosts to rest.

The party begins on the train up to Aberdeen, until the apparent suicide of one of their number shatters the holiday atmosphere. Their arrival in Scotland seems under a cloud, and when another comrade dies soon after their arrival, Harry is gripped by a sense of foreboding. As well, the recollections of the old comrades of their time in the castle are frighteningly different, and unexplained events from 1955 still haunt them. As Harry tries to solve the mystery of what really happened fifty years ago, he uncovers an extraordinary secret that convinces him he will never leave the castle alive.

 

Click here to read more about Robert Goddard and NEVER GO BACK.


 

Featured One to Watch Author: David Gibbins, Author of CRUSADER GOLD

Another of our featured One to Watch authors is David Gibbins, whose second novel, CRUSADER GOLD, is a sequel to ATLANTIS. In his latest book, which hits stores on September 25th, Gibbins reintroduces readers to marine archaeologist Jack Howard and tells the intriguing story of a discovery that could change the world forever.

-Click here to read a second excerpt from CRUSADER GOLD.
-Click here to read David Gibbins's bio.
-Click here to see David Gibbins's backlist.
-Visit the author’s website, www.DavidGibbins.com.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about CRUSADER GOLD:
From the fall of the Roman Empire to the last days of Nazi power, marine archaeologist Jack Howard and his team of adventurers are hot on the trail of history’s most elusive and desired treasure: the lost golden menorah of Jerusalem. And what they discover could change the world forever…


Deep beneath the windswept waters near Istanbul, Jack and his crack team of experts have uncovered a surprising clue to the location of the fabled treasure plundered during the Crusades. Meanwhile, in a dusty cathedral library, someone unearths a long-forgotten medieval map. Together the two discoveries will solve an ancient mystery --- and spark a race to stop a present-day conspiracy of staggering proportions.

From diving into the core of an arctic iceberg to the last stand of a Viking warship to an extraordinary revelation deep in the jungles of Central America, Jack is headed straight into a globe-spanning clash of civilizations, into an astounding underground labyrinth steeped in blood and horrors --- and to a confrontation with a killer on a shattering crusade of his own.

 

Click here to read more about David Gibbins and CRUSADER GOLD. 


 

ALMOST DEAD by Lisa Jackson - A New York Times Bestseller

A gruesome fall. A fatal overdose. A bullet to the heart. Someone is stalking the Cahill family and is determined to kill them all…one by one. For hidden in their twisted past is a shocking secret --- one that must be avenged in blood. Don’t miss Lisa Jackson’s terrifying new bestseller!

-Click here to read a review of ALMOST DEAD.
-Click here to read an excerpt from ALMOST DEAD.
-Click here to read Lisa Jackson's bio.

Click here to read more about ALMOST DEAD.


 
Read this week's reviews here. Read this week's reviews here. Read this week's reviews here.

This Week's Reviews and Features

BONES TO ASHES by Kathy Reichs (Thriller)
Temperance Brennan is a brilliant forensic anthropologist called on to solve the toughest cases. But for Tempe, the discovery of a young girl's skeleton in Acadia, Canada, is more than just another assignment. Flooded with memories from her past, she can’t help wondering if this could be the friend she lost so many years ago. Reviewed by Roz Shea.

-Click here to read an excerpt from BONES TO ASHES.


NOW AND FOREVER: Somewhere a Band Is Playing & Leviathan '99 by Ray Bradbury (Fantasy)
A magical town in
Arizona. The cold vastness of space. Ray Bradbury returns with “Somewhere a Band Is Playing” and “Leviathan '99”, two never-before-published novellas that expose his continued special ability to enchant all who open the pages of his books. Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard.

-Click here to read an excerpt from NOW AND FOREVER.


STRIP SEARCH by William Bernhardt (Mystery)
William Bernhardt once again brings together the pair that Lisa Scottoline calls “Silence of the Lambs meets
Rain Man.” Behavoirist Susan Pulaski and autistic savant Darcy O’Bannon work together to help Las Vegas police solve a series of bizarre murders that is leaving body parts all over Sin City. Reviewed by Maggie Harding.

-Click here to read an excerpt from STRIP SEARCH.


AN ARSONIST'S GUIDE TO WRITERS' HOMES IN NEW ENGLAND by Brock Clarke (Fiction)
Sam Pulsifer can’t escape his checkered past, which includes accidentally burning down Emily Dickinson’s house and inadvertently killing two people. His misdeeds have become his own modern-day version of a scarlet letter, forever branding him a blight upon his quaint
New England town. Did I mention that the book is funny? Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller.

REBEL ISLAND by Rick Riordan (Thriller)
Batten down the hatches! There’s a hurricane raging in the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s headed toward
Rebel Island, Texas. Shortly after newlywed Tres Navarre arrives on the island with his very-pregnant wife and wheelchair-bound brother, Tres is called upon to maintain calm in the face of an approaching storm while trying to apprehend a killer. Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt.

PATRIOT ACTS by Greg Rucka (Thriller)
Greg Rucka is back with a vengeance in this electrifying thriller starring one of suspense fiction’s most dangerous heroes: Atticus Kodiak. This time the bodyguard turned fugitive must go underground to protect the woman he loves and a country he may have to betray to defend. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.


I WALKED THE LINE: My Life with Johnny by Vivian Cash with Ann Sharpsteen (Memoir)
This
is a chronicle of first love, long-kept secrets, betrayal, forgiveness and the truth --- told at last by Johnny Cash's first wife, the mother of his four daughters. It is a book that had the full support of Cash himself, who insisted it was time for their story to be told, despite any painful revelations that might come to light as a result. Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott.

TOMORROW by Graham Swift (Fiction)
In his latest novel, prize-winning British author Graham Swift paints a tender portrait of a family on the verge of having its life tested by the revelation of a long-held secret. Told through the voice of a wife and mother, this is an affecting portrait of one parent’s dreams and fears for the future of her family. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.


DEEPER 
by Jeff Long (Thriller)
In THE DESCENT, we discovered a world beneath our feet --- a tubular nightmare of tunnels and subterranean rivers and seas inhabited by a savage race of hominids. Our search was to locate their leader, the so-called historical Satan. In DEEPER, mankind once again confronts its cruel subterranean relatives, and we must descend even further. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

FLAWLESS by Joshua Spanogle (Thriller)
A former medical detective for the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Nate McCormick had seen enough suffering to last a lifetime. Now he has left the CDC, determined to begin a new life with his girlfriend in
San Francisco…until the vicious murder of a biotech researcher --- an old friend --- hurtles him back into the medical world he had left behind. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

CASPIAN RAIN by Gina B. Nahai (Fiction)
Gina B. Nahai explores the themes of loss and hope in CASPIAN RAIN, set in the Jewish community of
Tehran just before the Islamic Revolution. This sad story is beautifully written in the author’s original and elegant style. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

PLAIN SECRETS: An Outsider Among the Amish
by Joe Mackall
(Memoir)
In this fascinating look at the ultra-conservative Swartzentruber Amish, Joe Mackall offers an unsentimental look at the lives of one family living in the most traditional --- and strictest --- of all Amish sects. He deftly shows the extremes of both those who seemingly have found peace and contentment in Amish life, its beauty and goodness, and his own concerns about the culture and the viewpoints of those who choose to leave it. Reviewed by Cindy Crosby.

 

Read this week's reviews and features here.


 

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Those who are subscribed to the Bookreporter.com newsletter by September 30, 2007 automatically are entered in our Monthly Newsletter Contest. This month one winner will be selected to win the following five books:
THE BONE GARDEN by Tess Gerritsen, THE CHOICE by Nicholas Sparks, PLAYING FOR PIZZA by John Grisham, RUN by Ann Patchett and YOU'VE BEEN WARNED by James Patterson and Howard Roughan. Jean from Overland Park, KS was last month's newsletter winner. She won BEYOND REACH by Karin Slaughter, BONES TO ASHES by Kathy Reichs, THE CAREFUL USE OF COMPLIMENTS: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel by Alexander McCall Smith, PLAY DIRTY by Sandra Brown and SPOOK COUNTRY by William Gibson.

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