September 6, 2013

Around our house, the footsteps of Tom and the boys each have a particular sound --- or, should I say, “clomp” --- especially when coming down the stairs. With Cory gone at school the past week, I am hearing one less staccato beat on the steps and padding up and down the hallways. I also don’t hear the familiar “beep beep” as he hits the remote to open or lock his car door. Him being gone does not just mean one voice out of the conversation at the dinner table; it’s a number of small sounds that all fill up the house that are not there.

Surprising myself, I did not cry dropping Cory off at school or even on the drive home. He was sooooo happy (see the photo above) that instead of being sad for me, I was happy for him. Also, it came from something he said in the days before he left when we were doing shopping and errands that reminded me how grounded he is. We were talking about how many kids see getting into the college that they want as the end of the rainbow. He said did not see it like that; he sees college as a step to his two goals --- “a good job and a happy life.” Nice. We’ve done some texting since he left, and in an amusing moment, Tom, Greg and I realized that we each called him last night, not mentioning it to each other in advance. As the last call came in, Cory said, “Now I’ve heard from the whole family tonight.” Pretty funny! Of course, the truly amazing moment will happen when HE calls us; we have four years for that to happen.

As for the staycation last week, I will say that I relax more on the Outer Banks than I do at home! Yes, I floated in the pool and read --- and I also read on the lounge chair and on the couch and in bed, but I never dropped into vacation mode like I do when I am away. I did read eight books, including the upcoming Sandra Brown book, DEADLINE, while floating in an oversized tube, a vacation tradition! For a list of what I read --- and loved --- see my blog piece here. I also will confess to one very silly vacation moment, something that can only happen when you have time. All summer I have been enjoying our moonflowers, which come out at dusk and only last until morning. Many times I do not see the flowers until they are celebrating their final moments. I have learned to note when blossoms are ready to pop so I can look for the flowers later in the evening. On Sunday I literally sat in the tube in the pool watching one for an hour hoping to see a flower unfurl. Of course, it did not happen as I watched, but it was very relaxing doing this. I have heard of “the watched pot never boils” --- now I can add to this “the watched flower never blooms.” More on moonflowers in a bit.

While we were on hiatus, we also did a server upgrade that has all of the sites running much, much faster. We still are working out some bugs, namely with our contest forms, so we have some alternate forms in place. Bear with us as we work on the final touches on this project; the growing pains are really worth it!

Thanks to all of you who wrote to congratulate us on our 17th Anniversary. I compiled them here and also have shared them with our entire staff! Reading them we enjoyed getting to know all of you better!

We kick off the unofficial start of the fall season with an amazing 18(!) reviews this week, which gets a tip of the hat to our Editorial Director, Tom Donadio, who has had a busy four days since we have been back. Leading off is NEVER GO BACK, the latest installment in Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. Finally arriving in Virginia and hoping to see the woman he spoke to on the phone in 61 HOURS, Reacher finds himself drafted back into the Army and facing a case that digs deep into his past --- and has personal ramifications that could change him for life. Joe Hartlaub has our review and says, “Reacher’s survival skill set, which involves plenty of the physical and even more of the cerebral, is in full bloom here…. [I]t is the journey that makes NEVER GO BACK classic Reacher.” This one is still on my pile to read; I have been hearing from many people that this is Lee’s best book of the last few.

This week, our New Release Spotlight is on MOONRISE by Cassandra King, which was inspired by her reading of Daphne du Maurier’s REBECCA. When Helen Honeycutt falls in love with Emmet Justice, who has recently lost his wife in a tragic accident, their sudden marriage creates a rift between her new husband and his oldest friends, who resent Helen’s intrusion into their tightly knit circle. Someone is clearly determined to drive her away, but who wants her gone, and why? When she stumbles on the secret behind her predecessor’s untimely death, Helen must decide if she can ever trust --- or love --- again. The story is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, a place where I have spent some time, and Cassandra captures it so well. Emmet and Helen live in a wonderful house called Moonrise. Behind the house, there is an abandoned moon garden that is filled with night flowers, like moonflowers and night jasmine that Emmet’s deceased wife, Rosalyn, had cultivated. At the end of the book is an essay by Cassandra on planting a moon garden, which I plan to share with my local nursery, Malanga’s Springdale Farm, to see how I can create something like it next year.

Sarah Rachel Egelman has our review and says, “Fans of Southern Gothic novels will be happy with King’s blend of romance and suspense…. MOONRISE is a compelling and readable novel, and is a nice companion for brisk fall evenings or stormy nights.” This book would make for an excellent book group discussion, and right now we have a contest where three book clubs can win 10 SIGNED copies of the book for their groups on ReadingGroupGuides.com and an opportunity to chat with Cassandra. Click here for more information about that --- and to enter the contest. Oh, and MOONRISE, which was one of my vacation reads, will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection!

Our Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight of NECESSARY LIES continues with our review. Diane Chamberlain’s latest novel is the story of two young women, seemingly worlds apart, but both haunted by tragedy. A social worker and a 15-year-old are thrown together and must ask themselves: how can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it’s wrong? According to reviewer Alexis Burling, “Chamberlain has a knack for highlighting just how complicated the issues are --- and how maddening getting stuck on both sides of the foster care and welfare systems must truly be, not to mention living in a time when eugenics was considered the optimal solution.” Please be on the lookout for our interview with Diane Chamberlain next week. I love the way Diane has crafted her story to address a topic that bears discussion.

Also in our Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight is THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY by Dianne Dixon, which we ran a contest for earlier in the summer and is now in stores. California girl Livvi Gray has always been haunted by a terrifying nightmare of an eerily beautiful stranger in a shimmering silver dress. Shortly before Livvi’s 30th birthday, she will come face to face with the stranger from her dream, an encounter that will not only alter her future, but change much of what she thinks she knows about the past. Sarah Rachel Egelman has this to say in her review: “THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY is an engaging story, cleverly plotted with emotional immediacy. The freedom from the demons of the past and the peace found in love and acceptance are hard won for the characters here, making for a formidable and honest novel that tackles questions of identity, expression, love and change.” Everyone I know who I have shared this book with has loved it as much as I have, and we all are discussing the ending. It will also be a Bets On selection, and you will have my commentary on why next week! We also will have our interview with Dianne Dixon next week, as well as reader comments.

Our Romantic Suspense Author Spotlight of NOWHERE SAFE by Nancy Bush continues with our review. Detective September Rafferty finds herself drawn into a harrowing and deeply personal case, and this time there are no innocents --- only the one who kills, and those condemned to die. Reviewer Kate Ayers calls September “one of those characters not easily forgotten. Enviable in her strength, both physical and moral, she is a brilliant compilation of all that the public could want in a police officer. And she’s also a radiant compilation of all that Jake could want in a woman.” Please be on the lookout next week for our interview with Nancy Bush.

We’re currently featuring two novels in our Paperback Spotlight. The first is THE CHANCE by Karen Kingsbury, which released in hardcover earlier this year and is now available in paperback. The day before a teenage Ellie moved from Georgia to California, she and her best friend Nolan sat beneath the Spanish moss of an ancient oak tree where they wrote letters to each other and buried them in a rusty old metal box. The plan was to return 11 years later, dig the box up, and read the letters. But now, as that date approaches, much has changed. Click here to read more about the book and here for an excerpt.

Our second featured title is THE GALLERY OF VANISHED HUSBANDS, a paperback original from Natasha Solomons, the bestselling author of THE HOUSE AT TYNEFORD. Ever since her husband disappeared seven years ago, Juliet Montague has been a hardworking single mother of two and unnaturally practical. But on her 30th birthday, that's all about to change. A wealthy young artist asks to paint her portrait, and Juliet, moved by the powerful desire to be seen, enters into the burgeoning art world of 1960s London, which will bring her fame, fortune --- and a life-long love affair. Click here to read more about the book. I have it added to my “to be read” list.

These paperbacks are among the many we’re featuring in this month’s New in Paperback feature. Others include the National Book Award-winning THE ROUND HOUSE by Louise Erdrich (which is the featured prize title in our ReadingGroupGuides.com “What’s Your Book Group Reading?” contest feature), THE HIT by David Baldacci, TELEGRAPH AVENUE by Michael Chabon, LOOKING FOR YESTERDAY: A Sharon McCone Mystery by Marcia Muller, JOSEPH ANTON: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie and THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE HER by Junot Diaz. Click here for all the September paperback roundups.

Another book I’d like to point out is BILLBOARD MAN by Jim Fusilli, who revisits the nameless drifter he introduced last year in ROAD TO NOWHERE. Following the brutal murder of his wife, the man finds himself swept into a world of violence and danger. Freed by an unexpected savior, he remains the target of his estranged daughter’s scorn. But as he succumbs to sordid temptation and is accused of murder, he must find the real killer to clear himself. He is unaware, though, that his nemesis, a Wall Street power broker, has unleashed a killer on his trail --- and the trail of his daughter. Reviewer Tom Callahan calls the book “a wonderful little noir about a badly damaged but decent man that will keep you turning the pages.”

We’ve updated our Books on Screen feature for this month. Among September’s feature films are Salinger, As I Lay Dying, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Parkland (based on Vincent Bugliosi’s FOUR DAYS IN NOVEMBER: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy). On the small screen, don’t miss the series premieres of “Sleepy Hollow” on FOX and Showtime’s “Masters of Sex”; the season finales of “Under the Dome” and “Rizzoli & Isles”; and the final episode of “Dexter” on September 22nd.

On the site right now is a contest for THE FORGETTING TREE by Tatjana Soli, where we’re giving 20 readers the chance to win a copy of the book, which is now available in paperback. Claire Nagy’s love for Forster Baumsarg, the only son of prominent California citrus ranchers, is so strong that not even the tragic death of her son Joshua at kidnappers’ hands, her alienation from her two daughters, or the dissolution of her marriage can pull her from the ranch she’s devoted her life to preserving. But Claire is about to face her greatest struggle: an illness that threatens to take her very life. To enter, please fill out this form by Tuesday, September 24th at noon ET.

We have a new Word of Mouth contest up and running. Let us know what books you’ve read, and you’ll be entered to win these upcoming novels: BELOVED ENEMY: A Jack McClure Novel by Eric Van Lustbader, THE LONGEST RIDE by Nicholas Sparks and THE QUEST by Nelson DeMille. All you have to do is fill out the form on this page by Friday, September 20th at noon ET for your chance to win.

Just a reminder that our Third Annual Fall Preview contests will be returning this month after a brief hiatus. In the meantime, please visit the feature (we’ll be adding more titles soon), and be sure to sign up here to receive the Fall Preview newsletter. And don’t forget to check out our new Fall Showcase feature, which will give you even more ways to win books throughout the fall. We’ll be adding more books to this feature as well.

I read our “On Sale This Week” newsletter this week, and I realized that as much as I read --- and as fast as I read --- I still have not had time to read everything that I want to! It’s going to be a VERY big fall for books, and we look forward to sharing it with you.

We have friends in town for this weekend, and thus I sadly have to miss the Hachette Reading Group Day event in New York this Saturday at Lighthouse International on 59th Street from 10:00-3:00. If you find yourself with free time tomorrow morning to enjoy this excellent event featuring Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, Elin Hilderbrand, Kathleen Kent, George Pelecanos, and many, many more, click here for complete details. I plan to have a report for you next week from at least one of our readers who will be attending with her entire book group!

For those of you who were away this summer and may have missed some of our newsletters, please note that they all are archived here. Here’s to a great week of reading. Read on…

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

NEVER GO BACK: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child (Thriller)
In his latest novel, Lee Child throws Jack Reacher for a loop that will change the man forever and send him into his most perilous mission yet. Finally arriving in Virginia, hoping to see the woman he spoke to on the phone in 61 HOURS, Reacher finds himself drafted back into the Army and facing a case that digs deep into his past --- and has personal ramifications that could change him for life. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt.

MOONRISE by Cassandra King (Southern Gothic/Romance)
When Helen Honeycutt falls in love with Emmet Justice, a charismatic television journalist who has recently lost his wife in a tragic accident, their sudden marriage creates a rift between her new husband and his oldest friends, who resent Helen’s intrusion into their tightly knit circle. Hoping to mend fences, the newlyweds join the group for a summer at his late wife’s family home in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Helen soon falls under the spell not only of the little mountain town and its inhabitants, but also of Moonrise, her predecessor’s Victorian mansion, named for its unique but now sadly neglected nocturnal gardens. But the harder Helen tries to fit in, the more obvious it is that she will never measure up to the woman she replaced.

Someone is clearly determined to drive her away, but who wants her gone, and why? As Emmet grows more remote, Helen reaches out to the others in the group, only to find that she can’t trust anyone. When she stumbles on the secret behind her predecessor’s untimely death, Helen must decide if she can ever trust --- or love --- again.

-Click here to read a review.
-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read an interview with Cassandra King.
-Click here to read Cassandra King’s bio.

THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY by Dianne Dixon (Fiction)
California girl Livvi Gray has always been haunted by a terrifying nightmare of an eerily beautiful stranger in a shimmering silver dress. Shortly before Livvi’s 30th birthday, she will come face to face with the stranger from her dream, an encounter that will not only alter Livvi’s future, but change much of what she thinks she knows about the past.

THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY tells Livvi’s story in parallel with that of a brilliant Boston photographer named Micah and a young Long Island wife and mother named AnnaLee. Like Livvi, these two women are swiftly moving toward events that will prove to be the ultimate turning points in their lives, the places where devastating secrets will be exposed --- secrets about the unexpected ways in which we choose to protect, and betray, the people we love.

-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read Dianne Dixon’s bio.
-Click here to visit Dianne Dixon’s official website.
-Click here to visit the publisher’s website.

THE CHANCE by Karen Kingsbury (Romance)
Years ago, the day before Ellie moved from Georgia to California, she and her best friend Nolan sat beneath the Spanish moss of an ancient oak tree and wrote letters to each other, sealing them in a rusty old metal box. The plan was to return 11 years later and read them in 2013, the year Nolan’s time traveling books say all the mysteries of the world will be understood.

Now, as that date approaches, much has changed. Ellie, bereft of the faith she grew up with, is a single mom living in a tired apartment and trying to make ends meet. Nolan, now an NBA star, has dealt with terrible personal tragedies that fueled his faith and athletic drive in equal measure. Ever since his father and coach succumbed to a heart attack, Nolan has suffered from a transcendent loneliness. Drowning in an ocean of grief, he often thinks about Ellie and the innocence of their childhood days together.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read Karen Kingsbury’s bio.
-Click here to visit Karen Kingsbury’s official website.
-Connect with Karen Kingsbury on Facebook and Twitter.

THE GALLERY OF VANISHED HUSBANDS by Natasha Solomons (Historical Fiction)
London, 1958. It's the eve of the sexual revolution, but in Juliet Montague's conservative Jewish community where only men can divorce women, she finds herself a living widow, invisible. Ever since her husband disappeared seven years ago, Juliet has been a hardworking single mother of two and unnaturally practical. But on her 30th birthday, that's all about to change. A wealthy young artist asks to paint her portrait, and Juliet, moved by the powerful desire to be seen, enters into the burgeoning art world of 1960s London, which will bring her fame, fortune, and a life-long love affair.

-Click here to read Natasha Solomons’s bio.
-Click here to visit Natasha Solomons’s official website.
-Click here to connect with Natasha Solomons on Twitter.

NECESSARY LIES by Diane Chamberlain (Historical Fiction)
Set in rural Grace County, North Carolina, in a time of state-mandated sterilizations and racial tension, NECESSARY LIES tells the story of two young women, seemingly worlds apart, but both haunted by tragedy. A social worker and a 15-year-old are thrown together and must ask themselves: how can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it’s wrong? Reviewed by Alexis Burling.

-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read Diane Chamberlain’s bio.
-Connect with Diane Chamberlain on Facebook and Twitter.

-Click here to see the 35 winners who were selected to read and comment on the book.

NOWHERE SAFE by Nancy Bush (Romantic Suspense)
Who’s more frightening: a sexual predator or a vigilante hell bent on making them atone --- in blood? Detective September Rafferty finds herself drawn into a harrowing and deeply personal case, and this time there are no innocents --- only the one who kills, and those condemned to die. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.

-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read Nancy Bush’s bio.
-Click here to visit Nancy Bush’s official website.
-Connect with Nancy Bush on Facebook and Twitter.

-Click here to see the 25 winners who were selected to read and comment on the book.

September’s New in Paperback roundups include the following highlights:

TELEGRAPH AVENUE by Michael Chabon (Fiction)
Archy Stallings and Nat Jaffe are longtime friends and co-regents of a used record store. But when ex-NFL quarterback Gibson Goode announces his plan to build a megastore nearby, the duo fears that it will mean certain death for their small business. What they don’t know is that this announcement marks the peak of a secret history, including a forgotten crime of the Black Panther era. How will the two make it through these trying times?

THE HIT by David Baldacci (Thriller)
A highly skilled assassin, Will Robie is the man the U.S. government calls on to eliminate the worst enemies of the state. Fellow assassin Jessica Reel is every bit as lethal as Robie. And now she's turning her gun sights on other members of their agency. As Robie pursues Reel, he quickly finds that there is more to her betrayal than meets the eye. Her attacks on the agency conceal a threat that could send shockwaves through the U.S. government and around the world.

THE ROUND HOUSE by Louise Erdrich (Mystery)
The victim of a recent attack, Geraldine Coutts is reluctant to relive or reveal to anyone what happened. She will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Her son, Joe, becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends to get some answers of his own. Their quest takes them first to the Round House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibwe. And this is only the beginning.

LOOKING FOR YESTERDAY: A Sharon McCone Mystery by Marcia Muller (Mystery)
Three years ago, Caro Warrick was acquitted for the murder of her best friend Amelia Bettencourt, but the lingering doubts of everyone around Caro is affecting her life. Sharon McCone is confident that she can succeed where other detectives have failed, but when Caro is brutally beaten right at Sharon's doorstep, the investigation takes on a whole new course.

THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE HER by Junot Diaz (Fiction/Short Stories)
On a beach in the Dominican Republic, a doomed relationship flounders. In the heat of a hospital laundry room in New Jersey, a woman does her lover’s washing and thinks about his wife. In Boston, a man buys his love child, his only son, a first baseball bat and glove. At the heart of these stories is Yunior, a young hardhead whose longing for love is equaled only by his recklessness --- and by the extraordinary women he loves and loses.

JOSEPH ANTON: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie (Memoir)
How do a writer and his family live with the threat of murder for more than nine years? How does he go on working? How does he fall in and out of love? How does despair shape his thoughts and actions, how and why does he stumble, how does he learn to fight back? In this remarkable memoir, Salman Rushdie tells that story for the first time --- the story of one of the crucial battles, in our time, for freedom of speech.

-Find out what's New in Paperback for the weeks of September 2nd, September 9th, September 16th and September 23rd.

SONGS OF WILLOW FROST by Jamie Ford (Historical Fiction)
Twelve-year-old William Eng, a Chinese American boy, has lived at Seattle’s Sacred Heart Orphanage ever since his mother’s listless body was carried away from their small apartment five years ago. On his birthday --- or rather, the day the nuns designate as his birthday --- William and the other orphans are taken to the historical Moore Theatre, where William glimpses an actress on the silver screen who goes by the name of Willow Frost. Struck by her features, William is convinced that the movie star is his mother, Liu Song.

Determined to find Willow and prove that his mother is still alive, William escapes from Sacred Heart with his friend Charlotte. The pair navigate the streets of Seattle, where they must not only survive but confront the mysteries of William’s past and his connection to the exotic film star. The story of Willow Frost, however, is far more complicated than the Hollywood fantasy William sees onscreen.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read Jamie Ford’s bio.
-Click here to visit Jamie Ford’s official website.
-Connect with Jamie Ford on Facebook and Twitter.
-Click here to see the 50 winners who were selected to read and comment on the book.

THE WEDDING GIFT by Marlen Suyapa Bodden (Historical Fiction)
When Cornelius Allen gives his daughter Clarissa’s hand in marriage, he presents her with a wedding gift: the young slave she grew up with, Sarah. Sarah is also Allen’s daughter and Clarissa’s sister, a product of his longtime relationship with his house slave, Emmeline. When Clarissa’s husband suspects that their newborn son is illegitimate, Clarissa and Sarah are sent back to her parents, Cornelius and Theodora, in shame, setting in motion a series of events that will destroy this once powerful family.

Told through alternating viewpoints of Sarah and Theodora Allen, Cornelius’ wife, THE WEDDING GIFT is a stunning novel that shows where the complicated and compelling bonds and relationships between women explored in novels like THE HELP and THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES began. It is an intimate portrait that shows where this particular American story and dynamic all started and will leave readers breathless.

-Click here to read an excerpt.

-Click here to read Marlen Suyapa Bodden’s bio.

September's update of ReadingGroupGuides.com features FIVE contests:

Win 10 SIGNED Copies of MOONRISE and an Opportunity to Chat with Cassandra King for Your Group
We are celebrating the release of MOONRISE --- in which a newlywed discovers a secret that forces her to decide if she can ever trust or love again --- with an exciting contest. Three groups will win 10 SIGNED first editions of the book with special bookplates, along with an opportunity to chat with the author, Cassandra King, via phone or Skype. The deadline for entries is Thursday, October 3rd at noon ET.

Win 12 Copies of ACCELERATED and a Skype Chat with Bronwen Hruska for Your Group
We are celebrating the September 15th paperback release of ACCELERATED --- in which a single dad and his son discover what lies beneath the gilded facade of an elite Upper East Side private school --- with a special contest. Six groups will receive 12 copies of the book, and four of these groups also will win a Skype chat with the author, Bronwen Hruska. The deadline for entries is Thursday, October 3rd at noon ET.

Win a Copy of HAVANA LOST and a Skype Chat with Libby Fischer Hellmann for Your Group
We are celebrating the release of HAVANA LOST --- an epic thriller set largely in Cuba that spans three generations of the same Mafia family --- with a special contest. Fifteen groups will receive one copy of the book, while three other groups will win three copies of the book AND a Skype chat with the author, Libby Fischer Hellmann. The deadline for entries is Thursday, October 3rd at noon ET.

Win 12 Copies of THE ROUND HOUSE by Louise Erdrich for Your Group
Let us know what your group is reading in September, and you will be entered in a giveaway to win multiple copies of a book for your group! Our latest prize book is THE ROUND HOUSE by Louise Erdrich, the National Book Award-winning novel about a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and understanding in the wake of a terrible crime that upends and forever transforms his family. We have 12 copies of the book, which will be available in paperback on September 24th, to give away to three groups. The deadline for entries is Thursday, October 3rd at noon ET.

Registered Book Clubs Contest: Win a Copy of THE PRESERVATIONIST and an Opportunity for Your Group to Meet Justin Kramon in Person
This month, we are pleased to announce a special contest for our registered book clubs. 150 groups will win one copy of THE PRESERVATIONIST --- a riveting psychological thriller releasing on October 10th about three people whose dark pasts are beginning to catch up with them --- along with an opportunity for the author, Justin Kramon, to personally visit their book club meeting. Groups that have registered with us by Tuesday, September 24th will have the chance to win. If your group is not registered with ReadingGroupGuides.com, click here to register.

The following guides are now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

ACCELERATED by Bronwen Hruska
APPROACHING THE SPEED OF LIGHT by Victoria Lustbader
AUNTY LEE’S DELIGHTS: A Singaporean Mystery by Ovidia Yu
THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY by Dianne Dixon
THE BRIDE WORE SIZE 12 by Meg Cabot
CARLY'S GIFT by Georgia Bockoven
CLARA'S HEART by Joseph Olshan
CONSTANCE by Rosie Thomas
THE FALLEN SNOW by John J Kelley
THE FORGETTING TREE by Tatjana Soli
HAVANA LOST by Libby Fischer Hellmann
MADDADDAM by Margaret Atwood
MAN ALIVE! by Mary Kay Zuravleff
MOONRISE by Cassandra King
THE PRESERVATIONIST by Justin Kramon
THE ROAD FROM GAP CREEK by Robert Morgan
SOMEONE by Alice McDermott
SONGS OF WILLOW FROST by Jamie Ford
THE SUITE LIFE by Suzanne Corso
TINDERBOX by Lisa Gornick
WONDER WOMEN: Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection by Debora L. Spar

Please note that these titles, for which we already had the guides when they appeared in hardcover, are now available in paperback:

ODDLY NORMAL: One Family's Struggle to Help Their Teenage Son Come to Terms with His Sexuality by John Schwartz
TELEGRAPH AVENUE by Michael Chabon

The following guide is now available for Christian book groups:

THE PRAYER BOX by Lisa Wingate

CLAIRE OF THE SEA LIGHT by Edwidge Danticat (Fiction)
Edwidge Danticat’s first work of fiction since 2004’s THE DEW BREAKER is comprised of eight interlocking stories set in early 21st-century Haiti. The tales revolve around a seven-year-old girl named Claire, whose mother died in childbirth and whose father, a fisherman, now wants to give her away so that she will have a better life. CLAIRE OF THE SEA LIGHT is a riveting portrait of Haitian villagers and is told in Danticat’s lyrical prose. Reviewed by Michael Magras.

-Click here to read an excerpt.

THE REASON I JUMP: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida, translated by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell (Memoir)
Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart and self-aware 13-year-old boy with autism, THE REASON I JUMP demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. He shares his unique point of view on not only autism but life itself. Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott.

BLIND JUSTICE: A William Monk Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
For a generation, Anne Perry has invited readers to explore the heart of Victorian London through her novels. The compelling William Monk series continues in BLIND JUSTICE, depicting a world where men of wealth and men of evil often live side by side, and great men sometimes make unfortunate choices. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

THE WHOLE ENCHILADA by Diane Mott Davidson (Mystery)
Goldy Schulz knows her food is to die for, but she never expects one of her best friends to actually keel over when she's leaving a birthday party Goldy has catered. What looks like a coronary turns out to be a generous serving of cold-blooded murder. When a colleague --- a woman who resembles Goldy --- is stabbed, and Goldy is attacked outside her house, it becomes clear that the popular caterer is the main course on a killer menu. Reviewed by Amie Taylor.

THE RETURN by Michael Gruber (Thriller)
A shattering piece of news awakens Richard Marder’s buried desire for vengeance, and with nothing left to lose, he sets off to punish the people whose actions changed his life. He and his old army buddy, Patrick Skelly, raise the stakes far beyond anything he could have envisioned. As they head toward an apocalypse of their own making, Marder learns that good motives and sense of justice can’t always protect the people a man loves. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

PICTURE PERFECT: The Jodi Arias Story: A Beautiful Photographer, Her Mormon Lover, and a Brutal Murder by Shanna Hogan (True Crime)
When Travis Alexander and Jodi Arias met at a convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, neither realized that they were about to embark on a tumultuous, tempestuous frenzy of sexual attraction and obsession that ultimately would leave one of them dead and the other behind bars in a scandal that was anything but "picture perfect." Reviewed by Amie Taylor.

A QUESTION OF HONOR: A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
As a young girl, Bess Crawford was living on the Northwest Frontier of India where her father, a colonel in the British army, was stationed. When one of his most trusted officers is accused of murdering his parents, the soldier disappears deep in the Khyber Pass and presumed dead while trying to flee India. Now, 10 years later, Bess is a World War I field nurse and comes across an injured soldier who may be the accused murderer from her father’s ranks. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

THE KILL LIST by Frederick Forsyth (Thriller/Adventure)
The mission of Technical Operations Support Activity (TOSA) is to track, find, and kill those so dangerous to the United States that they are on a short document known as the Kill List. Added to the list is a terrorist of frightening effectiveness called the Preacher, who radicalizes young Muslims abroad to carry out assassinations. Unfortunately for him, one of the kills is a retired Marine general, whose son is TOSA’s top hunter of men. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

DECEIVED: A Hannah Smith Novel by Randy Wayne White (Mystery/Thriller)
A private museum devoted solely to Florida’s earliest settlers and pioneers has been announced, and many of Hannah Smith’s friends and neighbors in Sulfur Wells are being pressured to make contributions. The problem is, the whole thing is a scam. And when Hannah sets out to uncover whoever is behind it, she discovers that things are even worse than she thought. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

BILLBOARD MAN by Jim Fusilli (Thriller)
Following the brutal murder of his wife, a man finds himself swept into a world of violence and danger. Freed by an unexpected savior, he is still a haunted man who remains the target of his estranged daughter’s scorn. But as he succumbs to sordid temptation and is accused of murder, he must find the real killer to clear himself. He is unaware, though, that his nemesis, a Wall Street power broker, has unleashed a killer on his trail --- and the trail of his daughter. Reviewed by Tom Callahan.

-Click here to visit Jim Fusilli’s official website.

LINEUP by Liad Shoham (Thriller)
A brutal rape in a quiet Tel Aviv neighborhood has the police baffled. There are no witnesses, suspects or clues, until the victim’s father steps in and finds overwhelming evidence pointing to Ziv Nevo. Veteran detective Eli Nahum questions Nevo, but can’t get anything out of him. That’s because Nevo has a secret. He works for the mafia, and telling the truth about why he was near the crime scene could get him killed. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE RESIDUE YEARS by Mitchell S. Jackson (Fiction)
Mitchell S. Jackson grew up black in a neglected neighborhood in America’s whitest city, Portland, Oregon. In his commanding autobiographical novel, Mitchell writes what it was to come of age in that time and place. THE RESIDUE YEARS switches between the perspectives of a young man, Champ, and his mother, Grace, who, fresh out of a drug treatment program, is trying to stay clean and get her kids back. Reviewed by Rebecca Kilberg.

BILLY MOON by Douglas Lain (Historical Fantasy)
Billy Moon was Christopher Robin Milne, the son of WINNIE-THE-POOH author A. A. Milne. A veteran of World War II, he is asked by a French college student revolutionary to come to the chaos of Paris in revolt. Against a backdrop of the apocalyptic student protests and general strike that forced France to a standstill that spring, Milne's new French friend is able to experience alternate realities of the past and present. Through him, Milne's life is illuminated and transformed, as are the world-altering events of that year. Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard.