February 28, 2014

Last weekend, when the temperatures hovered in the 50s, I took some nice walks and thought about gardening and some outdoor projects. Thus the news of a “major snow event” this upcoming Sunday through Tuesday is being greeted by me with a groan --- and I know I am not alone. The snow is so deep around our woodpile that I was not able to get near it last weekend as planned to get wood for the fireplace. I am not great at judging distances/depths (must be something about being better with words than with math and science), and thus my plan to trudge over there through the snow in my high boots was nixed by my husband, who told me there was two feet of snow next to the woodpile, which would make it thigh deep. I clearly need a new plan for this lest I spend another weekend burning those “logs” that one buys at the store. I’m dreaming of a green spring. Who’s going to write that song?

I am not a morning person, but this week I have logged a lot of early mornings trying to snag both extra reading and work time. I have seen 5am more times than I would like in the interest of being productive. I typically work from home on Fridays to write this newsletter and catch up on a lot of writing/thinking/planning for the sites since I cannot do creative writing in the office. There are just toooo many interruptions. But this morning, I headed into the city for the Simon & Schuster publisher preview, where they are presenting their upcoming titles. I wanted to hear from debut novelist Matthew Thomas, the author of WE ARE NOT OURSELVES, which I am wild about and is coming out on September 2nd.

When I was at Winter Institute, Wendy Sheanin from S&S handed me a copy of the book saying, “I think you will like this.” And she was right. I am a couple of hundred pages in and can see already that this will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. It opens in Woodside, Queens (for non-New Yorkers, that is a borough in New York City), where Eileen Tumulty is growing up with her Irish parents. It’s not a happy home, and Eileen is hellbent on having a better life for herself. She meets Ed Leary, a quiet scientist and researcher who is nothing like the other men she has come to know. She sets her eyes on him being her ticket to a better life. She pushes and prods him to get a better job, a better home, and though I still have a lot to read, I envision something is going to turn this onto a slippery slope. Matthew spent 10 years working on the book. Somewhere during that time, he realized that to write the story he wanted, it was going to need a big back story to set it up. I was engaged from the start and look forward to reading more.

I am almost finished with another book in my “reading ahead” queue that I am crazy about, THE HIDDEN CHILD by Camilla Läckberg, which will be out on May 15th. I have 70 pages left in this brilliant psychological thriller. It too will be a Bets On selection. While I was not familiar with Camilla’s work, she is an international bestselling author, which clearly means I have some “reading catching up” to do. In THE HIDDEN CHILD, Erica Falck is a crime writer who has discovered a Nazi medal and some diaries among the things left behind by her late mother. She brings the medal to a local history teacher who was her mom’s childhood friend to see what he knows of it. He reveals few details, and more questions evolve when two days later he is murdered. Her husband, Patrik Hedstrom, is on paternity leave but finds himself drawn into this case. And then another of Erica’s mother’s childhood friends is found dead. The past has lots of secrets, and as they are unearthed, Erica is learning more about the cold, detached woman who raised her. The story is brisk and tight. It’s set in Camilla’s native Sweden. I have been doing some reading about her and was surprised to see she is just 39 years old; for some reason, I had expected her to be older, perhaps because she was described somewhere as Sweden’s Agatha Christie. I love discovering authors like this.

Also this week, I had lunch with Erika Johansen, the debut author of THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING, which will be published on July 8th. I have not had time to read even a page yet, but I so enjoyed hearing about Erika's inspiration for writing and her excitement about being published. In addition to the book being sold in 20 countries, Warner Brothers acquired the film rights in conjunction with Harry Potter producer David Heyman, and Emma Watson is attached to star. WHEW! Erika loves to knit and joked that her book deal gave her the chance to upgrade the quality of yarn that she is buying. I was giving her ideas of yarn shops to visit on her book tour. Fun afternoon!

Last Sunday night, I caught the season finale of "Downton Abbey" and afterwards saw this posted on Facebook by Margaret George, the author of ELIZABETH I: “For those of us who watched the last episode of 'Downton Abbey,' that featured Rose's presentation at court, there's an excellent book about the whole process, called LAST CURTSEY: The End of the Debutants by Fiona MacCarthy. The Queen ended the practice in 1958, after a tradition of some 200 years. A different world --- the book is both a memoir and a sociological study.” One of the joys of my writer friends are the tidbits like this that they share.

Moving back to books soon to be published and this week’s update, I am happy to share that YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN by Jean Hanff Korelitz, which releases on March 18th, is the latest title in our Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight. This is the book I raved and raved about back in the fall when I read an advance copy. It’s the kind of book that “works” on so many levels and tracks well right to the end. In it, Grace Reinhart Sachs is a therapist who is gearing up to do publicity for her advice book on the mistakes that women make in relationships that they “should have known about” if they paid careful attention to early signals. It too is called You Should Have Known.

Grace is married to a successful pediatric cancer doctor and has a 12-year-old son, Henry, on whom she lavishes lots of attention. She is living her parents’ life in the apartment that they once owned, and Henry attends the tony private school that she attended as a child. It’s a “perfect” world until it unravels. The trigger for her that something is wrong? She calls her husband while he is on a business trip, and she hears the phone ring; it’s stuffed in the back of the night table next to their bed, with a fading signal. And from that moment on, Grace’s very predictable world is anything but. I am predicting great things for this book, which will be a Bets On selection.

We have 35 advance copies of YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN to give away to readers who would like to read the book and comment on it as part of our Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, March 13th at noon ET.

We’re also running a special contest for WHERE EARTH MEETS WATER by debut novelist Pia Padukone. Karom Seth should have been in the Twin Towers on the morning of 9/11, and on the Indian shores in 2004, when the tsunami swept his entire family into the ocean. Karom can’t be sure if it’s a curse or a blessing, but his absence from these disasters has left him with crushing guilt --- and a belief that fate has singled him out for invincibility. Will he ever be able to achieve the clarity he’s been looking for all these years? I read the first 25 pages of this book and knew we wanted to share it with you. The book doesn’t release until April 29th, but we’re giving 25 readers the opportunity to win an advance copy and submit their comments on it. All you have to do is fill out this form by Thursday, March 13th at noon ET.

This week, we’re happy to be bringing back our eBook Spotlight, where we feature titles that you can easily download and enjoy on your eReader devices. What we present here may be from established and beloved authors, or from talented upstarts looking to make their mark. The former was certainly the case for our first eBook Spotlight, where we featured eBooks from Jeffery Deaver, Anne Perry, C.J. Box and Ken Bruen. The latter applies to our newest eBook Spotlight, as we feature INSIDE THESE WALLS by Rebecca Coleman. Many of you may remember Rebecca from her first two novels, THE KINGDOM OF CHILDHOOD and HEAVEN SHOULD FALL, both of which we featured on the site. In her first eBook Original, Rebecca introduces readers to Clara Mattingly, who is serving a life sentence in a women's prison. Clara allows herself no hope for a better future, but when a surprise visitor shows up one day, she finds that in an instant everything has changed. Rebecca writes books that are charged with suspense and tight writing. Click here to read more about the book and author in our eBook Spotlight.

Releasing this week is Deanna Raybourn’s latest novel, CITY OF JASMINE, which we’ve been featuring in our Historical Fiction Author Spotlight. Famed aviatrix Evangeline Starke's husband, adventurer Gabriel Starke, died suddenly with the sinking of the Lusitania. Five years later, she is shocked to receive a mysterious --- and recent --- photograph of Gabriel. She tracks the source of the photo to the ancient City of Jasmine, Damascus, where she discovers that nothing is as it seems. Reviewer Amie Taylor has tons of praise for the book, including this: “While it's hard to believe that Deanna Raybourn could pen a tale that equals --- or possibly surpasses --- the quality, wit, emotion and adventure of A SPEAR OF SUMMER GRASS, also set in the 1920s, she has done exactly that with CITY OF JASMINE.” Amie also had the pleasure of interviewing Deanna, and you can check out their conversation here.

We also have a review of WHEN SHADOWS FALL, book three in J.T. Ellison’s series starring forensic pathologist Dr. Samantha Owens, which we’ve been featuring in our Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight. In this latest installment, Sam receives a disturbing letter from Timothy Savage, a dead man imploring her to solve his murder. The investigation takes her into the shadows of a 20-year-old mystery that must be solved to determine what really happened to Savage. “Ellison provides keen observations into the psyches of all these characters, making for a compelling and deeply personal novel,” says Ray Palen in his review. Ray also had the opportunity to ask J.T. some questions about the book and series, and you can read that interview here.

Continuing this week is our Sneak Peek: An Early Look at an Upcoming Book contest for THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HARRY QUEBERT AFFAIR by Joel Dicker. This debut novel is a literary thriller about the disappearance of a 15-year-old New Hampshire girl and, 33 years later, a young American writer’s determination to clear his mentor’s name --- and find the inspiration for his next bestseller. The book doesn’t release until May 27th, but we have 50 advance copies to give away to readers who can commit to previewing it and sharing their comments on it by April 30th. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, March 6th at noon ET.

Also up for one more week is our Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight contest for EVENING STARS, the latest installment in Susan Mallery’s series of books set on Blackberry Island. Small-town nurse Nina Wentworth sacrificed medical school --- and her first love --- so her sister could break free. Which is why she isn’t exactly thrilled to see Averil back on Blackberry Island, especially when Nina’s life has suddenly become complicated. We have 25 copies of the book, which is now in stores, to give away to readers who would like to read and comment on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Tuesday, March 4th at noon ET. We also have a review of the book and an interview with Susan, which we'll be featuring more prominently in our March 14th newsletter as this Spotlight feature enters its final week.

We have many more reviews to share with you this week (18 total), including BARK: Stories by Lorrie Moore, DEATH OF A POLICEMAN by M. C. Beaton, WHERE NOBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME by John Feinstein, and WHILE BEAUTY SLEPT by Elizabeth Blackwell. See farther down the newsletter for these reviews and many more.

This week, we gave away THE KRAKEN PROJECT by Douglas Preston in our Spring Preview Feature. We experienced some technical issues with Bookreporter.com on Wednesday (when this happens, I think how easy life used to be when one only needed to replace something simple like a typewriter ribbon to make words appear when there was a problem) that prevented us from launching our other scheduled giveaway for FAR GONE by Laura Griffin. So we will move that contest to next week (the week of March 3rd), and in separate contests, we'll also be awarding copies of THE COTTAGE ON JUNIPER RIDGE by Sheila Roberts, A HUNDRED SUMMERS by Beatriz Williams and LOVERS AT THE CHAMELEON CLUB, PARIS 1932 by Francine Prose. If you’d like to be notified when each of these 24-hour contests go live, please sign up for our Spring Preview newsletter.

This week’s poll asks which of our sites in The Book Report Network you visit. Do you only look at Bookreporter.com? Or do you explore some of our other sites? Click here to let us know. Answers to questions like this help us with future programming, so your input is much appreciated!

Let us know what books you’re reading in our Word of Mouth contest, and you’ll have the opportunity to win THE TROOP by Nick Cutter (which we’re reviewing this week), and two books that we’ll be reviewing next week: A CIRCLE OF WIVES by Alice LaPlante and TROUBLE IN MIND by Jeffery Deaver. To enter, please fill out the form on the Word of Mouth page by Friday, March 7th at noon ET.

Greg enjoyed his curling demonstration last weekend and is planning to take two days of curling classes in late March. It’s a lot harder work than it looks like, but they have told him that he has talent. Between Greg’s curling and Tom’s golf, I am going to stick with reading, knitting and swimming, with video and movie viewing thrown in for extra fun. Speaking of the latter, I caught the first few episodes of "House of Cards" (the first one is a wow!). A friend noted that if you watch both "House of Cards" and "Scandal," it can be confusing. He said the other night he was thinking that Kevin Spacey’s character could use Olivia’s help. Amusing!

I'm looking forward to the Oscars on Sunday night. I have not seen all the movies this year; there just was not enough time. Nikki in our office has filled me in on just about every film, thus I am prepped to watch and schedule a bunch of Netflix rentals. And of course, there will be a red carpet with dresses to drool over and diss. Beyond that, I'll be hunkering down with more books and knitting this weekend as I cocoon again on the couch. For the knitters out there, I am on Ravelry (the community site for knitters) as Carol Fitzgerald (I went with a name I would remember and could not summon up creativity as I logged on, though I need to spend time posting photos of my stash and all those things that one does there). As for what I am knitting, I have 1-2 inches done on four projects. I knit like I read…with a few things going all the time.

Here’s to a great week of reading for all of you…read on….

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn’s books have been set all over the globe, from Victorian London to the foothills of the Himalayas. Her latest, CITY OF JASMINE, takes place in the lush and mysterious streets of Damascus, where nothing is as it seems. Set during the 1920s, it’s about famed aviatrix Evie Starke, who is shocked to receive a recent photo of her dead husband, a clue she feverishly tracks --- with her eccentric Aunt Dove in tow --- to the ancient City of Jasmine.

In this interview with Bookreporter.com’s Amie Taylor, Raybourn talks about how she pulls off setting her books in such exotic locations, despite never having visited them --- including plenty of research (“armchair travel,” as she calls it) and spot-on sensory details. She also opens up about her predilection for writing about strong, independent women, having an inexplicably British writing voice, and why having taken a college seminar on mechanized warfare tactics in WWII was tedious but ultimately rewarding.

CITY OF JASMINE by Deanna Raybourn (Historical Fiction)
When aviatrix Evie Starke receives word in 1920 that the husband she's mourned for five years may not be dead after all, she sets off on a fact-finding mission to Damascus where she strives to uncover the truth about Ted and pursues an ancient Christian artifact of significant historical and religious importance. Reviewed by Amie Taylor.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read critical praise.
-Click here to read Deanna Raybourn's bio.
-Visit Deanna Raybourn's official website and blog.
-Connect with Deanna Raybourn on Facebook and Twitter.
-Click here to see the 30 winners selected to read and comment on the book.
-Click here to read more in our Historical Fiction Author Spotlight.

Before becoming a bestselling author, J.T. Ellison was a White House staffer, so she’s been able to work extensively with the Metro Nashville Police, the FBI, and various other law enforcement organizations to research her novels. Which, of course, comes in handy when writing about forensic pathologist Dr. Samantha Owens. In WHEN SHADOWS FALL, the third and latest installment of Ellison's series, Sam receives a disturbing letter from Timothy Savage, a dead man imploring her to solve his murder. The investigation takes her into the shadows of a 20-year-old mystery that must be solved to determine what really happened to Savage.

In this interview with Bookreporter.com’s Ray Palen, Ellison goes into detail about her protagonist’s complicated internal life as Sam recovers from the loss of her family, and how that tragedy affects her decisions in WHEN SHADOWS FALL. She also talks about her own fascination with cults and cult leaders, as well as how much fun it was to write a story with an “unreliable victim.”

WHEN SHADOWS FALL: A Samantha Owens Novel by J.T. Ellison (Thriller)
Forensic pathologist Dr. Samantha Owens thought life was finally returning to normal after she suffered a terrible personal loss. As she settles into her new job at Georgetown University, the illusion is shattered when she receives a disturbing letter from a dead man imploring her to solve his murder. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read critical praise.
-Click here to read J.T. Ellison's bio.
-Click here to visit J.T. Ellison's official website.
-Connect with J.T. Ellison on Facebook and Twitter.
-Click here to see the 25 winners selected to read and comment on the book.
-Click here to read more in our Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight.

Our next prize book will be announced on Monday, March 3rd at noon ET.

This year's featured titles include the following:

• THE COLD SONG by Linn Ullmann
• THE COTTAGE ON JUNIPER RIDGE: Life in Icicle Falls by Sheila Roberts
• FAR GONE by Laura Griffin
• THE FORGOTTEN SEAMSTRESS by Liz Trenow
• A HUNDRED SUMMERS by Beatriz Williams
• THE KRAKEN PROJECT by Douglas Preston
• LOVERS AT THE CHAMELEON CLUB, PARIS 1932 by Francine Prose
• THE OTHER TYPIST by Suzanne Rindell
• THE SHELF: From LEQ to LES: Adventures in Extreme Reading by Phyllis Rose
• THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS by Elizabeth Gilbert
• THE SNOW QUEEN by Michael Cunningham
• TOMORROW THERE WILL BE APRICOTS by Jessica Soffer
• WHIRLWIND by Rick Mofina

WHERE NOBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME: Life In the Minor Leagues of Baseball by John Feinstein (Sports)
WHERE NOBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME takes readers inside the gritty, no-frills, high-stakes world of Triple-A baseball, which serves simultaneously as a launching pad for superstar careers and as a crash-landing pad for stars who have fallen. Introducing us to eight men --- two pitchers, three position players, two managers, and one umpire --- John Feinstein tells the riveting stories of those who are on the cusp of greatness. Reviewed by Ron Kaplan.

DEATH OF A POLICEMAN: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery by M. C. Beaton (Mystery)
Local police stations all over the Scottish Highlands are being threatened with closure. This presents the perfect opportunity for Detective Chief Inspector Blair, who would love nothing more than to get rid of Sergeant Hamish Macbeth. Blair suggests that Cyril Sessions, a keen young police officer, visit the town of Lochdubh to monitor exactly what Macbeth does every day. Macbeth hears about Blair's plan and is prepared to ensure that Cyril returns back to headquarters with a full report. But Cyril is soon found dead, and Hamish quickly becomes the prime suspect in his murder. Reviewed by Roz Shea.

KINDER THAN SOLITUDE by Yiyun Li (Fiction)
In 1989, three teenage friends are among the residents of a Beijing quadrangle in which all the neighbors know one another. It’s four months after the Tiananmen Square massacre. Twenty-two-year-old Shaoai, one of the residents, was among the Tiananmen protesters. One day, the friends discover that someone has poisoned Shaoai. This mystery is the backdrop of a novel about jealousy and the ways in which the traumas of adolescence can devastate one’s adulthood. Reviewed by Michael Magras.

I AM ABRAHAM: A Novel of Lincoln and the Civil War by Jerome Charyn (Historical Fiction)
Tracing the historic arc of Abraham Lincoln's life from his picaresque days as a gangly young lawyer in Sangamon County, Illinois, through his improbable marriage to Kentucky belle Mary Todd, to his 1865 visit to war-shattered Richmond only days before his assassination, I AM ABRAHAM hews closely to the familiar Lincoln saga. Reviewed by Judy Gigstad.

DANCING FISH AND AMMONITES: A Memoir by Penelope Lively (Memoir)
DANCING FISH AND AMMONITES traces the arc of Penelope Lively’s life, stretching from her early childhood in Cairo to boarding school in England to the sweeping social changes of Britain’s 20th century. She reflects on her early love of archaeology, the fragments of the ancients that have accompanied her journey. She also writes insightfully about aging and what life looks like from where she now stands. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

WHILE BEAUTY SLEPT by Elizabeth Blackwell (Historical Fantasy)
I am not the sort of person about whom stories are told. And so begins Elise Dalriss’s story. When she hears her great-granddaughter recount a minstrel’s tale about a beautiful princess asleep in a tower, it pushes open a door to the past, a door Elise has long kept locked. For Elise was the companion to the real princess who slumbered --- and she is the only one left who knows what actually happened so many years ago. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

THE BEAR by Claire Cameron (Suspense)
While camping with her family on a remote island, five-year-old Anna awakes in the night to the sound of her mother screaming. A rogue black bear is attacking the family's campsite and pouncing on her parents as prey. At her dying mother's faint urging, Anna manages to get her brother into the family's canoe and paddle away. But when the canoe runs aground on the edge of the woods, the sister and brother must battle hunger, the elements, and a wilderness alive with danger. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

HOUSE OF GLASS by Sophie Littlefield (Suspense)
Jen Glass has her challenges, despite her affluent surroundings. Her husband has been laid off from his job, and their marriage feels like it is teetering on the brink. Her small son has quit talking to anyone outside the family, while her teenager is increasingly remote. But these problems pale in comparison when Jen and her family find themselves hostages in their own home during a break-in. Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon.

THE RED ROAD: An Alex Morrow Novel by Denise Mina (Mystery/Thriller)
Police detective Alex Morrow is serving as a witness in arms dealer Michael Brown's trial, where the case hinges on his fingerprints found on the guns he sells. When the investigation leads to a privileged Scottish lawyer who's expecting to be assassinated after a money laundering scheme goes bad, and a woman who's spying on the people who put her in jail, Morrow has her hands full. And that's before she even gets to her family issues. Reviewed by Kathy Weissman.

BLOOD ROYAL: A True Tale of Crime and Detection in Medieval Paris by Eric Jager (History/True Crime)
In 1407, Louis of Orleans was murdered by a band of masked men. The crime stunned and paralyzed France since Louis had often ruled in place of his brother King Charles, who had gone mad. In charge of the investigation was the Provost of Paris, Guillaume de Tignonville, the city's chief law enforcement officer --- and one of history's first detectives. As de Tignonville began to investigate, he realized that his hunt for the truth was much more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds.

WONDERKID by Wesley Stace (Fiction)
Sold-out concerts, screaming fans, TV shows, Number Ones. This is the rock and roll dream, and the Wonderkids are living it. But something is wrong. Although the gigs are sold out, the halls are packed with little kids instead of sexy hipsters. And all that screaming sounds more like wailing. The TV appearances are PBS on Saturday morning rather than “Saturday Night Live,” and as for Number Ones, you don’t want to know. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

THE STOLEN ONES by Richard Montanari (Thriller)
Luther Wade grew up in Cold River, a warehouse for the criminally insane. Two decades ago the hospital closed it doors forever, but Luther never left. He wanders the catacombs beneath the city, channeling the violent dreams of Eduard Kross, Europe's most prolific serial killer of the 20th century. A two-year-old girl found wandering the streets of Philadelphia by detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano may hold the key to solving a string of murders committed in and around Priory Park. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.

SHE'S LEAVING HOME by William Shaw (Historical Thriller)
Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen believes that the victim of a strangulation may be one of the many Beatles fans who regularly camp outside Abbey Road Studios. With his reputation tarnished by an inexplicable act of cowardice, this is Breen's last chance to prove he's up to the job. Both he and Helen Tozer, a young policewoman assisting him with the case, navigate a world where conservative tradition gives way to frightening new freedoms --- and troubling new crimes. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

Tell us your current reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from February 21st to March 7th, FIVE lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of A CIRCLE OF WIVES by Alice LaPlante, THE TROOP: A Novel of Terror by Nick Cutter, and TROUBLE IN MIND: The Collected Stories, Volume 3 by Jeffery Deaver.