April 10, 2015

Earlier this year, Lisa Genova proudly watched Julianne Moore win an Academy Award for playing the lead in the big screen adaptation of her New York Times bestselling novel, STILL ALICE. Her latest book, INSIDE THE O’BRIENS, sheds light on another disease --- Huntington’s --- and the heartbreaking effect it has on one family. She has a background in neuroscience and is known for her masterful handling of the human aspects of illness. In this interview with Bookreporter.com’s Norah Piehl, Genova talks about what initially inspired her to write from the perspective of the patient and how she is able to achieve such poignantly empathetic narratives (hint: tons of first-person research!).

INSIDE THE O’BRIENS by Lisa Genova (Fiction)
A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their 20s, and respected police officer, Joe O'Brien begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s disease. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to see advance readers’ comments for the book.
-Click here to read Lisa Genova’s bio.
-Click here to visit Lisa Genova’s official website.
-Connect with Lisa Genova on Facebook and Twitter.
-Click here to read more in our Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight.

Our latest Sneak Peek Feature spotlights BROKEN PROMISE by Linwood Barclay, an explosive novel about the disturbing secrets of a quiet small town. The book doesn’t release until July 28th, but we have 100 advance copies to give away to readers who can commit to previewing it and sharing their comments on it by Thursday, June 4th. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, April 23rd at noon ET.

For our Sneak Peek program, your commitment to participate is critical, so please only enter this contest if you truly will have time to read BROKEN PROMISE and give us your feedback before our June 4th deadline. We take these project deadlines seriously. If you cannot commit, don’t worry…we will have more opportunities like this in the future.

BROKEN PROMISE by Linwood Barclay (Thriller)
After his wife’s death and the collapse of his newspaper, David Harwood has no choice but to uproot his nine-year-old son and move back into his childhood home in Promise Falls, New York. David believes his life is in free fall, and he can’t find a way to stop his descent.

Then he comes across a family secret of epic proportions. A year after a devastating miscarriage, David’s cousin Marla has continued to struggle. But when David’s mother asks him to check on her, he’s horrified to discover that she’s been secretly raising a child who is not her own --- a baby she claims was a gift from an “angel” left on her porch.

When the baby’s real mother is found murdered, David can’t help wanting to piece together what happened --- even if it means proving his own cousin’s guilt. But as he uncovers each piece of evidence, David realizes that Marla’s mysterious child is just the tip of the iceberg.

Other strange things are happening. Animals are found ritually slaughtered. An ominous abandoned Ferris wheel seems to stand as a warning that something dark has infected Promise Falls. And someone has decided that the entire town must pay for the sins of its past…in blood.

-Click here to read Linwood Barclay’s bio.
-Click here to visit Linwood Barclay’s official website.
-Connect with Linwood Barclay on Facebook and Twitter.
 

Australian author Annabel Smith’s latest novel, WHISKEY AND CHARLIE, is about Charlie Ferns, who learns that his estranged twin brother Whiskey has been in a terrible accident. Although they barely have spoken in years, Charlie can’t help but wonder: Who is he without Whiskey? In this interview with Bookreporter.com’s Alexis Burling, Smith discusses how --- with seemingly fluid ease --- she gets into the heads of her characters, as well as how the things we internalize as kids can continue to affect us as adults. She also explains “Six Degrees of Separation” and “Writers Ask Writers” --- two monthly features on her blog that celebrate writing, great books and community.

WHISKEY AND CHARLIE by Annabel Smith (Fiction)
Whiskey is everything his twin brother, Charlie, is not --- bold, daring, carefree --- and Charlie blames his brother for always stealing the limelight. When they were just boys, the secret language they whispered back and forth over their crackly walkie-talkies connected them. As the brothers grew up, they grew apart, and in their adulthood, they are barely even speaking to each other. When Charlie hears that Whiskey has been in a terrible accident, he can’t make sense of it. Who is he without Whiskey? Reviewed by Alexis Burling.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to see advance readers’ comments for the book.
-Click here to read Annabel Smith’s bio.
-Connect with Annabel Smith on Facebook and Twitter.
-Click here to read more in our One to Watch Author Spotlight.

Holly Brown is a practicing marriage and family therapist, in addition to being a recent debut author. Her first book, DON’T TRY TO FIND ME (now available in paperback), is a gripping psychological thriller about one family's search for their missing daughter and the very public campaign that will expose their darkest secrets. In this interview with Bookreporter.com's Alexis Burling, Brown discusses her decision to place the mother-daughter relationship at the center of her story (a move that is somewhat atypical for the genre) and how her writing is informed by her work as a therapist. She also talks about runaways, reinvention, and why she believes nobody is ever truly beyond redemption.

DON’T TRY TO FIND ME by Holly Brown (Psychological Thriller)
Don’t try to find me. Though the message on the kitchen white board is written in Marley’s hand, her mother Rachel knows there has to be some other explanation. Marley would never run away. As the days pass and it sinks in that the impossible has occurred, Rachel and her husband Paul are informed that the police have “limited resources.” If they want their 14-year-old daughter back, they will have to find her themselves. Reviewed by Alexis Burling.

-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 Holly Brown’s bio.
-Click here to visit Holly Brown’s blog.
-Click here to connect with Holly Brown on Facebook.
-Click here to see the 50 winners selected to read and comment on the book.
-Click here to read more in our Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight.

To enter, please fill out this form by Monday, May 11th at noon ET.

This year's featured titles are:

• AMERICAN WIFE: A Memoir of Love, War, Faith, and Renewal by Taya Kyle with Jim DeFelice
• THE ART OF BAKING BLIND by Sarah Vaughan
• AUNT DIMITY AND THE SUMMER KING by Nancy Atherton
• THE BEAUTY OF GRACE: Stories of God's Love from Today's Most Popular Writers edited by Dawn Camp
• BIG LITTLE LIES by Liane Moriarity
• THE BOOK OF JOAN: Tales of Mirth, Mischief, and Manipulation by Melissa Rivers
• CAT AND JEMIMA J by Jane Green
• THE DANDELION FIELD by Kathryn Springer
• DANGEROUS WHEN WET: A Memoir by Jamie Brickhouse
• A FINE ROMANCE (audiobook) written and read by Candice Bergen
• THE GIRLS OF MISCHIEF BAY by Susan Mallery
• GLITTER AND GLUE: A Memoir by Kelly Corrigan
• GOING OFF SCRIPT: How I Survived a Crazy Childhood, Cancer, and Clooney's 32 On-Screen Rejections by Giuliana Rancic
• HOUSEWITCH by Katie Schickel
• HOVER by Anne A. Wilson
• THE HURRICANE SISTERS by Dorothea Benton Frank
• THE INVENTION OF WINGS by Sue Monk Kidd
• LEAVING TIME by Jodi Picoult
• A LETTER TO MY MOM by Lisa Erspamer
• MISS JULIA LAYS DOWN THE LAW by Ann B. Ross
• NEVER TOO LATE by Robyn Carr
• ONE PLUS ONE by Jojo Moyes
• A PLACE FOR US by Harriet Evans
• SISTERS OF HEART AND SNOW by Margaret Dilloway
• SPRING BRIDES: Three Novellas by Rachel Hauck, Lenora Worth and Meg Moseley
• TRUE AND CONSTANT FRIENDS: Love and Inspiration from Our Grandmothers, Mothers, and Friends by Kelley Paul
• WHAT SHE REALLY WANTS by Barbara Delinsky

A FINE ROMANCE - Audiobook written and read by Candice Bergen (Memoir)
A FINE ROMANCE begins with Candice Bergen’s charming first husband, French director Louis Malle, whose huge appetite for life broadened her horizons and whose occasional darkness never diminished their love for each other. But her real romance begins when she discovers overpowering love for her daughter after years of ambivalence about motherhood. As Chloe grows up, Bergen finds her comic genius in the biggest TV role of the '80s, "Murphy Brown," and makes unwanted headlines when Dan Quayle pulls her into the 1992 presidential campaign. Reviewed by Carol Fitzgerald.

-Click here to read more about the audiobook.
 

BETWEEN YOU & ME: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris (Writing/Reference)
Mary Norris has spent more than three decades in The New Yorker's copy department, maintaining its celebrated high standards. Now she brings her vast experience, good cheer and finely sharpened pencils to help the rest of us in BETWEEN YOU & ME, which features her laugh-out-loud descriptions of some of the most common and vexing problems in spelling, punctuation and usage, and her clear explanations of how to handle them. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

-Click here to read more about the book.
 

THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE by Ann Packer (Fiction)
Bill Blair finds the land by accident, three wooded acres in a rustic community south of San Francisco, and buys the property on a whim. In Penny Greenway he finds a suitable wife, and they marry and have four kids. Thirty years later, the three oldest Blair children, now adults and still living near the family home, are disrupted by the return of the youngest, whose sudden presence and all-too-familiar troubles force a reckoning with who they are, separately and together, and set off a struggle over the family’s future. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

-Click here to read more about the book.
 

April’s roundups of New in Paperback fiction titles include Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel THE GOLDFINCH, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate; PERSONAL, book #19 in Lee Child's action-packed series starring retired military cop Jack Reacher; Jeffery Deaver's THE SKIN COLLECTOR, which finds forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme having to untangle a twisted web of clues before a killer, a criminal inspired by the Bone Collector, targets more victims --- or Rhyme himself; and SHOPAHOLIC TO THE STARS, which marks the return of Sophie Kinsella's beloved Shopaholic series, with Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) newly arrived in Hollywood and starry-eyed.

Among this month’s nonfiction offerings are HARD CHOICES, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s inside account of the crises, choices and challenges she faced during her four years as America’s 67th Secretary of State; EVERYBODY'S GOT SOMETHING, Robin Roberts' memoir in which she recounts the incredible journey that's been her life so far, and the lessons she's learned along the way; and BIRDMEN by Lawrence Goldstone, a thrilling narrative of courage, determination and competition that centers on the intense rivalry between the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss, which fueled the rise of American aviation.

-Find out what's New in Paperback for the weeks of April 6th, April 13th, April 20th and April 27th.

We all know it’s officially spring because Hollywood is already hyping its summer movies. But before all the boom and bluster of the hot-weather blockbusters hit theaters, we can enjoy April’s simpler offerings.

The movies this month may not be many, but they have enough variety among them to satisfy moviegoers. The Longest Ride is now in theaters. While it looks like typical Nicholas Sparks fare, newcomers Scott Eastwood and Britt Robertson do their best to sell a story that feels a little…familiar. If your teeth are still aching from last year’s The Best of Me, check out Tom Hardy’s Russian accent in the stylish thriller Child 44. Based on Tom Rob Smith's debut novel of the same name, the film boasts a stellar cast and some dark, hard-hitting themes. And lastly, Jonah Hill and James Franco get serious in True Story, based on --- you guessed it! --- the true story of disgraced New York Times reporter Michael Finkel, who goes to dangerous lengths to catch the man who has stolen his identity.

If you’re saving up this month for margaritas and sandals, then you’re in luck: It seems that there are more books on TV in April than in a Terry Pratchett series! The big news, of course, is the return of “Game of Thrones” mid-month, with the lovely, determined “Outlander” coming back at a close second. Both shows are based on beloved, genre-bending series, and both have devoted fan bases who have been waiting patiently (some more patiently than others…ahem, George R. R. Martin) to find out what happens next.
 

Spring finally has arrived! We’ve caught the fever --- and it’s being fueled by a list of great upcoming books. Here are some picks that we know people will be talking about over the next few months. We are hosting a number of 24-hour contests for these titles on select days through April 21st. You need to check the site to see the featured book and enter to win. We also are sending a special newsletter to announce each title, which you can sign up for here.

Our next prize book will be announced on Monday, April 13th at noon ET.

This year's featured titles are:

• THE 13th DISCIPLE: A Spiritual Adventure by Deepak Chopra
• ALENA by Rachel Pastan
• AT THE WATER'S EDGE by Sara Gruen
• BLOSSOM STREET BRIDES: A Blossom Street Novel by Debbie Macomber
• THE CAIRO AFFAIR by Olen Steinhauer
• THE CAVENDON WOMEN by Barbara Taylor Bradford
• THE DAYLIGHT MARRIAGE by Heidi Pitlor
• DEAD WAKE: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
• GOLDENEYE: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica by Matthew Parker
• THE HEADMASTER'S WIFE by Thomas Christopher Greene
• THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD: A Memoir by Elizabeth Alexander
• MADEMOISELLE CHANEL by C.W. Gortner
• THE MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA COOKBOOK: Wickedly Good Meals and Desserts to Die For edited by Kate White
• ORHAN'S INHERITANCE by Aline Ohanesian
• PART TIME COWBOY: A Copper Ridge Novel by Maisey Yates
• THE PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER: A Treasures of the Nile Novel by Mesu Andrews
• THE PRECIOUS ONE by Marisa de los Santos
• RE JANE by Patricia Park
• THE ROCKS by Peter Nichols
• THIS HEART OF MINE: A New Whiskey Creek Novel by Brenda Novak
• VISIBLE CITY by Tova Mirvis

THE MEMORY HOUSE: A Honey Ridge Novel by Linda Goodnight (Fiction)
Memories of motherhood and marriage are fresh for Julia Presley --- though tragedy took away both years ago. Finding comfort in the routine of running the Peach Orchard Inn, she lets the historic, mysterious place fill the voids of love and family. No more pleasure of a man's gentle kiss. No more joy in hearing a child call her Mommy. Life is calm, unchanging…until a stranger with a young boy and soul-deep secrets shows up in her Tennessee town and disrupts the loneliness of her world.

Julia suspects there's more to Eli Donovan's past than his motherless son, Alex. There's a reason he's chasing redemption and bent on earning it with a new beginning in Honey Ridge. Offering the guarded man work renovating the inn, she glimpses someone who --- like her --- has a heart in need of restoration. But with the chance discovery of a dusty stack of love letters buried within the lining of an old trunk, the long-dead ghosts of a Civil War romance envelop Julia and Eli, connecting them to the inn's violent history and challenging them both to risk facing yesterday's darkness for a future bright with hope and healing.

-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here for the reading group guide.
-Click here to read our interview with Linda Goodnight.
-Click here to read Linda Goodnight’s bio.
-Click here to visit Linda Goodnight’s official website.
-Connect with Linda Goodnight on Facebook and Twitter.
-Click here to see the 25 winners selected to read and comment on the book.
 

BLOOD ON SNOW by Jo Nesbø (Thriller)
This is the story of Olav, an extremely talented “fixer” for one of Oslo’s most powerful crime bosses. But Olav is also an unusually complicated fixer. He has a capacity for love that is as far-reaching as is his gift for murder. He has an “innate talent for subordination,” but running through his veins is a “virus” born of the power over life and death. And while his latest job puts him at the pinnacle of his trade, it may be mutating into his greatest mistake. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

FALLING IN LOVE: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon (Mystery)
Invited by Commissario Guido Brunetti to dine at his in-laws’ palazzo, opera star Flavia Petrelli confesses her alarm at the excessive displays of adoration from an anonymous fan. When a talented young Venetian singer who has caught Flavia’s attention is savagely attacked, Brunetti begins to think that Flavia’s fears are justified in ways neither of them imagined. He must enter into the psyche of an obsessive fan before Flavia, or anyone else, comes to harm. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

EMMA: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith (Fiction)
The summer after university, Emma Woodhouse returns home to the village of Highbury to prepare for the launch of her interior design business. Soon she befriends Harriet Smith, the naïve but charming young teacher’s assistant at an English-language school run by the hippie-ish Mrs. Goddard. Harriet is Emma’s inspiration to do the two things she does best: offer guidance to those less wise in the ways of the world and put her matchmaking skills to good use. Reviewed by Megan Elliott.

-Click here to read an excerpt.

MIRACLE AT AUGUSTA by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge (Fiction)
A year ago, Travis McKinley, an unknown golfing amateur, shocked the world by winning the PGA Senior Open at Pebble Beach. Still he can't shake the feeling that he's a fraud, an imposter who doesn't deserve his success. And after a series of disappointments and personal screw-ups, he might just prove himself right. A shot at redemption arrives in an unexpected form: a teenage outcast with troubles of his own --- and a natural golf swing. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.

ONE MILE UNDER: A Ty Hauck Novel by Andrew Gross (Thriller)
When an old friend contacts Ty Hauck and says his daughter is in trouble, he doesn't hesitate to get involved. Together, the two step into a sinister scheme running deep beneath the surface of a quiet, Colorado town that has made a deal with the devil to survive. But in the square-off between giant energy companies and beaten-down ranchers and farmers, one resource is even more valuable in this drought-stricken region than oil. They both will kill for it --- water. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

CUBA STRAITS: A Doc Ford Novel by Randy Wayne White (Thriller/Adventure)
Doc Ford’s old friend, General Juan Garcia, has gone into the lucrative business of smuggling Cuban baseball players into the U.S. He is also feasting on profits made by buying historical treasures for pennies on the dollar. He prefers what dealers call HPC items --- high-profile collectibles --- but when he manages to obtain a collection of letters written by Fidel Castro between 1960 and 1962 to a secret girlfriend, it’s not a matter of money anymore. Garcia has stumbled way out of his depth. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

SCENT OF MURDER by James O. Born (Mystery/Thriller)
Two years after being tossed from the detective bureau for using questionable tactics while catching a child molester, deputy Tim Hallett's life is finally on track. Assigned to a special K-9 unit with the best partner in the world, a Belgian Malinois named Rocky, Hallett has finally learned to balance police work with his family life. But that all changes in the heat of a Florida sugarcane field. While searching for a kidnapper, Rocky locks onto the scent of a predator unlike anyone has ever seen. Or have they? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

BLACK SCORPION: The Tyrant Reborn written by Jon Land, created by Fabrizio Boccardi(Thriller/Adventure)
Five years have passed since Michael Tiranno saved the city of Las Vegas from a terrorist attack. And now a new enemy has surfaced in Eastern Europe in the form of an all-powerful organization called Black Scorpion. Once a victim of human trafficking himself, the shadowy group's crazed leader, Vladimir Dracu, has become the mastermind behind the scourge's infestation on a global scale. And now he's set his sights on Michael Tiranno for reasons birthed in a painful secret past that have scarred both men. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

17 CARNATIONS: The Royals, the Nazis and the Biggest Cover-Up in History by Andrew Morton (History)
Andrew Morton tells the story of the feckless Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor; his American wife, Wallis Simpson; and the bizarre wartime Nazi plot to make him a puppet king after the invasion of Britain and the attempted cover-up by Churchill, General Eisenhower and King George VI of the duke's relations with Hitler. From the alleged affair between Simpson and the German foreign minister to the discovery of top secret correspondence about the man dubbed "the traitor king" and the Nazi high command, 17 CARNATIONS is a saga of intrigue, betrayal and deception. Reviewed by Roz Shea.

THE ARCHITECT’S APPRENTICE by Elif Shafak (Historical Fiction)
In 1540, 12-year-old Jahan arrives in Istanbul. As an animal tamer in the sultan’s menagerie, he looks after the exceptionally smart elephant Chota and befriends (and falls for) the sultan’s beautiful daughter, Princess Mihrimah. A palace education leads Jahan to Mimar Sinan, the empire’s chief architect, who takes Jahan under his wing as they construct (with Chota’s help) some of the most magnificent buildings in history. Yet even as they build Sinan’s triumphant masterpieces, dangerous undercurrents begin to emerge, with jealousy erupting among Sinan’s four apprentices. Reviewed by Carly Silver.

AQUARIUM by David Vann (Fiction)
Caitlin lives alone with her mother in subsidized housing next to an airport in Seattle. Each day, while waiting to be picked up after school, she visits the local aquarium to study the fish. Gazing at the creatures within the watery depths, she accesses a shimmering universe beyond her own. When she befriends an old man at the tanks one day, who seems as enamored of the fish as she, Caitlin cracks open a dark family secret and propels her once-blissful relationship with her mother toward a precipice of terrifying consequence. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

Poll:

Over the past year, has television watching interfered with your reading?

• Yes, definitely
• Yes, sometimes
• Nothing gets in the way of my reading.
• I am not sure how I feel.

-Click here to answer the poll.

Word of Mouth:

Tell us your current reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars. During the contest period from April 10th to April 24th, FIVE lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win a copy of BLOOD ON SNOW by Jo Nesbø, EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES by Lisa Scottoline and MISSOULA: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer.

To make sure other readers will be able to find the books you write about, please include the full title and correct author names (your entry must include these to be eligible to win). For complete rules and guidelines, click here.

Please note: You must enter your full address, using correct capitalization and filling in all fields if you would like to be eligible to win this prize.

Also, we realize that many times, your opinion of a book will change as you get further along into the story. Thus, to ensure that your comments and ratings accurately reflect your entire reading experience, your review WILL NOT be posted if you have not finished the book.

One important technical note: If you're using an iPad or another iOS device to access the Word of Mouth page and you would like to enter the contest, you must wait for the page to fully load before you can rate your book. Only then will the stars be clickable.

-Click here to enter the contest.
-To see reader comments from previous contest periods, click here.