January 13, 2023

January 13, 2023

And We Have Winners…

We have added a number of new subscribers in the last few weeks, so I wanted to take a moment to welcome you to the Bookreporter newsletter!

No preamble…let’s get right to it!

Drum roll, please…
Congratulations to Wendy M. from La Quinta, CA, who is the Grand Prize winner in our End-of-the-Year Contest! She has won all 40 of my Bookreporter.com Bets On titles from 2022, while eight other winners are receiving a selection of five of these books. Click here to see if you are one of them!

I notified Wendy of her big win, and she's ecstatic about it: “Thank you so much! I am so looking forward to getting my prize books! Reading means the world to me, and I enjoy books more than you can ever know. I can't wait and will have someone take a picture of me with my books when they arrive!”

I have boxes here at the house and will be packing up the books to go out the beginning of next week. I have had the books stacked up behind a rolling table in the hallway outside my office. It proved to be the best place to keep them stashed until they were ready to be packed up. And for those of you who missed the video and podcast where I talked about last year’s Bets On picks, you can watch my wrap-up here or listen to it here.

Another drum roll, please...
And congratulations to the winner of our End-of-the-Year Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com, Mary Lou D. from Washingtonville, NY, who won six titles releasing this year that I think will be great for book group discussions: CODE NAME SAPPHIRE by Pam Jenoff, HELLO BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano, THE HOUSE OF EVE by Sadeqa Johnson, LOYALTY by Lisa Scottoline, THE MITFORD AFFAIR by Marie Benedict, and MOONRISE OVER NEW JESSUP by Jamila Minnicks.

An excited MaryLou sent me this note: “Thank you for that wonderful email telling me about all those fabulous books heading my way. As a lifelong book lover, this is like winning the lottery for me. Please know you have delighted me for days and days. I appreciate your terrific newsletter too. I never have to wonder what to read next! Thank you so very much! My book friends thank you too.”

MaryLou won this contest by letting us know her favorite book that she read with her book group and her favorite book that she read outside her group in 2022. We tallied up all the entries, and you can see the results here. The top pick in both categories is LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus, a “Good Morning America” Book Club selection and a 2022 Bets On title. If you missed my interview with Bonnie about the book last year, click here to watch the video or here to listen to the podcast.

January’s “Bookaccino Live” Preview Event
On Wednesday, we hosted our first “Bookaccino Live” preview event of 2023. I talked about 22 books releasing this month, along with 16 from February and March, that I wanted to get on your radar. We will share the link to the video in next Friday's newsletter. In the meantime, you can see a list of all the titles that I talked about here.

Featured Review: THE NAZI CONSPIRACY
by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch

THE NAZI CONSPIRACY: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch (History)
Audiobook available, read by Scott Brick
In 1943, as the war against Nazi Germany raged abroad, President Franklin Roosevelt had a critical goal: a face-to-face sit-down with his allies Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill. This first-ever meeting of the Big Three in Tehran, Iran, would decide some of the most crucial strategic details of the war. Yet when the Nazis found out about the meeting, their own secret plan took shape --- an assassination plot that would’ve changed history. A true story filled with daring rescues, body doubles and political intrigue, THE NAZI CONSPIRACY details FDR’s pivotal meeting in Tehran and the deadly Nazi plot against the heads of state of the three major Allied powers who attended it. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

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

Click here to read our review.

Featured Review:
JUST THE NICEST COUPLE by Mary Kubica

JUST THE NICEST COUPLE by Mary Kubica (Domestic Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Brittany Pressley and Gary Tiedemann
Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he is blowing off steam at a friend’s house after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found. Lily Scott, Nina’s friend and coworker, thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake’s disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for her husband, and she won’t stop until the truth is discovered. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.

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

Click here to read our review.

Featured Review: EARLY GRAVE by Paul Levine

EARLY GRAVE: A Jake Lassiter Thriller by Paul Levine (Legal Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Scott Merriman
When his godson suffers a catastrophic injury in a high school football game, lawyer Jake Lassiter sues to abolish the sport and becomes Public Enemy Number One. The former NFL linebacker also battles CTE, the fatal brain disease. With his personal life in tatters, he's in couple's therapy with fiancée Dr. Melissa Gold and vows to live long enough to fix his relationship and achieve justice for his godson. EARLY GRAVE is the final novel of the series that began with the international bestseller TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD in 1990. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to visit Paul Levine's website.

Click here to read our review.

Announcing Bookreporter.com's Eighth Annual
Winter Reading Contests and Feature

At Bookreporter.com, we are kicking off 2023 with our eighth annual Winter Reading Contests and Feature. On select days in January and February, we are hosting a series of 24-hour contests spotlighting a book releasing this winter and giving five lucky readers the chance to win it. We also are sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here.

Our first prize book will be announced on Wednesday, January 18th at noon ET.

This year's contest titles include:

• CLYTEMNESTRA by Costanza Casati
• EXILES by Jane Harper
• IT'S ONE OF US by J.T. Ellison
• REEF ROAD by Deborah Goodrich Royce

Click here to read all the contest details
and learn more about our featured titles.

Bookreporter.com Bets On:
REEF ROAD by Deborah Goodrich Royce

REEF ROAD by Deborah Goodrich Royce (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
REEF ROAD by Deborah Goodrich Royce is my first Bets On selection of 2023. Any book that is set in Palm Beach, Florida, and opens on a beach is going to catch my eye in January. But it starts with a less than serene scene as a hand is found by some boys who are surfing on a beach that has been marked as closed. It sets up the crime that will be revealed later on.

The book’s inspiration came from a horrific event from Deborah’s mother’s childhood. In December 1948, her mother’s childhood best friend was brutally murdered in Pittsburgh. The assailant was never found, and the crime haunted her mother for years. The story was one that stayed with Deborah. She has woven a fictitious scenario of that homicide into the events happening in the present.

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

Click here to read more of Carol's commentary.

Featured Review: THE DELUGE by Stephen Markley

THE DELUGE by Stephen Markley (Dystopian Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by a full cast
In the first decades of the 21st century, the world is convulsing, its governments mired in gridlock while a patient but unrelenting ecological crisis looms. America is in upheaval, battered by violent weather and extreme politics. In California in 2013, Tony Pietrus, a scientist studying deposits of undersea methane, receives a death threat. His fate will become bound to a stunning cast of characters --- a broken drug addict, a star advertising strategist, a neurodivergent mathematician, a cunning eco-terrorist, an actor turned religious zealot, and a brazen young activist named Kate Morris, who, in the mountains of Wyoming, begins a project that will alter the course of the decades to come. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

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

Click here to read our review.

Featured Review: SMALL WORLD by Laura Zigman

SMALL WORLD by Laura Zigman (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Stacey Glemboski
A year after her divorce, Joyce is settling into being single again and has developed a secret comforting hobby: trolling the neighborhood social networking site Small World for posts that help solve life’s easiest problems. When her older sister, Lydia, calls to tell her she’s moving back east after almost 30 years away, Joyce invites Lydia to temporarily move into her Cambridge apartment. But instead of forging the bond she always dreamed of having with Lydia, their relationship frays. And they rarely discuss the loss of their sister, Eleanor, who was significantly disabled and died when she was only 10 years old. When new revelations from their family’s history come to light, will those secrets further split them apart, or course-correct their connection for the future? Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

- Click here to read more about the book.

Click here to read our review.

Featured Review:
THE BLACKHOUSE by Carole Johnstone
Simon & Schuster’s Book Club Favorites Pick for January

THE BLACKHOUSE by Carole Johnstone (Gothic Thriller)
Audiobook available; read by Joe McFadden, Eilidh Beaton, Joe McFadden and Eilidh Beaton
Robert Reid moved his family to Scotland’s Outer Hebrides in the 1990s. But despite his best efforts to fit in, Robert is always seen as an outsider. And as the legendary and violent Hebridean storms rage around him, he begins to unravel. For her entire life, Maggie MacKay has sensed something was wrong with her. When Maggie was five years old, she announced that a man on Kilmeray had been murdered. Her unfounded claim drew media attention and turned the locals against each other, creating rifts that never mended. Nearly 20 years later, Maggie is determined to find out what really happened and what the islanders are hiding. But when she begins to receive ominous threats, Maggie is forced to consider how much she is willing to risk to discover the horrifying truth. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.

» THE BLACKHOUSE is this month’s pick for Simon & Schuster’s Book Club Favorites. On Wednesday, January 25th at 1pm ET, members of the S&S team will talk to Carole Johnstone about the book. Click here to sign up.

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

Click here to read our review.

Featured Review:
MOONRISE OVER NEW JESSUP by Jamila Minnicks

MOONRISE OVER NEW JESSUP by Jamila Minnicks (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Karen Chilton
In 1957, Alice Young steps off the bus into the all-Black town of New Jessup, Alabama, where residents have largely rejected integration as the means for Black social advancement. Instead, they seek to maintain, and fortify, the community they cherish on their “side of the woods.” In this place, Alice falls in love with Raymond Campbell, whose clandestine organizing activities challenge New Jessup’s longstanding status quo and could lead to the young couple’s expulsion --- or worse --- from the home they both hold dear. But as Raymond continues to push alternatives for enhancing New Jessup’s political power, Alice must find a way to balance her undying support for his underground work with her desire to protect New Jessup from the rising pressure of upheaval from inside, and outside, their side of town. Reviewed by Susan Miura.

- Click here to read more about the book.

Click here to read our review.

Register for the Buzz Books Editors Panel
on Wednesday, January 25th: A Free Virtual Event

More Reviews This Week

THE HALF KNOWN LIFE: In Search of Paradise by Pico Iyer (Memoir)
Audiobook available, read by Pico Iyer
Paradise: that elusive place where the anxieties, struggles and burdens of life fall away. Most of us dream of it, but each of us has very different ideas about where it is to be found. For some, it can be enjoyed only after death; for others, it’s in our midst --- or just across the ocean --- if only we can find eyes to see it. Traveling from Iran to North Korea, from the Dalai Lama’s Himalayas to the ghostly temples of Japan, Pico Iyer brings together a lifetime of explorations to upend our ideas of utopia and ask how we might find peace in the midst of difficulty and suffering. Does religion lead us back to Eden or only into constant contention? Why do so many seeming paradises turn into war zones? And does paradise exist only in the afterworld --- or can it be found in the here and now? Reviewed by Jesse Kornbluth for HeadButler.com.

THE NIGHT TRAVELERS by Armando Lucas Correa (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Edoardo Ballerini
Berlin, 1931: Ally Keller, a talented young poet, gives birth to a mixed-race daughter she names Lilith. As the Nazis rise to power, she sets in motion a dangerous plan to send her daughter across the ocean to safety. Havana, 1958: Now an adult, Lilith has few memories of her mother or her childhood in Germany. But as the flames of revolution ignite, Lilith and her newborn daughter, Nadine, find themselves at a terrifying crossroads. Berlin, 1988: Nadine’s daughter, Luna, encourages her to uncover the truth about the choices her mother and grandmother made to ensure the survival of their children. And it will fall to Luna to come to terms with a shocking betrayal that changes everything she thought she knew about her family’s past. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.

LOATHE TO LOVE YOU by Ali Hazelwood (Romantic Comedy)
From the New York Times bestselling author of THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS comes a collection of steamy, STEMinist novellas featuring a trio of engineers and their loves in loathing --- with a special bonus chapter! An environmental engineer discovers that scientists should never cohabitate when she finds herself stuck with the roommate from hell --- a detestable big-oil lawyer who won’t leave the thermostat alone. A civil engineer and her nemesis take their rivalry --- and love --- to the next level when they get stuck in a New York elevator. A NASA aerospace engineer's frozen heart melts as she lies injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station, and the only person willing to undertake the dangerous rescue mission is her longtime rival. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

THE WIDOWMAKER: A Black Harbor Novel by Hannah Morrissey (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Adam Verner and Xe Sands
Ever since business mogul Clive Reynolds disappeared 20 years ago, the name "Reynolds" has become synonymous with "murder" and "mystery." And now, lured by a cryptic note, down-on-her-luck photographer Morgan Mori returns home to Black Harbor and into the web of their family secrets and double lives. The same night she photographs the Reynolds holiday get-together, Morgan becomes witness to a homicide of a cop that triggers the discovery of a long-buried clue. This finally could be the thing to crack open the chilling cold case, and Investigator Ryan Hudson has a chance to prove himself as lead detective. But as Morgan exposes her own dark demons, could her sordid history be the key to unlocking more than one mystery? Reviewed by Ray Palen.

NO RIGHT TO AN HONEST LIVING: The Struggles of Boston's Black Workers in the Civil War Era by Jacqueline Jones (History)
Impassioned antislavery rhetoric made antebellum Boston famous as the nation’s hub of radical abolitionism. In fact, however, the city was far from a beacon of equality. In NO RIGHT TO AN HONEST LIVING, historian Jacqueline Jones reveals how Boston was the United States writ small: a place where the soaring rhetoric of egalitarianism was easy, but justice in the workplace was elusive. Before, during and after the Civil War, white abolitionists and Republicans refused to secure equal employment opportunity for Black Bostonians, condemning most of them to poverty. Still, Jones finds, some Black entrepreneurs ingeniously created their own jobs and forged their own career paths. Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott.

THINGS WE FOUND WHEN THE WATER WENT DOWN by Tegan Nia Swanson (Mystery/Magicial Realism)
Audiobook available, read by Ann Richardson
When brutish miner Hugo Mitchum is found murdered on the frozen shore of a North Country lake, the local officials and town gossips of Beau Caelais are quick to blame Marietta Abernathy, an outspoken environmental activist and angry, witchy recluse. But Marietta herself has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Living on an isolated island with her father, Marietta’s 16-year-old daughter, Lena, begins sifting through her mother’s journals and collected oddities in an attempt to find her. While her father’s grief threatens to consume him and her adoptive aunt Bea reckons with guilt and acceptance, it is the haunting town outcast Ellis Olsen who might have the most to lose if Lena fails to find her mother. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

Next Week's Notables:
Noteworthy Books Releasing on January 17th

Below are some notable titles releasing on January 17th that we would like to make you aware of. We will have more on many of these books in the weeks to come. For a list of additional hardcovers and paperbacks available the week of January 16th, see our “On Sale This Week” newsletter here.

THE CABINET OF DR. LENG: A Pendergast Novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller)
Preston & Child continue their #1 bestselling series featuring FBI Special Agent Pendergast and Constance Greene, as they cross paths with New York’s deadliest serial killer: Pendergast’s own ancestor…and now his greatest foe.

THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by P. J. Tracy (Mystery/Thriller)
Darkness is nothing new to LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan, but in P. J. Tracy’s THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, even she isn’t prepared for the scandalous deception of deadly proportions that shakes the very foundation of Hollywood and its untouchables…and leaves her entangled in its rotten core.

A GUEST AT THE FEAST: Essays by Colm Tóibín (Essays)
From one of the most engaging and brilliant writers of our time comes a collection of essays about growing up in Ireland during radical change; about cancer, priests, popes, homosexuality and literature.

HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE by Grady Hendrix (Gothic Thriller/Horror)
New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a thrilling new novel that explores the way your past --- and your family --- can haunt you like nothing else.

INDEPENDENCE by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Historical Fiction)
Set during the partition of British India in 1947, a time when neighbor was pitted against neighbor and families were torn apart, award-winning author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel brings to life the sweeping story of three sisters caught up in events beyond their control, their unbreakable bond and their incredible struggle against powerful odds.

THE MITFORD AFFAIR by Marie Benedict (Historical Fiction)
From New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict comes an explosive novel of history's most notorious sisters, one of whom will have to choose: her country or her sisters?

THE SHARDS by Bret Easton Ellis (Psychological/Literary Thriller)
THE SHARDS is a novel of sensational literary and psychological suspense from the bestselling author of LESS THAN ZERO and AMERICAN PSYCHO that tracks a group of privileged high school friends in a vibrantly fictionalized 1980s Los Angeles as a serial killer strikes across the city.

Click here to see the latest "On Sale This Week" newsletter.

From left to right: Laura Zigman, Grady Hendrix, P. J. Tracy

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

As many book and author events are still happening online these days, we are highlighting a number of them that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links below for more info and to register.

Monday, January 16th at 7pm ET: Murder By The Book: Mary Kubica will talk to Mystery & Thriller Maven’s Sara DiVello about her new book, JUST THE NICEST COUPLE, a twisty domestic thriller about a husband’s disappearance and its link to two couples.

Monday, January 16th at 7:30pm ET: “Lisa Live!”: Join Lisa Scottoline every Monday night as she hosts her weekly “Talking LOYALTY” video series and Facebook Live events leading up to the publication of her historical novel, LOYALTY, on March 28th. And be sure to enter the LOYALTY Pre-order Sweepstakes!

Tuesday, January 17th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix for a live, virtual performance of HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE. For this B&N Midday Mystery Virtual Event, Hendrix will present his one-of-a-kind, one-man show, tap dancing through the haunted hallways of various houses as we try to figure out why we’re so obsessed with the world's worst roommates: ghosts.

Wednesday, January 18th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry --- will talk to Laura Zigman and Elle Cosimano about their latest novels: Zigman's SMALL WORLD and Cosimano's FINLAY DONOVAN JUMPS THE GUN.

Wednesday, January 18th at 7pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: P. J. Tracy will talk about her latest novel, THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, the third installment in her mystery/thriller series starring LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan.

Thursday, January 19th at 3pm ET: Palm Beach Historical Society: Listen in as authors Allison Pataki and Deborah Goodrich Royce, and attorney Bryant Sims, discuss the social life of the rich and famous when Marjorie Merriweather Post was in residence at Mar-a-Lago. Moderator Mary Weiss will guide the conversation about researching, writing and living among high society in mid-20th-century Palm Beach.

Thursday, January 19th at 7pm ET: Warwick's: Warwick's will host Laura Zigman as she discusses her new book, SMALL WORLD, with Mona Awad. This heartfelt novel is about two offbeat and newly divorced sisters who move in together as adults --- and finally reckon with their childhood.

 "Bookreporter Talks To" Videos & Podcasts

“Bookreporter Talks To” is a video and podcast series that delivers a long-form, in-depth author interview every week. For years, Carol has moderated book festivals and author events around the country. But we know that readers often do not live where they can attend an author event. Our goal is to bring these author interviews to readers, wherever they may be. Watch on video, or listen as a podcast. (The podcasts include audio excerpts.)

Here is our latest interview:

• Dani Shapiro (SIGNAL FIRES) Video | Podcast

Other authors we've interviewed include:

• Julie Clark (THE LIES I TELL) Video | Podcast
• Alli Frank and Asha Youmans (NEVER MEANT TO MEET YOU) Video | Podcast
• Bonnie Garmus (LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY) Video | Podcast
• Jamie Fiore Higgins (BULLY MARKET: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs) Video | Podcast
• Jennifer Hillier (THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK) Video | Podcast
• Sally Koslow (THE REAL MRS. TOBIAS) Video | Podcast
• Lynda Cohen Loigman (THE MATCHMAKER'S GIFT) Video | Podcast
• Clare Mackintosh (THE LAST PARTY) Video | Podcast
• Meg Mitchell Moore (VACATIONLAND) Video | Podcast
• Chris Pavone (TWO NIGHTS IN LISBON) Video | Podcast
• Tom Perrotta (TRACY FLICK CAN'T WIN) Video | Podcast
• Kim Michele Richardson (THE BOOK WOMAN'S DAUGHTER) Podcast
• Katie Runde (THE SHORE) Video | Podcast
• Casey Sherman (HELLTOWN: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod)
  Video | Podcast
• Thrity Umrigar (HONOR) Video | Podcast

Upcoming interviews include:

• Allegra Goodman (SAM)
• Deborah Goodrich Royce (REEF ROAD)

Click here for a complete list of our
"Bookreporter Talks To" videos and podcasts.

Our Latest Poll: The Genre(s) of Your Latest Read

Click here to vote in the poll by Friday, January 20th at noon ET.

Word of Mouth Contest: Tell Us What
You're Reading --- and You Can Win Two Books!

Click here to enter the contest.

Quick Links to Features on Bookreporter.com

Reviews | Features | Bookreporter.com Bets On | Upcoming Bets On
Contests | Poll | Word of Mouth | Coming Soon
  On Sale This Week | New in Paperback | Books on Screen
"Bookreporter Talks To" Videos & Podcasts | "Bookaccino Live: A Lively Talk About Books"
  Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks | Book Festivals

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