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May 2, 2023

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of May 1st and May 8th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks feature for May, which includes Indie Next, LibraryReads, Oprah's Book Club, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, Reese's Book Club, the "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, and more.

May 2023

May's Books on Screen roundup includes the series premieres of "American Born Chinese" on Disney+, "City on Fire" on Apple TV+, and "Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss" on Peacock; the season eight premiere of AMC's "Fear the Walking Dead"; the conclusions of "The Last Thing He Told Me" on Apple TV+ and "Saint X" on Hulu; the season one finales of ABC's "Will Trent" and AMC's "Lucky Hank"; the films Carrot Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery and The Jane Mysteries: Inheritance Lost on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries; and the DVD releases of Knock at the Cabin, Children of the Corn and Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Kristin Hannah Event Art

Simon Winchester, author of Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic

With the advent of the internet, any topic we want to know about is instantly available with the touch of a smartphone button. With so much knowledge at our fingertips, what is there left for our brains to do? At a time when we seem to be stripping all value from the idea of knowing things --- no need for math, no need for map-reading, no need for memorization --- are we risking our ability to think? As we empty our minds, will we one day be incapable of thoughtfulness? Addressing these questions, Simon Winchester explores how humans have attained, stored and disseminated knowledge. Studded with strange and fascinating details, KNOWING WHAT WE KNOW is a deep dive into learning and the human mind. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming.

Maggie Smith, author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir

In her memoir YOU COULD MAKE THIS PLACE BEAUTIFUL, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work and patriarchy.

Emily Henry, author of Happy Place

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college. But they broke up five months ago and still haven’t told their best friends. This is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. The cottage is for sale, and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?

Don Winslow, author of City of Dreams

On the losing side of a bloody East Coast crime war, Danny Ryan is now on the run. The Mafia, the cops and the FBI all want him dead or in prison. With his little boy, his elderly father and the tattered remnants of his loyal crew of soldiers, he makes the classic American migration to California to start a new life. But the Feds track him down and want Danny to do them a favor that could make him a fortune --- or kill him. When Hollywood starts shooting a film based on his former life, Danny demands a piece of the action and begins to rebuild his criminal empire. Then he falls in love with a beautiful movie star who has a dark past of her own. As their worlds collide in an explosion that could destroy them both, Danny has to fight for his life in a city where dreams are born. Or where they go to die.

Dennis Lehane, author of Small Mercies

In the summer of 1974, a heat wave blankets Boston, and Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of “Southie,” the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart. One night, Mary Pat’s teenage daughter, Jules, stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances. The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched --- asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him.

Editorial Content for With My Little Eye

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Joshilyn Jackson, the New York Times bestselling author of NEVER HAVE I EVER, combines her trademark talent for crafting domestic suspense with a ripped-from-the-headlines premise about an actress and her stalker in WITH MY LITTLE EYE. Read More

Teaser

For actress Meribel Mills, disturbing fan mail is part of the price of fame. So when she starts getting creepy letters written in fruit-scented marker, she’s mostly unfazed. But there’s something different about Marker Man. Meribel’s sheets smell of unfamiliar cologne, and objects are changing places inside her house. She and her daughter move from Los Angeles to Atlanta for a fresh start --- but no distance is great enough. Years of being in front of a camera have given Meribel a superpower. She can feel eyes on her, and someone definitely has her in their sights. Could Marker Man have followed her all the way across the country? Suddenly, every man in her life is a suspect, and Meribel finds herself in the fight of her life, desperate to protect those she loves as danger closes in from all sides.

Promo

For actress Meribel Mills, disturbing fan mail is part of the price of fame. So when she starts getting creepy letters written in fruit-scented marker, she’s mostly unfazed. But there’s something different about Marker Man. Meribel’s sheets smell of unfamiliar cologne, and objects are changing places inside her house. She and her daughter move from Los Angeles to Atlanta for a fresh start --- but no distance is great enough. Years of being in front of a camera have given Meribel a superpower. She can feel eyes on her, and someone definitely has her in their sights. Could Marker Man have followed her all the way across the country? Suddenly, every man in her life is a suspect, and Meribel finds herself in the fight of her life, desperate to protect those she loves as danger closes in from all sides.

About the Book

From the New York Times bestselling author of NEVER HAVE I EVER comes the hair-raising story of a mother who moves herself and her daughter across the country to escape a dangerous stalker --- but she can’t keep herself and her daughter safe from a monster she can’t identify.

HIS GAME. HIS RULES. HER LIFE.

It started with the letters…

For actress Meribel Mills, disturbing fan mail is part of the price of fame. So when she starts getting creepy letters written in fruit-scented marker, she’s mostly unfazed. But there’s something different about Marker Man.

He’s been in her home…

Meribel’s sheets smell of unfamiliar cologne, and objects are changing places inside her house. While the police insist that stalkers hardly ever escalate to violence, Meribel has played the dead girl one too many times on TV to risk becoming her in real life. She and her daughter move from Los Angeles to Atlanta for a fresh start --- but no distance is great enough.

He’s watching her…

Years of being in front of a camera have given Meribel a superpower. She can feel eyes on her, and someone definitely has her in their sights. Could Marker Man have followed her all the way across the country? Suddenly, every man in her life is a suspect, and Meribel finds herself in the fight of her life, desperate to protect those she loves as danger closes in from all sides.

If he can't have her, no one can.

Audiobook available; read by Maisy Jane, Graham Halstead, Jeremy Arthur, Jesse Vilinsky and Michael Crouch

Editorial Content for The Rescue

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

Bettina Blazak, a well-known reporter for The Coastal Eddy, has a nose for stories that sell. And that’s just what takes her to a veterinary clinic in Tijuana. But while she goes down to Mexico for a story, she comes back with much more. Read More

Teaser

While reporting on a Tijuana animal shelter, journalist Bettina Blazak falls in love with one of her story’s subjects --- an adorable Mexican street dog who is being treated for a mysterious gunshot wound. Bettina impulsively adopts the dog, who she names Felix after the veterinarian who saved him. In investigating Felix’s past, Bettina discovers that his life is nothing like what she assumed. For one thing, he’s not a Mexican street dog at all. A former DEA drug-sniffing dog, Felix has led a very colorful, dangerous and profitable life. With Bettina’s story going viral, some interesting people are looking for Felix, making him a target --- again. Bettina soon finds herself drawn into a deadly criminal underworld from which she and her beloved dog may not return.

Promo

While reporting on a Tijuana animal shelter, journalist Bettina Blazak falls in love with one of her story’s subjects --- an adorable Mexican street dog who is being treated for a mysterious gunshot wound. Bettina impulsively adopts the dog, who she names Felix after the veterinarian who saved him. In investigating Felix’s past, Bettina discovers that his life is nothing like what she assumed. For one thing, he’s not a Mexican street dog at all. A former DEA drug-sniffing dog, Felix has led a very colorful, dangerous and profitable life. With Bettina’s story going viral, some interesting people are looking for Felix, making him a target --- again. Bettina soon finds herself drawn into a deadly criminal underworld from which she and her beloved dog may not return.

About the Book

THE RESCUE is a gripping thriller that explores the strength of the human-animal bond and how far we will go to protect what we love by three-time Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestselling author T. Jefferson Parker.

While reporting on a Tijuana animal shelter, journalist Bettina Blazak falls in love with one of her story’s subjects --- an adorable Mexican street dog who is being treated for a mysterious gunshot wound. Bettina impulsively adopts the dog, who she names Felix after the veterinarian who saved him. 

In investigating Felix’s past, Bettina discovers that his life is nothing like what she assumed. For one thing, he’s not a Mexican street dog at all. A former DEA drug-sniffing dog, Felix has led a very colorful, dangerous and profitable life. With Bettina’s story going viral, some interesting people are looking for Felix, making him a target --- again.

Bettina soon finds herself drawn into a deadly criminal underworld from which she and her beloved dog may not return.

Audiobook available, read by Victoria Villarreal