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Editorial Content for A Perfect Heritage

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Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

One of the things I think readers appreciate most about Penny Vincenzi's writing is that, ever since her beloved Spoils of Time trilogy, she has given us portraits of women who are not only sexy and desirable but also professionally ambitious and undeniably successful. In that series, the industry in question was publishing; now, in A PERFECT HERITAGE, Vincenzi gives us a peek behind the scenes at a storied cosmetics house on the verge of change and the women committed to seeing it through to the other side. Read More

Teaser

The House of Farrell is a prolific skincare company and home of The Cream, an iconic face product. But the world of cosmetics is changing, and the once glorious House of Farrell is now in decline, its customers tempted away by more fashionable brands. With no idea how to right the ship, company figurehead Athina Farrell hires Bianca Bailey, a formidable businesswoman. Athina and Bianca lock horns over the future of the House of Farrell, but it’s the past that tells its devastating tale of ambition and ego, passion and wonder.

Promo

The House of Farrell is a prolific skincare company and home of The Cream, an iconic face product. But the world of cosmetics is changing, and the once glorious House of Farrell is now in decline, its customers tempted away by more fashionable brands. With no idea how to right the ship, company figurehead Athina Farrell hires Bianca Bailey, a formidable businesswoman. Athina and Bianca lock horns over the future of the House of Farrell, but it’s the past that tells its devastating tale of ambition and ego, passion and wonder.

About the Book

The House of Farrell is a prolific skincare company and home of The Cream, an iconic face product that has seen women flocking to its flagship London store since 1953. At Farrell, you can rely on the personal touch that has been their trademark for generations. The legendary Athina Farrell remains the company’s figurehead and in her kingdom at the Berkeley Arcade, while Florence Hamilton plies their cosmetics with the utmost care and discretion. She is sales advisor --- and holder of secrets --- extraordinaire.

But of course the world of cosmetics is changing and the once glorious House of Farrell is now in decline, its customers tempted away by more fashionable brands. With no idea how to right the ship, Athina hires Bianca Bailey, a formidable businesswoman, mother of three, and someone who always gets her way. Athina and Bianca lock horns over the future of the House of Farrell but it is the past that tells its devastating tale of ambition and ego, passion and wonder.

A perfect summer read, this is Penny Vincenzi at her finest.

Editorial Content for The Seven Good Years: A Memoir

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Reviewer (text)

Harvey Freedenberg

Though he's a bestselling author in his native Israel, Etgar Keret is hardly a household name among American readers. The publication of THE SEVEN GOOD YEARS, a memoir in essays, should help change that. The 36 pieces that comprise this pleasing book reveal a writer with a keen eye for life's oddities and an ability to share his insights with humor and frank emotion. Read More

Teaser

The seven years between the birth of Etgar Keret’s son and the death of his father were good years, though still full of reasons to worry. Lev is born in the midst of a terrorist attack. Etgar’s father gets cancer. The threat of constant war looms over their home and permeates daily life. Etgar’s siblings, all very different people who have chosen radically divergent paths in life, come together after his father’s shivah to experience the grief and love that tie a family together forever.

Promo

The seven years between the birth of Etgar Keret’s son and the death of his father were good years, though still full of reasons to worry. Lev is born in the midst of a terrorist attack. Etgar’s father gets cancer. The threat of constant war looms over their home and permeates daily life. Etgar’s siblings, all very different people who have chosen radically divergent paths in life, come together after his father’s shivah to experience the grief and love that tie a family together forever.

About the Book

The seven years between the birth of Etgar Keret’s son and the death of his father were good years, though still full of reasons to worry. Lev is born in the midst of a terrorist attack. Etgar’s father gets cancer. The threat of constant war looms over their home and permeates daily life.

What emerges from this dark reality is a series of sublimely absurd ruminations on everything from Etgar’s three-year-old son’s impending military service to the terrorist mind-set behind Angry Birds. There’s Lev’s insistence that he is a cat, releasing him from any human responsibilities or rules. Etgar’s siblings, all very different people who have chosen radically divergent paths in life, come together after his father’s shivah to experience the grief and love that tie a family together forever. This wise, witty memoir --- Etgar’s first nonfiction book published in America, and told in his inimitable style --- is full of wonder and life and love, poignant insights, and irrepressible humor.

Editorial Content for The Sunlit Night

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Reviewer (text)

Stephen Febick

Pictured neatly in the far north near the Norwegian Sea, a midnight sun shines down. It can last for weeks, or for hours, turning the horizon a beautiful mix of colors. It can also leave the small island it covers in darkness for days, only to give way to a sun that lasts for months --- creating an alien and lyrically distinct landscape. Those who inhabit the island are misfits, lost souls, and some have been long gone from society. Read More

Teaser

In the beautiful, barren landscape of the Far North, Frances and Yasha are surprised to find refuge in each other. Frances has fled heartbreak and claustrophobic Manhattan for an isolated artist colony; Yasha arrives from Brooklyn to fulfill his beloved father's last wish: to be buried "at the top of the world." They have come to learn how to be alone. But in Lofoten, an archipelago of six tiny islands in the Norwegian Sea, they form a bond that fortifies them against the turmoil of their distant homes, offering solace amidst great uncertainty.

Promo

In the beautiful, barren landscape of the Far North, Frances and Yasha are surprised to find refuge in each other. Frances has fled heartbreak and claustrophobic Manhattan for an isolated artist colony; Yasha arrives from Brooklyn to fulfill his beloved father's last wish: to be buried "at the top of the world." They have come to learn how to be alone. But in Lofoten, an archipelago of six tiny islands in the Norwegian Sea, they form a bond that fortifies them against the turmoil of their distant homes, offering solace amidst great uncertainty.

About the Book

A stunning debut novel --- which Jonathan Safran Foer calls "lyrical as a poem, psychologically rich as a thriller."

In the beautiful, barren landscape of the Far North, under the ever-present midnight sun, Frances and Yasha are surprised to find refuge in each other. Their lives have been upended --- Frances has fled heartbreak and claustrophobic Manhattan for an isolated artist colony; Yasha arrives from Brooklyn to fulfill his beloved father's last wish: to be buried "at the top of the world." They have come to learn how to be alone.

But in Lofoten, an archipelago of six tiny islands in the Norwegian Sea, ninety-five miles north of the Arctic Circle, they form a bond that fortifies them against the turmoil of their distant homes, offering solace amidst great uncertainty. With nimble and sure-footed prose, Dinerstein reveals that no matter how far we travel to claim our own territory, it is ultimately love that gives us our place in the world.

Editorial Content for Day Four

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Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

DAY FOUR may be the summer beach read from hell, but it’s a fun one. It doesn’t seem like a vacation book, given that it is set at the end of December. However, it does takes place on a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico, which should conjure up thoughts of relaxation, though that’s not what it ultimately delivers. What the novel does provide from the jump is a sense of foreboding so thick you could cut it with a knife as things go from not so wonderful to very, very bad. Read More

Teaser

Hundreds of pleasure-seekers board The Beautiful Dreamer cruise ship for relaxation and fun in the Caribbean. For three sun-filled days, the journey seems to deliver all that the brochure promised. Until Day Four. Without warning, the ship stops dead. Electricity and communications are cut off. Smoke pours out of the engine room. The passengers and crew have no way to call for help and are stranded in the Gulf of Mexico. At first, all aboard are certain that rescue teams will come looking for them soon. All they have to do is wait. Supplies soon run low, the toilets stop working and a virus plagues the ship, but when the body of a woman is discovered in her cabin, irritation escalates to panic. There's a murderer on board The Beautiful Dreamer...and maybe something worse.

Promo

Hundreds of pleasure-seekers board The Beautiful Dreamer cruise ship for relaxation and fun in the Caribbean. For three sun-filled days, the journey seems to deliver all that the brochure promised. Until Day Four. Without warning, the ship stops dead. Electricity and communications are cut off. Smoke pours out of the engine room. The passengers and crew have no way to call for help and are stranded in the Gulf of Mexico. At first, all aboard are certain that rescue teams will come looking for them soon. All they have to do is wait. Supplies soon run low, the toilets stop working and a virus plagues the ship, but when the body of a woman is discovered in her cabin, irritation escalates to panic. There's a murderer on board The Beautiful Dreamer...and maybe something worse.

About the Book

Hundreds of pleasure-seekers board The Beautiful Dreamer cruise ship for relaxation and fun in the Caribbean. For three sun-filled days, the journey seems to deliver all that the brochure promised. Until Day Four.

Without warning, the ship stops dead. Electricity and communications are cut off. Smoke pours out of the engine room. The passengers and crew have no way to call for help and are stranded in the Gulf of Mexico. At first, all aboard are certain that rescue teams will come looking for them soon. All they have to do is wait. Supplies soon run low, the toilets stop working and a virus plagues the ship, but when the body of a woman is discovered in her cabin, irritation escalates to panic. There's a murderer on board The Beautiful Dreamer...and maybe something worse.

Editorial Content for Shadows of Ladenbrooke Manor

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Melanie Reynolds

Artist Heather Toulson lives in current-day Portland, Oregon, spending her days in her studio recovering and restoring her clients’ damaged art treasures. She’s exceptionally gifted at taking a torn, water-stained or weakened painting and working at it until the damages cannot be seen any more. Her life is rather quiet, but she loves what she does ---  working alone to renew and beautify art that’s precious to its owners. Her only relationships are with her clients, her grown daughter Ella, and her museum friend Nick, who refers potential clients to her. Read More

Teaser

Libby, a free spirit who can’t be tamed by her parents, finds solace with her neighbor Oliver, the son of Lord Croft of Ladenbrooke Manor. But then she finds herself pregnant and alone when her father kicks her out, and Oliver mysteriously drowns in a nearby river. Sixty years later, Heather Toulson, returning to her family’s cottage in the shadows of Ladenbrooke Manor, is mourning her father’s passing but can’t let go of the anger and resentment over their strained relationship. What she uncovers while sorting through her family’s belongings will change everything she thought she knew about her family’s history.

Promo

Libby, a free spirit who can’t be tamed by her parents, finds solace with her neighbor Oliver, the son of Lord Croft of Ladenbrooke Manor. But then she finds herself pregnant and alone when her father kicks her out, and Oliver mysteriously drowns in a nearby river. Sixty years later, Heather Toulson, returning to her family’s cottage in the shadows of Ladenbrooke Manor, is mourning her father’s passing but can’t let go of the anger and resentment over their strained relationship. What she uncovers while sorting through her family’s belongings will change everything she thought she knew about her family’s history.

About the Book

When Heather Toulson returns to her parents’ cottage in the English countryside, she uncovers long-hidden secrets about her family history and stumbles onto the truth about a 60-year-old murder.

Libby, a free spirit who can’t be tamed by her parents, finds solace with her neighbor Oliver, the son of Lord Croft of Ladenbrooke Manor. Libby finds herself pregnant and alone when her father kicks her out and Oliver mysteriously drowns in a nearby river. Though theories spread across the English countryside, no one is ever held responsible for Oliver’s death.

Sixty years later, Heather Toulson, returning to her family’s cottage in the shadows of Ladenbrooke Manor, is filled with mixed emotions. She’s mourning her father’s passing but can’t let go of the anger and resentment over their strained relationship. Adding to her confusion, Heather has an uneasy reunion with her first love, all while sorting through her family’s belongings left behind in the cottage. What she uncovers will change everything she thought she knew about her family’s history.

Award-winning author Melanie Dobson seamlessly weaves the past and present together, fluidly unraveling the decades-old mystery and reveals how the characters are connected in shocking ways.

Set in a charming world of thatched cottages, lush gardens and lovely summer evenings, this romantic and historical mystery brings to light the secrets and heartaches that have divided a family for generations.

Editorial Content for Five Brides

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Reviewer (text)

Melanie Reynolds

It’s the summer of 1951. World War II is over, and five young women are about to be thrown together in Chicago. And, without any of them having even a potential groom on the horizon, they purchase one very special wedding gown with very special conditions. Read More

Teaser

Five single, fiercely independent women live together in a Chicago apartment in the early 1950s but rarely see one another. One Saturday afternoon, they spy a wedding dress in a storefront window. After trying it on --- without a single boyfriend or date between the five of them --- they decide to pool their money to purchase it. Can one dress forever connect five women who live together only a short time before taking their own journeys to love and whatever comes happily ever after?

Promo

Five single, fiercely independent women live together in a Chicago apartment in the early 1950s but rarely see one another. One Saturday afternoon, they spy a wedding dress in a storefront window. After trying it on --- without a single boyfriend or date between the five of them --- they decide to pool their money to purchase it. Can one dress forever connect five women who live together only a short time before taking their own journeys to love and whatever comes happily ever after?

About the Book

Five single, fiercely independent women live together in a Chicago apartment in the early 1950s but rarely see one another. One Saturday afternoon, as they are serendipitously together downtown, they spy a wedding dress in a storefront window at the famous Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. After trying it on --- much to the dismay of the salesclerk and without a single boyfriend or date between the five of them --- they decide to pool their money to purchase it. Can one dress forever connect five women who live together only a short time before taking their own journeys to love and whatever comes happily ever after?

Editorial Content for Finding Me

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Reviewer (text)

Lynda Lee Schab

The brief prologue to FINDING ME introduces readers to David Waters, a not-so-happily married guy who can’t stop himself from patronizing a local diner every day --- not because he loves the food, but because it allows him time with the long-legged beauty who waits on him. The scene sets the stage for the current events to unfold.

Twenty-six years later… Read More

Teaser

All her life, Kelli Huddleston has been told the story of a fire --- a fire that killed her mother and two siblings when she was an infant. After her father's death, though, she uncovers evidence of a different story, including clippings about a boat accident that killed a young father and his infant daughter. And Kelli quietly realizes that the story of her life has been made up. When a trip to Tennessee to uncover the truth threatens to open doors to a past better left shut, and her plans for the future are jeopardized, Kelli is faced with an agonizing choice that will change her life forever.

Promo

All her life, Kelli Huddleston has been told the story of a fire --- a fire that killed her mother and two siblings when she was an infant. After her father's death, though, she uncovers evidence of a different story, including clippings about a boat accident that killed a young father and his infant daughter. And Kelli quietly realizes that the story of her life has been made up. When a trip to Tennessee to uncover the truth threatens to open doors to a past better left shut, and her plans for the future are jeopardized, Kelli is faced with an agonizing choice that will change her life forever.

About the Book

What would you do if you learned your life was a lie?

All her life, Kelli Huddleston has been told the story of a fire --- a fire that killed her mother and two siblings when she was an infant. After her father's death, though, she uncovers evidence of a different story, including clippings about a boat accident that killed a young father and his infant daughter. And Kelli quietly realizes the story of her life has been a fiction.

How far would you go to discover the truth?

Armed with only a few pictures of what she thinks might be her family, Kelli crosses the country to Tennessee, determined to uncover the truth about what happened over 20 years ago in a small southern town. When the trip threatens to open doors to the past better left shut, and her plans for the future are jeopardized, Kelli is faced with an agonizing choice that will change her life forever.

June 19, 2015 - July 10, 2015

Here are reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for the contest period of June 19 - July 10.

Catherine Linka

Catherine Linka isthe author of A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS, which was an ABA Indie Next Pick and won the Young Adult Novel Award 2014 from the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association. A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS and the sequel, A GIRL UNDONE (St. Martin’s Griffin; June 23, 2015), are currently in development for a television series with Universal Cable Productions. A frequent speaker at writing and teen conferences, Catherine received her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and worked as a young adult book buyer for an independent bookstore for seven years. 

Malcolm Brooks first read THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER when he was not yet 11 years old, and the impact of the Twain classic was not lost on him. He and his friends --- boys of the rural foothills of the California Sierras --- did their best to invent adventures worthy of Tom and Huck. So when his young son asked for his copy of TOM SAWYER, Malcolm was not surprised by his interest; he was impressed, though, by his boy’s keen insight. Malcolm’s own book, PAINTED HORSES --- a stunning debut, as well as a lyrical and layered adventure story worthy of Twain’s heroes --- is now available in paperback.