Skip to main content

September 24, 2021

I have been working from home since March 12, 2020, and Tuesday was the FIRST day I thought, I should work outside. I have a table out there, and great places to sit and read and work, but I have just not done it.

And as I was sitting there, I was feeling guilty that I was not at my desk while I was doing the SAME THINGS that I would be doing INSIDE at my desk. I mean, I feel guilty going to the UPS store downtown to pick up the company mail! If I was still working in New York, I would not fret about leaving my office to pick up lunch or do an errand. But here at the house, I feel like I just roll from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep. I keep saying that it’s all good things...just a lot of them!

Editorial Content for L.A. Weather

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

From María Amparo Escandón, the award-winning author of ESPERANZA’S BOX OF SAINTS, comes L.A. WEATHER, a lively and sharply written portrait of a Mexican American family on the brink of either a breakdown or redemption. They just can’t tell which one. Read More

Teaser

Oscar, the weather-obsessed patriarch of the Alvarado family, desperately wants a little rain. L.A. is parched, dry as a bone, and he’s harboring a costly secret that distracts him from everything else. His wife, Keila, desperate for a life with a little more intimacy and a little less Weather Channel, feels she has no choice but to end their marriage. Their three daughters --- Claudia, a television chef with a hard-hearted attitude; Olivia, a successful architect who suffers from gentrification guilt; and Patricia, a social media wizard who has an uncanny knack for connecting with audiences but not with her lovers --- are left questioning everything they know. Each will have to take a critical look at her own relationships and make some tough decisions along the way.

Promo

Oscar, the weather-obsessed patriarch of the Alvarado family, desperately wants a little rain. L.A. is parched, dry as a bone, and he’s harboring a costly secret that distracts him from everything else. His wife, Keila, desperate for a life with a little more intimacy and a little less Weather Channel, feels she has no choice but to end their marriage. Their three daughters --- Claudia, a television chef with a hard-hearted attitude; Olivia, a successful architect who suffers from gentrification guilt; and Patricia, a social media wizard who has an uncanny knack for connecting with audiences but not with her lovers --- are left questioning everything they know. Each will have to take a critical look at her own relationships and make some tough decisions along the way.

About the Book

FORECAST: Storm clouds are on the horizon in L.A. WEATHER, a fun, fast-paced novel of a Mexican-American family from the author of the #1 Los Angeles Times bestseller ESPERANZA'S BOX OF SAINTS.

Oscar, the weather-obsessed patriarch of the Alvarado family, desperately wants a little rain. L.A. is parched, dry as a bone, and he’s harboring a costly secret that distracts him from everything else. His wife, Keila, desperate for a life with a little more intimacy and a little less Weather Channel, feels she has no choice but to end their marriage.

Their three daughters --- Claudia, a television chef with a hard-hearted attitude; Olivia, a successful architect who suffers from gentrification guilt; and Patricia, a social media wizard who has an uncanny knack for connecting with audiences but not with her lovers --- are left questioning everything they know. Each will have to take a critical look at her own relationships and make some tough decisions along the way.

With quick wit and humor, Maria Amparo Escandón follows the Alvarado family as they wrestle with impending evacuations, secrets, deception and betrayal, and their toughest decision yet: whether to stick together or burn it all down.

Audiobook available, read by Frankie Corzo

Editorial Content for Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Curtis Edmonds

I have been doing online movie and book reviews for about 25 years --- long enough to know that the best place to post movie reviews was a Usenet group that allowed for links into the fledgling Internet Movie Database. During that time, I learned that there are such things as fair criticism and unfair criticism; the latter happens when you complain that your expectations have been subverted. Read More

Teaser

When George Washington became president in 1789, the United States of America was still a loose and quarrelsome confederation and a tentative political experiment. Washington undertook a tour of the ex-colonies to talk to ordinary citizens about his new government, and to imbue in them the idea of being one thing --- Americans. In the fall of 2018, Nathaniel Philbrick embarked on his own journey into what Washington called "the infant woody country" to see for himself what America had become in the 229 years since. Writing in a thoughtful first person about his own adventures with his wife Melissa and their dog Dora, Philbrick follows Washington's presidential excursions.

Promo

When George Washington became president in 1789, the United States of America was still a loose and quarrelsome confederation and a tentative political experiment. Washington undertook a tour of the ex-colonies to talk to ordinary citizens about his new government, and to imbue in them the idea of being one thing --- Americans. In the fall of 2018, Nathaniel Philbrick embarked on his own journey into what Washington called "the infant woody country" to see for himself what America had become in the 229 years since. Writing in a thoughtful first person about his own adventures with his wife Melissa and their dog Dora, Philbrick follows Washington's presidential excursions.

About the Book

Does George Washington still matter? Bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick argues for Washington's unique contribution to the forging of America by retracing his journey as a new president through all 13 former colonies, which were now an unsure nation. TRAVELS WITH GEORGE marks a new first-person voice for Philbrick, weaving history and personal reflection into a single narrative.

When George Washington became president in 1789, the United States of America was still a loose and quarrelsome confederation and a tentative political experiment. Washington undertook a tour of the ex-colonies to talk to ordinary citizens about his new government, and to imbue in them the idea of being one thing --- Americans.

In the fall of 2018, Nathaniel Philbrick embarked on his own journey into what Washington called "the infant woody country" to see for himself what America had become in the 229 years since. Writing in a thoughtful first person about his own adventures with his wife Melissa and their dog Dora, Philbrick follows Washington's presidential excursions: from Mount Vernon to the new capital in New York; a month-long tour of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island; a venture onto Long Island and eventually across Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The narrative moves smoothly between the 18th and 21st centuries as we see the country through both Washington's and Philbrick's eyes.

Written at a moment when America's founding figures are under increasing scrutiny, TRAVELS WITH GEORGE grapples bluntly and honestly with Washington's legacy as a man of the people, a reluctant president and a plantation owner who held people in slavery. At historic houses and landmarks, Philbrick reports on the reinterpretations at work as he meets reenactors, tour guides and other keepers of history's flame. He paints a picture of 18th-century America as divided and fraught as it is today, and he comes to understand how Washington compelled, enticed, stood up to and listened to the many different people he met along the way --- and how his all-consuming belief in the Union helped to forge a nation.

Audiobook available, read by Nathaniel Philbrick

Editorial Content for Under the Whispering Door

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Jana Siciliano

I spent lockdown following BookTubers, Bookstagrammers and BookTok to see what everyone was reading. I found out that those under a certain age all read the same things. So several new writers came to my attention --- V. E. Schwab, Colleen Hoover, Ottessa Moshfegh --- and many of my favorite classic authors were becoming famous all over again, especially Wilde and Poe. Read More

Teaser

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead. And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead. But even in death, he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived. So when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

Promo

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead. And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead. But even in death, he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived. So when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

About the Book

A MAN CALLED OVE meets "The Good Place" in UNDER THE WHISPERING DOOR, a delightful queer love story from TJ Klune, author of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA.

Welcome to Charon's Crossing.

The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.

And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.

But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

Hilarious, haunting and kind, UNDER THE WHISPERING DOOR is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.

Audiobook available, read by Kirt Graves

Editorial Content for An Observant Wife

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

No one writes about observant Jews as well as Naomi Ragen, whose first novel, JEPHTE’S DAUGHTER, is considered one of the 100 most important Jewish books ever written. Her new work of fiction, AN OBSERVANT WIFE, marks the return of Leah Howard and Yaakov Lehman, whom readers first met in AN UNORTHODOX MATCH. This sequel, which works well as a stand-alone, begins with their Orthodox Jewish wedding, where Leah's mother --- wearing a red dress with shockingly high red patent leather heels --- walks her up the aisle. Read More

Teaser

From the joy of their wedding day, Yaakov and Leah are soon plunged into the complex reality of their new lives together. Yaakov leaves his beloved yeshiva to work in the city, and Leah confronts the often agonizing restrictions imposed by religious laws governing even the most intimate moments of their married lives. Adding to their difficulties is the hostility of some in the community who continue to view Leah as a dangerous interloper, questioning her sincerity and adherence to religious laws. In the midst of their heartfelt attempts to reach a balance between their human needs and their spiritual obligations, the discovery of a secret, forbidden relationship between troubled teenage daughter Shaindele and a local boy precipitates a maelstrom of life-changing consequences for all.

Promo

From the joy of their wedding day, Yaakov and Leah are soon plunged into the complex reality of their new lives together. Yaakov leaves his beloved yeshiva to work in the city, and Leah confronts the often agonizing restrictions imposed by religious laws governing even the most intimate moments of their married lives. Adding to their difficulties is the hostility of some in the community who continue to view Leah as a dangerous interloper, questioning her sincerity and adherence to religious laws. In the midst of their heartfelt attempts to reach a balance between their human needs and their spiritual obligations, the discovery of a secret, forbidden relationship between troubled teenage daughter Shaindele and a local boy precipitates a maelstrom of life-changing consequences for all.

About the Book

In this rich and compassionate novel, Naomi Ragen continues the love story between newly observant California-girl Leah and ultra-Orthodox widower Yaakov from AN UNORTHODOX MATCH.

From the joy of their wedding day surrounded by supportive friends and family, Yaakov and Leah are soon plunged into the complex reality of their new lives together. Yaakov leaves his beloved yeshiva to work in the city, and Leah confronts the often agonizing restrictions imposed by religious laws governing even the most intimate moments of their married lives. Adding to their difficulties is the hostility of some in the community who continue to view Leah as a dangerous interloper, questioning her sincerity and adherence to religious laws and spreading outrageous rumors.

In the midst of their heartfelt attempts to reach a balance between their human needs and their spiritual obligations, the discovery of a secret, forbidden relationship between troubled teenage daughter Shaindele and a local boy precipitates a maelstrom of life-changing consequences for all.

Audiobook available, read by Gabra Zackman

Editorial Content for Dark Things I Adore

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Katie Lattari, a former Brooklyn resident now living in Maine, has only one previous fictional release to her name --- AMERICAN VAUDEVILLE, an independently produced novel published in 2016. I’m glad she stuck with the writing game because DARK THINGS I ADORE is one of the most interesting psychological thriller tales of revenge I have read in quite some time. Read More

Teaser

1988. A group of outcasts gather at a small, prestigious arts camp nestled in the Maine woods. They're the painters: bright, hopeful, teeming with potential. But secrets and dark ambitions rise like smoke from a campfire, and the truths they tell will come back to haunt them in ways more deadly than they dreamed. 2018. Esteemed art professor Max Durant arrives at his protégé's remote home to view her graduate thesis collection. He knows Audra is beautiful and brilliant, but he doesn't know that she has engineered every aspect of their weekend together. Only Audra knows what happened that summer in 1988. Max's secret, and the dark things that followed. And even though it won't be easy, Audra knows someone must pay.

Promo

1988. A group of outcasts gather at a small, prestigious arts camp nestled in the Maine woods. They're the painters: bright, hopeful, teeming with potential. But secrets and dark ambitions rise like smoke from a campfire, and the truths they tell will come back to haunt them in ways more deadly than they dreamed. 2018. Esteemed art professor Max Durant arrives at his protégé's remote home to view her graduate thesis collection. He knows Audra is beautiful and brilliant, but he doesn't know that she has engineered every aspect of their weekend together. Only Audra knows what happened that summer in 1988. Max's secret, and the dark things that followed. And even though it won't be easy, Audra knows someone must pay.

About the Book

A debut thriller for fans of Lucy Foley and Liz Moore, DARK THINGS I ADORE is a stunning GONE GIRL-esque tale of atonement that proves that in the grasp of manipulative men, women may momentarily fall. But in the hands of fierce women, men will be brought to their knees.

Three campfire secrets. Two witnesses. One dead in the trees. And the woman, 30 years later, bent on making the guilty finally pay.

1988. A group of outcasts gather at a small, prestigious arts camp nestled in the Maine woods. They're the painters: bright, hopeful, teeming with potential. But secrets and dark ambitions rise like smoke from a campfire, and the truths they tell will come back to haunt them in ways more deadly than they dreamed.

2018. Esteemed art professor Max Durant arrives at his protégé's remote home to view her graduate thesis collection. He knows Audra is beautiful and brilliant. He knows being invited into her private world is a rare gift. But he doesn't know that Audra has engineered every aspect of their weekend together. Every detail, every conversation. Audra has woven the perfect web.

Only Audra knows what happened that summer in 1988. Max's secret, and the dark things that followed. And even though it won't be easy, Audra knows someone must pay.

A searing psychological thriller of trauma, dark academia, complicity and revenge,  DARK THINGS I ADORE unravels the realities behind campfire legends --- the horrors that happen in the dark, the girls who become cautionary tales and the guilty who go unpunished. Until now.

Audiobook available; read by Nicol Zanzarella, Jim Meskimen and Stacey Glemboski

Editorial Content for My Sweet Girl

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Amanda Jayatissa’s first novel opens with one of the best written and darkly humorous passages I have ever read: “There’s a special place in hell for incompetent customer service agents, and it’s right between monsters who stick their bare feet up on airplane seats and mansplainers.” Read More

Teaser

Ever since she was adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage, Paloma has had the best of everything. Now at 30 years old and recently cut off from her parents’ funds, she decides to sublet the second bedroom of her overpriced San Francisco apartment to Arun, who recently moved from India. Arun eventually discovers Paloma's darkest secret, one that could jeopardize her own fragile place in this country. Before Paloma can pay Arun off, she finds him face down in a pool of blood. She flees the apartment, but by the time the police arrive, there's no body --- and no evidence that Arun ever even existed in the first place. Paloma is terrified that this is all somehow tangled up in the desperate actions she took to escape Sri Lanka so many years ago.

Promo

Ever since she was adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage, Paloma has had the best of everything. Now at 30 years old and recently cut off from her parents’ funds, she decides to sublet the second bedroom of her overpriced San Francisco apartment to Arun, who recently moved from India. Arun eventually discovers Paloma's darkest secret, one that could jeopardize her own fragile place in this country. Before Paloma can pay Arun off, she finds him face down in a pool of blood. She flees the apartment, but by the time the police arrive, there's no body --- and no evidence that Arun ever even existed in the first place. Paloma is terrified that this is all somehow tangled up in the desperate actions she took to escape Sri Lanka so many years ago.

About the Book

Paloma thought her perfect life would begin once she was adopted and made it to America, but she’s about to find out that no matter how far you run, your past always catches up to you.

Ever since she was adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage, Paloma has had the best of everything --- schools, money and parents so perfect that she fears she'll never live up to them.

Now at 30 years old and recently cut off from her parents’ funds, she decides to sublet the second bedroom of her overpriced San Francisco apartment to Arun, who recently moved from India. Paloma has to admit, it feels good helping someone find their way in America --- that is until Arun discovers Paloma's darkest secret, one that could jeopardize her own fragile place in this country.

Before Paloma can pay Arun off, she finds him face down in a pool of blood. She flees the apartment but by the time the police arrive, there's no body --- and no evidence that Arun ever even existed in the first place.

Paloma is terrified this is all somehow tangled up in the desperate actions she took to escape Sri Lanka so many years ago. Did Paloma’s secret die with Arun or is she now in greater danger than ever before?

Audiobook available, read by Deepa Samuel

Editorial Content for These Toxic Things

Reviewer (text)

Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

Michaela “Mickie” Lambert is a 24-year-old college graduate who works as a digital archaeologist for a startup company called Memory Bank. She interviews clients who want to memorialize their important memories and the memorabilia they have collected to highlight their past. They talk about why their cherished items mean so much to them, and then it’s up to Mickie to write a narrative explaining their choices and how they came to have these articles. Read More

Teaser

Mickie Lambert creates “digital scrapbooks” for clients, ensuring that precious souvenirs aren’t forgotten or lost. When her latest client, Nadia Denham, a curio shop owner, dies from an apparent suicide, Mickie honors the old woman’s last wish and begins curating her peculiar objets d’art. But these tokens mean a lot to someone else, too. Mickie has been receiving threatening messages to leave Nadia’s past alone. It’s becoming a mystery Mickie is driven to solve. Who once owned these odd treasures? How did Nadia really come to possess them? Discovering the truth means crossing paths with a long-dormant serial killer and navigating the secrets of a sinister past.

Promo

Mickie Lambert creates “digital scrapbooks” for clients, ensuring that precious souvenirs aren’t forgotten or lost. When her latest client, Nadia Denham, a curio shop owner, dies from an apparent suicide, Mickie honors the old woman’s last wish and begins curating her peculiar objets d’art. But these tokens mean a lot to someone else, too. Mickie has been receiving threatening messages to leave Nadia’s past alone. It’s becoming a mystery Mickie is driven to solve. Who once owned these odd treasures? How did Nadia really come to possess them? Discovering the truth means crossing paths with a long-dormant serial killer and navigating the secrets of a sinister past.

About the Book

A dead woman’s cherished trinkets become pieces to a terrifying puzzle.

Mickie Lambert creates “digital scrapbooks” for clients, ensuring that precious souvenirs aren’t forgotten or lost. When her latest client, Nadia Denham, a curio shop owner, dies from an apparent suicide, Mickie honors the old woman’s last wish and begins curating her peculiar objets d’art. A music box, a hair clip, a key chain --- 12 mementos in all that must have meant so much to Nadia, who collected them on her flea market scavenges across the country.

But these tokens mean a lot to someone else, too. Mickie has been receiving threatening messages to leave Nadia’s past alone.

It’s becoming a mystery Mickie is driven to solve. Who once owned these odd treasures? How did Nadia really come to possess them? Discovering the truth means crossing paths with a long-dormant serial killer and navigating the secrets of a sinister past. One that might, Mickie fears, be inescapably entwined with her own.

Audiobook available, read by Susan Dalian

Editorial Content for A Song of Flight: A Warrior Bards Novel

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Carly Silver

Juliet Marillier concludes her excellent Warrior Bards trilogy with the final volume, A SONG OF FLIGHT.

As always, this master of Celtic historical fantasy interweaves romance, suspense and myth with well-developed characters. While the book wraps up many of the plot threads left hanging from previous volumes, its overarching mysteries are repetitive, echoing many Otherworldly conundrums posed in earlier books.

"As always, this master of Celtic historical fantasy interweaves romance, suspense and myth with well-developed characters."

Teaser

Bard and fighter Liobhan is always ready for a challenge. So when news arrives at Swan Island that the prince of Dalriada has gone missing after an assault by both masked men and the sinister Crow Folk, she's eager to act. While Liobhan and her fellow Swan Island warriors seek answers to the prince's disappearance, the bard Brocc, Liobhan's brother, finds himself in dire trouble. His attempts to communicate with the Crow Folk have led him down a perilous path. When Liobhan and her comrades are sent to the rescue, it becomes clear that the two missions are connected --- and a great mystery unfolds. What brought the Crow Folk to Erin? And who seeks to use them in an unscrupulous bid for power?

Promo

Bard and fighter Liobhan is always ready for a challenge. So when news arrives at Swan Island that the prince of Dalriada has gone missing after an assault by both masked men and the sinister Crow Folk, she's eager to act. While Liobhan and her fellow Swan Island warriors seek answers to the prince's disappearance, the bard Brocc, Liobhan's brother, finds himself in dire trouble. His attempts to communicate with the Crow Folk have led him down a perilous path. When Liobhan and her comrades are sent to the rescue, it becomes clear that the two missions are connected --- and a great mystery unfolds. What brought the Crow Folk to Erin? And who seeks to use them in an unscrupulous bid for power?

About the Book

A young warrior who wields both the power of her music and the strength of her sword faces a grave threat in this enthralling historical fantasy.

Bard and fighter Liobhan is always ready for a challenge. So when news arrives at Swan Island that the prince of Dalriada has gone missing after an assault by both masked men and the sinister Crow Folk, she's eager to act.

While Liobhan and her fellow Swan Island warriors seek answers to the prince's disappearance, the bard Brocc, Liobhan's brother, finds himself in dire trouble. His attempts to communicate with the Crow Folk have led him down a perilous path. When Liobhan and her comrades are sent to the rescue, it becomes clear that the two missions are connected --- and a great mystery unfolds.

What brought the Crow Folk to Erin? And who seeks to use them in an unscrupulous bid for power? As Liobhan and Brocc investigate, it will take all their strength and will to continue pursuing the truth. With the safety of their loved ones in the balance, the risks they must take may cost them everything.

Audiobook available; read by Alex Wyndham, Moira Quirk and Phillip Battley

Editorial Content for The Summoning

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

J.P. Smith has been writing books and screenplays for decades, but his output would be considered far from prolific. THE SUMMONING is just his ninth novel, but it may be the one that truly puts him on the map. Born in New York City, Smith became interested in writing after moving to England. You will not easily forget his latest effort as it broaches tender subjects such as grief, life after death, and family secrets in such a way that it toggles between literary fiction and supernatural horror the entire time. Read More

Teaser

Every year, as the anniversary of 9/11 inches closer on the calendar, Kit Capriol scans the memorials published in the New York Times. It's a simple thing to look up a name and phone number, and reach out to surviving family members who might still be yearning for connection with their lost loved one. After her husband went down in the North Tower, Kit scraped by as an actress. But now her daughter Zoey is in the hospital, bills are due and the acting work has dried up. Becoming a medium is almost too easy for someone used to pretending for a living. Now, though, something has changed. The seances Kit holds in her apartment are starting to feel unsettlingly real, and the intriguing man she met at a local bar could be more complicated than he seems.

Promo

Every year, as the anniversary of 9/11 inches closer on the calendar, Kit Capriol scans the memorials published in the New York Times. It's a simple thing to look up a name and phone number, and reach out to surviving family members who might still be yearning for connection with their lost loved one. After her husband went down in the North Tower, Kit scraped by as an actress. But now her daughter Zoey is in the hospital, bills are due and the acting work has dried up. Becoming a medium is almost too easy for someone used to pretending for a living. Now, though, something has changed. The seances Kit holds in her apartment are starting to feel unsettlingly real, and the intriguing man she met at a local bar could be more complicated than he seems.

About the Book

When it comes to contacting the dead, it's easy to go a step too far.

Every year, as the anniversary of 9/11 inches closer on the calendar, Kit Capriol scans the memorials published in the New York Times. It's a simple thing to look up a name and phone number, to reach out to surviving family members who might still be yearning for connection with their lost loved one...to offer assistance. After her husband went down in the North Tower, Kit scraped by as an actress, barely supporting herself and her daughter. But now Zoey is in the hospital, bills are due and the acting work has dried up. Becoming a medium is almost too easy for someone used to pretending for a living --- and desperate clients aren't hard to come by.

Now, though, something has changed. The seances Kit holds in her apartment are starting to feel unsettlingly real, and the intriguing man she met at a local bar could be more complicated than he seems. As the voices of the dead grow louder in her head and the walls of her apartment close in, Kit realizes that despite her daughter's absence, she hasn't been quite as alone as she thought.

Audiobook available, read by Ann Marie Lee