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Editorial Content for Devout: A Memoir of Doubt

Reviewer (text)

Barbara Bamberger Scott

Anna Gazmarian shares hard-won revelations --- some emotionally harrowing and others spiritually uplifting --- in DEVOUT, a memoir of disability and determination. Read More

Teaser

In this revelatory memoir, Anna Gazmarian tells the story of how her evangelical upbringing in North Carolina failed to help her understand the mental health diagnosis she received, and the work she had to do to find proper medical treatment while also maintaining her faith. When Anna is diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011, she’s faced with a conundrum. While the diagnosis provides clarity about her manic and depressive episodes, she must confront the stigma that her evangelical community attaches to her condition. Over the course of 10 years, we follow Anna on her journey to reframe her understanding of mental health to expand the limits of what her religious practice can offer.

Promo

In this revelatory memoir, Anna Gazmarian tells the story of how her evangelical upbringing in North Carolina failed to help her understand the mental health diagnosis she received, and the work she had to do to find proper medical treatment while also maintaining her faith. When Anna is diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011, she’s faced with a conundrum. While the diagnosis provides clarity about her manic and depressive episodes, she must confront the stigma that her evangelical community attaches to her condition. Over the course of 10 years, we follow Anna on her journey to reframe her understanding of mental health to expand the limits of what her religious practice can offer.

About the Book

In this revelatory memoir, Anna Gazmarian tells the story of how her evangelical upbringing in North Carolina failed to help her understand the mental health diagnosis she received, and the work she had to do to find proper medical treatment while also maintaining her faith.

When Anna is diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011, she’s faced with a conundrum. While the diagnosis provides clarity about her manic and depressive episodes, she must confront the stigma that her evangelical community attaches to her condition. Over the course of 10 years, we follow Anna on her journey to reframe her understanding of mental health to expand the limits of what her religious practice can offer.

In DEVOUT: A Memoir of Doubt, Anna Gazmarian shows that the pursuing our emotional health and our spiritual well-being is one single mission and, in both cases, an act of faith.

Audiobook available, read by Rachel LeBlang

Editorial Content for A Step Past Darkness

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Vera Kurian's debut novel, NEVER SAW ME COMING, was nominated for an Edgar Award. She now makes her triumphant return with A STEP PAST DARKNESS, a chilling, atmospheric thriller that is about a town controlled by its megachurch and the dangerous lives of those unwilling to bend to its power. Read More

Teaser

There’s something sinister under the surface of the idyllic, suburban town of Wesley Falls, and it’s not just the abandoned coal mine that lies beneath it. The summer of 1995 kicks off with a party in the mine where six high school students witness a horrifying crime that changes the course of their lives. When they realize that they can’t trust anyone but each other, they begin to investigate what happened on their own. As tensions escalate in town to a breaking point, the six make a vow of silence, bury all their evidence, and promise to never contact each other again. But 20 years later, Jia calls them all back to Wesley Falls. Maddy has been murdered, and they are the only ones who can uncover why. But to end things, they have to return to the mine one last time.

Promo

There’s something sinister under the surface of the idyllic, suburban town of Wesley Falls, and it’s not just the abandoned coal mine that lies beneath it. The summer of 1995 kicks off with a party in the mine where six high school students witness a horrifying crime that changes the course of their lives. When they realize that they can’t trust anyone but each other, they begin to investigate what happened on their own. As tensions escalate in town to a breaking point, the six make a vow of silence, bury all their evidence, and promise to never contact each other again. But 20 years later, Jia calls them all back to Wesley Falls. Maddy has been murdered, and they are the only ones who can uncover why. But to end things, they have to return to the mine one last time.

About the Book

SIX CLASSMATES. ONE TERRIFYING NIGHT. A MURDER 20 YEARS IN THE MAKING.

There’s something sinister under the surface of the idyllic, suburban town of Wesley Falls, and it’s not just the abandoned coal mine that lies beneath it. The summer of 1995 kicks off with a party in the mine where six high school students witness a horrifying crime that changes the course of their lives.

The six couldn’t be more different.

  • Maddy, a devout member of the local megachurch
  • Kelly, the bookworm next door
  • James, a cynical burnout
  • Casey, a loveable football player
  • Padma, the shy straight-A student
  • Jia, who’s starting to see visions she can’t explain

When they realize that they can’t trust anyone but each other, they begin to investigate what happened on their own. As tensions escalate in town to a breaking point, the six make a vow of silence, bury all their evidence and promise to never contact each other again. Their plan works --- almost.

Twenty years later, Jia calls them all back to Wesley Falls --- Maddy has been murdered, and they are the only ones who can uncover why. But to end things, they have to return to the mine one last time.

Audiobook available, read by Jeena Yi

Editorial Content for Big Time

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

I always look forward to picking up a new novel from Ben H. Winters as I am guaranteed an intelligent, quirky and unique-to-the-point-of-absurdity experience. With his latest release, I am pleased to report that he does not disappoint. The book provides science fiction, suspense and time travel, all wrapped up inside a brilliant mystery. Read More

Teaser

Grace Berney is a mid-level bureaucrat in the Food and Drug Administration, a woman who once brimmed with purpose but somehow turned into a middle-aged single mom with a dull government job and a melancholy sense that life has passed her by. Until the night a strange photo comes across her desk, of a young woman in a hospital bed who has been subjected to a mysterious procedure. Against orders and against common sense, Grace sets out to bring the girl to safety, and finds herself risking her job, her future and her life on whether or not she can find the missing girl before an obsessive and violent mercenary who’s also looking.

Promo

Grace Berney is a mid-level bureaucrat in the Food and Drug Administration, a woman who once brimmed with purpose but somehow turned into a middle-aged single mom with a dull government job and a melancholy sense that life has passed her by. Until the night a strange photo comes across her desk, of a young woman in a hospital bed who has been subjected to a mysterious procedure. Against orders and against common sense, Grace sets out to bring the girl to safety, and finds herself risking her job, her future and her life on whether or not she can find the missing girl before an obsessive and violent mercenary who’s also looking.

About the Book

In this "virtuoso,” “jaw-dropping” and “stellar technological thriller” (Publishers Weekly, Starred Review), a mother engulfed by her own mid-life crisis stumbles upon a dark conspiracy to harvest and sell people's time.

What if time could be taken from us --- the minutes, the hours, the years of our lives, extracted like organs taken for transplant? What would it mean for the world? And what would it do to the person from whom it’s taken? 

Grace Berney is a mid-level bureaucrat in the Food and Drug Administration, a woman who once brimmed with purpose but somehow turned into a middle-aged single mom with a dull government job and a melancholy sense that life has passed her by. Until the night a strange photo comes across her desk, of a young woman in a hospital bed who has been subjected to a mysterious procedure. Against orders and against common sense, Grace sets out to bring the girl to safety, and finds herself risking her job, her future and her life on whether or not she can find the missing girl before an obsessive and violent mercenary who’s also looking.

BIG TIME is a fast-paced thriller and a metaphysical mystery about the very nature of our lives.

Audiobook available, read by Eva Kaminsky

Editorial Content for Hypnotized by Love

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

Sariah Wilson is known for writing light romances that often feature protagonists with novel careers. In HYPNOTIZED BY LOVE, Savannah Sinclair is a hypnotist. There are those who don't believe in hypnotism and think she's a charlatan, but Savannah knows she helps people. A recent would-be client whom she rebuffed after getting strange vibes has filed a complaint against her, so Savannah is on notice to be extra careful and professional if she wants to retain her license. Read More

Teaser

Hypnotist Savannah Sinclair is known for helping clients overcome their deep-rooted issues. But her nontraditional approach also attracts plenty of skeptics --- including her high school nemesis and rival, Mason Beckett, who just so happens to be the boy who broke her heart. Mason’s life hasn’t gone according to plan, and the only gig he can land is writing a scathing exposé of his hometown hypnotist, Savannah. But in order to write an authentic article, he has to be a willing participant. Hypnosis is the last thing he expected. When a fire alarm interrupts their session, Mason walks out into the real world entranced and sporting a sunny disposition. Hypnotized Mason reveals things he’s never told a soul and leads Savannah on a frantic chase to keep him safe. He likes his new self. The problem is, so does Savannah.

Promo

Hypnotist Savannah Sinclair is known for helping clients overcome their deep-rooted issues. But her nontraditional approach also attracts plenty of skeptics --- including her high school nemesis and rival, Mason Beckett, who just so happens to be the boy who broke her heart. Mason’s life hasn’t gone according to plan, and the only gig he can land is writing a scathing exposé of his hometown hypnotist, Savannah. But in order to write an authentic article, he has to be a willing participant. Hypnosis is the last thing he expected. When a fire alarm interrupts their session, Mason walks out into the real world entranced and sporting a sunny disposition. Hypnotized Mason reveals things he’s never told a soul and leads Savannah on a frantic chase to keep him safe. He likes his new self. The problem is, so does Savannah.

About the Book

The power of suggestion does wonders for the heart in an absolutely captivating romantic comedy by Sariah Wilson, the bestselling author of THE CHEMISTRY OF LOVE.

Hypnotist Savannah Sinclair is known for helping clients overcome their deep-rooted issues, from anxiety to addiction. But her nontraditional approach also attracts plenty of skeptics --- including her high school nemesis and rival, Mason Beckett, who just so happens to be the boy who broke her heart.

Mason’s life hasn’t gone according to plan. His latest novel was a flop, and the only gig he can land is writing a scathing exposé of his hometown hypnotist, Savannah. But in order to write an authentic article, he has to be a willing participant. Hypnosis is the last thing he expected: he’s shedding his negative nature and opening himself up to new experiences...and when a fire alarm interrupts their session, Mason walks out into the real world entranced and sporting a sunny disposition and a tendency to say yes.

Hypnotized Mason is fearless, revealing things he’s never told a soul, acting completely out of character and leading Savannah on a frantic chase to keep him safe. He likes his new self. The problem is, so does Savannah. She can’t fall in love with a man who’s in a trance, but can she keep him still long enough to get him to snap out of it?

Audiobook available, read by Stevi Incremona

Editorial Content for No Better Time: A Novel of the Spirited Women of the Six Triple Eight Central Postal Directory Battalion

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Jana Siciliano

NO BETTER TIME is an important novel. You may think you know everything about World War II, but here comes Sheila Williams with another missing chapter of the full story. Read More

Teaser

In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Dorothy Thom joins the Women’s Army Corps. Women from all levels of society work together to navigate a military segregated by race and gender. In early 1945, Dorothy and 800 African American WACs cross the turbulent North Atlantic to their post in England. Their orders are to process the mail sent to GIs from their loved ones back home. They arrive to find mail stockpiled for over two years in warehouses and airplane hangars. Many pieces are in poor condition, and the names are illegible. In England and France, the WACs traverse a landscape of unimagined possibilities. With their outlooks changed forever, they return to the United States as the catalysts for change in America and build lives that transcend anything their ancestors ever dreamed of.

Promo

In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Dorothy Thom joins the Women’s Army Corps. Women from all levels of society work together to navigate a military segregated by race and gender. In early 1945, Dorothy and 800 African American WACs cross the turbulent North Atlantic to their post in England. Their orders are to process the mail sent to GIs from their loved ones back home. They arrive to find mail stockpiled for over two years in warehouses and airplane hangars. Many pieces are in poor condition, and the names are illegible. In England and France, the WACs traverse a landscape of unimagined possibilities. With their outlooks changed forever, they return to the United States as the catalysts for change in America and build lives that transcend anything their ancestors ever dreamed of.

About the Book

The acclaimed author of THE SECRET WOMEN and THINGS PAST TELLING returns with an engrossing historical novel about a little-known aspect of World War II --- the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only Black WACs to serve overseas during the conflict. 

In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Dorothy Thom --- Spelman graduate, librarian and Francophile --- joins the Women’s Army Corps wanting to do her part for the war effort. Longing for adventure, she has one question for the recruiter: “Do you think I’ll get to go abroad?”

As Dorothy and her sister WACs discover, life in the Army is an adventure filled with unexpected deprivations and culture shock. Women from all levels of society, secretaries, teachers and sharecroppers, work together to navigate a military segregated by race and gender. At boot camp, the “colored girls” are separated for processing. At Ft. Riley, the women’s barracks are rustic and heated by coal-burning pot-bellied stoves while German POWs spend their incarceration in buildings with central heat and hot water.

In early 1945, Dorothy and 800 African American WACs cross the turbulent North Atlantic to their post in England. Their orders are to process the mail sent to GIs from their loved ones back home, an estimated 17 million pieces. The women arrive to find mail stockpiled for over two years in warehouses and airplane hangars, many pieces in poor condition, the names illegible. 

In England and France, the WACs traverse a landscape of unimagined possibilities. With their outlooks changed forever, they return to the United States as the catalysts for change in America and build lives that transcend anything their ancestors ever dreamed of.

NO BETTER TIME illuminates a love of country and duty that has been overlooked until now.

Audiobook available, read by Janina Edwards

Editorial Content for Shoulder: a memoir

Reviewer (text)

Barbara Bamberger Scott

In SHOULDER, artist and writer Moya Hession-Aiken recalls her years of early family security, youthful doubts, self-discovery and acclaim, and luminous love. This vibrant memoir ranges from the tough knocks of her Irish heritage to the glamorous glow of New York City. Read More

Teaser

Growing up a headstrong Irish Catholic girl in a notoriously tough housing estate in Northern England, Moya Hession-Aiken has just one goal --- to live a rich, creative life in America. SHOULDER tells the story of the riotous and hilarious path from her boisterous but warm family back home to her education in London and her escape to New York in the 1980s, where she finds everything she’s looking for --- exciting jobs in the fashion industry and later at MTV --- but where she also meets the man of her dreams, only to lose him to cancer following the birth of their son. Told in a voice that is equal parts Alan Bennett and Frank McCourt, this is a story about the thrill of taking chances and the unbearable pain of loss, as well as a profound meditation on what it takes to survive and what it means to care for others.

Promo

Growing up a headstrong Irish Catholic girl in a notoriously tough housing estate in Northern England, Moya Hession-Aiken has just one goal --- to live a rich, creative life in America. SHOULDER tells the story of the riotous and hilarious path from her boisterous but warm family back home to her education in London and her escape to New York in the 1980s, where she finds everything she’s looking for --- exciting jobs in the fashion industry and later at MTV --- but where she also meets the man of her dreams, only to lose him to cancer following the birth of their son. Told in a voice that is equal parts Alan Bennett and Frank McCourt, this is a story about the thrill of taking chances and the unbearable pain of loss, as well as a profound meditation on what it takes to survive and what it means to care for others.

About the Book

Growing up a headstrong Irish Catholic girl in a notoriously tough housing estate in Northern England, Moya Hession-Aiken has just one goal --- to live a rich, creative life in America.

SHOULDER tells the story of the riotous and hilarious path from her boisterous but warm family back home to her education in London and her escape to New York in the 1980s, where she finds everything she’s looking for --- exciting jobs in the fashion industry and later at MTV --- but where she also meets the man of her dreams, only to lose him to cancer following the birth of their son.

Told in a voice that is equal parts Alan Bennett and Frank McCourt, this is a story about the thrill of taking chances and the unbearable pain of loss, as well as a profound meditation on what it takes to survive and what it means to care for others.

March 15, 2024

Audiobook listening is on the rise. While for years the success of a book was calculated by its print sales, now the trifecta of print, e-book and audio all are tallied to talk about a book’s success. Audiobooks were the subject of one of the panels at the London Book Fair this week. In a piece in Shelf Awareness, an industry newsletter, I saw this research that was interesting:

“Michelle Cobb, executive director of the Audio Publishers Association, outlined the U.S. audio market, the biggest audio market in the world. There's been double-digit revenue growth for 11 years in a row, and now a majority (53%) of American adults have listened to at least one audiobook. Audiobooks account for about 11% of the U.S. book market, roughly the same as e-books. Cobb said cannibalization is not a problem. Some 17% of people take in books only in audio format, and about a quarter of library patrons borrow only audiobooks.”

Which of the following fiction titles releasing in paperback in March have you read or do you plan to read? Please check all that apply.

March 15, 2024, 575 voters

March 15, 2024 - March 29, 2024

Here are reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for the contest period of March 15 - March 29.

Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris

All four Solomon siblings must return to North Carolina to save the Kingdom, their ancestral home and 200 acres of land, from a development company that has their sights set on turning the valuable waterfront property into a luxury resort. The siblings also must save themselves from the secrets they've been holding onto. Junior, who is married to his wife for 11 years, is secretly in love with another man. Mance can't control his temper, which has landed him in prison more than once. CeCe, a lawyer, has embezzled thousands of dollars from her firm's clients. Tokey wonders why she doesn't seem to fit into this family, which has left an aching hole in her heart that she tries to fill in harmful ways. As the Solomons come together to fight for the Kingdom, each of their façades begins to crumble and collide in unexpected ways.