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End-of-the-Year Contest 2023

Congratulations to the winners of our 2023 End-of-the-Year Contest! One reader received all 44 of Carol Fitzgerald's Bookreporter.com Bets On picks from 2023, while 11 others won four of these titles. You can see all the winners below, along with 2023's Bets On selections.

If you would like to know more about these books, be sure to check out this video and podcast where Carol talks about each of her 44 picks.

Liz Nugent, author of Strange Sally Diamond

Reclusive Sally Diamond causes outrage by trying to incinerate her dead father. Now she’s the center of attention, not only from the hungry media and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she does not remember. As she begins to discover the horrors of her early childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, big decisions, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say. But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world, and why does he call her Mary? And why does her new neighbor seem to be obsessed with her? Sally’s trust issues are about to be severely challenged.

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

August 2023

I have been a fan of Liz Nugent’s books since her debut, UNRAVELING OLIVER. So when STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND got on my radar, I had a feeling that I would be in for a terrific psychological thriller. And boy, did it deliver, with a very interesting premise and execution.

As the book opens, Sally’s father has passed away, and she has followed the instructions that he told her in one of their conversations --- that after he died, she should put him out in the bin. And well, since garbage is typically burned, she takes steps to try to burn him. Readers quickly see that Sally has some challenges with taking things literally. She clocks in on the neurodiverse spectrum and does not always get an implied joke. From this action, the town is now paying attention to Sally.

Week of July 29, 2024

Paperback releases for the week of July 29th include CUTTING TEETH by Chandler Baker, a witty, thrilling story of parental love that asks: Is there anything a mother won’t do for her children?; Liz Nugent's STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND, an utterly immersive mystery that follows an enigmatic woman confronting her unknown past; A TWISTED LOVE STORY by Samantha Downing, a reckless, delicious thriller that gives a whole new meaning to the dangers of modern dating; WITNESS, Jamel Brinkley's second collection of short stories, all of which are set in the changing landscapes of contemporary New York City and feature a range of characters --- from children to grandmothers to ghosts --- who live through the responsibility of perceiving and the moral challenge of speaking up or taking action; and the paperback original LOOK IN THE MIRROR, a heart-pounding suspense novel from Catherine Steadman in which escape rooms and “Squid Game” collide.

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