Month: June 2017

Get An Epic Spot Today ?

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date June 9, 2017

Hello, Novel folks! We’ve got another round of Epic spots open, and as usual you get first crack at them. They open up today, Monday the 12th, at 9am Eastern — have at ’em!

In case you weren’t sure, in addition to the perks you enjoy already Epic subscribers get:
– Access to the Insiders-only Forum, limited to 250 spots! Come hang out with us!
– A special Monthly Mailbag drawing, because free books are the best books.

Just head to My Account on insiders.bookriot.com, click “Manage My Subscription,” and grab your Epic spot. Ready, set, click!

Giveaways

Win a Father’s Day Prize Pack of Books!

Post author By Jeff O'Neal
Post date June 9, 2017

We have a prize pack of books perfect for Father’s Day courtesy of Chronicle Books to give away!

Dads are diverse. Celebrate all their quirks with just the right book this Father’s Day. With books about explorers, history, and geography (Explorers’ Sketchbooks and Atlas of Countries That Don’t Exist), an encyclopedic tome on surfing (A Brief History of Surfing), an intricately illustrated activity book (From Here to There: A Book of Mazes to Wander and Explore), a hilarious homage to the original Star Trek series with an unexpected twist (Star Trek Cats), and a handsome volume that celebrates all they do (The Greatness of Dads), Chronicle Books has you (and your dad) covered.

Now go here to enter the giveaway, or just click on the image of the prize pack below. Good luck!

Book Radar

All the Book News That’s Fit to Print

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date June 9, 2017

Happy Monday, book lovers! There are a lot of exciting things happening in the world of books. (Including an All the Books spinoff!) Hope you enjoy your week. Be excellent to each other. – xoxo, Liberty

(PS – Totally unrelated to books, but I want to share the joy: My new favorite show, The Good Place, is streaming for free on NBC right now. It is SO delightful!)

Deals, Reels, and Squeals

Lauren Graham will adapt YA novel Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith.

Rainbow Rowell will be penning the upcoming ongoing Runaways comic series.

Hiao Jingfang’s Hugo award-winner, Folding Beijing, to be made into a movie.

Oprah will announce her new book club pick on June 26. (Click here if you want to see what book I think it will be.)

Harry Potter prequel about Voldemort approved by Warner Bros., to be released on YouTube.

To Kill a Mockingbird to be issued as a graphic novel.

Riverheard Books will publish Little by Edward Carey in 2018. (I adore his work! His Iremonger trilogy is so freaking fantastic!)

boy erased Joel Edgerton has scripted and will direct a film based on Garrard Conley’s memoir Boy Erased.

Ta-Nehisi Coates to write Wrong Answer, about the 2013 Atlanta high school cheating scandal, based on the New Yorker article by Rachel Aviv.

Terry Weible Murphy’s memoir, Life in Rewind, will be adapted for the screen.

Katherine Arden (The Bear and the Nightingale) sold her middle grade debut to G.P. Putnam & Sons for Young Readers. Putnam described the book, called Small Spaces, as Stranger Things meets The Walking Dead.

And in case you hadn’t heard, there’s a new Nick Harkaway novel coming down the pike.

Cover Reveals

Squeeeeee, it’s Shadowsong, the sequel to Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones! (Jan. 30, 2018)

Black Star Renegades, Michael Moreci’s galaxy-hopping debut novel, looks awesome! (Jan. 2, 2018)

Fabulous gif of the new cover of Gloria Chao’s American Panda. (Feb. 6, 2018)

Alex R. Kahler on his new book, Runebinder, plus the fantastic cover. (Nov. 14, 2017)

Beverly Jenkins has a new book coming next year: Tempest! (Jan. 30, 2018)

And speaking of romances, here’s Gentlemen Prefer Heiresses by Lorraine Heath. (Aug. 22, 2017)

New Anne McCaffrey Pern covers revealed. (After August 1)

The fabulous cover (and an excerpt) of The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert. (Jan. 30, 2018)

Sneak Peeks!

New TV spots for Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.

Marvel unveiled a new poster for Black Panther!

Book Riot Recommends

At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders new release index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week!

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt (Atlantic Monthly Press, August 1)

It will surprise zero people to learn that I am obsessed with the Lizzie Borden and the axe murders of 1892, so when I heard there was a new novel about the case coming next year, I squealed and squealed. If you don’t know Lizzie Borden, she was the OJ Simpson of her time: famously accused of killing her father and stepmother, then acquitted after the century’s biggest trial, despite the overwhelming public opinion that she was guilty. (Basically, a jury of twelve men let her go because they didn’t believe women were capable of such brutal crimes back then. Which really works in your favor when you’ve just axed two people to death.) This novel is like a crazy murdery fever dream, swirling around the day of the murders. Schmidt has written not just a tale of a crime, but a novel of the senses. There is hardly a sentence that goes by without mention of some sensation, whether it’s a smell or a sound or a taste, and it is this complete saturation of the senses that enables the novel to soak into your brain and envelope you in creepy uncomfortableness. It’s a fabulous, unsettling book.

A Twenty Minute Silence Followed by Applause: Essays by Shawn Wen (Sarabande Books, July 11)

I will be completely honest: A book of essays about famous mime Marcel Marceau would probably not be something I would pick up on my own in a store. But luckily I read books for a living, and this wonderful essay collection crossed my path! Radio producer Wen became fascinated by mime, an art you can’t put on the radio. This led her to meticulously research the world-famous mime Marceau, whose incredible life she has beautifully detailed in this haunting collection. He was so much more than just a man trying to get out of in an invisible box.

And this is funny.

Two of our favorite bookish Twitter accounts have a chat.

True Story

Space and Glowing Girls: The Buzzy Nonfiction of BookExpo

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date June 8, 2017

Hello, fellow nonfiction aficionados. I’m writing this newsletter having just gotten back from BookExpo in New York City. BookExpo is an annual trade show conference for publishers, authors, booksellers, librarians and other book-adjacent professionals. During the show there are book signings and galley giveaways, as well as presentations, education sessions and panels covering all sorts of trends and issues in the book world.

This is near one of the main entrances for BookExpo. Dad-like dudes were popular this year.

(As a quick informational aside, the conference recently split to address the needs of two different audiences – BookExpo, on Thursday and Friday, is more publishing industry focused, while BookCon, on Saturday and Sunday, is designed more for consumers.)

Sponsored by HarperOne, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

Much advice about achievement is logical, earnest… and downright wrong. In Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Eric Barker reveals the extraordinary science behind what actually determines success. You’ll learn:

Why valedictorians rarely become millionaires
How your biggest weakness might be your greatest strength
Lessons about cooperation from gangs, pirates, and serial killers
The Navy SEAL secret to “grit”
How to find work-life balance from Genghis Khan, Albert Einstein, and Spider-Man

By looking at what separates the extremely successful from the rest of us, we learn how to be more like them—and discover why it’s sometimes good that we aren’t.

In my experience, the buzziest books of BookExpo tend to be fiction – some of the longest lines this year were for authors like Jennifer Egan, John Grisham and Celeste Ng, or for celebrities like Chad Michael Murray, Savannah Guthrie, or Isla Fisher.

If you’re excited about nonfiction, you’re generally not going to stand in any really, really long lines (unless it’s a celebrity memoir, but even those seemed more muted this year). That said, there were two nonfiction books that generated quite a bit of excitement, one by a celebrity (of sorts) and the other capitalizing on the popularity of nonfiction in pop culture.

Scott Kelly signed excerpts from his upcoming memoir, ENDURANCE. I was… not smooth when I got to meet him.

My first highlight of BookExpo was getting to meet Scott Kelly, an astronaut who spent a year living on the International Space Station. He was signing samples from his upcoming memoir, Endurance (Oct. 17 from Knopf), and couldn’t have been nicer during his autographing session. He followed up a very, very long line by jumping across the Penguin Random House booth for another signing, this time for his children’s book, My Journey to the Stars.

Kate Moore was very charming during her signing of RADIUM GIRLS. This one is next up on my TBR.

The other book I was pleasantly surprised to see generating a lot of buzz was The Radium Girls by Kate Moore (April 18 from Sourcebooks), a true story of the young women tasked with painting the glowing numerals on watches using a newly-discovered element, radium, around World War I. But as we know now, radium turns out to be incredibly dangerous, setting up a faceoff between the increasingly ill girls and the factory owners who are slowly poisoning them. I suspect the excitement around this book has something to do with the popularity of Hidden Figures, and I hope will lead to more books on women often ignored by history.

I feel like I have a ton more to say about BookExpo and trends in nonfiction, but I feel like this newsletter is getting a little long already. So, I’ll just leave you with five titles that are at the top of my TBR – one that’s out now, and four you can look for later this fall – and a promise to feature some of the other books I brought up closer to their publication date.

Upcoming Books On My Radar (BookExpo Edition)

All Day by Liza Jessie Peterson (April 18 from Center Street) – Poet and actress Liza Jessie Peterson writes about a year spent teaching at Island Academy, the high school for teenagers detained at Rikers Island.

Bored and Brilliant by Manoosh Zomorodi (Sept. 5 from St. Martin’s Press) – Based on an experiment conducted by the Note to Self podcast in 2015, Bored and Brilliant looks at “the connection between boredom and original thinking.”

Crash Override by Zoe Quinn (Sept. 5 from PublicAffairs) – Video game developer Zoe Quinn shared her experiences as a victim in the #gamergate awfulness, and about her work with her advocacy and online-abuse crisis resource, the Crash Override Network.

The Last Castle by Denise Kiernan (Sept. 26 from Touchstone) – The Last Castle is the book I decided to pick up on my plane ride home. Kiernan – who previously wrote The Girls of Atomic City – turns her attention to the story of the Biltmore mansion and the end of America’s Gilded Age. It’s a lot of fun so far.

Bunk by Kevin Young (Nov. 14 from Graywolf Press) – Subtitled “The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News,” Bunk is a look at the history of the hoax, and its connection to stereotypes, suspicion and race. This one feels substantial and important.

And that’s what I’ve got for this edition! As always, feedback and comments are always welcome. You can catch me on Twitter @kimthedork, Instagram @kimthedork, or via email at kim@riotnewmedia.com. Happy reading!

Giveaways

Win a Copy of WHO IS RICH? by Matthew Klam!

Post author By Jeff O'Neal
Post date June 8, 2017

We have 10 copies of Who is Rich? by Matthew Klam to give away to 10 Riot readers!

Here’s what it’s all about:

Who Is Rich? is a warped and exhilarating tale of love and lust, a study in midlife alienation, erotic pleasure, envy, and bitterness in the new gilded age that goes far beyond humor and satire to address deeper questions: of family, monogamy, the intoxicating beauty of children, and the challenging interdependence of two soulful, sensitive creatures in a confusing domestic alliance.

Now go here to enter the giveaway, or just click the cover image below:

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Jun 9

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date June 8, 2017

Happy Friday, friends. Skynet hasn’t taken over yet, so at least we’ve got that.

This newsletter is sponsored by the thrilling final volume in the Greatcoats Quartet, Tyrant’s Throne by Sebastien de Castell.

The King is dead. The Greatcoats, legendary travelling magistrates who once brought justice to the Kingdom of Tristia, are now scattered to the winds and branded traitors. Falcio Val Mond and his best friends, master swordsman Kest and deadly archer Brasti, have been reduced to working as bodyguards. Surviving ducal conspiracies, invading armies, and an ever-shifting tapestry of sinister forces, Falcio, Kest, and Brasti fight for what is right. With just the iconic, tattered leather coats on their backs, the three comrades continue to pursue justice and their ultimate goal: to place their king’s rightful heir on the throne.

Happy Pride Month! Have some:
– Queer fantasy!
– LGBTQ #ownvoices SF/F YA!
– Lesbian/bi fantasy!
– And while I don’t go into it specifically in the review below because there’s just so much to talk about, The Prey of Gods is a delightfully queer, action-packed sci-fi AND fantasy novel that you should add to your list immediately!

What do Frankenstein and the Alien franchise have in common? [Spoiler alert] A whole lot, according to Josh. While I haven’t seen Alien: Covenant yet (only for lack of time, I assure you), I find his argument compelling.

Speaking of humanity meddling with things it shouldn’t, I love this list from Tor.com of books in which hacking — either of tech or people — plays a pivotal role. Many of us have dreamed of mecha suits and body mods and a new AI best friend; why not read about them and all the ways it can go horribly wrong?

If you enjoyed the bejesus out of Wonder Woman, as I did, you probably want some read-alikes! Margaret has compiled a list.

I am not an excerpt reader myself (not enough story!), but I know you are out there and you may be excited to get an early read from Philip Pullman’s Book of Dust.

And now, reviews! Today’s picks could not be more different, and yet I love them both so, so, so much.

The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden

Imagine if American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, and All the Birds In the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders contributed DNA towards a headstrong, rambunctious child — that child would be something like The Prey of Gods. It’s set in South Africa in a near-future where life is generally pretty good, which is exactly the problem for a demigoddess who feeds on fear. But then a new illegal drug on the market, advances in genetic engineering, and the burgeoning sentience of a household robot introduce just enough entropy into the system to give her a chance to change things up — and humanity is not going to love these changes. Which is the point, as far as she’s concerned…

Drayden blends mythology with mitochondrial DNA, explores the intersections of faith and artificial intelligence, and packs enough action into this novel to rival a Marvel movie. Her characters (of which there are several, voicing alternating chapters) are flawed and all too human, and just as in real life that is both their strength and weakness. I alternately wanted to shake them and cheer them on, which is of course the best possible combination. Drayden also manages to balance child and teenage narrators with adult narrators without ever losing the flow or the pacing of the novel, which is a rare feat indeed.

I can basically guarantee that if you pick up this book, you will never look at a DNA sequence (or a crab and/or porpoise) the same way again, and I will be throwing it at everyone who comes anywhere near me asking for a sci-fi/fantasy recommendation.

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

It was probably inevitable that after watching King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, I would reread Mary Stewart. Arthuriana in all its manifestations has been a love of mine since I first watched The Sword in the Stone, which led me to T.H. White, which led me to The Dark is Rising, which led me to The Pendragon Cycle, which led me to Persia Woolley and Marion Zimmer Bradley, which led me to Geoffrey of Monmouth once I got to college … you get the idea. But the series that I always go back to, the one I actually still own, is Mary Stewart’s Arthurian Saga.

The Crystal Cave starts, naturally enough, with Merlin. And this is a Merlin with powers, but they’re not the flashy powers of, say, your Gandalf-type wizard. Instead it’s the power of Sight, true-seeing passed down from his mother. Add to that an education and the resourcefulness that being a bastard without an acknowledged father develops in a child, and you’ve got a formidable figure indeed. Telling the story of Merlin’s childhood up through Arthur’s conception, Stewart weaves a historical novel touched briefly by fate and the gods, but ultimately centered around the actions of men. It’s a quiet and powerful start to an extraordinary series, one that I will keep rereading for years to come.

And that about wraps it up! If you need more sci-fi/fantasy chat in your life, check out our newly launched podcast SFF Yeah!, hosted by yours truly and my fellow geek Sharifah. If you need even more reading recommendations of any kind, you can find me and Amanda at the Get Booked podcast. May the odds be ever in your favor!

The Stack

060817-SSSW-The-Stack

Post author By Devin Service
Post date June 8, 2017

Today’s The Stack is sponsored by The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen by Hope Nicholson, published by Quirk Books.

Think comic books can’t feature strong female protagonists? Think again! In The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen you’ll meet the most fascinating exemplars of the powerful, compelling, entertaining, and heroic female characters who’ve populated comic books from the very beginning. With vintage art, publication details, a decade-by-decade survey of industry trends and women’s roles in comics, and spotlights on iconic favorites like Wonder Woman and Ms. Marvel, The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen proves that not only do strong female protagonists belong in comics, they’ve always been there.

Riot Rundown

060817-ADarkSoDeadly-Riot-Rundown

Post author By Devin Service
Post date June 8, 2017

Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by A Dark So Deadly by Stuart MacBride.

A gripping standalone thriller from the Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae series. DC Callum MacGregor’s career was going pretty well until he covered up a mistake to protect his pregnant crime-scene tech girlfriend. Now, Callum’s stuck on a squad with all the other misfits—the officers no one else wants, but who can’t be fired—never likely to get within reach of a decent case again. That is, until they accidentally get handed the biggest murder investigation the city of Oldcastle has ever seen. When a mummified body is found in the local garbage dump, the top-brass assume pranksters have stolen it from a museum. But as Callum and his colleagues investigate, it starts to look less like student high-jinx and more like the work of a terrifying serial killer…

Giveaways

Win all 10 Jason Bourne Books!

Post author By Jeff O'Neal
Post date June 7, 2017

We have a prize pack of all 10 Jason Bourne novels to giveaway, plus three other winners will win a copy of the new Jason Bourne book, The Bourne Initiative.

Here’s what it’s all about:

Jason Bourne is one of the most popular and compelling characters in contemporary fiction. Originally created by bestselling author Robert Ludlum, the Jason Bourne series was later adapted into films that have become modern classics. Now, New York Times bestselling writer Eric Van Lustbader carries on Jason Bourne’s story with a new novel about the rogue secret agent who has lost his memory…

Go here to enter the giveaway, or just click the cover image below:

Audiobooks

New Releases, Audie Award Winners, and More

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date June 7, 2017

Happy almost-officially summer, audiobook lovers!

First, huge thanks to everyone who sent me suggestions for my road trip with a sci-fi lover! I’m compiling all your fabulous recommendations now and I’ll put them in the next newsletter (to recap: I’m taking a road trip with a dude who pretty much exclusively reads sci-fi and am looking for audiobooks that will be palatable to both of us).

Sponsored by Audiobooks.com, your source for Audiobook Month giveaways and deals!

Want free audiobooks? Celebrate Audiobook Month this June with a premium giveaway every Thursday, brought to you by Audiobooks.com! Plus, members can access 2-for-1 offers, exclusive sales and bundled deals all month long. Listeners can stream books live or download for offline listening, and enjoy great features like sped-up narration, sleep timer and custom bookmarking. Plus, Audiobooks.com integrates with CarPlay, Android Auto, Sonos and tvOS for easy listening in your car and home. Create your account for free and get started today!

Audiobooks have been on the minds of Book Riot contributors recently–-in the past week we’ve had several helpful audiobook posts: everything from audiobooks for new listeners to instructions for lending Audible books with an old smartphone.

Book Riot Round-up of Audiobooks Posts

Lending Audible Books With an Old Smartphone: How one audiobook listener gets around the impossibility of lending out audiobooks.

5 Best Audiobooks for New Listeners: Queen of audiobooking Rachel Smalter Hall Audiobooks are more popular than ever, but “reading” with your ears is a learned skill. Where do you start? Rachel suggest 5 of the best audiobooks for new listeners.

Awesome Audiobooks Read By Actors: Y’all know I love a good narrator and rioter Susie agrees. The actors-as-narrators do these excellent books justice in the audiobook format. Give them a listen!

Hilarious non-fiction Audiobooks to Power Your Summer Road Trip: These ten hilarious nonfiction audiobooks will entertain your brain while you drive.

As for me, I’ve never been in the middle of several audiobooks at once, but that’s where I find myself. See, I got the audio copy of Roxane Gay’s new book, Hunger, and so I had to stop listening to all the audiobooks I was in the middle of and immediately settle into Gay’s brilliant collection of very personal essays.

New Releases (descriptions in quotes via publisher)

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon; narrated by Sneha Mathan

This charming YA novel was released on May 30th but somehow I missed it. I read the print book, however, and absolutely loved it. From the publisher’s description:

“Now that Dimple Shah has graduated, she’s ready for a break from her family – especially from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the Ideal Indian Husband. Ugh. But Dimple knows that her mother must respect that she isn’t interested in doing that right now – otherwise she wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers, right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic, so when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him – during which he’ll have to woo her – he’s totally onboard. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself. Although their parents hadn’t planned suggesting the arrangement so soon, when their kids signed up for the same summer program, they figured why not?”

The Weight of Lies by Emily Carpenter; narrated by Kate Orsini

“Reformed party girl Meg Ashley leads a life of privilege, thanks to a bestselling horror novel her mother wrote decades ago. But Meg knows that the glow of their very public life hides a darker reality of lies, manipulation, and the heartbreak of her own solitary childhood. Desperate to break free of her mother, Meg accepts a proposal to write a scandalous, tell-all memoir.

Digging into the past – and her mother’s cult classic – draws Meg to Bonny Island, Georgia, and an unusual woman said to be the inspiration for the book. At first island life seems idyllic, but as Meg starts to ask tough questions, disturbing revelations come to light…including some about her mother.

Soon Meg’s search leads her to question the facts of a decades-old murder. She’s warned to leave it alone, but as the lies pile up, Meg knows she’s getting close to finding a murderer. When her own life is threatened, Meg realizes the darkness found in her mother’s book is nothing compared to the chilling truth that lurks off the page.”

Magpie Murders by: Anthony Horowitz; narrated by Samantha Bond, Allan Corduner

“When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the best-selling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.

Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.”

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness written and narrated by Arundhati Roy

“In a graveyard outside the walls of Old Delhi, a resident unrolls a threadbare Persian carpet. On a concrete sidewalk, a baby suddenly appears just after midnight. In a snowy valley, a bereaved father writes a letter to his five-year-old daughter about the people who came to her funeral. In a second-floor apartment, a lone woman chain-smokes as she reads through her old notebooks. At the Jannat Guest House, two people who have known each other all their lives sleep with their arms wrapped around each other, as though they have just met.

A braided narrative of astonishing force and originality, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is at once a love story and a provocation – a novel as inventive as it is emotionally engaging. It is told with a whisper, in a shout, through joyous tears, and sometimes with a bitter laugh. Its heroes, both present and departed, have been broken by the world we live in – and then mended by love. For this reason they will never surrender.

How to tell a shattered story?

By slowly becoming everybody.

No.

By slowly becoming everything.”

Audiobook News/Links for Your Ears

The 2017 Audie Awards – which honor the best in spoken word entertainment – were announced last week. Check out the winners by category below, explore the full list of nominees, or let them know what you think on Twitter @audible_com.

The One Novel You Need To Listen To on Audio: OK, can someone listen to this and tell me if it’s too scary for me?

Finding Your Audiobook Voice: The author of The Mighty Franks on the peculiar pleasures of writing his memoir—and then recording himself reading the whole thing aloud.

Ben Aaronovitch interview: Cityread, Doctor Who, audiobooks, Peter Grant

Talking Book Center Awarded Grant: Talking Book Center awarded grant from United Way of Greater Augusta

Best Audiobooks for a Silent Road Trip: I don’t have kids, but if I did, you can be damn sure I would be all about whatever it takes to distract them during car trips…and everything else.

How to Get Alexa to Read You a Kindle Book: Someone mentioned this in the last Insider’s Audiobook Chat (every second Thursday of the month at 1 PM EST. #shamelessplug) and I have never heard such a compelling reason to get an Alexa-doodybob.

Thank you again for all your lovely recommendations and I promise I’ll get that list going ASAP. Feel free to say hey whenever (Twitter: @msmacb, email katie@riotnewmedia.com). Hope you have a great week!

~Katie