Author: Liberty Hardy

Dragon-Plagued Cities, A Contemporary Frankenstein Tale, And More New Books

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date January 22, 2018

It’s Tuesday (again!) which means there are a bunch of faboo new releases! (Why, yes, I did watch a lot of Animaniacs as a child.) I have a few more awesome books for you below and you can hear about several more great titles on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Jenn and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, including Brass, Eternal Life, The Milk Lady of Bangalore, and more.

OH! Did you know Book Riot is giving away a library cart? WELL WE ARE. Because that’s how we roll. Enter to win here.

let's talk about love Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

Alice’s romantic dreams were dashed when her girlfriend dumped her after Alice confessed to being asexual. Now she’s planning to spend her summer alone, binge-watching television and working at the library. Then she meets Takumi and her heart sings. Is she ready to risk their friendship to confess feelings that Takumi may not reciprocate or even understand? This is a heartfelt debut that is perfect for young (or not-so-young) readers, especially those still working out their place in the world. More asexual representation like this in books, please.

Backlist bump: Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee

Our Lady of the Prairie by Thisbe Nissen

There’s a hurricane headed to town, but that’s the least of Phillipa’s problems. The theater professor has just had a passionate affair while teaching away from home, now is returning for her daughter’s wedding, where she will have to endure her menacing mother-in-law, her husband, and all the baggage she left behind while she was gone. But what would happen if she walked away? Nissen’s sharp, funny novel explores what it means when a woman stands up for herself and starts putting herself first in her own life.

Backlist bump: The Good People of New York by Thisbe Nissen

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

A scavenger in US-occupied Baghdad stitches together the body parts of corpses in an effort to get citizens a proper burial, and a grieving mother claims it as her son. But when the corpse goes missing, a series of murders begin plaguing the city, leading to an undead killer who must be stopped. This is an inventive way to talk about the horrors of war, loss, and what it’s like to live in a war-torn city.

Backlist bump: Escape from Baghdad! by Saad Hossain

The Sky is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith

A dystopian epic about a future city called Empire Island, plagued by dragons, violence, and chaos, and three young people who must battle fire, the future, and themselves to survive in the world. I love the idea of a future world with dragons. This is a genre-bending delight!

Backlist bump: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (For more dragons. I am so into dragons right now.)

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or L itsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

Book Radar

Everything I Never Told You is Coming to the Big Screen and More Book News

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date January 19, 2018

Happy Monday, book lovers! (Last week I said ‘Happy Friday’ because I work from home and never know what day it is, lol.) Regardless of what day it is, there is a ton of exciting book-related news! I hope everything in your world is marvelous and you have something wonderful to read. Enjoy your upcoming week, and be excellent to each other. – xoxo, Liberty

Enter to win your very own library cart (in your favorite color!) Click here, or on the image below to enter:

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

Daniel Dae Kim developing TV series adaptation of The First Rule Of Ten.

George Clooney’s Catch-22 adaptation lands at Hulu.

DC’s Shazam! gets 2019 release date.

MUPPET ARMS: There’s an adaptation of Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You happening!

David Simon is adapting Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America for television.

Brandy Colbert has a new book coming in 2019!

Facebook Watch orders ten episodes of The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly.

Fire and Fury to be adapted into TV series.

Luke Kleintank joins The Goldfinch movie.

Kristen Wiig will star in Apple’s series adaptation of Curtis Sittenfeld’s upcoming short story collection You Think It, I’ll Say It. (And Reese Witherspoon has signed on as an executive producer.)

Cover Reveals

Here’s a peek at Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga Press, June 26)

I need this: The first look at Space Unicorn Blues by TJ Berry. (Angry Robot, July 3)

And here’s Kody Keplinger’s next book: That’s Not What Happened. (Scholastic Press, August 28)

And holy cats, this cover: Here’s the first peek at A Blade So Black by LL McKinney. (Imprint, September 25)

And here’s the cover of Bright We Burn, the latest book in Kiersten White’s And I Darken series. (Delacorte Press, July 10, 2018)

Sneak Peeks!

SCARY: Here’s the trailer for the first season of The Terror, starring ~~my next boyfriend~~ Ciarán Hinds.

Here’s the first trailer for the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale. There’s also some amazing photos.

Killing Eve: BBC America sets premiere date, unveils first photos.

HBO teased the first look at the upcoming adaptation of Fahrenheit 451.

AWWWWWW: Here’s the first full trailer for Love, Simon.

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!

Not My White Savior: A Memoir in Poems by Julayne Lee (Rare Bird Books, March 13)

Holy cats, I cried so much reading this book. When Lee was a baby, she was adopted from South Korea and brought to Minnesota by a white Christian family. This is her beautiful, angry memoir about her loss of identity and the damage caused by being raised in an strict environment where she was repeatedly told how lucky she was, not to mention all the ignorant remarks people made to her about her heritage, her looks, and her homeland. This is a powerful book.

Herding Cats: A Sarah’s Scribbles Collection by Sarah Andersen (Andrew McMeel Publishing, March 27)

I have never related so hard to a comic before and I continue to be delighted and charmed by Sarah’s Scribbles. This is Andersen’s third collection, filled with both comics from her website and new comics, plus a bit of great advice at the end of this one. Love, love, love her.

And this is funny.

Oh, that Sarah MacLean, she’s always scheming.

New Books

Beautiful Minds, A Lover’s Revenge, and More New Books

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date January 15, 2018

Happy Tuesday! Show of hands: Who’s reading something good this week? (I know, I know, I can’t really see your hands. But I can hear them.) Today is full of great new releases, and also a great re-release: Where the Line Bleeds, the first novel by Jesmyn Ward! I have a few more awesome books for you below and you can hear about several more great titles on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, including Red Clocks, Fire Sermon, Truly Devious, and more.

Sponsored by ZENITH, new from #1 New York Times bestselling authors Sasha Alsberg & Lindsay Cummings.

An action-packed thrill ride of adventure, intrigue and steamy star-crossed romance! Book one in The Androma Saga, from #1 New York Times bestselling authors Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings.

Known as the Bloody Baroness, Captain Androma Racella and her motley crew roam the Mirabel galaxy on the starship Marauder taking whatever mercenary work they can find.

But when a routine job goes awry, the Marauder’s all-girl crew find themselves at the mercy of a dangerous bounty hunter from Andi’s past. Coerced into a life-threatening mission, and straight into the path of a shadowy ruler bent on revenge, Andi and her crew will either restore order to the ship—or start a war that will devour worlds.

Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee

A beautiful debut about sisterly love and mental illness. Miranda has cared for her younger sister, Lucia, since their mother died, taking measures to help her when she heard voices, and to protect her from her own impulses. But Miranda cannot contain Lucia forever, who wants to make the decisions about her own life, and soon the heartbreaking reality of the limits of Miranda’s guidance and Lucia’s illness will follow the sisters across oceans and time.

Backlist bump: Forgotten Country by Catherine Chung

Heartland by Ana Simo

A writer decides the best revenge against a rival, who stole her lover and then turned her out, is murder. Set against the backdrop of a crumbling nation, as America’s corporate greed leads to the starvation of the masses, Heartland is an electrifying, alarming, genre-defying debut about love, sex, and revenge.

Backlist bump: The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

Body Full of Stars: Female Rage and My Passage into Motherhood by Molly Caro May

May discusses the physical and mental changes a new mother’s body experiences after a woman has given birth. Specifically, through the lens of her own health issues after the birth of her first child. An important examination of motherhood and women’s health, and how the often misdiagnosed or dismissed problems a new mother faces is a conversation the world should be having now.

Backlist bump: After Birth by Elisa Albert

Oliver Loving by Stefan Merill Block

Oliver Loving was left trapped in his own mind after a terrible tragedy at a Texas school dance. Now, ten years later, he lives in a state facility, attended to by medical professionals and his family. But a new procedure may help him communicate again, and give his family and the small town the answers to what really happened on that fateful night. A moving novel about tragedy, communication, and redemption.

Backlist bump: The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merill Block

Stay rad,

Liberty

Book Radar

The Wangs vs. the World is Coming to TV and More News

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date January 11, 2018

Happy Friday, book lovers! There are so many exciting things coming down the pike. I hope everything in your world is marvelous and you have something wonderful to read. Enjoy your upcoming week, and be excellent to each other. – xoxo, Liberty

January New Release Megalist: The Sequel

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date January 8, 2018

There was no way I couldn’t do another big list today – there are too many books coming out today that I love! And I like including a lot of titles, even if I haven’t had a chance to read them, because maybe they are something YOU are excited to read or to learn about. I’m all about discussing books, as many and as often as I can.

A New Show from GRRM On the Way and More News

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date January 5, 2018

Hello from under the snowdrifts in Maine! That was quite the storm we had on the East Coast. I hope wherever you were this past week, you had something wonderful to read. Enjoy your upcoming week, and be excellent to each other. – xoxo, Liberty

Sponsored by Alfred A. Knopf, publisher of GNOMON by Nick Harkaway.

Acclaimed author Nick Harkaway presents a near-future, high-tech novel that is equal parts dark comedy, detective story, and mind-bending philosophical puzzle.

The System has created the safest society in history by monitoring all citizens’ thoughts and memories. So when a woman dies in government custody—the first person killed during an interrogation—Inspector Mielikki Neith is assigned to find out what went wrong. What she uncovers in the woman’s tangled memories will have staggering consequences that will reverberate throughout the world. A dazzling achievement, Gnomon is profound, captivating, and irreverent—a story of matchless wit infused with a deep humanity.

OH! And if you’d like to win several of our favorite books of 2017 (20, to be exact), you can click here to enter our Best of 2017 book giveaway for a chance to receive a big beautiful book bounty.

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

DeWanda Wise lands role opposite Brie Larson in Captain Marvel.

Octavia Spencer to star in series from Reese Witherspoon about true crime podcasts.

Lindy West has two more books on the way!

George R.R. Martin’s space-drama Nightflyers gets series order.

And speaking of George, Game of Thrones will return in 2019.

Cover Reveals

Check out the cover of the first book in Sarah McClean’s new Bareknuckle Bastards series. (Avon, June 19, 2018)

EW has the first peek at Smoke in the Sun, Renée Ahdieh’s Flame in the Mist sequel. (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, June 5, 2018)

All I know is that this book is called Snazzy Cat Capers and I need it. (September 18, 2018)

And here’s a new one from Jeff Noon: The Body Library. (Angry Robot, April 3, 2018)

Sneak Peeks!

Here’s the first trailer for the second season of A Series of Unfortunate Events!

And here’s a new look at Fifty Shades Freed. (Spoiler: If you haven’t read the books, there’s a big reveal.)

Book Riot Recommends

A Princess in Theory: Reluctant Royals by Alyssa Cole (Avon, February 27, 2018)

WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP! A new series from Alyssa Cole is on the way, and it’s the cat’s pajamas. Naledi is a doesn’t have time for nonsense, especially emails claiming she’s bethrothed to an African prince. But when said prince shows up, he decides to win her over without revealing his royalty. This is a delightful Cinderella/Prince and the Pauper tale from one of the most wonderful writers in the biz.

Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough

(TW for sexual assault.) This is a gorgeous, heartbreaking novel in verse about the real-life painter Artemisia Gentileschi, considered to be one of the most talented painters of her time, and the true story of how her father sued for ‘property damage’ after she was raped by her instructor. Make no mistake, her story is brutal, as is her quest for justice, but it is also filled with hope and an important message that women’s voices cannot be silenced.

And this is funny.

Hari Kunzru has his 2018 priorities straight.

New Books

First Tuesday of 2018 Megalist!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date December 31, 2017

Happy New Year! Hold on to your hats, it’s going to be the most amazing year for books ever – and that’s a high bar! I’m excited to share the first big list of books for 2018 with you today. (I’m always excited when it involves books.) I hope you had wonderful holidays and that you find so many delightful things to read in the new year. It is an honor to help you learn about new books.

Sponsored by Missing Isaac by Valerie Fraser Luesse and Revell Books, a Division of Baker Publishing Group

When Pete McLean loses his father in the summer of 1962, his friend Isaac is one of the few people he can lean on. Though their worlds are as different as black and white, friendship knows no color. So when Isaac suddenly goes missing, Pete is determined to find out what happened–no matter what it costs him. With vivid descriptions, palpable atmosphere, and unforgettable characters, debut novelist Valerie Fraser Luesse breathes life into the rural South of the 1960s –a place where ordinary people struggle to find their footing in a social landscape that is shifting beneath their feet.

(And like last time, I’m putting a next to the books that I have read and loved. There are soooo many more on this list that I can’t wait to read!)

Speaking of new books, on All the Books! this week, Rebecca and I discussed several 2018 titles we are excited about, including The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, The Third Hotel, and That Kind of Mother.

And if you’d like to win several of our favorite books of 2017 (20, to be exact), you can click here to enter our Best of 2017 book giveaway for a chance to receive a big beautiful book bounty.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Spring Girls by Anna Todd

Darkness, Sing Me a Song: A Holland Taylor Mystery by David Housewright

Promise Not to Tell by Jayne Ann Krentz

Between the Blade and the Heart (Valkyrie) by Amanda Hocking

The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson

Green: A Novel by Sam Graham-Felsen

Robicheaux: A Novel by James Lee Burke

A State of Freedom: A Novel by Neel Mukherjee

Chainbreaker by Tara Sim

Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai

Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children by Sara Zaske

Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano

The Financial Diet: A Total Beginner’s Guide to Getting Good with Money by Chelsea Fagan

Ink by Alice Broadway

Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

Chasing King’s Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Assassin by James L. Swanson

The Devil’s Song by Lauren Stahl

The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn

How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t: 14 Habits that Are Holding You Back from Happiness by Andrea Owen

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

The Lost Rainforest: Mez’s Magic by Eliot Schrefer,‎ Emilia Dziubak (Illustrator)

Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson

The Queen of All Crows by Rod Duncan

Mouths Don’t Speak by Katja D. Ulysse

The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer

Everless by Sara Holland

A Map of the Dark cover image: dark image of forest trees with title text in center A Map of the Dark by Karen Ellis

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu

Furnishing Eternity: A Father, a Son, a Coffin, and a Measure of Life by David Giffels

Unbound (A Stone Barrington Novel) by Stuart Woods

Don’t Cosplay with My Heart by Cecil Castellucci

In the Shadow of Agatha Christie: Classic Crime Fiction by Forgotten Female Writers: 1850-1917 by Leslie S. Klinger

The Nothing by Hanif Kureishi

Late Essays: 2006-2017 by J. M. Coetzee

Black Star Renegades by Michael Moreci

Beneath the Mountain cover image: black and white image of mountains Beneath the Mountain: A Novel by Luca D’Andrea

The Pyramid of Mud (An Inspector Montalbano Mystery) by Andrea Camilleri,‎ Stephen Sartarelli (Translator)

The Art of Mystery: The Search for Questions by Maud Casey

Fallen Gods by James A. Moore

Cræft: An Inquiry Into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts by Alexander Langlands

A Conspiracy of Stars by Olivia A. Cole

Meet Cute by Various Contributors

Someone to Love by Melissa de la Cruz

The Refugees: Stories by Viet Thanh Nguyen (paperback)

Stay rad,

Liberty

Book Radar

A New Naomi Novik Is On the Way and More Book News

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date December 22, 2017

Happy New Year! Hold on to your socks, book lovers – this is going to be the most EXCITING reading year yet! I hope you had a wonderful week, no matter how you spent it, and that you’re reading something marvelous! Enjoy your upcoming week, and be excellent to each other. – xoxo, Liberty

20 Upcoming Books to Mark Down on Your TBR

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date December 20, 2017

Last newsletter of 2017! 2018 hits the ground running, new books-wise, but for this last Tuesday of the year, there isn’t a whole lot going on, so instead I’m going to list several upcoming titles I’m looking forward to in the new year. And I’d like to say a great big thank you to all of you who join me every week in getting excited about books. MWAH!

Last-Minute Gift Ideas (For You or Someone Else)

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date December 17, 2017

Two more weeks until 2018! But first, we’re smack dab on the middle of the holidays. If you’re a last-minute shopper, or you want to get more gifts, here are a few great book ideas. I think there’s a little something here for everyone, and I’ve included a little bit of the publisher’s synopsis with each.