Categories
Giveaways

Win a Copy of SUICIDE CLUB by Rachel Heng

an arm with Suicide Club written on it reaches across the cover, surrounded by flowers

 

We have 10 copies of Suicide Club by Rachel Heng to give away to 10 Riot readers!

Here’s what it’s all about:

Lea Kirino is a “Lifer,” which means that a roll of the genetic dice has given her the potential to live forever—if she does everything right. After the return of her estranged father, Lea is drawn into the mysterious world of the Suicide Club, a network of powerful, rebellious individuals who reject society’s pursuit of immortality and choose to live—and die—on their own terms. Lea is forced to choose between a sanitized immortal existence and a short, bittersweet time with a man she has never really known but who is the only family she has left.

Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the cover image below:

Categories
Today In Books

BookTube Is Booming : Today in Books

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The Magnetic Collection at Lion Forge.

Each morning, an old fisherman heads to sea, leaving his doting wife at home, awaiting his return. When he doesn’t return one evening, the village assumes his death. His wife refuses to give up hope. She consults a fortune teller who sees his visage in a crepe . . . alive in Cuba. Convinced her husband is still alive, she sets off on an improbable mission to save him.

Completely wordless, this heartwarming adventure is a testament to the power of sequential storytelling and the power of love itself. A Sea of Love is in stores now from Lion Forge!

The Hate U Give Cover Artist Talks About Her Illustration

Artist Debra Cartwright gives maybe one of the most interesting interviews about the process behind book cover design, specifically her work on Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give. “Actually, in design school at Parsons I took a book-cover design class, and my teacher must be cracking up, because he told me, ‘I don’t know if this is for you.'” Just goes to show.

Bon Voyage, Voyage

Introduced in 2014, the Kindle Voyage e-reader is now no longer for sale by Amazon in the US, UK, and at least four other European countries. Honestly, the Kindle family doesn’t seem incomplete without it. There’s the entry-level Kindle, and slightly fancier Kindle Paperwhite. And you can splurge on the waterproof Oasis if you want to do some shower reading (she types, not at all from experience). But if you just HAVE to have a Voyage, there are a few refurbished ones out there.

Readers Watch Videos Too

Bookish YouTube videos are big, even if YouTube says so itself. According to the platform, the BookTube community has earned “over 200 million views and, compared to this time last year, engagement with them is up 40 percent.” While we’re on the subject, check out Book Riot’s YouTube channel!

Categories
Audiobooks

New Audiobooks for August!

Happy August, Audiophiles,

August may be the sleepy, end of summer month everyone simultaneously dreads (because it means summer is ending) and wants to last forever (because more summer, please) but when it comes to audiobook publishing, August is firing on all cylinders. In other words, there are a TON of new audiobooks to get through. So many, in fact, that I’m going to do a two-parter: Audiobooks coming out in the first half of the month will be in this newsletter, audiobooks in the second half of the month will be next week. In both cases, I’ve tried to pick some of the lesser known titles/ones you may not have heard of.

We’re giving away 16 of the books featured on Recommended! Click here, or on the image below to enter:

But first, because it is sadly this time of year in California, I want to send a heartfelt thanks to all the firefighters out there. I love California so much and watching it burn, watching your family, friends, neighbors lose everything is heartbreaking. And yet there are still people running into the flames, trying to help. This picture, of firefighters resting in the backyard of a house they just saved before heading back to keep fighting the Carr Fire, brings me to tears. Thank you, firefighters. And thanks, newsletter readers, for indulging me this sentimentality.

WHEW, ON A LIGHTER NOTE! You can win 16 awesome books featured on the Recommended podcast! Enter here by August 31.

New Audiobooks for August: Part 1

(publisher’s description in quotes)

Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy by Savannah Knoop; narrated by Kristen Stewart; release date: 08-01-18

“In January 2006, the New York Times unmasked Savannah Knoop as the face of the mysterious author JT LeRoy. A media frenzy ensued as JT’s fans, mentors, and readers came to terms with the fact that the gay male-ex-truck stop prostitute turned literary wunderkind was really a girl from San Francisco whose sister-in-law wrote the books…Telling her side of the story for the first time, Savannah reveals how being perceived as a boy gave her a sense of confidence and entitlement she never had before.” I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen a Kristen Stewart movie but I’m excited to hear her narration of this.

Beautiful Exiles by Meg Waite Clayton; narrated by Kirsten Potter; Release date: 08-01-18

Goddamn, I’m a sucker for anything related to Ernest Hemingway–-not least his wives, all of whom are fascinating in their own right. Martha Gellhorn met Ernest Hemingway when he was married to his second wife. Gellhorn, an accomplished war correspondent and journalist, began a love affair with Hemingway. “Beautiful Exiles is a stirring story of lovers and rivals, of the breathless attraction to power and fame, and of one woman – ahead of her time – claiming her own identity from the wreckage of love.”

American Conspiracy Theories by Joseph E. Uscinski, Joseph M. Parent; narrated by Tristan Morris; release date: 08-07-18

Our world is saturated with conspiracy theories. As I write this newsletter, I’m listening to a podcast called “The RFK Files,” about the murder of Robert Kennedy. But why are conspiracy theories so prevalent and what does a preoccupation with conspiracy theories say about where we’re at as a culture? “ Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent…address crucial questions, such as similarities and differences in the nature of conspiracy theories over time, the role of the Internet and communications technologies in spreading modern conspiracy theories, and whether politics, economics, media, war, or other factors are most important in popularizing conspiratorial beliefs.”

Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us by Kate Bornstein, S. Bear Bergman; narrated by Kate Bornstein; release date: 08-07-18

If you aren’t familiar with Kate Bornstein, I am honored to be able to introduce you to her work. Gender Outlaw was first published 20 years ago and it’s as relevant as ever. “On one level, Gender Outlaw details Bornstein’s transformation from heterosexual male to lesbian woman, from a one-time IBM salesperson to a playwright and performance artist. But this particular coming-of-age story is also a provocative investigation into our notions of male and female, from a self-described nonbinary transfeminine diesel femme dyke who never stops questioning our cultural assumptions.”

Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything by Randi Hutter Epstein MD; narrated by Donna Postel; Release date: 08-07-18

Hormones are one of those things I don’t think about a lot unless I’m faced with pictures of myself as an angry, acne-faced, awkward teenager. But hormones control so much more. “Metabolism, behavior, sleep, mood swings, the immune system, fighting, fleeing, puberty, and sex: these are just a few of the things our bodies control with hormones. Armed with a healthy dose of wit and curiosity, Randi Hutter Epstein takes us on a journey through the unusual history of these potent chemicals and their discovery, from the London laboratory where the concept of hormones was identified to a basement filled with jarred brains to a canine sex lab.” Look, brains in jars and canine sex labs aren’t necessarily my thing. But it’s worth it to learn the mystery of why we crazy humans (among other species) behave the way we do.

Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert; narrated by Maya Barton; release date 8-07-18

This YA novel sounds like a heartbreaker (but like a really good heartbreaker).

“Since she was seven years old, Yvonne has had her trusted violin to keep her company, especially in those lonely days after her mother walked out on their family. But with graduation just around the corner, she is forced to face the hard truth that she just might not be good enough to attend a conservatory after high school.

Full of doubt about her future, and increasingly frustrated by her strained relationship with her successful but emotionally closed-off father, Yvonne meets a street musician and fellow violinist who understands her struggle…When Yvonne becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she has to make the most difficult decision yet about her future.”

If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim; narrated by Greta Jung, Keong Sim; Release date: 08-07-18

“When the communist-backed army from the north invades her home, 16-year-old Haemi Lee, along with her widowed mother and ailing brother, is forced to flee to a refugee camp along the coast. For a few hours each night, she escapes her family’s makeshift home and tragic circumstances with her childhood friend, Kyunghwan. Focused on finishing school, Kyunghwan doesn’t realize his older and wealthier cousin, Jisoo, has his sights set on the beautiful and spirited Haemi – and is determined to marry her before joining the fight. But as Haemi becomes a wife, then a mother, her decision to forsake the boy she always loved for the security of her family sets off a dramatic saga that will have profound effects for generations to come.”

Alright, that’s it for me this week! More next week and in the meantime, you can always say hi on twitter, where I’m msmacb or via email at katie@riotnewmedia.com.

~Katie

Categories
Kissing Books

The Fine Black Men of Historical Romance

It’s August! The air has changed here, and I can see the end of the hottest of the hot. Well, at least in the weather; I’m still actively seeking out the hottest of the hot when it comes to books 😀

Sponsored by One Small Thing, new from Erin Watt, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Royals series and When It’s Real

Beth’s life hasn’t been the same since her sister died. So, when she sneaks out to a party one night and meets the new guy in town, Chase, Beth is thrilled to make a secret friend. Only Beth doesn’t know how big her secret really is…

Fresh out of juvie and looking for a second chance, Chase has demons to face and much to atone for, including his part in the night Beth’s sister died. A forbidden romance is the last thing either of them planned for senior year, but the more time they spend together, the deeper their feelings get. Now Beth has a choice to make—follow her parents’ rules, or risk tearing everything apart…again.

News and Useful Links

If you haven’t gotten enough of Amazing Speeches That Happened At RWA, you’ll want to listen to Sonali Dev’s speech, which went up online just a little after last week’s KB went out. It’s personal and heartfelt and she is not at all afraid of calling people out. Have tissues handy.

This is one of the most poignant and upsetting responses to Suzanne Brockmann’s speech last week.

Can You Keep a Secret? No, really! Sophie Kinsella’s magical Can You Keep a Secret (my favorite of hers!) is being adapted for film! I’m excited.

How about a lovely Ode to the Romance Novel?

PS, new account to follow!

Deals!

cover of Keep the FaithAna Tejano’s Keep the Faith is 99 cents through 8/15!

Have you read Jay Northcote? His Second Chance is 3.99. He writes a lot of queer romance, but this one is worth checking out if you’re looking for #ownvoices trans rep.

Been in a baseball mood? Lucky Break by Holley Trent is 1.99. Or you can get the entire Reedsville Rooster series (5 books) for 10.95.

Have you read KJ Charles’s newest yet? Unfit to Print is 2.99. (Also, one of the heroes would probably be part of my recs list if I had just…gotten to it on time?)

Over on Book Riot

And IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIeiiiiiiiiiiiiiieiiiiiiiii….okay. I’m not Whitney Houston. But I do love a bodyguard.

I don’t read nearly enough medievals, and I really should. At least I’ve got some recommendations on where to start.

I was busy last week! Jenn Northington and I recorded a special romance edition of Get Booked, and of course Trisha and I talked a lot about Intercepted by Alexa Martin. It’s a thing.

And we’re having another giveaway! Get 16 awesome books featured on the Recommended podcast! Enter by August 31.

Recs!

So. Harlots is back (and magnificent as always) and I noticed that one of the new characters was a great stand-in for the hero of the novel I was reading at the time. It also made me think about some of the other fine black men in historical romance, and I’d love to share some of my favorites with you!

cover of Be Not Afraid by Alyssa ColeElijah Sutton – Be Not Afraid by Alyssa Cole

If you haven’t read Alyssa Cole’s way-too-short novella set during the American Revolution (and the first instance in which we meet Elijah, whose granddaughter goes to visit Eliza Hamilton in That Could Be Enough, one of the novellas from Hamilton’s Battalion), you’re in for a treat. Elijah is a Revolutionary, and he meets Kate—who is working for the British—on the battlefield in the dead of night. He’s fascinated by her, but she doesn’t have time for him and doesn’t understand him, either. Nor he her, to be honest.

cover of A Gentleman Never Keeps ScoreSam Fox – A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian

Sam is just trying to live his life and run his pub, but his future sister-in-law needs to find out some information about a painting she posed nude for ages ago. Intrigued, he stalks the old codger’s house, only to encounter the new resident of the home instead. Hartley is not happy to have inherited the home from his godfather, but he’ll take it. Intrigued by the needs of his would-be burglar, Hartley offers to help find said painting. Sam is hesitant, but really, what can you do when a rich knob decides he’s going to start a project? Also, Sam. Sam is my favorite. He is considerate and empathetic, even when he’s being proud and stupid. He picks up on things and is all around just a good man.

This is the one I was reading when I came across the fine looking young gentleman offering his services to Charlotte Wells in Harlots. And while the character in the show is nothing like Sam, he presents a good enough figure to stand in my mind’s eye (especially once he started doing barroom prize fights).

Cover of Destiny's CaptiveLogan Yates – Destiny’s Embrace by Beverly Jenkins

Whoo man. This list could be all heroes from Ms. Bev’s books, but Logan was my first. Gruff but loving; a community man who will do basically anything for his mother. He works with his hands and can’t help falling in love with the woman he hired to come West in order to be his housekeeper. Logan develops as a man and a character throughout the entire Destiny trilogy, and it’s great to watch the oldest brother let go a little bit.

Cover of After the Wedding by Courtney MilanAdrian Hunter – After the Wedding by Courtney Milan

Oh, Adrian. The most darling man who does the wrong thing for all the right reasons. When he is forced to marry Camilla at gunpoint, his immediate next step is to make sure they take the right steps to get an annulment. Not because Camilla is horrible; no. In fact, he finds her attractive and likes her enough. But he wants a choice. He wants the love and marriage his parents had, where they would give up anything and everything to be together.

(Bonus for his great-great-uncle John, whose love story is one of my favorite long, slow burns told in too few pages. You can read that in The Pursuit Of…)

Golden Worth – A Delicate Affair by Lindsay Evans

If you haven’t checked out the Decades historical romance series, you’re in for a treat. The books, each written by a different author, capture the lives of black people as they lived in each decade of the twentieth century. In this, the first one, Golden is a young man from the South who has made his way to Washington, DC in order to realize his dreams of being a popular ragtime musician. He doesn’t have time for women, and makes that clear to the beautiful debutante who approaches him outside the club where he plays. But the two can’t seem to keep away from each other. Meanwhile Golden’s star is rising, and he has to figure out how to keep being a good man through it all.

Honorable Mention: Soap – Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger.

This book (and the other three in the Finishing School series) is YA, but tons of fun, and Soap is just The Best. You just have to read it.

There are so many more black men from historical romance that I am anxious to meet, but whose stories I haven’t gotten to yet. For instance, Virgil Smithson from The Preacher’s Promise sounds like a heck of a man. Carter Thibedeaux from Kianna Alexander’s Love’s Lasso sounds pretty great, too. And Isaac Caird from That Potent Alchemy just sounds fascinating.

And of course, I’m super anxious for Daniel’s story in An Unconditional Freedom, the third book in Alyssa Cole’s Loyal League series.

Do you have a favorite?

New and Upcoming Releases

cover of Roughing the KickerRoughing the Kicker by Eden Butler
What Happens At Con by Cathy Yardley
A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole (I started it but haven’t finished it yet *cries*)
Dr. Strange Beard by Penny Reid
The Duke I Tempted by Scarlett Peckham
Acting on Love by Te Russ

As usual, catch me on Twitter @jessisreading or Instagram @jess_is_reading, or send me an email at jessica@riotnewmedia.com if you’ve got feedback or just want to say hi!

Categories
What's Up in YA

THE DARKEST MINDS Hits Theaters, Upcoming Spring 2019 Titles, and More YA Book News

Hey YA Readers: It’s time for all the news you can use.

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored this week by Recommended.

We’re giving away 16 of the books featured on Recommended! Click here, or on the image below to enter:

I didn’t round up YA news last week in the Thursday newsletter, but that didn’t mean the news stopped. It’s been a busy two weeks in the world of YA!

Impressive emoji take on Harry Potter.

 

This Week’s Book Mail

I will win no awards for the photo itself, but do enjoy learning more about these titles (starting at the left pile and going down).

Scream All Night by Derek Milman

You May Now Kill The Bride by RL Stine (This was totally delightful if you love campy horror AND I SO DO).

The Universe Is Expanding and So Am I by Caroline Mackler

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Caroline Mackler (the two Mackler books showed up after Eric and I had talked about the delayed sequel phenomenon on Hey YA last week)

More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

We Regret To Inform You by Arial Kaplan

This Is What It Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow

The Resolutions by Mia Garcia

This Splintered Silence by Kayla Olson

Four Three Two One by Courtney Stevens

Your Own Worst Enemy by Gordon Jack

Seafire by Natalie Parker

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry

These Rebel Waves by Sarah Raasch

The Girl You Thought I Was by Rebecca Phillips

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth (I read this back when it came out, but the movie tie-in edition cover — despite usually being The Worst — is actually pretty great!)

Now You See Her by Lisa Leighton and Laura Stropki

How We Learned To Lie by Meredith Miller

Proud: Young Reader Edition by Ibtihaj Muhammad (This’ll be my next YA read).

First Generation: 36 Trailblazing Immigrants and Refugees Who Make America Great by Sandra Neil Wallace, Rich Wallace, and illustrated by Agata Nowicka

Crash: The Great Depression and the Fall and Rise of America in The 1930s by Marc Favreau (Quite good! This is a comprehensive, but totally approachable, read about the Great Depression. It does a good job of highlighting racial inequalities in a way often overlooked in the history of this time. My only quibble is that the end doesn’t then tie into recent economic recessions and how much they mirror what happened in the 30s — but perhaps that’s because it’s so easy to see right there in the text itself).

 

A Blast From The Past

A few posts from the Book Riot YA archives from Augusts past worth a revisit:

 

____________________

Thanks for hanging out & we’ll see you again next week!

— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Twitter and Instagram.

Categories
Unusual Suspects

Dead Cheerleaders, Modern Noir, And A Quiet Mystery

Hi mystery fans! This week I have dead cheerleaders, modern noir, and a quiet mystery for you. Is it too macabre to say, “Enjoy!”?

Against Nature by Casey Barrett cover imageSponsored by Against Nature, a Duck Darley thriller from author Casey Barrett.

Perched in an airy penthouse above the corrupt streets of Manhattan, unlicensed P.I. Duck Darley has settled into an unlikely domestic routine with a wealthy divorcée and her precocious eight-year-old son. But old nightmares return when a desperate text from Cass Kimball, the former partner Duck once took a bullet to protect, lures him back into sworn-off vices and the sinister world of professional sports . . .

Excellent Modern Noir

Dead Soon Enough by Steph ChaDead Soon Enough (Juniper Song, #3) by Steph Cha: This is the third in this really good amateur-sleuth-turned-PI series, which stars a young woman in L.A. solving crimes with her dark stained view of the world–and I hope there is more to come in the series. Song takes on the case of a missing woman, which ends up going into strange-town real quick because of the client’s unique situation. She’s hired to find Lusig’s missing friend, a woman outspoken about the Armenian genocide. But the person who actually hires Song is Lusig’s cousin Rubina, because Lusig is Rubina’s surrogate at the moment, and Rubina fears Lusig trying to find what happened to her friend is putting Rubina’s unborn child in danger. Still with me? It’s a complicated family web of drama that is deliciously bonkers while also realistic to how complicated family relationships can be. Song finds herself way over her head, dealing with the clients and the case, as once again Cha wrote a mystery with a massive nod to the noir genre but cemented it very much in the modern world. (I recommend the entire series because I love Juniper Song, and watching her progress from amateur to licensed PI, but this one can be read as a standalone.)

That’s A Lot of Dead Cheerleaders (TW statutory rape/ suicide)

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas cover imageThe Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas: I 100% picked up this book because of the cover design and then I realized it was written by the author of Little Monsters which I really enjoyed (Review). If you were also a fan, you’ll be happy to know Thomas has once again written a solid mystery with, for me, just the right amount of reveals/twists. The town of Sunnybrook has five dead cheerleaders. Two were murdered, two died in a car accident, and one died by suicide. Now five years later one of the deceased cheerleader’s younger sister finds herself with more questions than answers as she, and a new friend, do some very ill-advised sleuthing–including in her stepfather’s office. Did I mention he’s a police officer who seems to know more than he’s ever shared with her about the cases, including her sister’s?… It’s a real page-turner.

Searching For Answers: Is Her Father Innocent Or A Monster? (TW date rape)

A Double Life by Flynn Berry cover imageA Double Life by Flynn Berry: This was a good quiet mystery that I didn’t realize my brain needed after I’d read too many twisty-twist-with-another-twist-well-that-jumped-the-shark thrillers in a row. And I’m not knocking those thrillers, because I like them, but sometimes too much of one thing in a row requires a change of speed before you get fried out. Plus, I’m always a fan of mysteries that aren’t full of bells and whistles but, rather, let you get to know a character and slowly watch a mystery unravel as it builds into tension and the solve. In this case, Claire, a London doctor, is visited by police who think they may have once again found her father. Slowly it’s revealed what her father is suspected of, Claire’s life of never knowing whether he’s a wrongfully accused man or a monster, and her decision to finally go get some answers… (I really enjoyed the audiobook as the narrator, Fiona Hardingham, really placed me in Claire’s mind and world.)

Recent Releases

My Midnight Years by Ronald Kitchen cover imageMy Midnight Years: Surviving Jon Burge’s Police Torture Ring and Death Row by Ronald Kitchen,Thai Jones, Logan McBride (TBR true crime memoir)

Against the Claw (A Lobster Shack Mystery #2) by Shari Randall (TBR cozy mystery)

The Widow Spy: My CIA Journey from the Jungles of Laos to Prison in Moscow by Martha D. Peterson, Laural Merlington (Narrator) (Currently my audiobook)

This Body’s Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero (I enjoyed his mystery Meddling Kids and have this one queued up as my next audiobook.)

a gentleman's murderA Gentleman’s Murder by Christopher Huang (Just started reading: Historical mystery that already sold rights for adaptation.)

Requiem by Geir Tangen (TBR: Scandinavian thriller)

Sunburn by Laura Lippman (Paperback) (Slow-burn modern noir: Review)

Y Is For Yesterday by Sue Grafton (Paperback) (The last in her Alphabet series since she passed away–*cries in books forever.)

And hello new Book Riot giveaway: You can win 16 awesome books featured on the Recommended podcast! And that is a seriously beautiful list of books.

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And here’s an Unusual Suspects Pinterest board.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own you can sign up here.

Categories
Today In Books

Happy 38th, Harry: Today in Books

We’re giving away our favorite Books of 2018…so far. Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the image below. Good luck!

Happy 38th, Harry!

Snapchat wished Harry Potter a happy 38th birthday with a Bitmoji lens. Snapchatters hopped onto their broomsticks for rounds of Quidditch through the new augmented reality feature. It looks like it’s still available, so choose your House, and catch that Golden Snitch!

The Rise of “Brainy Books”

The Guardian wrote about the rise of “brainy books,” that is, “’long-tail’ nonfiction titles, often works on politics, economics, history or medicine that attempted to synthesise or challenge received thinking on the subject.” The Bookseller was the first to notice the publishing phenomenon, which it called the “brainy backlist,” and the piece notes the enduring success of Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari as an example. Here’s their list of the best brainy books of this decade, led by Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge.

Asian Authors Challenge the West’s Dominance of Fantasy

OZY explored the rise in interest in epic fantasy centered around East Asia written by Asian authors. The article pointed to Jin Yong’s Legends of the Condor Heroes trilogy, which is getting its first English translation, as well as Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings and JY Yang’s Tensorate series, among other books that have found recent success in the West. And it notes some factors that may be encouraging the publication of these works, including the shift from paper to digital submissions, which makes it easier for international authors to submit their work, according to Carl Engle-Laird, associate editor at Tor Publishing.

Categories
In The Club

In the Club Aug 1

Welcome back to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read. Let’s dive in.

This newsletter is sponsored by Epic Reads.

an illustration of a woman in an orange dress standing on top of a green island. the outline of the island is also the profile of a face.Jennifer Gilmore deftly explores the role that chance and choice play in shaping the lives of two teenagers separated by sixteen years, but whose lives are intertwined.

BEFORE: When Bridget imagined her life at sixteen, it didn’t look like this. She didn’t think that her boyfriend would dump her for another girl. And she certainly didn’t think that she would be pregnant.

AFTER: Ivy doesn’t know much about her birth mother. She knows that she is now the same age Bridget was when she placed Ivy for adoption. She knows that Bridget was the one who named her. And she knows that fifteen years ago Bridget disappeared from Ivy’s and her adoptive moms’ lives.

August is Women in Translation month, and there are a bunch of ways you can participate.
Book group bonus: This is where I give a shout-out to Basma Abdel Aziz’s The Queue, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette. It’s short, it’s beautifully written and translated, and there is a TON of fodder for discussion!

Book club field trip! There are many book adaptations coming to theaters near you this summer. Related: did you know it’s common for writers to adapt other writers’ works for the screen?
Book group bonus: It blows my mind that Faulkner co-wrote the screenplay for The Big Sleep with one of the writers of The Empire Strikes Back. If ever there was a wacky read-along/watch-along to do, it’s that.

Adventure time: If you’re looking to have some armchair hijinks, this list of adventure novels can help you out.
Book group bonus: You can learn a lot about a person from their ideal adventure. Jungle treks, cave spelunking, the Grand Canyon, space? Have each member spill the details on theirs.

Read more plays: I just finished a reread of Twelfth Night, since it was this summer’s Shakespeare in the Park in my neighborhood, and it reminded me how much I enjoy plays. This list of Arab plays that read like novels is therefore perfectly timed!
Book group bonus: I cannot recommend highly enough reading a play and then going to see it performed. Find something in your area and dive in.

Read like writers: Emily Temple crunched 68 interviews with authors about which books they recommend, and tallied the top results.
Book group bonus: Here’s where I pitch our podcast Recommended, which is 100% interesting book people and authors talking about their own favorite books. You could have a lot of fun doing a read-along, and seeing how your group’s opinions match up to the recommender!

Simon and Schuster wants to help you out with book club — they’re hosting a bunch of discussions in various places online.
Book group bonus: Does your group ever read along with online programs? It might be an interesting thing to add to the mix — or to talk about why you don’t want to.

Gender is a spectrum, and if you’d like to read more authors who identify as non-binary then we’ve got a list for you!
Book group bonus: Here’s a piece from NatGeo outlining some of the recent science and cultural studies about gender; it’s a good starter-read for discussion.

And that’s a wrap: Happy discussing! If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations (including the occasional book club question!) you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

More Resources: 
– Our Book Group In A Box guide
– List your group on the Book Group Resources page

Categories
The Stack

073118-ASeaofLove-The-Stack

Today’s The Stack is sponsored by The Magnetic Collection at Lion Forge

Each morning, an old fisherman heads to sea, leaving his doting wife at home, awaiting his return. When he doesn’t return one evening, the village assumes his death. His wife refuses to give up hope. She consults a fortune teller who sees his visage in a crepe . . . alive in Cuba. Convinced her husband is still alive, she sets off on an improbable mission to save him.

Completely wordless, this heartwarming adventure is a testament to the power of sequential storytelling and the power of love itself. A Sea of Love is in stores now from Lion Forge!

 

Categories
The Kids Are All Right

New Children’s Book Releases for July 31, 2018!

Hey Kid Lit friends,

Hello from the Philly airport, where I am stranded after my flight got cancelled. Fun times! At least I can soothe my soul by telling you about the new books coming out today. The book descriptions are from Goodreads, but I’ll add a ❤ if I particularly loved a title.

July 31st is the last day to enter! We’re giving away $500 of the year’s best YA! Click here, or on the image below to enter:

Picture Book New Release

❤ Bigger Than You by Hyewon Kyung

A group of young dinosaurs builds a seesaw and takes turns playing on it until the bossy, big, and TERRIBLE Tyrannosaurus interrupts their game in a fit of temper. All ends well, though, when Mom steps in and encourages a peaceful and a productive end to the conflict.

Middle Grade New Releases

❤ Spirit Hunters: The Island of Monsters by Ellen Oh

Harper Raine faces new challenges ahead when her parents take the whole family to a remote tropical island for vacation. As Harper starts to have visions of the resort’s history of disappearances and discovers more about the island’s dark and fabled past, she must use her newly acquired spirit hunting talents to save everyone on the island from murderous spirits on the attack.

The Land of Yesterday by K.A. Reynolds

After Cecelia Dahl’s little brother, Celadon, dies tragically, his soul goes where all souls go: the Land of Yesterday—and Cecelia is left behind in a fractured world without him. Her beloved house’s spirit is crumbling beyond repair, her father is imprisoned by sorrow, and worst of all, her grief-stricken mother abandons the land of the living to follow Celadon into Yesterday. It’s up to Cecelia to put her family back together, even if that means venturing into the dark and forbidden Land of Yesterday on her own. But as Cecilia braves a hot-air balloon commanded by two gnomes, a sea of daisies, and the Planet of Nightmares, it’s clear that even if she finds her family, she might not be able to save them.

Courage by Barbara Binns

Ever since T’Shawn’s dad died, his mother has been struggling to keep the family afloat. So when he’s offered a spot on a prestigious diving team at the local private swim club, he knows that joining would only add another bill to the pile. But T studies hard and never gets into trouble, so he thinks his mom might be willing to bear the cost… until he finds out that his older brother, Lamont, is getting released early from prison. Luckily, T’Shawn is given a scholarship, and he can put all his frustration into diving practices. But when criminal activity increases in the neighborhood and people begin to suspect Lamont, T’Shawn begins to worry that maybe his brother hasn’t left his criminal past behind after all. And he struggles to hold on to the hope that they can put the broken pieces of their damaged relationship back together.

 

Backlist Book Recommendations

Picture Book Recommendation: Bee-Bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Ho Baek Lee

Bee-bim bop (“mix-mix rice”) is a traditional Korean dish. In bouncy rhyming text, a hungry child tells of helping her mother make bee-bim bop: shopping, preparing ingredients, setting the table, and sitting down to enjoy a favorite meal. The enthusiasm of the narrartor is conveyed in the whimsical illustrations, which bring details from the artist’s childhood in Korea to his depiction of a modern Korean-American family. The book includes Linda Sue’s own bee-bim bop recipe!

Note from Karina: My kids and I adore this book! The rhythm and language are perfect, and I love that there is a recipe in the back. 

Middle Grade Recommendation: Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

Eleven-year-old Melody is not like most people. She can’t walk. She can’t talk. She can’t write. All because she has cerebral palsy. But she also has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school, but NO ONE knows it. Most people—her teachers, her doctors, her classmates—dismiss her as mentally challenged because she can’t tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by her disability. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow.

Note from Karina: Sharon M. Draper does a fantastic job with this story, depicting the protagonist with authenticity and strength. A wonderful, wonderful book.

 

Around the web…

The Most Anticipated Children’s and YA Books of Fall 2018, via Publisher’s Weekly

Libraries Are Better Stewards of Taxpayer Dollars Than Corporations, via Publisher’s Weekly

Can You Pass the Hardest Harry Potter Quiz?, via Book Riot

50 Must-Read Mystery Books for Kids, via Book Riot

 

I’d love to know what you are reading this week! Find me on Twitter at @KarinaYanGlaser, on Instagram at @KarinaIsReadingAndWriting, or email me at karina@bookriot.com.

Until next week!
Karina

Ginger Pye in Acadia National Park in Maine, where my family and I traveled for vacation this month! It’s so beautiful up there.

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