Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Carina Press.
What would you do if someone offered to fulfill your wildest fantasies?
Seductive.
Charming.
Dominant.
Dean Sova is everything Maya Clery craves. From the first touch, their connection is intense. After leaving her troubled past behind, Maya thought she was happy—she is happy—but meeting Dean forces her to acknowledge dark needs she longs to explore yet has never had the courage to face.
Hello Insiders! We’ve got a look at the founding and evolution of Book Riot from our CEO Jeff O’Neal below, but before you dive into that we’ve got a few announcements. The first is that your subscriptions have gotten even better, because we added some perks! There’s now a monthly mailbag giveaway for both Novel and Epic-level subscribers, plus commentary from Liberty on some of her favorite books in the New Release Index. You can get the full breakdown right here in the shiny new News section (make sure you’re logged in to see it!).
And so you don’t miss it, we’re moving this month’s store deal up to, well, right here. This month you can buy 2 pint glasses and get coasters free! Use code JUSTCOASTIN at checkout.
Read on, friends.
Last week, I got keys to an office. It’s not huge or fancy. It doesn’t have a kitchen or ping-pong tables or catered, company-paid for lunches. It is four walls, some windows, a few electrical outlets, and decent wi-fi.
But after working on Book Riot for six years out of closets and my bedroom and coffee shops and libraries, it feels like something. I’ve recorded podcasts at midnight, worked on pitch decks while bottle-feeding my kids, and taken conference calls in the bathroom because I couldn’t get reception anywhere else.
When we started working on Book Riot, I had a newborn son and was juggling multiple teaching gigs. We had barely enough money to get the URL designed and running, and it would be awhile before Clint and I got paid anything at all. We knew going in it would be tough and the most likely result would be failure.
So when I unfolded the coffee table and sorted the USB jungle that is my computer set-up and sat down with my coffee for the first time in this new quiet, simple space, it occurred to me to exhale for a moment.
I’ve learned to take a moment to appreciate making progress. A small step after another small step. If you are smart and work hard and are lucky, you might make it to the next part. And then maybe again to the next part after that. The scramble can be all-consuming, so I have learned that if you can see a moment to notice the progress, to see the change that has happened, you’ve got to take it.
I don’t have anything else to compare it to, but building Book Riot has been and continues to be about figuring it out. Making do. Holding it together. Scrapping and stretching and getting it done. Solving one problem so that if you are lucky the next problem you have to solve will be slightly more interesting.
When you are starting something new it is natural to dream about what it could be, and that’s fun. I’ve done it, and still do it now and again. But I am not sure that realizing any of those daydreams would ever be as satisfying as getting to work with people you trust on something you care about. I’ve been fortunate to do that for almost six years now, and I’m busting my ass to continue doing so.
But right now, I have a fresh cup of coffee and a full email inbox and four walls do get to work in.
— Jeff
Hello, book lovers! I know it’s Monday, but there are still a lot of exciting things happening in the world of books. (Including an All the Books spinoff, starting this Friday!) Hope you enjoy your week. Be excellent to each other. – xoxo, Liberty
The Dumplin’ movie has cast Willowdean Dickson!
Victoria Schwab has a middle grade novel, called City of Ghosts, coming in 2018.
Shioli Kutsuna joins the cast of Deadpool 2.
Nathan Fillion, Tony Hale, Sara Rue, Lucy Punch and more join the Season 2 cast of A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Glenn Close to star in zombie comedy pilot Sea Oak, based on the George Saunders short story. (THE BEST STORY.)
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge is going to be a movie! (I love her books so much. If you’ve never read her, so yourself a favor and pick up Fly By Night. A world of books and a surly goose!)
Martin Freeman to adapt Paradise Lost into “surprisingly modern” TV series.
Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror to spin off into books. (Who would you have write them?)
MGM has acquired the rights to produce Every Day, the feature adaptation to David Levithan’s YA novel.
Judy Greer cast in Richard Linklater’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette.
Viking is publishing Nina Stibbe’s An Almost Perfect Christmas.
The third title in the awesome Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers was just announced! (June 14, 2018)
Sandhya Menon, author of the fabulous When Dimple Met Rishi, just announced the title of her new book! (Summer 2018)
Gorgeous cover reveal for Tarnished City by Vic James. (Sept. 5, 2017)
It’s the first peek at Everywhere You Want to Be by Christina James. (May 1, 2018)
There’s a cover for the new Anne Bishop book in the World of Others series. (March 6, 2018)
Marvel released a poster and a teaser trailer for Black Panther!
The trailer for season one of TNT’s Will is up.
The first look at Don’t Come Back from the Moon, based on the novel by Dean Bakopoulos.
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!
Final Girls by Riley Sager (Dutton, July 11)
I’m calling it: this is going to be the biggest thriller of the summer! Quincy Carpenter is a Final Girl – the name given by newspapers to the sole survivors of horror movie-like massacres. Quincy has put her trauma behind her – until the past shows up on her doorstep in the form of Sam, another of the famous Final Girls. Sam arrives the same night as the news about the suicide of the other Final Girl breaks. Sam claims she wants to get to know Quincy and bond over their shared experiences, but can Quincy trust her? As they spend time together, Sam brings out a side of Quincy she has been hiding for years, and unearths dark memories about her night of terror – memories that may prove she was wrong about what happened. This is a super-fast, super-fun summer read!
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero (Doubleday, July 11)
This fantastically fun novel explores the idea of “What happens when Scooby-Doo and the gang grow up? And what if monsters were real all along?” The Blyton Summer Detective Club were notorious for unmasking the Sleepy Lake monster in the summer of 1977. But now it’s 1990, and things have changed drastically for the gang. They’ve drifted apart, haunted by their final night together on a case many years ago, each member more damaged than the last. But finally tired of running from their demons, the gang will face their past – and each other – to learn the truth about their haunted experiences. This is a dark, rollicking good time, full of pop culture and in-jokes (like Zoinx River Valley.) I loved Cantero’s last book, The Supernatural Enhancements, and I loved this one!
It’s funny because it’s true.
We have copies of Tank and The Vietnam War: The Definitive Illustrated History from DK Books to give away. Here’s what they are all about:
DK has Father’s Day covered.
A visual history of armored vehicles, Tank takes you inside the early vehicles of World War I to present-day models.
A chronicle of America’s fight against Communism in southeast Asia during the 1960s and 1970s, The Vietnam War: The Definitive Illustrated History explores the people, politics, events, and lasting effects of America’s longest conflict of the 20th century.
Both books are created in association with the Smithsonian Institution.
Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the image below!
Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by The Evaporation of Sofi Snow by Mary Weber.
From award-winning author Mary Weber, comes a story of video gaming, blood, and power. As an online gamer, Sofi Snow battles behind the scenes of Earth’s Fantasy Fighting arena. Her brother Shilo is forced to compete in a mix of real and virtual blood sport. When, a bomb shatters the arena, Sofi thinks Shilo’s been taken to an ice-planet – Delonese. Charming playboy Miguel is a Delonese Ambassador. He’s built a career on secrets and seduction. When the bomb explodes, the tables turn and he’s the target. The game is simple: Help the blackmailers, or lose more than Earth can afford.
Howdy audiobook fans,
First off, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who offered recommendations for the sci-fi road trip audiobook extravaganza. I’m going to put these together for a Book Riot post for future reference but since you all were generous to send me your suggestions, Imma give you the list in this newsletter first. MANY MANY thanks again!
Sponsored by the new summer must-haves: freshly picked audiobooks from bestselling author Warren Adler. Discover them all here.
Audiobooks for a road trip with a sci-fi lover and a sci-fi lukewarmer
The MaddAddam Trilogy: Oryx and Crake; The Year of the Flood; MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
Nightwise by R.S. Belcher
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
Dark Matter Blake Crouch
Little Brother or Walkaway by Cory Doctorow
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard Book (go for the full cast production) by Neil Gaiman
I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy
11/22/63–-Stephen King
Dragonflight (and all Dragonrider of Pern series) by Ann McCaffrey
Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson
Grace of Kings Ken Liu
Books by John Scalzi, narrated by Wil Wheaton like Lock In, Fuzzy Nation, and Agent to the Stars.
The Domesday Book by Connie Willis
Selected New Books
If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? Written and read by Alan Alda
“The beloved actor shares fascinating and powerful lessons from the science of
communication and teaches listeners to improve the way they relate to others using improv games, storytelling, and their own innate mind-reading abilities. With his trademark humor and frankness, Alan Alda explains what makes the out-of-the-box techniques he developed after his years as the host of Scientific American Frontiers so effective. This book reveals what it means to be a true communicator and how we can communicate better in every aspect of our lives – with our friends, lovers, and families; with our doctors; in business settings; and beyond.”
The Chalk Artist: by Allegra Goodman, narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy
“Collin James is young, creative, and unhappy. A college dropout, he waits tables and spends his free time beautifying the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his medium of choice: chalk. Collin’s art captivates passersby with its vibrant colors and intricate lines – until the moment he wipes it all away. Nothing in Collin’s life is meant to last. Then he meets Nina….
The daughter of a tech mogul who is revolutionizing virtual reality, Nina Lazare is trying to give back as a high school teacher – but her students won’t listen to her. When Collin enters her world, he inspires her to think bigger. Nina wants to return the favor – even if it means losing him.”
I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons written and read by: Kevin Hart
“Superstar comedian and Hollywood box office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.”
The Switch by Joseph Finder, narrated by Steven Kearney
“Michael Tanner is on his way home from a business trip when he accidentally picks up the wrong MacBook in an airport security line. He doesn’t notice the mix-up until he arrives home in Boston, but by then it’s too late. Tanner’s curiosity gets the better of him when he discovers that the owner is a US senator and that the laptop contains top secret files.
When Senator Susan Robbins realizes she’s come back with the wrong laptop, she calls her young chief of staff, Will Abbott, in a panic. Both know that the senator broke the law by uploading classified documents onto her personal computer. If those documents wind up in the wrong hands, it could be Snowden 2.0 – and her career in politics will be over. She needs to recover the MacBook before it’s too late”.
Small Hours by: Jennifer Kitses, narrated by: Tanya Eby, Dan John Miller
“In the vein of Richard Russo and Tom Perrotta, a gripping, suspenseful, and gorgeous debut novel–told hour-by-hour over the course of a single day–in which a husband and wife try to outrun long-buried secrets, sending their lives spiraling into chaos.”
That’s it for this week! Audiobook news, LGBTQIA/Pride audiobooks recs, and more next week. And as always, feel free to be in touch on twitter (I’m at msmacb) or at katie@riotnewmedia.com.
Happy listening!
~Katie
Happy Friday, fellow travelers! Have some space hijinks and some new (and old) mythology.
This newsletter is sponsored by The Evaporation of Sofi Snow by Mary Weber.
From award-winning author Mary Weber comes a story of video gaming, blood, and power. As an online gamer, Sofi Snow battles behind the scenes of Earth’s Fantasy Fighting arena. Her brother Shilo is forced to compete in a mix of real and virtual blood sport. When, a bomb shatters the arena, Sofi thinks Shilo’s been taken to an ice-planet – Delonese. Charming playboy Miguel is a Delonese Ambassador. He’s built a career on secrets and seduction. When the bomb explodes, the tables turn and he’s the target. The game is simple: Help the blackmailers, or lose more than Earth can afford.
We’ve got enough links for a space section this week, so let’s start there.
– Ikea is sending people to Mars! Well, a Mars-simulation. For furniture science. It’s like The Wanderers, only for three days and in the name of minimalist living.
– This piece on baking in space is excellent if only for the phrase “[C]ake in space is the ultimate goal,” and also makes me want a “Great British Bake-Off”-style reality show on the ISS. A girl can dream, right? And happily, there is the comic Space Battle Lunchtime to tide me over until I get Mary Berry teaching Chris Hadfield how to properly time a soufflé whilst in orbit.
– Asgardia started out as satellite data storage “space nation” and now appears to have plans for an actual station, much to everyone’s surprise. I confess that I am not inclined to be an early adopter when it comes to space citizenship, but you do you Asgardians!
We talked a bit in past newsletters about the surprise (to me, anyway) nomination of The Underground Railroad to several genre awards list. In flipped awards news, for the first time ever, a speculative fiction novel won the Bailey’s Prize for Women. The Power comes out in the US in October, but if you can’t wait that long I know a guy who ships internationally.
With great power comes great responsibility, and here is a list of seven YA novels with heroines who learned that the hard way.
Last but not least, if you’d like a detailed breakdown of that stellar (STELLAR I TELL YOU) Black Panther trailer, io9 has you covered.
On to the reviews!
Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
This is a locked-room mystery, except it’s a locked spaceship and it’s mid-space flight crewed by clones! Are you convinced yet?
You should be; Six Wakes is a page-turner and then some. The ship’s crew, all of whom have criminal pasts, wake up 25 years into a colonization mission to find themselves — Their previous selves? Past selves? They are clones, selfhood become weird — floating around, very dead. Very messily dead. Some were stabbed, someone was hanged, someone else was stabbed and poisoned, and none of them have any memory of what happened. The only surviving crew member, the captain, is in a coma and not telling. What follows is both a whodunit, a look at the backstory of our protagonists, and a highly detailed imagining of what the legality surrounding clones could come to look like.
Brain hacking, political agendas, religious scruples, covert ops, artificial intelligence, personhood, and revenge — naturally — all come into play. In addition to the big plot points, Lafferty doesn’t skimp on the mundane details. How does inheritance work now? How does food work in space? What happens to your personality over that much time?
Six Wakes is engrossing and thoroughly satisfying, and Lafferty succeeds at both laying down a mystery and creating a stand-alone sci-fi novel. Highly recommended, especially for beach/vacation reading!
The Metamorphoses series by Sarah McCarry
Later this year the first translation of The Odyssey by a woman is coming out, and my galley arrived this week. As I ran triumphant laps around my apartment and plotted where exactly it would go on my bookshelf, it reminded me of the series that re-awoke my love of the classics in the past few years: Sarah McCarry’s Metamorphoses trilogy, which feature contemporary retellings of Ovid’s Metamorphoses with teen protagonists and titles from Nirvana songs. A truly excellent combination, I am happy to confirm.
The series starts with All Our Pretty Songs, following our nameless narrator as she tries to get her best friend Aurora and their new friend Jack back from the Underworld. Jack’s musical gifts have attracted the attention of an ancient evil, and that attention is now directed at them as well. It’s a powerful start, both because you don’t get to see sisterhood stories of this kind very often, and because the narrator is one of my all-time favorite Angry Girls Who Are Not Here For Your Supernatural Nonsense.
Dirty Wings is a prequel to All Our Pretty Songs, and while you could read it first it definitely spoils a few things! It too is a best friend story, following Cass and Maia (the mothers from #1). It too features a man who changes their friendship; but instead of a battle with dark forces, it looks at how those dark forces can entire your life all unwitting, and what you do when you find you’ve invited them in.
About a Girl jumps forward to Tally, who is 18, a genius and pretentious to go with it, and just counting down the days til she can go to college and win a Nobel for astronomy. Her aunt (our narrator from All Our Pretty Songs!) has raised her, and she’s never known either her father or mother. She’s got other things to think about, though — until she makes a discovery that finally offers her the chance to find out the truth. Why did her mother leave her? Who was her father? The answers to these questions, plus ones she didn’t even know to ask, take her on a journey that will upend everything she thinks she knows about how the universe works. Spoiler: it ain’t tidy OR scientific.
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 Force be with you!
We have 10 copies of Be True To Me by Adele Griffin to give away to 10 Riot readers!
Here’s what it’s all about:
Don’t miss this summer’s most sizzling read. From two-time National Book Award finalist Adele Griffin comes a story of riveting romantic suspense. New York Times bestselling author Jenny Han says, “This is a glittery gem of a book. I was utterly transported to endless summer days, girls in sundresses, that rush you get the first time you fall hard in love.” And Morgan Matson, New York Times bestselling author of The Unexpected Everything, raves, “I devoured it in one heady, swoony sitting.”
Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the cover image below:
Happy Thursday, lovers!
Brace yourselves, it’s going to be a long one.
Sponsored by The Assignment by Jade A. Waters.
What would you do if someone offered to fulfill your wildest fantasies?
Seductive.
Charming.
Dominant.
Dean Sova is everything Maya Clery craves. From the first touch, their connection is intense. After leaving her troubled past behind, Maya thought she was happy—she is happy—but meeting Dean forces her to acknowledge dark needs she longs to explore yet has never had the courage to face.
Riptide Publishing is having weekly Pride sales during the month of June, and this week is all about books featuring bisexuals. Dive in; there are ten pages of goodies to weave through.
And speaking of LGBTQ romance, the Lambda Literary Awards were announced this week! The Scorpion’s Empress by Yoshiyuki Ly won the award for best lesbian romance, and Pene Henson’s Into the Blue for best gay romance. And Rebekah Weatherspoon won the award for best LGBT erotica with her super sexy Soul to Keep, book three in her Vampire Sorority Sisters series.
Have you heard about this new Pride and Prejudice adaptation that takes place in rural Virginia? It’s called Before the Fall, and it’s available to rent or buy on Amazon. Pardon my squeeing as we not only get our first modern-day, Bridgetless adaptation since Pride and Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy, but our leads are both men. It’s like something right out of an early 2000s fanfiction-reading dream.
Beverly Jenkins has announced her next Old West book, and y’all. Look at this cover.
PassionFlix has been making moves, and I am following like a hawk. (Remember way back when, when we talked about The Trouble with Mistletoe being adapted for film but we weren’t sure by what network? It was them, y’all!)
Not to mention, they just optioned Brenda Jackson’s entire Granger Brothers series, which starts with A Brother’s Honor. This is promising for the company’s future in regards to being diverse and inclusive. Next up, Cyclone! (A girl can dream.)
Did you read that great piece about The Ripped Bodice, the nation’s first (and still only) romance-dedicated bookshop? If you live in the greater Los Angeles area, it looks like a great place to hang out. And right now, they’ve got a Summer Bingo read-along for you! It looks like lots of fun.
Over on Book Riot:
Beth O’Brien, that lucky sonovagun, interviewed Colleen Hoover. They talked about Confess, music, writing, and Colleen even threw out a few book recommendations.
Jen Sherman wrote about having reading amnesia, which is probably pretty common for us romance readers, huh? So far, I have managed not to completely reread a book I’d read before. At least, not to my knowledge…
And comment on this week’s Riot Recommendation and tell us your favorite erotic romance!
And now, book recs!
I have a lot of feelings about Dirty Filthy Rich Men, and I’m not sure what they are. Before we go any further, I have to give out two warnings. First warning: this book has trigger warning written all over it (actually, it doesn’t, but it really really needs to). If you end up with the version that has the prequel, Dirty Filthy Rich Boys, you will encounter rape in the first fifteen pages, and rape fantasy is a large part of the story. Second warning: this book does not end in a HEA, because it is not clearly marked as a multi-parter. (Okay, if you go onto Goodreads it does, but I didn’t go on Goodreads before I blindly put this one on hold at the library.)
This was my first Laurelin Page book, and it will obviously not be my last. Even with the terrible, horrible, awful things going on and the terrible, horrible things that people are doing in all walks of life, I couldn’t stop reading. Both Sabrina and Donovan fascinate me, and I needed to slake my curiosity about their dynamic.
Okay, so that reminds me I need to give a third warning: if Sabrina is something you happen to hold dear, maybe skip this one. You’ll never look at Bogie (or Harrison Ford, my preferred Linus) the same way again.
If you’d rather have something not frustrating, aggravating, and that you have confusing and unclear thoughts about, here’s a series starter for you.
Acute Reactions is the first book in Ruby Lang’s Practice Perfect series. Petra Lale, MD, is an allergist struggling with her first practice. When Ian Zamora, a prospering restauranteur, comes to her practice, there are semi-immediate sparks. But there’s a problem: if there’s one thing Petra believes in, it’s maintaining an ethical code in her medical practices, and that very much includes not having the hots for your patients.
Ruby Lang’s books are medium-long reads, so they probably won’t be single-sitting, but won’t run too long. Her writing is snappy and compelling, so you won’t want to stop, but you will probably at least need a snack halfway through.
And as usual, a few new and upcoming books
An Unnatural Vice by KJ Charles
The Masterpiece by Bonnie Dee
Jane of Austin by Hillary Manton Lodge
The Smell of Camellias by Remmy Duchene
Talk British To Me by Robin Bielman (6/19)
Captured Soul by Laydin Michaels (6/20)
Prince Ever After by AC Arthur (6/20)
Dreams Unspoken by RJ Layer (6/20)
The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean (6/27)
I’m gonna go pretend to catch up on both backlist and upcoming releases to squee about. In the meantime, 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!
Until next time, m’loves!
Hello my fellow mystery fans! Italy is giving away free castles as long as you restore them to their original beauty and make it a tourist entity. And now I ask Does a library or book shop count? Because castle libraries for everyone!
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…
My new favorite detective series!
A Rising Man 
(Sam Wyndham #1) by Abir Mukherjee: Wyndham was a Scotland Yard detective who has moved to Calcutta (British ruled in 1919) to escape what was left of his life, although his Opium addiction has come with. While he’s tasked with solving the murder of a British official he must also navigate around his addiction, a crush, and the many rules/laws against Indians that he doesn’t understand. Enter terrorist suspects, brothels, opium dens, and a super interesting look at early 1900s Calcutta. I really loved Wyndham (he didn’t feel like the grumpy, addicted, weighed by the past male detective trope) and Sargeant Banerjee (one of the only Indians in the CID) and that the racism of the time was shown without the main character being racist. A great start to a new series–give me more!
A little Q&A: JoAnn Chaney (I ask authors I’m excited about five questions and let them answer any three they’d like.)
JoAnn Chaney’s first novel What You Don’t Know is a chilling read that kept me up all night! And it’s one of my favorite 2017 releases! If you’re a fan of serial killers, detective mysteries, and characters a few steps toward hotmesses (or already there) don’t miss this novel! You can read my love for it here and here!
And here’s Chaney!
If you were forced to live the rest of your life as one of your characters who would it be? In WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW, one of the cops is named Ralph Loren. (Yes, really.) He’s angry, he’s sarcastic, he does and says what he wants, and he constantly eats greasy takeout and he does strange, off-the-wall things just to freak people out. He’s a dark character, but he’s also got a more relatable side that you’ll see in my next book.
So if I were forced to be one of my characters, it’d be Loren. It’d be interesting to live without any sort of filter and to eat nothing but chili cheese tater tots. OH WAIT. I might already be living like Loren.
If you adapted a well-known book into a Clue mystery what would be the solve? Oh, man, this is a great game.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA: Sayuri, with a fan, in the teahouse.
CAT IN THE HAT: The cat, with the fishbowl, in our mother’s bedroom.
HARRY POTTER: Harry, with the Sneakoscope, in the Shrieking Shack.
I could seriously play this all night.
If you were to blurb your most recent/upcoming book (à la James Patterson): “WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW is a fantastic thrill ride that’ll either make you want to read more of my work or avoid sitting beside me at dinner parties.”
OR
“WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW—the best debut novel I’ll ever write.”
Thanks, JoAnn! I’m excited for “my next book.” Seriously, who do I give my money to?!
*That ending!
Here Lies Daniel Tate
by Cristin Terrill: Daniel Tate is a liar and a con artist. He tells you from the beginning but you still can’t help but like him. I mean his con is technically pretending to be a few years younger than he is to get into a group home for teens just to have a roof over his head and food on the table for a couple days–it’s cold in Canada! But this time the police get involved and his too-traumatized-to-give-my-name act stops working and he’s forced to give the police his name. Or at least a name. He picks the one he remembers from a missing child from years ago that is the closest he could pass for now. And that’s when a con he’s completely unprepared for goes into full swing. Daniel Tate’s family welcome him, mostly with open arms, and suddenly he’s ridiculously rich and in California. But have they all really bought this con? Surely, Daniel’s family would know at some point that he’s not really their long lost brother/son? Or has he made a grave mistake entering into this family? I couldn’t put this one down because it just kept unraveling as you question how honest Daniel Tate is being and how honest the Tate family members–two brothers, two sisters, a checked-out mom, incarcerated father–are being? Oh, and that *ending was pretty great. I suspect there will be many readers yelling “noooooooooo”–which I love. (*I’m referring to the actual end-end not the twist.)
Delightful!
The World’s Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson: Ten-year-old Toby Montrose has been passed around homes ever since his parents disappeared. He’s currently staying on Detectives’ Row with his uncle and fears that if something goes wrong, as it always seems to, he’ll finally be out of options and be sent to an orphanage. Being that his uncle is having a hard time getting business, as most of the detectives on the Row are, Toby decides to lie his way into a detective competition to win a good chunk of cash and hopefully solve all his problems. Enter Ivy, a fellow child, already calling herself a detective who quite enjoys disguising and finding herself in trouble—she’s perfect! With any good mystery nothing goes as it should and Toby and Ivy find themselves partnering up which is delightful as their personalities clash and they have to prove that children are perfectly capable of being great detectives. A perfect read for fans of cozy mysteries!
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf.
Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime come talk books with me on Twitter and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canaves.