Congratulations! You made it to another weekend! We know what we’re doing—settling in with a bowl of ice cream and two great books that also happen to be August Indie Next picks: SMALL BLESSINGS by Martha Woodroof Readers who loved MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND will adore this inspiring debut of a small-town college professor, a […]
Tag: FridayReads
Friday Reads: Family Edition
TGIF! We made it to another weekend! Today we’ve got our eye on a couple of books about family: Talia’s reading HAVE A NICE GUILT TRIP by Lisa Scottoline & Francesca Serritella The close-knit, outspoken Italian mother-daughter team returns for another poignant yet hilarious collection of essays about dating, men, and puppies (you decide which […]
Friday Reads – Fractured Fairy Tales
Happy Friday! Today's #FridayReads are two fractured fairy tales:
Talia is enchanted by Kate Forsyth's BITTER GREENS
This historical novel gorgeously interweaves the Rapunzel fairy tale with the true life story of French novelist Charlotte-Rose de la Force. This sumptuous novel holds the stories of three women, braided together to create a compelling tale of desire, black magic and the redemptive power of love.
“Kate Forsyth’s BITTER GREENS is an enthralling concoction of history and magic, an absorbing, richly detailed, and heart-wrenching reimagining of a timeless fairytale.” — Jennifer Chiaverini, New York Times bestselling author of MRS LINCOLN'S RIVAL
Anne's looking for Neverland after reading ALIAS HOOK by Lisa Jensen
In this retelling of the Captain Hook story, the pirate from Peter Pan is cursed to be the villain. Hook’s one hope for redemption comes in the form of Stella Parrish, a grown woman who dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan’s rules. It's perfect for fans of Gregory Maguire and Paula Brackston.
“Jensen’s wonderful imagination and devotion to history and myth allow the reader to fly with her through this outstanding adventure—no fairy dust required.” — Publishers Weekly
What are you reading today? Share your #FridayReads with us @MacmillanLib.
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Stars for COMPLICIT!
We loooooved the Morris Award-winning CHARM & STRANGE by Stephanie Kuehn and now she's made us fans for life with her second book, COMPLICIT.
Two years ago, sixteen-year-old Jamie Henry breathed a sigh of relief when a judge sentenced his older sister Crazy Cate Henry to juvenile detention for burning down their neighbor’s fancy horse barn. The whole town did. But now Cate's out and she’s coming back for Jamie. Because more than anything, Cate Henry needs her little brother to know this one simple truth: She’s not the crazy one and never has been.
COMPLICIT has already received three rave starred reviews:
“Kuehn’s second novel, after her Morris Award–winning CHARM & STRANGE, powerfully examines how mental illness can turn into family tragedy that ripples far and wide beyond a single event. The prose is as hallucinatory as the madness Jamie seeks to uncover in a novel that’s tense and ambiguous from start to finish.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Kuehn writes with the fleetness of a trained thriller author, blending past and present (not to mention psychology and action) with the same fluidity as in her Morris Award–winning debut CHARM & STRANGE. Her confidence is what’s so invigorating: every page makes a firm, surprising choice, whether you like it or not. Cate, naturally, is the main event, the alternatingly irrational, gentle, explosive, and enigmatic center of this fast, black whirlpool of a novel.” — Booklist, starred review
“Alternating between past and present, Kuehn sustains the tension through first-person narration and revealing flashbacks. COMPLICIT ensnares readers from the first page with its surprising twists and revelations. Recommend it to fans of psychological thrillers.” — School Library Journal, starred review
Are you hooked yet? Get whitelisted and download the e-galley.
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Our #FridayReads – Labor Day Edition
TGIF! You know what that means: it’s time for #FridayReads! We’re especially excited to get bonus reading time over the long Labor Day weekend. (We hope you do, too!)
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#FridayEATS!
Weekends are great for reading (duh), but never forget that weekends are also great for eating! To encourage your appetite, here's the lowdown on a few of our favorite cookbooks this season:
MUG CAKES
100 Speedy Microwave Treats to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth
Leslie Bilderback
Satisfy your sweet tooth instantly with a microwave cake that's BAKED IN A MUG, PEOPLE. Featured on BuzzFeed!
WEIGHT WATCHERS ULTIMATE CHICKEN COOKBOOK
More than 250 Fresh, Fabulous Recipes for Every Day
Weight Watchers
Spicy sauces! Sexy stews! Seductive stir-fries! Suggestive skewers! (Too far?)
KITCHEN REVELRY
A Year of Festive Menus from My Home to Yours
Ali Larter
A month-by-month culinary scrapbook that will bring out the reveler in rookie cooks and (well-) seasoned culinary artists alike! Featured on QVC.
GEORGE NOORY'S LATE-NIGHT SNACKS
Winning Recipes for Late-Night Radio Listening
George Noory and William J. Birnes
When it’s too late for dinner, too early for breakfast, and there’s nothing in your freezer to throw in the microwave, George will be there to keep the midnight munchies at bay!
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Our #FridayReads + E-Galley Offer
It's Friiiidaaaaay! And that can only mean ONE THING: #FridayReads!
Here's a look at what Talia and I will be reading this fine summer weekend.
Talia's hitting a beach bar at happy hour with...
LADIES' NIGHT by Mary Kay Andrews
Lifestyle blogger Grace Stanton's life gets torpedoed after she drives her cheating husband's pricey sports car into the family swimming pool. She's ordered to attend 'divorce recovery' group therapy sessions, but soon Grace and the rest of the women ditch the unhelpful therapist and move their Wednesday 'Ladies' Night' sessions to a rundown beach bar.
Ali's sleeping with the lights on because of...
LET THE OLD DREAMS DIE by John Ajvide Lindqvist, trans. Ebba Segerberg
This is a creepy collection of horror short stories, one of which continues the unforgettable story begun in the internationally acclaimed vampire classic, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.
And what about you? If you're still looking for your perfect weekend read, we recommend you head over to NetGalley and request THE BONE SEASON by Samantha Shannon. You will be approved. Details here!
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#FridayReads: Epic Covers on Epic Books
It's Friday and that means that Talia and I want to share with you the books that we're currently reading (both of which happen to have the most epic and bold covers).
This week Talia's reading...
THE INVENTION OF MURDER by Judith Flanders
Flanders retells the gruesome stories of many different types of murder—both famous and obscure—from the crimes (and myths) of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper to the tragedies of the murdered Marr family in London’s East End; Burke and Hare and their bodysnatching business in Edinburgh; and Greenacre, who transported his dismembered fiancée around town by omnibus... as you might have guessed Talia's loving it.
This week Ali's reading...
THE BONE SEASON by Samantha Shannon
In the year 2059 several major world cities are under the control of a security force called Scion. Paige Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion London, part of a secret cell known as the Seven Seals. The work she does is unusual: scouting for information by breaking into others people's miiiiiiinds! Ali has been reading this one with a homemade foil hat on her head.
What are your #FridayReads?
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Our #FridayReads + E-Galley Hook Up
Happy Friday, party librarians! It's that time of the week in which we like to share with you what we're currently reading.
Talia's loving THE FAITHFUL EXECUTIONER: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century by Joel F. Harrington. In fact, she selected a passage from the beginning of the book for her excerpt pick in our newsletter last week:
"Ultimately he intended to become, like his father, a master in the practice of 'special interrogation' (i.e., torture) and in the art of efficiently dispatching a condemned soul in the manner prescribed by law, using methods that ranged from the common execution with the rope, to the less frequent death by fire or by drowning, to the infamous and exceptionally rare drawing and quartering.
"Today Meister Heinrich was testing Frantz on the most difficult-and most honorable-of all forms of execution, death by the sword, or beheading."
I just started UFO HUNTERS: Book One by William J. Birnes. I've never actually seen the UFO Hunters TV show on HISTORY, but I looove reading about everyday people encountering the unexplainable or, even better, the suspiciously explained. Get whitelisted and download the e-galley of UFO HUNTERS now so we can talk about it.
On Monday I offered to hook up any librarians with a pre-approved NetGalley download link for ALL OUR PRETTY SONGS (one of my Uncharted Pages picks) and the offer still stands! Just e-mail me 1. your title and 2. the e-mail address you use to sign into NetGalley.
What are your #FridayReads? [...]
#FridayReads: Excerpts
Happy Friday, everyone!
I've collected a few chapter one excerpt links for a little lunchtime reading:
Start reading THE PERFECT GHOST by Linda Barnes on LindaBarnes.com.
Start reading KITTY ROCKS THE HOUSE by Carrie Vaughn on HeroesAndHeartbreakers.com (registration required).
Start reading SEA CHANGE by S. M. Wheeler on Tor.com.
Start reading THE DISCIPLE OF LAS VEGAS by Ian Hamilton on CriminalElement.com.
Also on CriminalElement.com listen to an audio excerpt of RAGE AGAINST THE DYING by Becky Masterman.
And definitely check out our Spring 2013 Debut Chapter E-Sampler which is downloadable from NetGalley and exclusively for librarians. Details here.
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