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April 29, 2016

20SomethingReads.com Newsletter April 29, 2016
Moseying into May
SPECIAL CONTEST: ME BEFORE YOU and AFTER YOU by Jojo Moyes
Teenreads.com's Spring Fling 2016 Feature + Contest
Bookreporter.com's Books Mom Will Love 2016 Feature + Contest
Reviews
Moseying into May

Can you believe it’s almost May?! Times flies when you’re waiting for your Formation tour date. Nikki's birthday was last week, and today her grandma turns 96! At nearly 100, she's still #FTD, rockin’ that tracksuit since the ‘80s. @champagnepapi could learn a thing or two (but we'll still swoon over his new album that dropped today!) Point is: We're all getting older by the minute as these months turn into years and years turn into decades. And as we gracefully approach our 30s, we're realizing that the things our parents and grandparents are always telling us sound less like “wisdom” (or wise-dumb) and more like actual wisdom. Suffice it to say, we could all learn a thing or two from our elders, life’s greatest teachers. Turns out, you really shouldn’t sit so close to the TV. Take it from two four-eyes (eight eyes?) over here.

On a more somber note, sometimes our elders move on too soon. Prince's passing this past week has the whole world in mourning, and we were particularly saddened to hear about it. Naturally, it spurred a listening frenzy to remind us of his incredible talent and unmatchable panache both on and off the stage. He was and will continue to be one of the most timeless icons in music who imparted some of the greatest words of wisdom: "Act our age, not our shoe size," "The beautiful ones, they hurt you every time," and most fittingly, "Life is just a party and parties weren't meant to last." It goes without saying that his artistic charisma, fiery personality and undeniable swag will never be forgotten.

If you're looking to distract yourself from this tragedy, it's been said that there's no better way than to get yourself lost in a good book. The 100th Pulitzer Prize winners were announced last week, and we wholeheartedly guarantee that the winning titles will not disappoint. We love a good centennial award ceremony as much as the next guy. The New Yorker, everyone’s favorite local rag, collected a good share of the prize; we’re especially excited about the recognition for Emily Nussbaum’s brilliant work in one of our favorite fields: television criticism. Although, if you ask us, excellence in criticism doesn’t seem terribly hard --- just ask our moms. At least sitting too close to the TV worked out for someone! We’re also real pumped that Lin-Manuel Miranda nabbed the Drama Prize for “Hamilton” (ever heard of it? *raps*) and Viet Thanh Nguyen got the Fiction Prize for THE SYMPATHIZER, “a seminal work of 21st-century American fiction” according to our very own review on Bookreporter. It’s nice that people are being recognized for distinction in their fields (hint, hint). You can see a short list of the winning titles over on Bookreporter.com here, and the full list here.

Want to read some of those Pulitzer-winning books but don’t know where to find them? Check out your local indie bookstore because it just so happens tomorrow is Indie Bookstore Day NATIONWIDE. We don’t need to remind you how important it is to get down with small businesses, but it never hurts to spread the word. Sure, you could run into your town crush online, but he looks so much cuter IRL...and you’re supporting your book-loving community. Reading outside is the best way to get some Vitamin D, if you know what we mean.

If the Pulitzer-winning books don't tickle your fancy, then here are some others we strongly recommend:

THE BED MOVED: Stories by Rebecca Schiff offers a singular view of growing up (or not) and finding love (or not) in today’s ever-uncertain landscape: a New Yorker accompanies a cash-strapped pot grower to a “clothing optional resort” in California. A nerdy high-schooler has her first sexual experience at Geology Camp. A college student --- on the night of her father’s funeral --- watches a video of her bat mitzvah, hypnotized by the girl she used to be.

TUESDAY NIGHTS IN 1980 by Molly Prentiss tells a story set in SoHo, a gritty, quickly gentrifying playground for artists, at the onset of the '80s. Among these artists is James Bennett, an art critic for the New York Times whose unlikely condition enables him to describe art in profound ways. Raul Engales is an exiled Argentinian painter running from his past and the war that has enveloped his country. When tragedy strikes, each is faced with a loss that affects his relationship to life and art. Only after they are brought together by Lucy Olliason --- a small town beauty and Raul’s muse --- and a young orphan boy sent mysteriously from Buenos Aires, will James and Raul rediscover some semblance of what they’ve lost.

In FIRST WOMEN: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies, former White House correspondent Kate Andersen Brower draws on a wide array of untapped, candid sources to tell the stories of the 10 remarkable women who have defined that role since 1960. It’s one of the most underestimated --- and challenging --- positions in the world. The First Lady of the United States must be many things: an inspiring leader with a forward-thinking agenda of her own; a savvy politician, skilled at navigating the treacherous rapids of Washington; a wife and mother operating under constant scrutiny; and an able CEO responsible for the smooth operation of countless services and special events at the White House.

It's been short. It's been bittersweet. Until next time, just repeat: "You're so good, Baby there ain't nobody better (Ain't nobody better)."

5 Things We’re Obsessed With at This Very Moment, in no particular order:

1. GOT GOT GOT GOT GOT
2. The trailer for The Girl on the Train
3. B's "Lemonade" ...more so than we could have ever imagined
4. The season two trailer for "Mr. Robot"
5. Celebrating "Have a Coke Day" on May 8th

Nicole Sherman ([email protected]) + Emily Hoenig ([email protected])

 

SPECIAL CONTEST: ME BEFORE YOU and AFTER YOU by Jojo Moyes

In celebration of the theatrical release of Me Before You on June 3rd (watch the tearjerking trailer here), we have a very special opportunity. We have movie tie-in editions of Jojo Moyes' ME BEFORE YOU, which comes out on April 26th, and hardcover copies of the sequel, AFTER YOU, to give away to 10 lucky readers. Enter now through Wednesday, May 4th at noon ET!

Click here to enter the contest!

ME BEFORE YOU
Louisa Clark takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life and is pretty sure he cannot live the way he is. Louisa refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

- Click here to read our review.
- Click here for an excerpt.

AFTER YOU
After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, Louisa Clark is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started. Thanks to the members of the Moving On support group, Lou meets strong, capable Sam Fielding, a paramedic whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future

- Click here to read our review.
- Click here for an excerpt.

 

Teenreads.com's Spring Fling 2016 Feature + Contest

Spring is finally here, and with it comes warmer weather, blooming flowers...and the chance to win some great new YA books! From now through Monday, May 2nd at noon ET, readers will have the chance to win one of five Teenreads.com Spring Fling prize packages, which includes one copy of each of our featured books and a signature Teenreads.com tote bag.

This year's featured Spring Fling titles are:

Click here to enter the contest.

 

Bookreporter.com's Books Mom Will Love 2016 Feature + Contest

Over on Bookreporter.com, we're celebrating Mother’s Day! It's a time to recognize the woman who raised and nurtured us. From now through Monday, May 9th at noon ET, readers can enter to win one of our five prize packages, which includes the books listed below, along with some Mom-themed treats. With books that are moving, uplifting, humorous and informative, look no further than Bookreporter.com for the perfect gift for Mom.

This year's featured titles are:

Click here to enter the contest.
 

Reviews

ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES: A Memoir by Rob Spillman (Memoir)
Audiobook available, narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner
Rob Spillman --- the award-winning, charismatic co-founding editor of the legendary Tin Housemagazine --- has devoted his life to the rebellious pursuit of artistic authenticity. After an unsettled youth moving between divorced parents in disparate cities, Spillman would eventually find his way into the literary world of New York City, only to abandon it to return to Berlin just months after the Wall came down. Twenty-five and newly married, Spillman and his wife, the writer Elissa Schappell, moved to the anarchic streets of East Berlin in search of the bohemian lifestyle of their idols. But Spillman soon discovered he was chasing the one thing that had always eluded him: a place, or person, to call home. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.

THE ARM: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports by Jeff Passan (Sports)
Audiobook available, narrated by Kevin Pierce
Every year, Major League Baseball spends more than $1.5 billion on pitchers. Their import is exceeded only by their fragility. One tiny band of tissue in the elbow, the ulnar collateral ligament, is snapping at unprecedented rates, leaving current big league players vulnerable and the coming generation of baseball-playing children dreading the three scariest words in the sport: Tommy John surgery. Jeff Passan traveled the world for three years to explore in-depth the past, present and future of the arm, and how its evolution left baseball struggling to wrangle its Tommy John surgery epidemic. Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds.

AS TIME GOES BY by Mary Higgins Clark (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Jan Maxwell
Television journalist Delaney Wright is on the brink of stardom after she begins covering a sensational murder trial. She should be thrilled, yet her growing desire to locate her birth mother consumes her thoughts. When Delaney’s friends, Alvirah Meehan and her husband, Willy, offer to look into the mystery surrounding her birth, they uncover a shocking secret they do not want to reveal. On trial for murder is Betsy Grant, widow of a wealthy doctor who has been an Alzheimer’s victim for eight years. As the trial unfolds, and the damning evidence against Betsy piles up, Delaney is convinced that Betsy is not guilty and frantically tries to prove her innocence. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.

A BRILLIANT DEATH by Robin Yocum (Historical Mystery)
Amanda Baron died in a boating accident on the Ohio River in 1953. Or did she? While it was generally accepted that she had lost her life when a coal barge rammed the pleasure boat she was sharing with her lover, her body was never found. Travis Baron was an infant when his mother disappeared. After the accident and the subsequent publicity, Travis’ father scoured the house of all evidence that Amanda Baron had ever lived, and her name was never to be uttered around him. Now in high school, Travis yearns to know more about her. With the help of his best friend, Mitch Malone, Travis begins a search for the truth about the mother he never knew. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

DOMINION: The Chronicles of the Invaders, Book 3 by John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard (Science Fiction/Adventure)
Audiobook available, narrated by Nathalie Buscombe
Syl Hellais and Paul Kerr have traveled through the mysterious wormhole known as Derith, from which no traveler has ever returned. Trapped in a dimension beyond their own, they emerge to discover a universe that has moved on without them. Years have passed, and Civil War rages among the Illyri. Earth is lost to alien parasites known as the Others, and the sinister Archmage Syrene of the Nairene Sisterhood has disappeared into the Sisterhood’s lair --- but not before choosing a new leader with her own plans for the future of her race. Syl and Paul must find a way to change the course of history and save the lives of billions. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

ELIGIBLE: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Cassandra Campbell
This version of the Bennet family --- and Mr. Darcy --- is one that you have and haven’t met before. Liz is a magazine writer in her late 30s who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help --- and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray. Reviewed by Lorraine W. Shanley.

EVERY HEART A DOORWAY by Seanan McGuire (Fantasy)
Audiobook available, narrated by Cynthia Hopkins
In Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, children have always disappeared under the right conditions and emerged somewhere else. But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children. Nancy tumbled once, but now she's back. The children under Miss West's care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. But Nancy's arrival marks a change at the Home. There's a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it's up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of things. No matter the cost. Reviewed by Katherine B. Weissman.

FAMILY JEWELS: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
Audiobook available, narrated by Tony Roberts
Stone Barrington’s newest client seems to be a magnet for trouble. A poised lady of considerable wealth, she’s looking for help discouraging the attentions of a tenacious gentleman. But no sooner does Stone fend off the party in question than his client becomes involved in two lethal crimes. With suspects aplenty, Stone must probe deep into his client’s life to find the truth, and he discovers that the heart of the mystery may be a famous missing piece of history, a stunningly beautiful vestige of a bygone era. It’s a piece with a long and storied past and untold value…the kind of relic someone might kill to obtain. Reviewed by Judy Gigstad.

GAME 7, 1986: Failure and Triumph in the Biggest Game of My Life by Ron Darling with Daniel Paisner (Sports/Memoir)
Every little kid who's ever taken the mound in Little League dreams of someday getting the ball for Game Seven of the World Series. Ron Darling got to live that dream --- only it didn't go exactly as planned. In GAME 7, 1986, the award-winning baseball analyst looks back at what might have been a signature moment in his career, and reflects on the ways professional athletes must sometimes shoulder a personal disappointment as their teams find a way to win. Reviewed by Ron Kaplan.

THE GIRL FROM HOME by Adam Mitzner (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Jonathan Walker
Jonathan Caine is a true master of the universe when his world comes crashing down, spiraling him into a relentless fall from grace. Devastated, Jonathan returns to his hometown to care for his ailing father and attend his 25th high school reunion, where he becomes reacquainted with former prom queen Jacqueline Williams. Back in the day, Jackie didn’t even know Jonathan existed. Now she is intrigued by the man he has become. But their budding relationship has problems, not the least of which is Jackie’s jealous and abusive husband. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

KING MAYBE: A Junior Bender Mystery by Timothy Hallinan (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Peter Berkrot
Los Angeles’s most talented burglar, Junior Bender, is in the middle of stealing one of the world’s rarest stamps from a professional killer when his luck suddenly turns sour. It takes an unexpected assist to get him out alive, but his escape sets off a chain reaction of blackmail, strong-arming and escalating crime. By the time Junior is forced to commit his third burglary of the week --- in the impregnable fortress that’s home to the ruthless studio mogul called King Maybe --- he’s beginning to wish he’d just let the killer take a crack at him. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE LAST MILE by David Baldacci (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Kyf Brewer
Convicted murderer Melvin Mars is counting down the last hours before his execution --- for the violent killing of his parents 20 years earlier --- when he's granted an unexpected reprieve. Another man has confessed to the crime. Amos Decker, newly hired on an FBI special task force, takes an interest in Mars' case after discovering the striking similarities to his own life. Who wants Mars out of prison? And why now? But when a member of Decker's team disappears, it becomes clear that something much larger --- and more sinister --- than just one convicted criminal's life hangs in the balance. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

MAESTRA by L. S. Hilton (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Emilia Fox
By day, Judith Rashleigh is a put-upon assistant at a prestigious London art house. By night, she’s a hostess at one of the capital’s notorious champagne bars, although her work there pales against her activities on nights off. Feeling reckless, she accompanies one of the champagne bar’s biggest clients to the French Riviera, only to find herself alone again after a fatal accident. Tired of striving and the slow crawl to the top, Judith has a realization: If you need to turn yourself into someone else, loneliness is a good place to start. And she’s been lonely a long time. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

MILLER'S VALLEY by Anna Quindlen (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Brittany Pressley
For generations, the Millers have lived in Miller’s Valley. Mimi Miller tells about her life with intimacy and honesty. As Mimi eavesdrops on her parents and quietly observes the people around her, she discovers more and more about the toxicity of family secrets, the dangers of gossip, the flaws of marriage, the inequalities of friendship, and the risks of passion, loyalty and love. Home, as Mimi begins to realize, can be “a place where it’s just as easy to feel lost as it is to feel content.” Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol.

MOST WANTED by Lisa Scottoline (Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Julia Whelan
When a woman and her husband, desperate for a baby, find themselves unable to conceive, they decide to take further steps. Since it is the husband who is infertile, the heroine decides to use a donor. And all seems to be well. Three months pass, and she is happily pregnant. But a shocking revelation occurs when she discovers that a man arrested for a series of brutal murders is her donor --- the biological father of the child she is carrying. Delving deeper to uncover the truth, the heroine must face her worst fears and confront a terrifying reality. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

THE OBSESSION by Nora Roberts (Romantic Suspense)
Audiobook available, narrated by Shannon McManus
Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods. In freeing the girl trapped in the root cellar, Naomi revealed the horrible extent of her father’s crimes and made him infamous. No matter how close she gets to happiness, she can’t outrun the sins of Thomas David Bowes. Now a successful photographer living under the name Naomi Carson, she has found a place that calls to her, a rambling old house in need of repair, thousands of miles away from everything she’s ever known. But the sins of her father can become an obsession, and, as she’s learned time and again, her past is never more than a nightmare away. Reviewed by Jennifer McCord.

PANTHER'S PREY: A Leo Maxwell Mystery by Lachlan Smith (Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by R. C. Bray
Leo Maxwell has left private practice and is working as a public defender in San Francisco. He and his co-counsel, Jordan Walker, are brilliantly defending Randall Rodriguez, a mentally ill homeless man whom they contend falsely confessed to the rape of a young San Francisco socialite. After their client is acquitted, Leo and Jordan fall into an intense relationship --- until Jordan is found brutally raped and murdered in her apartment. The story takes a shocking turn when Leo and Jordan's freshly acquitted client walks into the police station and offers to confess to Jordan's murder. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE VANISHING OF FLIGHT MH370: The True Story of the Hunt for the Missing Malaysian Plane by Richard Quest (Current Affairs)
Audiobook available, narrated by Richard Quest
On March 8, 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared with barely a trace, carrying 239 people on board --- seemingly vanishing into the dark night. Richard Quest, CNN’s Aviation Correspondent, was one of the leading journalists covering the story. In a coincidence, Quest had interviewed one of the two pilots a few weeks before the disappearance. It is here that he begins his account of those tense weeks in March, presenting a fascinating chronicle of an international search effort that, despite years of searching and tens of millions of dollars spent, has failed to find the plane. Reviewed by Alex Bowditch.

 

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