September 14, 2016

It has come to our attention that fall is fast approaching. We’ve seen some ladies out and about recently rocking their wool dresses despite temps not really dipping below 75, but we feel you. We’re all sometimes guilty of jumping the gun on fall fashion because it is the best. God, it’s hard to type with these mittens on. Between Yeezy Season 4 and Nick Viall becoming the next #TheBachelor, there’s a lot of hope in these humid pre-autumnal days. It feels like just yesterday we were learning all we could about the summer solstice and now, we here.

Take or leave summer; what we’re really sad about is seeing summer entertainment go. “Animal Kingdom” and “BIP” were damn delights (as was Sausage Party, on a slightly larger screen if you watched it the old-fashioned way), but we understand that airtime is wildly valuable when September hits. With that said, here’s our short-hand version of the highlights for fall (you know we’ll keep you updated throughout the season). And sure, we get it...everyone’s just getting back to the regular scheduled programming, but we have a real good feeling that these newbies are going to be straight fire.

We’re planning on dropping all extracurricular activities on Sunday nights when October hops into the saddle and the highly anticipated “Westworld” finally makes its debut on HBO. If you don’t know what we mean, you should. You can check out this extended trailer here. The western meets sci-fi meets fantasy meets the stuff of your dreams (and your inner demons) seems like everything we could hope for in a television show and more. Between Anthony Hopkins, Jimmy Marsden and Evan Rachel Woods, there are plenty of forces to be reckoned with.

When we say that Oprah and Ava DuVernay are a match made in heaven, we mean that pretty literally. The holy union teamed up to bring us “Queen Sugar,” now airing on OWN. The lush series follows three siblings as they come together to claim their complicated inheritance after the death of their father: an 800-acre sugarcane farm in the heart of Louisiana. Come for the sugar, stay for the heart.

And if you’re not already excited about Fall TV: Full Throttle Ed., this Sunday’s Emmys show might get you in the mood. Jimmy Kimmel is hosting (so you know Matt Damon won’t be stopping by), and while it’ll be hard to top last year’s stellar performance by Andy Samberg and his glasses, we’re confident Kimmel will bring the laughs. Nominees include some of our favorite shows, like “Game of Thrones,” “Black-ish” and “Mr. Robot” --- including a nod to our boyfriend Rami Malek in the Best Actor (Drama) category. We’re betting it’ll be a night full of surprises, although we can definitely count on Rami looking real nice in his little suit. Taylor Swift may be on *hiatus*, but Rami’s tailor most certainly is not.

In book news, the National Book Awards released the longlist for nonfiction, poetry (unfortunately, John Mayer didn’t make it this year) and young people’s literature today. Click here to see who is nominated. The longlist for fiction nominees will be announced tomorrow, so stay tuned. You’ll have to wait until October 13th to see who the finalists are, and winners will be announced at a ceremony in New York on November 16th.

Be sure to check out our latest special contest opportunity! We’re giving 25 lucky readers a copy of the New York Times bestseller THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah. Enter between now and Thursday, October 4th at noon ET for your chance to win by clicking here, or scroll down for more info!

If you’re looking for a book to read (don’t worry --- you can hold in your pumpkin spice latte-free hand), here are some tops picks coming out this week:

WE ARE UNPREPARED by Meg Little Reilly tells the story of Ash and Pia who move from hipster Brooklyn to rustic Vermont in search of a more authentic life. But just months after settling in, the forecast of a superstorm disrupts their dream. Fear of an impending disaster splits their tight-knit community and exposes the cracks in their marriage. Where Isole was once a place of old farm families, rednecks and transplants, it now divides into paranoid preppers, religious fanatics and government tools, each at odds about what course to take.

In the YA thriller THE CABIN by Natasha Preston, a weekend partying at a remote cabin is just what Mackenzie needs. She can't wait to let loose with her friends. But a crazy night of fun leaves two of them dead --- murdered. With no signs of a forced entry or struggle, suspicion turns to the five survivors. Someone isn't telling the truth. And Mackenzie's first mistake? Assuming the killing is over…

You probably know her best as the YA author of IF I STAY, and now she's making her adult fiction debut. LEAVE ME by Gayle Forman is the story of Maribeth Klein, a harried working mother who’s so busy taking care of her husband and twins that she doesn’t even realize she’s had a heart attack. Surprised to discover that her recuperation seems to be an imposition on those who rely on her, Maribeth does the unthinkable: she packs a bag and leaves. But, as is often the case, once we get where we’re going, we see our lives from a different perspective. Far from the demands of family and career, and with the help of liberating new friendships, Maribeth is able to own up to secrets she has been keeping from herself and those she loves.

Have a super sexy start to September!

5 Things We’re Obsessed With at This Very Moment, in no particular order:
1. Simone Biles writing a memoir
2. The official trailer for Fifty Shades Darker
3. Naya Rivera throwing some shade at Ariana Grande in her new memoir
4. "Adrian Grenier Lives Every Day Like He’s at Burning Man"
5. The new trailer for La La Land, featuring every hey girl's favorite man, Ryan Gosling

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

 

THE NIGHTINGALE has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 77 weeks --- and counting. If you have not yet a chance to read it, we want to give you an opportunity to win a copy! The reviews are amazing. Here's the scoop on it:

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. THE NIGHTINGALE tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France.

In this special 20SomethingReads.com contest, we have 25 copies of THE NIGHTINGALE to give away to readers who would like to read the book and comment on it. The deadline for entries is Thursday, October 6th at noon ET.

Click here to enter the contest.

-Click here to read an interview with Kristin Hannah.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt from the book.
-Click here to read more about Kristin Hannah.
-Click here for Kristin Hannah's website.
-Click here for Kristin Hannah's Facebook page.

In the chaos of New York, true love can be hard to find, even when it's been right under your nose all along…

Love has never been a priority for garden designer Frankie Cole. After witnessing the fallout of her parents' divorce, she's seen the devastation an overload of emotion can cause. The only man she feels comfortable with is her friend Matt --- but that's strictly platonic. If only she found it easier to ignore the way he makes her heart race…

Matt Walker has loved Frankie for years but, sensing how fragile she is beneath her feisty exterior, has always played it cool. But then he uncovers new depths to the girl he's known forever and doesn't want to wait a moment longer. He knows Frankie has secrets and has buried them deep, but can Matt persuade her to trust him with her heart and kiss him under the Manhattan sunset?

-Click here to see the New Release Spotlight feature.
-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt from the book.
-Click here to read more about the author.
-Click here for Sarah Morgan's website.
-Click here for Sarah Morgan's Facebook page.
-Click here for Sarah Morgan's Twitter.
-Click here for Sarah Morgan's Instagram.
-Click here for Sarah Morgan's Pinterest.

APPRENTICE IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Susan Ericksen
A talented young skater, a doctor and a teacher have been shot dead at Central Park’s ice-skating rink. A review of the security videos reveals that the victims were killed with a tactical laser rifle fired by a sniper, who could have been miles away when the trigger was pulled. Though the list of locations where the shooter could have set up seems endless, the number of people with that particular skill set is finite. Eve Dallas’ husband, Roarke, has unlimited resources --- and genius --- at his disposal. When his computer program leads Eve to the location of the sniper, she learns a shocking fact: Someone is being trained by an expert in the science of killing, and they have an agenda. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.

CLOSED CASKET: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery by Sophie Hannah (Mystery)
Audiobook available, performed by Julian Rhind-Tutt
As guests arrive for a party at her Irish mansion, Lady Athelinda Playford has decided to cut off her two children without a penny and leave her vast fortune to an invalid who has only weeks to live. Among her visitors are the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool of Scotland Yard. Neither knows why he has been invited --- until Poirot begins to wonder if Lady Playford expects a murder. But why does she seem so determined to provoke a killer? And why --- when the crime is committed despite Poirot's best efforts to stop it --- does the identity of the victim make no sense at all? Reviewed by Ray Palen.

THE EMERALD LIE: A Jack Taylor Novel by Ken Bruen (Mystery/Thriller)
The latest terror to be visited upon the dark Galway streets arrives in a most unusual form: a Cambridge graduate who becomes murderous over split infinitives, dangling modifiers, and any other sign of bad grammar. Meanwhile, ex-cop Jack Taylor is approached by a grieving father with a pocketful of cash on offer if Jack will help exact revenge on those responsible for his daughter’s brutal rape and murder. Though hesitant to get involved, Jack agrees to get a read on the likely perpetrators. But he is soon derailed by the reappearance of Emily, the chameleon-like young woman who joined forces with Jack to take down her pedophile father and who remains passionate, clever and utterly homicidal. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

FIRST STAR I SEE TONIGHT by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Mystery/Romance)
Audiobook available, performed by Nicole Poole
Piper Dove is determined to become the best detective in Chicago. Her first job is to trail former Chicago Stars quarterback Cooper Graham. But Graham has spotted her, and he’s not happy. Piper soon finds herself working for Graham himself, although not as the bodyguard he refuses to admit he so desperately needs. Instead, he’s hired her to keep an eye on the employees at his exclusive new nightclub. But Coop’s life might be in danger, and Piper is determined to protect him. If only she weren’t also dealing with a bevy of Middle Eastern princesses, a Pakistani servant girl yearning for freedom, a teenager who just wants to fit in, and an elderly neighbor demanding that Piper find her very dead husband. Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller.

HELL FIRE: An Inspector Sejer Mystery by Karin Fossum (Mystery)
A gruesome tableau awaits Inspector Konrad Sejer in the oppressive summer heat: a woman and a young boy lay dead in a pool of blood near a dank camper. The details of the deaths of Bonnie Hayden and her five-year-old son, Simon, are mysterious. Sejer and his fellow investigator, Jakob Skarre, begin a hunt for the killer that will eventually lead them to a heartbreaking conclusion. In a parallel storyline, Mass Malthe and her troubled son, Eddie, navigate a relationship that some would call too close. When long-held secrets are revealed, it turns out that Mass and Bonnie share more in common than Eddie could have ever guessed. Reviewed by Katherine B. Weissman.

LEAVE ME by Gayle Forman (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Eva Kaminsky
Maribeth Klein is a harried working mother who’s so busy taking care of her husband and twins that she doesn’t even realize she’s had a heart attack. Surprised to discover that her recuperation seems to be an imposition on those who rely on her, Maribeth does the unthinkable: she packs a bag and leaves. But, as is often the case, once we get where we’re going, we see our lives from a different perspective. Far from the demands of family and career, and with the help of liberating new friendships, Maribeth is able to own up to secrets she has been keeping from herself and those she loves. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

MANITOU CANYON by William Kent Krueger (Fiction, Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by David Chandler
Not long before his daughter's November wedding, Cork O'Connor takes a case to find a man who has gone missing in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. As days pass with no word from Cork, his family anxiously awaits his return. They fly by floatplane to the lake where the missing man was last seen. Locating Cork's campsite, there is no sign of their father --- just blood, and a lot of it. With an early winter storm on the horizon, it's a race against time as Cork's family struggles to uncover the mystery behind these disappearances. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE RISEN by Ron Rash (Fiction)
Audiobook available, performed by Richard Ferrone
While swimming in a secluded creek in 1969, 16-year-old Eugene and his older brother, Bill, meet the entrancing Ligeia. Drawn in by her raw sensuality and rebellious attitude, Eugene falls deeper under her spell. Ligeia introduces him to the thrills and pleasures of the counterculture movement. But just as the movement’s youthful optimism turns dark elsewhere in the country that summer, so does Eugene and Ligeia’s brief romance. When Ligeia vanishes as suddenly as she appeared, the growing rift between the two brothers becomes immutable. Decades later, when a shocking reminder of the past unexpectedly surfaces, Eugene is plunged back into that fateful summer and the girl he cannot forget. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

SURRENDER, NEW YORK by Caleb Carr (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Tom Taylorson
In rural, impoverished Burgoyne County, New York, a pattern of strange deaths begins to emerge: adolescent boys and girls are found murdered, their corpses left hanging in gruesome, ritualistic fashion. Senior law enforcement officials are quick to blame a serial killer, but their efforts to apprehend this criminal are peculiarly ineffective. Meanwhile, in the county's small town of Surrender, Trajan Jones, a psychological profiler, and Michael Li, a trace evidence expert, teach online courses in profiling and forensic science from Jones' family farm. Alone and armed mainly with their wits, protected only by farmhands and Jones' unusual ''pet,'' the outcast pair are secretly called in to consult on the case. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

WE ARE UNPREPARED by Meg Little Reilly (Thriller)
Audiobook available, performed by Zach Villa
Ash and Pia move from hipster Brooklyn to rustic Vermont in search of a more authentic life. But just months after settling in, the forecast of a superstorm disrupts their dream. Fear of an impending disaster splits their tight-knit community and exposes the cracks in their marriage. Where Isole was once a place of old farm families, rednecks and transplants, it now divides into paranoid preppers, religious fanatics and government tools, each at odds about what course to take. Reviewed by Megan Elliott.

THE CABIN by Natasha Preston (Juvenile Fiction, Social Issues, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller)
A weekend partying at a remote cabin is just what Mackenzie needs. She can't wait to let loose with her friends. But a crazy night of fun leaves two of them dead-murdered. With no signs of a forced entry or struggle, suspicion turns to the five survivors. Someone isn't telling the truth. And Mackenzie's first mistake? Assuming the killing is over… Reviewed by Maggie L., Teen Board Member.

GIRL ON A PLANE by Miriam Moss (Historical Fiction, Young Adult 12+)
Bahrain, 1970. After a summer spent with her family, 15-year-old Anna is flying back to boarding school in England when her plane is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and taken to the Jordanian desert. Demands are issued. If they are not met, the terrorists will blow up the plane, killing all hostages. The heat becomes unbearable; food and water supplies dwindle. All alone, Anna begins to face the possibility that she may never see her family again. Reviewed by Ryan H., Teen Board Member.

THE THOUSANDTH FLOOR by Katharine McGee (Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Romance, Romantic Suspense, Suspense, Thriller)
Welcome to Manhattan, 2118. A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. But people never change: everyone here wants something...and everyone has something to lose. Leda Cole’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction --- to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched. Eris Dodd-Radson’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart. Rylin Myers’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world --- and a romance --- she never imagined...but will her new life cost Rylin her old one? Reviewed by Brynn S., Teen Board Member.