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January 7, 2005

Bookreporter.com Newsletter

January 7, 2005

This Week on Bookreporter.com

Happy New Year

Bookreporter.com Talks to Sarah Graves, Author of TOOL AND DIE

Author Talk: Carter Coleman, Author of CAGE'S BEND

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Richard Montanari, Author of THE ROSARY GIRLS

ONE TO WATCH: THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

ReadingGroupGuides.com Has Been Updated for January

This Week's Book Reviews and Features
Poll: Bookish Resolutions
Question of the Week: What did you read over the holiday?
Word of Mouth: Tell Us What You're Reading -- TWO Prizes!
Quick Links to Features On The Book Report Network
 
Bookreporter.com
Past Reviews
Can't See the Graphics? Read This Newsletter Online
Past Poll: Bookish Resolutions
Past Question of the Week: What do you think was the BEST BOOK of 2004?
Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight Promotion
Debut Suspense/Thriller One to Watch Promotion
Mystery Mayhem Promotion

Fantasy Author Spotlight Promotion

One to Watch Promotion
Chick Lit Promotion
Read the Bookreporter.com Blog. See more about the January/February issue of Pages magazine here. Shop Amazon with this link to support Bookreporter.com

Happy New Year

Hope you all had a great holiday! I had a nice combination of family celebrations, gift giving/receiving and reading/relaxing. I made just one New Year's Resolution --- I am not going to finish any book that I am not enjoying. I have had no need to break my resolution thus far. I have read some really terrific books over the last few weeks from both debut and well-known authors.

First up is CAST OF SHADOWS (in stores March 1st) from debut author, Kevin Guilfoile. Here's one line about this one --- "How far would you go to look into the face of your daughter's killer?" Here's a hint on where the story goes: Cloning. It grabs you and does not let go.

I have been following Lisa Gardner's work for a few years now. Her new one ALONE (in stores Tuesday) takes her work to a whole new level. It's a stand-alone that you truly will not want to read alone. I have met with Lisa many times. It still surprises me how someone so very nice writes such edgy thrillers!

There has been a lot of buzz about Michele Martinez's debut suspense/thriller --- MOST WANTED (in stores February 15th). Her protagonist is a hotshot prosecutor who is juggling one very hectic job along with a young baby and a husband with a wandering eye. Readers walk away from this one completely set up for the sequel --- and craving it. Michele will be one of our Debut Suspense/Thriller authors so look forward to more about this.

Right now I am reading THE SAME SWEET GIRLS by Cassandra King. I have a warm place inside for all things Southern (as anyone who has seen my eyes light up eating pimento cheese will understand). I am loving this story about girlfriends who have stayed close friends since college. I do not have girlfriends like this so I like being a voyeur on these kinds of relationships. I'm wishing for a quiet weekend to escape with this one. By the way, Cassandra and her writer/husband Pat Conroy are profiled in the latest issue of Pages magazine.

Our newest ONE TO WATCH author is Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, whose debut novel THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT will be in stores February 1st. It's a beautifully written story of two sisters who are artfully photographed as children --- and the ramifications of this on their lives. Interested in being one of our 10 advance readers for this book? Then send your name and mailing address to [email protected] by Friday, January 14th.

Timing is everything. The stories coming out of Thailand about children being abducted and sold into slave rings following the tsunami reminded me of a book that had just come into the office called TERRIFY NO MORE by Gary A. Haugen. It's a nonfiction book just out about works from the International Justice Mission who infiltrate a brothel outside Phnom Penh to save the lives of 137 young girls. Their quest for justice reads like a novel, but it's a true story.

For more details on my reading as well as some of my holiday adventures, may I suggest you look at the Bookreporter.com Blog that I started right before Christmas? I will be writing this "column" a couple of times a week, as ideas and inspiration grab me, so you may want to favorite place it, or RSS it so you are alerted when it's been updated. Details about how you RSS are on the blog page courtesy of our producer, Sunil Kumar.

Have a great week...in between taking down the holiday decorations and shopping those rock-bottom sales everywhere, make some time for reading.

Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

Read more about TERRIFY NO MORE here.
 
Read more about CAST OF SHADOWS here. Read more about MOST WANTED here. Click here to read more about THE SAME SWEET GIRLS.

Bookreporter.com Talks to Sarah Graves, Author of TOOL AND DIE

Bookreporter.com's contributing writer Shannon McKenna, along with Carol Fitzgerald and Wiley Saichek, interviewed Sarah Graves, author of TOOL & DIE, the eighth installment in her "Home Repair is Homicide" mystery series. Graves talks about the rewarding and challenging aspects of writing recurring characters, her inclusion of home repair hints throughout her novels, and her fairly extensive background in various fix-it projects.

TOOL & DIE by Sarah Graves (Mystery)
Reviewed by Shannon McKenna
The summer is heating up for do-it-yourself enthusiast and sleuth Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree. She has a houseful of company descending for the 4th of July weekend, a hapless housekeeper, a wayward teenage son...and a murder to solve.

 

Read our interview with Sarah Graves and a review of TOOL AND DIE here.


 

Author Talk: Carter Coleman, Author of CAGE'S BEND

In this interview Carter Coleman, author of THE VOLUNTEER and CAGE'S BEND, talks about being a southern writer and some of the recurring themes in his books (such as mental illness and sexual addiction). He also explains how he developed his ideas for his first two novels and offers advice to aspiring authors about getting published.

CAGE'S BEND by Carter Coleman (Fiction)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
When tragedy strikes and the middle brother of a seemingly perfect family is lost, his two remaining brothers and their parents must deal with the death in their own ways.

Read more about Carter Coleman and CAGE'S BEND here.


 

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Richard Montanari, Author of THE ROSARY GIRLS

Richard Montanari, author of THE ROSARY GIRLS, is our new featured Suspense/Thriller author. THE ROSARY GIRLS will be in stores on February 15th.

-Read more about Richard Montanari
-Visit Richard Montanari's website: RichardMontanari.com

More about THE ROSARY GIRLS:
Richard Montanari has written an astounding novel that pits two besieged detectives against a fiercely intelligent serial killer. Relentlessly paced and vividly told, THE ROSARY GIRLS is a smart, emotionally complex, fiercely gripping thriller from an author who takes chances, breaks new ground, and leaves readers haunted and moved long after the last page is turned.

Read more about Richard Montanari and THE ROSARY GIRLS here.


 

ONE TO WATCH: THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore



 ( http://www.bookreporter.com/features/0411-NIP.asp )

 

Our newest One To Watch author is Miranda Beverly-Whittemore. Her novel, THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT, is beautifully and delicately written. It will be in stores on February 1st.

Interested in being one of 10 readers to win an advance copy of the book to comment on? If so please send your name and mailing address to [email protected] by Friday, January 14, 2005.

Here's more about THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT:

This richly evocative, poignant novel about two sisters, whose lives are forever altered by a series of photos, marks the debut of a remarkable talent. Their precocity and ethereal beauty soon make them the favorite subjects of photographer and family friend Ruth Handel, whose celebrated images of children involve nudity. The girls are at the center of a firestorm of controversy, with shattering results. Now, 13 years later, Myla Wolfe is living back east and finally edging toward romance, when she begins receiving mysterious communications that force her to confront her past and reclaim her future.

Read more about Miranda Beverly-Whittemore and THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT here.


 

ReadingGroupGuides.com Has Been Updated for January

ReadingGroupGuides.com has been updated for January. What's there?

  • FOUR New Contests where your book club can win prizes
  • New Guides including the long-awaited guides for ANGELS AND DEMONS
  • Two New Book Club Interviews
  • More than 1,550 guides for book discussions

Click here to go to ReadingGroupGuides.com.


 
Read the reviews and features here. Read the reviews and features here. Read the reviews and features here.
This Week's Book Reviews and Features

 

ENTOMBED by Linda Fairstein (Thriller)
Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
ENTOMBED is the latest Alexandra Cooper offering from Linda Fairstein. This homage to Edgar Allan Poe and his preoccupation with the concept of revenge makes for suspenseful reading. The tightly woven plot brings together a serial killer, with strange connections that tie into historical facts about Manhattan and the Bronx.

HYPOCRITE IN A POUFFY WHITE DRESS by Susan Jane Gilman (Memoir)
Reviewed by Norah Piehl
Susan Jane Gilman, author of the irreverent dating guide KISS MY TIARA, now offers a wise and witty memoir about the contradictions and compromises of growing up female in the 1970s and 1980s.

RUNAWAY: Stories by Alice Munro (Fiction/Short Stories)
Reviewed by Kathy Weissman
In Alice Munro's latest collection, she knits together suspenseful, subtle stories of ardent young girls who turn into resolute older women, of lives in which fate plays a commanding hand.

THE INQUISITOR: A Medical Thriller by Peter Clement (Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
People at St. Paul's Hospital are dying --- presumably from the SARS epidemic --- but ER chief Dr. Earl Garnet suspects that something far more sinister than disease is killing the hospital's most vulnerable patients.

For more about Peter Clement, go to PeterClementBooks.com

SKELETON MAN by Tony Hillerman (Mystery)
Reviewed by Roz Shea
Former Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn comes out of retirement to help investigate what appears to be a trading post robbery. Leaphorn, along with Sergeant Jim Chee and his fiancée, try to provide the accused --- a simple-minded kid --- with the help he so desperately needs.

THE VIRGIN'S LOVER by Philippa Gregory (Historical Fiction)
Reviewed by Amie Taylor
Return to 1558 and explore an age-old love triangle involving one of the most famous women in history, Queen Elizabeth I; Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester; and his faithful and loving wife, Amy Robsart.

LOOP GROUP by Larry McMurtry (Fiction)
Reviewed by Judy Gigstad
Following a succession of sad events, sixty-year-old widow Maggie decides to take a road trip through Texas with her best friend Connie, who seeks an escape from her own world of complex and difficult relationships with men.

A SALTY PIECE OF LAND by Jimmy Buffett (Fiction)
Reviewed by Maggie Harding
Parrotheads, rejoice! Jimmy Buffet has returned with a novel set in the Caribbean, involving a lighthouse, a mystery, a wild cast of characters, and more than a few bottles of tequila.

COYOTE RISING: A Novel of Interstellar Revolution, by Allen Steele (Science Fiction)
Reviewed by Sean Doorly
Hugo Award-winning author Allen Steele populates his stories with believable characters, fast-paced plots, and technology that's understandable to the average Joe. All of these traits are present in this sequel to Steele's critically acclaimed novel COYOTE.

THE DEATH OF INNOCENTS: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, by Sister Helen Prejean (Current Affairs/Human Rights)
Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara
Sister Helen Prejean's first book DEAD MAN WALKING challenged the way we look at the death penalty in America. Now in THE DEATH OF INNOCENTS, she poses this vital question: What if we're killing the wrong man?

BREAKING GROUND: Adventures in Life and Architecture, by Daniel Libeskind with Sarah Crichton (Memoir)
Reviewed by Carole Turner
Drawing on his uncommon background and global perspective, renowned architect Daniel Libeskind explores ideas about tragedy and hope, and the ways in which architecture can memorialize --- and reshape --- human experience.

Read the reviews and features here.
 
Read our reviews and features here. Read our reviews and features here. Read the reviews and features here.
Poll: Bookish Resolutions

Poll:  Which of the following books are you looking forward to reading? (Note: for more on books being published in the upcoming months, go here: Coming Attractions

Alice in Jeopardy by Ed McBain
Alone by Lisa Gardner
Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh
The Broker by John Grisham
Cage's Bend by Carter Coleman
Conviction by Richard North Patterson
Entombed by Linda Fairstein
The Family Tree by Carole Cadwalladr
The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
Prince of Fire by Daniel Silva
The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King
Tool & Die: A Home Repair Is Homicide Mystery by Sarah Graves
Unexpected Blessings by Barbara Taylor Bradford
Valley of Bones by Michael Gruber
None of the above

Answer the Poll here.
 
Browse through forthcoming books here. Read about books that have won awards here. Sign up for Author Newsletters here.
Question of the Week: What did you read over the holiday?

Question: What did you read over the holiday?

Please note: Our next question update will be on January 21st.

Answer the Question of the Week.
 
Read more about ALONE here. Read more about JASS by David Fulmer here.
Word of Mouth: Tell Us What You're Reading -- TWO Prizes!

Tell us what books YOU are reading and loving --- or even those you don't.

This week we have some great prizes: FIVE readers each will win a copy of ALONE by Lisa Gardner and JASS by David Fulmer.
Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on January 21st.

Need more details about Word of Mouth? Click here.
 

As always, here are a few housekeeping notes. If you are seeing this newsletter in a text version, and would prefer to see the graphics, you can either read it online (see the link on the upper right) or change your preferences below.

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Happy reading! Don't forget to forward this newsletter to a friend or to visit our other websites from TheBookReportNetwork.com: ReadingGroupGuides.com, AuthorsOnTheWeb.com, FaithfulReader.com, AuthorYellowPages.com, Teenreads.com, and Kidsreads.com.

--- Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

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