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January 16, 2020

Happy New Year! Since this is our first newsletter of the year, here’s wishing you all a wonderful year ahead. It was a long and lovely break, but we are so glad to be back in touch with you. We have lots to share.

As promised, our Most Requested Guides of 2019 is now available. We know this is an eagerly anticipated list each year. We pulled together the 30 guides that were accessed the most by you last year. Your top five picks are WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens (no surprise there), BECOMING by Michelle Obama (no surprise there, either), THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas, FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley, and BENEATH A SCARLET SKY by Mark Sullivan (my mom just discussed this book with her book club last week, and they all loved it). As always, we love seeing which guides appealed to you the most!

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January 16, 2020

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we know people will be talking about this winter. Read more about it, and enter our Winter Reading Contest by Friday, January 17th at 11:59am ET for a chance to win one of five copies of THE MAGICAL LANGUAGE OF OTHERS: A Memoir by E. J. Koh, which is now available. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!

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Lao Tzu

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.

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Lao Tzu

The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin

A sweeping yet intimate epic about one American family, THE LAST ROMANTICS is an unforgettable exploration of the ties that bind us together, the responsibilities we embrace and the duties we resent, and how we can lose --- and sometimes rescue --- the ones we love.

When the renowned poet Fiona Skinner is asked about the inspiration behind her iconic work, The Love Poem, she tells her audience a story about her family and a betrayal that reverberates through time.

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Long Bright River by Liz Moore

January 2020

Mickey is a police officer who patrols the streets of Philadelphia, always on the watch for her sister, Kacey, who has an opioid habit and has been missing for a while. She is used to using Narcan to bring someone on a drug trip that went wrong back to life; it is all too familiar on her beat. She has seen Kacey almost die more than once. And she also has seen her on the street waiting to turn tricks for johns who cruise the neighborhood. Mickey’s past haunts her, but her love for her son drives her to stay safe and sane no matter what surrounds her. But then she starts to realize that things she believes in may not be true, and this well-plotted tale whips readers back and forth in many directions.

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January 15, 2020

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we know people will be talking about this winter. Read more about it, and enter our Winter Reading Contest by Thursday, January 16th at 11:59am ET for a chance to win one of five copies of THE LAST ROMANTICS by Tara Conklin, a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick that is now available in paperback. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!

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Author Talk: J.P. Smith, author of If She Were Dead

Jan 15, 2020

“Amelie and Janet are in love with the same man: Janet's husband. One knows it; the other doesn't. Or does she?” That’s the intriguing setup for J.P. Smith’s eighth novel, IF SHE WERE DEAD, a psychological thriller that, according to Booklist, “compels attention to the final line.” In this interview, Smith talks about unreliable narrators, the art of slowly building suspense that grows until it’s almost unbearable, writing from the perspective of a female protagonist, and why he doesn’t read many thrillers.

James Russell Lowell

Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.

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James Russell Lowell

January 14, 2020

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of January 13th and January 20th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to our Winter Reading Contests and Feature, which we have brought back for a sixth year. On select days in January and February, we are hosting a series of 24-hour contests spotlighting a book releasing this winter (or a recently published title that we would like to get into your hands now) and giving five lucky readers a chance to win it.

We also encourage you to enter our Word of Mouth and Sounding Off on Audio contests for an opportunity to win some fabulous hardcovers and audiobooks. And please be sure to vote in our latest poll about your reading goals for 2020.

Finally, we are giving you a preview of Gena Showalter’s upcoming paranormal romance, THE DARKEST KING, which releases on February 25th and is the latest entry in her Lords of the Underworld series. To become a king of the underworld at long last, William must resist an irresistible beauty --- or a curse will ensure his end.

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Moss Hart

There is something maddening about mediocrity that calls forth the worst in those who are forced to deal with it.

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Moss Hart, ACT ONE