🔥 Hot Off the Press: Three Fresh Reads You’ll Want on Your Radar!

Today's Book Releases!

New book day is my favorite kind of temptation. Suddenly there are fresh stories everywhere and my TBR pile grows just a little taller.

Today’s releases bring a mix that’s impossible to resist: Gilded Age glamour, a chilling mystery involving podcasters who vanish, and a strange speculative tale about women mysteriously compelled to head west.

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In It Girl, Allison Pataki dives into the dazzling and ruthless world of Gilded Age high society, bringing to life one of the era’s most talked-about women. I love historical fiction that brings to life a real person. In this case, Evelyn Talbot is based on real life "It Girl" Evelyn Nesbit. 

It Girl by Allison Pataki... At the dawn of the twentieth century, New York’s streets teem with change: electricity, automobiles, the brash young President Teddy Roosevelt—and the It Girls. As artists’ muses and working models, these independent young women soar to stardom not because of their pedigrees or inherited wealth, but because of their talent, charisma, and irresistible beauty. Pop culture is born, and in a world alight with Mr. Edison’s new bulbs, no one shines brighter than America’s sweetheart, Evelyn Talbot.

But the journey to stardom is not simple or straight. While working as a shopgirl, the young Evelyn is recruited as a studio model and soon catches the eye of the preeminent artists of the age. When Broadway comes calling, Evelyn solidifies her status as the first self-made American female celebrity: the iconic Gibson Girl, the most sought-after figure and face of her time. Enter a parade of powerful and power-hungry men, from world-famous architect Stanley Pierce, the visionary behind Manhattan’s mansions and iconic landmarks, to Hal Thorne, the shockingly wealthy railroad heir and premier “playboy” of high society. Each man promises comfort, glamour, security—even love. But fame and fortune are cruel teachers, and Evelyn learns that the only person she can rely on is herself.

When Evelyn finds herself at the center of a murder of passion declared “the Crime of the Century,” she is blamed for the acts of the men in her life. In the media frenzy that spirals around her, Evelyn realizes that to survive, she will have to write her own ending. But can this artists’ muse turned showgirl pull off the greatest act of her life?

Published by Ballantine Books

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I've come to really like those "murder mystery" podcasts, and though This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum isn't about "murder mystery" podcasters, these podcasters become the "murder mystery" as they mysteriously disappear. I read the beginning of this novel and just loved it. I might have to see if there really is a podcast for survival stories now...

This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum... Benny Abbott and Joy Moore host one of the most beloved podcasts in the world. Each week, they delight listeners with a different “against all odds” survival story, gleefully finding the weird, life-affirming humor in near-death experiences. Since their first episode on Joy’s experience with severe narcolepsy, they’ve been the best friends everyone wants to befriend—and thanks to the meticulous management of Joy’s husband, Xander, they’ve built a lucrative empire.

The problem is, their next survival story may be their own. When Benny arrives at Joy and Xander’s one morning to record, he finds shattered glass and an empty house. The one clue shedding light on the couple’s disappearance is the incomplete, previously unseen first draft of Joy’s memoir. Benny is desperate to find them, even when the police soon zero in on him as their prime suspect.

Millions of devoted listeners think they know the “real” Benny and Joy. But as the hours tick by, and the odds seem increasingly stacked against Joy and Xander being found alive, not even the most devoted fans could guess the terrible secrets their favorite famous BFFs have hidden from the world—and from each other.

Published by Flatiron Books

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AND in the haunting speculative novel Westward Women, Alice Martin imagines a mysterious phenomenon spreading among women—an inexplicable urge pulling them westward, leaving families, jobs, and entire communities trying to understand why. This book hit a nerve because recently I watched the movie BirdBox, where people started to up and kill themselves after seeing something in front of them. They would get this zombie like expression all of a sudden and start acting crazy. The survivors wore blindfolds to prevent themselves being "infested" with the infection. I am so intrigued by Westward Women and it is definitely on my TBR list and should be on yours too!

Westward Women by Alice Martin...
It starts with an itch.

In homes across the country, women ages eighteen to thirty-five begin to slow down.

Tired. Blank. Restless.

Drawn to the Pacific Ocean like it’s calling them home. They abandon their lives—jobs, families, their very selves. And once they reach the West, they vanish forever.

At the center of the story are three young women caught in the pull of something unstoppable.

Aimee follows the trail of her missing best friend to a man called the Piper—known for leading infected women West.

Teenie, afflicted and unraveling, clings to a single memory as she looks out the window of the Piper’s van.

And Eve, a former journalist, is chasing the story that might just consume her.

Published by St. Martin's Press

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Let's not forget about She Fell Away by Lenore Nash! I shared this book on Sunday. Get the full description in The Sunday Salon, but here' s little blurb about it. I just  started reading it and really love Lenore Nash's writing, plus she really is a "detective" here, in the midst of a murder investigation...

She Fell Away by Lenore Nash... A State Department diplomat must confront the ghosts of her past as she searches for a missing American woman in New Zealand in this pulse-pounding and unputdownable thriller.  Published by Atria Books.

Are you building up that TBR pile?! I've got all of these on my TBR list! What is the saying... So many books, too little time? Well, make time for these! 

First Lines Friday

Oona stopped trusting the mirror years ago. After all, it told only a sliver of the story.

This isn’t me. I am not this woman.

The mirror exposed time’s passage, yes, but eclipsed her heart’s true mileage. The lined face, the extra pounds, the hair chemically treated to hide its gray. Each year the body was hers, but her mind was out of sync with her reflection. Always playing catch-up, trying to rearrange the scrambled pieces of her life.

                                          ...Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

I love time travel stories. When I spotted this soon to be published book, I read things like light, fun, quirky when talking about it. I'm curious about it and have put it on my wishlist. Though I know it will be nothing like The Time Travelers Wife, one of my all time favorite books, I think quirky may work. Coming February 20th from Flatiron Books.

The Sunday Salon... and Should we Read American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Good morning! It's a beautiful sunny day in the Upstate. Upstate is how where I live is refered to in South Carolina. Not to be confused with the Low Country, which is the lower part of the state and I would say the more "popular" vacation destinations of Myrtle Beach and Charleston. It took me a while to really grasp  why the distinction, but it is a lot easier to tell people I live in the Upstate when talking to someone from South Carolina, because they just understand. In any case, today is a beautiful, but cold day in the Upstate. Winter is popping its head in and out and now that I'm retired, when it's really cold outside I tend to stay inside... and either play with some yarn and/or read!

This week I received a pre-order of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins in the mail. I had read a lot of great press about the book and decided to pre-order and have it arrive at the house the day it came out... so I could avoid having to go out in that cold. It came! Yay! I opened the package and then I was struck by a little yellow circle blazing on my front cover like a beam of light from a freight train... and one of my pet peeves in book jacket designs. I HATE, let me repeat, I HATE those little "advertisements" on the front covers of books."Now made into a major motion picture", "So and so says blah, blah, blah", and this week, "Oprah's Book Club 2020". And that little Oprah blurb I can't even remove because it's actually part of the design. Something I didn't realize was happening when I ordered the book. I had no idea it was an Oprah pick. So, this week I was going to talk about that... Bookish Pet Peeves, but after getting American Dirt in the mail and starting to read it, the internet exploded with so much controversy over this book, I thought we'd touch on that this week... 

Do you care who writes your book?

The controversy surrounding American Dirt is simply this, Jeannine Cummins, who herself has said, is a White, Priviledged person. Because of this can she write this book? The book is about a Mexican Mother and her son who must flee Mexico after her whole family is murdered by a drug kingpin's gang. This story is about the migrant experience, the horrors of the journey to a better life. Can extensive research, and 7 years of research in Jeannine Cummins' case, trump the actual experience? 

So, now there is a raging argument that American Dirt is full of stereotypes and incorrect information on Mexican culture. In an online article for The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jane Henderson writes: 

Latinx writers argue that their more authentic depictions in fiction and nonfiction have not gotten as much support from American publishers as books by white authors, and they pointed to elements in "American Dirt" they felt were stereotypes or errors regarding Mexican culture. Much of the criticism on social media was based on a review by Myriam Gurba.

There is also controversy over the LARGE amount of money for the author received for the book from the publisher, and how if it was a Latinx writer the amount would not have been as significant. 

On the flip side of the controversy, with publishers and reviewers who have praised the book, but now feel as though they need to take a step back, there is the thought that even if there are things "wrong" with the depictions and the story, this book will open the eyes of many to the horrors of these migrants who travel the dangerous road to a better life. 

What do you think? Personally I rarely discount an author's work just based on what I hear, although it does happen. Recently after I purchased The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes I discoverd a whole slew of controversy over plagerism and publisher favoritism. Supposedly the publisher helped the book along by pulling ideas from another book that they were publishing, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. At that point I did a bit of research on the latter book and decided after reading how much book clubs loved Kim's book to choose that one for my book club's January read. I still have the Jojo Moyes book, but it really irks me that the publisher might have done that. When I do read it, I will judge for myself if there are too many similarities in the story. 

I'm still going to read American Dirt. The beginning of the book was absolutely terrifying and just sucked me in. And no matter what the critisism's are, I was really enjoying her writing. Maybe we can all enjoy it as a story of a Mother's love for her son and be happy with that? Or maybe I can treat it as a book of FICTION and keep that in the back of my head as I read the story for what it is. It's not as though Jeannine Cummins stole the idea from another author either. And if you do a google search for American Dirt controversy, you'll have pages of links, some of which give you alternative reads. Why can't I just read this one? I think I will...

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins was published by Flatiron books and released january 21st. It is an Oprah Book Club pick, The #1 Indie Next Choice, and Editors Choice of the New York Times Book Review. It has been praised by many, many authors. Share your thoughts on this in the comments below! I would love to hear what you think!

Happy Reading... Suzanne

The Sunday Salon and... "Sunny" Book Covers for a Winters Day

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! The special day of the week we talk books!  It's been a gorgeous weather week in South Carolina, with a few days of short sleeves and barefoot reading on the front porch to breezy & sunny and ending in better put on you winter coat and maybe even a raincoat. I've tuned into finding some more great books this past week, adding a few more to the TBR pile, as well as starting my January Book Club pick, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (which I am half way thru reading and am loving it!). I also finished my First Book of the Year 2020, Such a Fun Age by Kiely Reid and really enjoyed that! It seemed like a light read at the beginning, but there was plenty of depth to the characters and story that I could not put it down. In fact I read it in one day. Now there's a book that would make a great book club read. You can read my full review here. But what "new" books did I find this week? To go with all the Sunny South Carolina weather this past week, I happen to find "Sunny" Book covers... books that in some way I thought had "Sunny" covers... I may have stretched that a bit...

My Sunshine Away by W.O. Walsh... Oprah magazine called this book "A tantalizing mystery and 

tender coming-of-age story...Unputdownable." And from the book jacket:  In the summer of 1989, a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering summer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom is rocked by a violent crime when fifteen-year-old Lindy Simpson—free spirit, track star, and belle of the block—is attacked late one evening near her home. For such a close-knit community, the suspects are numerous, and the secrets hidden behind each closed door begin to unravel. Even the young teenage boy across the street, our narrator, does not escape suspicion. It is through his eyes, still haunted by heartbreak and guilt many years later, that we begin to piece together the night of Lindy’sattack and its terrible rippling consequences on the once-idyllic community.

For the life of me I can't remember how I stumbled upon this book, but since finding it I've looked thru countless rave reviews about it. Published in 2016 by G.P. Putnam's & Sons, I have this one on my nightstand this week, part of my Library Loot this week.

The Yellow Bird Sings by  Jennifer Rosner ... In Poland, as World War II rages, a mother hides

with her young daughter, a musical prodigy whose slightest sound may cost them their lives.

As Nazi soldiers round up the Jews in their town, Róza and her 5-year-old daughter, Shira, flee, seeking shelter in a neighbor’s barn. Hidden in the hayloft day and night, Shira struggles to stay still and quiet, as music pulses through her and the farmyard outside beckons. To soothe her daughter and pass the time, Róza tells her a story about a girl in an enchanted garden.

I requested this book from the publisher, Flatiron Books, because it seemed like such a great story. And of course for all of us WWII story fans, this just seemed perfect. I have the digital copy in my eReader as we speak and just reading the little I have inbetween books, I have decided I really like author Jennifer Rosner's writing. This book will be released March 3rd.

Late MigrationsL A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl... Growing up in

Alabama, Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents―her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father―and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child’s transition to caregiver.

And here, braided into the overall narrative, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. As these two threads haunt and harmonize with each other, Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. For in both worlds―the natural one and our own―“the shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only love’s own twin.

First of all, I have to say I love this cover! Secondly, I love the idea of reading little snippets, miniature stories or small essays about nature and family. I read about this book on Ann Patchett's bookstore Parnassus' blog. (Which if you haven't visited, the bookstore or the blog, you should!) And then I read a sampling of the writing and essays, and just loved it. So, I ordered a copy from Parnassus. Besides me enjoying the sample I read, it has gotten rave reviews from countless bookish places, including Indie Next, Oprah, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library and Publishers Weekly. Released in July 2019 and published by Milkweed editions.

How Do You Find Your Next Reading Book?

Week in Review...
This week I highlighted a couple great books in my Memoir Monday and First Lines Friday post.

In Memoir Monday I posted about The Library Book by Susan Orlean, which isn't really a memoir as much as a love story to libraries. You can read Memoir Monday here.

First Lines Friday, I posted the first lines of Bird Cloud by Annie Proulx. How anyone can resist reading anything by Annie Proulx would amaze me. Her writing is beautiful and this book is no exception. Read about it here.

Book Review of And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman. It's a novella that will strike a chord with anyone ever effected by a loved one with Dementia or Alzheimers. You can read my review here.

That is about all that has happened this past week, how about you?! Any great book finds this week? Next week there will be more books to talk about but also... Book Bingo!! Yes, next week I'll reveal Chick with Books Book Bingo Card for 2020! Ever play Book Bingo? It's a year long "game" where we try to fill our bingo card with books specific to the bingo squares. You have to check it out! It's another good one this year. My Book Club meets this Thursday, so I can't reveal it until after then.

Happy reading... Suzanne