Literary fiction readers are in for a treat. This week’s latest releases list is full of intriguing reads you won’t want to miss! The new releases list includes so many bestselling authors like Kay Bell, B. Lance Jenkins, Colson Whitehead, and many more. Enjoy your new literary fiction books. Happy reading!
Set off on an adventure to new worlds this week! This selection of new science fiction and fantasy books will surely please! Science Fiction fans should be excited about the latest from bestselling authors Joe M. Solomon, Toby Neighbors Holly Ash, and more. If Fantasy is what your library needs, you’ll be able to pick up the latest from S.J. Hartland, Michael Anderle, James Patterson, and more. Enjoy your new science fiction and fantasy books. Happy reading!
Are you an avid reader of Young Adult books? This week you are in luck! With all of these new novels, you’re bound to find a new favorite book to add to your reading list. This week includes new novels from bestselling authors Chani Feener, Carrie Jones, Jennifer Honeybourn, Gaby Dunn, and many more. Enjoy your new young adult books. Happy reading!
Looking for some new biography and memoir books for your library? There are so many new releases this week that you’re bound to find a new favorite. You can pick up new novels from Matthew Kepner, Ben Cleary, David Roberts, and more. Enjoy your new biography and memoir books. Happy reading!
By Elin Peer
People sometimes ask me what has surprised me the most about being an author. I have to say that it’s the level of support and friendship that I’ve found among my readers. It has blown my mind, the way readers breathe life into my characters by talking about their motives, desires, and personas as if they were real people. Not to mention readers making playlists of music that the characters would listen to, or come up with pictures of how they think the characters would look in real life. It’s amazing!
I was also overwhelmed by the numbers of readers asking me for more books in the Men of the North series. You see, originally, I only planned for five books. Flattered by their interest, I added another five books to the series with tales from the future where women rule the world. Still it wasn’t enough for them.
My newest book, Forbidden Letters, is proof that it pays off to connect with authors and ask for more. It’s a stand-alone bonus story for the fans of the Men of the North series which can be read before or after the series. It was only supposed to be a short story, but the characters went on quite a journey with a lot of dramatic plot twists that turned it into a normal-sized book. I’m glad I stuck with it though, because this book has been extremely well received. And for me, it serves as a declaration of love from me to my readers saying, I hear you and you matter a ton to me.
Working alone from home, the messages I get from around the world with words of encouragement or curious questions, often make my day. Over the last two years, the readers and I have laughed and cried with the big alpha males from the north and the strong women from the south. Readers have gushed about the uniqueness of the ten books. They point out the depth of the characters, the strong dialogue, the food for thought, and the fast pace which makes the books hard to put down. It’s rare to find a series where each book is different in tone and style, offering a variation of adventure, suspense, love, and humor.
If you’re open to trying something new, here’s Forbidden Letters for you.
I should warn you though that this is not a clean romance!
The Men of the North don’t play nice, they swear a lot, and although this is in no way erotica, you have to be okay with a few steamy scenes.
The best part is, that in case you love Forbidden Letters - there’s ten more in the series for you to binge read.
Elin Peer is the author of the new book Forbidden Letters.
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What can you tell us about your new release, The Hunted Girl?
Although The Hunted Girl is in a series, all the books in that series can stand alone. No knowledge of the previous books is needed. This book is about a little girl who sees her parents shot. She also sees the killer. Or does she? Political fixer Danny Ryle is out to help people who need it. He is determined to save this hunted girl. There is also a story about a woman who saw a man once, on a train, thirty years earlier. Now she has won a lottery and wants to find that man. Danny must also cope with a very unwelcome visitor who knows Danny's wife.
What books are currently on your night stand?
I'm reading a lot of books about writing now and, of course, some mysteries. I'm saddened that it is difficult for me to read contemporary mysteries. I'm worried that I'll copy their style. But I'm re-reading On Writing Well by William Zinsser and several books about writing mysteries.
What advice would you give your teenage self?
I was a very active reader as a teenager, so I wouldn't change that. I'd tell my self to have some confidence, not to be afraid to fail, and to write, write, write. I wish my teenage self had volunteered to work on a local paper.
If you had an extra hour each day, how would you spend it?
Re-writing. I never have enough time to rewrite. I'm a believer in the old truth that writers don't know how to write until they know how to rewrite.
What makes your world go round? Why does it bring you joy?
This is an easy question for me. My family makes my world go around. My wife Sharon and I have been married for 46 years and have four children and five grandchildren.I love telling stories to those grandchildren. Besides them, I think about my writing.
What scene in The Hunted Girl was your favorite to write?
The first scene was my favorite. That's because I had to introduce the little girl Jennifer, explain her situation and establish an interesting bond between Jennifer and Danny Ryle, the protagonist. I should add that I enjoy almost every scene I write. I figure if I don't enjoy them, neither will my readers.
Lawrence J. Epstein is the author of the new book The Hunted Girl.
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What can you tell us about your new release, The American Governess?
The American Governess is a novel about life, love and loss. It’s 1967. Young Becky Golding leaves New York to work as a teacher on a cattle station in North Queensland Australia. Told partly from the perspective of her indigenous housekeeper and friend, The American Governess is a coming-of-age story, set at a time when there was social unrest in both USA and Australia, and when women’s roles were evolving. The novel explores the isolation and hostility of the Australian bush as well as its extraordinary beauty, and the challenges graziers face every day just to earn a living.
What or who inspired you to become an author?
I’ve written fiction for as long as I can remember. When I write, I create a world into which I can escape. That appeals to me. I was a voracious reader as a child; while other kids dreamed of becoming rock stars or firemen, I dreamed of becoming an author. I am lucky to be encouraged by my husband, TW Lawless, who is also an author, and to have a very supportive family.
What's on your top 5 list for the best books you've ever read?
Wow, only five? I recently reread Enid Bagnold’s National Velvet and remembered exactly why I adored it when I first read it as a child. To that I’d add (for various reasons and not necessarily in this order) Frederick Forsyth’s The Odessa File, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. And am I allowed to mention my husband’s debut novel, Homecountry? There are so many more I’d love to add to the list. I guess my tastes are diverse.
Say you're the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?
If we’re suspending reality, I’m tempted to say James Joyce. I’d probe him with, “Ulysses: please explain”. Although I don’t know that anyone would take on a second episode after that.
What's your favorite thing about writing?
Creation. People who never were. The beauty of words, their sound, the beat of a phrase and the rhythm of life exposed on a page. I love it all.
What is a typical day like for you?
I begin writing first thing after breakfast. I’m notorious for putting everything else second, and I mean everything. When I’m writing, “I’ll [insert verb here] in a minute” never happens. Before I know it, I’ve been going for hours and haven’t heard a thing. Meanwhile, life’s spinning around me but never seems to catch hold. A quick break and it’s back to the computer. I’m happiest when I’m writing. Anything. Even emails.
What scene in The American Governess was your favorite to write?
That’s a bit like asking a parent which child they love the best. I don’t want to reveal a spoiler, so I’ll just say the bit where Chase visits Nellie at her home nearing the end of the book. It’s probably pretty obvious that I love Nellie. Heck, I love them all. Except possibly Gladys MacGregor.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
The measure of a person does not reside in their bank balance. I made that one up.
In an increasingly self-centred world, I think we need to remind ourselves that kindness and respect are not signs of weakness.
Kay Bell is the author of the new book The American Governess.
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What can you tell us about your new release, The Light: Houston, Texas?
It is a science fiction thriller that revolves around a group of ordinary college music students whose world is turned upside down when mysterious lights in the sky appear and drive anyone who looks up at them insane. I’ve always enjoyed seeing how different characters in stories react when they’re taken completely out of their element as they are in this one. I also enjoy fast-paced, action-filled stories in which a small group of people have to work together to survive.
What or who inspired you to become an author?
I’ve always enjoyed creating new worlds, ever since I was a child. Kids often read comic books: Batman, Superman, etcetera. But instead of reading the comic books, I used to cut out the pictures and create my own storyboard. I didn’t actually learn the story of the superheroes until they were made into movies, so I think I was always destined to become a writer.
What's on your top 5 list for the best books you've ever read?
The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler
On Writing by Stephen King
Complete Poems and Plays of T. S. Eliot
The Stand by Stephen
Books of Blood by Clive Barker
You always write about murder! Why is that?
Stephen King. I’ve always admired his writing and know he used to be an English teacher, so I would ask him what books he would recommend for the newest generation of readers who might not have explored fiction written before they were born.
What's your favorite thing about writing?
I love the process of creating new realities. Some ideas I already have in mind before I begin crafting a story. However, as I write, events begin to unfold and expand beyond anything I had imagined. That is so exciting.
What is a typical day like for you?
As far as writing goes, a typical day finds me embroiled in at least one of the following: I’m beginning a new story, am continuing one I’ve already begun, and am rereading a completed project.
What scene in The Light: Houston, Texas was your favorite to write?
I love the opening in which Robert, the main character, rests in his graduate house apartment, speaking to his girlfriend on the phone. She wants him to drive over and see her, but he is tired from the late night they’d shared. He wants to sleep a couple of hours before he swings by. Less than please, she hangs up on him. Poor Robert sits there, contemplating love, and has no idea that not only his world, but the entire world is about to change.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
Be kind.
Joe M. Solomon is the author of the new book The Light: Houston, Texas.
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What can you tell us about your new release, The Other Billionaire Brother?
The Other Billionaire Brother is a fun love triangle between two billionaire brothers. Nora has been in love with the younger brother for most of her life, but he's getting married to an heiress. The older brother tries to keep her away from the younger brother and in doing so ends up falling in love with her as well! She then has to choose which brother is actually the love of her life.
What books are currently on your night stand?
So many! I have a Julie Kagawa novel, a Jill Shalvis, a Nora Flite, and Julia Kent's newest release. I'm not getting much sleep!
What advice would you give your teenage self?
It's okay not to be perfect. It's okay to struggle. Failure isn't the worst thing in the world.
If you had an extra hour each day, how would you spend it?
Sleeping. Or knitting. Or walking my dog. Can I have three more hours?
What makes your world go round? Why does it bring you joy?
My kids. They are my moon and stars. (And coffee because I wouldn't be able to handle my kids without coffee.)
What scene in The Other Billionaire Brother was your favorite to write?
This is hard. I liked writing the witty banter, so I'll go with when the younger brother doesn't recognize her and is flirting like crazy. She uses the opportunity to tease and flirt back.
Krista Lakes is the author of the new book The Other Billionaire Brother.
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What can you tell us about your new release, Blue Lake?
Blue Lake is a murder mystery set in the middle of the 20th century. The action of the book begins in 1968, when Regina Hannon learns that a long-lost sister’s drowning way back in the nineteen forties was briefly investigated as a murder. Regina, whose family was destroyed by that death, sets out to discover what happened.
What or who inspired you to become an author?
I’ve always been a reader, so I just naturally wanted to try my own hand at writing. An English teacher in high school encouraged me—she told me I could write “the good stuff.” And I’ve always loved mysteries. I started reading Nancy Drew in grade school and graduated to Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardener by the time I was in junior high. I’m pretty widely read in literature, too, but mysteries are my guilty pleasure. I can read a hundred detective novels in a year!
What's on your top 5 list for the best books you've ever read?
I love Edith Wharton—The House of Mirth is a great book, but amazingly, she has also written one of the best short stories ever (“Roman Fever”) AND one of the best novellas ever (Summer). Crime and Punishment is great book. Though it’s on most lists of great novels, it is often overlooked as one of the earliest and best works of crime fiction. Lolita is another book I greatly admire. I reread it twice while writing my first book, Lay Death at her Door, mainly because in Lolita, Nabokov does a masterful job of handling an unlikable (despicable, I could say) protagonist.
My best books list evolves over the years, and I have two lists, actually—best novels and best mysteries. Among best-ever mystery writers I count Ruth Rendell and Ross (not John D) Macdonald. Both are great mystery plotters, and both have influenced me.
You always write about murder! Why is that?
To me it is the ultimate drama, when human emotions result in one person killing another. I try to treat murder with respect, for the extreme and shocking act that it is for real. I love a good cozy mystery as much as the next person, but I cannot write one. Murder is a deadly serious topic—could not be more so.
I also read mysteries and thrillers that feature serial killers, but these are not my favorites at all. Serial killers fall too far outside the realm of normal human emotional reality. I am more interested in a murder that is understandable, so to speak.
I would not go so far as to say that we are all capable of killing another human being. I have no idea whether that is true—probably not? But I think we all recognize and experience emotions which, if we were tested to a limit and beyond, could make us really want to kill another person.
Laws are quite clear about issues such as self-defense and justifiable homicide, but our individual perceptions of these concepts, in extreme and highly emotional circumstances, can be quite elastic. It may well be that anyone who murders has a deeply flawed character. But character flaws are universally human, too.
What's your favorite thing about writing?
Having written. Getting started on a new book can be very hard and frustrating. Downright painful. When a story takes off, though, time flies and I disappear. When that happens, it’s fun to read what you’ve written, and of course it’s always your best raw material. Then I shift into rewriting and developing the manuscript, and I enjoy that part immensely. The crafty side of writing is interesting and challenging—how to get the right effect, how to draw the reader into the imaginary world I’m visiting in my study every day.
What is a typical day like for you?
I do my writing very early in the morning. I am such a morning person that I almost come out the other side as a night owl. I like to get up at about four o’clock! My dog has developed an uncanny ability to know when it’s time to make sure I’m in my office. Later in the morning, I practice Tai Chi at a park near my house. I also spend a lot of time in my garden, which I’ve been cultivating for many years. And of course I read. I never watch TV, but I’m addicted to Sudoku and jigsaw puzzles.
What scene in Blue Lake was your favorite to write?
All the scenes in the attic of the old house. I love attics. I used to pass time in the attic of my grandparents’ house, which was a lot like Blue Lake. It was full of very old things that were treasures to me—old letters and papers from the turn of the century (1900, not 2000!) and fancy old dresses in trunks. Old sepia photographs. And I love the idea that these vestiges of the past could come together to tell a story as dramatic as an old murder.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
I once read that Confucius said, “He who has no patience cannot win.” I’m not sure he ever actually said that—I can’t find it anywhere—but I adopted the saying many years ago, except I say SHE who has no patience cannot win. I’m a tortoise, not a hare. My chosen endeavors, writing novels and learning Tai Chi, require a sustained effort over a long time, and this is the phrase I use to steady myself when I feel like I’ll never reach my goal.
Elizabeth Buhmann is the author of the new book Blue Lake.
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