Meg's Picks: October 2017, part 3

Today I bring you two compelling novels: one a debut sure to be a favorite, another a favorite sure to be a bestseller. Read on!

The Last Mrs. Parrish, by Liv Constantine. For readers who crave more twisty psychological thrillers (like Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, etc.), look no further than Constantine's debut, about a coolly manipulative woman and the wealthy "golden couple" from Connecticut who become her fixation. Amber Patterson deserves more that what she has; she's tired of being a plain nobody who fades into the background. What she wants is what Daphne Parrish has: money, power, prestige, looks, and a perfect marriage. What Amber has is a plan: to worm her way into the Parrish family's circle, and claim it for her own. What she hasn't counted on? Her own dark past coming to haunt her, and potentially ruin everything. Expect this to be on everyone's reading list in the coming months.

The Trust, by Ronald H. Balson. A new novel from bestselling author Balson (Once We Were Brothers) finds private investigator Liam Taggart returning home for his uncle's funeral, only to uncover that the cause of death may not have been natural after all. Years after a bitter family confrontation drove him away from home, Liam is reluctant to return. When he does, he learns that not only was his uncle shot to death, but that his uncle had foreseen his own violent demise, evidenced by a shocking last will and testament that leaves his entire estate to a secret organization, but that no distributions shall be made until his killer is identified. The investigation draws Liam further and further into a past, and a family, he had abandoned, forcing him to confront all he had left behind...and why.

Meg's Picks: October 2017, part 2

New work from old favorites, and new books from favorites-to-be!

In the Midst of Winter, by Isabelle Allende. Allende (The House of the Spirits, Daughter of Fortune, The Japanese Lover, etc.) never fails to surprise her readers. In her latest, two NYU professors and a Guatemalan nanny find themselves with a body to dispose of in the midst of a Brooklyn blizzard. Isn't this how all love stories begin? The story of these three very different people moves from Brooklyn to Guatemala, to Chile and Brazil, from the present to the 1970s and back. Given Allende's keen insight into the human heart, this is sure to be a favorite.

Last Christmas in Paris, by Hazel Gaynor & Heather Webb. It's August 1914 and everyone's saying that this war will be over by Christmas. Evie Elliott watches her brother Will and his best friend Thomas go off to war, then anticipates their plans to spend the holidays in Paris together once the unpleasantness is over. And yet, nothing goes as planned. Evie and Thomas correspond during their separation, experiencing very different sides of the war. Evie grows frustrated with her expected roles as a young lady, wishing to be more involved in helping the war effort. Meanwhile Thomas faces not only the ugly realities of war but also an attack on his father's newspaper business back home due to War Office regulations regarding the press. And years later, Thomas must put his past to rest, only to find one last surprise waiting for him. I'm recommending this for book clubs as well as fans of historical fiction like Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale and Mary Ann Shaffer's The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Without Merit, by Colleen Hoover. The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, cancer-survivor mom residing in the basement, dad and mom's former nurse living upstairs. The eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. The youngest, a half-brother, isn't allowed to do or eat anything fun. And then? Then there's Merit, who collects trophies she hasn't won and secrets her family forces her to keep. When she falls in love with a boy she cannot have, Merit re-examines her life, only to find it full of lies she can no longer handle. Compelled to tell the truth before making her exit once and for all, Merit must finally come to grips with her reality, including the consequences of telling the ugly truth. Hoover (It Ends With Us, 2016) is absolutely one to watch.

Meg's Picks: October 2017, part 1

I am always so excited to share my picks with you, readers! Here are some gems coming up next month, from some of my very favorite authors. If you're tired, bored with your usual authors, or feel as though it's been ages since you read something that really captured you, I urge you to try one of these.

Strange Weather, by Joe Hill. In this collection of four short novels, Hill (Horns, The Fireman, etc.) carries on his tradition of describing the darkness just beneath the surface of everyday life. Snapshot is the tale of a Silicon Valley adolescent who finds himself threatened by a thug who owns a camera which can erase memories one snapshot at a time. In Aloft, a young man goes skydiving only to find himself a castaway on a cloud made of impossibly substantial vapor. Rain explores the apocalyptic event of a rain of bright nails from the sky, starting in Boulder, Colorado and spreading around the globe. Finally, Loaded is the story of a heroic mall security guard who stops a mass shooting, only to find his story, and sanity, unraveling under the bright lights of fame that follow. I'm a huge Joe Hill fan, and I'm very much looking forward to this collection.

Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan. Egan's latest (following Look at Me, A Visit from the Goon Squad, etc.) has already been long-listed for the National Book Award for Fiction (A Visit from the Goon Squad has already won her a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction). One day Anna Kerrigan, aged twelve, accompanies her father to visit a man called Dexter Styles. What Anna will take away from this meeting is a strong memory for the ocean waves beyond the house, and the charged mystery between the two men. Years later, Anna's father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna is working at the Brooklyn Naval Yard; with so many men off to war, women are being hired to fill these jobs. When she meets Dexter Styles again, this time in a nightclub, she begins to understand the complexity of her father's life, and the reasons he may have disappeared. This is Egan's first historical novel and it has a distinct noir edge by the sound of things. I expect this to be on the bestsellers' list in short order. Also available in Large Print.

Paris in the Present Tense, by Mark Helprin. Following In Sunlight and In Shadow (2012), Helprin's new novel is set in present-day Paris, caught between violent unrest and its inescapable glories. Seventy-four-year-old Jules Lacour, a maitre at Paris-Sorbonne, cellist, widower, veteran of the war in Algeria, and child of the Holocaust, must find a balance between the obligations of his past and the light and beauty of his present. He in confronted all at once by a series of circumstances which challenge his principles, livelihood and home. And yet, he also finds love and defends his family. Helprin's work is full of truth and beauty, and readers are missing out if they pass this one up.

Reading Ahead: October 2017, part 4

Tales of secrets unveiled, challenges won and obstacles overcome are on every reader's list next month!

Merry and Bright, by Debbie Macomber. In this holiday novel of first impressions and second chances, bestseller Macomber introduces readers to Merry Knight, who spends her days taking care of her family and trying to evade her stressed-out boss at the consulting firm where she's temping. Her social life is the last thing on her mind, but when her mother and brother sign her up for an online dating profile (minus photo) and matches begin to roll in, Merry reluctantly agrees to see what happens. She begins chatting with a charming stranger, their exchanges becoming the brightest part of her day. When it comes to meeting him face to face, will it be a total disaster? Also available in Large Print.

Fairytale, by Danielle Steel. In this modern retelling of the Cinderella story, Steel pits a happy family against tragedy, with Camille, heiress to a Napa Valley vineyard and estate, caught in the middle. Will she succeed against nefarious plots against her inheritance and her very life? Will her knight in shining armor ride to her rescue? Will her fairy godmother save her? Or is it up to Camille to save herself. Steel's legion of fans won't want to miss out. Also available in Large Print. 

Lilac Lane, by Sherryl Woods. Kiera Malone struggled alone for years to raise her three children, and when she finally opened herself to the possibility of a relationship again, tragedy strikes and leaves her overwhelmed by her loss. She is persuaded by her father and her daughter to visit them in Chesapeake Shores. With the promise of family ties and a job at her son-in-law's Irish pub, Keira agrees. What she definitely did not count on is finding herself working in the pub alongside the surliest chef she's ever known, and what's more, he's also her neighbor. The town's matchmakers claim where there's heat, there's fire, but can these two wounded souls get past their conflict?

The Stolen Marriage, by Diane Chamberlain. Tess Demello is riddled with guilt and cannot live the lie that is her life. It's 1944, she's pregnant and alone after ending the relationship with the love of her life and leaving her budding career as a nurse. Instead, she marries the baby's father, a secretive man who stays out all night, and Tess finds herself in a strange and loveless marriage. What's worse, they've moved to Henry's hometown, where he is much beloved by Tess is a stranger, treated as an outcast. Everyone seems to know something about her husband that Tess does not, and when a girl from town dies, suspicion falls on Tess. It is only when tragedy strikes their town that Tess finds her place in the community, but it may finally unveil Henry's secret life and shatter both their lives in the process. Readers looking for a captivating page-turner, look no further.
Also available in Large Print.

Reading Ahead: October 2017, part 3

I have a little bit of everything for you in today's post. A thriller guaranteed to get your pulse pounding. A prequel to a much-beloved best-seller, awaited for more than two decades. And a series finale that likely won't leave a reader dry-eyed.

Killing Season, by Faye Kellerman. Kellerman takes a break from her bestselling Decker & Lazarus series (Bone Box, etc.) to thrill readers with a story of truth sought...and found. At sixteen, Ben is consumed with the need to find the person who abducted and strangled his older sister four years earlier. With an unlikely ally at his side, Ben pores over the files at the local police precinct, finding clues and threads which others may have missed or overlooked. What Ben hasn't counted on is the interest the killer might take in him, and now the hunter may become the hunted. Thriller readers who love an unconventional hero should consider adding this to their reading lists.

The Rules of Magic, by Alice Hoffman. Hoffman delights readers with a spellbinding prequel to her 1995 bestseller, Practical Magic. For the Owens family, love is a curse that goes back to 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. Hundreds of years later, their story continues in New York City at the brink of the 1960s, with the whole world about to change. For Susanna Owens, however, all she knows is that her three children, Franny, Jet, and Vincent, are each dangerously unique. To try and keep them safe, she insists that rules be followed, rules like no books about magic, no black cats, and most importantly, no falling in love. When the trio visits their Aunt Isabelle in Massachusetts, however, they uncover family secrets that causes each to reconsider who they are and what their lives will be. Back in New York, each will begin a journey to break their family's curse. This is at the top of my to-read list next month!

Winter Solstice, by Elin Hilderbrand. Hilderbrand gives readers one last chance to visit with the Quinn family on Nantucket as she rounds out her Winter quartet (following Winter Street, Winter Stroll, and Winter Storms). For the first time in years, all of the Quinn clan are able to gather for the holidays. There is plenty to be joyous about: Bart is safely back from Afghanistan, Pat has paid his debt to society, Ava seems to have found love at last. But with the Quinn clan, no holiday is without a bump or two, to be weathered together with love and humor. Fans won't want to miss out.

Reading Ahead: October 2017, part 2

The past comes a-haunting next month!

Deep Freeze, by John Sandford. Sandford's latest features Virgil Flowers (last seen in Escape Clause, 2016) in tale of traumas, bad blood, and long-held grudges. He's called to Trippton, Minnesota to investigate a murder: a woman has been found frozen in a solid block of ice. Evidence suggests that the murder may be connected to a high school class whose twenty-year reunion is coming up. It's true what they say: high school is murder.

Act of Betrayal, by Matthew Dunn. Former intelligence operative Will Cochrane (The Spy House, etc.) comes out of hiding to expose a conspiracy involving a past assassination, a conspiracy that reaches into the upper echelons of the United States government. Cochrane has gone underground to evade both his enemies and the feds, but his loyalty to old colleagues pulls him into a search for truth after one of his old contacts goes missing, and then a second is murdered. Fans of spy thrillers really should be reading Dunn's series.

Mind Game, by Iris Johansen. A new stand-alone thriller from the bestselling author of the Eve Duncan series (Night and Day, etc.), Mind Game introduces readers to Jane MacGuire. Jane has spent years scouring the Scottish highlands for a treasure. But even as her search intensifies, so too do her haunting dreams of a young girl in danger. What does it all mean? A surprise appearance from another Johansen character may help Jane make sense of it all. Fans should make sure to pick this up.

Quick & Dirty, by Stuart Woods. Stone Barrington finds himself ensnared in the intricate art business in Woods' latest. Beneath the veneer of refinement in New York luxury penthouses and grand Hamptons estates lurks a game of grifters and con-men, all of them looking to get in on the action. Barrington will have to use all of his skills to keep from ruffling the wrong feathers, because when money and reputation are on the line, the stakes are worth killing for...

Reading Ahead: October 2017, part 1

I realize it may feel a bit early to start thinking about October, but not when you're looking forward to great new titles from your favorite authors!

Origin, by Dan Brown. Readers rejoin Brown's unlikely hero, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconography Robert Langdon, as he attends a meticulously choreographed evening at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao where a former student and current billionaire futurist Edmond Kirsch is presenting a breakthrough concerning human origin. The order descends into chaos, however, putting Kirsch's discovery and Langdon's very life at risk. Langdon and an associate flee to Barcelona, where they begin the momentous task of unraveling Kirsch's secret before Kirsch is silenced by his enemies. Also available in Large Print.

Two Kinds of Truth, by Michael Connelly. Connelly's Harry Bosch series continues to win more and more fans with each new entry. In his latest, Bosch is back as a volunteer working cold cases for the San Fernando Police Department. When he's called out to the scene of a young pharmacist's murder, he and the department's 3-person detective squad sift through the evidence, quickly finding themselves in over their heads in the big business world of pill mills and prescription drug abuse. To make matters worse, a case from Bosch's troubled past with the LAPD comes back to haunt him, too. Also available in Large Print.

The Rooster Bar, by John Grisham. Three friends came to law school to make the world a better place. But now, in their third year, they realize that they've been duped. They all have significant student loans but they've learned that their school is on the mediocre side: the graduates rarely pass the bar exam, let alone get good jobs. And when they discover that their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator (who happens to own a bank that specializes in student loans), the three realize that they've been caught up in The Great Law School Scam. But is there a way out? Can they expose the scam and escape their crippling debt? This should be quite a page-turner.