Friday Freebie

Have you heard about the upcoming PBS series, The Great American Read? It's an eight part series starting May 22 that talks about 100 of America's best-loved novels (as chosen in a national survey). The reading list is wide and varied, and the series examines the how and why behind the authors' trade, the reasons readers gravitate toward certain titles, and what each of these titles has to say about us. Curious to see how many you've read? Take their quiz! (I've read 60, in case you were curious.) You might just find yourself inspired to pick up one, or more, of the titles on their list. If so, please stop by your local library! I look forward to reading, and watching, along with you.

Meg's Picks: May 2018, part 3

Want to to know what I think will be the "hot" summer reads this year? These two titles due out in just a few weeks absolutely fit the bill! If you'd like to read ahead of the curve, check out one of these!

The High Season, by Judy Blundell. This novel of subtle class warfare on the Long Island Shore is the perfect summer read. Whatever else is going on in Ruth's life, she has "the" house, a beach house in a small, quiet village on the shore. But this year, to afford to keep the house, she's going to have to rent it out, much to the disappointment of her teenage daughter, Jem. Even as they make way for the renters, their town is inundated with the Hampton set and change is coming for everyone, ready or not. Also available in Large Print.

The Perfect Mother, by Aimee Molloy. Already optioned for a film to star Scandal's Kerry Washington, this debut psychological thriller finds the May Mothers, a parenting group, getting together for an adults-only Fourth of July in a Brooklyn bar. But during this particular outing, something goes terribly wrong: one of the babies goes missing from his crib. Single-mom Winnie had been reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with her fellow May Mother's nanny. Now as the group and the NYPD work to find the missing baby, secrets will out, marriages are tested, and friendships will never be the same. If your brand of summer book keeps you on the edge of your seat, this is a sure thing.

Meg's Picks: May 2018, part 2

Two new page-turners from very different, but much adored, authors are on the docket early next month. I'm eagerly anticipating both!

Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje. Ondaatje, whose novel The English Patient won numerous awards, brings readers a mesmerizing new novel about siblings, Nathaniel and Rachel, whose parents leave them with a shadowy, possibly criminal, figure known as Moth. Moth and his wartime cohorts in 1945 Singapore have lots to teach the two teenagers. The mystery darkens and deepens when their mother returns...minus their father. Also available in Large Print.

Two Steps Forward, by Graeme Simsion & Anne Buist. For centuries, pilgrims have walked the hallowed route called the Chemin, or the Camino de Santiago, that ends in northwestern Spain. California artist Zoe, grieving after the sudden death of her husband, decides to get away and visit an old college friend living in the South of France. On a whim, she decides to walk the pilgrimage road. English engineer Martin, still stunned after his divorce, is on the Camino road-testing his prototype for a new cart design. Simsion, best known for his best seller The Rosie Project (2013), and co-author (and wife) Buist (who writes mystery and romance novels under the pen name Simone Sinna) tell the story of these two unlikely pilgrims and their growing friendship in alternating chapters to excellent effect.

Meg's Picks: May 2018, part 1

New books from new favorites? Yes, please!

The Favorite Sister, by Jessica Knoll. Knoll's 2015 debut novel, The Luckiest Girl Alive, gained instant recognition among readers who like twisted psychological thrillers like those written by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, etc.). It has also been optioned for film and spent a number of weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list. So the buzz surrounding her second novel, The Favorite Sister, is totally understandable. Here, five uber-successful, driven women are cast in a reality series called Goal Diggers, set in New York City. What the producers never imagined was that the season would end in murder... If you like a summer book full of scandal and secrets with a page-turning plot, this should be on your list.

Love and Ruin, by Paula McLain. The author who brought the tumultuous relationship between Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson, in The Paris Wife (2011) now returns with the story of Hemingway and his third wife, writer Martha Gelhorn. When she meets Hemingway in Key West in 1936, she is in her late 20s and has just published her first novel; Hemingway is a decade older and still married to his second wife, Pauline. Burned by a previous love affair with a married man, Martha insists that her deepening relationship with Hemingway is purely platonic. When he leaves to write about the civil war in Spain, Gelhorn travels with him and finds her calling as a journalist, even as their affair together begins. But by the time Hemingway divorces Pauline and marries Martha in 1940, she is troubled by his outsize personality, worrying that he will crush her own spirit and career. McLain's faithfulness to fact and timeline and her deft touch with detail make her novels touching and deeply compelling. Fans should put their requests in now. Also available in Large Print.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway, by Ruth Ware. Ware (The Lying Game, The Woman in Cabin 10, etc.) has been growing steadily in popularity among readers of suspense fiction. On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. While she quickly realizes that the letter was sent to the wrong person, she also knows opportunity when she sees it. As a tarot card reader, she's developed excellent cold reading skills. Perhaps she can claim the money after all? But when she attends the funeral for the deceased, she slowly becomes aware that something is very, very wrong, both about the situation and the inheritance at the center of it all. Told with Ware's signature gothic menace, this is a must for readers who like their summer reads full of chills.

Reading Ahead: May 2018, part 4

Revelations, secrets, and starting over are prevailing themes in this summer's slew of new fiction. Curious? Read on!

By Invitation Only, by Dorothea Benton Frank. Frank's latest is a tale of two families and the couple that brings them together. Fred Stiftel, son of hard-working Southern peach farmers, is engaged to Shelby Cambria, daughter of Chicago's moneyed elite. To say that each family is ill-at-ease in the other's backyard is an understatement. This is a story of limos and pickups, soirees and barbecues, where everyone has something to hide...and something to learn from the others. Frank's Southern tales are always great beach reading. Also available in Large Print. 

Before and Again, by Barbara Delinsky. After an accident costs her everything (child, marriage, friends, privacy), Mackenzie Cooper leaves her life behind. She reinvents herself as Maggie Reid, moves to Vermont, and lives with the singular goal of staying under the radar. But when a local teen's hacking activity brings scrutiny, and the Feds, to their small town, the facade of Maggie Reid begins to unravel. Will she have to start over yet again?

The Other Lady Vanishes, by Amanda Quick. Adelaide Blake arrives in Burning Cove, California, desperate to start over after escaping from a private sanitarium. She finds employment at an herbal tea shop, catering to the movers and shakers of 1930s Hollywood, many of whom frequent the shop in search of tonics and hangover cures. In Burning Cover, Adelaide slowly learns, no one is who or what they seem. Behind the dazzle lie grifters, gangsters, and addicts. When Madame Zola, medium to the stars, arrives in town, Adelaide knows the con for what it is. Then the psychic is murdered, and Adelaide finds herself drawn deeper in the murky world of dupes and misdirection. Also available in Large Print.

Reading Ahead: May 2018, part 3

Whatever the thermometer says these days, we have to believe that summer is coming. Right? Need extra proof? The first of the beach reads are beginning to roll out next month! Bring 'em on!

Beach House Reunion, by Mary Alice Monroe. In this new novel, Monroe brings readers back to the shores of her bestselling Beach House series, and to the stories of the historic Rutledge family of Charleston, South Carolina. Cara Rutledge returns to her home on the Isle of Palms, hoping for peace and comfort. What she finds, initially, are painful reminders of what she's lost even in the midst of familiarity. It is only here, among family and friends, that she can consider opening herself up to the possibilities of a new future. Meanwhile, her niece Linnea returns to the beach house after graduating college, full of anticipation and eager to find her own new purpose. Those looking for a beach read that lends itself to insight and comfort should add this to their beach bags.

The Endless Beach, by Jenny Colgan. I'm quite a fan of Colgan's stories of sassy heroines who reinvent themselves to entertaining effect. Here, Flora McKenzie has traded her glum life in London for the beautiful Scottish Isle of Mure. She's reunited with her family, she opens a charming seaside cafe...and her handsome former boss has followed her out of the city. Perhaps there's love on the horizon? Colgan's work is reliably witty and charming, perfect for a summer book.

The High Tide Club, by Mary Kay Andrews. Mysterious millionaire Josephine Bettendorf Warrick is ninety-nine years old when she summons young lawyer Brooke Trappnell to her 20,000 acre barrier island home. Why not call the prestigious Atlanta law firm she's used for years? Two reasons, as she explains to Brooke over several meetings: one, she wants someone to help ensure the safety of her land, to keep it from being spoiled by developers, and two, she wants to contact the descendants of her closest friends, all members of the High Tide Club, to make amends for wrongs decades in the past. What split the friends up? All will be revealed, if only Brooke can pull of the reunion. If your summer plans call for a pool-side page-turner, add this to the list.
Also available in Large Print.

Reading Ahead: May 2018, part 2

If you're a fan of the following authors, you never have to wait long for another book these days! Enjoy!

The Gray Ghost, by Clive Cussler & Robin Burcell. Tenth in Cussler's Fargo Adventures (following 2017's The Romanov Ransom) finds the husband-and-wife team of Sam and Remi Fargo with a case that goes back more than a century. In 1906, the groudbreaking prototype for the Rolls-Royce Gray Ghost disappeared from the streets of Manchester, England. It was the lucky intervention of American detective Isaac Bell that prevented it from being lost forever. What was not salvageable, however, was the reputation of Marcus Peyton, the man wrongly accused of the theft. Now, over a hundred years later, Peyton's grandson looks to the Fargos to help reclaim his grandfather's good name, and there's even more at stake now: the car has gone missing again.

Princess: A Private Novel, by James Patterson & Rees Jones. Jack Morgan has been made an offer he cannot refuse--an invitation to meet Princess Caroline, third in line to the British throne. He immediately hops into his Gulfstream jet and flies to London. What the Princess needs is Jack's help, and his discretion--one of the Princess's closest friends has gone missing, and she hopes Jack can find Sophie before the media catch on. There must be more to the case than she lets on, but what is the Princess hiding?

The Cast, by Danielle Steel. Kait Whittier has built a successful magazine column, adores her work and her children, and after two failed marriages, she has decided to work on professional projects rather than another relationship. A chance encounter with a Hollywood TV producer inspires Kait to develop a television series idea, based on the life of her own indomitable grandmother. When the same producer takes on her storyline as his next big project, Kait finds herself transplanted across the country in a matter of weeks, meeting with writers, directors, and the cast of a lifetime. In the midst of this whirlwind, can she also handle family crisis? Signature Steel. Also available in Large Print.

Reading Ahead: May 2018, part 1

Suspense novels have many faces next month. Read on to see what might be your perfect match.

Shelter in Place, by Nora Roberts. At a mall outside Portland, Maine, it is a typical evening. Families shopping, movie-goers waiting in line for tickets. And then eight harrowing minutes of chaos and terror before the shooters are taken down. But for those who live through it, the effects are felt forever. One person, however, decides that the death toll was not high enough, and as the survivors heal, that one person sets out to change things. This time, there will be nowhere to hide. Also available in Large Print.

The Crooked Staircase, by Dean Koontz. Koontz's third Jane Hawk novel, following The Silent Corner and The Whispering Room, finds the rogue FBI agent-turned-fugitive continuing her one-woman fight against a terrible conspiracy that threatens the free will of millions. But her ruthless pursuers cannot stop her from closing in on her prey: a cunning man with friends in high places and air-tight security. But nothing can prepare Jane for the chilling truth that awaits her in her quarry's lair. Also available in Large Print. 

Robert B. Parker's Old Black Magic, by Ace Atkins. Parker's iconic Boston PI Spenser delves into the black market art scene in this latest series entry. The legendary heist was decades ago, but the theft of priceless pieces from one of Boston's premier museums still feels fresh. When paint chips from one of the most valuable pieces wind up on the desk of a Boston journalist, the museum enlists Spenser to help them renew their search. But what starts as a cold case soon heats up as Spenser finds himself among black market art dealers, aging Mafia bosses, and old vendettas still simmering after all these years.