In the late 16th century, a band of Portuguese Jews sought refuge in Turkey under the protection of Suleiman the Magnificent, the most celebrated Sultan in the Ottoman Empire. Among those escaping persecution were noble widow Doña Antonia Nissim, her daughter Reyna, and her nephew Jose. Faced with the truth of their Jewish heritage for the first time in their lives, Reyna and Jose connect with each other and find love and comfort in Turkey. Years later, their daughter Tamar falls in love with the Sultan’s son, Murat; the two vow to spend the rest of their lives together despite the oppositions of their families and the obstacles of classism and religion that stand in their way. They remain committed to their shared determination until the tensions escalade between their families and Tamar vanishes. Mad with devastation, Murat assumes his role in the Ottoman Empire and sparks what will become known as The Sultan’s Curse, a plague that affects his every descendant. Fast-forward to present-day Turkey and Selim Osman, a wildly successful real estate magnate and the grandson of the last Osman Sultan. In the prime of his life, Selim has the world at his feet until fate deals him a cruel blow: a shocking and life-altering diagnosis. Abandoning his life in Turkey, Selim turns to a Manhattan hospital in the hope of a cure; here he meets Hannah, a spirited young painter whose father is fighting a medical battle of his own. As Selim and Hannah start to understand the depth of their connection they’ll rejoin a love once lost and finally bring two fates together after decades of dormant solitude.

A lush novel spanning generations and eras, The Debt of Tamar is ambitious and beautifully crafted by debut author Nicole Dweck. Its story is a fascinating one, spun with originality by the author in a fearless departure from the typical structure of a novel. There’s a noticeable artistry to the way Dweck uses a full cast – five generations’ worth of active characters – to tell the story of one love and one destiny. What could be expected to be a frustratingly complex tale becomes a genuinely accessible novel, one that balances names, dates, and histories all with a surprising and pleasing lightness. Dweck knows exactly how long to focus on a generation of characters before moving us on to the next, understanding very well how her reader will process all this information, all these emotions and experiences. Lingering purposefully on Tamar and Murat, the novel’s central love story is palpable, but it’s where Dweck goes next that will truly surprise and engross her reader.

There’s nothing predictable about The Debt of Tamar, which is a statement that takes on new meaning as soon as the reader finishes its final pages: often a book ends one way or another, happy or sad. I was mesmerized by the way Dweck approached Happily Ever After as something woven in the invisible power of fate, something that transcends human emotion and even the human lifespan. Her efforts awaken the reader to a mystical idea of the true eternity of love and its ability to triumph even after its lovers are gone. Beyond the enchantment of her story, Dweck proves herself a capable and truly talented writer, piecing together luminous moments of prose that will blossom under her audience’s eyes. Her writing, particularly in the contemporary portion of the novel, offers a gently poetic touch that caused me to stop and remark on the way words, though perfectly natural apart, can create something special together. I suppose that in itself is a reflection on her depiction of the legacy of Tamar and Murat: existing apart, but together in love.

Title: The Debt of Tamar
Author: Nicole Dweck
Genre: Historical fiction, romance
Publisher: Devon House Press/Nicole Dweck
Available Formats: paperback
Release date: February 4, 2013
Provided by: Nicole Dweck (c/o)
Buy the book: Amazon | Kindle
Connect with the author: Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Another very full week of new releases, particularly in the fiction/literature area. But of course, one title that a lot of readers have been most highly anticipated is Inferno, the fourth in Dan Brown’s lauded Robert Langdon series. If you’re a fan, be sure to check for the author’s live appearance in Lincoln Center, which will be streamed out to bookstores and libraries across the country. Also in the mystery and suspense allotment are new titles from Susan Elia MacNeal, S. Thomas Russell, Walter Mosley, Deborah Coonts, and many others. In fiction Kathleen Tessaro’s anticipated The Perfume Collector is available, as well as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, which is getting high advanced praise, and Ru Freeman’s On Sal Mal Lane which has already been compared to Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. In nonfiction, diehard Neil Gaiman fans can get excited about the author’s infamous “Make Good Art” speech, which has been rendered into book form and illustrated by Chip Kidd. Tennis legend Jimmy Connors has a new memoir, The Outsider, and there are several other engrossing memoirs from Sue Halpern, Lorna Crozier, and Emma Brockes. In young adult, Beastly author Alex Flinn has a new fairytale retelling, this time focusing on Rapunzel in Towering. Kelly Bingham also follows up on the premiere of her Shark Girl series with Formerly Shark Girl, Pete Hautman continues the Klaatu Diskos series with The Cydonian Pyramid, and there are also several new series kicking off. Lastly, lots of new-to-paperback titles, including Dennis Lehane’s Live by Night, Francesca Segal’s The Innocents, Vincent Lam’s The Headmaster’s Wager, and Tom Reiss’s Pulitzer-winning Black Count. Enjoy!

Fools: Stories by Joan Silber (W.W. Norton & Company, hardcover; 5/13)
The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro (Harper, hardcover; 5/14)
The Ice Bridge by D.R. MacDonald (Counterpoint, hardcover; 5/14)
He’s Gone by Deb Caletti (Bantam, trade paperback; 5/14)
River of Dust by Virginia Pye (Unbridled Books, hardcover; 5/14) * giveaway
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Knopf, hardcover; 5/14)
Sweet Dreams by Carla Stewart (FaithWords, trade paperback; 5/14)
Mending the Moon by Susan Palwick (Tor Books, hardcover; 5/14)
Spartacus: Rebellion (Spartacus #2) by Ben Kane (St. Martin’s Press, hardcover; 5/14)
Jewelweed by David Rhodes (Milkweed Editions, hardcover; 5/14)
On Sal Mal Lane by Ru Freeman (Graywolf Press, hardcover; 5/14)
Between My Father and the King: New and Uncollected Stories by Janet Frame (Counterpoint, hardcover; 5/14)
The Conditions of Love by Dale M. Kushner (Grand Central Publishing, hardcover; 5/14)
Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser (Little, Brown and Company, hardcover; 5/14)
The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan (St. Martin’s Griffin, hardcover; 5/14)
Low by Anna Quon (Invisible Publishing, trade paperback; 5/15)

Inferno (Robert Langdon #4) by Dan Brown (Knopf Doubleday, hardcover; 5/14)
His Majesty’s Hope (Maggie Hope Mystery #3) by Susan Elia MacNeal (Bantam, trade paperback; 5/14) * giveaway
Poppet (Jack Caffery #6) by Mo Hayder (Atlantic Monthly Press, hardcover; 5/14)
Little Green (Easy Rawlins #12) by Walter Mosley (Dobuleday, hardcover; 5/14)
Lucky Bastard (Lucky O’Toole #4) by Deborah Coonts (Forge Books, hardcover; 5/14)
The Healer by Antti Tuomainen (Henry Holt and Co., hardcover; 5/14)
Shotgun Lullaby by Steve Ulfelder (Minotaur Books, hardcover; 5/14)
Sign of the Cross (Spike Sanguinetti #2) by Thomas Mogford (Bloomsbury USA, hardcover; 5/14)
Angel Baby by Richard Lange (Mulholland Books, hardcover; 5/14)
A Case of Redemption by Adam Mitzner (Gallery Books, hardcover; 5/14)
Original Skin (DS Aector McAvoy #2) by David Mark (Blue Rider Press, hardcover; 5/16) * giveaway
Take, Burn or Destroy (Adventures of Charles Hayden #4) by S. Thomas Russell (Putnam Adult, hardcover; 5/16)

Sold for Endless Rue by Madeleine E. Robins (Forge Books, hardcover; 5/14)
The Star Attraction by Alison Sweeney (Hyperion, trade paperback; 5/14)
Destined to Fly (Avalon Trilogy #3) by Indigo Bloome (Avon Red, trade paperback; 5/14)
Lachlan’s Bridge (Highland Lairds Trilogy #2) by Kathleen Harrington (Avon, mass market paperback; 5/14)

Make Good Art by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chip Kidd (William Morrow & Company, hardcover; 5/14)
The Outsider by Jimmy Connors (HarperCollins, hardcover; 5/14)
The Guns at Last Light: The War in… by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt and Co., hardcover; 5/14)
The Book of Marvels: A Compendium of Everyday Things by Lorna Crozier (Greystone Books, hardcover; 5/14)
Here Is Where: Discovering America’s… by Andrew Carroll (Crown Archetype, hardcover; 5/14) * giveaway
Mickey and Willie: Mantle and Mays, the… by Allen Barra (Crown Archetype, hardcover; 5/14)
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion by Allen C. Guelzo (Knopf, hardcover; 5/14)
Conversations with the Universe: How the World Speaks to Us by Simran Singh (SelectBooks, trade paperback; 5/14)
The Legend by Marie Bronsard, translated by Sonia Alland (Seagull Books, hardcover; 5/15)
A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home… by Sue Halpern (Riverhead, hardcover; 5/16)
She Left Me the Gun… by Emma Brockes (The Penguin Press HC, hardcover; 5/16)

School Spirits (School Spirits #1) by Rachel Hawkins (Disney-Hyperion, hardcover; 5/14)
The Rithmatist (Rithmatist #1) by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Teen, hardcover; 5/14) * giveaway
Towering by Alex Flinn (HarperTeen, hardcover; 5/14) * giveaway
Winger by Andrew Smith (Simon & Schuster, hardcover; 5/14)
The Year of Luminous Love by Lurlene McDaniel (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, hardcover; 5/14)
The Cydonian Pyramid (The Klaatu Diskos #2) by Pete Hautman (Candlewick Press, hardcover; 5/14)
Formerly Shark Girl (Shark Girl #2) by Kelly Bingham (Candlewick Press, hardcover; 5/14)
The Beautiful and the Cursed (The… by Page Morgan (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, hardcover; 5/14)

Invisible Monsters Remix by Chuck Palahniuk (W. W. Norton & Company, trade paperback; 5/13)
Live by Night by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow & Company, trade paperback; 5/14)
The Innocents by Francesca Segal (Voice, trade paperback; 5/14)
Wilderness by Lance Weller (Bloomsbury USA, trade paperback; 5/14) * giveaway
The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher (Ember, trade paperback; 5/14)
The Headmaster’s Wager by Vincent Lam (Hogarth, trade paperback; 5/14)
Albert of Adelaide by Howard L. Anderson (Twelve, trade paperback; 5/14) * giveaway
Ghosts of Manhattan by Douglas Brunt (Touchstone, trade paperback; 5/14)
Noughties by Ben Masters (Hogarth, trade paperback; 5/14)
Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Grand Central Publishing, trade paperback; 5/14)
No Child of Mine by Susan Lewis (Ballantine Books, trade paperback; 5/14)
Master and God by Lindsey Davis (St. Martin’s Griffin, trade paperback; 5/14)
Ladies in Waiting by Laura L. Sullivan (Graphia, trade paperback; 5/14)
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution… by Tom Reiss (Broadway, trade paperback; 5/14)
A Room Full of Bones (Ruth Galloway #4) by Elly Griffiths (Mariner Books, trade paperback; 5/14)
Tracing Stars by Erin Moulton (Puffin, trade paperback; 5/16)

Happy reading!

Earlier this spring an issue of Martha Stewart Living had a charming feature on the gardens of five legendary female writers, all of which are still in fabulous bloom and open to the touring public. It came at a perfect time as I was considering the relationship between writers and their often-favored pastime. There’s a certain connection between books and nature that seems inseparable, and seeing the gardens that our favorite writers cultivated gives us as readers an even greater opportunity to better understand the women behind some of the most timeless stories.

Anne Spencer’s home garden in Lynchburg, Virginia, was cultivated by the poet in the 1930s and still includes many of her own plants, include a Spanish Beauty rose that’s now more than seventy-five years old. Originally, the restoration of the garden began in the 1980s and has remained a continual project of the Hillside Garden Club. | For more: Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum

The Mount, perhaps one of New England’s most iconic literary estates, was famously designed by Edith Wharton herself, and this includes the home’s gardens. The novelist thought herself better equipped for gardening than writing and cited the Mount’s gardens as an even more notable accomplishment than The House of Mirth. Nestled in the Berkshires in Lenox, Massachusetts, the Mount’s gardens cover three acres of land with a decidedly European flair, inspired by Wharton’s many trips abroad. | For more: EdithWharton.org

Steepletop, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s estate in Austerlitz, New York, rests on a 700-acre farm. The gardens (where she weeded in the nude) served as the backdrop for many of her famously outlandish parties, complete with peonies, wildflowers, day lilies, phlox, vegetation – and an outdoor bar. The poet also built a small abode in the garden which she designated as a space for writing. | For more: Millay.org

The garden at Eudora Welty’s family home in Jackson, Mississippi, was originally planted by her mother before the writer eventually took over its cultivation. Restored from its heyday in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, the garden boasts daffodils and irises, detailed trellises and latticework, and Welty’s most beloved collection of camellias. | For more: Eudora Welty House: The Garden

In Charlotte, North Carolina, Elizabeth Lawrence’s garden provided an experimental location that helped her better understand and observe the nature of gardening. Aside from her many books on gardening and her column for the Charlotte Observer which lasted over a decade, Lawrence was also a garden designer. Now part of Wing Haven Gardens, her modest but abundant garden is showcased down the street from another famous garden home: that of Elizabeth Clarkson. | For more: Wing Haven Gardens

Images scanned from Martha Stewart Living April 2013 issue

Marcus Gorman’s Triceratops tells the story of two remarkable twentysomethings from the West Coast set adrift in the madness of New York City: Charlotte, roaming the streets armed only with a liquor addiction, a mouth like a sailor, and her artist ex-lover’s disturbing final work; and Henry, a guy whose primary life concerns involve Beat generation poets and a dedicated knowledge of jazz music. After spending a hazardous night together back in Seattle Henry and Charlotte never expected to see one another again – and definitely not on the other side of the country, in the middle of the night, in the middle of an empty New York street. But as their lives work their perverse magic the two are thrown together for three weeks filled with the sort of insanity that only New York City is capable of. Swallowed up in a scene filled with art, music, sexuality, liquor, drugs, and madness, the two find friends, lovers, and enemies amid New York’s wildest array of characters: its musicians and artists.

Combining dark comedy with astonishing real-life insight, Triceratops works itself into a spectacle of the bizarre, and the result is rather brilliant. Gorman’s ability to handle scenes that alter between being utterly brazen and entirely relatable is a remarkable talent, and he executes it wonderfully. Woven within the fascinating mayhem of their setting, his characters offer transformative reflections on life and human nature that not only build their own perceptions, but reach out and cause the reader to reflect on them as well. It makes for a mesmerizing experience, while other elements of the book entertain on a lighter level. The combination was enough to leave me speechless after the novel’s final pages, and exhausted in that way that great books often leave us.

I loved that the story was told from the alternating perspectives of Charlotte and Henry, the transition between which was, for the most part, indicated only by the narrative’s change of tone. While I found the book comfortable to navigate, giving the narration decidedly more attention also allowed me to best appreciate the artistry of Gorman’s prose. This style of writing will keep the reader on their toes, much as the story itself does. It contributed, I thought, to the artfully woven sense of disarray that the story often provoked; a metaphor, perhaps, for the haphazard situations the characters find themselves in, but underneath the surface it always manages, fantastically, to make sense. While perhaps the subject matter may not be for every audience, beneath the bold exterior of many scenes is a profound intelligence that will be deeply felt by its audience. Gorman’s selection of characters through which these insights are carried connect the reader especially with the uniqueness of humanity and the natural differences we all possess. Never without substance, Triceratops is at once powerful and amusing, offering readers an experience unlike any other.

Title: Triceratops
Author: Marcus Gorman
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Marcus Gorman
Available Formats: paperback, e-book
Release date: October 25, 2012
Provided by: Marcus Gorman (c/o)
Buy the book: Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble
Connect with the author: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

There’s a huge selection of new releases in all genres this week (including the new-to-paperback titles). In fiction, M.J. Rose’s highly anticipated Seduction, the fifth in her Reincarnationist series, is finally available, and there are some very interestiong debuts as well, including the first novel from the legendary Sidney Poitier. In mystery, Charlaine Harris’s widely-read Sookie Stackhouse novels (also known as the Southern Vampire Series, for those of you who were reading back in the pre-True Blood days) finally comes to a close with its thirteenth book, Dead Ever After. Other longstanding series also have new additions, from John Sanford’s Lucas Davenport series with its twenty-third, Silken Prey, to Emily Brightwell’s beloved Mrs. Jeffries series with its thirty-first installment, Mrs. Jeffries Turns the Tide. In romance, Shayla Black continues her Wicked Lovers series with Ours to Love and Jo Davis begins a new romantic suspense series with Sworn to Protect; additionally, Katie MacAlister is back with a new paranormal series, Traveller, debuting with Time Thief. In nonfiction there are new releases from Jim Gaffigan, Bill O’Reilly, George Lopez and many more. Young Adult sees the fourteenth in Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampires series with Fall of the Night and the highly anticipated Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan. Last but not least, quite a few notables are new in paperback this week, including Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize-winning Bring Up the Bodies, Maggie Shipstead’s Seating Arrangements, David R. Gillham’s City of Women, and Molly Ringwald’s When it Happens to You, among many others.

Seduction (The Reincarnationist #5) by M.J. Rose (Atria Books, hardcover; 5/7) * giveaway
The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell (Amy Einhorn Books, hardcover; 5/7) * giveaway
Unwritten by Charles Martin (Center Street, hardcover; 5/7)
Flora by Gail Godwin (Bloomsbury USA, hardcover; 5/7) * giveaway
A Dual Inheritance by Joanna Hershon (Ballantine Books, hardcover; 5/7)
Montaro Caine by Sidney Poitier (Spiegel & Grau, hardcover; 5/7)
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra (Hogarth, hardcover; 5/7)
Benjamin Franklin’s Bastard by Sally Cabot (William Morrow & Company, hardcover; 5/7)
The Inquisitor’s Wife by Jeanne Kalogridis (St. Martin’s Griffin, hardcover; 5/7)
Black Venus by James MacManus (Thomas Dunne Books, hardcover; 5/7)
Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck (NAL, trade paperback; 5/7)
Elizabeth the First Wife by Lian Dolan (Prospect Park Books, trade paperback; 5/7) * giveaway

Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13) by Charlaine Harris (Ace, hardcover; 5/7)
Murder in Chelsea (Gaslight Mystery #15) by Victoria Thompson (Berkley, hardcover; 5/7)
Silken Prey (Lucas Davenport #23) by John Sanford (Putnam Adult, hardcover; 5/7) * giveaway
The Barbed Crown (Ethan Gage #6) by William Dietrich (Harper, hardcover; 5/7)
Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell (Mulholland Books, hardcover; 5/7)
Every Contact Leaves a Trace by Elanor Dymott (W.W. Norton & Company, hardcover; 5/6)
Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland by Ace Atkins (Putnam Adult, hardcover; 5/7)
A Delicate Truth by John le Carré (Viking Adult, hardcover; 5/7)
The Innocence Game by Michael T. Harvey (Knopf, hardcover; 5/7)
Mrs. Jeffries Turns the Tide (Mrs. Jeffries #31) by Emily Brightwell (Berkley, mass market paperback; 5/7)
Pirate Alley (Tommy Carmellini #5) by Stephen Coonts (St. Martin’s Press, hardcover; 5/7)
Dead, White, and Blue (Death on Demand #23) by Carolyn Hart (Berkley, hardcover; 5/7)
What a Mother Knows by Leslie Lehr (Sourcebooks, trade paperback; 5/7)
Every Broken Trust (Skeet Bannion #2) by Linda Rodriguez (Minotaur Books, hardcover; 5/7)
Angora Alibi (Seaside Knitters Mystery #11) by Sally Goldenbaum (NAL, hardcover; 5/7) * giveaway
The Night Detectives: A David Mapstone Mystery by Jon Talton (Poisoned Pen Press, hardcover; 5/7)

Ours to Love (Wicked Lovers #7) by Shayla Black (Berkley, trade paperback; 5/7)
Down London Road (On Dublin Street #2) by Samantha Young (NAL, trade paperback; 5/7)
Sworn to Protect (Sugarland Blue #1) by Jo Davis (Signet, mass market paperback; 5/7)
Nightbound (Lords of the Darkyn #3) by Lynn Viehl (Signet, mass market paperback; 5/7)
The Week Before the Wedding by Beth Kendrick (NAL, trade paperback; 5/7)
Once Upon a Prince (Royal Wedding Series #1) by Rachel Hauck (Zondervan, trade paperback; 5/7)
Time Thief (Traveller #1) by Katie MacAlister (Signet, mass market paperback; 5/7)
Lady Vivian Defies a Duke (Beau… by Samantha Grace (Sourcebooks Casablanca, mass market paperback; 5/7)

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking by Daniel C. Dennett (W.W. Norton & Company, hardcover; 5/6)
Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan (Crown Archetype, hardcover; 5/7)
Obsessed: America’s Food Addiction – And My Own by Mika Brzezinski (Weinstein Books, hardcover; 5/7) * giveaway
Keep It Pithy: Useful Observations in… by Bill O’Reilly (Crowne Archetype, hardcover; 5/7)
Cronkite’s War: His World War II… by Walter Cronkite IV and Maurice Isserman (National Geographic, hardcover; 5/7)
Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition by T. Colin Campbell (BenBella Books, hardcover; 5/7)
Man Up!: Tales of My Delusional… by Ross Matthews (Grand Central Publishing, hardcover; 5/7) * giveaway
The Woman Before Walis: Prince Edward… by Andrew Rose (Picador, hardcover; 5/7)
I’m Not Gonna Lie: And Other Lies… by George Lopez (Celebra, hardcover; 5/7)
Forty-One False Starts: Essays on Artists… by Janet Malcolm (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, hardcover; 5/7) * giveaway
Adulting: How to Become a… by Kelly Williams Brown (Grand Central Publishing, trade paperback; 5/7) * giveaway

The 5th Wave (The Fifth Wave #1) by Rick Yancey (Putnam Juvenile, hardcover; 5/7) * giveaway
The Reluctant Assassin (W.A.R.P. #1) by Eoin Colfer (Disney Hyperion, hardcover; 5/7)
Fall of Night (The Morganville Vampires #14) by Rachel Caine (New American Library, hardcover; 5/7)
If I Should Die (Revenants #3) by Amy Plum (HarperTeen, hardcover; 5/7)
Mystic (Soul Seekers #3) by Alyson Noel (St. Martin’s Griffin, hardcover; 5/7)
Invisibility by Andrea Cemer and David Levithan (Philomel, hardcover; 5/7)
The Savage Blue (The Vicisious Deep #2) by Zoraida Córdova (Sourcebooks Fire, hardcover; 5/7)
Icons (Icons #1) by Margaret Stohl (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, hardcover; 5/7)
Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland (Disney Hyperion, hardcover; 5/7)
Fifteenth Summer by Michelle Dalton (Simon Pulse, hardcover; 5/7)
How My Summer Went Up in Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski (Simon Pulse, hardcover; 5/7)

Bring Up the Bodies (Thomas Cromwell Trilogy #2) by Hilary Mantel (Picador, trade paperback; 5/7)
The Pigeon Pie Mystery by Julia Stuart (Anchor, trade paperback; 5/7)
Rod: The Autobiography by Rod Stewart (Three Rivers Press, trade paperback; 5/7)
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (Vintage, trade paperback; 5/7)
Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead (Vintage, trade paperback; 5/7)
The Lower River by Paul Theroux (Mariner Books, trade paperback; 5/7)
City of Women by David R. Gilljam (Berkley, trade paperback; 5/7) * giveaway
The Cottage at Glass Beach by Heather Barbieri (Harper Perennial, trade paperback; 5/7) * giveaway
Murder on Fifth Avenue (Gaslight Mystery #14) by Victoria Thompson (Berkley, mass market paperback; 5/7)
A Small Fortune by Rosie Dastgir (Riverhead, trade paperback; 5/7)
When It Happens to You by Molly Ringwald (It Books, trade paperback; 5/7) * giveaway
Thinking of You by Jill Mansell (Sourcebooks Landmark, trade paperback; 5/7)
Sutton by J.R. Moehringer (Hyperion, trade paperback; 5/7)
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks (St. Martin’s Griffin, trade paperback; 5/7)
The Forever Marriage by Ann Bauer (Overlook, trade paperback; 5/7)
Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel (Anchor, trade paperback; 5/7)

Happy reading!

Read my full review | Buy it on Amazon | Add it on Goodreads

Christine Nolfi‘s Treasure Me is one of those books that, from the very first page, catches your attention and never lets go. “Entertaining” is a word we often use for books, but Treasure Me gives it a bit of a boost, really, and reminds us exactly what the experience of being entertained is like; the thrill of a page-turning mystery, the delight of a butterfly-inducing romance, and the fullness of life that books are capable of. The first in her Liberty Series (see also its prequel, Second Chance Grill), the novel is the story of petty thief Birdie Kaminsky and the search for a secret treasure that brings her to the small town of Liberty, Ohio, where she butts heads and falls in love with its inhabitants, from spunky matriarch Theordora to handsome, infuriating reporter Hugh Schaeffer. Through it all, Birdie’s driven by the story of her ancestor, a plantation owner in Civil War-era South Carolina, who freed his slave, a woman named Justice Postell, and sent her north with the treasure. As she uncovers the history of the remarkable freedwoman and unearths the treasure, Birdie discovers much more about herself as well.

Christine kindly gave permission for the inclusion of an excerpt, which gives a bit of insight into how Birdie and the unforgettable town of Liberty get along. Enjoy!

Christine is also part of Her Books, a collection of best-selling and award-winning writers whose books embody the extraordinary scope of women through beautifully diverse genres. You can connect with them on Facebook and their website where they’re currently in the middle of a week-long celebration of women, complete with giveaways and stories of empowerment and inspiration.

Synopsis: Petty thief Birdie Kaminsky has arrived in Liberty, Ohio to steal a treasure hidden since the Civil War. She’s in possession of a charming clue passed down in her family for generations: Liberty safeguards the cherished heart.

If the stories are true, Justice bore a child with Lucas. Some of those black relatives might still live in town. Birdie can’t help but wonder if she’s found one—Liberty’s feisty matriarch, Theodora Hendricks, who packs a pistol and heartwarming stories about Justice. Birdie doesn’t know that an investigative reporter will trip her up—as will her conscience when she begins to wonder if it’s possible to start a new life with stolen riches. Yet with each new clue she unearths, Birdie discovers a family history more precious than gems, a tradition of love richer than she’d imagined.

Life for Laura Warren is punctuated by the methodical: a radiographic technician, her work at a prestigious hospital on the Maine coast requires her to look at cancer every day, unearthing the answers to patients’ most fearsome question and yet not being in a station to share what she knows. Keeping her thoughts to herself is something she’s familiar with at home, too. Her husband, Dan, has become increasingly embittered by the loss of his job, effectively driving a wedge further into their already fractured relationship. The bright lights in Laura’s life, her children, are living full lives of their own – creative, talented Ben away at college and savvy Sally in her final year of high school. Laura never really entertains escape, but when she finds herself at a weekend conference in Boston her world is turned upside down when she chances into conversation with another guest at the hotel. Richard has all the looks of a stuffy insurance salesman in his fifties, but no sooner have they engaged in a passing conversation when they realize they’ve both stumbled upon something profound, maybe even life-changing.

Douglas Kennedy’s eleventh novel, Five Days, is a luxurious work that spins several unpleasant topics into a rich literary experience. It’s a love story that explores both the rampant ecstasy and wrenching sadness with a scope so broad it will leave the reader rather breathless. As the title suggests, the story is divided into five days amid Laura’s life, documenting the unhappiness of her every day, the tentative thrill of discovering something new, and the frightening elation at the prospect of changing her life for the better. Perhaps what I connected most with in the book was the difficulty – and triumph – in Laura’s plight to recreate her life; Kennedy focuses the novel on her first-person narration, which allows the reader to become fully acquainted with this remarkable character. Initially, I felt that I couldn’t quite relate with Laura, that her tone was rather depressing, but the beauty of Kennedy’s work is in the power he maintains over his own writing. His timing is excellent. As Laura frees herself from the confines of her depressing life and embarks on a life-changing relationship with another man, she allows herself to open up to the reader, to drop her guard. But it was after what happened later – when changes she had never expected began to take shape – that I found her at her most empowering.

Kennedy’s use of language is superb, and his detailing creates a beautiful, almost dreamlike literary world that’s tinged ever slightly with melancholy. Richard and Laura are both pragmatic and romantic, two fascinatingly smart, well-read, engaged people. Their connect is so that Kennedy manages to set them more or less above every other character in the book – which, as they together share in their delight of obscure artistic references and an all-too-encompassing interest in synonyms – could make the reader feel either connected or slightly detached. Their intellect being the chief source of their chemistry, I found it fascinating to follow along and see the sparks ignite on the page. Overall, I found Five Days to be a thought-provoking look at the power of love to build up, destroy, and change our lives as we know it, and how we as humans deal with the magnitude of it.

Title: Five Days
Author: Douglas Kennedy
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Atria Books
Available Formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audio book
Release date: April 30, 2013
Provided by: Atria Books/Simon & Schuster via NetGalley (c/o)
Buy the book: Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble
Connect with the author: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

We’ve got a huge selection of new releases this week, with every genre practically bursting with interesting reads. In fiction, there’s new work from Douglas Kennedy, Fern Michaels, Deanna Raybourn, and more, as well as the debut of actress Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls, Parenthood) with her novel, Someday, Someday, Maybe. In mystery, James Patterson and Maxine Paetro continue the popular Women’s Murder Club series with its tenth installment, and there’s also new work from Sarah Graves, Kay Hooper, Camilla Läckberg, and others. Romance sees quite a few historicals – from Lorraine Heath’s anticipated Lord of Wicked Intentions to the fourth in the Swanlea Spinsters series by Sabrina Jeffries, Dance of Seduction; there’s also a heaping of contemporary – including Susan Wiggs, Sherryl Woods, and Robyn Carr – and even a touch of paranormal. In nonfiction there are memoirs from Edna O’Brien, Sally Kellerman, Temple Grandin, and many others, as well as an English translation of Eduardo Galeano’s Children of the Days and a new look at Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald from R. Clifton Spargo. Because it is, of course, the year of the Fitzgeralds (and I, for one, am loving it). In young adult, Wendy Higgins continues her Sweet trilogy with Sweet Peril and Suzanne Young launches a new series with The Program. Lastly, the new-to-paperback list boasts some tefficic bestsellers from last year, including Jennifer Weiner’s The Next Best Thing, Chris Cleave’s Gold, Tana French’s Broken Harbor, and Kevin Powers’s The Yellow Birds. As ever, enjoy another sampling of what’s new this week!

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham (Ballantine Books, hardcover; 4/30)
Five Days by Douglas Kennedy (Atria Books, hardcover; 4/30)
Best Kept Secret (The Clifton Chronicles #3) by Jeffrey Archer (St. Martin’s Press, hardcover; 4/30)
The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud (A.A. Knopf, hardcover; 4/30)
The Blossom Sisters by Fern Michaels (Kensington, hardcover; 4/30)
Butch Cassidy: The Lost Years by William W. Johnstone with J.A. Johnstone (Kensington, hardcover; 4/30)
The Blind Man’s Garden by Nadeem Aslam (Knopf, hardcover; 4/30)
A Spear of Summer Grass (A Spear… by Deanna Raybourn (MIRA, trade paperback; 4/30) * giveaway
The Third Son by Julie Wu (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, hardcover; 4/30)
All Decent Animals by Oonya Kempadoo (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, hardcover; 4/30)
The Morels by Christopher Hacker (Soho Press, hardcover; 4/30)
The Fairbairn Girls by Una-Mary Parker (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 5/1)
A Tear in the Curtain by John Symons (Shepheard-Walwyn, hardcover; 5/1)
Illusions of Happiness by Elizabeth Lord (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 5/1)
Tenement Girl by Anne Douglas (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 5/1)
A Guide to Being Born: Stories by Ramona Ausubel (Riverhead, hardcover; 5/2)

12th of Never (Women’s… by James Patterson & Macine Paetro (Little, Brown and Company, hardcover; 4/29)
Mystery Writers of America… edited by Brad Meltzer (Grand Central Publishing, hardcover; 4/30) * giveaway
The Tooth Tattoo (Peter Diamond #13) by Peter Lovesey (Soho Crime, hardcover; 4/30)
A Bat in the Belfry (Home Repair is Homicide #16) by Sarah Graves (Bantam, hardcover; 4/30)
The Body in the Piazza by Katherine Hall Page (William Morrow & Company, hardcover; 4/30)
Stolen by Daniel Palmer (Kensington, hardcover; 4/30) * giveaway
Haven (Bishop/Special Crimes Unit #13) by Kay Hooper (Jove, mass market paperback; 4/30)
The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (Mulholland Books, hardcover; 4/30)
The Devil in Her Way by Bill Loehfelm (Sarah Crichton Books, hardcover; 4/30)
The Silence by Sarah Rayne (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 5/1)
The Drowned Man by David Whellams (ECW Press, hardcover; 5/1)
The Path of the Wicked (Liberty Lane #6) by Caro Peacock (Creme de la Crime, hardcover; 5/1)
The Stranger (Fjällbacka #4) by Camilla Läckberg (Pegasus Books, hardcover; 5/1)
Good Man Friday (Benjamin January #12) by Barbara Hambly (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 5/1)
A Rescue for a Queen by Fiona Buckley (Creme de la Crime, hardcover; 5/1)
The Babylon Rite by Tom Knox (Viking Adult, hardcover; 5/2)

The Apple Orchard (Bella Vista #1) by Susan Wiggs (MIRA, hardcover; 4/30) * giveaway
Wind Chime Point (Ocean Breeze #2) by Sherryl Woods (MIRA, mass market paperback; 4/30)
It Happened at the Fair by Deeanne Gist (Howard Books, hardcover; 4/30) * giveaway
Informed Risk by Robyn Carr (Harlequin, mass market paperback; 4/30)
Against the Edge (Raines of the Wind Canyon #8) by Kat Martin (MIRA, mass market paperback; 4/30)
Bare It All (Love Undercover #2) by Lori Foster (HQN, mass market paperback; 4/30)
Half Moon Hill (Destiny #6) by Toni Blake (Avon, mass market paperback; 4/30)
Lord of Wicked Intentions (The Lost Lords of Pembrook #3) by Lorraine Heath (Avon, mass market paperback; 4/30)
Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild #1) by Kate Douglas (Aphrodisia, trade paperback; 4/30)
Midnight Temptations with… by Tiffany Clare (St. Martin’s Paperbacks, mass market paperback; 4/30)
A Passion for Pleasure (Daring Hearts #2) by Nina Rowan (Forever, mass market paperback; 4/30)
Dance of Seduction (Swanlea Spinsters #4) by Sabrina Jeffries (Avon, mass market paperback; 4/30)
Cowboy Take Me Away (Rainbow Valley #1) by Jane Graves (Forever, mass market paperback; 4/30) * giveaway
The Devil’s Heart (The Chattan Curse #3) by Cathy Maxwell (Avon, mass market paperback; 4/30)
No Strings Attached by Kate Angell (Kensington, mass market paperback; 4/30)
A Place of Hope by Anna Jacobs (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 5/1)

The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across… by Temple Grandin and Richard Panek (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, hardcover; 4/30)
Country Girl by Edna O’Brien (Little, Brown and Company, hardcover; 4/30)
As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling by Anne Serling (Citadel, hardcover; 4/30)
Read My Lips: Stories of a Hollywood Life by Sally Kellerman (Weinstein Books, hardcover; 4/30)
Attempting Normal by Marc Maron (Spiegel & Grau, hardcover; 4/30)
Waiting to Be Heard by Amanda Knox (HarperCollins, hardcover; 4/30)
Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking Adult, hardcover; 4/30)
Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas (Thomas Nelson Publishers, hardcover; 4/30)
Children of the Days… by Eduardo Hughs Galeano, translated by Mark Fried (Nation Books, hardcover; 4/30)
But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria!… by Julia Reed (St. Martin’s Press, hardcover; 4/30)
The Mouth That Roared… by Dallas Green and Alan Maimon (Triumph Books, hardcover; 5/1)
Beautiful Fools: The Last Affair of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald by R. Clifton Spargo (Overlook, hardcover; 5/2) * giveaway

Sweet Peril (The Sweet Trilogy #2) by Wendy Higgins (HarperTeen, trade paperback; 4/30)
The Program (Program #1) by Suzanne Young (Simon Pulse, hardcover; 4/30)
Nobody’s Secret by Michaela MacColl (Chronicle Books, hardcover; 4/30)
The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise (Balzer & Bray, hardcover; 4/30)
The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2) by Julie Kagawa (Harlequin Teen, hardcover; 4/30) * giveaway
The Last Academy by Anne Applegate (Point, hardcover; 4/30)
Sketchy (Bea Catcher Chronicles #1) by Olivia Samms (Amazon Children’s Publishing, hardcover; 4/30)

The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner (Washington Square Press, trade paperback; 4/30) * giveaway
Gold by Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster, trade paperback; 4/30) * giveaway
Odd Apocalypse (Odd Thomas #5) by Dean Koontz (Bantam, mass market paperback; 4/30)
Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad #4) by Tana French (Penguin, trade paperback; 4/30)
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (Back Bay Books, trade paperback; 4/30)
Courageous by Diana Palmer (HQN, mass market paperback; 4/30)
Frozen Heat (Nikki Heat #4) by Richard Castle (Hyperion, mass market paperback; 4/30)
Destined (House of Night #9) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (St. Martin’s Griffin, trade paperback; 4/30)
Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits #1) by Katie McGarry (Harlequin Teen, trade paperback; 4/30)
Midnight in Peking: How the Murder… by Paul French (Penguin, trade paperback; 4/30)

Happy reading!

In today’s hectic world we are constantly motivated to fit as much into a day as possible, and we often do so in the pursuit of satisfying others regardless of our own physical or mental health. But could it be possible that the recipe for our most successful and empowering selves begins with focusing on our own needs first? This is the question naturopathic doctor Forrest Beck poses to readers in his book, Cultivating the Fine Art of Selfishness. You read that correctly: we’re talking about selfishness rather than selflessness. The premise Dr. Beck has founded his book on completely alters our view of the word from an unattractive, vain, often greedy quality to a simply more self-aware lifestyle that, he believes, will create a chain reaction in how we treat others and thereby change the quality of help we can offer them.

Other readers may relate to me when I say that I, at first, struggled to align myself with the concept of the word “selfish” as a positive purely because I was brought up on its negative connotation, but Dr. Beck sets the groundwork for his theory so well that the unusualness of the word’s new meaning is quite brief. Instead, I found myself catching on the word every time it was used, and it reminded me anew of the possibility for enriching my life through the ideas and inspiration Dr. Beck presents. In Cultivating the Fine Art of Selfishness Dr. Beck explores the way we live now and unearths the less obvious, though entirely dangerous, habits we fall into on a daily basis. He divides his book between four parts – on our personal connectivity, our habits, our health, and our financial awareness – and within each part he allots chapters dedicated to further exploring each topic under the premise of selfishness. I related especially to the first part of the book and its discussion of managing “me time”, highlighting the importance of daily solitude in order to reflect, meditate, energize, dream, and otherwise center ourselves. Here Dr. Beck offers tools for finding the most convenient hours of the day to be alone and how we should spend them. True to current technology, he even examines in detail our use of social media and how our internet habits can affect our outlook. (If you spend a lot of time online as I do, this chapter will be especially telling.) Additionally, his chapters on achieving our best possible individual health goals was enlightening, wherein he offers some unique and time-tested ideas for managing eating and exercise habits. As soon as I finished reading I felt inspired and motivated to make smart choices in my life; but I also felt accepting of myself in the moment, as well. I think that’s a great uniqueness of Dr. Beck’s premise, that giving our own needs top priority in our lives will ultimately lead us toward a much more superior level of self-esteem.

Perhaps the best component of Dr. Beck’s book is the confident voice with which he delivers his ideas. He writes with warmth, compassion, and sensibility, making every new chapter read as naturally as a conversation. It’s often easy to feel overwhelmed by such primary lifestyle topics – perhaps because we can all relate to them, and we’re all familiar with our own bad habits – but Dr. Beck’s approach takes the scare factor out of making a lifestyle change, and indeed he makes being “selfish” sound fun. After all, is it really selfish to give our all to the physical and mental place that we call home?

Title: Cultivating the Fine Art of Selfishness
Author: Dr. Forrest Beck, N.D.
Genre: self-improvement
Publisher: Advantage Media Group
Available Formats: paperback, ebook
Release date: October 24, 2012
Provided by: Dr. Forrest Beck (c/o)
Buy the book: Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble
Connect with the author: Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Google +