Category: New Books

Dragon-Plagued Cities, A Contemporary Frankenstein Tale, And More New Books

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date January 22, 2018

It’s Tuesday (again!) which means there are a bunch of faboo new releases! (Why, yes, I did watch a lot of Animaniacs as a child.) I have a few more awesome books for you below and you can hear about several more great titles on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Jenn and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, including Brass, Eternal Life, The Milk Lady of Bangalore, and more.

OH! Did you know Book Riot is giving away a library cart? WELL WE ARE. Because that’s how we roll. Enter to win here.

let's talk about love Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

Alice’s romantic dreams were dashed when her girlfriend dumped her after Alice confessed to being asexual. Now she’s planning to spend her summer alone, binge-watching television and working at the library. Then she meets Takumi and her heart sings. Is she ready to risk their friendship to confess feelings that Takumi may not reciprocate or even understand? This is a heartfelt debut that is perfect for young (or not-so-young) readers, especially those still working out their place in the world. More asexual representation like this in books, please.

Backlist bump: Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee

Our Lady of the Prairie by Thisbe Nissen

There’s a hurricane headed to town, but that’s the least of Phillipa’s problems. The theater professor has just had a passionate affair while teaching away from home, now is returning for her daughter’s wedding, where she will have to endure her menacing mother-in-law, her husband, and all the baggage she left behind while she was gone. But what would happen if she walked away? Nissen’s sharp, funny novel explores what it means when a woman stands up for herself and starts putting herself first in her own life.

Backlist bump: The Good People of New York by Thisbe Nissen

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

A scavenger in US-occupied Baghdad stitches together the body parts of corpses in an effort to get citizens a proper burial, and a grieving mother claims it as her son. But when the corpse goes missing, a series of murders begin plaguing the city, leading to an undead killer who must be stopped. This is an inventive way to talk about the horrors of war, loss, and what it’s like to live in a war-torn city.

Backlist bump: Escape from Baghdad! by Saad Hossain

The Sky is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith

A dystopian epic about a future city called Empire Island, plagued by dragons, violence, and chaos, and three young people who must battle fire, the future, and themselves to survive in the world. I love the idea of a future world with dragons. This is a genre-bending delight!

Backlist bump: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (For more dragons. I am so into dragons right now.)

That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! If you want to learn more about books new and old (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, or books you think I should read (I HEART RECOMMENDATIONS!), you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or L itsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

New Books

Beautiful Minds, A Lover’s Revenge, and More New Books

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date January 15, 2018

Happy Tuesday! Show of hands: Who’s reading something good this week? (I know, I know, I can’t really see your hands. But I can hear them.) Today is full of great new releases, and also a great re-release: Where the Line Bleeds, the first novel by Jesmyn Ward! I have a few more awesome books for you below and you can hear about several more great titles on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, including Red Clocks, Fire Sermon, Truly Devious, and more.

Sponsored by ZENITH, new from #1 New York Times bestselling authors Sasha Alsberg & Lindsay Cummings.

An action-packed thrill ride of adventure, intrigue and steamy star-crossed romance! Book one in The Androma Saga, from #1 New York Times bestselling authors Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings.

Known as the Bloody Baroness, Captain Androma Racella and her motley crew roam the Mirabel galaxy on the starship Marauder taking whatever mercenary work they can find.

But when a routine job goes awry, the Marauder’s all-girl crew find themselves at the mercy of a dangerous bounty hunter from Andi’s past. Coerced into a life-threatening mission, and straight into the path of a shadowy ruler bent on revenge, Andi and her crew will either restore order to the ship—or start a war that will devour worlds.

Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee

A beautiful debut about sisterly love and mental illness. Miranda has cared for her younger sister, Lucia, since their mother died, taking measures to help her when she heard voices, and to protect her from her own impulses. But Miranda cannot contain Lucia forever, who wants to make the decisions about her own life, and soon the heartbreaking reality of the limits of Miranda’s guidance and Lucia’s illness will follow the sisters across oceans and time.

Backlist bump: Forgotten Country by Catherine Chung

Heartland by Ana Simo

A writer decides the best revenge against a rival, who stole her lover and then turned her out, is murder. Set against the backdrop of a crumbling nation, as America’s corporate greed leads to the starvation of the masses, Heartland is an electrifying, alarming, genre-defying debut about love, sex, and revenge.

Backlist bump: The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

Body Full of Stars: Female Rage and My Passage into Motherhood by Molly Caro May

May discusses the physical and mental changes a new mother’s body experiences after a woman has given birth. Specifically, through the lens of her own health issues after the birth of her first child. An important examination of motherhood and women’s health, and how the often misdiagnosed or dismissed problems a new mother faces is a conversation the world should be having now.

Backlist bump: After Birth by Elisa Albert

Oliver Loving by Stefan Merill Block

Oliver Loving was left trapped in his own mind after a terrible tragedy at a Texas school dance. Now, ten years later, he lives in a state facility, attended to by medical professionals and his family. But a new procedure may help him communicate again, and give his family and the small town the answers to what really happened on that fateful night. A moving novel about tragedy, communication, and redemption.

Backlist bump: The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merill Block

Stay rad,

Liberty

New Books

January New Release Megalist: The Sequel

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date January 8, 2018

There was no way I couldn’t do another big list today – there are too many books coming out today that I love! And I like including a lot of titles, even if I haven’t had a chance to read them, because maybe they are something YOU are excited to read or to learn about. I’m all about discussing books, as many and as often as I can.

First Tuesday of 2018 Megalist!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date December 31, 2017

Happy New Year! Hold on to your hats, it’s going to be the most amazing year for books ever – and that’s a high bar! I’m excited to share the first big list of books for 2018 with you today. (I’m always excited when it involves books.) I hope you had wonderful holidays and that you find so many delightful things to read in the new year. It is an honor to help you learn about new books.

Sponsored by Missing Isaac by Valerie Fraser Luesse and Revell Books, a Division of Baker Publishing Group

When Pete McLean loses his father in the summer of 1962, his friend Isaac is one of the few people he can lean on. Though their worlds are as different as black and white, friendship knows no color. So when Isaac suddenly goes missing, Pete is determined to find out what happened–no matter what it costs him. With vivid descriptions, palpable atmosphere, and unforgettable characters, debut novelist Valerie Fraser Luesse breathes life into the rural South of the 1960s –a place where ordinary people struggle to find their footing in a social landscape that is shifting beneath their feet.

(And like last time, I’m putting a next to the books that I have read and loved. There are soooo many more on this list that I can’t wait to read!)

Speaking of new books, on All the Books! this week, Rebecca and I discussed several 2018 titles we are excited about, including The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, The Third Hotel, and That Kind of Mother.

And if you’d like to win several of our favorite books of 2017 (20, to be exact), you can click here to enter our Best of 2017 book giveaway for a chance to receive a big beautiful book bounty.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Spring Girls by Anna Todd

Darkness, Sing Me a Song: A Holland Taylor Mystery by David Housewright

Promise Not to Tell by Jayne Ann Krentz

Between the Blade and the Heart (Valkyrie) by Amanda Hocking

The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson

Green: A Novel by Sam Graham-Felsen

Robicheaux: A Novel by James Lee Burke

A State of Freedom: A Novel by Neel Mukherjee

Chainbreaker by Tara Sim

Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai

Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children by Sara Zaske

Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano

The Financial Diet: A Total Beginner’s Guide to Getting Good with Money by Chelsea Fagan

Ink by Alice Broadway

Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

Chasing King’s Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Assassin by James L. Swanson

The Devil’s Song by Lauren Stahl

The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn

How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t: 14 Habits that Are Holding You Back from Happiness by Andrea Owen

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

The Lost Rainforest: Mez’s Magic by Eliot Schrefer,‎ Emilia Dziubak (Illustrator)

Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson

The Queen of All Crows by Rod Duncan

Mouths Don’t Speak by Katja D. Ulysse

The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer

Everless by Sara Holland

A Map of the Dark cover image: dark image of forest trees with title text in center A Map of the Dark by Karen Ellis

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu

Furnishing Eternity: A Father, a Son, a Coffin, and a Measure of Life by David Giffels

Unbound (A Stone Barrington Novel) by Stuart Woods

Don’t Cosplay with My Heart by Cecil Castellucci

In the Shadow of Agatha Christie: Classic Crime Fiction by Forgotten Female Writers: 1850-1917 by Leslie S. Klinger

The Nothing by Hanif Kureishi

Late Essays: 2006-2017 by J. M. Coetzee

Black Star Renegades by Michael Moreci

Beneath the Mountain cover image: black and white image of mountains Beneath the Mountain: A Novel by Luca D’Andrea

The Pyramid of Mud (An Inspector Montalbano Mystery) by Andrea Camilleri,‎ Stephen Sartarelli (Translator)

The Art of Mystery: The Search for Questions by Maud Casey

Fallen Gods by James A. Moore

Cræft: An Inquiry Into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts by Alexander Langlands

A Conspiracy of Stars by Olivia A. Cole

Meet Cute by Various Contributors

Someone to Love by Melissa de la Cruz

The Refugees: Stories by Viet Thanh Nguyen (paperback)

Stay rad,

Liberty

New Books

20 Upcoming Books to Mark Down on Your TBR

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date December 20, 2017

Last newsletter of 2017! 2018 hits the ground running, new books-wise, but for this last Tuesday of the year, there isn’t a whole lot going on, so instead I’m going to list several upcoming titles I’m looking forward to in the new year. And I’d like to say a great big thank you to all of you who join me every week in getting excited about books. MWAH!

Last-Minute Gift Ideas (For You or Someone Else)

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date December 17, 2017

Two more weeks until 2018! But first, we’re smack dab on the middle of the holidays. If you’re a last-minute shopper, or you want to get more gifts, here are a few great book ideas. I think there’s a little something here for everyone, and I’ve included a little bit of the publisher’s synopsis with each.

December New Release Highlights!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date December 11, 2017

Because of the holidays, there’s always a severe decline in the number of books published the last six weeks of the year. Which is understandable, since everyone is busy with wrap-up posts and ‘best of the year’ lists. But there are still several great books coming before the end of the year, so I thought I’d share a few with you today.

Sponsored by The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

Inspired by myth, fairy tale, and folklore, #1 New York Times-bestselling author Leigh Bardugo has crafted a deliciously atmospheric collection of short stories filled with betrayals, revenge, sacrifice, and love. Perfect for new readers and dedicated fans, the lavishly illustrated tales in The Language of Thorns will transport you to lands both familiar and strange—to a fully realized world of dangerous magic that millions have visited through the novels of the Grishaverse.

And speaking of wrap-ups, you can hear about several of our favorite books of the year on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few of the amazing books we loved, including Chemistry, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, and Idaho.

The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir by Maude Julien, Adriana Hunter (Translator)

Julien’s account of growing up with parents who believed they could make her a ‘superhuman’ by subjecting her to daily torturous challenges, and how she held on to the hope that one day things would change. Okay, not exactly the feel-good book of the holiday season, but still a fascinating look at the triumph of spirit.

Backlist bump: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

They Know Not What They Do by Jussi Valtonen, Kristian London (Translator)

An American neuroscientist becomes the target of attacks, apparently by animal rights activists, but then he receives a phone call from his ex-wife: the son he abandoned in Finland twenty years ago is now in the United States and is looking for revenge. Can he protect his new family from his first family?

Backlist bump: Unknown Caller by Debra Spark

The Love of a Bad Man by Laura Elizabeth Woollett

Short stories imagining the lives of real women who had relationships with famously monstrous men such as Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, and Jim Jones. (Okay, so maybe none of my picks this week are really festive, but they’re good.)

Backlist bump: Almost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew Bergman

A Distant Heart by Sonali Dev

The fourth book in the Bollywood series! Kimya has lived a life of privilege as the only child of wealthy parents. But when she develops a rare illness that keeps her from leaving her home, her ivory tower becomes her prison. But a window washer with a big heart just may be the friendship and salvation she needs.

Backlist bump: A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev

The Mannequin Makers by Craig Cliff

A widower in early 20th-century New Zealand seeks to best his carpenter rival by creating the world’s most lifelike window display, using his twin daughters. A dark fairytale of loss and redemption.

Backlist bump: Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

don't live for your obituary Don’t Live For Your Obituary by John Scalzi

Award-winning author Scalzi shares wit, wisdom, and anecdotes about the life of a working writer, such as navigating today’s world as a writer, the practical business of writing and selling books, and more.

Backlist bump: Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008 by John Scalzi

Stay rad,

Liberty

New Books

Chinese Novellas, Russian Fairy Tales, and More New Books

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date December 4, 2017

Welcome to the first Tuesday of December! I might do some wrap-ups in the coming weeks, but there were still enough awesome books out today that I had some recommendations, and you can hear about several more great books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, including Elmet, Roomies, The Last Black Unicorn, and more.

Sponsored by The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright

Weaving a tale of mystery and romance, this promising author’s critically acclaimed debut is a dual-time narrative about an abandoned house and two women, a century apart, changed by the deadly secrets it holds. Can they unravel its mystery and find a renewed hope before any other lives—including their own—are lost? “With sharp dialogue and plenty of scares, this is a gripping tale that never loses sight of the light.” –Foreword Reviews

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

I don’t often recommend sequels, mostly because I am an ardent fan of reading things in order, but this one is just as good as the first, of not better. I’m not going to spoil things by telling you the plot, just that this is a wonderful continuation of Arden’s magical Russian fairy tale story, with gorgeous descriptions and a kickass heroine.

Backlist bump: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

The Vanishing Princess: Stories (The Art of the Story) by Jenny Diski

Love dark, enchanting, honest short stories? Than look no further! This is a vividly imaginative collection about love, sex, loneliness, femininity, and more, perfect for fans of Mary Miller, Heidi Julavits, and Alexandra Kleeman. Sadly, Diski passed away in 2016, but this posthumous offering is perfect.

Backlist bump: Always Happy Hour: Stories by Mary Miller

The Years, Months, Days: Two Novellas by Yan Lianke, Carlos Rojas (Translator)

Lianke has the distinction of being China’s most banned author, but his works of satire are beloved all over the world. The two novellas here are prize-winning masterpieces about humanity and the universe, a dark but gentle look at love and man’s sense of survival in the face of loss and ruin. Quietly bizarre and powerful.

Backlist bump: Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke

Stay rad,

Liberty

New Books

30 Books from the Beginning of 2017 That Deserve Another Look

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date November 27, 2017

Hello again, book lovers! The pickings are getting mighty slim as far as new releases go, so I thought I’d do something fun and share 30 books that came out in early 2017 I thought deserve a second look. I tweeted these over the weekend, and thought they were worth collecting here. There might be a hidden gem that you missed! As far as new books out today, you can hear about several great books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Amanda and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, including Djinn City, Weave a Circle Round, Oddity, and more.

Legendary Singers, Magical Wasps, and More New Books!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date November 20, 2017

Happy Tuesday, you glorious word-eaters! Who’s reading something good this week? The year is on its last legs, but there are still fabulous books being published. Not a whole lot this week because of the holiday, but I still have a few awesome books for you below and you can hear about several more great books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few amazing books we loved, including A Kind of Freedom, Altered Traits, Spoils, and more.

Sponsored by Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer

Creatures of Will and Temper s a Victorian-era fantasy inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which epee-fencing enthusiast Evadne Gray and her younger sister are drawn into a secret and dangerous London underworld of pleasure-seeking demons and bloodthirsty diabolists, with only Evadne’s skill with a blade standing between them and certain death.

AND OHHHHH! Did you know we’re giving away $500 to the bookstore of your choice? Click here to enter!

You Do You: How to Be Who You Are and Use What You’ve Got to Get What You Want (A No F*cks Given Guide) by Sarah Knight

The third in Knight’s profane and profound series of self-help books aimed at encouraging people to wake up to the reality that we only get one life, and how to make the most of your time and keep self-doubt and the haters from ruining it for you. As Knight says, “If you’re not doing you, you’re screwing you.” It’s not elegant, but it’s damn catchy.

Backlist bump: The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do (A No F*cks Given Guide) by Sarah Knight

Clara at the Edge by Maryl Jo Fox

Clara, an elderly widow, wants to make one more try at reconciling with her estranged son. But she doesn’t want to leave her home, the source comfort and security for so many troubled years. So, with the help of some magical purple wasps and the kindness of strangers, Clara is taking her house to her son. It’s a magical novel about family and loss that is sure to charm most everyone.

Backlist bump: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis

Her name is Stevie and she is our queen! Whether you love Stevie from Fleetwood Mac, American Horror Story, or The Voice, or maybe you don’t know who she is (*GASP*), this is a great look at the life of one of music’s legendary voices. From her early years, to fame and addiction, to life at almost seventy, Stevie Nicks is one of our most fascinating celebrities and talented singers.

Backlist bump: Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History by Richie Unterberger

Stay rad,

Liberty