Don’t be a turkey! Start your holiday shopping early, and get free shipping all US orders this weekend.
And don’t forget! There are just 2 days left to order our limited-edition Season’s Readings sweatshirt.
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Fantastic Beasts Sequel Cast Photo Reveal
We got a photo reveal! Warner Bros. also revealed the sequel’s official title–Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. The first cast photo gives us a look at Jude Law as young Dumbledore and Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald. See the full cast, a close-up of Law and Depp, and even a moving picture because why not? Unless you’d rather be surprised, you can find newly released plot details after the photos in the Entertainment Weekly piece.
Google Doodle Honors Chinua Achebe
Google honored Chinua Achebe with a Google Doodle today, on what would have been the author’s 87th birthday. Achebe passed away in 2013, leaving behind an enduring literary legacy. Published in 50 languages, his 1958 novel Things Fall Apart follows a Nigerian village chief negatively impacted by British colonialism and Christian missionaries. Achebe won the 2007 Man Booker International Prize for fiction.
George Clooney Will Star In And Direct Catch-22 TV Series
George Clooney will star in and direct a six-episode series based on Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. The 1961 novel is set during World War II, and follows the life of Captain John Yossarian, a bombardier. Clooney will play Colonel Cathcart, Yossarian’s commander and enemy. The series will tentatively start shooting early 2018.
Thank you to The Nothing by Hanif Kureishi for sponsoring today’s newsletter.
From the author of The Buddha of Suburbia comes his new book, a novella of passion, revenge, and deception. Waldo, a fêted filmmaker, is confined by old age and ill health to his London apartment. Frail and frustrated, he is cared for by his lovely younger wife, Zee. But when he suspects that Zee is beginning an affair with Eddie, “more than an acquaintance and less than a friend for over thirty years,” Waldo is pressed to action: determined to expose the couple, he sets himself first to prove his suspicions correct – and then to enact his revenge.
On Wednesday, Masha Gessen’s The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, taking the top prize in a category full of political heavy-hitters.
In the spirit of that win, I decided to focus this month’s new books list specifically on true stories written by women that have been published or will be out soon.
We’re giving away $500 to spend at the bookstore of your choice! Click here, or on the image below to enter:
Spineless by Juli Berwald – I love nonfiction about strange science, so of course a book about jellyfish and climate change was going to make my list. I’ve read a few chapters of this one already and it’s a lot of fun. Berwald’s approach reminds me a bit of Mary Roach, which I like.
The Wine Lover’s Daughter by Anne Fadiman – In this memoir, Fadiman explores her relationship with her father, Clifton, “a renowned literary critic, editor, and radio host whose greatest love was wine.” Fadiman is one of my favorite writers, and I love wine, so I think this book will be right up my alley.
Buzz: The Stimulating History of the Sex Toy by Hallie Lieberman – This is another book that reminds me a bit of Mary Roach. In Buzz, Lieberman offers a history of sex toys and explores how they went from taboo to socially acceptable. Plus, that cover is just A++
Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking by Deborah Cadbury – One of the things that intrigues me about Queen Victoria is the way she struggled to find what we’d now call work-life balance. As she aged, Victoria’s attention turned to marrying off her more than 30 grandchildren to guarantee matches with other powerful European royalty. But of course her grandchildren had plans of their own, pitting Victoria’s feelings as a grandmother with her obligations as a queen.
The Last Girl by Nadia Murad – In this memoir, Murad recounts the ISIS attack that massacred her village, her period as a slave to Islamic State fighters, and her eventual escape with the help of a family in Mosul. Her story is “a call to action, a testament to the human will to survive, and a love letter to a lost country, a fragile community, and a family torn apart by war.”
The Extra Woman by Joanna Scutts – Attitudes about single women are still pretty backwards, but for a period in the 1930s singledom was considered pretty glamorous. Scutts revisits that period to tell the story of Marjorie Hillis and the single women in the city that she inspired.
Mean by Myriam Gurba – Part true crime, part memoir, and part ghost story, this book is the story of Gurba’s “coming of age as a queer, mixed-race Chicana.”
The Newcomers by Helen Thorp – The subtitle of this one – “finding refuge, friendship, and hope in an American classroom” – is what really sold me. Thorp explores how teenage refugees learn English and become Americans at a public high school in Denver with a specific class designed to help them adapt.
And that’s all I’ve got for this week. Don’t forget, we’re giving away $500 to spend at the bookstore of your choice! Entries are open worldwide and will be accepted until 11:45 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 26. Click here to enter.
Happy reading!
– Kim Ukura, @kimthedork and kim@riotnewmedia.com
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Win a Copy of WEREGIRL by C.D. Bell!
We have 10 copies each of Weregirl by C. D. Bell and Chimera by C. D. Bell to give away to 10 Riot readers!
Here’s what they are all about:
The forest is full of secrets, and Nessa Kurland is one of them. Nessa’s ferocious training to win a college cross-country scholarship is cut short when a wolf encounter on a nighttime training run leads to a mysterious transformation that she must keep secret from everyone except her closest friend Bree. But Nessa isn’t the only extraordinary being in this wild place: the woods are crawling with corporate contamination and its dangerous cover-up, as well as family secrets that make Nessa question whether the wolves chose her for a mission much larger than her newly-improved and record-breaking race times.
Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the cover image below. Good luck!
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111617-FantasticBeasts-Riot-Rundown
Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling, now in a fully illustrated edition.
An essential companion to the Harry Potter novels, now fully illustrated!
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander’s classic compendium of magical creatures, has delighted generations of wizarding readers. With this beautiful, large-scale new edition illustrated in full color, Muggles too will have the chance to discover where the Runespoor lives, what the Puffskein eats, and why shiny objects should always be kept away from the Niffler.
Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to Comic Relief and J.K. Rowling’s international charity, Lumos, which will do magic beyond the powers of any wizard.
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111617-Legacy-The-Stack
Today’s The Stack is sponsored by Dark Horse Comics.
An amoral investment banker named Vincent receives an inheritance promising immortality. It also attracts a flame-retardant stripper, a ruthless stalker, and a horde of other aspiring immortals dead set and bloodthirsty in their desire to separate Vincent from his destiny. This biting riches-to-rags novella, which only the author of Fight Club and Beautiful You could deliver, is presented as a deluxe hardcover coloring book, beautifully illustrated by Mike Norton (Battlepug, B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth), and Steve Morris (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) who worked with Palahniuk on his 2016 release Bait: Off-Color Stories for You to Color.
And The National Book Awards Go To…
The National Book Foundation announced the National Book Award winners tonight. Without further ado, the winners are…
Fiction: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Nonfiction: The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen
Poetry: Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 by Frank Bidart
Young People’s Literature: Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
The Foundation also honored Richard Robinson, Chairman, President & CEO of Scholastic, who was introduced onstage by President Bill Clinton, and Annie Proulx, introduced by Anne Hathaway.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Son Resigns As Director Of Tolkien Estate
On the cusp of Amazon and Warner Bros.’ Lord of the Rings series adaptation news, we learned that J.R.R. Tolkien’s son resigned as director of the author’s estate. Christopher Tolkien, the 93-year-old scholar of his father’s work, kept a firm grip on the estate’s property rights and reportedly hated Warner Bros.’ Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films. Tolkien Estate recently settled a dispute over the use of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movie characters in slot machines and video games, but now that Christopher Tolkien is out of the picture we may be seeing more of those characters and Tolkien adaptation news.
Authors Write Letters Of Solidarity To Imprisoned Colleagues
Neil Gaiman, Ai Weiwei, Kamila Shamsie, Madeleine Thien, and a whole host of international artists and writers have written letters of solidarity and hope to imprisoned writers around the world. The event marks PEN International’s Day of the Imprisoned Writer, which calls on governments around the world to stop silencing writers. On this day, PEN highlights the cases of five persecuted writers. You can read about the cases, and more about Day of the Imprisoned Writer here.
Thank you to The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty for sponsoring today’s newsletter.
As a con woman in the streets of 18th-century Cairo, Nahri does not believe in magic. She relies on her wits and her healing talents to survive. But when she accidentally summons a sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior during one of her cons, she’s forced to question everything she believes. He tells her that across the hot, windswept sands of the Middle East lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass – home of six djinn tribes, and simmering with old resentments threatening Nahri’s ancestral home. There’s a reason they say to be careful what you wish for…
Happy Thursday, Audiobook fans!
You know what a week from today is in the United States? Thanksgiving. You know what the next month is a lot of places? Time to see your family. Maybe that’s a good thing, maybe that’s a bad thing–-most likely, it’s a bit of both. So, I’ve pulled together a list of books about, among other things, family. Family struggle, family conflict, family grief and, of course, family love.
(I realized after I made the list, there’s a lot of death on here. I’m sorry, that wasn’t my intention. Apparently I just gravitate towards depressing books).
Penguin Random House Audio
Penguin Random House Audio has audiobooks that are a perfect way to bring your friends and family together this busy holiday season.
Family Feuds and Fury (publisher description in quotes):
Fire Shut Up in My Bones by Charles M. Blow
In this universally acclaimed memoir from the New York Times columnist, Blow describes growing up in segregated Louisiana in the 1970s. “Charles’s attachment to his mother – a fiercely driven women with five sons, brass knuckles in her glove box, a job plucking poultry at a nearby factory, a soon-to-be-ex husband, and a love of newspapers and learning – cannot protect him from secret abuse at the hands of an older cousin. It’s damage that triggers years of anger and searing self-questioning.” When Blow leaves to attend college, he finds himself in the unfamiliar role of being called on to perpetuate abuse as opposed to being on the receiving end of it.
May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes
“Harold Silver, [is] a historian who’s always been jealous of his successful brother, George. When the hot-tempered George is institutionalized for committing a violent act, Harold finds himself comforting his brother’s wife and children. What follows is a scathing examination of a family so fractured it may never be whole again.”
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
“Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how a chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.”
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
Touted as The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian meets Jane the Virgin,” I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter follows Julia in the wake of her sister Olga’s death. Olga was the perfect Mexican daughter. Or was she? Even as her mother lambasts her for not being Olga, Julia begins to realize some things about her supposedly perfect sister aren’t adding up. Will she figure out who her sister really was? And will she, Julia, the sister who’s still alive, ever be enough?
Where’d You Go Bernadette by Marie Semple
15 year-old Bee is not your average teenager. As a reward for getting straight As on her report card, for example, she asks to go on a family vacation to Antarctica. But then Bee’s mother, Bernadette, disappears. An even more eccentric character than her daughter (by a lot), Bernadette is smart, funny, sarcastic, and terribly discontent. “To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence – creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.”
This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
When the patriarch of the Foxman family dies, the whole clan gets together for the first time in years. They sit shiva and “spend seven days and nights under the same roof. The week quickly spins out of control as longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed and old passions are reawakened.” Baby mama drama ensues.
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
I haven’t listened to this one yet, but it’s next on my list. Everyone I know has been raving about it and it’s no secret that Ward is a stunningly gorgeous writer. “For Pop and Mam; their daughter, Leonie; and her kids, Jojo and Kayla, life is hard. Mam has cancer, Pop is preoccupied by working their small parcel of land, Leonie has a meth problem, and Jojo and Kayla seek love from their grandparents rather than their absent mother.” When Leonie gets word that the white father of her children is getting released from prison, she embarks on a journey with the children to meet him.
“Confronting the realities of life in the rural South, Ward gives us an epochal story, a road novel through Mississippi’s past and present that explores the bonds of family as tested by racism and poverty.”
New Release of the Week
The Mother of Black Hollywood by Jenifer Lewis
Jenifer Lewis talks about the road to becoming one of the stars of the hugely popular show, Black-ish. “From her first taste of applause at five years old to landing on Broadway within 11 days of graduation and ultimately achieving success in movies, television, and global concert halls, Jenifer describes a road to fame made treacherous by dysfunction and undiagnosed mental illness, including a sex addiction. Lewis tells her outrageous life story with lots of humor, a few regrets, and, most importantly, unbridled joy.”
Don’t forget to enter to win 500 buckaroos to your favorite bookstore with our giveaway. Enter to win here.
Links for Your Ears:
Uncle Joe is joining the ranks of Obama-era Democrats penning a memoir about their political career. There are about 7,339,634 reasons we’ll all cry listening to this one but you should probably do it anyway. Exclusive: Hear Joe Biden Read From New Book, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose
Sean Penn has a cool pen name: Sean Penn in process of writing novel under pseudonym ‘Pappy Pariah’
Are you excited about this Philip Pullman novel because I am: Michael Sheen’s Solo Narration of Philip Pullman’s New Novel Is Better Than an Army of Voice Actors
You had me at Helena Bonham Carter: Bonham Carter and Beale read MCB poetry collection
As always, you can hit me up on twitter at msmacb or say hey at katie@riotnewmedia.com.
Until next week,
~Katie
Hey YA Readers! Time to bulk up your TBR for the upcoming holiday season.
“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi from Penguin.
Our story begins on a frosty night . . .
Laylee can barely remember the happier times before her beloved mother died. Before her father, driven by grief, lost his wits (and his way) and she was left as the sole remaining mordeshoor in the village of Whichwood, destined to spend her days scrubbing the skins and souls of the dead in preparation for the afterlife.
But soon, a pair of familiar strangers appear, and Laylee’s world is turned upside down as she rediscovers color, magic, and the healing power of friendship.
Lush and enchanting, critically-acclaimed author Tahereh Mafi weaves together an all-new magical adventure in this dark, Persian fantasy, a companion to the New York Times bestselling Furthermore.
As this newsletter hits inboxes, many will be frantically preparing for big Thanksgiving meals and many more will be hoping to hide away with a good book to survive those meals. And for non-US readers, well, of course there’s no wrong time to keep bulking up the TBR.
Every year it seems that the books which release in November and December get short shrift when it comes to hitting people’s radars. The “Best Of” lists release around this time, and people are busy making their lists of titles to look forward to in the new year.
But let’s take this week to highlight six books hitting shelves these last two months of 2017 which you may not have heard about but should (I didn’t include books like The Speaker or Renegades or Rosemarked or Retribution Rails below, but…I guess I just included them here!).
Descriptions come from Goodreads. I’ve included pub dates next to the titles not quite available yet.
The Closest I’ve Come by Fred Aceves
Marcos Rivas wants to find love.
He’s sure as hell not getting it at home, where his mom’s racist boyfriend beats him up. Or from his boys, who aren’t exactly the “hug it out” type. Marcos yearns for love, a working cell phone, and maybe a pair of sneakers that aren’t falling apart. But more than anything, Marcos wants to get out of Maesta, his hood—which seems impossible.
When Marcos is placed in a new after-school program for troubled teens with potential, he meets Zach, a theater geek whose life seems great on the surface, and Amy, a punk girl who doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. These new friendships inspire Marcos to open up to his Maesta crew, too, and along the way, Marcos starts to think more about his future and what he has to fight for. Marcos ultimately learns that bravery isn’t about acting tough and being macho; it’s about being true to yourself.
Devil in Ohio by Daria Polatin
When fifteen-year-old Jules Mathis comes home from school to find a strange girl, her mother explains that Mae is one of her patients at the hospital and will be staying with their family for a few days. But shortly after, Mae is wearing Jules’ clothes, sleeping in her bedroom, edging her out of her position on the school paper, and kissing Jules’s crush. Then things get weird.
Jules walks in on a half-dressed Mae, she’s startled to see a pentagram carved into her back. Soon white roses start turning up on the front porch, a rabid dog bites one of Jules’ sisters, and Jules’ parents, who never fight, start arguing behind closed doors.
Jules pieces clues together and discovers that Mae may be a survivor of the strange cult that has taken over a nearby town. And they will stop at nothing to get Mae back.
Here, There, Everywhere by Julia Durango and Tyler Terrones (December 19)
Zeus would rather be anywhere than here—Buffalo Falls—the tiny town his family moved to at the end of the school year. Having left all his friends back in Chicago and with nothing to look forward to except helping out at his mother’s café and biking around town with his weird little brother, Zeus is pretty sure this is destined to be the worst summer of his life.
But then he meets Rose—funny, beautiful, smart, and an incredible musician.
Zeus can hardly believe that someone like her exists, let alone seems interested in being with him. However, while Zeus is counting down the minutes until he can see her next, Rose is counting down the days until she finds out whether she will be able to leave their small town to pursue her dreams. As the afternoons spent going on local adventures pass into nights discussing their deepest hopes, Zeus knows that he doesn’t have long to convince Rose that what they have is more than a summer fling…if only he’s brave enough to seize the chance.
Shadow Girl by Liana Liu (December 19)
The house on Arrow Island is full of mystery.
Yet when Mei arrives, she can’t help feeling relieved. She’s happy to spend the summer in an actual mansion tutoring a rich man’s daughter if it means a break from her normal life—her needy mother, her delinquent brother, their tiny apartment in the city. And Ella Morison seems like an easy charge, sweet and well behaved.
What Mei doesn’t know is that something is very wrong in the Morison household.
Though she tries to focus on her duties, Mei becomes increasingly distracted by the family’s problems and her own complicated feelings for Ella’s brother, Henry. But most disturbing of all are the unexplained noises she hears at night—the howling and thumping and cries.
Mei is a sensible girl. She isn’t superstitious; she doesn’t believe in ghosts. Yet she can’t shake her fear that there is danger lurking in the shadows of this beautiful house, a darkness that could destroy the family inside and out… and Mei along with them.
Three Sides of a Heart: Stories About Love Triangles edited by Natalie C. Parker (December 19)
In this collection, edited by Natalie C. Parker, some of your favorite YA authors tackle the much-debated trope of the love triangle, and the result is sixteen fresh, diverse, and romantic stories you don’t want to miss.
A teen girl who offers kissing lessons. Zombies in the Civil War South. The girl next door, the boy who loves her, and the girl who loves them both. Vampires at a boarding school. Three teens fighting monsters in an abandoned video rental store. Literally the last three people on the planet.
What do all these stories have in common?
The love triangle.
You may think you know the love triangle, but you’ve never seen love triangles like these.
Victoria: Portrait of a Queen by Catherine Reef
Victoria woke one morning at the age of eighteen to discover that her uncle had died and she was now queen. She went on to rule for sixty-three years, with an influence so far-reaching that the decades of her reign now bear her name—the Victorian period. Victoria is filled with the exciting comings and goings of royal life: intrigue and innuendo, scheming advisors, and assassination attempts, not to mention plenty of passion and discord. Includes bibliography, notes, British royal family tree, index.
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Splurge on Cheap YA Reads…
Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Choice is a mere $2.
Ever The Hunted by Erin Summerill — which has a sequel out in early December — is $2.
Haven’t yet read Terry Pratchett’s standalone YA title Nation? $2 will solve that.
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Thanks for hanging out again. We’ll see you next week with a big, delicious link round-up of all the recent YA talk.
— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars
PS! Don’t forget to enter for your chance to win $500 at the bookstore of your choice. This is the last week to enter, and you don’t want to be sad you didn’t try.
Are you ready for Thanksgiving? Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty stuff for you to read while trying to avoid big family gatherings by hiding in the upstairs bathroom.
But first, Romancelandia!
Kirkus has released their best of 2017, including their favorite romances.
Sponsored by Right Where We Belong by Brenda Novak.
A moving story about rebuilding your life when you’ve got nothing left to lose, from New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak. Savanna Gray’s “perfect” life unraveled when her husband was arrested for attacking three women. She seeks refuge in Silver Springs, at a farmhouse that needs a little TLC. Familiar with the struggle of starting over, Gavin Turner steps up when Savanna needs help fixing things—even when those things go beyond the farmhouse. Unwilling to repeat past mistakes, Savanna resolves to keep her distance. But it’s hard to resist a man whose heart is as capable as his hands.
Not to be outdone, Amazon has also listed their best romances of 2017.
And weirdly, Kirkus has the more diverse list :shrug emoji:
Did you know NPR has a romance column? Guess they’re joining in on the fun! And hey, I’ll support anyone who wants to talk about Hamilton’s Battalion.
Heroes and Heartbreakers, Macmillan’s romance vertical, is officially going dark in the very near future. We’ll be sad to see it go; they’ve been doing Good Work for a long time, and have made our lives a little brighter talking about everything from Alisha Rai’s favorite grand gestures to speculations about Olicity. While they’re shifting their focus to social media and other outlets, the people who write for the blog have also had to pivot as well. In the meantime, you can still find Wendy’s Unusual Historicals lists going up on her personal blog, The Misadventures of Super Librarian, and Suzanne (Cerestheories) is broadening the spectrum at Love In Panels to include romance coverage on top of the romance comics she’s been so lovingly and diligently reviewing.
In happier news, the RT Convention agenda has been posted! It’s not complete, but you can get a look at what they’ll be talking about in Reno. Are you heading up there next Spring? Or maybe you’re holding out for RWA in Denver—their schedule isn’t out yet, but they have announced their featured speakers list, and it is definitely nothing to sneer about.
Have you watched the most recent Fifty Shades Freed trailer?
Do you agree with Sarah MacLean’s WaPo picks for the month? (Shh. I’ve only read one of those…though one of the others is hanging out on my bedside table crying for me to pick it up.)
And speaking of Sarah MacLean: she’s announced the title for the first book in the Bareknuckle Bastards series! It’s so exciting (also, it’s coming out on my birthday)!
Have you read any books by #romanceclass authors? Here’s an interview with Jay E. Tria, who sounds like someone I’d love to be friends with. Also, her book, You Out Of Nowhere, is going on the TBR immediately.
Deals!
Lorraine Heath’s An Affair With a Notorious Heiress is 1.99!
Looking for some chilling romantic suspense? Kendra Elliot’s Hidden is 99c
Want to read more Rose Lerner after catching Hamilton’s Battalion? In For a Penny is 99c as well.
Rogue Affair, the follow-up anthology to Rogue Desire, is 99c right now, too!
Over on Book Riot:
Have you tried Audible’s new romance package? Erin’s got 6 reasons it’s awesome.
With Thor: Ragnarok now out will all those Asgardian pectorals and The Vikings still going strong, you know we had to start thinking about Viking Romance. Yeah, that’s a thing.
Want more lesbian romance? We’ve got some of those for you to try out, too.
I’m sure if you’ve read this newsletter long enough it will be no surprise that I think you need to read these books before the next one comes out. Soon. (Not included in that list? Illegal Contact, because Down By Contact isn’t out until January but HOO DOGGIE I just finished it and man will you want it. More on that later.)
And don’t forget about our bookstore giveaway! How many romances can you get with $500 to your favorite bookstore?
Book Recs!
I was in a particular mood recently, and noticed that two of the books I’d decided to pick up had a similar, but relatively uncommon, theme. They were both books that took place in an alternative now: it was still this day and age, but something had been changed in the past to make the laws of the land work a little differently. The way each author approached this was really interesting, and it was also the first time I’d read either of them, so bonus!
The Future Chosen
Mina V. Esguerra
In this alternate now, laws have been written so that no two members of the same family can be politicians. And it’s not even “at the same time”…it’s while any other member who has been a politician is alive. This doesn’t work in the eyes of Lourdes and Andres, who have been groomed since birth to be rising star politicians in each of their families. But from the time they meet in the school program designed for future leaders, they know there is something special between them. They still hide, because they should be studying, but they won’t be doing anything illegal until one of them gets elected. It’s when they’re both running for office that things get dicy. The love between Lourdes and Andres is sweet, and you can see it as it evolves through school and adulthood. And man, the tangles they get themselves in. (TW for mass shooting early in the book.)
I Love You Subject to the Following Terms and Conditions
Erin Lyon
This hilarious, frustrating book takes place in a US where people don’t get married; they sign. Partner contracts are for seven years, and couples can decide to re-up or just let it run out. Or they can breach, which is a lot of what Kate has to deal with when she ends up taking a job in Signing Law at her uncle’s firm—the last thing she ever wanted after coming out of law school, but beggars can’t be choosers. Kate had been in a loving relationship, ready to just let her contract roll over, when her partner pulled a fast one on her, leaving her alone and in need of a better paying job. Now, he wants to try again, which is fine and dandy, except she’s also got this friend—a “contract killer” who only dates signed women, who she also might have a tiny crush on—and this other friend, who has a pretty big crush on her. Drowning in men, Kate just wants to move on with her life, but all kinds of things get in her way.
As I said, this book is hilarious and compelling. It’s also not a standalone which I didn’t know when I started. So maybe save this one for after the New Year, when you’ll be closer to the release of Unconditionally.
Read Harder Bonus: Debut Novel
How about some new and upcoming releases?
Citywide, Santino Hassell
Snow Falling, Jane Gloriana Villanueva (Yes, that’s what it says on the cover)
Highland Dragon Rebel, Isabel Cooper
Anyone But You (Best Friends Sibling Anthology)
Bodyguard, CD Reiss
Set the Stage, Karis Walsh
A Hope Divided, Alyssa Cole (11/28) (!!!)
Wrong to Need You, Alisha Rai (11/28) (!!!)
That’s plenty, right? catch me on Twitter @jessisreading or Instagram @jess_is_reading, or send me an email at jessica@riotnewmedia.com if you’ve got feedback or just want to say hi!