After her father’s death, Maris Carrington leaves her comfortable life in Chicago for the small Connecticut town where she grew up. The last of her family, with only an aunt living worlds away in Italy, Maris finds herself overwhelmed by the effects inherited from her father, including a plucky German Shepherd and an 8mm role of film that will change her life completely. The only appropriate place to sort through these new revelations is Stony Point, the quaint beach town where she spent her adolescent summers; the town full of close friends and fond memories that she left behind for the big city. Time has gone on for them all, but Stony Point remains the same: it remains the youthful dream world of Maris, Jason, Eva, Matt, Neil, Kyle, Lauren, Vinny, and Paige. As the circle of friends find themselves drawn back to the beach they realize just how much has changed between them. Maris is torn between her steady Chicago life with her steady Chicago boyfriend and the gentle magic of life in Stony Point with the one who got away, wounded architect Jason. Jason is fighting his own battle, particularly a war of demons waging within him over the death of his brother Neil. Kyle and Lauren have found their marriage on the rocks. Eva just wants to know life as anything other than an orphan, a void that even her family with Matt hasn’t filled. As they all come together at Stony Point, they’ll find in each other the strength to face their troubles and overcome their obstacles.

Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans has all the makings of a perfect summer read: the idyllic beach town, captured by beautiful descriptions; the cast of characters, each one endearing themselves to the reader; the poetic language of author Joanne DeMaio’s writing style; the truly surprising plot-twists woven throughout a fascinating story. It absolutely fits the bill, much like DeMaio’s first novel, the charming Whole Latte Life. But there’s something bigger about Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans; it feels as though the author has graduated to a different level by taking on tougher life challenges and a fuller cast. DeMaio has a particular knack for her themes – namely friendship, family, romance, and the beach; combined with her terrific storytelling ability and the certain literary glow of her writing style, the novel leaves a decidedly impressive mark on its reader.

As much as it struck me as being about a collection of deeply emotional themes, I also found it to be an interesting character study. Maris and her friends all have flaws, they’re all very human, and the exposure of their imperfections struck me as very brave. At times I felt Eva’s selfishness for not embracing the family she had, or I was exasperated with Lauren for pushing her husband away. If that were the extent of the characters’ presence it would be easy for a reader to feel irritated by them, but there’s a certain depth to them all that evokes the reader’s empathy instead. Maris, despite having plenty of things to deal with herself, is perhaps the strongest of the cast, and the most relatable; it makes her an ideal focal point amid the numerous other characters and their stories. On that subject, with a group this large and with small plot points woven between them, it would be easy for anything to go awry – the author or the reader could lose interest, and the story could falter – but I found the novel to be solid, with every element taking deep root.

A lot of things stood out to me, but especially the setting; DeMaio creates a dreamers’ Connecticut that had me wanting to take off for the coast to discover my own Stony Point. While it is the recipe for a wonderful summer read, it’s also not your average beachside book. Cozy and eloquent, Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans is a novel that truly feels like home.

Title: Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans
Author: Joanne DeMaio
Genre: drama, romance
Publisher: Joanne DeMaio
Available Formats: e-book, paperback
Release date: March 11, 2013
Provided by: Mary DeMaio (c/o)
Buy the book: Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble
Connect with the author: Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

I think it’s safe to say the most anticipated book premiering this week is Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the author’s first adult novel in several years and the book for which he’s making his last United States signing tour. Also in the fantasy/sci-fi realms are new works from Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, Alex Bledoe, Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee, Ken Scholes, and more. Jumping back to literary fiction, though, there are some interesting new books, including Sahar Delijani’s Children of the Jacaranda Tree and Lea Carpenter’s Eleven Days, both of which have been getting very positive criticism so far. In mystery, Tami Hoag continues her Kovac and Liska series with The 9th Girl, and Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg’s The Heist makes its hardcover debut. There are also some new series and continuing series, as well as a couple of interesting standalones. Down then to romance, where there’s new work from Barbara Delinsky, Sabrina Jeffries, and more. In nonfiction, a diverse selection of topics including the memoir-in-biographical-form, The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell. And in young adult, S.M. Wheeler’s acclaimed Sea Change is available, as well as new series additions from Jessica Spotswood, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and more. Last but not least, now out in paperback are Liza Klaussmann’s celebrated Tigers in Red Weather (I saw this out early over the weekend), Regina O’Melveny’s The Book of Madness and Cures, and many more!

The Late Parade: Poems by Adam Fitzgerald (Liveright, hardcover; 6/17) * giveaway
Carnival by Rawi Hage (W.W. Norton & Company, hardcover; 6/17)
Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijani (Atria Books, hardcover; 6/18)
Eleven Days by Lea Carpenter (Knopf, hardcover; 6/18)
Courting Greta by Ramsey Hootman (Gallery Books, trade paperback; 6/18)
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf, hardcover; 6/18)
Over the Line by David Lloyd (Syracuse University Press, trade paperback; 6/18)
The Lovebird by Natalie Brown (Doubleday, hardcover; 6/18)
Island Girls by Nancy Thayer (Ballantine Books, hardcover; 6/18)
She Rises by Kate Worsley (Bloomsbury USA, hardcover; 6/18)
Claudia Silver to the Rescue by Kathy Ebel (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, hardcover; 6/18)
The Rockin’ Chair by Steven Manchester (The Story Plant, trade paperback; 6/18)

The 9th Girl (Kovac and Liska #4) by Tami Hoag (Dutton Adult, hardcover; 6/18)
The Heist (O’Hare and Fox #1) by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg (Bantam, hardcover; 6/18)
Mo’ Meta Blues… by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Grand Central Publishing, hardcover; 6/18)
Highs in the Low Fifties… by Marion Winik (skirt!, hardcover; 6/18)
Antarctica: A Biography by David Day (Oxford University Press USA, hardcover; 6/20)
Wealthy by Design: A 5-Step Plan…y by Kimberly Foss (Greenleaf Book Group Press, hardcover; 6/18) * giveaway
Still: American Silent Motion Picture Photography by David S. Shields (University of Chicago Press, hardcover; 6/18)

Piece of My Heart by Lynn Madelenna Menna (Merit Press, hardcover; 6/18) * giveaway
Sea Change by S.M. Wheeler (Tor Books, hardcover; 6/18)
Proxy (Proxy #1) by Alex London (Philomel, hardcover; 6/18)
Star Cursed (The Cahill Witch Chronicles #2) by Jessica Spotswood (Putnam Juvenile, hardcover; 6/18)
The Watcher in the Shadows (Niebla #3) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, hardcover; 6/18)
Tarnish by Katherine Longshore (Viking Juvenile, hardcover; 6/18) * giveaway
The Pirate’s Wish (The Assassin’s Curse #2) by Cassandra Rose Clarke (Strange Chemistry, trade paperback; 6/18)

Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann (Back Bay Books, trade paperback; 6/18)
The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O’Melveny (Back Bay Books, trade paperback; 6/18)
NYPD Red by James Patterson & Marshall Karp (Grand Central Publishing, trade paperback; 6/18)
The Dog Who Danced by Susan Wilson (St. Martin’s Griffin, trade paperback; 6/18)
Finding Casey by Jo-Ann Mapson (Bloomsbury USA, trade paperback; 6/18) * giveaway
The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay (Ballantine Books, trade paperback; 6/18)
The Kings of Cool: Prequel to Savages by Don Winslow (Simon & Schuster, trade paperback; 6/18)
Lucky Bastard by S.G. Browne (Gallery Books, trade paperback; 6/18)
The Green Shore by Natalie Bakopoulos (Simon & Schuster, trade paperback; 6/18)

Happy reading!

Credit: lincolnblues on Flickr

Yesterday I was reading a bulletin from my local library promoting one of their new programs: a reading incentive for adults. Precisely in the vein of summer reading programs for kids and teens, this one is designed to encourage a summer of literacy for grown-ups – because books will open all of our minds, and there’s inspiration to be found at every age. I thought it was a very smart way to motivate readers to come in and check out what’s new in books. There’s something about summer that really seems to reignite the fire in readers, I think, so it’s a great time to get reacquainted with the world of literature. Considering that you’re visiting a site called Literary Inklings right now, most likely you’re already interested in reading, but on the off chance that you’re a tentative reader looking to get your feet wet again this summer, be sure to check out your local library and/or indie bookstore for some inspiration – you never know what you’ll find!

If you’ve already mapped out your spectacular summer of reading, I’d love to know what’s on your agenda for the season. Are you addicted to the bestsellers list, or aiming to catch up on some classics? The downside to making a summer reading list, for me, is the impossibility of fitting everything in. I could compile a dozen (or more) summer reading lists purely from the remnants of past years. But, thinking about books is almost as fun as reading them, so the lists continue to be made. This year rather than setting myself a particular agenda I’m setting aside a bunch of books so I can pick and choose within a select group of titles I’m especially excited to read. I’m mixing in a bit of new reading with a much-needed dip into my lengthy to-read list of an eternity’s length; here’s a look at what I’m drawn to for Summer 2013 (in no particular order):

Paris by Edward Rutherfurd
Being a Francophile, Edward Rutherfurd’s acclaimed epic of the city of lights is one I’ve been curious about since its publication. At over 800 pages long, though, it may be a summer reading list all on its own.

And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini is one of those writers I’ve been meaning to read for such a long time, and his latest novel, which is topping countless must-read lists, seems like a good place to start.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
I have a signed, pre-ordered copy of Gaiman’s latest novel on its way to me next week when the book will finally be published, and I’m just itching to dive into it (pun intended only a little bit).

The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
Another author I’d been meaning to read for years, I finally got to know Chris Bohjalian’s work with his 2012 novel, The Sandcastle Girls, earlier this year and I can’t wait to explore his July release.

Cascade by Maryanne O’Hara
This is only my second full summer in New England and I love reading locally-set books that capture the atmosphere of the area. I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about Maryanne O’Hara’s novel of 1930s New York and Massachusetts.

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
Zelda Fitzgerald is a hot topic this year, and Therese Anne Fowler’s novelization of the torrid life of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife has been getting terrific reviews (I loved this one by my friend Britta: Z by Therese Anne Fowler at Novel Days).

Pain, Parties, Work by Elizabeth Winder
I’m always curious to learn more about Sylvia Plath, and Winder’s biography has especially piqued my interest, focusing on the summer of 1953 when Plath was just twenty years old.

Grace by Grace Coddington
The acclaimed memoir by Vogue’s creative director was widely-read (an understatement) upon its publication last December, but I was just never able to find the time for it then.

More Bitter Than Death by Camilla Grebe and Åsa Träff
I was a huge fan of Some Kind of Peace, the atmospheric first novel in sisters Grebe and Träff’s first Siri Bergman series, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with in the second installment.

The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
Another from Chris Bohjalian, and this one first published in 2007, the novel is considered an homage to The Great Gatsby – one of many reasons why it’s been on my reading list for an age, and hopefully this summer will finally be the time I get to experience it.

Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
I first heard about Half the Sky a little over a year ago and I’ve been curious to read it since – an interest that turned into a full-blown passion after seeing the book’s accompanying documentary on PBS last fall. If you haven’t seen it, I cannot recommend it enough.

Wait for Me! by Deborah Mitford
The Duchess of Devonshire’s collection of memoirs was first on my wishlist for the longest time before I finally snapped up a copy in a used bookstore, and now it’s been sitting on my shelf waiting patiently to be read. Hopefully this summer will finally be the time!

So, the ultimate question…what’s on your summer reading list?

Lots of interesting new books this week, particularly in fiction: there’s new work from Claire Cook and Alexander McCall Smith, as well as a few new translations; overall a lot of cultural appeal. In mystery there are new titles from Steve Berry, Carl Hiaasen, and more. Sci-fi sees a few diverse books, and the second graphic novel in the Game of Thrones series adapted form George R. R. Martin’s novels. In romance there’s new work from Johanna Lindsey, Julia London, and more. Nonfiction boasts a few intriguing memoirs and biographies; I’m also really curious about Tim Parks’s travelogue, Italian Ways. Young adult sees the continuation of Lauren Conrad’s Fame Game series and the premiere of Eve Silver’s The Game series, among many others, while new adult offers a bit of contemporary and dystopian fare. New in paperback are a few of last year’s thrillers from Julia Keller, Steve Hamilton, and more, as well as Huntley Fitzpatrick’s My Life Next Door and Lucinda Riley’s The Lavender Garden, among others. Here’s to a summer of way too many books than we could ever possibly hope to accomplish!

Time Flies by Claire Cook (Touchstone, hardcover; 6/11) * giveaway
Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith Pantheon, hardcover; 6/11)
Astor Place Vintage by Stephanie Lehmann (Touchstone, trade paperback; 6/11) * giveaway
The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver (Crown, hardcover; 6/11)
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (Doubleday, hardcover; 6/11)
Painted Hands by Jennifer Zobair (Thomas Dunne Books, hardcover; 6/11)
The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls (Scribner, hardcover; 6/11) * giveaway
The Illusion of Separateness by Simon Van Booy (Harper, hardcover; 6/11)
The Celestials by Karen Shepard (Tin House Books, trade paperback; 6/11)
A Clown at Midnight: Poems by Andrew Hudgins (Mariner Books, trade paperback; 6/11)
In Times of Fading Light by Eugen Ruge (Graywolf Press, hardcover; 6/11)
Kerrigan in Copenhagen by Thomas E. Kennedy (Bloomsbury USA, hardcover; 6/11)
The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan (Knopf, hardcover; 6/11)
No One Could Have Guessed the Weather by Anne-Marie Casey (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, hardcover; 6/13)
The Widow Waltz by Sally Koslow (Viking Adult, hardcover; 6/13)
The Dark Road by Ma Jian (Penguin Press, hardcover; 6/13)

The King’s Deception (Cotton Malone #8) by Steve Berry (Ballantine Books, hardcover; 6/11)
Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, hardcover; 6/11) * giveaway
The Hanging (Konrad Simonsen #1) by Lotte and Søren Hammer (Minotaur Books, hardcover; 6/11)
The Navigator by Michael Pocalyko (Forge Books, hardcover; 6/11)
The Tower (Sancti Trilogy #3) by Simon Toyne (William Morrow, hardcover; 6/11)
Until She Comes Home by Lori Roy (Dutton Adult, hardcover; 6/13)
Evil and Mask by Fuminori Nakamura (Soho Crime, hardcover; 6/11)
The Ides of April (Flavia Albia Mystery #1) by Lindsey Davis (Minotaur Books, hardcover; 6/11)
The Why of Things by Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop (Simon & Schuster, hardcover; 6/11) * giveaway
Aftershock by Andrew Vachss (Pantheon, hardcover; 6/11)
Stoker’s Manuscript by Royce Prouty (Putnam Adult, hardcover; 6/13)
Circle of Shadows (Crowther and Westerman #4) by Imogen Robertson (Pamela Dorman Books, hardcover; 6/13)

Dream of Time by Nancy J. Price (Synchronista LLC, e-book; 6/11)
Limits of Power (Paladin’s Legacy #4) by Elizabeth Moon (Del Rey, hardcover; 6/11)
Shadow People (Peter Warlock #2) by James Swain (Tor Books, hardcover; 6/11)
A Game of Thrones… adapted by Daniel Abraham, illustrated by Tommy Patterson (Bantam, hardcover; 6/11)

One Heart to Win by Johanna Lindsey (Gallery Books, hardcover; 6/11)
All I Need Is You by Julia London (Montlake Romance, mass market paperback; 6/11)
Being Me (Inside Out Trilogy #2) by Lisa Renee Jones (Gallery Books, trade paperback; 6/11)
Destiny (The League of Illusion #3) by Vivi Anna (Carina Press, e-book; 6/10)

Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo by Tim Parks (W.W. Norton & Company, hardcover; 6/10)
The Strat in the Attic: Thrilling… by Deke Dickerson (Voyageur Press, hardcover; 6/10)
The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel (Grand Central Publishing, hardcover; 6/11) * giveaway
The Girl Who Loved Camellias: The Life… by Julie Kavanagh (Knopf, hardcover; 6/11)
The Spy Who Loved: The… by Clare Mulley (St. Martin’s Press, hardcover; 6/11)
The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic by John Shelby Spong (HarperOne, hardcover; 6/11)
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit (Viking Adult, hardcover; 6/13) * giveaway
The Founding Conservatives: How… by David Lefer (Sentinel, hardcover; 6/13)

Reality Ends Here by Alison Gaylin (Pocket Star, e-book; 6/10)
Infamous (Fame Game #3) by Lauren Conrad (HarperCollins, hardcover; 6/11)
Rush (The Game #1) by Eve Silver (Katherine Tegen Books, hardcover; 6/11)
A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer (Delacorte Press, hardcover; 6/11)
Born of Illusion (Born of Illusion #1) by Teri Brown (Balzer & Bray, hardcover; 6/11)
Linked (Linked #1) by Imogen Howson (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, hardcover; 6/11)
Far Far Away by Tom McNeal (Knopf Books for Young Readers, hardcover; 6/11)
Dance of the Red Death… by Bethany Griffin (Greenwillow Books, hardcover; 6/11) * giveaway
Ignite (Ignite #1) by Erica Crouch (Patchwork Press, trade paperback; 6/11)
The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die by April Henry (Henry Holt. and Co., hardcover; 6/11)
Boy Nobody (Boy Nobody #1) by Allen Zadoff (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, hardcover; 6/11)

Burning by Elana K. Arnold (Delacorte Press, hardcover; 6/11)
The Registry by Shannon Stoker (William Morrow Paperbacks, trade paperback; 6/11)

The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley (Atria Books, trade paperback; 6/11)
Bobcat & Other Stories by Rebecca Lee (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, trade paperback; 6/11)
A Killing in the Hills (Bell Elkins #1) by Julia Keller (Minotaur Books, trade paperback; 6/11)
Invisible Murder (Nina Borg #2) by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis (Soho Crime, trade paperback; 6/11)
Die a Stranger (Alex McKnight #9) by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur Books, trade paperback; 6/11)
Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber (MNariner Books, trade paperback; 6/11)
Cubop City Blues by Pablo Medina (Grove Press, trade paperback; 6/11)
The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton (Laurence Bartram #2) by Elizabeth Speller (Mariner Books, trade paperback; 6/11)
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick (Speak, trade paperback; 6/13) * giveaway

Happy reading!

Published in 1905, The House of Mirth was the novel that launched Edith Wharton’s name as a celebrated novelist several years into her occupation as a writer. An instant classic, it remains one of the pillars among her bibliography of more than fifty works. Why it took me this long to read it, I’ll frankly never know. The novel tells the story of bold, ethereally beautiful Lily Bart whose impassioned desire for all things luxurious in life clashes with her meager income and single status. Marrying rich seems to be her only option, and that excludes from her a future with Lawrence Selden, the handsome and inadequately-financed lawyer with whom she feels most liberated to be herself. Scurrying through the maddeningly treacherous formalities of the social sphere, Lily must learn to hoist herself up amid the unkind words and devious schemes of people disguised as friends. What makes Lily such a remarkable character, I think, is the rapidity with which she bounces from appearing superficial and pious to soliciting herself to the reader as a woman of genuinely profound insight. The alterations between which seem to be, in the context of the story, her ultimate downfall, but they work in the same way to build her up in her audience’s esteem. I won’t spoil the end of the novel in case anyone reading here hasn’t yet experienced it; but I will reiterate, as many usually do, that The House of Mirth is a heart-wrenching and bittersweet work. And it’s just beautiful.

I can understand, after finally reading it, why it carried Wharton to her initial success as a writer. This first reading has already catapulted her high on my list of favorite authors, and it has me wondering why it ever took me so long to read her. I feel like I’ve read The House of Mirth at an appropriate age all the same, particularly because it calls on so many emotions which, I think, are more acutely developed now. Lily’s plight, despite appearing here in New York’s Gilded Age, has moments that ring of familiarity to modern readers. The challenge of understanding, on the late edge of her twenties, what it is she should do with herself and finding amongst the torrid waters of social convention the true fabric of her own character can easily strike a chord with the appropriate reader. The difference, of course, illuminates the achievements of feminism in our time, though one could argue that the novel also highlights the continued flaws of contemporary society (a feat Wharton achieved with stunning clarity over one hundred years ago!).

Lily is a woman vastly ahead of her time in her aspirations, which are to be free of social obligation and to live her life in true, unfettered independence; to live however she would like, in her own brand of luxury, and on her own terms. Her convictions to make her future so are admirable, though the reader soon discovers with her that such a future isn’t so readily available. Her many ill-advised decisions, which have occasion to win out over her remarkable intelligence, lead her further from her dream life, but closer, in a tragic way, to a better and more blissful understanding of herself. This was, for me, the novel’s triumph as much as the love story between Lily and Selden. That latter piece, unfortunately, has all the chemistry a reader can want, but far too much distance. When the two share a scene their connection is wonderful, but there’s a palpable divide between them that keeps the reader from ever really feeling like they’ve made a connection at all. It did make me wonder if that was Edith’s intention because it adds a sort of final blow to the ultimate tragedy of the novel.

But what Edith went above-and-beyond with was her depiction of society. She was a zinger of a lady, completely unafraid to lay bare the scathing indecencies of Lily Bart’s scandalous social “superiors” and exploring in depth the unraveling of society’s merit in the face of classism, hypocrisy, and declining ethics. The people on whose level Lily aspires to reach are, the reader is quick to understand, decidedly far below Lily herself on a moral scale; but the vision of the social climate refuses to see things in that way, priding instead an affinity for the hollow glamour of wealth and status. It’s a stab that resonates into the world of the novel’s modern readership and clearly expresses why The House of Mirth has endured over time.

I was enthralled in Edith’s execution of The House of Mirth, from her use of language to the artistry with which she took the reader into the depths of her story. It wound around me with such solidness, such impenetrable realness; the sort of novel that will linger forever on my mind, as genuine classics do. The characters which populate the novel are immense in number – it was, initially, a bit difficult to work through the Trenors and Dorsets and Van Osburghs and Stepneys, etc. – but each came to life to set the stage for the dramatics of Wharton’s story, and I eventually came to know them well. Edith’s writing style and particular narrative language felt genuinely accessible to me, too. Her sentences are constructed in a way that are noticeably beautiful but also truly sensible. At the same time, it has its complexities (the huge cast is a good example), but great authors have a way of making their readers welcome complexities now and then. Edith certainly had a unique ability of encouraging her reader to work a little harder at some points and then rewarding them with the brilliance of her talent when they find themselves struck by some of her most impressive sentences.

Overall, I think The House of Mirth was one of the most invigorating books I’ve read from our proclaimed list of literary classics. While the romance between Lily and Selden felt on the brink of being barely a romance at all, there was so much else in the novel that boasted substance – really, Lily herself was powerful enough to carry the entire show on her own, right through every amusing, enlightening, and ultimately heartbreaking scene.

Title: The House of Mirth
Author: Edith Wharton
Genre: classics, literary fiction
Publisher: Charles Scribner’s Sons (original) Modern Library (my edition)
Publication date: October 14, 1905
Provided by: Personal collection
Buy the book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About this time last year I wrote Filming Fiction: Gatsby, Catcher, and the Novelistic Novel wherein I discussed my thoughts on certain novels and their inability to translate well to film – and wherein I generally discussed The Great Gatsby and my lingering avoidance of its film adaptations. Finally, just after its newest incarnation has hit the screens, I went back in time to 1974 and experienced Gatsby’s world through the eyes of Sam Waterston, Mia Farrow, and (of course) Robert Redford. This is only my second viewing of a Gatsby adaptation, and I was perhaps predictably reluctant at times. Whether you loved or hated Fitzgerald’s classic novel, I think one thing most readers could possibly agree on is the otherworldly sense that it has. Much like the fictional West Egg and East Egg are nestled into the very non-fictional Long Island, so is the bizarre magic of Gatsby’s story set inside some very real-world themes. As an observation on character flaws it’s stellar – Daisy and Tom are all too familiar depictions of “careless people” in a fast-moving social sphere – but Gatsby himself is set apart, in my opinion, from the familiarity. In that way, venturing into any Gatsby adaptation should have a hint of venturing into another world. I definitely thought Jack Clayton’s film achieved the vibe I’ve always wanted The Great Gatsby to have on the screen.

Sam Waterston and Lois Chiles as Nick and Jordan.

Likewise, Francis Ford Coppola’s script plays so well off of the novel, bringing Nick Carraway’s narrative onto the screen in something a little more than just a voice-over. Sam Waterston offered, as Carraway, a great vessel for what I think contributes very strongly to the novel’s appeal – the unattached, slightly reluctant witness to this world of fabulous excess who is thrown in long enough to acquire a sizeable distaste for the flash of its glamour before drifting away in a quiet, contemplative bemusement. Jordan Baker is one of my favorite characters of the novel, and I really enjoyed Lois Chiles in the role; she’s so effortlessly cool, just as I imagined Jordan. Bruce Dern is boorish and slightly annoying – appropriately Tom Buchanan; Karen Black as Myrtle Wilson is just as luxuriously obsessed and erratically passionate as I imagined; and I was surprisingly moved by Scott Wilson as her husband George. Of course, the two pillars of the cast are Mia Farrow and Robert Redford.

Robert Redford and Mia Farrow as Gatsby and Daisy.

I have to admit that Daisy is really one of my least favorite characters in literature; I just don’t find myself sympathetic toward her, but to some degree I suppose that’s typical. (How I’m able to be deeply sympathetic to Gatsby and still strongly dislike Daisy has always mystified me a bit, but I guess I’m very like Nick Carraway by the end of things.) Mia Farrow, though, really reached out in her performance and made me significantly more interested in Daisy as a character, and the painful flippancy that she seems to have very little control over in her life. She really helped me to better understand Daisy’s misfortune, and I’d be curious to re-read the novel now with that performance in mind. Robert Redford I just loved: I’m not sure what else there is to say about him. Few people, I think, can pull of the quiet quirks of Gatsby; as small as it is, it can be cringe-worthy to hear the old sports spoken aloud – it’s just a little off. But not here, and those little things, along with Redford’s depth of ability make it such a wonderful performance. His reaction at seeing Daisy again for the first time struck me as such a powerful moment; it’s the things like that, the slightly hidden intricacies of his character, that I think make Gatsby so unique and intriguing.

In all, I think the film struck me as being quite like what a Gatsby adaptation should be. There will always be some strangeness of the novel that I think will make adapting it for the screen a tricky business, but this was a golden attempt and a memorable, beautiful alternative vision that captures much of the novel’s allure.

Title: The Great Gatsby
Based on: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
Genre: period drama, romance
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Format: DVD
Release date: March 29, 1974 (theatrical)
Provided by: Netflix
Buy the DVD: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Photos © Paramount Pictures, found via Pinterest

In fiction this week, Colum McCann returns with his anticipated novel, TransAtlantic, and Lauren Weisberger brings back her iconic Miranda Priestly in Revenge Wears Prada; Mary Kay Andrews also has a new novel, Ladies’ Night, which is likely going to be the perfect companion on the beach this month. In mystery, Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire series continues with A Serpent’s Tooth as well as new work from Stephen King, Kate Carlisle, Jeffery Deaver and more. Fans of the television show Without a Trace will likely be interested in Out of Range, the new novel by series creator Hank Steinberg. In the sci-fi and fantasy realms there’s new work from Jon Steele, Richelle Mead, Simon R. Green and Mercedes Lackey, among others. Romance sees the much anticipated Entwined with You from Sylvia Day, plus a new historical series from Emily Greenwood, and the twelfth in Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series. There’s also a bit of country music – duo Thompson Square’s Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not?, a novelization of their popular song, is available this week. In nonfiction, there are some interesting titles for foodies as well as some fascinating memoirs. In young adult, Leigh Bardugo’s anticipated Siege and Storm is available, as well as new work from Sarah Dessen, Sara Shepard, and many more; new adult also sees the continuation of Cora Carmack’s Losing It series. Last but not least, now out in paperback are titles from Barbara Kingsolver, Alan Furst, Jami Attenberg, Laura Moriarty, Susanna Kearsley, and more. Enjoy!

The Last Summer of the Camperdowns by Elizabeth Kelly (Liveright, hardcover; 6/3)
Big Brother by Lionel Shriver (Harper Collins, hardcover; 6/4)
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann (Random House, hardcover; 6/4)
Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, hardcover; 6/4)
Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns by Lauren Weisberger (Simon & Schuster, hardcover; 6/4)
Ladies’ Night by Mary Kay Andrews (St. Martin’s Press, hardcover; 6/4) * giveaway
Studio Saint-Ex by Ania Szado (Knopf, hardcover; 6/4)
The Time Between by Karen White (NAL, hardcover; 6/4)
The Sweet Girl by Annabel Lyon (Knopf, hardcover; 6/4)
Flat Water Tuesday by Ron Irwin (Thomas Dunne Books, hardcover; 6/4)
Idiopathy by Sam Byers (Faber & Faber, hardcover; 6/4)
The Center of the World by Thomas Van Essen (Other Press, trade paperback; 6/4)
Taipei by Tao Lin (Vintage, trade paperback; 6/4) * giveaway
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani (Riverhead, hardcover; 6/4)
A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White (Touchstone, hardcover; 6/4) * giveaway
What Changes Everything by Masha Hamilton (Unbridled Books, hardcover; 6/4)

Joyland by Stephen King (Hard Case Crime, trade paperback; 6/4) * giveaway
Sandstorm by Alan L. Lee (Forge Books, hardcover; 6/4)
A Serpent’s Tooth (Walt Longmire #9) by Craig Johnson (Viking Adult, hardcover; 6/4) * giveaway
Blood Orange by Karen Keskinen (Minotaur Books, hardcover; 6/4)
Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence by David Samuel Levinson (Algonquin Books, hardcover; 6/4)
Summer Death (Malin Fors #2) by Mons Kallentoft (Atria/Emily Bestler Books, hardcover; 6/4)
Choke Point (Grace Chu & John Knox #2) by Ridley Pearson (Putnam Adult, hardcover; 6/4)
A Cookbook Conspiracy (Bibliophile Mystery #7) by Kate Carlisle (NAL, hardcover; 6/4)
Mr. Monk Helps Himself by Hy Conrad (NAL, hardcover; 6/4)
The Doll (Vanessa Michael Munroe #3) by Taylor Stevens (Crown, hardcover; 6/4)
If You Were Here by Alafair Burke (Harper, hardcover; 6/4)
The Kill Room (Lincoln Rhyme #10) by Jeffery Deaver (Grand Central Publishing, hardcover; hardcover; 6/4) * giveaway
Lost (Lacey Flint #3) by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books, hardcover; 6/4)
The Last Kind Word by David Housewright (Minotaur Books, hardcover; 6/4) * giveaway
Thread and Buried (Threadville Mystery #3) by Janet Bolin (Berkley, mass market paperback; 6/4) * giveaway
Out of Range by Hank Steinberg (William Morrow & Company, hardcover; 6/4)

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (Mulholland Books, hardcover; 6/4)
Angel City by Jon Steele (Blue Rider Press, hardcover; 6/4)
Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X #1) by Richelle Mead (Dutton Adult, hardcover; 6/4)
Earth Afire (The First Formic War #2) by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston (Tor Books, hardcover; 6/4)
Steadfast (Elemental Masters #9) by Mercedes Lackey (DAW, hardcover; 6/4)
Casino Infernale (Secret Histories #7) by Simon R. Green (Roc, hardcover; 6/4)
The City by Stella Gemmell (Ace, hardcover; 6/4)

Entwined with You (Crossfire #3) by Sylvia Day (Berkley, trade paperback; 6/4) * giveaway
Stolen (Lucy Kincaid #6) by Allison Brennan (Minotaur Books, hardcover; 6/4)
Skinny Bitch in Love by Kim Barnouin (Gallery Books, hardcover; 6/4)
Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not? by Thompson Square with Travish Thrasher (Howard Books, hardcover; 6/4)
Billion Dollar Cowboy by Carolyn Brown (Sourcebook Casablanca, mass market paperback; 6/4)
A Little Night Mischief (Mischief #1) by Emily Greenwood (Sourcebooks Casablanca, mass market paperback; 6/4)
Heart of Obsidian (Psy-Changeling #12) by Nalini Singh (Berkley Sensation, hardcover; 6/4)
Can’t Stop Believing (Harmony #6) by Jodi Thomas (Berkley, mass market paperback; 6/4)
One Day in Apple Grove (Small Town… by C.H. Admirand (Sourcebooks Casablanca, mass market paperback; 6/4)
Ethan (Lonely Lords #3) by Grace Burrowes (Sourcebooks Casablanca, mass market paperback; 6/4)
Take Me Under (Dangerous Tides #1) by Rhyannon Byrd (Berkley, trade paperback; 6/4)
How To Tame Your Duke by Juliana Gray (Berkley Sensation, mass market paperback; 6/4)

Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father by Alysia Abbott (W.W. Norton & Company, hardcover; 6/3)
The Buy Side: A Wall Street Trader’s Tale of Spectacular Excess by Turney Duff (Crown Business, hardcover; 6/4)
The Tao of Martha: My Year of LIVING… by Jen Lancaster (NAL, hardcover; 6/4)
Primal Cravings… by Megan McCullough Keatley and Brandon Keatley (Primal Nutrition, hardcover; 6/4)
A Journey Through Tudor England… by Suzannah Limpscomb (Pegasus Books, hardcover; 6/4)
Fault Lines: Views Across Haiti’s Divide by Beverly Bell (Cornell University Press, trade paperback; 6/4)
To Move the World: JFK’s Quest for Peace by Jeffrey D. Sachs (Random House, hardcover; 6/4)
Eating on the Wild Side… by Jo Robinson (Little, Brown and Company, hardcover; 6/4)
The Shadow King: The Bizarre Afterlife of King Tut’s Mummy by Jo Marchant (Da Capo Press, hardcover; 6/4)
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and… by Daniel James Brown (Viking Adult, hardcover; 6/4)
The Possibility Dogs: What a… by Susannah Charleson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, hardcover; 6/4)
Doc: A Memoir by Dwight Gooden and Jeff Johnson (New Harvest, hardcover; 6/4)

Siege and Storm (The Grishna #2) by Leigh Bardugo (Henry Holt and Co., hardcover; 6/4)
The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen (Viking Juvenile, hardcover; 6/4)
Rules of Summer (Rules of Summer #1) by Joanna Philbin (Poppy, hardcover; 6/4)
When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, hardcover; 6/4)
The Testing (The Testing #1) by Joelle Charbonneau (HM Books for Children, hardcover; 6/4) * giveaway
Tidal (Watersong #3) by Amanda Hocking (St. Martin’s Griffin, hardcover; 6/4)
Crushed (Pretty Little Liars #13) by Sara Shepard (HarperTeen, hardcover; 6/4)
Elegy (Hereafter #3) by Tara Hudson (HarperTeen, hardcover; 6/4)
Shadow Train (The Tracks #3) by J. Gabriel Gates and Charlene Keel (HCI Teens, trade paperback; 6/4)
Tides by Betsy Cornwell (Clarion Books, hardcover; 6/4)
Compliance (Dust Chronicles #2) by Maureen McGowan (Amazon Children’s Publishing, hardcover; 6/4)
Phoenix (Black City #2) by Elizabeth Richards (Putnam Juvenile, hardcover; 6/4)

Secret for a Song by S.K. Falls (S.K. Falls, e-book; 6/3)
The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay (Atria Books, trade paperback; 6/4) * giveaway
Faking It (Losing It #2) by Cora Carmack (William Morrow & Company, trade paperback; 6/4)

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper Perennial, trade paperback; 6/4)
Mission to Paris (Night Soldiers #12) by Alan Furst (Random House, trade paperback; 6/4)
Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Burnt (Dial Press, trade paperback; 6/4)
The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg (Grand Central Publishing, trade paperback; 6/4)
The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty (Riverhead, trade paperback; 6/4)
When in Doubt, Add Butter by Beth Harbison (St. Martin’s Griffin, trade paperback; 6/4)
The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley (Sourcebooks Landmark, trade paperback; 6/4)
Summer Breeze by Nancy Thayer (Ballantine Books, trade paperback; 6/4)
Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa by Benjamin Constable (Gallery Books, trade paperback; 6/4)
Kingdom of Strangers (Katya Hijazi #3) by Zoë Ferraris (Back Bay Books, trade paperback; 6/4)
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Quirk Books, trade paperback; 6/4)
Stunning (Pretty Little Liars #11) by Sara Shepard (HarperTeen, trade paperback; 6/4)

Happy reading!

Jennie Fields, yours truly, and the new paperback edition of The Age of Desire.

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to join an audience of inquisitive and very fun ladies at Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT, to hear author Jennie Fields discuss her novel, The Age of Desire. One of my favorite reads from 2012, The Age of Desire is a novelization of the life of Edith Wharton during the time of her infamous affair with Morton Fullerton, and it also explores her relationship with her former governess and great friend, Anna Bahlmann. It’s a fabulous novel for many reasons – the unflinchingly honest portrait of Edith, the beautiful writing, the spine-tingling yet tragic love story – but I also feel like it’s a book that gives you twice as much as you’d expect. Edith and Anna are two very contrasting characters, and each woman takes a piece of the novel, allowing the reader to experience each of their stories in a very personal and fascinating way. (You can read my review of the novel here on the blog from last fall.)

Photo credit: Bank Square Books on Facebook

This was my first visit to Bank Square Books and the shoreline town of Mystic; it’s such a lovely place, and the staff at the bookstore were all delightful. It was a welcoming, accommodating, and terrifically fun environment, perfect for sitting back and enjoying the thrill of books. It’s the sort of indie shop that has an instant familiarity but also a genuine uniqueness to it, and after browsing the shelves it was still hard to tear myself away. I did eventually, but not after adding a few more books to my collection, including, appropriately, a bit of Henry James. If you’re ever in Mystic be sure to stop by the bookstore and take a walk down Main Street, which boasted quite a few charming-looking shops.

The Age of Desire in its gorgeous paperback form.

I loved hearing the audience’s questions for Jennie about her writing process, and she even shared a bit about the novel she’s currently working on (I won’t say anything other than that I’m excited). She gave a fantastic reading from The Age of Desire and shared insights into Edith, her relationships, and her extensive writing career. It’s remarkable just how much Edith Wharton produced in her life – a look at her bibliography will show nearly one publication every year for several decades – and yet readers today often distance themselves from her work, as a lot of folks are inclined to do with the classics. Jennie did a wonderful job of presenting Edith as an accessible writer for the modern age; she generated a great excitement to explore books like The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, The Custom of the Country, and also the more obscure works like The Mother’s Recompense. This event happened at the perfect time as I’m just about halfway through The House of Mirth, my first time reading Wharton, and all of Jennie’s points resonated perfectly with my experience so far. An interesting point she made that I’m excited to explore was the difference between Edith’s writing in The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence, the latter of which Jennie said holds much more passion – a result, she wondered, of Edith’s affair with Morton being the dividing factor between the books. I’m certainly intrigued to continue learning more about Edith and her writing, and I’m very grateful to Jennie Fields and the folks at Bank Square Books for such a wonderful and enlightening experience.

The Age of Innocence is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and there are also a few signed copies left at Bank Square Books so stop by if you’re in the area. Jennie’s tour also continues in South Carolina tonight before moving on to the Midwest – find all the stops and more information at her website.

For authors of every variety, building a brand on the internet is the pivotal foundation to marketing books and cultivating readership. In today’s technology-driven world an online presence is practically a necessity, and when we start to dissect the facets of internet success we’re quick to find that all roads lead to blogging. Indie author and blogger extraordinaire Molly Greene has taken the determined initiative to highlight what makes a powerful blog in her book, Blog It!, where she whittles down the many overwhelming aspects of beginning a blog and curates them specifically for authors. Covering everything from choosing the right platform to managing subscribers, Greene delivers answers to the myriad questions every new blogger is apt to ask. And she answers them swiftly, sensibly, and succinctly.

I found Blog It! to be wonderfully achieved: at once informative and organized, balanced in a way that will excite future bloggers (and even existing ones) without instilling them with the feeling of being in over their heads. Greene has a very capable approach to topics that many aspiring bloggers often chew over in uncertainty, and her ability to simplify some of blogging’s more complex areas makes her a terrific guide. I nodded along to many of her suggestions, such as comparing and contrasting free and self-hosted blog platforms, and I even learned some new things myself (proof that even longtime bloggers are at risk for missing out on some of the field’s new technology and helpful tools). Greene also extols the relevance of good social media conduct (i.e. being kind!) and explores the ever-complicated art of developing a steady Twitter following. While it caters to authors, I would definitely attest that Blog It! presents something for bloggers of every milieu and will likely help any blogger to better understand the virtues and pitfalls of successful blogging.

I enjoyed her chapters on content and audience, especially. Greene knows that keeping a blog isn’t as simple as writing things down and pushing that “Publish” button; she helps the reader to understand how they can make their content work for them, and what it takes for blog posts to be useful to readers. Likewise, her focus on engaging readers and building community defines the reasoning that no blogger is an island and, in fact, that a blog can help a writer connect to their peers (as well as their readers) in a whole new way. Accessible, realistic, and genuinely helpful, Blog It! is a must-read from a celebrated blogger and talented author.

Title: Blog It! The Author’s Guide to Building a Successful Online Brand
Author: Molly Greene
Genre: nonfiction
Publisher: Molly Greene
Available Formats: e-book
Release date: February 23, 2013
Provided by: Molly Greene (c/o)
Buy the book: Kindle | Nook
Connect with the author: Website/Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Google + | Goodreads

The unofficial start of summer kicks off with quite the week of new releases, so much so that I highly recommend a holiday trip to the bookstore to browse the shelves in-person as I just couldn’t fit everything new in my selection. In fiction this week, a new novel from Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia, as well as anticipated works from Courtney Angela Brkic, Beth Hoffman, Mary Monroe, highly praised debuts from Kent Wascom and Susan Nussbaum, Karen Joy Fowler, and more. Mystery sees the continued NUMA Files adventures from Clive Cussler and Graham Brown with the eleventh in that series, as well as more from Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas, Ace Atkins’s Quinn Colson, Jeanne M. Dams’s Dorothy Martin, and many more. In romance, Eloisa James continues her Fairy Tale series with a Rapunzel redux, Once Upon a Tower and Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove sees its fourth edition, Any Duchess Will Do, as well as a few other historicals. There’s also new work from Sherryl Woods, Linda Lael Miller, Janet Dailey, Jill Shalvis, Lori Wilde, Heather Graham, and many more. In nonfiction, Dan Savage follows up on his powerful social movement, It Gets Better, with his deeply personal book, American Savage. In young adult, Katie McGarry continues her wildly popular Pushing the Limits series with Dare You To, and there are also new editions to Anna Banks’s Of Poseidon and Emmy Laybourne’s Monument 14 series, among others. Last but not least, newly release in paperback are Francine du Plessix Gray’s novel of Marie Antoinette, The Queen’s Lover, Jennie Fields’s novel of Edith Wharton, The Age of Desire as well as Lee Child’s seventeenth Jack Reacer novel, Lisa Zeidner’s Love Bomb, Mary Balogh’s The Proposal, and others. Best wishes to all my Stateside friends for a wonderful Memorial Day holiday!

The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio (Plume, trade paperback; 5/28)
The First Rule of Swimming by Courtney Angela Brkic (Little, Brown and Company, hardcover; 5/28)
Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman (Pamela Dorman Books, hardcover; 5/28)
The Keeper of Secrets by Julie Thomas (HarperCollins, trade paperback; 5/28)
The Way Back to Happiness by Elizabeth Bass (Kensington, trade paperback; 5/28)
The Son by Philipp Meyer (Ecco Press, hardcover; 5/28)
Lost Daughters by Mary Monroe (Kensington, hardcover; 5/28)
The Blood of Heaven by Kent Wascom (Grove Press, hardcover; 5/28)
Good Kinds, Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, hardcover; 5/28)
The Adventuress by N.D. Coleridge (Thomas Dunne Books, hardcover; 5/28)
A Far Piece to Canaan by Sam Halpern (Harper Perennial, trade paperback; 5/28)
I’ll Be Seeing You by Suzanne Hayes Palmieri & Loretta Nyhan (MIRA, trade paperback; 5/28)
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, hardcover; 5/30)
A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams (Putnam Adult, hardcover; 5/30)
The Gift of a Legacy by Jim Stovall (David C. Cook, hardcover; 6/1)

Zero Hour (NUMA Files #11) by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown (Putnam Adult, hardcover; 5/28)
Deeply Odd (Odd Thomas #6) by Dean Koontz (Bantam, hardcover; 5/28)
The Bookman’s Tale by Charlie Lovett (Viking Adult, hardcover; 5/28)
A Conspiracy of Faith (Department Q #3) by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Dutton Adult, hardcover; 5/28)
Rake by Scott Phillips (Counterpoint, hardcover; 5/28)
Oh Dear Silvia by Dawn French (Harper, hardcover; 5/28)
You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt (The Penguin Press HC, hardcover; 5/30)
The Broken Places (Quinn Colson #3) by Ace Atkins (Putnam Adult, hardcover; 5/30) * giveaway
Hell Hath No Fury by Rosie Harris (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 6/1)
Murder at the Castle (Dorothy Martin #13) by Jeanne M. Dams (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 6/1)
Night Fall (Nigel Paget #10) by Frank Smith (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 6/1)
Grey Dawn (Dulcie Schwartz #6) by Clea Simon (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 6/1)
I’ll Get By by Janet Woods (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 6/1)
Dark Waters by Susan Rogers Cooper (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 6/1)
At the Dying of the Year by Chris Nickson (Creme de la Crime, hardcover; 6/1)
The Keeper of Hands by Sydney J Jones (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 6/1)

Once Upon a Tower (Fairy Tales #5) by Eloisa James (Avon, mass market paperback; 5/28)
Sea Glass Island (Ocean Breeze #3) by Sherryl Woods (MIRA, mass market paperback; 5/28) * giveaway
Big Sky Summer (Parable, Montana #4) by Linda Lael Miller (HQN, mass market paperback; 5/28) * giveaway
Any Duchess Will Do (Spindle Cove #4) by Tessa Dare (Avon, mass market paperback; 5/28)
Triumph (Bannon Brothers #3) by Janet Dailey (Kensington, hardcover; 5/28)
It Had to Be You (Lucky Harbor #7) by Jill Shalvis (Grand Central Publishing, mass market paperback; 5/28) * giveaway
Love at First Sight (Cupid, Texas #1) by Lori Wilde (Avon, mass market paperback; 5/28)
The Secret Life of Lady Julia by Lecia Cornwall (Avon, mass market paperback; 5/28)
Lover Be Mine (Legendary Lovers #2) by Nicole Jordan (Ballantine Books, mass market paperback; 5/28)
Surrender to the Earl (Brides of Redemption #2) by Gayle Callen (Avon, mass market paperback; 5/28)
The Night is Watching (Krewe of Hunters #9) by Heather Graham (MIRA, mass market paperback; 5/28)
Leopard’s Prey (Leopard People #6) by Christine Feehan (Jove, mass market paperback; 5/28)
Lethal Attraction: Against the Rules\Fatal Affair by Linda Howard and Marie Force (HQN, mass market paperback; 5/28)
That Certain Summer by Irene Hannon (Revell Books, trade paperback; 6/1) * giveaway
Twelve Across (Victoria Lesser #2) by Barbara Delinsky (Severn House Publishers, hardcover; 6/1)

American Savage: Insights, Slights, and… by Dan Savage (Dutton Adult, hardcover; 5/28)
Roosevelt’s Centurions: FDR and the Commanders… by Joseph E. Persico (Random House, hardcover; 5/28)
1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War by Charles Emmerson (PublicAffairs, hardcover; 5/28)
Kylie Fashion by Kylie Minogue with William Baker (Running Press, hardcover; 5/28)
Name Above All Names by Alistair Begg and Sinclair B. Ferguson (Crossway, hardcover; 5/31)
Things Come Apart… by Todd McLellan (Thames & Hudson, hardcover; 5/31)
Behind the Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America by Leslie Zemeckis (Skyhorse Publishing, hardcover; 6/1)

Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2) by Katie McGarry (Harlequin Teen, hardcover; 5/28)
Of Triton (Of Poseidon #2) by Anna Banks (Feiwel & Friends, hardcover; 5/28)
Goddess (Starcrossed #3) by Josephine Angelini (HarperTeen, hardcover; 5/28)
The Girl with the Iron Touch (Steampunk Chronicles #3) by Kady Cross (Harlequin Teen, hardcover; 5/28)
Sky on Fire (Monument 14 #2) by Emmy Laybourne (Feiwel & Friends, hardcover; 5/28) * giveaway
Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg (Arthur A. Levine Books, hardcover; 5/28)
On Little Wings by Regina Sirois (Viking Juvenile, hardcover; 5/30)

The Queen’s Lover by Francine du Plessix Gray (Penguin Books, trade paperback; 5/28)
The Age of Desire by Jennie Fields (Penguin Books, trade paperback; 5/28)Love Bomb by Lisa Zeidner (Picador, trade paperback; 5/28)
A Wanted Man (Jack Reacher #17) by Lee Child (Delacorte Press, mass market paperback; 5/28)
The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller (Mariner Books, trade paperback; 5/28)
Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) by Deborah Harkness (Penguin Books, trade paperback; 5/28)
The Proposal (The Survivors’ Club #1) by Mary Balogh (Dell, mass market paperback; 5/28)
As the Crow Flies (Walt Longmire #8) by Craig Johnson (Penguin Books, trade paperback; 5/28)
The Raft by S.A. Bodeen (Square Fish, trade paperback; 5/28)
One Summer by David Baldacci (Vision, mass market paperback; 5/28)
Island Apart by Steven Raichlen (Forge Books, trade paperback; 5/28)
Kiss the Dead (Anika Blake… by Laurell K. Hamilton (Headling Publishing Group, mass market paperback; 6/1)

Happy reading!