LBM Mailing Archive One
Check out some of YPG’s past Little Big Mouth mailings below! Want to be added to one of our Little Big Mouth lists or want to use our lists to promote one of your books? Click here for details.
THE SKY IS YOURS: A NOVEL by Chandler Klang Smith
In the burned-out, futuristic city of Empire Island, three young people navigate a crumbling metropolis constantly under threat from a pair of dragons that circle the skies. When violence strikes, reality star Duncan Humphrey Ripple V, the spoiled scion of the metropolis’ last dynasty; Baroness Swan Lenore Dahlberg, his tempestuous, death-obsessed betrothed; and Abby, a feral beauty he discovered tossed out with the trash; are forced to flee everything they’ve ever known. As they wander toward the heart of the city, they face fire, conspiracy, mayhem, unholy drugs, dragon-worshippers, and the monsters lurking inside themselves. The Sky Is Yours is incredibly cinematic, bawdy, hilarious, and utterly unforgettable, a debut that readers who loved Cloud Atlas, Super Sad True Love Story, and Blade Runner will adore.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Roxanne Hiatt. Thanks, Hogarth!
ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL: A NOVEL by Sarah Vaughan
Sophie’s husband James is a loving father, a handsome man, a charismatic and successful public figure. And yet he stands accused of a terrible crime. Sophie is convinced he is innocent and desperate to protect her family from the lies that threaten to rip them apart.
Kate is the lawyer hired to prosecute the case, and seeks the truth at all times. She is certain James is guilty and is determined he will pay for his crimes.
Who is right? Sophie or Kate? And is either of them informed by anything more than instinct and personal experience?
Please send your Jackie Jou thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria/Emily Bestler Books!
FATAL THRONE: THE WIVES OF HENRY VIII TELL ALL edited by Candace Fleming
From seven of the most acclaimed and bestselling YA authors working today— Candace Fleming, M.T. Anderson, Stephanie Hemphill, Lisa Ann Sandell, Jennifer Donnelly, Linda Sue Park, and Deborah Hopkinson—comes a fictional re-telling of Henry VIII’s infamous marriages, told from the perspectives of Henry and his six doomed wives. At once provocative and heartbreaking, this epic tale is an intimate look at royalty in one of the most perilous times in English history, perfect for historical fiction readers and fans of shows like The Crown, The Tudors, and Reign.
Email Hannah Black your thoughts and comments, and share on social media with #FatalThrone. Thank you, Schwartz and Wade Books!
BRUNCH IS HELL by Rico Gagliano and Brendan Francis Newman
Society is under threat. The culprit? BRUNCH. Not merely a forum for overpriced eggs, brunch is a leisure-time-squandering hellscape, embodying all that is soul-killing and alienating about modern life. How to fight back? By throwing dinner parties! Dinner parties—where friends new and old share food, debate ideas, and boldly build hangovers together.
Brunch is Hell takes hesitant hosts through every phase of throwing a great dinner party, from guest list to subpoena. Loaded with celebrity advice, and tongue-in-cheek humor—plus sincere insights about how humans can be more generous to each other—Brunch if Hell is a spirited guide to restoring civility.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Lauren Velasquez or share them via social media @RicoGagliano , @CFNewnam, #BrunchisHell, #DownWithBrunch, #VivaLaDinner. Thanks, Little, Brown and Company!
MADNESS IS BETTER THAN DEFEAT by Ned Beauman
In 1938, two rival expeditions descend on an ancient temple recently discovered in the jungles of Honduras, one intending to shoot a screwball comedy on location there, the other to disassemble the temple and ship it back to New York. A seemingly endless stalemate ensues, and twenty years later a rogue CIA agent sets out to exploit it for his own ends, unaware that the temple is a locus of conspiracies far grander than anyone could ever have guessed. Shot through with insanity, intrigue, ingenuity, and adventure, showcasing Beauman’s anarchic humor, spectacular imagination, and riveting prose, Madness Is Better Than Defeat teases, absorbs, entertains, and dazzles in equal measure.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Julianne Clancy. Thanks, Knopf!
AIR TRAFFIC by Gregory Pardlo
The Pardlos were an average, middle-class African American family living in a New Jersey Levittown: Gregory Sr., an air traffic controller, his wife, and their two sons, Greg Jr. and Robbie. But when “Big Greg” loses his job after participating in the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Strike of 1981, he becomes a disillusioned, toxic presence in the household. While Big Greg succumbs to addiction and exhausts the family’s money, Greg Jr. rebels. Years later, he finally grapples with the irresistible yet ruinous legacy of masculinity he inherited from his father. In chronicling his path to recovery and adulthood–Gregory Pardlo gives us a compassionate, loving ode to his father, to fatherhood, and to the frustrating-yet-redemptive ties of family, as well as a scrupulous, searing examination of how African American manhood is shaped by contemporary American life.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Julianne Clancy. Thanks, Knopf!
MY FRIEND FEAR: FINDING MAGIC IN THE UNKNOWN by Meera Lee Patel
On the heels of her bestselling journal Start Where You Are, author and illustrator Meera Lee Patel takes us deeper into her artistic vision and emotional journey in this stunning new four-color book. A mix of personal reflections, inspirational quotes, questions for reflection, and breathtaking watercolor visuals, My Friend Fear asserts that having big fear is an opportunity to make big changes, to discover the remarkable potential inside ourselves.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Brooke Borneman. Thanks, TarcherPerigee!
IN SEARCH OF US by Ava Dellaira (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Everyone is searching for something.
Marilyn is in search of freedom. She grew up as a child actor, her mother’s meal ticket out of mediocrity. But it’s been a long time since she booked a job, and Marilyn is counting down the days until she can escape to college, and the promise of making her own future. That is, until she falls in love with James, the boy downstairs.
Angie is in search of answers. She is biracial and has never met her father. But after discovering that her mother Marilyn has been lying to her, Angie sets off on a road trip to Los Angeles in search of an unknown uncle—and maybe even her dad.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Caitlin Crocker. Thanks, Farrar, Straus and Giroux!
THE WICKED DEEP by Shea Ernshaw
Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow, where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.
Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town, but this year a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into. Mistrust and lies spread quickly through streets, and death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters. But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Caitlin Sweeny. Thanks, Simon Pulse!
THE DEVOTED: A NOVEL by Blair Hurley (W.W. Norton & Company)
Bright, curious, and restless, Ruthie Stoltzfus loves her family but is stuck in a sea of indecision about her future: Should she stay Amish? Or should she leave?
Patrick Kelly is a young man on a journey of his own. He’s come to Stoney Ridge to convert to the Amish and has given himself thirty days to adapt to “everything Plain.”
Ruthie’s next-door neighbor and cunning ex-boyfriend, Luke Schrock, will do anything to win Ruthie back–anything–and Patrick Kelly is getting in his way.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Michelle Waters. Thanks, W. W. Norton & Company!
COME WEST AND SEE: STORIES by Maxim Loskutoff
Come West and See is a work both timely and timeless. Set in the Redoubt, an isolated triangle of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming where an armed occupation of a wildlife refuge escalates into a separatist uprising, these stories explore the loneliness, insecurity, and frustration inherent to love and heartbreak.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Michelle Waters. Thanks, W. W. Norton & Company!
SWEARING IS GOOD FOR YOU by Emma Byrne
We’re often told that swearing is outrageous or even offensive, that it’s a sign of a stunted vocabulary or a limited intellect. Dictionaries have traditionally omitted it and parents forbid it. But the latest research by neuroscientists, psychologists, sociologists, and others has revealed that swear words, curses, and oaths―when used judiciously―can have surprising benefits. In this sparkling debut work of popular science, Emma Byrne examines the latest research to show how swearing can be good for you. Taking readers on a whirlwind tour through scientific experiments, historical case studies, and cutting-edge research on language in both humans and other primates, Byrne defends cursing and demonstrates how much it can reveal about different cultures, their taboos and their values.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Michelle Waters. Thanks, W. W. Norton & Company!
NORSE MYTHOLOGY by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman, long inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction, presents a bravura rendition of the Norse gods and their world from their origin though their upheaval in Ragnarok.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Michelle Waters. Thanks, W. W. Norton & Company!
JEWISH COMEDY: A SERIOUS HISTORY by Jeremy Dauber
In a major work of scholarship both erudite and very funny, Columbia professor Jeremy Dauber traces the origins of Jewish comedy and its development from biblical times to the age of Twitter. Organizing the product of Jews’ comic imagination over continents and centuries into what he calls the seven strands of Jewish comedy―including the satirical, the witty, and the vulgar―he traces the ways Jewish comedy has mirrored, and sometimes even shaped, the course of Jewish history. Persecution, cultural assimilation, religious revival, diaspora, Zionism―all of these, and more, were grist for the Jewish comic mill; and Dauber’s book takes readers on the tour of the funny side of some very serious business. (And vice versa.)
Please send your thoughts and comments to Michelle Waters. Thanks, W. W. Norton & Company!
ETERNAL LIFE by Dara Horn
Rachel is a woman with a problem: she can’t die. Her recent troubles―widowhood, a failing business, an unemployed middle-aged son―are only the latest in a litany spanning dozens of countries, scores of marriages, and hundreds of children. In the 2,000 years since she made a spiritual bargain to save the life of her first son back in Roman-occupied Jerusalem, she’s tried everything to free herself, and only one other person in the world understands: a man she once loved passionately, who has been stalking her through the centuries, convinced they belong together forever.
Gripping, hilarious, and profoundly moving, Eternal Life celebrates the bonds between generations, the power of faith, the purpose of death, and the reasons for being alive.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Michelle Waters. Thanks, W. W. Norton & Company!
A GUIDE FOR MURDERED CHILDREN by Sarah Sparrow
We’ve heard it said that there is no justice in this world. But what if the souls of murdered children were able to briefly return, inhabit adult bodies and wreak revenge on the monstrous killers who stole their lives? Such is the unthinkable mystery confronting ex-NYPD detective Willow Wylde, fresh out of rehab and finally able to find a job running a Cold Case squad in suburban Detroit. When the two rookie cops assigned to him take an obsessive interest in a decades-old disappearance of a brother and sister, Willow begins to suspect something out of the ordinary is afoot. And when he uncovers a series of church basement AA-type meetings made up of the slain innocents, a new way of looking at life, death, murder—and missed opportunities—is revealed to him.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Kayleigh George. Thanks, Blue Rider Press!
I STOP SOMEWHERE by T.E. Carter
Tormented throughout middle school, Ellie begins her freshman year with a new look: she doesn’t need to be popular; she just needs to blend in with the wallpaper.
But when the unthinkable happens, Ellie finds herself trapped after a brutal assault. She wasn’t the first victim, and now she watches it happen again and again. Now, she tries to hold on to her happier memories, waiting for someone to find her. The problem is, no one searches for a girl they never noticed in the first place.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Melissa Zar. Thanks, Feiwel & Friends!
HAMILTON AND PEGGY!: A REVOLUTIONARY FRIENDSHIP by L.M. Elliott
Drawing from historical journals and letters, New York Times bestselling author Laura Elliot weaves a richly detailed tale about the extraordinary Peggy Schuyler and her revolutionary friendship with Alexander Hamilton. Peggy Schuyler has always felt like she’s existed in the shadows of her beloved sisters: the fiery, intelligent Angelica and beautiful, sweet Eliza. But it’s in the throes of a chaotic war that Peggy finds herself a central figure amid Loyalists and Patriots, spies and traitors, friends and family.
Email Sabrina Abballe with your thoughts and comments, or share them on Twitter/Instagram with @HarperTeen, @KTegenBooks and @L_M_Elliott using #HAMandPeggy. Thanks, Katherine Tegen Books!
MYTH OF THE NICE GIRL by Fran Hauser
Leading executive and investor Fran Hauser offers practical advice to young women in business. She dispels harmful assumptions about being “nice,” proving that kindness is not a weakness. Instead, it can create powerful advantages that will lead to success in one’s career and beyond.
“If you want to redefine success on your own terms, you have to reimagine what a strong leader looks like. The Myth of the Nice Girl proves that you don’t have to sacrifice who you are to get ahead. It’s time to discard old-fashioned stereotypes, become the boss of your own future and recognize that being nice and authentic can make you a true Girlboss.” —Sophia Amoruso, Founder & CEO, Girlboss
Please send questions and comments to Hannah Harlow. Thanks, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
THE VERY WORST MISSIONARY: A MEMOIR OR WHATEVER by Jamie Wright
Meet Jamie Wright, raised Jewish (keyword: raised and also Jew-ish) before her Protestant born parents traded in the menorah for a Christmas tree and pulled wee Jamie out of Beth Shalom Elementary School. Though sparked by her early faith encounters through Judaism, Jamie lost touch with spiritual affairs in her teens, and found warmth instead wrapped up in a leather biker jacket and a much older boyfriend. Two years of raucous teenage marriage later, Jamie strolls into her first suburban megachurch. Broken, willing, and malleable: Jamie is the perfect supplicant for Jesus. She embraces the Church with gusto and life seems to improve as a result. Yet, as the years roll on, Jamie wonders, “Is this it?” Was the church that Jesus built meant only for upper-middle class white people with bob haircuts and pinned up blouses? The answer, Jamie believes, is no.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Nicole Mcardle. Thanks, Convergent Books!
REIGN OF THE FALLEN by Sarah Glenn Marsh
Odessa is one of Karthia’s master necromancers. Whenever a noble dies, it’s Odessa’s job to raise them by retrieving their soul from a dreamy and dangerous shadow world called the Deadlands. But there is a cost to being raised: the Dead must remain shrouded. If even a hint of flesh is exposed, a grotesque transformation begins, turning the Dead into terrifying, bloodthirsty Shades.
A dramatic uptick in Shade attacks raises suspicions and fears around the kingdom. Someone is intentionally creating Shades by tearing shrouds from the Dead–and training them to attack. Odessa is forced to contemplate a terrifying question: What if her magic is the weapon that brings the kingdom to its knees? Odessa must untangle the gruesome plot to destroy Karthia before the Shades take everything she loves.
Please send your questions and comments to Kara Brammer. Thanks, Lyana Salcedo!
DOING HARM by Maya Dusenbery
In the tradition of Naomi Klein and Barbara Ehrenreich, Maya Dusenbery, editor of the award-winning site Feministing.com, presents a shocking, hard-hitting exposé of sexism within our healthcare system. Bringing together scientific and sociological research, interviews with experts within and outside the medical establishment, and personal stories from women across the country, Doing Harm provides the first comprehensive, accessible look at how sexism in medicine harms women today.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Julia Kent or on social media @mayadusenbery, @feministing, and @harperone. Thanks, HarperOne!
THE ENDLING #1: THE LAST by Katherine Applegate
Byx is the youngest member of her dairne pack. Believed to possess remarkable abilities, her mythical doglike species has been hunted to near extinction in the war-torn kingdom of Nedarra. After her pack is hunted down and killed, Byx fears she may be the last of her species. The Endling. So Byx sets out to find safe haven, and to see if the legends of other hidden dairnes are true.
Along the way, she meets new allies—both animals and humans alike. And although they begin as strangers, they become their own kind of family—one that will ultimately uncover a secret that may threaten every creature in their world.
Please send any questions or comments to Emma Meyer. Thanks, HarperCollins!
THE BOOK OF BOY by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Boy has always been relegated to the outskirts of his small village. With a hump on his back, a mysterious past, and a tendency to talk to animals, he is often mocked and abused. Until the arrival of a shadowy pilgrim named Secondus. Impressed with Boy’s climbing and jumping abilities, Secondus engages Boy as his servant, pulling him into an expedition across Europe to gather seven precious relics of Saint Peter. But Boy quickly realizes this journey is not an innocent one. They are stealing the relics, and gaining dangerous enemies in the process.
Please send any questions or comments to Emma Meyer. Thanks, Greenwillow Books!
FLIGHT SEASON: A NOVEL by Marie Marquardt
Back when they were still strangers, TJ Carvalho witnessed the only moment in Vivi Flannigan’s life when she lost control entirely. Now, TJ can’t seem to erase that moment from his mind, no matter how hard he tries. Vivi doesn’t remember any of it, but she’s determined to leave it far behind. And she will.
But when Vivi returns home from her first year away at college, her big plans and TJ’s ambition to become a nurse land them both on the heart ward of a university hospital, facing them with a long and painful summer together—three months of glorified babysitting for Ángel, the problem patient on the hall. As it turns out, though, Ángel Solís has a thing or two to teach them about all those big plans, and the incredible moments when love gets in their way.
Please send your thoughts and comments to D.J.
DeSmyter. Thanks, Wednesday Books!
THE SPARSHOLT AFFAIR by Alan Hollinghurst
In 1940, David Sparsholt arrives at Oxford to study engineering, though his sights are set on joining the Royal Air Force. Handsome, athletic, charismatic, he is unaware of his effect on others–especially on Evert Dax, the lonely son of a celebrated novelist who is destined to become a writer himself. With the world at war, and the Blitz raging in London, Oxford nevertheless exists at a strange remove: a place of fleeting beauty–and secret liaisons. A friendship develops between these two young men that will have unexpected consequences as the novel unfolds.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Julianne Clancy. Thanks, Knopf!
SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA by Becky Albertalli
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier’s life has just gotten all kinds of complicated. When an email falls into the wrong hands, Simon is blackmailed into playing wingman for class clown Martin, or his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of the boy he’s been emailing with will be jeopardized. Now Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out- without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness.
Email Audrey Diestelkamp with your thoughts and comments, or share them on Twitter/Instagram with @HarperTeen, @BalzerandBray and @BeckyAlbertalli using #SimonVs. Thanks, HarperCollins!
SILENT HEARTS by Gwen Florio
Two women in Afghanistan – one an educated Pakistani, the other an American aid worker – come together in post-Taliban Kabul, brought into the same orbit by the most opposite of circumstances and backgrounds. Dependent upon their husbands, their loyalties, and their wits, these two women grow to form a strong bond, and a shared love of their new lives in Afghanistan. Yet behind the friendship are betrayals that will change them forever…. Compared to moving and acclaimed literary fiction, from A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Swallows of Kabul – and even The Handmaid’s Tale – Silent Hearts will make you think of the day-to-day of the people beyond the headlines, how the political intertwines with the personal, and the freedoms and social mores we take for granted. This is a transformative look behind the veils.
Please send your questions and comments to Ann Pryor. Thanks, Atria Books!
TELL ME LIES by Carola Lovering
College freshman Lucy Albright is excited about her future, full of aspirations, thrilled to be on the other side of the country from her cloying mother; fellow student Stephan DeMarco is cocksure, confident, charming, alluring, and definitely dangerous. Their instant, tantalizing attraction isn’t at all how it appears. Smitten by their chemical attraction, Lucy can’t tear herself away from him, and he’s only too delighted to be the center of attention. He repeatedly seduces her and pushes her away, haunted by the pivotal incident in his youth that is at the dark center of his motives and desires. As their relationship moves from college to post-grad life in New York City, their toxic enchantment come to whirlwind conclusion. Carola Lovering’s debut is a page-turning sizzler – for every woman who has dated a “Stephen”.
Please send your questions and comments to Ann Pryor. Thanks, Atria Books!
SEND DOWN THE RAIN by Charles Martin
Allie is still recovering from the loss of her family’s beloved waterfront restaurant on Florida’s Gulf Coast when she loses her second husband to a terrifying highway accident. Devastated and losing hope, she shudders to contemplate the future—until a cherished person from her past returns.
Joseph has been adrift for many years, wounded in both body and spirit and unable to come to terms with the trauma of his Vietnam War experiences. Just as he resolves to abandon his search for peace and live alone at a remote cabin in the Carolina mountains, he discovers a mother and her two small children lost in the forest. A man of character and strength, he instinctively steps in to help them get back to their home in Florida. There he will return to his own hometown—and witness the accident that launches a bittersweet reunion with his childhood sweetheart, Allie.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Paul Fisher. Thanks, Thomas Nelson!
A PROM TO REMEMBER by Sandy Hall
Love it or hate it, you’ll never forget it.
Cora: Dating Perfect Boyfriend Jamie. Has NO IDEA how to break up with him…
Henry: Hates social situations. Invited to prom by the most popular girl in school. SEND HELP!
Lizzie: Shy. Excited to go to prom. With a boy. Whose name she doesn’t know.
Cameron: Loner. Over high school. Just wants to meet the mysterious girl who’s been leaving him notes.
A Prom to Remember from Sandy Hall is a funny and cinematic look at the biggest dance of every high schooler’s life.
Please contact Ashley Woodfolk with your thoughts and comments, or share them with us at @FierceReads on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Thanks, Swoon Reads!
AS SHE FADES by Abbi Glines
On the night of her high school graduation, Vale McKinley and her boyfriend Crawford are in a terrible car accident that leaves Crawford in a coma. Instead of a Summer planning for their future, Vale spends long days in the hospital, hoping Crawford will awaken. Then she meets Slate Allen, a college friend of Vale’s brother, who has been visiting his dying uncle at the same hospital. As they grow close, she can’t deny the flutter of an illicit attraction. Full of twists and unexpected turns, fans will adore this new romance from Abbi Glines.
Please contact Lauren Festa with your thoughts and comments, or share them with us at @FierceReads on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Thanks, Flatiron Books!
PERIOD by various authors and Kate Farrell
Periods are a fact of life. It’s time to talk about them.
In this essay collection, writers of various ages, races, cultures, and gender identities share stories about “the period.” Each of the twelve authors brings an individual perspective writing about all types of periods: homeless periods, nonexistent periods, male periods, political periods, and more.
Please contact Johanna Kirby with your thoughts and comments, or share them with us at @FierceReads on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Thanks, Feiwel & Friends!
SOMETIMES I LIE by Alice Feeney
Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it’s the truth?
Please send your thoughts and comments to Molly Fonseca. Thanks, FlatIron Books!
TRENTON MAKES: A NOVEL by Tadzio Koelb
A vivid, brutal, razor-sharp debut about a woman who carves out her share of the American Dream by living as a man. Written in brilliantly stylized prose, TRENTON MAKES is a provocative and incisive exploration of the nature of identity, and a disturbing portrait of desperation. Tadzio Koelb has crafted a slim gut shot of a novel that heralds the arrival of a writer of startling talent and imagination.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Sarah Engelmann. Thanks, Doubleday!
IF YOU SEE ME DON’T SAY HI by Neel Patel
A bravura debut story collection in the vein of Aziz Ansari and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, about love, family, success, and the experience of being brown in America today. If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi examines the collisions of old world and new world, small town and big city, traditional beliefs (like arranged marriage) and modern rituals (like Facebook stalking). The men and women in these stories are full of passion, regret, envy, anger, and yearning. They fall in love with the wrong people and betray one another and deal with the accumulation of years of subtle racism. They are utterly compelling. Ranging across the country, Neel Patel’s stories — empathetic, provocative, twisting, and wryly funny — introduce a bold new literary voice, one that feels more timely than ever.
Please send your questions and comments to Jordan Forney. Happy reading, Flatiron Books!
I’M STILL HERE by Austin Channing Brown
From a leading new voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of what it’s like to grow up black, Christian, and female in white America, in this idea-driven memoir about how her determined quest for identity and understanding shows a way forward for us all.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Nick Stewart. Thanks, Convergent Books!
THE MAN HE NEVER WAS by James L. Rubart
Toren Daniels vanished eight months back, and his wife and kids have moved on—with more than a little relief. Toren was a good man but carried a raging temper that often exploded without warning. So when he shows up on their doorstep out of the blue, they’re shocked to see him alive. But more shocked to see he’s changed. Radically.
His anger is gone. He’s oddly patient. Kind. Fun. The man he always wanted to be. Toren has no clue where he’s been but knows he’s been utterly transformed. He focuses on three things: Finding out where he’s been. Finding out how it happened. And winning back his family. But then shards of his old self start to rise from deep inside—and Toren must face the supreme battle of his life.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Paul Fisher. Thanks, Thomas Nelson!
A GIRL’S GUIDE TO JOINING THE RESISTANCE: A FEMINIST HANDBOOK ON FIGHTING FOR GOOD by Emma Gray
Needing to take action after the election, Emma Gray, Executive Women’s Editor at HuffPost, put on her journalist hat and set out to get answers to these questions from some of the most prominent thought leaders and activists of our time. Interweaving the interviews with her own experiences covering resistance events and being a member of the media in a time when the media has been under assault, Emma has created a down and dirty guide for women of all ages to roll up their sleeves and resist the forces that are a threat to our rights.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Molly Waxman. Thanks, William Morrow Paperbacks!
THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID: WHAT MEN NEED TO KNOW (AND WOMEN NEED TO TELL THEM) ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER by Joanne Lipman
Filled with illuminating anecdotes, data from the most recent studies, and stories from Joanne Lipman’s own journey to the top of a male-dominated industry, it shows how we can win by reaching across the gender divide.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Molly Waxman. Thanks, William Morrow!
SCHOOL FOR PSYCHICS by K.C. Archer
An entrancing new series starring a funny, impulsive, and sometimes self-congratulatory young woman who discovers she has psychic abilities—and then must decide whether she will use her skills for good or…not.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Nicole Hines. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
THE LITTLE CLAN by Iris Martin Cohen
Ava Gallanter is the librarian in residence at the Lazarus Club, an ancient, dwindling Manhattan arts club full of eccentric geriatric residents stuck in a long-gone era. Twenty-five-year-old Ava, however, feels right at home. She leads a quiet life, surrounded by her beloved books and sequestered away from her peers. When Ava’s enigmatic friend Stephanie returns after an unplanned year abroad, the intoxicating opportunist vows to rescue Ava from a life of obscurity. Stephanie, on the hunt for fame and fortune, promises to make Ava’s dream of becoming a writer come true, and together they start a Victorian-inspired literary salon at the Lazarus Club. However, Ava’s romanticized idea of the salon quickly erodes as Stephanie’s ambitions take the women in an unexpected—and precarious—direction.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Stefanie Buszynski. Thanks, Park Row!
THE GUTSY GIRL HANDBOOK by Kate White
Former Cosmopolitan Editor-in-Chief Kate White presents the nine core principles that have guided her career, offering dozens of straightforward, doable strategies for women in any field and at any stage in their professional lives. Drawing on original research, and sharing new success stories and never-before told examples from her time as the editor-in-chief of Cosmo, White inspires women to own their excellence, break the rules (or make their own), ask for the money and opportunities they deserve, and refuse to apologize for who they are and what they want.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Alana Spendley. Thanks, Grand Central Life & Style!
RHETT & LINK’S BOOK OF MYTHICALITY by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal
From the YouTube superstars and creators of Good Mythical Morning comes the ultimate guide to living a “Mythical” life, featuring stories and photos from their lifelong friendship, as well as awesomely illustrated guides, charts, and activities aimed at laughing more, learning more, and never taking yourself too seriously.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Rachel Aldrich. Thanks, Crown Archetype!
LITERALLY ME by Julie Houts
Julie Houts has cultivated a devoted following as “Instagram’s favorite illustrator” (Vogue) by lampooning the conflicting messages and images women consume and share with the world every day.
A collection of darkly comic illustrated essays, Literally Me chronicles the exploits of “slightly antisocial heroines” (Refinery29) in vivid, excruciatingly funny detail.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Kelsey Manning. Thanks, Touchstone!
INDECENT by Corinne Sullivan
Shy, introverted Imogene Abney has always been fascinated by the elite world of prep schools, having secretly longed to attend one since she was a girl in Buffalo, New York. So, shortly after her college graduation, when she’s offered a teaching position at the Vandenberg School for Boys, an all-boys prep school in Westchester, New York, she immediately accepts, despite having little teaching experience–and very little experience with boys.
Please send your thoughts and comments to William Rhino. Thanks, Wednesday Books!
THE LIBRARY AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD by Felicity Hayes-McCoy
Felicity Hayes-McCoy’s U.S. debut about a local librarian who must find a way to rebuild her community and her own life in this touching, enchanting novel set on Ireland’s stunning West Coast.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Hannah Robinson. Thanks, Harper Perennial!
MIRROR, MIRROR by Cara Delevingne
When one of their friends mysteriously disappears, a group of teens are forced to confront the challenges and secrets of their lives in this edgy and suspenseful coming-of-age tale from international supermodel, actress, and social media darling Cara Delevingne.
Send your thoughts and comments to Stephanie Cooper. Thanks, Harper!
HOW TO THINK by Alan Jacobs
In this smart, endlessly entertaining book, celebrated cultural critic Alan Jacobs diagnoses the many forces that act on us to prevent thinking—forces that have only worsened in the age of Twitter, “alternative facts,” and information overload. Jacobs explores why we’re not as good at thinking as we assume, but how recovering this lost art can rescue our inner lives from the chaos of modern life.
Please send your questions and comments to Nick Stewart. Thanks, Currency!
PERENNIALS by Julie Cantrell
Julie Cantrell’s new novel, Perennials, is an unforgettable exploration of the complicated relationships between women and the constant battle we all fight against time itself.
When two estranged sisters reunite for their parents’ 50th anniversary, a family tragedy brings unexpected lessons of hope and healing amid the flowers of their mother’s perennial garden.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Paul Fisher. Thanks, Thomas Nelson!
THE CITY OF BRASS by S.A. Chakraborty
Step into The City of Brass, the spellbinding debut from S. A. Chakraborty, in which the future of a magical Middle Eastern kingdom rests in the hands of a clever and defiant young con artist with miraculous healing gifts.
Send your thoughts and comments to Angela Craft. Thanks, Harper Voyager!
HOW TO FALL IN LOVE WITH A MAN WHO LIVES IN A BUSH: A NOVEL by Emmy Abrahamson
Vienna: famous for Mozart, waltzes, and pastry; less famous for Julia, a Swedish transplant who spends her days teaching English to unemployed Austrians and her evenings watching Netflix with her cat or club hopping with a frenemy. An aspiring novelist, Julia’s full of ideas for future bestsellers…they’re just not exactly what you’d call original. Then Julia meets Ben. He’s handsome (under all that beard), adventurous (leaps from small bridges in a single bound), and also sexy as hell . Oh, and Ben lives in a public park. Thus begins a truth stranger than any fiction Julia might have imagined.
Please email Megan Looney with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Harper Paperbacks!
GREEN by Sam Graham Felsen
“This isn’t some Jedi bull****; the force I’m talking about is real, and its energies are everywhere, working on everyone.”
A novel of race and privilege in America that you haven’t seen before: a coming-of-age story about a life-changing friendship, propelled by an exuberant, unforgettable voice.
Send your thoughts and comments to Jess Bonet. Thanks, Random House!
THE CRUEL PRINCE by Holly Black
By #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Jennifer McClelland-Smith. Thanks, Little Brown!
WOMEN’S HEALTH VAGINA UNIVERSITY by the Editors of Women’s Health and Sheila Curry Oakes
Class is in session! From IUDs to UTIs, periods to pregnancy, and menstrual cups to cervical caps, Women’s Health Vagina University teaches the modern woman everything you need to know about your most intimate parts―even if you are uncomfortable saying “vagina” out loud. Women’s Health Vagina University challenges stigmas directed at women’s bodies and sexuality, offers advice and support, and explains how your vagina’s health can impact your overall health.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Jackie Cirelli. Thanks, Rodale Book!
THE ART OF STOPPING TIME: PRACTICAL MINDFULNESS FOR BUSY PEOPLE by Pegram Shojai (Rodale Books)
We all know that we feel starved for time, but what are we actually doing about it? Precious little. In The Art of Stopping Time, New York Times bestselling author Pedram Shojai guides us towards success with what he calls Time Prosperity―having the time to accomplish what you want in life without feeling compressed, stressed, overburdened, or hurried.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Jackie Cirelli. Thanks, Rodale Book!
EVERYTHING AT ONCE by Bill Nye
Everyone has an inner nerd just waiting to be awakened by the right passion. In Everything All at Once, Bill Nye will help you find yours. With his call to arms, he wants you to examine every detail of the most difficult problems that look unsolvable―that is, until you find the solution. Bill shows you how to develop critical thinking skills and create change, using his “everything all at once” approach that leaves no stone unturned.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Jackie Cirelli. Thanks, Rodale Book!
ASH PRINCESS by Laura Sebastian
Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother was murdered before her eyes. The Kaiser took Theodosia’s family, her land, and named her the Ash Princess–a title of shame to bear in her new life as a prisoner. Captive in her own palace for ten years, Theo has endured the relentless abuse and ridicule of the Kaiser. She is powerless. But she does have a weapon: her mind is sharper than any sword. And power isn’t always won on the battlefield. For ten years, the Ash Princess has seen her land pillaged and her people enslaved. That all ends here.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Kelly McGauley. Thanks, Delacorte Press!
IMPERFECT JUSTICE by Cara Putnam
To the world it seems obvious: Kaylene Adams killed her daughter and then was shot by police. Attorney Emilie Wesley believes Kaylene would never hurt anyone and was looking for a way out of an abusive relationship. Reid Billings thought he knew his sister. He discovers a letter from Kaylene begging him to fight for custody of her daughters if anything should happen to her and tells him to get help from Emilie Wesley. Thrown together in a race to save Kaylene’s surviving daughter, Emilie and Reid must find the truth—and maybe a future together in the process.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Allison Carter. Thanks, Thomas Nelson!
THIS WILL BE MY UNDOING by Morgan Jenkins
Morgan Jerkins is only in her twenties, but she has already established herself as an insightful, brutally honest writer who isn’t afraid of tackling tough, controversial subjects. In This Will Be My Undoing, she takes on perhaps one of the most provocative contemporary topics: What does it mean to “be”—to live as, to exist as—a black woman today? This is a book about black women, but it’s necessary reading for all Americans.
Please email Megan Looney with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Harper Paperbacks!
THE GHOST NOTEBOOKS by Ben Dolnick
When Nick Beron and Hannah Rampe decide to move to the tiny upstate town of Hibernia, New York, they aren’t running away, but they do need a change. So, Hannah takes a job as live-in director of the Wright Historic House, a museum dedicated to an obscure nineteenth century philosopher, and she and Nick move into their new home. At first life in the old house feels cozy, but soon Hannah begins to have trouble sleeping and hears whispers in the night. One morning Nick wakes up to find Hannah gone. The hidden legacy of Wright House can no longer be ignored.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Dani Toth. Thanks, Pantheon!
THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE by Zoe Whittall
The Woodburys cherish life in the affluent suburb. George is a beloved science teacher, a hero who once thwarted a gunman, and his wife, Joan, is a hardworking ER nurse. They have brought up their children in this thriving. Then one night a police car pulls up to the Woodbury home and George is charged with sexual misconduct. As he sits in prison awaiting trial and claiming innocence, Joan vaults between denial and. Their daughter, seventeen-year-old Sadie, becomes a social outcast. Her brother, Andrew, a lawyer in New York, returns home to support the family, only to confront unhappy memories from his past. A writer tries to exploit their story, while an unlikely men’s rights activist group attempts to recruit Sadie for their cause.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Allison Schuster. Thanks, Ballantine Books!
THE WIFE BETWEEN US by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
When you read this book, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are reading about a jealous wife. You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a woman who is about to enter a new marriage with the man she loves. You will assume you know the anatomy of the relationships.
Assume nothing. Read between the lies.
Thanks for St. Martin’s Press for the early read! Email Jordan Hanley with your thoughts and comments and use the hashtags #MeetTheMrs and #TheWifeBetweenUs.
TIMELESS: DIEGO AND THE RANGERS OF THE VASTLANTIC by Armand Baltazar
Past, present, and future collide in this full-color novel from debut talent Armand Baltazar, a former designer and artist for DreamWorks, Disney, and Pixar. Timeless is the ultimate mash-up of time and history—an epic and cinematic adventure that stars a diverse cast of characters. For a sneak peek of the first three chapters in full color, visit hc.com/timeless
Email Alana Whitman with your thoughts and comments, or share them on Twitter @HarperChildrens, @KTegenBooks and @ArmandBaltazar, as well as on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks, Katherine Tegen Books!
INVICTUS by Ryan Graudin
After failing an entrance exam into the government program, Farway Gaius McCarthy has to settle for a position on the black market captaining a time-traveling crew to steal valuables from the past. During a routine heist on the sinking Titanic, Far meets Eliot, a girl who’s always one step ahead of him. Armed with the knowledge that history is not as steady as it seems, Eliot will lead Far and his team on a race through time to set things right before the clock runs out.
Please contact Jennifer McClelland with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Little Brown Books for Young Readers!
PERMISSION TO SCREW UP by Kristen Hadeed
This is the story of how Kristen Hadeed built Student Maid, a cleaning company where people are happy, loyal, productive, and empowered, even while they’re mopping floors and scrubbing toilets. It’s the story of how she went from being an almost comically inept leader to a sought-after CEO who teaches others how to lead.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Alison Coolidge. Thanks, Portfolio!
PORTRAIT OF VENGEANCE by Carrie Stuart Parks
Gwen Marcey has done a good job keeping the pain of her past boxed up, but as she investigates the case of a missing child in Lapwai, Idaho, details surface that are eerily similar to her childhood traumas. What’s going on? No one knows more about the impact of the past than the Nez Perce people of Lapwai. Gwen is an unwelcome visitor to some, making her investigation more difficult. Questions pile up, answers come slow—and the clock is ticking for a missing girl. As Gwen’s past and present collide, she’s in a race for the truth.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Allison Carter. Thanks, Thomas Nelson!
THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Old Hollywood film star Evelyn Hugo has always been surrounded by speculation and scandal, but now she’s ready to reveal secrets the tabloids never even guessed at. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s newest novel chronicles one woman’s relentless rise to the top—the risks she took, the loves she lost, and the sensational intrigues of her glamorous world.
Please send your questions and comments to Willian Rhino. Thanks, Atria Books!
POST GRAD by Caroline Kitchener
What really happens in the first year out of college? When Caroline Kitchener graduated from Princeton, she began shadowing four of her female classmates, interviewing them as they started to navigate the murky waters of post-collegiate life. Weaving together her own experience as a writer with the experiences of these other women—a documentarian, a singer, a programmer, and an aspiring doctor—Kitchener delves deeply into the personal and professional opportunities offered to female college graduates, and how the world perceives them.
Please send Meghan Deans your thoughts and comments! Thanks, Ecco!
OUR LITTLE RACKET by Angelica Baker
On September 15, 2008, the world of Greenwich, Connecticut, is shaken. When the investment bank Weiss & Partners is shuttered, CEO Bob D’Amico must fend off allegations of malfeasance, as well as the judgment and resentment of his community. As panic builds, five women in his life must scramble to negotiate power on their own terms and ask themselves what—if anything—is worth saving. With astonishing precision, insight, and grace, Angelica Baker weaves a timeless social novel about the rituals of intimacy and community; of privilege and information; of family and risk; of etiquette and taboo.
Please send Meghan Deans your thoughts and comments! Thanks, Ecco!
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, REVOLUTIONARY by Martha Brockenbrough
Complex, passionate, brilliant, flawed—Alexander Hamilton comes alive in this exciting biography informed by Hamilton’s own writing, with archival artwork and new illustrations.
Discover this founding father’s incredible true story: his brilliant scholarship and military career; his groundbreaking and enduring policy, which shapes American government today; his salacious and scandalous personal life; his heartrending end.
Please email Lauren Festa with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Fewiwel & Friends!
THE BEAUTY OF THE END by Debbie Howells
Ex-lawyer and armchair criminal psychologist, Noah Calaway lives aimlessly in the English countryside, haunted by the memory of the young woman who left him at the altar sixteen years earlier. When Noah learns April now lies in a coma, the victim of an overdose, and the lead suspect in a brutal murder, Noah searches for evidence to clear her name. Then a teenager named Ella comes forward to sift through the secrets of her own painful family history. The same age as April when Noah first met her, Ella may hold the key to solving the murder. As the two stories converge, there are shocking consequences when at last, the truth emerges. Or so everyone believes…
Please email Rebecca Raskin with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Kensington Publishing Corp!
I HATE EVERYONE BUT YOU by Gaby Dunn
As they keep in touch through texts and emails, best friends Ava and Gen head off to their first semesters of college on opposite sides of the country. From first loves to weird roommates, heartbreak, self-discovery, coming out and mental health, the two best friends will document every moment to each other. But as each changes and grows into her new life, will their friendship be able to survive the distance?
I Hate Everyone But You, the debut novel by two emerging major talents in YA, Allison Raskin and Gaby Dunn, is a story about new beginnings, love and heartbreak, and ultimately about the power of friendship.
Please email DJ DeSmyter with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Wednesday Books!
BUT SERIOUSLY? by John McEnroe
He is one of the most controversial and beloved athletes in history, a tennis legend and a volcanic, mesmerizing presence. But after reaching the top of his game—what came next? Fifteen years after his international number-one bestseller You Cannot Be Serious, John McEnroe is back and ready to talk. The result is a richly personal account, blending anecdote and reflection with razor-sharp and brutally honest opinions, all in McEnroe’s signature style. This is the sports book of the year: wildly entertaining, very funny, surprisingly touching, and 100 percent McEnroe.
Email Lauren Velasquez with your thoughts and comments, or send them to Twitter at @littlebrown, Facebook @littlebrownandcompany, or Instagram @littlebrown. Thanks, Little, Brown and Company!
ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND STRANGE by James Markert
In All Things Bright and Strange, evil comes to the southern town of Bellhaven in the most beautiful of forms. Ellsworth Newbury must find the strength to conquer his demons and face the truth in order to save his town from the evil lurking in the nearby woods.
In the wake of World War I in the small, Southern town of Bellhaven, South Carolina, the town folk believe they’ve found a little slice of Heaven in a mysterious chapel in the woods. But they soon realize that evil can come in the most beautiful of forms.
Please send your questions and comments to Allison Carter . Thanks, Thomas Nelson!
AN OASIS IN TIME: HOW A DAY OF REST CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE by Marilyn Paul, Ph. D.
What if a day of rest could save your life?
We all need a break from the never-ending to-do list, the frenzy of plans, and the always-behind feeling. AN OASIS IN TIME offers a solution from the daily overwhelm that is as radical as it is ancient—in this book, Marilyn Paul suggests that taking one day of rest each week can help us reconnect with what’s most important in life. Drawing on Sabbath tradition, Paul shows that it is possible to introduce deep mindfulness and meditation—regardless of your religious beliefs—that can help you slow down and savor life each week.
Please email your thoughts to Brianne Sperber or tag @rodalebooks on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. With thanks from Rodale Books.
THE MISSING HOURS by Emma Kavanagh
In the sleepy borderland between England and Wales, sheep outnumber people and serious crimes are rare. Which makes this Tuesday morning, when two calls of missing persons, Selena Cole and Dominic Newell, come in to the local police station, even more remarkable. Detective Constable Leah Mackay and her brother, Detective Sergeant Finn Hale, begin their respective investigations, but soon find them inextricably linked. And when Selena is found alive and unhurt twenty hours later, the mystery deepens.
Leah and Finn delve into each case, untangling the secrets and betrayals—large and small—that can lie just beneath the surface of a life, yet unprepared for where both trails will lead.
Please send your questions and comments to Rebecca Raskin . Thanks, Arrow!
AMANDA WAKES UP by Alisyn Camerota
The Devil Wears Prada meets Primary Colors in this wickedly funny debut novel about a bootstrapping young reporter who lands a plum job at a big-time cable news station and finds her ambitions and her love life turned upside down. When Amanda Gallo, fresh from the backwater of local TV, lands the job of her dreams at FAIR News—the coveted morning anchor slot—she’s finally made it. But she finds her journalistic ideals shredded as she struggles to keep up with the issues in a ratings-crazed madhouse. Walking a knife’s edge between ambition and survival, and about to break the biggest story of her career, Amanda must decide what she’s willing to give up to get ahead—and what she needs to hold on to save herself.
Please send your questions and comments to Nora Alice Demick or share your morning routine on Instagram using #AmandaWakesUp. Thanks, Viking!
IN A DAZE WORK by Siobhan Gallagher
Choose your way to a perfect day with this adventurous book full of personality, tongue-in-cheek wordplay, and gorgeous illustrations. In A Daze Work is an exciting new spin on the minute and mundane decisions that make up your daily life. Each flip of the page puts you in control of the story:
Will you stay in or go out?
Do you wake up or sleep in?
More important, where will your decisions take you?
Please contact Brooke Borneman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, TarcherPerigee!
MOXIE by Jennifer Mathieu
Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with an administration at her high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes, hallway harassment, and gross comments from guys during class. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules.
So, Viv creates a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She’s just blowing off steam, but other girls respond. As Viv forges friendships with young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, she realizes that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution.
Please contact Johanna Kirby with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Roaring Brook Press!
THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah
Alaska, 1974.
Untamed.
Unpredictable.
And for a family in crisis, the ultimate test of the human spirit.
From the author who brought you the phenomenon of The Nightingale.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the early reads. Email Jordan Hanley with your thoughts and comments with the hashtag #thegreatalonebook.
KIDS THESE DAYS by Malcolm Harris
A Millennial’s groundbreaking investigation into why his generation is economically worse off than their parents, creating a radical and devastating portrait of what it means to be young in America. Author Malcolm Harris is an early Wall Street occupier, editor at the New Inquiry, and a columnist for the Pacific Standard.
Please send your thoughts and comments to Jean Garnett . Thanks, Little Brown!
WOLF WINTER by Cecilia Ekback
Weinstein Books is sending a flash mailing this December to members of our Literary Fiction list copies of the debut suspenseful literary sensation WOLF WINTER by Cecilia Ekback. It’s part atmospheric mystery, part historical-meets-occult tale, and part female-driven survival narrative.
Intelligent, resilient Maija, her husband Paavo, and daughters Frederika and Dorotea, leave the traumas of their native Finland for the promise of a new life in Sweden. Both remote and beautiful, bewitching and unforgiving, their new home is cloaked with secrets. Above them looms Blackåsen Mountain, whose dark history seems to haunt those in its shadow. Soon after their arrival, Frederika discovers the gruesomely abandoned corpse of a neighbor that the community dismisses as a wolf attack but Maija feels is almost certainly a calculated murder—a murder that someone amongst them has committed. When another horrific scene is discovered soon after, she investigates despite warning signs that past tragedies and betrayals make almost everyone a suspect. As the seasons change, a real “wolf winter,” the harshest winter in memory, descends upon the mountain—and with it, a mounting sense of fear and paranoia that they are being targeted by something much worse than they imagined.
Please email Georgina Levitt with your thoughts and comments, and tweet about it using #WolfWinter. Thanks, Weinstein Books!
THE EVERYDAY SUPERMODEL by Molly Sims
Dey Street Books (an imprint of HarperCollins) is sending copies of Molly Sims’ book, THE EVERYDAY SUPERMODEL, this December to members of the Nonfiction list.
With down-to-earth charm, humor, and best girlfriend tough love, “supermodel next door” Molly Sims shares her hard-earned beauty, fashion, fitness, and wellness secrets in the fully-illustrated, four-color guide THE EVERYDAY SUPERMODEL.
Email Kendra Newton with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Dey Street Books!
THE ACCIDENT by Chris Pavone
Penguin Random House showed us love with early readers copies of THE ACCIDENT by Chris Pavone, and his bestselling prior novel The Expats, and it’s lucky time again for select members of the Mystery/Thriller list in a December mailing to celebrate the paperback release of The Accident.
As dawn approaches in New York, literary agent Isabel Reed is turning the final pages of a mysterious, anonymous manuscript, racing through the explosive revelations about powerful people, as well as long-hidden secrets about her own past. In Copenhagen, veteran CIA operative Hayden Gray, determined that this sweeping story be buried, is suddenly staring down the barrel of an unexpected gun. And in Zurich, the author himself is hiding in a shadowy expat life, trying to atone for a lifetime’s worth of lies and betrayals with publication of The Accident, while always looking over his shoulder. Over the course of one long, desperate, increasingly perilous day, these lives collide as the book begins its dangerous march toward publication, toward saving or ruining careers and companies, placing everything at risk—and everyone in mortal peril. The rich cast of characters—in publishing and film, politics and espionage—are all forced to confront the consequences of their ambitions, the schisms between their ideal selves and the people they actually became.
Email Sarah Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Broadway Books!
IF I FALL, IF I DIE by Michael Christie
Hogarth (an imprint of Penguin Random House) is doing a December mailing to 200 members of the Literary Fiction list with copies of IF I FALL, IF I DIE, a heartfelt and wondrous debut about family, fear, and skateboarding by Michael Christie.
Will has never been outside, at least not since he can remember. And he has certainly never gotten to know anyone other than his mother, a fiercely loving yet wildly eccentric agoraphobe who drowns in panic at the thought of opening the front door. Their world is rich and loving, full of art, experiments, and music—but confined to their small house. But Will’s thirst for adventure can’t be contained. Clad in a protective helmet and unsure of how to talk to other kids, he finally ventures outside. With the help of an artistic loner who introduces Will to the high-flying freedom of skateboarding, Will is pulled far from the confines of his closed-off world and thrust headfirst into the throes of early adulthood and the dangers that everyday life offers.
Email Sarah Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Hogarth!
GLOW: A NOVEL by Ned Beauman
Select members from the Literary Fiction and Mystery/Thriller lists are receiving copies of GLOW by Ned Beauman this winter from Knopf (an imprint of Penguin Random House).
South London, May 2010: foxes are behaving strangely, Burmese immigrants are going missing, and everyone is trying to get hold of a new party drug called Glow. A young man suffering from a rare sleep disorder will uncover the connections between all these anomalies in this taut, riveting new novel by a young writer hailed by The Guardian as “playful, arresting, unnerving, opulent, rude and—above all—deliciously, startlingly, exuberantly fresh.” Twenty-two-year-old Raf spends his days walking Rose, a bull terrier who guards the transmitters for a pirate radio station, and his nights at raves in warehouses and launderettes. When his friend Theo vanishes without a trace, Raf’s efforts to find him will lead straight into the heart of a global corporate conspiracy. Meanwhile, he’s falling in love with a beautiful young woman he met at one of those raves, but he’ll soon discover that there is far more to Cherish than meets the eye.
Email Danielle Plafsky with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Knopf!
ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES by Jennifer Niven
Random House Children’s Books did a large holiday galley mailing of ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES by Jennifer Niven to select members of the Young Adult list this December.
Theodore Finch is fascinated by death. Every day he thinks of ways he might die, but every day he also searches for—and manages to find—something to keep him here, and alive, and awake. Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her small Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death. When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a class project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, they go where the road takes them: the grand, the small, the bizarre, the beautiful, the ugly, the surprising—just like life. This is a heart-wrenching, unflinching story of love shared, life lived, and two teens who find one another while standing on the edge. As Finch and Violet discovered during their Wander Indiana project, “even the smallest places mean something,” and your “bright place” can be anything—a word, a person, a location, a time of day or year.
Email Stephanie O’Cain with your thoughts and comments, and she urges you to tell the story of your bright place on social media: @allthebrightplaces #allthebrightplaces Thanks, Random House Children’s Books!
THE LIFE I LEFT BEHIND by Colette McBeth
Minotaur Books is sending a mailing of THE LIFE I LEFT BEHIND by Collette McBeth to the Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list this December. Narrated alternately by one young woman in danger, and the ghost of another who has been murdered, and reminiscent of The Lovely Bones, The Life I Left Behind is a taut thriller and an intimate look at two young women bound together in ways neither of them could ever have predicted.
Six years ago, Melody Pieterson was attacked and left for dead. Melody’s neighbor and close friend David was found guilty of the crime and imprisoned, and the attack and David’s betrayal of her friendship left Melody a different person. She no longer trusts her own judgment, she no longer trusts her friends. In fact, she no longer really has any friends. She’s built a life behind walls and gates and security codes. And then, soon after David is released from prison, Eve Elliot is murdered in an attack almost identical to Melody’s. With the start of a new police investigation, Melody is suddenly pulled from her ordered, secluded life and back into the messy world around her. But as she learns more about Eve, Melody starts to wonder if perhaps the killer is someone else entirely, someone who’s still out there, preparing to strike again…
Email Melissa Hastings with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Minotaur Books!
Atria Books is sending galleys of THE WELL by Catherine Chanter to the YPG Literary Fiction list this December.
A brilliantly haunting and suspenseful debut set in modern-day Britain where water is running out everywhere except at The Well—the farm of one seemingly ordinary family whose mysterious good fortune leads to suspicion, chaos, and ultimately a shocking act of violence.
Email Hillary Tisman with your thoughts and comments, and see more info HERE. Thanks, @AtriaBooks!
A SMALL INDISCRETION by Jan Ellison
One hundred members of the Little Big Mouth Women’s Fiction list will be getting a Random House mailing this December. A Small Indiscretion by Jan Ellison fixes an unflinching eye on the power of desire and the danger of obsession as it unfolds the story of one woman’s reckoning with a youthful mistake.
At nineteen, Annie Black trades a bleak future in her washed-out hometown for a London winter of drinking to oblivion and yearning for deliverance. Some two decades later, she is married to a good man and settled in San Francisco, with a son and two daughters and a successful career designing artistic interior lights. One June morning, a photograph arrives in her mailbox, igniting an old longing and setting off a chain of events that rock the foundations of her marriage and threaten to overturn her family’s hard-won happiness.
Email Erika Seyfried with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Random House!
IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE by Shari Goldhagen
St. Martin’s Press is doing a LBM mailing of finished copies of IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE by Shari Goldhagen to 100 lucky members of the General Fiction list this December.
In December 1992, three groups of teenagers head to the theater to see the movie version of the famed Eons & Empires comic books. For Adam it’s a last ditch effort to connect with something (actually, someone, the girl he’s had a crush on for years) in his sleepy Florida town before he leaves for good. Passionate fan Sharon skips school in Cincinnati so she can fully appreciate the flick without interruption from her vapid almost-friends—a seemingly silly indiscretion with shocking consequences. And in suburban Chicago, Phoebe and Ollie simply want to have a nice first date and maybe fool around in the dark, if everyone they know could just stop getting in the way. Over the next two decades, these unforgettable characters criss-cross the globe, becoming entwined by friendship, sex, ambition, fame and tragedy. A razor-sharp, darkly comic page-turner, In Some Other World, Maybe sheds light on what it means to grow up in modern America.
Email Janet Chow with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, St. Martin’s Press!
THE 13th GIFT by Joanne Huist Smith
Harmony Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House) is sending copies of The 13th Gift: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle to the Little Big Mouth Religion/Spirituality and Memoir lists this November as an early holiday treat.
For readers of Richard Paul Evans and Greg Kincaid comes The 13th Gift, a heartwarming Christmas story about how a random act of kindness transformed one of the bleakest moments in a family’s history into a time of strength and love. After the unexpected death of her husband, Joanne Huist Smith had no idea how she would keep herself together and be strong for her three children–especially with the holiday season approaching. But 12 days before Christmas, presents begin appearing on her doorstep with notes from their “True Friends.” As the Smiths came together to solve the mystery of who the gifts were from, they began to thaw out from their grief and come together again as a family. This true story about the power of random acts of kindness will warm the heart, a beautiful reminder of the miracles of Christmas and the gift of family during the holiday season.
Email Christina Foxley with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Harmony Books!
EMBASSY ROW #1: ALL FALL DOWN by Ally Carter
This November, Scholastic is sending ARCs of Embassy Row #1: All Fall Down—the brand-new high-stakes series from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter—to the YPG Little Big Mouth YA list.
Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things: (1) She is not crazy. (2) Her mother was murdered. (3) Someday she is going to find the killer and make him pay. As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her — so there’s no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door, who is keeping his eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands. Her past has come back to hunt her … and if she doesn’t stop it, Grace isn’t the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world stand like dominoes, and one wrong move can make them all fall down.
Email Emily Morrow with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Scholastic!
THE GHOSTS OF HEAVEN by Marcus Sedgwick
Roaring Brook Press is doing a focused mailing to lucky members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list of THE GHOSTS OF HEAVEN, a bold, genre-bending epic from 2014 Printz award-winning author Marcus Sedgwick that chronicles madness, obsession, and creation, from the Paleolithic era through the Witch Hunts and into the space-bound future
They are there in prehistory, when a girl picks up a charred stick and makes the first written signs; there tens of centuries later, hiding in the treacherous waters of Golden Beck that take Anna, who people call a witch; there in the halls of a Long Island hospital at the beginning of the 20th century, where a mad poet watches the oceans and knows the horrors it hides; and there in the far future, as an astronaut faces his destiny on the first spaceship sent from earth to colonize another world. Each of the characters in these mysterious linked stories embarks on a journey of discovery and survival; carried forward through the spiral of time, none will return to the same place.
Email Jo Kirby with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Roaring Brook Press!
This October, Viking is sending our Literary Fiction Little Big Mouth list copies of THE POSER by Jacob Rubin.
All his life, Giovanni Bernini has possessed an uncanny gift: he can imitate anyone he meets. Honed by his mother at a young age, the talent catapults him from small-town obscurity to stardom. As Giovanni describes it, “No one’s disguise is perfect. There is in every person, no matter how graceful, a seam, a thread curling out of them. . . . When pulled by the right hands, it will unravel the person entire.” As his fame grows, Giovanni encounters a beautiful and enigmatic stage singer, Lucy Starlight—the only person whose thread he cannot find—and becomes increasingly trapped inside his many poses. Ultimately, he must assume the one identity he has never been able to master: his own. In the vein of Jonathan Lethem’s and Kevin Wilson’s playful surrealism, Jacob Rubin’s The Poser is the debut of a major literary voice, a masterfully written, deeply original comic novel, and the moving story of a man who must risk everything for the chance to save his life and know true love.
Email Winnie De Moya with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Viking!
WEST OF SUNSET by Stewart O’Nan
Viking is sending our Literary Fiction Little Big Mouth list copies of WEST OF SUNSET, a sympathetic and deeply personal portrait of a flawed man who never gave up in the end, even as his every wish and hope seemed thwarted.
The last three years of Fitzgerald’s life, often obscured by the legend of his earlier Jazz Age glamour, are the focus of Stewart O’Nan’s gorgeously and gracefully written novel. With flashbacks to key moments from Fitzgerald’s past, the story follows him as he arrives on the MGM lot, falls in love with brassy gossip columnist Sheilah Graham, begins work on The Last Tycoon, and tries to maintain a semblance of family life with the absent Zelda and daughter, Scottie. According to Salon, West of Sunset confirms O’Nan as “possibly our best working novelist.”
Email Winnie De Moya with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Viking!
Chills abound as Gallery/Pocket Books sends gallesy of THE DEEP by Nick Cutter to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list this October.
The Abyss meets The Shining in this all-new novel of terror from the acclaimed author of The Troop—which Stephen King raved “scared the hell out of me and I couldn’t put it down….old-school horror at its best.”
Email Melanie Mitzman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Gallery/Pocket Books!
Gallery/Pocket Books is tickling the funny bone of the YPG Little Big Mouth Humor list this fall with copies of DIRTY RUSH by Taylor Bell.
The writers behind the Babe Walker franchise team up with Rebecca Martinson, former Delta Gamma board member and infamous author of the “we f**king suck so far” e-mail, for an outrageously funny book exposing “real” Greek sorority life, in the vein of W.R. Bolen’s TOTAL FRAT MOVE and Babe Walker’s WHITE GIRL PROBLEMS and PSYCHOS.
Email Melanie Mitzman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Gallery/Pocket Books!
PRINCESS OF THORNS by Stacey Jay
Game of Thrones meets the Grimm’s fairy tales in PRINCESS OF THORNS by Stacy Jay, a twisted, fast-paced romantic fantasy-adventure about Sleeping Beauty’s daughter, a warrior princess who must fight to reclaim her throne.
Though she looks like a mere mortal, Princess Aurora is a fairy blessed with enhanced strength, bravery, and mercy yet cursed to destroy the free will of any male who kisses her. Disguised as a boy, she enlists the help of the handsome but also cursed Prince Niklaas to fight legions of evil and free her brother from the ogre queen who stole Aurora’s throne ten years ago. Will Aurora triumph over evil and reach her brother before it’s too late? Can Aurora and Niklaas break the curses that will otherwise forever keep them from finding their one true love?
Email Ashley Woodfolk with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Random House Children’s Books!
RUTH’S JOURNEY by Donald McCaig
This autumn, Atria Books is sending ARCs of Ruth’s Journey: The Authorized Novel of Mammy from Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind by Donald McCaig to members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list.
Authorized by the Margaret Mitchell Estate, Ruth’s Journey is the first-ever prequel to one of the most beloved and bestselling novels of all time, Gone with the Wind. The critically acclaimed author of Rhett Butler’s People magnificently recounts the life of Mammy, one of literature’s greatest supporting characters, from her days as a slave girl to the outbreak of the Civil War.
Email Hillary Tisman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria!
Atria is sending ARCs of Burying Water: A Novel by K.A. Tucker to members of the Little Big Mouth YA list this fall.
A woman is left for dead in the woods of rural Oregon and wakes up with no recollection of who she is or what happened to her. Taken in by a crotchety but kind lady living on a nearby horse farm, she renames herself Water and slowly begins to build a new life for herself. But as she recovers, questions emerge: Who is the next-door neighbor, quietly toiling under the hood of his Barracuda? And why does Water feel she recognizes him? The highly anticipated start of a new adult romantic suspense series from K.A. Tucker, the USA Today bestselling author of Ten Tiny Breaths.
Email Jackie Jou with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria!
Members of the Little Big Mouth fiction list are getting copies of ABOVE by Isla Morley this September, courtesy of Gallery/Pocket Books.
In the bestselling vein of Room and The Road, a stunning and harrowing novel about a Kansas teenager who is abducted and locked away in an abandoned missile silo by a survivalist who believes he is saving her from the impending destruction of the world.
Email Melanie Mitzman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Gallery/Pocket Books!
CRY FATHER by Benjamin Whitmer
Gallery/Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, is doing a mailing of CRY FATHER to lucky members of the Fiction list this fall.
Combining Breaking Bad with Daniel Woodrell and a tradition of stories of men living violent, hardscrabble lives in the modern world, Benjamin Whitmer produces a powerful story on fathers, sons, and violence that is by turns harrowing, darkly comedic, and wise. For fans of Larry Brown, Cormac McCarthy, and Frank Bill.
Email Melanie Mitzman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Gallery/Pocket Books!
Viking is chilling the Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list with galleys of UNBECOMING by Rebecca Scherm this September.
On the grubby outskirts of Paris, Grace restores bric-a-brac, mends teapots, re-sets gems. She calls herself Julie, says she’s from California, and slips back to a rented room at night. Regularly, furtively, she checks the hometown paper on the Internet. Home is Garland, Tennessee, and there, two young men have just been paroled. One, she married; the other, she’s in love with. Both were jailed for a crime that Grace herself planned in exacting detail. The heist went bad—but not before she was on a plane to Prague with a stolen canvas rolled in her bag. And so, in Paris, begins a cat-and-mouse waiting game as Grace’s web of deception and lies unravels—and she becomes another young woman entirely. Unbecoming is an intricately plotted and psychologically nuanced heist novel that turns on suspense and slippery identity. With echoes of Alfred Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith, Rebecca Scherm’s mesmerizing debut is sure to entrance fans of Gillian Flynn, Marisha Pessl, and Donna Tartt.
Email Winnie De Moya with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Viking!
ALL OR NOTHING by Jesse Schenker
Dey Street Books is sending copies of ALL OR NOTHING: ONE CHEF’S APPETITE FOR THE EXTREME by Jesse Schenker to a mix of the Memoir, Cookbook, and Non-fiction lists this September.
Blending Kitchen Confidential, Blood, Bones & Butter, and Breaking Bad, this culinary memoir illuminates the highs and lows of addiction, anxiety, and ambition in the world of haute cuisine. Thirty-one-year-old Jesse Schenker has rocketed to the top of the culinary world. An Iron Chef winner and James Beard nominee, he was voted Best New Chef by New York Magazine, and his acclaimed Recette was named Best New Restaurant by the New York Times. But Jesse’s epic rise masks a little-known past filled with demons and obsession, genius and mania. Growing up in wealthy suburban Florida, Jesse was introduced to the culinary world—and the world of hard drugs. Becoming a high-school dropout addicted to heroin and crack, he was alienated from his family and wanted by the cops. By twenty-one, he had robbed, cheated, and lied to everyone in his life—and had overdosed, been shot at and nearly beaten to death. His eventual arrest motivated him to get clean. Jesse learned to channel his obsessiveness and need to get ever “higher” into his career. But his growing success fueled his anxiety, leading to panic attacks and hypochondria. In this startling and down to earth memoir, Jesse lays it all on the table for the first time and shares the shocking story of his turbulent life.
Email DeyStreetBooks@harpercollins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Dey Street Books!
ME, INC. by Gene Simmons
The quintessential self-made man, master of brand identity, New York Times bestselling author, and award-winning executive—KISS’s Gene Simmons—shares his manifesto for business success in ME, INC.: BUILD AN ARMY OF ONE, UNLEASH YOUR INNER ROCK GOD, WIN IN LIFE AND BUSINESS, going out to the Little Big Mouth Business list this fall.
KISS did not become one of the most successful rock bands in history by accident. Long before they first took the stage, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley had a clear-cut operating plan for their business. Over the past forty years, KISS has sold over 100 million CDs and DVDs worldwide and manages over 3,000 licensed merchandise items. In addition to KISS, Simmons’ lucrative ventures include two hit reality shows, a professional sports team, a restaurant chain, and a record company. A recipient of the Forbes lifetime achievement award, this brilliant executive runs all of his businesses on his own—no personal assistant, few handlers, and as little red tape as possible. In Me, Inc., the marketing and finance wizard gives aspiring entrepreneurs the critical tools they need to succeed. Simmons teaches you how to build a solid business strategy, harness the countless tools available in the digital age, network like hell, and be the architect for the business entity that is you.
Email DeyStreetBooks@harpercollins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Dey Street Books!
NOT MY FATHER’S SON by Alan Cumming
This October, Dey Street Books is sending copies of NOT MY FATHER’S SON: A MEMOIR by Alan Cumming to members of the Memoir, Non-fiction, and Literary Fiction lists.
In his unique and engaging voice, the acclaimed actor of stage and screen shares the emotional story of his complicated relationship with his father and the deeply buried family secrets that shaped his life and career. A beloved star of stage, television, and film—“one of the most fun people in show business” (Time magazine)—Alan Cumming is a successful artist whose diversity and fearlessness is unparalleled. His success masks a painful childhood growing up under the heavy rule of an emotionally and physically abusive father—a relationship that tormented him long into adulthood. When television producers in the UK approached him to appear on a popular celebrity genealogy show in 2010, Alan enthusiastically agreed. He hoped the show would solve a family mystery involving his maternal grandfather, a celebrated WWII hero who disappeared in the Far East. But as the truth of his family ancestors revealed itself, Alan learned far more than he bargained for about himself, his past, and his own father.
Email DeyStreetBooks@harpercollins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Dey Street Books!
THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE by Cynthia Hand
HarperTeen is sending THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE by Cynthia Hand to the YPG Little Big Mouth YA list this September.
Since her brother Tyler committed suicide, Lex has been trying to keep her grief locked away. Her family, her friendships, her life: they’re all falling apart, and she can’t deal with the hole Tyler left behind. But as loss takes its toll on what’s left of her family, she realizes she can’t keep hiding from her feelings. She needs to stop pushing away her parents and friends. She needs to fix her broken life. And most of all, she needs to find out what her brother was going through that night. Lex knows Tyler is gone. But she’s about to discover that a ghost doesn’t have to be real to keep you from moving on.
Email harperteen@harpercollins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, HarperTeen!
A&R and Harper 360 are doing a fall mailing of THE INTERN by Gabrielle Tozer to select members of the Little Big Mouth Young Adult list.
Seventeen-year-old Josie is studying journalism and ends up at Sash magazine to do an internship. Josie has little enthusiasm for fashion and wants to be a serious journalist. But she has little choice. It’s Sash or the local cat fancier’s magazine. Once at Sash, Josie comes to grips with the fact that the fashion industry isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Plus she has to contend with her fellow interns and the editor, Rae, who is in charge and arbitrary – one day Josie’s her hot new favorite, the next, who knows? Country girl Josie also has to get used to living in the city, and sharing a small flat with her cousin Tim, and his hotter-than-hot roommate James, is an education. Things come to a head at Sash when Josie manages to connect with Billy, a troubled rock star. But a disastrous episode at a nightclub and the fallout on social media causes Josie to wake up and see the real person behind his glamorous front. Josie starts to wonder if she’ll ever get the journalistic break she longs for.
Email Tracy Diamond with your thoughts! Thanks, A&R (of HarperCollins Australia) and Harper 360!
Earlier this summer Atria did a mailing of galleys of YOU to one of our lists, and the response was so strong that now they’re mailing 100 finished copies of to the Little Big Mouth Thriller list
Love hurts in this chilling account of unrelenting passion from debut author Caroline Kepnes. When aspiring writer Guinevere Beck strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe works, he’s instantly smitten. Beck is everything Joe has ever wanted: She’s gorgeous, tough, razor-smart, and as sexy as his wildest dreams. Beck doesn’t know it yet, but she’s perfect for him, and soon she can’t resist her feelings for a guy who seems custom made for her. But there’s more to Joe than Beck realizes, and much more to Beck than her oh-so-perfect façade. Their mutual obsession quickly spirals into a whirlwind of deadly consequences. You is a thriller more perversely twisted than any you’ve read before.
Let the author (@CarolineKepnes) and publisher (@atriabooks) know your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria!
This fall, William Morrow is sending copies of DARING: MY PASSAGES, the new memoir by acclaimed journalist Gail Sheehy to 100 members of the non-fiction and memoir Little Big Mouth lists.
The author of the classic New York Times bestseller Passages returns with her inspiring memoir—a chronicle of her trials and triumphs as a groundbreaking “girl” journalist in the 1960s, to iconic guide for women and men seeking to have it all, to one of the premier political profilers of modern times.
Email Kaitlin Harri with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, William Morrow!
WOLF IN WINTER by John Connolly
Atria Books is sending out a mailing of WOLF IN WINTER by John Connolly to the Mystery/Thriller Little Big Mouth list this September.
Wolf in Winter is the next pulse-pounding thriller in John Connolly’s #1 internationally bestselling Charlie Parker series. The community of Prosperous, Maine has always thrived when others have suffered. Its inhabitants are wealthy, its children’s future secure. It shuns outsiders. It guards its own. And at the heart of Prosperous lie the ruins of an ancient church, transported stone by stone from England centuries earlier by the founders of the town. But the death of a homeless man and the disappearance of his daughter draw the haunted, lethal private investigator Charlie Parker to Prosperous. Parker is a dangerous man, driven by compassion, by rage, and by the desire for vengeance. In him the town and its protectors sense a threat graver than any they have faced in their long history, and in the comfortable, sheltered inhabitants of a small Maine town, Parker will encounter his most vicious opponents yet. Charlie Parker has been marked to die so that Prosperous may survive. Prosperous, and the secret that it hides beneath its ruins…
Email Hillary Tisman with your thoughts and comments, visit the author and publisher on Facebook, and Tweet at @jconnollybooks and @atriabooks. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
Atria Books is sending out copies of UGLY LOVE by Colleen Hoover to the Little Big Mouth YA list this week.
When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she doesn’t think it’s love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all. Hearts get infiltrated. Promises get broken. Rules get shattered. Love gets ugly.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover writes her most heartbreaking and compelling novel yet. Please share your thoughts about Ugly Love with Jackie Jou. Thanks, Atria!
THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING by Robyn Schneider and NOT A DROP TO DRINK by Mindy McGinnis
Katherine Tegen Books is doing a double-mailing for end-of-summer reading with paperbacks of THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING and NOT A DROP TO DRINK.
Don’t panic… but the summer is almost over. We know. We’re sorry. But we wanted to make sure you had some reads to send out the season in a blaze of reading glory! The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider is the book that we cannot stop pressing into the hands of our best book friends. It’s lyrical and witty and satisfying. And we aren’t alone in our book crush! It was named an Indie Next pick and a best book of 2013 on GoodReads, Amazon, and countless other lists.
Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis is the book that took us by surprise with its evocative, spare language and incredible drama, danger, and romance. We were expecting a YA reader’s Oregon Trail, but what we got was a survival story with all the heart of the Hunger Games; a brave, cool heroine in the style of Beatrice Prior; and the dark foreboding of “The Walking Dead.” And yet, it never felt like genre fiction.
Email Onalee Smith with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Katherine Tegen Books!
Crown is excited to send galleys of I TAKE YOU by Eliza Kennedy to members of the General Fiction and Women’s Fiction Little Big Mouth lists this fall, to start the buzz early.
Meet Lily Wilder: New Yorker, lawyer, and bride-to-be. She has a dream job, great friends, a family full of charismatic and loving women, and a hot fiancé. She’s smart and fearless—but kind of a mess. Her issue? She loves men. A lot. Six days before her wedding, Lily’s nights of booze, laughter, and questionable decisions are in an in-her-face reminder that she needs to sit down and ask herself: Will walking down the aisle really make me happy? Joyous, brilliantly executed, and endlessly funny, I Take You introduces a self-assured protagonist whose choices raise fresh questions about gender politics, monogamy, and the true meaning of fidelity.
Email Jessica Prudhomme with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
NORMALLY THIS WOULD BE CAUSE FOR CONCERN by Danielle Fishel
Gallery/Pocket Books is doing a Humor mailing of Normally, This Would Be Cause for Concern this September.
In the vein of Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me, a warm, funny and self-deprecating memoir by Danielle Fishel, the beloved star of the 90s sitcom Boy Meets World and the spin-off Girl Meets World.
Email Melanie Mitzman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Gallery/Pocket Books!
CHANGE YOUR CLOTHES, CHANGE YOUR LIFE by George Brescia
Gallery/Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, is doing a mailing of CHANGE YOUR CLOTHES, CHANGE YOUR LIFE to the Non-fiction Little Big Mouth list this fall.
From major closet overhauls to ideas on creating a diversified wardrobe, Change Your Clothes, Change Your Life by image consultant George Brescia is a comprehensive manual for people looking to better themselves from the outside in. Open the door to powerful and positive dressing with a guide that’s like The Secret—for your wardrobe.
Email Melanie Mitzman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Gallery/Pocket Books!
THE SPIRITGLASS CHARADE by Colleen Gleason
Chronicle has sent copies of THE SPIRITGLASS CHARADE: A STOKER & HOLMES NOVEL by Colleen Gleason to the Children’s/YA Little Big Mouth list this summer.
After the Affair of the Clockwork Scarab, Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes are eager to help Princess Alix with a new case. Seventeen-year-old Willa Aston is obsessed with spiritual mediums, convinced she is speaking with her mother from beyond the grave. What seems like a case of spiritualist fraud quickly devolves into something far more menacing: someone is trying to make Willa appear lunatic using an innocent-looking spiritglass to control her. The list of clues piles up: an unexpected murder, a gang of pickpockets, and the return of vampires to London. But are these events connected? As Uncle Sherlock would say, there are no coincidences. It will take all of Mina’s wit and Evaline’s muscle to keep London’s sinister underground at bay.
Please email your thoughts and comments to teens@chroniclebooks.com and visit the landing page for more info. Thanks, Chronicle!
THE SHOCK OF THE FALL by Nathan Filer
Originally published as WHERE THE MOON ISN’T, THE SHOCK OF THE FALL was the winner of the 2013 Costa First Novel Award in the UK, and St. Martin’s Griffin is sending 100 ARCs to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Literary Fiction list this September.
While on vacation with their parents, Matthew Homes and his older brother snuck out in the middle of the night. Only Matthew came home safely. Ten years later, Matthew tells us, he has found a way to bring his brother back… What begins as the story of a lost boy turns into the story of a brave man yearning to understand what happened that night, in the years since, and to his very person. Unafraid to look at the shadows of our hearts, Nathan Filer’s rare and brilliant debut The Shock of the Fall shows us the strength that is rooted in resilience and love.
Email Angelique Giammarino with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, St. Martin’s Griffin!
ALTHEA AND OLIVER by Cristina Moracho
What if you live for the moment when life goes off the rails—and then one day there’s no one left to help you get it back on track? Find out this summer, when Viking is sending copies of ALTHEA AND OLIVER by Cristina Moracho to the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list.
Althea Carter and Oliver McKinley have been best friends since they were six; she’s the fist-fighting instigator to his peacemaker, the artist whose vision balances his scientific bent. Now, as their junior year of high school comes to a close, Althea has begun to want something more than just best-friendship. Oliver, for his part, simply wants life to go back to normal, but when he wakes up one morning with no memory of the past three weeks, he can’t deny any longer that something is seriously wrong with him. And then Althea makes the worst bad decision ever, and her relationship with Oliver is shattered. He leaves town for a clinical study in New York, resolving to repair whatever is broken in his brain, while she gets into her battered Camry and drives up the coast after him, determined to make up for what she’s done.
Their journey will take them from the rooftops, keg parties, and all-ages shows of their North Carolina hometown to the pool halls, punk houses, and hospitals of New York City before they once more stand together and face their chances. Set in the DIY, mix tape, and zine culture of the mid-1990s, Cristina Moracho’s whip-smart debut is an achingly real story about identity, illness, and love—and why bad decisions sometimes feel so good
Email young.readers.marketing@us.penguingroup.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Viking!
A FIFTY-YEAR SILENCE by Miranda Richmond Mouillot
This summer, Crown is sending A FIFTY-YEAR SILENCE: LOVE, WAR, AND A RUINED HOUSE IN FRANCE by Miranda Richmond Mouillot to YPG’s Memoir and Non-fiction lists.
In 1948, after surviving World War II by escaping Nazi-occupied France for refugee camps in Switzerland, the author’s grandparents, Anna and Armand, bought an old stone house in a remote, picturesque village in the South of France. Five years later, Anna packed her bags and walked out on Armand, taking the typewriter and their children. The two never saw or spoke to each other again, never remarried, and never revealed what had divided them forever. A Fifty-Year Silence is the deeply involving account of Miranda Richmond Mouillot’s journey to find out what happened between her grandmother, a physician, and her grandfather, an interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials, who refused to utter his wife’s name aloud after she left him. To discover the roots of their embittered and entrenched silence, Miranda abandons her plans for the future and moves to their stone house, now a crumbling ruin; immerses herself in letters, archival materials, and secondary sources; and teases stories out of her reticent, and declining, grandparents. As she reconstructs how Anna and Armand braved overwhelming odds and how the knowledge her grandfather acquired at Nuremberg destroyed their relationship, Miranda wrestles with the legacy of trauma, the burden of history, and the complexities of memory. She also finds herself learning how not only to survive, but to thrive – making a home in the village and falling in love.
Email Jessica Prudhomme with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
CITY OF STAIRS by Robert Jackson Bennett
This August, YPG’s Little Big Mouth Science Fiction/Fantasy list is getting paperback copies of CITY OF STAIRS by Robert Jackson Bennett from Crown.
The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions—until its divine protectors were killed. Now Bulikov has become just another colonial outpost of the world’s new geopolitical power, but the surreal landscape of the city itself—first shaped, now shattered, by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it—stands as a constant, haunting reminder of its former supremacy. Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country’s most accomplished spies, dispatched to catch a murderer. But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem—and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.
Email Sarah Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
A SPY AMONG FRIENDS by Ben Macintyre
Master storyteller Ben Macintyre’s most ambitious work to date brings to life the twentieth century’s greatest spy story in A SPY AMONG FRIENDS: KIM PHILBY AND THE GREAT BETRAYAL, going out to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Nonfiction list this summer from Crown.
Kim Philby was the greatest spy in history, a brilliant and charming man who rose to head Britain’s counterintelligence against the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War—while he was secretly working for the enemy. And nobody thought he knew Philby like Nicholas Elliott, Philby’s best friend and fellow officer in MI6. The two men had gone to the same schools, belonged to the same exclusive clubs, grown close through the crucible of wartime intelligence work and long nights of drink and revelry. It was madness for one to think the other might be a communist spy, bent on subverting Western values and the power of the free world. But Philby was secretly betraying his friend. Every word Elliott breathed to Philby was transmitted back to Moscow—and not just Elliott’s words, for in America, Philby had made another powerful friend: James Jesus Angleton, the crafty, paranoid head of CIA counterintelligence. Angleton’s and Elliott’s unwitting disclosures helped Philby sink almost every important Anglo-American spy operation for twenty years, leading countless operatives to their doom. Even as the web of suspicion closed around him, and Philby was driven to greater lies to protect his cover, his two friends never abandoned him—until it was too late. The stunning truth of his betrayal would have devastating consequences on the two men who thought they knew him best, and on the intelligence services he left crippled in his wake.
Email Sarah Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
THE SPIRITGLASS CHARADE by Colleen Gleason
This August, YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult list is getting copies of THE SPIRITGLASS CHARADE: A Stoker & Holmes Novel by Colleen Gleason from Chronicle Books.
After the Affair of the Clockwork Scarab, Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes are eager to help Princess Alix with a new case. Seventeen-year-old Willa Aston is obsessed with spiritual mediums, convinced she is speaking with her mother from beyond the grave. What seems like a case of spiritualist fraud quickly devolves into something far more menacing: someone is trying to make Willa appear lunatic using an innocent-looking spiritglass to control her. The list of clues piles up: an unexpected murder, a gang of pickpockets, and the return of vampires to London. But are these events connected? As Uncle Sherlock would say, there are no coincidences. It will take all of Mina’s wit and Evaline’s muscle to keep London’s sinister underground at bay.
Email Stephanie Wong with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Chronicle!
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Humor list is about to get a look at what happens when taxidermy goes terribly wrong with a mailing from Ten Speed Press of CRAP TAXIDERMY, by Kat Su, the founder of the hit website crappytaxidermy.com.
A relaxed toad enjoying a smoke and a brew. A cat with eerily flexible front legs. A smiling lion with receding gums. Whether you choose to laugh or cringe at these spectacularly bad attempts at taxidermy, you won’t be able to tear your eyes away from the curiosities inside. This volume brings together the very best of the worst (along with a DIY “Stuff Your Own Mouse lesson by an Insect Preparator from the American Museum of Natural History), showcasing the most perverse yet imaginative anatomical reconstructions of the animal kingdom you’ll ever see. Check out the video HERE.
Email Daniel Wikey with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Ten Speed Press!
ACCIDENTS OF MARRIAGE by Randy Susan Meyers
Atria is sending a mailing of ARCs of ACCIDENTS OF MARRIAGE to YPG’s Little Big Mouth fiction list this summer. From Randy Susan Meyers, the bestselling author of The Comfort of Lies, comes an engrossing look at the darker side of a marriage—and at how an ordinary family responds to an extraordinary crisis.
For Madeline Illica, the love of her husband Ben is her blessing and curse. Brilliant and charming when he chose to be, Ben turns into a raging bull when crossed—and despite her training as a social worker Maddy is never sure what will cross him. She kept a fragile peace by vacillating between tiptoeing around him and asserting herself for the sake of their three children until a rainy drive to work when Ben’s temper gets the best of him and the consequences leave Maddy in the hospital, fighting for her life. Exploring emotional abuse, traumatic injury, and children lost in the shuffle of recovery with unblinking honesty, Accidents of Marriage is an account of life inside of a marriage and how the unexpected gift of clarity can make the difference between living in hell and salvation.
Email Hillary Tisman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria!
THE BONE CLOCKS by David Mitchell
YPG’s Science Fiction/Fantasy list and select members of our Literary Fiction list are receiving copies of THE BONE CLOCKS by David Mitchell this August from RHPG.
Following a scalding row with her mother, fifteen-year-old Holly Sykes slams the door on her old life. But Holly is no typical teenage runaway: A sensitive child once contacted by voices she knew only as “the radio people,” Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena, and she has caught the attention of a cabal of dangerous mystics—and their enemies. But her lost weekend is merely the prelude to a shocking disappearance that leaves her family irrevocably scarred. This unsolved mystery will echo through every decade of Holly’s life, affecting all the people Holly loves—even the ones who are not yet born. A Cambridge scholarship boy grooming himself for wealth and influence; a conflicted father who feels alive only while reporting from occupied Iraq; a middle-aged writer mourning his exile from the bestseller list—all have a part to play in this surreal, invisible war on the margins of our world.
Email Jess Bonet with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, RHPG.
THE LAST KINGS OF SARK by Rosa Rankin-Gee
YPG’s Fiction list got a mailing this summer of THE LAST KINGS OF SARK by Rosa Rankin-Gee, courtesy of St. Martin’s Press.
Jude is twenty-one when she flies in a private plane to spend the summer on Sark, the last place in Europe to abolish feudalism. She has been hired by a rich banker to tutor his teenage son, Pip. When she arrives—alongside a shipment of frozen meat and three crates of mineral water—Jude can see she’s in for a bumpy ride. Father Eddie is disgruntled that Jude is not, in fact, male; 16-year-old Pip is an awkward and reluctant student; and upstairs, Pip’s elusive mother Esmé stays locked in her room, casting a pall over the household. Enter Sofi: the mercurial and voluptuous hired cook and Jude’s roommate for the summer. With her appalling kitchen hygiene, bracing singing voice, and naked sleep habits, Sofi draws the reserved Jude and brooding Pip into her orbit. The three become inseparable, abandoning lessons, illegally trawling for scallops with strange Czech men, and bike-riding the island over. Together, they embark on a summer that will culminate in one unforgettable moment and alter the course of their lives.
Email Brittani Hilles with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, St. Martin’s Press!
BEAUTIFUL OBLIVION by Jamie McGuire
In the biggest Little Big Mouth mailing to date, Atria Books is sending 650 copies of the trade paperback of BEAUTIFUL OBLIVION, the first heart-pounding new adult romance in The Maddox Brothers series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Jamie McGuire to the Young Adult list this July.
Jamie’s first two books, Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster, introduced fans to Abby and Travis Maddox. Beautiful Oblivion stars a new pairing between Travis’s brother, Trenton Maddox and Camille “Cami” Camlin. As the baby sister of four rowdy brothers, Cami believes she’ll have no problem keeping her new friendship with Trenton strictly platonic. But when a Maddox boy falls in love, he loves forever—and a devastatingly hot, tattooed, and emotionally raw Maddox boy is irresistible.
Atria is eager to hear what you think. Please download the bookmark here and share your thoughts with jackie.jou@simonandschuster.com. Thanks, Simon and Schuster!
THE JEWEL by Amy Ewing
HarperCollins Children’s Books is sending 25 lucky members of the YA list copies of THE JEWEL by debut author Amy Ewing.
The Jewel means wealth. The Jewel means beauty. The Jewel means royalty. But for girls like Violet, the Jewel means servitude. Not just any kind of servitude. Violet, born and raised in the Marsh, has been trained as a surrogate for the royalty—because in the Jewel the only thing more important than opulence is offspring. Purchased at the surrogacy audition by the Duchess of the Lake and greeted with a slap to the face, Violet (now known only as #197) quickly learns of the brutal truths that lie beneath the Jewel’s glittering façade: the cruelty, backstabbing, and hidden violence that have become the royal way of life. Violet must accept the ugly realities of her existence and try to stay alive. But then a forbidden romance erupts between Violet and a handsome gentleman hired as a companion to the Duchess’s petulant niece. Though his presence makes life in the Jewel a bit brighter, the consequences of their illicit relationship will cost them both more than they bargained for.
Email Lindsay Blechman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, HarperCollins Children’s Books!
THE MAGICIAN’S LAND by Lev Grossman
This July, Viking is sending copies of THE MAGICIAN’S LAND by Lev Grossman, the conclusion to the New York Times’ best-selling Magicians Trilogy, to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Science Fiction/Fantasy and YA lists.
Quentin Coldwater has lost everything. He has been cast out of Fillory, the secret magical land of his childhood dreams that he once ruled. Everything he had fought so hard for, not to mention his closest friends, is sealed away in a land Quentin may never again visit. With nothing left to lose he returns to where his story began, the Brakebills Preparatory College of Magic. But he can’t hide from his past, and it’s not long before it comes looking for him. Meanwhile, the magical barriers that keep Fillory safe are failing, and barbarians from the north have invaded. Eliot and Janet, the rulers of Fillory, embark on a final quest to save their beloved world, only to discover a situation far more complex—and far more dire—than anyone had envisioned. Along with Plum, a brilliant young magician with a dark secret of her own, Quentin sets out on a crooked path through a magical demimonde of gray magic and desperate characters. His new life takes him back to old haunts, like Antarctica and the Neitherlands, and old friends he thought were lost forever. He uncovers buried secrets and hidden evils and ultimately the key to a sorcerous masterwork, a spell that could create a magical utopia. But all roads lead back to Fillory, where Quentin must face his fears and put things right or die trying.
Email Winnie De Moya with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Viking!
THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING by Erika Johansen
Harper is sending 200 finished copies of THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING by Erika Johansen to the General Fiction and YA/Children’s Little Big Mouth lists this July.
On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon—from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic—to prevent her from wearing the crown. Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea’s kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust. But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun—a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend… if she can survive.
Email Heather Drucker with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Harper!
YOU by Caroline Kepnes
Love hurts in this chilling account of unrelenting passion. This July, 100 members of YPG’s Little Big Mouth General Fiction list will be sent ARCs of YOU by debut author Caroline Kepnes, a dangerously clever and perversely romantic thriller.
When aspiring writer Guinevere Beck strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe works, he’s instantly smitten. Beck is everything Joe has ever wanted: She’s gorgeous, tough, razor-smart, and as sexy as his wildest dreams. Beck doesn’t know it yet, but she’s perfect for him, and soon she can’t resist her feelings for a guy who seems custom made for her. But there’s more to Joe than Beck realizes, and much more to Beck than her oh-so-perfect façade. Their mutual obsession quickly spirals into a whirlwind of deadly consequences.
Please email Hillary Tisman at Atria Books with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria!
THE CATCH by Taylor Stevens
Crown is sending copies of THE CATCH by Taylor Stevens to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list this July.
Vanessa Michael Munroe, chameleon and information hunter, has a reputation for getting things done—often dangerous and not quite legal things. The adrenaline-fueled work has left her with blood on her hands and a soul stained with guilt. Having borne the burden of one death too many, Munroe has fled to Djibouti, Africa. There, where her only responsibility is greasing the wheels of commerce for a small maritime security company, she finds stillness—until her boss pressures her to join his team as an armed transit guard on a ship bound for Kenya. Days into the voyage, Munroe discovers the security contract is merely cover for a gunrunning operation of which she wants no part. The ship is invaded off the Somali coast and in a moment of impulse while fighting her way out, she drags the unconscious captain with her. But nothing about the hijacking is what it seems. The pirates were never after the ship; they’d come for the captain. In chasing him, they make their one mistake: targeting Munroe raises the killer’s instinct she’s tried so hard to bury. Wounded and on the run, Vanessa Michael Munroe will use the life of her catch as bait and bartering chip to manipulate every player with a stake in the ship’s outcome, and find a way to wash her conscience clean.
Email Sarah Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
THE BODIES WE WEAR by Jeyn Roberts and SUSPICION by Alexandra Monir
Random House Children’s Books is thrilled to share two books with lucky members of the YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult list in a double-mailing this July of THE BODIES WE WEAR and SUSPICION.
In The Bodies We Wear by Jeyn Roberts, a streetwise girl trains to take on a gang of drug dealers and avenge her best friend’s death in this thriller for fans of Scott Westerfeld and Robin Wasserman.
Suspicion by Alexandra Monir is a modern-day twist on the classic thriller, Rebecca, with a dash of the supernatural, a powerful romance, and a deadly family mystery.
Email Ashley Woodfolk with your thoughts and comments. Thanks to Delacorte and Knopf at Random House Children’s Books!
HER BRILLIANT CAREER by Rachel Cooke
This summer, Harper is sending 50 members of YPG’s Non-fiction list copies of HER BRILLIANT CAREER by Rachel Cooke.
In Her Brilliant Career, Cooke goes back in time to offer an entertaining and iconoclastic look at ten women in the 1950s—pioneers whose professional careers and complicated private lives helped to create the opportunities available to today’s women. These plucky and ambitious individuals—among them a film director, a cook, an architect, an editor, an archaeologist, a race car driver—left the house, discovered the bliss of work, and ushered in the era of the working woman. Daring and independent, these remarkable unsung heroines—whose obscurity makes their accomplishments all the more astonishing and relevant —loved passionately, challenged men’s control, made their own mistakes, and took life on their own terms, breaking new ground and offering inspiration. Their individual portraits gradually form a landscape of 1950s culture, and women’s unique—and rapidly evolving—role. Before there could be a Danica Patrick, there had to be a Sheila van Damm; before there was Barbara Walters, there was Nancy Spain; before there was Kathryn Bigelow, came Muriel Box. The pioneers of Her Brilliant Career forever changed the fabric of culture, society, and the work force.
Email Kathryn Gervasio with any questions or comments, etc. Thanks, Harper!
MARINE PARK by Mark Chiusano
Select members of YPG’s General Fiction and Literary Fiction lists are receiving copies of MARINE PARK, a short story collection by Mark Chiusano, from Penguin Books this July.
Marine Park—in the far reaches of Brooklyn, train-less and tourist-free—finds its literary chronicler in Mark Chiusano. Chiusano’s dazzling stories delve into family, boyhood, sports, drugs, love, and all the weird quirks of growing up in a tight-knit community on the edge of the city. In the tradition of Junot Díaz’s Drown, Stuart Dybek’s The Coast of Chicago, and Russell Banks’s Trailerpark, this is a poignant and piercing collection—announcing the arrival of a distinct new voice in American fiction.
Email Rebecca Lang or Chris Smith with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Penguin Books!
MOLLY’S GAME by Molly Bloom
This July, YPG’s Little Big Mouth Non-fiction and Memoir lists are getting copies of MOLLY’S GAME: From Hollywood’s Elite to Wall Street’s Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker by Molly Bloom, courtesy of Dey Street Books.
In the late 2000s, Molly Bloom, a twenty-something petite brunette from Loveland, Colorado, ran the highest stakes, most exclusive poker game Hollywood had ever seen—she was its mistress, its lion tamer, its agent, and its oxygen. Everyone wanted in, few were invited to play. Hundreds of millions of dollars were won and lost at her table. Molly’s game became the game for those in the know—celebrities, business moguls, and millionaires. Molly staged her games in palatial suites with beautiful views and exquisite amenities. She flew privately, dined at exclusive restaurants, hobnobbed with the heads of Hollywood studios, was courted by handsome leading men, and was privy to the world’s most delicious gossip, until it all came crashing down around her. Molly’s Game is a behind the scenes look at Molly’s game, the life she created, the life she lost, and what she learned in the process.
Email Shannon Donnelly with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Dey Street Books!
MY DRUNK KITCHEN by Hannah Hart
Lucky members of YPG’s Cookbooks, Humor, and Young Adult lists are getting MY DRUNK KITCHEN: A Guide to Eating, Drinking, and Going with Your Gut by Hannah Hart, thanks to Dey Street Books.
One day, sad cubicle dweller and otherwise bored New York transplant Hannah Hart decided, as a joke, to make a fake cooking show for her friend back in California. She turned on the camera, pulled out some bread and cheese, and then, as one does, started drinking. (Doesn’t everyone cook with a spoon in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other?) The video went viral and an online sensation was born.
My Drunk Kitchen includes recipes, stories, full color photos, and drawings to inspire your own culinary adventures in tipsy cooking. It is also a showcase for Hannah Hart’s great comedic voice. Hannah offers key drink recommendations, cooking tips (like, remember to turn the oven off when you go to bed) and never-before-seen recipes such as: The Hartwich, Can Bake, Latke Shotkas, Tiny Sandwiches, and Saltine Nachos. This is a book for anyone who believes they have what it takes to make a soufflé for the holiday party and show up the person who apparently has nothing better to do than bake things from scratch. It also recommends the drink you’ll need to accompany any endeavor of this magnitude. In the end, My Drunk Kitchen may not be your go-to guide for your next dinner party, but it will make you laugh and drink… I mean think… about life.
Email Shannon Donnelly with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Dey Street Books!
A SPY AMONG FRIENDS by Ben Macintyre
Master storyteller Ben Macintyre’s most ambitious work to date brings to life the twentieth century’s greatest spy story in A SPY AMONG FRIENDS: KIM PHILBY AND THE GREAT BETRAYAL HARDCOVER, going out to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Nonfiction list this summer from Crown.
Kim Philby was the greatest spy in history, a brilliant and charming man who rose to head Britain’s counterintelligence against the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War—while he was secretly working for the enemy. And nobody thought he knew Philby like Nicholas Elliott, Philby’s best friend and fellow officer in MI6. The two men had gone to the same schools, belonged to the same exclusive clubs, grown close through the crucible of wartime intelligence work and long nights of drink and revelry. It was madness for one to think the other might be a communist spy, bent on subverting Western values and the power of the free world. But Philby was secretly betraying his friend. Every word Elliott breathed to Philby was transmitted back to Moscow—and not just Elliott’s words, for in America, Philby had made another powerful friend: James Jesus Angleton, the crafty, paranoid head of CIA counterintelligence. Angleton’s and Elliott’s unwitting disclosures helped Philby sink almost every important Anglo-American spy operation for twenty years, leading countless operatives to their doom. Even as the web of suspicion closed around him, and Philby was driven to greater lies to protect his cover, his two friends never abandoned him—until it was too late. The stunning truth of his betrayal would have devastating consequences on the two men who thought they knew him best, and on the intelligence services he left crippled in his wake.
Email Sarah Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
YOU’RE NOT MUCH USE TO ANYONE by David Shapiro
This June, Little A/New Harvest is sending copies of YOU’RE NOT MUCH USE TO ANYONE by David Shapiro to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Literary Fiction list.
David is a freshly minted NYU grad who’s working a not-quite-entry-level job, falling in love, and telling his parents he’s studying for the LSAT. He starts a Tumblr blog, typing out posts on his BlackBerry under his desk—a blog that becomes wildly popular and brings him to the attention of major media (The New York Times) as well as the White House. But his outward fame doesn’t quell his confusion about the world and his direction in it. This semiautobiographical debut is a coming-of-age story perfect for our time by the creator of Pitchfork Reviews Reviews. In A Sense of Direction author Gideon Lewis-Kraus’s words, “If Tao Lin had been born to Gary Shteyngart’s parents and spent his early twenties slaving for pageviews at NewYorker.com, he would have written something like this, the Bright Lights, Big City of the click-here-now generation.”
Email Alexandra Woodworth with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Little A/New Harvest!
WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL by Neil Hayes
North Atlantic Books’ special movie edition of When the Game Stands Tall tells the true story that inspired the movie (coming to theaters this August), and they’re giving a sneak preview to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Sports list with galleys this June.
The movie tells the remarkable journey of legendary football coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel), who took the De La Salle High School Spartans from obscurity to a 151-game winning streak that shattered all records for any American sport. When the streak is broken, and tragedy strikes the team, Coach Lad must teach his players—and the entire town—that it’s not about how you fall, but how you get back up. North Atlantic Books is returning this football classic to its front list, complete with a new foreword from John Madden, and author Neil Hayes’ notes from on set. This book has provided inspiration and guidance for players, coaches, and parents alike since it was first published in 2003.
Email Julia Kent with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, North Atlantic Books!
THE GOOD SUICIDES by Antonio Hill
Unrelenting hero of The Summer of Dead Toys, Inspector Hector Salgado returns in another riveting crime thriller, THE GOOD SUICIDES by Antonio Hill, which is being sent to the Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list this June from Crown.
After a company retreat in a remote country house, senior employees of Alemany Cosmetics return with a dark secret. They’ve each received an anonymous, menacing email of only two words: “Never forget.” What’s worse, the message is accompanied by a nightmarish photo attachment showing the bodies of dogs—hung to death from a tree—near the very same farm estate they just visited. When they begin killing themselves, one by one, the connection between the shocking photos and the suicides baffles Barcelona law enforcement and corporate think tanks alike, threatening a terrifying end for everyone involved. Breaking through the insular power structures of these enigmatic executives isn’t easy, but Inspector Salgado has his own ways of making those still alive speak up. As the clock is ticking before another suicide, Salgado is doing all he can to bring the terror to an end. Meanwhile, his partner Leire, bored on her maternity leave, remains fixated on Salgado’s missing wife, Ruth. She refuses to give up on a case many—including Salgado—fear is hopeless. Antonio Hill deftly braids these two stories together for a richly layered and darkly chilling thriller about secrets, cover-ups, and devastating lies.
Email Sarah Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS by M.R. Carey
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Science Fiction/Fantasy list is getting copies of THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS by M.R. Carey this June, courtesy of Orbit.
Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her “our little genius.” Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh. Read the sensational thriller that Joss Whedon called “a jewel.”
Email Ellen Wright with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Orbit!
Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, JACKABY, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre, going out this June from Algonquin Young Readers to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult list.
Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary–including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police–with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane–deny.
Email Eileen Lawrence with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Algonquin Young Readers!
BARRACUDA by Christos Tsiolkas
This June, YPG’s Little Big Mouth Literary Fiction list is getting copies of BARRACUDA by Christos Tsiolkas, courtesy of Crown.
Fourteen-year-old Daniel Kelly is special. Despite his upbringing in working-class Melbourne, he knows that his astonishing ability in the swimming pool has the potential to transform his life, silence the rich boys at the private school to which he has won a sports scholarship, and take him far beyond his neighborhood, possibly to international stardom and an Olympic medal. Everything Danny has ever done, every sacrifice his family has ever made, has been in pursuit of this dream. But what happens when the talent that makes you special fails you? When the goal that you’ve been pursuing for as long as you can remember ends in humiliation and loss? Twenty years later, Dan is in Scotland, terrified to tell his partner about his past, afraid that revealing what he has done will make him unlovable. When he is called upon to return home to his family, the moment of violence in the wake of his defeat that changed his life forever comes back to him in terrifying detail, and he struggles to believe that he’ll be able to make amends. Barracuda is a novel about dreams and disillusionment, friendship and family, class, identity, and the cost of success.
Email Jessica Prudhomme with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
THE BOOK OF UNKNOWN AMERICANS by Cristina Henríquez
This June, Alfred A. Knopf is sending copies of THE BOOK OF UNKNOWN AMERICANS by Cristina Henríquez to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Literary Fiction list.
After their daughter Maribel suffers a near-fatal accident, the Riveras leave México and come to America. But upon settling at Redwood Apartments, a two-story cinderblock complex just off a highway in Delaware, they discover that Maribel’s recovery–the piece of the American Dream on which they’ve pinned all their hopes–will not be easy. Every task seems to confront them with language, racial, and cultural obstacles. At Redwood also lives Mayor Toro, a high school sophomore whose family arrived from Panamà fifteen years ago. Mayor sees in Maribel something others do not: that beyond her lovely face, and beneath the damage she’s sustained, is a gentle, funny, and wise spirit. But as the two grow closer, violence casts a shadow over all their futures in America. Peopled with deeply sympathetic characters, this poignant yet unsentimental tale of young love tells a riveting story of unflinching honesty and humanity that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be an American.
Please email Amanda Aleksey with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Alfred A. Knopf!
DEAR LUKE, WE NEED TO TALK, DARTH by John Moe
This June, Three Rivers Press is sending copies of DEAR LUKE, WE NEED TO TALK, DARTH: AND OTHER POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENCES by John Moe to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Humor list.
We all know how Darth Vader shared his big secret with Luke Skywalker, but what if he had delivered the news in a handwritten note instead? And what if someone found that letter, as well as all of the drafts that landed in the Dark Lord’s trash can? In the riotously funny collection Dear Luke, We Need to Talk. Darth,John Moe finally reveals these lost notes alongside all the imagined letters, e-mails, text messages, and other correspondences your favorite pop culture icons never meant for you to see. From The Walking Dead to The Wizard of Oz, from Billy Joel to Breaking Bad, no reference escapes Moe’s imaginative wit and keen sense of nostalgia. Read Captain James T. Kirk’s lost log entries and Yelp reviews of The Bates Motel and Cheers. Peruse top secret British intelligence files revealing the fates of Agents 001–006, or Don Draper’s cocktail recipe cards. Learn all of Jay-Z’s 99 problems, as well as the complete rules of Fight Club, and then discover an all-points bulletin concerning Bon Jovi, wanted dead or alive—and much more.
Email Tommy Cabrera or send your thoughts directly to the author at @johnmoe. Thanks, Three Rivers Press!
WHAT I WAS DOING WHILE YOU WERE BREEDING by Kristin Newman
A mix of members from our Little Big Mouth Travel, Humor, and Memoir lists are going to get copies of WHAT I WAS DOING WHILE YOU WERE BREEDING by Kristin Newman, courtesy of Crown.
In this fresh, funny debut memoir, Kristin Newman deals with the stress of her high-pressure TV-writing job and the anxieties of being the last single person in her group of friends by mastering the art of the “vacationship.” She introduces readers to the Israeli bartenders, Argentinian priests, Finnish poker players, and sexy Brazilians who, since she cannot speak their languages, help her transform into “Kristin-Adjacent”–a quieter, less judgmental, and, yes, sluttier version of herself at home. Ultimately, Kristin’s adventures lead her to a better understanding of what she was actually running away from at home and why every life hurdle seemed to put her on a transatlantic flight to the unknown. Equal parts laugh-out-loud storytelling; thoughtful, candid reflection; and wanderlust-inspiring travel porn, What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding is a compelling and hilarious debut that will have readers scrambling to renew their passports.
Email Gianna Sandri with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
Gallery/Pocket Books is sending TWEEN HOBO by Alena Smith, illustrated by Kate Harmer, to the YPG Little Big Mouth Humor list this May.
Tween Hobo is a hilarious and irreverent illustrated book based off of the popular Twitter feed, which tells the story of a Tween Girl who packed a bindle full of glitter pens and snuck out of math class one Monday afternoon to hop the rails in search of freedom, adventure, and her own personal white whale: Bieber tickets.
Email Melanie Mitzman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Gallery/Pocket Books!
Dutton is sending YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult list copies of POPULAR: VINTAGE WISDOM FOR A MODERN GEEK by Maya Van Wagenen this Spring.
Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help a shy girl become popular? Maya Van Wagenen is about to find out. Stuck near the bottom of the social ladder at “pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren’t paid to be here,” Maya has never been popular. But before starting eighth grade, she decides to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. The real-life results are hilarious, painful, and filled with unexpected surprises. Told with humor and grace, Maya’s journey offers readers of all ages a thoroughly contemporary example of kindness and self-confidence, along with a better understanding of what it means to be popular.
Email young.readers.marketing@us.penguingroup.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Dutton!
THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE by Jennifer Mathieu
Twenty-five members of YPG’s Little Big Mouth Children’s/Young Adult list are getting ARCs this May of THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE by Jennifer Matheiu from Roaring Brook Press.
Everyone knows Alice slept with two guys at one party. When Healy High star quarterback, Brandon Fitzsimmons, dies in a car crash, it was because he was sexting with Alice. Ask anybody. This stunning debut novel was recently named an Indies Introduce New Voices Selection and #10 on the Summer 2014 IndieNext Children’s List.
Email Kathryn Little with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Roaring Brook Press!
MY SALINGER YEAR by Joanna Rakoff
Alfred A. Knopf is sending YPG’s Little Big Mouth Literary Fiction list copies of MY SALINGER YEAR by Joanna Rakoff this April: a memoir about literary New York in the late nineties, a pre-digital world on the cusp of vanishing, where a young woman finds herself entangled with one of the last great figures of the century.
At twenty-three, after leaving graduate school to pursue her dreams of becoming a poet, Joanna Rakoff moves to New York City and takes a job as assistant to the storied literary agent for J.D. Salinger. She spends her days in a plush, wood-paneled office, where dictaphones and typewriters still reign and old-time agents doze at their desks after martini lunches. At night she goes home to the tiny, threadbare Williamsburg apartment she shares with her socialist boyfriend. Precariously balanced between glamour and poverty, surrounded by titanic personalities, and struggling to trust her own artistic instinct, Rakoff is tasked with answering Salinger’s voluminous fan mail. But as she reads the candid, heart-wrenching letters from his readers around the world, she finds herself unable to type out the agency’s decades-old form response. Instead, drawn inexorably into the emotional world of Salinger’s devotees, she abandons the template and begins writing back. Over the course of the year, she finds her own voice by acting as Salinger’s, on her own dangerous and liberating terms.
My Salinger Year is the coming-of-age story of a talented writer and a testament to the universal power of books to shape our lives and awaken our true selves. Email Amanda Aleksey with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Alfred A. Knopf!
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Young Readers Group is scaring YPG’s Young Adult Little Big Mouth list this May with copies of COLD CALLS by Charles Benoit.
In the vein of the teen suspense classics I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Face on the Milk Carton, Cold Calls
is a chilling thriller, an unsettling mystery, and a provocative exploration of bullying, culpability, and the cost of
keeping secrets.
Email Pete Bohan with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Young Readers Group!
LOVE AND OTHER FOREIGN WORDS By Erin McCahan
Dial, an imprint of Penguin, is sending a summer romance mailing of LOVE AND OTHER FOREIGN WORDS by Erin McCahan to select YPG members this May.
Sixteen-year-old Josie knows a lot. A lot of languages mostly. She speaks High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Break-ups, and even the language of Beautiful Girls. But none is her native tongue. The only people who speak that are her best friend Stu and her sister, Kate. So when Kate gets engaged to an insufferable guy, how can Josie see it as anything but the mistake of a lifetime? As battles are waged over secrets and semantics, Josie begins to wonder about the nature of true love . . . even as it sneaks up on her. Can anyone be truly herself—or truly in love—in a language that’s not her own?
A wry, whip-smart novel and a heroine who sees the world in a fresh, insightful, and often hilarious way—a great choice for fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell.
Email young.readers.marketing@us.penguingroup.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Dial!
BROKEN HEARTS, FENCES, AND OTHER THINGS TO MEND by Katie Finn
This May, Feiwel & Friends is doing a mailing of BROKEN HEARTS, FENCES, AND OTHER THINGS TO MEND, the first in a new summer series from Katie Finn (alter ego of Morgan Matson), to the YPG Children’s/Young Adult list.
Gemma had her summer all planned out, but it takes sharp turn when she gets dumped and finds herself back in the Hamptons after a five-year absence. Being there puts her at risk of bumping into Hallie, her former best friend (that is, before Gemma ruined her life). But people don’t hold grudges forever. Do they?
Email Kathryn Little with your thoughts and comments! Thanks, Feiwel & Friends!
Crown is sending 200 copies of DATACLYSM: WHO WE ARE (WHEN WE THINK NO ONE’S LOOKING) by Christian Rudder to a mix of the Business, Current Affairs/Politics, and Non-Fiction Little Big Mouth lists this May.
What is the secret to a stable marriage? How many gay people are still in the closet? Do we truly live in a postracial society? Has Twitter made us dumber? These are just a few of the questions Christian Rudder answers in Dataclysm, a smart, funny, irreverent look at how we act when we think no one’s looking. For centuries we’ve relied on polling or small-scale lab experiments to study human behavior. Today a new approach is possible. As we live more of our lives online, researchers can finally observe us directly, in vast numbers and without filters. Data scientists can quantify the formerly unquantifiable and show with unprecedented precision how we fight, how we age, how we love, and how we change. Our personal data has been used to spy on us, hire and fire us, and sell us stuff we don’t need. In Dataclysm, Rudder uses it to show us who we are as people. He reveals how Facebook “likes” can predict, with surprising accuracy, a person’s sexual orientation and even intelligence; how attractive women receive exponentially more job interview requests; and why you have to have haters to be hot. He charts the rise and fall of America’s most reviled word through Google Search and examines the new dynamics of collaborative rage on Twitter. He shows how people express themselves, both privately and publically. What is the least Asian thing you can say? Do people bathe more in Vermont or New Jersey? And much more. Dataclysm is a portrait of our essential selves—and a first look at a revolution in the making.
Email Sarah Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
Get ready to giggle, because Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Young Readers Group has just done a mailing of BUZZ KILL by Beth Fantaskey to the Young Adult Little Big Mouth list.
In this fresh and funny teen mystery, seventeen-year-old Millie joins forces with her classmate, gorgeous but mysterious Chase Albright, to try to find out who murdered Coach Killdare.
Email Pete Bohan with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Young Readers Group!
KISS OF DECEPTION by Mary Pearson
Henry Holt & Co. is doing a mailing of ARCs of KISS OF DECEPTION by Mary Pearson to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult and Women’s Fiction lists this May.
In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom—to a prince she has never met. On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love.
The Kiss of Deception is the first book in Mary E. Pearson’s Remnant Chronicles.
E-mail Jo Kirby with your thoughts and comments! Thanks, Henry Holt and Co!
This May, Speak, an imprint of Penguin, is sending out copies of SUMMER LOVE (Follow Your Heart, Book 1) by Jill Santopolo to select members of the YPG Little Big Mouth lists.
Summer is all about relaxing and having fun. But it’s even better when you find the right guy to share it with. In this originally formatted romance, the reader gets to choose her own happy ending, which can result in a kiss from one of eleven swoon-worthy guys. At the end of each chapter, the reader decides how she wants to continue her journey to find love, and the endings are based entirely on the choices she makes while reading. Every selection counts and the possibilities are endless. For those readers not yet ready for romance, there are alternate endings to hang with friends or take time to get to know themselves. But one thing’s for sure—every reader is guaranteed one fabulous beachside summer.
Email young.readers.marketing@us.penguingroup.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Speak!
I AM PILGRIM by Terry Hayes
Atria Books is sending copies of I AM PILGRIM by Terry Hayes to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list this April, an astonishingly original espionage debut novel that depicts the collision course between two geniuses, one a tortured hero and one a determined terrorist, in a breakneck story drawing comparisons to John Le Carré and Robert Ludlum at their finest.
“Pilgrim” is the code name for a world class and legendary secret agent. His adversary is a man known only to the reader as the Saracen. As a young boy, the Saracen barely sees his dissident father beheaded in a Saudi Arabian public square. But the event marks him for life and creates a burning desire to destroy the special relationship between the US and the Kingdom. Everything in the Saracen’s life from this moment forward will be in service to jihad. At the novel’s opening, we find ourselves in a seedy hotel near Ground Zero. A woman lies face down in a pool of acid, features melted off her face, teeth missing, fingerprints gone. The room has been sprayed down with DNA-eradicating antiseptic spray. All the techniques are pulled directly from Pilgrim’s book, a cult classic of forensic science written under a pen name. In offering the NYPD some casual assistance with the case, Pilgrim gets pulled back into the intelligence underground. What follows is a thriller that jockeys between astonishingly detailed character study and breakneck globetrotting. The author shifts effortlessly from Pilgrim’s hidden life of leisure in Paris to the Saracen’s squalid warrior life in Afghanistan, from the hallways of an exclusive Swiss bank to the laboratories of a nefarious biotech facility in Syria. The inevitable encounter between Pilgrim and the Saracen will come in Turkey, around the murder of a wealthy American, in a thrilling, twisting, beautifully orchestrated finale.
Please email Hillary Tisman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria Books!
INVISIBLE CITY by Julia Dahl
Lucky members of YPG’s Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller and Women’s Fiction lists are getting copies of INVISIBLE CITY by Julia Dahl this April from Minotaur Books.
Months after Rebekah Roberts was born, her mother—a Hasidic Jew from Brooklyn—abandons her Christian boyfriend and newborn baby to return to her religion. Neither Rebekah nor her father hears from her again. Now a recent college graduate, Rebekah has moved to New York City to follow her dream of becoming a big-city reporter. But she cannot deny the small hope of also finding her mother. When Rebekah is called to cover the story of a murdered Hasidic woman she is shocked to learn that, because of the NYPD’s habit of kowtowing to the powerful ultra-Orthodox community, not only will the woman be buried without an autopsy, her killer may get away with murder. To find the truth, Rebekah immerses herself in the cloistered world where her mother grew up – and it becomes clear that she is not welcome. Everyone she meets has a secret to keep from the outsider.
E-mail Courtney Sanks (courtney.sanks@stmartins.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Minotaur Books!
LIFE IN MOTION by Misty Copeland
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Memoir list is getting copies this February of LIFE IN MOTION: AN ULIKELY BALLERINA by Misty Copeland.
As the only African American soloist dancing with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland has made history. But when she first placed her hands on the barre at her local Boys & Girls Club, no one expected the undersized, anxious thirteen-year-old to become a groundbreaking ballerina. With an insider’s unique point of view, Misty opens a window into the life of a professional ballerina who lives life center stage: from behind the scenes at her first auditions to her triumphant roles in some of the most iconic ballets. But in this beautifully written memoir, she also delves deeper to reveal the struggles she encountered in her journey to make her dreams reality, from living in shabby motel rooms struggling with her five siblings for a place to sleep on the floor to her highly publicized custody battle with her own mother. Inspirational and illuminating, Life in Motion is a story of passion and grace for anyone who has dared to dream of a different life.
Email Meredith Vilarello (meredith.vilarello@simonandschuster.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
PLUS ONE by Elizabeth Fama
MacKids is sending 150 ARCs of PLUS ONE by Elizabeth Fama to the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list this March.
Divided by day and night and on the run from authorities, star-crossed young lovers unearth a sinister conspiracy in this compelling romantic thriller. Seventeen-year-old Soleil Le Coeur is a Smudge—a night dweller prohibited by law from going out during the day. When she fakes an injury in order to get access to and kidnap her newborn niece—a day dweller, or Ray—she sets in motion a fast-paced adventure that will bring her into conflict with the powerful lawmakers who order her world, and draw her together with the boy she was destined to fall in love with, but who is also a Ray.
Email Kathryn Little (Kathryn.Little@macmillan.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, MacKids!
THE ACCIDENT by Chris Pavone
Is there a story you would kill for? A manuscript that could make or break your career? For the cast of characters in THE ACCIDENT by Chris Pavone (the latest ARC mailing to our Myster/Thriller and Fiction Little Big Mouth lists), one unpublished book can make the difference between life, and certain death.
As dawn approaches in New York, literary agent Isabel Reed is turning the final pages of a mysterious, anonymous manuscript, racing through explosive revelations about Charlie Wolfe, the CEO of Wolfe Worldwide Media. In Copenhagen, veteran CIA operative Hayden Gray, determined that the story stay buried, suddenly finds himself staring down the barrel of a gun. And in Zurich, the author himself is hiding from those who would silence him, trying to atone for a lifetime’s worth of lies and betrayals with publication of The Accident. Over the course of one long, desperate, increasingly perilous day, these lives collide as the book begins its dangerous march toward publication, toward saving or ruining careers and companies, placing everything at risk—and everyone in mortal peril. The rich cast of characters—in publishing and film, politics and espionage—are all forced to confront the consequences of their ambitions, the schisms between their ideal selves and the people they actually became.
Email Kayleigh George (kgeorge@randomhouse.com) with your thoughts and comments or share them on Goodreads and like the author at www.Facebook.com/AuthorChrisPavone. Thanks, Crown Publishers!
THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING by Erika Johansen
Harper is sending 50 ARCs of THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING by Erika Johansen to the Science Fiction/Fantasy Little Big Mouth list this April.
On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon—from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic—to prevent her from wearing the crown. Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea’s kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust. But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun—a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend…if she can survive.
Email Kathryn Gervasio (Kathryn.Gervasio@harpercollins.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Harper!
THIS ONE SUMMER by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
First Second Books is sending the YPG Little Big Mouth YA list an exciting new teen graphic novel by cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, THIS ONE SUMMER.
Every summer, Rose goes with her mom and dad to a lake house in Awago Beach. It’s their getaway, their refuge. Rosie’s friend Windy is always there, too, like the little sister she never had. But this summer is different. Rose’s mom and dad won’t stop fighting, and when Rose and Windy seek a distraction from the drama, they find themselves with a whole new set of problems. One of the local teens – just a couple of years older than Rose and Windy – is caught up in something bad… Something life threatening. It’s a summer of secrets, and sorrow, and growing up, and it’s a good thing Rose and Windy have each other.
Email Gina Gagliano (gina.gagliano@firstsecondbooks.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, First Second Books!
MATING FOR LIFE by Marissa Stapley
This March, over 200 lucky members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Women’s Fiction list are receiving copies of MATING FOR LIFE by Marissa Stapley, courtesy of Atria Books.
Maine meets Girls in White Dresses in this captivating debut about three very different sisters, their wild-child mother, and what it takes to love someone—family members, friends, or spouses—for life.
Please email Hillary Tisman (hillary.tisman@simonandschuster.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria Books!
LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD by Ava Dellaira
Our LBM Young Adult list is about to receive a mailing of LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD by Ava Dellaira, courtesy of Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers.
It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more—though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was—lovely and amazing and deeply flawed—can she begin to discover her own path.
E-mail Jo Kirby at Johanna.Kirby@Macmillan.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR!
BITTERSWEET by Miranda Bevery-Whittemore
This April, Crown is blasting the YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list with BITTERSWEET by Miranda Bevery-Whittemore, a suspenseful and cinematic new novel that exposes the gothic underbelly of an idyllic world of privilege and an outsider’s hunger to belong.
On scholarship at a prestigious East Coast college, ordinary Mabel Dagmar is surprised to befriend her roommate, the beautiful, wild, blue-blooded Genevra Winslow. Ev invites Mabel to spend the summer at Bittersweet, her cottage on the Vermont estate where her family has been holding court for more than a century; it’s the kind of place where children twirl sparklers across the lawn during cocktail hour. Mabel falls in love with midnight skinny-dipping, the wet dog smell that lingers near the yachts, and the moneyed laughter that carries across the still lake while fireworks burst overhead. Before she knows it, she has everything she’s ever wanted: friendship, a boyfriend, access to wealth, and, most of all, for the first time in her life, the sense that she belongs. But as Mabel becomes an insider, a terrible discovery leads to shocking violence and reveals what the Winslows may have done to keep their power intact – and what they might do to anyone who threatens them. Mabel must choose: either expose the ugliness surrounding her and face expulsion from paradise, or keep the family’s dark secrets and make Ev’s world her own.
Email Jessica Prudhomme (jprudhomme@randomhouse.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
COLORING FOR GROWN-UPS: COLLEGE COMPANION by Ryan Hunter & Taige Jensen
Plume is giving the YPG Little Big Mouth Humor list some laughs this April with copies of COLORING FOR GROWN-UPS: COLLEGE COMPANION by Ryan Hunter & Taige Jensen.
For everyone who needs some support to get through the college years, here is a coloring book that makes you forget about the pop quizzes you never studied for and the advice you’ll never listen to. Coloring for Grown-Ups: College Companion, combines a healthy dash of caustic wit with coloring book activities with grown-up themes. Dreamed up by the creators of the massive Youtube hits, “Hipster Olympics” and “Movie Title Breakup,” the College Companion is the much-needed rescue from exams, all-nighters, and crazy roommates. It includes typical, coloring-book-style pages, but filled with activities that are reminiscent of what REALLY goes down in college including: Degrees of Success: Match your degree of choice to the job it would actually land you in the real world; Beer Bong Everything! Maze; Create your own Walk-of-Shame Mask; Fill-out the Realistic Emergency Contact Sheet; Add more underrepresented people to the College Diversity Poster, and many more activities in its more than 50 pages of endless entertainment and distractions.
Email Milena Brown (milena.brown@us.penguingroup.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Plume!
YPG’s YA Little Big Mouth list is about to get copies of FAN ART by Sarah Tregay, courtesy of Katherine Tegen Books.
Senior year is almost over, and Jamie Peterson has a big problem. Not college—that’s all set. Not prom—he’ll find a date somehow. No, it’s the worst problem of all: he’s fallen for his best friend. FAN ART is about what happens when a picture reveals what we can’t say, when art is truer than life, and how falling in love is easy, except when it’s not.
Email onalee.smith@harpercollins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Katherine Tegen Books!
GRADUATES IN WONDERLAND by Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Memoir list is getting an April mailing of GRADUATES IN WONDERLAND: A MEMOIR OF FRIENDHSIP by Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale, courtesy of Gotham Books and Avery.
Graduates in Wonderland is a hilarious, relatable, and powerfully honest epistolary memoir told in alternating emails between two college best friends speaking profoundly about the timeless realities of navigating adulthood. Continents apart, the authors tackle their entry into the real world together, sharing their successes, their stumbles, and their hopes and fears for the future. They swap tales of out-of-control bosses and cringe-worthy details of dating misadventures, along with the hard stuff they faced after college, from car accidents and taxes to break-ups and break-downs. Over the course of their irreverent, hilarious, yet deeply genuine emails, Jess and Rachel share an inside glimpse of intimate conversation between two best friends as they come-of-age and grow into the women they are meant to become.
Contact fellow YPG member Farin Schlussel (farin.schlussel@us.penguingroup.com) with your thoughts and comments, view the book trailer HERE, and check out www.graduatesinwonderland.com for more info. Thanks, Gotham Books and Avery!
HE TEXTED by Lisa Winning and Carrie Henderson McDermott
Gallery Books recently sent copies of HE TEXTED: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO DECODING GUYS by Lisa Winning and Carrie Henderson McDermott to the YPG Little Big Mouth Non-fiction list.
From the creators of the popular blog HeTexted.com (with 250,000 unique visitors each month) comes the He’s Just Not That Into You for the iPhone generation: a frank, funny, and utterly essential guide to using social media and texting to your advantage and to sussing out a man’s true feelings via his texts, Facebook posts, Tweets, etc.
Email Melanie Mitzman (Melanie.mitzman@simonandschuster.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Gallery!
I JUST GRADUATED…NOW WHAT? by Katherine Schwarzenegger
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Non-Fiction list is about to get an April mailing of I JUST GRADUATED…NOW WHAT? from Crown Archetype.
Graduation is a time of tough questions whose answers we don’t—and sometimes can’t—know the day we receive our diplomas. Determined to power through the uncertainty of post-graduation, bestselling author Katherine Schwarzenegger embarked on a yearlong quest to gather the best guidance as possible from more than thirty highly successful people working in fields like business, media, fashion, technology, sports, and philanthropy. Drawing on the stories and real-life experiences of contributors such as Anderson Cooper, Eva Longoria, Blake Mycoskie of TOMS shoes, Lauren Bush Laure, Andy Cohen, Meghan McCain, Gayle King, and more, Katherine has written the must-have guide for recent graduates as they prepare to seek success and fulfillment in their work, relationships, and lives.
Email Lauren Velasquez (lvelasquez@randomhouse.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown Archetype!
LOVERS AT THE CHAMELEON CLUB, PARIS 1932 by Francine Prose
Harper is sending 150 lucky members of the YPG Little Big Mouth fiction list ARCs of LOVERS AT THE CHAMELEON CLUB, PARIS 1932 by Francine Prose this April.
Paris in the 1920s. It is a city of intoxicating ambition, passion, art, and discontent, where louche jazz venues like the Chameleon Club draw expats, artists, libertines, and parvenus looking to indulge their true selves. It is at the Chameleon where the striking Lou Villars, an extraordinary athlete and scandalous cross-dressing lesbian, finds refuge among the club’s loyal denizens, including the rising prhotographer Gabor Tsenyi, the socialite and art patron Baroness Lily de Rossignol, and the caustic American writer Lionel Maine. As the years pass, their fortunes—and the world itself—evolve. Lou falls in love and finds success as a race car driver. Gabor builds his reputation with vivid and imaginative photographs, including a haunting portrait of Lou and her lover, which will resonate through all their lives. As the exhuberent twenties give way to darker times, Lou experiences another metamorphosis that will warp her earnest desire for love and approval into something far more sinister: collaboration with the Nazis.
Email Stephanie Cooper (stephanie.cooper@harpercollins.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Harper!
SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE by Morgan Matson
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Children’s/YA list is gearing up for summer with a mailing of SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE by Morgan Matson this April, courtesy of Simon & Schuster.
Emily is about to take some risks and have the most unexpected summer ever. Before Sloane, Emily didn’t go to parties, she barely talked to guys, and she didn’t do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—someone who yanks you out of your shell. But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just . . . disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list with thirteen bizarre tasks that Emily would never try. But what if they can lead her to Sloane? Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough. Dance until dawn? Sure, why not? Kiss a stranger? Wait . . . what?
Go Skinny Dipping? Um…
Visit morgansbffchallenge.com for more info about the book & to join the #BFFchallenge! Email Sooji Kim (sooji.kim@simonandschuster.com) with your thoughts & comments! Thanks, S&S Books for Young Readers!
STEAL THE NORTH by Heather Brittain Bergstrom
Forty-five members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Literary Fiction list are getting copies of STEAL THE NORTH by Heather Brittain Bergstrom this April, a love story and family saga set on the edge of an Indian reservation in eastern Washington.
Emmy Nolan is a shy sixteen-year-old girl living a sheltered life in Sacramento when a phone call comes in from an aunt she never knew she had: a desperate plea to participate in a faith healing ceremony. Emmy goes north reluctantly but before long she feels connected to the rugged landscape of coulees and scablands, even to the wheat fields her absent father chose over her. She develops a strong relationship with her aunt and uncle, and she meets Reuben Tonasket, the Native American boy next door, who struggles with the conflicted past of his parents and his tribe. A tragic event will test their love—and Emmy’s resolve to hold tight to the place she knows is home.
Email Winnie DeMoya (winnie.demoya@us.penguingroup.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Viking!
THE CURMUDGEON’S GUIDE TO GETTING AHEAD by Charles Murray
For those starting out in their careers—and those who wish to advance more quickly—THE CURMUDGEON’S GUIDE TO GETTING AHEAD by Charles Murray is a delightfully fussy guide to the hidden rules of the road in the workplace and in life, and YPG’s Nonfiction list is about to get an April dose.
As bestselling author Charles Murray explains, at senior levels of an organization there are curmudgeons everywhere, judging your every move. Yet it is their good opinion you need to win if you hope to get ahead. Among the curmudgeon’s day-to-day tips for the workplace: Excise the word “like” from your spoken English; Don’t suck up, and Make strong language count. Witty, wise, and pulling no punches, this book is an indispensable sourcebook for living an adult life.
Email Lauren Velasquez (lvelasquez@randomhouse.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown Business!
THE ALPHA WOMAN MEETS HER MATCH by Sonya Rhodes
William Morrow is sending 100 copies of THE ALPHA WOMAN MEETS HER MATCH by Sonya Rhodes, PhD to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Non-Fiction list this April.
For the first time ever: a liberating guide to life and love that tells successful women that they can find the right partner without having to change or settle—and then shows them how to do it. But, more than just offering advice about romance, The Alpha Woman Meets Her Match explores the dramatic shifts in our culture, and how these can bring women greater empowerment in both their love lives and their careers.
Email Kaitlin Harri (Kaitlin.harri@harpercollins.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, William Morrow!
Chronicle Books is about to transport the YPG Young Adult Little Big Mouth list to Edinburgh in the year 1844 with a mailing of THE FALCONER by Elizabeth May.
Beautiful Aileana Kameron only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. In fact, she’s spent the year since her mother died developing her ability to sense the presence of Sithichean, a faery race bent on slaughtering humans. She has a secret mission: to destroy the faery who murdered her mother. But when she learns she’s a Falconer, the last in a line of female warriors and the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity, her quest for revenge gets a whole lot more complicated. The first volume of a trilogy from an exciting new voice in young adult fantasy, this electrifying thriller blends romance and action with steampunk technology and Scottish lore in a deliciously addictive read.
Email Stephanie Wong (Stephanie_wong@chroniclebooks.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Chronicle!
THE GIRL IN THE ROAD by Monica Byrne
Crown is sending members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Science Fiction list copies of THE GIRL IN THE ROAD by Monica Byrne this March.
In a world where global power has shifted east and revolution is brewing, two women embark on vastly different journeys—each harrowing and urgent and wholly unexpected. When Meena finds snakebites on her chest, her worst fears are realized: someone is after her and she must flee India. As she plots her exit, she learns of The Trail, an energy-harvesting bridge spanning the Arabian Sea that has become a refuge for itinerant vagabonds and loners on the run. This is her salvation. Slipping out in the cover of night, with a knapsack full of supplies including a pozit GPS system, a scroll reader, and a sealable waterproof pod, she sets off for Ethiopia, the place of her birth. Meanwhile, Mariama, a young girl in Africa, is forced to flee her home. She joins up with a caravan of misfits heading across the Sahara. She is taken in by Yemaya, a beautiful and enigmatic woman who becomes her protector and confidante. They are trying to reach Addis Abba, Ethiopia, a metropolis swirling with radical politics and rich culture. But Mariama will find a city far different than she ever expected—romantic, turbulent, and dangerous. As one heads east and the other west, Meena and Mariama’s fates are linked in ways that are mysterious and shocking to the core.
Email Kayleigh George (kgeorge@randomhouse.com) with your thoughts and comments! Thanks, Crown!
THE INTERN’S HANDBOOK and CASUAL FRIDAY by Shane Kuhn
This hitman has some rules for you. And he’ s about to break every single one. YPG’s Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller and Netgalley lists are about to learn more in a double-mailing from Simon & Schuster of THE INTERN’S HANDBOOK and CASUAL FRIDAY, both by Shane Kuhn.
The Intern’s Handbook. John Lago is a very bad guy. But he’s the very best at what he does. And what he does is infiltrate top-level companies and assassinate crooked executives while disguised as an intern. Interns are invisible. That’s the secret behind HR, Inc., the elite “placement agency” that doubles as a network of assassins for hire who take down high-profile targets that wouldn’t be able to remember an intern’s name if their lives depended on it. At the ripe old age of almost twenty-five, John Lago is already New York City’s most successful hit man. He’s also an intern at a prestigious Manhattan law firm, clocking eighty hours a week getting coffee, answering phones, and doing all the grunt work actual employees are too lazy to do. He was hired to assassinate one of the firm’s heavily guarded partners. His internship provides the perfect cover, enabling him to gather intel and gain access to pull off a clean, untraceable hit. Part confessional, part DIY manual, The Intern’s Handbook chronicles John’s final assignment, a twisted thrill ride in which he is pitted against the toughest—and sexiest—adversary he’s ever faced: Alice, an FBI agent assigned to take down the same law partner he’s been assigned to kill.
Casual Friday. A short story prequel to The Intern’s Handbook, Casual Friday is the story of John’s very first assignment as a recruit with Human Resources, Inc., a placement agency that sends assassins, disguised as interns, to take out high-level targets under cover of corporate invisibility. John will go on to become the most successful “intern” in HR’s history.
Contact Elina Vaysbeyn (elina.vaysbeyn@simonandschuster.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
THE MEANING OF MAGGIE by Megan Jean Sovern
This April, Chronicle Books is hitting the YPG Little Big Mouth Children’s/YA list with copies of THE MEANING OF MAGGIE.
As befits a future President of the United States of America, Maggie Mayfield has decided to write a memoir of the past year of her life. And what a banner year it’s been! During this period she’s Student of the Month on a regular basis, an official shareholder of Coca-Cola stock, and defending Science Fair champion. Most importantly, though, this is the year Maggie has to pull up her bootstraps (the family motto) and finally learn why her cool-dude dad is in a wheelchair, no matter how scary that is. Author Megan Jean Sovern, herself the daughter of a dad with multiple sclerosis, writes with the funny grace and assured prose of a new literary star. A portion of the proceeds of the sale of this book will be donated to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Watch the trailer HERE.
Email Stephanie Wong (Stephanie_wong@chroniclebooks.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Chronicle!
WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD by Lauren Berger
HarperBusiness is doing a mailing to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Business list of WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD: FINDING YOUR PLACE, PERFECTING YOUR WORK, AND TURNING YOUR JOB INTO YOUR DREAM JOB by career expert and entrepreneur Lauren Berger.
It’s an interesting time for young people in the workplace. They can’t go to their parents for job advice because the rules aren’t the same as they’ve been in the past. Most career guides out there are either aimed at older generations or are stodgy, nuts-and-bolts rule books. In Welcome to the Real World, Lauren Berger aims to arm this generation with the tools needed to succeed in the workplace. In this post- economic crisis, millenials need to be bold, take risks, and understand their value in the workplace. She shows you how to think of your job as a link that will eventually connect you to the opportunity of your dreams. It’s time to get comfortable getting uncomfortable. The book covers anything and everything related to that first on-the-job experience, including how to think about “The Big Picture,” deal with rejection at work, effectively manage your time at your job, navigate “sticky situations” in the office and communicate with different personality types, embrace entrepreneurship regardless of position, rank, or title, organize your financial situation and personal life, and more.
Email Kathryn Gervasio with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, HarperBusiness!
THINGS A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME by Biz Stone
Grand Central Publishing is educating the Little Big Mouth Business less with THINGS A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME this March.
From GQ’s “Nerd of the Year” to one of Time’s most influential people in the world, Biz Stone represents different things to different people. But he is known to all as the creative, effervescent, funny, charmingly positive and remarkably savvy co-founder of Twitter-the social media platform that singlehandedly changed the way the world works. Now, Biz tells fascinating, pivotal, and personal stories from his early life and his careers at Google and Twitter, sharing his knowledge about the nature and importance of ingenuity today. He also addresses failure, the value of vulnerability, ambition, and corporate culture. Whether seeking behind-the-scenes stories, advice, or wisdom and principles from one of the most successful businessmen of the new century, Things a Little Bird Told Me will satisfy every reader.
Email Tracy Brickman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Grand Central!
THE HARM IN ASKING by Sara Barron
Three Rivers Press is about to send the Humor and Memoir Little Big Mouth lists copies of THE HARM IN ASKING: MY CLUMSY ENCOUNTERS WITH THE HUMAN RACE, a side-splitting new collection of incisive, hilarious, and occasionally creepy essays by Sara Barron, author of People Are Unappealing.
In her new collection, Sara Barron brings us more tales of life’s discomforts: college roommates who insist on clipping their toenails in your presence, the indignities of female hair loss in your mid-twenties, and the perils of dating when you’ve inherited your father’s love for show tunes while all the cute guys are listening to Modest Mouse. She also brings us back to her quirky childhood, which fans of her first book will remember well: a disastrous exchange trip to France, where her host sister is a death-metal fan, and an uncomfortable encounter with a Polish housekeeper who intrudes on Sara’s performances with her imaginary friends. For anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider, Barron reminds us that even when we think that laughing at our mistakes will make us feel better, there’s probably someone else out there who’s laughing harder.
Email Gianna Sandri with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Three Rivers Press!
Weinstein Books is chilling the Little Big Mouth General Fiction list with a mailing of THE BLONDE by Anna Godbersen this March.
An enthralling blend of biography, love story and thriller, The Blonde re-imagines the iconic Marilyn Monroe as a spy working undercover in the world of glamorous Hollywood stars and alluring political elites. She dances with Frank Sinatra, drinks with Clark Gable, and goes to bed with John F. Kennedy. But neither her KGB commander nor the FBI agent on her tail understand the deeper motivation behind her calculated façade: her need for love, connection and the family she never knew. Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author, describes The Blonde as “platinum hot, extraordinary vivid and totally unforgettable.” At once a crackling portrayal of Old Hollywood, an intimate portrait of Marilyn as a very real woman, and a cat-and-mouse thriller set in the streets of New York and the sun-drenched valleys of Los Angeles, The Blonde is history rewritten as it could have, and might have been.
Email Devorah Backman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Weinstein Books!
SHOTGUN LOVESONGS by Nickolas Butler
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Audiobook list got a mailing of SHOTGUN LOVESONGS by Nickolas Butler from Macmillan Audio last week.
Welcome to Little Wing. It’s a place like hundreds of others, nothing special, really. But for four friends—all born and raised in this small Wisconsin town—it is home. And now they are men, coming into their own, or struggling to do so. One of them never left, still working the family farm that has been tilled for generations. But others felt the need to move on, with varying degrees of success. One trades commodities, another took to the rodeo circuit, and one of them even hit it big as a rock star. And then there’s Beth, a woman who has meant something special in each of their lives. Now all four are brought together for a wedding. While lifelong bonds are still strong, there are stresses—between the friends, between husbands and wives. There will be heartbreak, but there will also be hope, healing, even heroism as these memorable people learn the true meaning of adult friendship and love. The audiobook gives voice to each character with a wonderful cast of narrators: Ari Fliakos, Maggie Hoffman, Scott Shepherd, Scott Sowers, and Gary Wilmes.
Email Samantha Edelson with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Macmillan Audio!
ONCE UPON A TIME IN RIO by Francisco Azevedo
From well-known Brazilian playwright Francisco Azevedo, Atria is sending YPG’s Little Big Mouth General Fiction list copies of Once Upon a Time in Rio, a heartwarming debut novel about three generations of a family whose kitchen contains the secret ingredient for happiness.
Newlyweds José and Maria Custódio immigrated to Brazil in the early years of the twentieth century. While preparing a feast to celebrate the centenary of their wedding, José’s eldest son, Antonio, looks back at the lives of his parents, his aunt, his brothers, their children and grandchildren and, of course, his own. What separates his family from any other is its possession of a secret ingredient for happiness: a sack of magical rice given to his parents on their wedding day. For it is this very rice, handed down from generation to generation and cooked up in many delicious dishes, that has saved the family from many difficulties, including infertility, divorce, and poverty. Already an international bestseller, Once Upon a Time is a beautifully rendered tale about the wisdom to be gleaned from past generations and the inextricable and enduring ties of family.
Email Hillary Tisman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria!
THE MOON SISTERS by Therese Walsh
This February, Random House is sending YPG’s Little Big Mouth Women’s Literature and Fiction lists copies of THE MOON SISTERS by Therese Walsh, a mesmerizing coming-of-age novel, with its sheen of near-magical realism, is a moving tale of family and the power of stories.
After their mother’s probable suicide, sisters Olivia and Jazz take steps to move on with their lives. Jazz, logical and forward-thinking, decides to get a new job, but spirited, strong-willed Olivia—who can see sounds, taste words, and smell sights—is determined to travel to the remote setting of their mother’s unfinished novel to lay her spirit properly to rest. Already resentful of Olivia’s foolish quest and her family’s insistence upon her involvement, Jazz is further aggravated when they run into trouble along the way and Olivia latches to a worldly train-hopper who warns he shouldn’t be trusted. As they near their destination, the tension builds between the two sisters, each hiding something from the other, until they are finally forced to face everything between them and decide what is really important.
Share your thoughts and comments on Goodreads or email Danielle Crabtree. Thanks, Random House!
MY ACCIDENTAL JIHAD by Krista Bremer
Algonquin is sending YPG’s Little Big Mouth Memoir list copies of MY ACCIDENTAL JIHAD by Krista Bremer this winter.
Krista Bremer never imagined the unexpected turns that would lead to the life she has today: married to an older Muslim man from an impoverished Libyan village and raising together two children with Arabic names in the American South. Their decision to marry and share their life together introduced more challenges than Krista’s American upbringing could have prepared her for, from meeting her illiterate in-laws in Gaddafi’s Libya to struggling to understand the month-long spiritual detox known as Ramadan, or responding to her daughter’s choice to don a headscarf. My Accidental Jihad is the refreshing and candid story of Krista and Ismail’s bicultural marriage and their commitment to each other without forsaking their identities. With honest self-revelation and humor, Krista takes readers on her own accidental Jihad, exploring Westerners’ (and her own) misconceptions and deep-seated assumptions about the Muslim world, and exploring what it means to open our hearts to another culture and, just as important, to embrace our own.
Email Kelly Bowen with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Algonquin!
BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER by Lawrence Osborne
This February, 100 members of YPG’s Little Big Mouth Literary Fiction list are getting copies of BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER by Lawrence Osborne, a riveting tale of risk and obsession set in the alluring world of Macau’s casinos, courtesy of Crown.
As night falls on Macau and the neon signs that line the rain-slick streets come alive, Doyle – “Lord Doyle” to his fellow players – descends into his casino of choice to try his luck at the baccarat tables that are the anchor of his current existence. A corrupt English lawyer who has escaped prosecution by fleeing to the East, Doyle spends his nights drinking and gambling and his days sleeping off his excesses, continually haunted by his past. Taking refuge in a series of louche and dimly lit hotels, he watches his fortune rise and fall as the cards decide his fate. In a moment of crisis he meets Dao-Ming, an enigmatic Chinese woman who appears to be a denizen of the casinos just like himself, and seems to offer him salvation in the form of both money and love. But as Doyle attempts to make a rare and true connection, all that he accepts as reality seems to be slipping from his grasp.
Email Sara Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
MY BOYFRIEND BARFED IN MY HANDBAG by Jolie Kerr
Plume is putting smiles on the faces of YPG’s Little Big Mouth humor and non-fiction lists with copies of MY BOYFRIEND BARFED IN MY HANDBAG…AND OTHER THINGS YOU CAN’T ASK MARTHA by Jolie Kerr this March.
Life is filled with spills, odors, and those oh-so embarrassing stains you just can’t tell your parents about. And let’s be honest: no one is going to ask Martha Stewart what to do when your boyfriend barfs in your handbag. Thankfully, Jolie Kerr (author of the hit column Ask a Clean Person) has both staggering cleaning knowledge and a sense of humor. With signature sass and straight talk, Jolie takes on questions ranging from the basic—how do I use a mop?—to the esoteric—what should I do when bottles of homebrewed ginger beer explode in my kitchen? My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag proves that even the most nightmarish cleaning conundrums can be solved with a smile, the right supplies, and a little music.
Email Laura Berlinsky-Schine with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Plume!
TRYING NOT TO TRY by Edward Slingerland
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Religion/Spirituality and Non-Fiction lists are getting copies of TRYING NOT TO TRY by Edward Slingerland, a deeply original exploration of the power of spontaneity—an ancient Chinese ideal that cognitive scientists are only now beginning to understand—and why it is so essential to our well-being.
Why is it always hard to fall asleep the night before an important meeting? Or be charming and relaxed on a first date? What is it about a politician who seems wooden or a comedian whose jokes fall flat or an athlete who chokes? In all of these cases, striving seems to backfire. In Trying Not To Try, Edward Slingerland explains why we find spontaneity so elusive, and shows how early Chinese thought points the way to happier, more authentic lives. We’ve long been told that the way to achieve our goals is through careful reasoning and conscious effort. But recent research suggests that many aspects of a satisfying life, like happiness and spontaneity, are best pursued indirectly. The early Chinese philosophers knew this, and they wrote extensively about an effortless way of being in the world, which they called wu-wei (ooo-way). With clarity and wit, Slingerland uncovers a direct line from wu-wei to the Force in Star Wars, explains why wu-wei is more powerful than flow, and tells us what it all means for getting a date. He also shows how new research reveals what’s happening in the brain when we’re in a state of wu-wei—why it makes us happy and effective and trustworthy, and how it might have even made civilization possible. Trying Not To Try is mind-expanding and deeply pleasurable, the perfect antidote to our striving modern culture.
Email Sara Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
Breaking Bad meets The Walking Dead in FIEND—a heartbreaking, darkly funny debut by Peter Stenson that pits a meth junkie against the zombie apocalypse, which is about to attack YPG’s Science Fiction/Fantasy Little Big Mouth list, courtesy of Broadway Books.
Propelled by a blistering first-person voice and featuring a powerfully compelling antihero, Fiend is at once a riveting portrait of addiction, a pitch-black love story, and a meditation on hope, redemption, and delusion—not to mention one hell of a zombie novel. “Peter Stenson is the bastard child of Cormac McCarthy and George Romero. In Fiend, he takes the reader on a dark joyride replete with junkies, zombies, and buckets of gore. Here is a novel that will jack your pulse and break your heart all at once.”—Steve Almond, New York Times bestselling author of Candyfreak and Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life
Email Jessica Prudhomme with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Broadway Books!
VIVIAN DIVINE IS DEAD by Lauren Sabel
Hollywood’s “it” girl must pull off the performance of her life, and YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult list is hearing about it first in a February mailing from Katherine Tegen Books.
Teen celebrity Vivian Divine’s movie-star mom has been kidnapped and murdered, her famous-director dad tried to kill himself, and her boyfriend is cheating on her with her best friend. But things get even more out of hand when a death threat arrives with Vivian’s fan mail and she has no choice but to go on the run to Mexico. While escaping her madman, she finds an ally in the mysterious and charming Nick. He is everything Hollywood boys are not—genuine, kind, and determined to see Vivian for who she really is. Spending quality time with him in Mexico might sound more romantic if she didn’t think there was a killer on the loose. Vivian realizes this isn’t the stuff bad TV movies are made of; this is material for a full-on blockbuster horror flick. . . and that there’s no option to yell “cut” like there is on set.
Email onalee.smith@harpercollins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Katherine Tegen Books!
THE STORIED LIFE OF AJ FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Fiction and Women’s Lit lists are about to get copies of THE STORIED LIFE OF AJ FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin from Algonquin.
On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto “No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World.” A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means. A.J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly. And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, but large in weight. It’s that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.
Email Cindy Sellars with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Algonquin!
This March, Crown is doing a mailing of finished copies of DARK EDEN by Chris Beckett to a hybrid of our LBM Science Fiction and Literary Fiction lists.
On the alien, sunless planet they call Eden, the 532 members of the Family shelter beneath the light and warmth of the Forest’s lantern trees. Beyond the Forest lie the mountains of the Snowy Dark and a cold so bitter and a night so profound that no man has ever crossed it. The Oldest among the Family recount legends of a world where light came from the sky, where men and women made boats that could cross the stars. These ships brought us here, the Oldest say—and the Family must only wait for the travelers to return. But young John Redlantern will break the laws of Eden, shatter the Family and change history. He will abandon the old ways, venture into the Dark…and discover the truth about their world. Already remarkably acclaimed in the UK, Dark Eden is science fiction as literature; part parable, part powerful coming-of-age story, set in a truly original alien world of dark, sinister beauty–rendered in prose that is at once strikingly simple and stunningly inventive.
Email Sarah Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown, for sending YPG the 2013 Arthur C Clarke Award Winner for the Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year!
UNTIL YOU’RE MINE by Samantha Hayes
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list is about to be haunted by UNTIL YOU’RE MINE by Samantha Hayes, courtesy of a mailing by Crown Publishing Group.
Claudia Morgan-Brown finally has it all. Pregnant with a much-wanted first baby of her own, she has a happily established family of two small step-sons and a loving husband with a great career. But she is also committed to her full-time job as a social worker, and her husband travels often. So when Claudia hires Zoe to help her around the house in anticipation of the baby’s arrival, it seems like the answer to her prayers. But despite Zoe’s glowing recommendations and instant rapport with the children, there’s something about her that Claudia cannot trust. Moreover, there has been a series of violent attacks on pregnant women in the area, and Claudia becomes acutely aware of her vulnerability. With her husband out of town for work and her family far away, who will be there to protect her? And why does she feel unsettled about Zoe? Realizing appearances can be deceiving even in her seemingly perfect world, Claudia digs deeper into Zoe’s blurry past and begins to wonder – how far would someone go to have a child of her own?
Email Jessica Prudhomme with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
MOTH AND SPARK by Anne Leonard
A prince with a quest. A commoner with mysterious powers. And dragons that demand to be freed—at any cost. That’s the descriptor for MOTH AND SPARK by Anne Leonard, Viking’s latest mailing to the Science Fiction/Fantasy Little Big Mouth list.
Prince Corin has been chosen to free the dragons from their bondage to the Empire, but dragons aren’t big on directions. They have given him some of their power, but none of their knowledge. No one, not the dragons nor their riders, is even sure what keeps the dragons in the Empire’s control. Tam, sensible daughter of a well-respected doctor, had no idea before she arrived in the capital that she is a Seer, gifted with visions. When the two run into each other (quite literally) in the library, sparks fly and Corin impulsively asks Tam to dinner. But it’s not all happily ever after. Never mind that the prince isn’t allowed to marry a commoner: war is coming to Caithen. Torn between Corin’s quest to free the dragons and his duty to his country, the lovers must both figure out how to master their powers in order to save Caithen. With a little help from a village of secret wizards and a rogue dragonrider, they just might pull it off.
Contact Winnie DeMoya with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Viking!
Simon & Schuster is doing a mailing this winter to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Science Fiction and Fantasy list of CONQUEST. The first in a stunning new science fiction trilogy from New York Times bestselling author John Connolly, CONQUEST introduces a world where humanity must defend itself against the dominion of a powerful alien rulership…and rebels from both sides risk it all with the fate of the earth at stake.
Contact Hillary Tisman (Hillary.Tisman@simonandschuster.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
William Morrow is sending out a March mailing of ON THE ROCKS by Erin Duffy to our YPG Women’s Fiction list
On the Rocks follows thirty-something year old Abby whose fiancé dumps her on Facebook while she’s trying on wedding dresses. Determined to get back in the game, Abby and her best friend head to the beach for a summer of beaches, booze, and boys, but find that in this era of social media, there is no real escape. Does romance stand a chance when a girl’s every word and move can go viral with a single click?
Email Ashley Marudas with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, William Morrow!
YOUR PERFECT LIFE by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke
Simon & Schuster is doing a February mailing to our Women’s Fiction list of YOUR PERFECT LIFE by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke.
A debut novel about two childhood best friends who wake up the morning after their 20th high school reunion to discover that they’ve switched bodies—and soon learn that sometimes it takes living someone else’s life to appreciate your own.
Please contact hillary.tisman@simonandschuster.com with any comments. Thanks, Simon and Schuster!
Remember your first crush on a bad boy musician? You’re about to, because Katherine Tegen Books is doing a mailing to the YPG Little Big Mouth YA list of EXILE by Kevin Emerson.
Summer Carlson knows how to manage bands like a professional—minus the whole falling-for-the-lead-singer-of-the-latest-band part. But Caleb Daniels isn’t an ordinary band boy—he’s a hot, dreamy, sweet-singing, exiled-from-his-old-band, possibly-with-a-deep-dark-side band boy. When Caleb reveals a secret about his long-lost father, one band’s past becomes another’s present, and Summer finds herself at the center of a mystery she never saw coming. Kevin Emerson’s new series, Exile, is a witty and passionate ode to love, rock and roll, and the freedom that comes in the moment when somebody believes in you, even if you’re not quite ready to believe in yourself.
Email onalee.smith@harpercollins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Katherine Tegen Books!
HOW TO FIGHT PRESIDENTS by Daniel O’Brien
Just in time for President’s Day, Crown did a mailing to the YPG Little Big Mouth Humor and Current Affairs/Politics lists of HOW TO FIGHT PRESIDENTS: DEFENDING YOURSELF AGAINST THE BADASSES WHO RAN THIS COUNTRY, written by Daniel O’Brien and illustrated by Winston Rowntree.
Make no mistake: Our founding fathers were more bandanas-and-muscles than powdered-wigs-and-tea. As a prisoner of war, Andrew Jackson walked several miles barefoot across state lines while suffering from smallpox and a serious head wound received when he refused to polish the boots of the soldiers who had taken him captive. He was thirteen years old. A few decades later, he became the first popularly elected president and served the nation, pausing briefly only to beat a would-be assassin with a cane to within an inch of his life. Theodore Roosevelt had asthma, was blind in one eye, survived multiple gunshot wounds, had only one regret (that there were no wars to fight under his presidency), and was the first U.S. president to win the Medal of Honor, which he did after he died. Faced with the choice, George Washington actually preferred the sound of bullets whizzing by his head in battle over the sound of silence. And now these men—these hallowed leaders of the free world—want to kick your ass. Plenty of historians can tell you which president had the most effective economic strategies, and which president helped shape our current political parties, but can any of them tell you what to do if you encounter Chester A. Arthur in a bare-knuckled boxing fight? This book will teach you how to be better, stronger, faster, and more deadly than the most powerful (and craziest) men in history. You’re welcome.
Email Tommy Cabrera with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group is thrilled to share one ARC and one finished book with lucky members of the YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult list in a double-mailing this winter of THE F-IT LIST and TIN STAR.
Tin Star by Cecil Castelluci (publishing 2/25 from Roaring Brook Press) is an exciting sci-fi adventure with an equally heart-pounding romance. And what better read could there be in the time of New Year’s Resolutions than Julie Halpern’s The F- It List (published by Feiwel & Friends)? This story of one teen’s quest to cross everything off her friend’s bucket list is as hilarious as it is heartwarming.
Email Jo Kirby with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group!
Get ready for Victorian London, because 25 members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list are getting copies of THE QUICK by Lauren Owen this winter, courtesy of Random House.
London, 1892: James Norbury, a shy would-be poet newly down from Oxford, finds lodging with a charming young aristocrat. Through this new friendship, he is introduced to the drawing-rooms of high society, and finds love in an unexpected quarter. Then, suddenly, he vanishes without a trace. Unnerved, his sister, Charlotte, sets out from their crumbling country estate determined to find him. In the sinister, labyrinthine city that greets her, she uncovers a secret world at the margins populated by unforgettable characters: a female rope walker turned vigilante, a street urchin with a deadly secret, and the chilling “Doctor Knife.” But the answer to her brother’s disappearance ultimately lies within the doors of one of the country’s preeminent and mysterious institutions: The Aegolius Club, whose members include the most ambitious, and most dangerous, men in England.
EmailSelby McRae with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Random House!
ARE YOU MY BOYFRIEND? by C.B. Bryza
Pocket Books is kicking off our February mailings with copies of ARE YOU MY BOYFRIEND? by C.B. Bryza to 100 members of the Non-fiction Little Big Mouth list.
A young woman, confident and happy, seeks her very own happily-ever-after in this parody of the childhood classic Are You My Mother? The woman’s journey seeking the perfect man leads her to kiss a lot of frogs, but she never surrenders her sense of humor or her sense of self. A perfect read for every woman who dreams of a prince charming, this illustrated story will warm hearts and tickle funny bones.
Email Melanie Mitzman at Gallery/Pocket Books with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO by Gae Polisner
This Spring, Algonquin Young Readers is sending our YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list copies of THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO by Gae Polisner.
Just when everything seems to be going wrong, hope—and love—can appear in the most unexpected places. Summer has begun, the beach beckons—and Francesca Schnell is going nowhere. Four years ago, Francesca’s little brother, Simon, drowned, and Francesca’s the one who should have been watching. Now Francesca is about to turn sixteen, but guilt keeps her stuck in the past. Meanwhile, her best friend, Lisette, is moving on—most recently with the boy Francesca wants but can’t have. At loose ends, Francesca trails her father, who may be having an affair, to the local country club. There she meets four-year-old Frankie Sky, a little boy who bears an almost eerie resemblance to Simon, and Francesca begins to wonder if it’s possible Frankie could be his reincarnation. Knowing Frankie leads Francesca to places she thought she’d never dare to go—and it begins to seem possible to forgive herself, grow up, and even fall in love, whether or not she solves the riddle of Frankie Sky.
Email Eileen Lawrence with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Algonquin Young Readers!
GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE by Andrew Smith
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult list is getting GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE by Andrew Smith this January, courtesy of Dutton Books
In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend, Robby, have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things. This is the truth. This is history. It’s the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it.
You know what I mean. Grasshopper Jungle weaves together everything from genetically modified corn to the struggles of recession-era, small-town America in this coming-of-age stunner.
Email YRMarketing@us.penguingroup.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Dutton!
Simon and Schuster is hitting the YPG Little Big Mouth Women’s Lit list with copies of ETCHED ON ME by Jenn Crowell this January.
On the surface, sixteen-year-old Lesley Holloway is just another bright new student at Hawthorn Hill, a posh all-girls’ prep school north of London. Little do her classmates know that she recently ran away from home, where her father had spent years sexually abusing her. Nor does anyone know that she’s secretly cutting herself as a coping mechanism…until the day she goes too far and ends up in the hospital. Lesley spends the next two years in and out of psychiatric facilities, where she overcomes her traumatic memories and finds the support of a surrogate family. Eventually completing university and earning her degree, she is a social services success story—until she becomes unexpectedly pregnant in her early twenties. Despite the overwhelming odds she has overcome, the same team that saved her as an adolescent will now question whether Lesley is fit to be a mother. And so she embarks upon her biggest battle yet: the fight for her unborn daughter.
Contact hillary.tisman@simonandschuster.com with feedback. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list, Netgalley list, and certain lucky members of the Fiction list are all getting copies of RUNNER by Patrick Lee this February from Minotaur Books.
Sam Dryden, retired special forces, lives a quiet life in a small town on the coast of Southern California. While out on a run in the middle of the night, a young girl runs into him on the seaside boardwalk. Barefoot and terrified, she’s running from a group of heavily armed men with one clear goal—to kill the fleeing child. After Dryden helps her evade her pursuers, he learns that the eleven year old, for as long as she can remember, has been kept in a secret prison by forces within the government. But she doesn’t know much beyond her own name, Rachel. She only remembers the past two months of her life—and that she has a skill that makes her very dangerous to these men and the hidden men in charge. Dryden, who lost his wife and young daughter in an accident five years ago, agrees to help her try to unravel her own past and make sense of it, to protect her from the people who are moving heaven and earth to find them both. Although Dryden is only one man, he’s a man with the extraordinary skills and experience—as a Ranger, a Delta, and five years doing off-the-book black ops with an elite team. But, as he slowly begins to discover, the highly trained paramilitary forces on their heels is the only part of the danger they must face. Will Rachel’s own unremembered past be the most deadly of them all?
Click here for more info, and email Cassie and Hannah at minotaur@stmartins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Minotaur!
THE ART OF SECRETS by James Klise
This Spring, Algonquin Young Readers is sending our YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list copies of THE ART OF SECRETS by James Klise.
A fire destroys. A treasure appears. A crime unfolds. When Saba Khan’s apartment burns in a mysterious fire, possibly a hate crime, her Chicago high school rallies around her. Her family moves rent-free into a luxury apartment, Saba’s Facebook page explodes, and she starts (secretly) dating a popular boy. Then a quirky piece of art donated to a school fund-raising effort for the Khans is revealed to be an unknown work by a famous artist, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and Saba’s life turns upside down again. Should Saba’s family have all that money? Or should it go to the students who found the art? Or to the school? And just what caused that fire? Greed, jealousy, and suspicion create an increasingly tangled web as students and teachers alike debate who should get the money and begin to point fingers and make accusations. The true story of the fire that sets events in motion and what happens afterward gradually comes together in an innovative narrative made up of journal entries, interviews, articles, letters, text messages, and other documents.
Email Eileen Lawrence with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Algonquin Young Readers!
THE FRANGIPANI HOTEL by Violet Kupersmith
Random House is sending 25 members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list copies of THE FRANGIPANI HOTEL by Violet Kupersmith this February.
A self-assured and stunning collection by an astonishingly gifted new writer, these stories—based on traditional Vietnamese tales—are sure to appeal to fans of Karen Russell, Jennifer Egan, Colson Whitehead, George Saunders, and Téa Obrecht. The Frangipani Hotel blends the old world and the new with fantastical, chilling, and original explorations of the ghosts that continue to haunt us: those of the Vietnam War.
Email Selby McRae with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Random House!
MAYBE SOMEDAY by Colleen Hoover
Simon & Schuster is doing a February mailing of MAYBE SOMEDAY by Colleen Hoover to our Little Big Mouth Women’s Fiction list.
At twenty-two years old, Sydney has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her best friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter’s cheating on her—and she is left trying to decide what to do next.
Please email hillary.tisman@simonandschuster.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
Balzer + Bray is hitting the Young Adult Little Big Mouth list this winter with copies of TEASE by Amanda Maciel, a debut novel inspired by real-life events.
Emma Putnam is dead, and it’s all Sara Wharton’s fault. At least, that’s what everyone seems to think. Sara, along with her best friend and three other classmates, has been criminally charged for the bullying and harassment that led to Emma’s shocking suicide. Now Sara is the one who’s ostracized, already guilty according to her peers, the community, and the media. During the summer before her senior year, in between meetings with lawyers and a court-recommended therapist, Sara is forced to reflect on the events that brought her to this moment—and ultimately consider her role in an undeniable tragedy. And she’ll have to find a way to move forward, even when it feels like her own life is over.
Email Stefanie Hoffman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Balzer + Bray!
THE DIVORCE PAPERS by Susan Rieger
YPG’s Women’s Lit list is getting served with 100 copies of THE DIVORCE PAPERS from Crown, a debut romantic comedy by Susan Rieger.
Twenty-nine-year-old Sophie Diehl is happy toiling away as a criminal law associate at an old line New England firm where she very much appreciates that most of her clients are behind bars. Everyone at Traynor, Hand knows she abhors face-to-face contact, but one weekend, with all the big partners away, Sophie must handle the intake interview for the daughter of the firm’s most important client. After eighteen years of marriage, Mayflower descendant Mia Meiklejohn Durkheim has just been served divorce papers in a humiliating scene at the popular local restaurant, Golightly’s. She is locked and loaded to fight her eminent and ambitious husband, Dr. Daniel Durkheim, Chief of the Department of Pediatric Oncology, for custody of their ten-year-old daughter Jane—and she also burns to take him down a peg. Sophie warns Mia that she’s never handled a divorce case before, but Mia can’t be put off. As she so disarmingly puts it: It’s her first divorce, too.
Told through personal correspondence, office memos, emails, articles, and legal papers, this playful reinvention of the epistolary form races along with humor and heartache, exploring the complicated family dynamic that results when marriage fails. Email Sara Pekdemir with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY by Jayleigh Johnson
This December, Random House Kids sent copies of THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY by Jayleigh Johnson to the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list.
Piper has never seen the Mark of the Dragonfly until she finds the girl amid the wreckage of a caravan in the Meteor Fields. The girl doesn’t remember a thing about her life, but the intricate tattoo on her arm is proof that she’s from the Dragonfly Territories and that she’s protected by the king. Which means a reward for Piper if she can get the girl home. The one sure way to the Territories is the 401, a great old beauty of a train. But a ticket costs more coin than Piper could make in a year. And stowing away is a difficult prospect—everyone knows that getting past the peculiar green-eyed boy who stands guard is nearly impossible. Life for Piper just turned dangerous. A little bit magical. And very exciting, if she can manage to survive the journey.
Email Sarah Wharton with any feedback or comments. Thanks, Random House Kids!
Random House Children’s Books recently sent the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list copies of WE WERE LIARS, a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends – The Liars – whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth.
Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE. Email Stephanie O’Cain with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Random House Children’s Books! #wewereliars
THE APARTMENT: A NOVEL by Greg Baxter
This January, Twelve (an imprint of Hachette Book Group) is sending select members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list copies of THE APARTMENT, a debut novel by Greg Baxter about love, memory, exile, and war.
One snowy December morning in an old European city, an American man leaves his shabby hotel to meet a local woman who has agreed to help him search for an apartment to rent. The Apartment follows the couple across a blurry, illogical, and frozen city into a past the man is hoping to forget, and leaves them at the doorstep of an uncertain future-their cityscape punctuated by the man’s lingering memories of time spent in Iraq and the life he abandoned in the United States. Contained within the details of this day is a complex meditation on America’s relationship with the rest of the world, an unflinching glimpse at the permanence of guilt and despair, and an exploration into our desire to cure violence with violence. A novel about how our relationships to others-and most importantly to ourselves-alters how we see the world, The Apartment perfectly captures the peculiarity and excitement of being a stranger in a strange city.
Email Libby Burton with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Twelve!
HISTORICAL HEARTTHROBS by Kelly Murphy with Hallie Fryd
This January, 100 members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult and Non-Fiction lists are receiving copies of HISTORICAL HEARTTHROBS: 50 TIMELESS CRUSHES—FROM CLEOPATRA TO CAMUS by (former YPG Planning Committee member!) Kelly Murphy with Hallie Fryd, courtesy of Zest Books, distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
From the poetic tenderness of Lord Byron to the alluring confidence of Bessie Coleman, Historical Heartthrobs features 50 hotties from the ages most likely to catch our eye and asks the question: Would you really want to date them? From across the globe and through different eras, some heartthrobs featured in the book are artists, some are scientists, and many are political or military leaders, but all have had a hand in shaping the world into what it is today. Where would literature be without the intensity of Ernest Hemingway? How would civil rights look if the passionate Frederick Douglass hadn’t made his mark? Historical Heartthrobs describes the life stories and key contributions of this sampling of attractive and charismatic men and women in history. Page-length portraits accompany personal profiles, including vital stats, amusing sidebars, fun trivia, and quotes. Entries even come with a handy “heat factor” ranking the crush-worthiness of each heartthrob.
Email Jo Beaton with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Zest (and HMH)!
In a stray from our traditional YPG Little Big Mouth mailings, Workman Publishing sent holiday ornaments to our Cookbooks and Puzzles and Games lists!
The ornaments each had a URL to download five free ebooks on cooking, crafting, and gift-making. In addition to Homemade Holiday101 ebooks, interested member can check out the dedicated website (homemadeholiday101.com) and sign up for daily homemade holiday tips through the end of the year. One of the goals of the promotion has been to create consumer awareness of how beautiful illustrated eBooks can be, and Workman’s Marketing Manager, Molly Kay Frandson, would love YPG’s feedback, so let her know what you think! Thanks for the free ebooks, Workman!
NEVER HAVE I EVER by Katie Heaney
Lucky members of YPG’s Little Big Mouth Non-fiction and Women’s Lit lists are getting stocking-stuffers this December of NEVER HAVE I EVER: MY LIFE (SO FAR) WITHOUT A DATE by 26-year-old writer and blogger Katie Heaney, courtesy of Grand Central Publishing.
“I would like to tell you about a theory I’ve developed about a certain brand of people I like to call ‘lighthouses.’ Lighthouse people are beacons that call all the cute sailors in ships back to land, beckoning them in toward the light. Lighthouse people are magnetic and luminescent. I am not a lighthouse.” So begins Katie Heaney’s memoir of her years spent looking for love, but never quite finding it—from Cody the T-ball player all the way through college and graduate school heartbreak. By age 25, equipped with a college degree, a load of friends, and a happy family life, she still has never had a boyfriend…and she’s barely even been on a second date. Throughout this laugh-out-loud funny book, you will meet Katie’s incredible loyal group of girlfriends, including beautiful and fabulous Rylee, the wild child to Katie’s shrinking violet, as well as a whole roster of Katie’s crushes. And you will get to know Katie herself—a smart, modern heroine in the vein of Mindy Kaling and Sloane Crosley, relaying truths about everything from the subtleties of a Facebook message exchange to the fact that “Everybody who works in a coffee shop is at least a little bit hot.”
Email Julie Paulauski (Julie.Paulauski@hbgusa.com) with your thoughts and comments, or tell the author directly on Twitter at @KTHeaney. Thanks, Grand Central!
THE HERE AND NOW by Ann Brashares
In December, YPG’s Little Big Mouth YA/Children’s list was treated to a select mailing of ARCs from Delacorte Press of THE HERE AND NOW by Ann Brasheres.
From the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, this story follows a time-traveler named Prenna James from the year 2103 who is sent back in time to help prevent a plague that will ravage earth. There are rules she must follow though, including never revealing where she comes from, never interfering with the course of history, and most importantly never be intimate with anymore outside her community of time travelers. But everything changes when she falls in love with Ethan Jarves. Ethan, who is a time native, is the only person who understands her. Incredibly, he seems to know who she really is and where she’s really from. Together Prenna and Ethan set out on a breathtaking, time-bending mission to stop mankind’s destruction.
Connect with the author on Twitter at @annbrashares. Thanks, Delacorte Press!
THE WINNER’S CURSE by Marie Rutkoski
This December, MacKids did a mailing of 100 copies of THE WINNER’S CURSE by Marie Rutkoski to the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list.
Winning what you want may cost you everything you love. As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.
Email Kathryn Little (Kathryn.Little@macmillan.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, MacKids!
BEAUTIFUL WEDDING by Jamie McGuire
Atria Books has sent a December mailing of BEAUTIFUL WEDDING by Jamie McGuire to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Women’s Literature list.
You know that Abby Abernathy unexpectedly became Mrs. Maddox. But what do you really know?
Everything about Abby and Travis’s elopement was top-secret . . . until now. Fans of Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster will get all of their questions answered in this whirlwind tale of the wedding day (and night!)—and as with all good stories, this one will definitely have been worth the wait.
Please email Hillary.Tisman@simonandschuster.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria Books!
LET ME OFF AT THE TOP! by Ron Burgundy
The Crown Publishing Group is doing a mailing this November to the YPG Humor Little Big Mouth list of Let Me Off at the Top!: My Classy Life & Other Musings by Ron Burgundy—in other words, “the autobiography every true American has been waiting for: a shockingly candid and raw confessional from a national treasure.”
In his very own words, Burgundy reveals his most private thoughts, his triumphs and his disappointments. His life reads like an adventure story complete with knock-down fights, beautiful women and double-fisted excitement on every page. He has hunted jackalopes with Bobby Kennedy, had more than his share of his amorous exploits, and formed the greatest on-air team in the history of televised news. Along the way, he hobnobbed with people you wish you knew and some you honestly wish you didn’t – celebrities, presidents, presidents’ wives, celebrities’ wives, dogs, and, of course Veronica Corningstone, the love of his life. Who didn’t Mr. Burgundy, or “Ron” as he is known to his friends, rub elbows with in the course of his colorful and often criminal life? This may be the most thrilling book ever written, by a man of great physical, moral and spiritual strength and not surprisingly a great literary talent as well. This book deserves a real shot at a Pulitzer Prize. In fact if it doesn’t win one then we will finally have proof that the Pulitzer is rigged.
Ron Burgundy has taken the time to write a book. We owe it to him, as honest Americans, to read it. Find out more at Ronburgundybook.com. Email Lauren Velasquez at lvelasquez@randomhouse.com with your thoughts or comments. Thanks, Crown!
This December, Dutton (an imprint of Penguin Random House) is doing a blast of ARCHETYPE by M.D. Waters to members of our General Fiction, Young Adult, Science Fiction/Fantasy, and Mystery Little Big Mouth lists.
If you enjoyed books like A Handmaid’s Tale and Before I Go To Sleep, M.D. Waters’ debut is up your alley. ARCHETYPE is a futuristic suspense story wrapped around a dangerous love triangle. The central character, Emma Wade, is the kind of heroine you live with while you read the book, and who lives with you long after you’re finished. Luckily, ARCHETYPE is the first “double-debut” from Dutton, so fans will only wait six short months for the sequel, Prototype. In a world where women are a rare commodity, Emma wakes up in a hospital with no idea who she is or how she got there. The man beside her calls himself her husband, and he is so convincing and loving—why wouldn’t she believe him? Except that as Declan supplies her with new memories and molds her into a happy wife, she is having terrible and contradicting dreams of a past life: a camp where girls are trained to be wives, love for a man named Noah, and a glass, water-filled tank from which she cannot escape.
Email Emily Brock with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Dutton!
Just in time for the holidays, Del Rey is sending the Science Fiction/Fantasy and Young Adult lists finished copies of RED RISING by Pierce Brown.
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better life for his children. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class. Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
Email Joe Scalora with your thoughts and comments, or connect with the writer directly at Twitter, Facebook, and his website. Thanks, Del Rey!
In the first-ever mailing to the YPG Little Big Mouth Sports list (as well as the Memoir list), Harmony Books has done a mailing of YOU HERD ME by Colin Cowherd.
In this age of billion dollar athletic marketing campaigns, “feel good” philosophy with no connection to reality, and a Sports Media echo chamber that’s all too eager swallow whatever idiotic notion happens to be in vogue at the moment, it’s tough to find people who aren’t afraid to say what they’re really thinking. But that’s where ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd comes in. As his millions of fans on ESPN Radio and ESPNU already know, Colin is the rare sports analyst who’s brave (or crazy) enough to speak his mind—even if it pisses some people off.
Email crownonline@randomhouse.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Harmony!
Doubleday is sending copies of CUT ME LOOSE: SIN AND SALVATION AFTER MY ULTRA-ORTHODOX GIRLHOOD by Leah Vincent to the YPG Memoir and Non-fiction Little Big Mouth lists this November.
In the vein of Prozac Nation and Girl, Interrupted, an electrifying memoir about a young woman’s promiscuous and self-destructive spiral after being cast out of her ultra-Orthodox Jewish family. Leah Vincent was born into the Yeshivish community, a fundamentalist sect of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. As the daughter of an influential rabbi, Leah and her ten siblings were raised to worship two things: God and the men who ruled their world. But the tradition-bound future Leah envisioned for herself was cut short when, at sixteen, she was caught exchanging letters with a male friend, a violation of religious law that forbids contact between members of the opposite sex. Leah’s parents were unforgiving. Afraid, in part, that her behavior would affect the marriage prospects of their other children, they put her on a plane and cut off ties. Cast out in New York City, without a father or husband tethering her to the Orthodox community, Leah was unprepared to navigate the freedoms of secular life. She spent the next few years using her sexuality as a way of attracting the male approval she had been conditioned to seek out as a child, while becoming increasingly unfaithful to the religious dogma of her past. Fast-paced, mesmerizing, and brutally honest, Cut Me Loose tells the story of one woman’s harrowing struggle to define herself as an individual. Through Leah’s eyes, we confront not only the oppressive world of religious fundamentalism, but also the broader issues that face even the most secular young women as they grapple with sexuality and identity.
E-mail Joe Gallagher at jgallagher@randomhouse.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Doubleday!
Just in time for Halloween, Delacorte Press hit the Little Big Mouth Young Adult list with HEXED by Michelle Krys. It’s The Craft meets Bring It On in the first novel in a brand-new series from a debut author in which a snarky sixteen-year-old cheerleader is forced into a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers only to uncover the first of many dark truths about her life.
If high school is all about social status, Indigo Blackwood has it made. Sure, her quirky mom owns an occult shop, and a nerd just won’t stop trying to be her friend, but Indie is a popular cheerleader with a football-star boyfriend and a social circle powerful enough to ruin everyone at school. Who wouldn’t want to be her? Then a guy dies right before her eyes. And the dusty old family Bible her mom is freakishly possessive of is stolen. But when a frustratingly sexy stranger named Bishop enters Indie’s world, she learns her destiny involves a lot more than pom-poms and parties. If she doesn’t get the Bible back, every witch on the planet will die. And that’s seriously bad news for Indie, because according to Bishop, she’s a witch too. Suddenly forced into a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers, Indie’s about to uncover the many dark truths about her life–and a future unlike any she ever imagined on top of the cheer pyramid.
Email Alissa Nigro with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Delacorte Press!
The Netgalley Little Big Mouth list for YPG got a special treat this October, courtesy of Scholastic, by receiving the FULL digital galley of INHUMAN by Kat Falls.
Beauty versus beasts. In the wake of a devastating biological disaster, the United States east of the Mississippi River has been abandoned. Now called the Feral Zone, a reference to the virus that turned millions of people into savage beast-men, the entire area is off-limits. The punishment for crossing the border is death. Lane McEvoy can’t imagine why anyone would risk it. She’s grown up in the shadow of the great wall separating east from west, and she’s curious about the other side—but not that curious. Life in the west is safe, comfortable, sanitized. Which is just how she likes it. But Lane gets the shock of her life when she learns that someone close to her has crossed into the Feral Zone. And she has little choice but to follow. Lane travels east, risking life and limb and her very DNA, completely unprepared for what she finds in the ruins of civilization… and afraid to learn whether her humanity will prove her greatest strength or a fatal weakness.
The Netgalley mailing also included chapters from The Darkest Path by Jeff Hirsch and The Bar Code Prophecy by Suzanne Weyn. Email Emily Morrow with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Scholastic!
LOUD AWAKE AND LOST by Adele Griffin
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers has just sent the Little Big Mouth Young Adult list galleys of LOUD AWAKE & LOST, an unflinching story of loss and recovery.
From two-time National Book Award finalist Adele Griffin comes a powerful tale of a teen trying to piece together a life she never knew she was living. LOUD. There was an accident. Ember knows at least that much. She was driving. The car was totaled. She suffered back injuries and brain trauma. But she is alive. That’s the only thing left she can cling to. AWAKE. Eight months later, Ember feels broken. The pieces of her former self no longer fit together. She can’t even remember the six weeks of her life leading up to the accident. Where was she going? Who was she with? And what happened during those six weeks that her friends and family won’t talk about? LOST. One by one, Ember discovers the answers to these questions, like a twisted game of dominos. And little by little, the person she used to be slips further and further away.
Email Alissa Nigro with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Alfred A. Knopf BFYR!
This November, 150 members of YPG’s Non-fiction Little Big Mouth list are receiving copies of THE RISE: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery by Sarah Lewis, courtesy of Simon & Schuster.
It is one of the enduring enigmas of the human experience: many of our most iconic, creative endeavors—from Nobel Prize–winning discoveries to entrepreneurial inventions and works in the arts—are not achievements, but conversions, corrections after failed attempts. The gift of failure is a riddle. Like the number zero, it will always be both the void and the start of infinite possibility. The Rise—part investigation into a psychological mystery, part an argument about creativity and art, and part a soulful celebration of the determination and courage of the human spirit—makes the case that many of our greatest achievements come from understanding the importance of this mystery.
Please email Marie Kent with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list gets to play this November with a mailing of GAME by Anders de la Motte from Atria Books.
Game is the first in a groundbreaking international thriller trilogy about a deadly game that blurs the line between reality and fiction by Swedish author Anders de la Motte. One Sunday morning after a long night of partying, Henrik “HP” Pettersson, a slacker with a lot of ego and very little impulse control, finds a cell phone of an unfamiliar make on a commuter train. Through insisting and slightly uncanny messages that refer to him by name, the phone invites him to play a game. HP accepts without hesitation. The Game starts out innocently enough and then becomes increasingly risky, threatening the safety of someone close to HP. HP is determined to become a superstar, but when the dark and tragic secrets of his family’s past are at stake, HP must make a choice. Will he suffer the humiliation of defeat, or will the need to win push him to the limit—no matter the cost?
Email Jackie Jou with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria!
YPG Little Big Mouth’s Fiction and Mystery/Thriller lists are about to get lost in the #1 international bestselling literary epic DOMINION by C.J. Sansom from Mulholland.
1952. Twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany. The press, radio, and television are tightly controlled, and British Jews face ever-greater constraints. But Churchill’s Resistance soldiers on. As defiance grows, whispers circulate of a secret that could forever alter the balance of the global struggle. The keeper of that secret? Scientist Frank Muncaster, who languishes in a Birmingham mental hospital. Civil Servant David Fitzgerald, a spy for the Resistance and university friend of Frank’s, is given the mission to rescue Frank and get him out of the country. Hard on his heels is Gestapo agent Gunther Hoth, a brilliant, implacable hunter of men, who soon has Frank and David’s innocent wife, Sarah, directly in his sights. Compared in rave UK reviews to both Orwell and Tolkien for its masterful evocation of an alternative world and praised for its sophistication and high suspense, DOMINION is “a wonderful example of what the novel can do: a through-the-looking-glass glimpse into a world that might have been, and almost was” (Kate Atkinson).
Email Wes Miller with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, @mulhollandbooks!
BOOK OF JONAH by Joshua Max Feldman
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Literary Fiction list is getting Biblical, courtesy of Henry Holt & Co.’s BOOK OF JONAH by Joshua Max Feldman.
The modern-day Jonah at the center of Joshua Max Feldman’s brilliantly conceived retelling of the book of Jonah is a young Manhattan lawyer named Jonah Jacobstein. He’s a lucky man: healthy and handsome, with two beautiful women ready to spend the rest of their lives with him and an enormously successful career that gets more promising by the minute. He’s celebrating a deal that will surely make him partner when a bizarre, unexpected biblical vision at a party changes everything. Hard as he tries to forget what he saw, this disturbing sign is only the first of many Jonah will witness, and before long his life is unrecognizable. Though this perhaps divine intervention will be responsible for more than one irreversible loss in Jonah’s life, it will also cross his path with that of Judith Bulbrook, an intense, breathtakingly intelligent woman who’s no stranger to loss herself. As this funny and bold novel moves to Amsterdam and then Las Vegas, Feldman examines the way we live now while asking an age-old question: How do you know if you’re chosen?
Email Christine Choe with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Henry Holt & Co.
THE KILLING WOODS by Lucy Christopher
Lucky members of YPG’s Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, YA, and Women’s Literature Little Big Mouth lists are getting ARCs of THE KILLING WOODS by Lucy Christopher, in an October mailing from Scholastic.
Fatal attraction, primal fear, survival in the forest: From the author of the Printz Honor Book STOLEN, the highly anticipated thriller about deadly games played in the dark. Ashlee Parker is dead, and Emily Shepherd’s dad is accused of the crime. A former soldier suffering from PTSD, he emerges from the woods carrying the girl’s broken body. “Gone,” he says, then retreats into silence. What really happened that wild night? Emily knows in her bones that her father is innocent — isn’t he? Before he’s convicted, she’s got to find out the truth. Does Damon Hilary, Ashlee’s charismatic boyfriend, have the answers? Or is he only playing games with her — the kinds of games that can kill?
Email Krista Kucheman with your thoughts and comments. (Please note that by sending an e-mail, you give Scholastic permission to use all or part of your feedback for promotional purposes.) Thanks, Scholastic!
ROOMIES by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando
YPG’s Children’s/YA list is getting ARCs of the new Sara Zarr/Tara Altebrando book, ROOMIES, in an October mailing from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
When Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment at the beginning of summer, she shoots off an email to coordinate the basics: TV, microwave, mini-fridge. She can’t wait to escape her New Jersey beach town, and her mom, and start life over in California. The first note to Lauren in San Francisco comes as a surprise; she had requested a single. But if Lauren’s learned anything from being the oldest of six, it’s that you can’t always get what you want, especially when what you want is privacy. Soon the girls are emailing back and forth, sharing secrets even though they’ve never met. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives…and each other. With humor and heart, Sara Zarr, National Book Award finalist for Story of a Girl, and Tara Altebrando, acclaimed author of The Pursuit of Happiness, join forces for a novel about that time after high school, when everything feels like it’s ending just as it’s beginning.
Email Jennifer LaBracio with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers!
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Women’s Lit and General Fiction lists are getting a blast of DARK WITCH from #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts, a trilogy about the land we’re drawn to, the family we learn to cherish, and the people we long to love.
With indifferent parents, Iona Sheehan grew up craving devotion and acceptance. From her maternal grandmother, she learned where to find both: a land of lush forests, dazzling lakes, and centuries-old legends: Ireland—where her ancestors’ blood and magic have flowed through generations—and where her destiny awaits. Iona soon lands a job at the local stables, and she meets the owner, Boyle McGrath. Iona realizes that here she can make a home for herself—and live her life as she wants, even if that means falling head over heels for Boyle. But nothing is as it seems. An ancient evil has wound its way around Iona’s family tree and must be defeated. Family and friends will fight with each other and for each other to keep the promise of hope, and love, alive.
Email Erica Martirano with any questions. Thanks, Penguin Random House!
THE LAST WINTER OF DANI LANCING by P.D. Viner
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list is about to get creeped out by a new mailing from Crown. For fans of Tana French and The Silent Wife, THE LAST WINTER OF DANI LANCING is a chilling debut thriller hailed by Sophie Hannah as “brilliant” about one murder’s devastating ripple effects.
Twenty years ago, college student Dani Lancing was kidnapped and brutally murdered. The killer was never found. Dani’s family never found peace. Thrust into an intense devastation that nearly destroys their marriage, Patty and Jim Lancing struggle to deal with their harrowing loss. Patty is fanatically obsessed with the cold case; consumed by every possible clue or suspect no matter how far-fetched, she goes to horrifying lengths to help clarify the past. Meanwhile, Jim has become a shell of his former self, broken down and haunted—sometimes literally—by his young daughter’s death. Dani’s childhood sweetheart, Tom, handles his own grief every day on the job—he’s become a detective intent on solving murders of other young women, and hopes to one day close Dani’s case himself. Then everything changes when Tom finds a promising new lead. As lies and secrets are unearthed, the heartbreaking truth behind Dani’s murder is finally revealed.
Please share your thoughts on Goodreads.com or contact Danielle Crabtree at dcrabtree@randomhouse.com. Thanks, Crown!
THE ROSIE PROJECT by Graeme Simsion
The art of love is never a science. YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list is about to find this out, courtesy of Simon & Schuster’s August mailing of THE ROSIE PROJECT by Graeme Simsion.
Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially challenged professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. And so, in the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers. Rosie Jarman is all these things. She also is strangely beguiling, fiery, and intelligent. And while Don quickly disqualifies her as a candidate for the Wife Project, as a DNA expert Don is particularly suited to help Rosie on her own quest: identifying her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on the Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you. Arrestingly endearing and entirely unconventional, Graeme Simsion’s distinctive debut will resonate with anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of great challenges. The Rosie Project is a rare find: a book that restores our optimism in the power of human connection. Visit rosieproject.com.
Please e-mail Stephen Bedford at stephen.bedford@simonandschuster.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
THE SONG OF THE QUARKBEAST by Jasper Fforde
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult list is about to return to the witty, wizardly world of the Chronicles of Kazam with the follow-up to The Last Dragonslayer, as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers sends out ARCs of THE SONG OF THE QUARKBEAST by Jasper Fforde to 150 lucky members.
Magic has been in a sad state in the Ununited Kingdom for years, but now it’s finally on the rise, and boneheaded King Snodd IV knows it. If he succeeds at his plot, the very future of magic will be at risk! Sensible sixteen-year-old Jennifer Strange, acting manager of Kazam Mystical Arts Management and its unpredictable crew of sorcerers, has little chance against the king and his cronies—but there’s no way Kazam will let go of the noble powers of magic without a fight. A suspenseful, satirical story of Quarkbeasts, trolls, and wizidrical crackle!
Email Joan Lee with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers!
MAN REPELLER by Leandra Medine
Grand Central Publishing is hitting the entire Women’s Lit and Non-fiction lists with a huge mailing of MAN REPELLER: SEEKING LOVE. FINDING OVERALLS by Leandra Medine, the first book from the author of the Man Repeller blog.
Medine’s personal fashion epiphany occurred three years ago while mourning multiple broken relationships in the dressing room of uber-trendy Topshop in Soho. As she slipped into drop-crotch shorts and a boxed sequin blazer, it hit her: she didn’t have a boyfriend because of the way she dressed. The more she thought about it, she realized that such outfits, such items of clothing, could measure her whole life. From “The Bermuda Shorts” to “The Magical Harem Pants,” Medine relates with wit how she navigated her way into the most unusual item of all: “The Inconsequential Big White Dress (And Organza Jacket).” That’s right, even the Man Repeller found love. Written with the author’s signature sass and blunt honesty, MAN REPELLER is a collection of awkwardly funny experiences, a sweet love story, and above all, a reminder to celebrate and embrace a world made for women, by women.
Tell us what you think and engage your inner man repeller, using #manrepeller. Email Tracy Brickman with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Grand Central!
The Little Big Mouth YA list is getting futuristic with an August mailing of THE 100 by Elizabeth Bewley, courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth’s radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents—considered expendable by society—are being sent on a dangerous mission: to re-colonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life…or it could be a suicide mission. Clarke was arrested for treason, though she’s haunted by the memory of what she really did. Wells, the chancellor’s son, came to Earth for the girl he loves—but will she ever forgive him? Reckless Bellamy fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And Glass managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth. Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind’s only hope.
Email with any feedback. Thanks, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers!
CHASING CHAOS by Jessica Alexander
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Memoir and Nonfiction lists are getting inspired, thanks to a Crown Publishing Group mailing of CHASING CHAOS: MY DECADE IN AND OUT OF HUMANITARIAN AID by Jessica Alexander.
Jessica arrived in Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide as an idealistic intern, eager to contribute to the work of the international humanitarian aid community. But the world that she encountered in the field was dramatically different than anything she could have imagined. It was messy, chaotic, and difficult—but she was hooked. In this memoir, she introduces readers to the realities of life as an aid worker. We watch as she manages a 24,000-person camp in Darfur, collects evidence for the Charles Taylor trial in Sierra Leone, and contributes to the massive aid effort to clean up a shattered Haiti. But we also see the alcohol-fueled parties and fleeting romances, the burnouts and self-doubt, and the struggle to do good in places that have long endured suffering. Tracing her personal journey from wide-eyed and naïve newcomer to hardened cynic—and, ultimately, to hopeful but critical realist, Jessica transports readers to some of the most troubled locations around the world and shows us not only the seemingly impossible challenges, but also the moments of resilience and recovery.
Find Jessica Alexander on Facebook, and contact Jessica Prudhomme at jprudhomme@randomhouse.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
THE F-IT LIST by Julie Halpern
Be inspired by the latest YPG Little Big Mouth YA mailing from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, THE F-IT LIST by Julie Halpern.
Alex and Becca have always been the best of friends. But when Becca does something nearly unforgiveable at Alex’s dad’s funeral, Alex cuts ties with her and focuses on her grieving family. Time passes, and Alex finally decides to forgive Becca. Then she’s hit with another shocker: Becca has cancer. It also turns out that Becca has a bucket list, but she’s about to start chemo and doesn’t know if she’ll be able to finish it. That’s where Alex comes in. She promises to help Becca complete her bucket list and might just cross a few items off her own bucket list along the way.
Email Ellen Cormier with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group!
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA by April Genevieve Tucholke
Penguin Young Readers Group is haunting the YPG’s Little Big Mouth YA list with an August mailing of April Genevieve Tucholke’s BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, a gothic thriller romance with shades of Stephen King and F. Scott Fitzgerald, set against a creepy summertime backdrop.
Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town…until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery…who makes you want to kiss back. Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.
Email Mia.Garcia@us.penguingroup.com or Brianna.Lockhart@us.penguingroup.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Penguin!
KLONOPIN LUNCH by Jessica Dorfman Jones
Members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Memoir, Women’s Lit and Nonfiction lists got a surprise mailing of the paperback launch of KLONOPIN LUNCH this July, alongside an invitation to the launch party from Broadway Books (an imprint of The Crown Publishing Group).
Jessica Dorfman Jones had dutifully achieved everything she thought she was supposed to: marriage, law degree, high-paying job, nice apartment. But she was miserable and felt like she was living a life that wasn’t hers. Desperate to change her status quo and figure out who she really was, Jessica went about making a change by demolishing the life she knew. She threw her good-girl image aside and set out to unleash the very bad girl she had never before tried to be. Embracing the deliciously debauched world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, Jessica leaves behind her sweet and well-behaved husband for the ultimate bad-boy guitar player, starts her own band, and parties harder than she had ever thought possible. Eventually, in the midst of her self-created chaos, the wildest thing of all happens. She figures out who she is, who she most definitely is not, and what might, if she’s lucky, come next. Klonopin Lunch is Jessica’s provocative, incendiary, and uncensored journey into a life that, at last, makes her truly happy.
Please email dcrabtree@randomhouse.com with your thoughts and comments or share on GoodReads.com. Thanks, Broadway Books!
YPG’s Little Big Mouth YA list, get ready for an August mailing of an unforgettable spin on angels and demons from HarperCollins Children’s Books: NO ANGEL by Helen Keeble (author of Fang Girl).
Rafael Angelos just got handed the greatest gift any teenage boy could ever dream of. Upon arriving at his new boarding school for his senior year, he discovered that he is the only male student there. But Raffi’s about to learn that St. Mary’s is actually a hub for demons, and that he was summoned to the school by someone expecting him to save the day. Raffi knows he’s no angel—but it’s pretty hard to deny that there’s some higher plan at work when he wakes up one morning to discover he’s sprouted wings and a glowing circle around his head. . . .
Please email quotes@harpercollins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, HarperCollins Children’s Books!
Random House Books for Young Readers is revving up the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list with an August mailing of Amy Christine Parker’s debut novel, GATED, a fast-paced, nerve-fraying contemporary thriller about a teenage girl living in a doomsday cult begins to notice the cracks in a reality she’s been raised to accept.
In the Community, life seems perfect. Lyla Hamilton believes she is one of the chosen. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Pioneer invited her family to join the Community and escape the evil in the world. They’ve thrived under his strict, charismatic leadership. Now seventeen, Lyla knows certain facts are not to be questioned: Pioneer is her leader; Will is her Intended; the end of the world is near. Pioneer has visions of the imminent destruction of humanity. He says his chosen must prepare to fight off the unchosen people, who will surely seek refuge in the Silo, the underground shelter where the Community will wait out the apocalypse. Lyla loves her family and friends, but a chance encounter with an unchosen boy has her questioning Pioneer, the Community—everything. She needs time to figure out the truth. But with Pioneer’s deadline for the end of days fast approaching, time is the one thing she doesn’t have.
Email ldonovan@randomhouse.com with your thoughts and comments! Thanks, Random House!
IF YOU COULD BE MINE by Sara Farizan
YPG’s LGBTQ Little Big Mouth list is receiving one of its first mailings this July, courtesy of Algonquin Young Readers: IF YOU COULD BE MINE by Sara Farizan.
In Iran, it’s a crime punishable by death to be gay. Sex reassignment surgery is covered by the government health program, though, and regarded by many as a way to fix a “mistake.” Sahar, seventeen, has been in love with her best friend, a girl named Nasrin, since they were six. Sahar even lets herself dream that one day they might marry. But when Nasrin’s parents announce her arranged marriage will take place in a matter of months, Sahar must decide just what lengths she’ll go to for true love.
Thoughts and comments can be directed to Eileen Lawrence, Director of Marketing. You can also connect with us online via Facebook or Twitter at @AlgonquinYR. Thanks, Algonquin Young Readers!
THE LONGINGS OF WAYWARD GIRLS by Karen Brown
Summer is about to get psychologically spooky for 150 members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller and Women’s Lit lists, thanks to a July mailing of THE LONGINGS OF WAYWARD GIRLS by Karen Brown (courtesy of Simon & Schuster).
It’s an idyllic New England summer, and Sadie is a precocious only child on the edge of adolescence. It seems like July and August will pass lazily by, just as they have every year before. But one day, Sadie and her best friend play a seemingly harmless prank on a neighborhood girl. Soon after, that same little girl disappears from a backyard barbecue—and she is never seen again. Twenty years pass, and Sadie is still living in the same quiet suburb. She’s married to a good man, has two beautiful children, and seems to have put her past behind her. But when a boy from her old neighborhood returns to town, the nightmares of that summer will begin to resurface, and its unsolved mysteries will finally become clear.
Email Anne Spieth (anne.spieth@simonandschuster.com) with your thoughts and comments, and contact the writer via Facebook or Twitter @karenbrownbooks!
DON’T WORRY, IT GETS WORSE by Alida Nugent
If you’re looking to laugh this summer, you’re in luck, because Plume (an imprint of Penguin) is doing a mailing of DON’T WORRY, IT GETS WORSE: ONE TWENTYSOMETHING’S (MOSTLY FAILED) ATTEMPTS AT ADULTHOOD to YPG’s Memoir, Humor, and Non-fiction Little Big Mouth lists.
Alida Nugent graduated college with a degree in one hand and a drink in the other, eager to trade in parties and all-nighters for “the real world.” But post-grad wasn’t the glam life she imagined. Soon buried under a pile of bills, laundry, and three-dollar bottles of wine, it quickly became clear that she had no idea what she was doing. But hey, what twentysomething does? In Don’t Worry, It Gets Worse, Nugent shares what it takes to make the awkward leap from undergrad to “mature and responsible adult that definitely never eats peanut butter straight from the jar and considers it a meal.” From trying to find an apartment on the black hole otherwise known as Craigslist to the creative maneuvering needed to pay off student loans and still enjoy happy hour, Nugent documents the formative moments of being a twentysomething with a little bit of snark and a lot of heart. Perfect for fans of HBO’s Girls and Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half, and based on her popular Tumblr blog The Frenemy.
Email Laura Berlinsky-Schine (laura.berlinsky-schine@us.penguingroup.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Plume!
THE EDGE OF NORMAL by Carla Norton
Minotaur is sending 100 galleys of THE EDGE OF NORMAL by Carla Norton to the Mystery/Thriller Little Big Mouth list this July.
In many ways, Reeve LeClaire looks like a typical twenty-two year old girl. She’s finally landed her own apartment, she waitresses to pay the bills, and she wishes she wasn’t so nervous around new people. But Reeve is anything but normal. Ten years ago, she was kidnapped and held captive. After a lucky escape, she’s spent the last six years trying to rebuild her life, a recovery thanks in large part to her indispensable therapist Dr. Ezra Lerner. But when he asks her to help another girl rescued from a similar situation, Reeve realizes she may not simply need to mentor this young victim—she may be the only one who can protect her from a cunning predator who is still out there, watching every move.
Email Cassie Galante at cassandra.galante@stmartins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Minotaur Books.
Select members of YPG’s Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list are about to receive ARCs of CARTWHEEL by Jennifer DuBois, a novel of propulsive psychological suspense and rare moral nuance, courtesy of Random House.
When Lily Hayes arrives in Buenos Aires for her semester abroad, she is enchanted by everything she encounters: the colorful buildings, the street food, the handsome, elusive man next door. Her studious roommate Katy is a bit of a bore, but Lily didn’t come to Argentina to hang out with other Americans. Five weeks later, Katy is found brutally murdered in their shared home, and Lily is the prime suspect. As the case takes shape—revealing deceptions, secrets, and suspicious DNA—Lily appears alternately sinister and guileless through the eyes of those around her: the media, her family, the man who loves her, and the man who seeks her conviction.
Email Selby McRae (smcrae@randomhouse.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Random House!
JESSICA DARLING’S IT LIST by Megan McCafferty
Your inner tween is about to get pumped, because Little, Brown Books for Young Readers is hitting the Children’s/YA Little Big Mouth list with copies of JESSICA DARLING’S IT LIST by Megan McCafferty.
Twelve-year-old Jessica Darling is, in her own words, “very witty, medium pretty and a little bit zitty.” Unlike her best friend Bridget, Jessica isn’t nervous about starting Pineville Junior High—that is, until her peppy and pretty older sister, Bethany, tells her that entering seventh grade means that everything will change. In an effort to continue the “Darling Domination of Popularity,” Bethany presents Jessica with The IT List: A Guaranteed Guide to Popularity, Prettiness & Perfection. Armed with her instructions, Jessica stumbles her way through the first few weeks of seventh grade, misinterpreting advice like “wear something different everyday” as “wear something unique everyday” and inadvertently becoming Pineville Junior High’s mascot, the mighty New Jersey seagull.
Email Jennifer LaBracio (jennifer.labracio@hbgusa.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers!
THE CHAPERONE by Laura Moriarty
In the vein of past summer fiction blockbusters such as Loving Frank and The Paris Wife, the YPG Little Big Mouth Women’s Lit list is about to get a June mailing of Laura Moriarty’s THE CHAPERONE, courtesy of Riverhead (an imprint of Penguin).
An enchanting story that ranges from the farms of Kansas to bustling 1920s New York City, The Chaperone is inspired by the real-life relationship between the 15-year-old, future movie star Louise Brooks – cantankerous, irreverent, blossoming with sexuality and sporting her black bob with bangs – and the older, conservative, Midwestern woman who chaperoned Louise to New York City for a summer. It’s the story of an unlikely friendship between two women who couldn’t be more different, and how the summer spent together in New York City forever changes both their lives.
Email Meagan Brown with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Penguin!
BONES & ALL by Camille DeAngelis
Select members of the Little Big Mouth Young Adult list are getting copies next week of BONES & ALL by Camille DeAngelis, the story of a teen cannibal—a sort-of horror tale that’s never been told—and also the story of a young girl becoming a woman and finding herself. It is unique, lovely, and resonating. (And a little creepy.)
Maren Yearly doesn’t just break hearts—she devours them. Bones & All is the coming-of-age story of 16-year-old Maren, who has serious trouble accepting affection. Any time someone gets too close to her, she’s overcome by a desire—to eat them. Abandoned by her mother, Maren goes looking for the father she has never known, but faced with a world of fellow eaters, potential enemies, and the prospect of real love, she realizes she isn’t only looking for her father—she is looking for herself. The real question is, will she like who she finds?
E-mail Melissa Hastings with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, St. Martin’s Press!
THIS IS WHAT YOU JUST PUT IN YOUR MOUTH? by Patrick Di Justo
Three Rivers Press is doing a mailing this February to the LBM NonFiction list of THIS IS WHAT YOU JUST PUT IN YOUR MOUTH? by Patrick Di Justo.
Based on the popular Wired magazine column, What’s Inside, Justo take a cold, hard, and incredibly funny look at the shocking, disgusting, and often dumbfounding ingredients found in everyday products, from Cool Whip and Tide Pods to Spam and Play-Doh. Justo also shares the madcap stories of his extensive research, including tracking down a reclusive condiment heir, partnering with a cop to get his hands on heroin, and getting tight-lipped snack-food exces to talk. This book will have you giving your shampoo side-eye and Doritos a double take, and make you the know-it-all at your next happy hour.
Email Tommy Cabrera or send your thoughts directly to the author at @patrickdijusto. Thanks, Three Rivers Press!
SOMEBODY UP THERE HATES YOU by Hollis Seamon
This June, Algonquin Young Readers is sending out mailing of SOMEBODY UP THERE HATES YOU by Hollis Seamon to our YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list.
Seventeen-year-old Richard Casey has cancer and is spending his final days in a hospice unit where the only other hospice resident under sixty is 15-year-old Sylvie. What begins as camaraderie quickly blossoms into real love, and this star-crossed pair is determined to live, on their own terms, in whatever time they have left.
Thoughts and comments can be directed to Eileen Lawrence, Director of Marketing at eileenl@algonquin.com, or you can send your thoughts via Twitter at @AlgonquinYR and Facebook at facebook.com/AlgonquinYoungReaders. Thanks, Algonquin Young Readers!
YPG’s full Mystery/Thriller list is getting spellbound this June with a Random House mailing of the new literary thriller NIGHT FILM by Marisha Pessl (New York Times bestselling author of the blockbuster debut Special Topics in Calamity Physics).
On a damp October night, beautiful young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. As he probes the strange circumstances surrounding Ashley’s life and death, McGrath comes face-to-face with the legacy of her father: the legendary, reclusive cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova—a man who hasn’t been seen in public for more than thirty years. For McGrath, another death connected to this seemingly cursed family dynasty seems more than just a coincidence. Though much has been written about Cordova’s dark and unsettling films, very little is known about the man himself. Driven by revenge, curiosity, and a need for the truth, McGrath, with the aid of two strangers, is drawn deeper and deeper into Cordova’s eerie, hypnotic world. The last time he got close to exposing the director, McGrath lost his marriage and his career. This time he might lose even more.
Email Kesley Tiffey with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Random House!
YPG’s Humor Little Big Mouth list is about to get a debut novel of love, narcissism, and ailing cattle from Faber/FSG: IDIOPATHY by Sam Byers.
Idiopathy: a disease or condition which arises spontaneously or for which the cause is unknown. In a novel as unexpected as its title, Katherine, Daniel, and Nathan unsuccessfully try to figure out how they feel about one another and how they might best live their lives in a world gone mad. Featuring a mysterious cattle epidemic, a humiliating stint in rehab, an unwanted pregnancy, a mom–turned–media personality (“Mother Courage”), and a workplace with a bio-dome housing a perfectly engineered cornfield, Idiopathy is at once a scathing satire and a moving meditation on love and loneliness. With unusual verbal finesse and great humor, Byers neatly skewers the tangled relationships and unhinged narcissism of a self-obsessed generation in a remarkable, uproarious first novel.
Email Brian Gittis with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, FSG!
NIGHT TERRORS by Ashley Cardiff
From getting kicked out of Bible study to metaphysics with strippers, NIGHT TERRORS is a misanthrope’s wickedly witty observations about the ridiculous, raunchy, and frequently disturbing impulses that propel human existence…. and it’s on its way to the YPG Little Big Mouth Humor, Memoir, and Non-Fiction lists this June, courtesy of Penguin.
With the wit of David Sedaris and the analytical sharpshooting of Sloane Crosley, Ashley Cardiff spares no one—least of all herself—in an absurd and relentlessly funny journey of sexual development. Deputy Editor of TheGloss.com, Cardiff reflects on her introverted, awkward and too-smart teenage years to her slightly bolder (but still uncomfortable) adult relationships, all while exploring the rich anthropological terrain of sex and love. Expounding on dating Mormons, the inherent weirdness of adolescent development, sexual nightmare-fantasies about Prince, family members’ sex tapes, and narrowly avoiding a teenage orgy, Cardiff recognizes sexuality for the anxiety-making force it is. Weaving adept analysis with hilarious anecdotes, she goes for something much deeper than a rant, crafting satire that’s as smart as it is ruthless. Delivering fresh, unapologetic views from the perspective of a precise and ferociously irreverent young female writer, Night Terrors is a rollicking manifesto on the agonies of modern life and love.
Email Casey Maloney with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Penguin!
Get out your spy gear, because Bloomsbury and Walker Books for Young Readers did a May mailing to our YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list of ALSO KNOWN AS by Robin Benway.
Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She’ll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school’s security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover.
Email Emily Ritter with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Bloomsbury!
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Literary Fiction list is about to enter a very dark world, thanks to a June mailing of 100 copies of THE PANOPTICON by Jenni Fagan from Hogarth (an imprint of Crown, a division of Random House).
Anais Hendricks, fifteen, is in the back of a police car. She is headed for the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can’t remember what’s happened, but across town a policewoman lies in a coma and Anais’s school uniform is covered in blood. Raised in foster care from birth and moved through twenty-three placements before she even turned seven, Anais has been let down by just about every adult she has ever met. Now a counter-culture outlaw, she knows that she can only rely on herself. And yet despite the parade of horrors visited upon her early life, she greets the world with the witty, fierce insight of a survivor. Anais finds a sense of belonging among the residents of the Panopticon – they form intense bonds, and she soon becomes part of an ad hoc family. Together, they struggle against the adults that keep them confined. When she looks up at the watchtower that looms over the residents though, Anais knows her fate: she is an anonymous part of an experiment, and she always was. Now it seems that the experiment is closing in.
Email Kayleigh George with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Hogarth!
THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NATHANIEL P. by Adelle Waldman
This June, Henry Holt & Company sent 100 ARCs of THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NATHANIEL P. by debut novelist Adelle Waldman to lucky members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Literary Fiction list.
In this 21st-century literary world, wit and conversation are not at all dead. Is romance? Novelist Adelle Waldman plunges into the psyche of a modern man—who thinks of himself as beyond superficial judgment, yet constantly struggles with his own status anxiety, who is drawn to women, yet has a habit of letting them down. Nate Piven is a rising star in Brooklyn’s literary scene. After several lean and striving years, he has his pick of both magazine assignments and women: Juliet, the hotshot business reporter; Elisa, his gorgeous ex-girlfriend, now friend; and Hannah, “almost universally regarded as nice and smart, or smart and nice,” who is lively fun and holds her own in conversation with his friends. With tough-minded intelligence and wry good humor, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. is an absorbing tale of one young man’s search for happiness—and an inside look at how he really thinks about women, sex and love.
Take a dating quiz at http://theloveaffairsofnathanielp.com or email Christine Choe with your thoughts and comments on the book. Thanks, Henry Holt & Company!
THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN by Holly Black
This May, YPG’s Young Adult Little Big Mouth list got the chills from a mailing of Holly Brown’s new book THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN, courtesy of Little, Brown & Company Books for Young Readers.
Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave. One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.
Email Jennifer LaBracio with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers!
ME, HIM, THEM, AND IT by Caela Carter
For fans of Juno, Teen Mom, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager on our YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list, you’ll be excited about the recent May mailing from Bloomsbury and Walker Books for Young Readers of ME, HIM, THEM, AND IT by Caela Carter.
When Evelyn decided to piss off her parents with a bad reputation, she wasn’t planning to ruin her valedictorian status. She also wasn’t planning to fall for Todd—the guy she was just using for sex. And she definitely wasn’t planning on getting pregnant. When Todd turns his back on her, Evelyn’s not sure where to go. Can a distant mother, a cheating father, an angry best friend, and a (thankfully) loving aunt with adopted daughters of her own help Evelyn make the heart-wrenching decisions that follow?
Email Emily Ritter with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Bloomsbury!
The Young Adult YPG Little Big Mouth list is learning HOW TO LOVE this summer, in a new book from Balzer + Bray( an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) by Katie Cotugno.
Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember. But he’s never noticed that Reena even exists . . . until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind. Almost three years later, there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter. Reena’s gotten used to life without Sawyer, but just as suddenly as he disappeared, he turns up again. Reena wants nothing to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said his being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again? How to Love is a breathtaking debut about a couple who falls in love . . . twice.
Email Jenna Lisanti with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Balzer + Bray!
GOING VINTAGE by Lindsey Leavitt
Bloomsbury and Walker Books for Young Readers is urging our YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list to break out its matching cardigan sets with a May mailing of GOING VINTAGE by Lindsey Leavitt.
When Mallory discovers that her boyfriend, Jeremy, is cheating on her with an online girlfriend, she swears off boys. She also swears off modern technology. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in 1962, Mallory decides to “go vintage” and return to a simpler time (when boyfriends couldn’t cheat on you online). She sets out to complete grandma’s list: run for pep club secretary, host a dinner party, sew a homecoming dress, find a steady, do something dangerous. But the list is trickier than it looks. And obviously finding a steady is out . . . no matter how good Oliver (Jeremy’s cousin) smells. But with the help of her sister, she’ll get it done. Somehow. Lindsey Leavitt perfectly pairs heartfelt family moments, laugh-out-loud humor, and a little bit of romance in this delightful contemporary novel.
Email Emily Ritter with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Bloomsbury!
THIS IS PARADISE by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Hogarth is breezing into the YPG Little Big Mouth Literary Fiction list with 100 finished copies of THIS IS PARADISE by Kristiana Kahakauwila this June.
In a stunning collection that announces the arrival of an incredible talent, Kahakauwila travels the islands of Hawaii, making the fabled place her own. Exploring the deep tensions between local and tourist, tradition and expectation, façade and authentic self, This Is Paradise provides an unforgettable portrait of life as it’s truly being lived on Maui, Oahu, Kaua’i and the Big Island. In the gut-punch of “Wanle,” a beautiful and tough young woman wants nothing more than to follow in her father’s footsteps as a legendary cockfighter. With striking versatility, the title story employs a chorus of voices—the women of Waikiki—to tell the tale of a young tourist drawn to the darker side of the city’s nightlife. “The Old Paniolo Way” limns the difficult nature of legacy and inheritance when a patriarch tries to settle the affairs of his farm before his death. Exquisitely written and bursting with sharply observed detail, Kahakauwila’s stories remind us of the powerful desire to belong, to put down roots, and to have a place to call home.
Email Kayleigh George with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Hogarth!
TWISTED PERFECTION by Abbi Glines
Two hundred and fifty copies of the finished book of TWISTED PERFECTION are going out to the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list at the end of June, courtesy of Atria Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster).
The New York Times and USA Today bestselling self-published new adult novel from indie sensation Abbi Glines. Twisted Perfection is the first in a duet set in Abbi’s popular “Too Far” world. It features fan favorite Woods, a wealthy playboy who must choose between family duty and the gorgeous but damaged girl passing through town. Abbi is also the author of The Vincent Boys and The Vincent Brothers as well as several other YA novels.
Email Jackie Jou with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria Books!
SAVE YOURSELF by Kelly Braffet
One hundred of YPG’s Fiction and Mystery/Thriller Little Big Mouth list members will get copies of SAVE YOURSELF by Kelly Braffet this June from The Crown Publishing Group.
Patrick Cusimano’s life can’t get much worse. His father is in jail, he works the midnight shift at a grubby convenience store, and his brother’s girlfriend, Caro, has pushed their friendship to an uncomfortable new level. On top of all that, he can’t shake the attentions of Layla Elshere, a goth teenager who befriends Patrick for reasons he doesn’t understand, and doesn’t fully trust. The temptations these two women offer are pushing Patrick to his breaking point. Meanwhile, Layla’s little sister, Verna, is suffering through her first year of high school. She’s become a prime target for her cruel classmates, and not just because of her strange name and her fundamentalist parents. Layla’s bad-girl rep casts a shadow too heavy for Verna to bear alone, so she falls in with her sister’s tribe of outcasts. But their world is far darker than she ever imagined… Unless Patrick, Layla, Caro, and Verna can forge their own twisted paths to peace—with themselves, with each other—then they’re stuck on a dangerous collision course where the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Email Kayleigh George with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown!
YOUR NETWORK IS YOUR NET WORTH by Porter Gale
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Business list is about to learn their value, specifically how to “Unlock the Hidden Power of Connections for Wealth, Success, and Happiness in the Digital Age,” through a June mailing of YOUR NETWORK IS YOUR NET WORTH by Porter Gale from Atria Books.
Networking doesn’t have to be that frenzied old-school game of calendars packed with stuffy power lunches and sterile evenings at community business gatherings. We’ve entered a new era, one in which shifting cultural values and the explosion of digital technology enable us to network in vastly more efficient, more focused, and more enjoyable ways. A fresh take on How to Win Friends and Influence People, Your Network Is Your Net Worth is an entertaining, straight-forward guide filled with revealing case studies, hands-on advice, and innovative strategies for building your network. Written by sought-after speaker, entrepreneur, and marketing executive Porter Gale, with a foreword by Apple evangelist and bestselling author Guy Kawasaki, this book shows you how to establish, expand, and nurture your connections both online and off.
Email Jackie Jou with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria!
TRUTH OR DARE by Jacqueline Green
Poppy (an imprint of Hachette Book Group) has just done a mailing of its latest novel, TRUTH OR DARE by Jacqueline Green, to the YPG Little Big Mouth YA list.
It all started on a whim: the game was a way for Tenley Reed to reclaim her popularity, a chance for perfect Caitlin “Angel” Thomas to prove she’s more than her Harvard application. Loner Sydney Morgan wasn’t even there; she was hiding behind her camera like usual. But when all three start receiving mysterious dares long after the party has ended, they’re forced to play along—or risk exposing their darkest secrets. In the vein of Pretty Little Liars, this high-charged and suspenseful debut will leave you dying for more.
Email with your thoughts and comments, and because you’re never too old for a party game, visit http://TheNovl.com and play “Two Truths and a Lie: YA Author Addition.” Thanks, Poppy!
THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY by Mur Lafferty
The YPG’s Little Big Mouth lists for Science Fiction/Fantasy and Travel are about to be launched into orbit with a 100-galley mailing of THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY by Mur Lafferty.
Because of the disaster that was her last job, Zoe is searching for a fresh start as a travel book editor in the tourist-centric New York City. After stumbling across a seemingly perfect position though, Zoe is blocked at every turn because of the one thing she can’t take off her resume –human. Not to be put off by anything—especially not her blood drinking boss or death goddess coworker—Zoe delves deep into the monster world. But her job turns deadly when the careful balance between human and monsters starts to crumble… with Zoe right in the middle.
Email Ellen Wright, Publicist, Orbit Books/Yen Press with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Orbit Books!
IF YOU WERE HERE by Alafair Burke
As the heat spikes, so will the adrenaline of YPG’s Fiction and Mystery/Thriller lists, thanks to a mailing of IF YOU WERE HERE by Alafair Burke from Harper (an imprint of HarperCollins).
Magazine journalist McKenna Jordan is chasing the latest urban folktale—the story of an unidentified woman who heroically pulled a teenaged boy from the subway tracks, seconds before an oncoming train. When McKenna locates a short video snippet that purportedly captures part of the incident, she thinks she has an edge on the competition scrambling to identify the mystery heroine. She is shocked to discover that the woman in the video bears a strong resemblance to Susan Hauptmann, a close friend who disappeared without a trace a decade earlier. Investigating her disappearance, the NYPD concluded that the nomadic Susan—forced by her father into an early military life, floundering as an adult for a fixed identity—simply left town to start over again somewhere else. But McKenna has always believed the truth went deeper than the police investigation ever reached, and sees Susan’s resurfacing as a sign that she wants to be found. Yet when she shares the image with her husband, Patrick, who was Susan’s classmate at West Point, he isn’t convinced. What would have been a short-lived metro story sends McKenna on a dangerous search for the missing woman, a twisting journey through New York City that will force her to unearth long-buried truths much closer to home—to her own husband, who seems to know much more about Susan than McKenna could have ever imagined….
Email Kathryn Noonan with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Harper!
“I READ YA” TRIPLE MAILING from Scholastic
You don’t have to be a teen to read YA, and few appreciate that fact more than our YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list, who is about to get hit this May with “I read YA” graphic tote bags and one of three exciting summer YA reads, all courtesy of Scholastic.
THE BOY ON THE BRIDGE by Natalie Standiford: A new breathtaking novel from Natalie Standiford about love and trust during the Cold War.
TORN by David Massey: Witnesses to a mystery on the battlefield, a British medic and an American Navy SEAL confront Afghanistan’s fog of war.
OPENLY STRAIGHT by Bill Konigsberg: A funny, honest novel about being out, being proud . . . and being ready for something else.
Tweet what’s on your YA reading list @this_is_teen using #IreadYA, and be entered to win a YA prize pack! Thanks, Scholastic!
THE YONAHLOSSEE RIDING CAMP FOR GIRLS by Anton DiSclafani
Riverhead Books is gifting 50 members of YPG’s Little Big Mouth Fiction list with early copies of Anton DiSclafani’s stunning debut novel THE YONAHLOSSEE RIDING CAMP FOR GIRLS.
Set in 1930 in an equestrienne boarding school in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp For Girls is part love story, part coming-of-age, and part family drama. For her role in a family scandal, a passionate, willful, complicated girl named Thea is exiled from her isolated Florida home and sent off to the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls. DiSclafani’s riveting storytelling weaves back and forth between present and past, school and home, to slowly unfurl the mystery of why Thea was sent away, how it will shape her future, and whether she can ever go home again. Hot sex, family secrets, lush Southern landscapes and heartbreak… what else could you want in a summer read?!
Email Liz Hohenadel with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Riverhead Books
THE YEAR OF LUMINOUS LOVE by Lurlene McDaniel
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult list get ready for a spring mailing of Lurlene McDaniel’s new novel, THE YEAR OF LUMINOUS LOVE, courtesy of Delacorte Press (an imprint of Random House Children’s Books).
A teen version of Eat, Pray, Love, this inspirational novel explores the risks people take to seize control of their lives–and the satisfaction that can come from choosing your own path. When Ciana presents Arie and Eden with an opportunity to get out of town, they all jump at the chance to have one big adventure before they leave for college. Embracing Lurlene’s motto “No one gets to choose what life gives them. You do get to choose how you deal with it,” the three girls escape to Italy for a summer filled with romance, friendship, and self-discovery.
Please reach out to Erica Geller with any thoughts and comments. Thanks, Delacorte Press!
THE PERFUME COLLECTOR by Kathleen Tessaro
The author of Elegance and The Debutante returns with stunning new novel about secrets, desire, memory, and the power of scent, which they are sending to our YPG members. Harper (an imprint of HarperCollins) is doing a spring mailing of THE PERFUME COLLECTOR by Kathleen Tessaro to the Little Big Mouth lists for Women’s Lit, Fiction, and Travel.
Raised in the quiet world of Oxford academia, newlywed Grace Monroe doesn’t fit anyone’s expectations of a successful 1950s London socialite, least of all her own. But her struggles to comply with the duties and demands of her new role are overshadowed by unexpected twists. First, she learns that she is the recipient of a large inheritance from a complete stranger in Paris, Madame Eva d’Orsey. Then she discovers her husband may not be the man she thought he was. Shaken, Grace flees to Paris, in search of the identity of her mysterious benefactor, as well as perspective on her unraveling life. Weaving through the decades, from 1920’s New York to Monte Carlo, Paris, and London, Grace uncovers the story of a unique woman who inspired one of Paris’s greatest perfumers, the complex, obsessive love between muse and artist and the tremendous power of memory and scent. Immortalized in three evocative perfumes, Eva d’Orsey’s history will transform Grace’s life forever, forcing her to choose between the woman she is expected to be and the person she really is. Moving across continents and decades, The Perfume Collector is a timeless story of passion and possibility, heartbreak and hope.
Email Kathryn Noonan with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Harper!
NOW I’LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING (and the ALICE series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Lucky members of our YPG Young Adult list are about to receive a three-tiered paperback/ARC mailing for the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor over the course of April, May, and June from Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.
In the 28 years since Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s first book in the Alice series, The Agony of Alice, girls everywhere have grown up calling Alice McKinley their BFF! Fans of the series have been waiting years to find out what will happen to Alice. This Summer, YPG’s Young Adult Little Big Mouth list will be the first to have all their questions answered… because now she’ll tell you everything. List members will first receive bind-ups of Alice’s freshman and sophomore years of high school, I Like Him, He Likes Her, and It’s Not Like I Planned It This Way, followed by bind-ups of Alice’s junior and senior years, Please Don’t Be True and You and Me and the Space In Between. Finally, the YPG’s Young Adult Little Big Mouth list will receive an ARC of the final book in the Alice series, Now I’ll Tell You Everything. That’s five books—all courtesy of Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)!
In Now I’ll Tell You Everything, Alice McKinley is going to college! And everything, from her room to her classes to her friends, is about to change. Stoically, nervously, Alice puts her best foot forward…and steps into the rest of her life. Just how crazy will her college life get? Will Alice’s dream of becoming a psychologist come true? Are she and her BFFs destined to remain BFFs? And with so many miles between them, will Alice and Patrick stay together…or is there a hot, mysterious stranger in her future? As Alice well knows, life isn’t always so predictable, and there are more than a few curveballs waiting to be thrown her way.
This is it. The grand finale. You’ve loved her, you’ve learned with her, you’ve watched her grow up through twenty-eight books. And now everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Alice McKinley will be revealed!
Email Rachel Stark (rachel.stark@simonandschuster.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION and THE LORD OF OPIUM by Nancy Farmer
This Spring, YPG’s Young Adult Little Big Mouth list will first receive a special edition of THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION, winner of the National Book Award, a Newbery Honor, and a Printz Honor, followed by an ARC of the sequel, THE LORD OF OPIUM, both courtesy of Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing).
Matt has always been nothing but a clone—grown from a strip of old El Patron’s skin. Now, at age fourteen, he finds himself suddenly thrust into the position of ruling over his own country. The Land of Opium is the largest territory of the Dope Confederacy, which ranges on the map like an intestine from the ruins of San Diego to the ruins of Matamoros. But while Opium thrives, the rest of the world has been devastated by ecological disaster—and hidden in Opium is the cure.
And that isn’t all that awaits within the depths of Opium. Matt is haunted by the ubiquitous army of eejits, zombielike workers harnessed to the old El Patron’s sinister system of drug growing—people stripped of the very qualities that once made them human. Matt wants to use his newfound power to help, to stop the suffering, but he can’t even find a way to smuggle his childhood love, Maria, across the border and into Opium. Instead, his every move hits a roadblock, some from the enemies that surround him…and some from a voice within himself. For who is Matt really, but the clone of an evil, murderous dictator?
Email Nick Elliot with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
I CAN BARELY TAKE CARE OF MYSELF by Jen Kirkman
Three Little Big Mouth lists—Humor, Memoir, and Non-fiction—are about to get a case of the giggles with a Simon &Schuster mailing of I CAN BARELY TAKE CARE OF MYSELF.
“You’ll change your mind.” That’s what everyone says to comedienne Jen Kirkman— and countless women like her—when she confesses she doesn’t plan to have children. But you know what? It’s hard enough to be an adult. You have to dress yourself and pay bills and remember to buy birthday gifts. You have to drive and get annual physicals and tip for good service. Some adults take on the added burden of caring for a tiny human being with no language skills or bladder control. Parenthood can be very rewarding, but let’s face it, so are margaritas at the adults-only pool. Whether living rent-free in her childhood bedroom while trying to break into comedy (the best free birth control around, she says), or taking the stage at major clubs and joining a hit TV show— and along the way getting married, divorced, and attending excruciating afternoon birthday parties for her parent friends—Jen is completely happy and fulfilled by her decision not to procreate. I Can Barely Take Care of Myself is a beacon of hilarious hope for anyone whose major life decisions have been questioned by friends, family, and strangers in a comedy club bathroom.
Email Andrea DeWerd with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
HarperCollins is giving out tangible advice that you can apply in action at the next YPG mixer: our Little Big Mouth lists for Women’s Literature and Non-fiction are receiving GET THE GUY by Matthew Hussey.
Most dating books tell you what NOT to do. Here’s a book dedicated to telling you what you CAN do.
In his book, Get the Guy, Matthew Hussey—relationship expert, matchmaker, and star of the reality show Ready for Love—reveals the secrets of the male mind and the fundamentals of dating and mating for a proven, revolutionary approach to help women to find lasting love. Matthew Hussey has coached thousands of high-powered CEOs, showing them how to develop confidence and build relationships that translate into professional success. Many of Matthew’s male clients pressed him for advice on how to apply his winning strategies not to just get the job, but how to get the girl. As his reputation grew, Hussey was approached by more and more women, eager to hear what he had learned about the male perspective on love and romance. From landing a first date to establishing emotional intimacy, playful flirtation to red-hot bedroom tips, Matthew’s insightfulness, irreverence, and warmth makes Get the Guy: Learn Secrets of the Male Mind to Find the Man You Want and the Love You Deserve a one-of-a-kind relationship guide and the handbook for every woman who wants to get the guy she’s been waiting for.
Email Kathryn Noonan with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, HarperCollins!
When SERAPHINA by Rachel Hartman first hit bookshelves last July, the gang at Random House Children’s Books was over the moon for the exquisite debut novel full of knights, dragons, and a fair maiden caught in between. Now with a stunning new cover, they decided to let YPG’s Little Big Mouth YA list in on the action with a March mailing.
In a world where humans and dragons coexist, four decades of peace has done little to ease the mistrust between the species, and tensions are high. As a court attendant, Seraphina is caught in the middle and has good reason to fear both sides. But when a member of the royal family is murdered, she is drawn into the deepest levels of the investigation. All clues point to foul play, but in the process of uncovering a sinister plot, Seraphina may risk everything, including revealing the one secret that could destroy her.
Readers will remember this deliciously powerful tale of truth, friendship, alienation, belonging, and love long after they’ve turned the final page.
Email Nora MacDonald at nmacdonald@randomhouse.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Random House Children’s Books!
CHILDREN OF THE JACARANDA TREE by Sahar Delijani
Atria Books is breaking the heart of 100 YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list with a mailing of CHILDREN OF THE JACARANDA TREE by Sahar Delijani.
At its heart, every revolution is personal. In the summer of 1988, nine years after the revolution that placed an Islamic republic at the head of Iran, a purge took place within all of prisons inside the country. Thousands—some say as many as 30,000—were killed, including Sahar Delijani’s uncle. Inspired by these events, in her stunning debut novel, Children of the Jacaranda Tree, Delijani explores the emotional toll of that bloody summer. Told in interconnected, alternate perspectives, it is a deeply personal story that gives voice to the men, women, and children who imperiled by the aftermath of the revolution. There’s Neda, born in Iran’s Evin Prison, where her mother can only nurse her for a few short months before she is taken away. There’s Omid, who, at three, watches his parents’ arrest, and Sheida, who learns twenty years later that her father was one of the executed. These are the Children of the Jacaranda Tree. They’ll stay with you in this moving drama about three generations of men and women moved by love, inspired by poetry, and motivated by dreams of justice and freedom.
Please connect with the author on Facebook and send your thoughts and comments to Hillary Tisman at AtriaFeedback@simonandschuster.com. Thanks, Atria!
GOLDEN BOY by Abigail Tarttelin
Over 100 lucky members of the YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list will be receiving copies of GOLDEN BOY by Abigail Tarttelin in an April mailing from Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books.
The Walker family is good at keeping secrets from the world. They are even better at keeping them from each other. For readers who loved Middlesex, Golden Boy is an unforgettable novel by a spectacular new voice in fiction. Connect with the author on Facebook or follow her on Twitter. Email AtriaFeedback@simonandschuster.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria!
OUT WITH IT by Katherine Preston
Atria Books is kicking off April with a mailing to YPG’s Little Big Mouth Memoir list of OUT WITH IT: HOW STUTTERING HELPED ME FIND MY VOICE by Katherine Preston.
Imagine waking up one day to find your words trapped inside your head, leaving you unable to say what you feel, think, want, or need. At the age of seven that happened to Katherine Preston. From that moment, she began battling her stutter and hiding her shame by denying there was anything wrong. Seventeen years later, exhausted and humiliated, she made a life-changing decision: to leave her home in London and spend a year traveling around America meeting hundreds of stutterers, speech therapists, and researchers. What began as a vague search for a cure became a journey that debunked the misconceptions shrouding the condition, and a love story that transformed her conception of what it means to be normal. A heartwarming memoir and a journalistic feat, Out With It is a vividly powerful memoir of a young woman who fought for years to change who she was until she finally found her voice and learned to embrace her imperfection.
Visit the author on Twitter and Facebook. Email Hillary Tisman at atriafeedback@simonandschuster.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
This March, HarperCollins Children’s Books is putting FEAR in the hearts (and hands) of YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult list.
From Michael Grant (author of The Magnificent Twelve series, the BZRK series, co-author of the Animorphs series and Eve & Adam) to YPG: “I have been asked to write a letter about my upcoming book, Light, to ‘young professionals in the publishing industry.’ Is that you? Are you sure? Because if you’re an old professional, or an unprofessional young person, this is not for you.” In the days before Light—the sixth and final installment in the New York Times bestselling Gone series—goes on sale, HarperCollins brings you Fear, the fifth book in the series. Whether you’ve been with the series since it was first published in 2008, or you haven’t read any of the epic and twisted books, Fear will bring you into the FAYZ, and you won’t want to leave. (The books, I mean. You’d obviously want to leave the FAYZ because it’s terrifying.)
Tell us what you think at facebook.com/gonebooks! Thanks, HarperCollins Children’s Books!
Just in time for the warm weather, YPG’s Young Adult Little Big Mouth list is about to get GORGEOUS, thanks to Scholastic!
In his YA debut, playwright/screenwriter Paul Rudnick charms us all with the story of Becky Randle. When Becky’s mother dies, she’s whisked from her trailer park home to New York City. There she meets Tom Kelly, the world’s top designer, who presents Becky with an impossible offer: He’ll design three dresses to transform the very average Becky into The Most Beautiful Woman Who Ever Lived. Soon, Becky is remade as Rebecca — pure five-alarm hotness to the outside world, and an awkward mess of cankles and split ends when she’s alone. With Rebecca’s remarkable beauty as her passport, soon Becky’s life resembles a fairy tale. She stars in a movie, VOGUE calls, and she starts to date Prince Gregory, heir to the English throne. That’s when everything starts to crumble. Because Rebecca aside, Becky loves him. But the idea of a prince looking past Rebecca’s blinding beauty to see the real girl inside? There’s not enough magic in the world. Defiant, naughty, and impossibly fun, GORGEOUS answers a question that bewilders us all: Just who the hell IS that in the mirror?
Contact Sheila Marie Everett (severett@scholastic.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Scholastic!
Humbert Humbert (Lolita). Patrick Bateman (American Psycho). Amy Dunne (Gone Girl)… Celeste Price (Tampa). YPG’s Little Big Mouth fiction list is about to meet the world’s newest literary monster, courtesy of HarperCollins.
In Alissa Nutting’s novel Tampa, Celeste Price, a smoldering 26-year-old middle-school teacher in Florida, unrepentantly recounts her elaborate and sociopathically determined seduction of a 14-year-old student. Celeste has chosen and lured the charmingly modest Jack Patrick into her web. Jack is enthralled and in awe of his eighth-grade teacher, and, most importantly, willing to accept Celeste’s terms for a secret relationship—car rides after dark, rendezvous at Jack’s house while his single father works the late shift, and body-slamming erotic encounters in Celeste’s empty classroom. In slaking her sexual thirst, Celeste Price is remorseless and deviously free of hesitation, a monstress of pure motivation. She deceives everyone, is close to no one, and cares little for anything but her pleasure. Tampa is a sexually explicit, virtuosically satirical, American Psycho–esque rendering of a monstrously misplaced but undeterrable desire. Laced with black humor and crackling sexualized prose, Alissa Nutting’s Tampa is a grand, seriocomic examination of the want behind student/teacher affairs.
Email Ben Tomek at benjamin.tomek@harpercollins.com with your thoughts or comments. Thanks, HarperCollins!
IRIS HAS FREE TIME by Iris Smyles
Soft Skull Press has sent the YPG Little Big Mouth Women’s Lit list galleys of the hilarious new book for IRIS HAS FREE TIME by Iris Smyles.
In the tradition of Elaine Dundy’s Sally Jay Gorce and Truman Capote’s Holly Golightly, Iris is a new American anti-heroine, a bracingly unique voice treating age-old subjects of love, sex, work and identity with a freshness and originality that will startle and charm. Whether passed out drunk at The New Yorker, where she’s interning; assigning Cliffs NotesIris Has Free Time charts a madcap, melancholic course through that curious age—one’s twenties—when childhood is over, supposedly.
Email Julia at publicity@softskull.com with your thoughts and comments! Thanks, Soft Skull Press!
TO MY ASSISTANT by Lydia Whitlock
Life as an assistant is about to get a little better for YPG’s Humor, Memoir, and Non-Fiction Little Big Mouth lists, as they are the recipients of Crown’s latest mailing of TO MY ASSISTANT: THINGS I’LL NEVER DO TO YOU, BUT MANY OTHER CRAZY BOSSES WILL by Lydia Whitlock.
To My Assistant compiles everything that disgruntled and optimistic assistants everywhere promise NEVER TO DO when, one day, they have assistants of their own. Based on Lydia Whitlock’s popular blog “To My Assistant,” the advice in the book reveals Lydia’s real-life experience as an overworked, underpaid, unappreciated Hollywood assistant. To My Assistant has already been picked up by Fox, with Brittany Snow (most recently of Pitch Perfect and Fox’s Ben & Kate fame) as the lead. From ridiculous requests and backhanded compliments to outright insults, and complete with helpful tips and tricks for Boss Wrangling—like what you can learn about your boss’s mood from his meal choices, how to navigate such professional minefields as requests for your opinion, and advanced translation techniques for incoherent e-mails and text messages—these pages are just what the underpaid masses need to survive (and laugh at) the daily injustices of life at the bottom of the totem pole. Read an excerpt of the book here.
Email Tommy Cabrera at tcabrera@randomhouse.com with your thoughts or comments. Thanks, Random House!
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Random House Children’s Books graced YPG’s Young Adult Little Big Mouth list with copies of MEANT TO BE by Lauren Morrill.
Meant to Be follows Julia, the queen of following the rules and a firm believer in fate. For as long as she can remember, Julia has been totally in love with her childhood crush, Mark. She is convinced that he is her MTB (Meant to Be), even though he may or may not know she exists. Then on a class trip to London, Julia gets paired up with Jason, the class jokester and resident jerk. But is Jason flirting with her? Maybe he’s not so bad after all. But wait! Julia is now getting romantic texts from mystery man, Chris, and she is more confused than ever. Mark, Jason, or Chris? Which one is her MTB?
Please feel free to contact Melissa Zar with your thoughts and comments at mzar@randomhouse.com. Thanks, Random House Children’s Books!
RULES OF SUMMER by Joanna Philbin
YPG’s Little Big Mouth YA list is going to spend its summer vacation in the Hamptons with a new young adult novel from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: RULES OF SUMMER by The Daughters series author Joanna Philbin.
When 17-year-old Rory McShane steps off the bus in East Hampton, it’s like she’s entering another universe—one populated by impossibly beautiful people wearing pressed khakis and driving expensive cars. She’s left her rural hometown in New Jersey to take a summer job as “errand girl” for the Rule Family on Lily Pond Lane. At the beginning of the season, Rory plans on helping out her aunt, who’s a full-time housekeeper in the Rules’ enormous beachfront mansion, and maybe sneaking in some beach time. By August, however, Rory realizes that plans have a way of going haywire, especially when siblings Isabel and Connor Rule are around. Feeling claustrophobic in her country club world, impulsive 17-year-old Isabel Rule embarks on a breathless summer romance with an older guy that her family would never approve of. Isabel trusts Rory with the details of her new relationship, and the girls forge a true friendship. But when long-hidden secrets start to surface on Lily Pond Lane and Rory reveals that she may have feelings for someone, too—Connor Rule, Isabel’s older brother—the new friends realize that societal rules can be hard to break.
Check out more info on The Daughters series at LBYR’s YA Tumblr (www.thenovl.com). Thanks, Little Brown Books for Young Readers!
THE WARD by Jordana Frankel
HarperCollins’ imprint Katherine Tegen Books, is getting the hearts of our Little Big Mouth Young Adult list racing with THE WARD, debut novel from Jordana Frankel.
Set in a futuristic New York City after a catastrophic flood called the Wash-Out has transformed the island into a decrepit, water-logged landscape, THE WARD is the story of sixteen-year-old Renata Dane, a daredevil drag racer, who will risk everything she has to take care of her foster sister, Aven. Aven is suffering from the Blight, an incurable, deadly illness thought to be caused by years of pollution. The disease is ripping through downtown Manhattan—now known as the Ward—and since the region is home to the poor and the vagrant, little is being done to help the sick. In fact, the Ward has been quarantined, and no one is allowed in or out. But when the Blight somehow spreads to the affluent Upper Islets, the government acts fast and recruits Ren for a secret mission: to search for a fresh water source in the Ward, with the hope of it leading to a cure. However, when Ren accepts this job—and the big paycheck that comes with it—she never expects that it will lead her to dangerous encounters with a passionate young scientist; a web of deceit and lies; and a confounding mystery that’s lurking deep beneath the water’s rippling surface.
Get ready to race this February. Thanks, HarperCollins!
LOVE IS A CANOE by Ben Schrank
Macmillan imprint Farrar, Straus & Giroux is giving our YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list its first hit of the year with Ben Schrank’s LOVE IS A CANOE.
Peter Herman is something of a folk hero. Marriage is a Canoe, his decades-old book on love and relationships, has won the hearts of hopeful romantics and desperate cynics alike. Peter and his wife lived a peaceful life, but now it’s 2010, and his wife has just died. He passes time with a woman he admires but doesn’t love—and he begins to question the advice he’s famously doled out for decades. Then he receives a call from Stella Petrovic, an ambitious young editor who wants to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Marriage is a Canoe with a contest for struggling couples. The prize? An afternoon with Peter and a chance to save their relationship. The contest ensnares Stella in the opaque politics of her publishing house, while it introduces the reader to couples in varied states of distress: a shy thirty-something Brooklynite whose husband may be just a bit too charismatic for his own good; a middle-aged publisher whose imposing manner has imposed loneliness on her for longer than she cares to admit. Then there’s Peter, who must discover what he meant when he wrote Marriage is a Canoe if he is going to help the contest’s winners and find a way to love again. In Love is a Canoe, Ben Schrank delivers a smart, funny, romantic, and hugely satisfying novel about the fragility of marriage and the difficulty of repairing the damage when well-intentioned people forget how to be good to one another.
Email Kathy Daneman kathy.daneman@fsgbooks.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Farrar, Straus & Giroux!
LIFE AFTER LIFE by Jill McCorkle
Algonquin is charming YPG’s Little Big Mouth Fiction list this winter with ARCs of LIFE AFTER LIFE by Jill McCorkle.
Jill McCorkle is back with her greatly anticipated sixth novel, Life After Life, a profoundly beautiful exploration of life and death through the most true-to-life characters that you are likely ever to meet in fiction: the residents and staff of Pine Haven Retirement Center in the small town of Fulton, North Carolina. With this novel, she charts the precarious line between life and death, the split moment when the reader is aware of both places at once. As Jill says, it’s “what those left on earth are recalling and what the one leaving is thinking, that brief spark of connection and recognition before the paths continue in different connections.” And it’s within those “brief sparks” that Life After Life exhibits a new level of literary artistry.
Email Kelly Bowen (kelly@algonquin.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Algonquin!
WHAT MY MOTHER GAVE ME edited by Elizabeth Benedict
What is the most meaningful gift that your mother ever gave you? Whether it’s an old family recipe, an heirloom, or something less tangible, Algonquin is willing to bet that you have an answer to this question, which is why they are thrilled to share copies of WHAT MY MOTHER GAVE ME: THIRTY-ONE WOMEN ON THE GIFTS THAT MATTERED MOST with YPG’s Little Big Mouth Women’s Lit list.
Edited by Elizabeth Benedict, this beautiful collection of essays from a dynamite cast of contributors explores the many ways that gifts from our mothers shape our lives and relationships. From Joyce Carol Oates, Lisa See, and Ann Hood to Katha Politt, Susan Stamberg, and Abigail Pogrebin, each contributor describes a gift from her mother. Whether the gift is physical, experiential, a habit, a way of seeing the world; each reveals the story of mother and daughter. The pieces range from short and sweet to long and wrenching, from funny to mournful, from heartwarming to heartbreaking. They remind us of how elemental relationships with our mothers are—and just how much we miss them when they’re gone.
Email Emma Boyer (emma@algonquin.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Algonquin!
THE TRAGEDY PAPER by Elizabeth Laban
This December, Random House Children’s Books stuck a new book in the stockings of YPG’s Young Adult Little Big Mouth list. Set at a private school inspired by the elite Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York, THE TRAGEDY PAPER is the highly anticipated first novel from Elizabeth LaBan (Alfred A. Knopf / On sale January 8, 2013).
Welcome to the Irving School, where the motto is “Enter here to be and find a friend”—though Tim Macbeth’s expectations are definitely not that high. A seventeen-year-old albino and a recent transfer to the prestigious private school, all Tim really wants to do is make it through his senior year unnoticed. But despite his efforts to remain off the radar, he finds himself falling for Vanessa Sheller, girlfriend of the most popular guy on campus. To Tim’s surprise, Vanessa is into him, too—though she can kiss her social status goodbye if anyone finds out. Looming in the background of their clandestine relationship is the Tragedy Paper, Irving’s version of a senior thesis, assigned by the school’s least-forgiving teacher. LaBan skillfully weaves in the alternating perspective of Duncan, a current Irving senior, as he uncovers the truth behind Tim and Vanessa’s story, consequently producing the greatest Tragedy Paper in the school’s history.
Email Lauren Donovan (ldonovan@randomhouse.com) with your thoughts and comments, and use #tragedypaper if you tweet. Thanks, Random House!
SON OF ANGELS: FIRE PROPHET by Jerel Law
Thomas Nelson just sent a November mailing to YPG’s YA/Children’s Little Big Mouth list of Book #2 in the Son of Angels middle-grade adventure series: FIRE PROPHET.
What if you could actually see angels and fallen angels engaging in battle—and you were expected to join the fight? It’s been one year since Jonah Stone and his sister, Eliza, discovered that their mother is a nephilim, the product of a union between a human and a fallen angel, which makes them and their little brother, Jeremiah, quarterlings, or one-quarter angel. After embarking on an epic journey to rescue their mother and the other nephilim, who were kidnapped by fallen angels, the Stone kids have enjoyed a little peace and quiet. But when Jonah and Eliza are attacked by fallen angels at school, they learn that quarterlings all over the world are being targeted, and separating them from their parents is the only way to keep them safe. The kids undergo special training to help them discover their own unique angelic gifts, which come in handy when they must rescue a kidnapped prophet and fight the battle of their lives!
Email Katie Powell (kpowell@thomasnelson.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Thomas Nelson!
THE SECRET KEEPER by Kate Morton
YPG’s Little Big Mouth fiction list is getting a November mailing of THE SECRET KEEPER, a new Simon & Schuster novel from the New York Times and internationally best-selling author Kate Morton, and a spellbinding mix of mystery, thievery, murder, and enduring love.
During a party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is dreaming of the future. She spies a stranger coming up the road and sees her mother speak to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy. Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress, living in London. She returns to the family farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by questions she has not thought about for decades. From pre-WWII England through the Blitz, to the 50s and beyond, discover the secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—who meet by chance in wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined. The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams, the lengths people go to fulfill them, and the consequences they can have. It is a story of lovers, friends, dreamers, and schemers told—in Morton’s signature style—against a backdrop of events that changed the world.
Please email Hillary.Tisman@simonandschuster.com with your comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
THE CONFESSIONS OF APRIL GRACE: CHOCOLATE-COVERED BALONEY byy KD McCrite
Middle-grade fans, get ready! Thomas Nelson is hitting YPG’s Little Big Mouth list with Book #3 in the Confessions of April Grace series by KD McCrite: CHOCOLATE-COVERED BALONEY.
The last thing April Grace wants is more change in her life—but that’s exactly what she gets. Plus, April has a new mystery to solve when Myra Sue starts sneaking around and acting very suspicious. From snooty new neighbors to starting junior high to getting a new baby brother to having her grandmother get a boyfriend, April Grace has had enough change to last until she is at least 87 years old. But when it rains, it pours, and April Grace is in for the ride of her life when her prissy, citified neighbor Isabel becomes her gym teacher and a long-lost relative suddenly reappears and throws everything into a tizzy. On top of that, April’s sister, Myra Sue, has been hiding something and sneaking around. April needs to find out what is going on before her silly sister gets herself into trouble again. More important, will April find the grace she needs to handle her topsy-turvy life and forgive past wrongs?
Email Katie Powell (kpowell@thomasnelson.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Thomas Nelson!
COLORING FOR GROWN-UPS by Ryan Hunter and Taige Jenson
In lieu of a Humor list, Plume hit the YPG Fiction and Games/Puzzles list with a hilarious November mailing of COLORING FOR GROWN-UPS by Ryan Hunter and Taige Jenson.
For all of those grown-ups who miss their carefree days of being a kid, here is a coloring book that walks the fine line between childhood and adulthood. Coloring for Grown-ups injects a bit of playfulness into our daily grind. It’s as much fun for the kid inside each of us as the adult we’ve begrudgingly become. Dreamed up by the creators of the massive YouTube hit, “Hipster Olympics,” Coloring for Grown-ups is the ultimate F-you to growing up that can be enjoyed during woefully short lunch breaks, while procrastinating on a college paper, or while waiting on the low-paying job interview. The activities in the book resemble typical, coloring-book-style pages, but with a slightly twisted perspective that offers an ironic look at the stereotypes, habits, and challenges of modern adulthood. Coloring for Grown-ups has dozens of fun adult activities, games, and puzzles including: a “Hipster or Homeless?” coloring page, Construct Your Online Dating Profile!, a maze to help deflect pesky creditors, decoding secret messages of Real Estate (hint: “recently renovated” = recently swept), a doodling page reserved for drawing the person you thought you’d grow up to be before abandoning all your hopes and dreams…and many more amusements that combine the mindless joy of childhood coloring with the mind-numbing realities of real-world living!
Please contact Milena Brown (milena.brown@us.penguingroup.com) for more information on this title and/or if you would like to consider for holiday gift guides or giveaways! Visit Ryan Hunter and Taige Jenson online at www.coloringforgrownups.com. YPG BONUS: Plume also invites YPG members to the authors’ launch event for Coloring for Grown-ups at PowerHouse on Friday, November 2, from 6-8pm.
I SHOULDN’T BE TELLING YOU THIS by Kate White
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Business list got a boost from HarperCollins this September with a mailing of I SHOULDN’T BE TELLING YOU THIS by New York Times best-selling author Kate White.
Kate White is the former editor in chief of Cosmopolitan and a hugely successful businesswoman. In I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This, she shares her secrets to success. A witty, wise, straight-talking career guide for women, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This is the perfect book for the current economic climate, whether you’re just starting out, reentering the workforce after maternity leave, or simply looking for a career change–essential tips and bold strategies from a gutsy innovator who helped increase Cosmo’s circulation by half a million copies per month.
Email Danielle Plafsky (Danielle.Plafsky@HarperCollins.com) with your thoughts and comments.
SAD DESK SALAD by Jessica Grose
Heads up, YPG Women’s Lit lovers! Our Little Big Mouth list just got hit with a juicy new lunchtime read, SAD DESK SALAD by Jessica Grose, courtesy of HarperCollins.
As a writer for Chick Habit, an increasingly popular women’s website, Alex Lyons gets paid to be a b*tch. She’s churning out several posts a day, and she saves her juiciest ones for blog prime time, when working women eat their sad desk salads in their offices. Alex tells herself she’s fulfilling her dream of being a professional writer; so what if it means being glued to her couch and her laptop from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., scouring the web in search of the next big celebrity scandal? Since Chick Habit’s parent company keeps close tabs on page views, Alex knows her job is always at risk. So when an anonymous tipster sends her the year’s most salacious story—a politico’s squeaky-clean Ivy League daughter caught in a very R-rated activity—it’s a no-brainer. But is Alex really willing to ruin the girl’s life by igniting the next Internet feeding frenzy? And what she doesn’t yet realize is how this big scoop is about to send her own life spiraling out of control.
Become a fan on Facebook and follow Jess on Twitter: @jessgrose. Email Mary.Sasso@harpercollins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, HarperCollins!
MAGISTERIUM by Jeff Hirsch
Suzanne Collins called Jeff Hirsch’s The Eleventh Plague “an excellent taut debut.” What will YOU say about his next book? Scholastic & This Is Teen are pleased to introduce MAGISTERIUM to the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list.
On one side of the Rift is a technological paradise without famine or want. On the other side is a mystery. Sixteen-year-old Glenn Morgan has lived next to the Rift her entire life without knowing what might be on the other side of it. Glenn’s only friend, Kevin Kapoor, insists the fence holds back a world of monsters and witchcraft. But magic isn’t for Glenn. She has enough problems with reality: Glenn’s mother disappeared when she was six, and soon after, she lost her scientist father to his all-consuming work on the mysterious Project. Glenn buries herself in her studies and dreams about the day she can escape. But when her father’s work leads to his arrest, he gives Glenn a simple metal bracelet that will send her and Kevin on the run-–with only one place to go. With Magisterium, Jeff Hirsch brings us the story of a complex, captivating world that will leave readers breathless until the very last page.
Email thisisteen@scholastic.com with your thoughts and comments. Become a fan at www.facebook.com/thisisteen and follow @this_is_teen for more info. Thanks, Scholastic & This Is Teen!
SH*T GIRLS SAY by Kyle Humphrey and Graydon Sheppard
Harlequin is hitting YPG’s Little Big Mouth Nonfiction list in the funny bone with a September mailing of SH*T GIRLS SAY by Kyle Humphrey and Graydon Sheppard.
Based off their wildly popular videos and Twitter feed, the phenomenon’s creators have written a book that combines their famous sayings with new and inventive photography. With over 1.6 million Twitter followers and 30 million views on YouTube, Sh*t Girls Say (Harlequin, October 2012) is a bona fide cultural phenomenon. We’re sure that you’ll find something in their new book to make you laugh. Zeroing in on such everyday life categories as Friends and Fashion, Relationships (From Stranger to Ex), Body Issues, Party Small Talk, and Emotions and Insecurities, the punchy one-liners and eye-popping visuals go right to the heart of contemporary life—once more displaying the keen-eyed powers of observation that continue to make Sh*t Girls Say a phenomenon.
Email Jessica Rosenberg at Jessica_Rosenberg@harlequin.ca with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Harlequin!
STORMDANCER by Jay Kristoff
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Sci-Fi/Fantasy list got its first surprise with an August mailing from St. Martin’s Press of STORMDANCER by Jay Kristoff.
Griffins are supposed to be extinct. So when Yukiko and her father are commanded to capture one for the murderous Shogun of the Shima Isles, they fear their lives are over. After disaster befalls the mission, Yukiko finds herself stranded in the wilderness with only a crippled griffin called Buruu for company. Working together, the pair makes a stand against the authorities, facing intrigue, betrayal, and murder in the hope of seeing their homeland saved and Buruu fly again. Stormdancer is the first book in an epic new fantasy series that reveals a stunningly original dystopian steampunk world with a flavor of feudal Japan.
Please share your thoughts on Goodreads.com or email Cassie Galante (cassandra.galante@stmartins.com) with your thoughts. Thanks, St. Martin’s!
WORD. by Natan Last
This September, Workman Publishing is giving our YPG Games and Puzzles Little Big Mouth list a brain-boost with WORD. by Natan Last—a senior at Brown University, three-time intern with Will Shortz, and in 2008 the youngest person to have a puzzle published in the Sunday New York Times.
Word. kicks the crossword puzzle squarely into the twenty-first century for a new generation of puzzle-lovers, replacing fusty crossword-ese with hip cultural references, modern wordplay, and a lively mix of high- and lowbrow pop trivia. A Word. puzzle begins with the shared knowledge of a literate but not-so-reverent generation, and celebrates the knowingness with a deft touch. Your parents’ crosswords make solvers feel smart. Word. puzzles make solvers feel smart and cool, getting the references to The Daily Show, Mario Brothers, the Goo Goo Dolls, and a hefty dose of nostalgia (the name of the motel in Psycho). But they also know the core curriculum: Charlotte Bronte’s Jane, Roman generals, Berlioz and von Bismarck, Homer—and not just Homer Simpson. The puzzles are constructed with all the smarts of a daily Times crossword: themes, interconnected clues, titles that unlock the overall puzzle (solve all the clues and the circle letters will spell out a famous name at Hogwarts). Assisting Mr. Last is a group of five more top “under 25” constructors, all of whom have published puzzles in the New York Times.
Email Lindsey Kline (Lindsey@workman.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Workman!
THE LIDDABIT SWEETS CANDY COOKBOOK by Liz Gutman and Jen King
Get ready for a candy revolution! Workman Publishing is hitting our YPG Little Big Mouth Cookbook list with a September mailing of THE LIDDABIT SWEETS CANDY COOKBOOK by Liz Gutman and Jen King, the classically trained pastry chefs who traded in their toques to make candy—and now lead the candy-craft movement as proprietors of the Brooklyn confectionery Liddabit Sweets.
Now, instead of commercial, processed chocolate bars; neon, sugary lollipops; or other boring candies that are ubiquitous at Halloween, indulge in artisanal confections that will take you to new heights of deliciousness. Think creamy-dense chocolate truffles, juicy fruit jellies, coconut-lime bars, crackly nut brittles, and the French-style sea salt caramels that Daniel Boulud claimed were better than those he’d tasted in France. They’re all here in The Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook: How to Make Truly Scrumptious Candy in Your Own Kitchen, and yes, you really can make them in your own kitchen. Geared toward home cooks, this cookbook is packed with 75 foolproof recipes, full-color photographs, and a dash of attitude. Liz and Jen begin with “Candy 101,” a chapter dedicated to basic ingredients, techniques, and the equipment (minimal—really!) you’ll need to get started. A handy, at-a-glance guide helps you find the perfect recipe in seconds, whether you are looking for something nut-free, fruity, quick and easy, or a candy that ships well for a special gift.
Email Lindsey Kline (Lindsey@workman.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Workman!
THE BLESSED by Tonya Hurley
What if martyrs and saints lived among us? And what if you were told you were one of them? YPG’s Young Adult Little Big Mouth list is about to find out with a September mailing of THE BLESSED by Tonya Hurley from Simon & Schuster Children’s.
Agnes, Cecilia, and Lucy are three lost girls—each with their own personal demons. Beautiful Agnes is a hopeless romantic, whose recent break-up landed her in the hospital with cuts on her wrists. Cecilia loves music, but has found herself trading her self-respect for a warm bed or paying gig. Lucy’s It Girl status has her bold-faced name appearing regularly in the tabloids, but her superficial lifestyle only makes her feel more empty and alone. These girls meet one night when they all end up in the same hospital . . . and each wake up with a token from a boy they’ve only just met. Sebastian is gorgeous, mysterious, and has a plan for all of them. As each girl gets wrapped up in finding out just who Sebastian is, they each discover their own strengths, and realize the only way to save themselves is to save each other.
Email Nicholas Elliot (nicholas.elliot@simonandschuster.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
THE SISTERS by Nancy Jensen
Get your tissue boxes ready, ladies! St. Martin’s just hit the YPG Little Big Mouth Women’s Lit list with an August mailing of THE SISTERS by Nancy Jensen.
Growing up without a mother in hardscrabble Kentucky in the 1920s, Bertie Fischer and her older sister, Mabel, have only each other—with perhaps a sweetheart for Bertie waiting in the wings. But on the day that Bertie graduates from eighth grade, good intentions go terribly wrong, setting off a chain of misunderstandings that will change the lives of the next three generations.
Email Joseph.Goldschein@stmartins.com with your thoughts and comments. Or, better yet, email the author herself at nancyjensenwrites@gmail.com! She loves hearing from her readers. Thanks, St. Martin’s!
THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater
Three hundred copies of Maggie Stiefvater’s new novel RAVEN BOYS just went out to our YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list, courtesy of Scholastic, Inc.
Her first kiss . . . will be his last. Blue Sargent, the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, has been told for as long as she can remember that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die. But she is too practical to believe in things like true love. Her policy is to stay away from the rich boys at the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The boys there, known as Raven Boys, can only mean trouble.
Please email Krista Kucheman kkucheman@scholastic.com with your thoughts and comments and share on GoodReads.com. Thanks, Scholastic, Inc.!
THE MARRIAGE PLOT by Jeffrey Eugenides
Are the great love stories of the nineteenth century dead? Or can there be a new story, written for today and alive to the realities of feminism, sexual freedom, prenups, and divorce? YPG’s Little Big Mouth Fiction list is about to decide, thanks to a Picador mailing of THE MARRIAGE PLOT by Jeffrey Eugenides.
It’s the early 1980s. In American colleges, the wised-up kids are inhaling Derrida and listening to Talking Heads. But Madeleine Hanna, dutiful English major, is writing her senior thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot, purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels. As Madeleine studies the age-old motivations of the human heart, real life, in the form of two very different guys, intervenes—the charismatic and intense Leonard Bankhead, and her old friend, the mystically inclined Mitchell Grammaticus. As all three of them face life in the real world they will have to reevaluate everything they have learned.
Email Alaina Waagner at Alaina.waagner@picadorusa.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Picador!
BRAIN ON FIRE by Susanna Cahalan
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Nonfiction list should keep their eyes peeled for an August mailing from Simon & Schuster’s Free Press of BRAIN ON FIRE by Susannah Cahalan.
Susannah Cahalan was a healthy twenty-four-year-old at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at the New York Post when she started getting strange symptoms. Memory loss and paranoia quickly progressed to psychosis and near-death catatonia. A million dollars’ worth of medical tests revealed nothing—until she was rescued by the lucky, ingenious intervention of an extraordinary doctor, Souhel Najjar. Dr. Najjar diagnosed her with the newly discovered autoimmune disorder, anti-NMDA-receptor encephalitis. In Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah chronicles her breathtaking descent into madness, the terrifying loss of identity it entailed, and the moving account of her family and boyfriend’s refusal to give up hope.
Email Marie Kent at marie.kent@simonandschuster.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Free Press!
GRACE GROWS by Shelle Sumners
St. Martin’s Press is charming the YPG Little Big Mouth Women’s Fiction list this August with GRACE GROWS by Shelle Sumners, a sweet new book about a young woman who works in publishing in New York City. (Sound familiar?)
Grace Barnum’s life is precariously balanced on sensible choices and uncomfortable compromise. She dutifully edits textbooks that, she fears, may be more harmful than helpful to kids. She is engaged to a patent attorney who is steady and reliable. She has a cautious relationship with her fascinating father, a renowned New York painter, and she prefers her mom slightly drunk. Always a planner, Grace feels prepared for most eventualities. Until the responsibility-challenged Tyler Wilkie shows up. Fresh in town from the Poconos, Tyler has warm eyes, a country drawl, and a smile that makes Grace drop things. Worst of all, he writes devastating songs. About her. Tyler reaches something in Grace, something she needs, but can’t admit to. Something she wants, but won’t succumb to. Tyler Wilkie loves Grace Barnum and ruins everything. And Grace grows.
Email Sarah.Goldstein@stmartins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, St. Martin’s!
WE SINNERS by Hanna Pylväinen
Henry Holt & Company is hitting the YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list with WE SINNERS, a debut novel from 27-year-old Hanna Pylväinen that has a first serial excerpt in Harper Magazine and was chosen as one of Amazon’s “Best of the Month” picks for August.
We Sinners follows each member of the Rovaniemi family. Like many families, high parental expectations produce a mix of acquiescence and rebellion from their children. But what makes this family of eleven unique—apart from their number—is their faith. Warren and Pirjo brought up all nine of their children in a traditional Finnish-American church (no drinking, no dancing, no TV). As their youngest, Uppa, relays to her friend, “It’s called Laestadianism. It’s a kind of Lutheranism where everyone is much more hung up on being Lutheran than all the other normal Lutherans.” But when two of the children venture from the faith, the family fragments and a haunting question emerges: Do we believe for ourselves or for each other? Based on the author’s own life experiences, We Sinners follows each character on their journey of doubt, self-knowledge, acceptance, and, ultimately, survival and introduces a young writer of enormous talent and range.
Email Melanie DeNardo at melanie.denardo@hholt.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Henry Holt & Company!
EAT THE CITY by Robin Shulman
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Nonfiction list is about to have their appetite whetted by a new Random House title in an August mailing.
EAT THE CITY by Robin Shulman (www.robinshulman.com) is about how the ability of cities to feed people has changed over time. Yet it is also, in a sense, the story of the things we long for in cities today: closer human connections, a tangible link to more basic processes, a way to shape more rounded lives, a sense of something pure. Hundreds of years ago, most food and drink consumed by New Yorkers was grown and produced within what are now the five boroughs. People rarely realize that long after New York became a dense urban agglomeration, innovators, traditionalists, migrants, and immigrants continued to insist on producing their own food. Food, of course, is about hunger. We eat what we miss and what we want to become, the foods of our childhoods and the symbols of the lives we hope to lead. With wit and insight, Eat the City shows how in places like New York, people have always found ways to use their collective hunger to build their own kind of city.
Please share your thoughts on Goodreads.com or email Danielle Crabtree (dcrabtree@randomhouse.com). Thanks, Random House!
KLONOPIN LUNCH by Jessica Dorfman Jones
YPG’s Women’s Fiction Little Big Mouth list has just gotten way cooler, thanks to a mailing of KLONOPIN LUNCH, Jessica Dorfman Jones’s hilarious and uncensored journey down the rabbit hole and back out again, from Upper East Side good girl to the rock-and-roll bad girl she never was.
By her late twenties, Jessica had dutifully achieved everything she thought she was supposed to: marriage, law degree, nice apartment in New York City, high-paying job (she even started her career in the publishing world). But she was miserable. Desperate to change her status quo and figure out who she really was, Jessica went about the business of demolishing the life she knew. She threw her good-girl image aside and set out to unleash the very bad girl she had never before tried to be. Embracing the deliciously debauched world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, Jessica leaves behind her sweet and well-behaved husband for the ultimate bad-boy guitar player, starts her own band, and parties harder than she had ever thought possible. She puts her job in jeopardy and causes her friends and family no end of worry with her illicit behavior. And then, in the midst of her self-created chaos, the wildest thing of all happens. She figures out who she is, who she most definitely is not, and what might, if she’s lucky, come next.
Please email dcrabtree@randomhouse.com with your thoughts and comments or share on GoodReads.com. Thanks, Random House!
TEN GIRLS TO WATCH by Charity Shumway
Get excited for a sneak peek of TEN GIRLS TO WATCH by Charity Shumway (http://bit.ly/10girls), going out to the Women’s Fiction list from Atria Books this week, complemented by a YPG social media giveaway on Twitter!
Dawn West is trying to make her way in New York City. She’s got an ex-boyfriend she can’t quite stop seeing, a writing career that’s gotten about as far as penning an online lawn care advice column, and a small hometown in Oregon that’s her last recourse if she can’t make next month’s rent. So when Dawn lands a job tracking down the past winners of Charm magazine’s “Ten Girls to Watch” contest, she’s thrilled. Not only is she being paid to interview hundreds of fascinating women, but she’s also sharing office space with “Secret Agent Romance,” Charm’s resident dating columnist, and he just happens to be giving her butterflies. As Dawn gets to know the life stories of these former winners, she’ll discover that success, love, and friendship can be found in the most unexpected of places. And even more importantly, she’ll find that though those who have gone before us can be role models, ultimately, we each have to carve our own way.
Please email AtriaFeedback@simonandschuster.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Atria!
WHAT’S LEFT OF ME by Kat Zhang
Need some summer reading? YPG’s Little Big Mouth Young Adult list just got galleys of a new sci-fi novel by Kat Zhang, WHAT’S LEFT OF ME, from HarperCollins.
Eva and Addie started out like everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except she wasn’t. For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then they discover that there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable—hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to dance, to speak, Eva will do anything.
Email quotes@harpercollins.com with any thoughts and comments. Thanks, HarperCollins!
THE UNQUIET by Jeannine Garsee
Bloomsbury is chilling the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list this June with a new phychological thriller, THE UNQUIET by Jeannine Garsee.
There is a dark corridor at River Hill High School that should never be entered alone. It’s like a tunnel to the abandoned pool where Annaliese, a past student, drowned. Many students claim to be overwhelmed by an icy chill, the smell of chlorine, and eerie sounds. For others, it’s worse. But when Rinn reaches out to the ghost, it’s nothing but quiet. Then she discovers why and asks her boyfriend, Nate, for help. But testing Rinn’s theory is dangerous. There’s a pattern to Annaliese’s victims. And it has nothing to do with entering the tunnel alone . . .
Emaill caroline.abbey@bloomsbury.com with thoughts or comments. Thanks, Bloomsbury!
INTO THE DARKEST CORNER by Elizabeth Haynes
HarperCollins is giving our YPG Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list the chills this week with a mailing and social media giveaway of INTO THE DARKEST CORNER by Elizabeth Haynes.
Catherine Bailey has been enjoying the single life long enough to know a catch when she sees one: Lee seems almost too perfect to be true. And her friends clearly agree, as each in turn falls under his spell. But what begins as flattering attentiveness and passionate sex turns into raging jealousy, and Catherine soon learns there is a darker side to Lee. His increasingly erratic, controlling behavior becomes frightening, but no one believes her when she shares her fears. Increasingly isolated and driven into the darkest corner of her world, a desperate Catherine plans a meticulous escape. Four years later, Lee is behind bars and Catherine—now Cathy—compulsively checks the locks and doors in her apartment, trusting no one. But when an attractive upstairs neighbor, Stuart, comes into her life, Cathy dares to hope that happiness and love may still be possible . . . until she receives a phone call . . .
Email Danielle Plafsky at Danielle.Plafsky@harpercollins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, HarperCollins!
HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE? by Sheila Heti
According to a recent quote from Marie Claire, any fans of HBO’s new show Girls should like the new YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list mailing of Henry Holt’s HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE? by Sheila Heti.
Reeling from a failed marriage, Sheila, a twenty-something playwright, finds herself unsure of how to live and create. When Margaux, a talented painter and free spirit, and Israel, a sexy and depraved artist, enter her life, Sheila hopes that through close—sometimes too close—observation of her new friend, her new lover, and herself, she might regain her footing in art and life. Using transcribed conversations, real emails, plus heavy doses of fiction, the brilliant and always innovative Sheila Heti crafts a work that is part literary novel, part self-help manual, and part bawdy confessional. It’s a totally shameless and dynamic exploration into the way we live now, which breathes fresh wisdom into the eternal questions: What is the sincerest way to love? What kind of person should you be?
Email Katie Kurtzman at katie.kurtzman@hholt.com with any thoughts or questions. Thanks, Henry Holt!
DRAIN YOU by M. Beth Bloom
My So-Called Life meets Twilight in DRAIN YOU, a debut novel by M. Beth Bloom and HarperTeen’s latest mailing to our YPG Little Big Mouth YA list.
Quinlan Lacey’s life is a red carpet of weird fashions, hip bands, random parties, and chilling by the pool with her on-and-off BF, Libby. There’s also her boring job (minimum wage), a crushed-out coworker (way too interested), her summer plans (nada), and her parents (totally clueless). Then one night she meets gorgeous James, and Quinn’s whole world turns crazy, Technicolor, 3-D, fireworks, whatever. But with good comes bad, and unfortunately Quinn’s new romance brings with it some majorly evil baggage. The Los Angeles canyons are crawling with gangs of the undead, all aching to drain something. Now, to make things right, Quinn has to do a lot of things wrong.
Thanks, HarperTeen!
THE GAGGLE: HOW THE GUYS YOU KNOW WILL HELP YOU FIND THE LOVE YOU WANT by Jessica Massa
Simon & Schuster is showing the love to YPG’s Women’s Lit Little Big Mouth list this May, with a large mailing of early copies of Jessica Massa’s THE GAGGLE: HOW THE GUYS YOU KNOW WILL HELP YOU FIND THE LOVE YOU WANT.
The Gaggle is a groundbreaking guide to today’s “post-dating” society, in which the traditional rules for sex, dating, and relationships no longer apply. Finding love in this brave new world has become more than a little baffling, but The Gaggle unlocks its secrets and redefines romance for the Millennial generation. The idea is simple but revolutionary: every woman’s love life is far more exciting than she thinks. Although most haven’t realized it yet, instead of going on dates (or not, as the case may be), they have been collecting a “gaggle of guys who orbit around them, occupying both romantic and platonic roles and fulfilling a variety of different needs. No two gaggles are alike, but members might include the Career Booster, the Ex-Boyfriend Who’s Still Around, the Ego Booster, the Hot Sex Prospect, and the Boyfriend Prospect. Ultimately, a woman’s gaggle can help reveal who and what she wants and empower her to see the possibilities that are all around her.
Email Amanda Ferber (amanda.ferber@simonandschuster.com) with any thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
TWILIGHT OF THE ELITES by Christopher Hayes
Crown Publishers recently blasted YPG’s Politics and Business Little Big Mouth lists with 200 copies of TWILIGHT OF THE ELITES by Christopher Hayes, a powerful and original argument that traces the roots of our present crisis of authority to an unlikely source: the meritocracy.
Over the past decade, Americans watched in bafflement and rage as one institution after another–from Wall Street to Congress, the Catholic Church to corporate America, even Major League Baseball–imploded under the weight of corruption and incompetence. In the wake of the Fail Decade, the social contract between ordinary American citizens and elites lies in tatters. So how did we get here? In Twilight of the Elites, Hayes offers a radically novel answer. Since the 1960s, as the meritocracy elevated a more diverse group of men and women into power, they learned to embrace the accelerating inequality that had placed them near the very top. Their ascension heightened social distance and spawned a new American elite—one more prone to failure and corruption than any that came before it.
Mixing deft political analysis, timely social commentary, and deep historical understanding, this book describes how the society we have come to inhabit produces leaders who are out of touch with the people they have been trusted to govern, leading to a crisis of authority that threatens to engulf not just our politics but our day-to-day lives.
Email associate marketing director Julie Cepler at jcepler@randomhouse.com with your thoughts and comments. Visit the author on YouTube or Facebook for more information on this defining work of social criticism for the post-bailout age. Thanks for using our lists, Crown!
THE LIAR, THE BITCH AND THE WARDROBE by Allie Kingsley
This September marks the delicious debut of THE LIAR, THE BITCH AND THE WARDROBE by Allie Kingsley, an insider’s look at the juiciest, most outrageous behind the scenes drama of the Hollywood parties and outrageous photo shoots that you’ve always dreamed of. And thanks to Berkley Trade Paperbacks, YPG’s Little Big Mouth Women’s Fiction list is getting a sneak peek!
Everyone can feel apart of the Hollywood “It” scene while following photographer Lucy Butler through her internship with her idol, world-famous fashion photographer Stefano Lepres. But in a world where getting doused in coffee for not getting the order right is the new normal, she isn’t getting any closer to her ideal of being behind the camera herself. When a superstar actress takes Lucy under her wing and teaches her the way of the ever so glamorous LA culture, Lucy becomes enamored with what she thinks is a life that will make her happy and loses sight of the things that once mattered most. Featuring wardrobes personally selected by celebrity stylist Robert Verdi, this is a novel that will keep you guessing and introduce you to a world you know exists; you’ve just never seen it un-retouched.
Email Jessica.Butler@us.penguingroup.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Berkley!
EVEL KNIEVEL DAYS by Pauls Toutonghi
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Fiction list can expect a large mailing at the end of May for EVEL KNIEVEL DAYS by Pauls Toutonghi, courtesy of Random House.
Khosi Saqr has always felt a bit out of place. Butte, Montana, is a somewhat homogenous town, and Khosi—half Egyptian, full of nervous habits, raised by a single mother, owner of a name that no one can pronounce—sticks out dramatically. His only solace is his work at the Copper King Mansion Museum, the former home of his ancestor, copper baron William Andrews Clark, and his deep bond with (and unrequited love for) his best friend, Natasha. But after Natasha gets engaged to her longtime boyfriend and Khosi’s mother announces that she has finally, after twenty years, divorced his father, Khosi decides that it is time to make the leap: he goes to Cairo to find his father and connect to his heritage in a way he’s never been able to before.
Review this book on GoodReads with your thoughts or email Danielle Crabtree at dcrabtree@randomhouse.com. Thanks, Random House!
DREAMLESS by Josephine Angelini
HarperCollins Children’s Books is haunting the YPG Little Big Mouth YA list with a new title this spring. Keep your eyes peeled for DREAMLESS by Josephine Angelini (the intricate and spellbinding sequel to her internationally bestselling debut novel Starcrossed).
Can true love be forgotten? As the only scion who can descend into the Underworld, Helen Hamilton has been given a nearly impossible task. By night she wanders through Hades, trying to stop the endless cycle of revenge that has cursed her family. By day she struggles to overcome the fatigue that is rapidly eroding her sanity. Without Lucas by her side, Helen is not sure she has the strength to go on.
Just as Helen is pushed to her breaking point, a mysterious new Scion comes to her rescue. Funny and brave, Orion shields her from the dangers of the Underworld. But time is running out—a ruthless foe plots against them, and the Furies’ cry for blood is growing louder. As the ancient Greek world collides with the mortal one, Helen’s sheltered life on Nantucket descends into chaos. But the hardest task of all will be forgetting Lucas Delos.
Email your comments to quotes@harpercollins.com. Thanks, HarperCollins!
ARISE by Tara Hudson
In a joint social media giveaway with another paranormal title, HarperCollins is haunting the YPG Little Big Mouth YA list with Tara Hudson’s book ARISE (the enthralling sequel to her debut Hereafter).
Increasingly worried that dark spirits will carry out their threats and hurt the people she cares for most, Amelia is ready to try anything to protect them. And for his own very different reasons, Joshua has come to the New Orleans Saint Louis Number One Cemetery at midnight to join her in a powerful ritual. Both know that once Amelia steps inside the Voodoo circle and the beautiful girl from the Conjure Café begins the ceremony, everything will be different, because a night in this cemetery can change a life…or a death. Arise escalates the danger and excitement of Hudson’s series, bringing a new dimension to her already mesmerizing story of a haunted love.
A limited number of ARCs will be given to YPG members interested in this ghost romance, perfect for fans of Hush, Hush and Beautiful Creatures. Email your comments to: quotes@harpercollins.com. Thanks, HarperCollins!
STRANGE FLESH by Michael Olson
Simon & Schuster is about to instill deep fear into the YPG Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list with their April mailing of STRANGE FLESH by Michael Olson.
If The Social Network was sexier, if Ready Player One forgot its safe words, if The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a boy—you’d have Strange Flesh, the most seductive, high-tech, high-octane literary thriller about alternate reality games and virtual sex ever written. One bookseller declared it “a deliciously depraved literary homage to de Sade masquerading in a decidedly twenty-first century skin.” It’s 120 Days of Sodom as adapted by Neal Stephenson; Stieg Larsson by way of Bret Easton Ellis, Never Let Me Go meets Penthouse Forum. This is a story about sex and games. But it is also a story about brothers and sisters; fathers and sons; love, lust, betrayal, and revenge; gruesome deaths; performance art; and secretive virtual gamers who are developing the Holy Grail of VR technology: teledildonics. It’s about the fast-approaching age that conjures new forms of decadent excess, about intimate fantasies hard wired into the human mind. Strange Flesh is audacious, sexy, and suspenseful, and it will not disappoint. But it might make you blush.
Visit www.StrangeFlesh.net for more information, and email Senior Publicity Manager Kelly Welsh (kelly.welsh@simonandschuster.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
I NEVER PROMISED YOU A GOODIE BAG by Jennifer Gilbert
A select portion of YPG’s Little Big Mouth Fiction list are soon to receive HarperCollins’ new memoir I NEVER PROMISED YOU A GOODIE BAG by Jennifer Gilbert in an April mailing.
A warm, wise, and wholly original memoir of survival, renewal, and transformation, by one of New York City’s most successful and respected special-events coordinators. With her top-level events company, Save the Date, Jennifer Gilbert has worked with Fortune 500 companies, broadcast media giants, international nonprofit organizations, and celebrities from Oprah Winfrey to Bill Gates and beyond. Yet few of her clients or colleagues have known, until now, that Jennifer is not only a self-made success, she’s also a survivor. After a random, near-fatal attack left her body in critical condition on a crowded city street, and left her with emotional wounds that would take years to heal, Jennifer embarked upon a journey to reclaim her life. This is her story, in her own words: I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag, an intimate, poignant, inspiring memoir of perseverance, rediscovery, and hope.
Email Daneille Plafsky (Danielle.Plafsky@harpercollins.com) with your thoughts and comments. If you missed this mailing, keep your eyes peeled for a YPG Social Media giveaway of this title as well! Thanks, HarperCollins.
THE DEFINING DECADE by Meg Jay, Ph.D.
Twelve Books (an imprint of Hachette Book Group) is blasting our Little Big Mouth Nonfiction and Business lists this April with a YPG-relevant title called THE DEFINING DECADE: WHY YOUR TWENTIES MATTER—AND HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF THEM NOW by Meg Jay, Ph.D.
Our “thirty-is-the-new-twenty” culture tells us the twentysomething years don’t matter. Some say they are a second adolescence, others call them an emerging adulthood. Dr. Meg Jay’s clinical research proves that the twentysomething years are much more important than general, or popular, wisdom might lead us to believe. Drawing from years of personal experience working with college students, graduate students, and young professionals, Dr. Jay provides readers with a unique guide to maximizing the twenties decade for a lifetime of success. This provocative read explains how work, relationships, personality, social networks, identity, and even the brain can change more during this decade than at any other time in adulthood–if the time is used wisely.is a smart, compassionate, and constructive book about the years we cannot afford to miss.
Email Tony Forde (tony.forde@hbgusa.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Twelve Books!
AN UNCOMMON EDUCATION by Elizabeth Percer
Get your quill pens and ink pots ready this May! For fans of Prep, Dead Poets Society, and Special Topics in Calamity Physics, HarperCollins is about to hit the YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list with AN UNCOMMON EDUCATION by Elizabeth Percer.
This elegant and remarkably insightful coming-of-age debut tells the story of how a young woman’s serendipitous discovery of her college’s underground Shakespeare Society leads to an unforgettable series of transformations. When Naomi finds herself among “the Shakes” at Wellesley, she finally lets herself embrace the passionate inner self she’s always kept locked away. But when a sudden scandal unfolds, she will be forced to learn the limits of the relationships that have sustained her. An intimate and enthralling narrative, Elizabeth Percer’s debut novelmarks the emergence of a stunning new literary talent.
Email Daneille Plafsky (Danielle.Plafsky@harpercollins.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, HarperCollins!
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL GUIDE TO BUILDING YOUR CAREER by Jennifer Merritt
This March, Three Rivers Press (Random House) did a mailing of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL GUIDE TO BUILDING YOUR CAREER by former Wall Street Journal Careers Editor Jennifer Merritt to one hundred lucky members of our YPG Little Big Mouth Business list.
Are you looking for a mere job—the kind where you do virtually the same thing day after day, year after year and spend the hours counting down the minutes until the clock hits 5 p.m.? Or are you looking for a career—the kind that engages your interests and passions, constantly presents new and exciting opportunities and challenges, and allows you to grow, personally and professionally? Drawing on advice from industry experts, career coaches, and ordinary people who’ve made the climb themselves, Merritt offers insider tips for landing and moving up in the kind of job that’s not just about earning a paycheck, but about realizing your ambitions and achieving the kind of success you always dreamed of. Learn how to: select and nab that important career-launching college internship; ace your first interview and blow them away in the second round; navigate the unwritten rules of any office culture; negotiate, tastefully and successfully, for the salary your skills are worth; get that critical promotion when you’re at the peak of your learning curve; choose the mentor (or mentors) who can best help you achieve your goals; and leap ahead of other high achievers racing you to the top.
Please contact Lisa Erickson (lerickson@randomhouse.com) with all thoughts and comments. Thanks, Three Rivers Press!
MERCHANTS OF CULTURE: THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY by John B. Thompson
Here’s a title that’s relevant to everyone in YPG, whether non-fiction is your preferred genre or not: Plume Books (Penguin) is doing a spring giveaway through Little Big Mouth of MERCHANTS OF CULTURE: THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY by John B. Thompson, media expert and professor of sociology at the University of Cambridge.
Books not only reflect public opinion but they help define it, giving literary agents and publishers key roles in the shaping of our culture. Yet, while the publishing industry has been an influential part of our world since the fifteenth century, outsiders know very little about it. In Merchants of Culture, Thompson dissects the publishing process and the complex roles of publishers, agents, and booksellers in the United States and Britain, charting their transformation since the 1960s. Offering a comprehensive look at the industry today and a behind-the-scenes view of the inner workings of the publishing industry and the forces driving change within it, Merchants of Culture explores such topics as the rise of literary agents, the emergence of publishing corporations, the rise of Amazon, the decline of independent book stores, the self-publishing movement, the hunt for big books and future bestsellers, e-books and the digital revolution, and the future of publishing.
Please email Mary Pomponio (mary.pomponio@us.penguingroup.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Plume!
CURSES!: A F***ED-UP FAIRYTALE by J.A. Kazimer
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Fiction list, get ready to laugh. Kensington Publishing is doing a March mailing of CURSES!: A F***ED-UP FAIRYTALE by J.A. Kazimer.
An irreverent mix of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Shrek—but for adults only!—Curses! puts a new spin on classic fairytales and nursery rhymes with slapstick humor, a fun mystery, and characters that only a fairy godmother could love. When Cinderella is run over by a New Never City bus, her not-so-ugly stepsister, Asia, suspects murder. She hires RJ, a private eye, to investigate, but little does she know RJ is actually a villain on mental health leave from the Villain’s Union. Cursed with an inability to say no to damsels in distress, RJ travels to the Kingdom of Maledetto, meets the rest of Cinderella’s family, and dodges bullets, explosions, fires, and his own ex-wife to slip his version of glass handcuffs on the wrists that fit. All while falling for Asia, who has a freaky little curse of her own.
Email Peter Senftleben (psenftleben@kensingtonbooks.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Kensington Publishing!
GONE GIRL
by Gillian Flynn
The YPG Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list is about to get a nerve-fraying thriller from Random House: GONE GIRL by New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn, one of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time.
Marriage can be a real killer. On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick Dunne’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but hearing from Amy through flashbacks in her diary reveal the perky perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media, the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one they love. Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was left in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
Email Danielle Crabtree (dcrabtree@randomhouse.com) with your thoughts and comments, or review this book on Goodreads here. Thanks, Random House!
GRACE by T. Greenwood
Kensington Publishing is sending GRACE by T. Greenwood to our YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list this March.
Every family photograph hides a story, and for thirteen-year-old Trevor Kennedy, taking photos helps make sense of his fractured world. Trevor knows he can count on his little sister Gracy’s unconditional love and his art teacher’s encouragement. But none of that compensates for the bullying he has endured at school for as long as he can remember. Where Trevor once silently tolerated the jabs and name-calling, now anger surges through him in ways he’s powerless to control, and he will be pushed to the breaking point with shattering, unforeseeable consequences. T. Greenwood’s extraordinary novels, deftly combining lyrical prose with heartrending subject matter, have earned her acclaim as a “family-damage specialist” (Kirkus Reviews). In Grace, she explores one year in a family poised to implode, and the imperfect love that may be its only salvation.
Email Peter Senftleben (psenftleben@kensingtonbooks.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Kensington Publishing!
THE HUNGER PAINS: A PARODY by The Harvard Lampoon
In new and inspired LBM giveaway, Simon & Schuster is giving free copies of its clever parody THE HUNGER PAINS to all attendees of the YPG Hunger Games Trivia Night on Tuesday, March 20. From the legendary comedic scholars who illuminated the tour de force Twilight so brilliantly in the New York Times best-selling Nightlight comes The Hunger Pains, a hilarious send-up of the immensely popular dystopian young adult novel, The Hunger Games.
Winning means wealth, fame, and a life of therapy; losing means death, but also fame! This is the Hunger Pains. When Kantkiss Neverclean replaces her sister as a contestant on the Hunger Games—the second-highest-rated reality TV show in Peaceland, behind Extreme Home Makeover—she has no idea what to expect. Having lived her entire life in the telemarketing district’s worst neighborhood, the Crack, Kantkiss feels unprepared to fight to the death while simultaneously winking and looking adorable for the cameras. But when her survival rests on choosing between the dreamy hunk from home, Carol Handsomestein, or the doughy klutz, Pita Malarkey, Kantkiss discovers that the toughest conflicts may not be found on the battlefield but in her own heart . . . which is unfortunately on a battlefield.
Sign up for the trivia night HERE and pick up a copy at the event. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer A. Neilsen
Lose the game. Lose your life. Scholastic and This Is Teen are mailing over 300 copies of THE FALSE PRINCE to the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list this March!
The False Prince is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end. In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point—he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well. As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold until finally a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together. The False Prince is an extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, with lies and deadly truths that will have YPG readers clinging to the edge of their seats.
Check out the video HERE, and email bookgiveaways@scholastic.com with your thoughts and comments. Become a fan at www.facebook.com/thisisteen and follow @this_is_teen for more info. Thanks, Scholastic and This Is Teen!
YOU’RE NOT DOING IT RIGHT by Michael Ian Black
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Memoir list is chuckling at their desks, thanks to Simon & Schuster’s late February mailing of YOU’RE NOT DOING IT RIGHT by Michael Ian Black.
Darkly humorous and told with raw honesty, the book takes on Michael’s childhood, his marriage, his children, and his career with unexpected candor and deadpan wit in this funny-because-it’s-true essay collection. He shares the neuroses that have plagued him since childhood and how they shaped him into the man he is today. Stories include: how his lesbian feminist mother raised him to be a tough but sensitive New Seventies Man like Alan Alda; how his camp girlfriend dumped him for a guy nicknamed Taco; how he backed into marrying his wife by breaking up with her first; how he is completely undone by hearing a Creed song on the radio on the eve of becoming a father; and how he learned to use Santa Claus as a “Bad Cop” threat to control his kids year-round. From the comedian who brought you Stella and The State, Michael Ian Black says the kinds of things you’re afraid to admit. Here he is: naked, exposed, a little chilly, and understandably shriveled.
Check out the video HERE, and email Natalie Ebel (Natalie.ebel@simonandschuster.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Simon & Schuster!
THE UNCANNY X-MEN: AN ORIGIN STORY
Disney is shaking up the YPG Little Big Mouth Children’s/YA list in February with a mailing of THE UNCANNY X-MEN: AN ORIGIN STORY, the explosive, action-packed origin of the well-known Marvel Super Hero team, the X-Men.
Based on the original comic books, Uncanny X-Men begins when Professor X is just a child, when he was simply Charles, who realizes he is different from the other kids but is not quite sure why. Soon he learns about his mutant ability as well as people who hate mutants because they feel threatened by their powers. Despite the hatred Charles encounters, he still has a dream for humans and mutants to live together in peace. Sworn to protect a world that fears them, an extraordinary band of mutants including Cyclops, Wolverine, and Storm join Professor X to fulfill his dream and rid the world of violence against man . . . or mutant. This storybook features 48 pages of stunning artwork. Other origin storybooks in the series include The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Courageous Captain America, and more.
Please contact the Disney Publishing Publicity team (DPW.Publicity@disney.com) with your thoughts and feedback. Thanks, Disney!
Atria Books (Simon & Schuster) is piquing the interest of the YPG Little Big Mouth Mystery/Thriller list with a mesmerizing February mailing of Alex Adam’s WHITE HORSE.
White Horse is Cormac McCarthy’s The Road crossed with Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games. In it, Alex Adams tells the story of Zoe, a seemingly ordinary woman living an ordinary life who is forced to make extraordinary choices. As everyone around Zoe begins to disappear, and the president of the United States announces that humans are no longer a viable species, Zoe must make her way across the world to Greece to find the father of her unborn child against the backdrop of a shockingly changed world. A debut novel and first in a trilogy, White Horse is a story of what happens when there’s a distinct “Then” and “Now”; when we must struggle to retain our very humanity when hope seems all but lost.
Email atriafeedback@simonandschuster.com with your thoughts and comments and visit www.atria-books.com, www.facebook.com/AtriaBooks, or follow http://twitter.com/AtriaBooks for more info. Thanks, Atria!
HORTEN’S MIRACULOUS MECHANISMS by Lissa Evans
Sterling Children’s Books is delighting the YPG Children’s and YA Little Big Mouth list this February with middle-grade novel HORTEN’S MIRACULOUS MECHANISMS by Lissa Evans.
As if being small and having S. Horten as his name isn’t bad enough, ten-year-old Stuart is forced to move far away from all his friends. But on his very first day in his new home, Stuart is swept up in an extraordinary adventure: the quest to find his great-uncle Tony—a famous magician who literally disappeared off the face of the earth—and Tony’s marvelous, long-lost workshop. In order to find the place, Stuart must believe the unbelievable while dodging the annoyingly prying eyes of his triplet neighbors, April, May, and June and avoiding his weird parents. A perfectly paced and smartly written page-turner, Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms gives readers clues to follow, puzzles to solve, and will undoubtedly enchant middle-grade readers and YPG readers alike.
Email Katie Connors (kconnors@sterlingpublishing.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Sterling!
THE BEDLAM DETECTIVE by Stephen Gallagher
YPG’s Mystery/Thriller Little Big Mouth list is about to be haunted by a Crown Publishers mailing of ARCs of THE BEDLAM DETECTIVE by Stephen Gallagher this February.
Sebastian Becker lives in England. From a basement office in London’s notorious Bethlehem Hospital, he investigates wealthy eccentrics whose dubious mental health may render them unable to manage their own affairs. His arrival in the rural countryside to interview rich landowner Sir Owain Lancaster, whose sanity has been in question since a disastrous scientific adventure in the Amazon killed his family and colleagues, coincides with the disappearance of two young local girls. When the children are found slain, Lancaster claims that the same dark forces that devastated his family have followed him home. It is not the first time that children have come to harm in this town. Becker must determine whether Lancaster is insane and a murderer, or if some even more sinister agency is at work. From dank asylums to the lush and treacherous Amazon, through the makeshift studios of the early film industry and a traveling fair of freaks and illusions, Becker’s search for answers brings him face to face with madmen and monsters, both imagined and real. Confronting immense danger in his hunt for the truth, he will explore murder, tragedy, and the tempestuous depths of his own mind.
Email Katie Conneally (kconneally@randomhouse.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown Publishers!
THE COINCIDENCE ENGINE by Sam Leith
Get excited, because a select mailing from Crown Publishers is about to hit our YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list this February!
A hurricane sweeps the Gulf of Mexico and, in the backcountry of Alabama, assembles a passenger jet out of old bean cans and junkyard waste. This piques the interest of the enigmatic Directorate of the Extremely Improbable. Their fascination with this random event sets into motion a madcap caper that will bring together a hilarious cast of characters, including an eccentric mathematician, last heard of investigating the physics of free will; a lovelorn Cambridge postgraduate who has set off to America with a ring in his pocket and hope in his heart; and a member of the Directorate with no capacity for imagination. What ensues is a chaotic chase across a fully realized, hyper-real America, haunted by madness, murder, mistaken identity, and conspiracy. THE COINCIDENCE ENGINE is a lively, boisterous debut that heralds the arrival of a major new talent.
Email Katie Conneally (kconneally@randomhouse.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Crown Publishers!
CHOPSTICKS by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral
Get ready to fall in love. Penguin Young Readers Group is doing a February mailing of CHOPSTICKS by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral to the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list!
Glory is a piano prodigy. After her mother died, she retreated into her music. Her father raised her with the goal of playing sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall and across the globe. Brilliant and lonely, Glory is drawn to Frank, who moves in next door. She loses herself in his paintings and drawings, mix CDs and late-night IM conversations. Soon, Frank becomes both her connection to the world and her escape from reality. Before long Glory is unable to play anything but the song “Chopsticks”; F and G notes moving together and farther apart. Now, Glory has disappeared. But nothing is what is seems. And we must decide what is real, what is imagined, and what has been madness all along. “Reading Chopsticks is like watching people kiss in the street: it’s private, it’s beautiful, it’s lonely, it’s wild, it’s secret, it’s everywhere and you can’t look away” (Daniel Handler, author of Why We Broke Up).
Chopsticks is a book, an app, a website, a love story, and a collage of original drawings, objects, text, sound, and video. Email YRMarketing@us.penguingroup.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Penguin!
THE CATASTROPHIC HISTORY OF YOU AND ME by Jess Rothenberg
Last year the author of THE CATASTROPHIC HISTORY OF YOU AND ME, Jess Rothenberg, was a YPG member who worked in editorial at Razorbill, and now Penguin Young Readers Group is sharing the love with a February mailing of her book to the YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list!
Brie’s life ends at sixteen: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn’t love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally. But now that she’s D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a secret about Jacob, the boy Brie loved and lost—and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there’s Patrick, Brie’s mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul…who just might hold the key to her forever after. With Patrick’s help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she’s ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?
Email YRMarketing@us.penguingroup.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Penguin Young Readers Group!
THE DEMI-MONDE: WINTER by Rod Rees
The YPG Little Big Mouth Young Adult list is getting the chills this February with a William Morrow/HarperCollins mailing of haunting dystopian steampunk novel THE DEMI-MONDE: WINTER by Rod Rees.
The Demi-Monde: Winter is the first installment in a gripping, brilliantly imagined series about a virtual world dominated by history’s most terrifying villains, and the one young woman who will risk everything to stop them. In the year 2018, the Demi-Monde is the most sophisticated, complex, and unpredictable computer simulation ever created, devised specifically to train soldiers for the nightmarish reality of urban warfare. Its thirty million inhabitants are ruled by cyber-duplicates of some of history’s cruelest tyrants: a fanatical Nazi butcher, Stalin’s arch executioner, the torture-loving Grand Inquisitor, and the Reign of Terror’s bloodthirsty mastermind. But something has gone horribly wrong inside the Demi-Monde, and the U.S. president’s daughter, Norma, has been lured into this terrifying shadow world, only to be trapped there. Her last hope of rescue is 18-year-old jazz singer Ella Thomas. But when Ella infiltrates the Demi-Monde, she soon discovers the walls containing the evils of this simulated environment are dissolving—and the Real World is in far more danger than anyone knows. “If Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson, James Rollins, and Clive Cussler participated in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, the result might be something akin to the dark and ingenious madness of Rees’s The Demi-Monde: Winter.”—Book Reporter.com
Click here for more info. Email Kimberly Chocolaad at kimberly.chocolaad@harpercollins.com with questions and comments. Thanks, HarperCollins!
EMBRACE by Jessica Shirvington
Sourcebooks Fire is sending a scintillating new YA title to our YPG Little Big Mouth list this February. EMBRACE by Jessica Shirvington, starts with a whisper: “It’s time for you to know who you are…”
Violet Eden dreads her seventeenth birthday. After all, it’s hard to get too excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother’s death. As if that wasn’t enough, disturbing dreams haunt her sleep and leave her with very real injuries, and there’s a dark tattoo weaving its way up her arms that wasn’t there before. Violet is determined to get some answers, but nothing could have prepared her for the truth. The guy she thought she could fall in love with has been keeping his identity a secret: he’s only half-human—oh, and same goes for her. A centuries-old battle between fallen angels and the protectors of humanity has chosen its new warrior. It’s a fight Violet doesn’t want, but she lives her life by two rules: don’t run and don’t quit. When angels seek vengeance and humans are the warriors, you could do a lot worse than betting on Violet Eden…
Visit www.embracetheseries.com for more info on the series, and email fellow YPG member Aubrey Poole (aubrey.poole@sourcebooks.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Sourcebooks!
172 HOURS ON THE MOON by Johan Harstad
The YPG Little Big Mouth YA list is getting ARCs this week from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, in a book by Norwegian author Johan Harstad called 172 HOURS ON THE MOON (2008 Brage Prize, Children’s Literature).
It’s been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. But three teenagers are about to change that—and their lives—forever. Mia knows this will be her punk band’s ticket to fame and fortune. Midori believes it’s her way out of her restrictive lifestyle in Japan. Antoine just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime…but little do they know that something sinister is waiting for them on the dark side of the moon. And in the black vastness of space, no one is coming to save them.
Email with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers!
THE DRUNK DIET: HOW I LOST 40 POUNDS… WASTED by Lüc Carl
Just in time for the holidays, St. Martin’s Press is giving a fantastic gift to the YPG Little Big Mouth Non-fiction list: THE DRUNK DIET: How I Lost 40 Pounds…Wasted by Lüc Carl.
This memoir is a beer-soaked tale of a long-haired, leather-clad rock ’n roll party-maker who transformed a whiskey-and-5:00AM-cheeseburger lifestyle into a wildly successful weight-loss regime. Three years ago, Lüc Carl was a chubby rock ’n roller with a penchant for partying and Chinese food, but the long, late hours and the barfly life had made him forty-pounds overweight and completely out of shape. After reading countless fitness books and being told time and again that it’s impossible to lose weight while drinking alcohol, he decided to take matters into his own hands. (He could give up the cheeseburgers, the cigarettes, the soda, but don’t take away his booze!) Full of charismatic wit and insane stories about his life, The Drunk Diet is a mix of memoir and advice: laugh and be inspired while he takes you along on his hilarious journey to become healthier and fitter while having a good time, ALL the time.
Email Brittney Kleinfelter with your thoughts and comments (brittney.kleinfelter@stmartins.com). Thanks, St. Martin’s Press!
The YPG Little Big Mouth YA list got a treat this November 2011 with a mailing of CINDER, the first novel in The Lundar Chronicles by debut author Marissa Meyer, and the biggest book ever published at Feiwel and Friends (an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group).
Cinder is a fresh, fierce take on Cinderella that is a little bit fairy tale, little bit Terminator, and totally original. Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
Become a fan at https://www.facebook.com/lunarchronicles. Email Ksenia Winnicki (ksenia.winnicki@macmillan.com) with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, Feiwel and Friends!
PASSION AND PURPOSE by John Coleman, Daniel Gulati, and W. Oliver Segovia
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Business list is getting a rare treat with a November mailing of Passion And Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Business Leaders from the Harvard Business Review.
In Passion and Purpose, dozens of recent Harvard Business School MBAs share powerful, candid accounts of their success and setbacks, personal dilemmas, and reflections on what they have learned in just a short time out in the world. Written by John Coleman, Daniel Gulati, and W. Oliver Segovia, with a foreword by Bill George, the book presents the vivid stories of experiences, from launching start-ups in Boston to taking on the family business in India; from teaching debate in the Arabian Gulf to helping rebuild war-torn Rwanda; from striving for gender equality in the workplace to helping people bring their “whole selves” to work. PASSION AND PURPOSE delivers a “crowd sourced” look at leadership from young leaders who are finding passion and purpose in their profession and reimagining the future of business and leadership.
Email Nina Nocciolino (nnocciolino@hbr.org) with your thoughts and comments.
SHATTER ME by Tahereh Mafi
YPG’s YA Little Big Mouth List is about to get an adrenaline shot, courtesy of HarperCollins, with an October mailing of SHATTER ME by Tahereh Mafi.
No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has plans on her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she’s finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she’d lost forever. In this electrifying debut filled with pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as the Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as the X-Men. HarperCollins is thrilled to be sharing advanced copies of this compelling read with the YPG.
After reading, email editor Tara Weikum at tara.weikum@harpercollins.com with your thoughts, comments, and reviews!
THE PROBABILITY OF MIRACLES by Wendy Wunder
Months ahead of its publication date, the YPG Little Big Mouth list for Young Adult titles got advanced readers copies of Penguin Young Readers Group’s THE PROBABILITY OF MIRACLES by Wendy Wunder.
After exhausting every medical outlet, Cam knows that her cancer has made the hope of a normal life not an option. But just when she’s ready to throw in the towel, her mother picks the whole family up and moves them cross-country to Promise, Maine, a place known for its mystical healing powers and very good looking boys. Cam, a die-hard non-believer, isn’t buying it no matter how hard her family tries. But the longer she spends in Promise, the more Cam learns to believe in many things she never used to – including herself.
Email YRMarketing@us.penguingroup.com with your thoughts and comments and don’t forget to check out the Probability of Miracles on Facebook: Facebook.com/ProbabilityofMiracles. Thanks, Penguin!
NEGROPEDIA by Patrice Evans
The YPG’s Little Big Mouth Non-fiction list is cracking open copies of NEGROPEDIA by Patrice Evans this September, courtesy of Three Rivers Press at Random House.
Evans is The Assimilated Negro, a hyperobservant, savagely pop-savvy instigator bent on pranking the crap out of our modern racial discourse. Since the debut of his popular “Ghetto Pass” column for Gawker.com, Evans has been the rare voice capable of speaking to junkies for both White Castle and Colson Whitehead with equal insight and aplomb. His first book, NEGROPEDIA, is a wide-ranging, deeply idiosyncratic tour through the tricky racial landscape of the Obama era, aimed at pop-culture consumers at the intersecting fan bases of South Park and Chappelle’s Show, Scott Pilgrim and The Boondocks. Whether deconstructing Lil Wayne’s “no homo hypocrisy,” outlining the all-important Clair Huxtable code for finding a mate, or assessing Susan Sontag’s street cred, Evans provides a stream of daring outsider anthropology.
Email Jonathan Lazzara at jlazzara@randomhouse.com with your thoughts, deep feelings, and angry tirades! Thanks, Three Rivers Press!
THE ART OF FIELDING by Chad Harbach
Batter’s up for the YPG Little Big Mouth Fiction list with Hachette Book Group’s August mailing of THE ART OF FIELDING by Chad Harbach.
At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for the big leagues. Then a routine throw goes disastrously off course and the fates of five people are upended. Henry’s life purpose is called into question and his roommate, teammate, team captain, college president, and president’s daughter all find themselves facing new challenges. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, they each must confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets and help one another to discover their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about the bonds of family and friendship and love, and about the commitment—to oneself and to others.
Contact marketing@hbgusa.com with your reviews and comments. Thank you, Hachette, for using our Little Big Mouth list!
ENVY by Gregg Olsen
In an August mailing from Sterling’s Splinter imprint, the Young Adult Little Big Mouth list got a chilling new book called ENVY, the first in Gregg Olsen’s Empty Coffin series.
Envy opens with the tragic and mysterious death of the twins’ old friend, Katelyn. Hayley and Taylor aren’t convinced that Katelyn committed suicide, as her death had been deemed by the medical examiner, and they are determined to find out what really happened to her. As they investigate, they stumble upon a dark truth that is far more disturbing than they ever could have imagined, and they uncover a long-held and spine-chilling secret about their own past in the process. Based on a shocking true crime about cyber-bullying and populated with quirky teens that YA readers will totally relate to, Envy takes readers to the edge—and then right over it.
For more information, visit www.emptycoffinseries.com.
HOT PROPERTY by Michele, Samantha and Sabrina Kleier
YPG’s Little Big Mouth Women’s List got a jolt of excitement in August with a HarperCollins mailing of HOT PROPERTY by Michele, Samantha and Sabrina Kleier.
The stars of HGTV’s Selling New York let fans step inside the high-profile world of Manhattan real estate in a wild and one-of-a-kind novel of stormy egos, sumptuous homes, and staggering fame and fortune: HOT PROPERTY. Michele Kleier and her daughters Sabrina and Samantha are no strangers to the high-stakes Manhattan market, with clients that have included Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, Katie Couric, Barbra Streisand, Diane Keaton, Dustin Hoffman, and Al Pacino. Now, in HOT PROPERTY, the irrepressible first ladies of New York City real estate offer an inside look at what it takes to manage a successful real estate business, find love, and build a family—and all the razor-sharp humor and drama in between.
Email Danielle.Plafsky@harpercollins.com with your thoughts and comments. Thanks, HarperCollins!
A BEAUTIFUL DARK by Jocelyn Davies
As an exciting offshoot of our traditional Little Big Mouth mailings, HarperCollins is doing a July tweetstakes giveaway of 25 advanced copies of A Beautiful Dark, a fantastic new YA title by debut author (and fellow young New York City publishing professional!) Jocelyn Davies. Each galley will be signed by the author. Follow us on Twitter (@YoungtoPub) to win copy of the book.
Two enigmatic strangers are following Skye’s every move, and she has no idea why. In getting to know the two boys, she learns more about her past and faces a choice that will irrevocably change her future. Will she choose the power of the Dark, the power of the Light . . . or has the choice already been made for her? A Beautiful Dark is a captivating young adult angel romance, perfect for fans of Fallen and Hush, Hush.
Email editor Karen Chaplin (karen.chaplin@harpercollins.com) with your reviews and comments. Thanks, HarperCollins, for supporting YPG!
EVE by Anna Carey
This July, YPG’s Young Adult Little Big Mouth list is getting a taste of the next big title from HarperCollins: EVE by Anna Carey.
THE HUNGER GAMES meets THE HANDMAID’S TALE in EVE, a thrilling dystopian adventure set sixteen years after a deadly virus has wiped out most of the earth’s population. Evocative, romantic, and at times terrifying, this is the powerful first novel in an exciting new trilogy.
After reading EVE, email editor Sarah Landis (sarah.landis@harpercollins.com) with your reviews and comments.
THE MISTRESS’S REVENGE by Tamar Cohen
YPG’s Little Big Mouth women’s list got a deliciously sinister June mailing of ARCs for Simon & Schuster’s novel THE MISTRESS’S REVENGE by debut author Tamar Cohen.
When her five-year affair with the sexy television personality Clive Gooding abruptly ends, Sally Islip is devastated. But with Sally, Clive has made one fundamental mistake: he has chosen someone who has less to lose than he has, and Sally will have her revenge—no matter what the cost. Her mental state gradually unraveling, Sally stalks Clive online and off, keeping him on an agonizing knife-edge of fear of exposure. In return, he mobilizes his underworld contacts against her. How far is he prepared to go to silence the woman he once loved? What form will Sally’s obsessive revenge eventually take? Who actually has final control, and who will end up losing everything?
Fatal Attraction set in the era of Facebook, The Mistress’s Revenge is fiery passionate, engrossing, unsettling, manipulative, and graphic—in short, the perfect summer read. Visit www.mistressrevenge.com for more information, and email Claire Kelley at Claire.Kelley@simonandschuster.com with your thoughts and questions.
ALONG THE WATCHTOWER by Constance Squires
Penguin showed YPG the love this June! Our Little Big Mouth lists for Fiction and Women’s Fiction got advanced copies of ALONG THE WATCHTOWER, a debut novel by Constance Squires.
Set against the closing years of the Cold War, ALONG THE WATCHTOWER introduces the family of Army Major Collins, as told through the eyes of Lucinda Collins—the vibrant, headstrong eldest daughter. In spare, heart-wrenchingly beautiful prose, Squires offers us a rare glimpse into the experiences and sacrifices of an American military family—a powerful story that reveals what it really means to fight for the things we believe in and to defend the ones we love.
Email your thoughts and comments to Angela Januzzi at Angela.Januzzi@us.penguingroup.com. Thanks, Penguin!
A YOUNG WIFE: A NOVEL by Pam Lewis
In a June mailing from Simon & Schuster, YPG’s Little Big Mouth list for Women’s Fiction received advanced copies of A YOUNG WIFE by Pam Lewis.
Based on her own grandmother’s story, Pam Lewis’ A YOUNG WIFE is nothing short of epic. It follows fifteen-year-old Minke Van Aisma from her meager beginnings in 19th-century Amsterdam when she is sent to care for a dying women. Her fate is forever changed when her employer—a wealthy man with a questionable history—proposes marriage. We follow her unforgettable journey across three continents—from a life of opulence in Amsterdam, to rough living on the Argentine coast, to fighting poverty as an immigrant in New York City. She is forced to leave behind a kidnapped son in Argentina, but sets upon the arduous task of struggling to find the child and taking revenge on the people who orchestrated his abduction. This tale of love, betrayal, and redemption is a journey that no reader will forget.
Email your questions or feedback to marketing@simonandschuster.com.
THIS BURNS MY HEART: A NOVEL by Samuel Park
YPG Little Big Mouth Women’s Fiction list had a good month in June! Simon & Schuster sent out advanced copies of a lovely novel by Samuel Park to this list.
Set two decades after the Korean War, THIS BURNS MY HEART introduces an unforgettable heroine: Soo-Ja Choi. Beautiful and ambitious, Soo-Ja struggles to find happiness in a country where wives have no rights and mothers own nothing, where love remains elusive, and the only way to survive is to remember the lessons taught by the four tenets of Confucian tradition: perseverance, strength, loyalty, and grace. Those are the lessons that Soo-Ja must remember as she charts an ill-advised marriage, living in a household with her conniving in-laws. Through it all, Soo-Ja longs for her true love, the elusive doctor Yul, whose path Soo-Ja seems destined to cross again and again.
Email your questions or feedback to marketing@simonandschuster.com.
FRENCH LESSONS by Ellen Sussman
The YPG Little Big Mouth list for Women’s Fiction received a new title from Random House Publishing Group this June: FRENCH LESSONS by Ellen Sussman.
Josie, Riley, and Jeremy have come to the City of Light for different reasons: Josie, a young high school teacher, arrives in hopes of healing a broken heart. Riley, a spirited but lonely expat housewife, struggles to feel connected to her husband and her new country. And Jeremy, the reserved husband of a renowned actress, is accompanying his wife on a film shoot, yet he feels distant from her world. As they meet with their French tutors—Josie with Nico, a sensitive poet; Riley with Phillippe, a shameless flirt; and Jeremy with the consummately beautiful Chantal—each succumbs to unexpected passion and unpredictable adventures. Yet as they traverse Paris’s grand boulevards and intimate, winding streets, they uncover surprising secrets about one another—and come to understand long-buried truths about themselves.
Email RHPG@randomhouse.com, subject line “French Lessons,” with questions or feedback. Thanks for sharing with YPG, Random House!
TIGER’S QUEST by Colleen Houck
Splinter, an imprint of Sterling Children’s Books, did a May mailing to the YPG Little Big Mouth list of TIGER’S QUEST, the second book in Colleen Houck’s exciting trilogy.
The saga continues as Kelsey Hayes returns to Oregon, heartbroken and alone, and tries to pick up the pieces of her life and become an ordinary college student. But how can she forget about the dark secrets hidden in the jungles of India—and Ren, the tiger-prince she loved and left behind? When danger suddenly puts Ren in peril, Kelsey has no choice but to embark on another Indian quest, this time with Ren’s bad-boy brother, Kishan. Kelsey and Kishan must overcome impossible challenges to save Ren and find the second sacred gift of Durga’s prophecy. As the unlikely duo grows closer, Kelsey unlocks powers that could put her on the path to her destiny and bring an end to the Tiger’s curse. But time is running out. Ren’s life hangs in the balance—and so does the truth within Kelsey’s heart.
For more information on the series, please visit www.tigerscursebook.com. Email Meaghan Finnerty (mfinnerty@sterlingpublishing.com) with questions or feedback.
WAITING FOR SPRING by R.J. Keller
AmazonEncore continued to show our YPG Little Big Mouth Women’s list the love, with a second May mailing: a provocative, literary novel by R.J. Keller called WAITING FOR SPRING.
When a divorcee abandons her hometown for a small town in Maine, she discovers a world of kindred spirits that forces her to face the mistakes of the past in order to finally move forward. In this evocative novel, the protagonist, Tess Dyer—a woman who lives for art and love—gets the second chance that so many of us dream about. WAITING FOR SPRING is a dramatic debut novel that takes readers beyond the lighthouses and rocky beaches tourists visit and drops them instead into a rural Maine town where everyone must face their struggles with stubbornness and humor.
Email your thoughts and comments to encore-pr@amazon.com. Thanks again, AmazonEncore!
OUR KIND OF TRAITOR by John Le Carré
As part of its “Summer of Le Carré,” Penguin Books (USA) tapped YPG’s Mystery and Fiction lists in May for a YPG Little Big Mouth mailing of OUR KIND OF TRAITOR by John Le Carré. This novel, selected as a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, reveals Le Carré’s acute understanding of the world we live in and where power really lies.
In the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and with Britain on the brink of economic ruin, a young English couple takes a tennis vacation in Antigua where they meet Dima, a Russian who styles himself the world’s number one money-launderer. Back in London, the couple is subjected to an all-night interrogation by the British Secret Service who need their help. Their acquiescence will lead them on a precarious journey through Paris to a safe house in Switzerland, helpless pawns in a game of nations that reveals the unholy alliances between the Russian mafia, the City of London, the government, and competing factions of the British Secret Service.
For more information, please visit www.johnlecarre.com. Email questions or feedback to Shannon Twomey (Shannon.Twomey@us.penguingroup.com). Thanks for using our list, Penguin!
BETWEEN by Jessica Warman
Fasten your seatbelts, YPG Children’s/YA Little Big Mouthers, because thanks to a May mailing of Bloomsbury’s (Walker Books for Young Readers) new novel BETWEEN by Jessica Warman, you’re in for an exciting ride!
Elizabeth Valchar—pretty, popular, and perfect—wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family’s yacht, where she’d been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and what lies in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect—or innocent. Critically acclaimed author Jessica Warman brings readers along on a roller-coaster ride of a mystery, one that is also a heartbreaking character study, a touching romance, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go.
Send feedback or questions to editor Stacy Cantor Abrams at Stacy.Abrams@bloomsbury.com, and visit the author at www.jessicawarman.com.
WHY I LOVE SINGLEHOOD by Elisa Lorello and Sarah Girrell
To those of you on the YPG Little Big Mouth Women’s List, you can thank AmazonEncore for a fun new beach read, because WHY I LOVE SINGLEHOOD by Elisa Lorello and Sarah Girrell that came to you in a May mailing.
Eva Perino is single and proud of it. Owner of The Grounds, a coffee shop nestled in the heart of a college town, thirty-something Eva cherishes her comfortable life filled with quirky friends, a fun job, and no significant other. In fact, she’s so content to be on her own that she started a blog about it: “Why I Love Singlehood.” Yet when she hears the news of her ex-boyfriend’s engagement, her confidence in her single status takes a surprisingly hard hit. So begins Eva’s clumsy (and occasionally uproarious) search for love as she secretly joins an online dating site, tries her hand at speed-dating, and breaks her own rule by getting involved with one of The Grounds’ regulars. Soon Eva is forced to figure out exactly who—or what—is the true love of her life. Sparkling with warmth and wit, Why I Love Singlehood is a charming and insightful must-read for anyone—single or otherwise—who has ever been stymied by love.
Email your thoughts and comments to encore-pr@amazon.com. Thanks, AmazonEncore!
BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP by S. J. Watson
YPG’s Mystery/Thriller Little Big Mouth list got ready for some restless dreams in May, courtesy of HarperCollins’ May mailing! In BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP, a disturbing psychological thriller by debut novelist S. J. Watson, we follow amnesiac Christine as she desperately tries to uncover the truth about who she is…and who she can trust.
Every morning, Christine awakens beside a stranger in an unfamiliar bed, and every morning the man patiently explains that he is Ben, her husband, that she is forty-seven years old, and that an accident long ago damaged her ability to remember. In place of memories, Christine has a handful of pictures, a whiteboard in the kitchen, and a journal hidden in a closet. Inside the journal’s pages, the damaged woman has begun meticulously recording her daily events—sessions with her neuroscientist Dr. Nash, snippets of information that Ben shares, flashes of her former self that briefly, miraculously appear. But as the pages accumulate, inconsistencies begin to emerge, raising disturbing questions that Christine is determined to find answers to. And the more she pieces together the shards of her broken life, the closer she gets to the truth…and the more terrifying and deadly it is.
Email Danielle Plafsky (Danielle.Plafsky@harpercollins.com) with questions or feedback. And whether you’re on our list or not, visit http://www.facebook.com/beforeigotosleep.us to start reading the book now. Thank you, HarperCollins!
YOUR VOICE IN MY HEAD by Emma Forrest
Other Press has rocked the YPG Little Big Mouth Women’s Literature list with a new memoir by Emma Forrest called YOUR VOICE IN MY HEAD.
Lonely, in a dangerous cycle of self-harm and damaging relationships, British journalist Emma Forrest was twenty-two and living in New York City when she found herself in the chair of a slim, balding, patient and optimistic psychiatrist, Dr. R. Over the next decade, Dr. R. became her friend, her mentor and her life raft. Intensely moving, pervasively honest and disarmingly droll, YOUR VOICE IN MY HEAD (publication date: May 3, 2011) is the memoir of this time in young Emma Forrest’s life; it is a dazzling and devastating journey through obsessive love and heartbreak, self-destruction and self-discovery; and it is a love song to the psychiatrist who helped lift her from the wreckage that was her life. In a voice unlike any other, full of wit and wisdom, Emma Forrest explores breakdown and mania, but also the beauty of love—and the heartbreak of loss.
Email your thoughts and feedback to Sarah Reidy at sreidy@otherpress.com.com. Thank you, Other Press, for using our list!
THE MOMENT by Douglas Kennedy
The YPG Women’s Fiction list was delighted to receive Advanced Reading Copies of an April 2011 Little Big Mouth mailing of THE MOMENT by Douglas Kennedy from Atria Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster).
When Mr. Kennedy was honored to speak at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in San Diego, he described THE MOMENT in the following words: “To love is always to engage with the possibility of loss. No one ever escapes that conundrum. As Thomas says towards the end of the novel: “We are what has happened to us.” And what has happened to us is always bound up in that very profound human need for love. Which is why a love story, like the one I have just written, is always a story about the proverbial ‘heart of the matter’: all our needs and aspirations and desires and wants and fears. Everything that we have found. Everything that we have lost. Lost and found. Found and lost. That is truly the story of our lives.”
Share your comments about this love story with atriafeedback@simonandschuster.com.
A COURTESAN’S GUIDE TO GETTING YOUR MAN
By Celeste Bradley and Susan Donovan
YPG is steaming up! St. Martin’s Press sent out a Little Big Mouth mailing this April to our Women’s Fiction list that was guaranteed to sweep our readers away—across continents, centuries, and bedrooms. A COURTESAN’S GUIDE TO GETTING YOUR MAN by bestselling authors Celeste Bradley and Susan Donovan won’t be in stores until May 24, 2011, but YPG got a sneak peak.
Regency London’s most celebrated courtesan, The Blackbird, was a woman before her time—uninhibited, financially independent, and free to live by her own rules. Schooled in the sensual arts by the one man she loved the most, she recorded every wicked detail in her diaries. Centuries later, when Boston museum curator Piper Chase-Pierpont unearths The Blackbird’s steamy memoirs, she’s aroused and challenged by what she finds. Could the courtesan’s diaries be used as a modern girl’s guide to finding love and empowerment? One curious curator—and one very lucky man—are about to find out!
Send your questions or feedback to Eileen Rothschild at eileen.rothschild@stmartins.com.
WARM BODIES: A NOVEL by Isaac Marion
This April, Atria Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) sent YPG members from our Little Big Mouth Fiction list copies of WARM BODIES: A NOVEL by Isaac Marion. This debut novel has already been optioned for film by Summit Entertainment (the producers of Twilight) with Nicholas Hoult (A Single Man and MTV’s Skins) slated to star.
He’s a young man with an existential crisis. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. His ability to connect with the outside world is limited to a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. A chance meal gives R the opportunity to begin an awkward and strangely sweet romance with Julie, his victim’s human girlfriend. His decision to protect Julie has consequences for his fellow Dead and perhaps the whole lifeless world. Terrifying, romantic, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies explores what happens when the cold heart of a zombie is tempted by the warmth of human love, doing nothing short of completely reinventing the zombie genre in the process.
Sink your teeth into Warm Bodies (available on April 26, 2011), and send your comments to Hillary Tisman at atriafeedback@simonandschuster.com. Author blog: http://burningbuilding.blogspot.com/
Author twitter: @isaacinspace.
HALF A LIFE by Darin Strauss
Random House used YPG’s nonfiction Little Big Mouth list for a special Facebook giveaway and March mailing of HALF A LIFE, a memoir by the acclaimed novelist Darin Strauss.
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, HALF A LIFE is a searing look at a tragedy that just as easily could have happened to you or me. In his last month of high school, just after turning eighteen, Strauss was behind the wheel of his father’s Oldsmobile, driving with friends—having “thoughts of mini-golf, another thought of maybe just going to the beach.” Then out of the blue: a collision results in the death of a bicycling classmate that shadows the rest of his life. In spare and piercing prose, Darin Strauss explores loss and guilt, maturity and accountability, hope and acceptance—and the result is a staggering, uplifting tour de force.
ABANDON by Meg Cabot
As part of a February Little Big Mouth mailing, YPG members watched their inboxes for ABANDON, the latest YA novel from bestselling author Meg Cabot, and nothing like we’ve seen from her before. ABANDON is a modern-day retelling of the myth of Persephone, darkly reimagined, from Point (an imprint of Scholastic).
Seventeen-year-old Pierce knows what it’s like to die, because she’s done it before. Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can’t help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she’s never alone…because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back. But now she’s moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid. Only she can’t. Because even here, he finds her. That’s how desperately he wants her back. She knows he’s no guardian angel, and his dark world isn’t exactly heaven, yet she can’t stay away…especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most. But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.
She didn’t fall into his world. She was taken.
For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/abandonbooks and www.megcabot.com/abandon. Send questions or feedback to abandon@scholastic.com
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I TOTALLY MEANT TO DO THAT by Jane Borden
February brought YPG’s Little Big Mouth list for Women’s Fiction a real treat: I TOTALLY MEANT TO DO THAT by Jane Borden, from Broadway Paperbacks (an imprint of Random House).
Ever wonder what happens when a debutante from North Carolina moves to the Big Apple? After a genteel Southern upbringing in Greensboro, boarding school in Virginia, and college in Chapel Hill, Jane Borden struck out on her own for New York City. She fell instantly in love, but had a hard time getting the city to love her back. I TOTALLY MEANT TO DO THAT is a memoir of Borden’s transformation from Southern belle to Brooklyn hipster to something in between, and is also a love letter to the two homes she wanted and between which she ultimately had to choose. In this essay collection, she explores the fine line she walks between both identities and reveals the odd and hilarious culture clash between two very different worlds, the South and New York City, as she recounts her time spent as a secret-shopper helping to locate knockoff handbags in Chinatown, the summer she attended seven Southern weddings, the night she ended up watching two men wrestle in a dominatrix’s apartment under the Williamsburg Bridge, and much more.
Send your questions or feedback to Justina Batchelor at jbatchelor@randomhouse.com.
THE LOTUS EATERS by Tatjana Soli
In December 2010, St. Martin’s Press utilized the Little Big Mouth list to send copies of THE LOTUS EATERS by debut novelist Tatjana Soli to interested YPG members.
Soli spent ten years researching and writing this story of an American female photojournalist in Vietnam who is obsessed with the war and unable to quit the country that captivates her. The novel opens on April 28, 1975 with photographer Helen Adams running through the streets of Saigon toward the American Embassy alongside legendary photographer Sam Darrow’s Vietnamese assistant, desperate to reach the helicopters that can rescue them as the city falls. From there, the narrative goes back in time to tell the story of Helen’s twelve years in Vietnam, torn between two men, and her dangerous obsession with the violence of battle.
DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth
Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books, rocked the 2010 holidays for YPG’s Little Big Mouth list for Young Adult fiction by sending out ARCs of DIVERGENT by debut writer Veronica Roth.
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue: Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. When Beatrice must decide between staying with her family and being who she really is, she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. DIVERGENT follows Beatrice through the highly competitive initiation that follows, as she struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choices they have made. Together, they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences, and all the while, Beatrice holds onto a secret that may mean death.
Send questions or feedback to editor Molly O’Neill at molly.oneill@harpercollins.com or tweet her (@molly_oneill).
FALLING IN LOVE WITH ENGLISH BOYS by Melissa Jensen
In an early December 2010 mailing, Puffin Books (an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group) sent FALLING IN LOVE WITH ENGLISH BOYS by Melissa Jensen to our Little Big Mouth list. Here’s a synopsis:
Modern-day American teen Catherine Vernon is reluctantly spending the summer in London, bored out of her mind. Her boredom, however, is cut short when she stumbles upon the 1815 diary of Katherine Percival. When Cat meets William Percival (the dreamy descendant of Katherine), things begin to get very interesting indeed. Told as half carriage-and-ball gown Regency-era romance and half modern-day London chick lit in the vein of Bridget Jones, the book follows both women as they fall in love with English boys…and learn a little about life in the process.
ATTACHMENTS by Rainbow Rowell
A December 2010 YPG Big Mouth mailing from Penguin arrived just in time for the holidays, the Perfect-Take-A-Break-From-Work-Reading-Because-It’s-The-Holidays Book: ATTACHMENTS by Rainbow Rowell.
Let’s face it—we’ve all sent a few questionable, off-color, or even downright inappropriate emails to friends at work. But what if your company has hired someone to read and monitor your email?
This is the unfortunate job of Rainbow Rowell’s unconventional hero in her heart-warming and hilarious debut ATTACHMENTS (April 2011). Lincoln is an Internet security officer at a newspaper, paid to read and report emails that the company’s system flags as inappropriate. Beth and Jennifer, best friends and coworkers at The Courier, don’t bother censoring their written exchanges, so their emails often end up in Lincoln’s inbox. But instead of turning them in, he’s captivated by their witty and revealing conversations, and he begins to fall for Beth. Suddenly Lincoln finds himself in an awkward situation—how do you tell someone you love them when you’ve never even met?
For more information about ATTACHMENTS, check out its website: www.rainbowrowell.com
Send your feedback on ATTACHMENTS to Katherine Burns at Katherine.Burns@us.penguingroup.com.
LITTLE PRINCES by Conor Grennan
In a massive November 2010 mailing to our Little Big Mouth lists for Nonfiction, Travel, Current Affairs/Politics, Business, and Women’s Literature, William Morrow (an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) shared LITTLE PRINCES: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan with YPG members.
LITTLE PRINCES is a memoir about a young man who, at the start of his around-the-world trip, volunteered for three months at an orphanage in Nepal and was transformed by the experience. He quickly learned that the children were not actually parentless—they were trafficked. Yearning to help, Conor started Next Generation Nepal, a non-profit dedicated to reuniting trafficked children with their birth parents. Along the way, he met the love of his life (now his wife), made lifetime friends, climbed the Himalayas, and went through business school, but his true journey all began in a Third World orphanage.
For more information, check out www.harpercollins.com/ConorGrennan. Send questions or feedback to Tavia Kowalchuk at tavia.kowalchuk@harpercollins.com or connect with the author directly on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cgrennan.
TIGER’S CURSE by Colleen Houck
A mid-November 2010 Little Big Mouth mailing to YPG members interested in Young Adult fiction focused on TIGER’S CURSE by Colleen Houck. Following articles about the launch of Sterling Children’s Books’ new Splinter imprint in Publisher’s Weekly, GalleyCat, and ShelfAwareness, Sterling used YPG’s list to promote an exciting upcoming title.
TIGER’S CURSE is the first in a multi-book fantasy/romance series, with the second and third books to be published in June and November of 2011. In this story of love and adventure, Kelsey Hayes is an orphan who graduates high school and begins working at a circus. There, she meets a very mysterious tiger named Ren who is actually a human prince under a 300-year old curse. Torn between fear and desire, Kelsey is the only one able to break the curse, and together the pair braves a perilous quest halfway around the world in India.
For more information on the series, please visit www.tigerscursebook.com. Email Katie Connors (kconnors@sterlingpublishing.com) with questions or feedback.
THE THIEVES OF MANHATTAN by Adam Langer
The July 2010 mailing was Adam Langer’s The Thieves of Manhattan, a comic literary thriller about a fake memoir and a down-on-his luck writer who becomes embroiled in an elaborate confidence game to scam the publishing world. For more information, visit Adam Langer’s website or Random House’s book page.
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