Tag: #NetGalleyBooks

As you know from reading this blog I am a huge fan of PublishersLunch and their putting together their twice a year (Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter) Buzz Books for the upcoming book season because its a great way to hear and read sneak peeks of upcoming titles that are the buzz for the season that you might not know about. Its a great way to discover some hidden gems in the pile.

Well starting in January they started doing the exact same thing (with the twice a year Buzz Books) but along with that they are adding a monthly sneak peek that will offer six excerpts of books due out that month as well as a preview of the books coming out that month. How great is that?

The monthly buzz books consist of fiction, non fiction and young adult, along with books that are releasing week by week.

I thought that I would share with you some books that are being released this month that have peaked my interest:

Three women, haunted by the past and the secrets they hold

Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined—an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Hazards of Good Breeding.

Amid the ashes of Nazi Germany’s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once-grand castle of her husband’s ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resister murdered in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband’s brave conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow resistance widows.

First Marianne rescues six-year-old Martin, the son of her dearest childhood friend, from a Nazi reeducation home. Together, they make their way across the smoldering wreckage of their homeland to Berlin, where Martin’s mother, the beautiful and naive Benita, has fallen into the hands of occupying Red Army soldiers. Then she locates Ania, another resister’s wife, and her two boys, now refugees languishing in one of the many camps that house the millions displaced by the war.

As Marianne assembles this makeshift family from the ruins of her husband’s resistance movement, she is certain their shared pain and circumstances will hold them together. But she quickly discovers that the black-and-white, highly principled world of her privileged past has become infinitely more complicated, filled with secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart. Eventually, all three women must come to terms with the choices that have defined their lives before, during, and after the war—each with their own unique share of challenges.

The Women in the Castle is scheduled to be released March 28th, 2017

The Illusionist’s Apprentice is scheduled to be released March 7th, 2017

Find your perfect hero just in time for Valentine’s Day with a sneak peek at nine sizzling romances!

Whether you’re looking for an office romance with gorgeous Mr. Right, to be whisked away on a passionate island escape with a billionaire, or awaiting a full Texan ranch experience (complete with your very own cowboy), these alpha males are sure to make you swoon! So settle in for a wild ride with this free Valentine’s Day sampler featuring excerpts from nine new novels written by today’s hottest authors.

Featuring extended excerpts from:
•     Under Pressure by Lori Foster
•     Her Sweetest Fortunes by Stella Bagwell
•     Wild Horse Springs by Jodi Thomas
•     The Last Di Sione Claims His Prize by Maisey Yates
•     Rough & Tumble by Rhenna Morgan
•     Renegade’s Pride by B.J. Daniel
•     Two-Week Texas Seduction by Cat Schield
•     Dominate Me by Stacey Lynn
•     Red Clover Inn by Carla Neggers

I have to admit that whenever I am on NetGalley and I see sampler books available to read now I instantly download them. I love getting sneak peeks at upcoming books. Its nice to see Harlequin jumping into this as well.

If your a regular reader of my blog you will notice that I don’t tend to read and review a lot of romance and that’s a personal choice for me as I don’t tend to gravitate towards this genre of reading but I have to admit that after reading this sampler a few books have peeked my interest such as:

These books are all out and available to purchase online or at your favorite bookstore. I know I will be looking for these books.

Do any of these books interest you? What will you be reading on Valentine’s Day?

As you know from reading this blog I am a huge fan of PublishersLunch and their putting together their twice a year (Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter) Buzz Books for the upcoming book season because its a great way to hear and read sneak peeks of upcoming titles that are the buzz for the season that you might not know about. Its a great way to discover some hidden gems in the pile.

Well starting in January they started doing the exact same thing (with the twice a year Buzz Books) but along with that they are adding a monthly sneak peek that will offer six excerpts of books due out that month as well as a preview of the books coming out that month. How great is that?

The monthly buzz books consist of fiction, debut fiction, non fiction and young adult, along with books that are releasing week by week.

I thought that I would share with you some books that are being released this month that have peaked my interest:

All Our Wrong Todays is scheduled to be released February 7th.

You know the future that people in the 1950s imagined we’d have? Well, it happened. In Tom Barren’s 2016, humanity thrives in a techno-utopian paradise of flying cars, moving sidewalks and moon bases, where avocados never go bad and punk rock never existed . . . because it wasn’t necessary.
Except Tom just can’t seem to find his place in this dazzling, idealistic world, and that’s before his life gets turned upside down. Utterly blindsided by an accident of fate, Tom makes a rash decision that drastically changes not only his own life but the very fabric of the universe itself. In a time-travel mishap, Tom finds himself stranded in our 2016, what we think of as the real world. For Tom, our normal reality seems like a dystopian wasteland.
But when he discovers wonderfully unexpected versions of his family, his career and–maybe, just maybe–his soulmate, Tom has a decision to make. Does he fix the flow of history, bringing his utopian universe back into existence, or does he try to forge a new life in our messy, unpredictable reality? Tom’s search for the answer takes him across countries, continents and timelines in a quest to figure out, finally, who he really is and what his future–our future–is supposed to be.
All Our Wrong Todays is about the versions of ourselves that we shed and grow into over time. It is a story of friendship and family, of unexpected journeys and alternate paths, and of love in its multitude of forms. Filled with humor and heart, and saturated with insight and intelligence and a mind-bending talent for invention, this novel signals the arrival of a major talent.

The Orphan’s Tale is scheduled to be released February 21st and the not sure what the cover will look like.

A powerful novel of friendship set in a traveling circus during World War II, The Orphan’s Tale introduces two extraordinary women and their harrowing stories of sacrifice and survival 

Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.

Noa finds refuge with a German circus, but she must learn the flying trapeze act so she can blend in undetected, spurning the resentment of the lead aerialist, Astrid. At first rivals, Noa and Astrid soon forge a powerful bond. But as the facade that protects them proves increasingly tenuous, Noa and Astrid must decide whether their friendship is enough to save one another—or if the secrets that burn between them will destroy everything.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the smash bestseller Orphan Train, a stunning and atmospheric novel of friendship, passion, and art, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s mysterious and iconic painting Christina’s World.

“Later he told me that he’d been afraid to show me the painting. He thought I wouldn’t like the way he portrayed me: dragging myself across the field, fingers clutching dirt, my legs twisted behind. The arid moonscape of wheatgrass and timothy. That dilapidated house in the distance, looming up like a secret that won’t stay hidden.”

To Christina Olson, the entire world was her family’s remote farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. Born in the home her family had lived in for generations, and increasingly incapacitated by illness, Christina seemed destined for a small life. Instead, for more than twenty years, she was host and inspiration for the artist Andrew Wyeth, and became the subject of one of the best known American paintings of the twentieth century.

As she did in her beloved smash bestsellerOrphan Train, Christina Baker Kline interweaves fact and fiction in a powerful novel that illuminates a little-known part of America’s history. Bringing into focus the flesh-and-blood woman behind the portrait, she vividly imagines the life of a woman with a complicated relationship to her family and her past, and a special bond with one of our greatest modern artists.

Told in evocative and lucid prose, A Piece of the World is a story about the burdens and blessings of family history, and how artist and muse can come together to forge a new and timeless legacy.

A sneak peek at some of HarperCollins Australia’s bestselling summer reads and most anticipated books of 2017.

If you like feisty women leads, droll supporting characters, sparkling dialogue, a bit of romance, a serving of wit, wry observations and compelling storylines, you’ll love our Sisterhood titles.

Be among the first to get a taste of new fiction from Maggie Alderson, Cecelia Ahern, Danielle Hawkins, Wendy James and Sunni Overend.

Happy reading!

Excerpts include:

LyreBird by Cecelia Ahern

If you discover something rare, should you protect it or set it free? A deeply moving love story from the author of P.S. I Love You.

The Pretty Delicious Cafe by Danielle Hawkins

Lia may have found her match. But life just keeps getting in the way. A feel-good novel about food, family and fresh beginnings.

The Dangers of Truffle Hunting by Sunni Overend

Kit has it all – talent, partner, career. So why does she hunger for something … more? Is life too short to play it safe?

The Golden Child by Wendy James

When teenage bullying ends in tragedy, two families must grapple with what really happened, and how well can you ever know your child?

The Fifth Letter by Nicola Moriarty

Four friends. Five Letters. One Big Secret. A compelling novel about the twists and turns of friendship.

The Scent of You by Maggie Alderson

Perfume blogger Polly is in crisis. Will her husband’s absence break or make her? A novel of perfumes, exploring life, love, loss and forgiveness.

I must admit that I have a love/hate relationship with samplers, and the reason for that is I love being able to get sneak peeks into books without committing to buying the book if I don’t really like it and I hate it when I love the book and I can’t get my hands on a copy of the book.

As I was reading the sneak peeks I kept adding these books to my wishlist. They all sound like really good and I can’t wait to read them. It looks like the next few months are going to be fun in reading.

The Sunday Times Top Ten BestsellerShe will change your life forever.In the south-west of Ireland, rugged mountains meet bright blue lakes and thick forests. Deep in the woods, a young woman lives alone, forever secluded from the world, her life a well-kept secret. She possesses an extraordinary talent, the likes of which no-one has seen before: a gift that will earn her the nickname Lyrebird.When Solomon stumbles into Laura’s solitary existence, her life is turned on its head. Pulled from her peaceful landscape to the cacophony of Dublin, she is confronted by a world desperate to understand her.But while Solomon knows the world will embrace Laura, will it free her to spread her wings – or will it trap her in a gilded cage? Like all wild birds, she needs to fly free.Lyrebird is a thoughtful, deeply moving love story; a story of the wild heart in us all and the quiet that lies underneath the world’s noise.

On the outskirts of a small New Zealand seaside town, Lia and her friend Anna work serious hours running their restored cafe. The busy season is just around the corner, and there are other things to occupy them. Anna is about to marry Lia’s twin brother, and Lia’s ex-boyfriend seems not to understand it’s over.
When a gorgeous stranger taps on Lia’s window near midnight and turns out not to be a serial killer, she feels it’s a promising sign. But the past won’t let them be, and Lia must decide whether events rule her life or she does.
The Pretty Delicious Cafe will remind you of those special, good things we love about living. And the food is great.
A warm, witty novel, brimming with the trademark romance, friendship and eccentricity that Danielle Hawkins’s fans adore.

Is life too short to play it safe?

Kit Gossard’s life is neatly mapped out. A secure photographic job. A partner ready to commit. A wedding in the family vineyard for her mother to preside over.

So why the apprehension? Why a hunger for something … more?

Then someone new appears. Earthy, reserved, magnetic, this new man brings out feelings she has long suppressed, and suddenly Kit can’t contain her simmering discontent.

Black truffle hunting, illicit pastry lessons, vine fruit on flesh Kit is seduced.

It feels right. Before it all goes wrong.

Artful, sexy, sophisticated, The Dangers Of Truffle Hunting explores how a man can be more to a woman than a destination.

Can bad children happen to good mothers? A totally absorbing novel, for readers of Liane Moriarty, Lionel Shriver and Christos Tsiolkas.

Blogger Lizzy’s life is buzzing, happy, normal. Two gorgeous children, a handsome husband, destiny under control. For her real-life alter-ego Beth, things are unravelling. Tensions are simmering with her husband, mother-in-law and even her own mother. Her teenage daughters, once the objects of her existence, have moved beyond her grasp and one of them has shown signs of, well, thoughtlessness …
Then a classmate of one daughter is callously bullied and the finger of blame is pointed at Beth’s clever, beautiful child. Shattered, shamed and frightened, two families must negotiate worlds of cruelty they are totally ill-equipped for.
This is a novel that grapples with modern-day spectres of selfies, selfishness and cyberbullying. It plays with our fears of parenting, social media and Queen Bees, and it asks the question: just how well do you know your child?

A fun vacation game turns destructive, exposing dark secrets, deeply buried grudges, and a shocking betrayal in Nicola Moriarty’s intriguing debut.

Four friends . . .

Joni, Deb, Eden, and Trina have been best friends since high school, sharing a bond that has seen them through their teenage years and into adulthood. But now, time and circumstance is starting to pull them apart as careers, husbands, and babies get in the way. As their yearly vacation becomes less of a priority—at least for three of the women—how can Joni find a way to draw the four of them back together?

Four secrets . . .

During a laughter and wine-filled night, the women dare one another to write anonymous letters, spilling their deepest, darkest secrets. But the fun game turns devastating, exposing cracks in their lives and the friendship they share. Each letter is a dark confession revealing shocking information. A troubled marriage? A substance abuse problem? A secret pregnancy? A heartbreaking diagnosis?

Five letters . . .

Late on one of their last nights together, after the other three have gone to bed, Joni notices something in the fireplace—a burnt, crumpled, nearly destroyed, sheet of paper that holds the most shattering revelation of all. It is a fifth letter—a hate-filled rant that exposes a vicious, deeply hidden grudge that has festered for decades. But who wrote it? Which one of them has seethed with resentment all these years? What should Joni do?

Best friends are supposed to keep your darkest secrets. But the revelations Joni, Deb, Eden and Trina have shared will ripple through their lives with unforeseen consequences . . . and things will never be the same.

Perfume blogger Polly is in crisis. Will her husband’s absence break her … or make her? A novel of perfumes, exploring life, love, loss and forgiveness – Maggie Alderson’s new bestseller.

On New Year’s Eve, Polly Mackay is contemplating her life. She had been happily married with two grown-up children, a thriving business as a perfume blogger, and a glamorous, ageing, ex-model mother who keeps things … interesting. But when her husband announced that he needed time away from her and promptly vanished, everything she took for granted was thrown into disarray.

As Polly grapples with David’s disappearance she clings to a few new friends to keep her going. Shirlee, the loud-mouthed yoga student; Guy, the mysterious, infuriating and hugely talented perfumer; and Edward, an old friend from university, who sparks a new sense of possibility …

But while she distracts herself with the heady world of luxury perfume, she can’t keep reality at bay forever, and eventually she is forced to confront some difficult truths – about her husband, about herself, and about who she really wants to be.

Do any of these books peak your interest?

One of the great things about reading samplers is that you get to find some hidden gems buried within the sampler that you might not know about or heard about that you weren’t sure of.

This is the first time that Tundra and Doubleday both imprints of Random House of Canada has put this together and I am so happy that they did.

This sampler contains  book excerpts. I am going to highlight them all here because I think these books need to be read and brought back into the spotlight. I have never read any of these books but they are certainly on my radar now and on my wishlist.

Touched by Fire, Irene N. Watt’s exquisite new novel, explores one family’s journey as they flee from the pogroms of Russia in 1905, where the Cossacks burn villages to the ground, to Berlin, Germany, where Jews have a hard time living and working in peace, to the streets of the Lower East Side in New York. Teenage Miriam gives a first-hand account of the excitement everyone feels about going to America, the “Golden Land,” the journey in steerage, the arrival at Ellis Island, and the discrimination the immigrants feel while seeking employment. When Miriam finally lands a job at the Triangle Shirt Waist Company as a cuff setter, she believes her future in the New World is finally secure. But on March 25, 1911, the fire that starts from overflowing bins of material scraps rages into what becomes known as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and Miriam’s life is forever changed.

The New York Times-bestselling author Elizabeth’s Wein’s companion book toCode Name Verity, now in paperback.

Rose Justice is a young pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. On her way back from a semi-secret flight in the waning days of the war, Rose is captured by the Germans and ends up in Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi women’s concentration camp. There, she meets an unforgettable group of women, including a once glamorous and celebrated French detective novelist whose Jewish husband and three young sons have been killed; a resilient young girl who was a human guinea pig for Nazi doctors trying to learn how to treat German war wounds; and a Nachthexen, or Night Witch, a female fighter pilot and military ace for the Soviet air force. These damaged women must bond together to help each other survive.

In this companion volume to the critically acclaimed novel Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein continues to explore themes of friendship and loyalty, right and wrong, and unwavering bravery in the face of indescribable evil.

(Have you read Code Name Verity? I have it on my list to read.)

The war is over, but for thirteen-year-old Rachel, the battle has just begun. Putting childhood behind her, she knows what she wants – to prove she has acting talent worthy of the school drama club, and what she doesn’t want – to romantically fall for someone completely inappropriate. Worries about her veteran brother’s failing health and repugnance at her mother’s unexpected and unwanted pregnancy drive her to seek solace from a seemingly sympathetic, but self-serving teacher. The lies she tells herself hoping to reach solutions to the problems complicating her life merely function to make matters worse. Ultimately, she finds a way to come to terms with life as it reaches an end and life as it begins.

One of history’s most turbulent times comes dramatically to life in this big, broad adventure novel. Twelve-year-old Alex, determined to get to the bottom of his parents’ disappearance, sets out on a quest to find them. An ambitious time-travel novel set in Scotland at the time of William Wallace, Death of a King explores the turbulence of the bloody late thirteenth century after King Alexander dies on his way to Kinghorn without leaving an heir to the throne. The country is thrown into chaos, and Alex must overcome many obstacles along his path. Full of humor, intrigue, bloodshed, battles, and suspense, Death of a King is a rollicking read told by a major voice in historical fiction.

The last time seventeen-year-old Amelia Mackenzie saw her best friend Matthew alive, he broke her heart. When he is found the next day in an abandoned barn at the edge of town, an apparent suicide, Amelia’s whole world comes crashing down.
And then she sees him again. Because Amelia has a secret that even Matthew didn’t know: sometimes, she sees ghosts.
When a local history columnist named Morris Dyson contacts Amelia after the funeral and tells her that he thinks the barn Matthew died in is haunted, and that Matthew wasn’t its first victim, an unlikely partnership is born. With Amelia’s gift for seeing ghosts, Morris’s radical theories on the supernatural, and a bit of help from Morris’s sexy but skeptical son, Kip, a mystery unfolds. One by one, the barn’s other ghostly residents are revealed: all innocent, love-struck young men who’ve died horrific deaths, seemingly by their own hands.
Life and death couldn’t get more complicated as Amelia is torn between her devotion to the ghostly Matthew and her growing attraction to Kip, who may not believe in ghosts but can’t help believing in Amelia. When she’s confronted with a rivalry between the living and the dead, which side of the great divide will Amelia choose?
Apparition is a fast-paced supernatural mystery about memory and obsession, bodies and spirits, love and loss.

Follow the story of Will and Rowen to its heart-stopping conclusion in The Tree of Story, the final book in the Perilous Realm trilogy!
     In this, the conclusion to the sweeping Perilous Realm trilogy, Will and Rowen journey through the Shadow Realm–a wasteland of deserted cities and abandoned belongings–to rescue Rowen’s grandfather, the loremaster Nicholas Pendrake, and confront the evil Malabron once and for all. As they travel, they encounter blood-sucking harrowers and wraith-like fetches, and they must also confront the reality that their dear friend Shade is returning to his wolf-life state and will soon pose a grave threat to them both. And they have no time to waste, for war looms back in Fable, where the dastardly Ammon Brax has installed himself as Marshall and has plans to claim the city for himself.
What will become of Shade, Pendrake, and the people of Fable? Will Rowen and Will be able to find Malabron at the Tree of Story and break his wicked spell before it’s too late?

It’s almost a year since Gaby Winters watched her twin brother die. In the sunshine of a new town her body has healed, but her grief is raw and constant. It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she fights and kills hell-beasts. And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who’s been appearing in Gaby’s dreams, he tells her things about her brother and her life that cannot be true, things that are dangerous. Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And who is Gaby? The truth lies in the shadows of her nightmares.