new review at CHIRB: The City We Became

I’ve been lucky enough to read some great fiction for my gig at the Chicago Review of Books lately, including N.K. Jemisin’s THE CITY WE BECAME, a fascinating blend of mind-bending fantasy and harsh American reality. My verdict? “Jemisin has been quoted as calling this story ‘my chance to have a little monstrous fun after the weight of the Broken Earth saga,’ and it does read far lighter than that series. But it’s still laced with Jemisin’s trademark rigor, a sharp eye on systems and values that doesn’t let anyone or anything off the hook. It isn’t a book to fall asleep to, but a book to wake up with, when your mind is fresh and ready and open.”

Read the full review here.

#read99women: Kali White VanBaale

One of the fun things I get to do with this #read99women series is figure out what order to put things in, and the rest of this week will be a fun little combo: I get to feature several of my favorite Iowans in a row! (You know how my bio says “raised in the Midwest?” Yep, Iowa. When I went to college in Boston, as the first Iowan most of my classmates had met, I was frequently asked which side of Crispix is the crispiest.)

First up in our Hawkeye sequence: Kali White, author of the forthcoming crime novel THE MONSTERS WE MAKE (Crooked Lane, June 2020) and the novels THE GOOD DIVIDE and THE SPACE BETWEEN (as Kali VanBaale). She’s the recipient of an American Book Award, an Eric Hoffer Book Award, and an Independent Publisher’s silver medal for fiction. Her short stories and essays have appeared in The Coachella Review, The Chaffey Review, Midwestern Gothic, Nowhere Magazine, Poets&Writers, The Writers’ Chronicle and several anthologies. She’s the co-editor of the micro essay series The Past Ten, and volunteers for the PEN America Prison & Justice Writing program. Kali holds an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a core faculty member of the Lindenwood University MFA Creative Writing Program. She lives in Iowa with her family. 

Kali White VanBaale

The novel Kali recommends for #read99women comes from Heather Gudenkauf, a New York Times Bestselling author of seven novels, and “a master of the unpredictable small-town thriller with a conscience. BEFORE SHE WAS FOUND is a contemporary thriller that explores the slipperiness between friendship and betrayal in young female relationships, the complex dangers of modern communication, and the lengths some parents will go to protect their children. I’ve lost many hours of sleep to Heather’s books.”

And by the way, Heather has a new book coming out next month — you’ll hear more about it directly from Heather when she appears as tomorrow’s #read99women guest! (Like I said. My favorite Iowans.)

#read99women: Ellen Marie Wiseman

Ellen Marie Wiseman's debut novel, THE PLUM TREE, was inspired by her mother's childhood in Germany during WWII. Ellen is a bestselling author whose novels have been translated into eighteen languages. Bookbub named THE PLUM TREE One of Thirteen Books To Read if You Loved ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE. Ellen’s second novel, WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND, was named a Huffington Post Best Books of Summer 2015. The Historical Novel Review named her third novel, COAL RIVER, "one of the most "unputdownable" books of 2015." Her fourth novel, THE LIFE SHE WAS GIVEN, was named A GREAT GROUP READS Selection of the Women’s National Book Association and National Reading Group Month and a Goodreads Best Book of the Month. THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR, a novel set during the Spanish flu, comes out in July 2020. Ellen lives on the shores of Lake Ontario with her husband and a spoiled Shih-tzu. When she’s not busy writing, she loves spending time with her children and grandchildren.

Ellen Marie Wiseman

Ellen’s #read99women pick is Julie Kibler’s THE HOME FOR ERRING AND OUTCAST GIRLS, which she calls “a beautifully written, heartbreaking novel.” She goes on, “I loved it, not only because of the wonderful characters and compelling storyline, but because it so artfully illustrates past and present discrimination against women, and how organized religion can save some people but destroy others.” Read the full review on BookBub here.

#read99women: Natalia Sylvester

As promised in yesterday’s post, today’s guest is the amazing Natalia Sylvester, whose YA debut RUNNING is coming from Clarion Books/HMH in July! Natalia’s adult novels are beautifully written, smart stories of family bonds and individual longing strained and smothered by outside forces. So I can’t wait to see what she does with the story of a Cuban American teenager forced to privately and publicly reckon with her father’s politics, and her own, when her senator father runs for President.

Born In Lima, Peru, Natalia Sylvester came to the U.S. at age four and grew up in Florida and the Rio Grande Valley In Texas. She received a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Miami and now works as a freelance writer in Texas. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Bustle, Catapult, Electric Literature, Latina magazine, McSweeney's Publishing, and the Austin American-Statesman. 

 Natalia’s first novel, CHASING THE SUN, was named the Best Debut Book of 2014 by Latinidad. Her latest novel, EVERYONE KNOWS YOU GO HOME, won an International Latino Book Award, the 2018 Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, and was named a Best Book of 2018 by Real Simple magazine.

Natalia Sylvester

Her #read99women recommendation is THE AFFAIRS OF THE FALCÓNS by Melissa Rivero. “It's the story of a Peruvian family living in 1990s New York as undocumented immigrants. Ana, along with her husband and two young children, wants nothing more than a happy, stable life full of opportunities for her family, but no matter how hard she works and how much she sacrifices, things keep getting harder instead of the ‘better’ that the American Dream promises. This is a book about being forced to make decisions in the face of unthinkable options. It's about the power of a mother's sacrifices. What has stayed with me most since I first read it is the compassion and complexity with which Melissa Rivero renders her characters—even and especially when they're imperfect and fallible women. The language is stunning, striking so deeply into the heart of things, that I can still vividly remember and re-experience how I felt reading certain passages. I also highly recommend listening to this book if you're an audio book lover. It's narrated by Frankie Corzo, whose voice is a beautiful balance of strong and tender, just like Ana Falcón.”

presto! ebook deal on THE MAGICIAN'S LIE

My wonderful publisher Sourcebooks has been bringing down the prices of some of my novels in e-book format to give new readers a chance to grab them at a discount for a limited time, and if you’ve been hoping THE MAGICIAN’S LIE would get a turn, you’re in luck! It’s on sale TODAY ONLY for $2.99 across multiple ebook platforms (Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple iBooks, Google Play Books, and Kobo.)

THE MAGICIAN’S LIE is my debut novel, the one that was optioned for film by Jessica Chastain’s Freckle Films, chosen by Whoopi Goldberg as a Book of the Month selection, and also picked for the Target Book Club, Indie Next, and LibraryReads honors. So, you know, some people liked it. Including the Washington Post, which said, “Macallister, like the Amazing Arden, mesmerizes her audience. No sleight of hand is necessary. An ambitious heroine and a captivating tale are all the magic she needs."

(I seriously should get that one framed, right?)

Snap it up today!

#read99women: Margaret Dilloway

I’ve mentioned before how impressed I am by authors who slay in multiple genres, right? Add Margaret Dilloway to the list. I really loved THE CARE AND HANDLING OF ROSES WITH THORNS in particular, and in addition to her gorgeous women’s fiction (perfect for book clubs, by the way) she’s also killing it in the books-for-tweens category, with her newest novel FIVE THINGS ABOUT AVA ANDREWS coming this summer. (And look! You can enter to win an advance copy right here on Goodreads.)

A more official bio: Margaret Dilloway is the author of 8 books for children and adults, including SUMMER OF A THOUSAND PIES,  the award-winning MOMOTARO series and HOW TO BE AN AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE. Her newest book, FIVE THINGS ABOUT AVA ANDREWS (Balzer + Bray) comes out this June, and is about a 6th grader with the invisible disabilities of a heart condition and anxiety, who uses improv to cope, make friends, and become an activist. 

Margaret Dilloway

Margaret’s recommendation is EVERYBODY KNOWS YOU GO HOME by Natalia Sylvester, which she describes as “a beautiful novel that’s a family story and a love story and, most interestingly, a ghost story. In the present, we meet Isabel and Martin newly married—as well as Martin’s dead father, Omar, who disappeared years ago. We then follow Omar and his wife, Martin’s mother, into the past, when they fled into the United States. It’s about immigration and hope and sacrifice and has lyrical prose and rich, complex characters.”

And guess who’s up tomorrow with her own recommendation? Natalia herself! Stay tuned… 

#read99women: E.A. Aymar

Well, I did it again. I’ve been keeping up my spreadsheet more or less, and because lately it’s been less, I missed marking the occasion of the 66th post, i.e. two-thirds of the way through this delightful yet exhausting #read99women exercise. Anyway, yay! A bit more than a month to go, and plenty of great recs yet to come.

So it’s as good a day as any to welcome our second male author as a #read99women guest — here’s E.A. Aymar, thriller writer, book recommender, and highly valued member of the DC-area writing community.

Of E.A. Aymar’s THE UNREPENTANT, Publisher’s Weekly wrote, “gut-wrenching…readers who appreciate depth of character alongside gritty nonstop action will be rewarded.” His past thrillers include the novel-in-stories THE NIGHT OF THE FLOOD (in which he served as co-editor and contributor). He has a monthly column in the Washington Independent Review of Books, and he is the Managing Editor of The Thrill Begins on behalf of the International Thriller Writers; he also serves on the national board of that organization. He was born in Panama and now lives and writes in the D.C./MD/VA triangle. To learn more, visit eaymar.com.

E.A. Aymar

Of his #read99women recommendation, Ed says, “I worried about Tara Laskowski’s debut novel, ONE NIGHT GONE. I’d been a fan of her two collections of short stories – the marvelously-inventive MODERN MANNERS FOR YOUR INNER DEMONS and the gripping, crime-influenced BYSTANDERS – but transitioning from short stories to novels is famously difficult. And, as deeply as I admired her style and prose, I wasn’t sure if either would work for a novel, particularly a crime novel.

There was no need to worry.

ONE NIGHT GONE is a taut, character-driven read, the kind of book that begs to be read slowly, and dries out your pen if you’re the type to underline mesmerizing passages. It’s recently earned nominations for the prestigious Agatha, Lefty, and Mary Higgins Clark awards, and more nods are likely to follow.”

#read99women: Heather Webb

I have many fun Heather Webb stories, but here’s my favorite: when I flew cross-country to Portland, Oregon to attend my first Historical Novel Society Conference, I arrived at the conference hotel around 10 p.m. local time, exhausted and already spent. But at this particular hotel, the hotel bar was located between the front door and the registration desk, and the minute I got inside, I spotted Heather Webb. We hugged and started talking. I ended up not checking in until well after midnight Pacific time.

Totally worth it!

Even if you only know Heather Webb from her novels, you know she’s got a sharp mind, an eye for detail, a way with words, and a lively sense of fun. I knew she’d have a great recommendation for #read99women and her choice does not disappoint.

Heather Webb is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of six historical novels. In 2015, Rodin’s Lover was a Goodreads Top Pick, and in 2018, Last Christmas in Paris won the Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award. Her latest, Meet Me in Monaco, was selected as a finalist for the 2020 Goldsboro RNA award in the UK, as well as the 2019 Digital Book World’s Fiction prize. To date, Heather’s books have been translated to over a dozen languages.  

Heather’s pick is the amazing CIRCE by Madeline Miller. “Each sentence is a pearl; a smooth and iridescent beauty that you'd like to hold in your mind. I savored every page.“ Click here to read Heather’s full review.

Click here to follow Heather Webb on BookBub. (You’ll want to do this, trust me.)

#read99women: Matthew Norman

Yesterday we had our first double act, two collaborating authors each making her own recommendation, and today we’ve got another #read99women first: a male author sharing his pick. When I started putting together the idea of #read99women, I figured it made sense to extend invitations regardless of gender. If the books themselves were about or by women, I decided, the gender of the recommender didn’t particularly matter. (That said, you may have noticed the obvious preponderance of women, but if you know—or are—a male author who wants to participate, just drop me a line! We’ll talk.)

Today’s guest Matthew Norman’s latest novel LAST COUPLE STANDING follows a married couple, Jessica and Mitch, as they decide that the best way to minimize their chances of divorce—a plague that has hit their friend group hard—is to open their marriage. Trouble and hilarity both ensue.

Matthew Norman lives with his wife and two daughters in Baltimore, Maryland, and holds an MFA from George Mason University. His newest novel, LAST COUPLE STANDING, is out now.

His first novel, DOMESTIC VIOLETS, was nominated in the Best Humor Category at the 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards, and his second novel, WE’RE ALL DAMAGED, was an Amazon bestseller. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @TheNormanNation.

Matthew Norman

Without further ado: Matthew Norman!

“By sheer coincidence, as I write this, it should be MLB’s Opening Day. I’m doing my best to keep things in perspective. The world has bigger problems than a delayed baseball season, right? But, to be honest, the absence of my favorite sport has me down this week. Fortunately, I have Emily Nemens’ THE CACTUS LEAGUE to help me through.  

The book has several storylines and a rich cast of characters, so it’s a tough one to summarize in a single sentence. But, basically, THE CACTUS LEAGUE is about a group of people who are associated with a fictional baseball team during Spring Training, most notably superstar outfielder Jason Goodyear, whose life and career are beginning to come apart at the seams.

 Nemens clearly knows baseball inside and out. She gets the nuances of the game and, more importantly, the passion it instills in its players, coaches, and fans. But, you don’t need to be a baseball fanatic to enjoy this book. You just need to like really, really good fiction. The characters are wonderfully drawn and deeply human, and their storylines intersect in interesting, compelling ways. 

I absolutely loved this book. In fact, I loved it so much that I made myself read slowly—often putting it down when I wanted to keep going. Because, like a dream season, when something is this good, you want it to last.”  

#read99women: Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

Eagle-eyed #read99women readers — not sure how many of those there are! — may have noticed that yesterday was the first time since the series started that we didn’t have a new recommendation posted. Partly that was to leave space for the GIRL IN DISGUISE temporary ebook discount (hint hint — there may be other books with a temporary price dip coming soon!) and partly it was because I knew that we’d have two recommendations today, in a #read99women first!

Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke have been best friends forever and amicably co-writing bestsellers since 2014. They are now the authors of six, soon to be seven, novels, including GIRLS’ NIGHT OUT, THE TWO LILA BENNETTS, and the Amazon Charts bestselling novel THE GOOD WIDOW. Their new novel coming this summer is a dark, heart pounding love story with a magical twist. HOW TO SAVE A LIFE will publish on July 14th, 2020. Pre-order it here.

Also! Hit up their Facebook page for virtual brunches, their new podcast, a mega-huge 43-book giveaway, and more.

Liz & Lisa

And now: two authors, two #read99women recommendations!

Liz recommends Cheryl Strayed’s TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS, saying it’s “a masterpiece, and is meant to be savored.” Full review here.

Lisa’s pick is FOREVER IS THE WORST LONG TIME by Camille Pagan, “one of the best books I've read in a very long time.” Here’s the rest of the rave.