"The Reader"

New from G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers: The Reader (Sea of Ink and Gold Series #1) by Traci Chee.

About the book, from the publisher:

Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival skills can help her discover where Nin’s been taken, or if she’s even alive. The only clue to both her aunt’s disappearance and her father’s murder is the odd rectangular object her father left behind, an object she comes to realize is a book—a marvelous item unheard of in her otherwise illiterate society. With the help of this book, and the aid of a mysterious stranger with dark secrets of his own, Sefia sets out to rescue her aunt and find out what really happened the day her father was killed—and punish the people responsible.

With overlapping stories of swashbuckling pirates and merciless assassins, The Reader is a brilliantly told adventure from an extraordinary new talent.

Visit Traci Chee's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Path to War"

New from Oxford University Press: The Path to War: How the First World War Created Modern America by Michael S. Neiberg.

About the book, from the publisher:

When war broke out in Europe in August of 1914, it seemed, to observers in the United States, the height of madness. The Old World and its empires were tearing each other apart, and while most Americans blamed the Germans, pitied the Belgians, and felt kinship with the Allies, they wanted no part in the carnage. Two years into war President Woodrow Wilson won re-election by pledging to keep out of the conflict. Yet by the spring of 1917-by which point millions had been killed for little apparent gain or purpose-the fervor to head "Over There" swept the country. America wanted in.

The Path to War shows us how that happened. Entry into the war resulted from lengthy debate and soul-searching about national identity, as so-called "hyphenated citizens" of Irish and German heritage wrestled with what it meant to be American. Many hoped to keep to the moral high ground, condemning German aggression while withholding from the Allies active support, offering to mediate between the belligerents while keeping clear. Others, including the immensely popular former president Theodore Roosevelt, were convinced that war offered the country the only way to assume its rightful place in world affairs. Neiberg follows American reaction to such events as the sinking of the Lusitania, German terrorism, and the incriminating Zimmermann telegram, shedding light on the dilemmas and crises the country faced as it moved from ambivalence to belligerence.

As we approach the centenary of the war, the effects of the pivot from peace to war still resonate, as Michael Neiberg's compelling book makes clear. The war transformed the United States into a financial powerhouse and global player, despite the reassertion of isolationism in the years that followed. Examining the social, political, and financial forces at work as well as the role of public opinion and popular culture, The Path to War offers both a compelling narrative and the inescapable conclusion that World War One was no parenthetical exception in the American story but a moment of national self-determination.

Visit Michael S. Neiberg's website.

The Page 99 Test: Dance of the Furies.

The Page 99 Test: The Blood of Free Men.

The Page 99 Test: Potsdam.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Infamy"

New from Gallery Books: Infamy: A Butch Karp-Marlene Ciampi Thriller by Robert K. Tanenbaum.

About the book, from the publisher:

The “rock-solid” (Kirkus Reviews) prosecutor Butch Karp and his wife, Marlene Ciampi, return to solve the suspicious murder of a US Army colonel and battle corruption at the highest levels of the United States government in this novel by New York Times bestselling author Robert K. Tanenbaum.

Intrigue, murder, corruption, and dramatic courtroom battles combine to make Infamy another must-read in Robert K. Tanenbaum’s “tightly-written” (Booklist) legal thrillers. When a former Army veteran suddenly murders a colonel in New York, he claims that he had to do it because he was being used in mind control experiments. Surprisingly, a top Wall Street criminal defense lawyer, one with ties to the White House, decides to defend the killer, arguing that his client suffered from post-traumatic stress from his tours in Afghanistan and that it’s his patriotic duty to assist him.

As New York District Attorney Roger “Butch” Karp prepares a murder case against the veteran, he meets with investigative reporter Ariadne Stupenagel, who suspects that one of her sources for a story on high-level government corruption was a victim in the shooting. This points not to a random act of violence, but a hired killing that goes to the top levels of our nation.

In this fast-paced thriller, Karp goes up against corruption so powerful that he, his family, and his friends are in danger if he intends to prosecute those responsible for the murder of an FBI whistle-blower. Filled with edge-of-your-seat action, stunning plot twists, and, “solid courtroom scenes” (Kirkus Reviews), Infamy will keep you guessing until the very end.

Visit Robert K. Tanenbaum's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Wedding Shop"

New from Zondervan: The Wedding Shop by Rachel Hauck.

About the book, from the publisher:

Two women separated by decades. Both set out to help others find their dreams when their own have crumbled.

It's the early 1930s, but Cora Scott is walking in stride as a career woman ​after having inherited her great aunt's wedding shop in Heart’s Bend, Tennessee, where brides come from as far away as Birmingham to experience her famed bridal treatment. Meanwhile, Cora is counting down the days until her own true love returns from the river to make her his bride. But days turn into months and months to years. All the while, Birch Good continues to woo Cora and try to show her that while he is solid and dependable, he can sweep her off her feet.

​More than eighty years later, former ​Air Force Captain Haley Morgan has returned home to Heart's Bend after finishing her commitment to military service. After the devastating death of her best friend, Tammy, and discovering the truth about the man she loved, Haley is searching for her place in life.

When Haley decides to reopen the romantic but abandoned wedding shop where she and Tammy played and dreamed as children, she begins a journey of courage, mystery, and love.

As Cora’s and ​Haley's stories intertwine through time in the shadow of the beloved wedding shop, they both discover the power of their own dreams and the magic of everyday love.

Visit Rachel Hauck's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Red Right Hand"

New from Little, Brown: Red Right Hand by Chris Holm.

About the book, from the publisher:

If the good guys can't save you, call a bad guy.

When viral video of an explosive terrorist attack on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge reveals that a Federal witness long thought dead is still alive, the organization he'd agreed to testify against will stop at nothing to put him in the ground.

FBI Special Agent Charlie Thompson is determined to protect him, but her hands are tied; the FBI's sole priority is catching the terrorists before they strike again. So Charlie calls the only person on the planet who can keep her witness safe: Michael Hendricks.

Once a covert operative for the US military, Hendricks makes his living hitting hitmen... or he did, until the very organization hunting Charlie's witness--the Council--caught wind and targeted the people he loves. Teaming up with a young but determined tech whiz, Cameron, on the condition she leave him alone after the case, Hendricks reluctantly takes the job.

Of course, finding a man desperate to stay hidden is challenging enough without deadly competition, let alone when the competition's shadowy corporate backer is tangled in the terrorist conspiracy playing out around them. And now Hendricks is determined to take the Council down, even if that means wading into the center of a terror plot whose perpetrators are not what they seem.

Visit Chris Holm's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Killing Kind.

Writers Read: Chris Holm (September 2015).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Every Kind of Wanting"

New from Counterpoint Press: Every Kind of Wanting: A Novel by Gina Frangello.

About the book, from the publisher:

Every Kind of Wanting explores the complex intersection of three unique families and their bustling efforts to have a “Community Baby.” Miguel could not be more different from his partner Chad, a happy-go-lucky real estate mogul from Chicago’s wealthy North shore. When Chad’s sister Gretchen offers to donate an egg, their search for a surrogate leads them to Miguel’s old friend Emily, happily married to an eccentric Irish playwright, Nick, with whom she is raising two boys. Into this web falls Miguel’s sister Lina, a former addict and stripper, who begins a passionate affair with Nick while deciphering the mysteries of her past.

But every action these couples make has unforeseen circumstances, and as Lina faces her long-hidden demons, and the fragile friendships between Miguel and Chad and Nick and Emily begin to fray at the seams as the baby’s birth draws near, a shocking turn of events — and the secret Lina’s been hiding — will threaten to break them apart forever.

By turns funny, dark, and sexy, Every Kind of Wanting strips bare the layers of the American family today. Tackling issues such as assimilation, the legacy of secrets, the morality of desire, and ultimately who “owns” love, the characters — across all ethnicities, nationalities, and sexualities — are blisteringly alive.

Visit Gina Frangello's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Trotsky in New York, 1917"

New from Counterpoint Press: Trotsky in New York, 1917: Portrait of a Radical on the Eve of Revolution by Kenneth D. Ackerman.

About the book, from the publisher:

Leon Trotsky burst onto the world stage in November 1917 as co-leader of a Marxist revolution seizing power in Russia. It made him one of the most recognized personalities of the Twentieth Century, a global icon of radical change. Yet just months earlier, this same Trotsky was a nobody, a refugee expelled from Europe, writing obscure pamphlets and speeches, barely noticed outside a small circle of fellow travelers. Where had he come from to topple Russia and change the world? Where else? New York City.

Between January and March 1917, Trotsky found refuge in the United States. America had kept itself out of the European Great War, leaving New York an open-minded and vital city. During his time there — just over ten weeks — Trotsky immersed himself in the local scene. He settled his family in the Bronx, edited a radical left wing tabloid in Greenwich Village, sampled the lifestyle, and plunged headlong into local politics. His clashes with leading New York socialists over the question of U.S. entry into World War I would reshape the American left for the next fifty years. His frantic attempt to return to Russia to lead the revolution there, and the attempt by British intelligence to stop him, was the stuff of thrillers.

Trotsky’s sojourn in New York City is a story rarely told, and never with such fullness and verve. As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, it presents a portrait not only of a towering yet all-too-human political figure on the cusp of history, but also of the city itself at a special moment in our collective memory.

Visit Kenneth Ackerman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Sit Stay Heal"

New from Sourcebooks: Sit Stay Heal by Mel C. Miskimen.

About the book, from the publisher:

Rowdy, reckless Seamus is the last dog you’d find in a training field. Instead of obediently retrieving, he stubbornly follows his heart, wherever it may lead.

Mel Miskimen’s heart is heavy. Her mom, the family rock, the provider of apple pies and stubborn fan of Brett Favre, just died. Even more, her curmudgeon of a father isn’t really coping. How can Mel reconnect with an old man more interested in field dog training than discussing his feelings?

Enter Seamus. The hapless black lab throws their grief into joyful disarray. Mel encourages her dad to mold Seamus into a champion retriever.. But as the seasons change, and memories follow, Mel realizes she must face her own fears, and that the road to Seamus’s field trials might just heal them all.

At turns hilarious and heart breaking, Sit Stay Heal will touch the souls of dog lovers everything, and speak to anyone seeking a way to connect with those they’ve lost.

Visit Mel Miskimen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"We Are Unprepared"

New from MIRA: We Are Unprepared by Meg Little Reilly.

About the book, from the publisher:

WE ARE UNPREPARED…

This is a novel about the superstorm that threatens to destroy a marriage, a town and the entire Eastern seaboard. But the destruction begins early, when fear infects people's lives and spreads like the plague.

Ash and Pia move from hipster Brooklyn to rustic Vermont in search of a more authentic life. But just months after settling in, the forecast of a superstorm disrupts their dream. Fear of an impending disaster splits their tight-knit community and exposes the cracks in their marriage. Where Isole was once a place of old farm families, rednecks and transplants, it now divides into paranoid preppers, religious fanatics and government tools, each at odds about what course to take.

WE ARE UNPREPARED is an emotional journey, a terrifying glimpse into the human costs of our changing earth and, ultimately, a cautionary tale of survival and the human spirit.

Visit Meg Little Reilly's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Bertrand Court"

New from Prospect Park Books: Bertrand Court by Michelle Brafman.

About the book, from the publisher:

Bertrand Court is a captivating novel told in story form, intertwining seventeen luminous narratives about the secrets of a cast of politicos, filmmakers, and housewives, all tied to a suburban Washington, DC, cul-de-sac. Linked through bloodlines and grocery lines, they respond to life's bruises by grabbing power, sex, or the family silver. As they atone and forgive, they unmask the love and truth that hop white picket fences.

Visit Michelle Brafman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue