Amazon June Spotlight Pick:
The Vanishing Half
GMA Book Club Pick
B&N Book Club Pick
Brit Bennett’s debut novel, The Mothers—about motherhood, female friendship, and finding love with a broken heart—was one of the most talked-about books of 2016. Four years later, Bennett introduces a new cast of characters, and like her debut, The Vanishing Half examines sisterhood, black identity, and parenthood with compassion and conviction. The Vignes twins grew up inseparable in the ’60s in Mallard, Louisiana, a small town reserved for black residents with light skin. Stella and Desiree Vignes are tall and beautiful, and they dream of lives beyond the lynching of their father and housekeeping for white people, like their mother does. When they flee to New Orleans as teenagers, Stella discovers that she can pass as white, and so begins the fracture that will forever separate the twins. Stella disappears in California and continues to play the part of a white woman, keeping her past a secret from her husband and daughter. After leaving her abusive marriage, Desiree returns to Mallard with her daughter, Jude, who is “black as tar.” Jude, desperate to find a place where she fits in, goes to college in California and discovers she was searching not just for herself but for her mother’s sister. Told in flashbacks and alternating points of view, this novel asks what is personal identity, if not your past. A riveting and sympathetic story about the bonds of sisterhood and just how strong they are, even at their weakest. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Book Review
Amazon Featured Debut:
A Burning
A Burning by Megha Majumdar is a thoughtful and thought provoking debut set in present day India. The novel starts off with a young Muslim woman named Jindar leaving a message on Facebook that criticizes the government. The problem is she does so in reference to a train station bombing; as a result, her almost castaway comment will come back to find her. The story is told from three different points of view, which the author masterfully choreographs. There is Jindar. There is Lovely, a Hijra who wants to be a movie star. And there is PT Sir, a gym teacher who finds himself drawn to a local populist movement. Their stories snake around each other to establish a captivating storyline, and while there is ripe space for political and social exploration in this book, Megha Majumbar never sacrifices the inner lives of her characters to explore those broader themes. She delivers on both levels, and that is a truly exceptional achievement. —Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review
Devolution
Mount Rainier erupts, and a small high-tech community nestled deep in the mountains is cut off from civilization and their weekly delivery of groceries. And now winter is coming. Some writers might think that’s enough conflict for a high-stakes adventure novel. Max Brooks, author of the groundbreaking zombie novel World War Z, stretches his imagination even further and gleefully lobs a troop of displaced and hungry Sasquatches into the mix. The big, foul-smelling predators are no surprise—the subtitle makes their existence in the story clear—but that doesn’t mean the tension isn’t page-twisting sharp. And the Sasquatches’ presence gives Brooks an entertaining scenario through which he poses the hard but timely question about when one should be optimistic and when one should prepare for the worst. Readers of Andy Weir’s The Martian or Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines series will want to clear their schedules so they can savor every chilling scene of Devolution. Just don’t take this book with you while camping in the woods. —Adrian Liang, Amazon Book Review
Fair Warning
Fair Warning is Michael Connelly’s third book featuring Jack McEvoy, the tireless reporter whom the author views as his alter ego. The story starts out briskly and never slows, as McEvoy is approached by a couple of Los Angeles detectives who inform him that he is a person of interest in a murder investigation. Tina Portrero has been found dead, and McEvoy spent a night with her about a year prior. With that, we are off and running—and anyone who has read the previous McEvoy books (The Poet and The Scarecrow) will know that this reporter’s drive and talent will lead to an investigation of his own. As Jack begins to uncover the details behind Tina’s death, he opens up a much bigger case. There appears to be a serial killer on the loose, and as McEvoy digs further—and eventually employs the aid of others, including former FBI agent Rachel Waller—he is drawn into the business of DNA analysis, and eventually into the dark web. This is dangerous, sometimes creepy stuff, and Connelly manages to make a salient point about the importance of good journalism at the same time that he drives his plot to a satisfying end. —Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review
28 Summers
by Elin Hilderbrand
Elin Hilderbrand, one of the reigning queens of the beach read, has done it again in this tale of an affair that takes place over 28 summers. Mallory Blessing meets her brother’s fraternity brother, Jake McCloud, over Labor Day Weekend 1993. The two immediately fall in lust, and inspired by the movie Same Time Next Year, decide that every Labor Day they will meet and reenact this perfect weekend of innocent love. And they succeed, for 28 summers, despite the twists their lives take. Mallory stays in the beach cottage on Nantucket she inherited from a beloved aunt, and becomes a talented English teacher at the high school. Jake marries his high school sweetheart, an exacting and cold lawyer who eventually runs for President. Hilderbrand doesn’t just focus on the three days each year Jake and Mallory spend together, so the set-up never gets stale, and you’ll find yourself rooting for this star-crossed adulterous couple. Nantucket isn’t as much of a character in the novel as in Hilderbrand’s other works, but she weaves in some recurring characters, restaurants, and locations to satisfy her devoted readers. 28 Summers is a total page-turner, and a perfect “beach read,” whatever that means in the Summer of 2020. —Sarah Gelman Amazon Book Review
Rebel Chef
In Rebel Chef, Dominique Crenn, the Michelin-starred chef/owner of Atelier Crenn, grants readers intimate access into her life and the result is inspiring and energizing. Crenn grew up in France but came to the States to realize her dream, working in various prestigious restaurants, and experiencing highs and lows in her career, before an accident pushed her to take the leap of faith and open her first restaurant, Atelier Crenn. Crenn never went to culinary school, but is inventive and intuitive in her cooking. She is passionate about her craft, family, sustaining the Earth, and providing opportunity to others. In a pattern you see repeated throughout her memoir, once Crenn sets her mind to something she works every angle to make it happen. Her philosophy for life is, “Why focus on things not working out? There is no failure in life, only opportunity.” I highlighted so many lines in this book, soaking up Crenn’s positive attitude about everything from her adoption, to criticism of her style as a chef, to a breast cancer diagnosis. The creativity and care that goes into Crenn’s signature dishes is described in mouth-watering detail, and I want to experience the poetry of her food in person, knowing that the woman behind it cares deeply about not only every ingredient, but everyone who touches it. Like a special meal, reading Rebel Chef is a memorable and gratifying experience. —Seira Wilson, Amazon Book Review
Feasting Wild
Feasting Wild is both a complex look at the history of food cultivation and also a personal story of La Cerva’s relationship to wild food. The book opens at NOMA, the restaurant at the heart of Copenhagen’s wild food scene. In this first vignette, La Cerva weaves together a description of visiting a local graveyard with a cadre of hipster chefs in search of ramson flowers and a discussion of flavor and how we acquire tastes for things. The strength of Feasting Wild is its ability to defy genres: it is both travelogue and food history, memoir and meditation. From loving descriptions of feral food in New Mexico and Poland to an incisive look at the bushmeat markets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the reader can’t help but gain a new perspective on the ethical questions involved. It is this pendulum swing between personal experiences and the science and history of food cultivation that makes La Cerva’s meandering narrative a veritable feast for the hungry reader. —Alison Walker
The Lightness
Not sure what kind of teenager you were, but I was definitely the brooding, rebellious type, not unlike the unreliable narrator in debut author Emily Temple’s The Lightness—a haunting, suspenseful, coming of age novel that explores the power dynamics and defiance of teenage girls teetering on the edge of self-destruction. When 15-year-old Olivia arrives at the Levitation Center—a self-described “Buddhist Boot Camp for Bad Girls” high in the Colorado mountains—she’s utterly alone and displaced after her father walked out of her life never to be seen again. She’s soon drawn into a dangerous circle of troubled teens and their ringleader, Serena, who longs for spiritual enlightenment at any cost. Together they fast on nettle tea, meditate at midnight, and choke each other into unconsciousness. But when their escalating dangerous practices fail to yield their intended results, they set their sights on a new obsession—Luke, the retreat center’s gardener—convinced that this is the summer he’s finally going to teach them how to levitate…or die trying. —Marlene Kelly
Everyone Knows How Much I Love You
It will probably prove impossible to talk about Everyone Knows How Much I Love You without mentioning The Talented Mr. Ripley, and that is a very good sign. Because like Ripley, Rose is a character drawn with such surgical precision that the reader will feel as though they know her. At thirty, Rose is still trying to get her writing career off the ground. When she moves to New York, she randomly reconnects with her estranged childhood friend, Lacie. Both are bright young things, trying to make their mark on New York’s arts scene. So, despite a falling out in their past and misgivings on Lacie’s part, Rose still persuades her to let her move into her apartment. Author Kyle McCarthy articulates the darker corners of the female friendship—and the fine line between obsession and homage—as Rose begins to move in on Lacie’s life and love, making Lacie the heroine of the novel she’s writing in secret. This twisted coming of age tale, taut as a thriller, written with glittering, precise prose, holds you in its spell right up to the surprising but perfect ending. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Book Review
The House on Fripp Island
The House on Fripp Island sets the reader up for one story, but then slyly delivers a different, even better story. A prologue lets us know that twenty years ago, someone died on a trip but we aren’t told who or why or by whose hand. We are introduced to two very different families traveling to a tiny, lush island off the coast of South Carolina for an all-expenses paid vacation. Apart from the moms, Poppy Ford and Lisa Daly, who were childhood friends in West Virginia, the two families barely know each other. But as it becomes apparent that both families are weathering some changes, alliances form, and secrets shaped by class, loyalty, ambition, fidelity, and desire bubble to the surface. Readers will be drawn into a smart, keenly-observed look at family dynamics as they try to figure out which of the eight characters was speaking from the grave in this atmospheric beach read. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Book Review