Unexpected finds in 2009: Debut Novels Not to Miss (updated)

One of the best things about this blog is how it's led me to books that I normally would not have found. Here are some of the books that I am so glad not have missed. Some of them came out earlier than 2009, but that's when I discovered them. Have you read any of these? Which books were welcome surprises for you?

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (paperback comes out Jan 2010)

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Brian Mealer

The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini

The Hunger Games (& the sequel Catching Fire) by Suzanne Collins

Graceling (& the prequel Fire) by Kristin Cashore

Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak The Mystery of the Third Lucretia by Susan Runholt

Al Capone Does My Shirts (and the sequel Al Capone Shines My Shoes) by Gennifer Choldenko

Book Review of Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News?

The blurb:
On a hot, beautiful day in the English countryside, six-year-old Joanna Mason witnesses a horrific crime. Thirty years later, the man convicted of the crime is released from prison.

Sixteen-year-old Reggie works as a nanny for a doctor devoted to her infant son. When Dr. Hunter goes missing, Reggie - no stranger to bad luck and worse seems to be the only person who is worried.

Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe is also looking for a missing person, unaware that hurtling toward her is an old friend, private detective Jackson Brodie, himself on a journey that becomes fatally interrupted.

As lives and histories intersect, as past mistakes and current misfortunes collide, Jackson and Louise both get caught up in an investigation that will call into question everything they once thought true.

Review:

The blurb of When Will There Be Good News? piqued my interest, but the first few pages had me hooked.

The novel opens to a scene of violence and loss and gives us six-year-old Joanna Mason's third person account of the day that she lost her family. Somehow, despite the details of the day and Joanna's youth, we get a sense of the woman that she becomes. Admirable, strong, courageous, and simpatico.

The other women characters are similarly compelling and parts of the story is told in the third person but from their points of view. There's Reggie who seems to be stalked by death. Brilliant, she did well academically at the horrible posh school where she'd been awarded a scholarship. But socially, the school was a disaster for Reggie. When freed from her mother's watchful eye, Reggie trades school for two jobs and private tutoring of sorts. Reggie's favorite place is at Dr. Hunter's home, with the baby, Dr. Hunter and the dog. Clean, full of light, warm and welcoming, it is where Reggie feels most useful and at home.

The organized, well-read, caring, and efficient Dr. Hunter seems a strange match with her dodgy husband in the "entertainment business". But while Reggie and Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe may shake their heads, love is a strange business. When you're among those that Dr. Hunter loves, you bask in the warmth of her affection. She'll phone to speak to baby and to the dog. Accomplished but not vain, Dr. Hunter is an "all rounder" - an athlete, musician, gifted doctor, cherished mother, wife, and friend. Her judgement in all things, excepting her husband, seems unimpeachable.

Through the character and point of view of Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe, the book moves towards the tradition of the British detective novels. Centered on work to the detriment of her marriage and social life, DCI Monroe reminds us that When Will There Be Good News? is a detective thriller and mystery. As DCI Monroe and Reggie work to piece together the mystery of Dr. Hunter's disappearance, the tension rises and leads us to a satisfying end.

I thoroughly enjoyed When Will There Be Good News? I laughed, cried, couldn't put it down. If you like detective novels, give it a try. This book is great for a long trip, a cold afternoon or whenever you're looking for a fully satisfying read! Plus, it comes out in paperback on Jan. 10. I'm so glad to have discovered Kate Atkinson.

Publisher: Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (January 11, 2010), 416 pages.

ISBN-10: 0316012831

Review copy provided by the publisher.

About the Author, courtesy of the publisher:

Kate Atkinson lives in Edinburgh. Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, was named Whitbread Book of the Year in the U.K. in 1995, and was followed by Human Croquet, Emotionally Weird, Not the End of the World, Case Histories, and One Good Turn. Learn more by visiting Kate Atkinson's website at http://www.kateatkinson.co.uk/

Do you want your own copy of When Will There Be Good News? Win it here! When Will There Be Good News? contest ends on Jan. 31. Can't wait? Order the paperback which comes out on Jan. 10, 2010!

Thank you so much to Miriam, Valerie, and Hatchette Books Group for this review opportunity!

Book Giveaway: Sleep No More by Susan Crandall

Anna and Hatchette Book Group are generously sponsoring this giveaway of 5 copies of Susan Crandall's Sleep No More.

The blurb:
The night was always Abby Whitman's enemy. As a young girl she walked in her sleep, and one night, she started a fire that scarred her sister for life and left Abby with unbearable guilt . . . and a loneliness that echoes within her. Now Abby has begun blacking out again-with apparently fatal results. A car accident has killed the son of a prominent family. Even though the evidence seems to exonerate her, Abby is plagued by doubts-and soon by mysterious threats. Psychiatrist Dr. Jason Coble is intrigued by Abby and offers to help her explore the dark recesses of her mind.

About the Author, courtesy of the publisher:
Susan Crandall makes her home in Noblesville, Indiana. This is her eighth novel. Learn more at Susan Crandall's website at http://www.susancrandall.net/


CONTEST DETAILS:

To enter please tell us two books that are looking forward to reading this year and why.

Rules:
1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win. No email address, no entry.
2. You must be a follower to join the contest.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at noon on January 31, 2010.

Thank you so much to Anna and Hatchette Book Group for sponsoring this giveaway!

Book Giveaway: A Black Tie Affair by Sherrill Bodine

Anna and Hatchette Book Group are generously sponsoring a giveaway of 5 copies of A Black Tie Affair by Sherrill Bodine.

The blurb:
Fashion curator Athena Smith will do anything to get her hands on the Clayworth family's couture collection for her exhibit. So she's thrilled when she's called in to authenticate the gowns...until she falls ill while examining them and wakes up face-to-face with notorious Chicago bachelor Drew Clayworth.

Drew doesn't trust Athena one bit. He still believes she betrayed him years ago. So when his family's gowns go missing and Athena offers her help in exchange for the dresses, he reluctantly accepts. But they're both taken off guard by the barely restrained passion that's still between them...and the memories that are both bitter and sweet. As they work together to find the dresses, can they resist the sparks between them?

About the Author, courtesy of the publisher:
Sherrill Bodine has been writing stories since junior high, when she won a pair of silver skates in a state-wide essay contest. While moving twenty-two times back and forth across America and rearing her four children, she published fifteen award-winning novels under two pseudoynyms (Lynn Leslie/Leslie Lynn). Now she's decided to be herself and write about the people, parties, and high-life in the city she knows best: Chicago. When she's not in the Windy City with her husband, family, and Newfoundland and pug dogs, she's fulfilling her passion to travel to exotic locales around the world.

CONTEST DETAILS:

To enter please tell us two books that you read last year that you would recommend highly and why.

Rules:
1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win. No email address, no entry.
2. You must be a follower to join the contest.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at noon on January 31, 2010.

Thank you so much to Anna and Hatchette Book Group for sponsoring this giveaway!

Book Giveaway: Amanda Scott's Seduced By A Rogue

Anna and Hatchette Book Group are generously sponsoring a giveaway of 5 copies of Amanda Scott's Seduced By A Rogue.

The blurb:
A fair-haired beauty at 19, Lady Mairi is heiress apparent to her father Lord Dunwythie's rich barony. He has carefully taught her how to manage their estates, but a feud between his clan and the Maxwell clan is brewing as the two families edge toward a clan war - their dispute over money owed. Mairi's father believes he owes nothing, and of course Mairi sides with him.

When the impulsive and blue-eyed Rob Maxwell chances to meet Mairi in a barley field, they feel instant attraction, despite their families' antagonisms. Knowing he must put his clan first, Rob enacts a plan to force Dunwythie to pay his debt: Rob kidnaps Mairi, making the abduction appear the work of a stranger; then he and his sheriff-brother offer to help Dunwythis rescue his daughter IF, and only if, he will pay them the monies due. Yet after Rob captures Mairi's body, she captures his heart. When Dunwythie summons the aid of the most powerful clan in all Scotland (the Douglases), clan-tensions rise to a fever pitch. Love takes its own feverish course, as Mairi and Rob join forces to prevent a clash between hot-headed clans, and to protect their budding love.

About the Author, courtesy of the publisher:
Amanda Scott, best-selling author and winner of the Romance Writers of America's RITA/Golden Medallion and The Romantic Times' awards for Best Regency Author and Best Sensual Regency, began writing on a dare from her husband. She has sold every manuscript she has written. More than twenty-five of her books are set in the English Regency period (1810-1820), others are set in fifteenth-century England and sixteenth-and eighteenth-century Scotland. Three are contemporary romances. Amanda lives with her husband and son in northern California. Learn more at Amanda Scott's website.

CONTEST DETAILS:

To enter, share a book recommendation. Or visit Amanda Scott's website and share something that you've learned about her with the rest of us.

Rules:
1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win. No email address, no entry.
2. You must be a follower to enter the contest.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at noon on January 31, 2010.

Thank you so much to Anna and Hatchette Book Group for sponsoring this giveaway!

Book Review of The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini

The blurb:
Irene Sabatini brings her own memories of growing up in Zimbabwe vividly to life in this sweeping and moving story about two people whose lives become inseparable from the turmoil around them.

In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, the son of Lindiwe Bishop's white neighbor, seventeen-year-old Ian McKenzie, is arrested for a terrible crime. A year later Ian returns home, the charges against him dropped. He is brash and boisterous, full of charm and swagger, and fascinating to fifteen-year-old Lindiwe. She accepts a ride from him one day, despite her mother's warnings, and grows between them-becoming stronger and stronger in a world that wants nothing more to divide them. A secret that Lindiwe keeps hidden, and which Ian discovers years later, ensures that their lives will be irrevocably entwined as their country crumbles around them.

The Boy Next Door is an astonishing, brilliant debut novel about what it means to witness, to change, to love, and to remain whole when the world outside is falling apart.

Review:
The Boy Next Door, like many good stories, is difficult to characterize. The story of Lindiwe is a coming of age story and a love story. But since begins in Zimbabwe in the 1980s, The Boy Next Door gives us unique insight into the political upheaval and violence that accompanied those early years of independence from British rule.

Lindiwe and Ian McKenzie are both interesting and sympathetic characters in their own right, but the extraordinary circumstances that they find themselves in makes The Boy Next Door an engrossing and memorable read. Irene Sabatini has come up with a brilliant debut novel and I look forward to reading her next work.

Publisher:Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (September 8, 2009), 416 pages.
ISBN: 031604993X
Review copy provided by the publisher.

About the Author, from the author's website:
Irene Sabatini was born in Hwange, a coal mining town in southwest Zimbabwe and grew up in Bulawayo. She studied psychology at the University of Zimbabwe and then took a Masters at the Institute of Education in London. Irene Sabatini has followed a varied and international path: from teacher in Bogota, to researcher in the Caribbean, editor in Harare and author in Geneva. Visit her website at http://www.irenesabatini.com/index.html.

Thank you so much to Miriam and Hatchette Book Group for this review opportunity! I would not have discovered this book on my own and am very glad that I did.

Book Review of Ian Rankin's Exit Music

If you follow Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels, you will want to catch Exit Music, where Rebus solves his last case.

Nearing retirement, Detective Inspector John Rebus is savoring his last days and readying himself for the change. Edinburgh may become a different place once he loses the protection of his shield; old enemies and hurts have threatened to resurface. Rebus starts to prepare, ties up loose ends, and plans how to fill his days.

Then ten days until Rebus's retirement, Rebus and Detective Sargent Siobhan Clarke suddenly land a brutal murder case. The victim is a dissident Russian poet. Though it looks like an mugging gone wrong, Rebus suspects that the death is somehow linked to the elite delegation of Russian businessmen that are looking to invest in Scotland. The murder raises questions and as Rebus digs further, he finds links to an old enemy. But there's growing pressure from local power brokers and politicians to solve the case quickly and quietly. How much can Rebus accomplish before his time is up?

Review:
Legendary Detective Inspector John Rebus is as difficult, prickly, and engaging as ever. Observant, persistent, and unafraid to overstep, Rebus takes us all over Edinburgh as he uncovers hidden relationships and pieces together the events of that fateful night. Working with the soon-to-be promoted DS Clarke and her new mentee Todd Goodyear, Rebus uses all tools and tricks, calls in favors, and takes us on a thrilling adventure. Engrossing and carefully crafted, Exit Music is a terrific final novel to a legendary series. It's hard to believe that DI John Rebus has retired for good.

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; First US Edition edition (December 2009), 530 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

Thank you so much to Valerie and Hatchette Book Group for this review opportunity!

A Book Blogger's Diary has a giveaway for Exit Music that ends on Jan 31, 2010. Sign up at http://abookbloggersdiary.blogspot.com/search?q=&cx=partner-pub-5808670084455043%3Ac4yrmv2h3ol&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=ian+rankin