Novels Now

“We turn now to the issue of what constitutes an appropriate punishment for your various infractions,” said the judge in the middle, the gray-haired one whose name Jaywalker always had trouble remembering. [First Sentence]
The Tenth Case by Joseph Teller
Mira, 2008 (ARE)
Crime Fiction; 388 pgs
From the Publisher:
Criminal defense attorney Harrison J. Walker, better known as Jaywalker, […]

Popularity: 40% [?]

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Jars line my cellar shelves. Some are filled with fists of yellow-veined tomatoes. Others hold small onions and chopped leeks, white pearls floating in an opaque sea. Sometimes the light falls on a jar of boiled quail or the slick, dark meat of a rabbit. There are unexpected moments when I see the slit […]

Popularity: 26% [?]

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Mike got up off the floor and sat on the sofa while he loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, as if increasing the blog flow to the brain might help solve his problem. And it was then that the word containment entered his mind. And with that word, moral, […]

Popularity: 26% [?]

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Two women were standing on high places, shielding their eyes from the blazing sun with their hands, peering into the distance in search of messengers from the battlefield. Each knew that her life depended on the outcome of the battle; but their lives depended on opposite results. -From The Triumph of Deborah, page 1-
The […]

Popularity: 32% [?]

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Anita Shreve
305 pages
ARC from Hachette Book Group
Several students at a private boarding school have participated in illicit sexual activity. Worse than that, they were foolish enough to tape it. When the tape makes it’s way into the hands of the headmaster, that’s just the beginning of a cascade of events that will leave many lives […]

Popularity: 19% [?]

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“The world is full of miracles, Mama. All we have to do is find the ones that belong to us.” [pg 27]
Tarnished Beauty by Cecelia Samartin
Atria Books, 2008 (ARE)
Fiction; 339 pgs
Jamilet is a naïve and imaginative young woman who carries a burden, an ugly birthmark that stretches from her shoulders, down her back, reaching […]

Popularity: 19% [?]

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Lisa Black’s first novel - Takeover - takes place in Cleveland and opens with the grisly murder of a man found outside of his home. Forensic scientist Theresa MacLean doesn’t have any reason to believe this will be different from any other murder she has investigated until she gets word that a hostile takeover […]

Popularity: 15% [?]

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Things I Want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble
Contemporary Fiction
2008 HarperCollins Publishers
Finished on 3/7/08
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)
ARC - Due out on April 8th
Publisher’s Blurb:
Barbara had always been the backbone of her family. Warm, funny, and loving, her four daughters adored her and relied on her. Faced with the reality of leaving them before any […]

Popularity: 15% [?]

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It is almost always easier to learn about history through historical fiction or current world events through memoirs, and this book is no exception. Daoud Hari gives us a harrowing account of his experiences translating for various media outlets in the Darfur region. The violence in Darfur, especially toward women and children, is unspeakable. Though […]

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For those of us living in the United States, the suffering that goes on in other parts of the world is unimaginable. Darfur is one of the places where such suffering takes place. Genocide is occurring there and military power is constantly shifting. The reasons for this are complicated. However, this book contains an appendix […]

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