U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, who represents the state of Florida, will be signing copies of his new memoir, An American Son (also available in Spanish as Un Hijo Americano; Sentinel, hardcover, $26.95), at Fiction Addiction. Signing Tickets Required. Books must be purchased at Fiction Addiction in advance or at the signing. Each book purchased, whether the English or Spanish edition, will come with a free signing ticket. Tickets must be presented to enter the signing line. Books can be purchased on-line at www.fiction-addiction.com or by calling us at 864-675-0540.

Maddie, Avery, and Nikki return for another DIY fix-it-upper -- this time televised -- in Atlanta author Wendy Wax's new novel, Ocean Beach (Berkley, paperback, $15.00, releases 6/26/12), the sequel to her previous book, Ten Beach Road. You can purchase tickets online at www.bookyourlunch.com or by calling us at 864-675-0540.

Acclaimed Atlanta author Jillian Medoff's bitterly funny, shocking new novel, I Couldn't Love You More (Grand Central Publishing, paperback, $13.99), has been called "devastating, hilarious, and painfully familiar" by New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult. You can purchase tickets online at www.bookyourlunch.com or by calling us at 864-675-0540.

 

U.S. Marine and author Benjamin Busch will be discussing and signing his memoir, Dust to Dust (Ecco, hardcover, $26.99), at Fiction Addiction's new store location. Busch weaves together a vivid record of a pastoral childhood in rural New York; Marine training in North Carolina, Ukraine, and California; and deployment during the worst of the war in Iraq. Most of all, he brings enormous emotional power to his reflections on mortality. This is an unforgettable meditation on life and loss.

We are thrilled to be hosting bestselling British author Sophie Hannah for our first Stories & Sweets event, where she will be discussing her latest US release, The Other Woman's House (Penguin, paperback, $15.00, on sale 6/26/12), featuring the return of detectives Charlie Zailer and Simon Waterhouse. You can purchase tickets online at www.bookyourlunch.com or by calling us at 864-675-0540.

Following our month-long Where's Waldo in Greenville, SC, scavenger hunt, we will be hosting a Waldo grand celebration and prize drawing at Fiction Addiction's new store location on July 31st. Everyone who collects at least 8 of the 12 possible cards from various local, independent businesses will be entered in a drawing to win a 6-book deluxe set of the Where's Waldo? books (a $45.00 value) and other great prizes. For more information about the scavenger hunt, and to see a complete list of participating business, click here.

Fiction Addiction's cookbook clubs meet the first week of every month, on Monday at Wine Styles (3935 Pelham Rd. Ste. F) and on Thursday at Fiction Addiction* (1175 Woods Crossing Rd.). From July to September, we will be preparing recipes from and discussing Southern Living Farmers Market Cookbook (Oxmoor House, hardcover, $29.95).

 

*Please note the change in venue for the Thursday club. We are no longer meeting at Palmetto Olive Oil Co. As of August, we are meeting at Fiction Addiction's new store location at 1175 Woods Crossing Rd.

 

We have room available in both clubs, so if you're interested in joining, please email us at info@fiction-addiction.com or call us at 864-675-0540 for information or to sign up. You can preview the club agreement here.

South Carolina author Millie West will be signing copies of her debut novel, The Cast Net (Boutique of Quality Books, paperback, $19.99), at Fiction Addiction's new store location. Mills Taylor never imagines that her new job will launch a year of living dangerously. As she helps her boss cope and seek the truth behind his wife's disappearance, she learns the new deeper meaning of "the cast net" and why it has been embraced by generations of Low Country residents.

Christian author Marcia Moston will be signing copies of her debut memoir, Call of a Coward (Thomas Nelson, paperback, $15.99), at her launch party at Fiction Addiction's new store location. This event is open to the public, and we will be serving light refreshments. From the highlands of Guatemala to a small Vermont village, Marcia follows God's call for her husband even though it seems to conflict with her own dreams, requires credentials she lacks, and demands courage she doesn't feel she has.

Actress, comedian, and syndicated columnist Pam Stone shares a selection of readers' favorites from her column "I'm Just Saying" in her new book, I Love Me a Turkey Butt Samwich (CreateSpace, paperback, $14.95). You can purchase tickets online at www.bookyourlunch.com or by calling us at 864-675-0540.

Join us for storytime every Thursday morning at 10:30am. We will be reading the following titles during July:

5th: My No, No, No Day! by Rebecca Patterson (Viking, hardcover, $16.99)

12th: Pass It On! by Marilyn Sadler (Blue Apple, hardcover, $16.99)

19th: Zorro Gets an Outfit by Carter Goodrich (Simon & Schuster, hardcover, $15.99)

26th: Olympig! by Victoria Jamieson (Dial, hardcover, $16.99)

I prefer Robert Goolrick's new novel, Heading Out to Wonderful, over his previous interesting but dark and gothic novel, A Reliable Wife. Even though you know from the beginning that Heading Out to Wonderful is a romantic tragedy, you continue to read not to find out what happens but to enjoy a light and optimistic journey. A warning to would-be authors--don't try to write like this at home; 99.9% of you will fail. If you liked Ron Rash's One Foot in Eden and Saints at the River, then try Heading Out to Wonderful.

A young attending psychiatrist is the last person you would think would be involved in a Wall Street scandal and murder, but that is what happens when Ben Cowper releases a patient against his best instincts. Everyone is looking out for their best interests, so the only one left to help Ben keep his job and his reputation is Ben himself. A Fatal Debt is a very timely tale of money, deception, jealousy, and betrayal. Nothing is as it seems and no one is who they seem in this gripping tale from an award winning Financial Times columnist who obviously knows his stuff.

This story is not unusual with the premise of the philandering husband leaving for a younger woman. Wife number one, Dana, is left to manage two children and strained finances. Then add to the mix your teenage niece who needs a break from your free-spirited sister. And let's not forget that single women are allowed to date and feel attraction to men, even if it doesn't always seem logical. Dana has been unfailingly polite her entire life, but when she's faced with more challenges than she could ever have imagined, some ingrained traits go flying out the door. While the polite and giving behavior was not a veneer in the case of Dana, she does learn that sometimes you have to take a stand, even if it is uncomfortable. Meet Ms. Fay at her Book Your Lunch event on Wednesday, November 14th!

 

 

We've all been in situations where we've had to spend time with people we'd rather not, and sometimes those people are family. This is the premise in Haddon's latest novel. Against their better judgment, an estranged brother and sister and their respective families get together for a week long vacation in the English countryside. The story is told from alternating viewpoints revealing each character's intimate strengths, weaknesses, desires and secrets. Every revelation demonstrates why family dynamics can be so difficult and mysterious to those involved. Readers who love a well written and at times poetic book, and who have enjoyed or endured a family reunion, will love The Red House.

Few politicians have risen to national prominence as quickly as Marco Rubio. At age 41 he's the subject of widespread interest and speculation. But he has never before told the full story of his unlikely journey, with all the twists and turns that made him an American son, from his parents' journey from Cuba, the death of his grandfather, through college and graduate school, and into the thick of his political career. Now Rubio speaks on the national stage about the challenges we face and the better future that's possible if we return to our founding principles, and he proves that the American Dream is still alive for those who pur­sue it. Meet Mr. Rubio at his in-store book signing on Thursday, July 5th!

Beautiful yet self-effacing newcomer to Southport, North Carolina, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard. But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport.

New Amsterdam, 1663. Orphan children are going missing, and among those looking into the mysterious state of affairs are a quick-witted, Blandine von Couvering, herself an orphan, and a dashing British spy named Edward Drummond. Suspects abound, but both the search for the killer and Edward and Blandine's newfound romance are endangered when Blandine is accused of being a witch and Edward is sentenced to hang for espionage. Meanwhile, war looms as the English king plans to wrest control of the colony.

When the sound of an organ lures Oscar Lowe into a chapel at Kings College, he meets and falls in love with Iris Bellwether, a beautiful and enigmatic medical student. Oscar soon becomes embroiled in the strange machinations of Iris's older brother, Eden, who convinces his sister and their friends to participate in a series of disturbing experiments to prove that music -- with his expert genius to guide it -- can cure people. As the line between genius and madness begins to blur, however, Oscar fears that it is danger and not healing that awaits them all -- but it might be too late. . . .

A divorcée out of culinary school, Elza started her own little restaurant in the midsize Hungarian city of Delibab, and she's grown a decent business. But lately her smile has dimmed. Her loveless affair with her sous-chef has become an irritation. She's getting sick of the same old dishes and the same old customers, and she can't help but think that perhaps the right review, from the right critic, would change things . . . But in these nascent years of capitalism, it will take some competition to really make Elza see that her restaurant, and her happiness, are worth fighting for.

1950 Tennessee. In her early 30s, Ivorie Walker is considered an old maid by the town, and she takes that label with good humor and a grain of salt. Ever since her parents passed away, she has hidden her loneliness behind a fierce independence. But underneath, Ivorie wonders if she will be alone forever. When she realizes that a boy has been stealing vegetables from her garden, something about him haunts Ivorie. But what she truly can't imagine is what the boy faces, each day and night, in the filthy lean-to hut miles up in the hills.

September 1919: 21-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War. But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan's visit. As he recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will -- from their first meeting on the training grounds at Aldershot to their farewell in the trenches of northern France. The intensity of their bond brought Tristan happiness and self-discovery as well as confusion and unbearable pain.

Cookie Himmel embodies every facet of Southern womanhood that Flannery O'Connor lacks. Cookies' fiancé, Melvin Whiteson, has come to Milledgeville, GA, to begin a new chapter in his life, but it is not until he meets Flannery, living at home after being crippled by Lupus at 25, that he starts to take a good hard look at the choices he has made. Despite the limitations of her disease, Flannery seems to be more alive than other people. And Melvin is not the only person in Milledgeville who starts to feel that life is passing him by . . .

As private investigation is illegal in China, Rutherford Risk, a firm specializing in the negotiation for and recovery of hostages, recruits two outsiders to help rescue a Chinese National who is grabbed off the streets of Shanghai in broad daylight. Forensic accountant Grace Chu's top-notch American education and Chinese military service make her an unassuming but effective operative, while combat-trained civilian John Knox's take-no-prisoners attitude brings them perilously close to harm. Following the money leads to more complex and dangerous consequences than either anticipated.

Picking up from A Discovery of Witches' cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night plunges Diana, Oxford scholar and reluctant witch, and Matthew, geneticist and vampire, into Elizabethan London, a world of spies, subterfuge, and a coterie of Matthew's old friends, the mysterious School of Night that includes Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh. Here, Diana must locate a witch to tutor her in magic, Matthew is forced to confront a past he thought he had put to rest, and the mystery of Ashmole 782 deepens.

In Wind Rider's Oath, Bahzell became a wind rider -- the first hradani wind rider in history. And even if Bahzell is the War God's champion, because the wind riders are the elite of the elite among the Sothoii, Bahzell's ascension is as likely to stir resentment as respect. What's more, Baron Tellian's daughter, the heir to the realm, seems to be thinking that he is the only man -- or hradani -- for her. Now, War Maid's Choice continues the story -- and things really get complicated.

What's green, and slithery, and smooth, and . . . smart? My snake Blake, that's who! When my dad brought him home, he curved and twisted his body and spelled out "hello." And when my mom was worried he might bite, his response was "relax." This hilarious story about the friendship between a boy and his rather exceptional pet is brought to life by the simple yet delightful drawings of award-winning artist Serge Bloch.

The seven dragon tribes have been at war for generations, locked in an endless battle over an ancient, lost treasure. A secret movement called the Talons of Peace is determined to bring an end to the fighting, with the help of a prophecy that calls for great sacrifice. Five dragonets are raised in a hidden cave and enlisted, against their will, to end the terrible war. But not every dragonet wants a destiny. And when the select five escape their underground captors to look for their original homes, what has been unleashed on the dragon world may be far more than the revolutionary planners intended . . .

Peter Pan is unlike anyone 15-year-old Tiger Lily has ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. Soon, she is risking everything to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real to Delilah, a loner who prefers spending her time with her head in a book. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah. And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He's a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He's sure there's more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

Sincerely,