Nora Roberts Kicks off an All-New Series This Week with Vision in White
Nora Roberts fans have been waiting for the launch of The Bride Quartet since Berkley first announced plans for the series last year. This week, Vision in White: Book One of The Bride Quartet went on sale. This is Nora’s first original trade paperback series and features beautifully designed packages, complete with rough-cut pages and French flaps. Berkley is also thrilled that Vision in White holds the record for the largest first printing—one million copies—for a trade paperback original in Penguin Group history.
The media is equally excited about Nora’s latest with some great early reviews. Publishers Weekly says, “...her gentle humor and likable cast will immediately endear this series to readers.” And Romantic Times says, “The always impressive Roberts returns to her traditional romantic roots with the first book in the Bride Quartet.” Nora has also written an essay for the May issue of Modern Bride in which she talks about her experiences as Mother of the Groom at both of her sons’ weddings, and how it inspired her to write The Bride Quartet.
As always, Nora is hard at work with four more books planned for this year, including the second Bride book, Bed of Roses, in December. For a full list of titles and more information on all things Nora, visit her website.
Also view our feature on Vision in White and The Bride Quartet series.
New This Week
Not Becoming My Mother by Ruth Reichl (The Penguin Press, on sale now)
There are few relationships in life that are as complicated and yet wonderful as that unique bond between mother and daughter. With Not Becoming My Mother: And Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way, bestselling author Ruth Reichl examines her mother’s life, giving voice to that universal unarticulated truth that we are all grateful not to be our mothers. Reichl begins by admitting that, “Like most women, I decided who my mother was long ago, sometime during childhood,” until she finally plucked up the courage to go through an old box of her mother’s letters, notes, and journals, spanning a lifetime from 1924-1988. As Reichl pieces together the story of her mother’s life from these scraps of paper, she discovers a woman she never really knew and how much she missed by not knowing her better when she was alive.
Published in time for Mother’s Day, Not Becoming My Mother is Ruth Reichl’s clear-eyed and heart-warming, intimate and ultimately inspiring exploration of what we learn from our mothers. Reichl appeared on NPR’s “Morning Edition” last week and will also be on NPR’s “On Point” next week. She will embark on a 10-city author tour to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Portsmouth, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. So far reviews and features are lining up in the New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Associated Press, People Magazine, Time Magazine, with more to come.
Read an excerpt from Not Becoming My Mother.
Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward (NAL Hardcover, on sale now)
Bestselling author J.R. Ward’s eagerly-awaited new Black Dagger Brotherhood book — and the first to appear in hardcover — Lover Avenged hit bookstores on April 28th. This installment, the seventh in the series, tells the story of Rehvenge, a friend of the Brotherhood.
Publishers Weekly praised Lover Avenged saying, “the fast pace and cliffhanger ending will have fans wishing they could start the next book right away.” Nearly 1,000 of Ward’s dedicated fans have already signed up for a “virtual book signing” through her website and more will be able to meet her in person at bookstores in Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Missouri during the next two weeks.
Check out a new video to see J.R. Ward talk about Lover Avenged.
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Riverhead, on sale now)
Following on the heels of the critically-acclaimed and internationally bestselling The Night Watch and set in the same compelling era of postwar Britain, The Little Stranger is a chilling and vividly rendered ghost story that breaks new literary ground for the internationally renowned author, Sarah Waters. With a trio of novels set in Victorian England, Waters garnered a devoted international readership, prestigious awards, and a critical reputation as one of the most accomplished historical novelists on either side of the Atlantic. With her fourth novel, The Night Watch, Waters “made a flawless leap from the Victorian era to World War II” (The Washington Post), and hit bestseller lists in the United States and the U.K., where it was a #1 bestseller. Now, in The Little Stranger, Waters returns to 1940s Britain to present an unsettling and vibrantly told haunted house story in the tradition of Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables.
Publishers Weekly raved “Waters…reflects on the collapse of the British class system after WWII in a stunning haunted house tale whose ghosts are as horrifying as any in Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.” The Wall Street Journal, featured Sarah this past Saturday and other features and reviews are set to run in the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Portland Oregonian, Time Out New York, The Believer, and on Afterellen.com. Sarah kicks off her 6-city book tour on publication date in New York with an event at Barnes & Noble Union Square. From there, she’ll head to Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco.
Explore the reading group guide to find a Q&A with the author and discussion questions to share with your reading group.
Was Superman a Spy? by Brian Cronin (Plume, on sale now)
Comic fans will love Brian Cronin’s Was Superman A Spy? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed. Cronin, a comic historian best known for his Comics Should Be Good blog, uncovers myths and rumors from the seventy-plus years of the comic book industry. The publicity line-up includes coverage in Sci-Fi Magazine, WWE Magazine, Time Out Chicago, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Colorado Gazette, Comics Journal, Comic Buyers Guide, Comic Book Resources, and Comicon’s Pulse! blog.
