News - Book Reviews

News - Book Reviews

National Jeweler featured Ronald Winston’s forthcoming KING OF DIAMONDS: “[R]eaders will get one perspective on the protracted years-long battle between [Harry] Winston’s sons, Ronald and Bruce Winston, that culminated in the company’s sale about two decades after Harry’s death in 1978…KING OF DIAMONDS recounts Harry’s incredible legacy from the ultimate insider’s view, as Harvard-educated son Ronald forewent a career in chemistry and rocket propulsion to work alongside Harry in the family business at the patriarch’s behest.” Skyhorse will publish the book on September 19, 2023.

AND DON'T F&%K IT UP by Maria Elena Fernandez and World of Wonder received a starred review from Library Journal: “Fernandez’s oral history of the first 10 seasons of RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE is an immensely entertaining look at how a little TV show shot in a basement studio went from a cult favorite to a taste-making cultural juggernaut and global success…Loaded with heartbreaking and hilarious first-person confessions, this book’s a winner, baby!” Book Riot and LGBTQReads included the book in their roundups of June publications, and People published a great review highlighting some of the spicier moments on the show. The book was also featured in The Daily Mail, Out Magazine, and Gay Times. Lastly, an excerpt of the book was published by Literary Hub. Grand Central Publishing published the book on June 6, 2023.

HALCYON, Elliot Ackerman's new novel, received an abundance of rave reviews following its publication last month. BookPage reviewer Harvey Freedenberg writes: “With the passing of Ward Just in 2019, the literary world lost a fine writer who was comfortable grappling with the moral dilemmas surrounding the exercise of power and the lives of those who wield it. Journalist and novelist Elliot Ackerman’s fifth novel, HALCYON, suggests that he may be one of the inheritors of Just’s preoccupations. Blending alternative history with science fiction, Ackerman artfully explores several provocative issues that have become flash points in contemporary America…Ackerman prefers challenging questions…over convenient answers. With this choice, he leaves ample room for readers to engage in leaps of imagination as bold as the ones he’s undertaken. Anyone who accepts that invitation will come away from this ingenious story with fresh ideas of what past, present and future truly mean.” For The New York Times, reviewer Stephen Markley calls the book “idiosyncratic and engrossing throughout,” and an “expert juggling act.” For The Washington Post, reviewer Mark Athitakis writes: “HALCYON is an entertaining thought experiment, and Ackerman writes with a gentle, graceful style…Ackerman delivers a potent critique of the what-if nature of talking about history…[and] as much as any working novelist today, is invested in getting the facts of war and history right.” Ackerman was also profiled by Emily Bobrow in The Wall Street Journal. Knopf published the book on May 23, 2023.

NPR gave Monica Brashears’ HOUSE OF COTTON a stellar review, calling it "an incredible debut that announces the arrival of a unique voice in contemporary fiction" and “peculiar and slightly surreal, but also dazzling, full of surprises, and told with a voice that's unpredictable and, more importantly, that lingers.” Flatiron Books published the novel on April 4, 2023.

TAKE WHAT YOU NEED received a wonderful review from The New Republic. Reviewer Kristen Martin writes: "Novey upends familiar platitudes on our country’s divisions in an odd novel about the ways that the people and places we love can become enigmas to us, and the ineffable impulse to make art…Grappling with the mysteries we present to one another, Novey pushes back against the fairy tales we’ve told ourselves about polarizing places like Appalachia, spinning a far more artful story." Viking published the book on March 14, 2023.

THE LAST ANIMAL by Ramona Ausubel received a wonderful review from Ron Charles in The Washington Post. He writes: "If you could cross Anne Tyler’s novels with strands of DNA from Michael Crichton’s thrillers, you might produce this new book by Ramona Ausubel. From a taxonomic point of view, THE LAST ANIMAL is a sweet, poignant descendant of JURASSIC PARK...The paradox that this novel confronts with such tender sympathy and humor is how to love the time we have left." Riverhead Books will publish the novel on April 18, 2023.

HOUSE OF COTTON by Monica Brashears received a rave review from The New York Times, where reviewer MJ Franklin writes: "It’s a testament to Brashears’s enchanting storytelling that the deluge of plot doesn’t overwhelm the book. Just the opposite: The cascading waves of unsettling encounters and unexplained phenomena imbue it with the thrilling energy of possibility. As the story developed, it felt like anything and everything could happen next…There is a word commonly used to describe books like this: gritty. Fair enough. HOUSE OF COTTON is unafraid to peer at the unsavory minutiae of getting by. But for this novel, I’d add a few other labels too: magnetic, singular and completely unforgettable.” HOUSE OF COTTON was also included on Book Riot's "8 Terrifyingly Claustrophobic Horror Books," Bustle's roundup of “The Most Anticipated Books of Spring & Summer 2023,” and Debutiful's roundup of "Can’t-Miss Debut Books You Should Read in April." Flatiron Books published the novel on April 4th, 2023.

A review from Publishers Weekly raves that Elliot Ackerman’s HALCYON is a “thought-provoking alternate history,” adding: “Ackerman is great at probing the scientific ethics of resurrection. This visionary tale is worth a look.” Knopf will publish the book on May 23, 2023.

TAKE WHAT YOU NEED by Idra Novey received a wonderful review from Heller McAlpin in The Wall Street Journal, who writes: “TAKE WHAT YOU NEED is Ms. Novey’s first novel set in the United States, and her most autobiographical. It is also her most moving…Ms. Novey, who teaches fiction at Princeton and in NYU’s graduate writing program, is adept at spooling out tensions to keep readers eagerly turning pages. More important, she knows how to forge ‘some new kind of beauty’ by fusing disparate materials—scrap metal, fractured mirrors, camera lenses—that reflect shattered families and egos, dead-end poverty, divisive disdain and distrust, hope and love. TAKE WHAT YOU NEED is a heart-rending book, but it’s also a beautiful celebration of ‘the glorious pleasure of erecting something new,’ be it a work of art or a human connection.” The novel was also an Audible Editors Select pick for the month of March, with Audible Editor Katie O’Connor raving: “Idra Novey weaves the dual timelines of Leah and Jean together in a way that builds tension for the listener. Novey herself poignantly narrates Leah in what she describes as her most autobiographical work yet, while Christina Delaine delivers a no-nonsense yet endearing Jean. I immediately found myself wrapped up in their lives, and I’m eager for listeners to get to know the secrets of these women.” Viking will publish the book on March 14, 2023.

Erica Berry continues to receive stellar press for her debut work of nonfiction, WOLFISH: WOLF, SELF, AND THE STORIES WE TELL ABOUT FEAR. The Atlantic published a great review by Lily Meyer, which reads: “Among the book’s strengths is Berry’s awareness that, as she puts it, ‘my wolf is not your wolf.’ Berry combines memoir, journalism, and cultural criticism, weaving in others’ voices to remind readers that her perspective is only one of many…Berry’s braided approach renders WOLFISH both a vulnerable self-investigation and a wide-ranging exploration of fear—and, ultimately, an antidote to it…Her writing is richest when she fully commits to examining wolf metaphors and the ways in which we turn even very real wolves into symbols.” Flatiron published WOLFISH in the U.S. on February 21, 2023.