Book Bub: Before the Fall

Have you heard of Book Bub? While the library is a no-brainer for the best place to borrow a book, this website notifies you when ebooks are on super sale based on your book preferences. I've been using it for a few months and was able to snag one of my book clubs' selections for fall for $1.99.

One of the Book Of The Month Club recommendations I was interested in from June (Before the Fall) is on sale today for $3.99.

Of course, it's available at the library too.

APL Abstract: On a foggy summer night, eleven people--ten privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter--depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are Scott Burroughs-the painter-and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul's family. With chapters weaving between the aftermath of the crash and the backstories of the passengers and crew members--including a Wall Street titan and his wife, a Texan-born party boy just in from London, a young woman questioning her path in life, and a career pilot--the mystery surrounding the tragedy heightens. As the passengers' intrigues unravel, odd coincidences point to a conspiracy. Was it merely by dumb chance that so many influential people perished? Or was something far more sinister at work? Events soon threaten to spiral out of control in an escalating storm of media outrage and accusations. And while Scott struggles to cope with fame that borders on notoriety, the authorities scramble to salvage the truth from the wreckage. Amid pulse-quickening suspense, the fragile relationship between Scott and the young boy glows at the heart of this stunning novel, raising questions of fate, human nature, and the inextricable ties that bind us together.

Book of the Month Club

Does anyone else get these pop-ups all the time? I'm tempted to sign up every time because it is reasonably priced, I love getting mail, and it comes with a free tote bag! And sunglasses. Instead of pulling the trigger and handing over my credit card I decided to investigate library availability and get my name on the list for their July selections. Not to say that one day a BOTM subscription won’t win me over.

Missing, Presumed by Susan Steiner

• On order at APL  but you can put your name on the list already
• Abstract not available yet at APL but it’s a detective mystery about a missing graduate student in England and the policewoman searching for her. They suggest that if you like Broadchurch, Kate Atkinson, or Tana French, you'll like this. You can read more on Amazon.

The Girls by Emma Cline

• APL has multiple copies
• APL Abstract: Mesmerized by a band of girls in the park whom she perceives as enjoying a life of free and careless abandon, 1960s teen Evie Boyd becomes obsessed with gaining acceptance into their circle. Evie, grateful for their charismatic leader's attention, the sense of family the group offers, and the assurance of the girls, is swept into their chaotic cult existence. As things turn darker, her choices become riskier. A wonderfully written debut novel about the harm we can do, to ourselves and others, in our hunger for belonging and acceptance. -- adapted from NoveList and Publishers Weekly.
• I'm currently reading this and the writing is so good that I'm really taking my time. Also, it's creepy and the way she is weaving that damp, uncomfortable humidity that I associate with Northern California into the writing already has got me hooked.

Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam

• Anchorage Public Library has it
• APL Abstract: This irresistible debut, set in contemporary New York, provides a sharp, insightful look into how the relationship between two best friends changes when they are no longer coming of age but learning how to live adult lives. As close as sisters for twenty years, Sarah and Lauren have been together through high school and college, first jobs and first loves, the uncertainties of their twenties and the realities of their thirties.Sarah, the only child of a prominent intellectual and a socialite, works at a charity and is methodically planning her wedding. Lauren beautiful, independent, and unpredictable is single and working in publishing, deflecting her parents worries and questions about her life and future by trying not to think about it herself. Each woman envies and is horrified by particular aspects of the other s life, topics of conversation they avoid with masterful linguistic pirouettes.Once, Sarah and Lauren were inseparable; for a long a time now, they've been apart. Can two women who rarely see one other, selectively share secrets, and lead different lives still call themselves best friends? Is it their abiding connection or just force of habit that keeps them together?With impeccable style, biting humor, and a keen sense of detail, Rumaan Alam deftly explores how the attachments we form in childhood shift as we adapt to our adult lives and how the bonds of friendship endure, even when our paths diverge

There are two more books among the selections but these are the three I was most interested in. I only read one of the June selections: Modern Lovers by Emma Straub. It was really enjoyable. I have been reading a lot of period mysteries (England, 1930s and 1940s) so it was different to read something set in modern times that engaged with things like hashtags, the legacy of college friends, and the role of media in our lives. I enjoyed it so much that I also read another of her books, The Vacationers, while in Vancouver.

The Vacationers is available in both hard and digital copies from APL. Same goes for Modern Lovers.