Archives par étiquette : Writers House

BOOKIE AND COOKIE de Blanca Gómez

An irresistible tale of a sweet-as-biscuits friendship, BOOKIE AND COOKIE is both a fun and thoughtful picture book about the emotions and everyday obstacles of childhood, and a beautiful, inventive object to be treasured and enjoyed together..

BOOKIE AND COOKIE
by Blanca Gómez
Penguin/Rocky Pond Press, Fall 2024
(via Writers House)

Meet Bookie and Cookie. They are best friends. Bookie loves to read. Cookie loves to bake. Bookie lives in the left page of the book, and Cookie lives in the right. When they spend time together, Bookie ALWAYS goes to Cookie’s right-side page, where they share a plate of yummy biscuits. As much fun as this is, one day, Bookie decides it’s time for Cookie to visit his left-side page.

When Cookie refuses, Bookie doesn’t understand why he’s being so stubborn. When Bookie presses, Cookie doesn’t understand why he’s trying to fix something that isn’t broken. (Plus, Cookie is a little nervous about leaving his safe, familiar right page of the book.) So the friends say hurtful things to one another and retreat to their respective pages, feeling MAD.

But soon, the mad turns to sad. They miss each other! Will Bookie cave and return to Cookie’s right-side page, where yet another tempting plate of freshly baked treats awaits? Will Cookie venture outside of his own kitchen, let his friend finally play host, and see the left page of the book for the first time? And what if the duo found a way to play somewhere other than the left or right page?

Blanca Gómez is a picture book creator based in Madrid. Her picture books include Bird House and Dress-Up Day. Her illustration credits include, among others, Very Good Hats by Emma Straub.

EVERY BORROWED BEAT d’Erin Stewart

EVERY BORROWED BEAT offers an unflinching look at not only the realities of heart failure, but at memory, grief, guilt, and what it means to live—in spite of another, for another, and for yourself..

EVERY BORROWED BEAT
by Erin Stewart
Delacorte, January 2025
(via Writers House)

Delaney Moss should have died. She was supposed to die.

She never expected, after years of waiting, to receive a heart transplant. Now, seventeen-year-old Delaney doesn’t know what to do with her life. Her daily routine consisted of staying indoors, eating heart-healthy foods, and posting about her transplant list experiences on @TheWaitingList with her long-distance best friend (and heart failure buddy) Chloe. Now, Delaney latches onto the one thing that gives her meaning: learning as much as she can about the person whose heart she inherited.

After some sleuthing, Delaney concludes her heart donor was a girl her age, Mia, who died tragically one town over. Delaney tells herself that attending a post-mortem birthday celebration for Mia will help her fully know who Mia was. And she’s sure that after the memorial, she will be able to move on with her life. But then she meets Clayton: a boy who makes her new heart race; a boy whose grief and outlook resonate with her, and a boy who, it turns out, was Mia’s best friend. Instead of having her curiosity—and guilt—sated, Delaney is suddenly more drawn to Mia than ever. So much so that Delaney lies, saying that she was internet friends with Mia and furthering her connection to Clayton.

Thus begins Clayton and Delaney’s mission to honor Mia’s memory by living out entries from Mia’s vision board, one of the few things she left behind. They take on adventures like sneaking into a swimming hole and spending a day making pancakes. Delaney doesn’t want to admit it, but she’s falling for Clayton. What’s worse, she still hasn’t confessed that she lied about knowing Mia—not to mention that she has Mia’s heart. Delaney’s been shirking her responsibilities helping run @TheWaitingList, not to mention her friendship with Chloe, so when Delaney tries to pull Chloe and @TheWaitingList into the charade, Chloe is reluctant. Despite warnings from her best friend, Delaney continues to ignore the realities of her post-transplant life, opting instead to dive headfirst into creating @TheMiaProject in Mia’s memory.

But Delaney isn’t the only one hiding something. Mia’s brother Tanner won’t talk to Clayton, and Clayton won’t tell Mia why. Hundreds of miles away, Chloe’s health has taken a turn for the worse. And Delaney’s ever-worried mother has been withholding earth-shattering news: that Mia is not Delaney’s donor. As Clayton’s grief begins to overtake him and Chloe’s heart transplant is a failure, Delaney’s stress sends her (and her heart) to the hospital. Now, something needs to give. Delaney needs to face what’s on her heart—the truth, the guilt, and the future—before it’s too late.

Erin Stewart is the acclaimed author of Scars Like Wings and The Words We Keep. She loves using her background in journalism to research and write fiction based on real life. A heart failure survivor and adoptive mother, she believes life throws plot twists and people in our path for a reason.

THE UNWEDDING d’Ally Condie

An enticing combination of murder mystery and women’s fiction written with the eloquence and emotional insight that Ally brings to all her books and that we first loved in her YA debut, Matched.

THE UNWEDDING
by Ally Condie
Grand Central, June 2024
(via Writers House)

Photo: © Erin Summerill

Ellery Wainwright and her husband, Luke, were supposed to spend their twentieth wedding anniversary together at the luxurious Resort at Broken Point in Big Sur, California. Where better to celebrate a marriage, a family, and a life together than one of the most stunning places on earth? But when Luke, unexpectedly and shockingly asks for a divorce, and her world falls apart, devastated Ellery decides to do the planned trip alone. For years her identity was linked with Luke’s, she was a part of a couple, but now for the first time in decades she is no one’s wife, and, among the happy groups of fellow guests, she’s also no one’s friend. She feels like no one at all. Until she discovers a body in the pool and a bad storm isolates the resort completely.

Suddenly, from belonging to no one, she becomes acquainted with everyone, and becomes a central figure, the only person who can solve the murder.

Ally Condie is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Matched trilogy and co-author of the Darkdeep middle grade series. She is also the author of the novel Summerlost, an Edgar Award Finalist. A former English teacher, Ally lives with her family outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Ally has an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is the founder and director of the nonprofit WriteOut Foundation.

THE CURSE OF PIETRO HOUDINI de Derek Miller

In the tradition of City of Thieves by David Benioff, The Curse of Pietro Houdini is an epic war story and old-fashioned heist set in the Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino, Italy against one of the most enigmatic and morally complex fronts of World War II where German soldiers became heroes, Allies became villains, and a child has to learn what it means to become an adult.

THE CURSE OF PIETRO HOUDINI
by Derek Miller
S&S/Avid Reader Press, March 2024
(via Writers House)

It is August 1943. Fourteen-year-old Massimo is an orphan fleeing south to Naples from Rome after his parents are killed in an American bombing raid. After he is attacked by thugs at the base of the Benedictine abbey of Montecasino, a man who calls himself Pietro Houdini (“Master Artist and confident of the Vatican!”) brings him inside. Unfortunately, the abbey sits on the German’s Gustav Line, and the allies are coming north. In the months to follow, Massimo, Pietro Houdini, the mysterious “black angel” named Ada, the cafe owner and murderer Bella Bocci, the wounded but chipper German soldier Harald, and the lovers Dino and Lucia (on their wounded mule named Ferrari) will lie, cheat, steal, fight, kill, and sin their way through the front line of the World War II to survive, all while smuggling three Titian Renaissance paintings they stole from the Nazis who were stealing them from the monks.

The Curse of Pietro Houdini is a work of fiction based on well researched historical events; it is full of compelling superbly portrayed characters who come together from all walks of life but manage to accept and protect each other in a difficult and perilous situation they are in.

Derek Miller is the author of Norwegian by Night, as well as The Girl in Green, American by Day, Radio Life, and How to Find Your Way in the Dark. His work has been shortlisted for many awards, with Norwegian by Night winning the CWA John Creasey Dagger Award for best first crime novel, among others. How to Find Your Way in the Dark was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award and a New York Times best mystery of 2021. A Boston native, Miller lives in Spain with his family.

SUDDENLY A MURDER de Lauren Muñoz

Seven friends throw a 1920s–themed party, where it’s all pretend—until one of them is murdered. One of Us Is Lying meets Knives Out in this glamorous locked-room mystery.

SUDDENLY A MURDER
by Lauren Muñoz
Putnam, September 2023
(via Writers House)

Izzy Morales has spent four long years at Marian Academy ignoring whispers about her scholarship status and over-washed uniform while suffering the humiliation of waving to her math teacher-mum in the hallways. So when her best-friend Kassidy surprises her by inviting five of their friends to celebrate graduation by living like 1920s socialites at Ashwood Manor on Bartleby Island, Izzy is ecstatic about the escape and delighted about a week of fancy cocktails and even fancier dresses. But when Kassidy’s boyfriend turns up dead, the sparkling young socialites quickly become the prime suspects in his murder. Before they can flee back to the mainland, a raging storm traps them on the island with the criminal investigators including Pilar de León, a famous consulting detective whose quirky demeanour belies her killer instinct for sniffing out murderers. Everyone has a secret. Everyone has a motive. But only Izzy brought a knife to the party.

Lauren Muñoz is a writer, lawyer, and former teacher living in Southern California. She received her J.D. from Northwestern University in Chicago, where she frequently skipped class to commune with her sun lamp. When she’s not reading, she can be found knitting, crocheting, and collecting recipes for things she’ll never bake.