Kirkus Reviews Stars & Recommendations

CHASING THE KING OF HEARTS by Hanna Krall
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 28, 2017

"A quirky but exceptional story of infinite love and life-sustaining commitment."
Polish writer Krall transmutes the real experience of a Holocaust survivor into an emotionally bleached yet devastating account of where love can take us. Read full book review >
Jerusalem Ablaze by Orlando Ortega-Medina
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 26, 2017

"Stylish, sincere tales that go to dark, sometimes-uncomfortable places."
In Ortega-Medina's debut short story collection, characters are consumed by their fascinations with sex, death, and inescapable fate. Read full book review >

DARK AT THE CROSSING by Elliot Ackerman
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 25, 2017

"Ackerman humanizes a war fraught with tragedy and seemingly without resolution."
A timely novel about tension at the border between Turkey and Syria—and about the personal costs involved in trying to join the conflict in the Middle East. Read full book review >
UNDER PRESSURE  by Lori Foster
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"Romantic thriller veteran Foster has been honing her skill for a long time, and it's clear she's at the top of her game here. Readers will find themselves, along with her colorful cast of supporting characters, rooting for a happy-ever-after."
A professional bodyguard can't take his eyes off a sexy new client, and it's not just because of the lucrative paycheck. Read full book review >
THE YOU I'VE NEVER KNOWN by Ellen Hopkins
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"A page-turning exploration of independence, powerlessness, and secrets, with groundbreaking representation of bisexuality and queerness. (Verse fiction. 14 & up)"
One teen yearns for roots while another will do anything for a fresh start. Read full book review >

WORLD, CHASE ME DOWN by Andrew Hilleman
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"A bit slow going toward the end, but for readers looking for a diverting escape into the Wild (mid-) West, this one's a winner."
A fictionalized tale about Pat Crowe, whose real-life abduction of an affluent Nebraskan's son was the first successful kidnapping for ransom in the U.S. Read full book review >
Playbook by Tracy Ewens
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"A wholesome tale about playing football, taking chances, making the grade, and sometimes even wearing a little glitter."
A contemporary romance about a buttoned-up English professor who falls for her polar opposite, the football coach. Read full book review >
WHY TIME FLIES by Alan Burdick
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"A highly illuminating intellectual investigation."
An insightful meditation on the curious nature of time by New Yorker staff writer Burdick (Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion, 2006). Read full book review >
LONG SHOT by Craig Hodges
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"A skillfully told, affecting memoir of sports and social activism."
A former professional basketball player looks back on his life on and off the court, with an emphasis on how his outspokenness regarding racial discrimination led to his unofficial banishment from the NBA. Read full book review >
CITY OF SAINTS & THIEVES by Natalie C. Anderson
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"A story full of twists and turns, proving nothing is ever as black and white as it may seem. (glossary) (Thriller. 12-16)"
Anderson's debut mystery novel features a Congolese teenager bent on revenge. Read full book review >
MITFORD AT THE HOLLYWOOD ZOO by Donald Robertson
CHILDREN'S AND TEEN
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"A light-spirited visual romp and potential inspiration for fashion-minded youth. (Picture book. 4-8)"
Fashion's favorite giraffe comes to the rescue again. Read full book review >
THE SKILL OF OUR HANDS by Steven Brust
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"The imaginative worldbuilding and magic system overshadow the plot, and the reader may need a flowchart to track the cast, but Brust and White offer a frequently poignant take on the question of whether power conveys authority."
A group of secretive immortals are thrown into turmoil by the murder of one of their own in Brust and White's sequel to The Incrementalists (2013). Read full book review >
Kirkus Interview
Clinton Kelly
January 9, 2017

Bestselling author and television host Clinton Kelly’s memoir I Hate Everyone Except You is a candid, deliciously snarky collection of essays about his journey from awkward kid to slightly-less-awkward adult. Clinton Kelly is probably best known for teaching women how to make their butts look smaller. But in I Hate Everyone, Except You, he reveals some heretofore-unknown secrets about himself, like that he’s a finicky connoisseur of 1980s pornography, a disillusioned critic of New Jersey’s premier water parks, and perhaps the world’s least enthused high-school commencement speaker. Whether he’s throwing his baby sister in the air to jumpstart her cheerleading career or heroically rescuing his best friend from death by mud bath, Clinton leaps life’s social hurdles with aplomb. With his signature wit, he shares his unique ability to navigate the stickiest of situations, like deciding whether it’s acceptable to eat chicken wings with a fork on live television (spoiler: it’s not). “A thoroughly light and entertaining memoir,” our critic writes. View video >