ONE BLOOD by Denene Millner - MadameNoire "‘One Blood’: Author Denene Millner Shares New Novel, Tasty Excerpt And Book Cover Reveal"

MadameNoire | January 30, 2023

Denene Millner is a woman of many words. Her writing career started at the Associated Press fresh out of Hofstra University. At a tender age, editors identified the literary GOAT she’s blossomed into. After an eight-year stint as an entertainment and political reporter with the New York Daily New, Millner’s career took a sharp turn. The young journalist added a New York Times Best Selling author to her resume, after her book The Sistahs’ Rules: Secrets for Meeting, Getting, and Keeping a Good Black Man in 1997–and it was up from there. To date, Millner has authored over 31 books and, now, is the Vice President and publisher for Denene Millner Books, her own book imprint that centers storytelling for Black children.

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BookDeena Warner
Carolina De Robertis Wins the 2022 John Dos Passos Prize

Literary Hub | January 26, 2023

The 41st John Dos Passos Prize was awarded to Uruguayan American writer Carolina De Robertis (The President and the Frog; Cantoras; The Gods of Tango) by Longwood University. The Dos Passos Prize is the oldest literary award given by a Virginia college or university, and every year honors an “American writer who experiments with form, explores a range of voices and deserves more recognition.”

“In clear, precise prose, De Robertis makes audible the beating hearts of people navigating a terrifying world,” said Dos Passos Prize committee chair Brandon Haffner said in a statement. “But De Robertis’ stories aren’t so much interested in exploiting that terror for narrative suspense as they are in interrogating what compassion and resilience look like in the face of confounding policies and state violence.”


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BookDeena Warner
WILL TRENT by Karin Slaughter - Garden & Gun 'Southern Streaming: A Good Dog, a Georgia Special Agent, and More Great Stories to Dive Into This January'

GARDEN & GUN | JANUARY 4, 2023

Crime-writing queen and Atlanta resident Karin Slaughter sees her creation Will Trent come to life in this new series featuring the fictional Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent, played by the Puerto Rico native Ramón Rodríguez. The first episode, which has garnered generally good reviews, aired at 10:00 p.m. on ABC on Tuesday, January 3, and is also available on Hulu to stream; new episodes will air and stream on subsequent Tuesdays. Can’t wait?

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FilmDeena Warner
WILL TRENT by Karin Slaughter - Newsweek ''Will Trent' Star Ramón Rodríguez on His 'Complicated' Role and ABC Show'

NEWSWEEK | JANAUARY 3, 2023

Karin Slaughter's bestselling crime novels Will Trent are being brought to life on the small screen, and Ramón Rodríguez relished the opportunity to dig into the "compelling, complicated" character the author created, he told Newsweek.

Rodríguez takes on the titular role of Special Agent Will Trent, who works for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) in Atlanta and who is tasked with solving a grisly murder and missing persons case.

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FilmDeena Warner
WILL TRENT by Karin Slaughter - Variety '‘Will Trent’ Is a Winning Crime-Drama Adaptation: TV Review'

VARIETY | JANUARY 2, 2023

Rodríguez benefits, perhaps, from the source material; Trent, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent based in Atlanta, emerged from the mind of novelist Karin Slaughter. Here, he’s an astute but fallible sleuth, brought to the point of frustration both by his learning disability and an incident in which he seemed to have missed crucial clues.

“Will Trent” will premiere Tuesday, January 3 at 10 p.m. ET

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FilmDeena Warner
LET ME CALL YOU SWEETHEART by Mary Lee Donovan - B&N Reads 'Our Most Anticipated New Kids and YA Book Releases of January 2023'

B&N Reads | December 28, 2022

A new year means it’s time for a new #TBR, and we couldn’t be more thrilled about the upcoming January releases! With big names returning with new stories, debut authors that we are falling head over heels for, and beloved characters giving us a constant as the years change, our most anticipated books in kids and YA for January 2023 are certainly ones you won’t want to miss! 

Let Me Call You Sweetheart
Mary Lee Donovan, Brizida Magro

Whether you’re a sugar pie, cutie poo or darling delight, Let Me Call You Sweetheart is everything a picture book should be. Mary Lee Donovan’s poetry and Brizida Magro’s art go together like seasalted caramel and cookies n’cream (or whatever your personal equivalent would be). 

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BookDeena Warner
RIDE ON by Faith Erin Hicks and DRAGON BONES illustrated by Maris Wicks - School Library Journal ‘Announcing the 101 Great Books for Kids List from Evanston Public Library (2022 Edition)!’

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL | OCTOBER 21, 2022

Ride On by Faith Erin Hicks

Who is the mysterious new girl at Edgewood Stables? When Victoria shows up one day to ride the horses she tells the others there that she does not need new friends. But why is she here? And what happened at her stable before?

Dragon Bones: The Fantastic Fossil Discoveries of Mary Anning by Sarah Glenn Marsh, ill. Maris Wicks

Born in 1799, no one would have expected Mary Anning to be remembered as the mother of paleontology. The story of a scientist that couldn’t stop digging up impressive, ancient sea creatures.

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BookDeena Warner
VITAL LIES by Daniel Pyne

LIBRARY JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

Vital Lies by Daniel Pyne. Brilliance Audio. (Sentro, Bk. 2). Feb. 2022. 11:57 hrs. ISBN 9781713594390. $34.99. THRILLER

In Cold War Germany in the 1980s, teenager Aubrey Sentro is an entry-level intelligence operative for the CIA. When she discovers that an entire CIA unit’s cover is about to be blown, she sacrifices herself to give them time to escape. She is captured and handed over to former Stasi agent Günter Witt, who beats, rapes, and impregnates her. Often drugged, she is told by her captors that the baby was stillborn. Then the Berlin Wall falls, and the Cold War is over. Sentro returns home to her family but with memory loss and ongoing PTSD. Thirty years later, Witt reappears in connection with a series of bombings in Europe. Meanwhile, a woman claiming to be Aubrey’s daughter also surfaces with deadly intent. When Aubrey and her daughter are drawn into the search for answers and put in peril, Aubrey must recover the long-buried truth about her past. This is Pyne’s second book (after Water Memory) in the “Sentro” series. Narrator Christina Traister skillfully presents the many voices and accents necessary to make the story come alive.

VERDICT Listeners of spy thrillers will enjoy this book. Recommended.

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BookDeena Warner
MY SUMMER DARLINGS by May Cobb - Washington Independent Review of Books 'Women Writing Women in Crime Fiction'

WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF BOOKS | August 18, 2022

May Cobb is the author of three novels, the latest of which is My Summer Darlings, which was recommended by “The Today Show,” CrimeReads, Booklist, Shelf Awareness, and many more, and follows the critical and public enthusiasm her prior novel (The Hunting Wives) received. Her essays and interviews have appeared in the Washington Post, the Rumpus, Edible Austin, and Austin Monthly.

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BookDeena Warner
THE FORCE OF SUCH BEAUTY by Barbara Bourland - The Millions 'Regimented Bodies: The Millions Interviews Barbara Bourland'

THE MILLIONS | AUGUST 18, 2022

Barbara Bourland’s riveting new novel, The Force of Such Beauty, opens with the breathless escape attempt of a modern-day princess named Caroline as she endeavors to leave her marble prison once and for all. . . .

I spoke with Bourland over Zoom about the princess trap, the inescapable pervasion of the monarchy, and fiction as catharsis.

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BookDeena Warner
RIDE ON by Faith Erin Hicks - Publishers Weekly 'New Kids' and YA Books: Week of August 15, 2022'

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY | August 11, 2022

Ride On by Faith Erin Hicks. First Second, $24.99; ISBN 978-1-250-77281-7; $14.99 paper; ISBN 978-1-250-77282-4.

A group of riding camp veterans are surprised to find a former rival camp’s student at their camp for the summer, and despite their initial first impressions of one another, they bond over their love of horses and competing. The middle grade graphic novel earned a starred review from PW.

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BookDeena Warner