Dec
2015

Genre Blend New Releases – December 2015

categories: Uncategorized

December has a lot going for it. Holidays, cookie baking, carolling, my birthday….  But for new books, it’s usually a bit of a slump.  There’s always new blends, though, even in the low tide of publishing.  I enjoyed TIME AND TIME AGAIN quite a bit, if you are in the mood for time travel goodness. And in the historical romance subgenre, two of my favorte authors have new books, Sarah MacLean and Loretta Chase. Alternate History is rarely done better than Ian Tregillis, who continues the series begun with THE MECHANICAL. Finally, I am a huge fan of the weird west branch of steampunk, where the action takes place in the American Old West.  THE CURSE OF JACOB TRACY is another strong entry in this exciting subgenre.  No matter what your tastes, hopefully there is a blend here for you!

DECEMBER 1

                

           

DECEMBER 8

December 15

NO NEW RELEASES

December 22

DECEMBER 29

             


Nov
2015

Great Reads for Fans of The Great British Baking Show

categories: Featured Blend, TV

GBBOI know this isn’t particularly genre blendy, but I am currently grieving the end of the Great British Baking Show (aka in its native Britain as The Great British Bake Off or GBBO), which finished its run on PBS this weekend.  I usually hate reality TV. In America, it is usually about watching people acting badly, or hoping for people to embarass themselves, or trying to create drama where drama simply doesn’t exist. Even the cooking shows fall victim to this.  I’ve watched Top Chef and enjoyed it, but too much time is spent on personalities rather than food. So I had no particular desire to watch the Great British Baking Show, and in fact missed the first season aired here entirely. I don’t remember who convinced me to watch it this season (someone on Twitter, I’m guessing!), but after one episode I was completely smitten. This was a show about baking, and since it is from the UK it was often about baking things I have never even heard of like suet puddings and Victoria sponge (seriously, endless amounts of Victoria sponge). The bakers, while quite good a bit better than your average home baker, are still amateurs, and their creations often look more than a bit squiffy. We don’t get endless confessional interviews with the contestants (in fact you get virtually no info about their private lives except for a super short segment on each of the finalists). They just show up every weekend and bake. There is no big payday at the end (it seems they just get an engraved cake stand). And the biggest difference between this and every other reality show I’ve watched is that everyone is nice. Really nice. Now that it is over for another season, with no idea when they will air it again, I thought I would pull together a list of books for my fellow rabid fans of the show.  Bon Appetit!

Books for fans of The Great British Baking Show (aka The Great British Bake Off)

artofbakingblindThe Art of Baking Blind by Sarah Vaughan

This British novel is probably the closest we’re going to get to a novelization of The Great British Bake Off. It follows five amateur bakers who are competing to become the next “Mrs. Eaden”. In the 1960s, Kathleen Eaden, wife of a supermarket magnate, wrote a classic bestselling cookbook called the Art of Baking. Now she has died and the market chain wants to find a new baking mascot. If you love the show but wished they gave more backstory on the contestants, this book will scratch that itch. We learn about the five potential Mrs. Eadens and their personal struggles. We also get flashbacks to Kathleen Eaden’s story as she writes the cookbook that inspired the whole thing. There are plenty of tantalizing descriptions of baked goods, so you might want to have a snack handy while reading. It’s a charming, if not particularly memorable novel.

eatcakeEat Cake by Jeanne Ray

Ruth loves cake and bakes as a way to self-comfort and de-stress (I can relate!). When her husband loses her job, her daughter turns overnight into a bratty teenager, and both of her divorced parents move in with her, Ruth will need a lot of baking to deal with the stress. I love this novel. Like the author’s earlier Julie and Romeo, it is women’s fiction with depth and humor and a delightful, mature heroine. Ruth is beset on all sides, but she’s down-to-earth, warm, and funny. And she bakes like a dream! If I recall correctly, along with delectable descriptions of Ruth’s cakes, the author included recipes at the back.

breadaloneBread Alone by Judith Ryan Hendricks

Women’s fiction often follows a pattern wherein a woman experiences a trauma or emotional upheaval in her life and then searches for a way to reinvent herself (or usually find her most authentic self). In Bread Alone, Wynter Morrison (yeah, I hate the name, too, but she goes by Wyn) has moved to Seattle after her husband leaves her for another woman. At loose ends, she spend time in a local bakery cafe, which brings back memories of when she lived in Paris and wanted to be a professional baker. She is offered a job at the Seattle bakery and reconnects with her love of the process of making bread. This does has all the usual women’s fiction ingredients (change of scenery, wise best friend, fraught relationship with her mother, discovery of calling, new chance at love), but combined in a winning way. And yes, there are recipes for bread.

 

lovegoddessschoolofessentialThe School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister  

The Love Goddess’ Cooking School by Melissa Senate

These two novels get grouped together here (and in my head) because they share a structure and I read them about the same time.  Both involve a group of people attending a cooking school. They both break down into character studies of the students: what brought them to the school, the dramas and sorrows in their current lives, and works through how cooking and connecting with others helps them to a better place. In The School of Essential Ingredients, Lillian is a successful chef who hosts cooking classes at her restaurant. We get Lillian’s story alongside the story of her students, as each week they all tackle a new dish. In The Love Goddess’ Cooking School, the focus is more on the heroine. Holly Maguire returns home to Maine to take over her Sicilian grandmother’s cooking school. Trouble is she doesn’t know how to cook, much less does she have her grandmother’s secret to using food to tell fortunes. But she gamely dives in, and we get her story of reinvention alongside the stories of her first four students who also seek to change their lives.  Both of these novels are charming, light reads with mouth-watering descriptions of food.

Just about anything by Sarah Addison Allen

     
When I first fell in love with the books of Sarah Addison Allen, it was with her debut, Garden Spells.  It reminded me of a love child between Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic and Joanne Harris’s Chocolat and from there I was hooked.  Her books have the beautiful characters and relationships of good women’s fiction, with just the right touch of magic. In Garden Spells, Claire Waverly has been living alone in her family home with its magical apple tree in the backyard. She has a catering business that uses the family talents to be able to cook foods that are exactly what people need. Her orderly routine is thrown when her sister Sydney returns with her daughter.  The Sugar Queen has less food, but more magic than Garden Spells. Josey lives in her mother’s house, sneaking romance novels and serious amounts of candy in her bedroom closet. One day she finds local waitress Della Lee hiding in that same closet, and her life is going to get the shaking up it needs. Back to more food again with The Girl Who Chased the Moon. Teen Emily Benedict returns to North Carolina after the death of her mom to find out about the her mother’s life. She moves in with her grandfather and meets Julia, a cake baker who was friend with her mother. Seriously, if you haven’t tried Allen and you like women’s fiction with a healthy dash of magic, give her a try.

There are plenty of other great foodie fiction books out there, and don’t even get me started on foodie movies! Hopefully these will partially satisfy the hunger of GBBO fans longing for more Victoria sponge.


Oct
2015

Genre Blend New Releases – November 2015

categories: New Releases

We’re starting to hit the winter doldrums of publishing, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still some marvelous blends being published. The biggest names are probably Nora Roberts, who has a new paranoral trilogy at the beginning of the month and the new Pendergast novel from Preston and Child that sounds like a return to the horror-tinged thriller of Relic, the very first book in the series. My picks include Tower of Thorns by Marillier, second book in her fantasy series set in ancient Ireland. I also loved The Girl with Ghost Eyes, which is set in 19th century San Francisco’s Chinatown. Have a great November!

 

                 

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NOVEMBER 10

  

NOVEMBER 17

            

NOVEMBER 24


Oct
2015

Genre Blend New Releases – October 2015

categories: New Releases

While the fall season of publishing seems thave the biggest month in September, there are plenty of great fall new releases that combine genres this month. I can personally recommend the latest from genre-blender David Wong which is just as funny as his horror/thriller blends like John Dies at the End, but couples his trademark violence with SF this time out.  Laura Anne Gilman’s latest is a weird west gaslamp fantasy set in a fresh take on the old west run by the Devil himself. I’m also looking forward to teh new Kate Morton, who writes like a dream and has a knack for historical settings. Another writer who always impresses is David Mitchell, and this time out he apparently is tackling the ghost story.  Count me in! New historical romances from Lisa Kleypas and Lorraine Heath are always welcome, as well. Finally, I haven’t read it yet, but I hear marvelous thing’s about another weird west tale called Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen, so that’s on the top of my TBR list. Hopefully you will find a blend that’s calling your name as well.

 

                  

OCTOBER 6

OCTOBER 13

 

OCTOBER 20

                  

OCTOBER 27


Aug
2015

Genre Blend New Releases – September 2015

categories: New Releases

The fall publishing season is kicking off, with plenty of great books coming out in the month of September that blend genres. Things  I haven’t read but that get me squeeing with excitement? A new historical romance from Sara Donati, author of the swoonworthy Into the Wilderness; Girl Waits With Gun, which is getting great buzz from people I trust; and the start of a new steampunk series from Jim Butcher.  Oh, and I’m always up for Margaret Atwood, especially when she is in scifi mode. Things I’ve read that I can wholeheartedly recommend? A new October Daye book from Seanan McGuire and the historical fantasy set in Napoleonic England from Zen Cho called Sorcerer to the Crown. Happy reading!

 

                              

SEPTEMBER 1

  

SEPTEMBER 8

     

SEPTEMBER 15

SEPTEMBER 22 (NO NEW)

     

SEPTEMBER 29

 


Jul
2015

Genre Blend New Releases – August 2014

categories: Uncategorized

Dog days of summer might mean days by the pool, or if the heat index is over 100 where you are it might mean days in the air conditioning.  Either way, you’ll be looking for some books to read.  Here are August’s genre blending titles to seek out and enjoy. Some things I am especially excited about? A not-new-but-new-to-Americans Murakami release of his first two short novels Wind/Pinball; Magic Shifts, a new entry in one of my all-time favorite urban fantasy series by Ilona Andrews; a new book about death from the always reliably amusing Christopher Moore called Secondhand Souls; The Veil, the series opener for a new urban fantasy set in New Orleans from Chloe Neill; and the charmingly quirky The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster by Scott Wilbanks. What are you looking forward to?

 

                 

AUGUST 4

   

AUGUST 18

        

AUGUST 25


Jun
2015

Genre Blend New Releases – July 2015

categories: New Releases

I must apologize for the lack of new posts on Genrify.com lately.  I wish I could say that it would get better soon, but I think things will be light here for the rest of the summer.  But I remain committed to highlighting awesome genre blends, and hope to get back to normal eventually.  In the meantime, here are your new releases for July.  Summer is typically a somewhat lighter season for publishing, but there’s still plenty to read for blend lovers.  Of this month’s new titles, I would recommend Wesley Chu’s exciting new SF thriller Time Salvager, which is non-stop fun and even has a touch of romance. Everyone who loved the action and SF of ernest Cline’s Ready Player One should run out and buy or borrow Armada . There’s also a new Max Gladstone book, although this one reads more like straight fantasy than some of the previous books that combined legal thrillers, mysteries and fantasy. If I had to pick just one blend to read this month, though, it would be Natasha Pulley’s The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, which flawlessly combines fantasy, mystery and historical fiction with a bit of romance. It is so well-constructed that I immediately wanted to read it again to see how Pulley did it, especially since this is a debut novel.

 

WEEK OF JULY 7

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WEEK OF JULY 21

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WEEK OF JULY 28

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May
2015

Genre Blend New Releases – June 2015

categories: New Releases

Summer is here are the blending is easy.  There’s always a few mega-blockbusters on the rolls for June, and this month we get the new Stephen King horror-tinged thriller Finders Keepers, and the new Anita Blake novel  Dead Ice for those who never kicked that particular habit (sorry, sorry! But when I think of how much I enjoyed the first few books of this series…). I personally could not be more excited to read the new book in the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey, Nemesis Games , although I can’t tell how blendy it is as I could not get my hands on a review copy! But it’s bound to combine adventure and SF, with perhaps a bit of intrigue. Of the things I’ve had the pleasure to get my greedy mitts on already, I can personally rave about Peter Cline’s The Fold:, a very cool SF concept with thrills and a mystery to boot; The Invasion of the Tearling, the excellent sequel to the Queen of the Tearling that takes some serious genre-blendinng turns here; and the genre-defying debut novel The Library at Mount Char.  Enjoy!

 

                             

June 2

               

June 9

June 16

      

June 23

June 30


May
2015

Rural Urban Fantasy

categories: Featured Blend

Urban fantasy is a hugely popular segment of the SF/F marketplace, but there have always been arguments about the name.  It seems like an effort to differentiate books set in OUR world with books set in a historically influenced imaginary world. Some have always insisted a more useful genre heading would be contemporary fantasy or first world fantasy (as opposed to epic fantasy aka second world fantasy).  I personally like the name urban fantasy, as it conjures up city streets and danger and familiar surroundings. There are dozens upon dozens of series where the moniker fits like a glove: Butcher’s Dresden Files or Chloe Neil’s Chicagoland Vampires set in Chicago, Harrison’s Hollows series set in Cincinnati, and Seanan McGuire’s San Francisco set October Daye books all have great urban settings.  I should really do a gazetteer post one of these days, actually. But what about books that have contemporary settings and real world landscapes but which are not urban?  There’s some really great ones out there. Small towns, rural hamlets, and middle-of-nowhere settings can have some pretty interesting drama, it seems. And the communities are often a lot more intimate and up-in-everybody’s-business, which can add an interesting element to the story. Here are just a few I love a lot: (more…)


Apr
2015

Genre Blend New Release – May 2015

categories: New Releases

May is a good month for genre blends. I can personally recommend The Book of Phoenix, Okorafor’s marvelous follow-up to Who Fears Death. I’ll also draw your attention to Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife at the end of the month, an absolutely terrific blend of action-oacked thriller and plausible near-future SF.  As usual, I have listed the genres in the order that they seem to be most prominent in the blend. What are you looking forward to?

 

                          

May 5

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson (Historical/Fantasy)
Day Shift (Midnight, Texas) by Charlaine Harris (Fantasy/Mystery)
The Dark Side of The Road: A country house murder mystery with a supernatural twist (An Ishmael Jones Mystery) by Simon R. Green (Mystery/Fantasy)
Unseemly Science (The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, Book 2) by Rod Duncan (SF/Fantasy/Historical/Mystery)
Midnight’s Kiss (A Novel of the Elder Races) by Thea Harrison (Romance/Fantasy)
Alien Separation (Alien Novels, Book 11) by Gini Koch (Romance/SF)
The Venusian Gambit (Daedalus Series Book Three of) by Michael J. Martinez (SF/Fantasy/Historical)
The Book of Phoenix (Who Fears Death) by Nnedi Okorafor (SF/Fantasy)

          

May 12

The Forgotten Room by Lincoln Child (Thriller/Mystery/Horror)
Apex  (Nexus Arc Book 3) by Ramez Naam (SF/Thriller)
Born of Defiance (The League: Nemesis Rising) by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Romance/Fantasy)

    

May 19

Eighth Grave After Dark (Charley Davidson) by Darynda Jones (Fantasy/Romance/Mystery)
I, Ripper by Stephen Hunter (Thriller/Historical)

        

May 26

Dearest Rogue (Maiden Lane) by Elizabeth Hoyt (Romance/Historical)
Love in the Time of Scandal by Caroline Linden (Romance/Historical)
The Water Knife by Paulo Bacigalupi (SF/Thriller)