Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
With so much summer fiction to choose from, we have selected the five best fiction novels released this week to stock up your reading list:
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Arthur Less is going through a rough patch. Middle-aged, lonely and with no prospects on the horizon, he really doesn’t have much to look forward to. Until a wedding invitation from his ex-boyfriend arrives in the mail, and Arthur knows that he can’t really afford to go because it would seem like he might…well…care. So he decides to accept invitations to several literary events around the world. What could possibly go wrong? Little Brown & Company
The Breakdown by B.A. Paris
When late at night, Cass sees a car on a lonely road surrounded by woods in the rain with a woman sitting by herself inside, she doesn’t stop. Later, she learns the woman has been killed and Cass is unable to deal with the guilt. But the feeling of remorse can’t possibly have anything to do with the memory lapses she’s experiencing. And why she’s bought a stroller and she doesn’t have a baby… St. Martin’s Press
Pretend We Are Lovely by Noley Reid
In 1980s Virginia, the Sobel family is familiar with tragedy. Enid and Vivy lost their brother under mysterious circumstances seven years ago and since then, their life hasn’t been the same. Their mother Francie is constantly attired in tennis dresses and following a strict carrots-and-iceberg lettuce diet, while their father is a fleeting presence. Then suddenly Francie disappears with no explanation, altering their lives and forcing them to find solace in one another. Tin House Books
The Library of Light and Shadow by M.J. Rose
In this new installment of the Daughters of La Lune series, the Roaring Twenties are owned by the glamour and wealth of the upper class. In the midst of all the rapid changes the Jazz Age brings, Delphine Duplessi has a talent for seeing things that others can’t. Which is no surprise considering her family’s history and their relationship to magic. However when an incident in a Fifth Avenue penthouse goes awry, Delphine is forced to return to France where she will have to face an old family curse, and the man she used to love. Atria Books
The Epiphany Machine by David Burr Gerrard, Penguin Random House
An epiphany machine is the new craze, offering tattooed predictions on people’s forearms that are eerily accurate. It seems like a hoax, but…is it? That’s what Venter Lowood intends to find out following his grandmother’s bidding and after seeing what the machine’s predictions did to his own parents. But confronting Adam Lyons, the operator of the Epiphany Machine, may not be as easy or satisfactory as Venter initially thought.
