[Manabi]

This month's Kindle First selections are out, they are:

Evelyn, After: A Novel by Victoria Helen Stone [Genre: Psychological Suspense]

Evelyn Tester is sleepwalking through her suburban life—until a late-night phone call startles her awake. Her husband, a prestigious psychiatrist, has been in an accident. And he isn’t alone.

Suddenly Evelyn’s world isn’t as tidy as she thought. And in the midst of it all is Juliette, not only her husband’s secret lover but also his patient. If news of the affair were to get out, it would ruin more than just Evelyn’s marriage. Although it’s a bitter pill for Evelyn to swallow, protecting her family means staying silent—even if, as she begins to discover, the night of the accident has consequences far more dangerous than the unmasking of an affair.

But the more Evelyn learns about Juliette’s picture-perfect life—complete with a handsome, unsuspecting husband—the more she yearns for revenge…and satisfaction. Her growing obsession fuels her rage, burning away her complacency. What will be left of her after it flames out?

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

When Evelyn receives a call from her husband in the middle of the night because he’s driven his car into a ditch, of course she immediately rushes out to help him. But when she arrives on the scene, things take a very different turn. He’s not alone. And as much as he tries to explain the circumstances…

What is it that keeps me reading these stories? Where everyday scenarios suddenly turn emotionally terrifying and I can easily imagine myself in that same situation? After reading Victoria Helen Stone’s stunning debut, I asked myself, What would I do in the face of all of her suspicion and uncertainty? I’d like to think that I wouldn’t devolve into obsessing, stalking, and plotting the way that Evelyn does. But then again, when faced with fear and adversity, we can all do some pretty strange, “out of character” things.

Evelyn, After had me from the opening passages, and I recommend you carve out some time before cracking the cover. All mundane responsibilities of life will fall away while you are immersed in this page-turner.

- Danielle Marshall, Editor

It Is Well: A Novel by James D. Shipman [Genre: Historical Fiction]

Jonathan Beecher, a middle-aged widower and small-town store owner, has never asked for much. But lately, all too much is being asked of him. The bombing of Pearl Harbor plunges America into World War II and deeply fractures Jonathan’s own family. His eldest son, a civilian contractor, is trapped on a Japanese-occupied island in the Pacific. Jonathan’s feckless younger son ignores his father’s pleas to stay home and joins the army. And his bright, devoted daughter, who Jonathan hoped would go to college, elopes with a brutally abusive man instead.

Jonathan has always met adversity with quiet faith, but as his emotional and financial losses accumulate, so do his doubts. In the midst of his pain, Sarah, a widow herself, emerges as a kind, compelling friend. Powerfully drawn to Sarah, Jonathan struggles to remain true to his late wife.

James D. Shipman’s tender, wise novel examines the paradox of human suffering: how irrevocable loss, if we are willing to let it, begets spiritual gain.

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

A lot has been written about World War II and the people who endured it. This novel, more than any other, gave me insight into how they earned the moniker “the greatest generation.” The characters’ quiet strength, family bonds, and shared sacrifice moved me and made me feel as if I were right there, keenly experiencing trials and victories alongside them.

From the battlefield to the hardware store in a small town, I was given a glimpse into the life of an everyman, Jonathan Beecher. He was a widower and a father, trying to keep a family business afloat while his sons ran headlong into the conflict and his daughter tried to find her way. I admired how Beecher coped with loss and his questioning of love and war—and marveled at his ability to rise above it all. And when the town rallied around him and he found someone to share the happiness and burdens of life with, I cheered. I felt as if I had truly been a part of his journey.

When reflecting on the horrors of war, we rarely think of the toll it takes on the people back home. This perspective is at the center of It Is Well by gifted historical author James D. Shipman. This is a novel I won’t forget for a long, long time.

- Danielle Marshall, Editor

Venom and Vanilla (The Venom Trilogy Book 1) by Shannon Mayer [Genre: Urban Fantasy]

Successful Seattle baker Alena Budrene doesn’t want to die. But when she’s infected with a lethal virus spread by supernatural beings, her only chance for recovery is to make a deal with the devil—or in this case, a warlock.

Though he saves her life, it looks nothing like the life she once knew—and neither does she. Alena is a new breed of “Supe” no one has ever seen before. Even the supernatural police don’t know what she is. Now exiled to the northern side of the Wall, which marks the divide between humans and Supes, Alena is thrust into a dark and magical new world.

But just as she begins to adjust to all things supernatural, she realizes that her transformation is the least of her worries—and it was no accident. She was chosen…to be killed by a Greek hero trying to make a name for himself once more.

Alena was brought up to be subservient, preferring creating to fighting, and vanilla and honey to blood. But that was then. Now, to survive, she must stand up for herself—and this time she’s got fangs. But will she be ready to use them?

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

What if the only way to stay alive was to become something you were raised to scorn? With that choice hanging over her head, we meet successful, yet charmingly naive Seattle pastry chef Alena Budrene.

Alena faces the hardest decision of her life when she contracts a deadly virus, the only cure for which is to become a supernatural creature. The problem: many humans, including her own parents, see these beings as evil—but Alena goes through with the change anyway. As Alena realizes just what sort of legendary creature she’s been turned into and runs into a mythological foe sent to battle her to the death, she begins to shed her old self and becomes the strong, confident woman she always knew she was inside.

Even though on the surface Alena’s world may be different from our own, her journey to let go of what she once thought was important in order to figure out what actually matters to her feels like one we’ve all taken ourselves. And by the end of the novel, Alena and I both learned that anyone can be given venomous fangs—but it takes a real heroine to know when to use them.

- Adrienne Procaccini, Editor

Before You Leap by Keith Houghton [Genre: Thriller]

Peace of mind is all Greg Cole has wanted since the murder of his twin sister, Scarlett.

In his new sun-soaked Florida life, he thought he had found it. But when Scarlett’s killer is released early from prison with a cast-iron alibi, Greg realizes that his past is about to explode into his present, with terrifying consequences.

To expose the truth he must open up old wounds. As a talk therapist, Greg knows all about dark secrets, but when a childhood friendship comes to the fore and the police turn their spotlight on him, the thought of analyzing his own psyche is a disturbing prospect. How far can he trust his own memories?

With his life coming apart at the seams, and his grip on reality beginning to unravel, Greg must face the ghosts of his past if he hopes to prove his innocence and live to see another day.

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

Before You Leap starts on screeching tires, literally—an interstate bridge, a police chase, three men trapped in a car, driving at full speed. The two in the front are arguing, one is brandishing a gun, and the third is bleeding profusely in the backseat. You can’t help but be immediately hooked and wonder, Who are they? And how on earth did they get here?

The novel then takes you back a few days. Greg Cole’s quiet and secluded life is about to be thrown into chaos when he learns that his dead sister’s convicted murderer has been released early.

Before You Leap is absorbing, thought-provoking, and psychologically riveting. I was struck by how the author is able to delve into Greg’s psyche and express his grief over the loss of his sister—and the inner turmoil that overtakes him—with such clarity. What you’re left with is a poignant, complex, nail-biting novel where you watch in a stupor as someone’s life and sanity shatter. And as it crescendos, the story pulls the rug from under your feet and delivers the most unexpected twist—one that took my breath away and left me reeling.

- Emilie Marneur, Editor

The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds (The Malayan Series) by Selina Siak Chin Yoke [Genre: Historical Fiction]

Facing challenges in an increasingly colonial world, Chye Hoon, a rebellious young girl, must learn to embrace her mixed Malayan-Chinese identity as a Nyonya—and her destiny as a cook, rather than following her first dream of attending school like her brother.

Amidst the smells of chillies and garlic frying, Chye Hoon begins to appreciate the richness of her traditions, eventually marrying Wong Peng Choon, a Chinese man. Together, they have ten children. At last, she can pass on the stories she has heard—magical tales of men from the sea—and her warrior’s courage, along with her wonderful kueh (cakes).

But the cultural shift towards the West has begun. Chye Hoon finds herself afraid of losing the heritage she so prizes as her children move more and more into the modernising Western world.

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

Some stories transport you across the world and through time, to places and experiences otherwise unreachable. Like The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds did exactly that, allowing me to see through the eyes of young Chye Hoon, a girl of mixed Chinese-Malay heritage in late nineteenth-century British Malaya (currently Malaysia), and keeping me transfixed by her life’s journey until I closed the book some hours later.

My senses were bewitched by descriptions of sizzling garlic and burbling coconut milk, just as the portrayal of the young girl dreaming of her ancestors’ swords captured my heart. By the time Chye Hoon leaves girlhood behind and takes up the mantle of matriarch, I was deeply committed to following her destiny and that of her children, all struggling to find a place in a world that is increasingly shifting toward the West.

Loosely based on her own family, each of author Selina Siak Chin Yoke’s characters breathes on the page. My heart broke for them as their worlds changed forever, their dreams morphing as they acclimated or succumbed to the forces of colonialism. The overriding message is one of hope and survival, and the book is a testimony to the power of food, friendship, and family.

- Elizabeth DeNoma, Editor

Wake in Winter by Nadezhda Belenkaya (Author), Andrea Gregovich (Translator) [Genre: Literary Fiction]

Nina’s graduate program at Moscow University isn’t exactly cheap. So when she is offered work translating for Spanish families looking to adopt orphans from the provincial town of Rogozhin, she quickly agrees. Besides the much-needed money it brings, the job is a great opportunity for Nina to use her education to help people in hardship.

But soon she finds that nothing is as it seems. By the time Nina realizes that all too often the business of international adoption is not a humanitarian enterprise, she’s in too deep. Will she be able to navigate a world of exploitation and political corruption in order to help the children? Or should she return to the much simpler world of academia and leave the orphans behind?

Wake in Winter is a captivating story of one woman’s choice in the face of a shattering discovery.

From the Editor:

Spoiler:

Like an art-house movie that lifts your heart while being true to the sadness of the world, Wake in Winter points out traces of the sublime to elevate the ordinary. Nina is sensitive and alert to the beauty in the details, but as she bears witness to corruption and harsh realities, she risks losing that sense of perspective.

Nina starts her job matching Spanish parents with Russian orphans with naive optimism. With each new case Nina takes on, the darker aspects of the industry stun her into numbness. She works long hours, wades through bureaucracy, and is traumatized by how little she can really do to help orphaned children and childless parents find the happiness and stability they’re seeking. How can she bear to keep trying? At each difficult turn something breathtaking stops Nina in her tracks: snow blossoming like white orchids against the night sky, the shapes out the car window changing contrast like a photograph in developing solution, a stand of birch trees charging into the road to have a look at who’s driving through their forest with Moscow license plates. Nina feels the world, and it rewards her with moments of wonder.

Elevated by this subtle redemption, Nina matures, recognizing at last that her greatest weakness is also her unexpected strength. And isn’t that true of us all?

- Gabriella Page-Fort, Editor