Editor’s Note: Were you surprised by the rapidly growing holds list for The Girl on the Train or the continuing draw of All the Light We Cannot See months after publication?

You wouldn’t be if you took part in our monthly GalleyChats. Anthony Doerr’s book came up during the chat back in March and GalleyChatter Robin Beerbower was one of the first to spot Paul Hawkins book in August.

Read Robin’s latest GalleyChat roundup, below, to be prepared for the next big thing. For the complete Edelweiss list of what was mentioned during the chat, click here. Please join us for the next GalleyChat, Tuesday, February 3, 4:00-5:00, EST. If you would like to see what what books Robin is anticipating, “friend her” on Edelweiss.

Robin’s Roundup:

A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab (Macmillan/Tor, February) is a new fantasy novel that appears on the February LibraryReads list. Librarians immediately swamped the January 6 chat with raves. Stephanie Chase (Hillsboro, OR, Public Library) said this atmospheric story of a magician who travels between parallel-universe Londons “moves with a wonderful fast and yet immersive pace; the fascinating story, with its twists and turns, is not to be missed.”

Another speculative novel, The Water Knife, Paolo Bacigalup (RH/Knopf, May), is a scary story with a plausible “what if” plot. Set in the American Southwest, the futuristic story of what could happen if water becomes a scarce commodity had Library Journal columnist Megan McArdle saying “good golly, is it awesome! “ NOTE: The author will appear at Midwinter, on Sunday, Feb. 1, Booth Signing — 2:00 to 2:30 p.m., Random House booth #4721 and will speak at the AAP Author Book Talk Breakfast, Mon 2/2 (now a sold out event).

After almost a year of monitoring GalleyChats, it is apparent that novels with regional atmosphere are popular. This month’s choice is David Joy’s Where All Light Tends To Go (Penguin/Putnam, March), a “country-noir” (publisher’s term) novel set in the North Carolina Appalachians featuring a man trying to escape the despair his life has become. Regular chatter Jennifer Winberry (Hunterdon County Library, NJ) says, “Achingly told, visceral prose will grab hold and stay with readers long past the heart wrenching but inevitable conclusion.”  It has also gained “much love” from ten Edelweiss peers.

The novel Mademoiselle Chanel by C. W. Gorner (HarperCollins/ Morrow, March) was loved by Susie Sharp (Eddy-New Rockford Library, New Rockford, ND) who says, “Enthralled, captivated, fascinated, enamored, I’m not even sure if these words come close to explaining how great this book was and how captivated I am with this woman.” NOTE: The author will appear at Midwinter, on Sunday, Feb. 1, Booth Signing — 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., HarperCollins booth #4526 and speaking at the Pop Top Stage, 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.

Girl Underwater, Claire Kells (Penguin/Dutton, March) was a favorite of Mary Smith, fiction selector for Thornike Large Print. She said “Part adventure story, part love story, with dual timeframes—the crash survivors’ experience while lost in the wilderness and the story of how they rebuild their lives once they return home—was a real page-turner. ”

The Silver Linings Playbook author Matthew Quick’s next novel Love May Fail (Harper), doesn’t arrive until June but it has already received high praise from several GalleyChatters. The quirky story of a wife leaving a bad marriage in Florida and returning to her home in South Jersey caused Tracy Babiasz (Alachua County Library District, FL) to say, “Love love love! Great exam of the impact we have on others, even when we don’t know it.”

Since 2012, Margaret Dilloway’s Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns has been one of my “go-to” suggestions for readers who want a heart-tugging novel, and her next novel, Sisters of Heart and Snow (Penguin/Putnam, April), is even better. The story goes back and forth between  a woman warrior in 10^th century Japan and the present day drama of two sisters battling not only their rocky relationship but their mother’s dementia, and I didn’t want it to end. And yes, a tissue was in order.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2015 at 3:03 pm and is filed under GalleyChat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.