Hi, Lexie! Great to have you back for another conversation. Your new novel, Bright and Deadly Things, publishes February 14th. Anything ironic or meaningful to you about your book publishing on Valentine’s Day?

Surely nothing says I love you like the gift of a psychological thriller? Buy it for all those important people in your life; they will feel seen, understood, appreciated…

In truth, the date wasn’t a deliberate choice—it was scheduled for a mid-Feb release and, for some reason, Tuesday seems to be the most popular day for book launches in the US—though I would say that all my novels delve into human relationships and group dynamics and all the different forms of love that can exist within those, so it is fitting in some sense. So, yes, do go ahead and buy it for all those important people in your life!

If you could only describe your book in five words, how would you do it?

Smart, character-driven, exotically located thriller.  (Thank heavens for hyphens!)

The story is mostly set at the Chalet des Anglais in France. What can you tell us about that location, and why did you choose that setting?

The Chalet des Anglais does in fact exist; it’s owned by three Oxford colleges, and each of them holds invitation-only reading parties during the summer. I was lucky enough to spend a lovely week there in the year 2000, when I was working on my doctorate; everyone got along swimmingly with nary a whiff of murder! It’s such a unique place in an absolutely stunning location that when I began to consider setting a novel in the world of academia, I immediately thought of it, and it seemed like a wonderful way to put a different twist on the “campus thriller” genre. I tweaked various features of the Chalet and its surrounds to better service the story, but I hope I’ve managed to maintain something of the distinctive atmosphere of the real thing.

The “closed room” style mystery is a big hit, as we’ve seen in pop culture from The Glass Onion to the popularity of escape room parties. What do you think is the appeal of stories in which a group of people are kept together in a limited space? 

It’s a great device; I’m a big fan of it, both as a reader and as a writer. It’s a really effective way of building tension and creating a compelling, claustrophobic atmosphere, and I think readers appreciate tales in which it’s clear that the antagonist must lie within the cast of characters that they’re already met. I love writing in the mystery genre because it’s like a form of scaffolding that the writer can build on to investigate all the themes and ideas they want to delve into to. For me, the “closed room” structure is a particularly robust form of scaffolding!

This book has a very subtle thread of the supernatural running through it, with a sinister clock and a house that seems well, hostile to the inhabitants. Is there a supernatural aspect to all your novels? Why is it important to you?

There is indeed a touch of the supernatural in all my books. It’s not usually present in the initial outline, but it somehow turns up in the first draft, and I don’t know that I’m able to articulate quite why it always creeps in. I would guess it stems from the heady mix of fantasy and mystery novels that I read voraciously as a teenager, and it must be important to me since it keeps on occurring. I naturally tend towards ambiguity, and I would always rather leave space for the reader than spoon-feed; it certainly fits very well with that ethos. But in truth I’m trying to put into words something that occurs organically without any conscious intent on my part, so I’m not sure my explanation counts for much.

This is your fourth book. What have you learned as a writer since your debut The French Girl, was published?

I’ve learned an enormous amount about the publication process! Before The French Girl was published, I had no real understanding of quite how much work is involved in turning a book from a digital manuscript on the writer’s laptop into a hard copy on a bookshop shelf. I have a much better appreciation of that process now, and I’m genuinely grateful to all the people who are involved in bringing each of my books to the readers. In terms of the craft of writing, I now have much more respect for the second draft.  I used to think that all of one’s creativity was poured into the first draft and beyond that the process was rather dry, but I see it differently now. You can really change the emphasis and direction in the second draft; it takes skill and precision—and creativity—to find the right sentence, and the right place for it, in order to shift the tale in the direction you want.

Oxford academia has a key role in the novel, and you were a student at Oxford yourself, graduating with a PhD in physics and then working in banking in London.  How did you make the transition to writing fiction? 

I always wrote in my spare time—mainly short stories—but in 2008, like many others, I lost my banking job due to the Global Financial Crisis. I’d just had some success in short story competitions, and that gave me the confidence to use this unexpected time on my hands to have a go at a novel. It took me an embarrassingly long time to finish it (due to having two young children to look after, as well as the fact that I went back into the financial industry) but the result was my debut novel, The French Girl (published in 2018). I only became a fulltime writer eighteen months ago; prior to that I juggled working in the city with writing and managing family life—which was hectic, to say the least! I enjoy the increased flexibility of writing fulltime, but I do miss having a busy bustling office to go to.

What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?

The best advice came from my fabulous agent, Marcy: Life’s too short to write books you don’t want to write. I couldn’t agree more: novel writing is such a long, lonely endeavor that if you don’t gain any satisfaction from the process and you’re not proud of what you’re producing, then perhaps you ought to find a better way to spend your time. The worst advice is one you hear quite often: You have to write every day. It’s rubbish. You have to write often, it’s true, but not every day. I hate to think of any aspiring writers beating themselves up because they can’t cram writing into every single day of their schedule.

What’s next for you?

Right now my time is fairly well-occupied with promotion of Bright and Deadly Things, but I’ve also been working on developing an idea for a new novel into an outline. I’m not quite sure if that really will be what I write next, though, so I’d better not say too much just yet.

Have you read anything recently that you’d recommend to our readers?  

I’ve been reading outside of my genre quite a bit lately, so neither of these recommendations are thrillers, but I loved Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss. I’m not sure I’d have read it at all had it not made the Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist last year—to be frank, a novel in which the main character’s mental health and key relationships are imploding sounds like the sort of thing I would normally cross a library aisle to avoid—but it’s so extraordinarily clever and funny and heart-warming and, yes, heartbreaking at times… I can’t recommend it highly enough. I also pretty much just inhaled Leigh Bardugo’s most recent dark academia novel, Hell Bent (which is the sequel to The Ninth House) when it came out in early January. She is so entertaining and so skillful; I confess to more than a little jealousy.

Where can readers find you on social media? Are you doing any live events? 

I can be found on both Instagram and Facebook under @lexieelliottwrites, and on Twitter under @elliott_lexie. And of course, there’s always my website. I have quite a few events coming up and I would love for readers to join me for them—here’s a small selection:

• Mystery and Thriller Mavens: Monday, Feb 13^th @ 3pm ET, Facebook live with Sarah DiVello, Mystery and Thriller Mavens | Facebook
• The Poisoned Pen: Thursday, Feb 16^th @ 1pm MT, Facebook Live with Barbara Peters, Lexie Elliott discusses Bright and Deadly Things | Facebook
• Words & Whimsy Book Club: Friday, Feb 17^th @3pm ET, Facebook Live Words & Whimsy Book Club | Facebook
• Crime Time Live on A Mighty Blaze: Tuesday, March 7th @ 3pm ET, Facebook Live with Hank Phillippi Ryan, A Mighty Blaze | Facebook

The post Q&A: Lexie Elliott, Author of ‘Bright and Deadly Things’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

We chat with author Lexie Elliott about her third published novel, How To Kill Your Best Friend, along with writing, book recommendations, and more!

Hi, Lexie! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Hello! I’m Lexie Elliott, and I originally hail from Scotland, though I now live in London, with my husband and two sons. I left Scotland to study at Oxford University, ultimately gaining a PhD in theoretical physics, after which I took a job in London in investment banking, and I’ve been here ever since. Since my first novel, The French Girl, was published in 2018, I’ve been combining writing with a part-time role in finance. How To Kill Your Best Friend is my third novel.

I’ve been a keen swimmer all my life, and in 2007 I swam the English Channel solo; it’s very far and very cold and I won’t be doing that again! I’m also a keen runner, and in 2015 I ran 100km to raise money for Alzheimer Scotland; I won’t be doing that again either! But the odd triathlon or marathon isn’t out of the question.

Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!

I remember working through those learn-to-read books that had Peter and Jane in them. But the first books I remember actively choosing to read myself were Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series.

There wasn’t one book that made me want to become a writer. As soon as I understood that books were written by authors, that was what I wanted to do. When I was older (i.e. in my teens) Margaret Atwood’s Wilderness Tips had a strong impact on me; I don’t think I truly appreciated the short story as a literary form until then.

I often think about my favourite ever novel, which is Grass by Sheri S Tepper. It’s such a rich novel, both in terms of world-building and character development. Every few years, I read it again.

When did you first discover your love for writing?

I’ve always written, right from the time I first learnt how to use a pencil, but I began to focus on it more seriously after I lost my banking job in 2009 due to the Global Financial Crisis. After some success in short story competitions, I gained enough confidence to begin planning a novel. With two kids and a (new) job, it took some time for that novel to make it to the page, but the result was The French Girl, which came out in 2018.

Your latest novel, How to Kill Your Best Friend, is out August 17^th 2021! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

A complex, intriguing, suspense-laden page-turner!

What can readers expect?

Mystery, suspense and a complex character-driven plot! How To Kill Your Best Friend is a psychological thriller, told through the eyes of Georgie and Bronwyn, who, together with Lissa, have been inseparable since dominating their college swim team. But Lissa, the strongest swimmer of them all, has somehow drowned off the coast of the fabulous island resort she owned with her husband. Brought together at the resort with Lissa’s closest friends for her funeral, the two women find themselves questioning the circumstances around her death, and as the weather turns ominous, trapping them on the island, nobody knows who they can trust…

Where did the inspiration for How to Kill Your Best Friend come from?

I had finished all of the work on my second novel, The Missing Years, and was beginning to explore potential ideas for my next book when the title occurred to me. We happened to be on holiday at the time (this was back in the pre-covid era), on a remote island in Southeast Asia. Naturally I wondered why on earth anyone would even consider killing their best friend, and then the story began to unfold for me; clearly the location I was in had a great deal of bearing on the story that emerged!

Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?

How To Kill Your Best Friend isn’t really a covid novel, as the bulk of it was finished before the pandemic hit, but several rounds of editing took place during various lockdowns. I had always written out of the house, usually in coffee shops, but I suddenly had to learn how to work in my own home, whilst holding down my three-day-a-week city job and dealing with the demands of online schooling for two kids. I’m much better now at being productive at home—the trick seems to be to grab the quiet moments, whenever they happen to be. I’d much rather put in a big chunk of work between 8am and 1pm, but if in fact both kids are more likely to be winding down and chilling between 4pm and 7pm, then that’s when I have to write.

Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

The “Method” sections were a great deal of fun to write. My children got fairly involved with those, too—for a while, the after-school conversation was frequently focussed on highly creative ways to commit murder! In terms of characters, I’ve never employed a dual narrative before, so that was interesting to me as a process (both Bronwyn and Georgie narrate the story). I had worried at the start that I might start to like and empathise with one more than the other, but that didn’t happen; they both have my affection and empathy.

This is your third published novel! What are some of the biggest things you’ve learned as a writer since The French Girl published in 2018?

Probably the biggest thing I’ve learnt is how to write to a deadline. The first novel can take as long as it takes, but after that, you need to learn how to deliver on time. It’s never easy, but with each book I get more confident that I will get there in the end (though there’s always an element of mad scramble involved!). Conversely, I’ve also learnt that the paranoia, self-doubt and general neurosis that sets in for me at around the 20,000 word mark doesn’t improve with each additional novel. Given that I’m now working on book four, I’m guessing it never will.

What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?

Probably the worst writing advice I’ve received is one that you hear a lot: you have to write every day. It’s nonsense—you have to write frequently, but not every single day. I’ve written my novels whilst holding down a three-day a week job in finance, and I can assure you, I wasn’t fiendishly typing away once I got home from an eleven hour day at the office! You need to write often enough to keep up the momentum, but sometimes a little space is good too—it gives your brain a chance to consider where the story might go next.

I’m not sure if I ever received this piece of writing advice, but it’s one that I always give if asked: be professional. Writing is a job and you have to treat it as such. You wouldn’t tell your boss that you haven’t started your daily tasks because you don’t feel like it, or skip off for a coffee in the middle of a meeting. You have to set yourself targets and meet deadlines, just as you would in any other line of work.

What’s next for you?

I’m working on my fourth novel right now, for which the first draft is due toward the end of the year. I’m well past 20,000 words, so of course I’m feeling highly insecure and neurotic about it…

Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

I recently read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and completely adored it; it’s a charming and utterly unique novel. Right now I’m trying to finish off Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light, which is a real tour de force. It’s also a whopper at over nine hundred pages—I’m loving it, but it’s taking me forever!

Will you be picking up How To Kill Your Best Friend? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Lexie Elliott, Author of ‘How To Kill Your Best Friend’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us in the comments below if you will be reading any of them!

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York Times best-selling author of THE WINTER PEOPLE, returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don’t simply move into a haunted house, they start building one from scratch, without knowing it, until it’s too late…

When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

In 1960s Florida, a young Cuban exile will risk her life–and heart–to take back her country in this exhilarating historical novel from the author of Next Year in Havana, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick.

Only One Life by Ashley Farley
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A reunion between an estranged mother and daughter opens a world of secrets in a poignant novel by the bestselling author of Magnolia Nights.

The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A post-mortem photographer unearths dark secrets of the past that may hold the key to his future, in this captivating debut novel in the gothic tradition of Wuthering Heights and The Thirteenth Tale.

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A literary courtroom drama about a Korean immigrant family and a young, single mother accused of murdering her eight-year-old autistic son.

The Missing Years by Lexie Elliott
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

The French Girl captivated readers with a twisting tale of psychological suspense. Now author Lexie Elliott heads to the foothills of the Scottish Highlands, where a woman’s tangled family history comes back to haunt her…

Roar by Cecelia Ahern
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

From the bestselling author of P.S., I Love You, a fiercely feminist story collection that illuminates–sometimes in fantastical ways–how women of all kinds navigate the world today.

The Great Pretenders by Laura Kalpakian
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

The daughter of Hollywood royalty, Roxanne Granville is used to getting what she wants–even if she has to break the rules. But after a falling-out with her grandfather, a powerful movie mogul, she has to face life on her own for the first time….

Saving Meghan by D.J. Palmer
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Can you love someone to death? Some would say Becky Gerard is a devoted mother and would do anything for her only child. Others claim she’s obsessed and can’t stop the vicious circle of finding a cure at her daughter’s expense. Fifteen-year-old Meghan has been in and out of hospitals with a plague of unexplained illnesses. But when the ailments take a sharp turn, doctors intervene and immediately suspect Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a rare behavioural disorder where the primary caretaker, typically the mother, seeks medical help for made-up symptoms of a child. Is this what’s going on? Or is there something even more sinister at hand?

Diary of A Murderer by Young-ha Kim
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Diary of a Murderer captivates and provokes in equal measure, exploring what it means to be on the edge—between life and death, good and evil. In the titular novella, a former serial killer suffering from memory loss sets his sights on one final target: his daughter’s boyfriend, who he suspects is also a serial killer. In other stories we witness an affair between two childhood friends that questions the limits of loyalty and love; a family’s disintegration after a baby son is kidnapped and recovered years later; and a wild, erotic ride about pursuing creativity at the expense of everything else.

The Better Sister by Alafair Burke
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

From Alafair Burke—New York Times bestselling author of the runaway hit, The Wife—comes another twisty tale of domestic noir. When a prominent Manhattan lawyer is murdered, two estranged sisters—one the dead man’s widow, the other his ex—must set aside mistrust and old resentments . . . but can they escape their past?

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Pulitzer Finalist Susan Choi’s narrative-upending novel about what happens when a first love between high school students is interrupted by the attentions of a charismatic teacher.

Are there any other April fiction book releases you’re excited to read? Tell us in the comments below!

The post April Book Releases: Fiction appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Ten years ago, Kate Channing spent a life-changing weeks’ vacation at a French farmhouse with five friends from Oxford. But then, what was supposed to be a perfect summer getaway went horribly awry. The girl next door, Severine, became an ever-present part of their lives. Relationships were made, twisted, and broken. Lies were told. Trusts were betrayed. A murder occurred. In Lexie Elliott’s The French Girl, tangled relationships and unclear memories unfold into a wickedly twisting mystery that is impossible to put down.

A decade following that pivotal week at the farmhouse, in present day, Kate is a successful lawyer who has just started her own firm. She remains close with a few of her fellow Oxford students from all those years ago, especially Lara, whom has been her dearest friend throughout the years, and Tom, who has just recently moved back to London following a split with his partner. Of course, for every friendship that remained close, there are those that drifted and those that were destroyed. Seb, Kate’s ex-lover from her Oxford days, is moving back to town as well. Their relationship ended on terrible terms, and Kate has not seen Seb since their breakup at the end of that tragic week.

And then there’s Caro, a fellow lawyer, whom Kate has never been particularly fond of, but has somehow managed to stay in her distant circle of acquaintances for all these years. These relationships are all complicated even further when news breaks that French police have discovered Severine’s body, at the bottom of the farmhouse well where they had all stayed during that fateful week one long decade ago. The discovery of Severine’s body leads to the case not only being reopened, but also to the sudden re-investigation of these of college friends.

Kate, who had previously been sure that none of her friends had committed this heinous crime, now finds herself uncertain of everything she once thought she knew, and unsure who can be trusted. When a French investigator appears in the lives of this group of current and former friends, questions and accusations arise that Kate had never previously thought possible.

This is a slow-burning thriller, a quality which I found quite pleasing. The French Girl walks the line between a traditional thriller and more literary fiction. By setting the present action a decade after the crime occurred, Elliott allows for a breathtaking examination of the relationships and psychological connections that occur when a group of young students live ten years with the secrets and uncertainty that the murder of Severine brought into their lives.

I love books that study complicated relationships, and The French Girl is full to the brim with complex and intricate friendships and more-than-friendships. If you enjoy books that take a long, hard look at the repercussions of lies, hidden secrets, and betrayals, this is one you will want to pick up.

If you’re also looking to enjoy a good old classic “whodunit” mystery, The French Girl is the perfect read for you. As the investigation delves deeper into the complicated lives of this group of friends, and more evidence and clues come to light, Kate is left to question everything she has always thought she knew. The reader is left to figure out who among this group of friends was capable of committing murder, at the same time as Kate herself struggles to figure it out.

Overall, The French Girl was a thrilling and satisfying mystery. In the end, all questions are answered in a most satisfying of conclusions. Though there were a few twists I saw coming, I was truly kept guessing as to who the killer was until nearly the end of this gripping novel.

The French Girl by Lexie Elliott has now been released! Will you be picking up a copy? Let us know in the comments below!

Goodreads Synopsis

They were six university students from Oxford–friends and sometimes more than friends–spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway–until they met Severine, the girl next door.

For Kate Channing, Severine was an unwelcome presence, her inscrutable beauty undermining the close-knit group’s loyalties amid the already simmering tensions. And after a huge altercation on the last night of the holiday, Kate knew nothing would ever be the same. There are some things you can’t forgive, and there are some people you can’t forget, like Severine, who was never seen again.

Now, a decade later, the case is reopened when Severine’s body is found in the well behind the farmhouse. Questioned along with her friends, Kate stands to lose everything she’s worked so hard to achieve as suspicion mounts around her. Desperate to resolve her own shifting memories and fearful she will be forever bound to the woman whose presence still haunts her, Kate finds herself buried under layers of deception with no one to set her free.

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Read on to discover our 2018 February Fiction picks and tell us in the comments below if you will be checking one (or several) out!

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah | Goodreads

Alaska, 1974. A story of a family in crisis struggling to survive at the edge of the world, it is also a story of young and enduring love. Cora Allbright and her husband Ernt, a recently returned Vietnam veteran scarred by the war, uproot their thirteen-year-old daughter Leni to start a new life in Alaska. Utterly unprepared for the weather and the isolation, but welcomed by the close-knit community, they fight to build a home in this harsh, beautiful wilderness.

As Bright As Heaven by Susan Meissner | Goodreads

In 1918, Philadelphia was a city teeming with promise. Into this bustling town, came Pauline Bright and her husband, filled with hope that they could now give their three daughters a chance at a better life. But then the Spanish Flu reaches the shores of America. As the pandemic claims more than twelve thousand victims in their adopted city, they find their lives left with a world that looks nothing like the one they knew.

The Storm King by Brendan Duffy | Goodreads

Nate McHale has assembled the kind of life most people would envy after becoming a respected New York City surgeon, devoted husband, and loving father. Then a body is discovered deep in the forests that surround Greystone Lake, his childhood home. This discovery brings up tragedy from his youth causing him to reconnect with estranged friends and old enemies. Without a doubt, a reckoning is coming–one that will lay bare the lies that lifelong friends have told themselves and unleash a vengeance that may consume them all.

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara | Goodreads

It’s 1980 in New York City, seventeen-year-old Angel comes into her own. Burned by her traumatic past, Angel is new to the drag world, new to ball culture, and has a yearning inside of her to help create family for those without. She soon falls in love with Hector, who soon dies of AIDS-related complications, Angel must bear the responsibility of tending to their house alone. Recruiting others, they must learn to navigate sex work, addiction, and persistent abuse, leaning on each other as bulwarks against a world that resists them.

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez | Goodreads

When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog’s care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones | Goodreads

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

Sunburn by Laura Lippman | Goodreads

They meet at a local tavern in the small town of Belleville, Delaware. Polly is set on heading west. Adam says he’s also passing through. However, they both stay and abandon themselves to a steamy, inexorable affair. Still, each holds something back from the other—dangerous, even lethal, secrets. Then someone dies.

The French Girl by Lexie Elliott | Goodreads

They were six university students from Oxford–friends and sometimes more than friends–spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway–until they met Severine, the girl next door. Now, a decade later, the case is reopened when Severine’s body is found in the well behind the farmhouse.

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi | Goodreads

An extraordinary debut novel, Freshwater explores the surreal experience of having a fractured self. It centers around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born “with one foot on the other side.” Unsettling, heartwrenching, dark, and powerful, Freshwater is a sharp evocation of a rare way of experiencing the world, one that illuminates how we all construct our identities.

Punishment by Scott J. Holliday | Goodreads

Detroit-based homicide detective John Barnes has seen it all—literally. Thanks to a technologically advanced machine, detectives have access to the memories of the living, the dying, and the recently dead. But extracting victims’ experiences firsthand and personally reliving everything up to the final, brutal moments of their lives—the sights, the sounds, the scents, the pain—is also the punishment reserved for the criminals themselves. But Barnes has had enough…until a masked serial killer known as Calavera strikes a little too close to home.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton | Goodreads

At a gala party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed–again. She’s been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden’s only escape is to solve Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder and conquer the shadows of an enemy he struggles to even comprehend–but nothing and no one are quite what they seem.

Sadness Is a White Bird by Moriel Rothman-Zecher | Goodreads

In this lyrical and searing debut novel written by a rising literary star and MacDowell Fellow, a young man is preparing to serve in the Israeli army while also trying to reconcile his close relationship to two Palestinian siblings with his deeply ingrained loyalties to family and country.

Like the sound of any of these books? Tell us in the comments below!

The post February Book Releases: Fiction appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

The first quarter of this year is a big one for thrillers! From the highly anticipated U.S. release of The Perfect Nanny—which already won France’s most prestigious literary award, the Goncourt—to the much-awaited new book from a rising star of the last few years, Kim Savage (After the Woods, Beautiful Broken Girls), the early months of 2018 will be bringing thrillers for all kinds of readers.

Read on to find out more about the 5 titles we’re most looking forward to!

The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani | Goodreads

Out January 9th
When Myriam, a French-Moroccan lawyer, decides to return to work after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect nanny for their two young children. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite, devoted woman who sings to the children, cleans the family’s chic apartment in Paris’s upscale tenth arrondissement, stays late without complaint, and hosts enviable kiddie parties. But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on one another, jealousy, resentment, and suspicions mount, shattering the idyllic tableau. Building tension with every page, The Perfect Nanny is a compulsive, riveting, bravely observed exploration of power, class, race, domesticity, and motherhood—and the American debut of an immensely talented writer.

The Other Side of Everything by Lauren Doyle Owens | Goodreads

Out January 23rd
Bernard White is a curmudgeonly widower who has lived in Seven Springs, Florida for decades and has kept to himself since his wife passed. When his neighbor is murdered, he emerges from his solitude to reconnect with his fellow octogenarians. These connections become a literal lifeline as a second, and then a third, elderly woman is murdered, and “the originals” as they call themselves, realize that they are being targeted. Amy Unger is an artist and cancer survivor whose emotional recovery has not been as successful as her physical one. After the woman next door is murdered, she begins to paint imagined scenes from the murder in an effort to cope with her own loss. But when her paintings prove to be too realistic, her neighbors grow suspicious, and she soon finds herself in the crosshairs of the police. And then there’s Maddie Lowe, a teenage waitress whose mother recently abandoned the family. As Maddie struggles to keep her family together and maintain the appearance of normal teenage life, she finds herself drawn to the man the police say is the killer. As they navigate their increasingly dangerous and tumultuous worlds, Bernard, Amy, and Maddie begin to uncover the connections between them, and the past and present, in a novel that ultimately proves the power of tragedy to spark renewal.

The Glass Forest by Cynthia Swanson | Goodreads

Out February 6th
In the autumn of 1960, Angie Glass is living an idyllic life in her Wisconsin hometown. At twenty-one, she’s married to charming, handsome Paul, and has just given birth to a baby boy. But one phone call changes her life forever. When Paul’s niece, Ruby, reports that her father, Henry, has committed suicide, and that her mother, Silja, is missing, Angie and Paul drop everything and fly to the small upstate town of Stonekill, New York to be by Ruby’s side. Angie thinks they’re coming to the rescue of Paul’s grief-stricken young niece, but Ruby is a composed and enigmatic seventeen-year-old who resists Angie’s attempts to nurture her. As Angie learns more about the complicated Glass family, staying in Henry and Silja’s eerie and ultra-modern house on the edge of the woods, she begins to question the very fabric of her own marriage. Through Silja’s flashbacks, Angie’s discovery of astonishing truths, and Ruby’s strategic dissection of her parents’ state of affairs, a story of love, secrets, and ultimate betrayal is revealed.

The French Girl by Lexie Elliott | Goodreads

Out February 20th
They were six university students from Oxford–friends and sometimes more than friends–spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway–until they met Severine, the girl next door. For Kate Channing, Severine was an unwelcome presence, her inscrutable beauty undermining the close-knit group’s loyalties amid the already simmering tensions. And after a huge altercation on the last night of the holiday, Kate knew nothing would ever be the same. There are some things you can’t forgive, and there are some people you can’t forget, like Severine, who was never seen again. Now, a decade later, the case is reopened when Severine’s body is found in the well behind the farmhouse. Questioned along with her friends, Kate stands to lose everything she’s worked so hard to achieve as suspicion mounts around her. Desperate to resolve her own shifting memories and fearful she will be forever bound to the woman whose presence still haunts her, Kate finds herself buried under layers of deception with no one to set her free.

In Her Skin by Kim Savage | Goodreads

Out March 27th
Sixteen-year-old con artist Jo Chastain is about to take on the biggest heist of her life: impersonating a missing girl. Life on the streets of Boston these past few years hasn’t been easy, and Jo is hoping to cash in on a little safety, a little security. She finds her opportunity in the Lovecrafts, a wealthy family with ties to the unsolved disappearance of Vivienne Weir, who vanished when she was nine. When Jo takes on Vivi’s identity and stages the girl’s miraculous return, the Lovecrafts welcome her back with open arms. They give her everything she could want: love, money, and proximity to their intoxicating and unpredictable daughter, Temple. But nothing is as it seems in the Lovecraft household—and some secrets refuse to stay buried. As hidden crimes come to the surface, and lines of deception begin to blur, Jo must choose to either hold onto an illusion of safety, or escape the danger around her before it’s too late.

Will you be adding any of these books to your to-be-read lists? Are there any thrillers you’re looking forward to that we missed? Let us know in the comments below!

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