Books
This New Thriller Was Written By A CIA Analyst While She Was On Maternity Leave
Despite the warming temperatures, winter is very much here to stay for a a little while longer, which means your days spent cozying up with a blanket and a book aren't quite over yet. This week, I've got three delicious new books for your cold-weather reading — and all three recommended books are by women.
Jojo Moyes is back this week with the latest installment of the Louisa Clark series, Still Me. You may remember Lou as the zany and lovable caretaker from the widely beloved (and just as widely criticized) book Me Before You. In Still Me, the third book of the series, Lou sets off to find a new life in New York City and finds herself torn between her old self and the person she's becoming.
This week also brings a nonfiction many single women will want to read: The Love Gap, a research-based examination of why it's so freakin' hard to find a relationship when you're a successful, smart woman.
And for readers who prefer their winter reading with a side of espionage, Need To Know is the thriller everyone will be talking about in 2018. Written by CIA agent Karen Cleveland while on maternity leave, the book is a riveting, heart-pounding adventure that circles one of the most touchy topics of the past few years: Russian interference in American politics.
These three new books are all out on Jan. 23, and you need to them to your reading list ASAP:
'Still Me' By Jojo Moyes
If you thought Louisa Clark's adventures ended with the closing page of Me Before You, you're wrong. Her story continues in 2016's After You and the latest, Still Me. In this installment, Lou moves to New York ready to start a new life but simultaneously eager to continue her relationship with Ambulance Sam, despite the ocean that now separates them. But then she unexpectedly gets tossed into New York high society, and she meets Joshua Ryan, a man who harkens back to a past she'd like to forget. As she tries to figure out her place in her new home, she also must figure out who she is.... and where she belongs.
'The Love Gap: A Radical Plan to Win in Life and Love' by Jenna Birch
I think everyone can agree that things are not exactly wonderful for women right now. The pay gap still exists. Maternity leave is still not guaranteed. Rape culture is still a huge threat to our existences. And things are even more grim for women who belong to any marginalized community.
In The Love Gap, Jenna Birch tackles one of the more insidious effects of rape culture and patriarchy: Male dominance in dating. In this research-based nonfiction book, Birch examines and dissects the societal structures that allow smart, successful women who want commitment and partnership to still be held whim to the desires of men.
'Need To Know' by Karen Cleveland
Already being hailed as one of the must-read thrillers of 2018, Need To Know — written by CIA analyst Karen Cleveland while on maternity leave — follows a fictional CIA analyst, Vivian Miller, who uncovers a secret dossier of information on double-agents from Russia who are living in the United States. With this secret comes impossible responsibility... and unbelievable danger. This propulsive debut novel has already caught the notice of Charlize Theron, who is already attached to produce and star in the movie adaptation.
