This is an intriguing and immersive historical fiction straddling two timelines - current day in New Haven, Connecticut and 1571 in Venice, Italy. Rose Newlin owner of a bookstore, she’s also a book restorer. In walks William Lomazzo, an artist, who brings with him an old document found at the bottom of his great-grandmother‘s trunk. The document turns out to be a palimpsest dated Venezia 1571. Back in the late Renaissance, Venice is bracing itself for the onslaught of the advancing Ottoman army. Giovanni Lamazzo, a well-known brilliant artist of the day, has been commissioned to paint Chiara, a favorite courtesan, of powerful military commander Sebastiano Vernier. But love cannot be put in a box and Giovanni and Chiara find themselves in dangerous waters as Venice simmers with intensity and desperation as the Ottoman army advances imminently closer. Back to present day, the Rose-William connection threatens to take shape...but clearly plays second fiddle to the first, for all the right reasons. This was a very enjoyable read that kept me immersed and engrossed in the storyline, particularly the sixteenth century one. Intrigue, a bit of mystery, history, culture, and a bit of romance all swirled together for a nice interlude. I’d definitely recommend it. This was a perfect book to distract one from the realities of everyday life - current day COVID-19! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Great preview of new Fall reads. There are definitely some books I will be adding to my TBR! I like that the previews give just enough information to help the reader decide if it's a book worth checking out, all the while not giving away too much to spoil it.

Pleased to read these excerpts— Publishers Lunch is a wonderful resource! Wish these compilations came out even more often, and for children’s books too!

Great previews of fall reads to come. I definitely have some of these on my radar now. I like how the preview gives a good amount of substance so the reader can figure out if they’re interested or not.

Make sure you have something for taking notes before opening this, you''re bound to find some books you want to watch for in the coming year. There is a section that is just titles and authors, so you can go through and search for any particular favorites you have and know quickly if there have something due to be published soon. Then there is a section with excerpts from a select number of books, so you can explore whether or not a book is going to appeal to you before you request it. These are great excerpts as they give you enough for you to get an idea of the author's style before committing to an entire novel.

This is my third time getting a Buzz Books anthology, and I try not to miss one. For me, I open NetGalley at the same time I open Buzz Books and flip from one to the other, ordering books immediately as they come up in my read. Then I open my Google Drive and create a table to record those books and authors that aren't listed on NetGalley yet. That way, I have a system set up to store titles and i can go back on a regular basis to search for the books I wanted to read.

This is a don't miss for me. Thanks to Publisher's Lunch for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an hones review.

This is a book lover’s dream, and is especially helpful for finding new author voices you might like on NetGalley. It’s the virtual equivalent of going to the bookshelf, opening up the book and reading a few pages to see if it captures your imagination. There is a great selection of samples in here. My favorites (which I immediately requested) were The Midnight Library, Monogamy, and Black Widows (I also already read the whole book of The Blade Between and really liked it.) Thank you so much to NetGalley for this wonderful sampler, which contains an additional long and awesome list of many other books to look out for this year!

I stalk Netgalley for the release of the Buzz Books guide. This is one of my go to sources to help me build my seasonal TBR. There's so much information packed in and I love being able to read excerpts from anticipated releases.

Fantastic opportunity to check out some of the season's buzziest books before they are released. Love this idea!

I’m always excited when this comes out so reviewers like us can get ready to spread the news on these great books.

My favorite book every season. Love seeing what to expect.

Thank you Netgalley for for my exciting book news.

So happy to read about the next season of 'buzz books' - this is the book equivalent of movie trailers except way better as you can skip the ones your not interested in... if you can even find them!

I love the inclusion of the cover, the excerpt and the author bios - this just has everything thing it needs to get readers so excited about soon to be released texts.

Wonderful to get this inside view on exciting new books that will be coming soon. It's extremely helpful to have links to request the books with the excerpts. I am so looking forward to them. Thank you!

I always look forward to the Buzz Books release each season by Publishers Lunch. The Fall/Winter 2020 volume is complete with excerpts from favorite authors, emerging talent, and exceptionally helpful links to request ARCs. These are an essential tool in planning my upcoming reading schedule. I’m really excited about the upcoming release from Matt Haig, The Midnight Library. Just what my bibliophile heart needs right now!

Thank you this copy of Buzz Books! I love looking through and seeing all the new releases! I always end up requesting a few and discovering new authors!

I always enjoy reading Buzz Books and once again, another great selection of books that i cannot wait to read. It is impossible to say which books would be on top of my TBR pile, as there are far too many that caught my eye.

So many interesting new books with long excerpts. I like the variety of genres and the selection itself. My long TBR list just became even longer!

It seems like forever in more ways than one since Buzz Books 2020:Spring/Summer edition was published. Somehow, just when I was yearning to add more books to my TBR list, Buzz Books 2020:Fall/Winter edition arrived. Oddly though, there were no horn parades, fireworks, or cake, but I recognized what this was anyway. Many, many hours of good reading to come and my TBR list sighed in satisfaction.

 
If you are not familiar with Buzz Books, it is a way to get a taste of some of the buzziest books. This edition has thirty excerpts from Fiction(Debut,
Commercial, Notables, Highly-Anticipated, and Emerging Voices), and Non-Fiction(Politics & Current Events, Social Issues, Science & Technology, History & Crime, and Biography & Memoir). In addition to excerpts, or if you don't enjoy reading them, you can also see what many authors plan to publish.

 
As always, I devoured this book and added more than a few to my list. I had a difficult time( as usual) picking the five I was most excited to continue reading: The Witch Hunter by Max Seeck, Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, Before the Ruins by Victoria Gosling, and The Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce. There are many others I could recommend, by why spend time reading this when you could be reading this book!

It's always nice to have a glimpse into upcoming releases. I like the format of these, but wish there were more books included. I'm also curious about how books get selected to be in this.

Always Fun

Kindle samples are fairly generous. But, they only become available once a book has been released. These "Buzz Books" collections are loaded with pre-release samples, which means you get a look at upcoming titles well before they are otherwise available. Some, but not all, of the books are on Netgalley, so if you're active on that site you will also have the option of requesting full ARC's for titles that catch your eye.

The overall appeal of the collection will vary according to your reading interests. For me this was a less rewarding group than has been the case in the past. But that may be because there were more thrillers and murder mysteries, and fewer interesting non-fiction choices, than usual. And Lethem is always fun.

So, since it's a freebie and loaded with books that are at least sample-worthy it's hard to pass up this nice opportunity to browse.

Buzz Books is such a resource! Sure, I follow publishers' announcements, hang out on bookstagram, and read "highly anticipated book" lists, but I still learn something new each time Buzz Books comes out.

Structurally, there's a list at the front, with titles, authors, publishers, and publication dates. (There's Fiction, with subheds for The Notables, Highly Anticipated, Emerging Voices; followed by Debut and Commercial Fiction. Nonfiction is divided into Politics & Current Events; Social Issues; Science & Technology; History & Crime; Essays, Criticism, & More; and Biography & Memoir.)

This giant, awesome list is followed by excerpts from 30 books.

Truly, I'd love to read the entire list of books mentioned in Buzz Books, much less all 30 that are excerpted. But as we all know, there are too many books and too little time. So, I'm especially grateful to Buzz Books for not only putting all these on my radar, but also providing excerpts so I can prioritize those that seem most interesting or compelling to me. I love reviewing books in my "wheelhouse" and getting to hype excellent forthcoming books - thank you to Buzz Books for helping me do both better!