Cover Image: Fall 2015 Debut Fiction Sampler

Fall 2015 Debut Fiction Sampler

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Member Reviews

I’m so addicted to these I’ve even been hunting down the old ones to see if there’s any interesting books I’ve missed!
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I love these samplers because I always find new-to-me authors.  In this one, I found many and I think it is because it was published in 2015 before I was reading as many books as I do today.  Thank you for making me add to my ever-growing TBR!!
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I was excited to dig into this sampler, as I am a big fan of Penguin Random House books.  It did not dissapoint!  “The Courtesan” is now on the top of my TBR list.
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I really enjoy these debut samplers. It's an excellent way to find a book that might interest you or learn new authors. It makes you look forward to what is coming out for that season. I recommend these debut books to those that like to read.
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Even though this sampler was put out in 2015, I had never read or even heard of most of these books. I love these samplers because I can read little bits of a lot of books and decide which ones I want to add to my TBR list.
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Excellent selection of books for this year! I am looking forward to these for sure! I do recommend reading these to get good ideas for what to read for the next year.
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I requested this before the date registered in my head.  

But even though, I still enjoyed looking through this and having the chance to read books that may have passed me by.
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Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the chance to read these excerpts.

I had seen THE DRESSMAKER'S WAR excerpt in the general Fall 2015 sampler already, so skipped this. The prologue lets you know that the heroine has survived WWII but it still in a bad spot, and then we flash back to her younger self trying to make it in London, then getting swept off her feet by a handsome aristocrat.

THE COURTESAN by Alexandra Curry begins with the note that this is a well-known legend in China. I'm not familiar but it has some Cinderella elements to it -- a father is executed, and his wife already hates the daughter born to the concubine the father truly loved, and is planning to sell her off at the first opportunity.

The prologue of THE SURVIVORS by Robert Palmer definitely took me by surprise. It's a bunch of kids playing hide and seek, and I was disturbed by a reference to a cat that died...and then dark, crazy stuff happens, but it's all mysterious because we've got such a limited perspective from the young child. Flash forward and he's now a psychologist, and a new patient has secrets from his past. I was sucked in by the suspense and I want to know what will happen next.

I was skeptical by the title drop on the first page of THE IMPROBABILITY OF LOVE by Hannah Rothschild, but then was quickly won over by the meticulous and amusing details of an auction house preparing for a colorful cast of very, very, very rich people (for example, a hedge fund manager can't be offered Coca Cola because it will upset him as he shorted the stock just before it went up a lot). We have a cinematic range of perspectives, jumping from character to character as we see everyone wants this paintings for their own ends, cutting off with a "little did they know" cliffhanger as we jump back six months to the discovery of this massively famous painting in the corner of a pawn shop and sold for less than a hundred pounds. And then finally we have some narration from the painting itself, which under normal circumstances I would find cheesy, but by then I was firmly ensconced in the story and enjoying all the different pieces coming together to tell a story from multiple perspectives.

Coming off of two book excerpts I thoroughly enjoyed, I really lost my momentum with UNSPEAKABLE THINGS by Kathleen Spivack and really had no idea what was happening, something about a tragic woman who calls herself the Rat, and her love for this guy that married someone else?

ANOTHER WOMAN'S DAUGHTER by Fiona Sussman is set in apartheid South Africa, 1960. Celia is a servant whose unnamed "Master" and "Madam" take a liking to her youngest daughter Miriam, and want to adopt her and take her away to England as they escape the increasingly unstable political situation. Celia must stay behind to care for her mother, her unfaithful husband, and her other children. I suppose this will be a family drama following the two very separate lives, which reminds me of the HOMEGOING by Yaa Gyasi excerpt I just read in another collection.

THE VISITORS by Simon Sylvester seems like it will be a thriller set on a small island town, with mysterious new neighbors and glimpses of strange objects in the water, though nothing in particular caught my attention.

THE LONGEST NIGHT by Andria Williams seems like it will be about something going horribly wrong at a nuclear reactor in Idaho. I refused to watch Chernobyl no matter how great my husband said it was, and this seems like another case where I don't need nightmare fuel.

THE GATES OF EVANGELINE by Hester Young has an intriguing, if rather dark, premise: our heroine Charlie is mourning her young son, substituting pills for therapy, and having her life fall apart, when she starts to have premonitions in her dreams. First it is of an accident that comes true, then it is of a missing girl and a hint to her location -- will she be able to use it in time to help? This idea is intriguing, although the "children in peril and worse" theme seems like it will be pretty prominent, making this a potentially difficult read.

Overall I enjoyed the variety in this collection, and I'm excited that I've found some new books to try, particularly THE IMPROBABILITY OF LOVE.
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Another great issue of previews for upcoming books. I enjoy being able to read previews of upcoming books and adding them to my TBR.
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I received a complimentary review copy of the Fall 2015 Debut Fiction Sampler from NetGalley. 

This sampler includes extended previews of 9 novels. I really enjoyed being able to preview enough of the book to know whether I'd be interested enough to read the whole thing. Each excerpt starts with a page showing the book cover, and the publication date is listed in the table of contents.
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I love the opportunity to read excerpts from new books! I am always on the lookout for a good read and appreciate the opportunity to preview new authors or catch up with my favorites.
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Another great sampler from Penguin. This one with 10 selections for a variety of preferences. Fantastic!
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Thank you for this interesting and varied sampler. I love ear-marking books for review and these excerpts make it so much easier.
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So happy to have an early look at these hot titles from the Fall 2015 Debut Fiction Sampler. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the early reads of the following:

The Dressmaker's War: A Novel by Mary Chamberlain (Random House, January 2016)
The Courtesan: A Novel by Alexandra Curry (Dutton, September 2015)
The Survivors: A Cal Henderson Novel by Robert Palmer (Seventh Street Books, October 2015)
The Improbability of Love: A Novel by Hannah Rothschild (Knopf, November 2015)
Unspeakable Things: A Novel by Kathleen Spivack (Knopf, January 2016)
Another Woman's Daughter by Fiona Sussman (Berkley, October 2015)
The Visitors by Simon Sylvester (Melville House, December 2015)
The Longest Night: A Novel by Andria Williams (Random House, January 2015)
The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young (Putnam, September 2015)
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Samplers are so helpful to prioritize what new books to read next. This way I can spend time with books I already know I can really dive into!
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Great to read the start of many of the different books. I look forward to reading the full versions.
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It is always nice to get an idea of what is coming up but very hard to write a review on a bunch of samples!
Honestly these samplers shouldn't count against you percentage on netgalley!
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I do enjoy getting the chance to check out upcoming new releases!
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This is an excellent tool for discovering new emerging authors on Autumn 2015. I urge all bookworms to download and read this as it is such a great resource.
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This is such an amazing resource, I love samplers they help me find books that I wouldn't typically find on my own.
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