Are you so overwhelmed with the dazzling array of books published each year that you have a difficult time choosing your next read? Whether you are part of a book club, a library, other reading group, or an individual reader who could use a little assistance in helping you choose your 2026 reads, allow us to Pitch in and help you decide with Pitchfest: a FREE Choose Your Next Reads Virtual Adventure.

Celebrate the start of the fall reading season by meeting an incredible lineup of 15 fan-favorite authors, including New York Times, international, and bestselling authors, as well as exciting voices you may be discovering for the very first time. Each author will give a fast-paced pitch for their newest release, helping you identify the books you’ll want to add to your TBR pile this fall and beyond.We will even provide you with a Pitchfest “cheat sheet” with information about the authors and their new book releases, and a section for you to take notes during the presentation (emailed the week of the event).

And, there will be book giveaways, so you won’t want to miss it!

To top it all off, there’s even more great news: a little birdie told us that all of the authors are part of Adventures by the Book, meaning that every single one of them is available to meet with your book club, library, or reading group to chat about their incredible new books. Visit Adventures by the Book or click on the direct links below to schedule an author visit now and avoid the rush, or plan a visit with your favorites after PitchFest.

Your FREE Adventure includes fast-paced and fun presentations by all the authors that are sure to help you choose your fall 2026 reads. You’ll also have the opportunity to Q&A the authors when you meet them virtually via Zoom.

Book Pre-Orders

Books are available for pre-order below at the bottom of this page.  Please note some titles below have not yet been published, so you will receive your book(s) once they have been published.

Registration

This event is FREE and open to the public. Simply select the Free PitchFest Registration (8/27/26) option below and a Zoom link and a Pitchfest Cheat Sheet will be emailed to you 3 days before the event.

About the Authors

All Pitchfest authors are ABTB members, which means that they are available to you on our website to schedule book club and library visits. To schedule a book club visit with any of them or our other authors:

James Frey is an American author and businessman. He was called America’s Most Notorious Author by Time Magazine and the Bad Boy of American Literature by The New York Times. His newest novel, Next to Heaven, is a masterclass in scandal, mystery, and privilege. His novels A Million Little Pieces, Bright Shiny Morning, and The Final Testament of the Holy Bible have all gone on to become bestsellers across the world. Worldwide, his books have sold more than thirty million copies, and his work has been published in forty-two languages.

Set in the pristine community of New Bethlehem, Connecticut Next to Heaven takes readers below the facade of picture-perfect lawns, manicured hedges, and multi-million dollar homes to discover the murderous secrets that lie below the surface. Secrets the community would rather keep hidden. When privilege of high society no longer appeals to Devon and Belle, they decide to stir up intrigue of their own: one night of an ultra-elite swingers party, multiple betrayals, and a murder that will shatter New Bethlehem’s carefully constructed facade.

Christina Baker Kline is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, including Orphan Train, The Exiles, and Please Don’t Lie (with Anne Burt). Published in more than 40 countries, her novels have received the New England Prize for Fiction, the Maine Literary Award, and a Barnes & Noble Discover Award, among others, and have been chosen by hundreds of communities, schools, and universities as “One Book” selections.

The Foursome is Christina’s boldly original reimagining of an astonishing true story: two sisters in nineteenth-century North Carolina—Kline’s own distant relatives—who married world-famous conjoined twins from Siam, Chang and Eng Bunker.

Laura Kamoie is a Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of America’s First Daughter and My Dear Hamilton. Laura holds a doctoral degree in early American history from The College of William and Mary, published two non-fiction books on early America, has extensive public history experience, and most recently held the position of Associate Professor of History at the U.S. Naval Academy before transitioning to a full-time career writing genre fiction.

Just in time for the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States comes a stunning historical novel, A Founding Mother, a sweeping, intimate portrayal of Abigail Adams—wife of one president and mother to another—whose wit, willpower and wisdom helped shape the fledgling republic.

Natasha Lester is the internationally and NYT bestselling Australian author of ten historical fiction novels, includingThe Paris Seamstress, The Paris Secret, The Riviera House, The Paris Orphan, and The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre.  Her novels have been translated into twenty-one different languages and feature the extraordinary lives of distinct and dynamic female leads.

The Chateau on Sunset is a clever, feminist reimagining of Jane Eyre that follows the journey of a sheltered young woman yearning to be invisible amidst Hollywood’s glamor, however, her plan to disappear from the glitz is threatened when a reclusive yet seductive rockstar purchases the hotel she calls home as she finds herself wondering whether or not invisibility is what she truly desires.

Alka Joshi is the internationally bestselling author of the Jaipur Trilogy: The Henna Artist, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur and The Perfumist of Paris.Her debut novel, The Henna Artist, immediately became a New York Times bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Bookclub Pick, an LA Times Bestseller, a Toronto Star and Globe & Mail Bestseller, an Indie Bookstores Bestseller, a Cosmopolitan Best Audiobook, and an Amazon and Goodreads favorite. It was Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and has been translated into 30 languages.

Six Days in Bombay is a sweeping novel of identity and self-discovery as it takes readers from Bombay to Prague, Florence, Paris and London, to uncover the mystery behind a famous painter’s death.

Joe Stillman’s writing credits include “Shrek,” “Shrek 2,” “King of the Hill,” “The Adventures of Pete and Pete,” “Beavis And Butthead,” “Planet 51,” and “Gulliver’s Travels,” among others. For “Shrek” he was nominated for an Oscar and won a BAFTA award. For “King of the Hill” he was nominated for two Emmys..

His first novel, The Man Who Came And Went was the result of a 30 year journey that included failures, near-misses, and approximately 9,000 pounds of self-doubt. If you should decide to purchase a copy, the amortized income of Joe’s effort would come to about 9 cents per year, for which he would be very grateful..

Heather Webb is the USA Today and international bestselling author of eleven historical novels, including  her upcoming novel The Hope Keeper, Queens of London, The Next Ship Home, and Christmas with the Queen. She is the 2018 Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award recipient, a finalist for the Goldsboro RNA award in the UK, as well as the 2019 Digital Book World’s Fiction prize. Heather’s novels have been translated into twenty languages worldwide.

The Hope Keeper is Heather’s upcoming historical fiction novel set in D.C.’s Jazz Age where socialites glitter brighter than their dazzling diamonds, but not all is as it seems when Elisabeth Beaumont comes into contact with the infamous Hope Diamond. The Hope Diamond is rumored to curse all those who come into contact with it. Our leading lady must decide if catering to the dazzling socialite world is where she belongs, if she truly wants to take over her family’s jeweling business or face the truth about her brother’s suddenly mysterious death.

Crystal King is a bestselling novelist, culinary enthusiast, and marketing expert whose writing is fueled by a love of history and a passion for the food, language, and culture of Italy. She has taught writing, creativity and social media at UMass Boston, Boston University, Mass College of Art, Harvard Extension School, and Grub Street.

The Happiness Collector is stunning contemporary fantasy novel for fans of V. E. Schwab and Kaliane Bradley, in which a historian’s dream job in Italy takes a dark turn when she discovers her employers aren’t exactly human.

Gabriella Saab is an acclaimed author of historical fiction. Her first two novels, The Last Checkmate and Daughters of Victory, have been published in multiple languages and various countries. She graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor of business administration in marketing and lives in her hometown in Alabama.

In The Survivors Guild, Gabriella draws upon her Lebanese heritage. In 1912 aboard the RMS Titanic, Nabiha “Bea” Nohra is traveling to America to find work, eager to earn the funds necessary to afford passage for the family she left in Lebanon. On the same ship, heiress Marguerite Ashby sails home to celebrate her engagement to a dull British lord, a marriage that will secure her new-money family’s place in old New York society. But when the Titanic sinks, the two women’s paths are fused together when Bea saves Marguerite’s life and they are unexpectedly charged with the smallest survivor—a baby boy.

Meg Donohue is the USA Today bestselling author of six novels which have been published in nine languages. Meg writes with warmth and humor about love, hope, family, friendship, loss, and forgiveness. She has a deep affinity for animals, especially dogs and horses, and she’s never stepped into a garden or onto a beach she doesn’t love.

Her latest, The Memory Gardener, is a cozy, heartwarming tale about the power of memory and the nourishing magic of gardens, featuring Lucy Barnes who has an uncanny ability to know exactly which scent among the flowers she grows will return a person to a long-forgotten memory.

Rosa Kwon Easton is is an Anaphora Writing Residency Fellow, and has been published in CRAFT Literary, StoryCenter.org, Writer’s Digest, and elsewhere. She is a graduate of Smith College, Columbia University, and Boston College Law School, and is a lawyer and trustee of the Palos Verdes Library District. She is the author of her upcoming novel Red Seal. Her debut novel White Mulberry was inspired by the life of her Korean grandmother in 1930s Japan who is torn between two worlds and must reclaim her true identity to provide a future for her family.

Red Seal is Rosa’s upcoming novel is a multigenerational saga that follows a Korean mother and son as they navigate displacement, wars, and identity across both decades and borders.

Marisa Walz is a USA Today bestselling author. Her debut novel Good Intentions debuted at the top of the USA Today charts, taking the literary world by storm. Marisa is an alum of The Writers’ Loft in Chicago. She got her first paid writing gig in college as an opinion columnist and reporter for the campus newspaper, where she may or may not have fabricated a couple man-on-the-street quotes.

Good Intentions is Marisa’s debut novel. It is a suspenseful psychological thriller that follows a luxury party planner who becomes obsessed after a chance encounter with a woman she meets in in a hospital waiting room. When Cady’s twin sister Dana dies, it is not the grief that comes with death of her twin that consumes her, but with the grieving mother Cady met in the hospital waiting room. Cady becomes convinced the encounter was no coincidence and that she and she alone must be the one to help this stranger overcome her grief. At least, that’s what Cady is telling herself.

Zelly Ruskin is a former social worker turned women’s fiction author. She is also passionate and outspoken with her volunteer work for Brain Aneurysm Awareness.Her novels are packed with with suspense about motherhood, relationships, loss and love. Her novels include her debut work Not Yours to Keep and her latest novel One of Us Must Die.

One of Us Must Die is Zelly’s latest novel and follows the tumultuous and traitorous marriage of Sterling and her gold digging husband. When Sterling comes into the knowledge that while she married for love, her husband married for her trust fund and her family’s fortune. Sterling will do whatever it takes to protect her family and her children from her conniving husband and his manipulations. To free herself and her family from the scheme she has unwittingly trapped them in, she must outwit her husband before it’s too late.

Lisa Cheek is an author and former film and television editor known for her humorous, candid writing about relationships and identity. Her debut memoir, Sit, Cinderella, Sit, was a People Magazine pick, an Amazon bestseller, and a Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist.

Her latest memoir, The Big Day, is a funny, unflinching look at love, marriage, and the complicated question of whether to stay or walk away.

Rebecca Rosenberg is an award-winning historical novelist. She fell in love with sparkling wine in Sonoma, California, where she lives on a lavender farm with her family and founded the country’s largest lavender company. Since then, she has pursued decades of delicious research about champagne in the wine caves and cellars of France and California. She is a champagne historian, speaker, tour guide, interviewer for Breathless Wines and Sparkling Discoveries.com. Rebecca is also a speaker for the National Women’s History Alliance.

License to Thrill: Lily Bollinger, is her new historical novel. The Nazis wanted her champagne. The critics wanted her erased. Lily Bollinger refused to surrender. In this fascinating dual-timeline narrative, two eras, one legacy, and a woman who proves the finest vintages are impossible to crush.