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 2024 reads, allow us to Pitch in and help you decide with Pitchfest: a FREE Choose Your 2024 Reads Virtual Adventure.

Ring in the New Year by meeting an incredible lineup of 21 fan-favorite authors, including New York Times, international, and bestselling authors, as well as authors you may be meeting for the first time. 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 21 authors are part of NovelNetwork, 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 NovelNetwork 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 21 fast-paced and fun presentations by all 21 authors that are sure to help you choose your 2024 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 (1/25/24) option below and a Zoom link and a Pitchfest Cheat Sheet will be emailed to you 3 days before the event.

About the Authors

Sara Ackerman is a USA Today bestselling author whose novels have been praised by Apple Books and Book Riot, with Amazon choosing Radar Girls as a best book of the month and ALA Booklist giving The Codebreaker’s Secret a starred review. Her latest novel, The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West, follows the harrowing journey of a young pilot in 1927, along with the woman who vows to learn Olivia’s story decades later.

To schedule a book club visit with Sara or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Cara Black is the author of twenty-one books in the New York Times-bestselling Aimée Leduc series. The latest entry, Murder at La Villette, sees Leduc framed for the murder of her daughter’s father, which starts her journey to find the real killer.

To schedule a book club visit with Cara or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Jeffrey Blount is the award-winning author of Almost Snow White, Hating Heidi Foster, and The Emancipation of Evan Walls. In his latest novel, Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way, James Henry Ferguson attempts to flee from his highly publicized fall from grace, only to make a troubling discovery in his new town that forces him to confront his past.

To schedule a book club visit with Jeffrey or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Michelle Cox is the author of the multiple award-winning Henrietta and Inspector Howard series, as well as “Novel Notes of Local Lore,” a weekly blog dedicated to Chicago’s forgotten residents. Her books have been praised by Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and many others. Her latest novel, The Fallen Woman’s Daughter, tells the story of two young girls in the 1930s who are torn from their mother and placed in the cruel Park Ridge School for Girls.

To schedule a book club visit with Michelle or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Nicola Harrison is a historical fiction author whose previous novels include Montauk and The Show Girl. Her latest novel, Hotel Laguna, follows Hazel Francis as she moves to California in 1942 to help with the war effort, only to feel displaced when the war ends and women are forced back into traditional roles.

To schedule a book club visit with Nicola or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Katherine Howe is an award-winning, New York Times-bestselling historian and novelist. She is the author of several novels for adults and young adults, has edited two volumes of primary sources for Penguin Classics, and is the co-author with Anderson Cooper of the #1 New York Times-bestselling books Vanderbilt and Astor. The Penguin Book of Pirates is her latest work, a compilation she put together of trial transcripts, journalism, ship logs, and more to paint a fascinating picture of real maritime marauders.

To schedule a book club visit with Katherine or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Susannah Kennedy is a Berkeley- and Oxford-educated anthropologist with extensive travel experience. Reading Jane, her award-winning memoir, explores the hidden diaries that her mother left behind before committing suicide, and offers a vivid study of narratives, the power of parenthood, and what freedom looks like when we choose to examine the uncomfortable past.

To schedule a book club visit with Susannah or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Robert Kerbeck is the author of Malibu Burning: The Real Story Behind LA’s Most Devastating Wildfire, which won the 2020 IPPY Award as the Silver Medalist in Creative Nonfiction, the Readers’ Favorite Award as the Silver Medalist in Nonfiction Drama, and the Best of LA award. His newest memoir, RUSE: Lying the American Dream from Hollywood to Wall Street, is a thrilling look into the world of corporate espionage and his career as a secret spy.

To schedule a book club visit with Robert or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

In Judith Lindbergh’s novel, Akmaral, a woman warrior on the ancient Asian steppes must make peace with making war. Inspired by Greek myths of Amazon warriors and modern archaeology that proves that they were real, Akmaral follows one woman’s struggle through loyalty, love, and loss to become a leader of her people. Her acclaimed debut, The Thrall’s Tale, about women in Viking Age Greenland, was an IndieBound Pick and praised by Pulitzer Prize winners Geraldine Brooks and Robert Olen Butler. She contributed to the Smithsonian’s exhibition Vikings: The Norse Atlantic Saga and was an expert commentator on the History Channel’s documentary series MANKIND.

To schedule a book club visit with Judith or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Beth Ann Mathews is a marine biologist with expertise in behavioral ecology and marine mammalogy. Her memoir, Deep Waters, tells the story of how her sailing adventures got upended when her husband suffered a rare kind of stroke.

To schedule a book club visit with Beth or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Kristina McMorris is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of Letters from Home, Bridge of Scarlet Leaves, The Pieces We Keep, The Edge of Lost, and the million-copy bestseller Sold on a Monday. Her latest work, Ellie Mae Dreams Big, is a children’s book about a young girl envisioning her future. It was illustrated by her award-winning sister in their collaborative debut.

To schedule a book club visit with Kristina or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Amy Meyerson is the bestselling author of The Bookshop of Yesterdays and The Imperfects whose books have been translated into eleven languages. Her third novel, The Love Scribe, follows a writer named Alice who discovers her romantic stories can make love manifest in real life.

To schedule a book club visit with Amy or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Robin Oliveira is the author of My Name is Mary Sutter, I Always Loved You, and Winter Sisters. Her latest novel is A Wild and Heavenly Place, which tells the story of well-off Hailey MacIntyre and her unlikely romance with starving Samuel Fiddes, set against the backdrop of the birth of Seattle.

To schedule a book club visit with Robin or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Karen E. Osborne is the award-winning, Kindle-bestselling author of Getting It Right, Tangled Lies, and Reckonings. Her latest book is True Grace, her first historical fiction novel. Set in 1924 during the Harlem Renaissance and Roaring Twenties, True Grace chronicles the journey of an immigrant, mixed-raced woman from The Congo, England, and Jamaica who has to fight for her family’s survival.

To schedule a book club visit with Karen or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Aimie K. Runyan is a bestselling author and educator whose novels include Promised to the Crown, Duty to the Crown, and Promised to the Night Sky. In a break from the historical fiction she is known for, her latest novel, The Memory of Lavender and Sage, follows food critic Tempèsta Luddington as she learns about her late mother’s legacy in a small village in Provence.

To schedule a book club visit with Aimie or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Renee Ryan is an award-winning historical fiction writer whose novels include Journey’s End, The Windows of Champagne, and The Secret Society of Salzburg. Her latest novel is The Paris Housekeeper, in which a hotel chambermaid named Camille Lacroix fights for survival in Nazi-occupied Paris.

To schedule a book club visit with Renee or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Susie Orman Schnall is the author of five novels about ambitious women: On Grace, The Balance Project, The Subway Girls, We Came Here to Shine, and her latest, Anna Bright is Hiding Something. Set in the glossy offices of Silicon Valley startups and New York City new media, the story of Anna Bright follows an ambitious young businesswoman who does whatever it takes to succeed–including fraud.

To schedule a book club visit with Susie or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Kate Thompson is the author of the non-fiction social history The Stepney Doorstep Society, though she is best known for her historical fiction about remarkable libraries in World War II. In her latest novel, The Wartime Book Club, a librarian named Grace La Mottée defies orders to destroy books on the Nazi-occupied island of Jersey.

To schedule a book club visit with Kate or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Julia Park Tracey is the author of Tongues of Angels, Veronika Layne Gets the Scoop, and Veronika Layne Has a Nose for News. In addition to her historical fiction novels, she is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and poet. Her latest book, The Bereaved, tells the story of her third great-grandmother Martha, a poor widow, and the choices she made to survive with four hungry children as the Civil War erupted around her.

To schedule a book club visit with Julia or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Heather Webb is the USA Today-bestselling and award-winning author of eight historical novels. In 2015, Rodin’s Lover was a Goodreads Top Pick, and in 2018, Last Christmas in Paris won the Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award. Her latest book, Queens of London, is a look at Britain’s first female crime syndicate, the ever-shifting meaning of justice, and the way women claim their power by any means necessary.

To schedule a book club visit with Heather or any of our authors on NovelNetwork:

Kitty Zeldis is the pen name of a Brooklyn-based author of nine novels and forty books for children. Her latest book, The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights, explores the lives of three very different Brooklyn women in 1924, as New York reels from the losses of both World War I and the deadly influenza epidemic.

To schedule a book club visit with Kitty or any of our authors on NovelNetwork: