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| Shelf Awareness's Kristianne Huntsberger with James Crossley of Leviathan Bookstore in St. Louis, Mo. | |
At several of the regional shows this fall, Shelf Awareness partnership program manager Kristianne Huntsberger informally polled attendees about their picks for most anticipated upcoming titles and best reads of the year. More than 250 votes were cast, producing a rich list of new releases and some backlist gems. The regional shows were the New England Independent Booksellers Association Fall Conference in Manchester, N.H.; the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Fall Tradeshow in Spokane, Wash.; the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Fall Con in Denver, Colo.; and the Heartland Fall Forum in Indianapolis, Ind.
NEIBA booksellers were most looking forward to Mona Awad's We Love You, Bunny (Marysue Rucci Books). MPIBA attendees were eagerly anticipating Alchemised (Random House Worlds) by SenLinYu, and Heartland booksellers were looking forward to Yesteryear (Knopf) by Caro Claire Burke, which also came up on PNBA's and NEIBA's most-anticipated list. The Gales of November (Norton) by John U. Bacon was the only other anticipated title that showed up in two regions, garnering several mentions at Heartland and one callout at PNBA.
When the Cranes Fly South (Vintage) by Lisa Ridzén, translated by Alice Menzies, showed up several times on the PNBA Best Read of the Year list and appeared on the NEIBA Best Read list as well. The Correspondent (Crown) by Virginia Evans was the most frequently cited Best Read of the Year title at Heartland and also showed up on MPIBA's Best Read list. Devney Perry though got the most attention from the MPIBA region: her Shield of Sparrows (Entangled) won the most votes as Best Read book of the year and her Rites of the Starling (Entangled) came up several times on the region's most anticipated book list. Heart the Lover (Grove) by Lily King was the only title that got attention on both lists in the NEIBA region.