Teresa Giudice, star of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” and New York Times bestselling author, is coming to Books & Books to tell you how you can enjoy your spaghetti AND fit into those skinny jeans! In her latest book, Fabulicious: Fast & Fit, Teresa provides a detailed program for how she maintains her voluptuous, sexy figure while keeping pasta and tiramisu on the menu. Fabulicious!emphasizes the “skinny” and provides over 60 recipes, as well as lessons on playing up veggies and rules for the five things you must cut out (and what to replace them with). This book is for the hip, health-conscious home cook – if this is you, stop by for your very own autographed copy! 

If you think a healthy weight-loss program means choking down dry chicken breasts and “blah” broccoli – think again! In The Fun Fit Foodie Cookbook (Advantage Media, $26.99) , bestselling author, international wellness expert and super fitness model™ Jennifer Nicole Lee™ reveals her fat blasting and muscle fueling recipes that your tastebuds and your body will love. Working with your body, not against it, JNL’s Fun, Fit Foodie recipes bring on the flavor! Hearty, delicious breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks will keep your taste buds happy and amp up your metabolism to burn fat faster than ever. Get smart and get fit the JNL way with The Jennifer Nicole Lee Fun, Fit Foodie™ Cookbook. 

Join us for live music in the courtyard

Join us for a free reading of a new play, Flesh and Blooders, by award-winning author Cynthia Joyce Clay. Judy Punchinello, the world famous Cuban puppet master, needs two apprentices, but she does not like “flesh-and-blooders.” She prefers her real friends, her puppets. Kalpita Aspara, who is trained in Indian classical dance, arrives to audition. Al Leighlewya, suffering from amnesia, wanders in from the street. Ancient culture meets young culture is this darkly funny story of identity. 

Claire Doheney, recovering from a serious illness, agrees to house-sit in an oceanfront mansion on Chappaquiddick island in Martha’s Vineyard. The last thing she expects to find is love.  Then she meets a mysterious man the locals call the Hermit. No one knows his real name or where he lives. To their mutual surprise, Claire and the stranger discover that they share a passion for cooking that soon sparks something more. Told by a New York Times bestselling author and international TV host with a keen eye for Chappaquiddick's extraordinary natural beauty, Island Apart (Forge Books, $24.99) has it all—romance, history, travel, crime, lovemaking of exquisite intensity, and cooking scenes so vivid, they'll make your taste buds ache with hunger. Steven Raichlen's novel is a smart love story—not to mention a terrific beach read. Think The Bridges of Madison County with better food. Presented in collaboration with The Center for Literature and Theater at Miami Dade College. 

CANCELLED: Due to medical circumstances, Jesmyn has been forced to cancel her tour. We apologize for any inconvienience.

Mississipppi native Jesmyn Ward’s second novel, Salvage the Bones (Bloomsbury, $15) won the National Book Award in 2011. Tonight, we are privileged to host this extraordinarily-gifted writer whose family of characters “deals with the threat and then the actuality of Hurricane Katrina in much the way that Faulkner’s folk once dealt with fire and flood; the voice here is lyric, unsparing, and fierce.” As the twelve days that make up the novel's framework yield to their dramatic conclusion, this unforgettable family – motherless children sacrificing for one another as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce-pulls itself up to face another day. A big-hearted novel about familial love and community against all odds, and a wrenching look at the lonesome, brutal, and restrictive realities of rural poverty, Salvage the Bones (Bloomsbury, $15) by Jesmyn Ward is muscled with poetry, revelatory, and real. Presented in collaboration with The Center for Literature and Theater at Miami Dade College. 

The Last Will and Testament of Lemuel Higgins (Blackbriar, $12.99) by Patrick J. O’Connor is the story of two men, each of whom stands at the edge of the abyss. They are drawn together to find resolution or perish in the attempt. One seeks forgiveness before his time runs out; the other seeks deliverance from the inexorable tide of change. What they achieve together is greater than either could have imagined. 

The Washington Post’s Manuel Roig-Franzia chronicles the ascension of Florida’s young and handsome junior senator in The Rise of Marco Rubio (Simon & Schuster, $25). Roig-Franzia draws on hundreds of interviews and documents, tracing an inspiring family saga that begins beneath a thatched roof in rural Cuba and leads to the United States Senate. The result is the most comprehensive account yet of his life and career—one that describes his natural gifts, the skills he learned along the way and the ones he has yet to master, and answers the question of whether he has what it takes to one day make a claim on the White House. 

Note: Meet the Senator in person on Saturday, June 30 when he autographs his new memoir, An American Son (also available in Spanish, Un hijo Americano) at Books & Books in Coral Gables at 7:30pm. 

In Sea Change (NAL Trade, $15) by Karen White, Ava Whalen has struggled with a sense of not belonging, and now, at thirty-five, she still feels stymied by her family. Then she meets child psychologist Matthew Frazier, and thinks her days of loneliness are behind her. After a whirlwind romance, they impulsively elope, and Ava moves to Matthew’s ancestral home on St. Simons Island off the coast of Georgia. But after the initial excitement, Ava is surprised to discover that true happiness continues to elude her. Her new home seems to hold as many mysteries and secrets as her new husband. Feeling adrift, Ava throws herself into uncovering Matthew’s family history and that of the island, not realizing that she has a connection of her own to this place—or that her obsession with the past could very well destroy her future. 

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

Books & Books is thrilled to welcome Robert Goolrick for his much-anticipated second novel Heading Out to Wonderful. Goolrick is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller A Reliable Wife, which received critical acclaim for its powerful story and has been a Books & Books bestseller year after year. Exciting and erotically charged, this is an altogether unforgettable story of love gone terribly wrong in a place where once upon a time such things could happen. You can count on Goolrick to weave a suspenseful, psychologically acute tale like no one else. Join us for a special event with one of our (and chances are, one of your) favorite authors! 

AUTOGRAPHING ONLY: This event is Senator Rubio's first exclusive autographing in Miami. Vouchers are available beginning June 1 at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Miami Beach and Bal Harbour Shops. One voucher entitles you to one (1) copy of the book in either English, An American Son (Sentinel, $26.99)  or in Spanish, Un hijo americano (Sentinel, $26.99). Your voucher will serve as your entry to the autographing line.

The book will be published on June 19th. You may redeem your voucher for a copy of the book anytime after June 19th, or at the autographing on June 30th. Your voucher will then be stamped by our staff to indicate your book has been claimed.

Even if you exchange your voucher for a book before June 30, please be sure to save it and bring it with you to the autographing as you will have to show it to gain entrance to the event. Books & Books is NOT responsible for lost or stolen vouchers.

Few politicians have risen to national prominence as quickly as Marco Rubio. He served in the Florida House of Represen­tatives from 2000 to 2008 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. His committee assignments currently include Commerce, Science and Transportation; For­eign Relations; Intelligence; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship. At age forty-one he’s the subject of widespread interest and speculation. But he has never before told the full story of his unlikely journey, with all the twists and turns that made him an American son. There is no limit on the number of books that Senator Rubio will sign, but he will not be able to personalize. Photos may be taken in passing, but not posed. 

We're kicking off a Harry Potter extravaganza unlike any you've seen before! Every Harry Potter movie, every Sunday in July and August, 6pm. Wear your capes, bring your wands. Don't forget something soft to sit on. Seating is limited, FREE tickets required, available at our Coral Gables location, only. 

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

From the artist: "I turn my head to the left to find my uncle speaking. His hands and arms are animated as my family listens to him in quiet amusement. I turn to the right to see my niece in the distance crying over... anything. My mind wanders as my father sits down to talk aimlessly, his voice soft and welcoming. Does he care whether I am listening?

These instances, so easily neglected due to their familiarity, are now the focus of my practice. I use acrylic on canvas and paint figures in an academic approach. The twenty- first century has made it possible to look at family/friend's photos with such frequency it seems impossible for me not to reflect on it. My portraits study emotion using facial expressions as a window to thoughts. Body language indicates intent. Despite this objective approach, there resides a nostalgic sensibility. This approach is based on the influence of the German Expressionists, artists such as Egon Schiele, Käthe Schmidt Kollwitz, and Max Beckman. I have always found their roots buried in emotion, cutting away all excess, leaving the purest form of human expression. My effort is to touch on this sensation not through depicting atrocities, but looking at moments easily disregarded by causal perceptions."

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

Every Harry Potter movie, every Sunday in July and August, 6pm. Wear your capes, bring your wands. Don't forget something soft to sit on. Seating is limited, FREE tickets required, available at our Coral Gables location, only. 

Return to Fillory in The Magician King (Plume, $16) by senior writer and book critic for Time magazineLev Grossman -- the riveting sequel to the New York Times bestseller and literary phenomenon, The Magicians.Quentin and his friends are now the kings and queens of Fillory, but the days and nights of royal luxury are starting to pall. After a morning hunt takes a sinister turn, Quentin and his old friend Julia charter a magical sailing ship and set out on an errand to the wild outer reaches of their kingdom. Their pleasure cruise becomes an adventure when the two are unceremoniously dumped back into the last place Quentin ever wants to see: his parent's house in Chesterton, Massachusetts. And only the black, twisted magic that Julia learned on the streets can save them. The Magician King is a grand voyage into the dark, glittering heart of magic, an epic quest for the Harry Potter generation. It also introduces a powerful new voice, that of Julia, whose angry genius is thrilling. Once again Grossman proves that he is the modern heir to C.S. Lewis, and the cutting edge of literary fantasy. Presented in collaboration with The Center for Literature and Theatre at Miami Dade College. 

CANCELLED: Unfortunately Reah has been forced to cancel her event. We apologize for any inconvenience. 

Beads on a String is the first book in a series that show the development of a group of souls as they move through various lifetimes. The first tells the story of Iza, high priestess of the Temple to the Mother Goddess. It reveals sacred rituals and may spark some ancient memories for you. Beads on a Stringby Rhea Powers has the potential to awaken within you the subconscious abilities that you carry in your soul from other lifetimes. 

Presidential Perks Gone Royal takes us on a disquieting tour through the many hidden indulgences that have accrued to the office of President of the United States. Robert Keith Gray, a Washington DC pioneering public affairs activist and political insider who worked within the White House under three presidents and enjoyed close ties with two more, has studied this troubling issue by researching, investigating and drilling down to get to the truth about presidential perks.  

NEW! Family Game Night: If you're looking for some quality family time, a way to challenge friends, or just a way to stay entertained during those awful summer thunderstorms, you will not want to miss this. It's our first ever Family Game Night in collaboration with Blue Orange Games, a toy company based in San Francisco. The company's dedication to quality, safety and the environment has earned them more than 50 industry awards in the past five years as well as the first-time ever conferred and prestigious "Green Toy Company Award". Come discover new quality board games with other local families. Compete in challenging multiple-round competitions, win amazing prizes, and just have some summer fun!

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at USDA, Frederick Pfaeffle will visit us this evening to discuss his work to further civil rights and social justice in the Obama Administration. Known for his efforts to establish a Latino claims process for women and Latino ranchers and farmers who were discriminated against by the USDA, Mr. Pfaeffle will also shed light on other ways in which the Obama administration has advanced civil rights issues, including health care and immigration reform. In his official capacity, Mr. Pfaeffle is responsible for the investigation and adjudication of hundreds of civil rights complaints. Join us, as Mr. Pfaeffle, a Nicaraguan immigrant himself, discusses the ways in which the Obama presidency has impacted the lives of women, immigrants and minorities in South Florida, and beyond. 

Join us for live music in the courtyard

Dominic Perenzin's Voices From Beyond Autumn contains the life profiles of 24 men and women ranging in ages from 85-100 who reside at a local independent living facility. The narratives are the result of Perenzin's conversations with them over a two-year period, among them an opera singer, a ballerina of London Ballet, a Tai chi master, a Georgetown medical School professor, an editor of Women's Wear Daily, and a biology teacher. They are the generation that made the 20th-century the American Century. 

Every Harry Potter movie, every Sunday in July and August, 6pm. Wear your capes, bring your wands. Don't forget something soft to sit on. Seating is limited, FREE tickets required, available at our Coral Gables location, only. 

Join us for a free, open-to-the-public panel discussion, To Woody Allen With Love, concurrent with the South Florida First Run Engagement at the Coral Gables Art Cinema of Allen's newest film, To Rome With Love. The discussion will range over the whole body of work of one of the most prolific, funny and acclaimed contemporary filmmakers, whose career has spanned over four decades, and who is also noted both as a published author and accomplished musician. Panelists include film critic and Chairman of the Florida Film Critics’Circle Dan Hudak; Books & Books’ and Miami Book Fair co-founder Mitchell Kaplan; University of Miami School of Communication Associate Professor Christina Lane; Florida University Professor Emeritus and author of Woody:From Antz to Zelig Richard Schwartz; and film critic, television producer and archivist Kevin Wynn.Presented in collaboration with the Coral Gables Art Cinema. 

Dust to Dust (Ecco, $26.99) is an extraordinary memoir about ordinary things: life and death, peace and war, the adventures of childhood and the revelations of adulthood. Benjamin Busch—a decorated U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer who served two combat tours in Iraq, an actor on The Wire, and the son of celebrated novelist Frederick Busch—has crafted a lasting book. Busch weaves together a vivid record of a pastoral childhood in rural New York, marine training, and deployment during the worst of the war in Iraq. But this is much more than a war memoir. Busch writes with great poignancy about the resonance of a boyhood spent exploring rivers and woods, building forts, and testing the limits of safety. Dust to Dust is an unforgettable meditation on life and loss, and how the curious children we were remain alive in us all.

Join the University of Wynwood as it unveils the latest issue of Jai-Alai Magazine, a journal of black & white art, short fiction, and poetry. Featuring work by locals Jim Drain, J. David Gonzalez, Matthew Gajewski, Victor Santiago, Tom Healy, Gilbert Wesley Purdy, Siri Kusch, Felicia Carlisle, Odalis Valdieso, and Kyle Trowbridge. Select work from out-of-towners will also be read, including pieces by Raul Zurita, Adrian Matejka, Jill McDonough, Matthew Dickman and Victoria Ford.

Gorgeous Gallery (Bruno Gmunder, $39.95) is a stunning collection of wonderful artworks, ambitiously compiled by David Leddick. In this 160-page, coffee-table-size book, you will find everything from pop art to photo-realism, a unique overview of the works of contemporary gay artists. A leading expert on the art of the male nude, Leddick is the author of several award-winning anthologies. He has also written about the mid-century American art world, about gay men who married women, about male escorts and six novels. 

Note: This event is in Spanish. El Centro Cultural Argentino les invita a "Una charla con Fernando Iglesias". Fernando Iglesias es escritor, periodista y parlamentario. Es un experto en temas de globalización. Tiene publicado mas de diez libros. Entre ellos: La Cuestión Malvinas, La Modernidad Global, Qué significa ser progresista en la Argentina del Siglo XXI?, Kirchner y yo y ¿Qué significa hoy ser de Izquierda? 

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

Joseph Kanon is coming to Books & Books to discuss his latest historical thriller, Istanbul Passage. Kanon is the distinguished author of five previous novels, including The Good German, which was made into a film with George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. Once again, Kanon manages to flawlessly blend fact and fiction, this time with a haunting novel about the dawn of the Cold War. The novel takes readers deep inside the murky cat-and-mouse of compromise and betrayal that would come to define the entire post-war era. Rich with atmosphere and period detail, Istanbul Passage shows once again why Kanon has been hailed by The Boston Globe as the "heir apparent to Graham Greene." 

What is wealth? Are you good with money? Do you think money can buy happiness? Who makes the financial decisions in your family? Are you a spender or a saver? Too many credit cards all maxed out? Are you investing for your future...or want to, but don't know how to start? These and many others are the questions that Margarita Montemar tackles in her new Women & Wealth Workshop, to be offered at Books & Books for the first time. The workshop is designed to address emotional and spiritual money issues, along with Social Security facts, traditional and Roth IRAs, stock market information and financial goals for women. Montemar, a retired professor of mathematics at Miami-Dade College for over 30 years, wants to share her experience to help you make wise financial decisions and get to the bottom of how you experience and handle money in your life. $10 per person, at the door. 

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

Join Books & Books in welcoming Warren Phillips to the store for an insider's account of the rapidly changing landscape of the newspaper business. Phillips was managing editor at The Wall Street Journal and publisher/CEO of Dow Jones & Co., and his memoir Newspaperman tells the dual story of his life as an iconic man of print and the maturation of the most influential business newspapers. Phillips gives readers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the WSJ and shows what it's like to be a reporter as history unfolds. A must-read for anyone with an interest in the media! 

Every Harry Potter movie, every Sunday in July and August, 6pm. Wear your capes, bring your wands. Don't forget something soft to sit on. Seating is limited, FREE tickets required, available at our Coral Gables location, only. 

Tonight, Books & Books welcomes a special performance by members of Our PRIDE Academy (OPA), a new and innovative school for individuals with developmental disabilities. As part of a unique arts curriculum, OPA students participate in full-scale theatrical productions through The Shakespeare Project. Breaking barriers and challenging stereotypes, these actors inspire, entertain and educate audiences with their unique artistic vision. Tonight's scenes come from the company's upcoming production of Edmund Rostand's classic tale of the unrequited love and breathtaking valor of a long-nosed hero named Cyrano.