Books Publishing This Week
Books Publishing This Week: April 21 - 27
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Imagine this:
As you settle into the soft cushions of your favorite armchair, you can feel the anticipation building within you. It's early April, and the weekend stretches out before you like an open invitation to adventure. But for now, your only plan is to lose yourself in the pages of a brand new book.
The sunlight filters gently through the curtains, casting a warm glow over the room. The world outside seems to be waking up after the long slumber of winter, and there's a palpable sense of renewal in the air. It's the perfect backdrop for your literary journey.
With a sense of reverence, you reach for the book resting on the side table. Its cover is pristine, untouched by human hands until now. Running your fingers over the embossed title, you feel a thrill of excitement coursing through you. This is the beginning of a new adventure, one that will take you to places you've never been and introduce you to characters you've never met.
As you open the book, the smell of freshly printed pages fills your nostrils, triggering a wave of nostalgia. There's something comforting about the scent of ink on paper, something timeless and reassuring. It's a reminder of all the stories that have come before, and all the stories yet to be told.
You turn to the first page and dive in, allowing yourself to be swept away by the author's words. At first, it's like dipping your toes into a cool stream, testing the waters before fully immersing yourself. But soon enough, you're completely submerged, lost in the currents of the narrative.
Time seems to lose all meaning as you lose yourself in the world of the book. Hours slip by unnoticed, the outside world fading into the background as you journey deeper into the story. It's a rare and precious feeling, this sense of complete absorption, and you savor every moment of it.
As the afternoon sun begins to dip below the horizon, you reluctantly tear yourself away from the pages. But even as you set the book aside, its words continue to echo in your mind, weaving themselves into the fabric of your thoughts. It's a testament to the power of storytelling, the way it can shape our perceptions and expand our horizons.
With a contented sigh, you rise from your chair and stretch, feeling a pleasant sense of languor settling over you. The world outside may be bustling with activity, but for now, you're content to linger in this quiet corner of your home, surrounded by the remnants of your literary journey.
As evening falls and the stars begin to twinkle in the sky, you find yourself drawn back to the book once more. There's still so much left to discover, so many mysteries waiting to be unraveled. And so, with a fresh cup of tea in hand, you settle back into your chair and lose yourself once more in the pages of the story.
In the end, it's not just about the words on the page, but the journey they take you on. And as you sit there, immersed in the world of the book, you can't help but feel grateful for the simple pleasure of reading on a quiet April weekend.
Scroll down to find out what book you might be reading…
Extinction by Douglas Preston
With Extinction, #1 New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston has written a page-turning thriller in the Michael Crichton mode that explores the possible and unintended dangers of the very real efforts to resurrect the woolly mammoth and other long-extinct animals.
Erebus Resort, occupying a magnificent, hundred-thousand acre valley deep in the Colorado Rockies, offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, Irish Elk, and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction through the magic of genetic manipulation. When a billionaire's son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered in the Erebus back country by what is assumed to be a gang of eco-terrorists, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash partners with county sheriff James Colcord to track down the perpetrators.
As killings mount and the valley is evacuated, Cash and Colcord must confront an ancient, intelligent, and malevolent presence at Erebus, bent not on resurrection—but extinction.
Sweetness in the Skin by Ishi Robinson
SWEETNESS IN THE SKIN follows teenaged Pumkin Patterson, who lives in a tiny two-room house in Kingston, Jamaica, with her grandmother (who wants to improve the family’s social standing), her beloved Aunt Sophie (who dreams of a new life in Paris for her and Pumkin), and her mother Paulette (who can barely remember her daughter exists). Pumkin’s escape is food—while baking, she can forget the chaos at home and dream of an exciting future.
When Sophie seizes the opportunity to move to France for work, she promises to send for her niece in one year’s time. All Pumkin has to do is pass her French entrance exam so she can attend school there. But when Pumkin’s grandmother dies, she’s left alone with her volatile mother, and as soon as her estranged father turns up—as lazy and conniving as ever—the household’s fortunes take a turn for the worse.
Will Pumkin’s friends, her neighbors, and her talent for baking such delicacies as sweet potato pudding, coconut drops, and chocolate cakes help her escape? And will leaving home help her find the freedom she so craves? SWEETNESS IN THE SKIN beautifully immerses the reader in Pumpkin’s psychological and physical journey while probing what it means to be true to oneself.
The Stranger I Wed by Harper St. George
New to wealth and to London high society, American heiress Cora Dove discovers that with the right man, marriage might not be such an inconvenience after all. . . .
Cora Dove and her sisters’ questionable legitimacy has been the lifelong subject of New York’s gossipmongers and a continual stain on their father’s reputation. So when the girls each receive a generous, guilt-induced dowry from their dying grandmother, the sly Mr. Hathaway vows to release their funds only if Cora and her sisters can procure suitable husbands—far from New York. For Cora, England is a fresh start. She has no delusions of love, but a husband who will respect her independence? That’s an Earl worth fighting for.
Enter: Leopold Brendon, Earl of Devonworth, a no-nonsense member of Parliament whose plan to pass a Public Health bill that would provide clean water to the working class requires the backing of a wealthy wife. He just never expected to crave Cora’s touch or yearn to hear her thoughts on his campaign—or to discover that his seemingly perfect bride protects so many secrets. . . .
But secrets have a way of bubbling to the surface, and Devonworth has a few of his own. With their pasts laid bare and Cora’s budding passion for women’s rights taking a dangerous turn, they’ll learn the true cost of losing their heart to a stranger—and that love is worth any price.
Funny Story by Emily Henry
109 days left. Then, Daphne can leave Waning Bay, Michigan, the place where she’d moved to be with her now ex-fiancé Peter. Days before their wedding, he left her for the woman he promised was just a friend, the gorgeous, annoyingly perfect Petra. The same Petra who broke the heart of Miles Nowak, Daphne’s now roommate. With no fiancé and no place to go, Daphne is rooming with the only person in town she can bear to show her face to—fellow dumpee Miles.
Scruffy and fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants, Miles is the exact opposite of buttoned-up Daphne, and they mostly avoid each other until one night, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship. And when they get an invite to Peter and Petra’s wedding, they hatch a plan to act like they are dating too. But in spending time together to keep their scheme intact, Miles and Daphne start to form a real connection. Just months ago, Daphne believed her story was already written: fall in love with the perfect man, settle down, and start a family. But suddenly she can envision a possible new ending to her story—one that starts with that time she fell in love with her ex-fiancé's new fiancée's ex-boyfriend.
The Last Word by Elly Griffiths
Words turn deadly with an unlikely detective duo on the case of a murdered obituary writer in this literary mystery from the internationally bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway series. Perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz.
Natalka and Edwin are perfect if improbable partners in a detective agency. At eighty-four, Edwin regularly claims that he’s the oldest detective in England. He is a master at surveillance, deploying his age as a cloak of invisibility. Natalka, Ukrainian-born and more than fifty years his junior, is a math whizz, who takes any cases concerning fraud or deception. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated. She loves a murder, as she’s fond of saying, and none have come the agency’s way. That is until local writer Melody Chambers dies.
Melody’s daughters are convinced that their mother was murdered. Edwin thinks that Melody’s death is linked to that of an obituary writer who predeceased many of his subjects. Edwin and Benedict go undercover to investigate and are on a creative writing weekend at isolated Battle House when another murder occurs. Are the cases linked and what is the role of a distinctly sinister book group attended by many of writers involved? By the time Edwin has infiltrated the group, he is in serious danger…
Archangel's Lineage by Nalini Singh
Raphael and Elena are experiencing their first ever year of true peace. No war. No horrors of archangelic power. No nightmares given flesh. Until…the earth beneath the Refuge begins to tremble, endangering not only angelkind’s precious and fragile young, but the very place that has held their most innocent safe for eons.
Amid the chaos, Elena’s father suffers a violent heart attack that threatens to extinguish their last chance to heal the bonds between them and make sense of the ruins of their agonizing shared history.
Even as Elena battles grief, Raphael is torn from her side by the sudden disappearance of an archangel. But worse yet is to come. An Ancestor, an angel unlike any other, stirs from his Sleep to warn the Cadre of a darkness so terrible that it causes empires to fall and civilizations to vanish.
This time, even the Cadre itself may not be able to stop a ticking clock that is counting down at frightening speed…
Better by Far by Hazel Hayes
One of Zibby Mag's Most Anticipated Books Coming Out in 2024 | One of SheNet's Highly Anticipated Books of 2024
A genre-bending story about love and loss, hope and heartbreak, and the healing to be found in life’s little limbos, those in-between spaces where you’re no longer who you were and not yet the person you will be
About her debut, Out of Love, Hazel Hayes said, “The journey from writing horror to writing love stories was a short one. There is nothing more horrific than love.” In her new novel, she sets out to prove it.
This genre-defying, meta-modern novel is unlike anything you have ever read, and yet at its core it is a story we all deeply understand. A story of love and liminality, and the ways in which grief grips us all. Prepare to laugh and cry; Hazel Hayes will break your heart, but then she’ll mend it for you.
Following a breakup, Kate and Finn decide to keep sharing their house until the lease runs out in twelve weeks’ time, alternating week by week so that they are occupying the same space but never at the same time.
Practically, the plan makes sense, but coming back each Sunday to a home where Finn has been and gone feels far too much like living with a ghost. Kate lost her mother at a young age and now this fresh grief dredges unhealed sorrows up to the surface, and soon, Kate finds herself adrift in her own subconscious, trapped in the liminal space between loving someone and letting go.
Boystown Heartbreakers by K.C. Carmichael
Chicago hairstylist Bastian Russo has only three things to his name: a pair of $1,200 shears, a Boystown studio apartment, and a list of men's names written on his closet wall. His constant worry that he's not good enough and his chronic inability to trust are what leaves him heartbroken time and again.
After he adds the latest name, he turns to his best friend, Andres Wood, for solace. But instead of treating Bastian to dinner, drinks, and the usual effortless banter, Andres makes an interesting suggestion: that Bastian should get over the breakup by dating ... Andres.
Sure, Andres is successful and attractive, but he also knows everything there is to know about Bastian—including what an insecure pain in the ass he is. Meanwhile, everyone in Bastian's life, from his mother to his co-workers, thinks he's an idiot for not having dated Andres already. So, what could go wrong?
Everything.
Now Bastian has to sort out his inadequacy and trust issues to prove he's worthy of transitioning from Andres' best friend to his lover. Otherwise, it's a matter of time before one or both of them end up on Bastian's list of Boystown Heartbreakers.
Murder on Demand by Al Roker and Matt Costello
Murder on Demand, the new book in the delightful Morning Show Murders series from bestselling author and TV news icon Al Roker, finds Billy Blessing investigating a suspicious boating accident in Long Island.
Ten years have passed since Billy Blessing’s adventure in Chicago, and a lot has changed. With the advances in television—the vanishing cable news and the flood of streaming channels entering the market—Billy found himself out of a job. Oh, and his restaurant had a fire (maybe suspicious? Billy does have enemies . . .), but the insurance won’t cover a rebuild.
So Billy is reinventing himself on the North Fork of Long Island, where on a clear day you can see the Hamptons across the bay. The pace of life is slower—and more affordable—and he’s been enjoying his new job as a chef in Greenport. That is, until a young woman walks into the restaurant talking about murder. Her father’s boat washed up down the coast, but the man himself is nowhere to be found. The police are calling it an accident, but she thinks it’s way more than that, and would Billy, maybe, look into it? Nice and quiet since, well, any other way might not be safe.
Billy is back in another hilarious, suspenseful, and delectable murder mystery perfect for new and old fans alike.
The Malachi Covenant by Dee Kelly Jr.
The relics of St. Nicholas are among the most divine and prized possessions in the Christian world, said to hold the power to heal the most incurable diseases and protect those who come in contact with them. Biblical archeologist Maggie Shepherd has the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to extract and study one of these priceless artifacts buried in the tomb of the man who is now known as Santa Claus. In just a few weeks, on Christmas Eve, the Pope will present the venerated relic of St. Nicholas to the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Moscow in the hope of reuniting East and West after a 1,000-year schism.
Driven by rumors of the relic’s legendary power, many people want to control it, including a Russian mob boss who coerces Malachi Popov into stealing it for him before the ceremony. A devout man, Popov wants nothing to do with the evil scheme but his desperate need for money to support his ailing mother leaves him no choice. Once in possession of the miraculous relic, Popov witnesses its awesome power and regrets his action, but before he can set things right, it vanishes.
Not knowing who to trust, both Popov and Maggie set off on a globe-spanning chase to recover the treasured artifact before the world learns it’s missing, and all hope of reuniting the Church is lost. What they don’t know is there are others on their trail who will stop at nothing to keep them from their prize, including murder.
The Backup Bride Proposal by Jaci Burton
Bellini Weddings has agreed to allow a production company to film a movie at Red Moss Vineyards. It will be great PR for both the vineyard and the wine and wedding businesses. Mae Wallace, who works for the Bellini family, is thrilled with the possibility of new business. What she isn’t thrilled with is actor Kane August, who she finds crashing one of the weddings. He tells her it’s research for the movie, but she finds him overconfident and annoying.
Kane August is rarely surprised by anything—until he meets Mae Wallace. She’s sharp, just a bit on the snarky side, and the most refreshing woman he’s had the pleasure of meeting. She constantly challenges him, and he can’t remember having this much fun on a movie set. He takes every opportunity to spend time with her, peeling back layers until he gets to the heart of who this amazing person really is. And, unexpectedly, he realizes that he’s letting her in, too, something he hasn’t done with anyone before. However, they live very different lives and he’ll need to be careful around Mae, because she’s someone he could see a future with. But can she see the same thing?
When Kane takes her to his family’s ranch in Texas, Mae discovers a whole new side to him, learning about the heart and soul of a kind and gentle man. And as they grow closer, her guard goes up. Once burned, she has no intention of falling in love ever again, despite this very hot and sexy guy who’s trying his best to turn her world upside down and work his way through the steely wall she’s built. Kane is determined to show her he’s the one man she can trust with her heart. If only Mae will allow herself to fall.
