Books Publishing this Week
Books Publishing This Week: September 22 - 28
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There’s a certain magic to starting a new book on a late September morning. The world outside is slowly shifting, leaves trading their greens for shades of amber and crimson, and the air is just crisp enough to remind you that summer has faded away. You wake up early, even before the alarm has a chance to beep, and the house is cloaked in silence. You relish this rare moment of solitude, this pocket of time that belongs entirely to you.
You slip out of bed, careful not to disturb the rhythm of the sleep-heavy breaths around you. The floor is cool beneath your feet as you make your way to the kitchen. The scent of fresh coffee fills the room, curling around you like a comforting embrace as you pour a cup. It's hot and fragrant, and you wrap your hands around the warm mug, letting the heat seep into your skin.
With your coffee in hand, you head to your favorite spot—a cozy nook by the window where a soft chair awaits. The light is still dim, the sun only just beginning to hint at its arrival. You can hear the distant calls of early birds, the only creatures up and about at this hour. You settle into the chair, feeling the familiar cushion yield beneath you, and pull a blanket over your lap.
The book waits on the side table, a promise bound in a new cover. You’ve been saving it for just the right moment, and this is it. You take a sip of your coffee, the warmth spreading through you, and reach for the book. There's a particular thrill in cracking open a new spine, the pages smooth and untouched. You trace the cover, admiring the artwork, the title, the feel of the paper beneath your fingertips.
You open it, the soft rustle of the pages the only sound in the stillness. The smell of fresh ink mingles with the scent of your coffee, creating a heady aroma that lulls you further into the moment. As you begin to read, the words flow effortlessly, drawing you into another world, another time, another place. Your surroundings fade away, replaced by the vivid images painted by the author's prose.
The house remains quiet, still lost in the deep slumber of night, but you're wide awake, your mind alive with the possibilities laid out before you. Each sentence, each paragraph, builds a world where anything can happen. It’s a world you’ve been waiting to discover, and you’re finally here, wrapped in the comfort of your own home, yet transported far beyond it.
Time seems to stand still. You’re lost in the story, the coffee forgotten and cooling beside you. Outside, the sky is gradually lightening, the first rays of dawn piercing through the darkness. You glance up, momentarily distracted by the changing light, and realize you’ve been reading for longer than you thought. The morning is creeping up, the day waiting just beyond the horizon, but for now, this time is yours.
You take another sip of your coffee, now lukewarm, but still comforting. You stretch, feeling the pull of your muscles, and lean back into the chair, the book still open in your lap. There’s a satisfaction in this moment that’s hard to describe—a contentment that comes from being exactly where you want to be, doing exactly what you want to do.
This is your sanctuary, your escape, your moment of peace before the day begins. Soon, the house will awaken, and the quiet will be replaced with the hustle and bustle of daily life. But for now, you have this. The story, the silence, the soft light of a new day filtering through the window, and the comforting warmth of your coffee. It’s a simple pleasure, but one that fills you with a deep sense of joy.
You turn the page, ready to dive back into the story, knowing that these are the moments that make the early mornings worthwhile. The world outside can wait. For now, you have a book to get lost in.
A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jen Ferguson
Award-winning author Jen Ferguson has written a powerful story about teens grappling with balancing resentment with enduring friendship—and how to move forward with a life that’s not what they’d imagined.
Before that awful Saturday, Molly used to be inseparable from her brother, Hank, and his best friend, Tray. The indoor climbing accident that left Hank with a traumatic brain injury filled Molly with anger.
While she knows the accident wasn’t Tray’s fault, she will never forgive him for being there and failing to stop the damage. But she can’t forgive herself for not being there either.
Determined to go on the trio’s postgraduation hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, even without Hank, Molly packs her bag. But when her parents put Tray in charge of looking out for her, she is stuck backpacking with the person who incites her easy anger.
Despite all her planning, the trail she’ll walk has a few more twists and turns ahead. . . .
Rabbit and Juliet by Rebecca Stafford
Mixing the complicated queer love from People Like Us and the dark snark of Do Revenge—with searing commentary on misogyny and rape culture à la The Female of the Species—Pushcart Prize–winning author Rebecca Stafford wraps a haunting story inside an irreverent contemporary novel about agency, grief, and toxic first loves.
Seventeen-year-old Rabbit has been struggling to stay above water since her mom died. In the span of a year and half, her small Georgia town has become unbearably hellish: Her ex-boyfriend, resident golden boy Richard, turned into an unrelenting stalker; her friends are nonexistent; and her dad is campaigning hard for Functioning Alcoholic of the Year.
But all that changes when the sarcastic, gorgeous, and frustratingly impenetrable Juliet Bergman walks into Rabbit’s life. All hard angles and James Dean bravado, Juliet throws Rabbit a life preserver just before her depression threatened to sink her.
Then one morning, Rabbit’s ex-best-friend Sarah—Richard’s current girlfriend—shares a horrific discovery about Richard and his crew that pitches Rabbit back into darkness. The three girls vow to enact revenge on the boys for what they’ve been doing to unsuspecting girls at parties. With Juliet leading the charge and demanding blind loyalty from the girls, Rabbit falls harder for her than she thought possible. It isn't until Rabbit is faced with a startling act of violence that she must decide how far she's willing to go—for herself, for Juliet, and for justice—when love and grief threaten to topple everything.
Aisle Nine by Ian X. Cho
Ever since the world filled with portals to hell and bloodthirsty demons started popping out on the reg, Jasper’s life has gotten worse and worse. A teenage nobody with no friends or family, he is plagued by the life he can’t remember and the person he’s sure he’s supposed to be.
Jasper spends his days working as a checkout clerk at the Here for You discount mart, where a hell portal in aisle nine means danger every shift. But at least at the mart he can be near his crush, Kyle Kuan, a junior member of the monster-fighting Vanguard, though Kyle really seems to hate Jasper for reasons he doesn’t remember or understand.
But when Jasper and Kyle learn they both share a frightening vision of the impending apocalypse, they’re forced to team up and uncover the uncomfortable truth about the hell portals and the demons that haunt the world. Because the true monsters are not always what they seem, the past is not always what we wish, and like it or not, on Black Friday, all hell will break loose starting in aisle nine. Perfect for fans of Grasshopper Jungle or The Last of Us comes Aisle Nine, the debut young adult novel from rising YA star Ian X. Cho.
Nisha's Just-Right Christmas Tree by by Susan Lynn Meyer and Jaya Mehta
When Nisha and her father set out to pick out a Christmas tree, she wants a big tree, but her Baba wants a small one. Nisha tries to persuade Baba they need a big tree to fit the new ornaments from India. She'll even help pull the wagon! But Baba still insists on a small tree. So when Baba and Nisha surprisingly agree on the same tree, she suddenly isn't sure about it. Is the tree they both like big or small? In the end, the tree is the perfect size--for the ornaments, for their apartment, and for sharing Christmas cookies and silvery burfi.
Nisha's Just-Right Christmas Tree captures a familiar Christmas tradition through charming text and illustrations. Based on a true story from author Jaya Mehta's childhood, the book beautifully demonstrates a blend of cultures between Nisha's father, who is Hindu, and her mother, who is Christian, as they celebrate Christmas together in their Brooklyn Heights apartment. Backmatter shares more about blending cultures, including examples from both authors' lives.
Adam & Evie's Matchmaking Tour by Nora Nguyen
A rollicking, unforgettable romance about two strangers finding love despite their best efforts as they embark on a sweeping matchmaking tour through Việt Nam, perfect for readers of Carley Fortune and Abby Jimenez.
What’s a few weeks to a lifetime of promise?
Evie Lang’s life is in shambles. On the heels of losing her beloved aunt, she's unceremoniously fired from her poetry professorship by her secret boyfriend. Lacking income and inspiration, she's stuck in Ohio with no idea how to move forward—until hope arrives in a surprising letter.
Auntie Hảo left Evie the deed to her San Francisco row house, a place full of Evie’s happiest memories. The catch? To inherit, she must go on a pre-arranged matchmaking tour in Việt Nam. The last thing Evie wants is to spend time with a group of strangers looking for love. But she can't resist the chance to finally visit her family’s native home.
A world away, Adam Quyền has a chip on his shoulder. He’s working around the clock as CMO for his sister’s elite matchmaking business, a job complicated by her insistence that he knows nothing about love. He’s desperate to prove himself, so when she challenges him to join the inaugural tour, he reluctantly agrees.
Adam thinks Evie is chaotic and unpredictable. Evie thinks Adam is grumpy and uptight. But from the bustling streets of Hồ Chí Minh City to the soaring waterfalls in Đà Lạt, they keep getting thrown together, their animosity charged with attraction…and they discover that true love may be out there, if they are willing to take a leap.
Two stubborn hearts, one whirlwind adventure, Adam & Evie’s Matchmaking Tour is a story of how loving (and living) bravely can lead you to the most unexpected places—and the most imperfectly perfect loves.
The Lovers by Rebekah Faubion
A second chance at love is in the cards for two women working a stylish California wedding in this charming debut romance.
If Kit Larson believes one thing, it’s that the cards never lie. She’s seen it proven time and time again as a tarot reader and mystic influencer. But unfortunately the cards didn’t warn her about her most recent breakup or her parents’ divorce, so when Kit is offered a gig at another influencer’s boho-chic Joshua Tree wedding she accepts for the distraction. And distract it does when she finds out her high school crush, Julia, is the wedding planner.
Julia Kelley is her agency’s most sought-after wedding planner, and for a good reason—she's a perfectionist. Control means never showing others the vulnerable, blobby mess she really is deep down inside. Having an ex-girlfriend in the bridal party is a problem, sure, but reconnecting with the beautiful tarot reader who broke her heart as a teenager is so much worse.
Kit’s cards once told her that she and Julia were Twin Flames, two halves of the same soul. With wedding events pushing them together, their spark reignites . . . and so does a chance at being lovers.
One on One by Jamie Harrow
They call it March Madness for a reason: Anything can happen on the way to a national championship.
Eight years after graduation, Annie Radford is not happy to be back at her alma mater in her old job with the Ardwyn Tigers’ basketball team. Worse, her coworker from back in college, Ben Callahan, is still on the Tigers staff, and he’s annoyingly wholesome, hot, and clinging to a grudge against Annie for abandoning him and the team their senior year.
But as Ardwyn becomes the season’s Cinderella Story, things start heating up between Annie and Ben, too. And while neither of them can deny this could be something special, Annie’s afraid to tell Ben the truth about why she left basketball—the thing she loves most—in the first place. She’ll have to learn to trust him if they have a shot at being together.
In addition to being funny, romantic, and sexy, One on One examines the pressure put on college athletes, challenges the sexism in the world of sports, and exposes the dangers in whole communities idolizing the big men on campus.
For readers of The Hating Game and The Ex Talk, a workplace, enemies-to-lovers debut for anyone yearning for a courtside romance, perfect for anyone who can’t get enough sports rom-coms.
In the Garden of Monsters by Crystal King
Author Interview with Crystal King
A woman with no past. A man who seems to know her. And a monstrous garden that could be the border between their worlds…
Italy, 1948
Julia Lombardi is a mystery even to herself. The beautiful model can’t remember where she’s from, where she’s been or how she came to live in Rome. When she receives an offer to accompany celebrated eccentric artist Salvador Dalí to the Sacro Bosco—Italy’s Garden of Monsters—as his muse, she’s strangely compelled to accept. It could be a chance to unlock the truth about her past…
Shrouded in shadow, the garden full of giant statues that sometimes seem alive is far from welcoming. Still, from the moment of their arrival at the palazzo, Julia is inexplicably drawn to their darkly enigmatic host, Ignazio. He’s alluring yet terrifying—and he seems to know her.
Posing for Dalí as the goddess Persephone, Julia finds the work to be perplexing, particularly as Dalí descends deeper into his fanaticism. To him, she is Persephone, and he insists she must eat pomegranate seeds to rejoin her king.
Between Dalí’s fevered persistence, Ignazio’s uncanny familiarity and the agonizing whispered warnings that echo through the garden, Julia is soon on the verge of unraveling. And she begins to wonder if she’s truly the mythical queen of the Underworld…
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
Knives Out gets a holiday rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter.
The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room two days before Christmas.
Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:
She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.
He’s Mr. Big-time Thriller Guy.
She hates his guts.
He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)
But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.
That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.
She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?
As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.
Assuming they don’t kill each other first.
Immersion: A Linguist's Memoir by Linda Murphy Marshall
Fans of the self-discovering journeys in Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and Andrew McCarthy’s The Longest Way Home will love diving into linguist Linda Murphy Marshall’s adventure-filled international journey as she overcomes her past to find her place in the world—all over the world.
Immersion is a memoir that takes the reader on a captivating emotional and physical journey through Linda Murphy Marshall’s life: from the longstanding, crippling impact of family members’ low expectations and abuse, to her discovery as a young adult that she possesses special skills in foreign languages.
Linda is taught from an early age that she has little of value to offer the world. But her love of and affinity for languages enables her to create a new life—to separate herself from her toxic environment and to build a successful, decades-long career as a professional multilinguist. It’s a rewarding vocation, but a challenging one: her assignments with the US federal government take her on some hair-raisingly dangerous journeys, some to countries with unstable governments and even active war zones. But these sometimes-harrowing experiences teach her how to open the “windows” around her, unearth her true self, and develop a healthy sense of self-worth—and ultimately, paradoxically, her work and travel so far from home allow her to come home to herself.
A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone who gave us A Merry Little Meet Cute comes a new holiday rom-com—’tis the season for second chances!
What happens when there’s no room at the inn and you and your potentially demonic cat become roommates with your grumpy one-night stand?
Part-time adult film actress/one-time adult film director/makeup artist Sunny Palmer has accidentally sold her very first screenplay to the Hope Channel. That was six months ago. Fast forward to a looming deadline, an uninspired Sunny has returned to the source of her inspiration in Christmas Notch, Vermont, to immerse herself in the local Christmas miracle on which her fever dream of a movie pitch was based.
Isaac Kelly, former boy band heartthrob and the saddest boy in the music biz, is the latest owner of the town’s historic mansion. After his years of heartbreak following his young wife’s death, Isaac’s record label is done waiting for new music. What better place to attempt his first holiday album than a snow-covered mansion where he can become a hermit in peace?
But after their best friends’ wedding leads to them waking up together in a freezing motel room with questionable wiring and a broken shower, Isaac takes a chance and asks Sunny to stay with him at his home. Surely the place is big enough that he’ll hardly see her or her unhinged cat. But when the two discover they’re both creatively blocked, they make a handshake deal: Isaac will help Sunny hunt down the truth behind the local lore, and Sunny will find Isaac a new muse.
And with these two opposites under one roof, there’s no way this jingle bell mingle could go off script…right?
Bright Eyes by Bridey Thelen-Heidel
Fans of Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died will root for Bridey Thelen-Heidel as she struggles to unshackle herself from her mother’s chaos in this triumphant debut memoir.
Bridey is tethered to her mom’s addiction to dangerous men who park their Harley-Davidsons in the house and kick holes in all their doors. Raised to be her mother’s keeper, rescuer, and punching bag, Bridey gets used to stuffing her life into black trash bags, hauling them between Alaska and California, and changing schools every time her mom moves in a new monster—or runs away from one. Desperately seeking the normal life she’s observed in sitcoms and her friends’ families, Bridey earns her way into a fancy, private college, where she tries to forget who she is—until her mom calls with a threat that drops Bridey to her knees. Watching doctors and police interrogate her mother at the hospital, Bridey realizes her mom has become a monster herself . . . and she doesn’t want to be saved. But Bridey does.
Bright Eyes is about the indomitable spirit of a young girl forced to be brave, required to be resilient, and conditioned to be optimistic, and how she ultimately uses the same traits that helped her to survive her mother’s chaos to create her own happily-ever-after.
Darkside by Michael Mammay
Colonel Butler has paid his dues and just wants to enjoy his retirement on a remote planet. But the galaxy has had other plans. He has been roped into searching for a politician’s missing son and an industry magnate’s missing daughter. He has been kidnapped, violated numerous laws, and caused the destruction of colonial facilities. He’s famous—or infamous, depending on who you ask—praised and reviled in equal measure across the galaxy for his exploits.
And he is determined to never let the government drag him into another investigation.
But when a runaway twelve-year-old girl whose father has gone missing asks him for help, well…it’s a lot harder to say no.
The girl’s father, Jorge Ramiro, was supposed to have been on Taug, a moon orbiting the gas giant Ridia 5, working on a dig with a famous archaeologist. But now there’s no sign of him and no record of him being there. Mining operations on the moon are run by two different consortiums, Caliber and Omicron—both of which have tried to kill Butler in the past. Butler doesn’t believe in coincidence.
Landing on Taug with his right-hand man Mac, computer genius Ganos, and an elite security squad, Butler soon finds that they’ve charged back into the crosshairs—because Ramiro is not the only who has disappeared, and the perpetual darkside of this moon is hiding more than the truth about a missing archeologist…
The Do-Over by Sharon M. Peterson
“Look, you’re a nice girl but I don’t think we should see each other anymore.” The voicemail ends and I freeze in the dentist’s chair as I realize… I’ve just been dumped on live radio.
It is the most humiliating break-up to see that my life is in serious need of a do-over. Cue my anti-New Year’s resolutions that even I can’t fail at:
1. Stop dating. (Men are the worst.)
2. Stop trying to lose weight. (I’m never giving up chocolate.)
3. Stop working so hard. (Selling mortgages is not my dream career.)
4. Stop trying to live up to unrealistic expectations. (Starting living my best life).
5. Stop trying to please my mother. (It’s not possible.)
But it turns out number five is harder than I thought, as she begins her campaign to get me back with my ex. So, what’s the perfect solution to keep her out of my love life? An imaginary boyfriend—at least he was supposed to be imaginary until I blurted out my neighbor’s name…
Nate, the bad boy next door with gorgeous hazel eyes, a razor-sharp jawline and a mystery scar, might be hot, but he’s definitely not my boyfriend. Now all I need to is stick to my resolutions while also keeping my interfering family away from my non-existent lover who has no idea that we’re fake dating. What could possibly go wrong?
The Littlest Food Critic by Debbie Rigaud; illustrated by Rachel Más Davidson
Little Sebastian has a lot of opinions when it comes to food, so his parents call him their own baby food critic! He even has a personal rating system, from one to five binkies, and he’s prepared to knock off a binky or two if his food is too gooey, doesn’t smell quite right, or is touching other food. When a restaurant outing throws him for a loop, a one-binky review seems inevitable . . . but then his parents save the day and Sebastian realizes the special ingredient they’ve been adding to every meal—one that definitely deserves five binkies!
