Books Publishing This Week
Books Publishing This Week: February 4 - 10
I want to note that I do not get paid to do these posts, I just love authors and the book industry. However, they do take time and energy to create. If you want to donate a few dollars to my coffee fund, which keeps this blog going, you can do so here: https://venmo.com/AshleyHasty or here: http://paypal.me/hastybooklist.
Imagine this:
As the soft glow of dawn begins to pierce through your bedroom curtains, you slowly emerge from the depths of sleep. The world outside is still cloaked in the tranquil embrace of early morning, and a sense of anticipation fills the air. Today is different – today, you're waking up with a purpose. Your eyes flutter open, and for a moment, you relish the quietude that envelops your room.
It's February, and a gentle chill lingers in the air. The cozy warmth of your bed beckons, but the allure of a brand new book tugs at your consciousness. The book, eagerly awaiting your attention on the nightstand, has been patiently waiting for this moment. You sit up, casting aside the blankets with determination. The floor feels cool beneath your feet as you swing them over the edge of the bed, ready to embark on a literary adventure.
The muted colors of the pre-dawn landscape paint a serene picture outside your window. The world is hushed, as if nature itself is holding its breath, allowing you to savor the peaceful transition from night to day. You grab a warm sweater, the fabric soft against your skin, and tiptoe through the silent corridors of your home. The creaking floorboards underfoot are the only sounds that break the silence, creating a symphony of subtle noises as you make your way to the kitchen.
The scent of fresh coffee greets you like an old friend as you flick on the kitchen light. The percolating sound of the coffee machine punctuates the quiet, and you revel in the familiarity of the morning routine. A steaming mug in hand, you pad to your favorite reading nook, where a pool of soft lamplight awaits. The book, its cover a promise of unexplored worlds, rests patiently on the armrest of the chair.
You settle into the comfortable cocoon of cushions, the aroma of coffee enveloping you like a comforting embrace. With each sip, the world outside your window gradually awakens. The sky transforms from muted grays to a canvas of pinks and oranges, casting a warm glow on the landscape. It's a slow, unhurried process, and you savor every moment as the world outside mirrors the anticipation building within you.
Opening the book is like unwrapping a precious gift. The crisp pages yield to your touch, and the story unfolds before your eyes. The characters come to life, and the setting materializes in vivid detail. The author's words weave a tapestry of emotions and intrigue, transporting you to a realm where time seems to stand still. You're no longer in your living room; you're in a different place, a different time, wholly immersed in the narrative.
As you delve deeper into the book, the sun completes its ascent, casting a warm and golden glow across the room. The coffee is now a companion, offering sustenance as you navigate the twists and turns of the plot. The world outside your window is fully awake now, buzzing with the energy of a new day, but you remain cocooned in the magic of the written word.
Hours pass, and you find yourself on the last page, the bittersweet feeling of finishing a good book settling in. The world you inhabited through the author's words slowly fades, leaving you with a sense of fulfillment. The February morning has evolved into a vibrant day, and you sit there, contemplating the journey you've just completed within the confines of those pages.
Waking up early to read a brand new book on a February morning is not just an act of leisure; it's a ritual of discovery. It's a deliberate choice to carve out a sanctuary in time, where the world outside can wait, and the world within the pages can unfold at its own pace. As you close the book and set it down, you carry the echoes of the story with you, ready to face the day with a renewed spirit and a heart full of the magic that only a well-loved book can provide.
Scroll down to find out what book you might be reading…
Dear Muslim Child by Rahma Rodaah, Illustrated by Aya Ghanameh
This inspirational picture book from the author of Dear Black Child encourages Muslim children to take joy and pride in their Islamic faith. Perfect for fans of In My Mosque and The Proudest Blue.
Dear Muslim Child, your story matters.
In this lyrical ode to Islam, Muslim children all over the world are encouraged to celebrate their faith and traditions.
All This Twisted Glory by Tahereh Mafi
The highly anticipated third novel in the This Woven Kingdom series, full of powerful magic, searing romance, and heartbreaking betrayal, from the award-winning and bestselling author of the Shatter Me series. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Sabaa Tahir, and Tomi Adeyemi.
As the long-lost heir to the Jinn throne, Alizeh has finally found her people—and she might’ve found her crown. Cyrus, the mercurial ruler of Tulan, has offered her his kingdom in a twisted exchange: one that would begin with their marriage and end with his murder.
Cyrus’s dark reputation precedes him; all the world knows of his blood-soaked past. Killing him should be easy—and accepting his offer might be the only way to fulfill her destiny and save her people. But the more Alizeh learns of him, the more she questions whether the terrible stories about him are true.
Ensnared by secrets, Cyrus has ached for Alizeh since she first appeared in his dreams many months ago. Now that he knows those visions were planted by the devil, he can hardly bear to look at her—much less endure her company. But despite their best efforts to despise each other, Alizeh and Cyrus are drawn together over and over with an all-consuming thirst that threatens to destroy them both.
Meanwhile, Prince Kamran has arrived in Tulan, ready to exact revenge…
Layered with exquisite tension and heart-stopping romance, All This Twisted Glory is the explosive third book in the captivating, bestselling This Woven Kingdom series.
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
A razor-sharp thriller about a mother forced to the breaking point when her life and the lives of her children are threatened by an intruder
Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. She hears a noise—old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs.
She sees the figure of a man appear down the hallway, shrouded in the shadows. Terrified, she quietly wakes her children and hustles them into the oldest part of the house, a tiny, secret room concealed behind a wall. There they hide as the man searches for them, trying to tempt the children out with promises and scare the mother into surrender.
In the suffocating darkness, the mother struggles to remain calm, to plan. Should she search for a weapon or attempt escape? But then she catches another glimpse of him. That face. That voice. And at once she knows her situation is even more dire than she’d feared, because she knows exactly who he is—and what he wants.
Aftershock by Zhang Ling
A catastrophic disaster in China triggers a mother’s heartbreaking choice and a daughter’s reconciliation with the past in this engrossing novel by the author of A Single Swallow and Where Waters Meet. Perfect for fans of Amy Tan, Lisa See, and Min Jin Lee.
In the summer of 1976, an earthquake swallows up the city of Tangshan, China. Among the hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for survival is a mother who makes an agonizing decision that irrevocably changes her life and the lives of her children. In that devastating split second, her seven-year-old daughter, Xiaodeng, is separated from her brother and the mother she loves and trusts. All Xiaodeng remembers of the fateful morning is betrayal.
Thirty years later, Xiaodeng is an acclaimed writer living in Canada with a caring husband and daughter. However, her newfound fame and success do little to cover the deep wounds that disrupt her life, time and again, and edge her toward a breaking point. Xiaodeng realizes the only path toward healing is to return to Tangshan, find her mother, and get closure.
Queens of London by Heather Webb
Author Interview with Heather Webb.
Maybe women can have it all, as long as they're willing to steal it.
1925. London. When Alice Diamond, AKA "Diamond Annie," is elected the Queen of the Forty Elephants, she's determined to take the all-girl gang to new heights. She's ambitious, tough as nails, and a brilliant mastermind, with a plan to create a dynasty the likes of which no one has ever seen. Alice demands absolute loyalty from her "family"―it's how she's always kept the cops in line. Too bad she's now the target for one of Britain's first female policewomen.
Officer Lilian Wyles isn't merely one of the first female detectives at Scotland Yard, she's one of the best detectives on the force. Even so, she'll have to win a big score to prove herself, to break free from the "women's work" she's been assigned. When she hears about the large-scale heist in the works to fund Alice's new dynasty, she realizes she has the chance she's been looking for―and the added bonus of putting Diamond Annie out of business permanently.
A tale of dark glamour and sisterhood, 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, from USA Today bestselling author Heather Webb.
Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine
The Last of Us meets Bird Box in this post-apocalyptic tale where eye contact causes people to spiral into a deadly, violent rage.
Riley has not seen a single human face in longer than she can reckon. No faces, no eyes. Not if you want to survive.
But when a new neighbor moves in down the road, Riley’s overwhelming need for human contact makes her throw caution to the wind. Somehow, in this world where other people can mean a gruesome, bloody death, Ellis makes her feel safe. As they grow closer, Riley’s grip on reality begins to slip and she can no longer fight her deepest desires.
All Riley wants to do is look.
A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh
Inspired by true events, A SIGN OF HER OWN tells the story of Ellen Lark, a deaf woman and favorite student of Alexander Graham Bell, in his race to invent the telephone, perfect for fans of Fiona Davis and Maggie O'Farrell.
London, 1878, Ellen Lark’s world forever changes when she falls ill to scarlet fever and loses her hearing. Determined for her daughter to have a “normal” life, her mother painstakingly teaches Ellen how to read and finds she has a gift for memorizing passages and lip reading. With the help of a wealthy patron, she enrolls Ellen into a school for the deaf where Ellen for the first time meets others like her.
Ellen excels at her studies, which leads her to be introduced to Alexander Graham Bell and his new way of teaching deaf students – Visible Speech – which allows deaf people to perfectly pronounce words but without having any comprehension of their meaning. While it doesn’t serve a practical purpose, it allows the deaf person a mask of normality. Ellen is captivated by Mr. Bell and his many dreams for a variety of inventions. However, he becomes less engaged in their studies and in Ellen as the race to create the telephone takes over his time.
Meanwhile, the Western Union is nipping at Bell’s heels with their own invention of casting a human voice over the wire. They employ spies to keep an eye on Bell and have strong reason to believe in foul play when Bell submits his own patent. They try to hire Ellen to report on his movements and speech, using both her proximity to Bell socially as well as her ability to read lips. Ellen must decide if she’ll remain loyal to Bell – despite her growing realization of his harmful teachings – or if she’ll spy on him to protect someone she loves.
Inspired by journals kept by Alexander Graham Bell's real students, this stunning novel casts new light on the inventor and the ableist ways deaf people historically have been pressured to mask their disability.
To Woo and to Wed by Martha Waters
Author Interview with Martha Waters.
The final installment in the “hilarious and steamy” (PopSugar) Regency Vows series follows the heir to a dukedom and a young widow, once very much in love, as they reunite years later to fake an engagement for the benefit of her sister.
You Stole My Name Too by Dennis McGregor
First the animals were stealing names and now the plants are doing it too! The second book in Dennis McGregor's acclaimed series features vibrant, hand-painted illustrations and curious questions like "Why does the crab apple share its name with the crab?"
You Stole My Name Too features another amazing collection of illustrations that takes you and your child on a colorful journey through nature's most fascinating plants and animals and their namesakes.
The fun pairs of flora and fauna that are featured in this sequel include:
• Chick and Chickpea
• Cat and Catnip
• Dog and Dogwood
• Hedgehog and Hedgehog Cactus
• And many more!
The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes
If, like Kane, you're a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA, then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again - by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide - and when to shoot.
But some places don't play by the rules. Some places are too dangerous, even for a man of Kane's experience. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet are such a place - a place where violence is the only way to survive.
Kane travels there to exfiltrate a man with vital information for the safety of the West - but instead he meets an adversary who will take the world to the brink of extinction. A frightening, clever, vicious man with blood on his hands and vengeance in his heart...
One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Author Interview with Hank Phillippi Ryan.
A heart-racing new psychological thriller from USA Today bestselling and multiple award-winning author, Hank Phillippi Ryan.
One wrong word can ruin your life. And no one knows that better than savvy crisis management expert Arden Ward. Problem is, she's now forced to handle a shocking crisis of her own. Unfairly accused of having an affair with a powerful client, Arden’s life and dreams are about to crash and burn. Then, Arden is given an ultimatum. She has just two weeks to save her career and her reputation.
Is Cordelia Bannister the answer to her prayers?
Cordelia needs Arden’s help for her husband Ned, a Boston real estate mogul. Though he was recently acquitted in a fatal drunk driving accident, his reputation is ruined, and the fallout is devastating not only to the Bannisters' lives, but the lives of their two adorable children.
Arden devotes her skill and determination –and maybe her final days on the job--to helping this shattered family, but soon, revelations begin to emerge about what really happened the night of the accident. And then—another car crash throws Ned back into the spotlight.
This case is Arden’s final chance to protect her own future and clear her name. But the more she tries to untangle the truth, the more she’s haunted by one disturbing question—what if she’s also protecting a killer?
Gossip. Lies. Rumors. Words like that can hurt you. And Arden knows the reality. Sometimes one wrong word can kill.
When She Left by E.A. Aymar
A young couple fleeing a criminal family confronts a reluctant assassin in this heart-pounding thriller from E.A. Aymar.
When Melissa Cruz falls hard for a dreamy-eyed photographer named Jake, she can’t resist the urge to run away with him. The problem is that she already has a boyfriend, a rising star in his family’s crime organization. Betrayed and humiliated, Chris isn’t going to just let her go.
To find Melissa, Chris turns to Lucky Wilson, one of his family’s professional assassins. But Lucky has his own problems. After years of lying about his day job, his marriage is in shambles and he suffers from relentless panic attacks. He’ll do this job if Chris will let him out of the killing life.
Lucky knows this is his best chance at salvaging the home life he always craved. But Melissa and Jake aren’t going to abandon their chance at something real―something they’ve both been lacking in their lives. But they aren’t the only ones desperate to survive, and a powerful criminal family isn’t the only danger.
And soon, it’s clear that an unlikely partnership might be the only way for any of them to make it out alive…
The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West by Sara Ackerman
Author Interview with Sara Ackerman.
During the Golden Age of Aviation, a young female pilot defines all odds to try and win the Dole Air Race, a 2400-mile, 26-hour Pacific crossing from California to Hawaii. In 1987, a woman uncovers her buried history and fights to secure its rightful place in the aviation hall of fame. The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West is a riveting tale of danger, secrets, and powerful families who will stop at nothing to promote their own narratives.
The Heart's Shelter by Amy Clipston
Kira Detweiler doesn't plan to be in Lancaster County for long. She's left her family in Indiana to help her aunt after the birth of her fourth boppli. Or at least that's what she tells people. Deep down, she's trying to escape the heartache of a broken engagement and has no plans to date again anytime soon.
Jayden Bontrager watches his older brothers with admiration, and he prays that someday he’ll have the kind of life they do. Even so, he's only twenty-three and not in a hurry to marry and start a family. He's content to watch from the sidelines and is happy to see his brothers enjoying a close relationship once again.
When Jayden and Kira strike up a friendship, they are each drawn to the other's gentle and humble demeanor, and they feel things for one another unlike anything they've felt before. But Kira is torn between her heart and her home. She sees no point in pursuing a relationship with Jayden when she doesn't plan to put down roots in Pennsylvania. The last thing she needs is another heartbreak.
Will Jayden and Kira be able to overcome the obstacles in their path to find the future they both dream of?
In this fourth and final book of the Amish Legacy Series, readers will find out if the youngest Bontrager brother will get his happily ever after.
Next of Kin by Hannah Bonam-Young
Two bickering strangers trying to foster their younger siblings team up to create a stable home, but the chemistry between them threatens to undo their plans—from the viral TikTok author of Next to You and Out on a Limb.
“Funny and huge-hearted and romantic and real.”—New York Times bestselling author Talia Hibbert
When people-pleasing Chloe learns that her birth mother has unexpectedly had another baby, she doesn’t hesitate to become a next-of-kin guardian. But when she fails to pass Child Protective Services’ financial evaluation, she is faced with a choice: see her baby sister placed in foster care or participate in CPS’s new initiative, where two prospective guardians join households to qualify.
Enter Warren, a surly mechanic’s apprentice attempting to get custody of his deaf fifteen-year-old brother. From the moment Warren drives up thirty minutes late, blasting music out of his car, Chloe is convinced that this is a very bad idea. The two immediately clash but eventually agree to live together for the sake of their younger siblings.
As their lives intertwine, and Chloe adjusts to caring for her newborn sister, she begins to see a new, softer side of Warren. In fact, they’re far more similar than she could have imagined. What started as forced begins to feel natural—and far less lonely. Chemistry soon intensifies beyond what either of them can stand, but is their mutual attraction worth risking everything they’ve fought for?
What is Mine by Lyn Liao Butler
Author Interview with Lyn Liao Butler.
The search for a missing boy entwines the lives of two desperate women. One seeks redemption for her sister; the other will do anything for the love of her life.
Hope Chen and her husband are raising her nine-year-old nephew, Luca, in the wake of his troubled mother’s death. Luca finally has a safe home in a neighborhood where kids play in the streets and nobody locks their doors. Then one day, Luca and his dog disappear without a trace. Guilt-ridden, fearing the worst but praying for the best, Hope finds her imagination running wild.
Meanwhile, a woman with dangerous secrets to keep buried will do anything to protect her marriage. In one fleeting instant, it’s all within her reach. She can finally give her husband the one thing that will make him love her again.
Hope will do anything to get Luca back. The other woman will do anything to stop Hope. As Hope’s search grows more desperate and the other woman’s plans more twisted, their lives collide in an explosive battle of wits. With a boy caught in the middle, nothing on this deadly path of love and revenge is what it seems.
Heartbeat by Sharon Sala
Sean Pope already lost Amalie Lincoln once. This time, he will risk everything to never have to say goodbye to her again.
Amalie Lincoln moved to Jubilee, Kentucky, to start fresh, build her business, and heal the scars of her past. Little did she know she'd run into Sean Pope, a beloved childhood friend she hasn't seen in decades. But on the day she moves to town, a helicopter explodes under suspicious circumstances, wreaking havoc on the families of Pope Mountain.
As the Jubilee PD dives into their investigation of the incident, Sean and Amalie find comfort and a budding romance with each other. Life in Jubilee becomes exactly what Amalie hoped for. But as the investigators uncover the truth and the crooks behind the attack set Amalie in their sights, Sean must face the danger or risk losing Amalie forever.
Girls with Bad Reputations by Xio Axelrod
All her life, Kayla heard the same refrain: Don't be so loud. Don't act so wild. Don't take up so much space. Now she's the beating heart of an up-and-coming rock band…and the whole world is going to know her name.
Once upon a time, the pressure to be the perfect daughter nearly broke Kayla Whitman. Desperate to find an outlet away from her controlling mother, she picked up a pair of drumsticks, forever altering the rhythm of her life. Since then, she's been determined to make her own way, finding her home with her bandmates even as she fights to keep her past and her present firmly separate.
Things were simple enough when the Lillys were playing local gigs at dive bars, but now they're on their first official tour―and all Kayla can see are warning signs. Desperate to escape the worry churning inside her, Kayla finds solace in quiet tour bus driver Ty Baldwin…and discovers in him a kindred spirit like no one she's ever met before.
Their connection is immediate and intense, but when increasing scrutiny from the press threatens to destroy Ty's newfound peace and Kayla's carefully guarded secrets, Kayla's forced to make an impossible choice: pursue her dream and risk destroying everyone around her? Or give in and lose the chance of ever becoming the person she's always known she could be.
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again...
Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….
Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.
Sex Romp Gone Wrong by Julia Ridley Smith
In her debut story collection, Julia Ridley Smith navigates the currents and eddies of desire, sex, love, and relationships.
These twelve highly accomplished stories are witty and accessible, intelligent and thought-provoking. A girls' week at the beach prompts hot tub drinking, awkward confessions, and a poignant reconsideration of friendship. A caregiver extracts a small repayment from her elderly patient for his long-forgotten role in the demise of her family. A young woman, new to New York City, finds herself in a complex but tacky love affair and reckons with the unfolding plot of her life. In the title story, a woman plots to conceive a second child while at a convention hotel with her husband and teenage daughter, both of whom have other plans. Smith’s stories will beguile and delight readers while at the same time exploring the deep and often difficult ties of family, marriage, and romantic love in modern life.
Sonata For A Damaged Heart: A Young Mother’s Journey of Survival After a Near Fatal Heart Attack by Wakisha (Kisha) Stewart
Sonata for a Damaged Heart is one Black woman’s story of a near-death experience following her second pregnancy—and the racial disparities in the healthcare industry that contributed to it.
Cardiovascular disease is the #1 cause of maternal mortality in the United States, accounting for over one-third of maternal deaths, with Black women having among the highest maternal mortality rates. Why is childbirth such a risky condition for U.S. women’s health, especially for Black women—and what can be done about it?
Wakisha (Kisha) Stewart’s memoir is both a moving, lyrically told story of a decade-long struggle to survive a near-fatal heart attack with dignity and a clarion call for community-wide mobilization to guarantee health care equity.
Realizing that if she hadn’t insisted on being seen by a doctor, and if one nurse hadn’t grasped how serious her symptoms were, she would “have been counted among the scores of women who’d died of SCAD” the year of her attack. Kisha becomes determined to make a difference with the second chance at life she’d been given by telling her story and advocating for change.
“During my years of struggle with trauma, research became my closest ally, a guiding light that helped me find a way out of despair,” Kisha writes. Her research revealed “women experiencing a cardiac event wait 20-30% longer than men to go to the hospital and 30% longer to be treated. This was especially true for women of color, who were less likely to be examined thoroughly or admitted to the hospital.”
Sonata for a Damaged Heart recounts the complicated professional and emotional journey that Kisha takes from heart failure to being selected in 2022 by the American Heart Association (AHA) as 1 of 12 spokeswomen advocating for women’s heart health in its national education campaign, Reclaim Your Rhythm.
The Price You Pay by Nick Petrie
Peter Ash must follow his closest friend, Lewis, into the criminal underworld when secrets from the past threaten everything they hold dear in this propulsive new thriller from the bestselling and award-winning series.
