Books Publishing This Week
Books Publishing This Week: March 3 - 9
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Imagine this:
As you awaken to the soft glow of dawn filtering through your window, you feel a sense of anticipation stirring within you. The crisp March morning air seeps through the curtains, gently nudging you to rise and embrace the day. With a quiet excitement, you slip out of bed and pad over to your bookshelf, where a brand new book awaits your eager eyes.
The cover gleams in the early light, promising adventures yet untold and worlds waiting to be discovered. You run your fingers over the smooth surface, feeling the texture of the embossed letters beneath them. With a gentle tug, you free the book from its place among its companions, feeling its weight in your hands like a treasure waiting to be uncovered.
Making your way to your favorite reading nook, you settle into the comfort of a plush armchair, bathed in the gentle warmth of the morning sun. As you crack open the spine, a faint scent of fresh ink and paper wafts up to greet you, igniting your senses with the promise of new beginnings.
With each turn of the page, you find yourself drawn deeper into the story, captivated by the author's words weaving intricate tapestries of imagination and wonder. The outside world fades away as you lose yourself in the pages, completely immersed in the narrative unfolding before you.
Time seems to stand still as you journey through the book's pages, your heart racing with each twist and turn of the plot. You laugh with the characters, you weep with them, and you cheer them on as they face the challenges that lie in their path.
Outside, the world awakens with the dawn, birdsong mingling with the distant hum of city life. But within the cocoon of your reading sanctuary, you are transported to another realm, where time holds no sway and the only limits are those of your imagination.
As the morning wears on, you find yourself reluctant to tear yourself away from the enchanting world within the book's pages. But eventually, with a sigh of contentment, you close the cover, reluctantly setting the book aside for now.
Emerging from your reading sanctuary, you find that the world outside has transformed in the time you spent lost in your literary adventure. The sun now stands high in the sky, casting long shadows across the landscape and bathing everything in a warm golden glow.
With a newfound sense of clarity and inspiration, you embrace the day ahead, feeling rejuvenated and invigorated by the magic of storytelling. As you step out into the world, you carry with you the memories of the journey you embarked upon in the early hours of the March morning, knowing that there are countless more adventures waiting to be discovered within the pages of a book.
Scroll down to find out what book you might be reading…
Kindling by Traci Chee
From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a standalone fantasy set against a war-ravaged world where kindling warfare—the use of elite, magic-wielding teenage soldiers—has been outlawed. In this rich and evocative novel, seven kindlings search for purpose and identity as they prepare for one final battle. For fans of the classic films Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.
Once, the war was fought with kindlings—elite, magic-wielding warriors whose devastating power comes at the cost of their own young lives.
Now the war is over, and kindlings have been cast adrift—their magic outlawed, their skills outdated, their formidable balar weapons prized only as relics and souvenirs.
Violence still plagues the countryside, and memories haunt those who remain. When a village comes under threat of siege, it offers an opportunity for seven kindlings to fight one last time. But war changed these warriors. And to reclaim who they once were, they will have to battle their pasts, their trauma, and their grim fates to come together again—or none of them will make it out alive.
From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a gut-wrenching, introspective fantasy about seven lost soldiers searching for the peace they once fought for and the future in which they’re finally daring to believe.
Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez
1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn’t. By 1998 Anita’s name has been all but forgotten―certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by progeny of film producers, C-Suite executives, and international art-dealers, most of whom float through life knowing that their futures are secured, Raquel feels herself an outsider. Students of color, like Raquel, are the minority there, and the pressure to work twice as hard for the same opportunities is no secret.
But when Raquel becomes romantically involved with a well-connected older art student, she finds herself unexpectedly rising up the social ranks. As she attempts to straddle both worlds, she stumbles upon Anita’s story, raising questions about the dynamics of her own relationship, which eerily mirrors that of the forgotten artist.
Moving back and forth through time and told from the perspectives of both women, Anita de Monte Laughs Last, is a propulsive, witty examination of power, love, and art, daring to ask who gets to be remembered and who is left behind in the rarefied world of the elite.
The Devil and Mrs. Davenport by Paulette Kennedy
Author Interview with Paulette Kennedy.
The bestselling author of The Witch of Tin Mountain and Parting the Veil mines the subtle horrors of 1950s America in a gripping novel about a woman under pressure―from the living and the dead.
The first day of autumn brought the fever, and with the fever came the voices.
Missouri, 1955. Loretta Davenport has led an isolated life as a young mother and a wife to Pete, an ambitious assistant professor at a Bible college. They’re the picture of domestic tranquility―until a local girl is murdered and Loretta begins receiving messages from beyond. Pete dismisses them as delusions of a fevered female imagination. Loretta knows they’re real―and frightening.
Defying Pete’s demands, Loretta finds an encouraging supporter in parapsychologist Dr. Curtis Hansen. He sees a woman with a rare gift, more blessing than curse. With Dr. Hansen’s help, Loretta’s life opens up to an empowering new purpose. But for Pete, the God-fearing image he’s worked so hard to cultivate is under threat. No longer in control of his dutiful wife, he sees the Devil at work.
As Loretta’s powers grow stronger and the pleading spirits beckon, Pete is determined to deliver his wife from evil. To solve the mysteries of the dead, Loretta must first save herself.
The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church
A searing book club read for fans of Ellen Marie Wiseman and The Girls with No Names set in the Baby Scoop Era of 1960s and the women of a certain condition swept up in a dark history.
It's the 1960s and Lorraine Delford has it all – an upstanding family, a perfect boyfriend, and a white picket fence home in North Carolina. Yet every time she looks through her father's telescope, she dreams of the stars. It's ambitious, but Lorraine has always been exceptional.
But when this darling girl-next-door gets pregnant, she's forced to learn firsthand the realities that keep women grounded.
To hide their daughter's secret shame, the Delfords send Lorraine to a maternity home for wayward girls. But this is no safe haven – it's a house with dark secrets and suffocating rules. And as Lorraine begins to piece together a new vision for her life, she must decide if she can fight against the powers that aim to take her child or submit to the rules of a society she once admired.
Powerful and affecting, The Girls We Sent Away is a timely novel that explores autonomy, belonging, and a quest for agency when the illusions of life-as-you-know-it fall away.
The Unquiet Bones by Loreth Anne White
Author Interview with Loreth Anne White.
When human bones are found beneath an old chapel in the woods, evidence suggests the remains could be linked to the decades-old case of missing teen Annalise Jansen.
Homicide detective Jane Munro―pregnant and acutely attuned to the preciousness of life―hopes the grim discovery will finally bring closure to the girl’s family. But for a group of Annalise’s old friends, once dubbed the Shoreview Six by the media, it threatens to expose a terrible pledge made on an autumn night forty-seven years ago.
The friends are now highly respected, affluent members of their communities, and none of them ever expected the dark chapter in their past to resurface. But as Jane and forensic anthropologist Dr. Ella Quinn peel back the layers of secrets, the group begins to fracture. Will one cave? Will they turn on each other?
The investigation takes a sharp turn when Jane discovers a second body―that of the boy long blamed for Annalise’s disappearance. As the bones tell their story, the group learns just how far each will go to guard their own truth.
The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay
Author Interview with Katherine Reay.
Bestselling author Katherine Reay returns with an unforgettable tale of the Cold War and a CIA code breaker who risks everything to free her father from an East German prison.
From the time she was a young girl, Luisa Voekler has loved solving puzzles and cracking codes. Brilliant and logical, she’s a natural to quickly climb the career ladder at the CIA. But while her coworkers have moved on to thrilling Cold War assignments—especially in the exhilarating era of the late 1980s—Luisa’s work remains stuck in the past decoding messages from World War II.
Journalist Haris Voekler grew up a proud East Berliner. But as his eyes open to the realities of postwar East Germany, he realizes that the Soviet promises of a better future are not coming to fruition. After the Berlin Wall goes up, Haris finds himself separated from his young daughter and all alone after his wife dies. There’s only one way to reach his family—by sending coded letters to his father-in-law who lives on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
When Luisa Voekler discovers a secret cache of letters written by the father she has long presumed dead, she learns the truth about her grandfather’s work, her father’s identity, and why she has never progressed in her career. With little more than a rudimentary plan and hope, she journeys to Berlin and risks everything to free her father and get him out of East Berlin alive.
As Luisa and Haris take turns telling their stories, events speed toward one of the twentieth century’s most dramatic moments—the fall of the Berlin Wall and that night’s promise of freedom, truth, and reconciliation for those who have lived, for twenty-eight years, behind the bleak shadow of the Iron Curtain’s most iconic symbol.
What Happened To Nina by Dervla McTiernan
Nina and Simon—young, fun, and deeply in love—leave for a weekend at his family’s cabin in Vermont. Only Simon comes home.
When pressed, his explanation of what happened that weekend doesn’t make sense.
The story of Nina’s disappearance goes viral, fuelled by armchair investigators, true crime fanatics, and conspiracy theorists.
Everything illustrated with pretty pictures taken from Nina’s social media accounts.
Nina’s family is under siege, but they will do whatever it takes to find their daughter, setting them on a rapidly escalating collision course with Simon’s powerful family, who will do anything to clear his name.
WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA? (on sale March 5) finds two families at war. The novel is propelled by Dervla’s powerful storytelling, unmatched emotional depth, and unflinching character study of the families on both sides of tragedy’s coin.
WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA? propulsively captures the day-to-day and minute-to-minute psychological and emotional impact of perhaps the most painful scenario imaginable: the unexplained disappearance of a loved ne. And—in mirror image—the fear and horror of having someone you love accused of a terrible crime.
If I Lose Her by Brianne Sommerville
Who can you trust when you can’t trust yourself? The pregnancy podcasts warned Joanna Baker about the baby blues, but when a near-fatal mistake places the first-time mom under the watchful eye of Child Protective Services, she receives a serious diagnosis. Postpartum depression. Jo hears the words, yet they don’t make sense. Nothing does. Her blackouts are increasing, and she can’t recall events she’s been accused of. As she fights to keep her daughter, she discovers cracks in her neighborhood, family, and her own home. With the support of her sisters, she attempts to piece together her traumatic past and uncover who is truly in control. Jo must battle her faltering mind to save what’s most important — her daughter.
Take Two, Birdie Maxwell by Allison Winn Scotch
Author Interview with Allison Winn Scotch.
Hollywood’s biggest rom-com star tries to recover from her damaged reputation by staging her own rom-com and following a lead on a lost love in the new romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Allison Winn Scotch.
Birdie Robinson thought she’d gotten everything she wanted out of life: fame, adoration, and an A-list Hollywood career. But after an on-set feud goes viral, she leaves L.A. for the one place where no one would think to find her: her hometown. She’s startled to stumble upon a love letter from a former boyfriend asking for a second chance. And there’s just one issue: the letter was unsigned and she’s not sure which ex sent it. Still, a public reunion with an ex-boyfriend could turn the wave of public opinion back in her favor. Life imitating art. What could go wrong?
Elliot O’Brien, star reporter, knows that life isn’t an actual rom-com. Case in point, he’s spent two decades repressing his long-simmering feelings for his twin sister’s best friend, Birdie. But with his journalism career cratering and Birdie back in their hometown at the same time he is, he realizes that chronicling her search for her long-ago ex may be his opportunity to right some wrongs.
As they hit the road in an ancient RV, Birdie and Elliot retrace her romantic history for clues to who wrote the letter and come face to face with their own romantic missteps, all while grappling with whether happy endings are found only on the big screen—or whether their own happier ever after could be closer than they both ever imagined.
Baby X: A Thriller by Kira Peikoff
Author Interview with Kira Peikoff.
Imagine the miracle of being able to conceive a child with anyone else no matter your age, gender, or fertility status. All you need to do is provide a biological sample. Saliva, blood or mucus will do the trick. Then your cells can be chemically coaxed to become sperm or egg cells. Now imagine the nightmare of your used napkin or fork in the wrong hands—and your egg and sperm are up for sale to the highest bidder.
That’s the terrifying premise behind Kira Peikoff’s BABY X (Crooked Lane; March 5, 2024), a brilliantly plotted, compulsively readable thriller that careens from propulsive action to wrenching emotion as a black-market operation called The Vault steals celebrity cells to convert into sperm and egg in a hidden lab for a massive profit. Their customers range from obsessed fans to hyper-competitive parents who want to give their future children the most desirable genes.
Music superstar Trace Thorne knows that his sperm and eggs are in demand and that the slightest slip up could result in a child he never intended to conceive. To protect himself, he hires gorgeous bio-security guard Ember Ryan to ensure that whatever genetic material he sheds in public is safe from theft.
Ember is a pro and knows all the Vault’s tricks. She’ll stop at nothing to protect her most famous and beloved client. As they grow closer, Ember allows herself to fall for the man himself. But what will happen to their developing relationship when a pregnant stranger confronts Thorne with his worst fear?
This thought-provoking look into the near future will make you question the price of groundbreaking technology and how it impacts our bodies, our minds, and our world. BABY X raises as many issues as it resolves, and is a great read for fans of Blake Couch and John Marrs—or anyone who enjoys a heart-pounding peek into what lies ahead.
A Man Downstairs by Nicole Lundrigan
What if the childhood you remember isn’t really what happened at all?
“A gripping story of troubled relationships, mental illness and buried secrets with a murder at its heart. . . . Clever, twisty and chilling." —Shari Lapena, #1 bestselling author of Everyone Here is Lying
From the acclaimed author of An Unthinkable Thing and Hideaway, a breath-stopping novel of suspense about a woman tormented by memories of the past and threatened by long-held secrets in the present.
Molly Wynters has moved back to her small hometown to care for her father, recently felled by a stroke and no longer able to communicate. She is ready to make a fresh start with her son after her divorce, but is haunted by both old events and new realities in her childhood home.
What Molly recalls of her young life with her father is full of love and care, even though a violent trauma defined her childhood: when she was a young girl, she witnessed her mother’s murder, and her testimony – “There was a man downstairs” – sent a teenager to prison. This tragic episode is still very much alive in the culture of the town, and the more Molly remembers, the more she fears that what she said on the stand all those years ago might not have been the whole truth.
After Molly, a trained therapist, volunteers for a local helpline, the threats begin. At first they seem random, but soon Molly realizes that she is a target, and even those closest to her seem suspicious, especially as unsuspected links between them emerge. More than one life was destroyed on that horrific long-ago day, and now someone intends to hold Molly accountable.
With its gripping descent into the shadowy corners of the human psyche A Man Downstairs is both an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride and a masterful exploration of the fragile nature of memory.
Sleep Well, Take Risks, Squish the Peas: Secrets from the Science of Toddlers for a Happier, More Successful Way of Life by Hasan Merali
Toddlers hold the secrets to having more fun and living a fulfilling life.
In the first book to provide practical advice from scientific research into toddler behavior, a Harvard-trained physician helps us rediscover what we once knew.
Terrible twos, temper tantrums, and grocery store meltdowns are usually the first things that come to mind when people think of toddlers. But pediatric emergency medicine physician and researcher Dr. Hasan Merali has long thought toddlers are among the best people in our society and adults could do well to learn from them.
These extraordinary youngsters can be impulsive, yes, but with this comes a remarkable ability to take risks and ask questions—two qualities that can help us enjoy life more. Toddlers act kindly toward strangers, are eager to work with others to solve problems, and demonstrate extraordinary dedication and perseverance. These are all traits that many of us aspire to have in order to improve both our personal and professional lives.
Dr. Merali includes many humorous examples from his experience as a pediatrician and father, but the core lessons are drawn from two decades worth of fascinating and surprising studies in child psychology and development. Merali connects these studies to research about adults to create the first book to offer adults important lessons that can be gleaned from toddlers. Toddlers can teach you many things, including how to:
Lose weight naturally
Sleep better
Build stronger friendships
Improve teamwork
Be more productive
Have more fun, and
Live a more fulfilling life
Sleep Well Take Risks, Squish the Peas shows us how toddlers bring out the best in humanity and how we can, too. It’s a whole new way of looking at and learning from toddlers.
Kingdom on Fire by Scott Howard-Cooper
In the tradition of Blood in the Garden and Three-Ring Circus comes a bold narrative history of the iconic UCLA Bruins championship teams led by legendary coach John Wooden—an incredible true story about the messy, never-easy pursuit of perfection set against the turmoil of American culture in the 1960s and 70s.
Few basketball dynasties have reigned supreme like the UCLA Bruins did over college basketball from 1965–1975 (seven consecutive titles, three perfect records, an eighty-eight-game winning streak that remains unmatched). At the center of this legendary franchise were the now-iconic players Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Walton, naturally reserved personalities who became outspoken giants when it came to race and the Vietnam War. These generational talents were led by John Wooden, a conservative counterweight to his star players whose leadership skills would transcend the game after his retirement. But before the three of them became history, they would have to make it—together.
Los Angeles native and longtime sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times, Scott Howard Cooper draws on more than a hundred interviews and extensive access to many of the principal figures, including Wooden’s family to deliver a rich narrative that reveals the turmoil at the heart of this storied college basketball program. Making the eye-opening connections between UCLA and the Nixon administration, Ronald Reagan, Muhammad Ali, and others, Kingdom on Fire puts the UCLA basketball team’s political involvement and influence in full relief for the first time. The story of UCLA basketball is an incredible slice of American history that reveals what it truly takes to achieve and sustain greatness while standing up for what you believe in.
Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage
She’s the city girl who refuses to be saddled with a man. He’s the cowboy who wants her anyway.
From the author of the BookTok sensation Done and Dusted comes the next book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, a small town romance featuring opposites attract and forced proximity.
The last thing Ada Hart needs is a man to take care of her. Not anymore. After failing out of her interior design program and the disaster that was her short-lived marriage, Ada clawed her way up from her rock bottom. Now, the only person she trusts is herself, and that has gotten her further than ever before. She has her own business, and one of the largest ranches in Wyoming just hired her for the most important project of her career.
When Ada arrives in Meadowlark, she finds herself in a dive bar where she can’t seem to shake the eyes of a handsome cowboy. When she leads him to the back of the bar, he leaves her with a kiss that most people can only fantasize about. She almost regrets that she’ll never see him again . . . except it turns out he’s her new boss.
Weston Ryder is a happy guy. Even happier now that the mystery woman from the bar is the interior designer for his dream project on his family’s ranch. He feels like he hit the jackpot. It’s too bad she wants absolutely nothing to do with him outside of work. Ada is convinced the pull she feels toward Wes will go away, but Wes can’t stop thinking about her. Even though walls are coming down around Rebel Blue, Ada’s walls are firmly in place.
Can they make it through this project without giving in? Or will they both put their dreams on the line for a chance at love?
Bad Like Us by Gabriella Lepore
Two friend groups collide when someone turns up dead over spring break in this heart-thumping YA thriller for fans of One of Us Is Lying and We Were Liars.
Spring break is a vibe—until someone gets murdered.
Partying with popular classmates they barely know is not what Eva and her friends had in mind for their spring break. But things have been off ever since Miles' academic career took a turn for the worse (they don't talk about it), so a trip to a private beach lodge might be exactly what they need. And Eva won’t admit it, but the chance to reconnect with Colton is worth putting up with Piper’s constant livestreams to her thousands of “besties.”
At first, it’s all sand and waves, but tensions run high when an anonymous letter shakes up an already-flailing love triangle.
When someone turns up dead, Eva can’t even trust her closest friends—but she thinks she can trust Colton. As they get closer to the truth, they uncover secrets that upend everything they thought they knew about their fellow spring breakers.
Murder in the Tea Leaves by Laura Childs
When Theodosia Browning reads the tea leaves on the set of the movie, Dark Fortunes, things go from spooky to worse. Lights are dimmed, the camera rolls, and red hot sparks fly as the film’s director is murdered in a tricky electrical accident.
Or was it an accident? Though the cast and crew are stunned beyond belief, nobody admits to seeing a thing. And when Theodosia’s friend, Delaine, becomes the prime suspect, Theodosia begins her own shadow investigation. But who among this Hollywood cast and crew had murder on their mind? The screenwriter is a self-centered pot head, the leading actress is trying to wiggle out of her contract, the brand new director seems indifferent, and nobody trusts the slippery-when-dry Hollywood agent.
Between hosting a Breakfast at Tiffany’s Tea, a Poetry Tea, and trying to launch her own chocolate line, Theodosia doggedly hunts down clues and explores the seemingly haunted Brittlebank Manor where the murder took place. And just when she’s ready to pounce, a Charleston Film Board member is also murdered, throwing everything into total disarray. But this clever killer will go to any lengths to hide his misdeeds as Theodosia soon finds out when she and her tea sommelier, Drayton, get caught up in a dangerous stakeout.
