Books Publishing This Week
Books Publishing This Week: May 5 - 11
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Imagine this:
As you wake up to the soft light filtering through the curtains, you feel a sense of anticipation fluttering in your chest. It's early May, and the promise of warmer days hangs in the air like a delicate perfume. With a gentle stretch, you rise from your bed, eager to embrace the day ahead.
Stepping into the kitchen, you're greeted by the comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee. The rich scent fills the room, awakening your senses and energizing you for the day ahead. As you pour yourself a steaming cup, you glance out the window at the world outside. The sky is a soft shade of blue, dotted with wisps of white clouds, and the morning air is crisp and invigorating.
With your coffee in hand, you make your way to your favorite spot in the house—the cozy armchair by the window. It's the perfect spot for quiet contemplation, nestled in a pool of sunlight that streams in through the glass. As you settle into the chair, you can feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, soothing away any lingering traces of sleepiness.
Beside the chair sits a stack of books, waiting patiently to be explored. Today, however, there's one book that calls out to you—a new addition to your collection that you've been eagerly anticipating. You reach for it eagerly, running your fingers over the smooth cover, tracing the intricate design that adorns its surface.
Opening the book, you're immediately drawn into its world—a world of adventure, mystery, or perhaps a realm of fantasy. The words leap off the page, dancing before your eyes like playful sprites, weaving a tapestry of imagination and wonder. With each turn of the page, you feel yourself being transported to another time and place, far away from the cares of the everyday world.
Outside, the world begins to stir as the day awakens. Birds chirp merrily in the trees, their songs a sweet melody that accompanies your reading. A gentle breeze rustles the leaves, sending them dancing in a graceful ballet, and you can't help but smile at the beauty of it all.
Lost in the pages of your book, time seems to slip away, forgotten in the magic of storytelling. Hours pass unnoticed as you delve deeper into the narrative, following the twists and turns of the plot with bated breath. The characters come to life before your eyes, their triumphs and tribulations becoming your own as you journey alongside them.
Occasionally, you pause to take a sip of your coffee, savoring its rich flavor as it warms you from the inside out. The world outside the window changes subtly as the day progresses—the sun climbs higher in the sky, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow across the room, and the sounds of the waking world grow louder as people begin their daily routines.
But in this moment, none of that matters. All that exists is you and the book in your hands, two companions bound together by the simple pleasure of storytelling. As the morning stretches into afternoon, you reluctantly close the book, setting it aside with a contented sigh.
Though the story may be over for now, its magic lingers in the air, infusing the room with a sense of warmth and possibility. With a smile, you rise from your chair, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated by the journey you've taken. As you step back out into the world, you carry the memory of those pages with you, knowing that whenever you need to escape, all you have to do is open a book and let your imagination soar.
Scroll down to find out what book you might be reading…
All for You: A World War II Family Memoir of Love, Separation, and Loss
Emil, a Jewish man in 1930s Germany, loves Deta, a Lutheran, but Nazi racial purity laws forbid their marriage. Desperate to find a place where their love can survive, they must separate to get away. Deta leaves for England, but Emil has to overcome red tape, resistance from his aging parents, and his own ambivalence before he can embark for America. With only telegrams and letters from Deta to sustain him, he does all he can to bring her and his family to America. But the clock is ticking as the war breaks out and the Nazis tighten their stranglehold.
From the heartbreaking news of November 10, 1938 (Kristallnacht) to the horrific revelations after the German surrender in 1945, Emil’s story runs the course of the war. Can he make his way in this new world? Will he be reunited with his beloved Deta? And will he ever see his family again?
Told by Emil’s daughter with the help of letters and historical documents, All for You is a true story about love overcoming despair and the impact the Holocaust continues to have on the rising generation.
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
An emotional, slow-burn, grumpy/sunshine, queer mid-century romance for fans of Evvie Drake Starts Over, about grief and found family, between the new star shortstop stuck in a batting slump and the reporter assigned to (reluctantly) cover his first season—set in the same universe as We Could Be So Good.
The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie O’Leary’s life. He can’t manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, he’s living out of a suitcase, and he’s homesick. When the team’s owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, he’s ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But he’s already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree.
Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days he’s barely even managing to do that much. He’s had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner he’d never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New York’s obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers.
Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enoug
Walk the Web Lightly by Mary Pascual
Naya’s family is all about heritage: their art, their traditions, their secret ability to see time. They expect her to follow in their footsteps, creating art and keeping their powers concealed. But she wants to be a doctor—and you can’t do that if you’re hiding all the time! When a chance to go to medical science camp comes up, her family disapproves, but Grandmother challenges her to a contest: if she can weave her soul wrap before the camp begins, she can go; if she fails, she has to say good-bye to her science dreams for good. With all of the knowledge of time at her fingertips, Naya is sure she can win. But someone is rigging events to learn her family’s secrets—and it turns out that what she doesn’t know could jeopardize everyone she loves.
Nightfall by Penelope Douglas
They call it Blackchurch. A secluded mansion where the wealthy send their misbehaving sons to cool off away from prying eyes. Will Grayson has never been bound by a single rule other than to do exactly what he wants.
He might’ve enjoyed backing me into corners in high school when no one was looking, but he could also be warm. And fierce in keeping me safe. The truth is, he has a right to hate me.
It’s all my fault. Everything. Devil’s Night. The videos. The arrests. And I regret nothing.
***
I never minded being locked up. I learned a long time ago that being treated like an animal gives you permission to act like one.
But I’ll come out of here with something far more frightening to my enemies: a plan. I just didn’t expect one of my enemies to come to me.
I can smell Emory hiding in the house. And as the security detail leaves and the door to my gilded cage opens, giving me free reign of the house and grounds for another unsupervised month, I remember with a smile…Blackchurch houses five prisoners. I’m only one of her problems.
Not You: A Memoir by Megan Harris M.
Shortly after graduating high school, Megan purposefully conceives a child in one of many failed attempts to secure the acceptance she desperately wants from anyone who would offer. She soon finds herself in a variety of dire straits that includes 12 months in a maternity home and her subsequent surrender to mental illness. It would take the births of three more children to finally find the self-respect necessary to become the responsible mother her children deserved. Not a memoir details the struggles of a single mother who has the task of overcoming the self-loathing that imprisons her inside of one bad choice after another. For the woman who has been mocked and abused, has lost a baby, lost herself, or has lost her community due to decisions she’s felt were necessary, this memoir will appeal to anyone who has had to find the courage to love themselves first.
The Deceived Ones by Judith Krummeck
Displaced by the Russian invasion, Vira, carrying little but her precious viola da gamba, is a refugee in the Uniting for Ukraine program. A frightening mugging soon after her arrival in the United States prompts her to disguise herself as her twin brother, Sevastyan, as she awaits his arrival from Ukraine.
During a chance encounter, an American composer commissioned to write an opera for “The Twelfth Night Festival” finds a new muse in Vira, disguised as her brother. What follows is a myriad of misconceptions, and a love quadrangle that becomes even more convoluted after the real Sevastyan comes looking for his sister.
The Girl with Three Birthdays by Patti Eddington
Patti Eddington always knew she was adopted, and her beloved parents seemed amenable enough to questions—but she never wanted to hurt them by expressing curiosity, so she didn’t. The story of her mother cutting off and dying her hair when she was a toddler? She thought it was eccentric and funny, nothing more. When she discovered at fifteen that her birthday wasn’t actually her birthday? She believed it when her mother said she’d changed it to protect her from the “nosy old biddies” who might try to discover her identity.
It wasn’t until decades later, when a genealogy test led Patti to her biological family (including an aunt with a shocking story) and the discovery of yet another birthday, that she really began to integrate what she thought she knew about her origins. Determined to know the truth, she finally petitioned a court to unseal records that had been locked up for almost sixty years—and began to put the pieces of her past together, bit by painstaking bit.
Framed by a brief but poignant 1963 “Report of Investigation” based on a caseworker’s one-day visit to Patti’s childhood home, The Girl With Three Birthdays tells the story of an adoptee who always believed she was the answer to a couple’s seventeen-year journey to become parents, until a manila envelope from a rural county court arrived and caused her to question . . . everything.
Scorched by Don Silver
15-year-old Jonas Shore tries to support himself and his mom by selling weed and tranquilizers at parties after his dad's sudden death–until he gets busted and sent to a boarding school for fatherless boys. To survive Lafayette Academy, Jonas and his four roommates vow to have each others’ backs for life--but that promise is broken the weekend before graduation when they’re drawn into a violent encounter that results in a man’s death. Twenty years later, when one of his old roommates shows up unannounced, Jonas is forced to confront his complicated past once and for all.
The Year We Danced: A Memoir by Stephen E. Smith
Spurred on by the pandemic and the rising death toll, writer Stephen E. Smith decided it was appropriate to write about happier, less stressful times, so he turned to a box of forgotten files more than half a century old. Hoping to be comforted by the warmth of nostalgia, Stephen found that instead, these objects revealed a different picture from the one he’d remembered. So he began to reexamine the events that shaped his coming of age in the 1960s, and “The Year We Danced: A Memoir” was born.
With the number of Covid cases increasing and the death toll steadily rising, award-winning writer Stephen E. Smith decided it was appropriate—maybe even necessary—to write about happier, less stressful times. In a box of forgotten files, he rediscovered loose-leaf binders and keepsakes from his first year of college. It had been more than half a century but reading through his course notes, personal observations, and the clippings he’d torn from magazines and newspapers, he pieced together the events, good and bad, tender and tragic, that shaped his freshman year.
Much of what he writes is disarmingly funny, but recalling the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the complexities of finding himself a stranger in the South forced him to reassess a period of his life he’d long recalled as carefree. In this vivid and poignant mid-60s memoir, readers come to understand how friendship, a love of language and music, and the bittersweet remembrance of lost love can help sustain us through difficult times.
Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen
Saffy Huntley-Oliver is an intelligent and glamorous socialite; she also happens to be a proficient serial killer. For the past fifteen years, she’s hunted down and dispatched rapists, murderers, domestic abusers—bad men all. But leading a double life has left her lonely—dating’s tough when your boyfriend might turn out to be your next victim. Saffy thinks she’s finally found a truly good man in Jonathan Desrosiers, a true-crime podcaster who’s amassed legions of die-hard fans for cracking cold cases and bringing justice to victims.
When a decapitated body shows up on Jon’s doorstep the morning after his wife leaves him, he becomes the chief suspect for a murder he insists he didn’t commit. Saffy’s crush becomes an obsession as she orchestrates a meet-cute and volunteers to help Jon clear his name, using every trick up her sleeve to find the real killer and get her man—no matter the cost.
Darkly comic and addictively readable, Bad Men is a wild romp of a feminist thriller that asks if even a serial killer can have a happily ever after.
Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung
A propulsive, extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters’ harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China, by debut author Eve J. Chung, based on her family story
Daughters are the Ang family’s curse.
In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother—abused by the family for failing to birth a boy—finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed.
Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.
From the countryside to the bustling city of Qingdao, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the plight of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of their home and the life they’ve known also comes new freedom—to take hold of their fate, to shake free of the bonds of their gender, and to claim their own story.
Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.
Akmaral by Judith Lindbergh
Before the Silk Road had a name, nomads roamed the Asian steppes and women fought side by side as equals with men. Like all women of the Sauromatae, Akmaral is bound for battle from birth, training as a girl in horsemanship, archery, spear, and blade. Her prowess ignites the jealousy of Erzhan, a gifted warrior who hates her as much as he desires her. When Scythian renegades attack, the two must unite to defeat them. Among their captives is Timor, the rebels’ enigmatic leader who refuses to be broken, even as he is enslaved. He fascinates Akmaral. But as attraction grows to passion, she is blinded to the dangerous alliance forming between the men who bristle against the clan’ s matriarchal rule. Faced with brutal betrayal, Akmaral must find the strength to defend her people and fulfill her destiny. Drawn from legends of Amazon women warriors from ancient Greece and recent archaeological discoveries in Central Asia, AKMARAL is a sweeping tale about a powerful woman who must make peace with making war.
Shanghailanders by Juli Min
2040: Wealthy real estate investor Leo Yang—handsome, distinguished, a real Shanghai man—is on the train back to the city after seeing his family off at the airport. His sophisticated Japanese-French wife, Eko, and their two eldest children, Yumi and Yoko, are headed for Boston, though one daughter’s revelation will soon reroute them to Paris. 2039: Kiko, their youngest daughter and an aspiring actress, decides to pursue fame at any cost, like her icon Marilyn Monroe. 2038: Yumi comes to Yoko in need, after a college-dorm situation at Harvard goes disastrously wrong.
As the years rewind to 2014, Shanghailanders brings readers into the shared and separate lives of the Yang family parent by parent, daughter by daughter, and through the eyes of the people in their orbit—a nanny from the provinces, a private driver with a penchant for danger, and a grandmother whose memories of the past echo the present. We glimpse a future where the city’s waters rise and the specter of apocalypse is never far off. But in Juli Min’s hands, we also see that whatever may change, universal constants remain: love is complex, life is not fair, and family will always be stubbornly connected by blood, secrets, and longing.
Brilliantly constructed and achingly resonant, Shanghailanders is an unforgettable exploration of marriage, relationships, and the layered experience of time.
When Cicadas Cry by Caroline Cleveland
In this stunning debut by a South Carolina attorney, Zach Stander, a lawyer with a past, and Addie Stone, his indomitable detective and lover, find themselves entangled in secrets, lies, and murder in a small Southern town.
A high-profile murder case—A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross in a rural church on Cicada Road in Walterboro, South Carolina. Sam Jenkins, a Black man, is found covered in blood, kneeling over the body. In a state already roiling with racial tenson, this is not only a murder case, but a powder keg.
A haunting cold case—Two young women are murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro, and the killer disappears without a trace. Thirty-four years later the mystery remains unsolved. Could there be a connection to Stander's case?
A killer who's watching—Stander takes on Jenkins's defense, but he's up against a formidable solicitor with powerful allies. Worse, his client is hiding a bombshell secret. When Addie Stone reopens the cold case, she discovers more long-buried secrets in this small town. Would someone kill again to keep them?
Ideal for fans of mystery, suspense, and thrillers in the vein of Karin Slaughter's Pretty Girls and Stacy Willingham's A Flicker in the Dark, as well as for readers who followed the high-profile Murdaugh murder trial, held in the same small town as in When Cicadas Cry.
All the Glimmering Stars by Mark Sullivan
A heart-wrenching and inspiring new novel from journalist and #1 New York Times and #1 Amazon Charts author Mark Sullivan, is based on the harrowing real-life experiences of two Ugandan teens kidnapped along with some 35,000 others and turned into underage warriors for a messianic warlord. Propelled by shocking and tragic details of what Anthony Opoka and Florence Okori were forced to endure as members of Joseph Kony’s fanatical Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA), Sullivan’s page-turning narrative is also a triumphant love story filled with life-affirming humanity.
The Wisdom of the Willow: A Novel by Nancy Chadwick
In the backyard of Margaret and Joe Dowling’s new house in the north suburbs of Chicago, Joe plants a young willow tree as a symbol of home, belonging, and growth. As the years pass, the willow becomes a place for Margaret to share life’s wisdom with their four young daughters.
Years after leaving the nest, now in their early forties, the Dowling women find themselves faced with changes that will define their lives. Debra, the oldest, is shattered when she is asked for a divorce. Rose, who has long hidden her true self, finally begins to evaluate her pattern of being in uncommitted relationships. Linney fears losing Magnolia, the magical shop where she works. Charlotte, the youngest, is the only one who knows their mother is terminally ill, and has been charged by her with keeping it a secret. And Margaret, now faced with the greatest of challenges and struggling with whether she has done enough to help her daughters find their way in life, calls them all to the family home to reunite under the willow one last time.
A metaphorically rich and reflective tale of sisterhood and strength, The Wisdom of the Willow is a story of hope and healing, of the choices that shape our lives, and the challenges we all face as we seek to find our places in the world.
Colossal Words for Kids written by Colette Hiller and illustrated by Tor Freeman
Boost your child’s growing vocabulary with 60 hilariously illustrated poems from Colette Hiller, author of the critically acclaimed kids’ poetry book The B on Your Thumb.
Each poem in this funny, funky book teaches a specific important word, as well as its meaning and spelling, in an innovative and accessible format that kids will love. Using rhythm and wordplay, the poems help build a colossal vocabulary, thinking skills and literacy – without kids even noticing! But most of all, this book delights young readers with the joy and silliness of the English language.
Building a colossal vocabulary has never felt so natural, or so much fun! Each word in this collection is defined in a simple rhyme. Using rhythm, humor and logic, each word’s meaning is made clear and accessible. Kids will want to try them out straight away: it’s a ready-to-use collection! You and your kids will love:
Rolling rhymes that will be chanted again and again
Fun and quirky drawings that bring these educational poems to life
Holistic learning premise from Colette Hiller, skilled in writing educational poetry for children
From Ambiguous to Zealous, the words in this book are for 7-to-12-year-olds. It may seem inconceivable for one book to encompass such a wide age span! But in fact, inconceivable – and all the other words in this book – were selected from vocabulary lists intended for older children, so that younger children can challenge themselves and discover a wealth of great new words!
Troubled Waters by Mary Annaïse Heglar
In this intimate portrait of two generations, a granddaughter and a grandmother come to terms with what it means to be family, Black women, and alive in a world on fire.
The world is burning—and Corrine will do anything to put out the flames. After her brother died aboard an oil boat on the Mississippi River in 2013, Corrine awakened to the realities of climate change and its perpetrators. Now, a year later, she finds herself trapped in a lonely cycle of mourning both her brother and the very planet she stands on. She’s convinced that in order to save her future, she has to make sure that her brother’s life meant something. But in the act of honoring her brother’s spirit, she resurrects family ghosts she knows little about—ghosts her grandmother Cora knows intimately.
The world is burning—but it always has been. Cora’s ghosts have followed her from her days as a child integrating schools in 1950s Nashville to her new life as a mother, grandmother, and teacher in Mississippi. As a child of the Civil Rights movement, she’s done her best to keep those specters away from her granddaughter. She faced those demons, she reasons to herself, so that Corinne would never know they existed.
When Corrine’s plan to stage a dramatic act of resistance peels back the scabs of her family wounds and puts her safety in jeopardy, both grandmother and granddaughter must bring their unspoken secrets into the light to find a path to healing. Their world hangs in the balance as past and future meet in the present moment.
In heartfelt, lyrical prose, Mary Annaïse Heglar weaves an unforgettable story of the climate crisis, Black resistance, and the enduring power of family.
The Proposal Plot by Kathleen Fuller
For someone so strong-willed and certain, Ella Yoder has never been more unsure of her life. It's been a year since she convinced her father to move with her and her younger sister Junia to Marigold, Ohio, to open E and J Grocery. Ella's got a keen eye for running a business and has big dreams to expand. But her plans are stalled because Junia refuses to lift a finger at the store--or listen to her about anything.
Nelson Bontranger knows one thing for sure: creating his own artisan deli meats is his passion. Well, maybe one other thing: he's sworn off women forever. After two bouts of heartbreak, he's not willing to open up himself to a third. When he eyes his own butcher shop next to E and J Grocery in Marigold, he's surprised to learn that Ella has had her eye on the property for some time. He doesn't trust this stubborn, pushy young woman--and for her, the feeling is mutual.
Against their wishes, Ella and Nelson's paths continue to cross when Nelson's nephew Malachi falls head over heels for Junia. Nelson and Ella are brought together to keep the lovebirds in check, but somewhere along the line, their frustration turns to something altogether more pleasant. But they will both need to come to terms with past pain before they can find their future happiness.
The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean
Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state—but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers.
It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.
Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.
But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.
The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.
The Secrets of the Little Greek Taverna by Erin Palmisano
The ultimate beach read, with a Chocolat-esque touch of magical realism, this debut novel will delight and charm readers from start to finish, whisking them off to a Greek Island where food and wine are the stuff of life, where friendships lift you up, and love has a way of catching you when you’re least expecting it.
In a village on Naxos lies a gorgeous guest house and taverna that never opened. Cressida’s husband died suddenly three years ago – the taverna was their dream – but she’s been too lost in grief to keep that dream alive.
Marjory "Jory" St. James, a young traveler who always feels more at home on the move, arrives on Naxos in the middle of the night as if summoned by the island. She quite unexpectedly becomes Cressida’s very first guest.
Jory quickly discovers that this island vacation is more than just a sightseeing adventure as all of the women in town are more than what they seem. But when a hotel group offers to buy Cressida's taverna, it's going to take all of Jory and Cressida's drive and expertise to keep that from happening. With a generous dash of romance, deliciously tempting Greek food, and a growing friendship, can these two women find a way to finally open the little Greek taverna?
Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland
It’s the season for treason…
The king of Yusan must die.
The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the god king Joon.
He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined…or sold.
And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness―from the hired hit man seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance.
They can agree on murder.
They can agree on treachery.
But for these five killers―each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal―it’s not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other…but only one can take the crown.
Let the best liar win.
The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin
Inspired by Jewish mysticism and folklore, this queer dark fantasy debut is perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, C.S. Pacat, Ava Reid, and Katherine Arden, and is set in a fantastical reimagining of 19th century Eastern Europe. Dimitri Alexeyev used to be the Tzar of Novo-Svitsevo. Now, he is merely a broken man, languishing in exile after losing a devastating civil war instigated by his estranged husband, Alexey Balakin. In hiding with what remains of his court, Dimitri and his spymaster, Vasily Sokolov, engineer a dangerous ruse. Vasily will sneak into Alexey’s court under a false identity to gather information, paving the way for the usurper’s downfall, while Dimitri finds a way to kill him for good.
The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé
This absorbing debut follows a white-passing bookbinder in Victorian England and the rumor-filled estate where she works. Centered around the world of books with an irresistible mystery at its core, it's at once a propulsive Gothic mystery and a striking exploration of race, gender, and self-discovery.
One evening, someone breaks into the estate library where Florence restores Lord Francis Belfield's rare book collection. Strangely, all the priceless tomes remain untouched, but there’s a half-burned book in the fireplace. Florence realizes with horror that someone has found and set fire to the secret diary of Lord Belfield's wife, who’d died under mysterious circumstances. Who’d broken in, and what were they trying to hide?
Grace Notes by Naomi Shihab Nye
National Book Award Finalist and former Young People’s Poet Laureate Naomi Shihab Nye’s Grace Notes: Poems about Families celebrates family and community. This rich collection of one hundred never-before-published poems is also the poet’s most personal work to date. With poems about her own childhood and school years, her parents and grandparents, and the people who have touched and shaped her life in so many ways, this is an emotional and sparkling collection to savor, share, and read again and again.
Burning Crowns by Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber
The final book in the swoony and high-stakes fantasy rom-com trilogy that began with Twin Crowns, about twin princesses separated at birth—from bestselling authors Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber.
Twin queens Rose & Wren survived the Battle for Anadawn and brought back magic to their kingdom. But danger lurks in Eana’s shadows.
Wren is troubled. Ever since she performed the blood spell on Prince Ansel, her magic has become unruly. Worse, the spell created a link between Wren and the very man she’s trying to forget: Icy King Alarik of Gevra. A curse is eating away at both of them. To fix it they must journey to the northern mountains—under the watchful guard of Captain Tor Iversen—to consult with the Healer on High.
Rose is haunted. Waking one night to find her undead ancestor Oonagh Starcrest by her bed, she receives a warning: Surrender the throne—or face a war that will destroy Eana. With nowhere to turnand desperate to find a weapon to defeat Oonagh, Rose seeks help from Shen-Lo in the Sunkissed Kingdom, but what she finds there may break her heart.
As Oonagh threatens all Rose and Wren hold dear, it will take everything they have to save Eana—including a sacrifice they may not be prepared to make.
Queerceañera by Alex Crespo
This irresistible and hilarious rom-com from acclaimed author Alex Crespo is a whirlwind of telenovela-level drama and hijinks when Joaquin Zoido finds himself fake-dating his childhood crush and newly minted date to his queerceañera.
Joaquin Zoido is out and proud of it. And while he knew his dad and sister, Carmen, would be super supportive, he wasn’t quite ready for them to surprise him with a queerceañera, a coming out party to celebrate him. Between all the talks of tastings and venues, and the chirping of his family’s RSVP texts, the question of who will be his chambelán is on everyone’s minds.
What Joaquin is decidedly trying to not think about is whether his mom is going attend or if she’s finally replaced him with her favorite godson, Felix—the boy who made Joaquin realize he was gay and who was his first kiss. But when an impromptu lie snowballs into a full-fledged family-group-chat rumor, every Zoido from Texas to Mexico starts believing that Felix is not only Joaquin’s chambelán but also his brand-new boyfriend.
To avoid the pity and sympathies of an ill-timed breakup, Joaquin and Felix strike a deal—they’ll stay fake boyfriends until the party. Yet, as the day draws nearer and old feelings spark anew, Joaquin will have to decide whether a picture-perfect queerceañera with a fake boyfriend is worth giving up the chance of something real.
Fortune Tellers by Lisa Greenwald
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants meets That's So Raven in bestselling author Lisa Greenwald’s charming middle grade novel about three recently separated best friends who discover the paper fortune tellers they made in third grade are the key to staying close through middle school.
What if your fortunes really came true?
Once upon a time, Millie, Nora, and Bea were best friends who loved slumber parties, exploring their Manhattan neighborhood, and making fortune tellers with their Magic Markers. Now, in the summer before seventh grade, they haven’t spoken in over a year—thanks to a big fight, the pandemic shutting down their school, and each girl moving away for different reasons. The girls routinely check each other’s social media, but none of them can muster the courage to reach out, even if they might want to.
Then their long-ago paper fortune tellers start popping up in the most unexpected places. The fortunes carry some eerily accurate wisdom for each girl: Your future is hidden in your past. Hold on to the memories. Go back to where you started. Could this be the push the girls need to reconnect and reunite? Or is the gap between them too wide to mend?
With Love, Mommie Dearest: The Making of an Unintentional Camp Classic by A. Ashley Hoff
When she died in 1977, Joan Crawford was remembered as an icon of Hollywood's Golden Age—until publication the following year of her daughter’s memoir, Mommie Dearest. Based on new interviews with people connected to the book and the film starring Faye Dunaway, Hollywood historian Hoff explores the phenomenon, the camp, and the very real social issues addressed by the book and film.
Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me by Whoopi Goldberg
From multi-award winner Whoopi Goldberg comes a new and unique memoir of her family and their influence on her early life.
If it weren’t for Emma Johnson, Caryn Johnson would have never become Whoopi Goldberg. Emma gave her children the loving care and wisdom they needed to succeed in life, always encouraging them to be true to themselves. When Whoopi lost her mother in 2010—and then her older brother, Clyde, five years later—she felt deeply alone; the only people who truly knew her were gone.
Emma raised her children not just to survive, but to thrive. In this intimate and heartfelt memoir, Whoopi shares many of the deeply personal stories of their lives together for the first time. Growing up in the projects in New York City, there were trips to Coney Island, the Ice Capades, and museums, and every Christmas was a magical experience. To this day, she doesn’t know how her mother was able to give them such an enriching childhood, despite the struggles they faced—and it wasn’t until she was well into adulthood that Whoopi learned just how traumatic some of those struggles were.
Fans of personal memoirs such as Finding Me by Viola Davis and In Pieces by Sally Field will be touched by Bits and Pieces: a moving tribute from a daughter to her mother, and a beautiful portrait of three people who loved each other deeply. Whoopi writes, “Not everybody gets to walk this earth with folks who let you be exactly who you are and who give you the confidence to become exactly who you want to be. So, I thought I’d share mine with you.”
