Books Publishing This Week
Books Publishing This Week: October 13 - 19
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.
It’s a mid-October morning, and the world outside your window is a canvas painted with the rich hues of autumn. The trees are shedding their leaves, each one a delicate, fluttering reminder of the season’s change. You’ve woken up early, the house still wrapped in the quiet of dawn, and there’s a comforting stillness that invites you to slow down and savor the moment. Today feels like the perfect day to start a new book.
You make your way to the kitchen, the cool floor beneath your feet a gentle nudge toward wakefulness. The scent of fresh coffee fills the air, its warmth promising to chase away the lingering chill. You pour yourself a mug, watching the steam rise in soft tendrils, and cradle it in your hands, savoring the heat against your skin. The first sip is like a sigh of contentment, rich and smooth, and it warms you from the inside out.
With your coffee in hand, you move to the living room. There’s a spot by the window that’s become your favorite retreat, especially on mornings like this. A soft chair, worn in all the right places, waits for you, with a blanket draped over the arm just in case the cool air sneaks in. You settle into the chair, sinking into its familiar embrace, and pull the blanket over your lap, feeling instantly cocooned in warmth.
Through the window, the world is a spectacle of falling leaves. They drift lazily from the trees, swirling in the breeze before settling on the ground in a patchwork of golds, reds, and browns. The sight is mesmerizing, each leaf a reminder of time passing, of the quiet beauty in letting go. You watch for a moment, captivated by the dance of nature, the soft rustling of leaves the only sound in the stillness of the morning.
Beside you, on the small table, is the book you’ve been waiting to start. It’s been sitting there, tempting you with its promise of a new story, of characters and places you’ve yet to meet. The cover is sleek and inviting, the spine still firm, the pages untouched. There’s something special about the beginning of a book, the way it holds an entire world within it, waiting for you to turn the first page and unlock its secrets.
You set your coffee down, the mug leaving a faint ring on the table, and reach for the book. The cover feels cool against your fingers, the weight of it solid and reassuring. You open it, the first crack of the spine a satisfying sound in the quiet room. The pages are crisp, the scent of new paper mingling with the aroma of your coffee. It’s a sensory delight, this moment of anticipation, of stepping into a story you’ve never read before.
As you begin to read, the world outside fades into a soft blur. The leaves continue to fall, but your attention is now on the words before you, on the sentences that weave together to create something magical. The story unfolds slowly, drawing you in, inviting you to leave the world outside and immerse yourself in this new reality. Each word is a thread, pulling you deeper into the narrative, and soon you’re lost in the rhythm of the prose.
The morning light filters through the window, casting a warm glow over the room. It’s a golden light, soft and comforting, the kind that makes everything feel a little more serene. You glance up occasionally, drawn by the movement of the leaves, and each time you do, you’re reminded of the beauty of this moment—of the simplicity and the peace that comes from being present, from enjoying the small things.
Your coffee sits beside you, cooling but still fragrant, a steady companion as you turn page after page. The blanket on your lap is warm and heavy, grounding you in the here and now even as the book transports you to another place, another time. The outside world continues its quiet dance, but inside, you’re in a world of your own, created by the author’s words and your imagination.
This is your time—a rare, precious moment of solitude and connection, both with the story and with yourself. The leaves fall, the coffee warms you, and the book pulls you in deeper. It’s a perfect morning, one where the world feels just right, where the beauty of autumn and the comfort of a good book combine to create something truly special. And as you turn the page, you know that this is where you’re meant to be, savoring every moment, every word, every falling leaf.
Who Loves You Best by Marilyn Simon Rothstein
Author Interview with Marilyn Simon Rothstein
Marilyn Simon Rothstein, author of Crazy to Leave You, returns with a humorous, heartfelt, feel-good novel--the story of Jodi Wexler, a woman who drops everything to spend more time with her grandchild--only to discover two other grandmothers in her daughter’s home—and new truths about herself.
For Jodi Wexler, a Florida doctor with a flourishing practice, only one thing’s missing: the chance to spend more time getting to know her eight-year-old granddaughter, Macallan.
When Jodi’s daughter asks her to watch Macallan in the Berkshires while she takes care of some business out of town, Jodi can’t say yes fast enough. Neither Jodi’s podiatric patients nor her just-fired, suddenly retired husband can keep her away. But when Jodi arrives, she discovers she’s not the only grandma at Lisa’s house. Lisa’s mother-in-law, Di—a hard-nosed real estate agent—has moved into the house. What’s more, there’s Grannie Annie, the twenty-seven-year-old girlfriend of Lisa’s oddball father-in-law. They’re not the only surprises. Lisa’s marriage is faltering even as her new restaurant is taking off. As the competition for Macallan’s attention among the three “grandmas” increases, Lisa drops a bomb about her life that changes everything. Under pressure, and determined to help her daughter, Jodi must choose her next step. Her decision surprises everyone—Jodi, most of all.
Legend of the White Snake by Sher Lee
A snake spirit transforms into a boy and must hide his true identity after falling for a headstrong prince in this lush, romantic retelling of the traditional Chinese folktale.
When Prince Xian was a boy, a white snake bit his mother and condemned her to a slow, painful death. The only known cure is an elusive spirit pearl—or an antidote created from the rare white snake itself. Desperate and determined, Xian travels to the city of Changle, where an oracle predicted he would find and capture a white snake.
Seven years ago, Zhen, a white snake in the West Lake, consumed a coveted spirit pearl, which gave him special powers—including the ability to change into human form.
In Changle, Xian encounters an enigmatic but beautiful stable boy named Zhen. The two are immediately drawn to each other, but Zhen soon realizes that he is the white snake Xian is hunting. As their feelings grow deeper, will the truth about Zhen’s identity tear them apart?
Januaries by Olivie Blake
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes a stunning collection of short fiction featuring fourteen magical ruminations on life, death, and the love—or desire for revenge—that outlasts both.
Stay: A Story of Family, Love, and Other Traumas by Julie Fingersh
A richly woven memoir that explores the joyous and painful complexity of relationships, the generational cost of family secrets, and the quest to help loved ones struggling with mental or medical illness without losing ourselves.
Hailed by critics as profound, funny, and masterfully told, Stay: A Story of Family, Love, & Other Traumas is a richly woven memoir that explores the joyous and painful complexity of relationships, the generational cost of family secrets, and the struggle to help those we love without losing ourselves.
“What happened to Danny”—how Julie Fingersh’s family often referred to her brother’s life story—had always been sealed in sacred privacy, tucked away from friends, neighbors, roommates, and colleagues. Things like this did not happen to people like them.
Decades later, a different something happened. But this time Julie wasn’t a young sister trying to help her beloved little brother—she was a mother grappling with mid-life, and it was her own child whose life suddenly careened off track.
Stay is for everyone struggling to help loved ones plagued by depression, mental illness, or the isolating veil of chronic illness. For everyone wrestling with mid-life’s ghosts and the twin pillagers of self-judgment and fear.
But above all, Stay is for readers who want to think, feel, laugh, cry, and consider their own life’s journey; it’s a messy, funny, heart-wrenching story about how to overcome the blueprint of our past and rise to the possibility of our own lives.
The Specimen by Jaima Fixsen
Walk carefully, lest you become a part of Dr. Burnett's collection…
1826. Isobel Tait finds herself, by chance, staring at a tiny human heart floating in a jar. It should be of little consequence; Dr. Burnett is renowned for his collection of oddities and medical specimens, and this, a juvenile heart with a damaged mitral valve, is not the strangest thing on display. Except that the condition is rare, and that Isobel's young son, who has been missing for months, suffered from the ailment.
A phantom pulse beats in Isobel's ears. She knows something here isn't right.
Missing persons cases are all too common in Edinburgh, where people simply vanish like mist. But Burnett is obsessed with his specimens – how far would he go to acquire a new one? Determined to investigate, Isobel joins his staff as the keeper of his collection. What she'll unearth, though, is far worse than any of her nightmares…
Based on true crimes, The Specimen is a mesmerizing story about one woman's search for truth and vengeance in the darkest of places—where the deadliest secrets lie hidden in plain sight, on a freshly dusted shelf.
Digging Into Nature: Outdoor Adventures for Happier and Healthier Kids by Dr. Pooja Sarin Tandon and Dr. Danette Swanson Glassy
In Digging Into Nature: Outdoor Adventures for Happier and Healthier Kids, Pooja Sarin Tandon, MD, MPH, FAAP, and Danette Swanson Glassy, MD, FAAP, make the convincing case that both children and families will be happier, healthier, and more resilient when spending time outdoors, and they address the importance of nature for children’s health at every age from infancy through adolescence. The book also takes an inclusive approach, providing practical tips for parents of children with special health care needs, chronic health conditions, and cultural considerations to ensure that all children and families have access to safe outdoor spaces. In addition, Dr. Tandon and Dr. Glassy offer a variety of ideas for nature-based activities and suggestions for overcoming common challenges busy families face when trying to increase their outdoor time.
A Winter Wish by Emily Stone
When Lexie learns of her father’s death, she doesn’t know how to feel; they’ve barely spoken in the last ten years. And she’s even more confused when she discovers he’s left her half of his holiday travel company, a successful niche business specializing in trips that explore the holiday traditions of cultures all over the world.
Meanwhile, the other half of the company has been left to her father’s handsome but bad-tempered young executive, Theo. And the will stipulates that the two of them must find a way to run the company together for a year before they decide its fate.
Lexie intends to leave once the year is over, even though, as a wanderer herself, she finds the company’s mission more compelling than she first thought. And a work trip to sizzling Spain reveals a chemistry between Lexie and Theo that is impossible to deny.
There may have been some snap judgments made about each other. But mixing business and pleasure isn’t always a good idea.
Lightning in Her Hands by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Teal Flores is desperate for two things—control over her gift of weather, and a date to her ex’s wedding. The first isn’t possible until she finds her long-lost mother, but the second has a very handsome last-ditch solution: Carter Velasquez.
Carter needs Teal too. His chance at receiving an inheritance is dependent on him being married by age thirty (blame his traditional Cuban grandmother), so who better to pose as his wife than Teal? But fake marriage and cohabitation prove tricky when mutual attraction charges the atmosphere—quite literally for Teal, whose volatile emotions cause lightning strikes.
Together, Teal and Carter embark on a quest to find her mother and the answers she’s searching for. But along the way, they’ll discover something even better: a love that can weather any storm.
Libby Lost and Found by Stephanie Booth
Meet Libby Weeks, author of the mega-best-selling fantasy series, The Falling Children―written as "F.T. Goldhero" to maintain her privacy. When the last manuscript is already months overdue to her publisher and rabid fans around the world are growing impatient, Libby is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. Already suffering from crippling anxiety, Libby's symptoms quickly accelerate. After she forgets her dog at the park one day―then almost discloses her identity to the journalist who finds him―Libby has to admit it: she needs help finishing the last book.
Desperately, she turns to eleven-year-old superfan Peanut Bixton, who knows the books even better than she does but harbors her own dark secrets. Tensions mount as Libby's dementia deepens―until both Peanut and Libby swirl into an inevitable but bone-shocking conclusion.
The Man in Black: And Other Stories by Elly Griffiths
ONIX Retailer Description
From the internationally bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway Mysteries, an eclectic, thrilling collection of short stories, featuring many characters that readers have come to know and love.
Elly Griffiths has always written short stories to experiment with different voices and genres as well as to explore what some of her fictional creations such as Ruth Galloway, Harbinder Kaur, and Max Mephisto might have done outside of the novels. The Man in Black gathers these bite-sized tales all together in one splendid volume.
There are ghost stories, cozy mysteries, tales of psychological suspense, and poignant vignettes of love and loss.
In the title story, Ruth Galloway crosses paths with a mysterious man in a bookstore, setting in motion a rescue mission that hinges on the legends and lore of Norfolk.
Looking into the past, a young magician in 1920s Leeds wonders just what happened to his missing landlady in “Max Mephisto and the Disappearing Act.”
In “Justice Jones and the Etherphone,” a witty girl detective investigates the dire prediction of a fortune teller in dreary postwar London.
A flashback in time reveals Harbinder Kaur as a Detective Sergeant surviving her first day on the job at Shoreham DCI.
To celebrate the holidays, Ruth gets her very first Christmas tree, and her beloved cat narrates his own seasonal story in “Flint’s Fireside Tale.”
And readers can armchair travel with stories set on the Amalfi Coast, in Capri, and in Egypt as Ruth and DCI Nelson experience their very own version of Death on the Nile.
The Man in Black illustrates the breadth and variety of Elly Griffiths’s talent for blood-chilling, page-turning stories all with her trademark humor and heart.
The Mourner's Bestiary by Eiren Caffall
A critically-acclaimed literary memoir braiding together environmental research and the personal journey of generational healing, grief, and chronic illness.
Author Eiren Caffall is the inheritor of a family legacy of two hundred years of genetic kidney disease and the mother of a child who may inherit that legacy.
A literary memoir on loss, chronic illness, and generational healing, Caffall’s The Mourner’s Bestiary is also a meditation on grief and survival told through the stories of animals in two collapsing marine ecosystems—the Gulf of Maine and the Long Island Sound—and the lives of a family facing a life-threatening illness on their shores.
The Gulf of Maine is the world’s fastest-warming marine ecosystem, and the Long Island Sound has been the site of conservation battles that predict the fights ahead for the Gulf.
"Beguiling, idiosyncratic [...] Caffall writes with plangent intensity about our responsibility toward the planet, and her eye for the wonder and beauty of ocean life pierces the illusion of disconnected existence." ? Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant judges citation
"Eiren Caffall has produced some of the most powerful writing on the ecological crisis I have read anywhere. Caffall is a gifted writer, and this book is strong medicine." ? Naomi Klein, author, social activist, and filmmaker
Lifers by Keith McWalter
The oldest person alive today is 117 years of age. Which begs the question: in our lifetimes, what will a “lifetime” come to mean? Could there come a day when the boomers stop dying? When long-term care facilities fill to overflowing, funeral homes and cemeteries begin to close, and Social Security, having flirted with insolvency for decades, finally implodes? When there are half a billion super-centenarians worldwide who should be dead, but live on?
This is the world of Keith McWalter’s upcoming speculative novel, “Lifers” (October 15, 2024, SparkPress). With compelling action, exotic settings, provocative dialogue, and trenchant social commentary, it follows a multigenerational group of characters living through a global pandemic of radical longevity. Drawing on nonfiction accounts of advances in engineered longevity such as Chip Walter’s “Immortality, Inc.” and Andrew Steele’s “Ageless,” McWalter forgoes fabulism in favor of gripping plausibility and delivers genre-bending speculative fiction grounded in cutting-edge science.
The Summer Before by Dianne C. Braley
In the aftermath of a devastating secret revealed by her best friend Summer, Madeline struggles with overwhelming guilt and the fractured remnants of her past. As she battles her demons in Boston, she must confront the figures from her past to reclaim her future or succumb to the darkness threatening to consume her.
The Time Keepers by Alyson Richman
Author Interview with Alyson Richman
An unforgettable novel that captures the power of longing, loss, and love, The Time Keepers transports us from 1979 suburban New York to war-torn Vietnam, revealing that sometimes the most unexpected friendships can save us.
Two women from different worlds, Grace and Anh, are indelibly changed when a runaway boy is found on a street in their small Long Island town. Brought together by the love of this child displaced by war, the women find friendship and healing from their own painful pasts when their lives intersect with a mysterious wounded Vietnam vet. The vet, Jack, works at the Golden Hours, a watch store that mends timepieces—and might even mend damaged souls.
Richman interweaves the journeys of these wonderfully diverse characters who will grip, fill, and break your heart—only to bring them together with the care and precision of an expert watchmaker, one piece at a time. Inspired by the true story of a Vietnamese refugee who entrusted the dramatic account of her escape from Vietnam to the author, and also that of a wounded veteran, Richman sheds light on those whose lives were forever impacted by the devastation of that war.
Queen Bess: A Tudor Comes to Save America
Can a powerful, accomplished woman become US President? With the possibility now before us, the timing is right for Maria Vetrano’s debut novel QUEEN BESS: A Tudor Comes to Save America (Regalo Press/distributed by Simon & Schuster; October 15, 2024), a political fantasy that reimagines Elizabeth Tudor as a US presidential candidate in 2028. Intellectually engaging and enormously fun QUEEN BESS is the perfect book for anyone anyone who appreciates a smart, genre-blending story filled with relatable characters and sharp political insights.
Self-made billionaire Dakota Wynfred will stop at nothing to prevent the reelection of Robert Vlakas, the vile US president who wants to nationalize her cybersecurity company while he simultaneously sets fire to the Constitution. That includes finding a champion who can defeat him in the 2028 presidential election.
But it won’t be easy because Dakota’s champion of choice, Elizabeth Tudor, the queen who secured England’s shores, restored the treasury, and ushered in the Renaissance—all while thwarting multiple assassination attempts—happens to have been dead for over four centuries.
So, what if Elizabeth Tudor has never heard of electricity, Netflix, or Uber Eats? Dakota’s team of experts will try to convince Elizabeth to leap more than four hundred years into the future to embark on a quest to become the greatest woman ruler in history … again.
QUEEN BESS is also a time-travel story about strong friendships, female empowerment, and the enduring nature of motherless daughters, with witty dialogue and brilliant, quirky characters who join together for a common cause: to help a modern-day Elizabeth Tudor prepare for the presidency.
Eight Nights to Win Her Heart by Miri White
Bask in the warm glow of the menorah in this debut Jewish romantic comedy featuring a hard-of-hearing hero and a Chanukah meet-cute, perfect for fans of Rachel Lynn Solomon and Jean Meltzer.
Andie Williams is not looking forward to spending her first Chanukah alone after her father’s death. About to lose her job, with her only prospect across the country for another work opportunity, she could use some chutzpah to make it through the eight nights alone.
Leo Dentz has had a crush on the girl across the hall from his apartment for years but has never had the courage to say anything—until she drops her grocery bags and he notices her drug store Chanukah candles. Ready to take a chance outside of his comfort zone, Leo offers to join Andie on the first night, sharing his dinner with her.
As Andie and Leo fall for each other one night at a time, and the clock ticks down on Andie’s move, will this season of miracles light their way forward?
Sea of Doubt: Can You Ever Escape Your Secrets, Book 2 of The Roth Saga by P. L. Jonas
Author Interview with P. L. Jonas
Sea of Doubt, Book 2 of The Roth Saga, follows the Roth Family in the next stage of their lives.
1960, Hugh and Dee sell Rothmorton Hall, near Boston, and move to a small beach community outside San Francisco to start fresh. Hugh needs to prove himself with his new business but spends too much time at the office causing tension at home.
Ellen turns thirteen and unhappy she's uprooted from the only home she's ever known and worries she won't fit in at the public high school, make friends, or meet boys.
Dee is bored and desperate to find her place in the community and may put her trust in the wrong person... yet again.
When damaging rumors about Ellen and Dee spread through the school and community, the family's happiness and safety are at risk.
Join the Roth family as they face insurmountable doubt in their decisions and how the ties that hold a family together help them survive when buried secrets are revealed.
