Books Publishing This Week
Books Publishing This Week: September 17 - 23
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It's a beautiful, crisp September evening and you're cozied up in your favorite spot with a good book. As the sun sets, the sky turns various shades of orange, pink, and purple, casting a warm glow on your surroundings. The cool breeze outside rustles the leaves on the trees and you can hear the distant sound of crickets chirping.
You take a sip of your hot apple cider and curl up even closer with your book. The pages are worn and familiar, yet still hold the power to transport you to another world. As you read, you find yourself completely absorbed in the story. The characters come to life and you can feel their emotions, their struggles, and their triumphs.
The quiet of the evening allows you to fully immerse yourself in the book, to become lost in its pages. You forget about the stresses of the day and instead focus on the words in front of you. The hours seem to fly by as you continue to read, taking breaks only to stretch your legs or grab another mug of cider.
As the night grows darker, you realize you've finished the book, and for a moment, you feel a sense of loss as if the characters you've grown to love have disappeared. But then you remember that there are countless other books out there waiting to be read, and that thought brings a sense of excitement.
You put down the book, take a deep breath, and look out the window. The stars are twinkling in the sky, and you feel a sense of peace and contentment. This beautiful September evening has been the perfect escape, and you're grateful for the chance to snuggle up with a good book and let your imagination run wild.
What book will you pick up next? Scroll down to find out…
Murder on the Orient Express Graphic Novel by Agatha Christie
Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer. Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man's enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again.
Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison
Vesper Wright is in hell. The night she gets fired from her unglamorous restaurant job, she comes home to find an invitation waiting on her doorstep from her estranged family to the wedding of Vesper’s cousin and childhood best friend, Rosemary, the one person she regrets losing touch with. Something inside her is telling her she has to attend the wedding, even if it means suffering through a weekend in the Satanist community she defected from. When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a horrifying family secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s fanatical beliefs and her own unexpected identity.
All You Have To Do Is Call by Kerri Maher
A dramatic and inspiring novel based on the true story of the Jane Collective and the brave women who fought for our right to choose, from the USA Today bestselling author of The Paris Bookseller.
Chicago, early 1970s: Who does a woman call when she needs help? Jane.
The best-known secret in the city, Jane is an underground women’s health organization composed entirely of women helping women, empowering them to live lives free from the expectations of society by offering reproductive counseling and safe, illegal abortions. Veronica, Jane’s founder, prides herself on the services she has provided to thousands of women, yet the price of others’ freedom is that she leads a double life. When she’s not at Jane, Veronica plays the role of a conventional housewife—which becomes even more difficult during her own high-risk pregnancy.
Two more women in Veronica’s neighborhood are grappling with similar disconnects. Margaret, a young professor at the University of Chicago, secretly volunteers at Jane as she falls in love with a man whose attitude toward his ex-wife increasingly disturbs her. Patty, who’s long been content as a devoted wife and mother, has begun to sense that something essential is missing from her life. When her runaway younger sister Eliza shows up unexpectedly, Patty is forced to come to terms with what it really means to love and support a sister.
In this historic moment when the personal was nothing if not political, when television, movies, and commercials told women they’d “come a long way, baby,” Veronica, Margaret, and Patty must make choices that will change the course of their lives forever.
Picture Perfect Autumn by Shelley Noble
A Manhattan photographer finds inspiration and new possibilities in a Gothic Rhode Island beach house in this uplifting fall-set read from New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble.
Dani Campbell is the latest darling of the Manhattan art scene. As a self-taught photographer, Dani is loving every minute of her sudden popularity, but has no idea how she got there, or a clue as to how to stay. On a shoot at an antiques barn, she discovers an envelope of old photos and sees in them what her photos are missing. Her search for their source leads Dani to a small Rhode Island town, a dilapidated American Gothic beach house—and Lawrence Sinclair.
Reclusive and bitter, the last thing eighty-year-old Lawrence wants to think about is photography—the thing that inadvertently led to his son’s death and tore his family apart. But Dani is determined and persuasive, and Lawrence can’t help but be intrigued by the girl with spiky hair who wants to learn from him, when almost everyone else just wants to relieve him of his substantial fortune.
Dani and Lawrence’s mentorship blossoms unexpectedly, but everything is put in jeopardy by the appearance of Lawrence’s estranged grandson, Peter. Peter is determined to spend some time reconnecting with his grandfather and to get rid of the supposed fortune hunter after Lawrence’s money. But Dani is not what he was expecting, and he soon discovers that they have more things in common than not.
Brought together by fortune, fate, and the ties that bind, all three embark on journeys of discovery and love.
Follow the Shadows by Rosemary Drisdelle
When sixteen-year-old Marise Leeson gets her hands on a crystal ball, she believes her knowledge of Wicca is about to expand. The magic, however, goes horribly wrong. In short order, she’s thrown into an alternate world, attacked by a dragon, and rescued by Javeer, a young male dragon in search of a friend.
Marise is desperate to get home alive. Instead of dabbling in scrying and spells, she must now use her Wicca skills to survive in Moerden—navigating rival dragon factions, riding Javeer without falling, and dodging unknown perils of an alien landscape. Through a series of adventures and mishaps, she learns that the dragons face slow extinction from a mysterious disease. Some see Marise as part of the cause. Some hope she’s a key to a cure.
Marise grows up fast as her focus switches from escape from Moerden to saving the dragons. She draws upon her powers, intuition, and some help from home as she and Javeer begin a quest to solve the puzzle of the stagger. If they survive, and if their trust and courage are strong, they may succeed. If they do not, the dragons of Moerden will cease to exist.
Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake
#1 New York Times bestselling author Kendare Blake is back with an epic duology starter that follows a young woman training to join a fabled order as she attempts to lead a hero to his critical first victory. A must-read for fans of Alexandra Bracken and Victoria Aveyard.
Aristene are an order of mythical female warriors. Though heroes might be immortalized in legends, it’s the Aristene who guide their paths to victory. They are the Heromakers.
Raised by the order after being orphaned, Reed grew up surrounded by her future sisters-in-arms and the incredible stories of their quests. She’s been counting the days until her initiation, and now one final test stands in her way: shepherding her first hero to glory on the battlefield. Succeed, and her place in the order is secured. Fail, and she’ll be cast out of the only home she’s ever known.
But Reed didn’t count on Hestion, her assigned hero, being both infuriating and intriguing. When their strategic alliance turns into something more, it forces Reed to question the cost of becoming an Aristene. As battle looms and fate hangs in the balance, Reed must make an impossible choice: her hero or her order.
Starter Villain by John Scalzi
After the success of his bestselling The Kaiju Preservation Society, John Scalzi returns with another unique sci-fi caper set in the strangest of all worlds….present-day Earth. STARTER VILLAIN (Tor Hardcover, eBook, On-sale: September 19, 2023) is a fast-paced, comedic adventure that asks the question: How does a super villain learn… to be a villain?
Inheriting your mysterious uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might imagine. Sure, there are the things you'd expect. The undersea volcano lairs. The minions. The plots to take over the world. The international networks of rivals who want you dead.
Much harder to get used to...are the sentient, language-using, computer-savvy cats.
And the fact that in the overall organization, they're management...
The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey
Two girls vanished. A woman buried alive. Between two crimes lie decades of secrets yet to be unearthed in a pulse-pounding novel by the Edgar Award–nominated author of Unspeakable Things.
Summer 1980: Despite the local superstition that the Bendy Man haunts the woods, three girls go into a Minnesota forest. Only one comes out, dead silent, her memory gone. The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation.
Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide―a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. They’re both desperate to catch a killer before he kills again. They have something else in common: each has ties to the original case in ways they’re reluctant to share.
As Van and Harry connect the crimes of the past and the present, Van struggles with memories of her own nightmarish childhood―and the fear that uncovering the truth of the Taken Ones will lead her down a path from which she, too, may never return.
Rumors of Her Death by J.M. Donellan
In this kaleidoscopic psychological thriller, a man haunted by his girlfriend's suicide dons a revolving door of identities in a futile attempt to outrun his past.
The most dangerous lies are the ones we tell ourselves
When the man calling himself Archie Leach begins spotting his dead lover at random locations around the city, he must finally stop running and face the truth—which may not be quite as he's remembered it all these years. An American living in Australia, Archie's had so many aliases that when he wakes up handcuffed to a hospital bed, he almost forgets which one he's supposed to use. With his delivery job derailed by a brief and inconvenient death, he's earned the wrath of his underworld boss, landing him an exorbitant repayment plan and the commandeering of his apartment for everything from corpse storage to Tuesday night yoga class.
While recovering from his injuries, Archie is roped into dog-sitting for his new neighbor, Nisha, and a reluctant friendship ensues. She introduces Archie to the strange world of the Orrery, a nine-story mecca of surreal hedonism whose ninth level promises to hold the answers they're both seeking. But Nisha has spun plenty of her own deceptions, as Archie realizes too late. At this rate, they may both end up dead without ever knowing who's been fooling whom.
Everybody Here Is Kin by BettyJoyce Nash
On Boneyard Island, Georgia,13-year-old Lucille is marooned when her mother goes AWOL with an old flame, leaving Lucille with her father’s ashes, two half-siblings she must care for, and Will, the misanthropic manager of the island’s only motel. The abandonment kills hope of Lucille’s promised snorkeling trip to the Florida Keys before ocean heat kills the coral and illusions she’s harbored about her mother’s sanity. Everybody Here Is Kin explores the lives of this sinking family, the island community, and fears of exposing wounds, old and new, when natural disaster forces them to trust, and depend on, each other and strangers.
These Things Happen by Micael Eon
In “These Things Happen,” Daniel Zimmer will do almost anything to end his pain, except for the one thing that might work: sobriety.
Growing up under the shadow of his tyrannical father in Brooklyn, Daniel struggles to find a sense of safety and belonging. Daniel and his brother Max find moments of solace in the rebellious rhythms of early punk and metal bands. But when faced with an unexpected family tragedy—for which Daniel feels responsible—Daniel finds escape in the numbing grip of alcohol, offering temporary relief from his pain and guilt. Carrying childhood trauma into adulthood, Daniel spirals deeper into the clutches of addiction. Just as he finds the strength to embrace sobriety, the ghosts of his past resurface, forcing him to confront his demons head-on.
Flashing through Daniel’s life, past and present, this nostalgic ode to Brooklyn is an unflinchingly honest account of the inevitable triumphs and downfalls of recovery. “These Things Happen” fearlessly examines generational abuse, the transformative power of confronting addiction, and the profound potential for redemption.
Key West Sketches by Carey Winfrey
An eclectic collection by writers who have lived, worked, and played in Key West, Florida.
Key West has long been America’s most vibrant writers' colony, tracing its writerly roots to Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Robert Frost, John Hersey, Richard Wilbur, James Merrill, and Elizabeth Bishop. More recently, Thomas McGuane, Robert Stone, Judy Blume, Robert Richardson, Ann Beattie, Philip Caputo, Alison Lurie, and Meg Cabot have added their luster to the island’s literary heritage. This collection includes a treasure trove of more than sixty essays, reminiscences, musings, and poems about Key West. It features the town’s best-known writers: Lurie, Blume, Caputo, Cabot, McGuane, Beattie, Shames, Lee Smith, Frank Deford, Phyllis Rose, Glenn Frankel, Joy Williams, Barbara Ehrenreich, Billy Collins, and on and on.
Sign Here by Claudia Lux
A darkly humorous, surprisingly poignant, and utterly gripping debut novel about a guy who works in Hell (literally) and is on the cusp of a big promotion if only he can get one more member of the wealthy Harrison family to sell their soul
Peyote Trip has a pretty good gig in the Deals Department on the Fifth Floor of Hell. Sure, none of the pens work, the coffee machine has been out of order for a century, and the only drink on offer is Jägermeister, but Pey has a plan—and all he needs is one last member of the Harrison family to sell their soul.
When the Harrisons retreat to the family lake house for the summer with their daughter Mickey’s precocious new friend, Ruth, in tow, the opportunity Pey has waited a millennium for might finally be in his grasp. And with the help of his charismatic coworker Calamity, he sets a plan in motion.
But things aren’t always as they seem, on Earth or in Hell. And as old secrets and new dangers scrape away at the Harrisons’ shiny surface, revealing the darkness beneath, everyone must face the consequences of their choices.
A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles
Bridgerton goes Gothic in this sweeping Regency romance by celebrated author KJ Charles.
Major Rufus d'Aumesty has unexpectedly become the Earl of Oxney, master of a remote Norman manor on the edge of the infamous Romney Marsh. There he's beset on all sides, his position contested both by his greedy uncle and by Luke Doomsday, son of a notorious smuggling clan.
The earl and the smuggler should be natural enemies, but cocksure, enragingly competent Luke is a trained secretary and expert schemer—exactly the sort of man Rufus needs by his side. Before long, Luke becomes an unexpected ally...and the lover Rufus had never hoped to find.
But Luke came to Stone Manor with an ulterior motive, one he's desperate to keep hidden even from the lord he can't resist. As the lies accumulate and family secrets threaten to destroy everything they hold dear, master and man find themselves forced to decide whose side they're really on…and what they're willing to do for love.
Paper Princess by Erin Watt
The TikTok sensation Paper Princess, the first in the #1 New York Times bestselling The Royals series, now in a new special edition with bonus material!
From strip clubs and truck stops to southern coast mansions and prep schools, one girl tries to stay true to herself.
These Royals will ruin you…
Ella Harper is a survivor—a pragmatic optimist. She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone.
Until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal boy is more magnetic than the last, but none as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from.
Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals.
He might be right.
Wealth. Excess. Deception. It’s like nothing Ella has ever experienced, and if she’s going to survive her time in the Royal palace, she’ll need to learn to issue her own Royal decrees.
The Alphabutt Book by Huggies
Babies come in all kinds of itty bitty, mushy, squishy shapes and sizes, which means their butts do too. From Avocado Butts to Zeppelin Butts and all the wiggly jiggly butts in between, celebrate the diverse range of baby bodies and butts out there!
Silly, sweet, and sometimes irreverent, The Alphabutt Book is all about inclusivity and fun—from top to bottom!
Sourcebooks has partnered with HUGGIES a portion of the proceeds of The Alphabutt Book go to the National Diaper Bank Network, a nonprofit working to end diaper need in the U.S. by providing diapers and other basic necessities to struggling families. Because every baby butt in the world deserves to feel safe and cozy.
Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter
Mega-bestselling British crime novelist Cara Hunter makes her big American debut with a wholly immersive thriller like none you've seen before: written as the teleplay of a true-crime documentary, it has the reader puzzling away, reviewing photos, maps, coroner's reports and other evidence as they read. The exciting multi-narrator audiobook features five actors telling the story from different perspectives. Can you tell who's lying?
