Books Coming Out in June
Book Roundup - Books Coming Out in June
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You Look Beautiful Tonight by L. R. Jones
A secret admirer’s devotion turns deadly in a twisting novel of psychological suspense.
Mia Anderson is an invisible woman. An unremarkable thirty-two-year-old Tennessee librarian, she’s accustomed to disappearing in a crowd, unseen and unheard. Then she receives an anonymous note: You look beautiful today.
It doesn’t stop there. The attentive stranger―a secret admirer named Adam―has plans for Mia. With each new text comes a suggestion for her hair, clothes, or attitude, and for the first time in memory, Mia feels noticed. Slowly, she develops a confidence in herself she’s never had. But Adam has a surprise coming…and Mia finally sees him for who he is and what he’s prepared to do for her. Even kill.
Fearing she could be implicated in the murder, Mia’s forced to turn to the stranger in the shadows watching her every move. Adam’s game of cat and mouse begins with Mia as the prey. In order to survive, she must also become the predator.
The Boy in the Rain by Stephanie Cowell
It is 1903 in the English countryside when Robbie, a shy young art student, meets the twenty-nine-year-old Anton who is running from memories of his brutal childhood and failed marriage. Within months, they begin a love affair that will never let them go. Robbie grows into an accomplished portraitist in the vivid London art world with the help of Anton's enchanting former wife, while Anton turns from his inherited wealth and connections to improve the conditions of the poor. But it is the Edwardian Era, and the law sentences homosexual men to prison with hard labor, following the tragic experience of Oscar Wilde. As Robbie and Anton's commitment to each other grows, the world about them turns to a more dangerous place.
Will to Wild by Shelby Stanger
Will to Wild is an instruction manual to adventure. Your guide: enthusiastic outdoorswoman Shelby Stanger. Shelby has been teaching folks how to leap into the unknown since she taught her first surf class over twenty years ago. Over the years, she watched many of her students quit their jobs, end dysfunctional relationships, and move across the country for a healthier work-life-balance—all after spending a bit of time in nature. Shelby marveled at the phenomenon. Being outside was changing the lives of her students, her peers, and herself. Shelby was so intrigued, she began to tell their stories, first as a writer and journalist, then as a podcast host for Wild Ideas Worth Living, REI Co-op Studio’s flagship podcast.
With her first book, Will to Wild, Shelby shares all she’s witnessed and learned in her years covering adventurers. It’s the book she wishes she’d had when she’d first felt the urge to leap from familiar to wild terrain. The one that takes you step-by-step from the first inkling of inspiration for your own wild idea through fear and self-doubt and on to the finish line.
In these pages, you will find stories with practical tips and tactics from world-famous rock climbers and ultra-runners, to longtime thru-hikers, surfers, desk jockeys who’ve figured out how to get off the clock, and even a suburban mom who started teaching women to scale frozen waterfalls in her mid-fifties. Along with Shelby’s stories, they will show you how to get unstuck, how to pay attention to “trail signs” that point you toward your adventure, how to face your fears, and what to do when everything goes haywire (which will likely happen, never fear!). With Shelby’s characteristic strength and vulnerability, Will to Wild encourages you to break out of your comfort zones, get out into nature, and bring their own wild ideas to life. Whether you’re already an adventure junkie or someone who’s never set up a tent, there’s something inside these pages for you.
Watching for Dragonflies: A Caregiver's Transformative Journey by Suzanne Marriott
In this deeply honest and inspiring memoir, Suzanne Marriott explores how caregiving for her husband throughout his 10-year journey with multiple sclerosis helped her gain a newfound awareness that would ultimately guide her (and their relationship) into a place of healing.
The Gullfather: Birdsy Seagull by Jeff Sikaitis and Jake Wheeler
A misfit mafia of seagulls try to stay the top birds in Shoretown despite their many blunders and bonehead decisions.
The Gullfather, Birdsy Seagull, rules the roost with a fistful of feathers. And with a little help, but not much, from his ragtag crew—the salty-mouthed Joey “One-Wing,” the handsome slacker Vinny, the glamorous and dangerous Birdabella, and Birdsy’s well-fed enforcer, Quack Quack.
They say they will stop at nothing to be the top crime birds on the boardwalk, but they pretty much stop at everything, snack time, nap time, or any other reason, much to Birdsy’s ire. Well, actually, Birdabella will stop at nothing, and that is a bit of a problem in the other direction.
In “A Seahawk Situation,” Birdsy and his crew are at war with the owners of the boardwalk eatery, Zen and Out, after they erect a wooden security seahawk to scare the gulls of Shoretown. Things escalate quickly after One-Wing battles Seymour the Wooden Seahawk and Vinny starts an indoor fireworks display. In retaliation, One-Wing gets birdnapped, and Vinny is almost made into curry, but just when Birdsy has nowhere left to turn, Birdabella, the wild card, enters. Will Birdsy remain "king of the boardwalk" or will the humans get the upper hand and start to encroach on the empire he and NonnaBird built?
The first book in this new series, The Gullfather is filled with absurdity, action, silliness and adventure—and characters young readers can’t get enough of. Central to the story, however, is the heart of an oddball family, all brought to life in a dynamic, arresting visual graphic novel format. The book will appeal to readers of Bad Guys, Last Kids On Earth and Dogman.
A Little Ray of Sunshine by Kristan Higgins
A kid walks into your bookstore and says to you, Guess what? I’m your son. The one you put up for adoption seventeen years ago. The one you never told anyone about. Surprise!
His name is Matthew Walker, and he’s come to spend the summer on the Cape with his parents. Why? Well, he wants to meet you before he heads off to college in the fall. Tiny detail—he didn’t tell his adoptive parents about his plan. And while you hoped this day would come someday, you’re so stunned, you actually faint. You’re overjoyed (and stunned) and worried (and stunned) and you’ve yearned to meet him, but you didn’t know it would be like this. Did you mention feeling stunned?
Even more gobsmacked is your family. The Smiths looked like (and thought they were) the perfect family in town. How could Harlow, the “boring sister” who runs the bookstore with her dotty old grandfather, have a secret baby? How did she keep this secret for so long?
More than the truth of that baby will come out over the summer ahead, a summer filled with emotion as more than one secret is revealed, long-lost hurts are discovered…and one slightly lost soul realizes the best of everything is yet to come.
Northranger by Rey Terciero
In this swoony and spooky teen summer romance graphic novel set on a Texas ranch, sixteen-year-old Cade Muñoz finds himself falling for the ranch owner’s mysterious and handsome son, only to discover that he may be harboring a dangerous secret.
Cade has always loved to escape into the world of a good horror movie. After all, horror movies are scary—but to Cade, a closeted queer Latino teen growing up in rural Texas—real life can be way scarier.
When Cade is sent to spend the summer working as a ranch hand to help earn extra money for his family, he is horrified. Cade hates everything about the ranch, from the early mornings to the mountains of horse poop he has to clean up. The only silver lining is the company of the two teens who live there—in particular, the ruggedly handsome and enigmatic Henry.
But as unexpected sparks begin to fly between Cade and Henry, things get…complicated. Henry is reluctant to share the details of his mother’s death, and Cade begins to wonder what else he might be hiding. Inspired by the gothic romance of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and perfect for fans of Heartstopper and Bloom comes a modern love story so romantic it’s scary.
Ciao for Now by Kate Bromley
When an American interning at a fashion house in Rome butts heads with her professor's surly son, sparks fly!
With her thirties rapidly approaching and a mountain of student debt looming over her, Violet Luciano’s dream of finishing design school and working in fashion has cost her everything. So when she lands an internship at an up-and-coming fashion brand in Rome, she brings her A game to Italy. With nothing left to lose, Violet plans to win the competition among the interns for the ultimate prize—a job at a New York label.
But when a coffee run goes wrong and Violet accidentally destroys a stranger’s laptop, all of the apology Americanos in the world won’t help her. Because it turns out that the man from the café is Matteo, her professor’s eternally grumpy son, who thinks she’s a clumsy American…and maybe a stalker. Their animosity (and undeniable chemistry) grows as together they’re forced to face a summer of chic parties, adventures through Rome and sharing a home…with the person they can’t stand the most.
The more time she spends with him, the more distracted she finds herself. With her chance to win the competition slipping out of her grasp, Violet has to decide whether to say ciao to Matteo—or ciao to her dreams.
Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison
Stella is in over her head. After purchasing a small-town Christmas tree farm, everything goes wrong. A pasture of dead trees. A hostile takeover of the Santa barn by a family of raccoons. Shipments that have mysteriously gone missing. There is nothing magical about this place.
When the opportunity to be win a content and be featured on an influencer’s platform arises, Stella knows the free advertising and cash prize can save her farm. There’s only one small problem. Stella lied on her application and said she was running the farm with her boyfriend. Boyfriend? Non-existent.
She can always ask her best friend Luka to pretend to be her boyfriend…the only problem is that she’s been harboring major feelings for him for 10 years. What can go wrong?
The Last Drop of Hemlock: A Mystery by Katharine Schellman
In The Last Drop of Hemlock, the dazzling follow up to Last Call at the Nightingale, even a dance can come with a price...
The rumor went through the Nightingale like a flood, quietly rising, whispers hovering on lips in pockets of silence.
Life as a working-class girl in Prohibition-era New York isn’t safe or easy. But Vivian Kelly has a new job at the Nightingale, an underground speakeasy where the jazz is hot and the employees look out for each other in a world that doesn’t care about them. Things are finally looking up for her and her sister Florence... until the night Vivian learns that her friend Bea's uncle, a bouncer at the Nightingale, has died.
His death is ruled a suicide, but Bea isn’t so convinced. She knew her uncle was keeping a secret: a payoff from a mob boss that was going to take him out of the tenements and into a better life. Now, the money is missing.
Though her better judgment tells her to stay out of it, Vivian agrees to help Bea find the truth about her uncle's death. But they uncover more than they expected when rumors surface of a mysterious letter writer, blackmailing Vivian's poorest neighbors for their most valuable possessions, threatening poison if they don't comply.
Death is always a heartbeat away in Jazz Age New York, where mob bosses rule the back alleys and cops take bootleggers’ hush money. But whoever is targeting Vivian’s poor and unprotected neighbors is playing a different game. With the Nightingale's dangerously lovely owner, Honor, worried for her employees' safety and Bea determined to discover who is responsible for her uncle's death, Vivian once again finds herself digging through a dead man's past in hopes of stopping a killer.
Searching for Steve by Joel Harris
In 1968, Joel Harris and his wife adopted a six-day-old baby they named Stephen. Despite his parents' later divorce, and his difficulty obtaining a college degree, Steve grew into a bright young man who became an innovative teacher, first teaching in troubled school systems, then in Nicaragua, where he drowned at thirty-one while trying to save a friend's dog. After Steve's death, Joel went in search of his son's birth parents, determined to learn more about him, but had limited success. The more fruitful search he made was through Steve's diaries and teaching journals, which bring him to life on the page. The result is a moving portrait of both Stephen and Joel, and of the bonds parents and children make, told in language that mirrors their loving, heartbreaking relationship.
Double Indemnity by Robert Whitlow
Someone stands to gain millions of dollars from a hunter’s accidental death . . . unless that death wasn’t an accident.
Matt and Elena Thompson present the picture of perfection. But their enviable life isn’t all it seems. Their marriage is on the rocks, and financial disaster looms. Then Matt is killed in a hunting accident, and the questions and accusations begin to mount.
Attorney Liz Acosta, newly arrived in the mountains of north Georgia after graduating from law school, plans to get some job experience on her resume before returning home to seek a position with a big-time firm. Intellectual pastor Connor Grantham isn’t sure that shepherding a rural congregation is what he ultimately wants to do with his life. Drawn to philosophy, theology, and nature, he’s beginning to feel more at home in north Georgia—especially after he meets the brilliant and energetic Liz.
While Liz and Connor spend more time with each other and discover just how compatible two people from wildly different backgrounds can be, they’re also being drawn into the shadowy world of Matt and Elena Thompson. As the couple’s marriage counselor, Connor finds himself in the middle of their explosive arguments. As Elena’s attorney, Liz is caught in the tailspin created by Matt’s death.
Together, Connor and Liz attempt to solve the mystery of what really happened to Matt. If his death is ruled an accident, then the double indemnity clause in his life insurance would go into effect, essentially doubling the payout. But as Liz sorts through the legal paperwork of who stands to gain an immense sum of money from Matt’s death, Connor is accused of the unthinkable with much more at stake than millions of dollars.
Contemporary Christian legal drama
Perfect for fans of John Grisham
Includes discussion questions for book clubs
The Antiquity Affair by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne
An archaeologist’s estranged daughters.
1907: The dawn of Egyptology is a time of imperialism and plunder, opulence and unrest, and Dr. Warren Ford, esteemed archaeologist, is the man of the hour. His daughters—intellectual Lila, on the eve of her debut as a Manhattan socialite, and nonconformist Tess, who dreams of following in his footsteps—have always lived in his shadow, and their lives couldn’t feel more different. But when a secretive organization seeks to find a lost relic legendary for its dangerous power, it isn’t Dr. Ford they turn to—it’s his two remarkable daughters.
A legendary artifact known as the Serpent’s Crown.
Rumored to reside in the mysterious Tomb of the Five Ladies, the Serpent’s Crown will only be found by solving a seemingly impossible riddle that will open the tomb—and the organization believes that one of the Ford daughters holds the key to deciphering the code. What was supposed to be an elegant debutante ball for elder sister Lila quickly turns sinister when Tess is kidnapped and put on a ship across the Atlantic. When Lila and her father realize that Tess’s life is in danger, they must act quickly to track her down and stop the Serpent’s Crown from falling into the wrong hands.
A puzzle three millennia in the making.
A race for the Crown begins, with Lila and her father in hot pursuit of the organization and Tess. With lives at stake, the fractured family must keep their wits about them, find the artifact, and escape the ruthless men who are also determined to possess the Crown and use it to their own advantage—no matter the cost.
An exciting turn of the century adventure
Perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn, Laurie King, Clive Cussler, and Indiana Jones
Includes discussion questions for book clubs
The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy: A Family Memoir of Scandal and Greed in the Meat Industry by Gretchen Cherington
Three powerful men converge on the banks of the Red Cedar River in the early 1900s in southern Minnesota—George Albert Hormel, founder of what will become the $10 billion food conglomerate Hormel Foods; Alpha LaRue Eberhart, the author’s paternal grandfather and Hormel’s Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary; and Ransome Josiah Thomson, Hormel’s comptroller. Over ten years, Thomson will embezzle $1.2 million from the company’s coffers, nearly bringing the company to its knees.
The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy opens in 1922 as George Hormel calls Eberhart into his office and demands his resignation. Hailed as the true leader of the company he’d helped Hormel build—is Eberhart complicit in the embezzlement? Far worse than losing his job and the great wealth he’d rightfully accumulated is that his beloved young wife, Lena, is dying while their three children grieve alongside. Of course, his story doesn’t end there.
In scale both intimate and grand, Cherington deftly weaves the histories of Hormel, Eberhart, and Thomson within the sweeping landscape of our country’s early industries, along with keen observations about business leaders gleaned from her thirty-five-year career advising top company executives. The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy equally chronicles Cherington’s journey from blind faith in family lore to a nuanced consideration of the three men’s great strengths and flaws—and a multilayered, thoughtful exploration of the ways we all must contend with the mythology of powerful men, our reverence for heroes, and the legacy of a complicated past.
The Twenty: One Woman’s Trek Across Corsica on the GR20 Trail by Marianne Bohr
Marianne Bohr and her husband, about to turn sixty, are restless for adventure. They decide on an extended, desolate trek across the French island of Corsica, the GR20, Europe’s toughest long-distance footpath to challenge what it means to grow old. Part travelogue, part buddy story, part memoir The Twenty is a journey across a rugged island of stunning beauty little known outside Europe.
From a chubby, non-athletic child, Bohr grew into a fit, athletic person with an “I’ll show them” attitude. But hiking The Twenty forces her to transform a lifetime of hard-won achievements into acceptance of her body and its limitations. The difficult journey across a remote island provides the crucible for exploring what it means to be an aging woman in a youth-focused culture, a physically fit person whose limitations are getting the best of her, and the partner of a husband who is growing old with her. More than a hiking tale, The Twenty is a moving story infused with humor about hiking, aging, accepting life’s finite journey, and the intimacy of a long-term marriage against the breathtaking beauty of Corsica’s rugged countryside.
The Byways by Mary Pascual
High school student CeeCee Harper has special needs, a temper, and a reputation for trouble. Angry at the rumors and afraid she’ll never fit in, she makes a wrong move—and lands in the byways, a world of alleys, magic, and forgotten people . . . some that aren’t even human. And if she doesn’t escape quickly, CeeCee learns, she’ll be trapped for good.
Searching for a way out, she gets lost among monsters, drug pushers, the homeless, and political upheaval, and soon finds there are those who will stop at nothing to keep her from leaving. But the byways pull people in for a reason. CeeCee must figure out why she got stuck in the first place—before her loved ones are put in danger and she loses them forever.
A dark retelling of Alice in Wonderland meets Neverwhere, this contemporary fantasy will enchant Neil Gaiman and Christina Henry fans.
The Garden of Second Chances by Mona Alvarado Frazier
Juana, a seventeen-year-old mother, is sentenced to prison for murdering her husband. She claims she’s innocent—but no one believes her, including the prison staff and a gang leader in her block who torments her. Undocumented and far from home and the people who love her, Juana has never felt more alone—or frightened. The threats she faces within prison are bad enough, but they pale in comparison to the threat coming from without: her husband’s family, bereaved and outraged at her alleged crime, is determined to take her baby from her forever.
Hemmed in on all sides, Juana is desperate to stay out of trouble and somehow find her way back to her daughter. Searching for answers, she lands in an unlikely place: a patch of ground in the prison yard that she decides to turn into a garden. Digging in the soil and nurturing plants gives her respite from the harassment she suffers in her block—and surfaces memories of her long-deceased mother.
Courageous and iron-willed, Juana's mamá would never, ever have given in or given up if she'd ended up in similar circumstances. Bolstered by this realization, Juana becomes determined to honor her mother's legacy by proving her innocence and getting her daughter back. She can do it—she knows it. She just has to figure out how.
Retribution by Robert McCaw
As people around him come under attack, Chief Detective Koa Kane wonders if he might be the real target.
In the back alley of a bar on Hawaii Island, a young man is found stabbed to death. When Hilo Chief Detective Koa Kane begins investigating the crime, the murder weapon is recovered only a few feet away from the body. Crime scene technicians find fingerprints on the knife—they are a perfect match for Koa’s younger brother, Ikaika.
As the brothers scramble to prove Ikaika’s innocence, another crime sends shockwaves through the Hilo police force. A sniper tries to take out Makanui, Koa’s closest colleague. As Koa tries to figure out whether these crimes are linked, the sinister force continues their killing spree, threatening Koa and his loved ones at every turn.
Could Koa be the real target? If so, who is behind this trail of retribution? With his own secret criminal past, Koa confronts an all-out offensive against those closest to him and his police force to which he has devoted his life. As the bodies pile up, Koa finds himself the ultimate target of a ruthless adversary and must risk it all to survive.
Perfect for fans of Michael Connelly and James Lee Burke.
Everything's Fine by Cecilia Rabess
Jess and Josh are polar opposites—she’s Black, he’s white; she’s liberal, he’s conservative—whose mutual hatred transforms into mutual attraction and love in this hilarious, thought-provoking novel about whether love really can trump all.
When Jess Lands a job as an analyst at Goldman Sachs, she’s less than thrilled to learn she’ll be on the same team as Josh, her old sparring partner from college. Josh Loves playing the devil’s advocate and is just…the worst.
But when Jess finds herself the sole Black woman on the floor, overlooked and underestimated, it’s Josh who shows up for her in surprising—if imperfect ways. Before long, an unlikely friendship—one tinged with undeniable chemistry—forms between the two. A friendship that gradually, and then suddenly, turns into an electrifying romance that shocks them both.
Despite their differences, the force of their attraction propels the relationship forwards, and Jess realizes maybe it’s more important to be happy than right. But then it’s 2016, and the cultural and political landscape shifts underneath them. And Jess, who is just beginning to discover who she is and who she has the right to be, is forced to ask herself what she’s willing to compromise for love and whether, in fact, everything’s fine.
A stunning debut that introduces Cecilia Rabess as a blazing new talent, Everything’s Fine is a hilarious, poignant, heartfelt look at whether, in this day and age, love trumps all.
The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club by Julia Bryan Thomas
For readers of Martha Hall Kelly and Beatriz Williams, "a story of female freedom and constraints that doesn’t shy away from the trauma—and joy—that faced U.S. women in the 1950s." (Kirkus)
Literature has the power to speak to each of us uniquely — but also to draw us together.
Massachusetts, 1954. With bags packed alongside her heavy heart, Alice Campbell escaped halfway across the country and found herself in front of a derelict building tucked among the cobblestone streets of Cambridge. She turns it into the enchanting bookshop of her dreams, knowing firsthand the power of books to comfort the brokenhearted.
The Cambridge Bookshop soon becomes a haven for Tess, Caroline, Evie, and Merritt, who are all navigating the struggles of being newly independent college women in a world that seems to want to keep them in the kitchen. But when a member of the group finds herself shattered, everything they know about themselves will be called into question.
From the author of For Those Who Are Lost comes an extraordinary love letter to books and friendship, a story that is at once heart-wrenching, strengthening, and inspiring.
Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman
Billy Perkins is happy. And why wouldn’t he be? He loves his job as an independent music teacher and his apartment in Baltimore above a record shop called Charm City Rocks. Most of all, he loves his brainy teenage son, Caleb.
Margot Hammer, on the other hand, is far from happy. The former drummer of the once-famous band Burnt Flowers, she’s now a rock-and-roll recluse living alone in New York City. When a new music documentary puts Margot back in the spotlight, she realizes how much she misses her old band and the music that gave her life meaning.
Billy has always had a crush on Margot. But she’s a legitimate rock star—or, at least, she was—so he never thought he’d meet her. Until Caleb, worried that his easygoing dad might actually be lonely, cooks up a scheme to get Margot to perform at Charm City Rocks.
It’s the longest of long shots, but Margot’s label has made it clear that any publicity is an opportunity she can’t afford to miss. When their paths collide, Billy realizes that he maybe wasn’t as happy as he thought—and Margot learns that sometimes the sweetest music is a duet.
Starring Adele Astaire by Eliza Knight
USA Today bestselling author Eliza Knight returns as she delves into the life of Adele Astaire, who served up smiles and love both on and off the stage—with and without her also famous brother Fred Astaire— along with a determined young dancer with rags-to-riches dreams.
A spirited rising stage star…
Adele Astaire was a glittering, glamorous star, dancing with her brother, Fred, endearing herself to audiences from New York to London. But although she is toasted by royalty and beloved by countless fans, Adele Astaire has dreams of a loving husband and a houseful of children. And when she meets Lord Charles Cavendish, her wishes may just come true—but at what cost?
A determined young dancer …
Ever since Violet Wood could walk she’s wanted to dance on the London stage. Befriended by Adele, filled with ambition, she is more than willing to make the sacrifices it will take to becomes a star herself, and her rags-to-riches hopes are within reach. But the road to fame is never easy.
Two women with unquenchable spirit …
From the fast-paced world of roaring 20s New York to the horrors and sacrifice of wartime London, Adele's and Violet’s lives intertwine, and each must ask themselves is fame worth the price you must pay?
American Ending by Mary Kay Zuravleff
A woman growing up in a family of Russian immigrants in the 1910s seeks a thoroughly American life.
Yelena is the first American born to her Old Believer Russian Orthodox parents, who are building a life in a Pennsylvania Appalachian town. This town, in the first decades of the 20th century, is filled with Russian transplants and a new church with a dome. Here, boys quit grade school for the coal mines and girls are married off at fourteen. The young pair up, give birth to more babies than they can feed, and make shaky starts in their new world. However, Yelena craves a different path. Will she find her happy American ending or will a dreaded Russian ending be her fate?
In this immersive novel, Zuravleff weaves Russian fairy tales and fables into a family saga within the storied American landscape. The challenges facing immigrants—and the fragility of citizenship—are just as unsettling and surprising today as they were 100 years ago. American Ending is a poignant reminder that everything that is happening in America has already happened.
The Whale Who Refused to Poo by Daniel and Benjamin Kim
Baby Whale feels shy about pooping in the ocean. Surrounded by other fish and plankton, he never learned why he had to poop in front of everyone. He journeys to the bottom of the ocean for some privacy and meets a scholarly octopus who explains to him how important it is to poop; that it helps share important nutrients to the fish and plankton around him. With this new knowledge, Baby Whale is ready to go back to the surface and poop again.
The Evergreen Heir by A.K. Mulford
A standalone book in an interconnected series, The Evergreen Heir is helmed by a neurodivergent, non-binary heir who would rather be in the library than the throne room. Add an arranged marriage, a kingdom in peril, and a new dark power rising, and you’ll find a heart-touching tale with Mulford’s usual sweeping romance, captivating narrative, and action-packed adventure.
Reluctant to take the throne despite their mother’s faltering health, Neelo Emberspear craves escape from their impending marriage to charming fae warrior, Talhan Catullus. But their duty can be put off no longer when their mother, the drug-addled queen, disastrously lights the castle on fire. Fighting to save their mother’s life and keep her on the throne, Neelo is astonished when bonding over the written word brings them closer than ever to their cavalier, soon-to-be husband. But the heir’s growing affections may be cut short when witch uprisings threaten to topple the entire continent.
Can Neelo claim both love and dominion before their court is reduced to ash?
Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin
A delightful new contemporary romance by Uzma Jalaluddin, author of Ayesha at Last.
Nada Syed is stuck. On the cusp of thirty, she’s still living at home with her brothers and parents in the Golden Crescent neighborhood of Toronto, resolutely ignoring her mother’s unsubtle pleas to get married already. And while Nada has a good job as an engineer, it’s a far cry from realizing her dreams for her tech baby, Ask Apa, the app that launched with a whimper instead of a bang because of the double-crossing of he-who-must-not-be-named. Something needs to change, but the past is holding on to Nada too tightly to let her move forward.
One thing Nada is excited about is her friend Haleema’s recent engagement. Haleema insists they meet, and what better opportunity than at the massive Muslim conference in downtown Toronto run by her fiancé Zayn’s family? And did Haleema mention Zayn’s handsome brother, Baz? What Haleema doesn’t know is that Nada and Baz have crossed paths many times before—from when Nada bullied Baz when he was a scrawny kid to the times they met accidentally-on-purpose at the campus library.
At the conference, secrets from the past come hurtling at Nada, complicating everything even further and bringing a moment of reckoning. Can Nada truly say goodbye to what once was, or should she hold tight to her dreams?
Zänker by Peter Maeck
In his crime fiction debut, Peter Maeck brings readers a richly atmospheric, dark academia page-turner with Zänker (pronounced ZANK-er, meaning brawler in German)(On sale: June 13, 2023; Moonshine Cove Publishing; paperback; ISBN: 9781952439490; $19.00)
When revered Ivy League college president Dr. Amos Loeb is murdered, prime suspicion falls upon an alumnus who has raged against the president’s admission of women to this historically all-male institution. Loeb, as a survivor of Auschwitz, a renowned scholar and a heroic humanitarian seemed an unlikely candidate for assassination, but as his long-concealed personal misdeeds come to life, he is revealed to have been a far from perfect man, imperfect enough to suggest that several others in addition to the disgruntled alumnus could have very well wanted him dead.
The Loeb murder is baffling the local police when a journalist arrives in town to pursue his own investigation toward writing an account of the affair. This journalist, set on winning a Pulitzer, produces the book Zänker in which he is both a focal character and a narrator of events. As the former, he is less an objective reporter than an active player in the college community’s combustible social life, sparking interpersonal tensions before ultimately solving the case.
Zänker answers the question: What if Donna Tartt of The Secret History and Inspector Clouseau of The Pink Panther had co-written Truman Capote's In Cold Blood?
The Sweetheart List by Jill Shalvis
What makes life sweet?
Freshly baked bread
A cool lake on a hot summer day
The comfort of a cozy bookstore
Second chances and new beginnings
When Harper Shaw’s life falls apart, she knows it’s time for a change. She removes everything that doesn’t spark joy—from her soul-sucking job to eating kale to making lists—and sets off for the last place she was happy, Lake Tahoe (who wouldn’t feel good there, right?) to fulfill her dream of opening her own bakery.
With her Sugar Pine Bakery in between a tavern, owned by sexy, grumpy Bodie Campbell, and a bookstore, run by her new BFF, she feels a peace she’s never experienced since…well, forever.. Then she meets Ivy, a teenage runaway, who barrels into her heart. She sees a lot of herself in Ivy and takes her under her wing, but the teenager has secrets…
When those secrets explode, it changes Harper’s new world, and she’ll learn, it’s never too late to start over, it’s never too late to figure out your life, and best of all, it’s never too late to let yourself believe in love.
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain.
The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people-pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and arrogant older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And he’s the same Jack Smith who rules over the physics department at MIT, standing right between Elsie and her dream job.
Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?
You're Not a Real Parent Until... by Scott Dooley & Jason Chatfield
Whether it’s accepting dried vomit as a constant presence or helping them move into their first apartment, YOU'RE NOT A REAL PARENT UNTIL... joyfully delves into what makes parenting the most rewarding, frustrating, hilarious, gross, and wouldn’t-change-it-for-the-world experience. The cartoons span the parenting journey stages from babies to toddlers/kids to tweens/teens and concludes with adults, and is the perfect gift for any parent in need of a laugh.
Walking on Fire by Kathryn Crawley
Greece. Politics. Love. Danger. Reeling from a failed marriage and spurred on by a burgeoning sense of feminism, twenty-five-year-old Kate accepts a position as a speech therapist in a center for children with cerebral palsy in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is 1974, and the recent end of Greece’s seven-year dictatorship has ignited a fiery anti-American sentiment within the country. Despite this, as her Greek improves, Kate teaches communication to severely disabled children, creates profound friendships, and finds a home in the ancient and historied city. From a dramatic Christmas pig slaughter to a mesmerizing fire walking ceremony, her world expands rapidly—even more so when she falls in love with Thanasis, a handsome Communist.
Through Thanasis, Kate meets people determined to turn a spotlight on their former dictators’ massacre of university students, as well as their record of widespread censorship and torture of dissidents. The more she learns, the more her loyalty to her country and almost everything she was taught in her conservative home state of Texas is challenged. Kate is transformed by her odyssey, but when her very safety is threatened by the politics of her lover, she must choose: risk everything to stay with Thanasis and the Greece that has captured her heart, or remove herself from harm’s way by returning to her homeland?
The Long Way Back by Nicole Baart
When an Instagram-famous teenager mysteriously disappears, her mother grapples with the revelation of dark secrets in this twisty, atmospheric thriller—from the author of the “poignant, riveting” (Wendy Walker, author of Don’t Look for Me) Everything We Didn’t Say.
The Cherokee Rose by Tiya Miles
Three women uncover the secrets of a Georgia plantation that embodies the intertwined histories of Indigenous and enslaved Black communities—the fascinating debut novel, inspired by a true story, of the National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of All That She Carried, now featuring a new introduction.
When one of her regular readers takes issue with her weekly history column, Jinx Micco, a free-spirited Muscogee (Creek) tribal historian, can’t get the criticism out of her head. Soon she finds herself on the road from Oklahoma to the Hold House, a nineteenth-century plantation home in Georgia originally owned by the Cherokee Chief James Hold, to track down the long-forgotten mystery of what happened to a tribal member who stayed behind after the United States instituted a policy of Indian Removal.
There, she meets Ruth, visiting the plantation on a magazine assignment, and Cheyenne, a Southern Black debutante seeking to connect with her family's history by purchasing the whole estate. Hovering above them all is the spirit of the long-gone Mary Ann Battis, a young woman suspected of burning a mission to the ground and then disappearing from tribal records. As Jinx and Ruth are drawn closer together, they challenge Cheyenne to look more deeply at the home she has purchased, and when they discover a diary left on the property by a Moravian missionary that reveals the house’s dark history, the three women’s personal connections and resonances with the place grow deeper. Cheyenne is forced to reconsider whether she is the only rightful owner of the property, Jinx reexamines her assumptions about her tribe’s racial history after learning Mary Ann’s story, and the pain of the past leads Ruth to confront her own family’s traumas and then surprise herself by falling into a new romance.
Imbued with a deeply nuanced understanding of the intertwined histories of Indigenous and African Americans and an underappreciated aspect of Southern history, The Cherokee Rose brings the past beautifully to life as Jinx, Ruth, and Cheyenne discover truths and unravel mysteries with powerful consequences for them all.
She Rides: Chasing Dreams Across California and Mexico by Alenka Vrecek
At fifty-four, Alenka was running out of time to follow through on a dream she’d written down in her pocket-size Rumi book just after her first marriage crumbled. Years later, as she slowly rebuilt her life with her second husband, things started spiraling out of control. The only way she knew how to heal and connect all painful parts of her life was by riding her bike, and she didn’t want to have regrets. But was she brave enough to embark on an unknown path and risk losing everything . . . perhaps even her own life?
Determined to awaken her dying spirit and heal her battered body, Alenka loaded her mountain bike with 50 pounds’ worth of camping gear and set off on a 2,500-mile journey. Starting in Lake Tahoe California, she hoped to ride along the Sierra Nevada Mountain range to the tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, following remote mountain trails. Alone.
What followed was an irrevocably transformational journey of love, hope, courage, and resilience—and here, Alenka tells that story in a voice stripped of self-pity and infused with a good dose of humor. She Rides is a galvanizing wake-up call for anyone who wants to unearth and follow their own deeply buried dreams—and reclaim their life.
The Favor by Adele Griffin
When socialite Evelyn Elliot charges into Nora's life, the women spark an immediate connection, and Nora is jettisoned into the heady whirl of New York's moneyed elite. As Evelyn's stylist and confidante, Nora needs to learn all new rules of engagement for the uber-wealthy. But it isn't until Evelyn decides her next cause is to carry a baby for Nora, that these rules― and this unlikely friendship―are tested.
The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh
She’s out to prove that there’s no such thing as choosing happiness.
Inside Threat by Matthew Quirk
An electrifying thriller from the author of The Night Agent now on Netflix, an attack on the White House sends the President and his top aides to take shelter in a top secret government facility buried deep underground—but they soon discover the threat is locked inside with them.
Assume the worst. Code Black.
The day that every secret service agent trains for has arrived. The White House has been breached; the President forced to flee to a massive doomsday bunker outside DC to defend against whatever comes next. Only the most trusted agents and officials are allowed in with him—those dedicated to keeping the government intact at all costs.
Among these is Erik Hill, who has given his life to the Secret Service. They are his purpose and his family, and his impressive record has made him a hero among them. Despite his growing disillusionment from seeing Washington corruption up close, Erik can’t ignore years of instincts honed on the job. The government is under attack, and no one is better equipped to face down the threat than he is.
The evidence leads him to a conspiracy at the highest levels of power, with the attack orchestrated by some of the very individuals now locked in with him. As the killers strike inside the bunker, it will take everything Erik Hill has to save his people, himself, and his country.
What Remains by Wendy Walker
She saved his life. Now he‘ll never let her go.
Detective Elise Sutton is drawn to cold cases. Each crime is a puzzle to solve, pulled from the past. Elise looks for cracks in the surface and has become an expert on how murderers slip up and give themselves away. She has dedicated her life to creating a sense of order, at work with her ex-marine partner; at home with her husband and two young daughters; and within, battling her own demons. Elise has everything under control, until one afternoon, when she walks into a department store and is forced to make a terrible choice: to save one life, she will have to take another.
Elise is hailed as a hero, but she doesn’t feel like one. Steeped in guilt, and on a leave of absence from work, she’s numb, even to her husband and daughters, until she connects with Wade Austin, the tall man whose life she saved. But Elise soon realizes that he isn’t who he says he is. In fact, Wade Austin isn’t even his real name. The tall man is a ghost, one who will set off a terrifying game of cat and mouse, threatening Elise and the people she loves most.
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie
Peace Adzo Medie, author of Reese’s Book Club pick His Only Wife, returns with a moving novel about the unbreakable power of female friendship.
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When Selasi and Akorfa were young girls in Ghana, they were more than just cousins; they were inseparable. Selasi was exuberant and funny, Akorfa quiet and studious. They would do anything for each other, imploring their parents to let them be together, sharing their secrets and desires and private jokes.
Then Selasi begins to change, becoming hostile and quiet; her grades suffer and she builds a space around herself, shutting Akorfa out. Meanwhile, Akorfa is accepted to an American university with the goal of becoming a doctor. Although hopeful that she can create a fuller life as a woman in America, she discovers the insidious ways that racism places obstacles in her path once she leaves Ghana. It takes a crisis to bring the friends back together, with Selasi’s secret revealed and Akorfa forced to reckon with her role in their estrangement.
A riveting depiction of class and family in Ghana, a compelling exploration of memory, and an eye-opening story of life as an African-born woman in the United States, Nightbloom is above all a gripping and beautifully written novel attesting to the strength of female bonds in the face of societies that would prefer to silence women.
Scent of a Garden by Namrata Patel
A perfumer in Paris is forced to return to her California roots in an exhilarating novel about family, self-discovery, and taking risks by the author of The Candid Life of Meena Dave.
The daughter of proud Napa Valley hoteliers, Asha “Poppy” Patel chose a different line as a Paris perfumer, gifted with a nose for fragrances and business. Until her heightened sense of smell disappears. Her career in jeopardy, her world now muted, Poppy returns home. Maybe tending to her grandmother’s massive aromatic garden, where Poppy’s gift first flowered, will bring restorative hope.
But when she arrives, Poppy discovers that the land upon which the beautiful garden once thrived has been uprooted and destroyed. She realizes that the years she spent away from her home have loosened so many ties with the past. Torn between a mother who lives vicariously through her and a father who wants her to embrace her family’s legacy, Poppy is determined to chart her own path of rediscovery.
Poppy must juggle family drama, childhood friendships, and a former love to forge a future of her own choosing and, in time, heal an unscented life.
The Belonger by Mary Kathleen Mehuron
Caribbean-island innkeeper Holly Walker is hunkering down against a monster hurricane. Unfortunately, so is player Lord Anthony Bascombe, a man who excuses his bad behavior by saying he is descended from pirates. Then her grown son, Byron, and his father, Montez--the man she's never stopped wanting--go missing. Will she ever see them again? What about the many others hurt and dying? And will help ever arrive? With each passing day, Holly's tumultuous past and the epic storm send her hurtling toward a shattering climax that will change the island--and Holly's life--forever.
Remember Me by Mary Balogh
Can Lady Philippa Ware forgive the man who once shattered all her youthful dreams? Discover the passionate and heartwarming new novel on the redemptive power of love from New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh.
Philippa, elder daughter of the Earl of Stratton, grew up eagerly anticipating a glittering debut and a brilliant marriage. Then her brother caught their father out in a clandestine affair and denounced him publicly. The whole family was disgraced, and Philippa’s hopes grew dim, then were fully shattered when she overheard the dashing, handsome Marquess of Roath viciously insult her upon learning of her father’s identity. Only years later does Philippa find the courage to go to London at last to meet the ton. She is an instant success and enjoys a close friendship with the granddaughter of a duke. Only one man can spoil everything for her, but surely he will not be in London this year.
The Duke of Wilby is nearing death and has tasked his grandson and heir, Lucas Arden, Marquess of Roath, with marrying and producing a son before it is too late. Lucas, who usually shuns London, goes there early in the Season in the hope of finding an eligible bride before his grandparents come and find one for him. He is instantly attracted to his sister’s new friend, until that young lady asks a simple question: “Remember me?” And suddenly he does remember her, as well as the reason why the daughter of the Earl of Stratton is the one woman he can never marry—even if his heart tells him she is the only woman he wants.
Unfortunately for Philippa and Lucas, the autocratic duke and his duchess have other ideas and believe them to be perfect for each other. They will simply not take no for an answer. Telling Philippa the full truth is the hardest thing Lucas has ever faced, and the discovery of it will change them both before they discover the healing power of love.
How to Babysit Your Grown-Up: Activities to Do Together by JaNay Brown-Wood
Ready to keep your grownup busy? AND to have lots of fun? Build a kite, make a mosaic, and more in this fun-filled book, loaded with countless creative ideas, from the New York Times bestselling creators of How to Babysit a Grandpa!
It's time to have some fun with your grownup! All you need are basic materials and some imagination. Get ready to see a plant drink, make ice cream in a bag, teach your mom yoga, and more in this fun-filled activity book!
Enjoy family fun with science, crafts, nature and more as the kids can lead a hands-on learning experience. Share this book with grown ups, loved ones, and anyone who wants to get creative!
Piece of Cake by Marry Hollis Huddleston and Asher Fogle Paul
Piece of Cake follows Claire Sommers, an ex-society girl-turned-southern magazine staffer who is determined to save her ailing magazine with a reality show-style docuseries featuring the South’s most outlandish and over-the-top weddings (cue the glitzy rhinestones and cowboy boots!) However, when she’s forcibly teamed up with social media star Dominic Gravino, personalities clash and sparks fly—begging the question…will Claire be able to put the past behind her and focus on the future?
Play For Me by Libby Hubscher
Sophie Doyle has her dream job as the head athletic trainer for her favorite baseball team (go Red Sox!), a handsome boyfriend, and easy access to the finest cannoli in Boston. When she loses all three and the World Series to boot, she’s forced to apply for the open trainer position at an arts-focused boarding school in New Hampshire. The only available room is a glorified closet in an apartment with three guys: Jonas Voss, the aloof and attractive orchestra teacher, and his two rambunctious roommates.
Sophie knows that training a bunch of privileged high school kids whose idea of a play is A Chorus Line instead of a walk-off homer is going to be a big change from the pro athletes she’s used to. She wasn’t expecting that these students would have big-time talent and even bigger-time problems. Sophie has troubles of her own—Jonas is a full-fledged grump who clearly doesn’t want her near him or the precious piano he never plays.
With sunny optimism, Sophie sets out to win over Jonas and help the kids she’s growing attached to. But when her relationship with Jonas moves to the major leagues and plans change at the end of the season, they have to choose whether they are playing for keeps.
A Fatal Illusion by Anna Lee Huber
New parents Lady Kiera Darby and Sebastian Gage look forward to introducing Sebastian’s father to his granddaughter, but instead find themselves investigating an attempt on his life...
Yorkshire, England. August 1832. Relations between Sebastian Gage and his father have never been easy, especially since the discovery that Lord Gage has been concealing the existence of an illegitimate son. But when Lord Gage is nearly fatally attacked on a journey to Scotland, Sebastian and Kiera race to his side. Given the tumult over the recent passage of the Reform Bill and the Anatomy Act, in which Lord Gage played a part, Sebastian wonders if the attack could be politically motivated.
But something suspicious is afoot in the sleepy village where Lord Gage is being cared for. The townspeople treat Sebastian and Kiera with hostility when it becomes clear they intend to investigate, and rumors of mysterious disappearances and highway robberies plague the area. Lord Gage’s survival is far from assured, and Sebastian and Kiera must scramble to make the pieces fit before a second attempt at murder is more successful than the first.
Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace by Tracey D. Buchanan
It’s 1952 in the small western Kentucky town of Paducah and Mrs. Minerva Place would prefer everyone mind his own business, follow the rules, and if dead, stay dead. Nosy neighbors and irritating church members are bad enough but when residents of the local cemetery start showing up, the quirky widow wonders if she’s going crazy. Just as distressing, a new boy in the neighborhood seems intent on disrupting her life. Minerva, aggravated by the precocious six-year-old, holds him and his father at arm’s length. Nevertheless, with charming perseverance they find a way into her closed-off life and an unlikely friendship begins. But just when Minerva starts to let her guard down, a tragic accident shatters her emerging reconnection with life. Now more than her sanity is at stake. With the help of the living and the dead, Minerva discovers the power of forgiveness and why it’s worth it to let others into your life, even when it hurts.
Malibu Burning by Lee Goldberg
Danny Cole and his fellow convicts have volunteered as firefighters, risking their lives
for the State of California in the hopes for a professional firefighting job when they are
released. When one of Danny’s friends dies while trying to put out a fire in a Malibu
mansion, the family is not compensated for their loss. To add insult to injury, Danny
and his friends do not get their promised jobs once they are released. Danny and his
crew plan revenge against the state and rich homeowners, but they’ll steal only enough
to take care of their dead friend’s family and to finance their own dreams. When a series
of fires are set off through Malibu, arson investigator Walter Sharpe knows they are not
accidental. And when Danny and Sharpe meet face-to-face in a canyon of flames, it’s
quite possible that neither will come out alive.
Night's Edge by Liz Kerin
Liz Kerin's Night's Edge is a sun-drenched novel about the darkest secrets we hide and how monstrous we can be to the ones we love most.
Having a mom like Izzy meant Mia had to grow up fast. No extracurriculars, no inviting friends over, and definitely no dating. The most important rule: Tell no one of Izzy’s hunger – the kind only blood can satisfy.
But Mia is tired of being her mother’s keeper. She’s in her twenties now and longs for a life of her own. One where she doesn’t have to worry about anyone discovering their terrible secret, or breathing down her neck. When Mia meets rebellious musician Jade she dares to hope she’s found a way to leave her home – and her mom – behind.
It just might be Mia’s only chance of getting out alive.
How to Be Remembered by Michael Thompson
In How to Be Remembered, The Midnight Library meets The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, combining a heartfelt coming-of-age tale, the blossoming of unconditional love, and a poignant speculative touch to create a story that will resonate with readers for years to come.
The Reset: it’s the phenomenon that has kept Tommy Llewellyn from having a real life. You see, every year on Tommy’s birthday, his existence is erased. His life becomes a blank slate. Everyone he met that year simply forgets he ever existed.
So…Tommy grows up. He builds a new life each year. He never lets himself imagine a future where he can make a lasting impact, live a life worth remembering, or even win over Carey, the girl of his dreams.
Until he realizes there may be a way to trick The Reset and control his destiny.
The Ghosts of Trappist by K.B. Wagers
NeoG—the Near-Earth Orbital Guard, a diverse military force that patrols and protects the solar system, inspired by the real-life mission of the Coast Guard—and the crew of Zuma’s Ghost are under attack, and shocking truths are about to be exposed.
What the black takes should stay in the black.
Ensign Nell “Sapphi” Zika has been working hard to get past her trauma, but the unnerving pleas for help she’s hearing in the Verge and the song she can’t get out of her head are making that increasingly difficult. As Zuma’s Ghost gears up for a final run at the Boarding Games, their expert hacker is feeling anything but confident. Plus, her chief’s robot dog, Doge, is acting weird—a computer problem she can’t find an answer to—and the increasing number of missing freighters is putting everyone living on or stationed around Trappist on edge.
It doesn’t help the NeoG’s mission that Dread Treasure is sidelined from competing in the Boarding Games, and Commander D’Arcy Montaglione is stuck on the front lines of the mystery of the missing ships while also stuck in his own head. Never good at trusting people to begin with, he’s struggling to piece together his new crew in the aftermath of a great betrayal, knowing this may be his final chance at command. The last thing he wants to do is prove his enemies right and end up getting shoved behind a desk and forgotten. The easy answer to missing ships is pirates, but D’Arcy soon realizes the easiest answer is rarely the right one out in the vacuum of space. What’s worse is that the actual pirates are scared of something out beyond the asteroid belt. Something that’s been taking their ships too…
As the unknowns multiply and one of their mysterious enemies escalates by launching an attack on the NeoG itself, the Interceptor crews must brave both cyber and outer space to hunt down their foes, but no one is prepared for the truth that is revealed or the way it will shake the foundations of everything they believe about the universe.
Try Not To Breathe by David Bell
An ex-cop sets out to find her missing sister and discovers the horrifying truth about her family...
A traumatic experience in the line of duty forces thirty-year-old Avery Rogers to abandon both her relationship and her position as a Kentucky State Police officer. She retreats to a college town where she works an unfulfilling job as a security guard, breaking up fights between drunken frat boys.
But a frantic phone call turns Avery’s life upside down. Her father—a retired cop who never fails to convey his disappointment in Avery—says her half sister is missing and in danger. Avery is sure Anna’s just crashing with friends, but her father strong-arms her into searching for the sister she barely knows.
Anna Rogers is fed up with her family—a half sister who resents her existence and a domineering father who thinks it’s okay for cops to shoot unarmed civilians. She hits the road to attend a protest against police brutality, unaware of the danger that awaits her there.
Just after catching a glimpse of Avery at the protest, Anna receives a shocking text. Now she’s no longer road-tripping; she’s running, pursued by an older sister she doesn’t trust and a violent stranger who has been stalking her for weeks.
When Avery discovers Anna’s hiding place near a remote cave system, she risks everything to save her. Little do the sisters know that the past is catching up with them—including the explosive secret at the very heart of the Rogers family.
Open for Interpretation by Alicia Blando
Dr. Alicia Blando learned during the early days of the HIV epidemic that American medical practices fail to holistically support patients. Seeing a gap in medical care, Dr. Blando started seeking advice from unconventional counselors, such as psychics and mediums, as well as learning from indigenous healers. “Open for Interpretation: A Doctor’s Journey into Astrology” (She Writes Press, June 27th 2023) follows Dr. Blando’s self-discovery journey through her astrological chart and demonstrates how readers can apply this ancient practice to their own path to self discovery.
In conjunction with Western medicine, Dr. Blando believes that the tenets of astrology can support a person’s health, wellbeing, and self-understanding, and can even offer insight into predispositions for certain diseases and illnesses. Dr. Blando takes readers on her pursuit of life’s age-old question, “Am I walking the right path?” She travels from Manhattan to the Peruvian Amazon, Belize, and Bolivia, and learns about time-proven, holistic methods of healing. In her stunning memoir, she shares her story of finally finding the guide she’s been seeking—and explains how we can all use that map to access our higher selves and untapped potential.
In “Open for Interpretation”, Dr. Blando’s expedition off the beaten path leads her to true self-exploration and connection with the world around her, as well as a desire to share her knowledge and experience.
Manslaughter Park by Tirzah Price
Mansfield Park is the center of a deadly accident (or is it?) in the third book of Tirzah Price's Jane Austen Murder Mystery series. Perfect for fans of the Lady Janies and Stalking Jack the Ripper.
Aspiring artist Fanny Price is an unwelcome guest at her uncle Sir Thomas Bertram’s estate. It’s his affection for Fanny that’s keeping her from being forced out by her cousins Tom and Maria and nasty Aunt Norris, back to a home to which she never wants to return. But then Sir Thomas dies in a tragic accident inside his art emporium, and Fanny finds evidence of foul play that, if revealed, could further jeopardize her already precarious position.
Edmund, her best friend and secret crush, urges Fanny to keep quiet about her discovery, but Fanny can’t ignore the truth: a murderer is among them.
Determined to find the killer, Fanny’s pursuit for justice has her wading into the Bertram family business, uncovering blackmail, and brushing with London’s high society when Henry and Mary Crawford arrive at Mansfield Park with an audacious business proposal. But a surprising twist of fate—and the help of local legends Lizzie Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy—brings Fanny more complications than she ever expected and a life- altering realization she never saw coming.
Lay Your Body Down by Amy Suiter Clarke
A young woman returns to her rural Minnesota hometown, where a radical evangelical pastor has poisoned everyone’s minds—and may be covering up a murder.
After Del Walker fled her small hometown and its cult-like church, she vowed to never return. The man she loved, Lars, left her to marry the local golden girl Eve, and their romance is now the focus of Eve’s viral blog espousing the pastor’s conservative philosophy about women and marriage. But six years later, Lars is suddenly killed, and she’s convinced it couldn’t have been an accident.
When Del returns to her hometown for the funeral, she discovers the now mega-church—and the insidious, patriarchal teachings of Pastor Rick Franklin—has grown not only in size but in influence. Eve was clearly discontent in her marriage, despite the carefully constructed “Noble Wife” positivity of her blog posts, and Del knows better than anyone just how far she will go to get what she wants. Del is determined to cut through the church’s lies and corruption to find out who killed Lars—even if it means confronting the religious trauma she’s spent years trying to bury.
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.
Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.
So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.
And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.
Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.
Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.
After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.
Will They Or Won't They by Ava Wilder
Onscreen, they’re in love. Offscreen, they can’t stand each other. Two costars with a complex history reunite in this tension-filled romance novel from the author of How to Fake It in Hollywood.
“Readers will be on the edge of their seats waiting for Lilah and Shane to just kiss already. Ava Wilder is a master of anticipation and satisfaction.”—Elissa Sussman, nationally bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask
Lilah Hunter and Shane McCarthy are madly in love—at least, their characters are. As the stars of the hit paranormal TV show Intangible, Lilah and Shane spent years pining for each other onscreen . . . until Lilah ditched the show at the end of season five in hopes of becoming a movie star. With no such luck, she’s back to film the much-hyped ninth and final season, in which Lilah and Shane’s characters will get together at last.
But coming back means facing one of the biggest reasons she left: Shane. Ever since their secret behind-the-scenes fling imploded at the end of season one, the two of them have despised each other.
Now reunited on set for the first time in years—with the world’s eyes on them and their post-show careers on the line—they’ll have to grit their teeth and play nice. But under pressure to give Intangible’s fans the happy ending they’ve been waiting for, Lilah and Shane are forced to get closer than ever. And if they’re not careful, they might just get blindsided by one final twist: a real-life happy ending of their own.
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The Wife App by Carolyn Mackler
Three best friends decide they’re finally done with their ex-husbands taking their work as wives and moms for granted. They’re ready to monetize the mental load, stick it to their exes, and have a wild ride in the process.
Lauren, mother of twins, wakes up one morning to her Wife Alarm Bells sounding. She sleuths on her husband’s phone and stumbles on a dirty secret that explodes her marriage. Madeline has it all—a penthouse apartment, a perfect daughter, and no-strings-attached romps with handsome men. When she learns that she might lose her child to her ex in England, it stirs up a decades-old personal tragedy. Sophie, with too much FOMO and never enough money, obsesses over her ex-husband’s Family 2.0—all while keeping her true desires hidden, even from herself.
It starts as a joke during a tipsy night out, as Lauren, Madeline, and Sophie rail against everything wives do for free. Let’s build an app that monetizes the mental load. And maybe get revenge on our exes in the process? Soon, the Wife App is born, and before long, it’s the fastest growing start-up in New York City. But then life intervenes. Love intervenes. Ex-husbands intervene. And the consequences are bigger than anything Lauren, Madeline, or Sophie could have expected. Carolyn Mackler marks her debut into adult fiction with a hilarious rollercoaster ride of revenge and redemption that is at once a send-up of modern marriage and a celebration of female friendship and love in all forms.
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue
Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.
When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor, The Rachel Incident is a triumph.
Maribelle's Shadow by Susannah Marren
The only thing that spreads faster than gossip in Palm Beach is news of a mysterious death.
As the editorial director of Palm Beach Confidential, Maribelle Barrows knows what lurks beneath the glittering facade of the moneyed elite on Florida’s most glamourous coast. Or does she?
When her adored and impressive husband, Samuel, dies suddenly, the secrets and lies between Maribelle and her sisters rise to the surface. Compounding the anguish, the authenticity of their socially ambitious mother and their lavish lifestyle of mansions, privilege and couture clothes is thrown into doubt.
As their carefully constructed image unravels, each sister realizes she must fend for herself. While the pathway out is steep, it is worth any risk. Until the winner takes all.
MARIBELLE’S SHADOW (Beaufort Books, June 27, 2023) the new novel by Susannah Marren, is a compelling tale of deception and family loyalty, written by a nationally renowned observer of women’s relationships.
