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Week of April 28, 2025

New in Paperback

Week of April 28, 2025

Paperback releases for the week of April 28th include REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus; Emily Giffin's THE SUMMER PACT, a tender novel about a group of friends who, in the wake of tragedy, makes a pact that will cause them to reunite a decade later and embark upon a life-changing adventure together; ARKANGEL,   the latest entry in James Rollins' Sigma Force series, which tells the story of a thrilling hunt around the globe that pits nation against nation as ancient myths of a lost continent prove all too real; and THE MANICURIST’S DAUGHTER by Susan Lieu, an emotionally raw memoir about the crumbling of the American Dream and a daughter of refugees who searches for answers after her mother dies during plastic surgery.

 

Arkangel: A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins - Thriller/Adventure

April 29, 2025

The execution of a Vatican archivist within the shadow of the Kremlin exposes a conspiracy going back three centuries --- to the bloody era of the Russian Tsars. Before his murder, he manages to dispatch a coded message, a warning of a terrifying threat, one tied to a secret buried within the Golden Library of Tsars, a vast and treasured archive that had vanished into history. As combative forces race for the truth behind this death and alarming discovery, Sigma Force is summoned to aid in the search ---- not only for this missing trove of ancient books, but to follow a trail far into the Arctic, to search for the truth about a lost continent and a revelation that could ignite a global war. But Sigma Force has its own difficulties at home after an explosive attack on the National Mall --- one aimed at the heart of their covert agency --- has left them vulnerable and exposed.

Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru - Fiction

April 29, 2025

Once, Jay was an artist. After graduating from art school in London, he was tipped for greatness, a promising career taking shape before him. That was not to happen. Now, undocumented in the United States, having survived COVID, he lives out of his car and barely makes a living as an essential worker, delivering groceries in a wealthy area of upstate New York. One day, as Jay attempts to make a delivery at a house surrounded by acres of woods, he is confronted by his destructive past: Alice, a former lover from his art school days, and the friend she left him for. Recognizing Jay’s dire circumstances, Alice invites him to stay on their property --- where an erratic gallery owner and his girlfriend are isolating as well --- setting in motion a reckoning that has been decades in the making.

Crow Talk by Eileen Garvin - Fiction

April 29, 2025

Frankie O’Neill is a lonely ornithologist struggling to salvage her dissertation on the spotted owl following a rift with her advisor. Anne Ryan is an Irish musician far from home and family, raising her five-year-old son, Aiden, who refuses to speak. At Beauty Bay, a community of summer homes nestled on the shores of June Lake, most houses are shuttered for the fall. But Frankie returns to the rundown caretaker’s cottage that has been in the hardworking O'Neill family for generations. And Anne, in the wake of a tragedy, has fled to the neighboring house, which is owned by her husband's wealthy family. When Frankie finds an injured baby crow in the forest, little does she realize that the charming bird will bring all three lost souls together on a journey toward hope, healing and rediscovering joy.

The Deepest Lake by Andromeda Romano-Lax - Psychological Thriller

April 29, 2025

Rose, the mother of aspiring writer Jules, has waited three months for answers about her daughter’s death. Why was she swimming alone when she feared the water? Why did she stop texting days before she was last seen? When the official investigation rules the death an accidental drowning, an unsatisfied Rose travels to the memoir-writing workshop herself. She hopes to draw her own conclusion and find closure. When Rose arrives, she is swept into the curious world created by her daughter’s literary hero, the famous writing teacher Eva Marshall, a charismatic woman known for her candid --- and controversial --- memoirs. As Rose uncovers details about the days leading up to Jules’ disappearance, she begins to suspect that this glamorous retreat package is hiding ugly truths.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack - Mystery/Humor

April 29, 2025

All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next installment of her Vacation Mysteries series. Is that too much to ask? Clearly, because when an attempt is made on the real Connor’s life --- the handsome but infuriating con man she got mixed up with 10 years ago and now can't get out of her life --- Eleanor is enlisted to help solve the case. Contending with literary competitors, rabid fans, a stalker --- and even her ex, Oliver, who turns up unexpectedly --- theories are bandied about, and rivalries, rifts and broken hearts are revealed. But who’s really trying to get away with murder?

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander - Thriller

April 29, 2025

Nine years ago, with the world's eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called Charlie a "witness" to the nightmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve --- events known to the public as "Scarlet Christmas" --- though Charlie knows she was much more than that. Now, Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life: She's the editor-in-chief of a major magazine, engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry, and hell-bent on never, ever letting her guard down again. But when a buzzy film made by one of Charlie's former classmates threatens to shatter everything she's worked for, Charlie realizes how much she's changed in nine years. Now, she's not going to let anything --- not even the people she once loved most --- get in her way.

The Ghost Woods by C. J. Cooke - Supernatural Thriller/Gothic Horror

April 29, 2025

In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall. This place is shrouded in folklore --- old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who is not quite a child. Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed. Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something. Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live on the grounds --- and together they begin to unpack the secrets of this place. As the truth comes to the surface and the darkness moves in, Pearl must rethink everything she knew --- and risk what she holds most dear.

A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey - Fiction

April 29, 2025

Present Day: Keaton Smith is desperate for a fresh start. So when her mother needs someone to put her childhood home in Beaufort, North Carolina, on the market, she jumps at the chance to head south. But the moment she steps foot inside the abandoned house, she’s confronted with secrets about her grandparents, who died in a car accident before she was born. 1976: After meeting her husband, Townsend, Rebecca “Becks” Saint James abandoned the life she knew and never looked back. Forty years later, she’s made a name for herself as the best hostess North Carolina has ever seen. But she’s struggling behind the façade. As both Keaton and Becks face new challenges and chapters, they are connected through time by the house on Sunset Lane, which has protected the secrets, hopes and dreams of the women in their family for generations.

Long Time Gone by Charlie Donlea - Noir Mystery/Thriller

April 29, 2025

On the first day of an elite two-year fellowship, Sloan Hastings receives a research assignment in the emerging field of forensic genealogy. When she enthusiastically begins her research by submitting her own DNA to an online genealogy site, the results she receives are shocking. Sloane’s DNA profile suggests her true identity is that of Charlotte Margolis, aka “Baby Charlotte,” who captured the nation’s attention when she and her affluent parents mysteriously vanished. There were never any suspects in the family’s disappearance, and the case has been cold for decades. Sloan’s search for answers leads her to Cedar Creek, Nevada, a small town north of Lake Tahoe. Her birth relatives are mysterious and tight-lipped, and not everyone seems happy about her return or the questions she’s asking.

The Lost Coast by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman - Mystery/Thriller

April 29, 2025

Cut loose from his former life at the coroner’s office, Clay Edison has set up shop as a private investigator. It’s steady, safe work. Until it isn’t. The trouble begins when a young man, tasked with managing his grandmother’s estate, hires Clay to examine some minor financial discrepancies. What starts off as a case of simple fraud rapidly explodes into a web of deception, an elaborate con game stretching back decades and involving countless victims. All the evidence points to a tiny town on California’s rugged, remote Lost Coast. Good luck getting there, though. Clay’s reward for surviving the journey is a trigger-happy welcoming committee, ready to guard their secrets with lethal force. The price of truth will turn out to be higher --- and deadlier --- than he could have imagined.

Lovers and Liars by Amanda Eyre Ward - Fiction

April 29, 2025

Once upon a time, the Peacock sisters were little girls who combed each other’s tangled hair. But decades of secrets have led them to separate lives --- and to telling lies. Sylvie, a librarian and widow, has caught the attention of Simon Rampling, a mysterious, wealthy man. She’s ready to love again. Or is she? Cleo, a successful criminal defense lawyer with the perfect boyfriend, is immediately suspicious of Simon. She heads to Mumberton Castle telling herself she will expose Simon and save her sister from more heartbreak. But who is she really trying to save? Emma is living a lie. She can’t afford this fancy trip --- and she definitely can’t tell her husband and sons why. When their toxic mother shows up, the sisters assume the roles they fell into to survive their childhood. But they just might find the courage to make new choices.

The Manicurist's Daughter: A Memoir by Susan Lieu - Memoir

April 29, 2025

Refugees from the Vietnam War, Susan Lieu’s family escaped to California in the 1980s after five failed attempts. Upon arrival, Susan’s mother set up two successful nail salons and orchestrated every success --- until Susan was 11. That year, her mother died from a botched tummy tuck. For the next 20 years, Susan navigated a series of cascading questions alone: Why did the most perfect person in her life want to change her body? Why would no one tell her about her mother’s life in Vietnam? And how did this surgeon, who preyed on Vietnamese immigrants, go on operating after her mother’s death? Sifting through depositions, tracking down the surgeon’s family, and enlisting the help of spirit channelers, Susan uncovers the painful truth of her mother, herself and the impossible ideal of beauty.

My Best Friend's Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner - Romantic Comedy

April 29, 2025

Elsie Hoffman has been engaged to her college boyfriend for a year and a half. Ginny Holtz has been in love with Elsie for almost a decade and a half. When Elsie discovers that her fiancé already planned their wedding and honeymoon as a surprise and she’s expected to be in a white dress in seven days, she swiftly realizes she’s let herself become too comfortable with a future she never wanted. She breaks things off, and a week later she is on a plane to the Caribbean for her non-refundable honeymoon with her best friend, Ginny, instead. Ginny thinks it’s high time that Elsie learned how to speak up for herself. So they make a deal with her. For the next week, Elsie can have whatever she wants as long as she asks. They never expected Elsie to want them. But what happens when the honeymoon is over?

The Reaper Follows by Heather Graham - Romantic Suspense

April 29, 2025

Deep in the Florida Everglades, the body of a woman is discovered in pieces, presumably ravaged by an alligator. Upon closer inspection, it’s determined no animal could make such perfectly precise cuts. Only a blade could do that. Soon, dozens of oil drums emerge amid the river of grass, each one packed to the brim with body parts. FDLE special agent Amy Larson and her partner, FBI special agent Hunter Forrest, have seen this kind of sadistic killing before. And when a small beige horse is discovered at the bottom of one of the barrels, they know exactly what it means. The fourth horseman of the apocalypse rides a pale horse --- and his name is Death. With so many bodies to identify, connecting one victim to the next is easier said than done.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt - Fiction

April 29, 2025

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her 18-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over 30 years ago. Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors --- until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now he must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.

Shadow of Doubt by Brad Thor - Political Thriller

April 29, 2025

A mysterious cargo plane, flanked by a squadron of Russia’s most lethal fighters, has just taken off from a remote airbase. Closely monitored by the United States, no one inside the Pentagon has any idea where it’s going or what it’s carrying. A high-level Russian defector, a walking vault of secrets that could shatter the West, seeks asylum in Norway. Across the continent, in the heart of Paris, a lone French agent stumbles upon a conspiracy so explosive it could ignite a global firestorm. As alarm bells ring in Washington, the CIA’s most lethal weapon, Scot Harvath, is forced to choose between his conscience and his country.

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin - Fiction

April 29, 2025

Four freshmen arrive at college from completely different worlds: Lainey, a California party girl with a flair for drama; Tyson, a brilliant scholar and an aspiring lawyer from Washington, D.C.; Summer, an ambitious, recruited athlete from the Midwest; and Hannah, a mild-mannered southerner. Soon after arriving on campus, they strike up a conversation in their shared dorm. As their college years fly by, the four become inseparable. But as graduation nears, their lives are forever changed after a desperate act leads to tragic consequences. They make a pact, promising to always be there for one another. Ten years later, Hannah is anticipating what should be one of the happiest moments of her life when everything is suddenly turned upside down. Calling on her closest friends, it soon becomes clear that they are all facing their own crossroads.

Things Don't Break on Their Own by Sarah Easter Collins - Literary Thriller/Mystery

April 29, 2025

Twenty-five years ago, a young girl left home to walk to school. Her younger sister soon followed. But one of them arrived, and one of them didn’t. Her sister’s disappearance has defined Willa’s life. Everyone thinks her sister is dead, but Willa knows she isn’t. Because there are some things that only sisters know about each other --- and some bonds only sisters can break. Willa sees fragments of her sister everywhere. If there’s the slightest resemblance, she drops everything, and everyone, and tries to see if it's her. When Willa is invited to a dinner party thrown by her first love, she has no reason to expect it will be anything other than an ordinary evening. But nothing about her life has been ordinary since the day her sister disappeared, and that’s not about to change tonight.

The Twilight Garden by Sara Nisha Adams - Fiction

April 29, 2025

In a small pocket of London, between the houses of Number 77 and Number 79 Eastbourne Road, lies a neglected community garden. It was once a beautiful thing, but now it’s overgrown and neglected. Once a sanctuary, the garden’s gate is now firmly closed. And that’s exactly how Winston at Number 79 likes it --- anything to avoid Bernice, who has moved in next door with her young son. But then a mysterious parcel drops on Winston’s doormat. It contains only a bundle of photographs of the garden in bloom many years ago --- vibrant with flowers, filled with people from every corner of the community. The seed of an idea is planted. Somewhere out there, a secret gardener made a decades-old promise to keep the community’s spirit alive. Now it’s time for The Twilight Garden to come out of hibernation.

Village Weavers by Myriam J. A. Chancy - Fiction

April 29, 2025

In 1940s Port-au-Prince, Gertie and Sisi become fast childhood friends, despite being on opposite ends of the social and economic ladder. As young girls, they build their unlikely friendship --- until a deathbed revelation ripples through their families and tears them apart. After François Duvalier’s rule turns deadly in the 1950s, Sisi moves to Paris, while Gertie marries into a wealthy Dominican family. Across decades and continents, through personal success and failures, they are parted and reunited, slowly learning the truth of their singular relationship. Finally, six decades later, with both women in the United States, a sudden phone call brings them back together once more to reckon with and --- perhaps --- forgive the past.

What Wild Women Do by Karma Brown - Fiction

April 29, 2025

To get a break from a stalled career as a Hollywood screenwriter, Rowan retreats to an isolated cabin in the Adirondacks with her fiancé, Seth. There in the wilderness, Rowan finds herself drawn to a local mystery --- that of the infamous socialite-turned-feminist-crusader Eddie Callaway, who vanished in the same woods 40 years earlier and was never heard from again. A handbook found in the abandoned ruins of the Callaway camp gives Rowan a glimpse into who Eddie was --- until a fateful discovery begins to unravel what might have happened to her. As Rowan draws closer to the truth, she realizes that the past, and the Adirondacks woods, may hold two keys: one that reveals what really happened to Eddie Callaway and another that unlocks a future beyond her wildest imagination.