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Week of June 5, 2023

New in Paperback

Week of June 5, 2023

Paperback releases for the week of June 5th include FAIRY TALE by Stephen King, a spellbinding thriller about a 17-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher --- for that world or ours; CARRIE SOTO IS BACK, a powerful novel about the cost of greatness from Taylor Jenkins Reid, in which a legendary athlete attempts a comeback when the world considers her past her prime; Michael Connelly's DESERT STAR, a gripping mystery that finds LAPD detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch teaming up to hunt the brutal killer who is Bosch’s “white whale” --- a man responsible for the murder of an entire family; THE FAMILY REMAINS, a stand-alone sequel to Lisa Jewell's THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS that revolves around twisted marriages, fractured families and deadly obsessions; and SOLITO, a moving, page-turning memoir from poet Javier Zamora, who tells the unforgettable story of his harrowing migration from El Salvador to the United States at the age of nine.

Aurora by David Koepp - Dystopian/Medical Thriller

June 6, 2023

In Aurora, Illinois, Aubrey Wheeler is just trying to get by after her semi-criminal ex-husband split, leaving behind his unruly teenage son. Then the lights go out --- not just in Aurora but across the globe. A solar storm has knocked out power almost everywhere. Across the country lives Aubrey’s estranged brother, Thom. A fantastically wealthy, neurotically over-prepared Silicon Valley CEO, he plans to ride out the crisis in a gilded desert bunker he built for maximum comfort and security. But the complicated history between the siblings is far from over, and what feels like the end of the world is just the beginning of several long-overdue reckonings --- which not everyone will survive.

Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates - Domestic Thriller

June 6, 2023

In the waning days of the turbulent 1970s, in the wake of unsolved child killings that have shocked Detroit, the lives of several residents are drawn together with tragic consequences. There is Hannah, wife of a prominent local businessman, who has begun an affair with a darkly charismatic stranger whose identity remains elusive; Mikey, a canny street hustler who finds himself on a chilling mission to rectify injustice; and the serial killer known as Babysitter, an enigmatic and terrifying figure at the periphery of elite Detroit. As Babysitter continues his rampage of abductions and killings, these individuals intersect with one another in startling and unexpected ways.

Back to the Garden by Laurie R. King - Mystery

June 6, 2023

A magnificent house, vast formal gardens, a golden family that shaped California, and a colorful past filled with now-famous artists: the Gardener Estate was a 12th-century Eden. And now, just as the Estate is preparing to move into a new future, restoration work on some of its art digs up a grim relic of the home’s past: a human skull, hidden away for decades. Inspector Raquel Laing has her work cut out for her. Fifty years ago, the Estate’s young heir, Rob Gardener, turned his palatial home into a counterculture commune of peace, love and equality. But that was also a time when serial killers preyed on innocents --- monsters like The Highwayman, whose case has just surged back into the public eye. Could the skull belong to one of his victims?

Bark to the Future: A Chet & Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn - Mystery

June 6, 2023

When Chet the dog and his human partner, PI Bernie Little, are approached by a down-and-out older man with a cardboard sign at an exit ramp, Bernie is shocked to discover the man is a former teammate from his high school baseball team. Chet and Bernie take Rocket out for a good meal, and later, Bernie investigates Rocket’s past, trying to figure out what exactly went wrong. Then, Rocket goes suspiciously missing. Bernie goes back to his old high school for answers, where much that he remembers turns out not to be true --- and there are powerful and dangerous people not happy with the questions Bernie is asking. Now, Chet and Bernie are plunged into a dangerous case where the past isn’t dead and the future could be fatal.

The Blame Game by Sandie Jones - Psychological Thriller

June 6, 2023

As a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse, Naomi has found it hard to avoid becoming overly invested in her clients’ lives. But after helping Jacob make the decision to leave his wife, Naomi worries that she’s taken things too far. Then Jacob goes missing, and her files on him vanish. But as the police start asking questions about Jacob, Naomi’s own dark past emerges. And as the truth comes to light, it seems that it’s not just her clients who are in danger.

Brother Alive by Zain Khalid - Fiction

June 6, 2023

In 1990, three boys are born, unrelated but intertwined by circumstance: Dayo, Iseul and Youssef. They are adopted as infants and share a bedroom perched atop a mosque in one of Staten Island’s most diverse and underserved neighborhoods. The three boys are an inseparable trio, but conspicuous: Dayo is of Nigerian origin, Iseul is Korean, and Youssef is indeterminately Middle Eastern. Youssef shares everything with his brothers, except for one secret: he sees a hallucinatory double, an imaginary friend who seems absolutely real, a shapeshifting familiar he calls Brother. Brother persists as a companion into Youssef’s adult life, supporting him but also stealing his memories and shaking his grip on the world.

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Fiction

June 6, 2023

By the time she retires from tennis, Carrie Soto is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed 20 Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan. At 37 years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked “the Battle-Axe” anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley.

Chrysalis by Lincoln Child - Technothriller

June 6, 2023

Like millions of people around the world, Jeremy Logan (famed enigmalogist, or investigator of unexplained things) has grown to rely on his incredible new tech device. Made by Chrysalis, the global multibillion-dollar tech company, the small optical device connects people in a stunning new way, tapping into virtual reality for the first time on a wide scale. And yet, when Logan is summoned by Chrysalis to investigate a disturbing anomaly in the massive new product rollout, Logan is shocked to see the true scope of the massive company. He also quickly realizes that something in Chrysalis’s technology is very wrong and could be potentially devastating. The question is what, and where, is the danger coming from?

Corrections in Ink: A Memoir by Keri Blakinger - Memoir

June 6, 2023

Growing up, Keri Blakinger threw herself into competitive figure skating with an all-consuming passion that led her to nationals. But when her skating career suddenly fell apart, that meant diving into self-destruction with the intensity she once saved for the ice. For the next nine years, Keri ricocheted from one dark place to the next. Then, on a cold day during her senior year, the police caught her walking down the street with a Tupperware full of heroin. Her arrest made the front page of the local news and landed her behind bars for nearly two years. After she walked out of her cell for the last time, Keri became a reporter dedicated to exposing our flawed prisons as only an insider could.

Crazy Bao You by Lyn Liao Butler, writing as Lyn Liao - Romantic Comedy

June 6, 2023

Kimmie Park has finally met a man who gets her and laughs at her jokes. Matt West is kind, compassionate and a smoking hot FDNY firefighter. But they’ve never met in person. He doesn’t know that her life recently imploded when she very publicly quit her retail job and became a meme in a viral video, known as the woman who twerked as she tells off her boss. Kimmie now focuses on her Etsy shop designing purses and accessories. She’d posted pictures of her best friend Alicia with her merchandise, not realizing that people would assume Alicia was Kim from My Crafty Bao. As the chemistry between her and Matt sizzles, she knows that she needs to tell him the truth. Especially since Matt’s father, the CEO of a huge retail store, sees Kimmie’s shop and wants to partner with her.

Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley - Literary Fantasy/Humor

June 6, 2023

One night in New York City's Chinatown, a woman is at a work reunion dinner with former colleagues when she excuses herself to buy a pack of cigarettes. On her way back, she runs into a former boyfriend. And then another. And…another. Soon nothing is quite what it seems as the city becomes awash with ghosts of heartbreaks past. What would normally pass for coincidence becomes something far stranger as our heroine, the recently engaged Lola, must contend not only with the viability of her current relationship but the fact that both her best friend and her former boss, a magazine editor turned mystical guru, might have an unhealthy investment in the outcome. Is it possible to have a happy ending in an age when the past is ever at your fingertips and sanity is for sale?

Desert Star: A Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch Novel by Michael Connelly - Thriller

June 6, 2023

A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force. But after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her own ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving “the Late Show” to rebuild and lead the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division. For years, Harry Bosch has been working a case that haunts him --- the murder of an entire family by a psychopath who still walks free. Ballard makes Bosch an offer: come volunteer as an investigator in her new Open-Unsolved Unit, and he can pursue his “white whale” with the resources of the LAPD behind him. The first priority for Ballard is to clear the unsolved rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl.

Fairy Tale by Stephen King - Supernatural Thriller/Dark Fantasy

June 6, 2023

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, but he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was 10, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself --- and his dad. When Charlie is 17, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it. Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.

The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell - Psychological Thriller

June 6, 2023

DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene of a gruesome discovery and learns the bones are connected to a cold case that left three people dead 30 years ago. Rachel Rimmer’s husband, Michael, has been found dead in his cellar. The French police need Rachel to answer questions about Michael and his past that she very much doesn’t want to answer. After fleeing London 30 years ago in the wake of a horrific tragedy, Lucy Lamb is coming home. While she settles in with her children and is just about to purchase their first-ever house, her brother takes off to find the boy from their shared past whose memory haunts their present. As they all race to discover answers to these convoluted mysteries, they will come to find that they’re connected in ways they never could have imagined.

The Game She Plays by Siena Sterling - Psychological Thriller

June 6, 2023

To everyone else it was “just” a weekend house party. But for American Nicola Harris, swept off her feet by aristocratic Englishman James Shuttleworth, the weekend is her first chance to penetrate his close-knit circle of posh friends. She is eager to fit in, but she can’t seem to navigate this insular world. Just as she begins to feel welcome, Juliet arrives. Mysterious, stunning, charismatic Juliet is also James’ first love. Although it seems she can do no wrong, outsider Nicola senses something poisonous in her presence, something that sparks insecurity, jealousy, betrayal and violence. Because Juliet is a champion game player, able to lure you into her circle by finding your most vulnerable spot. And when the game she plays turns deadly, everyone is a suspect.

Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman - Supernatural Gothic Thriller/Horror

June 6, 2023

Erin hasn’t been able to set a single boundary with her charismatic but reckless college ex-boyfriend, Silas. When he asks her to bail him out of rehab --- again --- she knows she needs to cut him off. But days after he gets out, Silas turns up dead of an overdose in their hometown of Richmond, Virginia, and Erin’s world falls apart. Then a friend tells her about Ghost, a new drug that allows users to see the dead. Wanna get haunted? he asks. Grieving and desperate for closure with Silas, Erin agrees to a pill-popping “séance.” But the drug has unfathomable side effects --- and once you take it, you can never go back.

Hands Down: A Dick Francis Novel by Felix Francis - Thriller

June 6, 2023

Sid Halley, a private investigator, has a new left hand, having had a transplant since his last appearance in REFUSAL. After receiving death threats, an ex-jockey trainer friend calls Sid to ask for his help, but Sid has his own problems to deal with --- like recovering from surgery and saving his crumbling marriage. When his friend’s stable yard is torched, horses killed, and the friend is found dead, Sid can only blame himself for not helping sooner. The police think it’s suicide, but Sid is not convinced after his friend’s terrified phone calls. Heavy with a guilty heart, Sid starts to investigate and soon finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that cuts to the very heart of the integrity of British horse racing.

Has Anyone Seen My Toes? by Christopher Buckley - Fiction/Humor

June 6, 2023

During the pandemic, an aging screenwriter is holed up in a coastal South Carolina town with his beloved second wife, Peaches. He’s been binge-eating for a year and developed a notable rapport with the local fast-food chain Hippo King. He struggles to work --- on a ludicrous screenplay about a Nazi attempt to kidnap FDR and, naturally, an article for Etymology Today on English words of Carthaginian origin. He’s told Peaches so often about the origins of the world mayonnaise that she’s developed an aversion to using the condiment. He thinks he has COVID. His wife thinks he is losing his mind. Things were going from bad to worse even before his doctor suggested a battery of brain tests. He knows what that means: dementia!

Hedge by Jane Delury - Fiction

June 6, 2023

Maud is a talented garden historian and devoted mom to daughters Ella and Louise. Motivated to reignite her career and escape her troubled marriage, she accepts a summer job restoring the garden of a lush 19th-century estate in the Hudson Valley. Reveling in her work and temporary independence, Maud relishes her days in the sun. While waiting for her daughters to join her at the end of their school year, she strikes up a friendship with a coworker, archaeologist Gabriel Crews. As the two share nightly dinners, their relationship grows more intimate, and Maud starts to imagine a future outside of her stifling marriage. Once Ella and Louise arrive, however, she is torn by her desire for Gabriel, her obligations to her daughters, and her growing concern for Ella’s dark moods.

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak - Supernatural Thriller

June 6, 2023

Fresh out of rehab, Mallory Quinn takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy. Mallory immediately loves it and sincerely bonds with Teddy, a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body. Then, Teddy’s artwork becomes increasingly sinister, and his stick figures quickly evolve into lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to wonder if these are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force. Knowing just how crazy it all sounds, Mallory nevertheless sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy before it’s too late.

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager - Psychological Thriller

June 6, 2023

Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress, has retreated to her family’s lake house in Vermont. She passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple living in the house across the lake. One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other --- and the longer Casey watches --- it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage isn’t as perfect as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey immediately suspects Tom of foul play. What she doesn’t realize is that there’s more to the story than meets the eye --- and that shocking secrets can lurk beneath the most placid of surfaces.

The Investigator: A Letty Davenport Novel by John Sandford - Mystery/Thriller

June 6, 2023

A recent Stanford grad, Letty Davenport is restless and bored in a desk job for U.S. Senator Colles. But then Colles offers her a carrot: feet-on-the-ground investigative work, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security. Several oil companies in Texas have reported thefts of crude. Rumor has it that a fairly ugly militia group --- led by a woman known only as Lorelai --- might be involved. Colles wants to know if the money is going to them, and if so, what they’re planning. Letty is partnered with a DHS investigator, John Kaiser, and they head to Texas. When the case quickly turns deadly, they know they’re on the track of something bigger. Lorelai and her group have set in motion an explosive plan...and the clock is ticking down.

Last Call at the Nightingale by Katharine Schellman - Historical Mystery

June 6, 2023

New York, 1924. Vivian Kelly's days are filled with drudgery, from the tenement lodging she shares with her sister to the dress shop where she sews for hours every day. But at night, she escapes to The Nightingale, an underground dance hall where illegal liquor flows and the band plays the Charleston with reckless excitement. With a bartender willing to slip her a free glass of champagne and friends who know the owner, Vivian can lose herself in the music. But then she discovers a body behind the club. With too many people assuming she knows more about the crime than she does, Vivian finds herself caught between the dangers of New York's underground and the world of the city's wealthy and careless.

The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz - Fiction

June 6, 2023

THE LATECOMER follows the story of the wealthy, New York City-based Oppenheimer family, from the first meeting of parents Salo and Johanna, under tragic circumstances, to their triplets born during the early days of IVF. As children, the three siblings --- Harrison, Lewyn and Sally --- feel no strong familial bond and cannot wait to go their separate ways, even as their father becomes more distanced and their mother more desperate. When the triplets leave for college, Johanna, faced with being truly alone, makes the decision to have a fourth child. What role will the “latecomer” play in this fractured family?

The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick - Fiction

June 6, 2023

Acclaimed radio host and advice expert Ginny Splinter is sure that her husband, Adrian, will love the special trip to Italy she’s planned for their 30th wedding anniversary. But when Ginny presents the gift to Adrian, he surprises her with a divorce. Beside herself with heartache, Ginny impulsively invites four heartbroken listeners to join her in Italy instead while live on air. From hiking the hills of Bologna to riding a gondola in Venice to sharing stories around the dining table of the little Italian hotel, Ginny and her newfound company embark on a vacation of healing. However, when Adrian starts to rethink their relationship, Ginny must decide whether to commit to her marriage or start afresh, alone. And an unexpected stranger may hold the key to a very different future.

A Little Ray of Sunshine by Kristan Higgins - Fiction

June 6, 2023

A kid walks into your bookstore and… Guess what? He’s your son. The one you put up for adoption 18 years ago. The one you never told anyone about. Surprise! It’s a huge surprise to his adoptive mother, Monica, who thought she had a close relationship with Matthew, her nearly adult son. But apparently, he felt the need to secretly arrange a vacation to Cape Cod for the summer so he could meet his birth mother…without a word to either her or his dad. It’s also a surprise to Harlow, the woman who secretly placed her baby for adoption so many years ago. When Matthew walks into Harlow’s store, she faints. Monica panics. And all their assumptions --- about what being a parent really means --- explode. This summer will be full of more surprises as both their families are redefined.

Look Closer by David Ellis - Psychological Thriller/Mystery

June 6, 2023

Simon and Vicky couldn’t seem more normal: a wealthy Chicago couple, he a respected law professor, she an advocate for domestic violence victims. But one thing’s for sure: absolutely nothing is what it seems. The pair are far from normal, and one of them just may be a killer. When the body of a beautiful socialite is found hanging in a mansion in a nearby suburb, Simon and Vicky’s secrets begin to unravel. A secret whirlwind affair. A 20-million-dollar trust fund about to come due. A decades-long grudge and obsession with revenge. These are just a few of the lies that make up the complex web...and they will have devastating consequences. And while both Vicky and Simon are liars, just who exactly is conning who?

Marion Lane and the Raven's Revenge by T.A. Willberg - Historical Mystery

June 6, 2023

London, 1960. Marion Lane, a 25-year-old apprentice detective at the elusive Miss Brickett’s Investigations & Inquiries, is busier than ever and determined to prove herself worthy of an official Inquirer badge. But when her close friend's girlfriend, Darcy, is targeted by a dangerous gang leader and seeks out the Inquirers’ assistance, Marion cannot help but get involved. Just when Marion thinks she has the situation under control, Darcy disappears and the agency receives a package containing a dead raven. Everyone is puzzled by what the threat could mean, except for Marion. She recognizes it as the same calling card left on her mother's doorstep just before she died.

Mother Ocean Father Nation by Nishant Batsha - Fiction

June 6, 2023

On a small Pacific island, a brother and sister tune in to a breaking news radio bulletin. It is 1985, and an Indian grocer has just been attacked by nativists aligned with the recent military coup. Bhumi hears this news from her locked-down dorm room in the capital city. But when her friendship with the daughter of a prominent government official becomes a liability, she must flee her unstable home for California. Jaipal is stuck working in the family store, avoiding their father’s wrath, with nothing but his hidden desires to distract him. Desperate for money and connection, he seizes a sudden opportunity to take his life into his own hands for the first time. But his decision may leave him vulnerable to the island’s escalating volatility.

Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss - Sports/Biography

June 6, 2023

Jim Thorpe rose to world fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport. He won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, was an All-American football player at the Carlisle Indian School, the star of the first class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and played major league baseball for John McGraw’s New York Giants. Even in a golden age of sports celebrities, he was one of a kind. But despite his colossal skills, Thorpe’s life was a struggle against the odds. For all his travails, though, Thorpe did not succumb. The man survived, complications and all, and so did the myth.

The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club by Julia Bryan Thomas - Historical Fiction

June 6, 2023

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.

Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution by Eric Jay Dolin - History

June 6, 2023

The heroic story of the founding of the U.S. Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America’s first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation’s character ---- above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos. In REBELS AT SEA, bestselling historian Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission and contends that privateers, as they were called, were in fact critical to the American victory.

Relentless Melt by Jeremy P. Bushnell - Supernatural Historical Mystery/Thriller

June 6, 2023

By day, Artie Quick holds down a job as a salesgirl in women’s accessories at Filene’s. By night, she disguises herself as a man to pursue studies in Criminal Investigation at the YMCA's Evening Institute for Younger Men. Artie sets out in search of something to investigate with her pal Theodore, an upper-crust young bachelor whose interest in Boston's occult counterculture has drawn him into the study of magic. Their journey begins on Boston Common --- where the tramps and the groundskeepers swap rumors about unearthly screams and other unsettling anomalies --- but soon they uncover a series of violent abductions that take them on an adventure from the highest corridors of power to the depths of an abandoned mass transit tunnel, its excavation suspiciously never completed.

Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe - True Crime

June 6, 2023

ROGUES brings together a dozen of Patrick Radden Keefe’s most celebrated articles from The New Yorker. Here, he brilliantly explores the intricacies of forging $150,000 vintage wines, examines if a whistleblower who dared to expose money laundering at a Swiss bank is a hero or a fabulist, spends time in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain, chronicles the quest to bring down a cheerful international black market arms merchant, and profiles a passionate death penalty attorney who represents the “worst of the worst,” among other bravura works of literary journalism.

Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan - Romance

June 6, 2023

Sam’s life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancé, Jack, a great job in Manhattan, and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house. Yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt. But there’s no reason for a 30-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was 17. Right? Yet being back at this beach, hearing notes from Wyatt’s guitar float across the night air from next door as if no time has passed --- Sam’s memories come flooding back: the feel of Wyatt’s skin on hers, their nights in the treehouse, and the truth behind their split. Sam remembers who she used to be, and as Wyatt reenters her life their connection is as undeniable as it always was. She will have to make a choice.

The Serpent in Heaven by Charlaine Harris - Dark Fantasy/Thriller

June 6, 2023

Felicia, Lizbeth Rose’s half-sister and a student at the Grigori Rasputin school in San Diego --- capital of the Holy Russian Empire --- is caught between her own secrets and powerful family struggles. As a granddaughter of Rasputin, she provides an essential service to the hemophiliac Tsar Alexei, providing him the blood transfusions that keep him alive. Felicia is treated like a nonentity at the bedside of the tsar, and at the school she's seen as a charity case with no magical ability. But when Felicia is snatched outside the school, the facts of her heritage begin to surface. Felicia turns out to be far more than the Russian-Mexican Lizbeth rescued. As Felicia’s history unravels and her true abilities become known, she comes under attack from all directions. Only her courage will keep her alive.

Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora - Memoir

June 6, 2023

Nine-year-old Javier Zamora embarks on a 3,000-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He leaves behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling alone amid a group of strangers and a “coyote” hired to lead them to safety, Javier expects his trip to last two short weeks. But he cannot foresee the perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions that await him. Nor can he know that those two weeks will expand into two life-altering months alongside fellow migrants who will come to encircle him like an unexpected family.

The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer's Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal by Howard Blum - True Crime

June 6, 2023

Tennent “Pete” Bagley was once a rising star in America’s spy aristocracy. But the star that burned so brightly exploded when Bagley --- who suspected a mole had burrowed deep into the agency’s core --- was believed himself to be the mole. After a year-long investigation, Bagley was finally exonerated, but the accusations tarnished his reputation and tainted his career. When Bagley’s daughter Christina, a CIA analyst, married another intelligence officer who was the son of the man who had played a key role in the investigation into Bagley, it caused a painful rift between the two. But then came former CIA officer John Paisley’s strange death. Pete launches his own investigation that takes him deep into his own past and his own longtime hunt for a mole.

Taking Berlin: The Bloody Race to Defeat the Third Reich by Martin Dugard - History

June 6, 2023

Fall, 1944. Paris has been liberated, but this diversion on the road to Berlin has given the Germans time to regroup. The American and British armies press on from the west, facing the enemy time and again, all while American general George Patton and British field marshal Bernard Montgomery vie for supremacy as the Allies’ top battlefield commander. Meanwhile, the Soviets begin to squeeze Hitler’s crumbling Reich from the east. Led by Generals Zhukov and Konev, the Red Army launches millions of soldiers against the Germans. As both the Anglo-American alliance and the Soviets set their sights on claiming the capital city of Nazi Germany, Churchill seeks to ensure Britain’s place in a new world divided by Roosevelt’s America and Stalin’s Soviet Union.

These Impossible Things by Salma El-Wardany - Fiction

June 6, 2023

It’s always been Malak, Kees and Jenna against the world. Since childhood, under the watchful eyes of their parents, aunties and uncles, they’ve learned to live their own lives alongside the expectations of being good Muslim women. With growing older and the stakes of love and life growing higher, the delicate balancing act between rebellion and religion is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate. As their lives begin to take different paths, Malak, Kees and Jenna --- now on the precipice of true adulthood --- must find a way back to each other as they reconcile faith, family and tradition with their own needs and desires.

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong - Poetry

June 6, 2023

In this deeply intimate second poetry collection, Ocean Vuong searches for life among the aftershocks of his mother’s death, embodying the paradox of sitting within grief while being determined to survive beyond it. Shifting through memory, and in concert with the themes of his novel ON EARTH WE’RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS, Vuong contends with personal loss, the meaning of family, and the cost of being the product of an American war in America. At once vivid, brave and propulsive, Vuong’s poems circle fragmented lives to find restoration as well as the epicenter of the break.

The Two Lives of Sara by Catherine Adel West - Historical Fiction

June 6, 2023

Sara King boards the bus to Memphis, hoping to outrun her past in Chicago. She is welcomed with open arms by Mama Sugar, a kindly matriarch and owner of the popular boardinghouse The Scarlet Poplar. Like many cities in early 1960s America, Memphis is still segregated, but change is in the air. Black literature and music provide the stories and soundtrack for these turbulent and hopeful times, and Sara finds herself drawn in by conversations of education, politics and a brighter tomorrow with Jonas, a local schoolteacher. Romance blooms between them, but secrets from Mama Sugar’s past threaten their newfound happiness. Sara and Jonas are soon caught in the crosshairs, leading Sara to make decisions that will reshape the rest of their lives.

Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey - Romantic Comedy

June 6, 2023

After losing her job and her fiancé in one fell swoop, Natalie Vos returned home to lick her wounds. A few months later, she has sufficiently drowned her sorrows in cabernet and is ready to get back on her feet. She just needs her trust fund to finance her new business venture. Unfortunately, the terms require she marry before she can have the money. And well, dumped, remember? But Natalie is desperate enough to propose to a man who makes her want to kill him --- and kiss him, in equal measure. August Cates may own a vineyard, but he doesn’t know jack about making wine. He’s determined to do his late best friend proud, no matter what it takes. But no bank will give him the loan he needs to turn the business around. And then the gorgeous, feisty heiress knocks on his door.