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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of June 15th and June 22nd that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.
This week, we are calling attention to our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks feature for June, which includes Indie Next, LibraryReads, Oprah's Book Club, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, the Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club, the Jenna Bush Hager "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, and more.
Also, we have a different kind of "Bookreporter Talks To" interview to tell you about. Instead of interviewing an author, Carol was joined by two Goodreads staffers: Suzanne Skyvara, their Vice President of Marketing & Editorial, and Danny Feekes, their Managing Editor. As one of the most useful resources for book lovers, Goodreads has a big hand in sharing great and exciting new reads. Suzanne and Danny talked about a number of books that have just come out, or will be out soon, along with titles that are trending with Goodreads members. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.
Finally, below we share with you a number of upcoming online author events that you may want to have on your radar. We are curious to know if you have been attending these kinds of events. Weigh in by answering our latest poll here!
For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
Upcoming Virtual Author Events
As so many author events are happening online these days, we are highlighting a number of them that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links below for more info and to register.
Wednesday, June 17th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": Every Wednesday, Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Patti Callahan Henry and Mary Alice Monroe talk books and writing on their "Friends and Fiction" Facebook group page. This week's special guest will be Lisa Wingate.
Thursday, June 18th at 7pm ET: Book + Author: Virtual Book Club: Join Sarah Blake, in conversation with journalist and author Marion Winik, as she discusses her New York Times bestselling family saga, THE GUEST BOOK.
Saturday, June 20th: Newburyport Literary Festival
Here are some author panels that you may want to attend:
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10am ET: Changing Tides: Sarah Blake (THE GUEST BOOK), Brooke Lea Foster (SUMMER DARLINGS), Susie Orman Schnall (WE CAME HERE TO SHINE)
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11:15am ET: Summer Lovin': Aimee Agresti (THE SUMMER SET), Emily Henry (BEACH READ), Priscilla Oliveras (ISLAND AFFAIR), Nancy Thayer (GIRLS OF SUMMER)
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12:30pm ET: First Mates: The Crew We Choose: Jamie Brenner (SUMMER LONGING), Jane Green (THE FRIENDS WE KEEP), Kerry Kletter (EAST COAST GIRLS), Meg Mitchell Moore (TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE)
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2pm ET: Beach Read Bingo Party!: Nicola Harrison (MONTAUK), Sarah McCoy (MARILLA OF GREEN GABLES), Renée Rosen (PARK AVENUE SUMMER), Katherine St. John (THE LION'S DEN), Karen White (DREAMS OF FALLING)
Tuesday, June 23rd at 7pm ET: Main Street Books – Virtual Book Party: Megan Miranda will be in conversation with Adah Fitzgerald from Main Street Books about the release of her new psychological thriller, THE GIRL FROM WIDOW HILLS.
Tuesday, June 23rd at 7pm ET: Wilton Library Virtual Event: Wendy Walker, author of THE NIGHT BEFORE, will be moderating a discussion with Liv Constantine (the pen name of sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine) about their latest psychological thriller, THE WIFE STALKER.
This Week's Bonus News:
Our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks for June
Each month, we share top book picks from Indie Next and LibraryReads, as well as the Target Book Club title and Pennie's Pick for Costco. We also feature a number of other prominent picks, including Oprah’s Book Club, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, the Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club, Jenna Bush Hager's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, the PBS NewsHour-New York Times “Now Read This” Book Club, and Simon & Schuster’s Book Club Favorites.
Below is a preview of June's "Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks." For the complete Indie Next and LibraryReads lists, as well as additional links pertaining to this month's selections, please click here.
Indie Next
#1 Pick: A BURNING by Megha Majumdar
THE JANE AUSTIN SOCIETY by Natalie Jenner
THE VANISHING HALF by Brit Bennett
BEACH READ by Emily Henry
THE SECOND HOME by Christina Clancy
LibraryReads
LibraryReads Top Pick: MEXICAN GOTHIC by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
THE BOYFRIEND PROJECT by Farrah Rochon
DEVOLUTION: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks
THE EMPIRE OF GOLD: The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty
THE GIRL FROM WIDOW HILLS by Megan Miranda
Target Book Club
THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell
Pennie's Pick (Costco)
THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS by Ruth Hogan
Oprah's Book Club
DEACON KING KONG by James McBride
Barnes & Noble Book Club
THE VANISHING HALF by Brit Bennett
Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club
I'M STILL HERE: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown and THE GUEST LIST by Lucy Foley
Jenna Bush Hager's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club
A BURNING by Megha Majumdar
"Good Morning America" Book Club
THE VANISHING HALF by Brit Bennett
PBS NewsHour-New York Times “Now Read This” Book Club
AMERICAN SPY by Lauren Wilkinson
Simon & Schuster's Book Club Favorites
THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell
On Sale the Week of June 15th in Hardcover
June 16th
28 SUMMERS by Elin Hilderbrand (Fiction)
When Mallory Blessing's son, Link, receives deathbed instructions from his mother to call a number on a slip of paper in her desk drawer, he's not sure what to expect. But he certainly does not expect Jake McCloud to answer. It's the late spring of 2020, and Jake's wife, Ursula DeGournsey, is the frontrunner in the upcoming presidential election. There must be a mistake, Link thinks. How do Mallory and Jake know each other? Flash back to the sweet summer of 1993: Mallory has just inherited a beachfront cottage on Nantucket from her aunt, and she agrees to host her brother's bachelor party. Cooper's friend from college, Jake McCloud, attends, and Jake and Mallory form a bond that will persevere --- until Mallory learns she's dying.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316420044
DEVOLUTION: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Offering a glorious back-to-nature experience with all the comforts of high-speed internet, solar smart houses, and the assurance of being mere hours from Seattle by highway, Greenloop was indeed a paradise --- until Mount Rainier erupted, leaving its residents truly cut off from the world, and utterly unprepared for the consequences. With no weapons and their food supplies dwindling, Greenloop’s residents slowly realized that they were in a fight for survival. And as the ash swirled and finally settled, they found themselves facing a specter none of them could have predicted --- or even thought possible. Max Brooks brings to light the journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town’s bloody wreckage, faithfully reproducing her words alongside his own investigations into the massacre that followed and the legendary beasts behind it.
Del Rey | 9781984826787
DON'T TURN AROUND by Jessica Barry (Thriller)
Cait Monaghan and Rebecca McRae are on a desolate road that slices through the New Mexican desert. They've never met before tonight. Both have secrets to protect. Both of their lives are in danger. When a truck pulls up fast behind them, they assume it's punk teenagers or run-of-the-mill road rage, but it soon becomes clear that whoever is driving the truck is hunting them for sport --- and they are out to draw blood. As the miles unspool and the dangers mount, the pasts they've worked so hard to keep buried have come back to haunt them. Someone wants one of them dead. But which one? And given the lives the two women have been leading, that someone could be almost anyone. If Cait and Rebecca are going to survive, they'll have to learn to trust one another --- and themselves.
Harper | 9780062874863
THE HALF SISTER by Sandie Jones (Psychological Thriller)
Sisters Kate and Lauren meet for Sunday lunch every week without fail, especially after the loss of their father. But a knock at the door is about to change everything. A young woman by the name of Jess holds a note with the results of a DNA test, claiming to be their half sister. As the fallout starts, it's clear that they are all hiding secrets, and perhaps this family isn't as perfect as it appears.
Minotaur Books | 9781250265517
THE LIGHTNESS by Emily Temple (Fiction)
One year ago, the person Olivia adores most in the world, her father, left home for a meditation retreat in the mountains and never returned. Yearning to make sense of his shocking departure and to escape her overbearing mother, Olivia runs away from home and retraces his path to a place known as the Levitation Center. Once there, she enrolls in their summer program for troubled teens and finds herself drawn into the company of a close-knit trio of girls who are determined to finally achieve enlightenment --- and learn to levitate, to defy the weight of their bodies, to experience ultimate lightness. But it becomes increasingly clear that this is an advanced and perilous practice, and there’s a chance not all of them will survive.
William Morrow | 9780062905321
THE NEW ONE: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad written by Mike Birbiglia, with poems by J. Hope Stein (Memoir/Humor)
In 2016, comedian Mike Birbiglia and poet Jennifer Hope Stein took their 14-month-old daughter, Oona, to the Nantucket Film Festival. When the festival director picked them up at the airport, she asked Mike if he would perform at the storytelling night. She said, "The theme of the stories is jealousy." Jen quipped, "You're jealous of Oona. You should talk about that." And so Mike began sharing some of his darkest and funniest thoughts about the decision to have a child. Over the next couple of years, these stories evolved into a Broadway show, and the more Mike performed it, the more he heard how it resonated --- not just with parents but also with people who resist all kinds of change. So he pored over his journals, dug deeper and created this book.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538701515
AN OCEAN WITHOUT A SHORE by Scott Spencer (Fiction)
Since their college days, Kip Woods has been infatuated with Thaddeus Kaufman, who, years later, is a married father of two children and desperately trying to revive a failing career. Kip’s devotion to Thaddeus has been life-defining and destiny-altering, but it has been one that Thaddeus has either failed to notice or refused to acknowledge. But over the course of the novel, set against a background of privilege and affluence in Manhattan and the Hudson Valley, Kip will be forced to reckon with the prison of his own making and decide how much he is willing to sacrifice for a love that may never be shared.
Ecco | 9780062851628
SAVING RUBY KING by Catherine Adel West (Fiction)
When Ruby King’s mother is found murdered in their home in Chicago’s South Side, the police dismiss it as another act of violence in a black neighborhood. But for Ruby, it’s a devastating loss that leaves her on her own with her violent father. While she receives many condolences, her best friend, Layla, is the only one who understands how this puts Ruby in jeopardy. Their closeness is tested when Layla’s father, the pastor of their church, demands that Layla stay away. But what is the price for turning a blind eye? In a relentless quest to save Ruby, Layla uncovers the murky loyalties and dangerous secrets that have bound their families together for generations.
Park Row | 9780778305095
SEVEN LIES by Elizabeth Kay (Psychological Thriller)
Growing up, Jane and Marnie shared everything. They knew the other's deepest secrets. They wouldn't have had it any other way. But when Marnie falls in love, things begin to change. Because Jane has a secret: she loathes Marnie's wealthy, priggish husband. So when Marnie asks if she likes him, Jane tells her first lie. After all, even best friends keep some things to themselves. If she had been honest, then perhaps her best friend's husband might still be alive today. For, of course, it's not the last lie. In fact, it's only the beginning. SEVEN LIES is Jane's confession of the truth --- her truth.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9781984879714
THE TASTE OF SUGAR by Marisel Vera (Historical Fiction)
It is 1898, and groups of starving Puerto Ricans, los hambrientos, roam the parched countryside and dusty towns begging for food. Under the yoke of Spanish oppression, the Caribbean island is forced to prepare to wage war with the United States. Up in the mountainous coffee region of Utuado, Vicente Vega and Valentina Sanchez labor to keep their small farm from the creditors. When the Spanish-American War and the great San Ciriaco Hurricane of 1899 bring devastating upheaval, the young couple is lured, along with thousands of other puertorriquenos, to the sugar plantations of Hawaii --- another US territory --- where they are confronted by the hollowness of America’s promises of prosperity.
Liveright | 9781631497735
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE by Meg Mitchell Moore (Fiction)
Truth: Sherri Griffin and her daughter, Katie, have recently moved to the idyllic beach town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Rebecca Coleman, former leader of the Newburyport Mom Squad, has made a surprising effort to include these newcomers in typically closed-group activities. Rebecca’s teenage daughter, Alexa, has even been spotted babysitting Katie. Truth: Alexa has time on her hands because of a recent falling-out with her longtime best friends for reasons no one knows --- but everyone suspects have to do with Alexa’s highly popular and increasingly successful YouTube channel. Lie: Rebecca Coleman doesn’t have a new man in her life. Alexa is not seeing anyone new herself and is planning on shutting down her YouTube channel in advance of attending college in the fall. Sherri Griffin’s real name is Sherri Griffin, and a bad divorce is all she’s running from.
William Morrow | 9780062840097
On Sale the Week of June 15th in Paperback
June 16th
AFTER THE END by Clare Mackintosh (Fiction)
Max and Pip are the strongest couple you know. They're best friends, lovers --- unshakable. But then their son gets sick, and the doctors put the question of his survival into their hands. For the first time, Max and Pip can't agree. They each want a different future for their son. What if they could have both?
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780451490575
AMERICA WAS HARD TO FIND by Kathleen Alcott (Historical Fiction)
Ecuador, 1969: An American expatriate, Fay Fern, sits in the corner of a restaurant. She and her young son, Wright, turned away from the television where Vincent Kahn becomes the first man to walk on the moon. Years earlier, Fay and Vincent meet at a pilots’ bar in the Mojave Desert. Their casual affair ends quickly, but its consequences linger. Though their lives split, their senses of purpose deepen in tandem, each becoming heroes to different sides of the political spectrum of the 1960s and ’70s. With her last public appearance, a demonstration that frames the Apollo program as a vehicle for distracting the American public from its country’s atrocities, Fay leaves Wright to contend with her legacy, his own growing apathy, and the misdeeds of both his mother and his country.
Ecco | 9780062662538
THE CROWDED HOUR: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century by Clay Risen (History)
When America declared war on Spain in 1898, the US Army had just 26,000 men spread around the country --- hardly an army at all. In desperation, the Rough Riders were born. A unique group of volunteers, ranging from Ivy League athletes to Arizona cowboys and led by Theodore Roosevelt, they helped secure victory in Cuba in a series of gripping, bloody fights across the island. Roosevelt called their charge in the Battle of San Juan Hill his “crowded hour” --- a turning point in his life, one that led directly to the White House. As THE CROWDED HOUR reveals, it was a turning point for America as well, uniting the country and ushering in a new era of global power.
Scribner | 9781501144004
THE GUARDIANS by John Grisham (Legal Thriller)
In the small Florida town of Seabrook, a young lawyer named Keith Russo was shot dead at his desk as he worked late one night. The killer left no clues. But the police soon came to suspect Quincy Miller, a young black man who was once a client of Russo’s. Quincy was tried, convicted and sent to prison for life. For 22 years he languished in prison, maintaining his innocence. But no one was listening. In desperation, he writes a letter to Guardian Ministries, a small nonprofit run by Cullen Post, a lawyer who is also an Episcopal minister. Powerful, ruthless people murdered Keith, and they do not want Quincy exonerated. They killed one lawyer 22 years ago, and they will kill another without a second thought.
Bantam | 9780593129982
I WAS TOLD IT WOULD GET EASIER by Abbi Waxman (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Jessica and Emily Burnstein have very different ideas of how their college tour should go. For Emily, it's a preview of freedom, exploring the possibility of her new and more exciting future. Maybe the other kids on the tour will like her more than the ones at school. For Jessica, it's a chance to bond with the daughter she seems to have lost. She isn't even sure if Emily likes her anymore. To be honest, Jessica isn't sure she likes herself. Together with a dozen strangers --- and two familiar enemies --- Jessica and Emily travel the East Coast, meeting up with family and old friends along the way. Surprises and secrets threaten their relationship and, in the end, change it forever.
Berkley | 9780451491893
IN WEST MILLS by De'Shawn Charles Winslow (Fiction)
When motherhood looms, Azalea “Knot” Centre begins to learn that her freedom has come at a high price. Low on money, ostracized from her parents and cut off from her hometown, Knot turns to her neighbor, Otis Lee Loving, in search of some semblance of family and home. A lifelong fixer, Otis Lee is determined to steer his friends and family away from decisions that will cause them heartache and ridicule. After his failed attempt to help his older sister, who lives a precarious life in the North, Otis Lee discovers a possible path to redemption in the chaos Knot brings to his doorstep. But while he's busy trying to fix Knot's life, Otis Lee finds himself powerless to repair the many troubles within his own family, as the long-buried secrets of his troubled past begin to come to light.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635575286
THE LAST TRAIN TO KEY WEST by Chanel Cleeton (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
For the tourists traveling on Henry Flagler’s legendary Overseas Railroad, Labor Day weekend is an opportunity to forget the economic depression gripping the nation. But one person’s paradise can be another’s prison, and Key West native Helen Berner yearns to escape. After the Cuban Revolution of 1933 leaves Mirta Perez’s family in a precarious position, Mirta agrees to an arranged marriage with a notorious American whose illicit business interests may threaten not only her relationship, but her life. Elizabeth Preston's trip to Key West is a chance to save her once-wealthy family from their troubles after the Wall Street crash. Over the course of the holiday weekend, the women’s paths cross unexpectedly as a deadly storm threatens the Keys.
Berkley | 9780451490889
THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON by Meg Waite Clayton (Historical Fiction)
In 1936, the Nazis are little more than loud, brutish bores to 15-year-old Stephan Neuman, the son of a wealthy and influential Jewish family and budding playwright. Stephan’s best friend and companion is the brilliant Žofie-Helene, a Christian girl whose mother edits a progressive, anti-Nazi newspaper. But the two adolescents’ carefree innocence is shattered when the Nazis take control. Truus Wijsmuller, a member of the Dutch resistance, risks her life smuggling Jewish children out of Nazi Germany to the nations that will take them. It is a mission that becomes even more dangerous after the Anschluss --- Hitler’s annexation of Austria --- as, across Europe, countries close their borders to the growing number of refugees desperate to escape.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062946942
LIFELINES by Heidi Diehl (Fiction)
It’s 1971 when Louise leaves Oregon for Düsseldorf, a city grappling with its nation’s horrific recent history, to study art. Soon she’s embroiled in a scene dramatically different from the one at home, thanks in large part to Dieter, a mercurial musician. Their romance ignites quickly, but life gets in the way: an unplanned pregnancy, hasty marriage, the tense balance of their creative ambitions, and --- finally, fatally --- a family secret that shatters Dieter and drives Louise home. But in 2008, she’s headed to Dieter’s mother’s funeral. As she flies into the heart of her past, she reckons with the choices she made, and the ones she didn’t, just as her family --- current and former --- must consider how Louise’s life has shaped their own, for better and for worse.
Mariner Books | 9780358299301
LOCKDOWN: Stories of Crime, Terror, and Hope During a Pandemic edited by Nick Kolakowski and Steve Weddle (Thriller/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
A mysterious virus sweeps across the country, mutating rapidly as it jumps from person to person. Cities are locked down. The skies are clear as all planes are grounded. Some people panic, while some go to heroic lengths to save those they love --- and others use the chaos as an opportunity to engage in purest evil. In LOCKDOWN, 19 of today’s finest suspense, horror and crime writers explore how humanity reacts to the ultimate pandemic. From New York City to the Mexican border, from the Deep South to the misty shores of Seattle, their characters are fighting for survival against incredible odds. Proceeds from the book will go to support BINC, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, as it seeks to help booksellers recover from the devastating COVID-19 crisis.
Polis Books | 9781951709174
ORDINARY GIRLS: A Memoir by Jaquira Díaz (Memoir)
While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Jaquira Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of ORDINARY GIRLS vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope, to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be.
Algonquin Books | 9781643750828
A PILGRIMAGE TO ETERNITY: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith by Timothy Egan (Memoir/History)
Moved by his mother's death and his Irish Catholic family's complicated history with the church, Timothy Egan decided to follow in the footsteps of centuries of seekers to force a reckoning with his own beliefs. He embarked on a thousand-mile pilgrimage through the theological cradle of Christianity to explore the religion in the world that it created. Egan sets out along the Via Francigena, once the major medieval trail leading the devout to Rome, and travels overland via the alpine peaks and small mountain towns of France, Switzerland and Italy, accompanied by a quirky cast of fellow pilgrims and by some of the towering figures of the faith. The goal: walking to St. Peter's Square, in hopes of meeting the galvanizing pope who is struggling to hold together the church through the worst crisis in half a millennium.
Penguin Books | 9780735225251
ROAR by Cecelia Ahern (Fiction/Short Stories)
In ROAR, Cecelia Ahern explores the endless ways in which women blaze through adversity with wit, resourcefulness and compassion. She takes the familiar aspects of women's lives --- the routines, the embarrassments, the desires --- and elevates these moments to the outlandish and hilarious with her astute blend of magical realism and social insight. One woman is tortured by sinister bite marks that appear on her skin; another is swallowed up by the floor during a mortifying presentation; yet another resolves to return and exchange her boring husband at the store where she originally acquired him. The women at the center of this curious universe learn that their reality is shaped not only by how others perceive them, but also by how they perceive the power within themselves.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538746578
SAY SAY SAY by Lila Savage (Fiction)
Ella is nearing 30, and not yet living the life she imagined. Her artistic ambitions as a student have given way to an unintended career in caregiving. One spring, Bryn --- a retired carpenter --- hires her to help him care for his wife Jill, who was left verbally diminished after a car crash. As Ella is drawn into the couple's household, she finds that this is unlike the other caregiving jobs she’s held. She is profoundly moved by the tenderness Bryn shows toward the wife he still fiercely loves, and startled by the yearning this awakens in her. She finds herself looking differently at her relationship with her girlfriend, Alix, and questioning what she knows about relationships of all kinds --- between partners, between employer and employee, and above all between men and women.
Vintage | 9780525565529
THIS LITTLE FAMILY written by Inès Bayard, translated by Adriana Hunter (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Marie and Laurent, a young, affluent couple, have settled into their large Paris apartment and decide to start trying for a baby. This picture-perfect existence is shattered when Marie is assaulted by her new boss. Deeply shaken by the attack, she discovers she is pregnant, and is convinced her rapist is the father. Marie closes herself off in a destructive silence, ultimately leading her to commit an irreparable act.
Other Press | 9781892746870
TOUCH THE NIGHT by Max Booth III (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Paperback Original
Something sinister is hiding in the small town of Percy, Indiana, and 12-year-old Joshua Washington and Alonzo Jones are about to find themselves up close and personal with it. After a harmless night of petty property damage leads to the unthinkable, the red and blue lights of a cop car are the last things these boys want to see. Especially a cop car driven by something not quite human. Enter Mary Washington and Ottessa Jones. Their sons have been best friends for years, and now Josh and Alonzo have been abducted in the dead of night. Worst of all, the local sheriff refuses to believe they're missing, leaving it up to Mary and Ottessa to take the law into their own hands before a family of ungodly lunatics can complete a ritual decades in the making.
Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing | 9781943720477
WE CAME HERE TO SHINE by Susie Orman Schnall (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
WE CAME HERE TO SHINE is set at the iconic 1939 New York World’s Fair. Gorgeous Vivi is the star of the Aquacade synchronized swimming spectacular, and plucky Max is a journalist for the fair’s daily paper. Both are striving to make their way in a world where men try to control their actions and where secrets are closely kept. But when Vivi and Max become friends and their personal and professional prospects are put in jeopardy, they team up to help each other succeed and to realize their dreams during the most meaningful summer of their lives.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250169785
On Sale the Week of June 22nd in Hardcover
June 23rd
DEATH IN HER HANDS by Ottessa Moshfegh (Metaphysical Thriller)
While on her daily walk with her dog in a secluded woods, a woman comes across a note, handwritten and carefully pinned to the ground by stones. "Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn't me. Here is her dead body." But there is no dead body. With very little to go on, our narrator invents a list of murder suspects and possible motives for the crime. Oddly, her suppositions begin to find correspondences in the real world, and the fog of mystery starts to fade into menacing certainty. As her investigation widens, strange dissonances accrue, perhaps associated with the darkness in her own past. We must face the prospect that there is either an innocent explanation for all this or a much more sinister one.
Penguin Press | 9781984879356
ELIZA STARTS A RUMOR by Jane L. Rosen (Fiction)
When Eliza Hunt created The Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board 15 years ago, she was happily entrenched in her picture-perfect suburban life. Now, with an empty nest and a crippling case of agoraphobia, the once-fun hobby has become her lifeline. So when a rival parenting forum threatens the site’s existence, she doesn’t think twice before fabricating a salacious rumor to spark things up a bit. It doesn’t take long before that spark becomes a flame. Across town, new mom and site devotee Olivia York is thrown into a tailspin by what she reads on the Bulletin Board. Allison Le is making cyber friends with a woman who isn’t quite who she says she is. And Amanda Cole, Eliza’s childhood friend, may just hold the key to unearthing why Eliza can’t step out of her front door.
Berkley | 9780593102084
THE FALLING WOMAN by Richard Farrell (Fiction)
First, it’s just a barely believable rumor: one person may have survived the midair explosion of a passenger jet on a cross-country course from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. But soon she becomes a national media sensation when “the Falling Woman,” as the press dubs her, is said to have been taken to a Wichita hospital --- and then to have disappeared without a trace. As a dedicated National Transportation Safety Bureau agent joins the search for clues, he becomes drawn into the woman’s moving and personal fight to keep secret the story of her survival, even from her own family, and possibly at risk to his own career.
Algonquin Books | 9781616208578
THE GIRL FROM WIDOW HILLS by Megan Miranda (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book, and fame followed. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye. Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, she goes by Olivia. But with the 20th anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking outside her home. Until late one night she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows --- from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501165429
THE LAST FLIGHT by Julie Clark (Psychological Thriller)
Claire Cook has a perfect life. Married to the scion of a political dynasty, with a Manhattan townhouse and a staff of 10, her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems, and she has worked for months on a plan to vanish. A chance meeting in an airport bar brings Claire together with Eva, whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together they make a last-minute decision to switch tickets, believing that the swap will give each of them the head start they need to begin again somewhere far away. But when one of the flights goes down, Claire realizes it's no longer a head start but a new life. With the news of her death about to explode in the media, Claire will assume Eva's identity --- and, along with it, the secrets Eva fought so hard to keep hidden.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728215723
LOST RIVER by J. Todd Scott (Thriller)
When the small town of Angel, Kentucky, is rocked by the vicious killing of an entire infamous local crime family, the bloody aftermath brings together three people already struggling with Angel's opioid epidemic: Trey, a young medic-in-training with secrets to hide; Special Agent Casey Alexander, a DEA agent who won't let the local law or small-town way of doing things stand in her way; and Paul Mayfield, a former police chief who's had to watch his own young wife succumb to addiction. Over the course of 24 hours, loyalties are tested, the corrupt are exposed, and the horrible truth of the largest drug operation in the region is revealed.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735212947
LOVE by Roddy Doyle (Fiction)
Davy and Joe were drinking pals back in their Dublin youth. Davy rarely sees Joe for a pint anymore --- maybe one or two when Davy comes over from England to check on his elderly father. But tonight Davy's father is dying in the hospice, and Joe has a secret that will lead the two on a bender back to the haunts of their youth. Joe had left his wife and family a year earlier for another woman, Jessica. Davy knows her too, or should --- she was the girl of their dreams four decades earlier, the girl with the cello in George's pub. As Joe's story unfolds across Dublin, so too do the memories of what eventually drove Davy from Ireland: the upheaval that Faye, his feisty, profane wife, would bring into his life; his father's somber disapproval; the pained spaces left behind when a parent dies.
Viking | 9781984880451
THE MIST by Ragnar Jonasson (Mystery/Thriller)
1987. An isolated farm house in the east of Iceland. The snowstorm should have shut everybody out. But it didn't. The couple should never have let him in. But they did. An unexpected guest, a liar, a killer. Not all will survive the night. And Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir will be haunted forever. THE MIST is the final nail-biting installment in Ragnar Jonasson's critically acclaimed Hidden Iceland series.
Minotaur Books | 9781250768117
THE MOUNTAINS WILD by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Mystery)
Twenty-three years ago, Maggie D'arcy's family received a call from the Dublin police. Her cousin, Erin, has been missing for several days. Maggie herself spent weeks in Ireland, trying to track Erin's movements, working beside the police. But it was to no avail. The experience inspired Maggie to become a cop. More than 20 years later, she is a detective and a divorced mother of a teenager. When the Gardaí call to say that Erin's scarf has been found and another young woman has gone missing, Maggie returns to Ireland, awakening all the complicated feelings from the first trip. The despair and frustration of not knowing what happened to Erin. Her attraction to Erin's coworker, who never fully explained their relationship. And her determination to solve the case.
Minotaur Books | 9781250256430
NOTHING CAN HURT YOU by Nicola Maye Goldberg (Psychological Thriller)
On a cold day in 1997, student Sara Morgan was killed in the woods surrounding her liberal arts college in upstate New York. Her boyfriend, Blake Campbell, confessed, his plea of temporary insanity raising more questions than it answered. In the wake of his acquittal, the case comes to haunt a strange and surprising network of community members, from the young woman who discovers Sara's body to the junior reporter who senses its connection to convicted local serial killer John Logan. Others are looking for retribution or explanation: Sara's half-sister, stifled by her family's bereft silence about Blake, poses as a babysitter and seeks out her own form of justice, while the teenager Sara used to babysit starts writing to Logan in prison.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781635574883
THE ORDER OF THE PURE MOON REFLECTED IN WATER by Zen Cho (Fantasy/Adventure)
Zen Cho returns with THE ORDER OF THE PURE MOON REFLECTED IN WATER, a found family wuxia fantasy that combines the vibrancy of old school martial arts movies with characters drawn from the margins of history. A bandit walks into a coffeehouse, and it all goes downhill from there. Guet Imm, a young votary of the Order of the Pure Moon, joins up with an eclectic group of thieves (whether they like it or not) in order to protect a sacred object, and finds herself in a far more complicated situation than she ever could have imagined.
Tor.com | 9781250269256
WHAT'S LEFT OF ME IS YOURS by Stephanie Scott (Fiction)
In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the "wakaresaseya" (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings. When Satō hires Kaitarō, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Satō has never truly understood Rina or her desires, and Kaitarō's job is to do exactly that --- until he does it too well. While Rina remains ignorant of the circumstances that brought them together, she and Kaitarō fall in a desperate, singular love, setting in motion a series of violent acts that will forever haunt her daughter's life.
Doubleday | 9780385544702
June 24th
DEAD GIRL BLUES by Lawrence Block (Noir Thriller)
You might as well know this going in: Lawrence Block's new novel is not for everyone. It's recounted in journal form by its protagonist, and begins when he walks into a roadhouse outside of Bakersfield, California, and walks out with a woman. And rapes and murders her. But, um, not in that order. Right. But it's what he does with the rest of his life that's really interesting.
LB Productions | 9781951939632
On Sale the Week of June 22nd in Paperback
June 23rd
THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO by Christy Lefteri (Fiction)
Nuri is a beekeeper, and Afra, his wife, is an artist. Mornings, Nuri rises early to hear the call to prayer before driving to his hives in the countryside. On weekends, Afra sells her colorful landscape paintings at the open-air market. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the hills of the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo --- until the unthinkable happens. When all they love is destroyed by war, Nuri knows they have no choice except to leave their home. But escaping Syria will be no easy task: Afra has lost her sight, leaving Nuri to navigate her grief as well as a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece toward an uncertain future in Britain.
Ballantine Books | 9780593128176
BLACK SUN by Owen Matthews (Historical Thriller)
It is the dawn of the 1960s. In order to investigate the gruesome death of a brilliant young physicist, KGB officer Major Alexander Vasin must leave Moscow for Arzamas-16, a top-secret research city that does not appear on any map. There he comes up against the brightest, most cutthroat brain trust in Russia who, on the orders of Nikita Khrushchev himself, are building a nuclear weapon with 3,800 times the destructive potential of the Hiroshima bomb. RDS-220 is a project of such vital national importance that, unlike everyone else in the Soviet Union, the scientists of Arzamas-16 are free to think and act, live and love as they wish, so long as they complete the project and prove to their capitalist enemies that the USSR now commands the heights of nuclear supremacy.
Anchor | 9780525436119
THE CONFESSIONS OF FRANNIE LANGTON by Sara Collins (Historical Mystery/Thriller)
All of London is abuzz with the scandalous case of Frannie Langton, accused of the brutal double murder of her employers: renowned scientist George Benham and his eccentric French wife, Marguerite. Frannie claims she cannot recall what happened that fateful evening, though she does have a tale to tell: a story of her childhood on a Jamaican plantation, her apprenticeship under a debauched scientist who stretched all bounds of ethics, and the events that brought her into the Benhams’ London home --- and into a passionate and forbidden relationship. Though her testimony may seal her conviction, the truth will unmask the perpetrators of crimes far beyond murder and indict the whole of English society itself.
Harper Perennial | 9780062851802
THE DARWIN AFFAIR by Tim Mason (Historical Mystery/Thriller)
London, June 1860: When an assassination attempt is made on Queen Victoria, and a petty thief is gruesomely murdered moments later, Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field quickly surmises that the crimes are connected. Was Victoria really the assassin’s target? Or were both crimes part of an even more sinister plot? Field’s investigation soon exposes a shocking conspiracy: the publication of Charles Darwin’s controversial ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES has set off a string of terrible crimes. As the investigation takes Field from the dangerous alleyways of London to the hallowed halls of Oxford, the list of possible conspirators grows, and the body count escalates. And as he edges closer to the dastardly madman called the Chorister, he uncovers dark secrets that were meant to remain forever hidden.
Algonquin Books | 9781643750460
A DOG’S PROMISE: A Dog's Purpose Novel by W. Bruce Cameron (Fiction)
A DOG'S PROMISE continues the story of Bailey, the good dog whose journey started in A DOG'S PURPOSE and continued in A DOG'S JOURNEY (both major motion pictures). This time, Bailey is joined by Lacey, another very special dog, who helps Bailey fulfill his promise over the course of several lives. This charming, wise canine soul brings joy, laughter and comfort as he unites a family fractured by life's inevitable obstacles. The love and loyalty of these two memorable dogs shows us the incredible power of hope, truth and unending devotion.
Forge Books | 9781250163493
DONNA HAS LEFT THE BUILDING by Susan Jane Gilman (Fiction)
Forty-five-year-old Donna Koczynski is an ex-punk rocker, a recovering alcoholic, and the mother of two teenagers whose suburban existence detonates when she comes home early from a sales conference in Las Vegas to the surprise of a lifetime. As her world implodes, she sets off on an epic road trip to reclaim everything she believes she's sacrificed since her wild youth: great friendship, passionate love and her art. But as she careens across the U.S. from Detroit to New York to Memphis to Nashville, nothing turns out as she imagines. Ultimately, she finds herself resurrected on the other side of the globe, on a remote island embroiled in a crisis far bigger than her own.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538762424
THE HARD STUFF: A Joe the Bouncer Thriller by David Gordon (Thriller)
Still reeling from a particularly difficult operation, and having plummeted back into the drug and alcohol addiction that got him kicked out of the military as a result, Joe Brody has just managed to detox at the clinic of a Chinese herbalist when the mob bosses phone: they need Joe to help them swindle a group of opioid dealers (of all things). But these are no typical drug-ferrying gangsters. Little Maria, the head of the Dominican mob, has discovered that her new heroin suppliers belong to an al-Qaeda splinter group, and that they're planning to use their drug funds to back their terrorist agenda. With Joe in command, the mob coalition must pull off an intricate heist that will begin in Manhattan's diamond district.
Mysterious Press | 9780802149053
HEAD OVER HEELS by Hannah Orenstein (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
The past seven years have been hard on Avery Abrams. After training her entire life to make the Olympic gymnastics team, a disastrous performance ended her athletic career for good. Her best friend and teammate, Jasmine, went on to become an Olympic champion, then committed the ultimate betrayal by marrying their emotionally abusive coach, Dimitri. Now, reeling from a breakup with her football star boyfriend, Avery returns to her Massachusetts hometown, where new coach Ryan asks her to help him train a promising young gymnast with Olympic aspirations. Back in the gym, she’s surprised to find sparks flying with Ryan. But when a shocking scandal in the gymnastics world breaks, it has shattering effects not only for the sport but also for Avery and Jasmine.
Atria Books | 9781982121471
THE ISLAND by Ragnar Jonasson (Mystery/Thriller)
Autumn of 1987 takes a young couple on a romantic trip in the Westfjords holiday --- a trip that gets an unexpected ending and has catastrophic consequences. Ten years later, a small group of friends go for a weekend in an old hunting lodge in Elliðaey --- a place completely cut off from the outside world --- to reconnect. But one of them isn't going to make it out alive. And Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is determined to find the truth in the darkness.
Minotaur Books | 9781250621856
LADY IN THE LAKE by Laura Lippman (Historical Mystery/Thriller)
Drawing on her own secrets, Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz helps Baltimore police find a murdered girl --- assistance that leads to a job at the city’s afternoon newspaper, the Star. Working at the newspaper offers Maddie the opportunity to make her name, and she has found just the story to do it: a missing woman whose body was discovered in the fountain of a city park lake. Cleo Sherwood was a young African-American woman who liked to have a good time. No one seems to know or care why she was killed except Maddie --- and the dead woman herself. Maddie is going to find the truth about Cleo’s life and death. Cleo’s ghost, privy to Maddie’s poking and prying, wants to be left alone.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062390028
THE LAGER QUEEN OF MINNESOTA by J. Ryan Stradal (Fiction)
Two sisters, one farm. A family is split when their father leaves their shared inheritance entirely to Helen, his younger daughter. Despite baking award-winning pies at the local nursing home, her older sister, Edith, struggles to make what most people would call a living. So she can't help wondering what her life would have been like with even a portion of the farm money her sister kept for herself. With the proceeds from the farm, Helen builds one of the most successful light breweries in the country. Yet one day, Helen will find that she needs some help herself, and she could find a potential savior close to home…if it's not too late.
Penguin Books | 9780399563065
PARTY OF TWO by Jasmine Guillory (Romance)
Paperback Original
Dating is the last thing on Olivia Monroe’s mind when she moves to LA to start her own law firm. But when she meets a gorgeous man at a hotel bar and they spend the entire night flirting, she discovers too late that he is none other than hotshot junior senator Max Powell. Olivia is surprised to find that Max is sweet, funny and noble --- not just some privileged white politician she assumed him to be. Because of Max’s high-profile job, they start seeing each other secretly, which leads to clandestine dates and silly disguises. But when they finally go public, the intense media scrutiny means people are now digging up her rocky past and criticizing her job. Olivia knows that what she has with Max is something special, but is it strong enough to survive the heat of the spotlight?
Berkley | 9780593100820
THE PERFECT FRAUD by Ellen LaCorte (Psychological Thriller)
When we first meet Claire, she’s living in Sedona, Arizona, with her boyfriend Cal and ducking calls from her mother. Her mom is a world class psychic on the East Coast, and Claire doesn’t want her to discover the truth. Claire works in the family business and calls herself a psychic, but she doesn’t really have “the gift” and hasn’t for a long time. She's a fraud. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Rena, a young mother, has family issues of her own. She’s divorced, and her four-year-old daughter, Stephanie, suffers from mysterious, seemingly incurable stomach problems. When Claire and Rena meet by chance on an airplane, their carefully constructed lives begin to explode. Can these two women help each other, and can they help Stephanie before it’s too late?
Harper Paperbacks | 9780062906083
PRAIRIE FEVER by Michael Parker (Historical Fiction)
The Stewart sisters, pragmatic Lorena and chimerical Elise, are bound together not only by their isolation on the prairie of early 1900s Oklahoma, but also by their deep emotional reliance on each other. They’re all they’ve got...until Gus McQueen arrives in Lone Wolf. An inexperienced first-time teacher, Gus is challenged by the sisters’ wit and ingenuity. Then one impulsive decision and a cataclysmic blizzard trap Elise and her horse on the prairie --- and the balance of everything is forever changed.
Algonquin Books | 9781643750453
THE SUBSTITUTION ORDER by Martin Clark (Legal Thriller)
Kevin Moore, once a high-flying Virginia attorney, hits rock bottom after a tumultuous summer leaves him disbarred and separated from his wife. Short on cash and looking for work, he lands in the middle of nowhere with a job at SUBstitution, the world’s saddest sandwich shop. His closest confidants: a rambunctious rescue puppy and the 20-year-old computer whiz manning the restaurant counter beside him. Kevin is determined to set his life right again, but the troubles keep coming, including a visit from a mysterious stranger who wanders into the shop armed with a threatening “invitation” to join a multimillion-dollar scam. Before long, Kevin will need every bit of his legal savvy just to stay out of prison.
Vintage | 9780525566564
THE SWAP by Robyn Harding (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Low Morrison is not your average teen. She just doesn’t fit in --- and neither does Freya, a once-famous social media influencer who now owns the local pottery studio. After signing up for a class, Low quickly falls under Freya’s spell. And Freya is compelled to share her darkest secrets and deepest desires. Finally, both feel a sense of belonging...that is, until Jamie walks through the studio door. Desperate for a baby, she and her husband have moved to the island hoping that the healthy environment will result in a pregnancy. Freya and Jamie become fast friends, as do their husbands, leaving Low alone once again. Then one night, after a boozy dinner party, Freya suggests swapping partners. It should have been a harmless fling between consenting adults, but instead it upends their lives.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781982141769
TAKE A HINT, DANI BROWN by Talia Hibbert (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. So she asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits. When big, brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and former rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact to him, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Suddenly, half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae --- and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf is secretly a hopeless romantic --- and he’s determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism.
Avon | 9780062941237
THAT SUMMER IN MAINE by Brianna Wolfson (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Years ago, during a certain summer in Maine, two young women, unaware of each other, met a charismatic man at a craft fair and each had a brief affair with him. For Jane, it was a chance to bury her recent pain in raw passion and redirect her life. For Susie, it was a fling that gave her troubled marriage a way forward. Now, 16 years later, the family lives these women have made are suddenly upended when their teenage girls meet as strangers on social media. They concoct a plan to spend the summer in Maine with the man who is their biological father. Their determination puts them on a collision course with their mothers, who must finally meet and acknowledge their shared past and join forces as they risk losing their only daughters to a man they barely know.
Mira | 9780778351238
THE TITANIC SECRET: An Isaac Bell Adventure by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul (Historical Thriller/Adventure)
A century apart, NUMA Director Dirk Pitt and detective Isaac Bell team up to unlock the truth about the most famous maritime disaster of all time. In the present day, Pitt makes a daring rescue from inside an antiquated submersible in the waters off New York City. His reward afterwards is a document left behind a century earlier by legendary detective Isaac Bell --- a document that re-opens a historical mystery. In 1911, in Colorado, Isaac Bell is asked to look into an unexplained tragedy at Little Angel Mine, in which nine people died. His dangerous quest to answer the riddle leads to a larger puzzle centered on byzanium, a rare element with extraordinary powers and of virtually incalculable value.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593085721
June 27th
WHILE NOBODY IS WATCHING by Michelle Dunne (Thriller)
Paperback Original
They called it peacekeeping. For Corporal Lindsey Ryan, it was anything but. It’s been three years since that bright day in the Golan Heights and the explosion that killed two and changed the survivors forever. Now Lindsey deals with the many problems of the city’s troubled youth, to distract her from her own. But as damp days turn to night, the kids return home, or somewhere like it, and she returns to her own private war. One that exists solely for her. Certain that she’s being watched and certain that she’s losing her mind, Lindsey battles with the demons of post-traumatic stress, while a very real threat edges ever closer until she finds herself face to face with someone who wants nothing more than to finally help her to die. And it’s the last person she ever could have seen coming.
BAD PRESS iNK | 9781916084537
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