May 28, 2024

May 28, 2024

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of May 27th and June 3rd 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 "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com. Three book groups will win up to 12 copies of GOOD NIGHT, IRENE, which releases in paperback on June 4th. In this New York Times bestselling novel, Luis Alberto Urrea delivers an overlooked story of women’s heroism in World War II. The deadline for your entries is Wednesday, June 12th at noon ET.

Join Us Tomorrow (Wednesday) Night!

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

Here are four upcoming virtual book and author events that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links for more info and to register.

Wednesday, May 29th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry --- will talk to three-time Emmy Award winner Sunny Hostin about her new book, SUMMER ON HIGHLAND BEACH, the captivating third entry in her Summer Beach series.

Wednesday, May 29th at 8pm ET: "Bookaccino Live" Book Group: Carol Fitzgerald will talk to Ann Napolitano about her most recent book, HELLO BEAUTIFUL, as well as her 2004 debut novel, WITHIN ARM'S REACH. Ann also will answer questions from guests who will be "on stage," as well as from other members of the audience. If you would like to be one of our featured audience guests and ask Ann a question on camera, please email Carol with the subject line “Ann” by May 29th at noon ET.

Thursday, May 30th at 6pm ET: Queens Public Library: Eve J. Chung will discuss her extraordinary debut novel, DAUGHTERS OF SHANDONG, which is based on her family story about a mother and her daughters and their harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China.

Tuesday, June 4th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble Book Club: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Rachel Khong for a live virtual event to discuss REAL AMERICANS, May's B&N Book Club pick. Rachel will be in conversation with Shannon DeVito, the Sr. Director of Book Strategy and Customer Experience at B&N, and Miwa Messer, the host and Executive Producer of B&N's “Poured Over” podcast.

This Week's Bonus News:
Our "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com
Enter to Win Up to 12 Paperback Copies of
GOOD NIGHT, IRENE by Luis Alberto Urrea for Your Group

On Sale the Week of May 27th in Hardcover

May 28th

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF by Onyi Nwabineli (Fiction)
Anuri Chinasa was the unwilling star of her stepmother’s social media empire before “momfluencers” were even a thing. For years, Ophelia documented every birthday, skinned knee, milestone and meltdown for millions of strangers to fawn over and pick apart. Now, at 25, Anuri is desperate to put her way-too-public past behind her and start living on her own terms. But she can barely walk down the street without someone recognizing her, and the fraught relationship with her father has fallen apart. Then there’s her PhD application (still unfinished) and her drinking problem (still going strong). Plus, Ophelia is never far away and has made it clear she won’t go down without a fight. With Noelle, Anuri’s five-year-old half-sister now being forced down the same path, Anuri discovers she has a new mission in life: to take back control of the family narrative.
Graydon House | 9781525896033

THE CALL TO SERVE: The Life of an American President, George Herbert Walker Bush by Jon Meacham (Biography)
In honor of the 100th anniversary of George H. W. Bush’s birth, THE CALL TO SERVE is an intimate, illuminating portrait of a man who was so much more than just his politics. In words and images --- many found in a lifetime of scrapbooks kept by Barbara Pierce Bush --- Jon Meacham brings George H. W. Bush vividly to life. From the values of integrity, empathy and grace that Bush learned in childhood to his leadership at the highest levels in tumultuous times, the 41st president embodied an ideal of service that warrants attention in our own divided time. Set against the background of America during the 20th and 21st centuries, this book commemorates the legacy of a man who was far from perfect --- he could be cutthroat on the campaign trail --- but whose ambition was not an end unto itself.
Random House | 9780593729458

CAMINO GHOSTS by John Grisham (Thriller)
In John Grisham’s third thriller set on Camino Island, popular bookseller Bruce Cable tells Mercer Mann an irresistible tale that might be her next novel. A giant resort developer is using its political muscle and deep pockets to claim ownership of a deserted island between Florida and Georgia. Only the last living inhabitant of the island, Lovely Jackson, stands in its way. What the developer doesn’t know is that the island has a remarkable history, and locals believe it is cursed…and the past is never the past.
Doubleday | 9780385545990

FIRST FROST: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
It’s the summer of 1964, and recent college graduates Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear enlist to serve in the Vietnam War. As they catch a few final waves in California before reporting for duty, a sudden storm assaults the shores and capsizes a nearby cargo boat. Walt and Henry jump to action, but it’s soon revealed by the police who greet them ashore that the sunken boat carried valuable contraband from underground sources. The boys head out on Route 66. The question, of course, is how far they will get before the consequences of their actions catch up to them. Back in the present day, Walt is forced to speak before a judge following the fatal events of THE LONGMIRE DEFENSE. With powerful enemies lurking behind the scenes, the sheriff of Absaroka County must consider his options if he wishes to finish the fight he started.
Viking | 9780593830673

A GOOD LIFE written by Virginie Grimaldi, translated by Hildegarde Serle (Fiction)
Emma and Agathe are sisters. They were thick as thieves when they were young but have always been as different as can be. Agathe, the younger sister, is disorderly, chaotic and fiery. Five years older, Emma has always been the more mature sister --- the defender, the protector, the worrier. Their relationship as adults is scarred by a tragedy that transformed their happy, ordinary childhoods into something much more complex and challenging. For a long time, Emma hasn’t wanted to be involved in Agathe’s life. But then they must return together to the Basque Country --- to the house of their adored grandmother, to empty out her home and in the process to reconcile, to remember, and to pour out what is in their hearts.
Europa Editions | 9798889660248

IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME by Alex Finlay (Mystery/Thriller)
For the past five years, Ryan Richardson has relived that terrible night. The car door ripping open. The crushing blow to the head. The hands yanking him from the vehicle. His girlfriend Ali’s piercing scream as she is taken. With no trace of Ali or the car, a cloud of suspicion hangs over Ryan. He’s never charged, though that doesn’t matter to the podcasters and internet trolls. Now, Ryan has changed his last name and entered law school. While on a summer trip abroad to Italy with his law-school classmates, Ryan gets a call from his father: Ali's car has finally been found, submerged in a lake in his hometown. Inside are two dead men and a cryptic note with five words written on the envelope in Ali’s handwriting: If something happens to me…  Then, halfway around the world, Ryan sees the man who has haunted his dreams since that night.
Minotaur Books | 9781250863799

KNIFE RIVER by Justine Champine (Literary Mystery)
When Jess was 13, her mother went for a walk and never returned. Jess and her older sister, Liz, never found out what happened. As soon as she was old enough, Jess fled their small town of Knife River, aimless in her attempts to outrun grief and confusion. But 15 years after their mother’s disappearance, she gets the call she’s been bracing for: Her mother’s remains have been found. Jess returns to find Knife River --- and her sister --- frozen in time. Jess plans to stay only until they get some answers, but their mother’s bones, exposed to the elements for so long, just leave them with more questions. As Jess gets caught up in the case and falls back into an entanglement with her high school girlfriend, her understanding of the past, of Liz, of their mother and of herself becomes more complicated --- and the list of theories more ominous.
The Dial Press | 9780593447208

LONG HAUL: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers by Frank Figliuzzi (True Crime)
In 2004, the FBI was tipped off to a gruesome pattern of unsolved murders along American roadways. Today at least 850 homicides have been linked to a solitary breed of predators: long-haul truck drivers. They have been given names like the “Truck Stop Killer,” who rigged a traveling torture chamber in the rear of his truck and is suspected to have killed 50 women, and “The Interstate Strangler,” who once answered a phone call from his mother while killing one of his dozen victims. The crisis was such that the FBI opened a special unit, the Highway Serial Killings Initiative. The transient nature of the offenders and multiple jurisdictions involved make these cases incredibly difficult to solve. Based on his own on-the-ground research and drawing on his 25-year career as an FBI special agent, Frank Figliuzzi investigates the most terrifying of these cases.
Mariner Books | 9780063265158

A LOVELY LIE by Jaime Lynn Hendricks (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
The night of their senior picnic in 1999, Scarlett Russo and her best friend, Pepper, were involved in a car accident that left two of their classmates dead. Afterward, they lied to the police, protecting each other from the consequences. Then Pepper left town, and Scarlett never heard from her again. Twenty-two years later, Scarlett has buried that deadly incident deep in her mind and built a comfortable life for herself. However, her peace is disrupted when Pepper’s daughter shows up with news of Pepper’s death. Zoey has a cryptic letter from Pepper addressed to Scarlett that alludes to the events of that fateful night and Pepper’s initial intentions to get an abortion. Now Zoey wants answers about her mother’s past. Who is Zoey’s father? And what really happened after the senior picnic?
Scarlet | 9781613165188

NERO by Conn Iggulden (Historical Thriller)
The story begins with a hand curled around another man’s throat. This is Roman justice: Emperor Tiberius first dispatches a traitor --- a friend he once trusted with the city --- then the man's whole family and all of his friends. It is as if he never existed. Into this fevered forum, a child is born. His mother is Agrippina, the granddaughter of Emperor Augustus. But their imperial blood is neither balm nor protection. Rather, it is a liability. As the aging, paranoid Tiberius becomes blind to the ignoble end awaiting him, Agrippina sees the future. Her once-exiled brother, Caligula, is next in succession, which brings her another step closer to the heart of the empire --- to power, ambition and danger. One mistake risks exile, incarceration, execution…or, worst of all, perhaps the loss of her infant son.
Pegasus Books | 9781639366545

THE PASSIONATE TUDOR: A Novel of Queen Mary I by Alison Weir (Historical Fiction)
Born from young King Henry’s first marriage, his elder daughter, Princess Mary, is raised to be queen once it becomes clear that her mother, Katherine of Aragon, will bear no more children. However, Henry’s passion for Anne Boleyn has a devastating influence on the young princess’s future when, determined to sire a male heir, he marries Anne, has his marriage to Katherine declared unlawful, brands Mary illegitimate, and banishes them both from the royal court. But when Anne also fails to produce a son, she is beheaded and Mary is allowed to return to court as the default heir. Mary eventually triumphs and becomes queen, but any hopes that she will show religious toleration are dashed when she embarks on a ruthless campaign to force Catholicism on the English by burning hundreds of Protestants at the stake.
Ballantine Books | 9780593355107

THE SAFEKEEP by Yael van der Wouden (Historical Fiction)
It is 1961, and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be --- led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother, Louis, brings his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season. Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house, Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation --- leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668034347

THE SECOND COMING by Garth Risk Hallberg (Fiction)
Spring, 2011. When 13-year-old Jolie Aspern goes down onto the subway tracks to retrieve her dropped phone --- and nearly gets hit by a train --- the last thing she wants is sympathy from her estranged dad, Ethan. A recovering addict and felon, Ethan has long struggled to see beyond himself. But when news of Jolie’s accident reaches him, Ethan comes to fear she’s in more serious trouble than anyone realizes. And believing he’s the only one who can save her, he decides to return home. So begins the journey of Jolie and Ethan. It will stretch from Manhattan in the midst of the Great Recession to a remote beach on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where their lives really began. In time, it will push Jolie out past her depth with a mysterious stranger, and Ethan in over his head with his first love --- Jolie’s mom.
Knopf | 9780593536926

SOUTHERN MAN by Greg Iles (Political Thriller)
Fifteen years after the events of the Natchez Burning trilogy, Penn Cage carries a mortal secret that separates him from the world. But his exile comes to an end when a brawl at a Mississippi rap festival triggers a bloody mass shooting that nearly takes the life of his daughter. Antebellum plantation homes continue to burn, and the deadly attacks are claimed by a Black radical group as historic acts of justice. Panic sweeps through the tourist communities, driving them inexorably toward a race war. But what might have been only a regional sideshow of the 2024 Presidential election explodes into national prominence, thanks to the stunning ascent of Robert E. Lee White, a Southern war hero who seizes the public’s imagination as a third-party candidate. To triumph over the national party machines, Bobby evolves a plan of unimaginable daring.
William Morrow | 9780062824691

SUMMER ON HIGHLAND BEACH by Sunny Hostin (Fiction)
Founded in the late 1800s by the son of Frederick Douglass, Highland Beach along the Chesapeake Bay is the oldest Black resort community in America. Inside this proud and secluded beach community of about 100 private homes is Olivia Jones’ legacy. But Oliva’s legacy comes with thorns --- intertwined are secrets of her aunt’s death; a controlling grandmother who is determined to crush anyone or anything that will interfere with her son’s political career; and a father who wants to rebuild the family he rejected decades ago. In the midst of tense family drama, Olivia must decide if she wants to return to the beautiful life she’s created in Sag Harbor --- with the neighbors and wonderful man who have become central to her happiness --- or finally achieve her dream of having a family and home to call her own in Highland Beach.
William Morrow | 9780062994257

A WALK IN THE PARK: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko (Travel/Memoir)
A few years after quitting his job to follow an ill-advised dream of becoming a guide on the Colorado River, Kevin Fedarko was approached by his best friend, the National Geographic photographer Pete McBride, with a vision as bold as it was harebrained. Together, they would embark on an end-to-end traverse of the Grand Canyon --- a journey that McBride promised would be “a walk in the park.” Against his better judgment, Fedarko agreed to the scheme, unaware that the small cluster of experts who had completed the crossing billed it as “the toughest hike in the world.” The ensuing ordeal, which lasted more than a year, revealed a place that was deeper, richer and far more complex than anything the two men had imagined --- and came within a hair’s breadth of killing them both.
Scribner | 9781501183058

THE WINNER by Teddy Wayne (Literary Thriller/Dark Humor)
Conor O’Toole has never been anywhere as casually glamorous as Cutters Neck, a gated community near Cape Cod. It’s a sweet deal for the summer: free lodging in a guest cottage in exchange for tennis lessons. In this oceanfront paradise, however, new clients prove hard to come by, and Conor has bills to pay. Then a sharp-tongued divorcée appears, offering him double his usual rate. Soon he realizes Catherine is expecting additional, off-the-court services for her money, and Conor tumbles into a secret erotic affair unlike anything he’s experienced before. Despite his steamy flings with a woman twice his age, he simultaneously finds himself falling for the artsy, outspoken girl he met on the beach. Conor somehow finds a way to manage this tangled web --- until he makes one final, irreversible mistake.
Harper | 9780063353596

YOU ARE HERE by David Nicholls (Romance/Humor)
Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house. Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by. When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of 10-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.
Harper | 9780063394056

On Sale the Week of May 27th in Paperback

May 28th

THE ACT OF DISAPPEARING by Nathan Gower (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
Julia White is struggling. Her bartending job isn’t cutting it, and her first book has sold hardly any copies. She’s barely able to make ends meet while drowning in her late mother’s medical bills and reeling after a one-night stand with her ex-boyfriend, who’s now completely ghosted her. Enter world-renowned photographer Johnathan Aster with a proposal: he has a never-before-seen photograph of a woman falling from a train bridge, clutching what appears to be a baby. And he wants Julia to research the story. Alternating between present-day Brooklyn and Kentucky as it enters the 1960s, the story unfolds as Julia races to find answers: Who was the woman in the photograph? Why was she on the bridge? And what happened to the baby? Each detail is more propulsive than the last as Julia discovers a story more staggering than anything she could have imagined.
Mira | 9780778369547

ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR by Virginia Heath (Historical Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
When Harry Kincaid’s older sister decides to join her husband on an Egyptian expedition, Harry is left minding her three unruly children and giant, mad dog. But Harry has a busy career at the Admiralty that requires all his attention. In desperation, he goes to Miss Prentice’s School for Young Ladies prepared to pay whatever it takes to hire an emergency governess. Thanks to her miserable, strict upbringing, fledgling governess Georgie Rowe believes childhood should be everything hers wasn’t. Thankfully, the three Pendleton children she has been tasked with looking after instantly embrace her unconventional educational approach. However, their staid, stickler-for-the-rules uncle is another matter entirely. Georgie and Harry continue to butt heads over their differences, but with time it seems that their attraction is undeniable.
St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250896070

BIG GAY WEDDING by Byron Lane (Fiction/Humor)
Barnett Durang has a secret. No, not THAT secret. His widowed mother has long known he’s gay. The secret is that Barnett is getting married. At his mother’s farm. In their small Louisiana town. She just doesn’t know it yet. It’ll be an intimate affair. Just 200 or so of the most fabulous folks Barnett is shipping in from the “heathen coasts,” as Mom likes to call them, turning her quiet rescue farm for misfit animals into a most unlikely wedding venue. But there are forces, both within this modern new family and in the town itself, that really don’t want to see this handsome couple march down the aisle. It’ll be the biggest, gayest event in the town’s history if they can pull it off. After a glitter-filled week, nothing will ever be the same.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250267160

CINNAMON GIRL: A Pacific Coast Highway Mystery by Daniel Weizmann (Neo-Noir Mystery)
Paperback Original
Adam Zantz is still driving for Lyft, struggling to make ends meet, when his beloved former piano teacher makes a deathbed request: He wants Zantz to prove his son’s innocence in a decades-earlier murder case. There doesn’t seem to be much hope of solving such a cold case --- until Zantz stumbles onto a test pressing of a never-released vinyl LP. The recording is of a high school garage band lost to the tides of the Paisley Underground, the acid-fueled early ’80s music scene that spawned the Bangles and the Three O'Clock. Down the psychedelic rabbit hole Adam falls, tracing the band's journey from the middle-class garage to the precipice of fame --- a twisted tale marked by crooked DJs, elder-scammers, wellness hucksters, a teen cult, and the woman who held the key to the band’s triumph and ruin.
Melville House | 9781685891152

DEEP AS THE SKY, RED AS THE SEA by Rita Chang-Eppig
(Historical Fiction/Adventure)
When Shek Yeung sees a Portuguese sailor slay her husband, a feared pirate, she knows she must act swiftly or die. Instead of mourning, Shek Yeung launches a new plan: immediately marrying her husband's second-in-command, and agreeing to bear him a son and heir, in order to retain power over her half of the fleet. But as Shek Yeung vies for control over the army she knows she was born to lead, larger threats loom. The Chinese Emperor has charged a brutal, crafty nobleman with ridding the South China Seas of pirates, and the Europeans --- tired of losing ships, men and money to Shek Yeung's alliance --- have new plans for the area. Even worse, Shek Yeung's cutthroat retributions create problems all their own.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639734085

DROWNING: The Rescue of Flight 1421 by T. J. Newman (Thriller)
Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean. During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors --- but it’s too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with 12 passengers trapped inside. More than 200 feet below the surface, engineer Will Kent and his 11-year-old daughter, Shannon, are waist-deep in water and fighting for their lives. Their only chance at survival is an elite rescue team on the surface led by professional diver Chris Kent --- Shannon’s mother and Will’s soon-to-be ex-wife --- who must work together with Will to find a way to save their daughter and rescue the passengers from the sealed airplane, which is now teetering on the edge of an undersea cliff. There’s not much time. There’s even less air.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982177928

FAMILY LORE by Elizabeth Acevedo (Fiction)
Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake --- a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led --- her sisters are surprised. Has Flor foreseen her own death, or someone else’s? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters: Matilde, Pastora and Camila. But Flor isn’t the only person with secrets: her sisters are hiding things, too. And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own. Spanning the three days prior to the wake, FAMILY LORE traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City.
Ecco | 9780063207271

THE GHOSTS OF BEATRICE BIRD by Louisa Morgan (Historical Fantasy)
Beatrice Bird is haunted by ghosts --- a gift she's had since she was a small child. Unfortunately, it's an ability that has now grown more intense, shifting from flashes and feelings to physical manifestations she can't escape. In a desperate attempt to find relief, Beatrice flees her home, her partner and her psychology practice in San Francisco for a remote island with only nuns and a few cows for company. She doesn’t call home. She sees as few people as she possibly can. Then she meets Anne Iredale, a timid woman who has lost everything that matters to her. For the first time in a long time, Beatrice's gift will be called on to help someone in need. But the ghosts have taken on an even darker edge --- and there is something sinister lurking in the shadows.
Redhook | 9780316628785

THE GIRLS OF SUMMER by Katie Bishop (Psychological Thriller)
Rachel has been in love with Alistair for 15 years. Even though she’s now married to someone else. Even though she was a teenager when they met. Even though he is 20 years older than her. Rachel and Alistair’s summer love affair on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island has consumed her since she was 17, obliterating everything in its wake. But as Rachel becomes increasingly obsessed with reliving the events of so long ago, she reconnects with the other girls who were similarly drawn to life on the island, where everyone acted in ways they never would at home. And as she does so, dark and deeply suppressed secrets about her first love affair begin to rise to the surface, as well as the truth about her time working for an enigmatic and wealthy man who controlled so much more than she ever could have realized.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250863935

HELLO STRANGER by Katherine Center (Romantic Comedy)
Struggling artist Sadie Montgomery has been named a finalist in the national portrait competition of her dreams. But then she winds up with a rare condition where human faces look like jumbled puzzle pieces. With only a few weeks to paint the best portrait of her entire life, Sadie will do anything to reverse her condition and get back to work, but it’s anyone’s guess when (or even if) that will happen. Enter her dog’s charming veterinarian (who may or may not be Sadie’s daydream fiancé) and her bowling-jacket-wearing, Vespa-riding neighbor (who she can’t seem to stay away from) --- both vying for her attention and adding to the chaos. The truth is, seeing the world differently has its upsides. And love has an undeniable way of giving us courage. And the best way of looking is always, always with the heart.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250336156

A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES by T. Kingfisher (Gothic Horror/Fantasy)
Sam Montgomery is excited for a rare extended visit with his mother and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine and watching murder mystery shows. But stepping inside, she quickly realizes that home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above. To find out what has her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.
Tor Nightfire | 9781250829818

THE LAUGHTER by Sonora Jha (Fiction)
Dr. Oliver Harding, a tenured professor of English, is long settled into the routines of a divorced, aging academic. But his quiet, staid life is upended by his new colleague, Ruhaba Khan, a dynamic Pakistani Muslim law professor. Ruhaba unexpectedly ignites Oliver’s long-dormant passions, a secret desire that quickly tips towards obsession after her teenaged nephew, Adil Alam, arrives from France to stay with her. Drawn to them, Oliver tries to reconcile his discomfort with the worlds from which they come, and to quiet his sense of dismay at the encroaching change they represent. After protests break out demanding diversity across the university, Oliver finds himself and his beliefs under fire, even as his past reveals a picture more complicated than it seems.
HarperVia | 9780063240261

LEARNED BY HEART by Emma Donoghue (Historical Romance)
Drawing on years of investigation and Anne Lister’s five-million-word secret journal, LEARNED BY HEART is the long-buried love story of Eliza Raine, an orphan heiress banished from India to England at age six, and Anne Lister, a brilliant, troublesome tomboy. Eliza and Anne meet at the Manor School for young ladies in York in 1805 when they are both 14.
Back Bay Books | 9780316564441

THE LEAVING SEASON: A Memoir by Kelly McMasters (Memoir/Essays)
Kelly McMasters found herself in her mid-30s living her fantasy: she’d moved with her husband from New York City to rural Pennsylvania, where their children roamed idyllic acres. The pastoral landscape and the bookshop they opened were restorative at first, for her and her marriage. But soon she was quietly plotting her escape. In THE LEAVING SEASON, McMasters chronicles the heady rush of falling in love and carving out a life in the city, the slow dissolution of her relationship in an isolated farmhouse, and the complexities of making a new home for herself and her children as a single parent. She delves into the tricky and often devastating balance between seeing and being seen; loss and longing; desire and doubt; and the paradox of leaving what you love in order to survive.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324076056

LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE by Kristan Higgins (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Lark Smith has always had a plan for her life: find a fantastic guy, create a marriage as blissful as her parents’, pop out a couple of kids, and build a rewarding career as an oncologist. Things aren’t going so well. For one, the guy didn’t work out. Two, she’s just been transferred out of oncology for being too emotional. Three, her parents just split up. A potential solution comes from the foul-tempered and renowned surgeon Lorenzo Santini (aka Dr. Satan), who needs a date this summer for his sister’s wedding. In exchange, he could make a few introductions and maybe get Lark back into the field of her choice. As a sucker for old people and fake relationships, Lark agrees. But she instantly falls for his big, warm family. Especially his estranged brother. Meanwhile, Lark’s mom has moved in with Lark’s colorful landlady, Joy, and an unlikely friendship blossoms.
Berkley | 9780593547656

THE MADWOMEN OF PARIS by Jennifer Cody Epstein (Historical Fiction)
When Josephine arrives at the Salpêtrière asylum, she is covered in blood, badly bruised and suffering from amnesia. She is quickly diagnosed with what the Paris papers are calling “the epidemic of the age”: hysteria, a disease so baffling and widespread that Doctor Jean-Martin Charcot, the asylum’s famous director, devotes many of his popular public lectures to the malady. But as Josephine’s fame grows, her memory starts to return --- and, with it, images of a terrible crime she’s convinced she’s committed. Haunted by these visions, she starts spiraling into seeming insanity. Laure, a ward assistant, begins to plot their escape from the Salpêtrière and its doctors. First, though, she must confirm whether Josephine is truly a madwoman, doomed to die in the asylum --- or a murderer, destined for the guillotine.
Ballantine Books | 9780593158029

MAKING A SCENE by Constance Wu (Memoir/Essays)
Growing up in the friendly suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, Constance Wu was often scolded for having big feelings or strong reactions. “Good girls don’t make scenes,” people warned her. And while she spent most of her childhood suppressing her bold, emotional nature, she found an early outlet in local community theater. At 18 she moved to New York, where she’d spend the next 10 years of her life auditioning, waiting tables and struggling to make rent before her two big breaks: the TV sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat” and the hit film Crazy Rich Asians. Through raw and relatable essays, Constance shares private memories of childhood, young love and heartbreak, sexual assault and harassment, and how she “made it” in Hollywood.
Scribner | 9781982188559

THE MEASURE by Nikki Erlick (Fiction/Magical Realism)
It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee and head out. But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live. From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise? As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063204218

MISTER MAGIC by Kiersten White (Supernatural Thriller)
Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program “Mister Magic,” the five surviving cast members --- known as the Circle of Friends --- have spent their lives searching for the happiness they felt while they were on it. Then a twist of fate brings them back together at the remote desert filming compound. Even though they haven’t seen each other for years, they understand one another better than anyone has since. After all, they’re the only ones who hold the secret of that circle, the mystery of the magic man in his infinitely black cape, and, maybe, the answers to what really happened on that deadly last day. But as the Circle of Friends reclaim parts of their past, they begin to wonder: Are they here by choice, or have they been lured into a trap?
Del Rey | 9780593359280

THE RACHEL INCIDENT by Caroline O'Donoghue (Fiction)
Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate, and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them. When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife.
Vintage | 9780593469446

RESURRECTION WALK: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel by Michael Connelly (Legal Thriller)
After getting a wrongfully convicted man out of prison, defense attorney Mickey Haller is inundated with pleas from incarcerated people claiming innocence. He enlists his half-brother, retired LAPD Detective Harry Bosch, to weed through the letters, knowing most claims will be false. Bosch pulls a needle from the haystack: a woman in prison for killing her husband, a sheriff’s deputy, but who still maintains her innocence. Bosch reviews the case and sees elements that don’t add up, and a sheriff’s department intent on bringing quick justice in the killing of one of its own. The path for both lawyer and investigator is fraught with danger from those who don’t want the case reopened and will stop at nothing to keep the Haller-Bosch dream team from finding the truth.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538767153

RETRIBUTION: A Koa Kane Hawaiian Mystery by Robert McCaw (Mystery/Thriller)
In the back alley of a bar on Hawaii Island, a young man is found stabbed to death. When Hilo Chief Detective Koa Kane begins investigating the crime, the murder weapon is recovered only a few feet away from the body. Crime scene technicians find fingerprints on the knife --- they are a perfect match for Koa’s younger brother, Ikaika. As the brothers scramble to prove Ikaika’s innocence, another crime sends shockwaves through the Hilo police force. A sniper tries to take out Makanui, Koa’s closest colleague. As Koa tries to figure out if these crimes are linked, the sinister force continues their killing spree, threatening Koa and his loved ones at every turn. Could Koa be the real target? If so, who is behind this trail of retribution?
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096176

SING HER DOWN by Ivy Pochoda (Thriller)
Florence "Florida" Baum is not the hapless innocent she claims to be when she arrives at the Arizona women's prison --- or so her ex-cellmate, Diosmary Sandoval, keeps insinuating. Dios knows the truth about Florida's crimes, understands the truth that Florence hides even from herself: that she wasn't a victim of circumstance, an unlucky bystander misled by a bad man. Dios knows that darkness lives in women too, despite the world's refusal to see it. And she is determined to open Florida's eyes and unleash her true self. When an unexpected reprieve gives both women their freedom, Dios' fixation on Florida turns into a dangerous obsession, and a deadly cat-and-mouse chase ensues from Arizona to the desolate streets of Los Angeles.
Picador | 9781250335791

SUMMER FRIDAYS by Suzanne Rindell (Romance)
Paperback Original
Summer 1999: Twentysomething Sawyer is striving to make it in New York. Between her assistant job in publishing, her secret dreams of becoming a writer, and her upcoming wedding to her college boyfriend, her plate is full. But she is facing an incredibly lonely summer as her fiancé has been spending longer and longer hours at work ---- with an all-too-close female colleague, Kendra. When Kendra's boyfriend, Nick, invites Sawyer to meet up and compare notes about their suspicions, the meeting goes awry. But then Nick seeks out Sawyer online to apologize, and a friendship develops. They begin an unofficial ritual --- exploring New York City together every summer Friday --- and soon enough they are living for their Friday afternoons together. But what happens when the summer is over?
Dutton | 9780593473917

TRAITORS GATE by Jeffrey Archer (Mystery/Thriller)
The Tower of London is impenetrable, well-protected, secure, and home to the most valuable jewels on earth. But once a year, the Metropolitan Police must execute the most secret operation in their armory as they transport the Crown Jewels across London. For four years, Chief Superintendent William Warwick --- together with his second-in-command, Inspector Ross Hogan --- has been in charge of the operation. And for four years, it’s run like clockwork. But this year, everything is about to change. Because master criminal Miles Faulkner has set his heart on pulling off the most outrageous theft in history --- and with a man on the inside, the odds are in his favor. Unless Warwick and Hogan can stop him before it’s too late.
HarperCollins | 9780008666873

THE WIND KNOWS MY NAME by Isabel Allende (Historical Fiction)
Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht --- the night his family loses everything. As her child’s safety becomes ever harder to guarantee, Samuel’s mother secures a spot for him on a Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Díaz and her mother flee looming danger in El Salvador and seek refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Durán, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita’s mother.
Ballantine Books | 9780593598122

On Sale the Week of June 3rd in Hardcover

June 3rd

ERUPTION by Michael Crichton and James Patterson (Thriller)
Michael Crichton, the creator of Jurassic Park, “ER,” Twister and Westworld, had a passion project he’d been pursuing for years, ahead of his untimely passing in 2008. Knowing how special it was, his wife, Sherri Crichton, held back his notes and the partial manuscript until she found the right author to complete it: James Patterson. A history-making eruption is about to destroy the Big Island of Hawaii. But a secret held for decades by the US military is far more terrifying than any volcano.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316565073

June 4th

ALL THE SUMMERS IN BETWEEN by Brooke Lea Foster (Historical Fiction)
When wealthy, impulsive summer girl Margot meets hardworking and steady local girl Thea in the summer of 1967, the unlikely pair become fast friends, working alongside one another in a record store and spending every spare moment together. But after an unspeakable incident on one devastating August night, they don’t see one another for 10 years…until Margot suddenly reappears in Thea’s life, begging for help and harboring more than one dangerous secret. Thea can’t bring herself to refuse her beloved friend, but she also knows she can’t fully trust her either. Unfulfilled as a housewife, Thea enjoys the dazzling sense of adventure Margot brings to her life. But will the truth of what happened to them that fateful summer ruin everything?
Gallery Books | 9781668034378

AMBITION MONSTER: A Memoir by Jennifer Romolini (Memoir)
After years of relentlessly racing up the professional ladder, Jennifer Romolini reached the kind of success many crave: a high-profile, C-suite dream job, a book well-received enough that reporters wanted to know the secrets to her success, and a gig traveling around the country giving speeches on “making it.” She had a handsome and clever husband, and a precocious child. But beneath this polished surface was a powder keg of unresolved trauma and chronic overwork. It was all about to blow. Written with self-deprecation and wit, AMBITION MONSTER is a gutsy and powerful look at workaholism and the addictive nature of achievement, the lingering effect of childhood trauma, and the failures of our modern rat race.
Atria Books | 9781668056585

BECOMING TED by Matt Cain (Fiction)
If Ted Ainsworth were to compare himself to one of the ice cream flavors made by his family’s company, it might be vanilla --- sweet, inoffensive and pleasantly predictable. At 43, Ted is convinced there’s nothing remotely remarkable about him, except perhaps his luck in having landed handsome, charismatic Giles as a husband. Then Giles suddenly leaves him for another man, filling his social media feed with posts about #newlove and adventure. And Ted, who has spent nearly 20 years living with, and often for, another person, must reimagine the future he has happily taken for granted. But perhaps there is another Ted slowly blossoming now that he’s no longer in Giles’ shadow --- one who is funny, sassy and more uninhibited. Someone willing to take chances on new friendships and even new love.
A John Scognamiglio Book | 9781496745941

THE COAST ROAD by Alan Murrin (Fiction)
Set in 1994, THE COAST ROAD tells the story of two women --- Izzy Keaveney, a housewife, and Colette Crowley, a poet. Colette has left her husband and sons for a married man in Dublin. When she returns to her home in County Donegal to try to pick up the pieces of her old life, her husband, Shaun, a successful businessman, denies her access to her children. The only way she can see them is with the help of neighbor Izzy, who is acting as a go-between. Izzy also feels caught in a troubled marriage. The friendship that develops between them ultimately will lead to tragedy for one, and freedom for the other.
HarperVia | 9780063336520

THE COMFORT OF GHOSTS: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear (Historical Mystery)
London, 1945: Four adolescent orphans with a dark wartime history are squatting in a vacant Belgravia mansion --- the owners having fled London under heavy Luftwaffe bombing. Psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs visits the mansion on behalf of the owners and discovers that a demobilized soldier, gravely ill and reeling from his experiences overseas, has taken shelter with the group. Maisie’s quest to bring comfort to the youngsters and the ailing soldier brings to light a decades-old mystery concerning Maisie’s first husband, James Compton, who was killed while piloting an experimental fighter aircraft. As Maisie unravels the threads of her dead husband’s life, she is forced to examine her own painful past and question beliefs she has always accepted as true.
Soho Press | 9781641296069

DEAD TIRED: An Expectant Detectives Mystery by Kat Ailes (Mystery/Humor)
Alice didn’t think her maternity leave would involve so much, well, murder. Before becoming proud new moms, she and her friends bonded more than members of a prenatal group usually would, as they became accidental amateur sleuths and solved a crime together. Now, with all this behind them, Alice is keen to finally catch up on some sleep. So when an opportunity presents itself in the unlikely form of an eco-protest, Alice and her friends willingly chain themselves to trees and settle in as an excuse to get some overdue rest. However, the next morning one of their fellow protesters is found strangled, and any hope of a peaceful interlude is suddenly swept away. Soon Alice and her friends become entangled in a plot involving rogue artists, an enigmatic local entrepreneur and nude (optional) protesting.
Minotaur Books | 9781250322739

ENLIGHTENMENT by Sarah Perry (Gothic Mystery/Romance)
Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay have lived all their lives in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits --- torn between their commitment to religion and their desire to explore the world beyond their small Baptist community. It is two romantic relationships that will rend their friendship, and in the wake of this rupture, Thomas develops an obsession with a vanished 19th-century astronomer said to haunt a nearby manor, and Grace flees Aldleigh entirely for London. Over the course of 20 years, by coincidence and design, Thomas and Grace will find their lives brought back into orbit as the mystery of the vanished astronomer unfolds into a devastating tale of love and scientific pursuit.
Mariner Books | 9780063352612

THE FALL OF ROE: The Rise of a New America by Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer (Politics)
In June 2022, Americans watched in shock as the Supreme Court reversed one of the nation’s landmark rulings. For nearly a half-century, Roe was synonymous with women’s rights and freedoms. Then, suddenly, it was gone. In their groundbreaking book, THE FALL OF ROE, Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer reveal the explosive inside story of how it happened. Their investigation charts the shocking political and religious campaign to take down abortion rights and remake American families, womanhood and the nation itself. In doing so, Dias and Lerer go beyond the traditional political narrative into the most personal reaches of American life.
Flatiron Books | 9781250881397

FAREWELL, AMETHYSTINE: An Easy Rawlins Mystery by Walter Mosley (Mystery)
January 1970. Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, LA’s premier Black detective, has a loving family, a beautiful home and a thriving investigation agency at 50 years old. All is right with the world…and then Amethystine Stoller, his own personal Helen of Troy, arrives. Her ex-husband is missing, which is a simple enough case. But even as Easy takes his first step in the investigation, he trips. He falls into the memory of things past --- little things, like loss, love, a world war, and a hunger that has eaten at him since he was a Black boy on his own on the streets of Fifth Ward, Houston, Texas. The missing ex, a young white man named Curt Fields, is found dead. Easy’s only real friend in the LAPD, Melvin Suggs, has gone into hiding rather than allow his femme fatale wife to go to the gas chamber. And that’s only the beginning. Easy finds himself pressed into a reckoning.
Mulholland Books | 9780316491112

FIRE EXIT by Morgan Talty (Fiction)
From the porch of his home, Charles Lamosway has watched the life he might have had unfold across the river on Maine’s Penobscot Reservation. On the far bank, he caught brief moments of his neighbor Elizabeth’s life --- from the day she came home from the hospital to her early 20s. But there’s always been something deeper and more dangerous than the river that divides him from her and the rest of the tribal community. It’s the secret that Elizabeth is his daughter, a secret Charles is no longer willing to keep. Now, it’s been weeks since he’s seen Elizabeth, and Charles is worried. As he attempts to hold on to and care for what he can, he becomes increasingly haunted by his past and contends with questions he’s long been afraid to ask.
Tin House Books | 9781959030553

GODWIN by Joseph O'Neill (Fiction)
Mark Wolfe, a brilliant if self-thwarting technical writer, lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Sushila, and their toddler daughter. His half-brother Geoff, born and raised in the United Kingdom, is a desperate young soccer agent. He pulls Mark across the ocean into a scheme to track down an elusive prospect known only as “Godwin” --- an African teenager Geoff believes could be the next Lionel Messi. Narrated in turn by Mark and his work colleague, Lakesha Williams, GODWIN is a tale of family and migration, as well as an international adventure story that implicates the brothers in the beauty and ugliness of soccer, the perils and promises of international business, and the dark history of transatlantic money-making.
Pantheon | 9780593701324

HOLY CITY by Henry Wise (Thriller)
After a decade of exile precipitated by the tragic death of his mother, Will Seems returns home from Richmond to rural Southern Virginia, taking a job as deputy sheriff in a landscape given way to crime and defeat. His efforts to go about his life are wrecked when a mysterious, brutal homicide claims the life of an old friend, Tom Janders, forcing Will to face the true impetus for his return: not to honor his mother's memory, but to pay a debt to a Black friend who, in an act of selfless courage years ago, protected Will and suffered permanent disfigurement for it. Meanwhile, a man Will knows to be innocent is arrested for Tom's murder. Will must weigh his personal guilt against his public duty when the local Black community hires Bennico Watts, an unpredictable private detective from Richmond, to help him find the real killer.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802162915

I'VE TRIED BEING NICE: Essays by Ann Leary (Essays)
Having arrived at a certain age (her prime), Ann Leary casts a wry backward glance at a life spent trying --- and often failing --- to be nice. With wit and surprising candor, Leary recounts the bedlam of home bat invasions, an obsession with online personality tests, and the mortification of taking ballroom dance lessons with her actor husband. She describes hilarious red-carpet fiascos and other observations from the sidelines of fame, while also touching upon her more poignant struggles with alcoholism, her love for her family, her dogs and so much more.
S&S/Marysue Rucci Books | 9781982120344

THE LAST NOTE OF WARNING by Katharine Schellman (Historical Mystery)
Prohibition is a dangerous time to be a working-class woman in New York City, but Vivian Kelly has finally found some measure of stability and freedom. By day, she’s a respectable shop assistant, delivering luxurious dresses to the city’s wealthy and elite. At night, she joins the madcap revelry of New York’s underworld, serving illegal drinks and dancing into the morning at a secretive, back-alley speakeasy known as the Nightingale. She's found, if not love, then something like it with her bootlegger sweetheart, Leo, even if she can't quite forget the allure of the Nightingale's sultry owner, Honor Huxley. Then the husband of a wealthy client is discovered dead in his study, and Vivian was the last known person to see him alive. With the police and the press both eager to name a culprit in the high-profile case, she finds herself the primary murder suspect.
Minotaur Books | 9781250325792

THE LAST SONG OF PENELOPE by Claire North (Historical Fiction)
Many years ago, Odysseus sailed to war and never returned. For 20 years, his wife, Penelope, and the women of Ithaca have guarded the isle against suitors and rival kings. But peace cannot be kept forever, and the balance of power is about to break. A beggar has arrived at the Palace. Salt-crusted and ocean-battered, he is scorned by the suitors --- but Penelope recognizes in him something terrible: her husband, Odysseus, returned at last. Yet this Odysseus is no hero. By returning to the island in disguise, he is not merely plotting his revenge against the suitors --- vengeance that will spark a civil war --- he's testing the loyalty of his queen. Has she been faithful to him all these years? And how much blood is Odysseus willing to shed to be sure?
Redhook | 9780316444101

MALAS by Marcela Fuentes (Fiction)
In 1951, a mysterious old woman confronts Pilar Aguirre in the small border town of La Cienega, Texas. The old woman is sure Pilar stole her husband and, in a heated outburst, lays a curse on Pilar and her family. More than 40 years later, Lulu Muñoz is dodging chaos at every turn: her troubled father’s moods, his rules, her secret life as singer in a punk band, but most of all her upcoming quinceañera. When her beloved grandmother passes away, Lulu finds herself drawn to the glamorous stranger who crashed the funeral and who lives alone and shunned on the edge of town. Their unexpected kinship picks at the secrets of Lulu’s family’s past. As the quinceañera looms --- and we move between these two strong, irascible female voices --- one woman must make peace with the past, and one girl pushes to embrace her future.
Viking | 9780593655788

MIRRORED HEAVENS by Rebecca Roanhorse (Historical Fantasy)
Serapio, avatar of the Crow God Reborn and the newly crowned Carrion King, rules Tova. But his enemies gather both on distant shores and within his own city as the matrons of the clans scheme to destroy him. And deep in the alleys of the Maw, a new prophecy is whispered, this one from the Coyote God. It promises Serapio certain doom if its terrible dictates are not fulfilled. Meanwhile, Xiala is thrust back amongst her people as war comes first to the island of Teek. With their way of life and their magic under threat, she is their last best hope. And in the far northern wastelands, Naranpa, avatar of the Sun God, seeks a way to save Tova from the visions of fire that engulf her dreams. But another presence has begun stalking her nightmares, and the Jaguar God is on the hunt.
S&S/Saga Press | 9781534437708

OLD KING by Maxim Loskutoff (Historical Fiction)
In the summer of 1976, Duane Oshun finds himself stranded in a remote Montana town beset by a series of strange and menacing events. He takes a job as a logger and builds a cabin on an isolated road near a reclusive neighbor --- a hermit named Ted Kaczynski. The two men are captivated by the valley’s endangered old-growth forest, but Kaczynski’s violent grievances against modern society soon threaten the lives of all those around him. As Kaczynski’s bombs crescendo to the book’s devastating conclusion, OLD KING wrestles with the birth of the modern environmental movement, the accelerating dominion of technology in American life, and a new kind of violence that lives next door.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393868197

ONE DEADLY EYE: A Doc Ford Novel by Randy Wayne White (Thriller/Adventure)
A Russian diplomat disappears while Doc Ford is tagging great white sharks in South Africa, and members of a criminal brotherhood, Bratva, don’t think it’s a coincidence. They track the biologist to Dinkin’s Bay Marina on the west coast of Florida, where Brotherhood mercenaries have already deployed, prepared to pillage and kill in the wake of an approaching hurricane. No one, however, is prepared for a cataclysmic event that will forever change the island and leaves Doc to deal with escapees from Russia’s most dangerous prison, including a serial killer --- the Vulture Monk --- who has a taste for blood. His only ally is an enigmatic British inventor whose decision to ride out the storm might have more to do with revenge than protecting a priceless art collection.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335013606

THE ROAD TO THE COUNTRY by Chigozie Obioma (Historical Fiction)
Set in Nigeria in the late 1960s, THE ROAD TO THE COUNTRY is the epic story of a shy, bookish student haunted by long-held guilt who must go to war to free himself. When his younger brother disappears as the country explodes in civil war, Kunle must set out on an impossible rescue mission. Kunle’s search for his brother becomes a journey of atonement that will see him conscripted into the breakaway Biafran army and forced to fight a war he hardly understands, all while navigating the prophecies of a local Seer, he who marks Kunle as an abami eda --- one who will die and return to life.
Hogarth | 9780593596975

SERVICE MODEL by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Science Fiction/Adventure)
Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away. Fleeing the household, they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human well-being is having to find a new purpose.
Tordotcom | 9781250290281

SHELTERWOOD by Lisa Wingate (Historical Fiction)
Oklahoma, 1909. Eleven-year-old Olive Augusta Radley knows that her stepfather doesn’t have good intentions toward the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home as wards. When the older girl disappears, Ollie flees to the woods, taking six-year-old Nessa with her. Together they begin a perilous journey to the remote Winding Stair Mountains, the notorious territory of outlaws, treasure hunters and desperate men. Oklahoma, 1990. Law enforcement ranger Valerie Boren-Odell arrives at newly minted Horsethief Trail National Park seeking a quiet place to balance a career and single parenthood. But no sooner has Valerie reported for duty than she’s faced with local controversy over the park’s opening, a teenage hiker gone missing from one of the trails, and the long-hidden burial site of three children unearthed in a cave.
Ballantine Books | 9780593726501

STUART WOODS' SMOLDER: A Stone Barrington Novel by Brett Battles
(Thriller/Adventure)
Finally enjoying some downtime in Santa Fe, Stone Barrington agrees to attend an art exhibit with a dear friend. There, he encounters an intriguing woman who is on the trail of a ring of art thieves. Always one to please, Stone offers his help. From Santa Fe to Los Angeles, it quickly becomes clear that her investigation has links to Stone --- particularly to rare Matilda Stone art, his mother’s paintings. And when old grudges come to light, Stone is forced to reckon with a familiar enemy. Stone must act fast before whoever is out to get him finally closes in on him…for good.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593540091

SWIFT RIVER by Essie Chambers (Historical Fiction)
It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop has been gone, she’s the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on. But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative she’s never met, key elements of Pop’s life are uncovered. She is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, whose lives span the 20th century and reveal a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668027912

TELL ME WHO YOU ARE by Louisa Luna (Psychological Thriller)
Brooklyn psychiatrist Dr. Caroline Strange is certain she knows what's best for her patients, her family and pretty much everyone else. But that all changes when a troubled young man arrives for his appointment and makes a pair of alarming confessions: I am going to kill someone, and I know who you really are. It seems Nelson Schack may be one step ahead when detectives show up later that day, inquiring about a missing woman. It looks like Nelson has made good on his threat --- yet somehow it’s Dr. Caroline who becomes the prime suspect. Convinced the police are incompetent, Dr. Caroline takes matters into her own hands, chasing down the elusive Nelson and running headlong into a past she has spent her entire life trying to forget.
MCD | 9780374612795

TIDAL CREATURES by Seanan McGuire (Dark Fantasy)
All across the world, people look up at the moon and dream of gods. Gods of knowledge and wisdom, gods of tides and longevity. Over time, some of these moon gods incarnated into the human world alongside the other manifest natural concepts. Their job is to cross the sky above the Impossible City --- the heart of all creation --- to keep it connected to reality. And someone is killing them. There are so many of them that it's easy for a few disappearances to slip through the cracks. But they aren't limitless. In the name of the moon, the lunar divinities must uncover the roots of the plot and thwart the true goal of those behind these attacks --- control of the Impossible City itself.
Tordotcom | 9781250333551

THE UNWEDDING by Ally Condie (Mystery/Thriller)
Ellery Wainwright and her husband, Luke, were supposed to spend their 20th wedding anniversary together at the luxurious Resort at Broken Point in Big Sur, California. But now she’s traveling solo. To add insult to injury, there’s a wedding at Broken Point scheduled during her stay. Ellery isn’t certain of anything except for her love for her kids and her growing realization that this place, though beautiful, is unsettling. When Ellery discovers the body of the groom floating in the pool in the rain, she realizes that she is not the only one whose future is no longer guaranteed. Before the police can reach Broken Point, a mudslide takes out the road to the resort, leaving the guests trapped. When another guest dies, it’s clear something horrible is brewing.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538757581

WHEN THE SEA CAME ALIVE: An Oral History of D-Day by Garrett M. Graff (Oral History)
D-Day is one of history’s greatest and most unbelievable military and human triumphs. Though the full campaign lasted just over a month, the surprise landing of over 150,000 Allied troops on the morning of June 6, 1944, is understood to be the moment that turned the tide for the Allied forces and ultimately led to the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II. Now, bestselling author and historian Garrett M. Graff explores the full impact of this world-changing event --- from the secret creation of landing plans by top government and military officials and organization of troops, to the moment the boat doors opened to reveal the beach where men fought for their lives and the future of the free world.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668027813

WHEN WOMEN RAN FIFTH AVENUE: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion by Julie Satow (History)
In the 1930s, Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller came to her husband's department store as a housewife tasked with attracting more shoppers like herself, and she wound up running the company. Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor championed American designers during World War II --- before which US fashions were almost exclusively Parisian copies --- becoming the first businesswoman to earn a $1 million salary. And in the 1960s, Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel reinvented the look of the modern department store. With a preternatural sense for trends, she inspired a devoted following of ultra-chic shoppers as well as decades of copycats. In WHEN WOMEN RAN FIFTH AVENUE, journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps.
Doubleday | 9780385548755

On Sale the Week of June 3rd in Paperback

June 1st

SUNSET LAKE RESORT by Joanne Jackson (Mystery)
Paperback Original
When Ruby’s father passes away but fails to leave her the millions some expected, Steve, her husband of 35 years, moves out. Alone, but in control of her own affairs for the first time in her life, Ruby is torn between panic and relief. When she investigates the remote beach cabin her father had left her instead of his estate, she discovers a dilapidated beach resort in a remote location, seemingly untouched since its former owner, Cecelia Johansen, died under mysterious circumstances. Despite the condition of the property and rumors it is haunted, Ruby decides to move to Sunset Lake Resort, determined to find out why her father bought it and why he left it to her.
Stonehouse Publishing | 9781988754567

June 4th

BANYAN MOON by Thao Thai (Fiction)
When Ann Tran gets the call that her fiercely beloved grandmother, Minh, has passed away, her life is already at a crossroads. In the years since she’s last seen Minh, Ann has built a seemingly perfect life, but it all crumbles with one positive pregnancy test. Now she returns home to Florida to face her estranged mother, Huơng. Huơng is simultaneously mourning her mother and resenting her for having the relationship with Ann that she never did. Then Ann and Huơng learn that Minh has left them both the Banyan House, the crumbling old manor that was Ann’s childhood home. Under the same roof for the first time in years, mother and daughter must face the simmering questions of their past and their uncertain futures, while trying to rebuild their relationship without the one person who’s always held them together.
Mariner Books | 9780063267145

THE BEAST YOU ARE: Stories by Paul Tremblay (Supernatural Thriller & Horror/Short Stories)
The 15 pieces in THE BEAST YOU ARE are all monsters of a kind, ready to loudly (and lovingly) smash through your head and into your heart. In “The Dead Thing,” a middle-schooler struggles to deal with the aftermath of her parents’ substance addictions and split. One day, her little brother claims he found a shoebox with “the dead thing” inside, but he won’t show it to her. In “The Last Conversation,” a person wakes in a sterile, white room and begins to receive instructions via intercom from a woman named Anne. When they are finally allowed to leave the room to complete a task, what they find is as shocking as it is heartbreaking. The title novella is a mini epic in which the destinies and secrets of a village, a dog and a cat are intertwined with a giant monster that returns to wreak havoc every 30 years.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063069978

THE BELL IN THE FOG by Lev AC Rosen (Historical Mystery)
San Francisco, 1952. Detective Evander “Andy” Mills has started a new life for himself as a private detective, but his business hasn’t exactly taken off. It turns out that word spreads fast when you have a bad reputation, and no one in the queer community trusts him enough to ask an ex-cop for help. When James, an old flame from the war who had mysteriously disappeared, arrives in his offices above the Ruby, Andy wants to kick him out. But the job seems to be a simple case of blackmail, and Andy’s debts are piling up. He agrees to investigate, despite everything it stirs up. The case will take him back to the shadowy, closeted world of the Navy, and then out into the gay bars of the city, where the past rises up to meet him, like the swell of the ocean under a warship.
Forge Books | 9781250834270

BLACK BIRD: A Nik Byron Investigation by Mark Pawlosky (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Something --- or someone --- is killing residents in a remote religious compound in Idaho, and Newshound reporter Nik Byron is determined to find out what's behind the deaths. Could Xion Labs' top-secret vaccine program be connected? Nik suspects so, but he's being stonewalled at every turn. As he inches closer to the truth, Nik's professional enemies move to quash his investigation, threaten his career and destroy his personal life. With his world crumbling, Nik finds one last lead: Puck Hall, a resolute, free-spirited young woman and Xion Labs researcher, who is soloing the Appalachian Trail. It's only when Puck, barely clinging to life after eluding trained killers, crawls out of the wilderness that Nik and a rookie reporter cobble together the nightmarish facts that bring the story into focus.
Ramblin' House Press | 9798218330033

THE BULLET GARDEN: An Earl Swagger Novel by Stephen Hunter (Historical Thriller)
July, 1944: The lush, rolling hills of Normandy are dotted with a new feature --- German snipers. From their vantage points, they pick off hundreds of Allied soldiers every day, bringing the D-Day invasion to its knees. It’s clear that someone is tipping off these snipers with the locations of American GIs. But who? And how? General Eisenhower demands his intelligence service to find the best shot in the Allied military to counter this deadly SS operation. Enter Pacific hero Earl Swagger, who is assigned this crucial and bloody mission. With crosshairs on his back, Swagger can’t trust anyone as he infiltrates the shadowy corners of London and France for answers.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668061237

CROOK MANIFESTO by Colson Whitehead (Historical Fiction)
1971. Ray Carney’s days moving stolen goods are over. It’s strictly the straight-and-narrow for him --- until he needs Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter and decides to hit up his old police contact, Munson, fixer extraordinaire. But Munson has his own favors to ask of Carney. 1973. Pepper is Carney’s endearingly violent partner in crime who takes on a side gig doing security on a Blaxploitation shoot in Harlem. He finds himself in a freaky world of Hollywood stars, up-and-coming comedians, celebrity drug dealers, hustlers, mobsters and hit men. 1976. Carney's wife, Elizabeth, is campaigning for her childhood friend, the former assistant D.A. and rising politician Alexander Oakes. When a fire severely injures one of Carney’s tenants, he enlists Pepper to look into who may be behind it.
Vintage | 9780525567288

DEVIL’S KITCHEN by Candice Fox (Thriller)
Paperback Original
The firefighting crew of Engine 99 has spent years rushing fearlessly into the hot zone of major fires across New York City. This tight-knit, four-person unit has faced danger head-on, saving countless lives and stopping raging fires before they can cause major destruction. They've also stolen millions from banks, jewelry stores and art galleries. Under the cover of saving the city, these men have used their knowledge and specialist equipment to become the most successful heist crew on the East Coast. Andy Nearland, the newest member of Engine 99, is good at keeping secrets. She's been brought on to help with their biggest job ever --- hitting New York's largest private storage facility, an expensive treasure trove for the rich and famous. She's also an undercover operative, charged with bringing the crew to justice.
Forge Books | 9781250345752

THE DISSIDENT by Paul Goldberg (Historical Mystery/Thriller)
On his wedding day in 1976, Viktor Moroz stumbles upon a murder scene: two gay men, one of them a U.S. official, have been axed to death in Moscow. Viktor, a Jewish refusenik, is stuck in the Soviet Union because the government has denied his application to leave for Israel. But the KGB spots him leaving the murder scene. Plucked off the street, he’s given a choice: find the murderer or become the suspect of convenience. His deadline is nine days later, when Henry Kissinger will be arriving in Moscow. To help solve the case, Viktor ropes in his community. As he struggles to determine whom to trust, he’s forced to question not only the KGB’s murky motives but also those of his fellow refuseniks --- and the man he admires above all: Kissinger himself.
Picador | 9781250208583

DON’T ASK, DON’T FOLLOW by Mary Keliikoa (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
Beth Ralston, a paralegal in Portland, Oregon, would rather be racking up billable hours than mingling at an office party --- especially when her sister Lindsay, aka her plus one, is a no-show. After making her obligatory rounds, Beth returns to her office to find that her boss has been murdered. She sees a woman fleeing the scene. Was that Lindsay? Unable to catch up to her in time, Beth waits for the police to arrive and notices that Lindsay has left her phone behind with an unsent text message to Beth displayed on the screen: “Don’t ask. Don’t follow.” While retracing Lindsay’s steps, determined to bring her home, Beth uncovers what her sister, an investigative reporter bent on changing the world, was trying to expose --- corruption, secrets and betrayal on an unimaginable level.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096091

EVENTIDE, WATER CITY by Chris McKinney (Noir Science Fiction/Thriller)
2150: Eight years after the murder of Akira Kimura, Water City’s renowned scientist and anointed “God,” the nameless antihero who tracked down Akira’s killer is no longer a detective. While his wife climbs the corporate ladder of the city’s police department, he raises their now nine-year-old daughter and occasionally takes the odd job as a bounty hunter. His domestic bliss is threatened when Ascalon’s Scar --- the mark left by Akira’s destruction of Sessho-seki, the asteroid that nearly wiped out life on Earth --- vanishes from the sky and a familiar face thought dead returns from the ocean depths to exact revenge on humanity. On a journey to the moon and back, Water City’s antihero will risk everything, including his family, to save the last of the human race.
Soho Crime | 9781641295949

THE EXPECTANT DETECTIVES by Kat Ailes (Mystery/Humor)
For Alice and her partner, Joe, moving to the sleepy village of Penton is a chance to embrace country life and prepare for the birth of their first child. But the rural idyll they’d hoped for doesn’t quite pan out when a dead body is discovered at their local prenatal class, and they find themselves suspects in a murder investigation. With a cloud of suspicion hanging over the heads of the whole group, Alice and her new-found pregnant friends set out to solve the mystery and clear their names, with the help of her troublesome dog, Helen. However, there are more secrets and tensions in the heart of Penton than first meet the eye. Between the discovery of a shady commune up in the woods, the unearthing of a mysterious death years earlier, and the near-tragic poisoning of Helen, Alice is soon in way over her head.
Minotaur Books | 9781250322722

A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan (History)
The Roaring Twenties has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson. Stephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with every telling. But at the peak of his influence, it was a seemingly powerless woman --- Madge Oberholtzer --- who would reveal his secret cruelties, and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees.
Penguin Books | 9780735225282

THE FIRST LADIES by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (Historical Fiction)
The daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Mary McLeod Bethune refuses to back down as white supremacists attempt to thwart her work. She marches on as an activist and an educator, and as her reputation grows, she becomes a celebrity. Eleanor Roosevelt is eager to make Mary's acquaintance. Initially drawn together because of their shared belief in women’s rights and the power of education, Mary and Eleanor become fast friends. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president, the two women begin to collaborate more closely. Eleanor becomes a controversial First Lady for her outspokenness, particularly on civil rights. And when she receives threats because of her strong ties to Mary, it only fuels the women’s desire to fight together for justice and equality.
Berkley | 9780593440292

FLAGS ON THE BAYOU by James Lee Burke (Historical Fiction)
In the fall of 1863, the Union army is in control of the Mississippi River. Much of Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is occupied. The Confederate army is retreating toward Texas and being replaced by Red Legs, irregulars commanded by a maniacal figure, and enslaved men and women are beginning to glimpse freedom. When Hannah Laveau, an enslaved woman working on the Lufkin plantation, is accused of murder, she goes on the run with Florence Milton, an abolitionist schoolteacher, dodging the local constable and the slavecatchers who prowl the bayous. Wade Lufkin, haunted by what he observed --- and did --- as a surgeon on the battlefield, has returned to his uncle’s plantation to convalesce, where he becomes enraptured by Hannah.
Grove Press ‎| 9780802163387

FOR THE LOVE OF SUMMER by Susan Mallery (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Erica is terrified that she’s losing her teen daughter, Summer, to her “other” family, especially to her stepmom, Allison. All it takes to blow up Allison’s happy life is one collect call. From prison. Her beloved husband, Peter, has been arrested, leaving Allison pregnant, broke, scared and alone with a toddler. But when her stepdaughter ferrets out the truth, the teen rushes to the last person Allison wants to ask for help --- her husband’s battle-ax ex. Erica would do anything for Summer, even take in the woman her daughter loves like a second mom. Allison feels intimidated by Erica --- a woman who would never let herself become so dependent on a man. But the more time they spend together, the more Allison realizes what Erica truly needs is a friend.
Mira ‎| 9780778305521

GOOD NIGHT, IRENE by Luis Alberto Urrea (Historical Fiction)
In 1943, Irene Woodward abandons an abusive fiancé in New York to enlist with the Red Cross and head to Europe. She makes fast friends in training with Dorothy Dunford, a towering Midwesterner with a ferocious wit. Together they are part of an elite group of women, nicknamed Donut Dollies, who command military vehicles called Clubmobiles at the front line, providing camaraderie and a taste of home that may be the only solace before troops head into battle. After D-Day, these two intrepid friends join the Allied soldiers streaming into France. Through her friendship with Dorothy and a love affair with a courageous American fighter pilot named Hans, Irene learns to trust again. Her most fervent hope is for all three of them to survive the war intact.
Back Bay Books ‎| 9780316265959

HALF-LIFE OF A STOLEN SISTER: A Novel of the Brontës by Rachel Cantor (Fiction)
How did sisters Emily, Charlotte and Anne write literary landmarks JANE EYRE, WUTHERING HEIGHTS and AGNES GREY? What in their lives and circumstances, in the choices they made, and in their close but complex relationships with one another made such greatness possible? In her new novel, Rachel Cantor melds biographical fact with unruly invention to illuminate the siblings’ genius, their bonds of love and duty, periods of furious creativity, and the ongoing tolls of illness, isolation and loss. As it tells the story of the Brontës, HALF-LIFE OF A STOLEN SISTER itself perpetually transforms and renews its own style and methods, sometimes hewing close to the facts of the Brontë lives as we know them (or think we know them), and at others radically reimagining the siblings.
Soho Press | 9781641296014

HOW CAN I HELP YOU by Laura Sims (Psychological Thriller)
No one knows Margo’s real name. Her colleagues and patrons at a small-town public library know only her middle-aged normalcy, congeniality and charm. They have no reason to suspect that she is, in fact, a former nurse with a trail of premature deaths in her wake. She has turned a new page, so to speak, and the library is her sanctuary, a place to quell old urges. That is, at least, until Patricia, a recent graduate and failed novelist, joins the library staff. Patricia quickly notices Margo’s subtly sinister edge and watches her carefully. When a tragic incident in the library bathroom gives her a hint of Margo’s mysterious past, Patricia can’t resist digging deeper --- even as her new fixation becomes all-consuming and sends both women hurtling toward disaster.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593543719

KILLING THE LEGENDS: The Lethal Danger of Celebrity by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard (Biography)
Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Muhammad Ali. These three icons changed not only the worlds of music, film and sports, but the world itself. Their faces were known everywhere, in every nation, across every culture. And their stories became larger than life --- until their lives spun out of control at the hands of those they most trusted. In KILLING THE LEGENDS, Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard explore the lives, legacies and tragic deaths of three of the most famous people of the 20th century. Each experienced immense success, then failures that forced them to change; each faced the challenge of growing old in fields that privilege youth; and finally, each became isolated, cocooned by wealth but vulnerable to the demands of those in their innermost circles.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250322111

THE LIGHT OVER LAKE COMO by Roland Merullo (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
It’s 1945. The Nazi occupation of Italy is in its closing days. But risk is ever present. It’s been nearly two years since Sarah Zinsi found tenuous sanctuary in Switzerland. Unmoored in a foreign land, she heeds a rumor that her village on the Lake Como shore has been liberated. Clutching her young daughter, Sarah navigates the arduous mountain trek back home to be with Luca Benedetto, the father of her child. A resister to the end, Luca has one last assignment: assassinate Mussolini, the man who destroyed everything Luca cherished and who forced the love of his life to flee. Sarah’s path crosses that of a charismatic and kindly black marketeer turned partisan spy. He vows to keep mother and child safe as Luca’s perilous mission escalates and the Nazis’ final moves devolve into chaos.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781662510786

MAYBE NEXT TIME by Cesca Major (Fiction)
It is an ordinary Monday, and harried literary agent Emma is flying out of the door. Preoccupied with work and her ever-growing to-do list, she fails to notice that her lovely husband Dan seems bereft, her son can barely meet her eye, and her daughter won’t go near her. As she rushes back through the door for dinner, Dan is still upset. They fight, and he walks out. Just as she realizes it is their anniversary, she hears the screech of brakes. Dan is dead. The next day Emma wakes up…and Dan is alive. It’s Monday again. And again. And again. Emma tries desperately to change the course of fate by doing different things each time she wakes up. But will she have the chance to find herself again, remember what she likes about her job, reconnect with her children and love her husband?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063239975

MOTHERHOOD SO WHITE: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America by Nefertiti Austin (Memoir)
Nefertiti Austin shares her story of starting a family through adoption as a single Black woman. In this unflinching account of her parenting journey, Nefertiti examines the history of adoption in the African American community, faces off against stereotypes of single Black moms, and confronts the reality of what it looks like to raise children of color and answer their questions about racism in modern-day America. This great book club read explores social and cultural bias, gives a new perspective on a familiar experience, and sparks meaningful conversations about what it looks like for Black families in white America today.
Sourcebooks | 9781464227264

THE PECAN CHILDREN by Quinn Connor (Gothic Horror/Magical Realism)
Paperback Original
In a small southern pecan town, the annual harvest is a time of both celebration and heartbreak. Even as families are forced to sell their orchards and move away, Lil Clearwater, keeper of a secret covenant with her land, swears she never will. When her twin Sasha returns to the dwindling town in hopes of reconnecting with the girl her heart never forgot, the sisters struggle to bridge their differences and share the immense burden of protecting their home from hungry forces intent on uprooting everything they love. But there is rot hiding deep beneath the surface. Ghostly fires light up the night, and troubling local folklore is revealed to be all too true. Confronted with the phantoms of their pasts and the devastating threat to their future, the sisters come to the stark realization that in the kudzu-choked South, nothing is ever as it appears.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728263908

SEVEN SUMMER WEEKENDS by Jane L. Rosen (Fiction)
Paperback Original
When a Zoom disaster upends Addison Irwin’s decade-long career at a posh Manhattan advertising agency, things look bleak for the thirty-something mid-western transplant. But an unexpected inheritance from an aunt she barely remembers --- a property on Fire Island, complete with guest house and artist’s studio --- changes everything. While debating whether to stay or sell, Addison learns that she’s also inherited her aunt’s list of eclectic guests, tying her to the island for seven summer weekends. Eager to convince Addison to keep the house rather than let a new buyer build a monstrosity in its place, the neighbors welcome her to their laid-back community. Well, all except the moody guy next door, who seems intent on glowering his way through life. Addison is determined not to let this detour on Fire Island throw her off track.
Berkley | 9780593640913

SHARK HEART: A Love Story by Emily Habeck (Fiction/Magical Realism)
For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of his consciousness, memories and intellect, but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist’s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams. At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Then a glimpse of Lewis’ developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with a college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds.
S&S/Marysue Rucci Books | 9781668006504

SUMMER ROMANCE by Annabel Monaghan (Romance)
Paperback Original
Ali Morris is a professional organizer whose own life is a mess. Her mom died two years ago, then her husband left, and she hasn’t worn pants with a zipper in longer than she cares to remember. No one is more surprised than Ali when the first time she takes off her wedding ring and puts on pants with hardware --- overalls count, right? --- she meets someone. Or rather, her dog claims a man for her...by peeing on him. Ethan smiles at Ali like her pants are just right --- like he likes what he sees. He looks at her like she’s a younger, braver version of herself. The last thing newly single mom Ali needs is to make her life messier, but there’s no harm in a little summer romance. Is there?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593714089

THE SURVIVOR: An Eve Duncan Novel by Iris Johansen (Thriller)
When archaeologist Riley Smith comes to ask Eve Duncan for help, Eve has to say no. Yet she is intrigued by the prospect of an isolated island that holds a secret locked in time. Traveling to Southeast Asia, Riley is aware of the threat from treasure hunters who are already searching and have no qualms about killing to get what they want. When she successfully evades them and finds the perfectly preserved body of a female warrior, it is just what she needs to entice Eve to help unlock the mystery. As these two strong women seek answers about this extraordinary past life, Riley makes a living, breathing discovery that will change history. If she can escape the island and survive long enough to share it with the world.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538726389

TIANANMEN SQUARE by Lai Wen (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
As a child in Beijing in the 1970s, Lai lives with her family in a lively, working-class neighborhood near the heart of the city. Only Lai’s grandmother seems to really see Lai and believe that she can blossom beyond their circumstances. A gifted student, Lai wins a scholarship to study at the prestigious Peking University, where she soon falls in with a theatrical band of individualists and misfits dedicated to becoming their authentic selves, despite the Communist Party’s insistence on conformity. When student resistance hardens under the increasingly restrictive policies of the state, the group joins the masses of demonstrators and dreamers who display remarkable courage and loyalty in the face of danger. As 1989 unfolds, the spirit of change is in the air.
Spiegel & Grau | 9781954118393

TRIPLE SEC by TJ Alexander (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
As a bartender at Terror & Virtue, a swanky New York City cocktail lounge known for its romantic atmosphere and Insta-worthy drinks, Mel has witnessed plenty of disastrous dates. That, coupled with her own romantic life being in shambles, has Mel convinced love doesn’t exist. Everything changes when Bebe walks into the bar. She is beautiful, funny, knows her whiskeys --- and is happily married to her partner, Kade. Mel is resigned to forget the whole thing, but Bebe makes her a unique offer. Since she and Kade have an open marriage, she’s interested in taking Mel on a date. What starts as a fun romp turns into a burgeoning relationship, and soon Mel is trying all sorts of things she’d been avoiding. In the chaotic whirl of all these new experiences, she realizes there might be a spark between her and Kade as well.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668021989

THE UNSETTLED by Ayana Mathis (Fiction)
Bonaparte, Alabama --- once 10,000 glorious Black-owned acres – is now a ghost town vanishing to depopulation, crooked developers and an eerie mist closing in on its shoreline. Dutchess Carson, Bonaparte's fiery, tough-talking protector, fights to keep its remaining 1,000 acres in the hands of the last five residents. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, her estranged daughter, Ava, is drawn into Ark --- a seductive, radical group with a commitment to Black self-determination in the spirit of the Black Panthers and MOVE, with a dash of the Weather Underground’s violent zeal. Ava’s 11-year-old son, Toussaint, wants out. His future awaits him on his grandmother’s land, where the sounds of cicada and frog song might save him if only he can make it there.
Vintage | 9780525435617

WATCH US SHINE by Marisa de los Santos (Fiction)
Cornelia Brown is reeling from a terrifying act of violence when she gets word that her mother, Ellie, has been badly injured in an accident. She returns to Virginia, to the house she grew up in, and in the weeks that follow, she watches her mother struggle to recover. In grief-stricken tones, Ellie begs Cornelia to bring her the Northern Lights, and despite her confusion at this mysterious plea, Cornelia vows to do so. With the help of her prickly sister, Ollie, Cornelia embarks on a mission to piece together the lost years of their mother’s life. Their quest takes them to unexpected places and into the worlds of strangers whose lives Ellie touched and irrevocably changed.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063095618

WHAT KIND OF MOTHER by Clay McLeod Chapman (Supernatural Horror/Domestic Thriller)
After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her 17-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market. It’s there that she connects with old high school flame Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying nightmare waiting at the center of the labyrinth --- and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear.
Quirk Books | 9781683694335

YOU COULD MAKE THIS PLACE BEAUTIFUL: A Memoir by Maggie Smith (Memoir)
In her memoir YOU COULD MAKE THIS PLACE BEAUTIFUL, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work and patriarchy.
Atria/One Signal Publishers | 9781982185862

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