February 10, 2026

February 10, 2026

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of February 9th and February 16th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks feature for February, which includes Indie Next, LibraryReads, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, the PBS Books Readers Club, the "Read with Jenna" Book Club, Reese's Book Club, and the Target Book Club.

This Week's Bonus News:
Our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks for February

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, February 11th at 2pm ET: “Bookaccino Live” Book Preview Afternoon Event: Carol Fitzgerald will present titles releasing between February 10th and March 3rd, along with a few from the first half of April, that we would like to get on your radar. Included will be fiction; historical fiction; thrillers and mysteries; and memoirs, biographies and other nonfiction.

Wednesday, February 11th at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with Omid Scobie and Robin Benway about their highly anticipated novel, ROYAL SPIN. This irresistibly entertaining story is about a young American woman who takes a job at Buckingham Palace, where she finds herself tangled in a royal mess she might not be able to spin her way out of.

Tuesday, February 17th at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Steve Berry will talk to special guest host James Rollins about his latest Cotton Malone adventure, THE DEVIL'S BIBLE, a tale of mystery and intrigue stretching back over four centuries.

Tuesday, February 17th at 9pm ET: Killer Author Club: Kimberly Belle, Heather Gudenkauf and Kaira Rouda will talk to Lisa Unger about her upcoming book, SERVED HIM RIGHT, a gripping thriller in which a woman’s brunch with friends quickly turns dark. 

On Sale the Week of February 9th in Hardcover

February 9th

CROSS AND SAMPSON: An Alex Cross and John Sampson Thriller by James Patterson and Brian Sitts (Thriller)
Metro PD detective John Sampson stands in a crater in the middle of a DC street, calling in the bomb squad. “Dispatch, this is Sampson. Contact the FBI and the ATF. We’ve got a suspected terrorist attack here.” In Chapel Hill, NC, Alex Cross searches the apartment of a missing psychology grad student --- his own son, Damon. Has following in his famous father’s footsteps made Damon a target? From FBI headquarters, in police stations, on airplanes, and at murder scenes, the detectives track crimes committed hundreds of miles apart. It will take more than distance to weaken the partnership of Sampson & Cross.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316599849 

February 10th

AND THE CROWD WENT WILD: A Chicago Stars Novel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Romantic Comedy)
After a mortifying --- and very public --- humiliation, Dancy Flynn is desperate to find sanctuary far from the crowd. But where can a washed-up sex symbol hide? How about making an unannounced appearance at the secluded lake house of the sweet, sensitive high school boyfriend she hasn’t seen in almost 20 years? Chicago Stars quarterback Clint Garrett is still holding a massive grudge against Dancy for breaking his teenage heart. With no room in his life for either complexity or distractions, he banishes her to a refurbished old railroad caboose tucked away in the woods. Dancy’s efforts to rebuild her career clash with Clint’s desperation to regain his focus, all made more challenging by a rescue dog, a local woman in trouble, a meddling mother, an ex with an agenda…and the sizzle of rekindled emotions.
Avon | 9780063248625 

ANTIHERO: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz (Thriller)
Once a black ops assassin for the government known as Orphan X, Evan Smoak broke with the program and went deep underground, using his operational rules and skills to help the truly desperate with nowhere else to turn. When Luke Devine, one of the most powerful men in the world, has a psychological crisis, Evan flies to the East Coast to help him. While there, he learns of a young woman who was kidnapped off the New York City subway, clearly in danger and in need of aid. With no name and few clues, Evan and his team track down the missing woman, who was assaulted and abandoned. Evan offers his help --- and sets out finding the young men responsible. But the woman insists that Evan abandon his usual methods --- no vengeance and, in particular, no killing. Which will prove no easy feat given the mounting incoming threats from all sides.
Minotaur Books | 9781250871770 

A BETTER LIFE by Lionel Shriver (Fiction)
Gloria Bonaventura, a divorced mother of three living with her 26-year-old son, Nico, in a sprawling house in Brooklyn, decides to participate in a new city program that would pay her to take in a migrant as a boarder. Gloria is thrilled when sweet, kind, helpful Martine arrives. But Nico is skeptical. A classic live-at-home Gen Zer with no interest in adulthood, Nico resents any interruption of his “hovercraft repose.” As the months go by, Martine endears herself to both Nico’s sisters, while finding her way into Gloria’s heart and even, briefly, Nico’s. But as Martine’s disturbingly dodgy compatriots begin to show up, Nico conceives a dark twin hostile to both his mother’s altruism and the “migrant crisis” in general --- and turns out to be anything but a reliable narrator himself.
Harper | 9780063482142 

THE BODY by Bethany C. Morrow (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Mavis broke from her parents’ congregation years ago, but she still hasn’t recovered. Their impossible expectations and soul-shredding critiques have dug deep into her mind, and she’s taunted by the knowledge that even when she’s done nothing wrong, she’ll never be right. Now Mavis is afraid she’s about to lose the only thing she has: her husband, Jerrod. No one thinks she deserves him --- not even after surviving the serial cheater they wanted her to stick by --- and soon they’ll all find out they were right. Mavis is already unraveling when a brush with death shows her what real fear looks like. Soon, she’s under constant attack from all directions. As the assaults turn increasingly vicious and bizarre, Mavis realizes that Hell isn’t reserved for the afterlife. And sinner or not, no one is coming to save her.
Tor Nightfire | 9781250392121

COLD ZERO by Brad Thor, with Ward Larsen (Political Thriller)
Hemisphere Airlines Flight 777 --- the most advanced jetliner ever built --- disappears without a trace over the North Pole. Crippled by sabotage, it crash-lands on the ice, stranding the surviving passengers in a wasteland of frigid cold and chaos. The real storm, however, is still coming. Hidden inside the wreckage is the prototype for a revolutionary piece of technology that could upend the balance of world power. Now Washington, Moscow and Beijing are racing to be the first on scene to retrieve it --- at any cost. Trapped in the middle of the world’s most dangerous flashpoint are CIA operative Kasey Sheridan and former fighter pilot turned first officer Brett Sharpe. Hunted by enemy forces, they must spirit both the device and its creator across the ice to safety --- before rival superpowers turn the Arctic into a war zone.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668066379 

DEAD FIRST by Johnny Compton (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
When private investigator Shyla Sinclair is invited to the looming mansion of eccentric billionaire Saxton Braith, she’s more than a little suspicious. The last thing she expects to see that night is Braith’s assistant driving an iron rod straight through the back of his skull. Scratch that --- the last thing she expects to see is Braith’s resurrection afterward. Braith can’t die, it turns out, but he has no explanation for his immortality, and very few intact memories of his past. Which is why he wants to pay Shyla millions to investigate him and bring his long-buried history to light. Shyla can’t help but be intrigued, but she’s also trapped by the offer. Braith has made it clear that he knows she’s the only person he can trust with his secret, because he knows all about hers.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593854310 

DEATH OF A GROOM: A Hamish Macbeth Murder Mystery by M. C. Beaton, with R.W. Green (Mystery)
It is February, and the Scottish Highlands village of Lochdubh is dealing with heavy snow and freezing temperatures. Sergeant Hamish Macbeth can handle the weather, but with a surprise influx of high-society visitors for a Valentine's Day wedding at Tommel Castle Hotel, he has bigger problems. The guest list includes not one, but two women from his own romantic past! And Hamish isn't the only one disrupted by the arrival of the wedding party. The groom --- the supposedly suave and sophisticated Darius Palmerston --- is involved in a series of incidents in the local pub. Tensions between guests and villagers escalate until, shortly after the lavish wedding ceremony, a body is found in the hotel dining room. The gruesome killing means Hamish suddenly has a murder investigation on his hands, one with a very long list of suspects.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538774755 

ERADICATION: A Fable by Jonathan Miles (Fiction)
Reeling from tragedy, a former jazz musician turned schoolteacher named Adi answers a job listing advertising a chance to save the world. The assignment: to spend five weeks alone on the tiny, isolated Pacific Island of Santa Flora righting an ecological balance that has gone severely out of whack, with the aim of preserving countless bird and plant species from certain extinction. What follows, however, is anything but balanced. The threats to the once-Edenic island, Adi soon learns, aren’t exactly what his employers said they were --- and, complicating things further, he discovers he’s not alone on the island. Fearful for his own life, and for the fate of the island's, Adi spends his sun-drenched days rooting out the true threat to Santa Flora, and, by extension, to the world it occupies --- and the desperate steps he must take to eradicate it.
Doubleday | 9780385551915 

THE FINAL PROBLEM written by Arturo Perez-Reverte, translated by Frances Riddle (Historical Mystery)
June 1960. Rough weather at sea leaves a group of strangers stranded on the idyllic Greek island of Utakos, all guests of the only local hotel. Edith Mander, a quiet British tourist, is found dead inside a beach cabana. What appears at first glance to be a clear suicide reveals possible signs of foul play to Ormond Basil, an out-of-work but still well-known actor who in his glory days portrayed the most celebrated detective of all time. Accustomed to seeing him display Sherlock Holmes’ amazing powers of deduction on the big screen, the other guests believe that the actor is the best equipped to uncover the truth. But when a second body is discovered, there is not a doubt in Basil’s mind: a murderer walks among them. What’s more, the killer is staging each crime as a performance, leaving complex clues that bear an eerie resemblance to those found in the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle stories.
Mulholland Books | 9780316594349 

FIREFLIES IN WINTER by Eleanor Shearer (Historical Fiction)
Nova Scotia, 1796. Cora, an orphan newly arrived from Jamaica, has never felt cold like this. In the depths of winter, everyone in her community huddles together in their homes to keep warm. So when she sees a shadow slipping through the trees, Cora thinks her eyes are deceiving her...until she creeps out into the moonlight and finds the tracks in the snow. Agnes is in hiding. On the run from her former life, she has learned what it takes to survive alone in the wilderness. But she can afford no mistakes. When she first spies the young woman in the woods, she is afraid. Yet Cora is fearless, and their paths are destined to cross. Deep among the cedars, Cora and Agnes find a fragile place of safety. But when Agnes’ past closes in, they are confronted with the dangerous price of freedom --- and of love.
Berkley | 9780593548073 

THE HADACOL BOOGIE: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke (Thriller)
When a cloaked, disfigured man leaves a dead woman in a garbage bag on Dave Robicheaux’s property, he knows his world and family are about to change. With Valerie Benoit, a detective new to the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Department who is grappling with sexist and racist harassment from their colleagues, and the volatile but fiercely loyal Clete Purcel, Dave embarks on an investigation that brings him into the most dangerous moments of his career and threatens the lives of Valerie and his daughter, Alafair. He encounters a local handyman who leaves cryptic notes and warns of the ghosts who roam the shores of the bayou and is targeted by a vicious New Orleans button man and gangsters from the north.
Atlantic Crime | 9780802166609

HANNIBAL LECTER: A Life by Brian Raftery (Performing Arts/Biography) 
This unique biography traces the many lives and crimes of Hannibal Lecter: his disturbing debut in Thomas Harris’ 1981 novel, RED DRAGON; his rise to infamy in beloved films like Michael Mann’s Manhunter and Jonathan Demme’s Academy Award–winning The Silence of the Lambs; and his unexpected comeback in the cult-hit TV series "Hannibal." It also dives into the untold life and career of Harris, the secretive bestselling author whose passion for reporting, eye for grisly detail, and connections to the FBI helped birth not only Lecter, but also the modern true-crime genre. Along the way, the book documents the many ways that Lecter’s rise reflected America’s ever-growing obsession with real-life serial killers.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668070581 

I HOPE YOU FIND WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR by Bsrat Mezghebe (Fiction)
The year is 1991. Eritrea is on the verge of liberation from Ethiopian rule, and in Washington, D.C.’s tight-knit Eritrean community, change is in the air. Thirteen-year-old Lydia and her family are grappling with what peace after decades of war might mean for their future, just as they welcome Berekhet --- a distant cousin newly arrived from Ethiopia to attend medical school in the States. With him comes a barrage of new ideas that Lydia must confront for the first time, about the stories of nationhood and family she was raised on. Meanwhile, her mother, Elsa, a former rebel fighter, and the family matriarch, Mama Zewdi, must grapple with regrets long buried in the time their country has been at war.
Liveright | 9781324092490 

THE JILLS by Karen Parkman (Fiction)
Virginia is a Jill --- a cheerleader for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills --- living the life of her dreams: she spends her weekdays practicing, her weekends cheering, and her nights hopping between bars and clubs with her teammates, including the fearless, charismatic Jeanine, whose friendship has given Virginia confidence in spades and helped her forget her troubled past with her estranged sister, Laura. One Sunday, Jeanine fails to show up for a game, and calls and texts to her go unanswered. Virginia embarks on an investigation into Jeanine’s disappearance, aided by a network of Jills, ex-boyfriends, seedy fixtures of Buffalo’s criminal underground, and unexpected figures from her past. But as her search grows increasingly dangerous and spirals into obsession, disturbing questions about who Jeanine really was begin to emerge.
Ballantine Books | 9780593982921 

KEEPER OF LOST CHILDREN by Sadeqa Johnson (Historical Fiction)
Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American Officer, is living in Occupied Germany in the 1950s. After discovering a local orphanage filled with the abandoned mixed-race children of German women and Black American GIs, Ethel feels compelled to help find these children homes. Philadelphia-born Ozzie Phillips volunteers for the recently desegregated army in 1948. While serving in Manheim, Germany, he meets a local woman, Jelka, and the two embark on a relationship that will impact their lives forever. In 1965 Maryland, Sophia Clark is given an opportunity to attend a prestigious all-white boarding school and escape her heartless parents. While at the school, she discovers a secret that upends her world and sends her on a quest to unravel her own identity. KEEPER OF LOST CHILDREN explores how one woman’s vision will change the course of countless lives.
37 Ink | 9781668069912 

THE LAST KINGS OF HOLLYWOOD: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg ― and the Battle for the Soul of American Cinema by Paul Fischer (Performing Arts/Biography)
In the summer of 1967, as the old Hollywood studio system was dying, an intense, uncompromising young film school graduate named George Lucas walked onto the Warner Bros. backlot for his first day working as an assistant to another up-and-coming, largely unknown filmmaker, Francis Ford Coppola. At the exact same time, across town on the Universal Studios lot, a film-obsessed 20-year-old, Steven Spielberg, longed to break free from his apprenticeship for the struggling studio and become a film director in his own right. Within a year, the three men would become friends. THE LAST KINGS OF HOLLYWOOD tells the thrilling, dramatic inside story of how the three filmmakers rivalled and supported each other, fell out and reconciled, and struggled to reinvent popular American cinema.
Celadon Books | 9781250878724 

THE NAVIGATOR'S LETTER: The True Story of Two WWII Airmen, a Doomed Mission, and the Woman Who Bound Them Together by Jan Cress Dondi (History) 
One of the riskiest air raids of World War II occurred on August 1, 1943, over the oil fields at Ploesti, Romania --- Nazi Germany’s primary fuel source. The Allies believed that the destruction of Hitler’s oil refineries would shorten the war. Using an untested strategy, it was worth the gamble, but the mission did not go according to plan. With 53 aircraft and 532 crewmen lost, it was the costliest US air raid of the war. A true story, THE NAVIGATOR'S LETTER is a tale of uncanny coincidences: two friends from the same small Illinois town; both joined the Air Corps; both became navigators; both were assigned to B-24 Liberators; both flew missions over Europe; both of their planes were forced down over Ploesti; and both went missing in action.
Union Square & Co. | 9781454956358 

OPERATION BOUNCE HOUSE by Matt Dinniman (Science Fiction/Adventure)
All colonist Oliver Lewis ever wanted to do was run the family ranch with his sister and keep his family’s aging fleet of intelligent agriculture bots ticking as long as possible. He figures it will be a good thing when the transfer gate finally opens all the way and restores instant travel and full communication between Earth and his planet, New Sonora. Even though the settlers were promised they’d be left in peace, Earth’s government now has other plans. The colossal Apex Industries is hired to commence an “eviction action.” But maximizing profits will always be Apex’s number one priority. Why not charge bored Earthers for the opportunity to design their own war machines and remotely pilot them from the comfort of their homes? Oliver and his friends soon find themselves fighting for their lives against machines piloted by gamers who’ve paid a premium for the privilege.
Ace | 9780593820308

ROBERT B. PARKER'S BIG SHOT: A Jesse Stone Novel by Christopher Farnsworth (Mystery)
Fresh off an acquittal in a multibillion-dollar fraud case, Ramsey Devlin doesn’t think the law applies to him. This becomes apparent when Police Chief Jesse Stone finds him passed out, drunk, and on the side of the road. After Devlin takes a swing at him and Jesse swiftly dumps him in the drunk tank, Jesse realizes he’s made an enemy. Devlin makes it his life’s mission to use his money and influence to provoke Jesse. And thanks to a few big campaign donations, he has Jesse’s nemesis, Gary Armistead, the mayor of Paradise, on his side. Devlin even has Molly Crane, Jesse’s deputy chief, wanting to act on her violent urges. Jesse has every reason to want Devlin out of his town. But when he vanishes, and bloodstains are found on the carpet of his monstrous seaside mansion, Jesse finds himself the main suspect in Devlin’s disappearance.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593854372 

ROYAL SPIN by Omid Scobie and Robin Benway (Fiction)
With the British monarchy reeling from a wave of scandals, young American politico Lauren Morgan is plucked from the White House press office to breathe new life into the Buckingham Palace communications team and improve the royal family’s streak of bad headlines. But Lauren quickly discovers that change is far from easy, or welcome, especially when you’re dealing with culture clashes, displeased royal aides, and a risky new love interest --- or two. Just as Lauren finds her footing at work --- and with a charming royal reporter who may be more than just a press contact --- an unexpected encounter from her past threatens the career she’s worked so hard to build. And when scandal looms over the dashing duke who Lauren has developed a special bond with, she finds herself torn between duty, loyalty, success and happiness.
William Morrow | 9780063424807

THIS IS NOT ABOUT US by Allegra Goodman (Fiction)
When their beloved sister passes away, Sylvia and Helen Rubinstein are unmoored. A misunderstanding about apple cake turns into a decade of stubborn silence. Busy with their own lives --- divorces, dating, career setbacks, college applications, bat mitzvahs and ballet recitals --- their children do not want to get involved. As for their grandchildren? Impossible. THIS IS NOT ABOUT US is a story of growing up and growing old, the weight of parental expectations, and the complex connection between sisters.
The Dial Press | 9780593447840 

THE WAR WITHIN A WAR: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home by Wil Haygood (History)
Drawing on the lives of soldiers and officers, doctors and nurses, journalists and activists, artists and politicians, Wil Haygood illuminates a generation caught between two battles: one on the front lines in Vietnam and another for justice and dignity in America. Among those at the heart of the story are Air Force pilot Fred Cherry, the first Black officer captured by the North Vietnamese and a hero to millions back home; and Elbert Nelson, a doctor who came to Vietnam after watching TV footage of the Watts riots in Los Angeles and soon found himself amid rising Black soldier protests overseas. Surrounding their experiences are the cultural and political forces of the era, including Martin Luther King Jr., Marvin Gaye, Berry Gordy and Lyndon Johnson, whose voices and actions shaped a decade of turbulence and transformation.
Knopf | 9780593537695 

WARNING SIGNS by Tracy Sierra (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
Twelve-year-old Zach is cautiously optimistic. His father Bram, whose business is in dire need of cash, has put together a father-son backcountry ski weekend to wine and dine his biggest investors. Schooled in outdoor survival by his mother, Zach is eager to prove himself to the hypercritical Bram. Maybe if Zach shows how useful he is, he can earn his father’s love. But Zach knows to be on high alert around Bram, and he sees the way the group ignores the increasingly threatening conditions. For the first time in his beloved mountains, he is faced with the unknown, convinced that something watches their cabin from the treeline. Something that leaves behind strange tracks and picks its prey clean. As the adults recklessly test the limits of the outdoors, Zach worries he might be in even more danger than he realized.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9798217059799 

THE WIDOW HAMILTON: An Eliza Hamilton Mystery by Mollie Ann Cox (Historical Mystery)
It’s December 1805, and Eliza Hamilton is determined to seek justice. One young woman is dead, another has vanished --- both residents of a house where Eliza’s friend, Alice, lives among other craftswomen struggling to survive in a city unforgiving toward widows and orphans. With no help from the constabulary because the young woman’s body was found in a bad part of town --- and was dressed as a man --- Eliza vows to protect the women and uncover the truth. She suspects a connection between the death and the disappearance, especially given that the young lady who disappeared went missing while searching for the woman who was later found dead. As Eliza traces their last known steps, she unearths a hidden world of dangerous secrets lurking beneath the city --- secrets that could tear apart everything she holds dear.
Crooked Lane Books | 9798892423915

On Sale the Week of February 9th in Paperback

February 10th

CASUALTIES OF TRUTH by Lauren Francis-Sharma (Fiction)
Prudence Wright and her husband, Davis, head out for dinner with one of Davis’ new colleagues. When that colleague turns out to be Matshediso, a man from Prudence’s past, she is transported back to the formative months she spent as a law student in South Africa in 1996. As an intern at a Johannesburg law firm, Prudence attended sessions of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings that uncovered the many horrors and human rights abuses of the Apartheid state. Prudence experienced personal horrors in South Africa as well, long hidden and now at risk of coming to light. When Matshediso finally reveals the real reason behind his sudden reappearance, he will force Prudence to examine her most deeply held beliefs and excavate inner reserves of resilience and strength.
Grove Press | 9780802166555

EVERY TOM, DICK & HARRY by Elinor Lipman (Romantic Comedy)
Taking over her parents’ estate-sale business is not the life’s work that Emma Lewis bargained for. Yes, she grew up helping them empty people’s nests, but nothing prepared her for her biggest and stickiest “get” --- the grand, beautiful house of ill repute masquerading as a decidedly beddable B&B. Should Emma turn down potential clients in need of decluttering just because they are shady, escort-y and proud of it? No. A girl must make a living.
Harper Perennial | 9780063322264

FINLAY DONOVAN DIGS HER OWN GRAVE by Elle Cosimano (Mystery/Humor)
Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime, Vero, have not always gotten along with Finlay’s elderly neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty, the community busybody and president of the neighborhood watch. But when a dead body is discovered in her backyard, Mrs. Haggerty needs their help. At first a suspect, Mrs. Haggerty is cleared by the police, but her house remains an active crime scene. She has nowhere to go…except Finlay’s house, right across the street. Finlay and Vero have no interest in getting involved in another murder case --- or sacrificing either of their bedrooms. However, when the focus of the investigation widens to include Finlay’s ex-husband, Steven, Finlay and Vero are left with little choice but to get closer to Mrs. Haggerty and uncover her secrets…before the police start digging up theirs. But who will solve the mystery first?
Minotaur Books | 9781250337368

THE FOURTH PRINCESS: A Gothic Novel of Old Shanghai by Janie Chang
(Gothic/Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Shanghai, 1911. Lisan Liu is elated when she is hired as secretary to wealthy American Caroline Stanton, the new mistress of Lennox Manor on the outskirts of Shanghai’s International Settlement. However, the Manor has a dark past due to a previous owner’s suicide, and soon Lisan’s childhood nightmares resurface with more intensity. Adding to her unease is the young gardener, Yao, who both entices and disturbs her. Newly married Caroline looks forward to life in China with her husband, Thomas. But an unwelcome guest, Andrew Grey, attends her party and claims to know secrets she can’t afford to have exposed. As Caroline struggles with Grey’s extortion and Thomas’ mysterious illness, Lisan’s future is upended when she learns the truth about her past, and why her identity has been hidden all these years.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063308121

GREAT BLACK HOPE by Rob Franklin (Fiction)
An arrest for cocaine possession on the last day of a sweltering New York summer leaves Smith, a queer Black Stanford graduate, in a state of turmoil as he is pulled into the court system and mandated treatment. It’s just weeks after the death of his beloved roommate, Elle, the daughter of a famous soul singer, and he’s still reeling from the tabloid spectacle --- as well as lingering questions around how well he really knew his closest friend. He flees to his hometown of Atlanta, only to buckle under the weight of expectations from his family of doctors and lawyers and their history in America. But when Smith returns to New York, it’s not long before he begins to lose himself to his old life --- drawn back into the city’s underworld, where his search for answers may end up costing him his freedom and his future.
S&S/Summit Books | 9781668077443

INSIGNIFICANT OTHERS by Sarah Jio (Romance/Magical Realism)
Lena Westbrook has carefully planned and orchestrated every detail of her life. So when her boyfriend of two years breaks up with her on the night she expects him to propose, she’s heartbroken and confused. Lena flees to her beloved aunt’s home on Seattle’s picturesque Bainbridge Island to lick her wounds. But when she awakens the next morning, she is shocked to find herself in Paris --- in bed with a handsome French man who seems to think that Lena is his wife. Each time Lena awakens, she finds herself somewhere else with someone else. In each experience, she’s given a glimpse of what life might have looked like had she chosen the “road not taken.” And as she becomes more clear-sighted about her past decisions, Lena begins to wonder if any of these former romantic encounters are actually...significant.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063371163

JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography by RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil (Biography)
The first oral biography of John F. Kennedy Jr. is an extraordinarily intimate, comprehensive look at the real man behind the myth. Sharing never-before-told stories and insights, his closest friends, confidantes, lovers, classmates, teachers and colleagues paint a vivid portrait of one of the most beloved figures of the 20th century, revealing how the boy who saluted became the man America came to know and love who still captures public imagination 25 years after his tragic death. JFK JR. dives deep into his complicated psyche and explores the what-ifs, illuminating both the cultural and political moment he inhabited and the way this son of a president, so full of promise and possibility, embodied America’s most cherished hopes.
Gallery Books | 9781668018521

THE LOTUS SHOES by Jane Yang (Historical Fiction)
1800s China. Tightly bound feet, or "golden lilies," are the mark of an honorable woman. When Little Flower is sold as a maidservant --- a muizai --- to Linjing, a daughter of the prominent Fong family, she clings to the hope that one day her golden lilies will lead her out of slavery. Not only does Little Flower have bound feet, she is extraordinarily gifted at embroidery, a skill associated with the highest class of a lady. Resentful of her talents, Linjing does everything in her power to thwart Little Flower's escape. But when scandal strikes the Fongs, both women are cast out to the Celibate Sisterhood, where Little Flower’s artistic prowess catches the eye of a nobleman. His attention threatens not only her improved status, but also her life. If Linjing finds out, will she sabotage Little Flower to reclaim her power, or will she protect her?
Park Row | 9780778310686

OUR BEAUTIFUL MESS by Adele Parks (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Connie can’t wait to have all her daughters back home for Christmas. It’s not just the excitement of the girls being together under one roof; uni student Fran is bringing a new boyfriend to stay. Yet from the moment she sees Zac, Connie feels a deep unease. Zac reminds her of the worst mistake she has ever made: a man whose charm and good looks nearly destroyed her marriage. Then, Fran announces she’s pregnant. Reeling from Fran’s news and terrified that her past might threaten her family’s future, Connie desperately tries to navigate a path forward. But there’s a much greater menace looming, because she’s not the only one who has something to hide. Someone in the house has another devastating secret. A deception that will put everyone Connie loves in shocking danger, and one of them will pay the ultimate price.
Park Row | 9780778387305

OURS IS A TALE OF MURDER by Nora Murphy (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Klara never wanted the house with the white picket fence. Troy never wanted anything else. Nothing is quite right with this happy couple, but isn't every home hiding something? Mary, the mother in the blue house, is cleaning out her son's old room before she sells, haunted by the mistakes of her past and afraid of what her home has become. Henry, freshly laid off and back living with his parents, has plenty of time to watch everyone --- especially wives. He knows something is wrong with the couple across the street. But then, nothing is quite what it seems, and sometimes you miss what's right in front of you. Murder will soon thread its way through this world in ways no one will see coming --- unless you've been the one plotting it all along.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464250880

THE REBEL ROMANOV: Julie of Saxe-Coburg, the Empress Russia Never Had by Helen Rappaport (History)
In 1795, Catherine the Great of Russia was in search of a bride for her grandson, Constantine, who stood third in line to her throne. In an eerie echo of her own story, Catherine selected an innocent young German princess, Julie of Saxe-Coburg, aunt of the future Queen Victoria. Though Julie had everything a young bride could wish for, she was alone in a court dominated by an aging empress and riven with rivalries, plotting and gossip --- not to mention her brute of a husband. Desperate for love, she allegedly sought consolation in the arms of others. Finally, Tsar Alexander granted her permission to leave in 1801. Julie gave birth to two --- possibly three --- illegitimate children, all of whom she was forced to give up for adoption. Despite entreaties from Constantine to return and provide an heir, she refused, eventually finding love with her own married physician.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250777218

SEEKING SHELTER: A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America by Jeff Hobbs (Biography/Social Science)
In 2018, poverty and domestic violence cast Evelyn and her children into the urban wilderness of Los Angeles, where she avoids the family crisis network that offers no clear pathway for her children to remain together and in a decent school. For the next five years, Evelyn works full time as a waitress --- yet remains unable to afford legitimate housing or qualify for government aid. All the while, she delivers her children to school every day and strives to provide them with loving memories and college aspirations. Eventually Evelyn encounters Wendi, a recently trained social worker who, decades earlier, survived her own relationship trauma and housing crisis. Evelyn becomes one of Wendi’s first clients, and the relationship transforms them both.
Scribner | 9781668034835

THE SNOWBIRDS by Christina Clancy (Fiction)
A couple for 30 years, Kim and Grant’s "separate but together" partnership is running up against the realities of late middle age: Grant’s mother has died, the college where he taught philosophy was shuttered, and their twin girls are grown and gone. Escaping the bitter cold of a Midwestern winter for the hot desert sun of Palm Springs seems as good a solution as any to the more intractable problems they face. When they arrive at Le Desert, a quirky condo community, Kim immediately embraces the opportunity to make new friends and explore a more adventurous side of her personality. Meanwhile, Grant struggles to find his footing in this unfamiliar landscape. When Grant goes missing on a hike in the Palm Springs mountains, Kim is forced to consider two terrifying outcomes: either Grant is truly lost, or this time, he has really left her.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250872104

SO, I MET THIS GUY by Alexandra Potter (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Maggie thinks she’s finally found the love of her life. Theo is charming, passionate and crazy about her. So when Theo mysteriously disappears, Maggie certainly doesn’t expect that he’s gone for good --- let alone stolen her life savings, heart and self-esteem. Now she’s living in a caravan in a muddy field in the middle of nowhere, left to pick up the pieces. When junior reporter Flick catches wind of the story, she decides that exposing the romance fraudster may be just the career break she needs. The pair embark on the road trip of their lives, where unexpected twists, hidden secrets and hard truths are revealed. And, as an unlikely friendship begins to blossom, they realize it’s not just about finding the guy, it’s about finding themselves.
Zibby Publishing | 9798992377033

STONE YARD DEVOTIONAL by Charlotte Wood (Fiction)
Burnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place she grew up, taking refuge in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of rural Australia. She doesn't believe in God, or know what prayer is, and finds herself living this strange, reclusive existence almost by accident. But disquiet interrupts this secluded life with three visitations. First comes a terrible mouse plague, each day signaling a new battle against the rising infestation. Second is the return of the skeletal remains of a sister who disappeared decades before, presumed murdered. And finally, a troubling visitor plunges the narrator further back into her past.
Riverhead Books | 9798217047369

STUART WOODS’ FINDERS KEEPERS: A Stone Barrington Novel by Brett Battles (Thriller/Adventure)
After attending an Arrington properties meeting at the group’s newest location, The Vineyard Arrington on Martha's Vineyard, Stone Barrington returns to New York City to catch up with his old friend, Jack Coulter. Over lunch, Jack requests Stone’s help in settling his niece, Sara, into city life post-divorce. Always one to please, Stone takes Sara under his wing. But when various men from Sara’s past start getting hurt, and Jack’s loved ones find themselves a target in a deadly scheme, it’s up to Stone to put the pieces together...before the shrouded conspirer manages to tear them all apart, permanently.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780593854723

SUBATOMIC LOVE by Shannon Kirk (Science Fiction/Romantic Suspense)
Paperback Original
In the final seconds before the Pointe Reason nuclear reactor explodes around them in October 1971, Dr. Cecilia Ribold makes a conscious choice: to defy death itself. She, her true love Mitch, and her best friend and fellow physicist Dawn vow to find each other across lifetimes. Now, half a century later, they are each fully entrenched in their subsequent lives. Ceclia, now known as Vienna, finds Mitch, now Marcello, in a fateful encounter. Hoping to express her agonizing love for him, while also sending a warning to a culprit she partly blames for the Pointe Reason disaster, she publishes a novel containing details no one could possibly know about the meltdown --- unless they'd been there. The novel attracts her old friend Dawn, now Darcey, but also the dangerous attention of the perpetrators of the original disaster and the government who sees directed reincarnation as a valuable weapon.
Koehler Books | 9798888249567

THE THREE LIVES OF CATE KAY by Kate Fagan (Fiction)
Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now. As a young adult, she and her best friend, Amanda, dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams, and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.
Atria Books | 9781668076224

TWO CAN PLAY by Ali Hazelwood (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Viola Bowen has the chance of a lifetime: to design a video game based on her all-time favorite book series. The only problem? Her co-lead is Jesse F-ing Andrews, aka her archnemesis. Jesse has made it abundantly clear over the years that he wants nothing to do with her --- and Viola has no idea why. When their bosses insist a wintry retreat is the perfect team-building exercise, Viola can’t think of anything worse. Being freezing cold in a remote mountain lodge knowing Jesse is right next door? No, thank you. But as the snow piles on, Viola discovers there’s more to Jesse than she knew, and heat builds in more ways than one.
Berkley | 9798217192335

WAITING FOR THE LONG NIGHT MOON: Stories by Amanda Peters (Fiction/Short Stories)
In her debut collection of short fiction, Amanda Peters melds traditional storytelling with beautiful, spare prose to describe the dignity of the traditional way of life, the humiliations of systemic racism, and the resilient power to endure. A young man returns from residential school only to realize he no longer can communicate with his own parents. A grieving mother finds purpose and healing on the front lines as a water protector. And a nervous child dances in her first Mawi’omi. The collection also includes the Indigenous Voices Award-winning and title story “Waiting for the Long Night Moon.” At times sad, sometimes disturbing but always redemptive, these stories will remind you that where there is grief there is also joy, where there is trauma there is resilience, and, most importantly, there is power.
Catapult ‎| 9781646223213

WE ALL LIVE HERE by Jojo Moyes (Fiction)
Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall, and her love life is…complicated. So when Lila’s real dad --- a man she barely has seen since he ran off to Hollywood 35 years ago --- suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out that even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach you: about love, and what it actually means to be family.
Penguin Books | 9781984879349

WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE by John Scalzi (Science Fiction/Humor)
The moon has turned into cheese. Now humanity has to deal with it. For some it’s an opportunity. For others it’s a moment to question their faith: in God, in science, in everything. Still others try to keep the world running in the face of absurdity and uncertainty. And then there are the billions looking to the sky and wondering how a thing that was always just there is now...something absolutely impossible. Astronauts and billionaires, comedians and bank executives, professors and presidents, teenagers and terminal patients at the end of their lives --- over the length of an entire lunar cycle, each get their moment in the moonlight. To panic, to plan, to wonder and to pray, to laugh and to grieve.
Tor Books | 9781250348432

WORLD'S EDGE: A Mosaic Novel by James Sallis (Dystopian/Science Fiction)
Paperback Original
In a not-so-distant future, the United States has fragmented, balkanizing into unstable provinces often at war with one another. Americans, their great promise not so much lost as forfeited, are encountering the terrors and devastation so much of the world lives with daily. Throughout a land littered with refugees, ruins, orphaned children, soldiers, militia and fugitives, people go on about their daily lives as best they can. The five linked stories of WORLD’S EDGE track the false starts and stall-outs of a nation and civilization trying to rise again, to rebuild, and of individuals caught up in that rebirthing. As ever, the only true history lies in the story of individual lives, in the old rag and bone shop of our hearts.
Soho Press | 9781641298261

On Sale the Week of February 16th in Hardcover

February 17th

ADRIFT by Will Dean (Domestic Thriller)
Peggy and Drew, both aspiring writers, move to an isolated canal boat with their 14-year-old son. Peggy is the glue that holds their family together, even as their son is bullied relentlessly for his physique and his family’s lack of money. But when Drew becomes frustrated by his wife’s sudden writing success, he moves their boat further and further from civilization. With their increasing isolation, personal challenges become harder to ignore, even as they desperately try to break toxic generational patterns. But when Drew’s gaslighting becomes too much for Peggy to take, it sets off a catastrophic series of events.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668080054 

AMERICAN STRUGGLE: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union: An Anthology by Jon Meacham (History)
In AMERICAN STRUGGLE, Jon Meacham illuminates the nation’s complicated past. This rich and diverse collection covers a wide spectrum of history, from 1619 to the 21st century, with primary-source documents that take us back to critical moments in which Americans fought over the meaning and the direction of the national experiment. From the founders to Lincoln to Obama, from Andrew Jackson to Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan, from Seneca Falls to the March on Washington, this chorus tells the story of the country and of its people. As clashes over liberty and slavery, inclusion and exclusion, play out, these voices remind us that contentious citizenship and fair-minded observations are essential to bringing about the more perfect union envisioned in the Preamble to the Constitution.
Random House | 9780593597552 

ASHLAND by Dan Simon (Fiction)
Dan Simon's debut novel takes place in Ashland, New Hampshire, a former mill town in the lakes region, and is told in six voices. Among them are Carolyn, a 20-year-old writer at a turning point in her life; Gordon, who arrives in Ashland in the twilight of his years; Andy, a local boy; Geoff, Carolyn's writing teacher at Plymouth State; and Edith, Gordon's wife, who is inadvertently Carolyn's spiritual guide and friend. Then there is Jennie, Carolyn's aunt, who seems to offer her a model for how to live. But things aren't always what they seem, and Carolyn must discover her own rules and make her own way.
Europa Editions | 9798889661672 

THE ASTRAL LIBRARY by Kate Quinn (Fiction/Magical Realism)
Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: Unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing that college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives...inside their favorite books. The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect.
William Morrow | 9780063479753

BAD ASIANS by Lillian Li (Fiction)
Diana, Justin, Errol and Vivian worked hard, got A's and attended a good university --- only to graduate into the Great Recession of 2008. Now, despite their newly minted degrees, they’re unemployed and stuck again under their parents’ roofs in a hypercompetitive Chinese American community. So when Grace --- once the neighborhood golden child, now a Harvard Law School dropout --- asks to make a documentary about the crew, they agree. The video, "Bad Asians," goes viral on an up-and-coming media platform (YouTube, anyone?). Suddenly, millions of people know them as cruel caricatures, each full of pent-up frustrations with the others. And after a desperate attempt at spin control further derails their plans for the lives they’d always imagined, the friends must face harsh truths about themselves and coming of age in the new millennium.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250363626 

THE BLOOD COUNTESS: Murder, Betrayal, and the Making of a Monster by Shelley Puhak (True Crime/History)
There have long been whispers, coming from the castle; from the village square; from the dark woods. The great lady --- a countess, from one of Europe's oldest families --- is a vicious killer. When the king's men force their way into her manor house, she is caught murdering yet another of her maids. She is walled up in a tower and never seen again, except in the uppermost barred window, where she curses all those who dared speak up against her. Told and retold in many languages, the legend of the Blood Countess has consumed cultural imaginations around the world. But despite claims that Elizabeth Bathory tortured and killed as many as 650 girls, some have wondered if the Countess was herself a victim --- of one of the most successful disinformation campaigns known to history. So was Elizabeth Bathory a monster, a victim, or a bit of both?
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639732159

THE DEVIL'S BIBLE: A Cotton Malone Novel by Steve Berry (Thriller)
Former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone is called to Sweden when the younger sister of King Wilhelm I is kidnapped. The ransom demand? Hand over an 800-year-old book, the Codex Gigas --- the largest illuminated medieval manuscript in the world. Claimed as war loot from Bohemia in 1648, it’s been kept in Stockholm for nearly 400 years. Along the way, it also acquired another more mysterious moniker: The Devil’s Bible. Now the Czech Republic wants the codex back, and Sweden has agreed to return it, but forces are at work to stop that deal from happening. The likely instigator? Russia. Which is also at the top of the list for possible kidnappers. It’s up to Cotton and Cassiopeia Vitt to locate the king’s sister, secure the codex and thwart the Russians. Yet nothing is as it seems.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538770603 

EVIL GENIUS by Claire Oshetsky (Domestic Thriller/Humor)
Nineteen-year-old Celia Dent keeps telling herself how lucky she is to be working at the phone company and to be married to Drew. Celia’s contentment with her little life is shattered, though, when a woman she knows from work is murdered in a love tryst gone awry. What would that be like, Celia wonders, to die for love --- or to kill for love? Before she knows it, her musings about love-and-death happenings are bleeding into daily life. Suddenly she’s playing hooky from work and searching for a love tryst of her very own. She’s practicing her marksmanship at a local gun range and thinking about how good it would feel to bury something sharp inside her domineering husband’s ear. It’s all pretend, though, until the night comes when Celia finally goes too far, and she and Drew are set on a deadly collision course.
Ecco | 9780063466487

FIRST SIGN OF DANGER: A Haven's Rock Novel by Kelley Armstrong (Mystery) 
Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are entering a new chapter of life as parents to their six-month-old baby. Their family is hidden away in the sanctuary town of Haven's Rock where they can live safe and private lives. But when they encounter hikers too close to the borders of Haven's Rock, they realize they're in danger of being exposed. When they find one of the hikers dead the next day, they realize that their paranoia was justified, but they're no closer to finding out who these people were and what they were doing in the vicinity of Haven's Rock. Only by tracing the hikers' movements, as well as examining the recent behavior of their closest neighbors, the workers of a secretive mining camp, will they be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and shut it down.
Minotaur Books | 9781250351821 

THE HARD LINE: A Gray Man Novel by Mark Greaney (Thriller)
Court Gentry’s current family operates out of an office park in Norfolk, Virginia. The Ghost Town is an off-the-books direct action team run by Matt Hanley, former CIA Deputy Director. They take on the jobs the Agency needs handled “discretely.” Somewhere at the top of the US Intelligence apparatus, security experts and intelligence operations worldwide are threatened. It starts with a blown safe house in Tunis. Then Court himself barely escapes from an ambush in the jungles of Nicaragua. Now key members of the U.S. counterintelligence community are being assassinated in their own neighborhoods. With the feds compromised, it’s up to Court and his team to stop the hit squads. But eliminating professional kill teams may be the least of the Gray Man’s worries when he finds himself targeted by the legendary assassin codenamed Whetstone.
Berkley | 9780593954812 

HER LAST BREATH by Taylor Adams (Psychological Thriller)
After years of excuses, Tess has finally agreed to go caving with her best friend, Allie. As Tess and Allie descend into the depths, they realize they’re not alone. A stranger who claims to be a fellow caver harasses them. Allie insults the guy --- and he retaliates. Soon, Tess is trapped inside a narrow crawl space hundreds of feet underground, fighting to stay alive. Twenty-four hours later, as a hospitalized Tess recounts her harrowing story of survival, the detective interviewing her shares new and shocking secrets about Allie's true past. Together, they begin to suspect the brutal attack wasn’t so random after all. Who was Allie, really? Why did this man target them? And did Tess really leave the danger behind when she escaped the cave?
William Morrow | 9780063394131 

LAST SEEN by Christopher Castellani (Psychological Thriller)
Caleb was driving home for Christmas. Steven was pounding beers at a local bar. Matthew was out looking for his ex-girlfriend. Leo was walking in the woods on a winter night. Then they disappeared. Days, weeks, years later, their bodies turn up in icy rivers hundreds of miles apart. How did they get there? What, if anything, connects them? Some of their loved ones believe the official answers. Some are convinced the boys are victims of an insidious network called the Smiley Face Killers. Some are trying to forget them altogether. Meanwhile, Caleb, Steven, Matthew and Leo find one other --- and other boys like them --- in the murky depths of the afterlife. Each tells his story in his own way, speaking his version of truth, confessing his desires and grievances, and even his hopes for a future he still somehow believes belongs to him.
Viking | 9798217061037 

LAWS OF LOVE AND LOGIC by Debra Curtis (Fiction)
Lily Webb is deeply in love with a charismatic boy, a college-bound quarterback. But their dreams of a life together are cut short when his passionate protectiveness leads to an irrevocable choice. Lily already knows the sting of loss, beginning with the death of her mother, a tragedy that left deep scars on both her and her gifted younger sister, Jane. Jane seeks escape in the abstract world of mathematics and quantum mechanics --- when she can keep the demons that fuel her addictions at bay. As the years pass, Lily buries her twin griefs deep in her heart, finding solace and a new beginning with Marshall Middleton, a renowned ornithologist. But when the boy who was once everything to Lily reappears in her life, she struggles with questions around that terrible night in high school.
Ballantine Books | 9798217092277 

LEAN CAT, SAVAGE CAT by Lauren J. Joseph (Fiction)
Alone at a party, Charli knows she’s in a rut. Kicking around with the rest of London’s bohemian dropouts, she has no idea what to do with her arts degree, and her research project on Romy Haag --- the transsexual disco singer and longtime lover of David Bowie --- has all but stalled out. But her life takes a turn when she bumps into the mysterious Alexander Geist. Androgynously, glamorously handsome, he feels something like a soul mate. Naturally, when he leaves for Berlin, Charli follows. There, at the center of the city’s febrile party scene, Charli and Alexander embark on their great project: turn Alexander into the greatest pop star since David Bowie. But Alexander is elusive, mercurial; Charli is in over her head before she realizes just how self-destructive her life has become under his spell.
Catapult | 9781646223282 

LEAVING HOME: A Memoir in Full Colour by Mark Haddon (Memoir)
LEAVING HOME is a portrait of the artist both as a child and as an adult. His parents were not really cut out for the job of having children. They were cut out, respectively, for the jobs of designing abattoirs and keeping a pathologically clean and tidy house. At least he had the consolations of The Weetabix Solar System Wallchart, walnut whips and the occasional Babycham. Astringently honest and scalpel sharp, this is a book about being different and seeing the world differently. It’s about being a cartoonist and a care assistant. It’s about family. It’s about knickerbocker glories and heart surgery, about papier mâché and mental breakdown and great white sharks. It’s about how art, in all its varied forms, provides a way of understanding and coming to terms with the mess of human life.
Doubleday | 9780385551892 

ON MORRISON by Namwali Serpell (Literary Criticism)
Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate and one of our most beloved writers, has inspired generations of readers. But her artistic genius is often overshadowed by her monumental public persona, perhaps because, as Namwali Serpell puts it, “she is our only truly canonical Black female writer --- and her work is highly complex.” In ON MORRISON, Serpell brings her unique experience as both an award-winning writer and a professor who teaches a course on Morrison to illuminate her masterful experiments with literary form. This is Morrison as you’ve never encountered her before, a journey through her oeuvre --- her fiction and criticism, as well as her lesser-known dramatic works and poetry --- with contextual guidance and original close readings.
Hogarth | 9780593732915 

PLAYMAKERS: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America by Michael Kimmel (Social History)
In 1902, Morris and Rose Michtom invented the Teddy Bear --- bound by clothing scraps, stuffed with sawdust, and given button eyes with a sad, longing expression --- in the back room of their Brooklyn candy store. Together they launched the Ideal Toy Corporation, joining a set of other poor, first-generation Jewish toymakers: the Hassenfeld brothers of Hasbro, Ruth Moskowicz and Elliot Handler of Mattel, and Joshua Lionel Cowan of Lionel Trains. From Barbie and G.I. Joe to Popeye, Superman and Mr. Potato Head, PLAYMAKERS reveals how the toy industry created the idealized American childhood: an enchanted world, full of wild creatures and eternal struggles between good and evil, with endless realms of fantasy and beauty. 
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324105282 

SO OLD, SO YOUNG by Grant Ginder (Fiction/Humor) 
For Marco and Mia, Sasha and Theo, Richie and Adam, the one constant in life after college together has been change. New jobs. New cities. New spouses. New children. Through it all, one thing they thought would always stay the same is their friendship. But time has a way of breaking even the strongest bonds, and testing what we thought we knew. From East Village apartment parties and disastrous destination weddings, to 40th birthdays and suburban backyard barbecues, SO OLD, SO YOUNG is a story about the growing pains of the Millennial generation, and a celebration of how love can shift, stumble and grow into something bigger than we ever could have imagined.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781668051771 

WHEN I KILL YOU by B. A. Paris (Domestic Thriller) 
Nell Masters is certain that someone is following her. The hairs on the back of her neck rise when she travels to and from work, there are silent calls to her office, and a huge bouquet of flowers arrives without a card. Nell has a secret that she’s hiding from everyone in her life, including her new partner, Alex. But Alex also has secrets of his own. Fourteen years earlier, when Nell went by the name Elle Nugent, she witnessed a student, Bryony Sanders, getting into a stranger’s car. When Bryony was found murdered, Elle became obsessed with finding the person responsible. She was convinced she knew who it was, and her fixation with Brett Parker, the man she accused, led her down a dangerous path. Has someone from Nell’s past discovered her new identity? Has the stalker become the stalked? Or is there something even more deadly at play?
St. Martin's Press | 9781250289445 

On Sale the Week of February 16th in Paperback

February 17th

THE ANTIQUE HUNTER’S DEATH ON THE RED SEA by C. L. Miller
(Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
When a painting vanishes from a maritime museum and a dead body is found nearby, the newly established Lockwood Antique Hunter’s Agency, Freya Lockwood and her Aunt Carole, are called to investigate. Following a lead that takes them aboard a glamorous antiques cruise sailing toward the Red Sea in Jordan, they quickly discover that the ship’s art gallery is filled with stolen antiquities. Each antique is also listed in Freya’s late mentor’s journals that detail unsolved cases. In chasing a murderer with a stolen painting, they may have found something more sinister than they ever could’ve imagined. Their hunt soon turns deadly when they learn that the enigmatic and dangerous art trafficker named The Collector could be on board. Will Freya and Carole be able to discover the Collector’s identity and stop his murderous plans before the ship docks?
Atria Books | 9781668032046

THE ASHFIRE KING by Chelsea Abdullah (Fantasy/Adventure)
After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse. The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. Amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion is on the rise. When Loulie assists a dissenter --- one of her bodyguard’s old comrades --- she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war. Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?
Orbit | 9780316369169

BOOK OF FORBIDDEN WORDS by Louise Fein (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
1552, Paris: The printing press is quickly spreading new ideas across Europe, threatening the power of church and state, and unleashing a wave of book burning and heretic hunting. When frightened ex-nun Lysbette Angiers arrives at Charlotte Guillard’s famous printing shop with her manuscript, neither woman knows just how far the powerful elite will go to prevent the spread of Lysbette’s audacious ideas. 1952, New York: Milly Bennett is a lonely housewife struggling to find her way in her new neighborhood amidst the paranoid clamors of McCarthy’s America. She finds her life taking an unexpected turn when a relic from her past presents her with a 400-year-old manuscript to decipher, pulling her into a vortex of danger that threatens to shatter her world. Milly, Lysbette and Charlotte each face a reality where the spread of ideas are feared and every effort is made to suppress them.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063411432

CARNEY by A. F. Carter (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
The Baxter Police Department should be prepared to battle against the drug dealers, pimps and stick-up artists constantly streaming into town. However, the department began recruiting shortly after the Nissan contract was awarded, which began the city’s rapid transformation. But the commission vetting new hires rushed to bring in almost anyone with a law enforcement background. Men and women were added as fast as they applied, creating a vortex that perfectly suited a group of ex-cops from Missouri as corrupt as they are brutal. Captain Delia Mariola is not afraid of them, but she needs help and finds it in the form of Tom Carney. An experienced undercover, his status is known only by Delia and the commissioner. That secret proves invaluable as Carney weaves unsuspected through Baxter’s underworld. But to what end?
Mysterious Press | 9781613167267

CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COUNT TO 10 by Lisa Unger (Psychological Thriller)
Charismatic daredevil and extreme adventurer Maverick Dillan invites you to the ultimate game of hide-and-seek. But as the players gather on Falcao Island, the event quickly spirals into a chilling test of survival. A storm rages as a deadly threat stalks the contestants, turning the challenge into something far more sinister than the social media stunt it was intended to be. Enter Adele, a single mother with a fierce determination to protect her children at all costs. When she begins the game, she unwittingly enters a twisted web of deception and intrigue. Can she maneuver through the treacherous storm and the relentless competition and get home to her family? In a ruthless battle for survival where the stakes are higher than ever, the blurry line between the virtual and the real proves that the only person we can trust is ourselves.
Park Row | 9780778333371

COLD AS HELL: A Haven's Rock Novel by Kelley Armstrong (Mystery)
Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are starting a family now that they’ve settled into their life at Haven’s Rock. As Casey nears the end of her pregnancy, she lets nothing stop her from investigating what happens in the forbidden forest outside the town of Haven’s Rock. When one of the town's residents is drugged and wanders too close to the edge of town, she’s dragged into the woods kicking and screaming. She’s saved in the nick of time, but the women of the town are alarmed. Casey and Eric investigate the assault just as a snowstorm hits Haven’s Rock, covering the forest. It’s there that they find a frozen body, naked in the snow. With mixed accounts of the woman's last movements, the two begin to question who they can trust --- and who they can't --- in their seemingly safe haven.
Minotaur Books | 9781250351814

THE FAMILY RECIPE by Carolyn Huynh (Fiction)
Duc Tran, the eccentric founder of the Vietnamese sandwich chain Duc’s Sandwiches, has decided to retire. With the help of the shady family lawyer, Duc informs his five estranged adult children that to receive their inheritance, his four daughters must revitalize run-down shops in old-school Little Saigon locations across America within a year. But if the first-born (and only) son, Jude, gets married first, everything will go to him. Each daughter is stuck in a new city, battling gentrification, declining ethnic enclaves and messy love lives, while struggling to modernize their father’s American dream. Jude wonders if he wants to marry for love or for money --- or neither. As Duc’s children scramble to win their inheritance, they begin to learn the real intention behind the inheritance scheme --- and the secret their long-lost mother kept tucked away in the old fishing tackle box all along.
Atria Books | 9781668033050

THE FIRST TO GO WEST: American Ambition, Bloody Conquest, and the Fateful Journey of Jedediah Smith by Tom Clavin and Bob Drury (History)
It is the early 19th century, and the land recently purchased by President Thomas Jefferson stretches west for thousands of miles. Who inhabits this vast new garden of Eden? What strange beasts and natural formations can be found? Thus was the birth of Manifest Destiny and the resulting bloody battles with Indigenous tribes encountered by white explorers. Also in this volatile mix are the grizzled fur trappers and mountain men, waging war against the Native American tribes whose lands they traverse. This is the setting of THE FIRST TO GO WEST, and the guide to this epic narrative is arguably America’s greatest yet most unsung pathfinder, Jedediah Smith. His explorations into the forested frontiers on both sides of the Rocky Mountains and all the way to the West Coast would become the stuff of legend.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250878588

THE GUILT PILL by Saumya Dave (Fiction)
Maya Patel seemingly has it all. But behind closed doors, she's drowning. Her newborn has taken a toll on her marriage, her best friend won't return her calls, and her company is hanging on by a thread. If she could just be a better boss, mother, wife and friend, maybe she wouldn't feel so guilty all the time. Enter: #Girlboss Liz Anderson, who introduces Maya to the "guilt pill," an experimental supplement that erases female guilt. It's the perfect antidote to Maya’s self-blame and imposter syndrome, and she can finally become the woman she’s always wanted to be. There's just one catch --- for Maya to truly "have it all," she must be willing to risk it all. And as she falls deeper down the pill's guilt-free rabbit hole, her growing ruthlessness could threaten everything she's built for herself…and the family she's worked so hard to protect.
Park Row | 9780778368359

IMMORTAL by Sue Lynn Tan (Fantasy/Romance)
The young heir to a mortal crown, Liyen ascends a precarious throne when her grandfather dies, vowing to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortals and take vengeance against those she feels responsible for his death. When she is summoned to the Immortal Realm, she seizes the opportunity to learn their secrets and to form a tenuous alliance to safeguard her people, all with the one she should fear and mistrust the most: the ruthless God of War. As they are drawn together, a treacherous attraction ignites between them --- one she has to resist, to not endanger all she is fighting for. But with darker forces closing in around them, and her kingdom plunged into peril, Liyen must risk everything to save her people from an unspeakable fate, even if it means forging a dangerous bond with the immortal. Even if it means losing her heart.
Harper Voyager | 9780063267626

AN INSIDE JOB by Daniel Silva (Thriller/Adventure)
Gabriel Allon has been awarded a commission to restore one of the most important paintings in Venice. But when he discovers the body of a mysterious woman floating in the waters of the Venetian Lagoon, he finds himself in a desperate race to recover a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci. The painting, a portrait of a beautiful young girl, has been gathering dust in a storeroom at the Vatican Museums for more than a century, misattributed and hidden beneath a worthless picture by an unknown artist. Because no one knows that the Leonardo is there, no one notices when it disappears one night during a suspicious power outage. No one but the ruthless mobsters and moneymen behind the theft --- and the mysterious woman Gabriel found in a watery grave in Venice. A woman without a name. A woman without a face.
Harper Perennial | 9780063384415

THE LAMB by Lucy Rose (Gothic Horror)
Margot and Mama have lived by the forest ever since Margot can remember. When Margot is not at school, they spend quiet days together in their cottage, waiting for strangers to knock on their door. Strays, Mama calls them. People who have strayed too far from the road. Mama loves the strays. She feeds them wine and keeps them warm. Then she satisfies her burning appetite by picking apart their bodies. But Mama’s want is stronger than her hunger sometimes. And when a beautiful, white-toothed stray named Eden turns up in the heart of a snowstorm, Margot must confront the shifting dynamics of her family, untangle her own desires, and make her bid for freedom.
Harper Perennial | 9780063374614

LORNE: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live by Susan Morrison (Biography)
Over the 50 years that Lorne Michaels has been at the helm of “Saturday Night Live,” he has become a revered and inimitable presence in the entertainment world. He’s a tastemaker, a mogul, a withholding father figure, a genius spotter of talent, a shrewd businessman, a name-dropper, a raconteur, the inspiration for Dr. Evil, the winner of more than a hundred Emmys --- and, essentially, a mystery. Generations of writers and performers have spent their lives trying to figure him out, by turns demonizing and lionizing him. LORNE will introduce you to him, in full, for the first time. With unprecedented access to Michaels and the entire “SNL” apparatus, Susan Morrison takes readers behind the curtain for the lively, up-and-down, definitive story of how Michaels created and maintained the institution that changed comedy forever.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780812988895

A MAP TO PARADISE by Susan Meissner (Historical Fiction)
With her name on the Hollywood blacklist and her life on hold, starlet Melanie Cole has little choice in company. There is her next-door neighbor, Elwood, but the screenwriter’s agoraphobia allows for just short chats through open windows. He’s her sole confidante, though, as she and her housekeeper, Eva, an immigrant from war-torn Europe, rarely make conversation. Then one early morning, Melanie and Eva spot Elwood’s sister-in-law and caretaker, June, digging in his beloved rose garden. After that they don’t see Elwood at all anymore. Where could a man who never leaves the house possibly have gone? As they try to find out if something has happened to him, unexpected secrets are revealed among all three women, leading to an alliance that seems the only way for any of them to hold on to what they can still call their own.
Berkley | 9780593332870

THE NEW NEIGHBORS by Claire Douglas (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
When Lena overhears a conversation between her next-door neighbors, she thinks she must have misheard. The Morgans are a kind, retired couple who recently moved to their sleepy suburban street in Bristol where nothing ever happens. But to Lena it sounded very much like they were planning a crime. Her family and friends tell her she must be mistaken. Yet Lena can’t stop thinking about that strange conversation. What if they really are about to do something terrible? What if she can prevent it? Especially when doing something might help ease her conscience about her own dark past.
Harper Perennial | 9780063354432

PARANOIA: A Michael Bennett Thriller by James Patterson and James O. Born (Psychological Thriller)
At every death scene, NYPD Detective Michael Bennett says a prayer over the victim. But recently, too many of the departed have been fellow cops. “I want you to look at these deaths on special assignment,” NYPD Inspector Celeste Cantor says. “Report only to me.” Bennett excels as a solo investigator. But he's chasing a killer who feeds on isolation...and paranoia.
Little, Brown and Company | 9781538710685

ROSE OF JERICHO by Alex Grecian (Historical Fantasy/Supernatural Horror)
Something wicked is going on in the village of Ascension. A mother wasting away from cancer is suddenly up and about. A boy trampled by a milk cart walks away from the accident. A hanged man can still speak, broken neck and all. The dead are not dying. When Rabbit and Sadie Grace accompany their friend, Rose, to Ascension to help take care of her ailing cousin, they immediately notice that their new house, Bethany Hall, is occupied by dozens of ghosts. And something is waiting for them in the attic. The villagers of Ascension are unwelcoming and wary of their weird visitors. As the three women attempt to find out what’s happening in the town, they must be careful not to be found out. But a much larger --- and more dangerous --- force is galloping straight for them.
Tor Nightfire | 9781250874726

SHOW DON’T TELL: Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld (Fiction/Short Stories)
In her second story collection, Curtis Sittenfeld shows why she’s as beloved for her short fiction as she is for her novels. In these dazzling stories, she conjures up characters so real that they seem like old friends, laying bare the moments when their long-held beliefs are overturned. In “The Patron Saints of Middle Age,” a woman visits two friends she hasn’t seen since her divorce. In “A for Alone,” a married artist embarks on a creative project intended to disprove the so-called Mike Pence Rule, which suggests that women and men can’t spend time alone together without lusting after each other. And in “Lost but Not Forgotten,” Sittenfeld gives readers of her novel PREP a window into the world of her beloved character Lee Fiora, decades later, when Lee attends an alumni reunion at her boarding school.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780593446751

TOM CLANCY LINE OF DEMARCATION: A Jack Ryan Jr. Novel by M. P. Woodward (Thriller/Adventure)
It starts with the destruction of a US Coast Guard cutter and the loss of her entire crew. But the USCG Claiborne was on an innocuous mission to open a sea lane between an oil field off the coast of South America and the refineries of southern Louisiana. The destruction of the ship won't stop that mission from continuing. So who would sacrifice 22 men and women just to slow down the plan? That's the question plaguing Jack Ryan Jr. He's in Guyana to work a deal to get his company, Hendley Associates, in on the ground floor of this new discovery, but Russia’s Wagner Group and a pack of Venezuelan narco-terrorists have other ideas --- and will risk war with the United States to see them through. It's up to Jack to identify the killers before they draw a bead on him.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593718025

THE UNRAVELING OF JULIA by Lisa Scottoline (Psychological Thriller)
One awful night, Julia Pritzker witnesses the murder of her beloved husband during a mugging on a Philadelphia street. Her luck seems to change when stunning news arrives from Italy, informing her that she’s inherited a fortune, a Tuscan villa, and a vineyard. But she’s mystified by her Italian benefactor, a total stranger named Emilia Rossi. She flies to Tuscany for answers. There, Julia learns that Rossi suffered from delusions of grandeur, believing herself to be a descendant of Caterina Sforza, a powerful Renaissance duchess. Julia doubts that is true, but she can’t deny the uncanny resemblance between her, Caterina and Rossi. She starts to unearth eerie parallels between them --- and disturbing secrets. Before long, Julia suspects she’s being followed and soon finds herself in a harrowing struggle for sanity and survival.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538770016

WHERE THE WILDFLOWERS GROW by Terah Shelton Harris (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Leigh is the last of the Wildes. She knows this because she watched them all die. Grief never truly fades, and even as the tragedy haunts her, Leigh carries on. So when the transport bus taking her to prison careens off the road, killing everyone onboard except her, she does what's in her nature. She survives. While searching for a place to hide, Leigh stumbles upon an unexpected sanctuary: a flower farm in rural Alabama tucked away from the world. What Leigh doesn't expect is the found family there who have built something from the wreckage of their own lives. Slowly, Leigh finds peace with the hard pace and soft nature of the farm, taking comfort in the life blooming around her. But the past isn't so easily buried. No matter how far she runs, the truth of who she is and the ghosts of the Wildes follow.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781464229237

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