June 23, 2026

June 23, 2026

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of June 22nd and June 29th 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 review of LITTLE WONDER by Sophie Chen Keller, which is this month's Oprah's Book Club pick. A musical prodigy and his mother spend years searching for each other in this beautiful novel of hope, perseverance and love. 

Our reviewer Norah Piehl says, “Classical music fans especially will appreciate seeing River's talent blossom (and likely will enjoy listening to the many beloved pieces in his repertoire). But even those who don't know the soundtrack will be inspired by the power of the connection between this memorable, determined mother and her devoted son.”

Join Us TOMORROW for Our “Bookaccino Live”
Book Group Event with Bruce Holsinger!

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This Week's Bonus News:
Our Review of LITTLE WONDER by Sophie Chen Keller
Oprah's Latest Book Club Pick

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

On Sale the Week of June 22nd in Hardcover

June 23rd

BECOMING GEORGE: The Invention of George Sand by Fiona Sampson (History)
By the age of 30, the young woman who was born Aurore Dupin in 1804 in a Paris garret had become the internationally renowned George Sand. Her enormous and radical corpus would grow to include 70 novels, travel writing, plays, autobiography and political writing. But despite this prodigious talent, Sand was simultaneously a figure of scandal. Cigar-smoking, cross-dressing and promiscuous, she seemed to break all the rules society set for women. Was her iconoclasm simply an act of courage, a declaration of absolute autonomy? Or did her sexual and emotional relationships with the leading figures of her day form part of her dialogue with the world around her? Award-winning poet and biographer Fiona Sampson rehabilitates an artistic and intellectual giant who still speaks to us today.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324074915 

THE HOUSEWIVES UNDERGROUND: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the JFK Assassination Our Most Enduring Mystery by Kaitlyn Tiffany (History)
In the winter of 1967, the official account of the Kennedy assassination was beginning to unravel. A scattered group of Americans had pointed to major problems with the report prepared by President Johnson’s handpicked Warren Commission. Many of the most serious criticisms of the government’s work came from a source that surprised some: women who, within the community of critics, outnumbered the men two to one. Politicians and reporters dismissed these women, referring to them as “scavengers” and suggesting they were eccentrics with murder-mystery fixations or crushes on the deceased President Kennedy. But Kaitlyn Tiffany resurrects the story of Maggie Field, Shirley Martin and Sylvia Meagher, whose collaboration and friendship reshaped both their own lives and our national memory.
Crown | 9780593728628

IT COULD HAVE BEEN HER by Lisa Jewell (Domestic Thriller)
Jane Trevally is walking her dogs on her country estate when a small white terrier appears, alone and with no sign of the teenage girl he’d been staying with nearby. When the teenager is reported missing, Jane offers to return the dog to his registered owner, hours away in London. Arriving at a run-down house called Thornwood in the deepest backwaters of Hampstead, she is immediately on alert --- because Jane has a dark history with this house. The man who answers the door is not the man Jane remembers from her past. Then, through the window of the house, Jane catches a glimpse of a haunted-looking woman. Conjuring her memories from 25 years ago, Jane knows this unsettling house holds the key --- to the missing teenager, to her own traumatic story, and to the dark secrets of the past.
Atria Books | 9781668033906 

LONG ISLAND GIRLS by Gabrielle Korn (Fiction)
It's 2005, and Susan is barreling down the Long Island Expressway driving a car full of friends to an indie rock show. Eliza is a surprise addition in the backseat. Their connection is immediate, electric and complicated from the start, shadowed by the kind of small-town rumors that have a way of sticking. As quickly as they come together, they part. As Susan moves from Long Island to Brooklyn, from college to the insular world of indie labels, she begins to carve out a life in music. Yet the scene that once felt like home reveals its limits, forcing her to confront who gets to belong, who gets to create, and what it costs to stay. When Susan and Eliza reconnect years later, the pull between them hasn’t faded --- but neither have the unresolved histories that first drove them apart. 
St. Martin's Press | 9781250432223

NINE LIVES by Catherine Steadman (Psychological Thriller)
Reeling from a very recent divorce, Frankie has moved into a glamorous London neighborhood. This is a new chapter in her life. She’s decided to put down roots with her beautiful Persian cat, Blue. But little doubts about her perfect new life start to grow, and when Blue returns one night from slipping into places he shouldn’t, Frankie’s concerns solidify. Two words are roughly scratched into his collar: help me. Unsettled and unwilling to ignore the incident, Frankie roots out an old unused “cat cam” collar. What slowly begins as a voyeuristic fascination with her neighbors and the secrets they’re hiding soon turns into a perilous quest for the truth that threatens to bring untold terrors to her doorstep.
Bantam | 9780593725771 

THE SIXTH NIK by Daniel Kraus (Science Fiction/Space Opera)
Deep into space soars The Sickness, a ship woven from biomatter and capable of reacting to every need of its human crew. Sisilla, a nine-year-old cultist with a brain enhanced by arcane tech known as “niks,” has boarded to investigate the enigma of Fém --- a plague-riddled planet that has abruptly gone rogue. The mysterious crew includes a faceless assassin, a beautiful engineer jigsawed by plastic surgery, a peyote-addicted medic, and --- most lethal of all --- a rugged, NonModded captain with a score to settle with Sisilla. Other dangers abound. A hacked robot begins to believe Sisilla is its daughter. The Sickness itself is mutating, possibly even pregnant. And the secret of Fém is more horrific than anyone could have imagined. To survive, Sisilla will need to forsake her predetermined fate and embrace the unknown.
S&S/Saga Press | 9781668079478 

SKIN CONTACT by Elisa Faison (Fiction)
Thirty years old and reeling from her mother’s recent death, Frances feels as if she’s lost her sense of purpose and her joy. When she suggests to her husband, Ben, that they open their marriage, he’s willing --- and maybe even a little intrigued. They invite a young woman into their bedroom, create a joint dating profile, and go on dates with other exploring couples. Over the next five years, they explore their sexualities, navigating through jealousy, betrayal, desire and obsession. The friends and lovers in their circle find themselves asking new questions about their own lives and relationships. When Ben finds himself falling in love with another woman, just as Frances realizes she’s ready to settle down and have a baby, they’re forced to confront the consequences of their experiment. 
Cardinal | 9781538776018 

TATA written by Valérie Perrin, translated by Hildegarde Serle (Fiction)
When Agnes hears from the local police that her Aunt Colette has died, she can’t believe her ears. Her father’s sister Colette, her Tata, died three years ago and has been resting in peace in the cemetery of Gueugnon. Agnes is called to identify the body: there is no doubt that it’s Aunt Colette. So who rests under the stone engraved with Colette’s name? And why did she fake her own death? So begins an investigation back in time, as Agnes pieces together the multitude of stories that lie behind her aunt's second death.
Europa Editions | 9798889661825 

WAIT AND SEE by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen (Mystery/Thriller)
When Kendra Michaels receives a cryptic message from her sometimes-paramour, Adam Lynch, she concludes that he must be in extreme danger. Lynch has saved Kendra’s life during past investigations, so she’s immediately willing to put everything on the line for him. With her heightened senses, honed in the dark before she regained her eyesight in a cutting-edge surgical procedure, Kendra knows she can do what the federal agents cannot. So along with private investigator Jessie Mercado, Kendra is soon following the first intriguing clue to London. What they find there will lead to a chase with deadly stakes because Lynch is willing to risk it all to protect something that he believes is bigger than himself.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538771372

WEDDINGS by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Dominque Dupont is one of the world’s most sought-after designers of wedding dresses. Her adult daughters, Felicity and Violet, have unconventional views on marriage. Felicity, an artist, is in no hurry to get married. Unfortunately, her beau, Taylor, is. When she expresses ambivalence, Taylor reveals a dark side that frightens her. Too ashamed to confide in her mother or sister, she agrees to an elaborate wedding with deep misgivings. Fun-loving Violet is dating a sports reporter, but she firmly believes one should never spoil a good thing with matrimony. When he slips an MVP ring on her finger, they decide to celebrate their love in a way that is true to themselves. Dominique’s own long-term relationship with a married man is no longer giving her what she wants. As she struggles with making a change, her Parisian mother considers rekindling an old flame.
Delacorte Press | 9780593973110 

WHEN YOU LOVED ME by Beatriz Williams (Historical Romance/Mystery) 
When young widow Lucy Cooper returns to her family’s crumbling Winthrop Island estate, she’s forced to confront both her estranged father’s mysterious death and the man she’s never truly forgotten. Thirteen summers ago, Lucy fell hard for Ben Ressler, a golden-boy athlete whose presence shattered her closest friendship and changed her life forever. Now Ben is back, his own career derailed by tragedy. As Lucy investigates her father’s obsession with a rumored pirate treasure, long-buried secrets and emotions resurface. WHEN YOU LOVED ME is a sweeping, emotionally charged story of first love, forgiveness, and the risk of opening your heart to a second chance.
Ballantine Books | 9798217094820 

WHISPER CREEK by Allison Brennan (Thriller)
After the sudden death of her husband, Ellen McKenna is doing everything she can to keep her Texas farm afloat. She and her family hope to expand their operation, but making ends meet is more expensive than she imagined. On top of the usual hardships, a series of recent storms has left the region partly flooded. As the heavy rain begins again one morning, all the members of the McKenna family jump into action to protect their land and animals. Ellen’s oldest son discovers an injured dog --- and the dog leads him to a man barely clinging to life, the apparent victim of a brutal home invasion. Then Ellen’s younger kids go to check on a nearby neighbor and walk into a threat none of them saw coming. As the storm picks up again in intensity, the McKenna children find themselves in over their heads with no way to call for help.
Minotaur Books | 9781250397201

On Sale the Week of June 22nd in Paperback

June 23rd

THE ACCIDENTAL FAVORITE by Fran Littlewood (Fiction)
Vivienne and Patrick Fisher have done an excellent job raising their three daughters. They’re well-adjusted women with impressive careers, caring partners, exciting hobbies and sweet children. So it’s with great anticipation that three generations of Fishers gather at a beautiful glass house in the English countryside for a weeklong celebration of Vivienne’s 70th birthday. But when Patrick’s reaction to a freak accident on the first day of the trip inadvertently reveals that he has a favorite daughter, no one is prepared for the shock waves it sends through the family. Decades-old unresolved sibling rivalries are suddenly unmasked. And be it newly uncovered smoking habits, ancient crushes, or private doubts about life decisions both big and small, no one’s secrets are safe.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250857132

AMONG FRIENDS by Hal Ebbott (Fiction)
It’s an autumn weekend at a comfortable New York country house where two deeply intertwined families have gathered to mark the host’s 52nd birthday. Together, the group forms an enviable portrait of middle age. The wives and husbands have been friends for over 30 years, their teenage daughters have grown up together, and the dinners, games and rituals forming their days all reflect the rich bonds between them. This weekend, however, something is different. An unforeseen curdling of envy and resentment will erupt in an unspeakable act, the aftermath of which exposes treacherous fault lines upon which they have long dwelt.
Riverhead Books | 9780593854211

BARGAINS OF FATE: Book Two in the Fields of Honor Series by Sharon Virts (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Jack McCarty has worked hard to put his duel with Armistead Mason in the past. He’s one of Virginia’s brightest young lawyers, married to the love of his life, and poised once again for political stardom --- an opportunity he thought he’d lost when forced to face Armistead on the field of honor. Lucinda Lee also has moved forward, closing the door on the betrayal that almost ended her courtship with Jack. But even as she and Jack begin to build a seemingly charmed life, Lucinda watches the women who fawn over him with suspicion --- and bristles at the brazenness of her sister, Fanny, a hopeless flirt. When a horrible tragedy binds Fanny and Lucinda together in ways they never imagined, and Jack falls prey to a disastrous lapse in judgment, the family struggles to keep scandal at bay.
Flashpoint | 9781967510115

THE BONE STALKER by Victor Methos (Legal Thriller)
Paperback Original
Lazarus Holloway has built a career on weeding out the worst of the worst from the glittering streets of Las Vegas. But the seasoned detective never knew the worst could get this bad. The Bone Stalker removes only specific bones from his victims’ bodies. Each bone taken has a symbolic meaning…and they all tie back to Lazarus himself. As Lazarus digs deeper with the help of investigative partner Piper Danes, they discover the detective isn’t the only connection. But before they can unravel the web of lies that’s been spun through the city for years, the killer ensnares another innocent in his trap. Someone close to Lazarus becomes the bait. And he’ll stop at nothing to get her back --- even if it means embracing the darkness he’s spent his life fighting against.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662528446

BY THE RIVER’S EDGE: A True Story of Identity and Serial Murder by Gregg Olsen (True Crime)
Paperback Original
In 1990, the bodies of Yolanda Sapp, Nickie Lowe and Kathy Brisbois were found on the banks of the Spokane River. They were part of a close-knit alliance of sex workers whose oath to protect each other was, in the end, hopeless. For 22 years their brutal murders went unsolved. In 2012, a DNA cold hit pointed to Douglas Perry. A repeat assault offender, Douglas was currently incarcerated in Carswell, Texas. But there was a twist: The facility was for female prisoners. The man authorities hunted for decades was now Donna Perry. Her gender reassignment not only helped to mask the evil deeds of the past, it ended a life of childhood traumas and a pent-up rage unleashed on nearly 30 victims, according to Donna herself. Through total reinvention, she believed she’d finally slayed the monster within.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662522444

DARK IS THE MORNING by Rupert Thomson (Fiction)
Paperback Original
As a nine-year-old schoolgirl, Franca tells Gino that she will marry him one day. Against all the odds, her prophecy comes true. Set in a mountain village in Abruzzo in the early 2000s, DARK IS THE MORNING is the story of two ordinary young people who fall in love and seem destined for a life of happiness. But there is something in Franca’s past that haunts Gino. His curiosity gradually turns into obsession --- an obsession that will have heartbreaking consequences.
Other Press | 9781635422283

EVERY HUNTER IS HUNTED: A Jasper Dent Mystery by Barry Lyga (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Brides are being murdered on their wedding nights. The FBI’s only desperate hope is to convince Jasper Dent, the son of two serial killers and a former teen prodigy at hunting down such monsters, to emerge from his self-imposed exile. When he was a teenager, both of Jasper’s parents were members of a secret society of serial killers. Today, his father is in prison, and his mother is in a coma, both results of their final confrontation with Jasper years ago. Now wealthy from a bestselling memoir about his parents, Jasper still carries the scars from their parenting --- and the uncanny, unwanted ability to understand killers that they instilled in him. Jasper wants nothing more than to hide from his past. But he knows the only way to find any meaning or redemption in his life is to face his demons once again.
Crooked Lane Books | 9798892425575

FULFILLMENT by Lee Cole (Fiction)
FULFILLMENT tells the story of two half-brothers --- Joel, a successful academic and author, whose marriage is in deep trouble, and his younger sibling, Emmett, paralyzed by indecision and working in a shipping warehouse --- who find themselves at their family home in Kentucky and upend each other’s lives in devastating ways. Between them is Alice, Joel's wife, a wry, passionate young woman whose dream of a small farm feels unattainable, and whose longing for a more authentic life collides with Emmett's hunger for connection and desire to escape a sense of burgeoning failure. As the chemistry between them escalates, the family is plunged into a violent crucible, each character brought to the precipice of immutable catastrophe.
Vintage | 9780593688854

THE HALLMARKED MAN: A Cormoran Strike Novel by Robert Galbraith (Mystery)
A dismembered corpse is discovered in the vault of a silver shop. The police initially believe it to be that of a convicted armed robber --- but not everyone agrees with that theory. One of them is Decima Mullins, who calls on the help of private detective Cormoran Strike as she's certain the body in the silver vault was that of her boyfriend --- the father of her newborn baby --- who suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. The more Strike and his business partner, Robin Ellacott, delve into the case, the more labyrinthine it gets. The silver shop is no ordinary one: it's located beside Freemasons' Hall and specializes in Masonic silverware. And in addition to the armed robber and Decima's boyfriend, it becomes clear that there are other missing men who could fit the profile of the body in the vault.
Mulholland Books | 9780316586016

HAPPY WIFE by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores (Domestic Thriller/Mystery)
Nora Davies doesn’t exactly fit in to Winter Park, Florida, where old-guard Floridians mix with the tax-fleeing coastal elite. Twenty-eight and barely making ends meet working at a country club, Nora feels like she’s going nowhere fast. Enter Will Somerset: a prominent 46-year-old lawyer, father to a teenage daughter, and recently divorced. The two set Winter Park’s social scene agog when they fall in love and marry after a whirlwind Cinderella-style courtship. But Winter Park is fully upended when Will disappears the morning after a birthday bash Nora throws for him. Going back and forth between Nora and Will’s romance and the search in the wake of Will’s mysterious disappearance, Nora must answer the question from all angles: Where. Is. Will?
Bantam | 9780593974391

THE HOUSE ON BUZZARDS BAY by Dwyer Murphy (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
As they hurtle into midlife, Jim and his closest college friends get together to rekindle the bonds of their friendship in his family’s beautiful, generations-old vacation home along Buzzards Bay. But what begins as a quiet and restorative seaside escape takes a darker turn when Bruce, an aloof but successful writer, disappears from the house without a trace. Meanwhile, a series of mysterious break-ins besets the town, which is the site of an old Spiritualist campground turned idyllic fishing village. After a series of uncanny disturbances at the house, Jim can’t help but feel that someone --- or something --- is watching them from the other side of the marsh. And with the arrival of a strange, seductive guest at their home, the group begins to question the very nature of their experiences --- along with their already precarious ties with one other.
Penguin Books | 9780593833193

THE HOUSEMAID’S WEDDING: A Housemaid Novella by Freida McFadden (Psychological Thriller)
First Publication by Poisoned Pen Press
Today is supposed to be the happiest day of my life. I'm engaged to the man of my dreams, and in a few short hours, I'm going to stand before a judge, who will declare us husband and wife, till death do us part. Despite some bumps in the road, this day is everything I dreamed it would be. There's only one problem: Someone out there doesn't want me to live long enough to say my vows. And if I'm not careful, they may very well get their wish.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781628860016

HUNTER’S HEART RIDGE by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Historical Mystery)
It's November 1965 and the second weekend of Vermont's regular deer season when Vermont State Police detective Franklin Warren is called out to what looks like an accidental shooting at The Ridge Club, an exclusive men's hunting and fishing club: a former ambassador has been shot while out hunting. With the war in Vietnam picking up speed on the other side of the world, Warren quickly realizes that many of the club’s members are powerful men who may have ulterior motives and connections in high places. While Warren's suspicions about the club members build, his neighbor, Alice Bellows, is throwing a dinner party. When her old handler and friend, Arthur Crannock, unexpectedly shows up in Bethany, Alice begins to wonder if his presence has anything to do with the death at the hunting club.
Minotaur Books | 9781250370754

I’LL BE RIGHT HERE by Amy Bloom (Fiction)
Immigrating alone from Paris to New York after the crucible of World War II, young Gazala becomes friends with two spirited sisters, Anne and Alma. When Gazala’s lost, beloved brother, Samir, joins her in Manhattan, this contentious, inseparable foursome makes their way into the 21st century, becoming the beating heart of a multigenerational found family. The passing years are marked by the business of everyday existence and the inevitable surprises of erupting passions, of great and small waves of joy and despair, from the beginning of life to its end. Gazala and Samir make a home together, Anne leaves her husband for his sister, and Anne’s restless daughter grows up to raise a child on her own and to join a throuple, becoming who she wants to be. 
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9781984801746

IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY by Alicia Thompson (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
After yet another disastrous date, Jess is ready to put her romantic daydreams aside. But the night goes from bad to worse when she is mugged in the parking lot and hits her head hard. Hard enough that when Jess wakes up, she’s in Ireland. The first person she meets is Eamonn, a quiet, gruff mechanic. Since Jess is stranded with no passport, cell phone or way to get home, Eamonn becomes her reluctant knight in shining armor. Over the next 48 hours, they meander through the cobblestone streets of Dublin and explore the Irish countryside. It’s a connection that is as electrifying as it is terrifying. What if Jess falls asleep and Eamonn vanishes like a dream? But a love like this --- touched by magic and a little bit of luck --- is never quite as it seems.
Berkley | 9798217187218

MISBEHAVING AT THE CROSSROADS: Essays & Writings by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (Social Science/Essays)
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is at a crossroads. Traditional African/Black American cultures present the crossroads as a place of simultaneous difficulty and possibility. In contemporary times, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the phrase “intersectionality” to explain the unique position of Black women in America. In many ways, they are at a third crossroads: attempting to fit into notions of femininity and respectability primarily assigned to white women, while inventing improvisational strategies to combat oppression. In MISBEHAVING AT THE CROSSROADS, Jeffers explores the emotional and historical tensions in Black women’s public lives and her own private life.
Harper Perennial | 9780063246645

THE NIGHT BIRDS by Christopher Golden (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
After their love ended in heartbreak years ago, Charlie Book and Ruby Cahill never expected to see each other again. Now, as part of his work for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Book lives aboard the Christabel, a 19th-century freighter half-sunken off the shore of Galveston. But when he arrives at the dock, he’s stunned to find Ruby there waiting for him. With her are a mysterious woman and her infant child, asking Book to hide them safely aboard the Christabel while they're on the run. Only it isn’t the police who are after them. It’s a coven of witches that the woman, Mae, has fled, stealing away the helpless infant for whom the coven had hideous plans…or so Mae claims.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250879424

OTHER PEOPLE’S HOUSES by Clare Mackintosh (Psychological Thriller)
The Hill is the kind of place where everyone wants to live: luxurious, exclusive and safe. But now someone is breaking and entering these Cheshire homes one by one, and DS Leo Brady suspects that the burglar is looking for something, or someone, in particular. Over the border in Wales, DC Ffion Morgan recovers the body of an estate agent from the lake. There's no love lost between Ffion and estate agents, but who hated this one enough to want her dead --- and why? As their cases collide, Ffion and Leo discover that people will pay a high price to keep their secrets behind closed doors.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728296579

ROOM ON THE SEA: Three Novellas by André Aciman (Fiction)
In ROOM ON THE SEA, André Aciman offers three heart-wrenching tales of amorous ambivalence, all of which unfold in his inimitably nostalgic style. “The Gentleman from Peru” tells the story of the life-changing encounter of a group of friends with an enigmatic solitary guest in a hotel on the Amalfi Coast. “Room on the Sea” is a dialogue between a man and a woman who meet on jury duty and embark on a complex relationship. “Mariana” is a modern retelling of a famous 17th-century novel about a love affair between a nun and a swashbuckling, unreliable aristocrat. Together, these novellas form a complex portrait of desire, and of love realized and lost.
Picador | 9781250437891

A SCAR IN THE BONE by Sophie Jordan (Dark Fantasy/Romance)
It’s been a year since Tamsyn transformed. From royal whipping girl in the palace of Penterra to the bride of Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands. From the enemy in the Beast’s bed to the wife he sacrificed himself to save. From an ordinary girl...to a dragon. And not just any dragon --- a powerful fire-breather...and the best hope to keep magic from flickering out forever. With Fell gone, Tamsyn slowly forges herself into a warrior in the shadow of Fell’s enigmatic brother, Vetr, whose silver eyes track her with distrust...and maybe something more. But is Fell truly beyond her reach? Their bond pulls at her, as fiercely as the drive to protect both humans and dragonkind from the growing threat posed by Stig, once her closest friend, now a relentless enemy determined to hunt her down and destroy her --- and, with her, all things magic.
Avon | 9780063391567

THE SUMMER WAR by Naomi Novik (Fantasy/Adventure)
Celia discovered her talent for magic on the day her beloved oldest brother, Argent, left home. Furious at him for abandoning her in a war-torn land, she lashed out, not realizing her childish, angry words would become imbued with the power of prophecy, dooming him to a life without love. While Argent wanders the world, Celia attempts to undo the curse she placed on him. Yet even as she grows from a girl to a woman, she cannot find the solution --- until she learns the truth about the centuries-old war between her own people and the summerlings, immortal beings who hold a relentless grudge against their mortal neighbors. Now, with the aid of her unwanted middle brother, Celia may be able to both undo her eldest brother’s curse and heal the lands so long torn apart by the Summer War.
Del Rey | 9780593984727

WE TELL OURSELVES STORIES: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine by Alissa Wilkinson (Cultural Biography)
Joan Didion opened THE WHITE ALBUM (1979) with what would become one of the most iconic lines in American literature: “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” Today, this phrase is deployed inspirationally, printed on T-shirts and posters, used as a battle cry for artists and writers. In truth, Didion was describing something much less rosy: our human tendency to manufacture delusions that might ward away our anxieties when society seems to spin off its axis. Nowhere was this collective hallucination more effectively crafted than in Hollywood. In this riveting cultural biography, New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson examines Joan Didion’s influence through the lens of American mythmaking.
Liveright | 9781324098515

On Sale the Week of June 29th in Hardcover

June 30th

THE AU PAIR by Teddy Wayne (Domestic Thriller) 
Steven Hammer was once a literary star. Now, his career is floundering, his marriage to a high-powered woman is crumbling, and the only bright spot in his life is Astrid, the Norwegian au pair who cares for their children --- and reveres his neglected novels. But what begins as a secret infatuation soon spirals into a scandal that makes them both infamous. As a headline-grabbing trial captivates the world with a salacious story of sex, power and betrayal, Steven must confront the wreckage he’s created --- and the deeper insecurities that fueled it. Is Astrid an innocent young woman caught up in a case beyond her control, or a calculating femme fatale? And how far will he go, driven by desperation and obsession, for her professed love?
Harper | 9780063457232 

DEAD BUT DREAMING OF ELECTRIC SHEEP by Paul Tremblay (Psychological Thriller/Dystopian Horror)
Julia Flang is a twenty-something former semi-professional gamer. Out of the blue, her estranged mother offers her a temp job with a payday she can’t refuse. One sham interview later, she’s offered the job: to chaperone a man in a vegetative state --- one with proprietary AI implanted in his head --- from California to the East Coast. A middle-aged man wakes within a disorienting hellscape filled with monstrous grotesqueries. He has no memory of who he is, but he knows that he must find a certain person. Using a cell phone modeled after a video game controller, Julia fumblingly navigates the man she calls “Bernie” from the company campus and onto planes and through one of the largest airports in America. All the while, the man endures an ever-changing and worsening nightmare that offers clues as to who he was --- and who he must track down.
William Morrow | 9780063398467 

JULY SUN: Stories by Aamina Ahmad (Fiction/Short Stories) 
In these seven powerful stories, Aamina Ahmad finds a world of pathos in the narrowest circumstances, from the fugitive intimacies of villages where nothing escapes notice to the crevices where city dwellers seek refuge from urban striving and indifference. JULY SON captures the plight of ordinary people caught between love and duty, freedom and social constraint --- a man who witnesses an illicit moment of tenderness, a police officer who must choose whether to follow the laws of God or of man, a woman who takes matters into her own hands in the face of an unexpected pregnancy.
Riverhead Books | 9798217046126 

KEEP THEM CLOSE by David Ellis (Domestic Thriller)
Siblings Allison and Luke have been through a lot together. They’ve always stood by each other. They’d do anything for each other. Or so it seems. When Allison’s husband, Finley, is murdered, the investigation threatens to expose the siblings’ darkest secrets. An illicit affair. A decades-old accident. A stunning deception. How do these events explain Finley’s death? How far will Allison and Luke go to keep their secrets buried? And can the siblings even trust one another anymore? As the investigation winds tighter and past and present collide, the most shocking betrayal might lie a little too close to home.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9798217045877 

MAIN CHARACTERS by Bobby Palmer (Fiction)
When Clara and Seb first cross paths in a London square, it’s the start of something exciting. Clara, an aspiring director stuck in an entry-level job, itches to pick up a camera. Seb, having floated between music, modeling and now acting, struggles to find purpose in his work. Yet as random chance brings the two back together, time and time again, neither could predict that their magnetic connection is set to change their lives. But everyone else does. The spark between Clara and Seb is exactly what falling in love should look like: exhilarating, passionate, undeniable. The two become a whirlwind, their relationship enthralling everyone they come across. But as the years go on and tensions flair, a last-ditch attempt to save their great romance ends with a gut-wrenching betrayal.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316599139 

THE SHAMPOO EFFECT by Jenny Jackson (Fiction)
When Caroline Lash arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she falls head-over-heels for Van Whittaker. Born and raised in this picturesque coastal village, Van runs with the same crowd he did as a kid: his ex-girlfriend, Bailey; Augusta, who is old money, horsey and snobbish; and Fran, who is too fed up with boys to ever consider marrying one. Together, the group runs wild through the marshes, beaches and bars of Greenhead, drinking on houseboats and spending long afternoons sunbathing with their children. But when Bailey discovers that she is pregnant with Van’s baby, the delicate balance of the group’s friendship is thrown off. Soon Caroline is cast out of the circle. What she does next exposes long-held secrets and works the entire town of Greenhead into a lather. 
Pamela Dorman Books | 9798217059959 

SWEET SPOT: A Ghostwriter Mystery by Kemper Donovan (Literary Mystery) 
For Belle Currer --- as the ghostwriter extraordinaire prefers to be known --- Genevieve Caraway’s memoir is an irresistible project. At 14, Genevieve was abducted from her bedroom by a couple and held hostage for three months. She’s now a happily married mother with a flourishing career, a poster child for thriving after trauma. Still, the scars haven’t entirely faded. Genevieve’s lavish Utah home, “Sweet Spot,” is a guarded compound impregnable to outsiders --- theoretically, at least. But Belle’s arrival coincides with the parole of Deirdre Gregory, one of Genevieve’s kidnappers. When Deirdre shows up at Sweet Spot begging to see Genevieve, she is refused. The next day, Deirdre’s dead body is found on the grounds. How did Deirdre get in? More importantly, who killed her?
A John Scognamiglio Book | 9781496744555 

TEACH THE TORCHES TO BURN by Christina Dodd (Historical Mystery)
If I, Rosie --- blushing bride, noted cynic and sleuth --- were asked to identify when the pre-wedding events spiraled out of control, I’d point to that moment when elderly Princess Ursula observed the display of gleaming swords and bared teeth and announced that she would hold a public séance to determine the future of the marriage. With the aid of Yorick’s skull and her own considerable dramatic nature, Princess Ursula prophesied three things: the marriage would be joyous and fertile, a long-lost treasure would be found…and a foul and most unnatural murder would disrupt the fragile peace of Verona. As one death follows another, and it’s clear a skilled poisoner lurks among us, I use all my wit and skill to discern the reason for the vendetta and uncover the killer’s identity.
A John Scognamiglio Book | 9781496750228

THE TOP OF THE WORLD by Ethan Joella (Fiction) 
June 1975. Maggie Bishop has just graduated high school, and the future is hers to embrace. But she’s still reeling from the death of her older brother, Chip. A devastating diagnosis the summer before prompted Chip to leave home for a few months, never revealing where he went. Maggie’s search for clues leads her to The Red Maple Inn, a mountaintop resort in the Poconos. At the Red Maple, Maggie is welcomed into a tight-knit community. As she unravels secrets about her brother’s final days, she begins to connect with the people he loved and whose lives he touched. Through the warmth of strangers, Maggie begins to heal and is able to help others cope with loss.
Scribner | 9781668024621 

On Sale the Week of June 29th in Paperback

June 30th

THE DREAM HOTEL by Laila Lalami (Dystopian Fiction)
Sara has just landed at LAX when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA’s algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most: her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for 21 days. The agents transfer Sara to a retention center, where she is held with other dreamers, all of them women trying to prove their innocence from different crimes. With every deviation from the strict and ever-shifting rules of the facility, their stay is extended. Months pass, and Sara seems no closer to release. Then one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and leading Sara on a collision course with the very companies that have deprived her of her freedom.
Vintage | 9780593469804

KILL YOUR DARLINGS by Peter Swanson (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Thom and Wendy Graves have been married for over 25 years. They live in a beautiful Victorian on the north shore of Massachusetts. Wendy is a published poet, and Thom teaches English literature at a nearby university. Their son, Jason, is all grown up. All is well…except that Wendy wants to murder her husband. What happens next has everything to do with what happened before. The story of Wendy and Thom’s marriage is told in reverse, moving backward through time to witness key moments from the couple’s lives --- their 50th birthday party, buying their home, Jason’s birth, the mysterious death of a work colleague --- all painting a portrait of a marriage defined by a single terrible act they plotted together many years ago.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063433632

THE KING’S RANSOM: A Recovery Agent Novel by Janet Evanovich
(Thriller/Adventure)
Gabriela Rose, recovery agent extraordinaire, can find just about anything. Too bad she can’t seem to lose her gorgeous but infuriating ex-husband, Rafer Jones. And now he needs her help. His cousin, Harley, is in big trouble. As the president of a too-big-to-fail bank, he invested an astronomical amount of money in insuring some of the world’s most priceless artifacts at the urging of his board. But recently, these insured pieces started going missing, and there’s no paper trail of Harley being directed to make these risky investments. Unless the artwork can be recovered soon, it looks like Harley is going to be heading to jail as the fall guy for an ingenious crime. Gabriela must travel around the world with Rafer to find the missing works of art, keep Harley out of jail, and save both his skin and his bank.
Atria Books | 9781668027493

L.A. WOMEN by Ella Berman (Historical Fiction)
After a steady descent from literary stardom, Lane Warren is back. She has secured a new book deal based off the life of her sometime friend and, more often, rival, Gala Margolis. Lane’s only problem is that notorious free spirit Gala has been missing for months. Ten years earlier, Gala was a charming socialite and Lane was a Hollywood outsider amidst the glittering 1960s L.A. party scene. Though they were never best friends, Lane found Gala sharp and compelling. Gala liked that Lane took her seriously. They were both writers. They were drawn to each other. That was until Gala’s star began to rise, and Lane grew envious. Then Lane did something that she wouldn’t ever be able to take back…changing the trajectories of both their lives.
Berkley | 9780593639177

A MARRIAGE AT SEA: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst (Biography)
Maurice and Maralyn make an odd couple. He’s a loner, awkward and obsessive; she’s charismatic and ambitious. But they share a horror of wasting their lives. And they dream of running away from it all. What if they quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat and sailed away? So in June 1972, Maurice and Maralyn set sail. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves. What ensues is a jaw-dropping fight to survive in the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their inner demons emerge and their marriage is put to the greatest of tests.
Riverhead Books | 9780593854297

THE NEIGHBORS ARE WATCHING by Aggie Blum Thompson (Domestic Thriller)
Paperback Original
Just outside Washington, DC, sits Eastbrook, Bethesda --- a leafy suburb with top schools, pristine landscapes and perfect neighbors. It’s not the kind of place where nannies are killed during robberies gone wrong. And in this picture-perfect neighborhood, someone is desperate to plaster over the cracks in that façade. A year after the unsolved neighborhood murder, Caren, who is staring down an empty nest, has one too many drinks at a graduation party and blacks out on her way home. At least, that’s what everyone says happened. Caren suspects she was drugged by someone. But who? When Caren teams up with a new neighbor who is obsessed with figuring out who murdered his best friend, they start to uncover what Eastbrook has tried to forget.
Minotaur Books | 9781250412553

OUR LAST RESORT by Clémence Michallon (Psychological Thriller)
Frida and Gabriel arrive seeking a fresh start at the stunning Ara Hotel in the secluded desert of Escalante, Utah. They’ve grown apart in recent years after a sudden, unspeakable tragedy. Now, at the luxe resort, they are ready to reconnect between dips in the pool and hikes on spectacular desert trails. It all feels like paradise --- until the dead body of a beautiful young woman who was vacationing at the Ara with her powerful, much older husband is discovered. When the local police arrive and suspicion quickly falls on Gabriel, Frida is forced to revisit memories from their upbringing in a cloistered cult in upstate New York, their dramatic escape, and the scandal that followed. Frida’s belief in Gabriel’s innocence never wavered at the time, but now even she can’t ignore the evidence mounting against him.
Vintage | 9780593688748

THE PHOENIX PENCIL COMPANY by Allison King (Fiction)
Monica Tsai spends most days on her computer, journaling the details of her ordinary life and coding for a program that seeks to connect strangers online. A self-proclaimed recluse, she's always struggled to make friends and, as a college freshman, finds herself escaping into a digital world, counting the days until she can return home to her beloved grandparents. They are now in their 90s, and Monica worries about them constantly --- especially her grandmother, Yun, who survived two wars in China before coming to the States, and whose memory has begun to fade. Though Yun rarely speaks of her past, Monica is determined to find the long-lost cousin she was separated from years ago. One day, the very program Monica is helping to build connects her to a young woman, whose gift of a single pencil holds a surprising clue.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063394438

THE RED QUEEN: A Richard Jury Mystery by Martha Grimes (Mystery)
One calm night in Twickenham, a businessman named Tom Treadnor is shot off his barstool at The Queen pub. Superintendent Richard Jury is called in to investigate and quickly realizes that everyone in Treadnor’s life --- from his widow, Alice, to the staff at his manor, to his business partner --- had differing opinions of him. And to complicate things further, Jury has just happened upon a photo in a newspaper of a man in the United States who is a dead ringer for Treadnor. Meanwhile, Wiggins, Jury’s partner at New Scotland Yard, becomes sidetracked by an investigation of his own: His sister, missing for years and presumed dead, has just sent a postcard to their mother. When Wiggins takes off in search of his sister, the two investigations begin to converge.
Atlantic Crime | 9780802167477

THE SECRET THREAD by Eve Chase (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Jo O’Mara, a young writer, lands a job working for Mimi Mott, a wealthy style icon and legendary founder of a decorating empire. Newly widowed and in her 70s, Mimi is preparing to auction off her possessions, through them finally telling the story of her early life. Famously private, Mimi has kept her past shrouded in mystery. Jo doesn’t dare reveal how closely it touches her own. Tasked with collecting the untold tales behind each auction lot, Jo peels back the layers of Mimi’s origin story and discovers it’s far darker than anyone ever suspected.
Ballantine Books | 9780593976258

TYPEWRITER BEACH by Meg Waite Clayton (Historical Fiction)
1957. Isabella Giori is 10 months into a standard seven-year studio contract when she auditions with Alfred Hitchcock. Just weeks later, she is sequestered by the studio’s “fixer” in a tiny Carmel cottage, waiting and dreading. Meanwhile, next door, Léon Chazan is annoyed when Iz interrupts his work on yet another screenplay he won’t be able to sell, because he’s been blacklisted. Soon, they’re together in his roadster, speeding down the fog-shrouded Big Sur coast. 2018. Twenty-six-year-old screenwriter Gemma Chazan, in Carmel to sell her grandfather’s cottage, finds a hidden safe full of secrets --- raising questions about who the screenwriter known simply as Chazan really was, and if she can live up to his name.
Harper Perennial | 9780063422087

UNTIL MIDNIGHT by Luanne Rice (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Rhode Island’s picturesque Ocean House is the perfect setting for Kate Woodward and Conor Reid’s wedding weekend. But when an old friend of Conor’s disrupts the rehearsal dinner and reveals a blindsiding secret --- a claim that she and Conor share a child --- Kate calls off the wedding, thinking things can’t get any worse. Until the next morning, when that same woman is found with her throat slashed. As investigators close in and suspicions mount, the evidence points to a mystery deeper than anyone imagined. The soundproof boat with telltale signs of something sinister. The mansion on the hill that lures in young girls and doesn’t let them go. A secret society whose members might be more familiar than not. And the truth of the dead woman’s past that draws Kate and Conor into a nightmare.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662526640

VERA, OR FAITH by Gary Shteyngart (Fiction)
The Bradford-Shmulkin family is falling apart as the pressures of life in an unstable America are fraying their bonds. There's Daddy, a struggling, cash-thirsty editor whose Russian heritage gives him a surprising new currency in the upside-down world of 21st-century geopolitics; his wife, Anne Mom, a progressive, underfunded blue blood from Boston who's barely holding the household together; their son, Dylan, whose blond hair and Mayflower lineage provide him pride of place in the newly forming American political order; and young Vera, half-Jewish, half-Korean and wholly original. Vera wants only three things in life: to make a friend at school; for Daddy and Anne Mom to stay together; and to meet her birth mother, Mom Mom, who at last will tell Vera the secret of who she really is and how to ensure love's survival in this great, mad, imploding world.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780593595114

THE WORLD: A Family History of Humanity by Simon Sebag Montefiore (History)
Around 950,000 years ago, a family of five walked along the beach and left behind the oldest family footprints ever discovered. For award-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, these poignant, familiar fossils serve as an inspiration for a new kind of world history --- one that is genuinely global, spans all eras and all continents, and focuses on the family ties that connect every one of us. In THE WORLD, Montefiore chronicles the world’s great dynasties across human history through palace intrigues, love affairs and family lives, linking grand themes of war, migration, plague, religion and technology to the people at the heart of the human drama.
Vintage | 9780593082744

July 1st

THE DELIVERY by Gregg Hurwitz (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Rebecca and Mark Higgins are doing their best to hold their family together. She’s healing from the pain of a miscarriage, he’s drowning in pressure at work, and their neurodivergent daughter, Maddy, needs all the care she can get. So when a cutting-edge tech company offers the perfect solution, they jump at the chance. And they welcome “Mr. Man” --- a humanoid AI companion --- into their home. Designed to anticipate their needs, he’s like a miracle at first. But when inexplicable tragedies start to strike the neighborhood, Rebecca glimpses a darker pattern at play. Each incident is an answer to an unspoken fear, each kindness shadowed by violence. Mr. Man isn’t just following instructions. He’s anticipating what they want. Even the things they never dared to say.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662537660

A VOICE IN THE DARK by Barbara Nickless (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
When a husband, wife and son are murdered in their Denver home and the family’s teenage twins vanish, the case draws the attention of FBI profilers Helen Belle and Benedict Hoffman. It mirrors a horrific case they investigated five years ago, when a boy slaughtered his family and went mute after speaking only a handful of haunting words. Among them: Midnight Man. Then, nearly 1,300 miles away, one of the twins is found dead in a snowy Ohio field, and the parallels between the past and present cases grow more disturbing. Identical suicide notes. The same symbolic blood imagery. And a shared obsession with an online fantasy game. Its mastermind is an influencer who manipulates his most vulnerable and alienated players into killing the people they love most. The Midnight Man is back.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662533723

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