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Editorial Content for Fixit: An IQ Novel

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

PI Isaiah Quintabe fixes things for people. Is someone threatening your mom? Talk to IQ. Did that guy down the street steal your car? Talk to IQ. But now Isaiah wants to quit being IQ. He’s lived on the edge for too long. It’s seeped into every part of his life. So he would like to retire while he still can. Read More

Teaser

Danger has always followed Isaiah Quintabe, a reality he’s keenly aware of as he’s laid up in a hospital bed, recovering from injuries sustained in his last case. So he’s unaware that Grace, the love of his life, has been abducted by his sworn enemy, the professional hitman Skip Hanson. Now, Isaiah and his sometimes partner, ex-hustler Juanell Dodson, must track scant clues through L.A.’s perilous landscape as Grace’s predicament grows more uncertain. A complication arises in the form of Winnie Hando, a homicide detective with something to prove. Stubborn and effective, Winnie sees his efforts as an obstruction to the investigation. As the desperate hunt winds on, Isaiah fears that even if he can bring Grace home alive, things between them will never be the same.

Promo

Danger has always followed Isaiah Quintabe, a reality he’s keenly aware of as he’s laid up in a hospital bed, recovering from injuries sustained in his last case. So he’s unaware that Grace, the love of his life, has been abducted by his sworn enemy, the professional hitman Skip Hanson. Now, Isaiah and his sometimes partner, ex-hustler Juanell Dodson, must track scant clues through L.A.’s perilous landscape as Grace’s predicament grows more uncertain. A complication arises in the form of Winnie Hando, a homicide detective with something to prove. Stubborn and effective, Winnie sees his efforts as an obstruction to the investigation. As the desperate hunt winds on, Isaiah fears that even if he can bring Grace home alive, things between them will never be the same.

About the Book

In the latest installment in Joe Ide's "superb" series (Washington Post), relentless, hard-bitten PI Isaiah Quintabe is faced with a nightmarish scenario when the love of his life is kidnapped by a maniacal hitman who bears a grudge against him.

Danger has always followed IQ, a reality he’s keenly aware of as he’s laid up in a hospital bed, recovering from injuries sustained in his last case. Isaiah cannot help himself from being the hero, and any misery he’s suffered as a result --- wounds from a knife fight, gnawing paranoia --- he’s suffered alone. Yet as IQ recovers, 500 miles from East Long Beach, he’s unaware that Grace has been abducted by his sworn enemy, the professional hitman Skip Hanson. Skip is savage and psychotic, determined to punish Isaiah for sending him to prison and destroying his life. Now, Isaiah and his sometimes partner, ex-hustler Juanell Dodson, must track scant clues through L.A.’s perilous landscape as Grace’s predicament grows more uncertain.

A complication arises in the form of Winnie Hando, a homicide detective with something to prove. Stubborn and effective, Winnie sees Isaiah’s efforts as an obstruction to the investigation and a possible embarrassment: an unlicensed PI can’t be seen doing the department’s job better than the department. Winnie tries to stop Isaiah while pursuing the case herself, their struggles clashing and slowing their progress. As the desperate hunt winds on, Isaiah fears that even if he can bring Grace home alive, things between them will never be the same.

This latest series installment is an explosive collision of drug dealers, thieves, maniacs, shotguns, vicious dogs, stampeding horses, and Ide’s signature energy, grit and profundity.

Audiobook available, read by Zeno Robinson

Editorial Content for Just a Regular Boy

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

With her latest introspective novel, JUST A REGULAR BOY, Catherine Ryan Hyde takes us on a journey that we'd never imagine taking ourselves --- going with a survivalist and his five-year-old son into the wilds of northern Idaho to survive what he believes is a coming apocalypse. Read More

Teaser

Raised off the grid in the middle of nowhere, Remy Blake is days shy of his eighth birthday when his survivalist father unexpectedly dies. As seasons pass, supplies run out, and fending for himself grows more desperate, Remy sets out on foot, unprepared for the great unknown of civilization. He is found --- near feral, silent and terrified --- in the small rural town of Blaire. To Anne, a nurturing mother of two adopted teenagers who’s still dealing with her own childhood rejections, Remy is not a lost cause. Just a challenging one. As Remy cautiously adapts to his new foster home, his family wants nothing more than to reassure him that he can trust the world. But to do so, they must first reexamine how much they trust the world themselves, and how much they should.

Promo

Raised off the grid in the middle of nowhere, Remy Blake is days shy of his eighth birthday when his survivalist father unexpectedly dies. As seasons pass, supplies run out, and fending for himself grows more desperate, Remy sets out on foot, unprepared for the great unknown of civilization. He is found --- near feral, silent and terrified --- in the small rural town of Blaire. To Anne, a nurturing mother of two adopted teenagers who’s still dealing with her own childhood rejections, Remy is not a lost cause. Just a challenging one. As Remy cautiously adapts to his new foster home, his family wants nothing more than to reassure him that he can trust the world. But to do so, they must first reexamine how much they trust the world themselves, and how much they should.

About the Book

An orphaned boy raised by a survivalist wends his way into the real world in an emotional novel about hope, fears and found family by New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde.

Out there is chaos, the collapse of society and so much to be afraid of. All that matters is freedom.

That’s what Remy Blake has been taught by his survivalist father. Raised off the grid in the middle of nowhere, his own survival skills not yet honed, Remy is days shy of his eighth birthday when his father unexpectedly dies. As seasons pass, supplies run out, and fending for himself grows more desperate, Remy sets out on foot, unprepared for the great unknown of civilization.

He is found --- near feral, silent and terrified --- in the small rural town of Blaire. To Anne, a nurturing mother of two adopted teenagers who’s still dealing with her own childhood rejections, Remy is not a lost cause. Just a challenging one. As Remy cautiously adapts to his new foster home, his family wants nothing more than to reassure him that he can trust the world. But to do so, they must first reexamine how much they trust the world themselves, and how much they should. As Remy’s journey into the real world begins, figuring out how to navigate it becomes a path they will have to learn to walk together.

Audiobook available, read by Michael Crouch and Kate Rudd

Editorial Content for The Leaving Season: A Memoir

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Harvey Freedenberg

Even as the divorce rate in the United States is declining, the popularity of the divorce memoir remains undiminished, as evidenced by recent outstanding entries like Gina Frangello’s BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN and Maggie Smith’s YOU COULD MAKE THIS PLACE BEAUTIFUL. To that pair, add Kelly McMasters’ lovely, painful THE LEAVING SEASON, an elegant essay collection that traces the decline and fall of her marriage and her first tentative steps on the path to a new life. Read More

Teaser

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

Promo

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

About the Book

A memoir in intimate essays navigating marriage and motherhood, art and ambition, grief and nostalgia and the elusive concept of home.

Kelly McMasters found herself in her mid-30s living her fantasy: she’d moved with her husband, a painter, from New York City to rural Pennsylvania, where their children roamed idyllic acres in rainboots and diapers. The pastoral landscape and the bookshop they opened were restorative at first, for her and her marriage. But soon she was quietly plotting her escape.

In THE LEAVING SEASON, McMasters chronicles the heady rush of falling in love and carving out a life in the city, the slow dissolution of her relationship in an isolated farmhouse, and the complexities of making a new home for herself and her children as a single parent. She delves into the tricky and often devastating balance between seeing and being seen; loss and longing; desire and doubt; and the paradox of leaving what you love in order to survive.

Whether considering masculinity in the countryside through the life of a freemartin calf, the vulnerability of new motherhood in the wake of a car crash, or the power of community pulsing through an independent bookshop, THE LEAVING SEASON finds in every ending a new beginning.

Editorial Content for The Boyfriend Candidate

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

Readers who loved Ashley Winstead’s last rom-com, FOOL ME ONCE, will remember Alexis Stone, the heartbroken younger sister of Lee “Stoner” Stone. Alexis couldn’t be less like her brash, outrageous older sister, who’s now a progressive Texas state legislator after once being a lobbyist for green tech. Alexis, by contrast, is a quiet, thoughtful school librarian who shuns the spotlight. But as the anniversary of getting dumped by her former fiancé approaches, Alexis can’t stop thinking about Chris’ complaints that she was boring in bed. Read More

Teaser

Alexis Stone, a shy school librarian, meets Logan at a hotel bar. Audacious and filterless, Logan is Alexis’ opposite. Just as she’s about to fulfill her hookup wish, the hotel catches fire in a freak lightning storm. In their rush to escape, Logan is discovered carrying her into the street, where people are waiting with cameras. Alexis is bewildered until suddenly pictures of her and Logan escaping the fire are all over the internet. It turns out Logan is none other than Logan Arthur, the hotshot candidate challenging the Texas governor’s seat. The salacious scandal is poised to sink his career --- and jeopardize Alexis’ job --- until a solution is proposed: he and Alexis could pretend to be in a relationship until Election Day…in two months. What could possibly go wrong?

Promo

Alexis Stone, a shy school librarian, meets Logan at a hotel bar. Audacious and filterless, Logan is Alexis’ opposite. Just as she’s about to fulfill her hookup wish, the hotel catches fire in a freak lightning storm. In their rush to escape, Logan is discovered carrying her into the street, where people are waiting with cameras. Alexis is bewildered until suddenly pictures of her and Logan escaping the fire are all over the internet. It turns out Logan is none other than Logan Arthur, the hotshot candidate challenging the Texas governor’s seat. The salacious scandal is poised to sink his career --- and jeopardize Alexis’ job --- until a solution is proposed: he and Alexis could pretend to be in a relationship until Election Day…in two months. What could possibly go wrong?

About the Book

A laugh-out-loud rom-com about learning to embrace living outside your comfort zone.

As a shy school librarian, Alexis Stone is comfortable keeping out of the spotlight. But when she’s dumped for being too meek --- in bed! --- she decides she needs to change. And what better way to kick-start her new more adventurous life than with her first one-night stand?

Enter Logan, the gorgeous, foul-mouthed stranger she meets at a hotel bar. Audacious and filterless, Logan is Alexis’s opposite --- and boy, do opposites attract! Just as she’s about to fulfill her hookup wish, the hotel catches fire in a freak lightning storm. In their rush to escape, Logan is discovered carrying her into the street, where people are waiting with cameras. Cameras Logan promptly --- and shockingly --- flees.

Alexis is bewildered until suddenly pictures of her and Logan escaping the fire are all over the internet. Turns out Logan is none other than Logan Arthur, the hotshot candidate challenging the Texas governor’s seat. The salacious scandal is poised to sink his career --- and jeopardize Alexis’ job --- until a solution is proposed: he and Alexis could pretend to be in a relationship until election day...in two months. What could possibly go wrong?

Audiobook available, read by Ann Marie Gideon

Editorial Content for The Salt Grows Heavy

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

I was introduced to Cassandra Khaw with their previous novella, NOTHING BUT BLACKENED TEETH, which involves a haunted wedding party. Being a horror aficionado, I could completely understand why they have been nominated for a British Fantasy Award, Stoker Award, Shirley Jackson Award and World Fantasy Award. Read More

Teaser

You may think you know how the fairy tale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes. On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood and the three “saints” who control them. The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.

Promo

You may think you know how the fairy tale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes. On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood and the three “saints” who control them. The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.

About the Book

From Cassandra Khaw, the USA Today bestselling author of NOTHING BUT BLACKENED TEETH, comes THE SALT GROWS HEAVY, a razor-sharp and bewitching fairy tale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.

You may think you know how the fairy tale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.

On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood and the three “saints” who control them.

The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.

Audiobook available, read by Susan Dalian

Editorial Content for The Other Family Doctor: A Veterinarian Explores What Animals Can Teach Us About Love, Life, and Mortality

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pauline Finch

Several decades ago, I invited a determined young woman from Quebec to live in our spare bedroom while attending the renowned University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) veterinary college. Beyond our shared love of animals, A-M brought new insight and knowledge into my life about caring for and understanding the furred, feathered, finned, scaled and pelted creatures who provide our food, populate our remaining wild spaces, or have shared our homes for millennia as domestic companions. Read More

Teaser

Karen Fine always knew that she wanted to be a vet and wasn't going to let anything stop her: not her allergy to cats, and not the fact that in the '80s veterinary medicine was still a mostly male profession. Inspired by her grandfather, a compassionate doctor who paid house calls to all his (human) patients, Dr. Fine persevered and brought her Oupa's principles into her own practice, which emphasizes the need to understand her patients’ stories to provide the best possible care. And in THE OTHER FAMILY DOCTOR, Dr. Fine shares all these touching, joyful, heartbreaking and life-affirming tales that make up her career as a vet.

Promo

Karen Fine always knew that she wanted to be a vet and wasn't going to let anything stop her: not her allergy to cats, and not the fact that in the '80s veterinary medicine was still a mostly male profession. Inspired by her grandfather, a compassionate doctor who paid house calls to all his (human) patients, Dr. Fine persevered and brought her Oupa's principles into her own practice, which emphasizes the need to understand her patients’ stories to provide the best possible care. And in THE OTHER FAMILY DOCTOR, Dr. Fine shares all these touching, joyful, heartbreaking and life-affirming tales that make up her career as a vet.

About the Book

A tribute to our furry, feathery, scaley and wet family members, "All Creatures Great and Small" meets BEING MORTAL in this compelling memoir of one woman's dream to become a veterinarian.

Karen Fine always knew that she wanted to be a vet and wasn't going to let anything stop her: not her allergy to cats, and not the fact that in the '80s veterinary medicine was still a mostly male profession. Inspired by her grandfather, a compassionate doctor who paid house calls to all his (human) patients, Dr. Fine persevered, and brought her Oupa's principles into her own practice, which emphasizes the need to understand her patients’ stories to provide the best possible care.

And in THE OTHER FAMILY DOCTOR, Dr. Fine shares all these touching, joyful, heartbreaking and life-affirming tales that make up her career as a vet. There's:

  • The feral cat who becomes a creature out of a fable when he puts his trust in a young vet to heal his injured paw
     
  • The pot-bellied pig who grows too big to fit in the car but remains a cherished part of her family
     
  • The surprising colony of perfectly behaved ferrets
     
  • The beloved aging pet who gives her people the gift of accompanying them on one final family vacation
     
  • The dog who saves his owner's life in a most unexpected way

Woven into Dr. Fine's story are, of course, also the stories of her own pets: the birds, cats and dogs who have taught her the most valuable lessons --- how caring for the animals in our lives can teach us to better care for ourselves, especially when life seems precarious.

Audiobook available, read by Karen Fine, DVM

Editorial Content for Paper Names

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

Coming to America for a better life is a common theme in American history. In PAPER NAMES, Susie Luo brings us a different kind of immigrant. Unlike those who come to America because there is nothing for them in their home country, the Zhang family had been successful in China. Tony was a respected engineer, and his wife, Kim, was a doctor. But they came to the US for a better life for their daughter, Tammy. Read More

Teaser

Set in New York and China over three decades, PAPER NAMES explores what it means to be American from three different perspectives. There’s Tony, a Chinese-born engineer turned Manhattan doorman, who immigrated to the United States to give his family a better life. His daughter, Tammy, who we meet at age nine and follow through adulthood, grapples with the expectations of a first-generation American and her own personal desires. Finally, there’s Oliver, a handsome white lawyer with a dark family secret who lives in the building where Tony works. A violent attack causes their lives to intertwine in ways that will change them forever.

Promo

Set in New York and China over three decades, PAPER NAMES explores what it means to be American from three different perspectives. There’s Tony, a Chinese-born engineer turned Manhattan doorman, who immigrated to the United States to give his family a better life. His daughter, Tammy, who we meet at age nine and follow through adulthood, grapples with the expectations of a first-generation American and her own personal desires. Finally, there’s Oliver, a handsome white lawyer with a dark family secret who lives in the building where Tony works. A violent attack causes their lives to intertwine in ways that will change them forever.

About the Book

An unexpected act of violence brings together a Chinese-American family and a wealthy white lawyer in this propulsive and sweeping story of family, identity and the American experience.

Set in New York and China over three decades, PAPER NAMES explores what it means to be American from three different perspectives. There’s Tony, a Chinese-born engineer turned Manhattan doorman, who immigrated to the United States to give his family a better life. His daughter, Tammy, who we meet at age nine and follow through adulthood, grapples with the expectations of a first-generation American and her own personal desires. Finally, there’s Oliver, a handsome white lawyer with a dark family secret who lives in the building where Tony works. A violent attack causes their lives to intertwine in ways that will change them forever.

Taut, panoramic and powerful, debut novelist Susie Luo's PAPER NAMES is an unforgettable story about the long shadows of our parents, the ripple effect of our decisions, and the ways in which our love transcends difference.

Audiobook available, read by Austin Ku

Editorial Content for Carmen and Grace

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Jana Siciliano

Carmen and Grace have been together, side by side, since their earliest memories. These cousins are more like sisters, helping each other through a childhood filled with poverty, neglect and drugs. They were their own mothers, protectors and teachers. However, when Grace ends up being taken into the home of Doña Durka, a drug kingpin in their neighborhood, her life becomes more stable, and she wants Carmen to enjoy the same benefits. Durka is, in equal measure, an enormous help and big trouble. Read More

Teaser

Carmen and Grace have been inseparable since they were little girls --- more like sisters than cousins, survivors of a childhood marked by neglect and addiction and a system that never valued them. For too long, all they had was each other. That is, until Doña Durka swept into their lives and changed everything, taking Grace into her home, providing stability and support, and playing an outsize role in Carmen’s upbringing. Durka is more than a beneficent force in their Bronx neighborhood, though. She’s also the leader of an underground drug empire, a larger-than-life matriarch who understands the vital importance of taking what power she can in a world too often ruled by violent men. So, when Durka dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Carmen and Grace’s lives are thrown into chaos.

Promo

Carmen and Grace have been inseparable since they were little girls --- more like sisters than cousins, survivors of a childhood marked by neglect and addiction and a system that never valued them. For too long, all they had was each other. That is, until Doña Durka swept into their lives and changed everything, taking Grace into her home, providing stability and support, and playing an outsize role in Carmen’s upbringing. Durka is more than a beneficent force in their Bronx neighborhood, though. She’s also the leader of an underground drug empire, a larger-than-life matriarch who understands the vital importance of taking what power she can in a world too often ruled by violent men. So, when Durka dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Carmen and Grace’s lives are thrown into chaos.

About the Book

An emotionally riveting coming-of-age drama, the story of two cousins lured into the underground drug trade at a young age, and the inextricable ties that bind them, as one woman seeks power and the other seeks a way out --- the debut of a vibrant and stunningly original new voice in fiction.

Carmen and Grace have been inseparable since they were little girls, more like sisters than cousins, survivors of a childhood marked by neglect and addiction, and a system that never valued them. For too long, all they had was each other. That is, until Doña Durka swept into their lives and changed everything, taking Grace into her home, providing stability and support, and playing an outsized role in Carmen’s upbringing.

Durka is more than a beneficent force in their Bronx neighborhood though. She’s also the leader of an underground drug empire, a larger-than-life matriarch who understands the vital importance of taking what power she can in a world too often ruled by violent men. So, when Durka dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Carmen and Grace’s lives are thrown into chaos. Grace has been primed to take over and has grand plans to expand the business. While Carmen is ready to move on --- from the shadow of Durka and her high expectations, and most of all, from always looking over her shoulder in fear. She’s also harboring a secret: she’s pregnant and starting to show, and desperate to build a new life before the baby arrives.

But how can Carmen leave the only family she’s ever known, this tight sisterhood of women known as the D.O.D, a group of lost girls turned skilled professionals under Durka’s guiding hand, all tightly bonded in their spirituality and merciless support for one another --- especially now, when outside threats are circling, and Grace’s plans are speeding recklessly forward.

As tough and tender as its main characters, CARMEN AND GRACE will grab readers from the first page with its raw beauty, depth of feeling and heart-pounding plot. A moving meditation on the choices of women and the legacy of violence, it’s a devastatingly wise and intimate story about the bonds of female friendship, ambition and found family.

Audiobook available, read by Almarie Guerra and Melanie Mendez

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain-Gang All-Stars

Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE --- or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment --- a highly popular, highly controversial, profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators, and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom. In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games.

Which of the following titles releasing in paperback in May have you read or do you plan to read? Please check all that apply.

May 12, 2023, 568 voters