Hannah knows that her son, Isaac, is gifted and that those gifts make him vulnerable. To keep him safe, she spends every waking moment by his side. If she lets her guard down, he will be taken from her. When the Soundfield arrived 20 years ago, the world changed with it. Now, people are forced to live at night due to the deadly heat of the day, food and water are scarce, and everyday life is punctuated by the constant and disconcerting hum from the Field. A brilliant scientist, Hannah spent her early career working on the enigma of the Soundfield, looking for answers. Now, resigned, she has focused all her energies on keeping Isaac living, not just alive. To do so, she will have to lie to the people she knows and hope she can trust the ones she doesn't. Because the only thing more dangerous than her lies is the truth of what she has done.
On a summer evening in the 1990s, Anne learns that one of her husband’s lovers is expecting his child, only a few weeks after learning that she too is pregnant. He tells her casually, as if it’s just another colorful story about his day. And the tenuous understanding between them --- the careful balance of privacy and flexibility that has sustained their open marriage to date --- is shattered. Meanwhile, Sandy, the lover, works to find her own path forward through her surprise pregnancy and all the million tiny miracles and catastrophes that she now must navigate, often entirely on her own. Searching through diaries, grocery lists and seances with the dead, Sandy tries to remember just enough of her original sense of direction to make her own way home.
What if we could redefine leadership? What if kindness came first? Jacinda Ardern grew up the daughter of a police officer in small-town New Zealand, but as the 40th Prime Minister of her country, she commanded global respect for her empathetic leadership that put people first. A DIFFERENT KIND OF POWER is the remarkable story of how a Mormon girl plagued by self-doubt made political history and changed our assumptions of what a global leader can be. Through her personal experiences and reflections, Ardern is a model for anyone who has ever doubted themselves, or has aspired to lead with compassion, conviction and courage.
Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low, and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived. Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar’s walls.
When her first-love-turned-close-friend, Gabe, dies unexpectedly at 29, 30-year-old Julia is launched into an intercontinental quest to recover his lost possessions. Her journey takes her from Los Angeles to London and into the murky realm of the past. It also sets Julia on a collision course with the last woman he loved, a guarded, self-possessed florist and restaurateur named Elizabeth, who insists on withholding Gabe’s beloved guitar --- one of the departed indie rock musician’s dearest belongings --- for reasons Julia can’t understand. Both women, it turns out, have something to hide, and soon find themselves engaged in a complex dance of withholding and revelation.
Girlie Delmundo is the greatest content moderator in the world. Despite the setbacks of financial crises, climate catastrophe and a global pandemic, she’s getting a promotion. Now, thanks to her parent company Paragon’s purchase of Fairground --- the world’s preeminent virtual reality content provider --- she’s on the way to becoming an elite VR moderator. Despite the isolation that virtual reality requires from colleagues, friends and family, the unbelievable perks of her new job mean she can solve a lot of her family's problems with money and mobility. But when she meets William Cheung, Playground’s wry, reticent co-founder (now Chief Product Officer), slowly unearths some of his secrets, and finds herself somehow falling in love, she’ll learn that history might be impossible to moderate and the future utterly impossible to control.
In June 1998, Mimi Truang is on her way home to Vietnam when her toddler daughter vanishes in the Philadelphia airport. Seventeen years later, two best friends in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, discuss their summer plans before college. Kit, with the support of her white adoptive parents, will travel to Tokyo to explore her Japanese roots. This dizzying adventure offers her a taste of first love and a new understanding of what it means to belong. Sabrina had hoped to take a similar trip to China, but money is tight. Her disappointment subsides, however, when she meets a bold, uncompromising new mentor who prompts Sabrina to ask questions she’s avoided all her life. Meanwhile, Mimi purchases a plane ticket to Philadelphia. She finally has a lead in her search for her daughter. When Mimi, Kit and Sabrina come face to face, they will confront the people they truly are.
Edited by Don Bruns, this fourth installment in the Music and Murder Mystery series is a nonstop thrill ride of engrossing mysteries from some of the best authors in the business. It includes a brand-new Jack Reacher story from Andrew Child and a never-before-seen Pignon Scorbion prequel from Rick Bleiweiss, as well as exciting new mysteries from Heather Graham, Don Bruns, John Gilstrap, Dave Bruns, C. J. Kudlacz and Charles Todd. Whether you are familiar with the series or encountering it for the first time, BAT OUT OF HELL has something for everyone.
In May 2005, authorities discovered the Groene family murdered in their Idaho home. The family’s youngest members --- eight-year-old Shasta and her brother, nine-year-old Dylan --- were nowhere to be found. As a community prayed for their return, Shasta and Dylan were already miles away in the woods of Montana at the hands of serial killer Joseph Edward Duncan. After a harrowing 48-day ordeal, Shasta was rescued. In the following years, while Shasta struggled to outrun her trauma, a pattern of self-destructive behavior shadowed her like an ever-worsening thunderstorm. She still had hope buried deep inside. Every bit as much as the little girl who had been held captive in the woods. This would be an all-new battle for Shasta. And she was determined not to lose.
Halley James knows her marriage is over. But she’s not prepared for the rest of her life to fall apart too. She just lost her job at the forensics lab. Her dad needs emergency surgery. But the biggest blow comes back home in Marchburg, Virginia, where she discovers her mother didn’t actually die in a car crash. Her mom was murdered --- and her father lied about it all these years. Desperate for the truth, Halley chases down a lead in Brockville, Tennessee. But all there is not as it seems. Brockville’s utopian charm hides a chilling darkness. And Halley’s search for answers threatens to expose an unspeakable reality.
We have listed 12 of Carol’s Bookreporter.com Bets On picks that are now or soon to be in paperback. Which of these books have you read or do you plan to read? Please check all that apply.
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Coming Soon
Curious about what books will be released in the months ahead so you can pre-order or reserve them? Then click on the months below.
August's Books on Screen roundup includes the films The Thursday Murder Club, My Oxford Year and Night Always Comes on Netflix, the Providence Falls trilogy on Hallmark, The Map That Leads to You on Prime Video, and She Rides Shotgun in theaters; the conclusion of "And Just Like That..." on HBO Max and "The Institute" on MGM+; the series premieres of "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" on STARZ and "The Terminal List: Dark Wolf" on Prime Video; the season premieres of "The Marlow Murder Club" on PBS "Masterpiece" and "My Life with the Walter Boys" on Netflix; and the DVD/Blu-ray releases of The King of Kings and How to Train Your Dragon.