Kendall Young Library: New Adult Fiction

New Adult Fiction Books

1/28/2026

The following books are new to the shelves at Kendall Young Library. To reserve an item, click on the image or title to be taken to the library's catalog. (Detailed instructions at the end of the newsletter.)

Woman Down
by Colleen Hoover

In this twisty thriller from New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a frustrated author looks for her muse in a remote hideaway, but what she finds defies all expectations...and reality.Her words used to set the page on fire. But a viral backlash over her latest film adaptation forced Petra Rose to take a hiatus, resulting in missed deadlines and an overdue mortgage. Branded a fraud and fame-hungry opportunist, she learned the hard way what happens when the internet turns on you. And she's been uninspired to write ever since.Now, with her next suspense novel outlined and savings nearly gone, she retreats to a secluded lakeside cabin, hoping to find inspiration. It's Petra's last-ditch attempt to save her career--and herself.Then he shows up.Detective Nathaniel Saint arrives with disturbing news, his presence igniting a creativity in her she thought long since burned out. Petra's words return in a rush, and her fictional cop character begins to mirror the very real cop who's becoming her muse.Their research sessions blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Each glance, every touch pulls Petra deeper into a world she thought she'd never lose herself in again. She's never felt more alive. But inspiration this powerful comes at a cost.When Saint starts taking his role in her career a little too seriously, Petra's forced to confront the chaos she created. But doing so could cost her more than the reputation she's been trying to salvage. The reputation the world wrote for her--the reputation only she can reclaim.

All the Little Houses
by May Cobb

May Cobb's most explosive book yet. And trust me, that's saying a lot. -- Jeneva RoseNobody does explosive and twisted like May Cobb does it. --Lisa JewellAdults can behave badly too...It's the mid-1980s in the tiny town of Longview, Texas. Nellie Anderson, the beautiful daughter of the Anderson family dynasty, has burst onto the scene. She always gets what she wants. What she can't get for herself... well, that's what her mother is for. Because Charleigh Andersen, blond, beautiful, and ruthlessly cunning, remembers all too well having to claw her way to the top. When she was coming of age on the poor side of East Texas, she was a loser, an outcast, humiliated, and shunned by the in-crowd, whose approval she'd so desperately thirsted for. When a prairie-kissed family moves to town, all trad wife, woodworking dad, wholesome daughter vibes, Charleigh's entire self-made social empire threatens to crumble.Who will be left standing when the dust settles?From the author of The Hunting Wives comes a deliciously wicked new thriller about mean girls, mean moms, and the delicious secrets inside all the little houses.

Palaver
by Bryan Washington

The story of a mother and a son, estranged for ten years, reconnecting in the son's chosen city of Tokyo in the weeks leading up to Christmas--Provided by publisher.

The Botanist's Assistant
by Peggy Townsend

Margaret Finch knows that when she turns fifty-one, the day won't be celebrated. Like every other day, she will follow the same meticulous routine that she's had for the past ten years as Research Assistant II for Roosevelt University's brilliant professor of botany, Dr. Jonathan Deaver. No surprises. But as it turns out, she couldn't be more wrong. On the morning of her fifty-first birthday, Margaret finds her boss lying dead in his office, a pool of blood around his once-handsome head. That day of all days marks quite the dramatic shift in her otherwise mundane life. At the time of his death, Professor Deaver was on the cusp of a discovery that could bring a new treatment for lung cancer. As expected, his death shakes the tight-knit community of academics, but the coroner rules it to have been caused by a genetic heart defect. Margaret, however, isn't so sure--

The White Hot
by Quiara Alegría Hudes

April is a young mother raising her daughter in an intergenerational house of unspoken secrets and loud arguments. Her only refuge is to hide away in a locked bathroom, her ears plugged into an ambient soundscape, and a mantra on her lips: dead inside. That is, until one day, as she finds herself spiraling toward the volcanic rage she calls the white hot, a voice inside her tells her to just--walk away. She wanders to a bus station and asks for a ticket to the furthest destination; she tells the clerk to make it one-way. That ticket takes her from her Philly home to the threshold of a wilderness and the beginning of a nameless quest--an accidental journey that shakes her awake, almost kills her, and brings her to the brink of an impossible choice--

Swallows
by Natsuo Kirino

When a young single woman in Tokyo decides she's ready to sell anything--even her womb--to escape the precarity of her life, an agency pairs her with a wealthy couple desperate to have a child. The match seems made in heaven. She even looks a little like the wife. But is anything ever that simple? One of the New Yorker's Best Books of 2025 Nothing has ever gone right for Riki. She left her boring hometown in Hokkaido, where she worked at a nursing home, for a better life in Tokyo. But as a temp in the big city she has no job security, and barely scrapes by. She eats the same old discount boiled egg for lunch every day, sometimes for dinner, too. Many of her peers have to take on a side hustle just to make ends meet. So when her friend discovers an agency offering a hefty sum for egg donation, both leap at the chance for an interview. Meanwhile, former ballet star Motoi Kusaoke and his wife, Yuko, have been trying to conceive for years. After trying what feels like every available option, it seems futile--until Motoi dives deep into his research and learns that, while surrogacy is technically illegal in Japan, there is a company that's found a loophole. Before long, everyone has an opinion on the matter: from Yuko's sex-obsessed, asexual best friend, to Motoi's controlling prima ballerina mother, and even the affable sex-worker-slash-therapist that Riki has been to a couple of times, after she accepted a down payment to be a surrogate. Acutely funny and addictively page-turning, Swallows pulls at the seams of society, reassessing our understanding of motherhood, self-worth, bodily autonomy, and class. What does it mean to be in control? And can money really buy happiness?

The Favorites
by Layne Fargo

To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession. NATIONAL BESTSELLER - An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice Part Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.--Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: MARIE CLAIRE, BOOK RIOT, SHE READS, CRIMEREADS She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family's support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating--and each other--to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship. Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end. As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the real story through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can't stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she's telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.

The Good Daughters
by Brigitte Dale

In 1912, three young women from wildly different backgrounds are bound together by their desire to have a say in their future. Charlotte, disappointed to discover that college isn't the key to the freedom she longed for, shocks her family when she moves to London and joins a group of suffragettes willing to upend social norms for the vote. Aristocratic Beatrice, with a law degree she legally can't put into practice and a fiancâe she's not particularly excited to marry, escapes to London to spend her last months of unmarried life with the suffragettes, and falls deeply--and dangerously--into forbidden love. Emily, the daughter of the warden of the infamous Holloway Jail, grieves her mother and saves her wages for a better life outside the prison's walls. Her best chance at escaping the drudgery of her life is to stay out of trouble, but when the suffragettes land in her father's cells, she must consider risking not only her family's livelihood, but her own future--

Tough Luck
by Sandra Dallas

In this homage to True Grit, a young woman makes a perilous journey west in 1863 in search of her gold-mining father. After their mother dies, Haidie Richards and her younger brother, Boots, are put to work in an orphanage. Their father left four years earlier to find a gold mine in Colorado Territory, and since then he's sent only three letters. Still, Haidie is certain that he is alive, has struck gold, and will soon send for them. But patience is not one of Haidie's virtues, and soon she and her brother make a break for it. Boots and Haidie, disguised as a boy, embark on a dangerous journey deep into Western territory. Along the way, Haidie learns fast not only how to handle mules, oxen, and greedy men, but also that you are better off in a community. Hers includes a card shark, independent spinster sisters, and a very fierce dog. Once she arrives in Colorado and finds out the truth about her father, Haidie will need all her new friends for a get-even plot worthy of The Sting. Filled with vivid period detail, colorful characters, and the irreverent voice of our scrappy heroine, Tough Luck celebrates both the tenacity of youth and the persistence of the heart in the great American West.

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes: A Mystery
by Sandra Jackson-Opoku

When Savvy Summers first opened Essie's soul food cafâe, she never expected her customer-favorite sweet potato pie to become the center of a murder investigation. But when Grandy Jaspers, the 75-year-old neighborhood womanizer, drops dead at table two, she suddenly has more to worry about than just maintaining Essie's reputation for the finest soul food in the Chicagoland area. Even as the police deem Grandy's death an accident, Savvy quickly finds herself-- and her beloved cafâe--in the middle of an entire city's worth of bad press. Desperate to clear her name and keep her business afloat, Savvy and her snooping assistant manager Penny Lopâes take it upon themselves to find who really killed Grandy--

Private Rome: A Private Novel
by James Patterson

This thrilling addition to the bestselling Private series transports readers inside the halls of the Vatican itself when a priest is murdered--and the new lead agent at Private is the number one suspect. Jack Morgan, ex-Marine helicopter pilot and CIA agent, is in Italy to open the latest outpost of his international private investigation firm. Its wealthy client base demands maximum force and maximum discretion. But when a priest is murdered at the firm's opening party, Morgan and Matteo Ricci--a decorated former Rome police inspector, now Morgan's newly appointed deputy--come under intense scrutiny. As Morgan and Ricci work the case, they discover that eight priests have died, all under watch of the Swiss Guard and the Vatican Police. Private relies on the world's most advanced forensic tools to make and break cases. This one rests on breaking the secret hold of the Holy See's all-powerful, all knowing inner circle.

The Devil's Daughter
by Danielle Steel

Graduating magna cum laude from MIT is the happiest day of Billie Banks's life, although her family is not part of it. Her mother, who always supported her, died when Billie was seventeen. Since then, her father has been slowly drinking himself to death on the family farm in Iowa, and she and her younger sister, Mickie, have grown even more estranged ... Despite Billie's attempts to look after Mickie following their mother's death, her sister consistently treated her with cruelty. So when Mickie invites Billie to move in with her in Los Angeles, Billie is both wary and hopeful. Taking a leap of faith, she joins her sister on the West Coast ... But then the siblings' difficult history once again rises to the surface--

Dream Town
by Lee Goldberg

Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld. But when reality superstar Kitty Winslow is killed within their gates and corpses are found in the vast state park outside them, LASD detective Eve Ronin realizes there is a deadly, razor-thin line between what's real and what's imagined. Eve discovers that Kitty's surreal on- and off-camera life, a blur of fact and fantasy, shockingly mirrors her own as she struggles to investigate the killings, wade into a music industry war, and battle a vicious Chilean gang--all while her life is being turned into a fictional cop show directed by her estranged father. Eve's grip on reality and the case is strained to the breaking point as the slayings continue, the media frenzy reaches a fever pitch, and the only inescapable truth she can see is death ... and it's coming for her--

By the Horns
by Ruby Dixon

In a world of magical artifacts and fantastical beings, a woman with a deadly magic secret needs the help of the minotaur she's trying to forget in the sizzling sequel to Ruby Dixon's New York Times bestseller Bull Moon Rising. The special first edition hardcover will include a gorgeous, shimmering jacket with effects, brilliantly illustrated four-color endpapers, striking and detailed-stained edges, and a beautiful foil-stamped case. Gwenna has always considered herself a normal person. A former servant, she wants nothing more than to land a steady job with the Royal Artifactual Guild so she can make some steady coin to send home to her mother. She's not special. She's certainly not a necromancer. That would be impossible, given how necromancing (or any 'mancing) is forbidden upon penalty of death. So if the dead keep talking to her? Well, she's going to keep on ignoring them. They're not going to stand in the way of her dreams. Also standing in her way? One big, arrogant, far-too-flirty Taurian named Raptor. They slept together once, and now he wants more . . . but she doesn't have time for that. Her focus is on being a fledgling, a trainee for the Royal Artifactual Guild. But Raptor won't go away. He's on a secret mission for the guild to find an artifact thief. Problem is, he thinks the thief is Gwenna. How can she convince Raptor that he's got the wrong girl when all the signs point to her? And how do you tell a Taurian you can't date him because you hear dead people and it might cost you your life?

Well, Actually
by Mazey Eddings

Eva Kitt never expected to be the host of Sausage Talk, interviewing B-list celebrities over lukewarm hot dogs, instead of pursuing the journalism career she dreamed of. But when Eva's impromptu public call-out of her college ex goes viral, she's thrust into the spotlight. It doesn't help said ex is Rylie Cooper, a beloved social media personality that has built a platform on deconstructing toxic masculinity and teaching men how to be good partners. Forced to confront Rylie on a live episode of Sausage Talk, he offers Eva a deal: allow him to take her on a series of dates to make up for his toxic behavior, then debrief them on his channel to show he's changed. Eva refuses to play nice, but agrees to the scheme to advance her own career and continue defaming Rylie's good name. When these manufactured dates start to feel real, Eva has to wonder if the boy that broke her heart has become the man that might heal it--

The Birdwatcher
by Jacquelyn Mitchard

When she is convicted of a double murder, Felicity Wild, a brilliant grad student turned high-priced escort, declares, 'I may not be innocent, but I'm innocent of this.' Reenie Bigelow never doubted it. A jury may have given Felicity a life sentence, but Reenie knows that her childhood best friend is not capable of murder. And so Reenie, a journalist, decides to use her deep connections to Felicity's past to unravel the truth--

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