November 2026 list by Donalee Jacobs |
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Back Where We Started
by Becca Freeman
Katie's a successful Hollywood actress and her hometown of Dutch Ridge, Pennsylvania feels a million miles away. Drew was the only person in Dutch Ridge who didn't make Katie feel delusional for dreaming big, because he did, too. Was it their extraordinary level of ambition that brought them together at sixteen? It was definitely what drove them apart in the years after. But now, a promise to her sister forces Katie to return to Dutch Ridge for Christmas, where she runs into Drew, who seems to have followed a different path from the one they once dreamed up. And strangely, he seems...happy. As their run-ins heat up Katie begins to wonder whether her Hollywood life really fulfills her after all.
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The Brightness
by Chad Harbach
Parties and weddings, messy hookups and marred friendships, art and love and grief — The Brightness follows the electric, chaotic, everything-can-happen lives of Pella and her best friend, Irma, as they fumble their way out of sleepy, Midwestern Westish College and into a larger world that will upend their connection and everything they thought they understood about their own place within it.
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Deadly Charade
by Lynette Eason &Kelly Underwood
Special FBI Agent Kira Miller is assigned an undercover role and she's in her element as she gathers intel on an art smuggling ring. She's daunted not by the mission but by her cover — posing as a married woman to her new fake husband. Special Agent Bryce Lambert's undercover assignment as a newlywed with Kira has the two of them moving next door to the prime suspects, and a relationship is the last thing he wants, fake or real. With secret auctions and hidden treasures, there's plenty to keep them busy — if only they can play the part their lives and careers depend upon while keeping their own hearts in check.
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Do You See What I See?
by Peter Swanson
From bestselling author Peter Swanson comes a fantastically creepy holiday story of a writer tasked with helping a famous novelist finish his next book. But when two dead bodies turn up at the seaside manor, he must uncover the killer before the clock ticks down to Christmas Day.
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The Dues & Don'ts of Magic
by Delemhach
Spidena Kettle runs a quiet magic shop at the edge of town. When Benthrop Hozel enters her shop, he is on the run and simply wishes to be forgotten by his pursuers. In exchange, he promises a favor to Spidena. Such a deal could have dire consequences if Ben is unable to fulfill his end of the bargain. Not that the witch is overly concerned -- after all, there's no risk to her making such an arrangement with a normal human. Only Ben may be more than he seems. With their fates forcibly intertwined, Spidena and Ben must not only evade their enemies and use magical resources to get by, but confront the secrets they've long kept. That is, if they can manage to stop getting on each other's nerve for long enough to do so.
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Every Story Is a Love Story
by Imbolo Mbue
Three years ago, Wolo's wife was killed in a tragic car accident. Wolo has slowly rebuilt a semblance of a life. The grief that dogged him has, with time, become a little gentler. When a letter arrives one day, from Victoria, the woman who was behind the wheel that terrible day. Wolo ponders it for days, and ultimately agrees to meet with the woman who killed his wife. When he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared. Every Story Is a Love Story asks if we are defined by our worst moments, and, more than anything, can forgiveness ease our suffering?
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Fair Ones
by Lydia Millet
Lydia Millet's dialogue-driven, fast-moving double novel Fair Ones follows two Brooklyn women in their forties reeling from the sudden and baffling death of their friend Claire. Fair, Mara's account, opens in the wake of initial shock as she and Jen come to grips with the enigma of Claire's killing. Ones, told from Jen's point of view, picks up a year later as she and Mara wrestle with new relationships and old secrets. In this vibrant, funny-sad fiction of companionship and solitude, Millet dazzles with dry wit and sharp prose. The narrators' inner and outer conversations, and their ongoing entanglement with the memory of Claire, explore the ways we create and define ourselves through others.
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The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford
by Nafissa Thompson-Spires
For as long as anyone can remember, the Milfords have led plentiful lives on the backs of the townspeople of Newville, Oklahoma. Now, on the ominous brink of the Great Depression and at the height of Prohibition, Richard Milford, an infamous moonshiner and womanizer, finally crossed the wrong person at the wrong time. He's dead and buried with only his women to mourn him. But a question remains: Who killed him, and why? Top suspects are his four wives, Lally, Sophronia, Georgette, and Vivianne. But as their stories burst to light, the very idea of a true story comes apart.
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The Housekeeper
by Rose Tremain
In this enthralling novel -- already in production as a major movie starring Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Caitriona Balfe, and Emma Laird -- the award-winning author of Absolutely & Forever and The Road Home brilliantly reimagines Daphne du Maurier, and the origins of her timeless bestseller Rebecca.
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I Never Knew You at All
by Christine Pride
Bestselling authors Christine Pride and Jo Piazza return with a gripping and thought-provoking new novel about a Black woman whose interracial marriage is tested when a journalist investigates a decades-old murder tied to her wealthy husband's family. Thorny, urgent, and nuanced, I Never Knew You at All is a story of love, forgiveness, and redemption that asks provocative questions: Who deserves forgiveness? Can people really change? And ultimately -- what does it take to hold a marriage together -- or break it apart?
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It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder
by Ally Carter
Liam Montgomery is missing and Ella Chambers is the only person who knows he's still alive and it's up to her to prove it. Liam didn't want to die. But as the sole heir to a billionaire, being dead works for him. Now he's on the hunt for a killer. Unfortunately, Ella is on the hunt for him. She'll have to prove he's still alive to clear her name. Can the billionaire's grandson and the housekeeper's daughter join forces to catch a killer? Or is their past too steeped in secrets and lies? As the storm of the century blows in, every step will bring these two childhood rivals closer to a killer -- and each other.
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Life Out of Order
by Audrey Niffenegger
Alba DeTamble has never lived a life in order. Born with the rare Chrono-Displacement Disorder, she slips unpredictably through decades, haunted by the secrets of a future she can witness but cannot change. As Alba strives to maintain a normal life with Zach, her safe, supportive anchor, she forms a tight-knit community of artists and activists who fight to take care of each other in an increasingly unstable world. Told through a variety of perspectives, the story moves through a boundless, unfolding universe of virtual reality, skimming the wildest reaches of technology and our natural world. The result is a testament to the power of art and community to sustain humanity in fractured times.
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Look What the Cat Dragged in
by Jason Rekulak
Meet Penny Padgett, a cartoonist in Philadelphia who agrees to pet-sit a peculiar cat named Godfrey in her home. At first, he's a warm and affectionate companion who follows Penny around and insists on sleeping by her side every night. But soon strange things are happening: Penny is haunted by violent nightmares. There's a terrible insect infestation in her basement. Her cartoon illustrations turn dark and surreal, as if influenced by some invisible hand. And her health starts failing, as if her mind and body are under attack by a sinister, malevolent force. Penny may be a cat person, but she's starting to think Godfrey is no ordinary cat.
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Love You to Death
by Jenna Levine
Lucy McKenzie's life has always been a disaster. So it is no surprise when she's hit by an inconveniently timed bus -- and dies. Unfortunately for the handsome grim reaper who shows up to take her to the afterlife, Lucy is not about to go quietly. Daniel is tired of his job collecting souls. While working for the Agency beats the heck out of going to Hell, he's been doing this for literal ages. Touched by Lucy's plea for more time on earth, he convinces the Agency to let Lucy can have six more weeks of life if Daniel can observe her and report back on humanity. But as Lucy and Daniel navigate the chaos of life and afterlife together, they discover that a second chance at living might be their real chance at love.
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Luna, Phoenix, Queen
by Julie Orringer
Dava and Barr Pennington, university professors, both harbor potent secrets. Fiction writing is his specialty, English literature is hers. But Dava is secretly in love with a colleague, Svetlana White. Spurred by their liaison, she writes a novel about two women who run a domestic violence shelter in coastal Maine. Writing becomes increasingly difficult as her memory begins to fail. After a precipitous decline, she moves to a memory-care facility and her husband discovers her hidden manuscript. He rewrites the novel and publishes it as his own, to wide acclaim. But guilt lead him to confess to an unlikely party, who leads others to the truth. Spanning across four decades and four thousand miles, Luna, Phoenix, Queen illuminates the power of storytelling and explores the terror of losing the ability to make sense of our world.
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Mercy's Child
by Richard Paul Evans
In 1874, Etta Wheeler leaves her upstate New York town behind to follow her husband to Gilded Age New York City. Surrounded by wealth, power, and ambition, Etta struggles to find where she belongs until an encounter in Hell's Kitchen changes everything. There she meets a young girl trapped in conditions no child should endure. What began as determination to help a single child soon draws Etta into a battle against the city's most powerful institutions, forcing her to discover a courage she never knew she possessed. Set against the stark contrasts of Gilded Age Manhattan, this uplifting historical novel of compassion and moral courage tells the extraordinary story of how a singular act ignited lasting change.
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The Mother-In-Law Book Club
by Kate Hash
On the plane to Durham for her next big gig, traveling consultant Andi gets into an argument about the expectations of mothers-in-law that will change her life. When her seventy-something adversary extends an olive branch invitation to her book club, Andi does something completely out of character: she says yes. This social circle is feisty, gossipy, and hopelessly clueless about how to navigate relationships with their adult children. Andi spends evenings doling out advice to her retired friends, helping to repair generational divides. Over time, Andi realizes life in Durham just fits. The book club, her job, and her new romance with a handsome professor. It's all going great until her past shows up and Andi must decide what happiness really looks like -- and she just might need the wisdom of her new friends to figure it out.
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Music Against the Night
by Yiyun Li
As the eighteenth century nears its end, a musical virtuoso comes of age. John Field is gifted, and his family has visions of him becoming the next Mozart. His talent takes him far -- to England, France, and then Russia, where he becomes a famous pianist and composer. Oceans away in Pondicherry, in French India, Adelaide Percheron has a startling rise of her own. Driven by her love of music and a desire to see the world, Adelaide escapes to Paris and later to Moscow. Peopled by rival prodigies, irate tutors, begrudging guardians, and the true-to-life masters of the trade, Yiyun Li's magisterial, polyphonic novel depicts two aspiring musicians -- destined to be husband and wife -- in pursuit of success.
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Old Ham
by Seraphina Nova Glass
Junie Oldham is a middle-aged hoarder who pretends to be a recovering alcoholic so she can socialize at AA meetings. Living among the piles of childhood treasures in her home, she also hangs on to a few resentments. When an encounter with Blake Patton, her high school crush, presents Junie with the opportunity to reconnect, she becomes a math tutor for his daughter. Now Junie has full access to their perfect suburban home and as the Pattons' seemingly happy facade starts to crack, it's only a matter of time before everything comes crashing down. Because Junie's waited more than twenty years for the real story to come out, and if she can't get to the truth, there's going to be trouble.
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Our Dark Incantations
by Wanda Hellmund
After the war, ex-healer Mira Winters swore she'd never touch magic again. And yet here she is attending the newly reopened Ivercrest University, paired up with the absolute wrong partner -- the infuriating Aidric Dawson. Rumored to have been a high-ranking soldier during the war, the lethal Wielder is arrogant, aristocratic, and shrouded in secrets, but with his own wounds from the war, he may also be the only one who truly understands Mira. A labyrinth of clues pulls Mira and Aidric deep into a sinister plot hiding in the shadows of magical society, threatening war once more. Can the two enemies work together without losing their hearts -- or their lives -- in the process?
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Peck & Peck
by Bonnie Garmus
The bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry returns with an irresistible, delightful, and tender literary novel set in the publishing world of 1980s New York City about a young man whose life turns upside down when he is hired by the most prestigious, secretive, and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world: the renowned Peck & Peck.
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Please Enjoy Your Stay
by Tara Goedjen
When they were teenagers, Mia's cousin was murdered at a castle in the Austrian Alps. As the only witness, Mia's testimony put the killer behind bars, but the media accused her aunt, a controversial true crime author, of being involved. Now, a decade later, the murderer is appealing his conviction, and a true crime podcast starts covering the case, determined to exonerate him, and resurfacing lies about Mia's family in the process. Desperate to protect her aunt -- and the truth -- Mia returns to Austria. The castle is being revamped as a luxury hotel and, after someone disappears on the property, new evidence emerges regarding her cousin's death. Mia realizes she might have accused the wrong man and put her own life in danger.
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Public Access Afterworld
by Jane Schoenbrun
On September 3, 1988, Dallas weatherman Ray Davino makes passing reference to Public Access Afterworld during a rambling monologue, right before he puts a gun to his head on live television and pulls the trigger. On June 12, 2009, David Sawyer and Erin Morrison, two suburban teens, watch TV's analog-to-digital transition. But in the static that follows, Erin witnesses surreal broadcasts from a pirate TV network called Public Access Afterworld, and their lives are changed forever. Seventeen years later, Bethany Peters spends her evenings reviewing an endless stream of horrific videos. But then a young streamer begins to crop up in her feed calling out to Public Access Afterworld. But what is Public Access Afterworld?
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Queen of Lombard Street
by Lisa Kleypas
From New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas -- a sweeping, richly layered Victorian novel about a trailblazing female economist who's determined to build Britain's first women's bank, but she must fight both financial corruption and a system intent on destroying the newly found family she's created.
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Savage Lake
by Nick Medina
A mother and son travel to a dilapidated cabin in the woods that haunts more than just her memories in this new unnerving horror from the author of The Whistler and Sisters of the Lost Nation.
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The Slantwise Histories: Collected Stories
by Alix E. Harrow
The Slantwise Histories presents the best known short fiction of Alix. E. Harrow, including the Hugo-award winning A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies as well as five all-new stories. The collection also includes the author's preferred text of previously published stories.
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Solace House
by Will MacLean
When his university offers Alex Lane a summer job clearing out a dilapidated Victorian mansion he jumps at the chance to earn some money. Alex joins an unlikely crew of students, including mercurial, red-headed Ella. Alex and Ella become enthralled by the elaborate and eerie journals of the house's former owner, Edwin Flayne. In these diaries, Flayne details his obsession with his missing mother and his belief in a mysterious realm lying parallel to ours, along with coded instructions on how it might be reached. As the students gradually uncover the house's secrets, the rift between those who want to delve further and those who believe they've already gone too far grows ever wider.
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Trigger Happy
by Meredith Trapp
Sabrina and Lawton go together as well as Dom Perignon and Frito pie. They have nothing in common -- except for the fact that they unalive people for a living. Sabrina's a clever, Manhattan darling with a penchant for poison-tipped manicures. Lawton is a reckless cowboy who isn't afraid to get the pigs involved in clean-up duty. When they're hired for the same job in Wyoming, they have to pose as a happily married couple to get close to their targets. Things get even messier when they start wondering if they've walked into a dangerous trap. And, more importantly, will they kill off any chance at something real before they make it out alive?
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When the Night Comes Knocking
by Katherine Daniel
In this Appalachian horror novel, two estranged siblings become trapped in a convenience store under attack by a monster from the mountains who feasts on guilty hearts.
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Winterset Hollow
by Jonathan Edward Durham
When Eamon and his two closest friends, Caroline and Mark, journey to Addington Isle, they hope to explore the island that inspired their favorite book, Winterset Hollow--a timeless tale about a tribe of animals preparing for their yearly end-of-summer festival. But when the trio break into the author's apparently abandoned estate, they discover that much of what the world believes to be fantasy is real, and that the truth behind their beloved story is darker and more dangerous than they ever imagined. In fact, making it through the final chapter might just cost them everything.
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