October 2026 list by Donalee Jacobs |
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American Hagwon
by Min Jin Lee
The National Book Award finalist and bestselling author of Pachinko returns with a contemporary epic: that reckons with ambition and moderation, lust and loyalty, personal dreams and familial duty. Once comfortably middle class in Korea, John and Helen Koh and their three children find their lives upended, first by a shocking betrayal, then by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Desperately, they leave Seoul for Sydney and eventually settle in Southern California -- where new opportunities open up for the children and their parents do whatever it takes to provide for their children's education.
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The Emperor's Enemy
by Jasmine Mas
Zora Ravenal didn't join the Crimson Army to be a hero. She joined to destroy the empire. A skilled hunter hardened by loss with a capacity for stubbornness, Zora claws her way into becoming a Knight Mage: the Commonwealth's deadliest defense against the Empire's storm magic and her people's only hope. Now she's stuck in a war she can't walk away from, hiding dangerous secrets, and working close with the one man she should never be alone with. He's a Royal Mage with a body count and a temper. But the Royal Mage isn't just dangerous -- he's paying attention. And the longer they're forced to remain in each other's orbit, the more twisted everything becomes.
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Every Given Day
by Cathy Gohlke
Inspired by true events, Christy Hall of Fame author Cathy Gohlke delivers a powerful new historical novel set during the Spanish flu outbreak in New York City. Gwendolyn Armstrong travels to her sisters home to tutor her niece and nephew who are kept from school by the Spanish flu outbreak. But when the flu claims victims among the family and staff, Gwen and her nephew, Alistair, must accept terrible losses followed soon after by his own diagnosis of juvenile diabetes. When a doctor starts chasing down every promising medical development in the race for a cure, Gwen clings to each shred of hope. With Alistair's life hanging in the balance, Gwen pleads for a faith she doesn't yet possess.
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The French Illusion
by John Grisham
After Paul and Chelsea Tanner's fairytale wedding, their future is full of promise. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a dark, shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. Who would target them, and why? It turns out this is not the first crime of its kind. The search for clues soon stretches across borders, with the FBI, CIA, and French Intelligence trying to work together to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Struggling to find answers, a young lawyer is recruited to be the bait in an elaborate CIA operation. Propulsive and surprising, The French Illusion is an unmistakable Grisham thrill ride -- gripping and impossible to put down.
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Hollow Bones
by Jodi Picoult
On September 11, 2001, when Molly Fitzgerald was only two months old, her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never came home. Now an adult, she runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness, mapping out ways to save lives during disasters. She and her husband, Jesse -- a police polygraph expert with his own history of crisis -- have a love that is a solace in a dangerous world. But then the unexpected upends their marriage, leading them both to question everything they thought they knew. Moving between past and present, Hollow Bones is an epic story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of our lives, the plans we design to protect ourselves at the worst moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.
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Hollywood, Ending
by John Green
For rising talents Kai Laramie and Juniper Castillo, being cast in the buzzy biopic Andy Warhol Never Gets Old is the opportunity they've both been waiting for. They're on the verge of breaking out, and maybe even falling in love. In his long awaited return to fiction, John Green artfully blends a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story with an unflinching examination of the insatiable attention economy. Told through dual points of view, the novel juxtaposes the on-screen study of Warhol's life at the dawn of celebrity culture with the intimate struggles of two young people figuring out who they are. Tender, heartbreaking, and shrewdly funny, this is a story as only Green can tell it.
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It's Not What You Think
by Clare Mackintosh
For fans of Lisa Jewell, Gillian McAllister and Alice Feeney, It's Not What You Think grabs you by the throat and never lets you go. He has a secret. She knows he's lying... Nadeeka is certain Jamie is having an affair. She knows the tell-tale signs. She's been here before. When Jamie claims to be at work late, she knows he's lying. He's with another woman, and she's determined to catch him in the act. But when Nadeeka arrives home to confront him, Jamie can't explain himself. The house has become a crime scene... Jamie is dead.
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Kiss Slay Replay
by Rachel Harrison
It's the picture-perfect wedding weekend and this is the first time Willa Sullivan has seen her ex in months, and he brought a date. Everything feels off, like she stumbled into an alternate universe. But things start to look up when Willa meets Danny, the groom's charming and single childhood best friend. When they sneak off together, their rendezvous is interrupted by a masked killer terrorizing the reception. Willa and Danny fight to save the ones they love and survive the night, but the killer is unrelenting. She wakes up and it's the morning of the wedding. She just had the most intense nightmare of her life. Only as the day unfolds, there are some uncanny coincidences that make her question whether it was really a dream.
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Love Felt Like This
by Julie Olivia
Griffin Harvey lives his life in the spotlight. Reluctantly. The brooding singer-songwriter is on the cusp of composing his sophomore album . . . if only he could find the notes. Enter Beverly, who produces children's television and laughter. Except joy is hard to find when her nonprofit loses funding. She sinks all of her savings to revive the children's show by herself, but when her show appearance collides with Griffin's, their banter and chemistry is caught on live television. Their dynamic shouldn't work. He's all harsh tattoos and rough hands while she's bright colors and gentle touches. Once their three months of work are done, they'll return to their separate worlds. But what happens when it seems the true magic might be found in each other?
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Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel
by Lucy Foley
High in the Swiss Alps, accessible only by a single, winding railway, stands the luxurious Grand Alpine Hotel. With glorious mountain views and exclusive access to powdery slopes, it draws guests from far and wide. But not everyone is here for a winter holiday. Beneath the champagne and furs, dark histories simmer; old grudges emerge like cracks in the ice. And someone is watching from the shadows. A polite, unassuming woman with an extraordinary mind: Miss Marple. When a body is found and a blizzard cuts off all escape, only Miss Marple can connect the clues before the killer strikes again. Because it isn't a question of who has a motive, but who's next.
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Newbourne Park
by Jennifer Thorne
After years of caring for her dying mother, Martha Shaw feels empty, exhausted, and far older than her twenty-six years. So when her brother invites her to a weekend getaway at the two-hundred-acre country estate where his friend works, Martha reluctantly agrees. After all, what's the harm? The owners and all their staff will be gone. For the first time in years, Martha might actually have fun. And it is fun, but when night falls, the rightful master of Newbourne Park returns — and she’s not alone. Suddenly, being caught trespassing is the least of their worries, because what steps out into the moonlight is something vicious. And hungry. What began as a lark becomes a bloody battle for survival, where greed and morality collide.
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Our Noble Selves
by Kate Atkinson
When war reporter Harry Flynn returns to Britain from Singapore in 1945, he takes a quiet job with the Festival of Britain, a government-funded endeavor aimed at celebrating the nation's creativity, grit, and ingenuity. There, he joins a team of misfits and eccentrics as they help to ready the Festival for launch. When a Frenchwoman goes missing, Flynn becomes the central suspect in her disappearance. As evidence against him mounts, Flynn realizes he is surrounded by people who have their own secret agenda. With her unique voice and her skill at conjuring the past, Kate Atkinson turns her light on a nation reconstructing its image and the lengths to which some might go to manipulate the outcome.
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Paper Ghosts
by Sarah Addison Allen
Every family has its secrets. The Wester women live inside theirs. For decades, the women of Wester House have unsettled and fascinated their small, timeless North Carolina town. Their home is full of whispers, old griefs, and uncanny knowing. But when Willamena Wester reaches out to the granddaughter she once pushed away, long-buried truths begin to stir. Returning home is the last thing Bailey Wester wants. Yet as she reconnects with Willamena, Bailey begins to understand the love, heartbreak, and impossible choices that shaped the women in her family and realizes the past may not have been trying to haunt them after all.
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Pictures of You
by Josh Malerman
After a magical night out on the town with her boyfriend Jack, Emily wakes alone in a huge bed in a beautiful, well-lit room. But the pink ceiling, the mauve walls, and the deep, dark corners are nothing like the hotel she and Jack rented. More worrisome yet: A woman's voice directs her to remain in bed and there is the silhouette of a person Emily does not recognize. It's immediately clear Jack's life is on the line with her own. And if she attempts to escape the bed and the wood frame of this nightmare masterwork, neither will survive the experience. Emily is fierce, independent, brilliant, but to get out of this, she'll have to think like an artist herself. The clock is ticking. For Emily. For Jack.
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Ply
by Hernan Diaz
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Trust turns to the future with a novel that examines the place of technology in the American imagination. Centuries from now, at the dawn of a historical epoch filled with both uncertainty and promise, an orphan is adrift in a city on the brink of a great transformation. The state has been dismantled, and humans are reinventing social bonds and learning new ways to coexist with nature. The orphan grows up to become a pincher, someone who steals electricity from the grid to sell it on the black market. It leads her to the arts, music and a colossal scientific invention that could change the very fabric of reality. A major achievement from a major contemporary writer, Ply questions the place of technology in the American experiment with a plot that grabs both heart and mind.
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Ruthless
by Danielle Steel
Shipping magnate John Randall Williams is at sea after the death of his devoted wife. About to face his first Christmas alone, John meets Lillith at a dinner party and invites her to share the holiday with him on his sailboat in Saint Barts. Charlotte Ramsay, a senior editor at Vanity Fair, is in Saint Barts to interview another powerful man: the elusive high-tech billionaire Ben Sharpe. A chance encounter between the two couples sets the stage for a face-off between the Charlotte and John. He might have a well-earned reputation for ruthlessness, but she never backs down. From the power corridors of Manhattan to the sunsets in Saint Barts, Danielle Steel masterfully pulls back the curtain on the private lives of the wealthy elite, where all is not always what it seems.
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Secrets in the Castle Library
by Ann Swindell
The past year of Melanie Tallbois’ life has unraveled, both professionally and personally. So, she is elated when the princess of Lethersby invites her to stay at the castle for the summer. As director of the National Museum of Lethersby, Eddie Canon has spent years chasing the truth behind Queen Alma's disappearance over a century ago. The last person Eddie wants to work with is Melanie, who inserts herself into his research and his life. Eddie wants to push her away, but he can't ignore that their friendship has begun to blossom. When the long-lost queen's mysteries finally come to light, Melanie is plunged into darkness -- and Eddie questions everything he thought he understood about faith and love. Together, they must decide whether they're willing to trust God with a story far greater than their own.
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Silk and Sensibility
by Mengxi Seeley
Ailin knows she must marry strategically to help her family, but her heart belongs with gentle scholar Enze. Meilin encourages her older sister to fight for her personal desires, but Meilin's romantic ideals conflict with Ailin's devotion to duty. Meilin unabashedly pursues a charming playwright while also clashing with a handsome but gruff army captain. Ailin feels honor bound to her family yet is unable to deny her love for Enze, even as circumstances push them further apart, while Meilin grapples with unexpected feelings for Captain Bai and societal restrictions that leave little room for her own hopes. Silk and Sensibility explores the delicate cultural expectations of womanhood in historical China by following two sisters who must learn to balance loyalty and longing, courage and constraint, to claim their own happiness.
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Sometimes I Scare Myself: A Collection of Horror
by Jeneva Rose
Not all nightmares come from sleep. Some come from bestselling author Jeneva Rose. Three horror stories. First, a thirtieth birthday dinner turns deadly after someone hires a medium for a playful ritual that spirals out of control. Next, the Dalton family moves into their forever home, until the house whispers. Newly postpartum, Kristin Dalton soon uncovers a horrifying truth: every family who has lived in this house has died or disappeared. Last, on the way to a remote winter cabin, a group of friends stops at a roadside store with a hand-painted warning: All items cursed. Curse lifted at time of sale. They laugh it off until one of them discovers an item in her bag she never paid for.
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Sophie, Standing There
by Meg Mason
Sophie Pattison has a dream job at a local book festival, a husband she adores, a lifelong best friend, Emma, and a brother she's always been close to. But since Christmas Sophie has been living alone, estranged from Emma, avoiding her brother, and about to be fired. Now it feels like the only thing she has left is reading. When Sophie re-discovers an author she first read in her twenties, the words on the page reach her in a new way -- becoming both solace and company. Sophie devours all of the author's novels and begins to dream of meeting her, but knows they never will. In this much anticipated novel, Meg Mason captures the heartache and dark humor of our relationships in all their complexity, with a story about the power of connection and an ode to the inexplicable nature of the human heart.
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Switzy
by Emma Cline
A private plane cuts through the winter night, somewhere over Greenland. David, a retired executive, sits back in his leather seat, playing solitaire on his phone. The notebook in his jacket pocket is filled with familiar phrases, urgent reminders to himself, but he struggles to recognize his own handwriting. A mystery, among many mysteries. The world, once so knowable, has been rendered inscrutable. This is what David knows: His final destination is Zurich. As David's arrival in Zurich looms, an exquisitely rendered portrait of an unraveling mind emerges, both darkly humorous and profoundly moving. Hypnotic and startlingly original, Switzy probes the depths of human consciousness, revealing what a man is left with when the accomplishments and compromises that have defined him, and the illusions he's relied on, vanish.
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Take a Chance, Sasha Sinclair
by Ashley Herring Blake
Sasha Sinclair parents, successful documentary filmmakers, died in a car accident three years ago, and she can't stop thinking about her parents' dream project: the story of Alice Bishop in Clare Mountain, North Carolina. Alice Bishop showed up to Clare Mountain in 1901 and opened Thornrose Apothecary. Now, the Bishops also run Ghostlight, an occult-themed amusement park. But the Bishops' businesses aren't doing well. The solution -- a documentary film about their family -- but Margot Bishop can't get on board. Even worse, she's deemed the point person for Sasha. But as they spend more time together, diving deeper into the true story of Alice Bishop, the ice slowly melts and their relationship turns into a heart-fluttering rollercoaster ride, one they aren't sure they want to get off.
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Thank You for Remembering
by Emily Harding
Growing up, Marnie Stephens believed that destiny was real and the universe had a plan. But at thirty, real life has become more difficult than divine. Especially when Marnie wakes up at a hospital in Boston with no memory of how she got there...or the last year of her life. Her doctor tells her she suffered a head injury, and her boyfriend insists they broke up months ago. Before she knows it, she finds herself in an apartment she doesn't remember with a new neighbor, Ben Morgan. As Marnie sets out to retrace the last year of her life, the last thing she needs is to start falling for Ben, the grumpy -- and incredibly attractive -- neighbor helping her. But the universe has other plans, and it's not long before Marnie begins to wonder if fighting for the past is as important as the one person who could be her future.
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The Thoroughbreds
by Elin Hilderbrand
September at Tiffin Academy is always a heady time, especially for the senior class. As the chapel bells ring in students and staff, everyone has something to look forward to -- but in the midst of the anticipation and excitement, nagging questions and dark secrets lurk beneath the surface. Are Tiffin's It Couple, Charley and East, on the rocks? What sparked the rift between football star Dub and his best friend Hakeem? Will Pippa Sacks topple the social hierarchy, or wreak even worse havoc? Can Head of School Audre Robinson save the school, after a disastrous financial mistake. Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter Shelby Cunningham answer these questions and more in this page-turning story about friendship, treachery, ambition, and growing up, at any age.
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The Three Graces of Pearl Street
by Elizabeth Wellington Rollins
In this wise and warm debut novel, an Italian American grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter all named after the Roman myth of the Three Graces find their lives -- and their secrets -- colliding when, after years apart, they come to live under the same roof. Graziella, a ninety-six-year-old former nun, spends her days running the parish's food kitchen. Her daughter, Grace, a respected psychology professor, appears accomplished and composed, yet finds herself unmoored as her personal life falters. Ella, Grace's daughter is weary of defending her vegan diet and anti-capitalistic lifestyle; blind to her own brilliance, she longs, above all, for a place to belong. Living together again, the three Graces reckon with the distances that have shaped them, and with what it means, at last, to be fully known.
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Trad Wife
by Sarah Langan
Every day, millions watch Mia Wright, the trad wife queen, on her idyllic three-hundred-acre farm. With her handsome husband, seven well-behaved children, and a life of from-scratch meals and pastoral bliss, she's an icon of modern femininity. But behind every perfect image is a secret. And in this case, the secret is a horror. Desperate to save her tarnished career, journalist Jenny Kaplan arrives at Black Swan Farm determined to expose the deception behind Mia's curated life. But soon, Jenny has more to contend with as there's something wrong at the farmhouse. Something slithers through Jenny's dreams, and at night, the children sing strange nursery rhymes. She's losing time. She's losing her hair. She starts to worry she's losing her mind. There is a horror at Black Swan, and it's waiting just for Jenny.
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The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman
by Deesha Philyaw
From the moment Scharisse Freeman ditched her humble roots and married a megachurch pastor, she's been labeled too brash and too of the world by church folks. But that hasn't stopped Schar from building a business empire and living the comfortable life her husband's power affords her. On the eve of her 40th birthday, Schar gets an invitation to the First Lady USA pageant. This is her chance to be accepted by the other pastors' wives. Finally, the ice between Schar and the other First Ladies begins to thaw. But as the pageant nears, a sensational scandal breaks with Schar at its center, and her carefully curated life implodes. Schar faces down shame and terrible secrets from her childhood and is reminded that in the eyes of the church, optics can matter more than the truth.
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Twig's Traveling Tomes
by Gryffin Murphy
When visiting Twig's Traveling Tomes, customers will get the exact book they need, even if it isn't the one they want. Proprietor and renowned Book Witch, Louella Twig lives her life sequestered with her stories. When handsome rogue Everett Sharp stumbles in looking to remove some handcuffs -- closely followed by Louella's former tutor, whose prized grimoire has been stolen -- her literary sanctuary is fully upended. Only Louella's magic can locate the grimoire, and teaming up with Everett is her best chance at retrieving it. With a host of friends old and new, Louella sets off on an adventure she never thought she'd take and starts to realize that, just like her books, what matters most has always been what's under the surface.
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Well Versed
by Jen DeLuca
Caitlin Parker was eighteen when the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire was the site of her first real heartbreak. But now, twenty-four and unemployed, she finds herself in her childhood lady-in-waiting costume, assisting a rotating cast of substitute queens for the season. The last person she wants to see is Alexander Wright -- the young man who won and broke her teenage heart. Yet there he is, older and back on stage at her Faire. When Alex broke things off with Caitlin he didn't realize how much he'd fallen for her until he let her go, and that he had shattered her view on love and relationships. His need to right that wrong brings them together again and again, and this time, it won't be so easy to let go of this summer fling. But as summer winds down, real life is catching up to both of them. Can they go after their dreams and find a future together?
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The Witches of Cambridge
by Alice Hoffman
By the 1950s, Cambridge, Massachusetts feels far removed from the legendary witch trials that marked its early days as a colony. Ava, a bright young woman from a small town in Maine, arrives for her first year at Radcliffe College. There, she meets Lauren, who is from a well-established family. Both are recruited by the Lilith Society, a secret organization of witches. As they learn more about their legacy, Ava and Lauren form a close bond that is put to the test as they navigate their new power, friendship, and love. While Radcliffe seems like a safe haven, the shadow of McCarthyism looms large, an ever-present threat to the flourishing creative and intellectual life in Cambridge. And as girls from the Lilith Society begin to go missing, Ava and Lauren realize the witch trials of the past may not be as deeply buried as they once believed.
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