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In case you missed them...
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OverBooked Club
Monday, Apr 11, 5:30
Library Conference Room
Come chat about books with Kristen and Michelle.
This month's focus: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
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The Forty-Year Grudge
by Liza Tully
It's been four decades since the women of Sigma Delta Tau were last together. The years have been kind to some but not to others. Still this is supposed to be a pleasant diversion for former sorority member and current private investigator Aubrey Merritt. She's come to New Mexico to reconnect with old friends, and she's brought her personal assistant Olivia Blunt along with her to help with her bags. But when one of the sorority sisters is murdered, all eyes turn to the World's Greatest Detective to solve the case. It's going to take both Aubrey and Olivia to cut through the knot of old hurts and current grievances to find the killer-- Provided by publisher.
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Death on the Lanai: A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery
by Rachel Ekstrom Courage
The New York Times bestselling series that began with Murder by Cheesecake continues with an all-new Golden Girls cozy mystery! When the Girls accept a very strange invitation to a lavish party on a remote island estate, they find that murder has a way of ruining even the most glamorous of evenings. The invite delivered to 6151 Richmond Street was short on details, only promising to celebrate the greatest artist of the century and accompanied by a jewel-encrusted brooch--the whole package a brand of mysterious opulence that another Saturday night of gin rummy just can't match. Blanche Devereaux's passionate dalliances are as plentiful as hot Southern nights, and surely one can't be expected to remember all of one's suitors. But when the Girls disembark the party's ferry at a small Biscayne Bay island and meet their secretive host, the memories come flooding back: she a Radio City Rockette in her twenties, he the poor artist who could offer her nothing but his love. Fate drove them apart, but Declan, now a famous artist El Toro, professes that Blanche has always been his muse. Featured prominently in his artworks and central to El Toro's return to the apex of the art world, Blanche is thrilled to have been such an inspiring figure to this man. But looking around at a party filled with those who have made their livings off the artist's fame--his assistant, his art dealer, his greatest critic, and more--Dorothy isn't so sure they're welcome on the island after all. When a tropical storm knocks power out across the island, an optimistic Blanche proclaims that everyone looks better by candlelight anyway. But when Declan is found dead the next morning, all eyes are on her, his supposed muse of thirty-plus years. Trapped at the estate with the other guests--suspects all--the Girls must band together to find the true killer and get back to pleasant evenings of card games and cheesecake.
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The Children
by Melissa Albert
An extraordinary book. It's a page-turner, full of mystery, but that's the least of it. The language is dusted with magic. The Children reminded me of Ray Bradbury at his best. --Stephen KingThe haunting new novel from New York Times bestselling author Melissa Albert, in which the estranged adult children of a legendary author, written into their dead mother's beloved fantasy series, must contend with the vine-like creep of legacy, memory, and magic.Guinevere Sharpe has two childhoods.In one, she and her brother, Ennis, live in the wooded shadow of their family's isolated Vermont farmhouse; in the other, the pages of their mother's world-famous Ninth City books, where their magical adventures have made them household names. In reality, Guinevere's childhood isn't the enchanted idyll her mother's readers imagine: she and Ennis are growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed, escaping each day to the wild woods they've made their playland. As Edith Sharpe's books explode into epic popularity, the threats of a rural childhood give way to the escalating perils of fame--until the night it all goes up in flames, leaving Edith's series unfinished and her children the sole survivors.Now an adult coasting on her mother's name, Guinevere is mid-promotion for a ghostwritten memoir when her estranged brother, an artist who has until now spurned his family's legacy, announces an upcoming installation titled, simply, Mother. As rumors swirl around a death connected to his last show, unsettling recollections from Guinevere's childhood begin to surface. Her public facade starts to crack, forcing her to confront the questions she's spent the last twenty years running from: What really happened the night of the fire? And what dark history lies behind their mother's fantasy world?
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Alan Opts Out
by Courtney Maum
In this timely and comedic take on ambition, consumerism, and the sticker price of privilege, an ad exec who bombs the biggest pitch of his career decides to forgo capitalism and live off the land of his suburban Connecticut home. Perfect for readers of Rufi Thorpe and Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Alan Anderson is a powerful advertising executive who has built a successful life and thriving business by making people buy stuff they don't actually need. He's up for the biggest pitch of his career and the account everyone wants, US Dairy: cow's milk sales are plummeting, and the C-Suite wants to see trendy oat milk kicked to the curb. But when an anarchist farmer tanks Alan's presentation, Alan bombs the pitch but ends the day with an epiphany. No longer will he exploit the insecurities of others in the service of capitalism. Alan is opting out. This development is anathema to his wife, Vivian. She's just a few positive affirmations, a swimming pool, and an exacting series of social tests away from finally becoming part of the elite women's club, the Queen Annes, in their adopted town of Greenwich, Connecticut. As if contending with a daughter who wants to write plays ( ) and another who has an unnatural empathy with animals isn't enough to manage, she can only watch as Alan moves into their backyard playhouse to live off the land and--worse--spend time with the family. But instead of shocking the neighbors, Alan's commitment to a less-is-more lifestyle seems to be catching on. Could everyone want what Alan's not selling?
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Whistler
by Ann Patchett
The acclaimed, prize-winning #1 New York Times bestselling writer returns with a moving, luminous novel that reminds us of the sweetness and impermanence of life and the power of connection to defy time.When Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather, who had been married to her mother for a little more than year when Daphne was nine. Now fifty-three, Daphne hasn't seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. Meeting again, time falls away; while their relationship was brief, it had a profound impact on them both, and now that they are reunited, they have no intention of ever being separated again.Whistler is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made, and the choices that were made for them. It's a story about bravery, memory, the often small yet consequential moments that define our lives, and the endless stream of loss that in time comes for us all. Beautiful in its simplicity, it is ultimately about how love endures, and how the feeling of being known by one other person, even for a short period of time, can change everything.
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The Frenzy: Stories
by Joyce Carol Oates
A gripping collection of propulsive, psychologically suspenseful stories by the legendary Joyce Carol Oates who is surely on any shortlist of America's greatest living writers (The New York Times Magazine) A genius in the truest sense of the word.--Rebecca MakkaiOne of the greatest writers among us today.--Gillian Flynn A LIT HUB MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR Frenzy (noun): a temporary madness; a violent mental or emotional agitation; intense usually wild and often disorderly compulsive or agitated activity Joyce Carol Oates is a master of the short story and one of the legends of the form. Her collections of short fiction have twice been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and have won numerous awards, including the O. Henry Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Art of the Short Story. In The Frenzy: Stories, Oates plunges us into the lives of her characters at moments of crisis and confusion, when much of what they understand about themselves and those they love comes undone. A young woman on a supposedly romantic weekend trip to Cape May, New Jersey, turns the tables on her older, married lover. A freak bicycle accident on a bridge haunts one family for decades. A girl jealous of her popular cousin discovers she is the lucky one. A widow waits at her riverside house for her dead husband's return. A young man hiking in the woods comes upon a couple in a heated, possibly violent argument--should he intervene? Suspenseful and psychologically astute, Oates's short stories enthrall and captivate as they dissect her character's deepest fears--revealing our own in turn.
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Road Trip
by Mary Kay Andrews
New from the beloved New York Times bestselling author of Summers at the Saint and Hello, Summer Pack your bags for a summer journey shaped by family secrets, long-buried history, and charming men with Irish accents.Maeve and Therese Dunigan haven't spoken in years. Raised under the same roof in Savannah, the two sisters could not be more opposite--Maeve the rule follower, Therese the unapologetic rebel. But when their mother's death pulls them back together, they inherit more than just grief: a mysterious painting that may be worth millions...if it's real.Determined to uncover the truth--and desperately in need of the money--the sisters set out on a journey to Ireland, tracing their family's roots and the origins of the portrait. What begins as a search for answers soon becomes something deeper--a reckoning with the past, as they uncover secrets that span generations and reshape everything they thought they knew about their family.With tensions simmering, the two hit the road and find themselves on twisty lanes, in colorful villages, at local pubs, and with handsome men whose gift of the gab is surpassed only by their charm. Can Maeve and Therese actually survive the journey without killing each other? Join Mary Kay Andrews on a road trip that will entertain you for miles.
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A Year of Marvelous Ways
by Sarah Winman
The remarkably life-affirming novel from the highly acclaimed author of Still Life, set in 1940s Cornwall following the unlikely friendship between an eighty-nine-year-old woman at the end of her story and a young soldier, reeling from World War II, at the start of his own. Marvelous Ways has lived alone alongside a winding creek near the rugged Cornwall coast for nearly all her life, and has recently taken to spending her days sitting on the steps of her caravan with a telescope. She is waiting for something, but she's not sure what. She will know when she sees it and that is good enough for her. Francis Drake, a young soldier adrift after the death of a fellow comrade, is grateful for the mission that guides his days. He has agreed to fulfil his friend's last wish: to hand-deliver a letter to his father in Cornwall. But Francis's journey doesn't go as planned. After a brief, sweet, and serendipitous reunion with a woman from his past, Francis washes up in Marvelous's creek, broken both in body and spirit. Marvelous will come to his aid, and an unlikely friendship will grow between these two solitary souls. Marvelous has lived a long life, with many loves and countless stories to tell, and Francis needs a reason to keep going--even just the hope that life still has more to offer. A beautiful, bighearted story that bursts with the magic of what it means to grab hold of connection and purpose when it is right in front of you, A Year of Marvelous Ways is a testament to friendship and another timeless classic from the acclaimed Sarah Winman.
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Daughters of the Sun and Moon
by Lisa See
Beloved New York Times bestselling author Lisa See draws on the vibrancy and turmoil of post-Civil War Los Angeles to tell the story of three Chinese women who managed to survive and, eventually, thrive, despite all odds. In 1870, three Chinese women arrive in the small, dusty, and violent pueblo of Los Angeles. Dove, the bound-footed daughter of an imperial scholar, is entrancing and innocent. These characteristics should bring her great rewards, beginning with her arranged marriage to a much older merchant. Petal, the big-footed daughter of peasants, has grown up hungry and with dirt between her toes. In a moment of desperation, Petal's father sells her to buy money for rice seed, and she is loaded onto a ship to the Gold Mountain--America--where she is once again sold. Moon is married to a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. She is educated, speaks fluent English, and has been endowed with a face of great beauty, yet her failed footbinding as a child has left her with a limp that lessens her value in the eyes of many. Each woman has her own desires. Dove wants to love and be loved, Petal desires freedom, and Moon seeks justice. Together they face a larger society that wishes them not one ounce of good will. Anti-Chinese sentiment is strong in Los Angeles, and this eventually leads to the Night of Horrors during which all three women are challenged in ways they could not have imagined. Brought together by hardship and heartbreak, they must use their bravery, endurance, and ability to eat bitterness to discover their voices, find freedom, and connect through solace and friendship. Together they are daughters of the sun and moon.
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The Summer Fun Massacre
by Craig Dilouie
Surviving the massacre is just the beginning in this razor-sharp summer-camp slasher with a bloody twist from horror master Craig DiLouie. The Summer Fun Massacre swings back and forth like a bladed, unstoppable pendulum, gory slasher tale to eerie mystery and back again. --New York Times bestselling author Peter Clines It's 1992, and in the heat of Texas, camp Summer Fun rests by a crystalline lake surrounded by a shady forest. The counselors have set out the kayaks, prepped the kitchens, and refurbished the cabins. Now, on the night before camp begins, a bonfire and the teenage counselors' rites of passage await. But the camp has a horrifying history. In the '80s, there was a massacre that left a sole survivor. One final girl. The killer never caught. Deputy Tom Bailey is always on edge this time of year. There are rumors that the woods are haunted. That the killer might one day return. Tom has deeply personal ties to the '80s massacre, and those ties have plagued his dreams. Then Tom gets a call reporting bloodcurdling screams coming from the camp. The real nightmare is just beginning . . . . DiLouie finds horror's heart still beating beneath the cabin floor. An invigorating reminder that nothing ever really ends ... unless you break the cycle. -- Andrew F. Sullivan, author of The Handyman Method Urban legends, a summer camp, teens in peril, and a seemingly unstoppable killer, Craig DiLouie's latest is a brutal exercise in nostalgic horror from an author at the top of his game. Fans of the camp-bound slashers of yesteryear will lose their minds. --Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Sour Candy and Kin
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Chapter One Again
by Keelia Clarkson
Escape to Avila Falls in this Cozy Second-Chance Romance Jane is a successful ghostwriter living her dream in New York City, collaborating with movie stars and musicians while quietly longing to publish her own novel. But just as her career comes to a crossroads, she's called back to her hometown of Avila Falls, a charming mountain town with a colorful cast of characters, where a chance encounter with her high school crush stirs unexpected questions about her NYC life. These doubts deepen as Jane tries to find her place back in Avila Falls; begins a new project with Liv, a pop star grappling with her own identity; and reconnects with a friend and mentor who runs the local bookstore, And Then There Were Books. Jane begins to see her hometown differently and sparks begin to fly. She questions whether the version of herself she's created is truly who she wants to be. Could the answers she's searching for lie in the very place she once ran from? Chapter One Again is the debut novel from actress Keelia Clarkson. This cozy, clean second chance romance is the perfect read for anyone searching for love, purpose, and a place to call home. Chapter One Again is perfect for readers who love: Cozy fiction and clean romance Charming small-town settings Faith-friendly themes Chapter One Again is the first book in the Avila Falls series. Watch for the sequel, Page Two with You.
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Shortbread in the Highlands
by Robin Jones Gunn
When cousins Nora and Allie travel to Scotland to claim their gran's inheritance, a cottage by a loch seems the perfect setting until they're derailed by delays and village eccentrics. After exploring castles and hiking heather-covered hills, they uncover family secrets that present a life-changing future.
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The Ties That Bind: An Amish Romance
by Linda Byler
In this heartfelt sequel to New Beginnings, Linda Byler returns to the Beiler family, whose struggles and hopes will resonate with anyone who has ever longed for belonging and healing. Amos Beiler, once an outcast in his Amish community, has found acceptance and purpose in the English world, thanks to the kindness of Joseph and Lila Smith. Yet, the scars of his past and the ache of loneliness linger. Back home, the Beiler family is in turmoil: Raymond, the gentle father, tries to keep peace as Lydia's anxieties and controlling ways threaten to tear the family apart. Lavina is caught between her own dreams and her family's needs, while Cathy's rebellious choices push the limits of Amish tradition. As Amos faces a crossroads--torn between a budding romance with Anna Riehl, the enigmatic Sarah Yoder, and the daunting responsibilities of his new life--the Beilers must confront painful truths about love, forgiveness, and the cost of letting go. Ties That Bind is a moving portrait of faith, family, and identity, exploring how the strongest bonds are forged through compassion, courage, and the willingness to seek redemption.
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An Artful Dodge
by Karen Odden
Victorian London comes to vivid life in this riveting heist novel about an all-female thieving gang and one young woman's heroic plan to escape a life of crime, from the USA Today bestselling author of Down a Dark River. She's stolen gems, purses, and hearts--but can she steal her life back from the ring of thieves that's claimed it? London, 1879: Twenty-year-old Kit Jimeson has fingers so nimble she can nick a necklace off a lady in a crowded theater without raising alarm. Kit and her dodge partner, Mary, are the highest earners in the notorious all-women thieving ring in South London's Elephant and Castle district. Kit, whose mother had been a thief before her, dreams of a different life, one where she's not constantly on the lookout for constables and plainclothes detectives, and where a mistake or pure bad luck won't land her in the hangman's noose. She has been saving her earnings so her younger sister, a maid for a wealthy Mayfair family, might have a shot at respectability. Kit is very close to leaving the life entirely when the legendary former thief Maggie O'Connell brings her plans to a halt. Beautiful, charismatic Maggie has returned to reclaim leadership of the ring after twenty years in a brutal Australian penal colony. But Maggie desires more than mere wealth or power: She longs for revenge against those who sent her away. Kit, with her quick mind and dangerously clever hands, is Maggie's best weapon. If Kit wants to walk away with her life, she must carry out a heist that will demand every skill she possesses.
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Marion
by Leah Rowan
A twist on Hitchcock's iconic classic Psycho--where the leading lady doesn't die, but instead turns the knife on Norm, kicking off a crime spree that turns the silver screen victim into a heroine for our times.
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Based on a True Story
by Sarah Vaughan
Vaughan is simply a genius at immersing you in simmering tensions and turning up the heat.--Ellery Lloyd A stunning novel.--Gilly Macmillan A flawlessly constructed thriller, perfectly paced and filled with smart reveals. This is a read-in-one-sitting delight of a novel --Lucy Clarke A compelling novel about power, money and lies from the author of Anatomy of a Scandal. All families have secrets. But it's the lies that can kill. A lavish seventieth birthday party. A body found on a storm-lashed beach. And a secret that someone is dying to tell. . . . Famed children's author Dame Eleanor Kingman has summoned her family and friends to her exquisite manor house on the cliffs. They're celebrating her birthday--and her latest number one bestseller in her series of books based on a mother fox and her cubs. But the night before the party, Eleanor receives an email that threatens to expose the lie she's kept up for over half a century. Someone knows her secret. Is it her estranged literary agent? Is it her ex-husband, to whom she no longer speaks? Is it the nanny she fired all those years ago, who always did have a knack for storytelling? Or is it one of her three daughters, all of whom have a stake in the publishing empire she has built... With a television crew arriving to film a documentary of her life, Eleanor needs to find out who sent the email--and preserve her legacy and multimillion-pound career. But when push comes to shove, and it's time to tell the truth will anyone actually believe her?
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Backstabbers
by Eliza Jabore
When three friends lose their way in a serial killer's old hunting ground, they must fight to survive the threat in the woods--and each other--in this spiky, heart-pounding slasher. One of the most twisted and shocking explorations of female friendship I've read . . . and I loved every pulse-pounding moment.--Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of The Girls Are All So Nice Here Never turn your back on a friend. Jade, Stef, and Zoe are hiking Washington State's Bones Hollow Trail, braving cougars, black bears, and storms that roll in without warning. Their anxiety isn't helped by listening to a true crime podcast about the serial killer who once prowled this same forest. When Stef twists her ankle--badly--there's no one to hear them scream for help. The only sign of life for miles is a cabin that looks to be straight out of a horror movie, occupied by a man who's all too eager to invite them in. As things take a chilling turn, the friends must find a way to stay alive together. After all, who can you trust when your back's against the wall? Unfortunately for them, the only thing more twisted than this nightmare is their friendship . . .
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Rules for Aging and Larceny
by Julia London
Ocean's Eleven meets the Golden Girls when an all-female group of chaotic, elderly thieves come out of retirement for one last heist against a young Crypto-loving DudeBro-type... while trying to repair their fractured friendship along the way. For fans of Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age and Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth. Frances Deluca has always been a force of nature. Active and agile into her 70s, she can handle anything--except perhaps the stretch of empty days looming ahead. Widowed, with a grown son living far away and her own mortality suddenly in view, Frances longs to feel busy again. What she really wants is the familiar rush of a well-crafted plan coming together. It's been a while, decades in fact--since Frances and her friends pulled off a heist . . . Frances, Joan, Edie, and Irene were a girl gang before such things even existed, joining forces in their 20s for a one-time job that revealed a remarkable affinity for crime. They developed a code of honor, taking only from those who deserved it--until misunderstandings and pride drove them apart. Now, one by one, Frances manages to convince her old friends to put aside their grudges and reunite. And where better for a reunion tour than Las Vegas? Their target: Rocco Vitali, a mobster's grandson who's developed a high-tech shakedown. Rocco is a Crypto-loving scam artist, and Edie's beloved granddaughter just lost everything to him, including her self-respect. But the women intend to take it all back--with interest. Risks will be taken. Fractured relationships will be mended. And four badass seniors will discover how formidable a whole lot of experience can be . . .
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Heather
by Caitlin Mullen
A small-town detective reopens an unsolved case, sending shock waves across generations of women in this gripping new mystery from the Edgar Award-winning author of Please See Us. 1990. In the myth-riddled woods of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, sixteen-year-old Annabelle Riley's twin sister, Sabrina, has been having an affair with a mysterious older man, and Annabelle is determined to uncover what's going on. Then, inexplicably, both sisters disappear. In this same town years later, newly instated police chief Callie Hauser makes an arrest that unexpectedly resurrects details from a heartbreaking cold case. As she digs deeper, the past and the present collide, challenging everything Callie believes about right and wrong, who she is, and the town she's always called home. A propulsive mystery as incisive as it is forgiving, Heather bears a visceral reminder that the truth of a woman's life is often complicated and unknowable--to those on the outside, and sometimes even to herself.
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The Housemaid's Wedding
by Freida McFadden
Wedding bells chime in this thrilling addition to The Housemaid series - a short story from #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden...This edition features exclusive content from Freida McFadden's upcoming, not yet announced hardcover release Today is supposed to be the happiest day of my life.I'm engaged to the man of my dreams, and in a few short hours, I'm going to stand before a judge, who will declare us husband and wife, till death does us part. Despite some bumps in the road, this day is everything I dreamed it would be.There's only one problem: Someone out there doesn't want me to live long enough to say my vows.And if I'm not careful, they may very well get their wish....
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It Could Have Been Her
by Lisa Jewell
#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell brings her thrilling, chilling (Chris Whitaker) suspense to this shocking new thriller about a lost dog, a missing woman, and a house of long buried secrets. Jane Trevally is walking her dogs on her country estate when a small white terrier appears, alone and with no sign of the teenaged girl he'd been staying with nearby. When the teenager is reported missing, Jane offers to return the dog to his registered owner, hours away in London. Arriving at a run-down house called Thornwood in the deepest backwaters of Hampstead, she is immediately on alert--because Jane has a dark history with this house. The man who answers the door is not the man that Jane remembers from her past. He is cagey, and claims to know nothing about the missing teenage girl. Then, through the window of the house, Jane catches a glimpse of a haunted-looking woman. Conjuring her memories from twenty-five years ago, Jane knows this unsettling house holds the key--to the missing teenager, to her own traumatic story, and to the dark, dark secrets of the past.
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Not What It Seems
by Lisa Jackson
#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson brings her own brand of Southern Gothic back to the Spanish moss-draped shade of Savannah and the swampy marshes of Lowcountry Georgia, as crime writer Nikki Gillette and her husband, Detective Pierce Reed, race to expose an obsessive killer with an enigmatic M.O. . . . The stone is small and round, easy to miss among the junk surrounding Billy Huber's body. The man was a hoarder for sure. At first, police assume he fell from a ladder, injuring his throat and smashing his head in the process. Only on closer inspection do they see the polished stone nearby, with a number on one side etched in blood, and a strange symbol on the other. Reporter Nikki Gillette seizes on the story and visits Huber's sprawling property in Georgia's low country. She gains little except the uneasy feeling of being watched. Within days, another body is found--a wealthy, thrice-married Savannah socialite dead in her lavish home. More victims follow, each one pierced through the throat. Beside each body, a stone engraved with a different number and symbol. Detective Pierce Reed, Nikki's husband, cautions her against getting in too deep. She's a mother now and can't keep putting herself in danger. Nikki knows he's right, but her instincts are in overdrive. This is what she's good at--finding answers and driving toward justice at any cost. Yet she knows, too, that the most terrifying killers don't look like monsters at all. And by the time you realize how close they really are, it may already be too late to save yourself.
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A River Red with Blood: A Thriller
by John Connolly
Two intertwined disappearances leave a rural community in shock in the latest gripping Charlie Parker novel from New York Times bestselling author John Connolly. In a darkly brilliant thriller set in Maine's rural Kennebec River Valley, the body of a young runaway from a troubled teens school has been found in the water, seemingly drowned, while a teenage girl has gone missing, believed dead. Now it is up to one man, private investigator Charlie Parker, to find the connection, and bring two evils--one new and one ancient--to an end...
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Storm Tide
by Paul Doiron
Game Warden Mike Bowditch investigates a series of brutal killings during a life-changing year in Storm Tide, the harrowing new thriller from Edgar Award-nominated author Paul Doiron. When the magnificent home of entrepreneur Brian Malloy mysteriously goes up in flames, Maine game warden Mike Bowditch tries to pull Malloy's burning body from the fire but is too late. Malloy was suspected of murdering his young, illegitimate son. Now it looks like someone else has delivered a verdict. Miles away, on a lonely stretch of icy railroad track, the body of Axl Deming, once accused of a brutal rape, is found literally cut in half. Though the two murders seem unrelated, a cryptic text from an unknown number draws Bowditch to the scene--and hints at a chilling connection. He believes someone is orchestrating the executions of criminals who escaped justice, and for reasons he can't explain, his own name is on the list, but the state police aren't convinced. His search for the truth takes him through frozen harbors, trackless forests, and remote islands, far from rescue. Meanwhile, Bowditch is facing a disciplinary hearing that could end his career. His wife Stacey, just weeks from giving birth, is being stalked by a stranger in a white van. And when he realizes someone has also been watching their home, the case turns increasingly personal. To protect his family, Bowditch must work alone to uncover who's behind the killings--and stop them before he becomes their next victim.
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Choke Point: A Thriller
by Brad Thor
#1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor thrills with his new summer blockbuster starring Scot Harvath. A devastating series of bombings tears through Bangkok. Scores of American citizens are dead. The attacks send shock waves around the world. As global assistance pours into Thailand--including the FBI's famed Evidence Response Team--the president of the United States quietly prepares a plan B: Scot Harvath, America's top spy, trained to operate outside the law and probe the dark corners others can't...or won't. But the bomber Harvath is pursuing isn't a terrorist. He's something far more dangerous--one of ours. Meanwhile, in Washington, a former United States Marine is being hunted--and he has no idea why. Desperate for answers, he turns to the one person he still trusts--his ex-fianc e, a rising star in the White House. The problem is, she isn't sure she can trust him. As Harvath closes in on the bomber, a devastating truth begins to emerge. China has quietly deployed its most elite intelligence unit to Thailand. Their objective: to ignite chaos, trigger a military coup, and seize control of a narrow but critical piece of land, one that could give Beijing a decisive advantage. If the plan succeeds, Beijing will secure a key gateway between two oceans, eroding American naval dominance and tipping the balance in any war between the world's great powers. China will control the ultimate geopolitical choke point.
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Sometime This Century: A Regency Rom-Com
by Samantha Silva
A riotous rom-com meets a swoon-worthy Regency comedy of manners in this heartfelt time-travel story about sisters, love, identity--and how Jane Austen just might change your life.Annabel Blake was born in the wrong century. An Austen-loving book nerd, she dreams of being a writer herself, with a just-penned Regency novel to prove it. Her hopes sink when her hot author crush rejects her: The novel reads like she's never been in love. Ouch. Annabel sees a chance to rewrite it when her ex-pat boss sends her to England to sort out her family's crumbling old pile of a country house. Tempted by an invitation tucked in an antique writing desk and a period coachman at her door, Annabel's whisked away to a local Regency Society ball--cue candlelight, costumes, dancing--that might be just the inspiration she needs. There's even the achingly perfect--and wildly out of her league--Henry Leighton D'Evercy. When Annabel's audacious influencer sister crashes the party with her super-chill ex-boyfriend, the unlikely trio wake to find themselves trapped in the actual Regency era. No Wi-Fi, lattes, cellphones--just a world where manners, money, and marriage rule. As Annabel falls deeply for D'Evercy, she must decide: write her perfect love story...or live it.
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Romantic Hero
by Kirsty Greenwood
Kirsty Greenwood's writing is like receiving a warm hug from a dear friend.--Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One Golden Summer A heartbroken romance novelist is forced to address her writer's block when the villainous cowboy character from her books shows up in the real world, desperately in need of his own Happily Ever After. . . from the bestselling author of GMA book club pick The Love of My Afterlife. Gertie Bickerstaff writes happily-ever-afters for a living. . . . Or she did, until her own love life fell apart. Now her ex is thriving, her deadline is looming, and she can't write a single word. The last thing Gertie needs is more drama--like waking up to find a confused and rugged cowboy on her sofa. And not just any cowboy, but River Oakley, the villain from her unfinished novel. Somehow very real . . . and very shirtless. River wants to go home. Gertie wants her life back. So they strike a deal: he'll use his cunning ways to help her win back her ex, she'll finish the novel, and, surely, he'll return to whatever world he rode in from. But as River Oakley proves to be so much more than just the bad guy, Gertie has to choose: the ending she thought she wanted . . . or the plot twist she never saw coming.
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The Summer Girlfriend
by Kristina Forest
A fake summer fling between a stand-in girlfriend and a handsome business heir becomes way too real in this glittering new romance by USA Today bestselling author Kristina Forest. Noelle Lewis doesn't have time for long walks on the beach, brunch with the girls, or summer vacations. She's too busy saving up to go back to college. After recently getting laid off from her bookseller job, her main gig is now serving as a stand-in bridesmaid, which doesn't pay enough for the upcoming semester's tuition. But then the perfect, if not unconventional, opportunity arises... Jeremiah Smith II, grandson of the founder of Smith's Sweets--a well-known baked goods company--once lived a life of frivolity. Since his grandfather's death, Jeremiah's tried to clean up his act, but it's hard to focus when his family requests that he join them at their summer house in Heart Beach, New Jersey, where his most painful memory lies. To avoid going there, Jeremiah claims he already has plans with his girlfriend, and of course, his family tells him to bring her. The problem? Jeremiah doesn't have a girlfriend. After a chance meeting, Noelle and Jeremiah come to an agreement. He'll hire her to be his stand-in girlfriend for the weekend, and she'll use that money toward her tuition. She figures it will be quick, easy money, but as it turns out, Jeremiah's family is lovely, and Jeremiah is even lovelier. Soon, a weekend agreement turns into an entire summer, and Noelle and Jeremiah will have to keep their hearts in check, or else it's sink or swim for them both.
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The Great Outdoors
by Kayla Olson
From USA TODAY bestseller Kayla Olson, a new rom-com about a high-maintenance woman who embarks on a wilderness trek to prove to her ex how low-maintenance she can be--only to find herself with no makeup and an extremely attractive trek leader. Those who say be prepared never met Sadie Whitlock. Sadie has always been praised for being the most prepared person in the room, the one who's thought of everything--and every backup plan--for any given situation. She knows exactly what she wants, exactly what she loves, and goes to great lengths to make sure her life runs perfectly as planned. So, when her laidback boyfriend breaks up with her for being too high-maintenance, Sadie is eager to prove him wrong, and signs herself up for a weeks-long guided wilderness adventure in the High Sierras of California: camping, hiking, rappelling, and kayaking. It's the most miserable, uncomfortable situation she can think of. Sadie's a five-star resort girl at heart, but she has a compelling--and suspiciously attractive--tour guide: August Thorn. Thorn lives for adventure and always keeps a professional distance from the trekkers under his care...but there's just something about Sadie, and for the first time, he finds himself wanting to get closer. As they explore the wilderness together, Sadie realizes the great outdoors might truly be great with the right person.
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The Missed Connection
by Tia Williams
Tia Williams is one of the very best romance writers we have. A forever auto-buy for me. - Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author New York Times bestselling author Tia Williams returns with an intensely romantic, deliciously sexy tale about a woman searching for her handsome seatmate on a European flight--and the unexpected places her hunt for love leads her. Sasha Cruz knows types. As a booked-and-busy casting agent, she's always casting--at happy hour, the grocery store, everywhere. She's all about finding the perfect person to slot into the perfect role. What she doesn't do, however, is relationships. Too much energy, not enough time. On a flight to Paris for work, a chance encounter with her type changes everything. Sasha's seated next to a broodingly attractive mystery man, and sparks fly--but they never exchange contact information. Convinced she's lost out on her soulmate, Sasha emails her work friend for help, but accidentally writes to the entire company worldwide The international manhunt to find Seat F begins. Meanwhile Sasha takes matters into her own hands. She hires a smoldering detective she knew in another lifetime--who complicates matters in unforeseen (and irresistible) ways. With a worldwide search underway, will love take flight for Sasha?
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The Someday Garden
by Ashley Poston
The new head gardener at the enchanting Lilymoor House stumbles upon a secret garden . . . with a mysterious man trapped inside, in the next magical novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Sounds Like Love and The Seven Year Slip. When Sophie Drear plans her escape to coastal Maine for the summer--for a temporary job revitalizing the storied grounds at Lilymoor House--she doesn't expect to fall in love. But she does: With the beguiling land, the fragrant flowers, and the towering hedge maze. With the quirky staff and the enigmatic woman who owns the place. And then, the door appears. Never in the same place twice, it leads her to a secret, and unfinished, garden with a frustrated thundercloud of a man trapped inside. This mysterious garden is not the only sign that the future of Lilymoor is unstable: the foliage resists Sophie's careful nurturing, vines threaten to strangle the hedges, and the manor's owner has wild ideas about who will take over when she retires--including her inconveniently attractive nephew who is also there just for the summer. Despite herself, Sophie has come to care for the residents of Lilymoor just as much as she cares for its grounds. With the help of one man on the outside of the secret garden, and one man on the inside, she might be the only person who can figure out exactly what Lilymoor needs to bloom once more.
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The Unicorn Hunters
by Katherine Arden
In a desperate gamble to save her throne, a young monarch conceals a secret marriage in the shadows of an enchanted forest--and unknowingly alters the fate of her world--in this dazzling novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale. This otherworldly hardcover edition includes an illustrated jacket, a foil-stamped case, and designed full-color endpapers I loved every moment I spent in this magical, dangerous, and haunted realm in the company of its clever and captivating duchess.--Naomi Novik, author of A Deadly Education Anne of Brittany was a child when France invaded and drove her royal father to his death. Now she is a young woman, sovereign duchess of an occupied realm, and France means to crown their conquest by marrying her to their king. Such an alliance would put her title, her lands, and her body forever in the hands of her enemies. But Anne refuses to be the last duchess of Brittany. Her only hope of resisting conquest is another alliance sealed with marriage, so Anne arranges a daring last gambit: a secret betrothal to Charles of France's greatest rival. But secrets are hard to keep in a world where rival courts spy on each other with diviners. The forest of Broc liande was once the haunt of Merlin the Enchanter and the long-lost faerie queen. But magic is long gone from Broceliande, except for the occasional sight of a unicorn and one critical quirk: This ancient forest is completely hostile to divination. While pretending compliance with France, Anne plans a unicorn hunt in Broc liande. A bit of pointless pageantry. A diversion so she can wed in secret. Or so she thinks.
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Tillinghast
by Clare Cavenagh
A vampire (don't say that word) novel like no other. --Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts Wonderfully mysterious and gorgeously written...a boldly original take on what it means to be a monster. --Monika Kim, Sunday Times Bestselling Author of The Eyes Are the Best Part A dark and utterly original literary horror debut, following a priest whose bloodthirsty life has extended far longer than any mere human's--and is upended when a stranger comes to town Stutley Tillinghast lives a solitary life, ostensibly as the minister of a remote rural parish in Rhode Island. For many decades now, what little human contact he's allowed himself has been brief, frenzied and bloody, and has always ended in a shallow grave in his cellar. There's a name for what he is, but he prefers not to use it: it is simple enough that he has his needs, and that when they become unbearable, he fulfils them. In his long and lonely life, he has met only one other like him--the woman he still yearns for, the one who made him what he is. Then a girl arrives, searching for him. She has his last name, and bears an uncanny resemblance to that woman, awakening memories Tillinghast had long suppressed; the connection he feels for her is immediate and overwhelming. She's also sick, very sick, with symptoms Tillinghast recognizes all too well...and only he knows how to cure her. Inspired by the real events of the New England vampire panic of the nineteenth century, TILLINGHAST is a novel to sink your teeth into: at once a gripping, atmospheric horror that turns the classic monster narrative on its head; a literary work of exceptional prose about giving into--or resisting--our impulses; and a remarkably moving father-daughter story that will leave you unexpectedly hopeful--and rooting, despite your every instinct, for the killers.
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The Reimagining of Thornwood House
by Jaleigh Johnson
A witch and her young ward discover a magical, walking house and learn the true meaning of home in this cozy, enchanting novel from New York Times bestselling author Jaleigh Johnson. Evelyn Sharpe is accustomed to dealing with natural disasters as a land witch, but she longs for a life with a little less danger for her and her adopted daughter, Ruby. So when the opportunity to take over as Caretaker of Thornwood House--a sentient home that acts as the magical heart of the village of Iskendra--arises, it seems almost fated. When they arrive in sunny Iskendra, Evie and Ruby find the house is nothing like what they expected: First of all, it has walked away from the address. Thornwood House is also grumpy, guarded, and extremely hesitant to allow the two witches through its doors. Armed with gentle hearts and wild magic, Evie and Ruby begin to form tentative bonds with the house and the citizens of the small town. But there's something deeply damaged about the building seeping into the forests surrounding Iskendra, and Evie will have to use all her power to protect the roots she's started to grow.
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Voyagers
by Meg Charlton
In the tradition of Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Meg Charlton's Voyagers is a finely written and propulsive novel about the enduring power of friendship. It takes on big issues: the reliability of memory, the price of childhood fame, the ways adults use children for their own purposes. It's also a book about aliens, geared for terrestrials. Which is to say it's complex and human, anchored by a beating heart.--Joshua HenkinWhen the Signal--a mysterious transmission pulsing from the edge of the solar system-- arrives, the world changes overnight. Planes are grounded, satellites fail, and speculation abounds. With many believing this could be first contact with extraterrestrial life, humanity holds its breath. But for Alex, a thirtysomething lawyer who's spent years distancing himself from the unexplainable, the Signal feels deeply personal--the opening of an old wound. Decades ago, Alex and a girl named Ana both vanished for thirty-six hours while on vacation near Palm Springs. When they returned, dazed but unharmed, the six-year-olds' account of their experience had all the hallmarks of an alien abduction. The media frenzy that followed made them famous, and the long months of child stardom, of talk shows and sitcom cameos, forged a seemingly unbreakable bond between them--until the mystery behind their disappearance began to tear them apart. Now, with the world on edge and the Signal growing stronger, Alex is drawn back to the one person who might have answers. Ana--now a professional advocate for experiencers of extraterrestrial contact--is leading a retreat near Palm Springs, a stone's throw from the site of their childhood disappearance. As the former best friends tentatively reunite, what starts as a quest to confront the reality of their original experience becomes a larger reckoning with friendship, faith, family, and truth itself--what it means to see the stories we tell ourselves for what they really are. With the imaginative scope and propulsive storytelling of Station Eleven and The Ministry of Time, Voyagers is a thrillingly original and brilliantly ambitious literary debut about friendship at the end of the world.
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Songs of the Dead
by Brandon Sanderson
Featuring stenciled edges and original art for the front and back endpapers. A London rocker is faced with a life-or-death choice when he realizes that a powerful society of magic wielders are the only ones keeping London safe in this deft contemporary fantasy cowritten by #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson with author and musician Peter Orullian. When Jack Solomon, a struggling musician who works in London's West End, is killed, he awakens to a new reality in which light and music are used to create magic and where living eras of the past sprawl beneath modern London, layer upon layer, all the way back to recorded history. Jack also soon discovers that many of those who reside in the stratums of London's past have grown angry with the present world, and that their anger is being channeled by a powerful society of light-and-music-based magic wielders who can cross the realms between life and death, between the present and the past. A past where the dead are sowing revolution against the living, and all of history is at stake. Welcome to the Strata Wars.
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Queenswood
by Kathleen Schwab
Queenswood is a lush, lyrical historical fantasy debut that transports readers to twelfth-century Ireland.In twelfth-century Ireland, girls go missing--fleeing arranged marriages, carried off by outlaws, abducted by faeries. Rhiannon, treasured daughter of nobility, believes herself secure, shielded by her parents' stone manor and friendship with the king. But as her beauty grows and suitors jostle for her dowry, she watches her father's tenants wrung dry in order to supply the banquet for her older sister's wedding, and realizes the marriage market is a game she does not want to win. A convent offers a life of books and learning, although it means turning her back on mortal men for good.Angus, Crown Prince of Faerie, grew up in the Queenswood, the enchanted old-growth forest that feeds all the woodlands of Earth and Faerie. Even once he comes of age, Angus much prefers roaming the wilds over the High Court than the responsibility of choosing a bride. But when he sees his mother fading--and the Queenswood dropping its leaves in mourning--he knows he cannot put it off any longer. He must do his duty as the prince and journey to the human world to find a maiden who can become the next Queen of Faerie.Set in an Ireland still reeling from the Norman invasions, Queenswood combines a deep and immersive historical world with folkloric fantasy adventure.
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Unreasonable Women: Three Stories of Violence, Imprisonment, and Extraordinary Survival
by Justine Van Der Leun
A groundbreaking account of how the legal system punishes those it purports to protect, told through the stories of three unforgettable women When award-winning journalist Justine van der Leun began researching the issue of criminalized survival, she was astonished to see women being imprisoned for protecting themselves against abuse. This sparked an intensive, years-long investigation into how survivors are targeted for prosecution, leading her to collect more than a thousand personal accounts from women's prisons across America.In Unreasonable Women, van der Leun tells the propulsive, shocking, and intimate stories of three extraordinary women who, finding themselves caught in the direst circumstances, had to kill to survive. Tanisha is a spirited Michigan mother determined to help authorities solve a cold case, whatever the consequences. Jema is a softhearted Missouri factory worker struggling to keep her family together while navigating a dangerous relationship. TC is a bold Californian trying to escape generations of trauma and a toxic family environment. In each case, the women's childhood abuse was replicated in adulthood--until they were forced to make an impossible choice.A work of literary reportage that reads like a crime novel, Unreasonable Women is the result of seven years of unprecedented research and on-the-ground reporting in U.S. prisons. It is the story of women and violence in America, a wake-up call about a broken system, and the moving narrative of three women who find hope and humanity in the unlikeliest of places.
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View from the East Wing: A Memoir
by Jill Biden
A novelist once wrote, There are stories one must tell, and years when one must tell them. Jill Biden's time to discuss her four years in the White House is now. Jill Biden became First Lady at a complicated moment in US history, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the shadow of the January 6 insurrection. These were the circumstances under which she set up office in the East Wing, where she hit the ground running. Throughout her husband's presidency, Jill remained a tireless advocate for her causes, including women's health, military families, vaccine awareness, cancer initiatives, and education. She made history as the first-ever First Lady to hold an outside job while her husband was in office, continuing to work as a professor at a nearby community college. Yet all the while, she saw herself as an ordinary woman living an extraordinary life. In View from the East Wing, Jill shares her White House experiences for the first time, in her own words. She reflects on the Biden presidency and its impact on her family. She brings you behind the scenes, from Camp David to Air Force One, from grading papers in the Rose Garden to witnessing the abrupt end of her husband's bid for reelection. This is the story of a woman dedicated to her roles as a wife, mother, grandmother, teacher--and First Lady of the United States.
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Two Ships: Jamestown 1619, Plymouth 1620, and the Struggle for the Soul of America
by David S. Reynolds
Provocative . . . essential reading for today's polarized times. --Henry Louis Gates, Jr. This is a brilliant conceit, wonderfully executed. . . . David S. Reynolds has found a new and compelling way to explore the infinite complexities of the American story--complexities that shape us still. --Jon Meacham A revelatory history of American division through the prism of two ships once widely used as symbols in the war of ideas between North and South--a struggle whose echoes remain with us today In the bitterly polarized decades leading up to the American Civil War, it was commonplace to argue that America's strife could be traced back to the arrival of two ships, less than a year apart--The White Lion, which brought the first enslaved Africans to Jamestown in 1619, and the Mayflower, which brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock in 1620. In a deeper sense, David S. Reynolds shows us, in this magnificent book, those two ships, invoked by Frederick Douglass and many others, stood for two quite distinct realities: the Puritans and the Cavaliers, names and ideologies born in the bloodshed of the English Civil War. The Virginia colony, founded by royalists, was steeped in the ideas of divine right, which flowed down in rigid patriarchal hierarchies. Plymouth Colony's dissenters to the king and his church, while hardly perfect, carried the seeds of a more egalitarian political vision. These two ships of 1619 and 1620 played a key role in the battle of images and words that marked the roiling fight, and then war, over slavery. As Reynolds shows, there was a long stretch of time in America when everyone knew what Cavaliers and Puritans meant. It was North versus South, but more deeply, it was about whether social hierarchy was the natural order of things. But then, as America descended into the long night of Jim Crow, the metaphor of the two ships went to sleep as well. The meaning of the Mayflower and of Thanksgiving changed as they became mainstream, apolitical ideas. If the ships' status as cultural touchpoints before the Civil War tells us something vital about that conflict, their forgetting afterward tells us much about why the road to true equality has proved so stony. By dredging up these two ships' dueling images, the great David S. Reynolds enables us to make the same use of them that Frederick Douglass and his contemporaries did to challenge us, and to give us hope that we are up to the task.
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