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Into the Blue: Reese's Book Club: A Love Story
by Emma Brodie
The truth is there's no such thing as a normal life. There's just the time you get and how you spend it. In the summer of 2000, AJ Graves dreams of writing for Saturday Night Live; instead, she's stuck working in a video rental store, with slim odds of escaping her small Massachusetts town. Then in walks Noah Drew, the enigmatic and intense scion of the Drew acting dynasty, and her life changes forever. Despite wildly different upbringings, the two forge a deep, cosmic bond, first as friends, then as acting partners--until one day, Noah disappears without a word. Seven years later, in New York City, AJ is shocked to find herself cast in the same intergalactic TV production as Noah, by then a well-known Hollywood heartthrob. As their on-screen characters grow closer every day, the lines between reality and acting begin to blur. Unable to stay away from each other, AJ and Noah are forced to confront the truth of what happened years ago--and the devastating secret that will send their lives careening apart, even as fate continues to draw them together. Blending unforgettable characters, explosive chemistry and yearning, and profound emotion, Into the Blue is a journey unlike any other--one that asks: What does it mean to diverge from the script to forge your own story?
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Mad Mabel
by Sally Hepworth
From New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth comes a twisty tale of justice, redemption, and one irrepressible woman who's not done breaking the rules just yet. Meet Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick: eighty-one years old, gloriously grumpy, fiercely independent, and never without a hot cup of tea--or a cutting remark. She minds her own business in her quiet Melbourne suburb, until a neighbor turns up dead and the whispers start flying. Because Elsie hasn't always been Elsie. Once upon a headline, she was Mad Mabel Waller--Australia's youngest convicted murderer. But was she really mad, or just misunderstood? Either way, she's kept her secret buried for decades. Enter seven-year-old Persephone, a relentless little chatterbox who has just moved in across the road (armed with stickers, questions, and no sense of personal boundaries); Joan, who appears to have it in for Elsie; and a healthy dose of public interest--the cops are sniffing around, and the media is circling like seagulls at a picnic. So Mabel does what she's always done best--she takes matters into her own hands. Is she a cantankerous old lady with a shady past? A cold-blooded killer with arthritis? Or just someone who's finally ready to tell her side of the story? Sharp, surprising, and wickedly funny, this is the unforgettable story of a woman who's spent a lifetime being underestimated--and is about to prove everyone wrong. Again.
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Young World
by Soman Chainani
From the New York Times bestselling author of the School for Good and Evil series comes a renegade thriller, about a teenager elected President of the United States, sparking a global revolution of young leaders--until one of them is murdered and he's the prime suspect. America is on the brink of collapse, and the youth have lost all faith in their leaders. As a pivotal election approaches, Benton Young, a high school senior trying to impress a girl, impulsively uploads a video, daring everyone to interfere with the vote and write him in for President. The video explodes online, igniting election chaos and a national revolt, until the Supreme Court intervenes to put Benton in the White House. Galvanized by Benton's rise, more global youth take to the streets, and more governments fall, until eight of the world's most powerful nations are led by teenagers. When these young leaders convene at their first summit in Sweden, they face the monumental task of setting a new course for history. But the first night, their unity is shattered when a leader is murdered in cold blood . . . and Benton is the only suspect. Hunted by enemies young and old, he must untangle a deadly web of secrets, betrayal, and power plays--while the future of the world hangs in the balance. With globe-spanning action, stunning twists, and an electric new brand of storytelling, Young World is a heart-stopping thriller that asks: What happens when the future really does belong to the young?
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Change of Plans
by Sarah Dessen
From acclaimed and #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Dessen comes a sweet, nuanced, and reflective coming-of-age love story (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) about an unassuming girl who learns to stand on her own while falling in love during a life-changing summer. Finley has always felt most comfortable in someone else's shadow. Fortunately, she's got Colin, her magnetic boyfriend, who sweeps her along for activities, friendships, and future plans. Then she goes on a last-minute trip with her distant mom to a family vacation house that Finley didn't know existed and is now about to be sold. Her mom was estranged from her own parents and siblings since leaving home for college, and it's a novelty for Finley to see her aunts and cousins. There's also the handful of teens who work at the Egg, her aunt's diner, and make up a found family of their own--including undeniably handsome guitarist Ben. Then her relationship with Colin goes into freefall, and Finley's roadmap for life after high school is gone. She has no choice but to live, for the first time, without plans. The longer Finley stays, the closer she gets to the truth about why her mother stayed away--and why she's brought Finley here now. And the closer she grows to new friends at the Egg, the more she starts to fall for charmingly awkward, soulful Ben and to realize how much of herself she's been missing. By the end of the summer, nothing will be the same--for this community or for Finley herself.
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Piper at the Gates of Dusk: (A Young Adult Dystopian Adventure of Survival, Identity, and a Divided Future World)
by Patrick Ness
It's been twenty years since the monstrous war that almost tore New World apart, and there's a new generation on the planet. Todd and Viola's sons Ben and Max have known only peace growing up on the family farm outside a bustling human settlement. They dream of the usual things, like school and adventure, until the nightmares begin . . . A sudden sickness has infected the young people of New World with Noise in the form of their worst thoughts about themselves. Some suspect the Spackle, the indigenous people with whom humans have a very uneasy truce. Others wonder about a connection to a mysterious object looming in the sky. And then, one by one, the children of New World begin to disappear. Ben, with his mother's logical mind, and Max, with his father's courageous heart, become caught up in separate quests for answers, journeys that will test their beliefs in their parents, each other, and in their very existence on the planet. Patrick Ness makes a masterful return to New World in this timely work of science fiction, one that looks at the interplay of fear, power, and propaganda, and at the stories we tell ourselves.
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Young Adult Nonfiction Graphic Novels
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How to Survive the End of the World: A Graphic Exploration of How to (Maybe) Avoid Extinction
by Katy Doughty
In a full-color debut, a graphic novelist takes an engrossing, gleefully existential deep dive into the many ways that humanity could--and almost did--meet its end. Since 99.9 percent of all species that have lived are extinct, it's bound to be our turn eventually, right? So what's most likely to kill us? A well-timed asteroid? Some new robot overlords? With wit and dry humor, debut graphic novelist Katy Doughty blends science and history to explore our chances of surviving disasters such as plagues, global warming, and alien invasion. Drawing on interviews with experts in fields like infectious diseases, AI, and interplanetary exploration, she combines cutting-edge research with compelling visuals: mugshots of the deadliest microbes, graphs of the winners and losers of mass extinction events, and a whole lot of dinosaur drawings. For apocalypse aficionados, the morbidly curious, and the just plain curious, this is your antidote to existential dread--a timely, imaginative, and ultimately hopeful take on humankind's ability to survive the odds.
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Labor: One Woman's Work
by Mary Fariba Afsari
In Labor: One Woman's Work, Dr. Mary Afsari takes us on a deeply personal and transformative journey through her life as an ob-gyn. Set against the vivid backdrops of Portland, Oregon, and Shiraz, Iran, this powerful memoir intertwines the complexities of her professional life with the hidden truths of her family's past, exploring the intersection of medicine, identity, and the enduring search for agency. The story begins in the bustling corridors of an Oregon hospital, where Mary dedicates herself wholeheartedly to her patients--often at great personal cost. At the same time, Mary uncovers a long-buried family secret: the tragic story of her grandmother Mehry's death in 1950s Iran. This revelation propels her on a quest to untangle the threads of her family's history while confronting the forces that have shaped her identity and her professional mission. As Mary struggles with the oppressive realities of the medical-industrial complex and the growing attacks on women's reproductive rights, she chooses a path of bold defiance. Inspired by her grandmother's legacy and her own commitment to compassionate care, she decides to take her work out of the hospital and on the road: she converts an RV into a mobile women's health clinic. This innovative act allows her to deliver personalized, critical reproductive health care services across the Pacific Northwest, creating community and enduring friendships along the way. When women don't have a choice, bad things happen, Mary writes. Labor is an intimate, immersive personal story, a rallying cry in a post-Roe world, and an inspiring example of what women can do when they do have a choice. Rich with the voices of her patients and the vibrant cultural threads of her Iranian heritage, Mary's story challenges us to rethink the boundaries of health care and reclaim the autonomy of women's bodies and lives. With warmth, insight, and humor, Labor ultimately offers a vision of transformation, resilience, and the power of reclaiming one's path and saving other people's lives in the process.
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Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King
by Caroline Bicks
After Caroline Bicks was named the University of Maine's Stephen E. King Chair in Literature, she became the first person given full access to King's archives, a treasure trove of material about the legendary writer's creative process and life, most of it never seen before. Her year of studying the archival materials was guided by one question millions of readers have asked themselves: What makes Stephen King Stephen King? Bicks focuses on five of King's early iconic books--The Shining, Carrie, Pet Sematary, 'Salem's Lot, and Night Shift--to reveal how he manipulates character, language, and story to cast his remarkable, creepy spells. Through close reading of early drafts, interviews with King, and freshly discovered biographical details, as well as her own personal history as a reader and scholar, Bicks shows King's mastery of storytelling and his enduring imprint on American culture. In the process, Bicks faces her own fears and gets to know the man partially responsible for them-- Provided by publisher.
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Joyful, Anyway
by Kate Bowler
You can't always be happy, but you can be joyful, anyway. We live in a culture convinced that chasing happiness will optimize our bodies, our minds, our relationships, our lives. But in the meantime, bad news usually stays bad: illness, chronic pain, grief, and disappointment don't obey our timelines or vision boards. We are left wondering why, if we're doing everything right, life still feels so hard. Honest and bracingly tender, Joyful, Anyway proves that experiencing joy does not depend on resolving everything that makes life difficult. Drawing on a decade of living with serious illness and a lifetime studying America's obsession with progress, Kate Bowler shows why people so busy chasing happiness miss out on actual joy. Joy isn't something you can optimize or manufacture--it finds us at the edge of expectation, when life interrupts our scripts. Joyful, Anyway gives language for the ache we all carry and practices for putting yourself in the way of joy loosening control, introducing novelty, choosing charity, and staying open to the surprising, technicolor moments that pull us back into life. Joy reminds us that no matter what, life is still worth loving. For every time we ask is this it?, joy will answer: There is more.
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This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark
by Craig Fehrman
In 1806, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return from their journey--having led the Corps of Discovery across eight thousand miles of rapids, mountains, forests, and ravines--they bring an incredible tale starring themselves as courageous explorers, skilled survivalists, underrated scientists, and peaceful ambassadors. While there is truth in those descriptions, there is also distortion. From one of the most exciting new historians to emerge in the past decade, This Vast Enterprise offers a novel take on the expedition: a gripping narrative that draws on lost documents, stunning analysis, and Native perspectives.
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Homesick Nomad: Settling Into an Untethered Life
by Brianna Madia
Brianna Madia considers putting down roots--but on her own terms--in this intimate and inspiring memoir addressing life's big questions, such as where and how to live, how to commit to a relationship and whether to become a mother. Brianna Madia is renowned for her honest and enthralling accounts of life in the wilderness, finding her own way by rejecting society's expectations, so what happens when she falls in love and has to reset the boundaries of her fierce independence? Homesick Nomad finds Bri splitting her time between her beloved wild desert in Utah and her boyfriend's cozy suburban home in the Pacific Northwest, reckoning with: a new urge to soften into the embrace of the comforts of home defining her purpose and direction in life, including the big decision facing women, the question of motherhood, and the fear that committing to others means sacrificing independence. She's not only defying convention to prove something to herself or to others--a simpler way of life out in the desert actually brings her peace, as she realizes when resisting upgrades to her trailer like running water. Balancing the liberation of the wilderness with the natural compromises of love, Bri navigates these familiar tensions by embracing her life in its wholeness, richer for both the stability of home and the profundity of wide open spaces.
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Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class
by Noam Scheiber
The story of a disillusioned generation that set out to reclaim its dignity and take on corporate America. In recent years, young college grads have faced an alarming reality: crushing debt, unemployment, and jobs below their qualifications. They are frustrated that the time and money they invested in a degree have failed to bring about the opportunities they were promised. The anger of this college-educated working class began to boil over during the Covid pandemic, when workers at companies like Apple and Starbucks shocked corporate America by voting to unionize. Not long after, the veteran New York Times reporter Noam Scheiber met Chaya Barrett, an astute college grad and eight-year Apple employee who had stepped up and helped organize her coworkers at an Apple store near Baltimore. While following Barrett and her cohort as their seemingly spontaneous rebellions spread far and wide--from college-educated workers at Apple stores and Starbucks caf s, through video-game studios, and even to Hollywood writers' rooms--Scheiber realized he was witnessing something deep and lasting. Mutiny is the revelatory account of a generation made confident by their historic educational achievements, only to become disillusioned when their degrees yielded far less than they were taught to expect. With striking empathy, Scheiber paints a vivid portrait of this new working class while telling the dramatic story of its revolt against the status quo. He describes how recent developments like the proliferation of artificial intelligence and the war in Gaza have further fueled its discontent, and he explains why the college-educated working class will continue to demand change in the workplace, in cities like New York, and in national politics for years to come.
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Rory: The Heartache and Triumph of Golf's Most Human Superstar
by Alan Shipnuck
Rory McIlroy contains multitudes. He can overwhelm a golf course with his transcendent talent and then, at the next tournament, look utterly lost. McIlroy is golf 's most eloquent ambassador and a trash-talking troll, sometimes in the same press conference. The child of a working-class family from a small town in a war-torn homeland now commutes to work in his own private jet and counts billionaires as confidants. A dozen years ago, McIlroy asked Alan Shipnuck a question about the player he had modeled himself after, Tiger Woods: What's he really like? As McIlroy enters the last act of his highly eventful career, this book is a chance to redirect that old question and try to understand a man of deep complexity and contradictions.
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Hope Rises
by David Baldacci
Walter Nash began a journey down a dark path of seemingly no return, and now he finds himself questioning everything that got him there in this thrilling sequel to Nash Falls from #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci. Walter Nash, working under the alias of Dillon Hope, is on the road to revenge after becoming an informant for the FBI against a global criminal operation headed up by Victoria Steers. Steers has ripped everything Nash held dear away from him. He has nothing left to lose and with long, rigorous training under his belt the gentle and sensitive Nash has transformed into something he never thought he'd be: a physically imposing man with lethal skills. And now he has only goal left in life: taking down Victoria Steers. In order to succeed, he's going to need to cross enemy lines and work the job from the inside. But Steers is shrewd and only brings those she trusts completely into her inner circle. Nash must rely on every ounce of his hard-earned skills in order to prove himself an ally to Steers if he's ever going to get close enough to decimate her criminal empire. Yet, despite hating the woman for destroying his life, Nash finds himself oddly drawn to Steers in ways that he never could've imagined. And what he ultimately discovers will turn all he believed upside down, forcing Nash to do something truly unfathomable. So, will the truth set Nash free? Or end him?
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Chasing the Clouds Away
by Debbie Macomber
A tense encounter between two strangers leads to a surprising relationship that will alter their lives for the better in this inspiring andromantic novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber. Maisy Gallaher has always dreamt of becoming a nurse, a beacon of hope and healing for those in need. But when her father passed away, she selflessly set aside her aspirations to help her family. Despite knowing it was the right thing to do, she can't help but wish for the path not taken. Chase Furst, on the other hand, is primarily focused on his own life and his work as a hardened bank executive and heir to afinancial empire. His childhood was marred by his mother's struggle with addiction, leaving him jaded and emotionally distant. Then he meets Maisy, a beautiful woman full of optimism and kindness who can see past his defenses. To his surprise and annoyance, Maisy offers to help Chase in a time of need, despite just meeting him. The two butt heads, especially when Maisy declines his offer of payment. Instead, she asks him to pay it forward to someone else--not with money or a quick fix, but through a true act of selflessness. Chase doesn't know where to begin. Despite his skepticism, Chase is determined to rise to this challenge. And doing good for others leads Chase back to Maisy, who begins to break down his walls, even as she resists risking her own gentle heart. But the more time they spend together, the more they realize how much they have to learn from each other, and how much love could make a difference in their future.
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The Mother-Daughter Book Club
by Susan Patterson
The Mother-Daughter Book Club is Susan and James Patterson's new novel, the follow-up to Things I Wish I Told My Mother--the New York Times bestselling, book club favorite praised novel. Between their busy lives and their far-flung residences, the Mother-Daughter Book Club--four longtime college friends and their five daughters--more often discuss the books on their nightstands via 2 a.m. texts than in-person meetings. And maybe it's just as well, after what happened at their last get-together ... So it's an emotional reunion when they finally gather again, this time on the spectacular shores of Italy's Lake Como. Sightseeing excursions, reminiscing fueled by Como-politans, and a hint of vacation romance all build toward the book club's trademark Night of Secrets. These friends, and sometime rivals, are close readers--of novels, memoirs, and of each other. But as the years and the distance cast shadows and doubt, confidences and sympathies turn into surprising revelations.
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