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New Adult Fiction and Non-fiction July 2025 Part 1 |
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All's fair in love and pickleball
by Kate Spencer
"When a young woman must win a pickleball competition alongside her longtime rival to save her family's business, sparks fly on and off the court in this charming romcom. Bex Martin's life isn't where she thought it would be at twenty-four. She dropped out of college and moved back home to her small, Southern California hometown to help out at her parents' racquet club after her dad got sick. But over a year later, she's still there, teaching pickleball to seniors, grieving her dad, and trying to help her mom keep the business afloat. Her only distractions are her application to fashion school in Los Angeles and the brooding, grumpy tennis pro, Mateo, who was hired to take over teaching Dad's tennis lessons. The one thing he seems to loathe more than Bex's sunny, colorful presence is the sport of pickleball. When Bex discovers that her mom is way behind on paying her dad's bills, she concocts a plan - compete in and win the amateur pickleball tournament, which comes with a $20,000 prize. But when her best client and potential tournament partner, Loretta, sprains her ankle, Bex has only one person to turn to for help: Mateo."
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As you wish : a novel
by Leesa Cross-Smith
"A heartwarming story of found family, love, and second chances about three American au pairs in Seoul who realize a wish may be all they need to make their dreams come true. For Lydia, Jenny, and Selene, au pairing in Korea is the opportunity of a lifetime. Lydia wants nothing more than to transform into a leading lady; Jenny is determined to swear off love for good 5,955 miles away from her ex; and Selene is convinced working in Korea will finally lead her to her biological mother. The girls find comfort in the magic of instant companionship when their host families introduce them. During a combined family vacation, they visit an enchanted waterfall on Jeju Island and make a wish under a full moon. Overnight, everything changes. Suddenly, Lydia is the girl everyone wants-except, strangely, her mysterious art-class partner from Spain. Jenny is having secret, no-strings-attached fun with her host mom's irresistible younger brother. And Selene is finally getting somewhere in her search for her mother thanks to a research-savvy photographer. But when Jenny's romantic feelings begin to deepen, she realizes her wish is standing in the way of real, lasting love. Her decision to undo it will have unexpected consequences-and force Lydia, Jenny, and Selene to reexamine what truly matters and confront the age-old adage "be careful what you wish for.""
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Battle of the bookstores
by Ali Brady
"Rivalry and romance spark when two bookstore managers who are opposites in every way find themselves competing for the same promotion. Despite managing bookstores on the same Boston street, Josie Klein and Ryan Lawson have never interacted much-Josie's store focuses on serious literature, and Ryan's sells romance only. But when the new owner of both stores decides to combine them, the two are thrust into direct competition. Only one manager will be left standing, decided by who turns the most profit over the summer. Efficient and detail-oriented Josie instantly clashes with easygoing and disorganized Ryan. Their competing events and contrasting styles lead to more than just frustration-the sparks between them might just set the whole store on fire. Their only solace during this chaos is the friendship they've each struck up with an anonymous friend in an online book forum. Little do they know they're actually chatting with each other. As their rivalry heats up in real life, their online relationship grows, and when the walls between their stores come tumbling down, Josie and Ryan realize not all's fair in love and war. And maybe, if they're lucky, happily ever afters aren't just for the books"
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Beautiful Things
by Emily Rath
Crashing a country house party in Regency England, an intrepid young woman is drawn into the orbit of three delicious gentlemen in this slow burn, very sexy, definitely-not-your-mother's historical romance from internationally bestselling author Emily Rath. At twenty-two, Rosalie Harrow is unmarried and near destitute. She has two choices: snag a wealthy gentleman, or take work as a governess. Neither option appeals to headstrong Rosalie, who sees both futures as a kind of cage. When Rosalie receives an invitation to Alcott Hall, she believes she's there to meet the Dowager Duchess of Norland, the mysterious childhood friend of her late mother. Instead, Rosalie is thrust in the middle of a house party of eligible high society ladies all desperate to win the hand of the new, conveniently single duke.
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Before Dorothy
by Hazel Gaynor
"Chicago, 1924: Emily Gale and her new husband, Henry, yearn to leave the bustle of Chicago behind for the promise of their own American dream. But leaving the city means leaving Emily's beloved sister, Annie, who was once closer to her than anyone in the world. Kansas, 1932: Emily and Henry have made a life in the warmth of the community of Liberal, Kansas, and among the harsh beauty of the prairie. Their lives hold a precarious and hopeful purpose, until tragedy strikes and their orphaned niece, Dorothy, lands on their doorstep. The wide-eyed child isn't the only thing to disrupt Emily's world. Drought and devastating dust storms threaten to destroy everything, and their much-loved home becomes a place of uncertainty and danger. When the past catches up with the present and old secrets are exposed, Emily fears she will lose the most cherished thing of all: Dorothy."
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Can you solve the murder?
by Antony Johnston
Step into the shoes of a detective and investigate the most mysterious crime of your career. There’s been a murder at Elysium, a wellness retreat set in an English country manor. You arrive to find the body of a local businessman on the lawn – with a rose placed in his mouth. It appears he was stabbed with a gardening fork and fell to his death from the balcony above. But that balcony can only be accessed through a locked door, the key is missing, and everyone in Elysium is now a suspect… Gather the evidence and examine the clues. Choose who to interview next, and who to accuse as your prime suspect. But remember that every decision you make has consequences – and some of them will prove fatal… Do you have what it takes? Can YOU solve the murder?
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Designed With Love
by Tracie Peterson
"After being widowed on her wedding day, Emma Johnson moves to Cheyenne with her sister-in-law to start over. When her deceased husband's brother travels with her to help her get established, she finds herself drawn to him. But is he only after his brother's inheritance, or does he truly care for her in return?"-- Provided by publisher.
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Fate of a Royal
by Meagan Brandy
You will go to Rathe University, live among the giftless and those of light magic. You, Knight Deveraux, will learn to coexist." I've never heard more wasted words in my life. Then again, the gifted counsel never did have much to say that wasn't. The only members amongst them who speak a thing worth listening to are my parents, the King and Queen of the Stygian's, the people of Dark Magic. Every gifted is forced to leave our realm behind after graduation to spend the next four years in a world that isn't ours, while pretending it's enough for those with something deeper clawing beneath their skin. It isn't. Not by a long shot, and while it's as boring as I thought it would be, we find ways to entertain ourselves. A little Fae Dust, the power of persuasion, and it's a party worthy of a royal . . . or four. That was fun the first year, but it's my second now, and the minute I got back to campus, I knew it would be worse than before. I felt it, that pull buried beneath my skin, the whisper of a warning deep in my mind I could hear but couldn't reach. It starts with a human party and ends with a nightmare. A five foot, white haired one. With eyes like ice and a body begging to be bitten, she's a problem. A giftless one. That's right, she's human. Worthless. And if the shadow circling my soul is telling me what I think it is . . . she belongs to it. My new obsession . . . is my fated mate. But there is no way the fates would give me, a Lord of Rathe, a heir to the throne of dark magic, a giftless girl. I'll prove they got it wrong. That she's not mine. If I'm lucky, I'll destroy her in the process."
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Fine Young People
by Anna Bruno
When a high-school senior investigates the death of a star hockey player at her elite Jesuit school, she discovers the rot at the heart of the institution - and the truth about her own past along the way. Frankie is a good daughter, a loyal best friend, and a model student, coasting through her final semester at an elite Catholic prep school in a wealthy Pittsburgh enclave. But acceptance to her dream college leaves her unmoored. When a classmate takes his life after posting a cryptic message about Woolf Whiting-a former student hockey player who died in a presumed suicide years earlier-Frankie and her best friend, Shiv, decide to investigate Woolf's death as part of their journalism class project. As the community mourns, a muffled conversation between Frankie's mom, who teaches history at the school, and the priest who teaches her philosophy class draws the girls further into unraveling the mysterious life and death of Woolf. Frankie speaks to his sister, now a high-powered lawyer in New York; his former girlfriend, who Woolf's mother is convinced knows more about his death than she has revealed; and his best friend. As she does, she discovers much more than she expected about the history of her supposed elite education.
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Forged in Blood
by Sadie Kincaid
Every few millennia, a child is born. Some say they're marked with a curse. Others claim they possess the power of the ages. Growing up an orphan with nobody in her corner has fueled Ophelia's ambition to become a social worker and help the forgotten children just like her. For a foster kid with only slightly above-average grades, it's always felt like a pipe dream. So when an unexpected opportunity to attend Montridge University arises, she thinks her life is finally taking a turn for the better. Until she comes to the attention of the three ruthless, arrogant commanders of the Ruby Dragon Society. Three of the most feared and powerful vampires on campus. But Ophelia doesn't believe in vampires. Or in witches, or magic, or ancient prophecies .Little does she know, she's about to have her whole world turned upside down. Because there is something about Ophelia Hart.
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The heart goes last
by Margaret Atwood
Enrolling in a project that allows them to live in safe homes between alternate service months spent in prison, a homeless couple is threatened by troubling events stemming from the wife's involvement with another project member. By the award-winning author of The Handmaid's Tale. (science fiction).
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The glass hotel
by Emily St. John Mandel
The award-winning author of Station Eleven presents a tale of crisis and survival in the hidden landscapes of homeless campgrounds, luxury hotels, private clubs and federal prisons, where a massive Ponzi scheme is tied to a woman's disappearance at sea. (mystery & detective).
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State of Terror
by Hillary Rodham Clinton
State of Terror follows a novice Secretary of State who has joined the administration of her rival, a president inaugurated after four years of American leadership that shrank from the world stage. A series of terrorist attacks throws the global order into disarray and the secretary is tasked with assembling a team to unravel the deadly conspiracy, a scheme carefully designed to take advantage of an American government dangerously out of touch and out of power in the places where it counts the most. This high-stakes thriller of international intrigue features behind-the-scenes global drama informed by details only an insider could know-- Provided by publisher. |
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The long way home
by Louise Penny
Enjoying a peaceful retirement, former Quebec homicide detective Armand Gamache reluctantly agrees to help a neighbor search for her missing estranged husband and teams up with two former colleagues on a search that reveals the workings of a damaged mind
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Non-fiction Books by Canadian Authors
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Extraordinary Canadians : Stories from the Heart of Our Nation
by Peter Mansbridge
From Peter Mansbridge, the former anchor of CBC's The National, and Mark Bulgutch, former CBC producer, comes a collection of first-person stories about remarkable Canadians who embody the values of our great nation--kindness, compassion, courage, and freedom--and inspire us to do the same.
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From the ashes
by Jesse Thistle
From the Ashes is a remarkable memoir about hope and resilience, and a revelatory look into the life of a Métis-Cree man who refused to give up. Abandoned by his parents as a toddler, Jesse Thistle briefly found himself in the foster-care system with his two brothers, cut off from all they had known. Eventually the children landed in the home of their paternal grandparents, but their tough-love attitudes meant conflicts became commonplace. And the ghost of Jesse's drug-addicted father haunted the halls of the house and the memories of every family member. Struggling, Jesse succumbed to a self-destructive cycle of drug and alcohol addiction and petty crime, spending more than a decade on and off the streets, often homeless. One day, he finally realized he would die unless he turned his life around. In this heartwarming and heartbreaking memoir, Jesse Thistle writes honestly and fearlessly about his painful experiences with abuse, uncovering the truth about his parents, and how he found his way back into the circle of his Indigenous culture and family through education. An eloquent exploration of what it means to live in a world surrounded by prejudice and racism and to be cast adrift, From the Ashes is, in the end, about how love and support can help one find happiness despite the odds.
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Outliers : the story of success
by Malcolm Gladwell
The best-selling author of Blink identifies the qualities of successful people, posing theories about the cultural, family, and idiosyncratic factors that shape high achievers, in a resource that covers such topics as the secrets of software billionaires, why certain cultures are associated with better academic performance, and why the Beatles earned their fame.
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Westlock Libraries
#1, 10007 100 Avenue Westlock, Alberta T7P 2H5 (780) 349-3060 info@westlocklibrary.ca www.westlocklibrary.ca/
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