“Books entered my house under cover of night, from the four winds, smuggled in by woodland creatures, and then they never left. Books collected on every surface; I believe that somehow they managed to breed” – Lucy Sante
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown ★
fiction / fantasy.
Cassie Andrews works in a New York City bookshop, shelving books, making coffee for customers, and living an unassuming, ordinary life. Until the day one of her favorite customers—a lonely yet charming old man—dies right in front of her. Cassie is devastated. She always loved his stories, and now she has nothing to remember him by. Nothing but the last book he was reading.
But this is no ordinary book…
It is the Book of Doors.
Inscribed with enigmatic words and mysterious drawings, it promises Cassie that any door is every door. You just need to know how to open them.
Then she’s approached by a gaunt stranger in a rumpled black suit with a Scottish brogue who calls himself Drummond Fox. He’s a librarian who keeps watch over a unique set of rare volumes. The tome now in Cassie’s possession is not the only book with great power, but it is the one most coveted by those who collect them.
Now Cassie is being hunted by those few who know of the Special Books. With only her roommate Izzy to confide in, she has to decide if she will help the mysterious and haunted Drummond protect the Book of Doors—and the other books in his secret library’s care—from those who will do evil. Because only Drummond knows where the unique library is and only Cassie’s book can get them there.
But there are those willing to kill to obtain those secrets. And a dark force—in the form of a shadowy, sadistic woman—is at the very top of that list.
“If you loved The Midnight Library or The Night Circus, add The Book of Doors to your 2024 TBR pile. Gareth Brown’s debut novel weaves together magic, time travel, mystery and adventure in a new and breathtaking way…” – Leandra Beabout, Reader’s Digest
“Those who love books about books and enjoy paranormal fantasy with a touch of romance will be enraptured.” – Lucy Lockley, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Brown debuts with a riveting tale of adventure, magic, and the long process of grieving… With an endearingly quirky cast and a lightning quick pace, this is sure to suck readers in.” – Publishers Weekly
“Brown’s debut is an immersive and enchanting story of friendship, defining one’s future, and the mystery that life can hold. Fans of Alix E. Harrow will find this novel delightful.” – Kristi Chadwick, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
The Book of Love by Kelly Link ★
fiction / fantasy / mystery / science fiction / suspense.
Late one night, Laura, Daniel, and Mo find themselves beneath the fluorescent lights of a high school classroom, almost a year after disappearing from their hometown, the small seaside community of Lovesend, Massachusetts, having long been presumed dead. Which, in fact, they are.
With them in the room is their previously unremarkable high school music teacher, who seems to know something about their disappearance—and what has brought them back again. Desperate to reclaim their lives, the three agree to the terms of the bargain their music teacher proposes. They will be given a series of magical tasks; while they undertake them, they may return to their families and friends, but they can tell no one where they’ve been. In the end, there will be winners and there will be losers.
But their resurrection has attracted the notice of other supernatural figures, all with their own agendas. As Laura, Daniel, and Mo grapple with the pieces of the lives they left behind, and Laura’s sister, Susannah, attempts to reconcile what she remembers with what she fears, these mysterious others begin to arrive, engulfing their community in danger and chaos, and it becomes imperative that the teens solve the mystery of their deaths to avert a looming disaster.
Welcome to Kelly Link’s incomparable Lovesend, where you’ll encounter love and loss, laughter and dread, magic and karaoke, and some really good pizza.
“[The Book of Love is] presented with Link’s characteristic incisiveness and wit… it’s haunting, immersive, and at times surpassingly beautiful.” – Gary K. Wolfe, Locus
“Lovers of big, immersive literary fantasy (and, of course, of Link) will not be disappointed—this is a nimble, clever, and deeply satisfying novel…” – Emily Temple, Literary Hub
“Pulitzer finalist Link makes a dazzling full-length debut that proves her gloriously idiosyncratic style shines just as brightly at scale… Striking visuals and nimble characterization are delivered with poetry, wry humor, and a remarkable clarity of detail… This is a masterpiece.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] wholly absorbing journey that boasts the hallmarks of Link’s shorter fiction while building out a robust cast of characters in the vividly rendered town of Lovesend. At its heart, Link’s debut is exactly what the title suggests, a moving and deft exploration of the many ways ‘love goes on even when we cannot.’” – Kristine Huntley, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Crosshairs by James Patterson & James O. Born
fiction / mystery / suspense.
A killer uses fearsome precision to take out impossible targets.
Detective Michael Bennett teams with a shooting expert—a former Army Ranger and sniper with NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit. But Officer Rob Trilling seems more comfortable with rifles than he is with people.
When his new partner begins to log unexplained absences from duty, only Bennett can prove whether the decorated officer is a lonely hunter or a hardened assassin.
“The Michael Bennett brand of thrillers faces a new deadly threat — a highly trained sniper. In typical Patterson style, this is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that will keep the pages turning.” – Barnes & Noble
Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey
fiction / romance.
Wells Whitaker was once golf’s hottest rising star, but lately, all he has to show for his “promising” career is a killer hangover, a collection of broken clubs, and one remaining supporter. No matter how bad he plays, the beautiful, sunny redhead is always on the sidelines. He curses, she cheers. He scowls, she smiles. But when Wells quits in a blaze of glory and his fangirl finally goes home, he knows he made the greatest mistake of his life.
Josephine Doyle believed in the gorgeous, grumpy golfer, even when he didn’t believe in himself. Yet after he throws in the towel, she begins to wonder if her faith was misplaced. Then a determined Wells shows up at her door with a wild proposal: be his new caddy, help him turn his game around, and split the prize money. And considering Josephine’s professional and personal life is in shambles, she could really use the cash…
As they travel together, spending days on the green and nights in neighboring hotel rooms, sparks fly. Before long, they’re inseparable, Wells starts winning again, and Josephine is surprised to find a sweet, thoughtful guy underneath his gruff, growly exterior. This hot man wants to brush her hair, feed her snacks, and take bubble baths together? Is this real life? But Wells is technically her boss and an athlete falling for his fangirl would be ridiculous… right?
“This golf romance is a winner.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Bestseller Bailey hits a hole-in-one with this charming golf-themed rom-com… Wells and Josephine are characters readers will embrace, especially fans of the grumpy/sunshine trope. This one’s a keeper.” – Publishers Weekly
“Bailey launches a new sports romance duology that brilliantly capitalizes on everything her fans love about her books, including plenty of entertaining bickering and bantering between her protagonists that ultimately lead to her trademark red-hot love scenes.” – John Charles, Booklist
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
fiction / fantasy / historical fiction / mystery.
Manchuria, 1908.
In the last years of the dying Qing Empire, a courtesan is found frozen in a doorway. Her death is clouded by rumors of foxes, which are believed to lure people by transforming themselves into beautiful women and handsome men. Bao, a detective with an uncanny ability to sniff out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman’s identity. Since childhood, Bao has been intrigued by the fox gods, yet they’ve remained tantalizingly out of reach—until, perhaps, now.
Meanwhile, a family who owns a famous Chinese medicine shop can cure ailments but can’t escape the curse that afflicts them—their eldest sons die before their twenty-fourth birthdays. When a disruptively winsome servant named Snow enters their household, the family’s luck seems to change—or does it?
Snow is a creature of many secrets, but most of all she’s a mother seeking vengeance for her lost child. Hunting a murderer, she will follow the trail from northern China to Japan, while Bao follows doggedly behind. Navigating the myths and misconceptions of fox spirits, both Snow and Bao will encounter old friends and new foes, even as more deaths occur.
New York Times bestselling author Yangsze Choo brilliantly explores a world of mortals and spirits, humans and beasts, and their dazzling intersection. Epic in scope and full of singular, unforgettable characters, The Fox Wife is a stunning novel about old loves and second chances, the depths of maternal love, and ancient folktales that may very well be true.
“This slow burn of a novel is part mystery, part fable, all character.” – Fisher Nash, Indie Next
“Choo’s writing is lush and the slow revelation of complicated relationships and reunions hum with tension. This is a treat.” – Publishers Weekly
“Equal parts detective story, folktale, and family saga, the highly anticipated latest novel by Choo will appeal to fans of diverse, imaginative literary fiction, historical mysteries like Nilima Rao’s A Disappearance in Fiji, and fantasy like Marlon James’ Dark Star trilogy.” – Lindsay Harmon, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Gogmagog by Jeff Noon & Steve Beard
fiction / fantasy.
Gogmagog tells the story of an epic journey through the sixty-mile long ghost of a dragon. We travel by boat, a rickety steam launch captained by Cady Meade, a veteran taxi pilot on the river Nysis. In her heyday she carried people and goods from the thriving seaports of the estuary into Ludwich, the capital city. But that was years ago. Now she’s drunk, holed up in a rundown seaside resort, telling her bawdy tales for shots of rum. All that’s about to change, when two strangers seek her out, asking for transport, one of whom – a young girl – is very ill, and in great danger. The other, an artificial being of singular character, has secrets hidden inside his crystal skull. And so begins the voyage of the Juniper.
The Nysis is unlike any other river. Mysteries unfold with each port of call. Not many can navigate these channels, not many know of its whirlpools and sandbanks, and of the ravenous creatures that lurk beneath the surface. Cady used to have the necessary knowledge, and the powers of spectral navigation. But her glory days are well behind her now.
This might well be her final journey.
“[An] intriguing setting filled with wonderful characters that will keep you invested along the way.” – Graham, FanFiAddict
“Beard and Noon have created a fascinating place where bits of technology, like a crystal-powered radio, exist alongside supernatural elements. Fans of Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastard books will love the skullduggery and potential treachery of this world as well as Cady’s bravado.” – Sarah Rice, Booklist
“[A] vibrant and beautiful tale of survival in a world that has moved on from its protagonists… vital, emotionally resonant… Jeff Noon’s gift for acid-trip visuals and bizarre ecosystems and Steve Beard’s love of distorting historical elements build a very tangible narrative archaeology beneath the beautiful grotesquery of their polluted world.” – Sam Reader, Ancillary Review of Books
I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition by Lucy Sante ★
nonfiction / memoir.
For a long time, Lucy Sante felt unsure of her place. Born in Belgium, the only child of conservative working-class Catholic parents who transplanted their little family to the United States, she felt at home only when she moved to New York City in the early 1970s and found her people among a band of fellow bohemians. Some would die young, to drugs and AIDS, and some would become jarringly famous. Sante flirted with both fates, on her way to building an estimable career as a writer. But she still felt like her life was a performance. She was presenting a façade, even to herself.
Sante’s memoir braids together two threads of personal narrative: the arc of her life, and her recent step-by-step transition to a place of inner and outer alignment. Sante brings a loving irony to her account of her unsteady first steps; there was much she found she still needed to learn about being a woman after some sixty years cloaked in a man’s identity, in a man’s world. A marvel of grace and empathy, I Heard Her Call My Name parses with great sensitivity many issues that touch our lives deeply, of gender identity and far beyond.
“Not to be missed, it’s a powerful example of self-reflection and a vibrant exploration of the modern dynamics of gender and identity.” – Drew Broussard, Literary Hub
“[A] poignant, arresting, and ultimately affirming memoir… She navigates everything from bad wigs and fashion choices to physically moving like a woman, finding the protective masculine behaviors vanishing, and removing the imitation of maleness she’d been performing all along.” – Bridget Thoreson, Booklist
“Her memoir is moving for many reasons, but primarily for its observations about aging and vanity, as seen through the separated colors of a prismatic lens… I Heard Her Call My Name will not be, I hope, the final memoir from Lucy Sante. It’s a story worth following, to watch her ring the bells that will still ring. Her sharpness and sanity, moodiness and skepticism are the appeal. She does not try to arrange herself in a consistent mellow light.” – Dwight Garner, New York Times
“By Sante’s usual standards, this book feels disarmingly frank… Her approach here is at times reminiscent of the Didion of The Year of Magical Thinking, examining from the outside the workings of her own mind in extremis… All those habits of mind, the way Sante fashions her sentences and the parallel accretive and analytic methods she has developed over the decades to approach her subject matter, searching out a path through influences and desires and revulsions, are, it turns out, the closest thing to a self that can be examined and shared—in silhouette.” – Lidija Haas, The New Republic
I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both by Mariah Stovall ★
fiction.
Set in the suburbs of Los Angeles and New York City, I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both is an immersive journey into the life and mind of Khaki Oliver, who’s perennially trying to disappear into something: a codependent friendship, an ill-advised boyfriend, the punk scene, or simply, the ether. These days it’s a meaningless job and a comfortingly empty apartment. Then, after a decade of estrangement, she receives a letter from her former best friend. Fiona’s throwing a party for her newly adopted daughter and wants Khaki to join the celebration.
Khaki is equal parts terrified and tempted to reconnect. Their platonic love was confusing, all-consuming, and encouraged their worst impulses. While stalling her RSVP, Khaki starts crafting the perfect mixtape—revisiting memories of formative shows, failed romances, and the ups and downs of desire and denial—while weighing the risks and rewards of saying yes to Fiona again.
One song at a time, from 1980s hardcore to 2010s emo, the shared and separate contours of each woman’s mind come into focus. Will listening to the same old songs on repeat doom Khaki to a lonely life of arrested development? Or will hindsight help her regain her sense of self and pave a healthy path for the future, with or without Fiona?
“Nostalgic yet fiercely relevant… this book is a coming-of-age treasure.” – Lauren Puckett-Pope, Elle
“[An] ode to growing up and letting music guide you… a captivating play on friendship, anxiety, and the beauty of music.” – Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful
“A powerful testimony to the enduring violence of harmful relationships and the profoundly difficult task of recovery.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“This poignant tale explores illness, the role of music in one’s life, and the blurred lines between friendship, sisterhood, codependency, and love.” – Abeje Schnake, Booklist
Leaving by Roxana Robinson
fiction.
“I never thought I’d see you here,” Sarah says. Then she adds, “But I never thought I’d see you anywhere.”
Sarah and Warren’s college love story ended in a single moment. Decades later, when a chance meeting brings them together, a passion ignites—threatening the foundations of the lives they’ve built apart. Since they parted in college, each has married, raised a family, and made a career. When they meet again, Sarah is divorced and living outside New York, while Warren is still married and living in Boston.
Seeing Warren sparks an awakening in Sarah, who feels emotionally alive for the first time in decades. Still, she hesitates to reclaim a chance at love after her painful divorce and years of framing her life around her children and her work. Warren has no such reservations: he wants to leave his marriage but can’t predict how his wife and daughter will react. As their affair intensifies, Sarah and Warren must confront the moral responsibilities of their love for their families and each other.
Leaving charts a passage through loyalty and desire as it builds to a shattering conclusion. In her boldest and most powerful work to date, Roxana Robinson demonstrates her “trademark gifts as an intelligent, sensitive analyst of family life” (Wendy Smith, Chicago Tribune) in an engrossing exploration of the vows we make to one another, the tensile relationships between parents and their children, and what we owe to others and ourselves.
“Elegantly structured and written, shimmering with feeling and truth. A triumph.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“With searing perception and genuine empathy, Robinson captures the fraught nuances of complicated family dynamics, treating the spurned-lover trope with gentleness and compassion.” – Carol Haggas, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“…stunning… a tour de force and arguably her finest work yet… unfailingly clear-eyed, packed with psychological insights… Robinson has sown in just enough occlusion and uncertainty that its final impact shatters — and the aftershocks abide. Leaving stands as a wondrous feat, at once a cautionary tale, cutaway reveal, and pageant. I can’t forget it.” – Joan Frank, Washington Post
Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House by Jared Cohen
nonfiction / biography / history / politics.
Former presidents have an unusual place in American life. King George III believed that George Washington’s departure after two terms made him “the greatest character of the age.” But Alexander Hamilton worried former presidents might “[wander] among the people like ghosts.” They were both right.
Life After Power tells the stories of seven former presidents, from the Founding to today. Each changed history. Each offered lessons about how to decide what to do in the next chapter of life.
Thomas Jefferson was the first former president to accomplish great things after the White House, shaping public debates and founding the University of Virginia, an accomplishment he included on his tombstone, unlike his presidency. John Quincy Adams served in Congress and became a leading abolitionist, passing the torch to Abraham Lincoln. Grover Cleveland was the only president in American history to serve a nonconsecutive term. William Howard Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Herbert Hoover shaped the modern conservative movement, led relief efforts after World War II, reorganized the executive branch, and reconciled John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Jimmy Carter had the longest post-presidency in American history, advancing humanitarian causes, human rights, and peace. George W. Bush made a clean break from politics, bringing back George Washington’s precedent, and reminding the public that the institution of the presidency is bigger than any person.
Jared Cohen explores the untold stories in the final chapters of these presidents’ lives, offering a gripping and illuminating account of how they went from President of the United States one day, to ordinary citizens the next. He tells how they handled very human problems of ego, finances, and questions about their legacy and mortality. He shows how these men made history after they left the White House.
“[A] fresh and informative take on presidential history.” – Publishers Weekly
“The author packs this expansive sweep of presidential history with enough storytelling verve and grounded research to legitimize these presidents’ underrepresented post-term stories… An engaging dip into the history of the presidency.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
Lone Wolf by Gregg Hurwitz
fiction / suspense / mystery.
Once a black ops government assassin known as Orphan X, Evan Smoak left the Program, went deep underground, and reinvented himself as someone who will go anywhere and risk everything to help the truly desperate who have nowhere else to turn. Since then, Evan has fought international crime syndicates and drug cartels, faced down the most powerful people in the world and even brought down a President. Now struggling with an unexpected personal crisis, Evan goes back to the very basics of his mission – and this time, the truly desperate is a little girl who wants him to find her missing dog.
Not his usual mission, and not one Evan embraces with enthusiasm, but this unlikely, tiny job quickly explodes into his biggest mission yet, one that finds him battered between twisted AI technocrat billionaires, a mysterious female assassin who seems a mirror of himself, and personal stakes so gut-wrenching he can scarcely make sense of them.
Evan’s mission pushes him to his limit – he must find and take down the assassin known only as the Wolf, before she succeeds in completing her mission and killing the people who can identify her – a teenaged daughter of her last target, and Evan himself. Matched skill for skill, instinct for instinct, Evan must outwit an opponent who will literally stop at nothing if he is to survive.
“Another crackling caper for the solitary Orphan X.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Fans of the series will be lining up to read this one, and because each book works just fine as a stand-alone, new readers can jump right in. Keep ’em coming!” – David Pitt, Booklist
“The series has always been a blend of Batman, the Equalizer, and Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp, and Lone Wolf reinforces why it continues to be great nine novels in. Newcomers to Evan’s adventures should feel fine starting here before diving into the others.” – Jeff Ayers, First Clue
My Side of the River: A Memoir by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez ★
nonfiction / memoir.
Born to Mexican immigrants south of the Rillito River in Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth had the world at her fingertips. She was preparing to enter her freshman year of high school as the number one student when suddenly, her own country took away the most important right a child has: the right to have a family.
When her parents’ visas expired and they were forced to return to Mexico, Elizabeth was left responsible for her younger brother, as well as her education. Determined to break the cycle of being a “statistic,” she knew that even though her parents couldn’t stay, there was no way she could let go of the opportunities the U.S. could provide. Armed with only her passport and sheer teenage determination, Elizabeth became what her school would eventually describe as an unaccompanied homeless youth, one of thousands of underage victims affected by family separation due to broken immigration laws.
For fans of Educated by Tara Westover and The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande, My Side of the River explores separation, generational trauma, and the toll of the American dream. It’s also, at its core, a love story between a brother and a sister who, no matter the cost, is determined to make the pursuit of her brother’s dreams easier than it was for her.
“[A] testament to the abiding allure — and often daunting reality — of the American dream.” – Julia Scheeres, New York Times
“[A] powerful, often heartbreaking story… Sharp, incisive, and often wryly funny, Gutierrez’s memoir is a necessary addition to the complex conversation around immigration in the U.S.” – Katie Noah Gibson, Shelf Awareness
“Perfect for readers who want to learn more about how the U.S immigration system affects the families its laws separate. Also a great pick for fans of memoirs about people who overcome the odds against them.” – Leah Fitzgerald, Library Journal
“[A] potent debut… Camarillo Gutierrez sustains a sense of urgency to her writing, whether about her first memories of Tuscon’s rushing Ritillo River or the ins and outs of caring for her teenage brother, and creates an involving, inspirational portrait of personal resilience and firm family bonds. It’s galvanizing stuff.” – Publishers Weekly
Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver ★
fiction / historical fiction.
A remarkable talent far ahead of her time, Diane Oliver died in 1966 at the age of 22, leaving behind these crisply told and often chilling tales that explore race and racism in 1950s and 60s America. In this first and only collection by a masterful storyteller finally taking her rightful place in the canon, Oliver’s insightful stories reverberate into the present day.
There’s the nightmarish “The Closet on the Top Floor” in which Winifred, the first Black student at her newly integrated college, starts to physically disappear; “Mint Juleps not Served Here” where a couple living deep in a forest with their son go to bloody lengths to protect him; “Spiders Cry without Tears,” in which a couple, Meg and Walt, are confronted by prejudices and strains of interracial and extramarital love; and the high tension titular story that follows a nervous older sister the night before her little brother is set to desegregate his school.
These are incisive and intimate portraits of African American families in everyday moments of anxiety and crisis that look at how they use agency to navigate their predicaments. As much a social and historical document as it is a taut, engrossing collection, Neighbors is an exceptional literary feat from a crucial once-lost figure of letters.
“Oliver uses subtlety and nuance like a knife. These stories reveal a writer who was willing to explore and stretch, telling honest, bared-open stories of her time and now of ours.” – Laura Florence, Library Journal
“A remarkable collection of Jim Crow–era stories from a major talent… With a crystalline clarity and finely attuned ear, Oliver depicts her subjects with elegance and profound understanding.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…extraordinary… astutely portrays the realities of African American life in the South during the Jim Crow and civil rights eras… The author’s heartfelt and resplendent writing is loaded with an earthy complexity reminiscent of Zora Neale Hurston… Oliver’s brilliant stories belong in the American canon.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Collecting a mighty host of Diane Oliver’s best literary highlights, this profoundly moving short story collection takes on the Jim Crow era, centering on themes of family and community, especially in the face of adversity. With a clear and perpetual sense of danger, this is a narrative voice deserving of its revival.” – Barnes & Noble
No One Dies Yet by Kobby Ben Ben
fiction / comedy / mystery.
It is 2019, The Year of Return. Ghana is inviting Black diasporans to return and get to know the land of their enslaved ancestors. Elton, Vincent, and Scott arrive from America to explore Ghana’s colonial past, and to experience the country’s underground queer scene. Their visit and activities are narrated by two very different Ghanians: the exuberant and rebellious Kobby, who is their guide to Accra’s privileged and queer circles; and Nana, the voice of tradition and religious principle. Neither is very trustworthy and the tense relationship between them sets the tone for what turns into a gripping, energetically told, and often funny tale of murder reminiscent of the novels of Patricia Highsmith, Graham Greene, Chinua Achebe, and Alain Mabanckou.
“[An] audacious debut… The sheer wonder of Ben Ben’s narrative design anchors the reader in the immersive maelstrom of voices. The results are propulsive and deliciously irreverent in equal measure.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“…cinematic, cutting, and smart… Kobby is extraordinarily smart and joyfully silly; any sentence can become a history lesson, a political roast, an imagined murder, a Macbeth reference, or a Natasha Bedingfield lyric.” – Courtney Eathorne, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“…what makes No One Dies Yet a thrilling read is its refusal to fit into a prescribed mould. This is a book that brims with possibilities, contradictions, jokes, puzzles, detours, ambiguities, secrets and metafictional tricks and twists. It is also a book built on other books, and it thrives on irony and moments of sly pastiche… No One Dies Yet is linguistically inventive and formally daring. It has style and swagger… a hilarious, irreverent and coolly self-aware novel that confounds expectation at every turn.” – Yagnishsing Dawoor, The Guardian
The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn & Janie Chang
fiction / historical fiction / mystery.
San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling, and Suling, a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown, a legendary relic of Beijing’s fallen Summer Palace.
His patronage offers Gemma and Suling the chance of a lifetime, but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined… until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumptuous Paris costume ball, drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last desperate quest for justice.
“…stirring… The authors ably develop the two main characters as they discover a shared sense of independence and join in common cause while reckoning with the mixed blessings of a powerful man’s patronage. Readers of historicals with strong female leads will savor this.” – Publishers Weekly
“Action-packed, this novel skillfully uses its strong female leads to examine racism, sexism, and classism… The appearance of the real-life Alice Eastwood, the mildly eccentric, no-nonsense curator of botany at the California Academy of Sciences, adds an additional strong female lead with a light touch of humor. Readers won’t want to put this one down.” – Sarah Hendess, Historical Novel Society
“Quinn and Chang have teamed up to write a powerful and surprising triumph of historical fiction. From the bustling streets of Chinatown to Henry’s lavish mansion, the set pieces will transport readers as they are pulled into the women’s stories. Lushly detailed, richly imagined, and utterly satisfying, The Phoenix Crown will entrance readers.” – Susan Maguire, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Private Equity: A Memoir by Carrie Sun ★
nonfiction / memoir.
When we meet Carrie Sun, she can’t shake the feeling that she’s wasting her life. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Carrie excelled in school, graduated early from MIT, and climbed the corporate ladder, all in pursuit of the American dream. But at twenty-nine, she’s left her analyst job, dropped out of an MBA program, and is trapped in an unhappy engagement. So when she gets the rare opportunity to work at one of the most prestigious hedge funds in the world, she knows she can’t say no. Fourteen interviews later, she’s in.
Carrie is the sole assistant to the firm’s billionaire founder. She manages his work life, becoming the right hand to an investor who can move mountains and markets with a single phone call. Eager to impress, she dives headfirst into the firm’s culture, which values return on time above all else. A luxury-laden world opens up for her, and Carrie learns that money can solve nearly everything.
Playing the game at the highest levels, amid the ultimate winners in our winner-take-all economy, Carrie soon finds her identity swallowed whole by work. With her physical and mental health deteriorating, she begins to rethink what it actually means to waste one’s life. A searing examination of our relationship to work, Carrie’s story illuminates the struggle for balance in a world of extremes: efficiency and excess, status and aspiration, power and fortune. Private Equity is a universal tale of self-invention from a dazzling new voice, daring to ask what we’re willing to sacrifice to get to the top—and what it might take to break free and leave it all behind.
“[An] enthralling memoir about self-discovery, and a look at the dark side of extreme wealth and today’s work culture.” – Laura Hanrahan, Cosmopolitan
“[Sun’s] awakening feels hard-won, and she captures the hollow cultishness that crept over white-collar New York in the Obama years, when Gordon Gekko types started going to SoulCycle. Indeed, the same qualities that nearly reduced her to an automaton have made her an astute, punctilious narrator.” – Dan Piepenbring, Harper’s
“Carrie Sun’s memoir, about her experience working for a billionaire hedge fund tycoon, might read like fiction, but it all happened to her. It’s not only a funny, revealing, and exciting read, it’s also a fascinating look inside one of the world’s most secretive and powerful industries.” – Adam Rathe, Town & Country
“[Sun is] a keen observer of [wealth’s] subtleties and signifiers… The first chapters of the book engage in a form of concealment and restraint—the sort of writing that seems fitting for someone who succeeds in a job that demands compartmentalization and competence… As Sun starts to come apart under the pressure of her job, the writing gets more fragmented, and more experimental… There is a beautifully written section, catalyzed by a weeklong vacation to China, in which Sun offers a portrait of her parents during and after the Cultural Revolution, and tries to make sense of the volatile home she was raised in… It’s a smart structure, and well-executed: just as Sun’s self-abnegation becomes unsustainable, her writing breaks loose. The maneuver is unusually stylish for a memoir.” – Anna Wiener, The New Yorker
Simply the Best by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
fiction / romance / mystery.
Brett Rivers is the hottest sports agent in the business—fast and furious, swift and deadly. Failure? Not an option.
Rory Garrett is—let’s be honest—a disaster. She has a big heart, an empty bank account, a passion for making exquisite chocolate, and a huge inferiority complex from living in the shadow of Brett’s most important client, her football legend brother.
Brett and Rory should never have met, and they absolutely, positively should never have had to deal with the consequences of one stupid, drunken night… one disastrous lie… one career in jeopardy… one missing football player… and a very dead body.
It’s going to get messy… and dangerous… and heartbreaking… and sexy. To Rory, Brett represents skewed values and a devious mind. To Brett, Rory is forbidden fruit, off limits, do not disturb, and no entry—definitely no entry.
A woman who has succeeded at nothing and a man who’s succeeded at everything confront the challenge of their lives as they struggle with themselves and each other. When it comes to love—what price are any of us willing to pay to be simply the best?
“[An] emotionally generous novel about romantic and familial love.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Funny and engaging, with twists and turns that keep it moving. Newbies to the series and even sports-averse readers will appreciate this modern-day Cinderella tale from Phillips.” – Judy Garner, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Readers will want to savor every delectable word in the sublimely talented Phillips’ latest… Infused with addictively acerbic wit and graced with a perfectly matched pair of protagonists whose sexual chemistry is hot enough to melt chocolate, this is Phillips at her dazzling best.” – John Charles, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
The Spy and I by Tiana Smith
fiction / romance / mystery / comedy.
The first thing to know about Dove Barkley is that, even though she works as a cyber security analyst, she is one hundred percent not an undercover CIA operative. But when a group of bad guys mistake her for her super-spy sister (news to her!), Dove gets roped into a dangerous government mission that she’d very much rather be left out of, thank you.
Too bad Mendez, the man who claims to be her sister’s partner, says she’s in too deep to back out now. He’s smart, capable, and has a body almost distracting enough to make Dove forget about the team of trained assassins after her.
Dove has information that can help prevent a national tragedy, but there’s mounting evidence that Mendez might not be who he claims. More importantly, she’s running out of time to save her sister. Because the last thing Dove wants is for either of them to go out with a bang.
“This mistaken-identity spy romance is fast-paced, mixing twists and turns with humor and not a small amount of chemistry.” – Nanci Milone Hill, Library Journal
“…fast-paced and deliciously twisty… Glimmers of humor leaven the suspense and the love story is just as likely to get hearts racing as the mystery. The end result is a first-rate romantic thriller.” – Publishers Weekly
The Summer Book Club by Susan Mallery
fiction / romance.
The rules of summer book club are simple:
● No sad books
● No pressure
● Yessssss, wine!
Besties Laurel and Paris are excited to welcome Cassie to the group. This year, the book club is all about fill-your-heart reads, an escape from the chaos of the everyday—running a business, raising a family, juggling a hundred to-dos. Even the dog is demanding (but the bestest boy).
Since Laurel’s divorce, she feels like the Worst Mom Ever. Her skepticism of men may have scarred her vulnerable daughters. Cassie has an unfortunate habit of falling for ridiculous man-boys who dump her once she fixes them. Paris knows good men exist. She’s still reeling after chasing off the only one brave enough—and foolish enough—to marry her.
Inspired by the heroines who risk everything for fulfillment, Laurel, Paris and Cassie begin to take chances—big chances—in life, in love. Facing an unwritten chapter can be terrifying. But it can be exhilarating, too, if only they can find the courage to change.
“These three women and their friendship feel genuine, and readers will be able to relate. Fans of Jill Shalvis and Robyn Carr won’t be able to put Mallery’s latest down.” – Crystal Vela, Booklist
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden ★
fiction / fantasy / historical fiction.
January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, Laura receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital, where she soon hears whispers about haunted trenches and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?
November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.
As shells rain down on Flanders and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.
“[A] tale of supernatural folklore and war that emphasizes the ghastliness of both.” – Becky Meloan, Washington Post
“If anyone is going to get me to read a WWI novel, it’s Katherine Arden, and thank goodness she did. The pages sparkle with grief and magic, heartbreak and love, death and life. This one will stick with me.” – Margaret McCampbell, Indie Next
“Arden excels at sumptuous, immersive world building, and the muddy, foggy, war-ravaged landscape comes vividly to life in her hands, especially the otherworldly places that seem to flit in and out of sight. Fans of historical fiction and earthy ghost stories will appreciate this arresting tale.” – Sarah Hunter, Booklist
“Arden blends a meticulously researched WWI epic, an eloquent family saga, and a touch of the supernatural in this breathtaking historical fantasy… Through resonant prose, she literalizes the apocalyptic qualities of WWI while dwelling in moral complexity and delivering vibrant, fully fleshed-out characters. The interwoven supernatural elements lend the historical details greater weight. The result is a powerful page-turner.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher
fiction / horror / fantasy.
After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themself heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia.
In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence. The villagers whisper that a breath-stealing monster from folklore has taken up residence in Easton’s home. Easton knows better than to put too much stock in local superstitions, but they can tell that something is not quite right in their home… or in their dreams.
“…eerie and gripping, as Kingfisher novellas always are.” – Drew Broussard, Literary Hub
“…haunting… Kingfisher’s winning formula of creepy folklore, affable protagonists, familiar Gothic tropes, and truly unsettling horror imagery makes this sing.” – Publishers Weekly
“A strangely cozy but creeping novella for fans of ghostly encounters. Kingfisher’s returning characters remain as entertaining and loveable in a new and haunting setting, further building the world they started in What Moves the Dead.” – Isaiah Scandrette, Indie Next
What Have We Here?: Portraits of a Life by Billy Dee Williams
nonfiction / memoir / film.
Billy Dee Williams was born in Harlem in 1937 and grew up in a household of love and sophistication. As a young boy, he made his stage debut working with Lotte Lenya in an Ira Gershwin/Kurt Weill production where Williams ended up feeding Lenya her lines. He studied painting, first at the High School of Music and Art, with fellow student Diahann Carroll, and then at the National Academy of Fine Art, before setting out to pursue acting with Herbert Berghoff, Stella Adler, and Sidney Poitier.
His first film role was in The Last Angry Man, the great Paul Muni’s final film. It was Muni who gave Billy the advice that sent him soaring as an actor, “You can play any character you want to play no matter who you are, no matter the way you look or the color of your skin.” And Williams writes, “I wanted to be anyone I wanted to be.”
He writes of landing the role of a lifetime: co-starring alongside James Caan in Brian’s Song, the made-for-television movie that was watched by an audience of more than fifty million people. Williams says it was “the kind of interracial love story America needed.”
And when, as the first Black character in the Star Wars universe, he became a true pop culture icon, playing Lando Calrissian in George Lucas’s The Empire Strikes Back (“What I presented on the screen people didn’t expect to see”). It was a role he reprised in the final film of the original trilogy, The Return of the Jedi, and in the recent sequel The Rise of Skywalker.
A legendary actor, in his own words, on all that has sustained and carried him through a lifetime of dreams and adventure.
“As he inspires readers to seize every moment, follow their dreams, and never let anything hold them back, his life story serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration.” – Sharon Wyatt, Booklist
“A juicy memoir from a legendary actor. Celebrity watchers will enjoy.” – Rosellen “Rosy” Brewer, Library Journal
“Normally, the successes of an attractive actor wouldn’t make for great reading, but Williams makes it all sound fascinating.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
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