“Obsession is an accidental haunting, by a person not aware she’s a ghost.” – Susan Choi, Trust Exercise
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid ★
fiction / historical fiction / romance.
Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.
Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.
Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.
Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love—this time among the stars.
“A heart-pounding race against the clock combined with a love story adds up to a novel that’s impossible to put down.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Is there a popular fiction writer alive who conveys falling in love better than Taylor Jenkins Reid?… [she] is great at creating characters that while they fit a stereotype, exist on the page as comfortably (or awkwardly) as readers imagine they would in real life.” – Rob Merrill, AP
“Once again, Reid shows that her prose has the power to launch… From Reid’s tender introductory letter to readers, all the way through the final chapter, this gritty and glorious book challenges what it means to look at the universe from different vantage points, but it never loses sight of the plot’s urgency or authenticity of the characters.” – Emily Bowles, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“…this is by no means a story solely for the space-obsessed; the novel’s cast of characters is complex and multidimensional, and their personal and interpersonal journeys are just as compelling as their professional ones. Reid masterfully ratchets up the tension in Atmosphere’s breathtaking final chapter, where the physical and emotional stakes couldn’t be higher, and where Earth, rather than space, may turn out to be the final frontier.” – Thane Tierney, BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady
fiction / romance.
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.
“…fun, flirty, and fiercely romantic… a beautifully written paean to the magic of bookstores, the power of romance novels, and the joy of reading.” – John Charles, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“The latest from Brady features a great cast of characters set in the wonderful world of books and is a perfect read for fans of the classic rom-com You’ve Got Mail.” – Ashli Wells, Library Journal
“Readers will enjoy the witty banter, loveable cast of characters, spicy scenes, literary references, and the representation of the romance genre and romance bookstores as inclusive stories and places for anyone and everyone to find themselves.” – Dana Treichler, Library Reads
Black Salt Queen by Samantha Bansil
fiction / fantasy / romance.
Hara Duja Gatdula, queen of the island nation of Maynara, holds the divine power to move the earth. But her strength is failing and the line of succession gives her little comfort. Her heir, Laya, is a danger—a petty and passionate princess who wields the enormous power of the skies with fickle indifference. Circling the throne is Imeria Kulaw—the matriarch of a traitorous rival family who wields recklessly enhanced powers of her own—with designs to secure a high-ranking position for her son and claim the crown for her family. Each woman has a secret weakness—a lover, a heartbreak, a lie. But each is willing to pay the steepest price to bring down her rivals once and for all.
Filled with passion, romance, betrayal, and divine magic, Black Salt Queen journeys to a gorgeous precolonial island nation where women—and secrets—reign.
“…it’s everything I love in a book.” – Kevin T. Norman, People
“[A] captivating read filled with love, power and betrayal, set against a lush island background. Readers will eagerly await the second installment.” – LynnDee Wathen, Booklist
The Catch by Yrsa Daley-Ward ★
fiction.
Twin sisters Clara and Dempsey have always struggled to relate, their familial bond severed after their mother vanished into the Thames. As infants they were adopted into different families, Clara sent to live with a successful, upper-class couple, and Dempsey with a sullen, unaffectionate city councilor. In adulthood, they are content to be all but estranged, until Clara sees a woman who looks exactly like their mother on the streets of London. The catch: this version of Serene, aged not a day, has enjoyed a childless life—the very life, it seems, she might have had if the girls had never been born.
As with most things, Clara and Dempsey cannot see eye to eye on the confounding appearance of this woman. Clara, a celebrity author with a penchant for excessive drinking and one-night stands, is all too willing to welcome the confident and temperamental Serene into her home. But cloistered Dempsey, who makes a modest living doing menial data entry work from the confines of her apartment, is dubious of the whole situation, believing this all to be the insidious ruse of a con woman. Clashing over this stranger who burrows deeper and deeper into their lives, the sisters hurtle toward an altercation that threatens their very existence, forcing them to finally confront their pasts—together.
In her riveting first foray into fiction, Yrsa Daley-Ward conjures a kaleidoscopic multiverse of daughterhood and mother-want, exploring the sacrifices that women must make for self-actualization. The result is a marvel of a debut novel that boldly asks, “How can it ever, ever be a crime to choose yourself?”
“An inventive novel about family from a risk-taking writer… Elegant and unpredictable in the best possible way.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“There isn’t a box big enough to contain this debut novel. Poet, writer, and actress Daley-Ward ventured into the world of fiction and created a genre of her own… illuminates the complex workings of the mind in a tale filled with intrigue and speculation that will leaves readers guessing long after the final pages.” – Enobong Tommelleo, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“The dreamy novel is propelled by searching questions about how to be a mother and how to find fulfillment. It’s a singular family drama.” – Publishers Weekly
“…recommended for readers who appreciate finely wrought descriptions of people, places, and moments in time and are open to redefining what constitutes a happy ending.” – Judy Poyer, Library Journal
The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex by Melissa Febos ★
nonfiction / memoir.
In the wake of a catastrophic two-year relationship, Melissa Febos decided to take a break: For three months she would abstain from dating, relationships, and sex. Her friends were amused. Did she really think three months was a long time? But to Febos, it was. Ever since her teens, she had been in one relationship after another with men and women. As she puts it, she could trace a “daisy chain of romances” from her adolescence to her midthirties. Finally, she would carve out time to focus on herself and examine the patterns that had produced her midlife disaster. Over those first few months, she gleaned insights into her past and awoke to the joys of being single. She decided to extend her celibacy, not knowing it would become the most fulfilling and sensual year of her life. No longer defined by her romantic pursuits, she learned to relish the delights of solitude, the thrill of living on her own terms, the distinct pleasures unmediated by lovers, and the freedom to pursue her ideals without distraction or guilt. Bringing her own experiences into conversation with those of women throughout history—from eleventh-century mystic Hildegard von Bingen, Virginia Woolf, and Octavia Butler to the Shakers and Sappho—Febos situates her story within a newfound lineage of role models who unapologetically pursued their ambitions and ideals.
By abstaining from all forms of romantic entanglement, Febos began to see her life and her self-worth in a radical, new way. Her year of divestment transformed her relationships with friends and peers, her spirituality, her creative practice, and, most of all, her relationship to herself. Blending intimate personal narrative and incisive cultural criticism, The Dry Season tells a story that’s as much about celibacy as its inverse: pleasure, desire, fulfillment. Infused with fearless honesty and keen intellect, it’s the memoir of a woman learning to live at the center of her own story, and a much-needed catalyst for a new conversation around sex and love.
“A gorgeous and thought-provoking memoir about how celibacy can teach us about love.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“As fascinating as it is liberating, this is not to be missed.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“As a queer memoirist, Febos provides a sorely needed perspective on the cultural trope of the ‘incel,’ presenting instead a model for celibacy that is self-guided rather than socially imposed and compassionate rather than punitive; this book should be required reading for anyone who’s ever been told to ‘just take a break from relationships.’” – Emma Specter, Vogue
“The Dry Season is Febos’ most triumphant book to date, both as a memoir and as a guide to creative practice… her writing has never been more crystalline… an exciting chapter in Febos’ story, both for the ways her work continues to grow and for the elation we feel for her liberation.” – Cat Acree, BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
Endling by Maria Reva
fiction.
Ukraine, 2022. Yeva is a loner and a maverick scientist who lives out of her mobile lab. She scours the country’s forests and valleys, trying and failing to breed rare snails, while her relatives urge her to settle down and finally start a family of her own. What they don’t know: Yeva already dates plenty of men—not for love, but to fund her work—entertaining Westerners who come to Ukraine on guided romance tours believing they’ll find docile brides untainted by feminism and modernity.
Nastia and her sister, Solomiya, are also entangled in the booming marriage industry, posing as a hopeful bride and her translator while secretly searching for their missing mother, who vanished after years of fierce activism against the romance tours.
Together they embark across hundreds of miles: three angry women, a truckful of kidnapped bachelors, and Lefty, a last-of-his-kind snail with one final shot at perpetuating his species. But their plans come to a screeching halt when Russia invades. In a stunningly ambitious and achingly raw metafictional spiral, Endling brilliantly balances horror and comedy, drawing on Reva’s own experiences as a Ukrainian expat tracking her family’s delicate dance of survival behind enemy lines. As fiction and reality collide on the page, Reva probes the hard truths of war: What stories must we tell ourselves to survive? To carry on with the routines of life under military occupation? And for those of us watching from over-seas: Can our sense of normalcy and security ever be restored, or have they always been a fragile illusion?
Endling is a tour de force from an author who weaves a story of love, loss, humor, and devastation that only she can tell.
“…astonishing… This inspired and urgent novel is bound to make a major splash.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] page-turning, genre-bending meta-novel as entertaining as it is gut-wrenching, whose experiments with literary form will keep readers on their toes. Equal parts madcap caper, contemporary allegory, and wartime reckoning, Reva’s debut offers a fresh take on the current Russia-Ukraine war from a diasporan point of view.” – Shannon Titas, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“The push and pull of characters’ personal fulfillment with the imminent destruction of the world as they know it swells and thrives in these pages… Endling nimbly balances its wider scope with its smallest, shell-bound characters. It spins itself around and phases through its walls. Reva begs you, if not to help, then to care. If not to love, then to hate. To give all ‘endlings’ something — an identity, a person, an expression — to grasp onto when they are eventually left to face the vast world alone.” – Cora Rolfes, The Michigan Daily
The First Gentleman by Bill Clinton & James Patterson
fiction / suspense / mystery.
America has a powerful new president… And her husband’s on trial for murder.
Clinton and Patterson are back. And they’re better than ever.
The President of the United States is up for reelection.
Her husband is on trial for murder.
Is the First Gentleman a killer?
A pair of brilliant investigative journalists set out to answer that burning question about the NFL star-turned-political spouse.
“[A] twisty thriller with plenty of inside jobs, political sabotage and many, many deaths.” – Clare Mulroy, USA Today
“With unrelenting tension, political intrigue and insight into the presidency you can only get from a former commander-in-chief, The First Gentleman is a thrilling, action-packed ride.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“Authors Clinton and Patterson have written the best political, legal thriller so far this year. The behind the scenes action in the white house and following along with the trial are intense and page-turning.” – Red Carpet Crash
Flashlight by Susan Choi ★
fiction / historical fiction / mystery.
One summer night, Louisa and her father take a walk on the breakwater. Her father is carrying a flashlight. He cannot swim. Later, Louisa is found on the beach, soaked to the skin, barely alive. Her father is gone. She is ten years old.
Louisa is an only child of parents who have severed themselves from the past. Her father, Serk, is Korean, but was born and raised in Japan; he lost touch with his family when they bought into the promises of postwar Pyongyang and relocated to North Korea. Her American mother, Anne, is estranged from her Midwestern family after a reckless adventure in her youth. And then there is Tobias, Anne’s illegitimate son, whose reappearance in their lives will have astonishing consequences.
But now it is just Anne and Louisa, Louisa and Anne, adrift and facing the challenges of ordinary life in the wake of great loss. United, separated, and also repelled by their mutual grief, they attempt to move on. But they cannot escape the echoes of that night. What really happened to Louisa’s father?
Shifting perspectives across time and character and turning back again and again to that night by the sea, Flashlight chases the shock waves of one family’s catastrophe, even as they are swept up in the invisible currents of history.
“Choi, also the progeny of a Korean father and white American mother, pushes the boundaries of family, ethnicity, society, country, and history by challenging, parsing, and piecing together the complicated multitudes of tangled identities.” – Terry Hong, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“In this gripping novel, Susan Choi’s seemingly disparate clues coalesce in a tale of espionage and global conflict, and the heartrending ways in which world struggles play out in individual lives.” – Jennifer M. Brown, Shelf Awareness
“…ambitious… This is a novel about exile in its multiple forms, and it reads like a history of loneliness… Choi has a profound gift, one I find consistently moving.” – Dwight Garner, New York Times
“…what an outlandishly talented writer Choi is, her prose possessing an iron confidence in its own beauty… Choi is a writer who can be trusted to have a plan, and she sews the narrative up with a conclusion that’s almost impossibly heartbreaking — about which the less said the better. Some things you can see coming from miles away. But life, we’re reminded, retains its ability to surprise.” – Sam Worley, Vulture
How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir by Molly Jong-Fast ★
nonfiction / memoir.
Molly Jong-Fast is the only child of a famous woman, writer Erica Jong, whose sensational book Fear of Flying launched her into second-wave feminist stardom. She grew up yearning for a connection with her dreamy, glamorous, just out of reach mother, who always seemed to be heading somewhere that wasn’t with Molly. When, in 2023, Erica was diagnosed with dementia just as Molly’s husband discovered he had a rare cancer, Jong-Fast was catapulted into a transformative year.
How to Lose Your Mother is a compulsively readable memoir about an intense mother–daughter relationship, a sometimes chaotic upbringing with a fame-hungry parent, and the upheavals that challenge our hard-won adulthood. A pitch-perfect balance of acceptance and rage, humor and heart, How to Lose Your Mother tells a universal story of loss alongside a singular story of a literary life. This is a memoir that will stand alongside the classics of the genre.
“Heartbreaking, enraging and suffused with love.” – Kim Hubbard, People
“The best book Jong-Fast could have written about the worst year of her life.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“In the tradition of the finest memoir writing, the author spares no one, herself least of all, as she untangles the bad from the good while still allowing for some tricky knots.” – Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times
“[A] staggering self-portrait… Resisting tidy sentiment or easy answers, Jong-Fast dives headfirst into the often-difficult ambiguities of parent-child bonds. The results are stunning.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater ★
fiction / historical fiction.
January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweetwater washing away all of high society’s troubles.
Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her well. But when the family heir makes a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats, June must persuade her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to the front lines—to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile.
Meanwhile FBI Agent Tucker Minnick, whose coal tattoo hints at an Appalachian past, presses his ears to the hotel’s walls, listening for the diplomats’ secrets. He has one of his own, which is how he knows that June’s balancing act can have dangerous consequences: the sweetwater beneath the hotel can threaten as well as heal.
June has never met a guest she couldn’t delight, but the diplomats are different. Without firing a single shot, they have brought the war directly to her. As clashing loyalties crack the Avallon’s polished veneer, June must calculate the true cost of luxury.
“This luxurious novel is set to take the world by storm.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“The Listeners will linger with readers for years to come. It is a visceral, impressionistic novel that showcases a writer at the height of her powers.” – The Bookseller
“[A] character-driven read perfect for fans of complex emotional narratives like works by Kate Morton and Amor Towles.” – Leandra Beabout, Reader’s Digest
“YA author Stiefvater’s first foray into historical fiction retains her unique voice and signature magical realism. Well-drawn characters and excellent worldbuilding bring a little-known element of World War II to life in this must-read for all historical fiction fans.” – Whitney Kramer, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Meet Me at the Crossroads by Megan Giddings ★
fiction / fantasy / science fiction / mystery.
On an ordinary summer morning, the world is changed by the appearance of seven mysterious doors that seemingly lead to another world. People are, of course, mesmerized and intrigued: A new dimension filled with beauty and resources beckons them to step into an adventure. But, perhaps inevitably, people soon learn that what looks like paradise may very well be filled with danger.
Ayanna and Olivia, two Black midwestern teens—and twin sisters—have different ideas of what may lie in the world beyond. But will their personal bond endure such wanton exploration? And when one of them goes missing, will the other find solace on her own? And will she uncover the circumstances of what truly happened to her once constant companion and best friend?
Megan Giddings brings her customarily brilliant and eye-opening powers of storytelling to give us a narrative that dazzles the senses and bewitches the mind. Meet Me at the Crossroads is an unforgettable novel about faith, love, and family from one of today’s most exciting and surprising young writers.
“…gorgeous, heartfelt and wonderfully strange.” – Ilana Masad, NPR
“A brilliant, magical tale of grief and growth.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“A spellbinding story about the choices that can both bring us together and tear us apart.” – Magan Szwarek, Library Reads
“…mesmerizing… Giddings grounds the ethereal narrative with strong character work and wry narration as it builds to a stunning conclusion. Readers will be enthralled and left with much to ponder.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
fiction / science fiction / horror / fantasy.
Demeter just wants to do her job: shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, her passengers keep dying—and not from equipment failures, as her AI medical system, Steward, would have her believe. These are paranormal murders, and they began when one nasty, ancient vampire decided to board Demeter and kill all her humans.
To keep from getting decommissioned, Demeter must join forces with her own team of monsters: A werewolf. An engineer built from the dead. A pharaoh with otherworldly powers. A vampire with a grudge. A fleet of cheerful spider drones. Together, this motley crew will face down the ultimate evil—Dracula.
The queer love child of pulp horror and classic sci-fi, Of Monsters and Mainframes is a dazzling, heartfelt odyssey that probes what it means to be one of society’s monsters—and explores the many types of friendship that make us human.
“Truelove’s wild combination of pulp horror and classic sci-fi takes the best of both and makes something incredible out of ‘The Captain’s Log’ chapter from Bram Stoker’s Dracula… a delightfully creepy treat.” – Marlene Harris, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Blending genres with wild abandon, this [is a] rollicking space adventure… pure entertainment.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“A delightful found family romp through space! Think if Murderbot was a creature feature. I really can’t get over how fantastic and charming this is!” – Athena Palmer, The Indie Next List
The River’s Daughter: A Memoir by Bridget Crocker
nonfiction / memoir / nature.
After Bridget Crocker’s parents’ volatile divorce, she moved with her mother from Southern California to Wyoming. Her life was idyllic, growing up in a trailer park on the banks of the Snake River with a stepfather she loved, a new baby brother, and the river as her companion—until her mother suddenly took up a radical new lifestyle, becoming someone Bridget barely recognized. The one constant in her life—the place Bridget felt whole and fully herself—was the river. When she discovered the world of whitewater rafting, she knew she’d found her calling.
On the river, Bridget learned to read the natural world around her and came to know the language of rivers. One of the few female guides on the Snake River, she then traveled to the Zambezi River in Africa, some of the most dangerous whitewater in the world, where she faced death and learned to conquer her fears—both on the water and off. The river taught her how to overcome years of betrayals and abuse, to trust herself, and, finally, how to help heal her family from generational cycles of trauma and poverty.
A beautifully rendered memoir of a woman coming into her own, The River’s Daughter opens us to the possibilities of transformation through nature.
“[A] triumphant road map for following one’s passions.” – Publishers Weekly
“A brave, sincere story of the shattering and saving powers of adrenaline and humility.” – Kirkus Reviews
“I loved learning about Bridget Crocker’s life on these incredible rivers! Crocker made me feel like the river is a living thing — the way it speaks to you, and carries you, and drives its own path across the barriers in its way.” – Cassie Clemans, The Indie Next List
The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd’s Life by Helen Whybrow
nonfiction / memoir / nature.
“Sheep have helped me become a good shepherd, not just to them, but to a place that is my sustenance and joy as well as my unending labor and worry.”
In the heart of Vermont’s Green Mountains, Helen Whybrow and her partner set out to restore an old two-hundred-acre farm. Knowing that “belonging more than anything requires participation,” they begin to intertwine their lives with the land. But soon after releasing a flock of Icelandic sheep onto the worn-out fields, Whybrow realizes that the art of shepherding extends far beyond the flock and fences of Knoll Farm.
In prose both vivid and lean, The Salt Stones offers an intimate and profoundly moving story of what it means to care for a flock and truly inhabit a piece of land. The shepherd’s life unfolds for Whybrow in the seasons and cycles of farming and family—birthing lambs, fending off coyotes, rescuing lost sheep in a storm, and raising children while witnessing her mother’s decline. Exploring the interdependence of animals, as well as of the earth and ourselves, Whybrow reflects on the ways sheep connect her to place and to the ancient practice of shepherding.
Evocative, affectionate, and illuminating, The Salt Stones sings of a way of life that is at once ancient and entirely contemporary, inspiring us all to seek greater intimacy and a sense of belonging wherever our home place may be.
“One of the great gifts of writers is so delicately, artfully, placing characters in our minds that we can fully experience them. Read this for a shepherd’s life and the landscapes they inhabit. Beautiful, telling, and human.” – John Evans, The Indie Next List
“[An] eloquent debut memoir… Whybrow writes in compelling, finely chiseled prose… The Salt Stones offers widespread appeal to a large audience. Readers will likely find it the perfect tonic for these turbulent times, and yet, with Whybrow’s keen awareness of so many aspects of our world, she never shuts her eyes to what hurts.” – Alice Cary, BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
“A deeply reflective book on living and working closely with nature and the tremendous challenges inherent in caring for a flock. The Salt Stones made me consider what it’s like to constantly be responsible for the lives (and deaths) of animals… [Whybrow] lays her heart on the page in this instant classic of nature literature.” – Stan Hynds, Northshire Bookstore
The Slip by Lucas Schaefer ★
fiction / historical fiction / mystery.
Austin, Texas: It’s the summer of 1998, and there’s a new face on the scene at Terry Tucker’s Boxing Gym. Sixteen-year-old Nathaniel Rothstein has never felt comfortable in his own skin, but under the tutelage of a swaggering, Haitian-born ex-fighter named David Dalice, he begins to come into his own. Even the boy’s slightly stoned uncle, Bob Alexander, who is supposed to be watching him for the summer, notices the change. Nathaniel is happier, more confident—tanner, even. Then one night he vanishes, leaving little trace behind.
Across the city, Charles Rex, now going simply by “X,” has been undergoing a teenage transformation of his own, trolling the phone sex hotline that his mother works, seeking an outlet for everything that feels wrong about his body, looking for intimacy and acceptance in a culture that denies him both. As a surprising and unlikely romance blooms, X feels, for a moment, like he might have found the safety he’s been searching for. But it’s never that simple.
More than a decade later, Nathaniel’s uncle Bob receives a shocking tip, propelling him to open his own investigation into his nephew’s disappearance. The resulting search involves gymgoers past and present, including a down-on-his-luck twin and his opportunistic brother; a rookie cop determined to prove herself; and Alexis Cepeda, a promising lightweight, who crossed the US-Mexico border when he was only fourteen, carrying with him a license bearing the wrong name and face.
Bobbing and weaving across the ever-shifting canvas of a changing country, The Slip is an audacious, daring look at sex and race in America that builds to an unforgettable collision in the center of the ring.
“[A] big, bold, brave, brilliant, beast of a novel. Uproarious and tender, epic in scope and intimate in portraiture, crammed with so many outlandish incidents and exquisitely rendered characters you’ll wonder how one novel can possibly contain them all, but Schaefer pulls it off with aplomb. As fearless and enjoyable a debut as you’re likely to read this year.” – Dan Sheehan, Literary Hub
“Swings for the fences, makes it at least to third. Franzen/Roth/Irving comparisons earned and deserved.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Despite The Slip taking place in the late Nineties and the early years of the new millennium, it reflects and coexists with today’s cultural landscape, where a swarm of experiences and perspectives meld and clash.” – Mattea Gallaway, Austin Chronicle
“Schaefer brilliantly captures the tumultuous emotional terrain each character must traverse to find themselves. The lyrical prose moves fluidly, like the smoothest heavyweight champion, shimmering, then delivering a knockout punch. Various plot elements nicely serve the deeper themes of fate, found family, preconceived limitations, weighty expectations, and following one’s dreams, all in a rapturous barrage of snappy dialogue, witty rejoinders, and profound observations that make for a wicked combination and a winning bildungsroman.” – Bill Kelly, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Songs of No Provenance by Lydi Conklin
fiction.
Songs of No Provenance tells the story of Joan Vole, an indie folk singer forever teetering on the edge of fame, who flees New York after committing a shocking sexual act onstage that she fears will doom her career. Joan seeks refuge at a writing camp for teenagers in rural Virginia, where she’s forced to question her own toxic relationship to artmaking—and her complicated history with a friend and mentee—while finding new hope in her students and a deepening intimacy with a nonbinary artist and fellow camp staff member.
A propulsive character study of a flawed and fascinating artist, Songs of No Provenance explores issues of trans nonbinary identity, queer baiting and appropriation, kink, fame hunger, secrecy and survival, and the question of whether a work of art can exist separately from its artist.
“Songs of No Provenance is an astonishing novel, without artifice and unflinching in its presentation of its subject in her full humanity.” – Dontaná McPherson-Joseph, Foreword Reviews
“[An] exuberant character study… Conklin excels at serving up characters whose questionable choices get them in trouble, and Joan tops them all… Their prose is funny, sly, frank; it bubbles over with mirth… in bringing this character to indelible life, Conklin has combined the full force of their fictive imagination with the ribald, communal spirit of folk.” – Megan Milks, 4Columns
“[A] page-turner that’s also a sharp, often haunting character study and a deep meditation on the nature of the relationship between artist and art… a thrilling, layered journey that resonates like a guitar string… Daring, darkly funny, and laced with rich textural detail, Songs of No Provenance proves that Conklin is just getting started, and anyone interested in the artistic experience should be seeking their work out.” – Matthew Jackson, BookPage
Worth Fighting For by Jesse Q. Sutanto
fiction / romance.
Following one’s heart isn’t easy when family honor is at stake.
As the right hand of her father’s hedge fund company, Fa Mulan knows what it takes to succeed as a woman in a man’s world: work twice as hard, be twice as smart, and burp twice as loud as any of the other finance bros she works with. So when her father unexpectedly falls ill in the middle of a critical acquisition, she is determined to see it through. There’s just one hitch: the family company in question is known for its ultra masculine whiskey brand, and the brood of old-fashioned aunts, uncles, and cousins who run it—lead by the dedicated but overworked Shang—will only trust Mulan’s father, Fa Zhou, with the future of their business.
Rather than fail the deal and her father, Mulan pretends she’s Fa Zhou. Since they’ve only corresponded over email, how hard could it be to keep things moving in his absence?
But the email leads to a face-to-face meeting, which leads to an invitation to a week long retreat at Shang’s family ranch. One meeting she can handle, but a whole week of cattle wrangling, axe-throwing, and learning proper butchering techniques, all while trying to convince Shang’s dubious family that this young woman is the powerful hedge fund CEO they’ve been negotiating with? Not so much—especially as she finds it harder and harder to ignore the undeniable spark between her and Shang. Can she keep her head in the game and make her father proud, all while trying not to fall into a trough, or in love with Shang?
“Readers will love this up-to-date, closed-door romance version of the beloved Disney movie Mulan, which tackles misogyny and the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated industry, while giving Mulan and Shang the satisfying ending that fans have always wanted.” – Whitney Kramer, Library Journal
“Worth Fighting For is a fun read for Disney Princess fans and readers who enjoy lighthearted romance with a touch of cultural exploration. While it maintains a sweet and closed-door approach to romance, it cleverly weaves in themes of navigating patriarchal structures (Daddy Issues) and the blossoming of unexpected love.” – Greg Gately, Fantasy Land News
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