“What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?” – V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten
fiction / suspense / mystery.
On a remote island nestled off the coast of Sweden, four friends—Tilly, Anna, Linnea and Evelina—meet every year. Best friends since childhood, the idea is to drink beer, dance by the water, and shake off the weight of life’s expectations. The location of the island is a secret to everyone but them. One night of reckless fun and secret-sharing, and then they return to their normal lives.
Ten Years Later. Ever since she was a teenager, Tessa Nilsson has been consumed by the story of four friends who disappeared. As her true crime fervor turned into a wildly popular podcast, Tessa covered Sweden’s most gruesome cases, but could never find the answers behind what happened to these women who disappeared. Now Tessa’s podcast has crashed and burned, any chance she had at uncovering the truth vanishing with it.
Anneliese is Tessa’s best friend, and before she walks down the aisle, she wants to have a bachelorette party. The destination: Baltic Vinyasa, a sleek, sophisticated yoga retreat on a small island off the coast—one with such similar characteristics to the tragedy years ago that it raises the hair on Tessa’s neck. The idea is to drink gallons of cava, do sunrise yoga, and get in their last chance to bond with the bride. Tessa will not pass this up. It’s her last chance to find out what happened to the four women, once and for all.
And it’s someone else’s last chance to get revenge.
“[A] page-turner… Recommended for fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley.” – Jean King, Library Journal
“[A] dark, violent, nightmarish, explosive tale that’s utterly riveting… With heart-palpitating action, pulse-pounding suspense, and grisly violence, this Scandi noir is one that will cement Sten’s place in the thriller-writing firmament.” – Emily Melton, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“…Camilla Sten masterfully delivers a perfectly balanced mix of intrigue, revelation, and tensely timed action sequences… This is one bachelorette party I’m thrilled to have RSVP’d ‘yes’ to.” – Fiona Cook, Mystery & Suspense
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab ★
fiction / fantasy / horror / historical fiction.
This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.
This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.
This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers… and revenge.
This is a story about life—
how it ends, and how it starts.
“Schwab has rarely been better.” – Lacy Baugher Milas, Paste
“Schwab’s haunting prose and character-driven plot will keep readers up until the very last page.” – Kristi Chadwick, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“…epic and emotionally resonant… a haunting and worthwhile story about cruelty, grace, love, and what it means to live forever.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is phenomenal. V. E. Schwab absolutely smashes it out of the park in this beautifully written, considered dark fantasy novel about grief, revenge, and trying to fill the endless hunger inside… This is probably Schwab’s strongest work yet with that signature brilliance through characterisation that enhances the storytelling further. It is a rich and remarkable story that has a lot to say.” – Emily M., The Nerd Daily
Caught Up by Navessa Allen
fiction / romance.
“I wanted this woman, and I was a man who always got what he wanted.”
Nico “Junior” Trocci knows Lauren Marchetti is off limits. She is sweetness and laughter, whereas Junior exists in a world of violence and depravity. Men like him don’t get to have women like her. It’s why he pushed her away back in high school and kept his distance ever since.
But when Junior looks Lauren up online, he discovers the shy, bookish girl he remembers is gone. In her place is a strikingly beautiful woman whose social media is filled with scantily clad pictures of herself and a connection to a nearby play club. Junior’s innocent curiosity quickly turns into a dark obsession. Watching Lauren from a distance isn’t enough; he needs to make her his.
“He’s ruthless; a walking red flag. Good thing red is my favorite color.”
Lauren is intrigued by the mystery man who keeps showing up at her club, who tempts her white-hot desires. But as their flirty online messages stir up a deeper form of connection, Lauren worries she’s developing real feelings for this brooding stranger. As their combined desire ratchets up to a breaking point, who will seduce who?
“Peppered with humour, darkness, romance and spice…” – Syameen Salehaldin, Harper’s Bazaar
A Girl Walks Into the Forest by Madeleine Roux
fiction / young adult / horror / fantasy / suspense.
For as long as she can remember, Valla’s been told her beauty would give her a life most people only dreamed of. So when the mysterious Count Leonid calls on her to be his betrothed, Valla jumps at the chance to leave her small, bleak village. The only thing standing in her way? The journey through the dangerous Gottyar Wood that many don’t survive.
Filled with deadly and cunning creatures, the Gottyar immediately delivers on its reputation with an attack that leaves Valla injured; her face torn to shreds. Barely making it to the castle in one piece, Valla is relieved to finally be safe. But things have changed. Valla’s face is no longer beautiful. And the Count is not happy… Valla thought making it through the Gottyar was a victory, but when she sees what awaits beyond the palace walls, the true battle begins.
In this ruthlessly female-forward narrative that borrows from the best of horror, fairy tales, and folklore, a chewed-up-and-spit-out heroine must lean on the brutality of nature and her biggest fears in order to win back what’s she’s been robbed of: her life.
“A grim triumph.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“Excellent character development, unsettling and atmospheric world building, and numerous but well-woven folklore references combine for a deeply suspenseful, darkly vengeful tale of self-discovery.” – Allie Stevens, Booklist
“In fine Gothic tradition combined with a folkloric, ecofeminist perspective, Roux conjures a superbly atmospheric Baba Yaga tale of horror and radical empowerment… The novel’s feminism displays nuance, showing that institutional patriarchy has harmed not just women but also men and even the natural and supernatural worlds… readers will revel in catharsis and dark satisfaction.” – Fiona Hartley-Kroeger, Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Grand Finales: The Creative Longevity of Women Artists by Susan Gubar
nonfiction / biography / art.
In 2008, academic and scholar Susan Gubar was told by a trusted oncologist that she had only a few years left to live. Though she outlived that dire prognosis, this brush with mortality refocused her attention on the boons of a longevity she did not expect to experience. She began to think: In the last years of our lives, can we shape and change our creative capabilities?
The resulting volume, Grand Finales, answers this question with a resounding yes. Despite the losses generally associated with aging, quite a few writers, painters, sculptors, musicians, and dancers have managed to extend and repurpose their creative energies. Gubar spotlights very creative old ladies: writers, painters, sculptors, musicians, and dancers from the past and in our times.
Each of Grand Finales’ nine riveting chapters features women artists—George Eliot, Colette, Georgia O’Keeffe, Isak Dinesen, Marianne Moore, Louise Bourgeois, Mary Lou Williams, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Katherine Dunham—who transformed the last stage of existence into a rousing conclusion. Gubar draws on their late lives and works to suggest that seniority can become a time of reinvention and renewal. With pizzazz, bravado, and geezer machismo, she counters the discrediting of elderly women and clarifies the environments, relationships, activities, and attitudes that sponsor a creative old age.
“[A] wise and inspiring reminder that aging can be full of promise and possibility.” – Publishers Weekly
“My most anticipated summer read…” – Sophia M. Stewart, The Millions
“At once rigorous and captivating, Gubar offers fresh, incisive, and engaging accounts… In each piquant and profound portrait, facts, quotes, and analysis converge in enlightening and enlivening narratives laced with perceptive musings about womanhood, age, poverty, health, misogyny, sexual abuse, racism, courage, creativity, and the key to late-life creativity: a sense of mission.” – Donna Seaman, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Homework: A Memoir by Geoff Dyer
nonfiction / memoir.
The only child of a sheet-metal worker and a dinner lady who worked at the canteen of the local school, Geoff Dyer grew up in a world shaped by memories of the Depression and the Second World War. But far from being a story of hardship overcome, this loving memoir is a celebration of opportunities afforded by the postwar settlement, of which the author was an unconscious beneficiary. The crux comes at the age of eleven with the exam that decided the future of generations of British schoolkids: secondary modern or the transformative possibilities of grammar school? One of the lucky winners, Dyer goes to grammar school, where he develops a love of literature (and beer and prog rock).
Mapping a path from primary school through the tribulations of teenage sport, gig-going, romantic fumblings, fights (well, getting punched in the face), and other misadventures with comic affection, Homework takes us to the threshold of university, where Dyer gets the first intimations that a short geographical journey—just forty miles—might extend to the length of a life.
Recalling an eroded but strangely resilient England, Homework traces, in perfectly phrased and hilarious detail, roots that extend into the deep foundations of class society.
“[A] raucous coming-of-age memoir… Dyer’s reminiscences brim with irony and black humor about an era that trumpeted progress, but was suffused with postimperial decline… an arresting and evocatively detailed take on family and society.” – Publishers Weekly
“…wonderfully wry… Insightful, conversational, and often very funny, Dyer’s memoir is a glorious consideration of class, family, and the vagaries of childhood.” – Alexander Moran, Booklist
“Funny, forthright and self-revealing… A picture of postwar England unlike any other. It may prove unforgettable… The memory of childhood to most of us is a burial chamber long sealed off, but Dyer, like a pith-helmeted explorer, has broken into the tomb… This Gloucestershire lad [turned] Proust is his own man, and he has written a highly original memoir that will provoke, amuse, beguile―and endure.” – Antony Quinn, Financial Times
It Rhymes with Takei by George Takei, Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, & Justin Eisinger
nonfiction / graphic novel / memoir.
Following the award-winning bestseller They Called Us Enemy, George Takei’s new full-color graphic memoir reveals his most personal story of all—told in full for the first time anywhere!
George Takei has shown the world many faces: actor, author, outspoken activist, helmsman of the starship Enterprise, living witness to the internment of Japanese Americans, and king of social media. But until October 27, 2005, there was always one piece missing—one face he did not show the world. There was one very intimate fact about George that he never shared… and it rhymes with Takei.
Now, for the first time ever, George shares the full story of his life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68, and the way that moment transformed everything. Following the phenomenal success of his first graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, George Takei reunites with the team of Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger for a jaw-dropping new testament. From his earliest childhood crushes and youthful experiments in the rigidly conformist 1950s, to global fame as an actor and the terrible fear of exposure, to the watershed moment of speaking his truth and becoming one of the most high-profile gay men on the planet, It Rhymes with Takei offers a sweeping portrait of one iconic American navigating the tides of LGBTQ+ history.
Combining historical context with intimate subjectivity, It Rhymes with Takei shows how the personal and the political have always been intertwined. Its richly emotional words and images depict the terror of entrapment even in gay community spaces, the anguish of speaking up for so many issues while remaining silent on his most personal issue, the grief of losing friends to AIDS, the joy of finding true love with Brad Altman, and the determination to declare that love openly—and legally—before the whole world. Looking back on his astonishing life on both sides of the closet door, George Takei presents a charismatic and candid account of how far America has come… and how precious that progress is.
“[An] inspiring illustration of love—love of oneself and of others—conquering all.” – Thomas Batten, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“…thorough and touching… This uplifting, encouraging, and inspiring narrative powerfully demonstrates how Takei’s lifelong experiences led him to be a voice for those who struggle.” – Vi Kwartler, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] deeply felt and good-humored graphic memoir… Harmony Becker’s crisp, bright art complements Takei’s sunny storytelling, and though he frankly acknowledges present-day political challenges, he concludes on a determinedly optimistic note: ‘If we have the courage to fight for our principles, America will be okay.’ This invigorating autobiography effortlessly mixes inspiration with insight.” – Publishers Weekly
Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson
fiction / suspense / mystery.
Thom and Wendy Graves have been married for over twenty-five years. They live in a beautiful Victorian on the north shore of Massachusetts. Wendy is a published poet and Thom teaches English literature at a nearby university. Their son, Jason, is all grown up. All is well… except that Wendy wants to murder her husband.
What happens next has everything to do with what happened before. The story of Wendy and Thom’s marriage is told in reverse, moving backward through time to witness key moments from the couple’s lives—their fiftieth birthday party, buying their home, Jason’s birth, the mysterious death of a work colleague—all painting a portrait of a marriage defined by a single terrible act they plotted together many years ago.
Eventually we learn the details of what Thom and Wendy did in their early twenties, a secret that has kept them bound together through the length of their marriage. But its power over them is fraying, and each of them begins to wonder if they would be better off making sure their spouse carries their secrets to the grave.
“…Swanson is in terrific form here: The story flows backward in time, capturing a long-term marriage — one bound by an early secret — from killing to courtship, while putting Swanson’s trademark low-key but palpable humor to particularly impressive effect.” – Daneet Steffens, Boston Globe
“The novel is a marvel of structure and pacing and delivers some of the most satisfying turns in recent memory.” – Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads
“How Swanson manages this absolute tour de force is completely ingenious, because what is revealed as the reader goes back in time wholly informs what we already know, and shows us how wrong we were about everything.” – Hank Phillippi Ryan, BookTrib.
King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby ★
fiction / suspense / mystery.
When eldest son Roman Carruthers is summoned home after his father’s car accident, he finds his younger brother, Dante, in debt to dangerous criminals and his sister, Neveah, exhausted from holding the family—and the family business—together. Neveah and their father, who run the Carruthers Crematorium in the run-down central Virginia town of Jefferson Run, see death up close every day. But mortality draws even closer when it becomes clear that the crash that landed their father in a coma was no accident and Dante’s recklessness has placed them all in real danger.
Roman, a financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, has some money to help buy his brother out of trouble. But in his work with wannabe tough guys, he’s forgotten that there are real gangsters out there. As his bargaining chips go up in smoke, Roman realizes that he has only one thing left to offer to save his brother: himself, and his own particular set of skills.
Roman begins his work for the criminals while Neveah tries to uncover the long-ago mystery of what happened to their mother, who disappeared when they were teenagers. But Roman is far less of a pushover than the gangsters realize. He is willing to do anything to save his family. Anything.
Because everything burns.
“Reminiscent of the great tragedies, this is Cosby at his best.” – George Lichman, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Another strong outing by a modern noir master.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] thrilling and thought-provoking look at privilege and loyalty… Raw, gritty and undeniably entertaining, King of Ashes delivers one sizzling summer read that concludes with a few unexpected twists.” – Leah Tyler, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Pick up the novel everyone will be talking about… The flashy sequences of violence feel apt for TV, but the novel’s real draw is the quieter ache of a family torn apart.” – Maya Chung, The Atlantic
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser ★
nonfiction / true crime / history.
Caroline Fraser grew up in the shadow of Ted Bundy, the most notorious serial murderer of women in American history, surrounded by his hunting grounds and mountain body dumps, in the brooding landscape of the Pacific Northwest. But in the 1970s and ’80s, Bundy was just one perpetrator amid an uncanny explosion of serial rape and murder across the region. Why so many? Why so weirdly and nightmarishly gruesome? Why the senseless rise and then sudden fall of an epidemic of serial killing?
As Murderland indelibly maps the lives and careers of Bundy and his infamous peers in mayhem—the Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, even Charles Manson—Fraser’s Northwestern death trip begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction. At ground zero in Ted Bundy’s Tacoma stood one of the most poisonous lead, copper, and arsenic smelters in the world, but it was hardly unique in the West. As Fraser’s investigation inexorably proceeds, evidence mounts that the plumes of these smelters not only sickened and blighted millions of lives but also warped young minds, including some who grew up to become serial killers.
A propulsive nonfiction thriller, Murderland transcends true-crime voyeurism and noir mythology, taking readers on a profound quest into the dark heart of the real American berserk.
“…gripping, harrowing, and timely.” – Kristine Huntley, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“A true-crime story written with compassion, fury, and scientific sense.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] strange and compelling tale… Initially, Murderland seems as crazy as the killers it portrays. But Fraser, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, has the skills to pull it off, and once she gets going, the theory she espouses seems plausible.” – Diane Kiesel, Washington Independent Review of Books
“[An] eyebrow-raising account… This is a provocative and page-turning work of true crime.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Resurface: A Guide to Navigating Life’s Biggest Transitions by Cassidy King
nonfiction / self-help.
Life is nothing other than a series of transitions. Whether you’re graduating from college and trying to decide what’s next, coping with divorce, putting the pieces back together after a death or a diagnosis, moving to a new city, or thinking about leaving one career path for another, these transitions—planned or unplanned—are an inevitable part of life.
But as inevitable as transitions are, they can still be intimidating. You’re venturing from the familiar into the unfamiliar, and that journey is often murky and filled with moments of uncertainty, grief, and self-doubt.
No one knows this better than Cassidy Krug, who in 2012 was an Olympic diver with a shot at the bronze medal. A mistake on her last dive landed her in seventh place, and her lifelong athletic career came to an unremarkable end. After dedicating her life to a single passion and pursuit—diving—Cassidy had to figure out what to do next.
In Resurface, she connects with dozens of others who have experienced major life transitions, discovering fascinating common ground between a Buddhist monk and a queer sex therapist; a recent divorcee and a quadriplegic skydiver; a record-setting marathoner and a salon-owner navigating menopause.
Weaving together her own story with research and interviews with transitioners from all walks of life, Cassidy offers a blueprint for anyone who is going through or considering a major life change. In order to navigate change with grace, you must:
● Recognize the end
● Honor grief
● Embrace the murk
● Ask for help and seek community
● Connect your dots
● Leave your baggage
● Know when to fold ’em
● Redefine success
● Build your world
● Start over
No matter what transition you may be experiencing, Resurface will give you the tools to navigate the tough parts more easily, and the good parts more joyfully.
“A blueprint on how to navigate life’s transitions… [Krug] shares expert advice and concrete exercises to help you find your way through big transitions.” – Forbes
The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb
fiction.
Corby Ledbetter is struggling. New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown his marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that’s before he causes the tragedy that tears the family apart. Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to frightful acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness and elemental kinship with a prison librarian who sees his light and some of his fellow offenders, including a tender-hearted cellmate and a troubled teen desperate for a role model. Buoyed by them and by his mother’s enduring faith in him, Corby begins to transcend the boundaries of his confinement, sustained by his hope that mercy and reconciliation might still be possible. Can his crimes ever be forgiven by those he loves?
“A heartwrenching, moving tale about the power of forgiveness, resilience and growth.” – Woman’s World
“There are no simple resolutions in this gripping drama, and Lamb offers plenty to ponder about guilt, innocence, rehabilitation, and forgiveness.” – Halle Carlson, Booklist
“[An] epic tale… longtime readers of Lamb’s work know that his incandescent writing can illuminate even the darkest of stories.” – Charley Burlock, Oprah Daily
Slow Burn Summer by Josie Silver
fiction / romance.
Talent agent Charlie Francisco has three problems: a divorce that ended his screenwriting career, a business he never planned to inherit, and a take-your-breath-away romance novel whose author wants nothing to do with its publication. The book is a surefire hit, if only his agency can find someone to “play” author on its summer book tour.
Enter Kate Elliott, a former soap actress who’s miraculously right for the part at the very moment her life seems to be going all wrong. Kate is still recovering from her own divorce and Charlie’s job offer is a lifeline. She agrees to the pretense for all interviews, signings, and appearances surrounding the novel’s publication. But she can’t know who really wrote the remarkable story—the one so beautiful it’s made her believe in love again.
When Kate and Charlie meet they’re all friction and sparks—the one thing they have in common is they’re determined to play their respective parts. But as the summer heats up and the lies get bigger and bigger, can they stick to their lines… or will they go off-script?
“A perfect summer beach read.” – Red Carpet Crash
So Far Gone by Jess Walter ★
fiction / mystery / suspense.
Rhys Kinnick has gone off the grid. At Thanksgiving a few years back, a fed-up Rhys punched his conspiracy-theorist son-in-law in the mouth, chucked his smartphone out a car window and fled for a cabin in the woods, with no one around except a pack of hungry raccoons.
Now Kinnick’s old life is about to land right back on his crumbling doorstep. Can this failed husband and father, a man with no internet and a car that barely runs, reemerge into a broken world to track down his missing daughter and save his sweet, precocious grandchildren from the members of a dangerous militia?
With the help of his caustic ex-girlfriend, a bipolar retired detective, and his only friend (who happens to be furious with him), Kinnick heads off on a wild journey through cultural lunacy and the rubble of a life he thought he’d left behind. So Far Gone is a rollicking, razor-sharp, and moving road trip through a fractured nation, from a writer who has been called “a genius of the modern American moment” (Philadelphia Inquirer).
“…searing and sublime… a wistful elegy — some might say a eulogy — to a kinder, gentler time.” – Leigh Haber, Los Angeles Times
“[A] rollicking and heartrending adventure… This captivates.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“This work is a tremendous achievement: more literary and ambitious than Walter’s previous popular books, with an urgency that may make it one of the strongest realist but dystopian novels of the present era.” – Emily Bowles, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Walter uses the politics that divide, and the once fringe thought that has invaded the mainstream, to discuss coping in fragile times… This is a romp in the style of the best of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett, and Walter has the writing chops to pull it off… a compelling tale of a broken America and the struggles of the everyday few to try and bring back some semblance of being united.” – Ron Sylvester, The Spokesman-Review
With a Vengeance by Riley Sager ★
fiction / suspense / mystery / historical fiction.
In 1942, six people destroyed Anna Matheson’s family. Twelve years later, she’s ready for retribution.
Under false pretenses, Anna has lured those responsible for her family’s downfall onto a luxury train from Philadelphia to Chicago, an overnight journey of thirteen hours. Her goal? Confront the people who’ve wronged her, get them to confess their crimes, and deliver them into the hands of authorities waiting at the end of the line. Justice will at last be served.
But Anna’s plan is quickly derailed by the murder of one of the passengers. As the train barrels through the night, it becomes clear that someone else on board is enacting their own form of revenge—and that they won’t stop until everyone else is dead.
With time running out before the train reaches its destination, Anna is forced to hunt the killer in their midst while protecting the people she hates the most. In order to destroy her enemies, she must first save them—even though it means putting her own life at risk.
“The pacing is relentless, the plotting Agatha Christie-esque and the cinematic feel is worthy of Alfred Hitchcock.” – BookPage
“Sager’s newest book, With a Vengeance, is also one of his very best… at the top of his game, Sager delivers a thriller so tautly written, so tightly constructed, that readers will emerge from the book breathless and in a mild state of shock. With this book, Sager has committed an act of brilliance.” – David Pitt, Booklist
“Murder aboard a luxury train gets a fresh spin in this ultratwisty historical thriller… Sager swiftly ratchets up the suspense through a Survivor-worthy series of alliances and betrayals as the body count mounts… for readers seeking a page-turner with a kick-ass female protagonist, this punches the ticket.” – Publishers Weekly
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