“If it hadn’t been what it was, it would’ve been beautiful.” – Megan Abbott, Dare Me
Agents of Change: The Women Who Transformed the CIA by Christina Hillsberg
nonfiction / history / biography.
Years after her successful and impactful career at the CIA, Christina Hillsberg became enthralled with the stories of the trailblazing women who forged new paths within the Agency long before she began her career there in the aughts. These were women who sacrificed their personal lives, risked their safety, defied expectations, and boldly navigated the male-dominated spy organization.
Through exclusive interviews with current and former female CIA officers, many of whom have never spoken publicly, Agents of Change tells an enthralling and, at times, disturbing story set against the backdrop of the evolving women’s movement. It was the 1960s, a “secretarial” era, when women first gained a foothold and pushed against the one-dimensional, pop-culture trope of the sexy Cold War Bond Girl. Underestimated but undaunted, they fought their way, decade-by-decade, through adversity to the top of the spy game.
Seamlessly weaving together the individual stories of these exceptional women, Hillsberg deftly tackles not just the fight for gender equality at the CIA, but the current dilemma the Agency faces when dealing with the culmination of a decades-long culture of sexual harassment and assault. Each chapter sheds a light on women’s issues during that decade before bringing to life the stories of female CIA operations officers whose experiences were emblematic of that given era. In this fascinating and empowering chronicle, Hillsberg takes readers inside the Agency in a way that’s never been done before, paying long overdue tribute to the survivors and thrivers, the indispensable groundbreakers, and defiant rabble-rousers who made the choice to change their lives and in turn, changed history.
“…compelling… An insider’s account that makes clear that America’s most famous intelligence agency is in need of an overhaul.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…Agents of Change tells an enthralling and, at times, disturbing story set against the backdrop of the evolving women’s movement… In this fascinating and empowering chronicle, Hillsberg takes readers inside the Agency in a way that’s never been done before, paying long overdue tribute to the survivors and thrivers, the indispensable groundbreakers, and defiant rabble-rousers who made the choice to change their lives and in turn, changed history.” – Politics & Prose
Among Friends by Hal Ebbott ★
fiction.
It’s an autumn weekend at a comfortable New York country house where two deeply intertwined families have gathered to mark the host’s fifty-second birthday.
Together, the group forms an enviable portrait of middle age. The wives and husbands have been friends for over thirty years, their teenage daughters have grown up together, and the dinners, games, and rituals forming their days all reflect the rich bonds between them.
This weekend, however, something is different. An unforeseen curdling of envy and resentment will erupt in an unspeakable act, the aftermath of which exposes treacherous fault lines upon which they have long dwelt.
Written with hypnotic elegance and molten precision, and announcing the arrival of a major literary talent, Hal Ebbott’s Among Friends examines betrayal within the sanctuary of a defining relationship, as well as themes of class, marriage, friendship, power, and the things we tell ourselves to preserve our finely made worlds.
“This is the kind of book Tom Wolfe used to write, and debut novelist Ebbott definitely has the talent and brio to carry it off.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Hal Ebbott’s Among Friends works a spell reminiscent of John Updike’s, showing how class angst and way too much familiarity can sever the bonds between a pair of families at a country home.” – Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune
“Ebbott’s simmering debut is a master class in subtly creating tension through shifting first-person interpretations of events… Dexterous prose, pithy one-liners, and a delectable mélange of passive aggression and gaslighting among characters establish Ebbott as a new star.” – Bill Kelly, Booklist
“[An] elegant debut… The novel’s hothouse atmosphere can feel a bit static—the characters appear to exist outside of time and of any society but their own, as if released from the amber of a John Cheever story—but it’s also the novel’s greatest strength, as Ebbott conjures up a world where mental machinations trump morality. It’s an alluring accomplishment.” – Publishers Weekly
Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell ★
fiction / suspense / mystery.
Nina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is looking to connect after her husband’s unexpected death. Nick is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling…
Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband, Alistair. But lately, Alistair has been traveling more and more frequently for work, disappearing for days at a time. When Martha questions him about his frequent absences, he always has a legitimate explanation, but Martha can’t share the feeling that something isn’t right.
Nina, Martha, and Ash are on a collision course with a shocking truth that is far darker than anyone could have imagined. And all three are about to wish they had heeded the same warning: Don’t let him in. But the past won’t stay buried forever.
“Jewell is on a hot streak… As tantalizingly labyrinthine as her stories are, it’s the way she anchors them in a recognizably real world, and populates them with abundantly human characters, that makes them so successful. In a genre full of top-flight authors, she ranks very near the absolute top.” – David Pitt, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“If you enjoy a tale full of complicated relationships filled with secrets, then this is a necessary read. Told with many voices, the reader is offered a platter of delectable bites to sample as they savor the plot bite by bite.” – R. Aimee Chipman, The Indie Next List
“From the jump, there’s a sense of unease that lingers over every chapter… Don’t Let Him In is tense, darkly entertaining, and just twisted enough to keep you flipping pages late into the night.” – Novel Gossip
“Jewell’s meticulous storytelling creates tension with every turn of the page in this latest thriller… likely to be one of my favorite thrillers of 2025.” – Justin Soderberg, Capes & Tights
El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott ★
fiction / suspense / mystery.
All I want is to be innocent again. But that’s not how it works. Especially not after the Wheel.
The three Bishop sisters grew up in privilege in the moneyed suburbs of Detroit. But as the auto industry declined, so did their fortunes. Harper, the youngest, is barely making ends meet when her beloved, charismatic sister Pam—currently in the middle of a contentious battle with her ex-husband—and her eldest sister, Debra, approach her about joining an exciting new club.
The Wheel offers women like themselves—middle-aged and of declining means—a way to make their own money, independent of husbands or families. Quickly, however, the Wheel’s success, and their own addiction to it, leads to greater and greater risks—and a crime so shocking it threatens to bring everything down with it.
Megan Abbott turns her keen eye toward women and money in El Dorado Drive, a riveting story about power, vulnerability, and how desperation draws out our most destructive impulses.
“A twisty, unexpected plot pairs with meaningful explorations of female friendship to create a read that is equal parts emotionally satisfying and propulsive.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“Leave it to Megan Abbott to tap into the American zeitgeist and play on her readers’ fears like a conductor leading a doomsday orchestra.” – Jim Ruland, Los Angeles Times
“Abbott packs more emotion and information into a single sentence than some writers can do in a page, making for and gripping reading experience.” – John Warner, Chicago Tribune
“Edgar Award winner Abbott effortlessly excels at exploring the complexities of women’s relationships with suspenseful, atmospheric storytelling. Unsettling and darkly clever, her latest will delight her many fans and attract new ones.” – Anitra Gates, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley ★
fiction.
Adela Woods is sixteen years old and pregnant. Her parents banish her from her comfortable upbringing in Indiana to her grandmother’s home in the small town of Padua Beach, Florida. When she arrives, Adela meets Emory, who brings her newborn to high school, determined to graduate despite the odds; Simone, mother of four-year-old twins, who weighs her options when she finds herself pregnant again; and the rest of the Girls, a group of outcast young moms who raise their growing brood in the back of Simone’s red truck.
The town thinks the Girls have lost their way, but really they are finding it: looking for love, making and breaking friendships, and navigating the miracle of motherhood and the paradox of girlhood.
Full of heart and life and hope, set against the shifting sands of these friends’ secrets and betrayals, The Girls Who Grew Big confirms Leila Mottley’s promise and offers an explosive new perspective on what it means to be a young woman.
“The Girls Who Grew Big is a banner example of what the best fiction can do: put us in other people’s shoes, challenge our thinking and expand our empathy.” – Erin Kodicek, Amazon Book Review
“…moving… An unflinching look at teen pregnancy, motherhood and friendship.” – Wadzanai Mhute, People
“Just as she did in Nightcrawling, Leila Mottley gives voice and understanding to parts of life that our culture often tells us to ignore. The book is full of life and heart and hope.” – Beth Black, The Indie Next List
“Through evocative storytelling and a vivid sense of place, this book paints an unforgettable portrait of resilience, self-discovery, and the power of forging one’s path against the odds.” – Jessica Calaway, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
I’ll Be Right Here by Amy Bloom
fiction / historical fiction.
Immigrating alone from Paris to New York after the crucible of World War II, young Gazala becomes friends with two spirited sisters, Anne and Alma. When Gazala’s lost, beloved brother, Samir, joins her in Manhattan, this contentious, inseparable foursome makes their way into the twenty-first century, becoming the beating heart of a multigenerational found family.
The passing years are marked by the business of everyday existence and the inevitable surprises of erupting passions, of great and small waves of joy and despair, from the beginning of life to its end. Gazala and Samir make a home together, Anne leaves her husband for his sister, and Anne’s restless daughter grows up to raise a child on her own and to join a throuple, becoming who she wants to be. Through it all, amid the tumult of these decades, the four friends and their best beloveds stand by one another, protecting, annoying, and celebrating themselves, steadfastly unapologetic about their desires and the unorthodox family they have created. As the next generation falls in and out of love, experiencing triumphs, mistakes and disappointments, the central pillars of their lives are the four indomitable elders they call the “Greats.”
In I’ll Be Right Here, Amy Bloom embraces the complexity and richness of humanity and the lawlessness of love, bringing her trademark voice, wry humor, and compassionate eye to the many, often mysterious ways we live as we love, and hope to be loved in return.
“…exquisite… [Bloom’s] prose is so finely wrought it shimmers. Again and again she has returned to love as her primary subject, each time finding new depth and dimension, requiring us to put aside our expectations and go where the pages take us. As readers, we’re in the most adept of hands.” – Leigh Haber, Los Angeles Times
“Amy Bloom’s evocative fifth novel, I’ll Be Right Here, is adventurous in both its manner of telling and its portrait of a family-by-choice… the novel unfolds in short, dazzling chapters… Bloom’s suggestive prose awakens our senses… a brisk, short read, and yet, somehow it gives us a family and a world.” – Alden Mudge, BookPage, STARRED REVIEW
“So much recent domestic fiction has been about women individuating, leaving, calling the whole thing off. This one gathers everyone in the garden for shandies… a novel with a lot of interior decoration and conversation, of everything and the farmhouse kitchen sink…” – Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times
It’s Only Drowning: A True Story of Learning to Surf and the Pursuit of Common Ground by David Litt
nonfiction / memoir / sports.
David, the Yale-educated writer with a fear of sharks, and Matt, the daredevil electrician with a shed full of surfboards, had never been close. But as America’s crises piled up and David spiraled into existential dread, he noticed that his brother-in-law was thriving. He began to suspect Matt’s favorite hobby had something to do with it.
David started taking surf lessons. For months, he wiped out on waves the height of daffodils. Yet, after realizing that surfing could change him both in and out of the water, he set an audacious goal: riding a big wave in Hawaii. He searched for an expert he could trust to guide and protect him—and when he couldn’t find one, he asked Matt. Together, they set out on a journey that spanned coasts, and even continents, before taking them to Oahu’s famously dangerous North Shore.
It’s Only Drowning is a laugh-out-loud love letter to surfing—and so much more. It’s an ode to embarking on adventures at any age. It’s a blueprint for becoming braver at a time when it takes courage just to read the news. Most of all, it’s the story of an unlikely friendship, one that crosses the fault lines of education, ideology, and culture tearing so many of us apart.
“This memoir about finding yourself in unexpected places is inspiring, eye-opening, and very funny; it’s also much easier to hold onto than a surfboard.” – Town & Country
“[A] raucous, insightful and timely memoir about human connection and the schisms that separate us from each other.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“Litt’s chronicle offers beautiful writing and laugh-out-loud humor and will engage anyone who has dreamed about learning to surf or undertaking any other seemingly improbable challenge. Litt also navigates the ebb and flow of familial relationships, sharing his own experience as an example of how to agree to disagree without demonizing one another. Timely and uplifting.” – Brenda Barrera, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath by Jennifer Holdich
fiction / suspense / mystery / comedy.
Julie Tudor is not a psychopath.
Julie Tudor is 49 and has it all: a fantastic job (well-maintained spreadsheets are the lynchpin of an efficient office), a beautiful house (some may wonder how she got the money for it, but nothing has been proved) and the man of her dreams.
Julie Tudor is not a stalker.
Sean is 25 and the love of Julie’s life. The only problem is, he thinks he’s in love with someone else.
And Julie Tudor is definitely, definitely not a serial killer.
But Julie has found herself in a similar situation before. And if there’s one thing Julie knows, it’s how to get rid of the competition…
After all, what’s a little murder in the name of true love?
“With a sharp first-person voice and delicious uncertainty about which boundaries Julie will trample on next, Holdich crafts a pleasantly twisted plunge into the mind of a memorable antiheroine. It’s a satisfying ode to bad behavior.” – Publishers Weekly
“Part of the entertainment and humor of this offbeat story rests in Julie’s biting interior monologue and her complete lack of self-awareness.” – Halle Carlson, Booklist
A Magic Deep and Drowning by Hester Fox
fiction / fantasy / historical fiction / romance.
The Dutch Republic, 1650. One fine spring day in Friesland, twenty-year-old Clara van Wieren is faced with an ill omen: a whale, beached and rotting in the noonday sun. But Clara doesn’t believe in magic and superstition, and this portent is quickly dismissed when a proposal from a wealthy merchant arrives, promising Clara the freedom she seeks from her mother’s overbearing rule.
When her attempts at overseeing the household at the family’s estate lead to her chance encounter with a young man with russet hair and sparkling eyes the color of the sea, she finds herself strangely drawn to him. As Clara grows closer to Maurits, she must choose between the steady, gentle life she has been raised for and the man who makes her blood sing.
But Maurits isn’t who he seems to be, and his secrets, once hidden beneath the waves, threaten to rise up and drown them both. And when an ancient bargain, forged in blood between the mythical people of the sea and the rulers of the land, begins to unravel, Clara finds herself at the heart of a deadly struggle for power.
“The Little Mermaid gets a new look in this enchanting gender-bent retelling from Fox… [she] pulls from both Hans Christian Andersen’s original and Frisian folktales while grounding the plot in historical detail. Add in rich mythology and a sweet, chaste romance between the leads, and this is a winner.” – Publishers Weekly
The Medusa Protocol by Rob Hart
fiction / suspense / mystery.
When Astrid, known in her assassin days as Azrael, stopped showing up to Assassins Anonymous, the group assumed her past had caught up with her. Only her sponsor Mark, formerly the deadliest killer in the world, holds out hope that she’s okay. Then, during a meeting, the group gets a sign, or rather, a pizza delivery. Is there another psychopath out there who actually likes olives on their pizza, or is Astrid trying to send Mark a message?
Meanwhile, Astrid wakes up in the cell of a black site prison, on a remote island. A doctor subjects her to mysterious experiments, plumbing the depths of her memory and looking for a vital clue from her past. She’ll do anything to escape, except… killing anyone. Hmm. Turns out it’s not easy to blow this joint without blowing anything, or anyone up.
“Hart triumphs with this deliriously enjoyable sequel to Assassins Anonymous… he keeps the tone sharp and the intensity high. Fans of Jeff Lindsay and Jeffery Deaver will delight in this series’ effortless mix of wit and brutality.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“This spirited addition to the series is just as rip-roaring and builds on the tremendous cast of characters.” – Isabelle McConville, B&N Reads
“This new entry in Hart’s solid series is just as good as the first, with thrills, humor, and an ingenious plot. The cast of characters continues to grow, and each is fleshed out enough to lead their own book. Readers should get on the Assassins Anonymous wagon.” – Jeff Ayers, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Sunny Side Up by Katie Sturino
fiction / romance.
Sunny Greene is thirty-five, recently divorced, facing the looming prospect of going solo to her little brother’s wedding, and currently trying to find anything plus-sized in the Bergdorf Goodman swimsuit department that doesn’t make her want to cry. It’s not going well. But isn’t rock bottom the perfect place to start a climb?
She decides it’s now or never. Sunny has her PR empire, her gorgeous Chelsea apartment, her two dogs, and her loyal best friends. Maybe it’s time to just love her body and accept herself for who she is. With a new commitment to confidence, her journey begins. Who says a plus-sized divorcee can’t put herself first, feel beautiful, and date up a storm?
Of course things are never straightforward in the dating world. Is fate knocking at her door with Dennis, the charming and down-to-earth mailman, or should she be with Ted, the business tycoon who seems ready to make her size-inclusive swimsuit brand a reality? And what should she do about her ex, who shows up unexpectedly, eager to reconnect?
With the same candor and confidence her followers love, Sturino brings us Sunny Greene, a Carrie Bradshaw for the next generation, and her journey through the trials and triumphs of dating, friendship, and finding yourself.
“[A] clever and stylish ride…” – Elisabeth Egan, New York Times
“[A] quick-witted romp… Escape into a world of designer clothes and trendy NYC restaurants, where career dreams come true at the drop of a hat, preferably by the pool in a flattering swimsuit.” – Elena Cavender, Oprah Daily
“A novel that offers a character unafraid to embrace who she is: smart, sassy, driven, cheerful—and plus size.” – Kirkus Reviews
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