“A brave man acknowledges the strength of others.” – Veronica Roth, Divergent
American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed by Isaac Fitzgerald ★
nonfiction / memoir / travel / history / biography.
As a child, Isaac Fitzgerald was captivated by Johnny Appleseed, drawn to the legend by family ties, his father’s larger-than-life stories, and a shared restlessness to leave home and discover what lay beyond.
In American Rambler, he sets out on a year-long journey to follow Appleseed’s path, walking (okay, sometimes driving, and at one point, even floating downstream) from Massachusetts to Indiana. On this journey, Fitzgerald turns a childhood fascination into a profound reckoning of loss and grief, ritual and faith, grimy gas station bathrooms and scenic apple picking. He is followed by a mysterious creature, camps in hostile environments, trespasses more than once, and is warmed by the generosity of strangers at every turn.
A moving blend of memoir, history, and travelogue, American Rambler is at once an ode to the American heartland, a meditation on escaping the breakneck pace of modern life, and a clear-eyed look at the myths—often violent, sometimes hopeful, frequently romanticized—at the very core of American identity and history.
“…Fitzgerald’s elegant prose, restless curiosity, and deep compassion leap off the page. The result is a stirring, singular entry in the American road trip genre.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“You will laugh, you will cry, you will learn. You will enjoy the adventure with Fitzgerald as he debunks myths about our history and our humanity. Rambling and reflecting on the best gifts from his parents: the love of nature and books and the power of prayer.” – Jeri Kay Thomas, The Indie Next List
“What we learn about the real Appleseed is fascinating. He was well-to-do, religious, an abolitionist, well-spoken, and not at all crazy (and planted apples mostly to make alcoholic cider). What Fitzgerald learns about himself and the state of the nation is more compelling still, with all their triumphs and tragedies… a grand entertainment for travelers real and armchair.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
The Anniversary by Alex Finlay
fiction / suspense / mystery.
Every May 1st, a serial killer stalks a small town. Every year he comes for them…
On May 1, 1992, Jules Delaney and Quinn Riley hardly know each other.
Jules is high school queen bee in a small Midwestern town when she survives a brutal attack by the elusive May Day Killer―a predator who strikes every May 1st and then vanishes without a trace. Quinn, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, is arrested the same night after trying to break up a fight and nearly killing someone.
By morning, their lives are forever connected.
A year later, Jules is haunted by trauma and guilt, tormented by one question: Why was she spared? Quinn is newly released from juvenile detention and returns home to devastating news―the unsolved murder of his mother.
Over the next decade, their lives are revisited on a single day each year: May 1st.
As the years pass, secrets surface, lies unravel, and the paths of Jules and Quinn draw closer together. Two mysteries edge toward the truth―what really happened the night Jules was attacked, and who murdered Quinn’s mother? All the while, the May Day Killer is still out there.
And the clock is racing toward another anniversary.
“The suspense never lets up, the various story lines come together nicely, and there are a few twists that even the most well-read mystery readers may find surprising. This is Finlay’s best book in years.” – Stephanie Howes, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Somehow, Finlay manages to improve with each amazing book, and he has crafted another terrific suspense novel that demands to be read in one sitting. Jules and Quinn fly off the page, and readers will be emotionally engrossed in their journey to see where they are in their lives each May 1.” – Jeff Ayers, Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“This book absolutely deserves the hype… Grief, survival, friendship, and the messy ways people grow after trauma are woven into a twisty, bingeable thriller that delivers on every level. The pacing is tight, the mystery is layered, and the payoff is completely worth it.” – Teresa Brock, The Best Thriller Books
Broken Dove by Dani Francis
fiction / fantasy / romance.
LINES WILL BE CROSSED.
After blowing her cover as a double agent within Silver Elite and fleeing the Prime-controlled capital, Wren Darlington is finally safe behind allied lines. As her lover and former commander Cross Redden works to disrupt the Primes from inside their ranks, Wren turns her focus toward assisting the Uprising in overthrowing their rule once and for all.
LOYALTIES WILL BE TESTED.
Though she’s back among her own people, trust is hard-won and hidden agendas abound on the Mod base. And beyond those walls, Wren can’t help but worry that Cross is keeping secrets of his own… secrets that could jeopardize everything. Complicating matters even further is her shocking reunion with hotshot fighter pilot and undercover operative Grayson Blake. Once her closest friend in Silver Elite, Gray seems to understand Wren on a level she never thought possible.
AND THE FIGHT FOR THE CONTINENT IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING.
With the war between Mods and Primes growing more brutal by the day, and with her own role in the conflict becoming more essential than ever, Wren must confront some gut-wrenching questions. Who is she fighting for… and who is she willing to lose?
“With secrets aplenty, hidden agendas everywhere and love on the line, Dani Francis delivers another addictive, fast-paced read.” – B&N Reads
“[As] addictive as book one… It was bingeable and fun and I need book three.” – Caitlin Lloyd, FanFiAddict
“The sequel to Francis’s dystopian romance debut, Silver Elite, opens on the heels of her first novel’s close, and the action doesn’t stop until the brutal cliffhanger on the last of its 600-plus pages. That Francis is deft with action, characterization, dialog, and worldbuilding was made abundantly clear when she tossed rebel and powerful Mod Wren Darlington at Cross Redden, son of the Continent’s prime ruler and a commanding officer in the war against her people. Those skills are on further display in book two, rich as it is with character interactions, new settings, and much internal longing and angst.” – Neal Wyatt, Library Journal
First and Forever by Lynn Painter
fiction / romance / comedy.
Duffy Distefano loves three things: her dad, the family cat, and Minneapolis Coyote football. So after she gets booed out of a game and becomes the internet’s villain following an awful encounter with the team’s beloved mascot, she is disgruntled, to put it mildly. Eager to clear the air, Duffy agrees to an interview on a hit morning show. She doesn’t expect a co-guest to join her—especially not the Coyotes’ star tight end.
When MVP Connor Cunningham gets tasked with damage control to help his team out of a PR nightmare, he finds himself in a highly amusing verbal sparring match with a recently wronged fan on live TV. The interview instantly goes viral, and the public is obsessed with them. Despite his distaste for PR stunts, a strong push from the Coyotes’ PR team to ride the wave results in Connor asking Duffy out. But he quickly discovers being with Duffy is much easier than he anticipated, and somehow it doesn’t feel fake to him. This secret can only blow up, but all he knows is that if he messes things up with Duffy, it’ll be the greatest fumble of his life.
Oozing with chemistry that feels like fireworks and banter that makes you swoon, Lynn Painter delivers her signature blend of heart and humor in this love story that you won’t soon forget.
“Painter’s characters feel authentic, and their witty banter leaps off the page. Readers are sure to root for these two.” – Publishers Weekly
“Following along with Duffy and Connor is heartwarming and fun, and you root for the two to be together. A perfect beach read.” – Red Carpet Crash
The Fourth Option by Jack Carr & M.P. Woodward
fiction / suspense / mystery / action.
Disillusioned by the government and institutions he dedicated his life to serving, former Navy SEAL and CIA ground branch operative Chris Walker is about to end his life when he receives a call that saves it. The wife of a teammate he lost in Afghanistan has now lost her son to the opioid crisis and needs Walker’s help. Thrust into a conspiracy that goes deeper than he ever imagined, Walker must go up against the system and the very Constitution he once swore an oath to support and defend in order to find justice for his friend’s widow.
With ambitious FBI agent Jarrett Stanton on his tail, Walker—accompanied by his loyal Belgian Malinois and using his off-the-grid VW pop-up camper filled with a hidden cache of weapons—takes the law into his own hands, exposing corruption and issuing a long-forgotten brand of lethal outlaw justice.
In the tradition of the great “stranger comes to town” Westerns of the past comes a modern interpretation of the mysterious vigilante gunslinger legend from “the hottest author on the thriller scene today” (The Real Book Spy). Get ready for a new kind of hero. Justice is coming.
“…The Fourth Option hit me in a way I was not expecting. This one feels personal, raw and uncomfortably real… it absolutely knocked the wind out of me.” – Teresa Brock, The Best Thriller Books
“Moving from slow-burn ignition into a full-blown inferno, The Fourth Option wastes no time exploring corruption, betrayal, and the kind of evil that doesn’t just slip through the cracks but hides behind the system itself. It’s familiar enough that Carr’s legion of fans will feel right at home, but different enough to keep them off balance and guessing, even when they think they’ve got it all figured out.” – Ryan Steck, The Real Book Spy
“An unlikely hero takes justice into his own hands in this heady but hard-charging tale… Thriller titan Jack Carr and new partner M. P. Woodward are an excellent team, crafting intense action sequences that leave you with questions about morality and justice after the dust has settled. Enthralling and deceptively smart, The Fourth Option is the thinking person’s suspense thriller.” – Apple Books Review
How to Watch Soccer Like a Genius: What Architects, Stuntwomen, Paleontologists, and Computer Scientists Reveal About the World’s Game by Nick Greene
nonfiction / sports / soccer.
After reading this fun book, you’ll never look at soccer the same way again.
In How to Watch Soccer Like a Genius, Nick Greene calls on a turf manager, an expert on color theory, and a landscape historian to understand the field itself, a paleoanthropologist to talk kicking, and an Anglican priest to explain schisms―how American football, soccer, and rugby could all develop from the field games of rowdy 19th-century British schoolboys.
Greene delves deep into what defines the game, how it developed, and what happens during a match’s 90 minutes (and then some). His expert commentators include a domino toppler, a developmental neuroscientist, an art historian, a civil engineer, and more.
On the surface, soccer seems like the simplest of games: one ball, two teams, two goals, and (preferably) some grass. There’s a reason it’s the first team sport little kids learn to play. But the closer you look, the more you dig into the game’s history, the more infinitely complex the picture becomes.
“[An] entertaining and wide-ranging exploration of the game… Smart and witty, this effectively reveals the complexity of the world’s most popular sport. Soccer fans will be captivated.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“Greene’s unique and extremely enjoyable book about a sport that has been played for centuries couldn’t be more timely with the 2026 World Cup coming to the U.S.” – Stephanie Howes, Booklist
“[If] you’ve ever wondered why it’s so soothing to take in the large green rectangle of the soccer pitch, or about the shared origins of soccer, rugby, and football, or about what happens to the human brain over the course of a 90-minute match, or about why we kick, then Nick Greene’s book is for you (or the soccer-lover in your life).” – Jonny Diamond, Literary Hub
I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything by Joanna Stern
nonfiction / science / technology / memoir / comedy.
You’ve heard the hype: AI will make us healthier, give every child a personalized tutor, run our businesses more efficiently, return hours of free time to our overworked brains, and make discoveries previously unimagined by humankind. The AI future is going to be unlike any other technological revolution. But what does that really mean? And will AI truly make life better?
To find out, award-winning journalist Joanna Stern surrendered her life to artificial intelligence for one year. The results are both hilarious and unsettling.
I Am Not a Robot is like a time machine trip to the very near future, where AI promises to be your doctor, chauffeur, teacher, masseuse, coworker, therapist, financial planner, chef, housekeeper, and even… romantic partner. Your colleague might be using ChatGPT to write emails at work, but Joanna used AI tools and robots to do household chores, to manage her health, and to transport her family on vacation. If there was a decision to make or a task to do, she let AI go first. Along the way, she conducted exclusive interviews with the tech leaders building this future, then reported back from the front lines as your funny, no-nonsense tour guide.
Of course, tech’s sunny promises never tell the whole story, and that’s what Joanna is here to share. Filled with illustrations and photographs, this book offers less hype, more clarity, and as little jargon as humanly (or robotically) possible. It’s an AI guide for ordinary people—not the tech bros who tried to sell you a cruise to the metaverse or an NFT of a cartoon monkey.
This book is not the definitive story, because we’re only a few years into the AI revolution. But after a year of living as a human lab rat, Joanna delivers one of the clearest—and funniest—pictures yet of what’s really happening and what it means for you.
“[A] lighthearted, accessible account…” – New York Times
“A tech journalist tries life shaped by AI in an amusing, semi-scientific, thought-provoking experiment.” – Kirkus Reviews
“[An] entertaining exploration of AI’s impact on everyday life… Stern’s balanced, clear-eyed assessments and crisp, funny prose (‘I was teetering on the edge of the AI-byss’) make this stand out among the growing crowd of books on AI.” – Publishers Weekly
Ignore All Previous Instructions by Ada Hoffmann
fiction / science fiction / fantasy.
Kelli Reynolds loves creating stories more than anything in the world. But on Callisto, a generative AI company called Inspiration owns everything, including all the media, and only Inspiration determines which stories can be told.
Kelli has a rare and coveted job where her autism is to her advantage: She precisely edits AI output into “appropriate” stories for Inspiration’s massive TV audience. Her proudest creation is the pirate Orlando―a dashing do-gooder based on stories she used to tell friends.
Reenter Kelli’s ex-boyfriend Rowan, the person Kelli based Orlando on. Back when they were teenagers, their relationship was a secret. Kelli had thought that Rowan, a trans man, was her schoolmate Am, a girl.
Rowan is tangled up in the black market after he needed to get money for gender affirming surgery. He needs Kelli’s help with something… illegal. So, now Kelli has to decide: Will she risk the safe, tidy story of her life now for the world she once wished for? What would Orlando do?
Passionate, dangerous, and tender, Ignore All Previous Instructions is a sweeping, poignant novel about censorship, forbidden love, and growing up.
“[A] terrifyingly prescient sci-fi heist novel… That this book was written by someone with a PhD in computer science who teaches critical AI literacy makes it even more necessary.” – Natalie Zutter, Literary Hub
“Hoffmann has hit on something entrancingly magical… It’s sweeping, personal, and touches on many timely topics. Lovers of character-driven sf should make this a must-read.” – Leah von Essen, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“[A] thrilling, prescient, and emotionally rich sci-fi adventure… It’s an exceptional balancing of action, interior turmoil, and chilling dystopia. Readers worried about the future of storytelling in the age of AI will gobble this up.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
June Baby by Shannon Garvey
fiction.
At seventeen, Ruth lost her mother to cancer, and her father, unable to handle his grieving daughter, shipped her off to Block Island with nothing but a name scribbled on the back of a receipt: Diana Beckett. Diana, a renowned photographer, took Ruth in for the summer, and Block Island became Ruth’s refuge, a place of beauty and creativity, a place where she could nurture her dreams of being a writer, a place where she could fall in love for the first time—with Diana’s nephew, Charlie.
Now, at twenty-seven, Ruth has spent the last ten summers living and working among the lucky few who get to vacation in this wealthy beach town, and the rest of the year just scraping by, yearning to return to the place where she feels safe and unburdened. But then Ruth’s world is upended by tragedy again. Desperate for an anchor, she reaches for the person she’s been pining for since she met him—Charlie—who has his own startling revelation to share. And when another surprise comes in the form of a box left to Ruth by Diana, its contents raise questions about just how well she knew the two women who raised her. Torn between what to believe about her past, and what her future might hold, Ruth is faced with another choice: does she dare to rewrite her story entirely?
Both a heartfelt coming-of-age story and a tender exploration of love and grief, set against a backdrop of golden dunes and seaside sunsets, June Baby shows us what it might look like to embrace a life shaped not by loss, but by possibility.
“Garvey’s debut is a character-driven deep dive that transports readers to island summers, first love, and the messy realities of both family and found family.” – Kelly Fojtik, Booklist
“The powerful narrative set against the waves of the Atlantic means June Baby is a book you’ll want to read on vacation and keep thinking (and talking) about long after you get home.” – Amanda Mannen, Women.com
The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny & Melissa Fung
fiction / mystery / suspense.
Alice Li, a first-generation Chinese American and former food blogger, has long lived in the shadow of her mother, Vivien Li― a Tiananmen Square dissident turned world-renowned human rights activist and passionate advocate for a free and democratic China.
When security and fire alarms go off simultaneously all around the world, setting off a panic, the signal is traced back to China. As world leaders scramble to respond, Vivien and Alice are called to the White House in hopes Madame Li can interpret the Chinese intentions. But why involve Alice?
If China isn’t behind the attack, Vivien warns, someone even more dangerous is pulling the strings. Mother and daughter must join together to overcome their estrangement if they have any hope of preventing global catastrophe. From DC to Ohio to Hong Kong, they work to prevent the next attack, along the way decoding an ancient legend and uncovering a secret language invented by women, for women.
The Last Mandarin is an electrifying study of absolute power and voracious greed, political terror and personal conviction. But it is also an intimate examination of choice, of sacrifice, of memory and myths, both cultural and personal. It is the story of a mother and daughter, as well as a compelling international thriller about the precarious balance of power across the world, and within a family. And what happens when both break down.
In a world ruled by power, even family can be a weapon.
“[It] may be the most ambitious spy novel you’ve ever read.” – Kirkus Reviews
“A treat for Penny’s fans, and a solid political thriller in its own right.” – David Pitt, Booklist
Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey
fiction / horror / suspense.
Celia is so tired of being alone. All she wants is to have a family―to belong to someone. That’s why she’s going to Kindred Cove for the annual Salt Festival held by the secluded community that lives there. They promise that healing is possible. They promise that transformation is inevitable. There is no grief at Kindred Cove, because there is no suffering. Nothing is ever lost.
Celia knows that, at that mysterious island surrounded by that impossible, ever-growing reef — she will find herself.
She’s ready to be healed. She’s ready to be transformed.
She’s ready to believe.
“…fans of weird sf, psychological horror, and cult fiction will find the story of Kindred Cove devastatingly compelling, with emotional and eerie images that will last long after the final page.” – Leah von Essen, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Gailey is a chameleonic master of their trade… Make Me Better is weird in all the best ways. Go get lost in it. And put your feet in the water.” – Locus
“The folk horror feel of Gailey’s must-read novel might remind readers of Ari Aster’s movie Midsommar, while others might read this thoughtful book and think of George Orwell’s 1984.” – James Gardner, Library Journal
Multitude by Marie Vibbert
fiction / science fiction.
We float to the surface, and we see that there is more to the world than the ocean. We see stars.
Then one day, we hear a song from far away.
It could be nothing, a new dance of energies made by stars muttering to themselves… but it could be everything. We pull tight to your direction in the hope that the universe may gift us a conversation. A banquet.
In Australia, a SETI Technician asks her colleague, “A fake from 44 parsecs?”
In Nevada, a soldier flinches as unidentified craft fly overhead.
In Beirut, a mathematician pets her cat and thinks about language.
We are coming. For the hospice orderly with open arms, the seamstress in her alleyway shop, the lawyer angry at her neighbor’s sloppy garden.
For you are many, and cannot speak as one.
And yet we see you communicate without words. We see you organize and build.
We see you killing us.
“…a gripping first-contact tale…” – Natalie Zutter, Literary Hub
“Vibbert nimbly takes on the trope of an otherworldly hive mind seeking to understand, or perhaps take over, the human world in this clever novella… Vibbert uses [the story’s] structure to build a sense of ambient dread as she contrasts the experiences of individuals and the collective. The result is biting social critique with a hopeful slant.” – Publishers Weekly
Newcomers: The Story of Anthony and Greitje and the Founding of New York by Alan Mikhail
nonfiction / history / biography.
A man thought to be a Muslim from Morocco and a German barmaid fleeing poverty are hardly the images we have of America’s august founders. In Newcomers, Alan Mikhail upends the traditional story of America’s origins through the revelatory tale of a seventeenth-century immigrant couple by the names of Anthony and Grietje.
Married in Amsterdam, the destitute pair emerged from lives of piracy and prostitution in Europe and arrived in 1630s Dutch New Amsterdam, hoping to build a new life. Upon landing on New York City’s shores, the swarthy Anthony was attacked for being the Muslim he was not, while Grietje, branded a whore by crude harbor denizens, would become the model of an independent colonial American woman, defiantly mooning her attackers rather than accepting their derision. They endured intense bigotry on crooked neighborhood warrens and in the primitive watering holes of New Amsterdam, battling Dutch authorities and brawling with their neighbors, their appearances in court so frequent that their rebellious existence is seared into the records of early America forever. Eventually ejected from New Amsterdam by Dutch authorities in 1639, they were exiled to the “frontier,” to what is now Gravesend Brooklyn, where they and their four daughters farmed and seized land from Native Americans while fighting English colonists from the north. After Grietje died, Anthony moved back to what had become English Manhattan and ended up being one of the richest men in seventeenth-century New York. What is ironic is that this rowdy couple’s descendants include some of the most distinguished names in American social and political history, among them the Vanderbilts and President Warren G. Harding.
“Through meticulous research” (Russell Shorto), Mikhail has done nothing less than reframe America’s original family story, in the process showing that where we have immigration, prejudice trails never far behind. Indeed, we learn of harsh, anti-Muslim sentiment through Anthony and of female defiance, rare that it was, through Grietje. “Promising to change the way we understand Colonial Gotham’s formative first years” (Susanah Shaw Romney), Alan Mikhail’s Newcomers tells the story of America’s fledgling beginnings in a way that it has never been depicted before.
“Are Anthony and Grietje America’s original reality tv couple, even though they lived three centuries before the invention of the television?… Could what details we can glean of their unique lives sustain an entire history of early Manhattan, written with meticulous research and a flair for storytelling, across 250 pages? Abso-f—ing-lutely.” – Literary Hub
“Mining centuries-old records for fascinating details about diversity and subjugation in Dutch colonial North America.” – Kirkus Reviews
A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman ★
fiction / fantasy / science fiction / comedy / action / adventure.
As chaos and mass panic spread outside the dungeon in the wake of Faction Wars, Carl and Donut find themselves on the tenth floor, where they’re forced to compete in a surprisingly normal set of tasks. Well, normal for the dungeon.
Races. Get from point A to point B, and don’t come in last. After each race, they pick an upgrade for their vehicle and the track gets more challenging. It all seems a little too normal, a little too simple.
Ignore those strange glitches that are occurring with increasing frequency. Don’t listen to those whispers about what’s happening on the mysterious eleventh floor, something the system AI calls A Parade of Horribles. Nobody, not even the showrunners, knows what that means. Just that the AI has ominously dubbed it “a coming-out party for the ages.”
Everything is fine, Crawler. I repeat, everything is fine.
Carl hates that it’s business as usual. The rules of this floor have taken away his agency. That just will not do.
So Carl is planning a party of his own. It’s a plan so dangerous, so insane, he can’t even consult his friends lest the AI put a stop to it. Because if it goes wrong, it’s not just the end of Carl and Donut. No. The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been.
“The eighth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series delivers even more action… The stakes are high, the drama is explosive and the future is uncertain in this whirlwind adventure.” – B&N Reads
“Coming in off the back of a complex and scope-changing Book 7, Book 8 reminds readers of the horrible truth of the Dungeon: for all of their drive and cleverness, Carl and Princess Donut are still just a man and his talking cat trapped in an AI-controlled game that is trying to kill them. This interesting shift in scope and pacing reminds readers of the players’ predicament.” – Aaron Mason, Library Reads
“Calling all fantasy, dystopian, and sci-fi fans. If you haven’t read the LitRPG series from Matt Dinniman, where have you been? The Dungeon Crawler Carl series has everything you could need, and the eighth book is one of the most highly anticipated books of 2026… exciting and thrilling…” – Alexandria Ingham, Parade
“I loved it… highly entertaining and addicting… a wild ride (literally) from the start [that] takes the audience to unexpected places on a mad and harried journey… I will be awaiting the final two books in this series with bated breath…” – Will Swardstrom, FanFiAddict
Seek the Traitor’s Son by Veronica Roth ★
fiction / fantasy / science fiction / romance.
Elegy Ahn did not ask for destiny to find her.
She is happy with her life as a soldier, defending her small country from the Talusar, a powerful nation who worships a deadly Fever. A fever that blesses half of its victims with mysterious gifts.
But then she’s summoned to hear a prophecy–her, and the most ruthless of Talusar generals, Rava Vidar. Brought face to face, they learn that one of them will lead their people to victory over the other… but they don’t know which. And at the center of both of their fates: a man. A man that, Elegy is told, she will fall in love with.
In just one day, Elegy’s old life–her job, her purpose, and her future–is over. She and Rava are destined to collide, with the fate of their nations hanging in the balance. And when they do, only one will be left standing.
Elegy intends to make sure it’s her.
“A standout genre-bending adventure with a tender romantic streak.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
“…gripping… With high stakes, plenty of betrayals, and just a hint of humor, this will have readers eager for more.” – Publishers Weekly
“The first in a duology, Roth’s latest features ambitious world building and a solid romantic subplot, along with plenty of intrigue and betrayals… Best-seller Roth’s latest highlights her deft hand at building dystopian worlds, and with a soupçon of romance, it’s sure to be a hit.” – Stephanie Klose, Booklist
“This rich, epic novel introduces a new dystopian society full of intricate politics, tense religious conflict, and subtle, heart-wrenching character development… Roth’s worldbuilding combines the most exciting aspects of fantasy and science fiction: from high-tech spaceships to heart-pounding sword fights, this is a world that’s thrilling, magical, and dangerous.” – Book of the Month
Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull by Tom Clavin
nonfiction / history.
On June 25–27, 1876, the Battle of the Little Bighorn, commonly referred to as Custer’s Last Stand, was fought between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. Along the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory, the battle resulted in the devastating defeat of U.S. forces and was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876.
This dramatic look at the Little Bighorn battle includes not only the Native American point of view–with two dynamic Native figures, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, on prominent display–but also the impact it had on the Plains Indians. It turned out to be their last stand too because a vengeful nation quashed any remaining resistance, with a conclusive massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, almost simultaneous with the murder of Sitting Bull.
In addition, Custer’s character by June 1876 is at the heart of this world-famous disaster. For all his celebrated bravery, especially at Gettysburg 13 years earlier, Custer became a devout media hound, desperate to gain fame. Even, some say, his own demise was a misguided attempt at grabbing national headlines: He envisioned a massacre – just not his own. As both the camera and the tabloid came of age, George Armstrong Custer became America’s first bona fide celebrity.
Vengeance is a thrilling read, filled with action, legendary characters, and poignance for the impact this had on Native Americans and the shape of the American West.
“Deploying the fresh and informative storytelling technique that has made him a best-selling popular-history writer, Clavin provides an accessible, balanced, vivid, and fast-moving account of this watershed disaster and its ripple effects.” – James Pekoll, Booklist
“…Clavin’s journalistic style helps separate myth from legend and makes this a valuable volume on a key period in American history.” – Tom Vallar, Historical Novel Society
Vilhelm’s Room by Tove Ditlevsen; translated by Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell
fiction.
I want to write a book about Vilhelm’s room and the events which took place in it, or arose from it; those that led to Lise’s death, which I have survived only so that I might write down the story of her and Vilhelm…
The ripples from a breakup radiate outward from the room where a married couple once loved each other, and a bizarre Lonely Hearts ad sets off a train of tragicomic events that leads to an inevitable conclusion.
Vilhelm’s Room, Tove Ditlevsen’s final novel―published a year before her untimely death in 1976―is a powerful conclusion to an extraordinary life as a poet, novelist, and memoirist: a blackly funny and devastating tour de force that pulses with life even as it journeys toward death.
“[An] aching and accomplished work of autofiction about love and punishment… a haunting and deeply felt portrayal of intimate catastrophe.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“…ferocious… In jagged, fierce, and often wildly comic prose, the narrator lashes out at her former self and all the other pathetic characters who populate her life before seemingly losing interest in the tale and declaring imperiously to readers, ‘From now on, I will tell you only what I feel like telling you.’ A wrenching account of a woman at the end of her rope.” – Margaret Quamme, Booklist
“…Ditlevsen makes this darkest of all material fascinating, perversely likable and occasionally revelatory. She’s a brilliant writer and formidable thinker… a unique and powerful document of catastrophic mental illness.” – Sandra Newman, The Guardian
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