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Week of May 20, 2024

New in Paperback

Week of May 20, 2024

Paperback releases for the week of May 20th include THE RIVER WE REMEMBER, a dazzling stand-alone novel from William Kent Krueger, in which a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances; Alice Hoffman's THE INVISIBLE HOUR, an enchanting novel about love, heartbreak, self-discovery and the enduring magic of books; THE ONLY ONE LEFT by Riley Sager, a Gothic chiller about a young caregiver assigned to work for a woman accused of a Lizzie Borden-like massacre decades earlier; THE BEACH AT SUMMERLY, a ravishing summer read from Beatriz Williams that sweeps readers back to a mid-century New England rich with secrets and Cold War intrigue; and I AM HOMELESS IF THIS IS NOT MY HOME, Lorrie Moore’s first novel since A GATE AT THE STAIRS --- a daring, meditative exploration of love and death, passion and grief, and what it means to be haunted by the past, both by history and the human heart.

All the Days of Summer by Nancy Thayer - Fiction

May 21, 2024

When her marriage fizzles out, Heather Willette decides to leave her husband and rent a cottage on Nantucket. Her plan is going perfectly --- until her son, Ross, announces he’s moving to Nantucket to work at his girlfriend’s family’s construction business instead of going back home to work with his own father. Worst of all for Heather, this means having to get along with her. Kailee Essex is thrilled that Ross is willing to move to her hometown. She has big hopes for their happily ever after, especially now that her parents are finally showing interest in her career. She’s less thrilled, however, about his mother living nearby. Kailee has clashed with Heather since the day they met. But anything is possible in the summer sun and sea breezes of Nantucket --- even reconciliation.

Bad, Bad Seymour Brown: A Corie Geller Novel by Susan Isaacs - Mystery

May 21, 2024

When Corie Geller asked her parents to move from their apartment into the suburban McMansion she shares with her husband and teenage daughter, she assumed they'd fit right in with the placid life she’d opted for when she left the Joint Anti-terrorism Task Force of the FBI. But then her retired NYPD detective father gets a call from good-natured and slightly nerdy film professor April Brown --- one of the victims of a case he was never able to solve. When April was a five-year-old, she’d emerged unscathed from the arson that killed her parents. Now, two decades later, April is asking for help. Someone has made an attempt on her life. Corie and her dad immediately say yes and jump into a full-fledged investigation. If they don’t move fast, whoever attacked April is sure to strike again.

The Beach at Summerly by Beatriz Williams - Historical Fiction

May 21, 2024

Beatriz Williams’ novels inhabit a category all their own: nuanced yet propulsive, innovative yet addictive, packed with human truth and told in an incomparable narrative voice that evokes a stunning sense of period while still feeling new and immediate. Now the beloved author returns with another remarkable summer novel. In these gorgeous sun-washed pages, Williams sets THE BEACH AT SUMMERLY in the exclusive New England summer enclave readers first discovered in THE SUMMER WIVES and fills it with new love, old rivalries and the Cold War intrigue of the 1960s.

Blue Skies by T.C. Boyle - Thriller/Satire

May 21, 2024

Denied a dog, a baby and even a faithful fiancé, Cat suddenly craves a snake: a glistening, writhing creature that can be worn like “jewelry, living jewelry” to match her black jeans. But when the budding social media star promptly loses the young “Burmie” she buys from a local pet store, she inadvertently sets in motion a chain of increasingly dire and outrageous events that comes to threaten her very survival. In BLUE SKIES, T.C. Boyle transports us to water-logged and heat-ravaged coastal America, where Cat and her hapless, nature-loving family is struggling to adapt to the “new normal,” in which once-in-a-lifetime natural disasters happen once a week and drinking seems to be the only way to cope.

The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man by David Von Drehle - Self-Help/Personal Growth

May 21, 2024

Born before radio, Charlie White lived long enough to use a smartphone. When a shocking tragedy interrupted his idyllic boyhood, he mastered survival strategies that reflect thousands of years of human wisdom. Thus armored, Charlie’s sense of adventure carried him on an epic journey across the continent, and later found him swinging across bandstands of the Jazz Age, racing aboard ambulances through Depression-era gangster wars, improvising techniques for early open-heart surgery, and cruising the Amazon as a guest of Peru’s president. David Von Drehle came to understand that Charlie’s resilience and willingness to grow made this remarkable neighbor a master in the art of thriving through times of dramatic change. As a gift to his children, he set out to tell Charlie’s secrets.

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer - Fiction

May 21, 2024

From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead during a dramatic telling of PETER RABBIT, Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. After the beloved grandfather who raised her dies alone while she is traveling, Clover becomes a death doula in New York City, dedicating her life to ushering people peacefully through their end-of-life process. Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a trip across the country to uncover a forgotten love story --- and perhaps her own happy ending.

Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis - Fiction/Dark Humor

May 21, 2024

Sasha and Jesse are professionally creative, erotically adventurous and passionately dysfunctional twentysomethings making a life together in Brooklyn. When a pair of older, richer lesbians invites Sasha and Jesse to their country home for the holidays, they’re quick to accept. Even if the trip includes a third couple: Jesse’s best friend, Lou, and their cool-girl flame, Darcy. As the late December afternoons blur together in a haze of debaucherous homecooked feasts and sweaty sauna confessions, so too do the guests’ secret and shifting motivations. When Jesse and Darcy collaborate on an ill-fated livestream performance, a complex web of infatuation and jealousy emerges, sending Sasha down a spiral of destructive rage that threatens each couple’s future.

The Enchanted Hacienda by J.C. Cervantes - Fiction/Magical Realism

May 21, 2024

When Harlow Estrada is abruptly fired from her dream job and her boyfriend proves to be a jerk, her world turns upside down. She flees New York City to the one place she can always call home --- the enchanted Hacienda Estrada. The Estrada family farm in Mexico houses an abundance of charmed flowers cultivated by Harlow’s mother, sisters, aunt and cousins. By harnessing the magic in these flowers, they can heal hearts, erase memories and interpret dreams. But not Harlow. So when her mother and aunt give her a special task involving the family’s magic, she panics. How can she rise to the occasion when she is magicless? But maybe it’s not magic she’s missing, but belief in herself.

An Evil Heart by Linda Castillo - Mystery/Thriller

May 21, 2024

On a crisp autumn day in Painters Mill, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder responds to a call only to discover an Amish man who has been violently killed with a crossbow, his body abandoned on a dirt road. Aden Karn was just 20 years old, well liked and from an upstanding Amish family. Who would commit such a heinous crime against a young man whose life was just beginning? The more Kate gets to know his devastated family and the people --- both English and Amish --- who loved him, the more determined she becomes to solve the case. But as she delves into Karn’s past, Kate begins to hear whispers about a dark side. What if Aden Karn wasn’t the wholesome young man everyone admired? Is it possible that the rumors are a cruel campaign to blame the victim?

Fractal Noise: A Fractalverse Novel by Christopher Paolini - Science Fiction/Space Opera

May 21, 2024

July 25, 2234: The crew of the Adamura discovers the anomaly. On the seemingly uninhabited planet Talos VII: a circular pit, 50 kilometers wide. Its curve not of nature, but design. Now, a small team must land and journey on foot across the surface to learn who built the hole and why. But they all carry the burdens of lives carved out on disparate colonies in the cruel cold of space. For some the mission is the dream of a lifetime, for others a risk not worth taking, and for one it is a desperate attempt to find meaning in an uncaring universe. Each step they take toward the mysterious abyss is more punishing than the last. And the ghosts of their past follow.

The God of Good Looks by Breanne Mc Ivor - Fiction

May 21, 2024

Bianca Bridge is like an eyeshadow palette. She's a vibrant kaleidoscope of big personality and even bigger dreams, with a tendency towards messiness and fallout. Case in point: losing her job and ruining her reputation by having an affair with a married government official. Her fiercely confident and tyrannical new boss, Obadiah Cortland --- a legend in Trinidad's beauty scene --- is like a statement red lipstick. Dubbed the God of Good Looks, Obadiah has perfected his hotshot façade after years of navigating the island's rigid class barriers. He knows as well as Bianca that the tiniest smudge can ruin your image. When Bianca's ex threatens both their futures, they must find a way to work together to save everything they care about. But as they put their differences aside, will they find they actually bring out the best in each other?

Happiness by Danielle Steel - Fiction

May 21, 2024

Sabrina Brooks is a wildly successful bestselling author of gripping thrillers. Unlike her fictional characters, Sabrina lives a quiet life in the Berkshires with her two beloved dogs. But behind this peaceful exterior is a dark, painful past. As a child raised by an emotionally distant father, Sabrina rarely felt love. And as an adult, her marriage twisted into an abusive relationship from which she had to escape. Sabrina channeled that fear into her writing, and now she has everything she’s ever wanted. Until the arrival of a mysterious letter disrupts it all, declaring that Sabrina is now the heir to her recently deceased uncle’s title and estate outside London. This shocking news forces her to cross the Atlantic and see the manor for herself, stirring up her father’s past and the secrets he kept.

I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore - Fiction

May 21, 2024

A teacher visiting his dying brother in the Bronx. A mysterious journal from the 19th century stolen from a boarding house. A therapy clown and an assassin, both presumed dead, but perhaps not dead at all. With her distinctive, irresistible wordplay, and singular wry humor and wisdom, Lorrie Moore has given us a magic box of longing and surprise as she writes about love and rebirth and the pull towards life. Bold, meditative and theatrical, I AM HOMELESS IF THIS IS NOT MY HOME is an inventive, poetic portrait of lovers and siblings as it questions the stories we have been told that may or may not be true.

If We're Being Honest by Cat Shook - Fiction

May 21, 2024

When Gerry, the beloved Williams patriarch, dies suddenly, his grandchildren flock from across the country to the family home in Eulalia, Georgia. But when Gerry’s best friend steps up to the microphone to deliver his eulogy, the funeral turns out unlike anyone expected. The cousins cope with their fresh grief and various private dramas. Delia refuses to shut up about her ex. Her sister, Alice, flusters when she spots her high school sweetheart, hiding a secret that will change both of their lives. Grant is preening in the afterglow of his recent appearance on “The Bachelorette” and looking to reignite an old flame with the least available person in town. Meanwhile, his younger brother, Red, desperately searches for a place in the boisterous family.

The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman - Historical Fiction

May 21, 2024

One June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. THE SCARLET LETTER was written almost 200 years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community --- an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden, and books are considered evil. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her? Through a journey of heartbreak, love and time, Mia must abandon the rules she was raised with at the Community. As she does, she realizes that reading can transport you to other worlds or bring them to you, and that readers and writers affect one another in mysterious ways.

A Line in the Sand by Kevin Powers - Thriller

May 21, 2024

One early morning on a Norfolk beach in Virginia, a dead body is discovered by a man taking his daily swim. After narrowly surviving an assassination attempt that killed his wife and child, Arman Bajalan has been given lonely sanctuary in the US. Convinced that the body is connected to his past, he knows he is still not safe. Seasoned detective Catherine Wheel and her newly minted partner have little to go on beyond a bus ticket in the dead man’s pocket. It leads them to Sally Ewell, a local journalist who is investigating a corporation on the cusp of landing a multi-billion-dollar government defense contract. As victims mount around Arman, they find themselves in a race, committed to unraveling the truth and keeping Arman alive --- even if it costs them absolutely everything.

Lucky Dogs by Helen Schulman - Fiction

May 21, 2024

On a sultry summer night in Paris, two women meet in line at an ice cream kiosk on the Ile de la Cité. One is tall, fair and striking, with an indeterminate accent. The other, a troubled American TV star, is hiding her beauty and identity under a shapeless sweatshirt, wearing sunglasses even in the darkness. When leering male tourists hassle the pair, the blonde pulls out a knife and a sisterhood is born. Both women have been victims of male violence, and both are warriors --- one trained and calculating, one instinctually ferocious. They each think they know who they are dealing with. But both are very, very wrong.

Malibu Summer by Libby Gill - Romance

May 21, 2024

Ivy Bauer is a young, bright soil scientist and inventor of a game-changing organic irrigation system. She’s on top of the world when, suddenly, her husband is killed in a biking accident. Needing space to grieve, she takes a summer job as a gardener in Malibu. Conrad Reed is a wealthy Hollywood has-been who, after the death of his wife, feels overwhelmed by the care of his anxious stepson Hudson, massive cliffside estate and deteriorating career. He hopes Ivy will help take at least one thing off his plate. But the bossy, opinionated Ivy isn’t making things any easier for him. Sparks fly --- and not the good kind. But it’s when Ivy finds the key to Hudson’s heart that Conrad’s own heart begins to melt as well --- and then the sparks that fly are the ones that kindle the best kind of love affair.

Night Will Find You by Julia Heaberlin - Psychological Thriller/Mystery

May 21, 2024

Vivvy Bouchet was only 10 when she saved a boy’s life by making an impossible prediction. She doesn’t want to explain it. A wunderkind scientist, she just wants to be left in peace to scan the desert Texas sky with her telescopes in one of the darkest places on earth. But when the boy she saved, now a Fort Worth cop, begs for her help on a cold case, she can’t turn him down. In the past decade, Lizzie Solomon and the Victorian mansion where she disappeared have taken on almost mythic status. Conspiracy theorists feed the frenzy that Lizzie is still buried in the crumbling walls while her mother, who sits in prison convicted of killing her, loudly proclaims her innocence. When a vicious podcaster takes aim at Vivvy’s own secrets --- and those of the vanished girl --- Vivvy’s life unravels like the mysterious galaxies she chases.

Obsession: A Teddy Fay Novel Featuring Stone Barrington by Stuart Woods and Brett Battles - Thriller/Adventure

May 21, 2024

While filming on location in scenic Santa Barbara, California, Peter Barrington and Ben Bacchetti look to expand Centurion Studios' business by making a deal with a young Croatian tech billionaire. But when the magnate’s wife is kidnapped, Teddy Fay is brought in to assess the threat and recover the young woman. As Teddy unravels the threads of her disappearance, he quickly comes to find an old vendetta seething at the center, one that puts them all at risk. And danger is lurking even nearer to home as an obsessive fan with perilous intentions weasels his way onto the film set. It’s only Teddy who can stop him from getting too close for comfort.

The Only One Left by Riley Sager - Gothic Thriller/Horror

May 21, 2024

The Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume 17-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Lenora has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred. It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora. Confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer: I want to tell you everything. As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know.

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger - Historical Mystery

May 21, 2024

On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota, gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. The investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who recently has returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also to put to rest the demons from his own past.

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Defiance by Brian Freeman - Thriller/Adventure

May 21, 2024

From the glacial waters of Alaska to a sexy nightclub in the Bahamas, Treadstone agents are being hunted down and murdered. Someone high up in the U.S. government will stop at nothing to cover up a secret Treadstone mission from the past known as Defiance. With a team of killers hot on his trail, Jason Bourne chases the mystery of Defiance around the world. But as he closes in on the shocking truth, Bourne realizes that one man holds the key --- his archenemy, the assassin known as Lennon. The Russian hitman has been at the heart of Defiance from the very beginning, and his next target will put Bourne --- and the woman he loves --- in the crosshairs. As Bourne races to stop the ruthless conspiracy behind Defiance, he must come face to face with Lennon one last time.

Seven Summers by Paige Toon - Romance

May 21, 2024

Liv and Finn meet six summers ago working in a bar on the rugged Cornish coastline, their futures full of promise. When a night of passion ends in devastating tragedy, they are bound together inextricably. But Finn’s life is in LA with his band, and Liv’s is in Cornwall with her family, so they make a promise. Finn will return every year, and if they are single they will spend the summer together. This summer, Liv crosses paths with Tom, a mysterious new arrival in her hometown. As the wildflowers and heather come into bloom, they find themselves falling for one another. For the first time, Liv can imagine a world where her heart isn’t broken every autumn. Now Liv must make an impossible choice. And when she discovers the shocking reason that Tom has left home, she’ll need to trust her heart even more.

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Supernatural Thriller/Horror

May 21, 2024

Montserrat is a talented sound editor, but she’s left out of the boys’ club running the film industry in ’90s Mexico City. And she’s all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star. Then Tristán discovers that his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives --- even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed. Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse. But Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.

The Sister Effect by Susan Mallery - Fiction

May 21, 2024

Finley McGowan is determined that the niece she’s raising will always feel loved and wanted. Unlike how she felt after her mom left to pursue a dream of stardom, and when the grandfather who was left to raise them abandoned her and her sister, Sloane, when they needed him most. Finley reacted to her chaotic childhood by walking the straight and narrow. Sloane went the other way. Now Sloane is back, as beautiful and as damaged as ever…and she wants a relationship with her daughter. She says she’s changed, but Finley’s heart has been burned once too often for her to trust easily. But is her reluctance to forgive really about Sloane or worry over losing what she loves the most?

Still Waters by Matt Goldman - Domestic Thriller

May 21, 2024

Liv and Gabe Ahlstrom are estranged siblings who haven’t seen each other in years, but that’s about to change when they receive a rare call from their older brother’s wife. “Mack is dead,” she says. “He died of a seizure.” Five minutes after they hang up, Liv and Gabe each receive a scheduled email from their dead brother, claiming that he was murdered. The siblings return to their family-run resort in the Northwoods of Minnesota to investigate Mack's claims, but Leech Lake has more in store for them than either could imagine. Drawn into a tangled web of lies and betrayal that spans decades, they put their lives on the line to unravel the truth about their brother, their parents, themselves and the small town in which they grew up.

Tides of Fire by James Rollins - Thriller/Adventure

May 21, 2024

The Titan Project, an international research station off the coast of Australia, discovers a thriving zone of life in an otherwise dead sea. The area teems with a strange bioluminescent coral that defies science yet holds great promise for the future. But the loss of a military submarine in the area triggers a brutal attack and sets in motion a geological disaster that destabilizes an entire region. Massive quakes, volcanic eruptions and deadly tsunamis herald a greater cataclysm to come --- for something is stirring miles under the ocean, a threat hidden for millennia. As seas turn toxic and coastlines burn, can Sigma Force stop what has been let loose --- especially as an old adversary returns, hunting them and thwarting their every move?

Under the Palms by Kaira Rouda - Psychological Thriller

May 21, 2024

Under the direction of the Kingsleys’ new president, Paige, the family has gathered for a weekend retreat at a luxurious Laguna Beach resort. Still clinging to the hope of succession are the sons of Richard Kingsley, the family patriarch and CEO: John, the oldest, who’s clawed his way back from a dark tragedy, and Paige’s estranged husband, Ted, the golden boy. When Richard’s ex and his wayward daughter join the fray, Paige finds herself with two fast allies. They know a secret that could shatter the family legacy. Call it leverage, call it revenge, the Kingsley women believe they have the upper hand. But as the power games begin, greater threats than the howling Santa Ana winds are coming. Because this weekend, amid so much greed and betrayal, no Kingsley is safe.