New in October

(53 books)

Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave

Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave

Mariana Enríquez

3.922013Horror
Add

Mariana Enríquez has been fascinated by the haunting beauty of cemeteries since she was a teenager, visiting them frequently, a goth flaneur taking notes on her aesthetic obsession as she walked among the headstones. But in 2013, when the body of a friend's mother who was disappeared during Argentina's military dictatorship was found in a common grave, she began to examine more deeply the complex meanings of cemeteries and where our bodies come to rest.In this vivid, cinematic book, Enríquez travels North and South America, Europe and Australia, visiting the catacombs of Paris, Prague's Old Jewish Cemetery, Elvis's grave at Graceland, the above-ground mausoleums of New Orleans, her hometown of Buenos Aires's Recoleta, and more. She investigates each cemetery's history, architecture, its dead (famous and not), its saints and ghosts, its caretakers and visitors. Weaving personal stories with reportage, interviews, folklore, musicology, and literature, Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave is memoir channeled through Enríquez's obsession with cemeteries, revealing as much about her own life and unique sensibility as the graveyards and tombstones she walks among. Exhilarating, unsettling, and unlike anything else, Enríquez's first work of nonfiction is as original and enthralling as the stories and novels for which she's become so admired and beloved.An enchanting, illuminating, highly personal tour of some of the most iconic cemeteries of the world—part travelogue, part memoir, part hauntology.Endorsements"Enriquez is a queen of horror." — Los Angeles Times"One of Latin America’s most exciting authors." — Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Daring to be Free

Daring to be Free

Sudhir Hazareesingh

5.002025Nonfiction
Add

The ending of the slave trade and abolition of slavery by European powers during the 19th century is generally told as the work of enlightened liberals fighting against entrenched slaving interests in Africa, the Caribbean, and European capitals. Sudhir Hazareesingh here turns this narrative on its head, showing how the enslaved resisted their oppressors from the earliest years of the Atlantic slave trade in the 16th century until the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865, and how this opposition was the driving force for change.Daring To Be Free portrays the struggle for liberation from the perspective of the enslaved, wherever possible in their own words. It shines a light on the lives of revolutionaries like Toussaint Louverture, José Antonio Aponte, Nat Turner, and the pregnant rebel Solitude; freed writers of narrative accounts like Frederick Douglass and Ottobah Cugoano; and the countless maroons, insurgents and conspirators whose acts of defiance destabilised the slave order in the colonies and galvanized the movement for abolition in France, Britain, and the United States. Hazareesingh gives particular emphasis to the powerful roles of women as campaigners, disruptors and warriors.Drawing on written archives and oral history, as well as a rich body of secondary sources, the book traces the networks of cooperation that connected runaway settlements, covert rebellions and organized uprisings from Haiti, Jamaica, Brazil and Cuba to Mauritius and the United States. It shows us how the struggle for liberty was shaped not only by Western Enlightenment ideals but by the spiritual, martial, and religious influences from the lives of the enslaved in Africa before the Middle Passage — and by the inspiring example of Haiti, the first successful anticolonial revolution and the first independent black state, which echoed down the 19th century.Daring To Be Free reshapes our understanding of Atlantic slavery by portraying how enslaved lives were defined not by their dehumanisation at the hands of colonialists and slavers but by their own resilience, solidarity, and commitment to freedom. It also examines the afterlife of the slave trade in contemporary discussions about the legacy of slavery and possibilities for redress, reparations, and memorial in our own time.

Boom Town

Boom Town

Nic Stone

3.432025Thriller
Add

Welcome to Boom Town, Atlanta’s most infamous Black strip club, where the air is thick with secrets and the stakes are as high as the heels. When Damaris “Charm” Willburn, a new daytime dancer, vanishes without a trace, former headline Lyriq is thrust back into a world she thought she had left behind. Charm’s disappearance eerily mirrors that of Lyriq’s former partner, Lucky, who also went missing under mysterious circumstances. Both women shared a dangerous connection with Thomas McIntyre, a wealthy white man with far more power than they could imagine.As Lyriq delves deeper into the mystery, she uncovers a tangled web of deceit, power, and privilege that threatens to consume her. With each revelation, the line between friend and foe blurs, and Lyriq must confront her own past to uncover the truth. But as the secrets of Boom Town unravel, Lyriq faces a harrowing choice: can she solve the mystery without losing everything she holds dear?Boom Town is a masterful blend of suspense and social commentary exploring themes of racial and sexual power dynamics, the invisibility of Black women, and the societal judgements placed on professions deemed “unsavory.”A missing stripper in Atlanta sets off a suspenseful search by her friends, unraveling a web of secrets and power dynamics in the city’s most notorious Black strip club. In this electrifying thriller, readers are taken on a heart-pounding journey through Atlanta’s dark underbelly.EndorsementsNew York Times bestselling author Nic Stone.

The Librarians

The Librarians

Sherry Thomas

3.392025Thriller
Add

Murder disrupts the peaceful, predictable daily routine of life for four quirky librarians who must protect their life-altering secrets in this first contemporary mystery.Sometimes a workplace isn’t just a workplace but a place of safety, understanding, and acceptance. And sometimes murder threatens the sanctity of that beloved refuge....In the leafy suburbs of Austin, Texas, a small branch library welcomes the public every day of the week. But the patrons who love the helpful, unobtrusive staff and leave rave reviews on Yelp don’t always realize that their librarians are human, too.Hazel flees halfway across the world for what she hopes will be a new beginning. Jonathan, a six-foot-four former college football player, has never fit in anywhere else. Astrid tries to forget her heartbreak by immersing herself in work, but the man who ghosted her six months ago is back, promising trouble. And Sophie, who has the most to lose, maintains a careful and respectful distance from her coworkers, but soon that won't be enough anymore.When two patrons turn up dead after the library’s inaugural murder mystery–themed game night, the librarians’ quiet routines come crashing down. Something sinister has stirred, something that threatens every single one of them. And the only way the librarians can save the library—and themselves—is to let go of their secrets, trust one another, and band together....All in a day’s work.EndorsementsUSA Today bestselling author Sherry Thomas.

Bog Queen

Bog Queen

Anna North

3.592025Horror
Add

When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she has ever seen: although its bones prove it was buried more than two thousand years ago, it is almost completely preserved.Soon Agnes is drawn into a mystery from the distant past, called to understand and avenge the death of an Iron Age woman more like her than she knows. Along the way she must contend with peat-cutters who want to profit from the bog and activists who demand that the land be left undisturbed. Then there is the moss itself: a complex repository of artifacts and remains with its own dark stories to tell. As Agnes faces the deep history of what she has unearthed, she is also forced to question what she thought she knew about her talent, her self-reliance, and her place in the world.Flashing between the uncertainty of post-Brexit England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe at the dawn of the Roman era, Bog Queen brims with contemporary urgency and ancient wisdom as it connects two young women learning to harness their strange strengths in a mysterious and complex landscape.The story of an anthropologist's monumental discovery and the clash of civilizations it sets off over the fate of the land that holds us.

Always Remember

Always Remember

Charlie Mackesy

4.382025Art
Add

‘One day you’ll look back and realise how hard it was, and just how well you did’Charlie Mackesy’s four unlikely friends are wandering through the wilds again. They’re not sure what they are looking for. They do know that life can be difficult, but that they love each other, and cake is often the answer.When the dark clouds come, can the boy remember what he needs to get through the storm?

The Intruder

The Intruder

Freida McFadden

4.222025Thriller
Add

Casey's cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she's a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window.She’s young. She’s alone. And she’s covered in blood.The girl won't explain where she came from or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse.The girl has a dark secret. One she’ll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.Who knows what the storm will blow in… In this taut, deadly tale of survival and desperation, Freida McFadden explores how far one girl will go to save herself.Endorsements— #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden

King Sorrow

King Sorrow

Joe Hill

4.372025Horror
Add

Arthur Oakes is a reader, a dreamer, and a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters, exceptional library, and beautiful buildings. But his idyll—and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot—is shattered when a local drug dealer and her partner corner him into one of the worst crimes he can imagine: stealing rare books from the college library.Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for comfort and help. Together they dream up a wild, fantastical scheme to free Arthur from the cruel trap in which he finds himself. Wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren suggests using the unnerving Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding. The others—brave, beautiful Alison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen— don’t hesitate to join Colin in an effort to smash reality and bring a creature of the impossible into our world.But there’s nothing simple about dealing with dragons, and their pact to save Arthur becomes a terrifying bargain in which the six must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow every year—or become his next meal.

The Defender

The Defender

Ana Huang

4.482025Romance
Add

As the captain of Blackcastle Football Club and one of the highest-paid athletes in the game, Vincent DuBois should be on top of the world.But when his fame brings danger to his doorstep, he finds himself in a nightmare scenario―sharing a flat with his coach’s daughter, knowing full well she’s far too big a temptation for him to resist.When his new living arrangements escalate into a bet that throws them even closer together, he realizes he’s in deeper trouble than he thought.As a sports nutritionist and the daughter of a legendary coach, Brooklyn Armstrong is used to dealing with hotshot athletes.However, no player gets under her skin like Vincent, her best friend’s infuriatingly cocky (and gorgeous) brother. She left California hoping for a fresh start, and he’s the kind of distraction she doesn’t need.Now, he’s sleeping in the room next to hers while her career is up in the air and her defenses are crumbling.But no matter how many sparks fly between them, a relationship between the captain and the coach’s daughter could never work…could it?He’s always played to win―but for her, he might just risk it all.EndorsementsThe #1 New York Times bestselling author Ana Huang.

Wreck

Wreck

Catherine Newman

3.772025Literary Fiction
Add

Rocky, still anxious, nostalgic, and funny, is living in Western Massachusetts with her husband Nick and their daughter Willa, who's back home after college. Their son, Jamie, has taken a new job in New York, and Mort, Rocky’s widowed father, has moved in.It all couldn't be more ridiculously normal... until Rocky finds herself obsessed with a local accident that only tangentially affects them—and with a medical condition that, she hopes, won’t affect them at all.With her signature wit and wisdom, Catherine Newman explores the hidden rules of family, the heavy weight of uncertainty, and the gnarly fact that people—no matter how much you love them—are not always exactly who you want them to be.If you loved Rocky and her family on vacation on Cape Cod, wait until you join them at home two years later. (And if this is your first meeting with this crew, get ready to laugh and cry—and relate.)

The Widow

The Widow

John Grisham

4.082025Legal Thriller
Add

Simon Latch is a lawyer in rural Virginia, making just enough to pay his bills while his marriage slowly falls apart. Then into his office walks Eleanor Barnett, an elderly widow in need of a new will. Apparently, her husband left her a small fortune, and no one knows about it.Once he hooks the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar. But soon her story begins to crack. When she is hospitalized after a car accident, Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems, and he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn’t murder.Simon knows he’s innocent. But he also knows the circumstantial evidence is against him, and he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. To save himself, he must find the real killer...Now he’s back with his first-ever whodunit, even more suspenseful than his courtroom dramas, as a small-time lawyer accused of murder races to find the real killer to clear his name.EndorsementsNo. 1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham is the acclaimed master of the legal thriller.

Mate

Mate

Ali Hazelwood

4.002025Romance
Add

Serena Paris is orphaned, pack-less, and one of a kind. Coming forward as the first Human-Were hybrid was supposed to heal a centuries-long rift between species. Instead, it made her a target, prey to the ruthless political machinations between Weres, Vampyres, and Humans. With her enemies closing in on her, she has only one option left—if he’ll have her.As Alpha of the Northwest pack, Koen Alexander commands obedience. His authority is so absolute, only a fool would threaten his mate. It doesn’t matter if Serena doesn’t reciprocate his feelings, nothing will stop him from keeping her safe.But power-hungry Vampyres and Weres are not the only threats chasing Serena. Sooner or later, her past is bound to catch up with her—and Koen might be the only thing standing between her and total annihilation…A human hybrid and an Alpha Were claw against the bonds of fate.

What Stalks the Deep

What Stalks the Deep

T. Kingfisher

4.052025Horror
Add

The next novella in the Sworn Soldier series, featuring Alex Easton investigating the dark, mysterious depths of a coal mine in America.Alex Easton does not want to visit America.They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted.But when their old friend Dr. Denton summons them to help find his lost cousin—who went missing in that very mine—well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do...EndorsementsNew York Times bestselling Sworn Soldier series.

The Wayfinder

The Wayfinder

Adam Johnson

4.042025Historical Fiction
Add

The Wayfinder is an epic, sweeping novel set in the Polynesian islands of the South Pacific during the height of the Tu’i Tonga Empire. At its heart is Kōrero, a young girl chosen to save her people from the brink of starvation. Her quest takes her from her remote island home on a daring seafaring journey across a vast ocean empire built on power, consumption, and bloodshed.Far from a conventional swashbuckling adventure, it conjures a world of outrigger canoes and celestial navigation, weaving a narrative that is as much about survival and self-discovery as it is about the sweeping history of the Tongan people.In this monumental literary work, Adam Johnson explores themes of indigeneity, ecological balance, and the resilience of humanity in the face of scarcity, marking the novel as a profound meditation on both individual and cultural legacy.A historical epic about a girl from a remote Tongan island who becomes her people's queen. With the grandeur of Wolf Hall, Shogun, and War and Peace.

Truly

Truly

Lionel Richie

5.002025Music
Add

As a storyteller second to none, Lionel Richie is ready to tell it all. In this intimate, deeply candid memoir, Lionel revisits hilarious and harrowing events to inspire all who doubt themselves or feel their dreams don’t matter. Lionel chronicles lessons learned during his unlikely story of remarkable success—his dramatic transformation from painfully shy, “tragically” late bloomer to world-class entertainer and composer of love songs that have played as the soundtrack of our lives.Funny, warm, and riveting, Lionel recalls his childhood in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he grew up on its university campus during the heyday of the Civil Rights movement, raucous adventures as a member of The Commodores, coming-of-age in late 1960s Harlem, culture shock playing gigs on the French Riviera, the big break of being signed to Motown, his meteoric solo career that included an Olympics performance witnessed by two billion around the globe, all the way through to writing and recording “We Are the World” and his current multi-generational fame as a judge on American Idol. Even with its turbulence, loss, and near-calamity, Lionel’s journey takes us on a thrill ride and delivers a memoir for the ages—reminding us of the power of love to elevate our own lives and our world.The long-awaited memoir of the legendary Lionel Richie.

The Zorg

The Zorg

Siddharth Kara

4.182025Race
Add

In late October 1780, a slave ship set sail from the Netherlands, bound for Africa’s Windward and Gold Coasts, where it would take on its human cargo. The Zorg (a Dutch word meaning both “care” and “worry”) was one of thousands of such ships, but the harrowing events that ensued on its doomed journey were unique.After reaching Africa, the Zorg was captured by a privateer and came under British command. With a new captain and crew, the ship was crammed with 442 slaves and departed in 1781 for Jamaica. A series of unpredictable weather events and mistakes in navigation left the ship drastically off course and running out of food and water. A proposition was put forward: save the crew and the most valuable of the slaves — by throwing 140 people, mostly women and children, overboard.What followed was a fascinating legal drama in England’s highest court that turned the brutal calculus of slavery into front-page news. For the first time, concepts such as human rights and morality entered the discourse on slavery in a notorious case that boiled down to a simple but profound question: Were the Africans on board the Zorg people or cargo?The case of the Zorg catapulted the nascent anti-slavery movement from a minor evangelical cause to one of the most consequential moral campaigns in history. In this book, Siddharth Kara utilizes primary source research, masterful storytelling, and painstaking investigation to uncover the Zorg’s journey, the lives and fates of the slaves on board, and the mystery of who finally revealed the truth of what happened on the ship.EndorsementsPulitzer finalist and New York Times bestselling author

Alchemy of Secrets

Alchemy of Secrets

Stephanie Garber

4.142025Romance
Add

It starts with a class in an old movie theater.Folklore 517: Local Legends and Urban Myths, taught by a woman called the Professor. Most students believe the Professor’s stories are just fiction, but Holland St. James has always been convinced that magic is real. When she tracks down a local legend named the Watch Man, who can supposedly tell you when you’ll die, the world finally makes sense. Except that the Watch Man tells her she will die at midnight tomorrow unless she finds an ancient object called the Alchemical Heart.With the clock ticking, Holland is pulled deeper into this magical world in the heart of Los Angeles—and into the path of a magnetic stranger. Everything about him feels like a bad idea, but he promises Holland that her sister sent him to protect her. As they chase clues and stories that take them closer to the Alchemical Heart, Holland realizes everyone in this intoxicating new world is lying to her, even this stranger. And if she can’t figure out whom to trust, not even the Alchemical Heart will save her.A contemporary fantasy kicking off a brand new series!Endorsements#1 New York Times bestselling author

Holly

Holly

Adalyn Grace

3.962025Romance
Add

Something strange is happening at Wisteria Gardens, the manor that Blythe and Aris call home. All they want is a peaceful holiday season with their family, but a group of restless spirits is determined to threaten their festivities. With a new mystery to solve, Signa, Death, Blythe, and Fate must uncover what happened to Wisteria’s ghostly inhabitants and help the spirits move on…before it’s too late.A mysterious and magical holiday novella set in the romantic, Gothic-infused world of Belladonna.EndorsementsFrom #1 New York Times bestselling author Adalyn Grace.

Night Creatures

Night Creatures

Robert Macfarlane

0.002025Childrens
Add

The first title in the forthcoming Night Creatures trilogy, created by book-makers Robert Macfarlane and Luke Adam Hawker.From two of the U.K.'s best-known book-makers, Robert Macfarlane and Luke Adam Hawker, comes a stunning picture book to ignite wonder in readers everywhere.In the darkness of December,Through the winter's deepest snowing,When the world is steep in camber,And all hope is downwards-flowingThen's the time to seek what's glowing...Written in lyrical verse, this story follows one sun-seeking child who discovers a meadow illuminated by "fallen constellations" that dance like stars among the summer grasses, setting fears to flight. Enchanting to read aloud and exquisite to hold in the hand, each scene is rendered in spellbinding detail, showing the power of hope in a world steeped in darkness.The first in an upcoming trilogy, Firefly is sure to appeal to all ages. An uplifting and lyrical story of light, hope, and wonder. With words from Robert Macfarlane. Stunning artwork created from original etchings by Luke Adam Hawker. This accessible story is perfect for children, and adults, ages 7 and above.

Minor Black Figures

Minor Black Figures

Brandon Taylor

4.072025Art
Add

A newcomer to New York, Wyeth is a Black painter who grew up in the South and is trying to find his place in the contemporary Manhattan art scene. It’s challenging. Gallery shows displaying bad art. Pretentious artists jockeying for attention. The gossip and the backstabbing. While his part-time work for an art restorer is engaging, Wyeth suffers from artist’s block with his painting and he is finding it increasingly difficult to spark his creativity. When he meets Keating, a white former seminarian who left the priesthood, Wyeth begins to reconsider how to observe the world, in the process facing questions about the conflicts between Black and white art, the white gaze on the Black body, and the compromises we make — in art and in life.Brandon Taylor brings to life in Minor Black Figures a fascinating set of characters in the competitive art world, and the lives they lead with each other and on their own. Minor Black Figures is an involving and tender portrait of friendship, creativity, and the connections between them.A perceptive novel about a gay Black painter navigating the worlds of art, desire, and creativity.EndorsementsFrom Booker Prize finalist Brandon Taylor.

The Genius Bat

The Genius Bat

Yossi Yovel

4.152025Nature
Add

With nearly 1,500 species, bats account for more than twenty percent of mammalian species. The most successful and most diverse group of mammals, bats come in different sizes, shapes, and colors, from the tiny bumblebee bat to the giant golden-crowned flying fox. Some bats eat fruit and nectar; others eat frogs, scorpions, or fish. Vampire bats feed on blood. Bats are the only mammals that can fly; their fingers have elongated through evolution to become wings with a unique super-flexible skin membrane stretched between them. Their robust immune system is one of the reasons for their extreme longevity. A tiny bat can live for forty years.Yossi Yovel, an ecologist and a neurobiologist, is passionate about deciphering the secrets of bats, including using AI to decipher their communication. In The Genius Bat he brings to vivid life these amazing creatures as well as the obsessive and sometimes eccentric people who study them—bat scientists. From muddy rainforests to star-covered night deserts, from guest houses in Thailand to museum drawers full of fossils in New York, this is an eye-opening and entertaining account of a mighty mammal.An awe-inspiring tour of the bat world by the world’s leading expert

Racebook

Racebook

Tochi Onyebuchi

4.832025Essays
Add

an original memoir in essays that interrogates how identities are shaped and informed in online spaces and how the relationship between race and the Internet has changed in his three decades onlineWhen Tochi Onyebuchi realized that his science fiction and fantasy storytelling career had been centrally preoccupied with race, it prompted him to consider his sense of duty as a Black writer in the Internet age. Racebook seeks to explode identity-based presumptions, exploring the early Internet of the late 1990s and early 2000s and recalling in parallel the origins of Onyebuchi as a writer, how his racial presence was defined online then, and how it shifted.With an incisive eye, Racebook illustrates Onyebuchi’s personal relationship to the Internet, proceeding from the current moment when everything, including personal identity, is for sale, and tracing his online self in reverse chronological order to reevaluate Web 1.0’s promises of greater equality. Deftly examining the evolution of Web 1.0 to Web 3.0—from the digital-cultural limitations on social justice then and now, to the ever-changing face of blogging and the inception of Virtual Reality and its failed experiments—Onyebuchi meditates on the roles and restrictions Black writers and characters are subject to, the purpose of virtual worlds, and how the Internet amplifies our failures of imagination.A new, compelling investigation of race through the lens of the modern Internet age, and a profoundly intellectual journey in pursuit of community online, Onyebuchi argues for a recognition of the individual behind the data, ultimately asking “Is this a race book or is it not? Is it either-or? Can it be both-and? Can I?”

Gilded Rage

Gilded Rage

Jacob Silverman

5.002025Business
Add

From the pursuit of potentially apocalyptic artificial intelligence to life-extension start-ups that promise billionaires eternal youth and those who encourage the political far right around the world, the Silicon Valley techno-utopian dream has curdled. The global innovator class has the world in their hands, but they can't stand the touch.In Gilded Rage, Jacob Silverman leads us on a critical investigation into the radicalization of Silicon Valley and the billionaires that increasingly run our lives, shape the global economy, and support Donald Trump.At the center of this book lies Elon Musk, but this is about more than just one man and his obsession with the "woke mind virus." Silverman reveals a network of tech and finance oligarchs, emboldened by the zero-interest-rate years, now using their wealth to exert an increasingly radical political program.Transiting San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Austin and Miami, New York, Washington, DC, and various global capitals of tech, finance, and political power, Silverman talks to the people who are already living with the real-life consequences of the political revolution underway. It's a bizarre, sometimes frightening, darkly humorous world where moguls preach populist revolt while dismantling the few remaining checks on their influence.Gilded Rage offers essential reporting and insight for anyone who wants to know what's happening to Silicon Valley. As the erratic influence of tech elites continues to spread around the world, the story that Jacob has to tell will have a profound relevance for us all.A searing insight into the political radicalization of Silicon Valley, from Elon Musk to Peter Thiel, JD Vance, and Donald Trump, and how it will affect the future of all our lives.EndorsementsNew York Times bestselling author Jacob Silverman.

Girl dinner

Girl dinner

Olivie Blake

3.372025Horror
Add

Girl Dinner is a darkly fun novel about power, lust, and eating your fill, as wealthy moms and sorority girls practice a sinister new wellness trend...Every member of The House, the most exclusive sorority on campus, and all its alumni, are beautiful, high-achieving, and universally respected.After a freshman year she would rather forget, sophomore Nina Kaur knows being one of the chosen few accepted into The House is the first step in her path to the brightest possible future. Once she's taken into their fold, the House will surely ease her fears of failure and protect her from those who see a young woman on her own as easy prey.Meanwhile, adjunct professor Dr. Sloane Hartley is struggling to return to work after accepting a demotion to support her partner's new position at the cutthroat University. After 18 months at home with her newborn daughter, Sloane's clothes don’t fit right, her girl-dad husband isn’t as present as he thinks he is, and even the few hours a day she's apart from her child fill her psyche with paralyzing ennui. When invited to be The House’s academic liaison, Sloane enviously drinks in the way the alumnae seem to have it all, achieving a level of collective perfection that Sloane so desperately craves.As Nina and Sloane each get drawn deeper into the arcane rituals of the sisterhood, they learn that living well comes with bloody costs. And when they are finally invited to the table, they will have to decide just how much they can stomach in the name of solidarity and power.Good girls deserve a treat.EndorsementsFrom the New York Times bestselling author — Olivie Blake.

Julia Song Is Undateable

Julia Song Is Undateable

Susan Lee

3.762025Romance
Add

Susan Lee’s hilarious adult debut is a shimmering and joyful look at the magnificent—and sometimes suffocating—weight of family, the ways we limit ourselves, and the irresistible power of love.Julia Song, CEO of Starlight Cosmetics, is at the height of her career. Then why does she feel like such a failure? Maybe because she’s thirty and single, with a terrible track record at dating. And in the eyes of her Korean family, that is just unacceptable. It never really bothered her—that is until her beloved grandmother drops the bomb that she is sick and her dying wish is for Julia to get married. Impossible. So in a moment of weakness, Julia asks her family for help. Set her up on three dates to help her find The One. But it will never work—Julia is undateable. If only there was a coach for that…Tae Kim knows about the weight of familial expectation. He’s currently unemployed, living in his parents’ basement to care for his ill father. Sure, he’s become somewhat of a fix-it man for the Korean community around town, but that’s not a real job. And the pressure to get his life together is getting to be too much. So when the Julia Song—his childhood crush—asks for his help, it may be just the distraction he needs. He’ll do whatever it takes, even coach her for these three dates. Problem is, the more time they spend together and the closer they get, the more Tae wonders if anyone is good enough for Julia…including him.CEO seeks dating coach

House of Rayne

House of Rayne

Harley Laroux

4.092025Romance
Add

SalemI wasn’t supposed to be here.I was supposed to be marrying my fiancé, looking forward to a tropical honeymoon. Instead, I found myself on a ferry headed for historic Balfour Manor on Blackridge Island, in the Pacific Northwest. Now I’m stranded, with a woman I’m irresistibly drawn to.Rayne holds secrets as dark and mysterious as her old house. Crimson shadows stalk the halls and strange voices call out in the night—but it's she who haunts me most.Following a gruesome murder, the island's true nature is revealed, and every night becomes a fight for survival. Something is stalking the forest, killing indiscriminately . . .And this time, we're its prey.RayneDeath has followed me since childhood. My mother's murder and father's violent death changed me, teaching me just how cruel the world could be.I never got what I wanted, until Salem showed up at my door. She’s adventurous, beautiful, and doomed if she stays here. Now I have something to fight for: the woman who broke down my walls and saw through my mask, who showed me I'm worth loving.My family has long been buried, but even the vilest of secrets must be dug up again to survive the evil that hunts us. I finally have something to fight for, and I'll do whatever it takes to save her.Gothic sapphic romance meets supernatural suspense on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, as a night of forbidden passion opens a Pandora’s box of dangerous secrets and dark magic.EndorsementsNew York Times bestselling author — Harley Laroux.

Local Heavens

Local Heavens

K.M. Fajardo

3.902025Fantasy
Add

New York City, 2075. Filipino-American Nick Carraway has just moved to the heart of the fractured New Americas, where he's struck by the city's contradictions — shining corporate towers casting bleak shadows over the slums of a crumbling middle class.When Nick meets alluring new-money Jay Gatsby, he falls for Gatsby's frank charm and confident aura. But in a city where the wealthy flaunt tech-enhanced bodies to cheat death, surfaces aren't all they seem — and as a corporate-sanctioned cyberspace hacker, Nick knows that no secret can stay buried forever. He's the reason they don't. And his latest assignment? Investigate Gatsby himself.As Nick becomes entangled in the dark affairs of the elite — and the devastating fallout of their actions on the city's most vulnerable — he must reckon with the limits of compassion and accountability across class and status. What takes precedence: Love, or truth? Heart, or soul?A brilliant reimagining of Fitzgerald's classic tale of glamour, desire, and desperation, Local Heavens examines the guardrails of morality ... and the price of desire.A speculative romance reimagining of The Great Gatsby set in 2075 New York, perfect for fans of Emily St John Mandel, Natasha Pulley's The Mars House and Chain-Gang All-Stars. A corporate hacker. An elusive billionaire. A society trying to survive the American Nightmare.

Good Spirits

Good Spirits

B.K. Borison

3.982025Romance
Add

He’s the Ghost of Christmas Past. She’s not exactly Scrooge.Ghost of Christmas Past Nolan Callahan intends to spend this holiday haunting like every other—get in, get out, return to his otherwise aimless existence as a ghost awaiting the afterlife. But when he’s faced with Harriet York, the sweetest assignment he’s ever had, he suddenly finds himself wishing for a future.Harriet York has no idea why she’s being haunted. She’s a good person—or, at least, she tries to be. A people pleaser to her core, she always does what’s expected of her. But as she and Nolan begin to examine her past, they discover there are threads that bind them together—and realize there might be more to moving on than expected.With the deadline of Christmas Eve fast approaching, will they find the key to their futures in each other’s pasts? Or will they stay firmly in the present, indulging in their unexpected, spirited connection?Filled with magic, mayhem, and cozy holiday charm, this swoony romance is B.K. Borison’s best yet!Endorsements“Good Spirits is an absolute knockout. A new Borison book feels like coming home in the best way. She's truly in a league of her own.” — Hannah Grace, New York Times bestselling author of IcebreakerThe New York Times bestselling author of First-Time Caller, B.K. Borison is back with a whimsical new holiday romance—this time with a magical twist—that will have everyone falling in love with the Ghost of Christmas Past.

A Curious Kind of Magic

A Curious Kind of Magic

Mara Rutherford

3.852025Romance
Add

Everyone in Ardmuir knows that Willow Stokes is a charlatan, including Willow herself. Her father's shoppe hasn't sold anything magical in decades, and it's only hanging on by the skin of the fake dragon's teeth Willow sells as charms, along with “enchanted” ostrich eggs, taxidermied chimeras, and talismans made of fools' gold.Until outlander Brianna Hargrave appears and turns Willow's fakes into exactly what they're purported to be. But try as Willow might to enlist Bri's help, she wants nothing to do with Willow and her curiosities.Because Brianna is harboring a secret of her own: everything she touches turns to magic, and the consequences have chased her all the way to Ardmuir. All she wants to do is find a particular missing grimoire, which contains a spell that can finally put an end to her curse.Desperate to keep her father's shoppe, Willow proposes a bargain that could save them both. Together with the frustratingly handsome printer's assistant, the girls will uncover a plot that goes far deeper than either could have imagined. But when Willow is forced to participate in an ambitious collector's quest for the rarest magical object in the world — a quest that risks almost-certain death — she learns that not all treasure is for sale, and that true magic is closer than she ever could have imagined.Howl's Moving Castle meets Little Thieves in this cozy fantasy about the teenage owner of a (mostly fake) magical curiosity shop and a girl cursed to turn everything she touches into magic.

Hazelthorn

Hazelthorn

C.G. Drews

4.212025Horror
Add

Evander has lived like a ghost in the forgotten corners of the Hazelthorn estate ever since he was taken in by his reclusive billionaire guardian, Byron Lennox-Hall, when he was a child. For his safety, Evander has been given three ironclad rules to follow: He can never leave the estate. He can never go into the gardens. And most importantly, he can never again be left alone with Byron's charming, underachieving grandson, Laurie.That last rule has been in place ever since Laurie tried to kill Evander seven years ago, and yet somehow Evander is still obsessed with him.When Byron suddenly dies, Evander inherits Hazelthorn’s immense gothic mansion and acres of sprawling grounds, along with the entirety of the Lennox-Hall family's vast wealth. Evander is sure his guardian was murdered, and Laurie may be the only one who can help him find the killer before they come for Evander next.Perhaps even more concerning is how the overgrown garden is refusing to stay behind its walls, slipping its vines and spores deeper into the house with each passing day. As the family’s dark secrets unravel alongside the growing horror of their terribly alive, bloodthirsty garden, Evander needs to find out what he’s really inheriting before the garden demands to be fed once more.A deeply unsettling and yet hauntingly beautiful tale of murder and botanical body horror, perfect for fans of Andrew Joseph White and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

Our Vicious Oaths

Our Vicious Oaths

N.E. Davenport

3.642025Dragons
Add

Princess of the Aether Dominion, Kadeesha wants nothing to do with fae politics. She is a warrior, first and foremost, and believes her greatest strength is leading her squadron of elite winged serpent flyers to protect her homeland. But bound since infancy to be betrothed to the Hyperion High King, ruler of all Dominions, she has no choice but to do what men have chosen for her.Repulsed by the idea, she decides to spend one last night of freedom—in the arms of a dangerous stranger who takes her to sexual heights she’s never experienced before…but who is only using Kadeesha to set a trap for the High King.For the High King and the kings of his six Dominions were responsible for the decimation of the Apollyon Court, and its new king, Malachi, wants his pound of flesh.On Kadeesha’s wedding day, Malachi and his special forces attack. Her father is killed, and Malachi wounds the High King, ultimately taking Kadeesha as hostage back to his land.But she is no true hostage. The two form a pact: she will help lure the High King so Malachi can kill him once and for all, and he, in turn, will not harm Kadeesha or the Aether people. And as much as Kadeesha hates politics, she is now the Queen of her folk. Fae bonds are unbreakable…and so, perhaps, is the attraction Kadeesha and Malachi feel for each other. For even as they must publicly display their connection to provoke the High King’s jealousy, they struggle to resist the powerful allure between them in order to achieve their ultimate goals.Enter a new world of romantic fantasy from award-winning author N.E. Davenport—a journey of powerful magic, enemies-to-lovers, and political intrigue—as a warrior-princess and a vengeful king from rival fae courts form a fierce alliance to take down a merciless despot.

Bonds of Hercules

Bonds of Hercules

Jasmine Mas

4.502025Romance
Add

Every hero has their monsters.And Alexis is bound to hers: tied eternally, irrevocably to the Underworld’s dark heirs in a marriage that has shaken the foundations of Olympus – and everything Alexis once believed. Reeling, she enlists in the Assembly of Death with her mentors, set on wrecking vengeance on her husbands and uncovering the truth behind her deadly powers.She will soon teach them all that a god can’t be manacled. And a monster can’t be caged…Hercules is back. And you’re bound to love her. In this hotly anticipated follow-up to Jasmine Mas’s BLOOD OF HERCULES, the stakes are higher and the villains darker than ever…

Chasing the Dark

Chasing the Dark

Ben Machell

3.672025Nonfiction
Add

Tony Cornell spent his life probing the very edges of reality. A member of the UK's Society for Psychical Research (SPR), Cornell's role as an investigator of so-called "spontaneous cases" saw him returning time and again to the unsettling spaces that exist just on the periphery of our ordered, tidy, and rational lives, and which we all do our best to ignore: Ghosts. Spirits. Premonitions. Psychic powers. Glimpses of other worlds that throw into question everything we take for granted about life, death, and material existence itself.This is a gripping and page‑turning narrative drawing on Cornell's casefiles, which survive as a huge and uniquely untapped repository of stories reported by ordinary people, as well as correspondence between some of the great intellectuals of the 20th century — including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, and Marie Curie. By applying logical rigor to the investigation of events that could not be explained by conventional science, the SPR drew notable figures to its ranks as it gathered the most meticulous records ever compiled on hauntings, spiritual possessions, and other enduring mysteries. Award-winning journalist Ben Machell mines the extensive archives of the SPR for the first time to reveal the untold history of the secretive organization, and to understand our interactions and ceaseless fascination with the unexplained.

My Life in 24 Frames per Second

My Life in 24 Frames per Second

Rintaro

0.002025
Add

An autobiography penned in manga form from legendary anime director Rintaro, spanning his postwar childhood, his directorial debut, and the subsequent hit series and films, up to the present day.The unsung legend of Japanese anime, Rintaro.Born in 1941 in Tokyo, Rintaro joined the Japanese animated film company Toei Animation in 1958 at the young age of 17. Even in his humble beginnings, when he was involved in putting the finishing touches on the animated film Legend of the White Serpent, Rintaro made unfathomable waves for anime as we know it, with Hayao Miyazaki citing it as a core inspiration in becoming an animator and director rather than a manga artist.In 1960, Rintaro transferred to Mushi Production, an animation studio established and overseen by the “god of manga” Osamu Tezuka himself. He made his directorial debut with the TV anime Astro Boy (1963–66) and served as the chief director for the first-ever full-color TV anime in Japan, Kimba the White Lion, which aired from 1965 and made peerless contributions to the development of technical Japanese anime culture during its early years.Rintaro returned to Toei in 1977 and began work on Jetter Mars. In 1978, his directorial work on Space Pirate Captain Harlock caught the attention of the then-president of Toei Animation, leading to his appointment as the director of the theatrical version of Galaxy Express 999. Released in 1979, this film became a record-breaking hit.After being chosen by Haruki Kadokawa to direct Genma Wars in 1983, Rintaro shifted his main activities to studio Madhouse, directing major films such as The Dagger of Kamui, Yona Yona Penguin, and the critically acclaimed Metropolis.A unique journey that will take us from postwar Japan to the release of the film Metropolis in 2001, My Life in 24 Frames per Second is a journey filled with encounters, opportunities, endless nights, jazz, cigarettes, but above all, cinema. Follow Rintaro’s memoir as key milestones in the history of Japanese animation are unearthed in insightful clarity.

Cat Mask Boy

Cat Mask Boy

Linus Liu

3.132025Young Adult
Add

In 1970s Hong Kong, a mischievous and clever cat-masked boy ventures into the lawless Kowloon Walled City to retrieve his lost report card before his mom finds out.Tiger is a seven-year-old boy, growing up in 1970s Hong Kong. He prefers being clever to working hard, gets terrible grades in school, and dreams of being a superhero. One day, his world is turned upside down when his report card somehow ends up in one of the most dangerous areas of Hong Kong: the Kowloon Walled City. Armed only with his homemade cat mask and determination in his heart, Tiger must dive into the twisting chaos and shadowy street corners of the Walled City to recover the document.Can Tiger and his streetwise new friend Dragon find his report card before his mom calls him home for dinner? Or will he be lost in the dangerous maze of Kowloon forever?Cat Mask Boy is a kinetic journey into another time, full of cultural flavor, warm-hearted humor, and nostalgic urban realism. This thrilling coming-of-age graphic novel explores themes of friendship, self-discovery, and growing up with a touch of retro whimsy.

The Lying Bride and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate Vol. 1

The Lying Bride and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate Vol. 1

Kodama Naoko

3.002025Yuri
Add

Shigisawa Rei has accepted that her life is different from most—while her friends are settling down with families, she's devoted herself to her work as a gay woman in a world that doesn't always feel built for her dreams. But everything changes when she bumps into Goto Saya, a former coworker who once captured her heart. Petite, charming, and ever-popular, Saya seems like she's walked straight out of Rei's past fantasies—except this time, she's asking for Rei's help after a falling out with her husband.Opening her home to Saya should have been simple, but with each passing moment, old feelings bubble to the surface, and Rei finds herself trapped between desire and restraint. Can she resist the pull of forbidden love, or will she risk everything for the woman who was always out of reach?Love, longing, and emotional turbulence collide in this captivating girls' love series where rekindled flames burn brightest.

Vaim

Vaim

Jon Fosse

3.992025Literary Fiction
Add

Jatgeir has come from Vaim to the big city, Bjørgvin, on his wooden boat, Eline, named after the long-lost love of his teenage years. He intends to buy a needle and thread to sew a button but he is cheated, twice. That night, while sleeping on his boat, he hears a familiar voice: unexpectedly, it is Eline, who wants to come home to Vaim with him. She leaves a note for her husband Frank, packs her bags and runs away while he is out fishing.A novel about little boats and big boats, love and death, passive men and an incredibly determined woman.EndorsementsWinner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Traitors Circle

The Traitors Circle

Jonathan Freedland

4.222025History
Add

The Traitors Circle tells the true but scarcely known story of a group of secret rebels against Hitler. Drawn from Berlin high society, they include army officers, government officials, two countesses, an ambassador's widow and a former model, meeting in the shadows—whether hiding and rescuing Jews or plotting for a Germany freed from Nazi rule. One day in September 1943 they gather for a tea party, unaware that one among them is about to betray them all to the Gestapo. But who is the betrayer of a circle that was themselves branded 'traitors' by the cruelest regime in history?Jonathan Freedland sheds light on one of the most dramatic episodes of the Second World War, telling a story of courage, resistance and ultimate betrayal that has deep moral resonance for our own time, and asks what kind of person it takes to risk everything and stand up to tyranny.In another page-turning work of nonfiction that reads like a thriller.EndorsementsFrom the New York Times bestselling author — Jonathan Freedland

This Is the Only Kingdom

This Is the Only Kingdom

Jaquira Díaz

4.022025Mystery
Add

When Maricarmen meets Rey el Cantante, beloved small-time Robin Hood and local musician on the rise, she begins to envision a life beyond the tight-knit community of el Caserío, Puerto Rico – beyond cleaning houses, beyond waiting tables, beyond the constant tug of war between the street hustlers and los camarones. But breaking free proves more difficult than she imagined, and she soon finds herself struggling to make a home for herself, for Rey, his young brother Tito, and eventually, their daughter Nena. Until one fateful day changes everything.Fifteen years later, Maricarmen and Nena find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation as the community that once rallied to support Rey turns against them. Now Nena, a teenager haunted by loss and betrayal and exploring her sexual identity, must learn to fight for herself and her family in a world not always welcoming.For lovers of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, This Is the Only Kingdom is an immersive and moving portrait of a family – and a community – torn apart by generational grief, and a powerful love letter to mothers, daughters, and the barrios that make them.EndorsementsLonglisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel AwardWhiting Award-winning author Jaquira Díaz

Workhorse

Workhorse

Caroline Palmer

3.582025Literary Fiction
Add

At the turn of the millennium, editorial assistant Clodagh “Clo” Harmon wants nothing more than to rise through the ranks at the world’s most prestigious fashion magazine. There’s just one problem: She doesn’t have the right pedigree. Instead, Clo is a “workhorse” surrounded by beautiful, wealthy, impossibly well-connected “show horses” who get ahead without effort, including her beguiling cubicle-mate, Davis Lawrence, the daughter of a beloved but fading Broadway actress. Harry Wood, Davis’s boarding school classmate and a reporter with visions of his own media empire, might be Clo’s ally in gaming the system—or he might be the only thing standing between Clo and her rightful place at the top.In a career punctuated by moments of high absurdity, sudden windfalls, and devastating reversals of fortune, Clo wades across boundaries, taking ever greater and more dangerous risks to become the important person she wants to be within the confines of a world where female ambition remains cloaked. But who really is Clo underneath all the borrowed designer clothes and studied manners—and who are we if we share her desires?A richly drawn, unsettling, and wickedly funny story of envy and ambition set against the glamor and privilege of media and high society in New York City at its height. Hilariously observant and insightful, Workhorse is a brilliant page-turner about what it means to be in thrall to wealth, beauty, and influence, and the outrageous sacrifices women must make for the sake of success.

Book of Lives

Book of Lives

Margaret Atwood

4.282025Memoir
Add

How does one of the greatest storytellers of our time write her own life? The long-awaited memoir from one of our most lauded and influential cultural figures.‘Every writer is at least two beings: the one who lives, and the one who writes. Though everything written must have passed through their minds, or mind, they are not the same.’Raised by ruggedly independent, scientifically minded parents – entomologist father, dietician mother – Atwood spent most of each year in the wild forest of northern Quebec. This childhood was unfettered and nomadic, sometimes isolated (on her eighth birthday: ‘It sounds forlorn. It was forlorn. It gets more forlorn.’), but also thrilling and beautiful.From this unconventional start, Atwood unfolds the story of her life, linking seminal moments to the books that have shaped our literary landscape, from the cruel year that spawned Cat’s Eye to the Orwellian 1980s Berlin where she wrote The Handmaid’s Tale. In pages bursting with bohemian gatherings, her magical life with the wildly charismatic writer Graeme Gibson and major political turning points, we meet poets, bears, Hollywood actors and larger-than-life characters straight from the pages of an Atwood novel.As we travel with her along the course of her life, more and more is revealed about her writing, the connections between real life and art – and the workings of one of our greatest imaginations.

The Wilderness

The Wilderness

Angela Flournoy

3.492025Historical Fiction
Add

Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique, and Nakia are in their early twenties and at the beginning. Of their careers, of marriage, of motherhood, and of big-city lives in New York and Los Angeles. Together, they are finding their way through the wilderness, that period of life when the reality of contemporary adulthood—overwhelming, mysterious, and full of freedom and consequences—swoops in and stays.Desiree and Danielle, sisters whose shared history has done little to prevent their estrangement, nurse bitter family wounds in different ways. January’s got a relationship with a “good” man she feels ambivalent about, even after her surprise pregnancy. Monique, a librarian and aspiring blogger, finds unexpected online fame after calling out the university where she works for its plans to whitewash fraught history. And Nakia is trying to get her restaurant off the ground, without relying on the largesse of her upper middle-class family who wonder aloud if she should be doing something better with her life.As these friends move from the late 2000’s into the late 2020’s, from young adults to grown women, they must figure out what they mean to one another—amid political upheaval, economic and environmental instability, and the increasing volatility of modern American life.An era-defining novel about five Black women over the course of their twenty-year friendship, as they move through the dizzying and sometimes precarious period between young adulthood and midlife—in the much-anticipated second book from National Book Award finalist Angela Flournoy.Endorsements"Wonderfully ambitious... Flournoy explores the complexity of friendship, family, and home in a voice that is expansive yet intimate, humorous yet devastating. I loved this book." — Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half and The Mothers

A Guardian and a Thief

A Guardian and a Thief

Megha Majumdar

3.782025India
Add

In a near-future Kolkata beset by flooding and famine, Ma, her two-year-old daughter, and her elderly father are just days from leaving the collapsing city behind to join Ma’s husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After procuring long-awaited visas from the consulate, they pack their bags for the flight to America. But in the morning they awaken to discover that Ma’s purse, containing their treasured immigration documents, has been stolen.Set over the course of one week, A Guardian and a Thief tells two stories: the story of Ma’s frantic search for the thief while keeping hunger at bay during a worsening food shortage; and the story of Boomba, the thief, whose desperation to care for his family drives him to commit a series of escalating crimes whose consequences he cannot fathom. With stunning control and command, Megha Majumdar paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of two families, each operating from a place of ferocious love and undefeated hope, each discovering how far they will go to secure their children’s future as they stave off encroaching catastrophe.Megha Majumdar’s electrifying novel. A piercing and propulsive tour de force. A masterful new work from one of the most exciting voices of her generation.

The White Hot

The White Hot

Quiara Alegría Hudes

3.742025Literary Fiction
Add

The story of a runaway mother’s ten days of freedom—and the pain, desire, longing, and wonder we find on the messy road to enlightenment—from Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes.April is a young mother raising her daughter in an intergenerational house of unspoken secrets and loud arguments. Her only refuge is to hide away in a locked bathroom, her ears plugged into an ambient soundscape, and a mantra on her lips: dead inside. That is, until one day, as she finds herself spiraling toward the volcanic rage she calls the white hot, a voice inside her tells her to just . . . walk away. She wanders to a bus station and asks for a ticket to the furthest destination; she tells the clerk to make it one-way. That ticket takes her from her Philly home to the threshold of a wilderness and the beginning of a nameless quest—an accidental journey that shakes her awake, almost kills her, and brings her to the brink of an impossible choice.The White Hot takes the form of a letter from mother to daughter about a moment of abandonment that would stretch from ten days to ten years—an explanation, but not an apology. Hudes narrates April’s story—spiritual and sexy, fierce and funny—with delicate lyricism and tough love. Just as April finds in her painful and absurd sojourn the key to freeing herself and her family from a cage of generational trauma, so Hudes turns April’s stumbling pursuit of herself into an unforgettable short epic of self-discovery.

Shadow Ticket

Shadow Ticket

Thomas Pynchon

3.472025Historical Fiction
Add

Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation business shifting from labor-management relations to the more domestic kind. Hicks McTaggart, a one-time strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks he’s found job security until he gets sent out on what should be a routine case: locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune who’s taken a mind to go wandering. Before he knows it, he’s been shanghaied onto a transoceanic liner, ending up eventually in Hungary where there’s no shoreline, a language from some other planet, and enough pastry to see any cop well into retirement—and, of course, no sign of the runaway heiress he’s supposed to be chasing. By the time Hicks catches up with her he will find himself also entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them—none of which Hicks is qualified to deal with; forget about being paid. Surrounded by history he has no grasp on and can’t see his way around in or out of, the only bright side for Hicks is it’s the dawn of the Big Band Era and, as it happens, he’s a pretty good dancer. Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to lindy-hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question.

Nobody's Girl

Nobody's Girl

Virginia Roberts Giuffre

4.522025Memoir
Add

The world knows Virginia Roberts Giuffre as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim: the woman whose decision to speak out helped send both serial abusers to prison, whose photograph with Prince Andrew catalyzed his fall from grace. But her story has never been told in full, in her own words—until now.In April 2025, Giuffre took her own life. She left behind a memoir written in the years preceding her death and stated unequivocally that she wanted it published. Nobody’s Girl is the riveting and powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront extraordinary adversity.Here, Giuffre offers an unsparing and definitive account of her time with Epstein and Maxwell, who trafficked her and others to numerous prominent men. She also details the molestation she suffered as a child, as well as her daring escape from Epstein and Maxwell’s grasp at nineteen. Giuffre remade her life from scratch and summoned the courage to not only hold her abusers to account but also advocate for other victims. The pages of Nobody’s Girl preserve her voice—and her legacy—forever.The unforgettable memoir by the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the woman who dared to take on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Nobody’s Girl is an astonishing affirmation of Giuffre’s unshakable will—first, to claw her way out of victimhood, and then to shine light on wrongdoing and fight for a safer, fairer world. Equal parts intimate and fierce, it is a remarkable narrative of fortitude in the face of depravity and despair.

Twice

Twice

Mitch Albom

4.312025Romance
Add

When he is eight years old, Alfie Logan discovers the magical ability to get a second chance at everything. He can undo any moment and live it again. The catch: he must accept the consequences of his second try—for better or worse.He grows up correcting his mistakes and saving himself from adolescent embarrassments. He even takes foolishly dangerous risks, just to see what it’s like to come close to death, before tapping back to safety.Eventually, Alfie turns his gift to his love life, studying his crushes and going back to make himself more appealing. In time, he falls deeply in love with Gianna, the woman he believes is the one. He seems to find contentment.But as the years pass, Alfie’s eye begins to wander. He learns a lone caveat to his gift: once he undoes a love, that person can never fall in love with him again. Knowing that if he gives in to temptation, he will risk losing what he has with Gianna, Alfie makes a choice that changes his life forever.The book begins many years later, after an ailing Alfie is arrested for allegedly cheating and winning millions at a casino roulette wheel. As a curious detective interrogates him, he slowly uncovers Alfie’s incredible story and its most unlikely conclusion.What if you got to do everything in your life — twice? The heart of Mitch Albom’s newest novel is a stunning love story that dares to explore how our unchecked desires might mean losing what we’ve had all along. In Twice, America’s favorite storyteller, Mitch Albom, is at the top of his powers. A love story that is enchanting, probing, and clairvoyant in matters of the heart, Twice will make you think, weep, and overflow with love from beginning to end.

Taylor's Version

Taylor's Version

Stephanie Burt

5.002025Biography
Add

A preeminent Harvard professor and poetry expert explains the artistry—and the celebrity—of Taylor Swift Taylor Swift has become a peerless superstar, ceaselessly productive and internationally beloved. From her teen country debut to her world tour as the chair of the tortured poets department, Swift’s career and her creations have captivated and bewitched us, opening up new ways to see both her life and our own. In Taylor’s Version, the poet and literary scholar Stephanie Burt offers an insightful and heartfelt critical appreciation of Taylor Swift, her body of work, and the community that her art has fostered. Drawing from her 2024 Harvard course, Taylor Swift and Her World, as well as from her years as a Swiftie, Burt examines the purposes, talents, and energies Swift brings to her music and to her persona. She highlights the ways Swift’s work remains at once intimate and relatable, portraying people we feel that we know and people we wish we could be, from the first loves and girlhoods on Fearless through the public and private angst of Midnights. How does she do it (with a broken heart)? Tracing a path through the Eras, Taylor’s Version shows what Swift has created, how it works, and what it means.

The Isle in the Silver Sea

The Isle in the Silver Sea

Tasha Suri

3.772025Romance
Add

In a Britain fuelled by stories, the knight and the witch are fated to fall in love and doom each other over and over, the same tale retold over hundreds of lifetimes.Simran is a witch of the woods. Vina is a knight of the Queen's court. When the two women begin to fall for each other, how can they surrender to their desires, when to give in is to destroy each other?As they seek a way to break the cycle, a mysterious assassin begins targeting tales like theirs. To survive, the two will need to write a story stronger than the one that fate has given to them.But what tale is stronger than The Knight and the Witch?Tasha Suri's The Isle in the Silver Sea is a heart-shattering romantasy of sapphic longing, medieval folklore and a love that spans the centuries.EndorsementsWorld Fantasy Award winner — Tasha Suri.

Letter From Japan

Letter From Japan

Marie Kondō

4.072025Nonfiction
Add

In her most personal book yet, Marie Kondo opens up about the cultural traditions that have inspired her philosophy—and can make our lives better today.“This book represents guiding principles by which I lead my life every day. They also define, at least for me, the values that flow through the arts, rituals and sensibilities of Japan.”Though she’s known for “tidying up” and “sparking joy,” there’s more to Marie Kondo than her love of mess. Across book tours and international conferences, it became clear that her audience, while interested in how to keep their lives tidy, was also keen to learn about Kondo herself and the culture that is intrinsic to her tidying method.In Letter from Japan, Kondo responds to the myriad questions she received about her inspirations by examining the Japanese customs that she grew up with—minute details of tea ceremonies, the art of taking care of gardens, and the power of passing seasons—with her trademark gentle wisdom. But this isn’t only a response to her audience’s fervent desire to get to know the woman behind the show; it’s a manifesto for her three children, a documentation of the foundational elements of their culture that is essential to their understanding of the world around them.With subtle and lyrical prose, Kondo embarks on her most personal and affirming book yet, holding onto the customs that not only spark joy but also preserve them for future generations.EndorsementsIconic star of the hit Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.

You Could Be Happy Here

You Could Be Happy Here

Erin Van Rheenen

4.302025Literary Fiction
Add

This haunting story transports us to the wild, rocky coast of Central America—and into the heart of a woman searching for the father she never knew.Lucy—single, childless, in her thirties—studies insects and ecosystems to try to make sense of human behavior. But she’s still mystified by a series of events that shatter her idea of who she is and where she belongs. Her mother dies prematurely, her sister claims the Northern California family home, and Lucy learns that her real father is apparently a Costa Rican they knew when the family spent summers in the coastal village of Palmita.Reeling, disinherited, and recently demoted at work, Lucy heads south in search of her biological father and the land he may have bequeathed her. But the man is nowhere to be found, and none of the locals seem to remember her. The dreamy, off-grid paradise she recalls from childhood has become a hard-edged town leery of hotel-building, forest-razing outsiders. Will Lucy, too, be judged an interloper? Or will she rise to the challenge: rethink her place in the world, open her heart, and expand her notion of kinship and home?

Jackson Bright in the Spotlight

Jackson Bright in the Spotlight

Eureka O'Hara

3.922025Middle Grade
Add

From drag superstar Eureka O’Hara and Dan Poblocki comes a beautiful, buoyant middle-grade novel about a boy who enters a local pageant—as a drag queen!When Jackson Bright wears a dress to the last day of school, he expects to be complimented on the cute polka-dot design. Instead, he gets sent to the principal’s office. Jackson doesn’t know why people are saying that he needs to “dress like a boy.” And with all the discussions of “dressing like a boy” and “dressing like a girl,” he wonders where people like his best friend Eva, who’s nonbinary, fit into all of this. Or why he felt so confident and happy while wearing that dress.So when Jackson sees a flyer for the town’s beloved Little Miss pageant, he comes up with a plan: dress in drag in order to compete and show the town just how fabulous he can be! More than anything, though, he wants to push the boundaries of gender and learn how to better support Eva and other nonbinary kids like them, which is harder than he realizes.Before he knows it, he’s thrust into a world of rhinestone gowns and fiercely applied makeup. With the help of Eva and Uncle Aaron, Jackson scrambles to come up with an array of dazzling costumes, a crowd-winning speech, and a killer talent act.As he navigates the ups and downs of the competition—all while keeping his real identity a secret and hiding a growing crush on his rival’s brother—Jackson will have to figure out how to stand beside his friend and show his small town that #nonbinaryteaisvalid, unpack questions about his family and identity that he’s been hiding from, and learn how to stay true to himself and hold his head high no matter what!

Gone Before Goodbye

Gone Before Goodbye

Harlan Coben

3.652025Thriller
Add

Maggie McCabe is teetering on the brink. A highly skilled and renowned Army combat surgeon, she has always lived life at the edge, where she could make the most impact. And it was all going to plan ... until it wasn’t.After a devastating series of tragedies leads to her medical license being revoked, Maggie has lost her purpose but not her nerve or her passion. At her lowest point, she is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite plastic surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy, as well as absolute discretion.Halfway across the globe, sequestered in the lap of luxury and cutting-edge technology, one of the world’s most mysterious men requires unconventional medical assistance. Desperate, and one of the few surgeons in the world skilled enough to take this job, Maggie enters his realm of unspeakable opulence and fulfills her end of the agreement. But when the patient suddenly disappears while still under her care, Maggie must become a fugitive herself—or she will be the next one who is ... Gone Before GoodbyeAn unforgettable suspense novel that combines the storytelling talents of Academy Award-winning actor Reese Witherspoon and internationally bestselling author Harlan Coben. Gone Before Goodbye is the story of a woman trapped in a deadly conspiracy—where uncovering the truth could cost her everything.

New in October - Bookist