New Book Tuesday... and These are Killers!

 

If Books Could Kill by Kate Eberle... 
A NOVEL LOVE STORY meets LOVE IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS in this rom-com following Roxie Mitchell, an adventure-loving romance reader who finds herself trapped in a meet-cute turned murderous

When Roxie makes a tongue-in-cheek wish to live out the plot of her favorite author’s next novel, she has romance in mind—namely, the sweet, safe, swoon-worthy storylines Anna Matthews is known for. It should be a dream come true when her wish is granted and she finds herself swept into a first date with a handsome stranger who seems designed to take her breath away.

Except for one little hiccup: That handsome stranger tries to take her breath away. Literally. With a knife. The thing is, Roxie may be the new Anna Matthews protagonist—but this time, Anna is writing a crime thriller.

Thrown into a perilous genre she’s never read, Roxie is desperate for help. So when her escape takes her straight into the path of Grant Hoffman, an anxious English professor with a convenient love of crime novels, she decides that kidnapping a grown man is a small price to pay for her own survival. Together, Roxie and Grant navigate a madcap story in which the lines between fiction and reality blur. They’ll find out if they have what it takes to make it to The End—or maybe even Happily Ever After.

I like these stories that "bring to life" a story. Where the characters in a book come to life. This sounds fun. On my TBR list now! Published by Michael Joseph UK.

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How to Kill a Crime Writer by Sarah Lotz...
After the untimely death of her bestselling crime novelist mother, a young woman teams up with the fictional “ghost” of the heroine from her mother’s series in order to solve her mother’s murder.

After the tragic death of bestselling crime writer Annie Morrisey, her daughter, Niamh, moves into her mother's country cottage to take care of her mother’s estate. Shut away from the world, Niamh doesn't actually have to deal with the grief of her mother's untimely passing. Until the day that two things happen: the advance copy of her mother's final book lands on the doorstep and Leah Rebecca Overton appears in the kitchen.

Having a stranger show up in your house would be concerning at the best of times, but Leah isn't a stranger—she's the ultra-competent sleuth heroine from Annie’s novels. The antithesis of Niamh in every way, she's lived in the fictitious character's shadow for years. But why (and how) has Leah turned up now? And why can only Niamh see her? Leah is the last thing Niamh wants in her house or in her head, but she can't ignore the sleuth...especially when Leah suspects there may have been more to Annie's death than first suspected.

Another character coming alive off the page story! This is on my TBR list too! Published by Berkley Publishing.

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Love You To Death by Christina Dotson... 
When two best friends’ hobby of crashing weddings takes a deadly turn, they’re forced to embark on a road trip of survival in this addictive thriller.

How well do we really know our friends?

As the only Black women at an antebellum-themed wedding, Kayla and Zorie should’ve known this heist was doomed from the start. They should never have come, but when their financial situation became dire, they agreed to hit one last wedding.

Jaded and cynical Kayla has spent the last decade trying to fix her life since an angsty teen prank led to her arrest. Now, with her housekeeping job at a subpar hotel and her disappointing, Cinderella-esque relationship with her dad and obnoxious stepsister, she hates the life she’s built. Her only bright spots are her best friend, Zorie, and their favorite weekend pastime of crashing weddings to steal the money and pawn the gifts. But what started as a lark has evolved into a greedy obsession, making each wedding haul riskier than the last.

While trying to avoid the angry bride and groom, Kayla and Zorie’s getaway takes a gruesome turn and suddenly the “Wedding Crasher Killers” are national news. The best friends are forced to hit the road to dodge the authorities, but their escape plan leaves behind a bloody trail of destruction from Georgia all the way to the bayou. As past grudges resurface, Kayla realizes that the best friend she thought she knew is more dangerous than she could ever have realized.

Sharp, unpredictable, and madcap from start to finish, Love You to Death is the most fun—and deadly—road trip you’ll ever take.

Now I am absolutely intrigued by this book! Not only is it a BFF story, but a Thelma & Louise vibe (you do know who Thelma & Louise are, right?!?) and a thriller to boot. Definitely on my TBR list now! Published by Bantam Publishing.

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Henry Tudor Must Die by Jillian Laine... 
One queen exiled. Another headed for the gallows. Both hungry for revenge. England’s most infamous queens unite in vengeance against Henry VIII.

Anne Boleyn is going to die, and neither her cleverness nor her witchery can save her. So when her late rival, Catalina de Aragón, miraculously appears in her cell at the Tower of London on the eve of her execution, very much alive and offering a daring escape plan, no one is more surprised than Anne.

Lina doesn’t have Anne’s magic—but she has just as much hate for England’s wretched king. Severed from her daughter and stripped of all her influence, Lina breathes only for the Hellebore Sisterhood, a clandestine and powerful society with a vested interest in keeping both queens alive . . . and using their particular skills to advance womankind.

Anne and Lina’s old rivalries pale in comparison to a common enemy. And they're not alone. Anna von Kleve, Kat Howard, and even Catherine Parr all have their own bones to pick with the king. One by one, they capture their pawns, infiltrating the court and eliminating the men who plotted against them. Always inching closer to their true target . . .

And they want his head.

Well, I have to say that this is giving me feeling of deja vu. I read The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann back in April, where Anne Boleyn comes back from the dead seeking revenge on Henry and here we are again with Anne in prison and escaping her "real life fate" to pursue revenge along with some other famous Henry wives. It isn't exactly the same story, but... So I am intrigued and on the fence. The Beheading Game was definitely a 5 star read, so am I wishing for a repeat reading this? On my TBR list, but... Published by Berkley Publishing.

So, there you have it! My top 4 books from this weeks New Book Tuesday! Which are you putting on your TBR list?

New Book Tuesday!

It's New Book Tuesday! 

Here are my top 9 picks! (You'll have to get to the end of the post to see #9)!

Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt by Ben Reeves... A deeply moving novel about finding beauty in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death.

Travis is Death in the modern world. He lives with his cat in a small, gray town. His job is to offer people comfort in their final hours of life, which he does without complaint or judgement. He’s stoic, gentle, and a little naive, despite who he is, but he never tries to change anyone’s fate. He is responsible for maintaining the balance of nature, and every life must eventually end.

Then Travis meets Dalia, a midwife, and her boisterous eight-year-old daughter Layla, who live across the hall, and despite his best attempts to keep his distance, he finds himself wholeheartedly embraced by other people for the first time. So it is with this seemingly unremarkable family that Travis begins to understand what it means to be truly alive—and what might be irrevocably lost in death.

Written with radiant warmth, wisdom, and compassion, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt is a timeless and ultimately uplifting story about appreciating life, accepting its end, and finding our place in the universe—especially when it feels most impossible—that will resonate with anyone who has ever loved and lost or worried about time’s passing.

This is July's Indie Next pick. We've had "Death" write quite a few stories before (The Book Thief comes to mind first), but this one seems to have an added twist of Death being part of a family. I'm intrigued. And with this book being chosen as the Indie Next pick for July, there are a lot of other people intrigued as well! On my TBR list. Published by Avid Reader Press (& Simon & Schuster)

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The Memory Bookshop by Song Yu-jeong... 
For lovers of The Midnight Library and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, discover a spellbinding novel about a mysterious bookshop that exists outside of time and space, where the past is only a page away…

If you're lost or grieving, you'll find The Memory Bookshop, where the shelves are endless; the books, strangely familiar; and where memories are bound in pages.

Jiwon’s life has been slowly disintegrating since her mother died. Until one day, caught by a sudden downpour, she stumbles into a mysterious bookstore. Inside, she is met by Manager K and offered no explanation, only a mysterious hourglass and a rare opportunity: to travel back to three chapters of her life.

But returning to the past isn't without risk. In exchange, Jiwon must give up time in her future.

As she wanders between the shelves, the bookshop humming with memories and regrets, she must ask herself: can the past truly be rewritten? Or does the real magic lie in the life she's yet to live?

Warm, wise, and full of wonder, The Memory Bookshop is a story about the journey of grief and the power of books to carry us home.

First, I love books about books and bookshops! Second, I love books about going back in time. This is definitely on my TBR list. This was wildly popular in Korea and translated & published by William Morrow Paperbacks.

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Helpless by Jessica Knoll... A"sexy new thriller" (New York Post) with a "shocking and mindbending" (SheReads) last page.

It's been twelve years since Faye Heron broke Henry Spalding's heart. Henry was her college boyfriend, her first love, but Faye was in danger of being subsumed by him and the intensity of their connection—a connection that took her beyond boundaries she'd only dreamed of crossing.

Now, Faye is one half of a power-producing duo with her Hollywood husband. Henry is a married father running the family business. On the surface, both of their lives have essentially gone to plan.

When a former and beloved college professor suddenly passes away, Faye and Henry find themselves back on campus for the funeral, circling something old and dangerous. Something, if Faye is honest with herself, she has been trying to duplicate for years. But Henry is one of a kind.

The kind who delivers a hypnotic apology for the way things ended.

The kind who suggests they go back to the hotel for a drink.

The kind who drugs and kidnaps her.

When Faye comes to Henry’s remote mountain cabin, she’s beside herself. Has Henry brought her here to punish her? She did, after all, write and star in a lauded episode of television based on their indelicate appetites and vicious breakup. As her week of captivity unfolds, Henry’s wanton demands intensify, and Faye finds herself pulled back into his irresistible gravity. But as Faye and Henry spiral into their old dynamic, a sprawling, years-old mystery begins to take shape—one that will rewrite history as Faye remembers it and reveal an astounding, cataclysmic truth.

This sounds like a slow irresistible hypnotic burn. On my TBR list! Published by Scribner. 

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The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders... The dead are relentless gossips, or at least these dead are.

An impulsive and heartbroken woman inherits her father’s share of a Tennessee farm that is rich in family secrets and occupied with busybody ghosts in this sweeping family portrait.

At thirty-two, Aubrey Lamb is stumbling through adulthood. An underpaid gig worker in Washington, DC, she’s grieving the end of a serious relationship and the recent loss of her father. When Aubrey learns she has inherited his stake in a sizable Tennessee farm she sees an opportunity to get out of the city—and to erase a mounting pile of debt.

Watching her arrival with great interest are four ghosts—Aubrey’s ancestors, who’ve staked their own claims to the farm and who never hesitate to pass judgment on the mistakes made by the living, whether romantic, financial, or sartorial. As Aubrey reconnects with her living family, another story unfolds in parallel: the history of the land, beginning with its purchase by Thomas, Aubrey’s great-grandfather and one of the first Black landowners in his community. Though Thomas hopes to give his children a homestead on which they could flourish, the land proves to be a burdensome inheritance. Over the years, it turns the Lambs against one another, culminating in a catastrophic tragedy that splinters the family and echoes through the decades.

Now, as the clock ticks on a potential sale of the farm, the ghosts fear expulsion from the home they’ve made, and Aubrey must weigh the hopes and burdens of her forebears with the very real needs of her future.

An expansive family saga told with a wry and distinctly modern voice, The Great Wherever is at once grand and intimate; it explores the ways we learn to define ourselves through and against our families, how we carry on after loss, and how the past lives on in all of us.

Okay, I LOVE ghost stories! I love when they appear in stories and I love when the main character dies and comes back as a ghost. This has an interesting twist to it as it's a group of dead relative ghosts imparting some lessons to a descendent. I'm interested to see where this goes. Published by Henry Holt & Co.

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An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton... 
When an astronaut is lost in space, his wife relives their epic love as she attempts to unravel what truly happened to him, in this sweeping love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s Space Race, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes.

When Joe Mitchell launches into space, the world is watching. It’s 1968, and the country waits with anticipation and excitement for another successful mission, another celebration as America sets its sights on the Moon. And then comes the knock at the door.

Joe Mitchell’s spacecraft has lost contact. He and his fellow astronauts onboard are feared to be dead. It’s his wife Vivian’s worst nightmare come to life, her grief suddenly taking center stage as the nation waits and mourns. In her quiet moments, Vivian relives their memorable story, unable to accept that this is the end to a love that felt as though it was written in the stars.

As the investigation surrounding Joe’s lost spacecraft intensifies and the mishap is written off as an operator error, Vivian is determined to clear her husband’s name and uncover the mystery of what happened in space. When someone starts sending Vivian messages—messages she believes only Joe could send—she begins to wonder if their love is stronger than space and time, and she’ll do whatever it takes to bring her husband back to her.

It feels like NASA is part of quite a few love stories these days (Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid anyone?!) Going up in space is big in the movies too (Hail Mary!) But I love those stories where someone comes back from the other side to say hello, and this may or may not be messages from the other side, we just have to read it to find out. On my TBR list and published by Berkley. 

Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox... Secrets emerge as a Texas beauty pageant turns deadly in this rich and addictive novel with a jaw-dropping twist from psychological suspense author Kelsey Cox.

2000:Isabelle Whitmore vanishes at Sherman Ranch in Anhalt, Texas, without a trace.

2025: The Lone Star Princess Pageant is about to begin, but this year it’s offering more than an annual dose of rhinestone heels and plunging necklines. Competition is stiffer than ever —and long standing grudges are about to resurface. Ingrid fled Anhalt in the wake of her sister Isabelle’s disappearance and has now returned, just in time for a construction crew to start digging up Sherman Ranch; the pageant brings up past traumas that Melanie can't forget; Cat, newly sober, starts to feel threatened in ways that bring back old demons; and Sarah Lynn, who comes from a long line of pageant winners, knows that losing is not an option.

When old resentments and new confrontations reach their boiling point, temperatures drop to deadly degrees as a record-setting storm brings down the state’s power grid. With everyone trapped under one roof, scores will be settled, and more than one person will end up dead.

Of course we have to have a creepy pageant queen thriller ! I'm not into beauty pageants, but this is suppose to be a "jaw-dropping" thriller and I'm definitely into that! It irks me a little that a book by the same name by Liv Lowry and practically the same cover. I guess pretty dead things are equivalent to dead flowers. On my TBR list and published by Minotaur books.

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The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley... The stakes are high, the love is forbidden, and the slow burn turns steamy in this swoony, witty, and heart-stoppingly romantic sequel to instant New York Times bestseller The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy.

Osric is a member of the Fyren Order, a guild of assassins who gleefully murder for money. Aurienne is a Haelan, a scholar-healer whose Order’s motto is Harm to none. Clear-cut absolutes separate them: good and bad, right and wrong, light and dark . . .

Until they don’t.

When Osric first bribed Aurienne to heal him, he never imagined those lines would begin to blur. But every healing session draws them closer together. He finds himself developing unwanted feelings for Aurienne as her capable hands heal his body—and his heart.

Aurienne’s perfect life has been flung into chaos in the form of a devastatingly handsome assassin. She should be in her research lab, not illicitly healing a Fyren every full moon—nor wrestling an attraction to him that threatens to slip into something else.

Things go superbly sideways when Osric and Aurienne discover more about the deadly Pox deliberately unleashed through the Tīendoms. The plague may be the work of another Order—an Order far nastier than either of them can handle.

As the lines between Osric and Aurienne continue to blur, the balance between peace and war, and love and hate, trembles, shifts, and hinges on a heartbeat.

Book 2 of a romantasy that brings enemies to lovers to another level, this is wildly popular series with a lot of buzz about book 2. Published by Ace.

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Where Lost Girls Go by Kody Keplinger... There are many reasons why six girls have ended up living with Sol in a cabin in the Kentucky mountains. But the girls don't talk about what has brought them each here or who they were before. They have become sisters and are grateful to have a place to call home.Iris knows she owes everything to Sol. He has promised to keep them safe from their pasts. All he asks in return is for their loyalty, which Iris freely gives. With her sisters and Sol as her family, she feels happier than she has in a long time.

Until a new girl arrives and everything changes.

Sol dubs her Rose and the sisters are quick to welcome her. Iris is drawn to Rose, but as they grow closer, Rose has Iris questioning things about this life in the woods. When Sol notices, he challenges Iris to prove her commitment to their family. Her sisters tell her that she should be willing to do anything for the man who saved her. But with each new ask, Iris realizes there is more to Sol-and her sisters-than she knows and some secrets should stay buried deep.

a stunning story about girlhood, power, and desperation that asks just how far we'll go to save ourselves-and those we love.

This sounds creepy, but in a good way. I want to read this just for Iris. She seems like a great protagonist questioning the whole creepy set-up and maybe liberating her sister friends from a dangerous situation. Published by Scholastic Press, but it doesn't sound YA to me. Maybe the writing is gauged more towards a younger audience?

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The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly... One sister offers her life in exchange for the other’s in this dark, Irish lore–inspired romantasy and “sizzling, high-stakes debut launching a series that readers will greedily devour”.

On the mist-shrouded Isle of Eireann, buying magic comes with a price.

But when her beloved older sister is gravely injured, Maeve risks everything to buy the forbidden magic that might save her. In exchange, Maeve trades her life to a ruthless and dangerously alluring rebel leader. Bound to do his bidding, Maeve finds herself thrown into a deadly competition to become the next queen and stand beside a prince rumored to be more brutal than his tyrannical father.

With the isle on the brink of war, trust and survival come at a terrible cost—one that will tear Maeve’s world, and her heart, in two.

What would you sacrifice to survive?

You got me at Irish lore. And "mist-shrouded Isle of Eireann". Romantasy and sacrifice and all things in a great story! On my TBR list!

In My Mailbox... Advanced Reading Copies that Came My Way This Week and You'll Want to Know About!

I'm so excited about these two soon-to-be-published books! It's been a few years since we've heard from Richard Russo and Chang-Rae Lee. Both wonderful writers whose books I've devoured in the past...

Under The Falls by Richard Russo...
A spellbinding page-turner about a crime in a small town that exposes long-held secrets and betrayals among a group of lifelong friends.When Tyler Sinclair left Stone Mountain at eighteen, he had no plans of returning. With only a duffel bag full of clothes, a few bucks stolen from his father’s dresser, and a guitar, his most prized possession, Tyler disappeared without so much as a goodbye. Eighteen years later, Tyler, now the frontman of a famous band aptly named Stone Mountain, finds himself returning to his hometown for a one-night-only benefit concert to support his old friend, Doc, who lost feeling in his legs following a childhood accident. As Tyler ascends the mountain, memories of his childhood come rushing back—memories of his abusive father and despondent mother, of the friends he left behind—and he quickly learns that, for many people on Stone Mountain, the past does not feel like so long ago, and not everyone has been eagerly awaiting Tyler’s return.

At the concert, resentment simmers just beneath the surface, and Tyler finds himself confronted with faces new and old: there’s Curt, Tyler’s childhood best friend, now Stone Mountain’s chief of police, and his star officer, Deb, an out-of-towner who may have bitten off more than she can chew by accepting a job in Stone Mountain. And then there’s Freddi, Curt’s wife and Tyler’s former lover, a woman whose questionable dealings and fraught history with Tyler will become the catalyst for a tragedy that will upend each of their lives and threaten to validate Tyler’s worst fear: that “Stone Mountain is the kind of place you might escape from once, if you’re lucky, but not twice.”

Under the Falls is at once a propulsive thriller, a gut-wrenching portrait of a tight-knit rural community undone by the sins of its past, and an unflinchingly honest depiction of how porous the line between right and wrong, good versus evil, can become. This is a stunning, deeply empathetic novel, one that takes Russo’s penchant for character-driven drama to thrilling new heights. 

Richard Russo is a master storyteller and I've enjoyed all of his novels. When I heard he was coming out with a new standalong novel, I was excited and even more excited when I received an advanced digital copy of Under The Falls from the publisher, Knopf. Just add this to your TBR list. It will be published on August 11th.

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A Tender Age by Chang-Rae Lee... A story of guilt, innocence, and a boy on the cusp of adolescence. A spellbinding exploration of American masculinity and family dynamics as seen through the confused eyes of a prepubescent child of immigrants, A Tender Age joins the rich tradition of the American *bildungsroman (*a literary genre that focuses on the psychological, moral, and emotional growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood.) The natural descendent of characters like Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caufield, Korean-American Jeon-Gi is torn between competing ideas of himself. At home, his working-class parents dote on him. Outside, he is part of a roving pack of kids with dominion over a derelict baseball field, weedy parking lot, and rusty jungle gym. Getting into and out of trouble is all-consuming. But the summer he turns eleven, he becomes embroiled in a staggering series of events reverberating far beyond himself and his family.

Devastating in its emotional precision, A Tender Age captures a family and community in striking distance of the American dream, and a young person on the precipice of adult knowledge, looking at his own culpability and looking away—then thinking about it for the rest of his life.

Another great storyteller, Chang-Rae Lee has dived deep into his character's soul to share their lives. This sounds like a great coming-of-age story, and then some. I am excited to read this new novel from Chang-Rae Lee and was happy to received an advanced digital copy from the publisher, Riverhead. A Tender Age will also be published on August 11th!

 

New Release Tuesday... Part 2!!!

 

Did you think I was done with New Release Tuesday?! (also known as New Book Tuesday!) Here are 3 more books that I thought were interesting and worth a second look at...

These Immortal Truths by Rachelle Raeta... Both epic and intimate, These Immortal Truths is an enchanting and romantic historical fantasy that explores not only what it means to live forever, but what it means to truly live at all.

“Did I not tell you, Anna? Death will not come for you.”

Anna is used to hunger and hardship. Ever since the pale shadows on her skin were mistaken for leprosy, she has lived alone in exile, each day focused only on survival.

Then a single act of kindness towards a beautiful stranger changes her life forever.

Another book, this week, that sounds interesting. How would it be to live forever when you've lived your entire life separate from the world? Published by Tor Books.

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Thornbird by E. Kennedy...
The daughter of a notorious serial killer races to solve the crimes of her family’s twisted past—before it’s too late.

The deadliest secrets are the ones you inherit.

Ten years after her father—the infamous serial killer Gabriel Thorn—was caught, Ryan Shipley is back in Starling, Tennessee, trying to lay low. No one can know who she really is. No one can know the truth about her past.

But as fresh eyes dig deeper into the case, old secrets refuse to stay buried. Cryptic texts, eerie coincidences, and a chilling note leave everyone wondering—does Ryan know more than she’s letting on? As the truth unravels, one thing becomes clear: in a town full of secrets, Ryan might be the biggest mystery of them all.

The world is hunting for answers. Now get ready for a thriller packed with twists you won’t see coming. 

Do you ever wonder what it's like to be a serial killers son or daughter? Would you want to understand what happened or bury it? This sounds interesting. Published by Delacorte Books.

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Songbird in the Gallows by Alta Hensley... 
A dark romance about a murder-sober retired serial killer and his murder-curious protégé. This twisted romance inspired by the Bluebeard folktale is filled with dark humor, sizzling chemistry, and spice.

Murder is their love language…

Five years ago, Saylor Mitchell’s father was brutally murdered in front of her, shattering her world. Now his killers have tracked her down to finish the job. She is unexpectedly saved by her father’s closest friend, the enigmatic Blue. Saylor's savior—and captor— is a reformed, murder-sober assassin struggling to escape the clutches of his own violent history.

Blue’s gothic mansion, perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking a stormy sea in the town of Grimlock, is a labyrinth of secrets. And so is Grimlock, a small town whose residents all seem to have a penchant for murder that they’ve managed—mostly— to overcome.

Saylor soon realizes that Blue holds the key to avenging her father’s murder at the hands of the Crow, a gang of amoral contract killers. Only problem? Saylor has never killed before. Good thing those who can’t kill…teach.

Blue finds Saylor an apt pupil and the attraction between them morphs into a dangerous obsession. Can their love conquer Blue’s final, darkest secret?

This sounds very dark, but I'm curious about it being based on the folklore around Blackbeard. And I think this cover is gorgeous too (not to mention that edge spray!). Published by Avon A.

First Lines Friday... An This Choice is Out of This World!

 Would you keep reading after the first lines?

An Arcance Study of Stars by Sydney J. Shields was my May Allurial book of the month choice. It sounded so different from the regular Romantasy books. Here's the blurb from the publisher...

A historical dark academia fantasy filled with ancient secret societies, a swoon-worthy rivals-to-lovers romance, and dangerous deals made after dark. Perfect for fans of The Atlas Six and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

When Claudia Jolicoeur is rejected from Cygnus University, a devilish stranger named Dorian appears in her nightmares and offers her a bargain: he will get her into Cygnus if she learns how to free him from a prison of stars. He takes a bite of her soul to seal the deal, and Claudia wakes to a letter from the High Sage of Cygnus stating she will take the place of Odette Dufort, a Rhetoric student who passed away.

Her arrival raises suspicions, rumors that she had a hand in Odette's death spread like wildfire, and Cassius MacLeod, the High Sage’s apprentice and Claudia's fellow Rhetoric student, seems hellbent on humiliating her. Determined to clear her name, she searches for any evidence that could prove her innocence. When someone—or something—starts slipping her pieces of Odette’s diary, Claudia uncovers a horrifying truth: over the last century, celestial witches at Cygnus have been murdered. Odette was one of them, and Claudia could be next. For her own protection, Claudia needs to free Dorian—and fast. 

What do you think? Sound interesting to you too? 

Published in April of this year by Redhook a division of Hachette Book Group.

By night, she studies the stars, slowly unraveling the mystery of Dorian's prison. By day, she and Cassius wage rhetorical war as debate partners in class. What begins as a fierce rivalry devolves into something deeper, darker, and dangerously sensual. As Claudia inches closer to the truth, she must decide: would trusting Cassius be the last mistake she ever makes?

First Lines Friday... A House Full of Ghosts and Not The Kind You Think

The Children by Melissa Albert...  The estranged adult children of a legendary author, written into their dead mother’s beloved fantasy series, must contend with the vine-like creep of legacy, memory, and magic.

Guinevere Sharpe has two childhoods.

In one, she and her brother, Ennis, live in the wooded shadow of their family's isolated Vermont farmhouse; in the other, the pages of their mother’s world-famous Ninth City books, where their magical adventures have made them household names. In reality, Guinevere's childhood isn't the enchanted idyll her mother’s readers imagine: she and Ennis are growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed, escaping each day to the wild woods they’ve made their playland. As Edith Sharpe’s books explode into epic popularity, the threats of a rural childhood give way to the escalating perils of fame—until the night it all goes up in flames, leaving Edith’s series unfinished and her children the sole survivors.

Now an adult coasting on her mother's name, Guinevere is mid-promotion for a ghostwritten memoir when her estranged brother, an artist who has until now spurned his family's legacy, announces an upcoming installation titled, simply, Mother. As rumors swirl around a death connected to his last show, unsettling recollections from Guinevere’s childhood begin to surface. Her public facade starts to crack, forcing her to confront the questions she's spent the last twenty years running from: What really happened the night of the fire? And what dark history lies behind their mother’s fantasy world?

The Children is wise to the mythic weight childhood memories gather over time, and the way our most beloved stories grow up with us. It's for anyone who's ever revisited an old favorite and found its pages cast in a darker light, the line separating magic from reality blurring as we discover the books that once comforted us carry shadows of their own.

Would you keep reading after the first few lines? 

My Book of The Month selection this month was The Children by Melissa Albert and I am definitely going to keep reading after the first few lines. And I really liked the style of writing so far too. What do you think? Is this on your TBR list? It's this months pick for Read With Jenna too. The cover reminds me of old time Halloween cards! I wonder if that was the point?! 

Published by William Morrow and just released this week!

New Release Tuesday... Part 2!

 My TBR list is EXPLODING this week! Did you think I could really stop at 6! Here are 6 more great reads you need to check out and add to YOUR TBR list!

Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim... The border cuts you in two.

When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind, an instance. One person enters their new country; the other stays trapped at home.

Some instances keep in touch, call each other daily, keep their lives and minds in sync in the hopes of reintegrating and resuming a life as one person. Others, like Soyoung Rose Kang, leave home at ten years old and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather died and her Korean instance called her home for the funeral.

She doesn’t know that Soyoung plans to steal her body and her life.

How far would you go to live the choice you didn’t make?

This sounds so interesting to me! The whole concept of a version of you that stays behind as you move to a new country, but also the idea of you leaving part of yourself behind when you move forward to another place. If you've ever moved, and I moved 800 miles away from my home, this is so true. And then having your other life steal you back?!! This will be on my nightstand! Published by Tor Publishing. 

Not Good Neighbors by Violet Lumant... Penny Huff and Jack Craig are neighbors by floor plan…and enemies by choice.

Thanks to a tragically thin wall in their NYC apartment building, Penny knows far too much about Jack―like his taste in too-loud music, the noxious fumes from his kitchen, and his habit of suspiciously aggressive vacuuming. And she knows all about the tearful brunette fleeing his apartment the day he moved in―the one crying about her cheating ex. Not even Jack’s piratical charm can undo what Penny knows: the man is bad news.

When her attempt to get the wall soundproofed literally blows a hole in it, the two are forced into a DIY disaster that traps them in each other’s lives...and spaces. With eviction looming, prank wars escalating, and unexpected sparks flying, Penny starts to suspect her insufferable neighbor might just be the plot twist her love life needs.

Packed with witty banter, laugh-out-loud moments, and sizzling tension, this fast-paced romantic comedy proves that love can bloom where drywall―and patience―have crumbled.

Another fun enemies to lovers romance. Sounds good to me! On my TBR list! And there's a special sprayed edging while supplies last too!  Published by Entangled Publishing.

138 Main by Gavin Bell... AN ADDRESS TO DIE FOR…

There’s a killer on the loose. And he’s targeting one specific address—138 Main Street. The problem? There are over 7,000 Main Streets in the USA. And the police and FBI have no clue which one will be next.

For FBI Special Agent Ben Walker and his rookie colleague, Officer Zoe Hill, the pressure to solve the case is unimaginable. There aren’t enough police officers to cover every house, and vigilante residents are attacking anyone who rings their doorbell. Main Street might be one of America’s most popular addresses, but for those living at number 138, it comes down to fight or flight.

Then a manuscript is sent to the New York Times, purporting to be the manifesto of the “Main Street Killer” and demanding radical social change. As the effect of the terror campaign takes hold across the nation, Walker and Hill find themselves in a race against time to stop the killer. But with their target always several steps ahead, and almost 3,800,000 square miles of ground to cover, they’ll have to find him first…

A different take on the serial killer story. And it sounds like a good story! There's some great buzz about this book! On my wishlist... Published by Gallery/Scout Press.

Land by Maggie O'Farrell... On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.

The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is unexpectedly sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and the lives of those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás, and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping and get them both home?

Land is a novel about separation and reunion, tragedy and recovery, colonization and rebellion. It is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away. As spellbinding and varied as the landscape that inspired it, Land is, above all, a story of survival, for our times and for all time.

A big epic read that has all the promises of a greatness. Maggie O'Farrell is a wonderful writer and always writes these stories you want to sink your teeth into. Published by Knopf.

Man of My Dreams by Olivia Worley... A romance author is shocked when one of her characters-in-progress seemingly comes to life… but is he too good to be true?

Bestselling romance author Ivy Harcourt has been as unlucky in love as she’s been successful in writing―as her sad relationship track attests, there are no good dating options left in New York . . . Until she rescues an escaped dog in the park, and runs into Liam. Charming, British, hot architect Liam. The exact description of the love interest in her next book.

When an instant connection leads to a whirlwind relationship, Ivy is convinced she’s found the dream man. Except he may be too perfect. He may be hiding something.

And Ivy may have secrets of her own.

This "type" of story has been written before, but this feels like a take on it and because of that I am excited to read this. Maybe that it's a romance writers "character" supposedly coming to life, maybe because there's a dog park involved? In any case this is definitely on my TBR list too! Published by Minotaur Books.

Hunger and Thirst by Claire Fuller... 1987: After a childhood trauma and years in and out of the care system, sixteen-year-old Ursula finds herself with a new job delivering mail at a local art school, a bed in a halfway house, and some new friends, including wild-child Sue. When Ursula is invited to join a squat at the Underwood, a mysterious house whose owners met a terrible end, she can’t resist this hodgepodge family. But as Sue’s behavior and demands become more extreme, Ursula, who has always been hungry—for food, but more importantly for love and acceptance—carries out her friend’s terrible dare. And, for this, Ursula finds herself literally haunted.

Thirty-six years later, Ursula is a renowned but reclusive sculptor living under a pseudonym in London when her identity is exposed by a true-crime documentarian researching an unsolved disappearance. But the filmmaker is not the only one who has discovered Ursula’s whereabouts, and as her past catches up with her present, Ursula must work out whether the monsters are within her or without—and if they will finally make her pay for her past mistakes.

Part gothic horror, part coming-of-age, and a with contemporary twist on the haunted-house story, Hunger and Thirst is a chilling tale of loneliness, of the dangerous line between wanting and needing, and of how far a person will go to truly belong.

Put the words gothic horror and coming-of-age into the same sentence for a book description and you automatically have my attention! I read about this on Kirkus Reviews this week and they gave it their coveted star rating. That put a slam dunk on my reading it. Sounds like a really good story! On my TBR list! Published by Tin House.

Hope you've found MORE to add to your TBR list!

I know I did! 

Happy reading... Suzanne

New Release Tueday... And It's Loaded!

It's Tuesday and that means New Book Releases! There were many interesting books this week... New books by popular authors Nora Roberts, and Freida McFadden. (and Stephen King's book, Never Flinch, is out in paperback today!). A much anticipated release of Matt Haig's book, The Midnight Train and... here are my top ten!

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig... When your life flashes before your eyes, where would you stop? No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there. The chance to re-live the moments that meant most. To see what kind of person you really were. For Wilbur his best days were with Maggie, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice. Before he gave it all away. He wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything . . . A magical, time-travelling love story, from the world of The Midnight Library.

The much anticipated release by Matt Haig is finally here! This sounds so good! On my TBR list. Published by Viking Penguin.

The Final Target by Nora Roberts... A young author becomes the object of a fan’s desire―and rage. He showed up at Arden Bowie’s debut author appearance with a copy of her novel and an eager smile. He showered her with compliments and got her autograph. Then he came to her next event. And the one after that. Dustin was just an aspiring writer who wanted advice, Arden reassured herself. But after giving in to one of his incessant invitations and chatting with him over coffee, she discovered that ignoring her inner alarm bell had been a terrible mistake… An introvert at heart, Arden had long craved solitude―but now, after a harrowing assault, she finds herself hiding behind locked doors and startling at every sound. And her relief at his imprisonment is tempered by anxiety when Dustin’s wealthy mother helps to get him a paltry five-year sentence at a psychiatric facility.

Another much anticipated release from a popular author! Nora Roberts never disappoints. I have an digital advanced copy of this I am enjoying now! Stay tuned for a review! Published by St. Martin's Press. 

The Divorce by Freida McFadden... What is a happily ever after really worth?

 Naomi was living the quintessential love story. Boy meets girl. They fall in love, get married, buy a dream house, start a family…

Then―he kicks her out, hires the city's best divorce lawyers, drains their accounts, and takes up with a 20-something. It's a brutal end to the story. Naomi should accept defeat: move into a dingy apartment, get back into the workforce, and piece together the shattered remains of her life. Except, why should she? Instead, Naomi fixates on her husband's new girlfriend. What begins as cynical curiosity soon twists into obsession―and then into something far darker. As Naomi uncovers secrets she never imagined, she realizes her own life may be in danger. But if it keeps her perfect family intact, isn't it worth it?

How does Freida McFadden keep releasing all these books?! After The Housemaid, she is a must read author now! Published by Poisened Pen Press.

Dolly All The Time by Annabel Monaghan... If they start by pretending, can they end with something real? Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn’t solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home.

So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield—annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family—with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it’s in her nature to help. But Stewart’s proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high-society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and kisses that hit her bloodstream like a ghost pepper, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She’s never relied on anyone besides herself—can she really start now?

I've seen this book mentioned everywhere! Sounds like a fun Rom com and I'm looking forward to reading it at some point! Published by G.P. Putnam's & Sons.

Phoebe Berman's Gonna Lose It by Brooke Averick... Is it possible to find true love when going on a date makes you want to throw up? Phoebe Berman fears the one thing she wants the most: love. Thanks to an extremely unfortunate first kiss attempt, crippling intimacy anxiety has plagued her since she was a teen.

Phoebe has so much going for her: a dream teaching job, a supportive and hilarious group of best friends, and all the romance novels a girl could want at her fingertips—but she can’t help but beat herself up over the one thing she can’t quite seem to figure out. Determined to change this, she drafts up the ultimate “Guide to Losing My Virginity” checklist with the hope of finally getting laid.

Suddenly, she goes from a relatively boring (basically non-existent) dating life to juggling three romantic prospects at once. There’s the gorgeous new fourth grade teacher at her school, a former high school classmate that resurfaces through Words with Friends, and there will always be her roommate, who might just be the best friends-to-lovers situation of her dreams.

Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It is a brutally honest and completely relatable story for anyone who’s ever felt stuck between coming of age and coming apart.

This sounds like fun! Debut for new author Brooke Averick, who has a popular podcast talking about her struggles with OCD, anxiety and depression. Why does this book remind me a little of Bridgett Jones Diary?! Published by Crown Publishing.

Babylon, South Dakota by Tom Lin... When Saul Keng Hsiu and his wife, Mei Lee, move from China to the United States to take possession of a 160-acre homestead bequeathed to them by a distant relative, all they have are the possessions on their back, some hidden gold, and a pocketful of chrysanthemum seeds. After a rocky start and a long, harsh winter, the couple find themselves successfully raising chrysanthemums and livestock, and soon after, a daughter, Mara. 

But when representatives from the US Army Corps of Engineers buy an acre of the Hsiu’s farmland and begin building a missile silo, the inexplicable starts to occur: Mara can commune with the animals on the farm, Mei develops a hidden talent for augury, and the chrysanthemums become impervious to everything. When the Hsius learn that the project on their farm is an effort to make America’s nuclear deterrent invulnerable, they see firsthand the long arm of power and empire.

In the years and generations that follow, increasingly impacted by the silo and its residue, the Hsius experience strange, wondrous, and tragic events on their farm. An ambitious epic and an ode to the beauty and glory of our connection to the natural world, Babylon, South Dakota upends the idea of "strangers in a strange land" to become a classic American story. It is a daring novel about how choices reverberate across generations and asks us what we owe to one another.

When I happened upon this new release I was intrigued. On my TBR list. Published by Little, Brown & Co.

Evening Score by Lexi LaFleur Brown... Don't get mad—get even.

A grudge hates to see Olivia Hinckley coming. Years ago, a dirty hit ended her late father’s NHL career with the Minnesota Freeze. It was never fair that Erik Parker walked away with little more than a penalty, but it’s worse that her father's rival is now up for Hall of Fame induction. On top of that, Erik's son—hockey’s golden boy, Brody—just signed on to play for the Freeze. Determined to dismantle the Parker legacy, Olivia enacts a revenge plot that has her donning the Freeze’s mascot costume to gain intel on the Parkers. And she can’t help but mess with Brody’s gameplay—and his heart for good measure. After all, what’s a little fake dating between enemies?

Brody Parker only ever wanted to play hockey for fun, but the pressure of being part of hockey’s “First Family” has him dodging nepotism allegations along with high sticks. Erik might act like Father of the Year when the cameras are on, but behind closed doors, Brody struggles with his father’s impossible expectations. Preserving Erik’s image is a full-time job, but lucky for Brody, his new connection with Olivia is a welcome (spicy) distraction.

When Brody finally opens up to Olivia, she never expected she’d pity a Parker for anything. Suddenly, she wants to protect her once-enemy. The romantic feelings she faked are now unexpectedly real, but after leading Brody on for so long, can she keep the lies and the truth straight before she accidentally blows up his whole life?

Okay, hockey romance fans and enemies to lovers fans, this one sounds like a fun romp. I am currently listening to the audiobook version of this, courtesy of the publisher, and am loving it! Book published by Mira.

The Redemption Center Is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hariston... In the Heart of Mystery Lies Redemption...

Every Sunday, Oona the St. Berdoodle and her current owner, Zsuzsu, make their way through the winding paths of the State Park to the enigmatic Redemption Center―a place often mistaken for a haunted mansion.

When a local celebrity is found murdered, the unexpected brings Oona together with a rag-tag group of local misfits. Together they venture into the depths of the Center's mystery to untangle the threads of murder and deception.

But Oona holds two secrets: she’s a citizen of the multiverse, able to travel between dimensions at will, and more importantly, she knows the killer's identity. Unfortunately, the killer knows she knows, and he’s determined to find her and silence her for good.

An extra-dimensional murder mystery with conundrums, alien tricksters, and a dog detective who just doesn’t know the meaning of “stay”.

I couldn't resist reading the blurb on this book when I saw the dog on the front cover. And it sounds so quirky but interesting. On my TBR list. Published by Tor Books.

Beneath A Broken Sky by Joshua Moehling... A killer hides in the wreckage of a broken town… It's a hot, miserable summer in the small town of Sandy Lake. Detective Ben Packard has finally settled into life here―just in time for a tornado to sweep through the county, causing irreparable damage. Trees are felled, homes are destroyed, and people are desperate.

Hiding among the debris is someone with a secret. 

When a mother who made enemies defending her bullied son is killed, the suspect list stretches across the entire town. For Packard, the case hits uncomfortably close to home. The deeper he digs, the more Sandy Lake hums with a tension that refuses to break.

As thick smoke from nearby wildfires chokes the air, someone from Packard's past shows up on his doorstep without warning, forcing him to confront the reality of navigating life as a gay man in a small town bent on tradition, no matter the cost. 

The heat suffocates. The violence simmers. Before the summer is out, someone else will die.

You usually can't go wrong with the murder mystery and this sounds good. Published by Poisened Pen Press. 

Never Flinch by Stephen King... When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to “kill thirteen innocents and one guilty” in “an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man,” Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution? Izzy turns to her friend Holly Gibney for help.

Meanwhile, controversial and outspoken women’s rights activist Kate McKay is embarking on a multi-state lecture tour, drawing packed venues of both fans and detractors. Someone who vehemently opposes Kate’s message of female empowerment is targeting her, disrupting her events, and growing bolder. Holly is hired to be Kate’s bodyguard—a challenging task with a headstrong employer and a determined adversary driven by wrath and his belief in his own righteousness.

Featuring a riveting cast of characters, including world-famous gospel singer Sista Bessie and an unforgettable villain addicted to murder, King’s twinned narratives converge in a chilling and spectacular conclusion—a feat of storytelling only this master of suspense and horror could pull off.

Stephen King does it again! or he did it again last year. I missed this when it came out last year, but the paperback came out today! If you missed it too, we get to go on an adventure with Holly with this one! On my TBR list! Published by Scribner.

So, there you have it! Ten amazing new books to sink your teeth into! Which books are you taking another look at? What sounds interesting to you?! Hope you find something to add to your TBR list today! And let me know what caught your eye!

Happy reading... Suzanne