Apr 14

Apr 14 Books Publishing This Week

The evening in early April arrives gently, like a curtain lowering rather than a switch being flipped. The light lingers longer now, stretching soft gold across the sky before fading into dusky lavender. You notice it as you move through your space—the way you don’t need to rush into darkness, the way the day seems reluctant to end.

You crack a window open, just enough to let the evening air slip in. It carries a coolness, but also something new—something faintly floral, something green. The kind of air that feels alive. You breathe it in, and for a moment, you just stand there, aware of the quiet shift happening all around you.

Inside, you keep the lights low. A single lamp casts a warm, steady glow across the room, creating a soft contrast to the fading blue outside. You make yourself something to drink—tea, perhaps, or a glass of something chilled that catches the last of the light. It feels right to choose something lighter now, something that matches the season’s quiet awakening.

The book you’ve been meaning to start rests nearby. You pick it up, turning it in your hands for a moment, feeling the smooth cover, the promise of untouched pages. There’s something about early April evenings that makes beginnings feel easy. Not urgent, not forced—just natural.

You settle into your chair, pulling a light blanket across your lap out of habit more than need. The air brushing through the open window moves softly across your skin, cool but not cold. You open the book.

The spine gives just slightly, the pages parting. The first line meets you without effort. You begin to read.

The world around you fades, but not completely. You’re still aware of the outside—the faint rustle of leaves, the distant hum of a passing car, the occasional call of a bird settling for the night. It all weaves itself into the rhythm of the story, not distracting you, but grounding you.

You turn another page.

The light continues to shift, the sky deepening from lavender to a quiet blue. The room feels more intimate now, held within the soft glow of the lamp. The book begins to open itself to you, its world unfolding slowly, deliberately.

You sip your drink and notice how it tastes different in the evening—cooler, calmer. You set it down and lean back, letting yourself settle fully into the moment. There’s no rush to get anywhere. No pressure to read quickly. You’re simply here.

The characters begin to take shape, their voices clearer with each page. A setting sharpens in your mind. You feel that gentle pull—the one that doesn’t demand your attention but draws it willingly.

Outside, the air shifts again. A breeze moves through the trees, and you can hear it in the faint rustle of new leaves. You glance toward the window for a moment, watching the last traces of light fade, then return to the book.

You read on.

Time stretches, soft and unmeasured. You don’t check the clock. You don’t think about what comes next. The evening holds you in place, steady and calm, as the story deepens.

Early April evenings have a quiet kind of magic. They don’t overwhelm you with change. They simply offer it, gently, letting you notice it in your own time.

When you finally close the book—marking your place carefully—you pause, holding it in your lap. The room is darker now, the lamp’s glow more pronounced. Outside, the sky is deep and still.

You sit for a moment longer, feeling the quiet satisfaction of beginning something new.

Spring is not rushing.

And neither are you.

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Books Publishing April 12 - 18

Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombe

A cursed princess must discover what her heart truly longs for in this charmingly cozy romantic fantasy for everyone who’s ever lost – or found – themselves in a bookshop.

Princess Tanadelle of the Widdenmar is disillusioned with life as a princess. She longs for real conversation, the chance to build a life of her own making, and uninterrupted reading time.

During a routine royal visit to the town of Little Pepperidge, Tandy’s dream comes true when she finds herself cursed to remain in a run-down bookshop until she unlocks her heart’s desire. Certain that someone will figure out how to break the curse eventually, and delighted by the prospect of an entire bookstore of her own, Tandy settles into life among the stacks. She finds it easy to exchange balls and endless state dinners for teetering piles of books and an irritatingly handsome pirate who seems bent on stealing her stock.

She even starts to believe she's stumbled into her very own happily ever after.

There's just one, minor problem: as Tandy's royal duties go unfulfilled, her frantic parents start sending princes to woo her, each one of them certain their kiss will break the curse. After all, what more could a princess want but a prince?

Surrender by Jennifer Acker

Lucy Richard has enjoyed a two-decade-long, successful career in public relations in New York City when she feels compelled to move back to rural Massachusetts to try to save her father’s farm. Returning to her childhood home at age 47 is hard enough, but the difficulties multiply once she’s settled in: her determination to raise dairy goats and make cheese is hampered at first by her total inexperience, and then by the sudden loss of her farming mentor. To make matters worse, her husband, Michael, who followed her to the farm reluctantly and who has made a disastrous financial decision, is suddenly in severely declining health.

Lucy finds solace in Sandy, a girlhood companion who quickly becomes more than a friend, but their new intimacy places the Richard farm in the crosshairs of Sandy’s employer, a solar energy company. How Lucy contends with the precariousness—at once financial, physical and emotional— of her new life, and with the competing passions and obligations that grow within and around her, is at the heart of this intimate drama of love and loss, of desire and friendship, and of the alluring possibilities of second acts.

The Demonic Inventions of Aurelie Blake by Mara Rutherford

In Wisteria, the very act of innovation is forbidden. Any creation—art, music, engineering—conjures a demon from the other side. The greater the innovation, the more dangerous the demon.

This has never stopped Aurelie from inventing—but it has made it more difficult. Her inventions are small by necessity, producing demons that she is capable of dispatching alone. But she knows she’s meant for something greater, and each day has her chafing more at the boundaries of her society.

Destrier lost his parents to demons as a child, and has devoted his life to preventing more senseless murder at the hands of demons. He was young when he joined the hunters, and each year he’s grown stronger. But it’s never enough.

When a mysterious figure offers Aurelie a job she can’t refuse—an impossible, magnificent invention—her decision to accept sets off a chain of events that will alter every aspect of their world… and sparks the connection that will change both Aurelie and Des irrevocably.

The Take by Kelly Yang

Would you sell your youth for $3 million?

Maggie Wang, a broke young Asian American writer, needs a lifeline. Ingrid Parker, a veteran white Hollywood producer with her career on the edge, offers an irresistible deal: $3 million for ten experimental medical sessions to reverse her aging, using Maggie as a transfusion partner, and mentorship.

For Ingrid, it's a chance to reboot her fading career. For Maggie, it's access and freedom—money to support her parents and the connections to finally get her novel published.

What starts as a professional transaction exchanging blood quickly becomes a complex psychological dance. As Maggie gains unprecedented access to Ingrid's hard-earned wisdom, Ingrid sees in Maggie a weapon against an industry that's been trying to sideline her.

As their relationship intensifies, the rules around aging begin to shift. So does the balance of power between the two women, leaving both questioning who holds the upper hand and what they're willing to sacrifice to succeed.

Sharp, timely, and utterly compelling, The Take is perfect for readers of Yellowface and Such a Fun Age—a searing portrait of two women fighting to rewrite their story.

The Gap Years by Tom French

A lifelong mountaineer and former McKinsey senior partner, French sets out to rediscover his passion for the mountains after retirement—only to embark on a three-year odyssey from New England’s Presidential Range to the summit of Everest. Blending adrenaline and introspection, THE GAP YEARS is an inspiring memoir of endurance, reinvention, and the timeless pull of the wild.

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown

A dual-timeline murder mystery set in an English country manor, when an ambitious professor discovers the long-lost manuscript of a Reformation-era prophetess

Historian Alison Sage has made a groundbreaking archival discovery—she found a manuscript containing the prophecies of a 16th century nun, Elizabeth Barton. Barton’s prophecy condemning Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn led to her execution and the destruction of all copies of her prophecies—or so the world believed.

With Alison’s discovery, she is catapulted to academic superstardom and scores an invitation to the exclusive Codex Consortium, a week of research among a select handful of fellow historians at a crumbling manor in England, located next to the ruins of the priory where Elizabeth herself once lived.

What begins as a promising conference turns into a nightmare as the eerie house becomes the site of a murder. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect, and it seems that answers lie at the root of a local legend about centuries-old hidden treasure. Alison’s research makes her best-suited to solve the mystery—but when old feelings resurface for a former colleague, and the stakes of the search skyrocket, everyone's motives become murky.

Alison’s cutthroat world of academia is almost as dangerous as Elizabeth Barton’s sixteenth-century England, where heretics are beheaded, visions can kill, and knowing who to trust is a deadly art. The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton is a thrilling novel, crackling with the voices of the past and propelled by a mystery that will leave readers in suspense until the very last page.

The Pain of Others by Miguel Ángel Hernández

In this blend of police thriller and poignant autofiction, a writer revisits a tragic crime from his adolescence and reckons with a dark, underexplored side of Spain.

On Christmas Eve 1995, Miguel Ángel Hernández’s best friend murdered his sister and took his own life by jumping off a cliff. It happened in a small hamlet in the Murcia countryside. No one ever knew why. The investigation was closed, and the crime forgotten.

20 years later, when the wounds seem to have stopped bleeding and the mourning died down, Miguel decides to return to the countryside and, putting himself in the shoes of a detective, tries to reconstruct that tragic night that marked the end of his adolescence. But travelling in time always means altering the past, and the investigation will awaken ghosts that he thought he had left behind: a childhood marked by the Church, by sin and guilt; the constant presence of illness and death; the oppressive, closed world from which he managed to escape.

This raw, moving novel about the collision of two worlds and two ways of life is a reckoning with the past and, above all, a subtle and incisive meditation on the ethics of literature, which makes us aware that “writing isn’t always a triumph, that sometimes, we too may founder upon the pain of others.”

Invasive Species by Ellery Adams

Something’s not right in Cold Harbor—more so than usual. While this sleepy small town has seen its fair share of monsters in cheating husbands and leering bosses, none are as hungry as Mrs. Smith. The mysterious resident has finally emerged from her crumbling mansion on the hill, mesmerizing the townspeople with her beauty. Her secret? Nine human sacrifices to feed her immortality.

Natalie Scott is more worried about Mrs. Smith blocking her first real estate sale—the one that will take her from stay-at-home mom to working woman extraordinaire. She's eager to prove herself in a world where the social mores of 1980s suburbia reign, where she's expected to keep a magazine-perfect home and raise beautiful children, all while sticking to her husband's budget. Natalie's two best friends are facing their own demons, and Mrs. Smith and her deep, dark woods are an easy scapegoat for everyone's problems.

But Natalie's twelve-year-old daughter, Jill, and her Icelandic housekeeper, Una, can sense something deeper at play. Armed with library books and a whole lot of grit, Jill and Una team up to save the town once and for all. But as the rest of Cold Harbor sinks into anger, fear, and jealousy, they’ll have to confront the question: What does it really mean to be a monster?

Vivian’s Decision by Della Leavitt

Chicago. 1956.
One overwhelmed mother.
Four young children.
Seven days to make an impossible decision.

Vivian Jacobson is distraught to be pregnant again. Already drowning in the demands of her four young children, she can’t imagine adding a fifth to her brood. Her husband Mel is a devoted partner, but he is away working long days in his family’s Maxwell Street tavern—leaving Vivian isolated and overwhelmed in their suburban Chicago home. Vivian pleads with Mel to let her ask her trusted obstetrician for an abortion. He reluctantly agrees.

Vivian’s doctor won’t risk his license, instead, he refers her to someone who will. Once she finds herself in the sleazy abortionist’s makeshift flat, Vivian can’t go through with the procedure. As she flees, the man warns her that the clock is ticking: If she wants this abortion, she must return within one week.

As she struggles with what to do, she is rocked by a series of revelations, including her Jewish immigrant mother’s parallel secret. Ultimately, Vivian must find the courage to make the decision that is best for her family—and for her own fulfillment.

When the Wolves Are Silent by C.S. Harris

London, 1816: When a notorious young aristocrat is burned alive on a windswept hill popular with neo-Druids, former cavalry officer Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, finds himself plunged into a murder investigation shadowed by tales of ancient human sacrifices and long-buried secrets.

The victim, Marcus Toole, was the only son and heir of a prominent nobleman. His closest friend—Sebastian’s own nephew, Bayard—claims to have passed out drunk before the attack and remembers nothing. But when Sebastian and his brilliant wife, Hero, delve deeper into the sordid activities of Bayard and his friends, they come to realize that Bayard may not be as innocent as he pretends. Following a tangled trail that leads from a disaffected former soldier-turned-highwayman to a beautiful, courageous journalist and a Jamaican-born fencing master with ties to a radical political movement, Sebastian begins to suspect that Bayard and his friends are being targeted in revenge, by victims who believe they have no other recourse.

Then two more of Bayard’s friends are killed, their murders staged to echo the ritual sacrifices of the ancient Celts. With the palace shaken by the fear of riots and one horrifying death following another, Sebastian must race to stop a ruthless plot that threatens the lives of innocents and could rip his troubled nation apart.

Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell

#1 New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell returns with a breathtakingly honest novel about a woman who lost everything — and isn't sure she wants it back.

Everybody knows that Cherry's husband, Tom, is in Hollywood making a movie . . .

Almost nobody knows that he isn't coming home.

Tom is the creator of Thursday—a semi-autobiographical webcomic that's become an international phenomenon.

Semi-autobiographical. That means there's a character in this movie based on Cherry . . . "Baby."

Wide-hipped, heavy-chested, double-chinned Baby.

Cherry never wanted this. No fat girl wants to see herself caricatured on the page—let alone on the big screen. But there's no getting away from it. Baby looks so much like Cherry that strangers recognize her at the grocery store.

While her soon-to-be ex-husband is in Los Angeles getting rich and famous and being the Internet's latest boyfriend, Cherry is stuck in Omaha taking care of the dog he always wanted and the house they were going to raise a family in . . . and wondering who she's supposed to be without him.

Cherry had promised to love Tom through thick and thin.

She'd meant it.

One night, Cherry decides to leave all her problems, including Tom's overgrown puppy, at home. She ventures out to see her favorite band play her favorite album . . . and someone recognizes her from across the room.

Russ Sutton knew Cherry when she was a young art student with a fondness for pin-up dresses and patent leather heels. Before Tom.

Russ knows Cherry. He likes Cherry.

And best of all . . . he's never heard of Thursday.

Tender, funny, and utterly human, Cherry Baby is Rainbow Rowell's richest, most surprising—sexiest—novel yet.

Somewhere in Nowhere by Steven Gellman

Coming out is hard, especially when you have two gay moms. At least it is for Simon Bugg. He doesn't want the world to think that having gay parents has turned him gay. And he certainly doesn't want anyone to know about the alien in his stomach that's trying to kill him.

It's Simon's senior year and his world just turned upside down. When his mom scores a dream job, Simon lands at a new school away from the only friends he has ever known. Now, his mom is overworked and chronically stressed, and his deadbeat dad is back on the scene. Navigating a new school and new friends is a challenge for a neurotic overthinker, and Simon finds himself turning to his rescue cat and a local barista for support. But when Simon meets the handsome PJ in drama class, he gets talked into a date that he derails in spectacular fashion.

With a little help from his friends-new and old-Simon finds his way back to PJ. But how can he have a real relationship with the boy of his dreams when he's convinced he's going to die? No one knows about the nightly alien attacks at 11:22. Why then, and why do they keep getting worse? Simon must face a dark secret inside before he loses his chance with the boy he loves.

Cat on a Hot Tin Woof: A Chet & Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn

Join Chet the dog, "the most lovable narrator in all of fiction" (Boston Globe), and his human partner Bernie as they scramble to solve a case exposing the dark side of internet fame.

Chet the dog is less than enthusiastic about the Little Detective Agency’s next case. Chet and his human partner, PI Bernie Little, have been hired to find a missing person—only the missing person is a cat. Miss Kitty, an internet sensation, has disappeared, and Chet and Bernie have been hired to find her before her many followers realize something is wrong.

Miss Kitty belongs to Bitty, a sweet teenage girl who lives with her mom. Bitty and her mother are struggling financially, but the arrival of Miss Kitty and the chance discovery of her social media appeal has changed everything. Bitty now has sponsors, a high-powered agent, and all the tools needed to thrive online, and real money is flowing in. At least, it was. With Miss Kitty gone, the family's income is on the line.

The case presents a slew of challenges for Chet and Bernie. For one thing, a potential witness is a pig named Senor Piggy who may be in possession of an important piece of evidence. For another, it seems like a possible perp has been killed twice—and there's evidence implicating Bernie in the crime.

Handle with Care by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

Three women walk into a post office. This is no joke--it's the spark that ignites a life-altering hostage crisis.

On a quiet spring afternoon, an ordinary small-town post office becomes ground zero for a domestic dispute. A husband draws a weapon and seals the doors, holding four hostages captive: his terrified wife, a young woman searching for meaning amid uncertainty, a mother on the brink of letting go as her only daughter graduates, and an elderly woman concealing a secret that could shatter everything she knows.

Outside, the negotiator works to keep a fragile peace, forced to confront her own baggage as every word becomes a lifeline.

Each of the three women who walked into the post office is carrying something that, if mailed, would profoundly change her life. As minutes become hours in this daylong siege, these strangers forge lasting bonds.

Handle with Care shines a light on hope found even in the darkest moments, and illuminates how even strangers, thrown together by chance and hardship, have the power to change each other's lives.

A perfect book club read that includes discussion questions.

More than Friends by Denise Hunter

Who knew that returning home after a broken engagement could be the best decision you ever made? Denise Hunter is back with another heartwarming contemporary romance with a sweet friends-to-more story that will keep readers turning the pages late into the night.

Jenna Greene just ended things with her boyfriend . . . which also ended her career. (That's the risk a girl takes when her boyfriend doubles as her boss.) With no income and no job prospects in sight, Jenna is forced to return to her mother's house on Chincoteague Island, Virginia, to figure out what's next. And the timing couldn't be more perfect. Jenna's widowed mother has just returned from a cruise--with a brand-new boyfriend in tow. But there's something off about the guy. His story doesn't quite add up, and he keeps sneaking off to make suspicious phone calls and borrowing money from her too-trusting mother.

In search of some investigative help, Jenna turns to her childhood BFF, Tyson Parker, who lives and works in town. Still reeling from his wife's infidelity, Tyson is doing his best to heal from the pain of divorce. He's made a name for himself on the island as a volunteer firefighter and one of the much-admired saltwater cowboys who looks after Chincoteague's wild ponies. Oh, and he turned out to be more than a tiny bit attractive--besides being almost-too-good-to-be-true sweet and caring.

Growing up, the uber-competitive Jenna was always accepted as one of the guys. But things have changed between her and Tyson, and he's now looking at her through new eyes. Jenna suddenly feels like a leading lady on a movie set--only with way less composure.

But Jenna also has old wounds that make these new feelings seem fraught with peril. Is she willing to open her heart and see where love might lead? Or will she let her hesitant heart hold her back?

Kill Dick by Luke Goebel

Set in 2016 on the cusp of a consequential presidential election, Kill Dick unravels in Los Angeles. Its star and (mostly reliable) narrator is Susie Vogelman, a 19-year-old aspiring artist, recent NYU dropout, and opioid addict. A bottle blonde with sharp Franco-Jewish features, Susie is pretty enough, potentially talented, and a lot smarter than she looks or lets on. For a while, it seems like she’s stuck spending her days in a drug-induced haze, lolling around the Brentwood estate she was forced to come home to, trying to avoid her vapid, perpetually disappointed mother and volatile, paranoid father. What gets her to sober up are “the killings”—a string of brutal murders sweeping LA and targeting junkies like her. She can’t help but feel complicit—after all, her father was the attorney to the Sicklers, the billionaire manufactures of Oxytocin.

Enter Peter Holiday, a disgraced professor running an audacious rehab scam. When their lives collide, Susie and Peter get drawn into an unlikely alliance with a band of outcasts hellbent on making LA a better place to live. But to escape the rot around them and, just maybe, help stop the killings, they’ll first have to get through a tangled web of privilege, corruption, and violence.

We Would Never Tell by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau

Gowns. Champagne. Murder.

Hollywood, but make it French, for twelve days straight, as the red carpet rolls out to the riviera for the Cannes Film Festival. The most famous people are all here to celebrate themselves, while the rest of the world watches in awe. And with a heavy dose of envy, at least for three young, ambitious, talented women who can't seem to climb up from the bottom rung of the Hollywood ladder. As they swirl in the glitz of Cannes, the VIP invitations seem so hard to come by, and the A-list so far away. It's enough to drive them a little crazy. Enough to make them snap and do things they might―or definitely will―regret.

It's a good thing they're invisible . . . until a multi-million-dollar necklace vanishes and a dead body is found floating in the Mediterranean Sea. Then, the heat of the spotlight turns up so hot that they have nowhere to hide. Now their biggest dreams are even further out of reach. Or can you get away with theft and murder if you want it badly enough?

Chicago in Transit by Graham Chapman

Chicago in Transit is a portrait of contemporary urban life. Photographer Graham Chapman spent more than 5 years walking around Chicago with a camera in hand, capturing people as they moved around the city, whether on foot, public transit, car, or bike. Chicago in Transit is the culmination of that visual exploration. Some subjects are weary, others alert; some engaged in conversation, others immersed in music, books, or simply their own reflections.

Featuring over 125 color photographs, Chicago in Transit is organized by time of day, from early mornings to late nights, each photograph marked with its neighborhood and timestamp. The images are intimate without intrusion, brief moments that reflect the solitude and shared connection people feel while moving around a city.

Who Knew the Ridpath Girl by Stacy Johns

Gracen Ridpath has a secret. As the host of a successful YouTube channel for stay-at-home-dads, Gracen is known for his handy tips and trademark self-deprecating humor. But off camera, he struggles with the aftereffects of a tragedy that shaped him and everyone else in his hometown of Meander: the death of his eleven-year-old sister, Douggy.

When Gracen mentions his sister’s long-ago death for the first time on his channel, he taps a vein of interest he hadn’t known existed. Soon enough, he finds himself discussing a theory he’s kept quiet for years: that Douggy chose to die. And he’s finally figured out why...and who is to blame.

At first, Gracen is grateful for the jump in views, until his shift in content brings Quinn, Douggy’s childhood best friend, back to Meander looking for answers. And when people start dying around them and detectives start asking questions, Gracen and Quinn find themselves at the center of an investigation that will prove to have consequences deadlier than they ever could’ve imagined

Stranger Things Have Happened by Kasie West

Can fake dating lead to real love? In Kasie West's next sexy adult romcom two people must decide where the lie ends and the chemistry begins.

Sutton knows she needs therapy. After all, she’s managing her newly opened restaurant remotely while taking care of her ungrateful sick mother. Plus, her boyfriend of two years just dumped her over the phone. But does therapy with a handsome stranger, who she has to pretend to be engaged to, in order to help her friend’s struggling relationship count? Probably not. Then why did she just agree to go? Because she’s had a few too many drinks? Because this stranger, Elijah, is smug and annoying and really, really handsome? Because she feels guilty that she abandoned her best friend, Tara, after high school and this might just make up for it? Whatever the reason, she has committed to this unhinged plan.

What the hell is Sutton doing?

Helping Tara prove a point: a good therapist can tell the difference between real love and fake love. That’s what she’s doing. But as they attend their sessions, Sutton and Elijah only seem to be proving one thing—the lines between pretend desire and real desire are very blurry. This true connection forming between them is threatening to unravel everything Sutton thought she knew about family, friendship, and her own heart.

Small Wonders: A Field Guide to Life's Quiet Joys by Jennifer Shoop

Find happiness and comfort in life’s everyday moments with this insightful visual volume of prose and poetry.

In our busy and stress-filled world, it’s easy to miss the smaller moments that can provide happiness and fulfilment. Small Wonders is your invitation to slow down and savor the minor miracles of everyday living. With her insightful prose and evocative poetry, author Jennifer Shoop celebrates the little moments that connect us to each other and to the world around us. Dreamy photography brings the text to life, showcasing the beauty found in the often-overlooked, mundane details all around us.

Author Jennifer Shoop (@magpiebyjenshoop), creator of the literary lifestyle publication Magpie, encourages you to find joy and replenishment in the small stuff, such as:

A long phone call with a friend
The dance of backyard fireflies
The well-worn charm of a beloved hand-me-down
And more.

Wherever you are on your path, life's small wonders can nurture your soul.

Mr. Chow's Night Market by Emily Sun Li; illustrated by Yu Ting Cheng

Perfect for fans of Spirited Away and Domee Shi's Pixar short Bao, this humorous picture book tells the fantastical tale of one grumpy old man and the creation of Taiwan's first night market.

Mr. Chow lives for the night, when the moon is a wok full of simmering oil. Too bad he owns a supermarket and has to wake up very, very early. Mr. Chow hates mornings and so does his store: The shopping carts are sluggish, the front door yawns, and the pomelos roll down the aisle in a sleepy daze. When disaster strikes, Mr. Chow seeks advice from other workers and the similarly buoyant, anthropromophic buildings they work in. And soon, he discovers that his store doesn't have to be a morning market...it can be a night market!
Accompanied by spellbinding art from Yu Ting Cheng, debut author Emily Sun Li crafts a whimsical myth about how the very first Taiwanese night market was created.

Rules For Mothers by Julie Swendsen Young

A provocative exploration of purpose under the weight of motherhood
Elly Sparrow’s four small children are clean and cute, and her
workaholic husband is a good provider, but she often feels as if her
life has been whittled down to two defining titles: mother and wife.
She yearns for something more, but what?
When her marriage begins to crumble and her husband moves
out, Elly must navigate the challenges of single motherhood while
confronting deeper turmoil within herself. As she balances the
demands of everyday life, she embarks on a transformative—and at
times daring—journey to redefine her purpose and learn to live on
her own terms.
Set in the 1980s, Rules for Mothers is a poignant depiction of the enduring
complexities of gender roles, motherhood, and mental health. Elly’s

struggles and discoveries paint a picture of the importance of self-
fulfillment and the battle women must wage to build a life that works

for them—rather than one that is rooted in the needs of others.

Go-Between Girl by Andrea Gunraj

The under-told legacy of indentured servitude runs through the blood of countless descendants in the diaspora. In this deeply felt collection of essays, Andrea Gunraj explores the impact of her family’s history on her sense of self.

Andrea Gunraj delves into the under-told legacy of indentured labour and its lasting impacts on descendants across diasporas, from the Caribbean and Latin America to Canada, the United States, and beyond. She captures the complexities of belonging and the challenges of navigating dichotomies. Through the concept of “go-betweenness,” Gunraj illustrates her path from the intersections of race, class, and identity to a broader understanding of colonial histories.

A gripping read that weaves memoir with history and cultural criticism, Go-Between Girl is both accessible and profound, intimate and political. Gunraj invites readers to reconsider their narratives about work, love, and heritage. Her essays are a touching testament to the enduring quest for justice, offering a powerful contribution to contemporary conversations on race, feminism, and the unfinished legacies of colonialism.

I Could Give You the Moon by Ann Liang

New York Times bestselling author Ann Liang returns to the world of her acclaimed debut, If You Could See the Sun, as a picture-perfect influencer teams up with the bad boy after they share a vision of future.

Everyone loves Chanel Cao—except Ares Yin.

While Chanel has spent her entire life curating a picture-perfect social media personality—from her body to her hair to her camera-ready smile—Ares has spent his trying to hide in the shadows. But Ares’s brother is missing, and Chanel’s parents have secretly separated, and their only hope is each other.

Ares is willing to do whatever it takes to find his brother, and Chanel will do anything to keep her parents’ secret. When the two meet and share a vision of the future—where Ares’s brother appears, as Chanel’s house burns to the ground—they are determined to use each other. Ares believes Chanel is the key to finding his brother, but Chanel is convinced if she gets Ares to fall in love with her, she’ll save her family house—and her parents’ crumbling marriage.

But Ares isn’t interested in the fake personality that Chanel has used her entire life to get affection and adoration. If she’s going to save her reputation, she’s going to have to let Ares get to know the real her—and risk real feelings.

Forgiving Dr. Jekyll: From Hyde to Healing: A Memoir

What if forgiveness was the only way to reclaim your life—but the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

Paul Drugan grew up in a world where silence was survival and pain was hidden behind closed doors. Years later, when the weight of shame became unbearable, he made a choice—to confront the past and rewrite his story. In this searingly honest memoir, Drugan shares his journey from devastation to healing, from self-destruction to self-acceptance. With an unflinching voice and a deeply compassionate heart, he explores the power of forgiveness—not for the one who caused the pain, but for himself.

If you’ve ever carried wounds that weren’t yours to bear, this book is for you. If you’ve ever longed for freedom from the past, this book is for you.

The road to healing is never easy, but it is always worth it.

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