Books Publishing This Week
It’s a morning in late April, and the world feels just on the edge of blooming. You wake to sunlight streaming through the window, warm and bright, casting golden lines across the floor. The birds are singing in full chorus now, their songs floating in through the cracked window, mingling with the soft rustle of new leaves in the breeze. There’s a promise in the air—of longer days, of fresh starts, of things quietly falling into place.
You move slowly, no need to rush. The weekend stretches ahead of you, calm and unclaimed. You make your way to the kitchen, the soft pad of your feet on the floor grounding you in the moment. Coffee brews, its scent familiar and comforting, and you cradle the warm mug between your palms as you make your way to your favorite chair by the window. It’s the one that catches the most sunlight this time of morning, and today it feels especially inviting.
Beside it waits a book you’ve been meaning to start. It’s been sitting on your table for days, maybe even weeks, its spine uncracked, its pages whispering potential every time you passed it by. But today feels like the right day. The perfect morning. The kind of quiet, sun-drenched start that calls for losing yourself in a story.
You settle in, legs tucked beneath you, the light blanket around your shoulders more out of comfort than necessity now. You rest your mug on the table beside you, letting the steam rise and curl in the morning air. Then, finally, you pick up the book.
There’s a certain magic in that first page—the pause before you dive in, the breath you take just before you let go of the world around you. The moment you begin reading, everything else falls away. The quiet around you deepens, softens, and suddenly it’s just you and the characters. You follow them through their beginnings, their introductions, their little dramas and dreams. The sun shifts slightly across the floor, and still, you keep reading.
Outside, someone walks a dog, a child zooms by on a scooter, and wind chimes tinkle from a neighbor’s porch. You hear it all but only vaguely. The book has you now. You sip your coffee as the story unfolds, its warmth grounding you even as the narrative pulls you further in.
It feels good—more than good—to spend your morning like this. The book isn’t just entertaining, it’s absorbing. You find yourself rereading certain lines just for the beauty of them. You pause now and then, staring out the window, thinking about the choices the characters are making, wondering where the author will lead you next.
By the time you glance at the clock again, the sun has climbed higher, the light brighter now. You stretch, smiling to yourself, a little surprised at how much time has passed—but also not really. This is what books do. They take you away and give you back to yourself all at once.
You close the book for now, just long enough to refill your coffee. You already know you’ll be back to it soon. There’s too much still unfolding, too much left to discover. But even if you didn’t turn another page today, this morning would have been enough—quiet, golden, full of possibility, just like the story that’s only just begun.
I want to note that I do not get paid to do these posts, I just love authors and the book industry. However, they do take time and energy to create. If you want to donate a few dollars to my coffee fund, which keeps this blog going, you can do so here: https://venmo.com/AshleyHasty or here: http://paypal.me/hastybooklist.
Books Publishing This Week: April 27 - May 3
Nav's Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love by Jessica Lewis
Nav knows how to flirt, but she also knows love is a messy losing proposition. As proof, her best friend, Hallie, is constantly getting her heart broken. And when Hallie goes to her boring academic camp this summer, Nav won’t be there to protect her for the first time in their lives.
So when shy new girl Gia asks Nav for help getting Hallie’s attention, Nav finds a way to make it work for her. In exchange for lessons in romance, Gia, whose mom runs the camp, will help get Nav a spot there. And if her coaching works, maybe Hallie can date someone who will treat her right for a change.
Except…Gia’s not just bad at flirting, she’s terrible. She’s too anxious to even speak to Hallie, never mind date her. Training Gia quickly becomes a disaster. Worse, Gia’s every awkward joke and catastrophic fake date makes Nav like Gia a little bit more…and not in a friend way. Which puts a really, really big wrench in Nav’s plans. As Nav’s feelings change, she’ll have to decide what’s more important: sticking to her plan for the perfect summer or taking a chance on learning more about love than she ever expected.
See How They Fall by Rachel Paris
When Skye married into the wealthy Campbell family, she thought she was entering paradise. But now, several years later, she remains uneasy amid the opulence of her husband’s world, struggling with her own secrets and working to maintain a normal life for their young daughter, Tilly.
Skye’s delicate balance is undone when the family patriarch, Sir Campbell Turner, dies suddenly and an illegitimate heir comes forward to stake his claim in the luxury goods empire the old man leaves behind. Reluctantly, the Turners receive the newcomer at an intimate weekend retreat at Yallambee, the family seaside estate, but tempers flare and egos clash within their first few hours together and the night ends in a tragedy that leaves one dead and another fighting for life.
Sergeant Mei O’Connor is assigned to investigate the incident and though her superiors are keen to close the case as swiftly as possible, the evidence just isn’t lining up. Convinced that there’s more to the suspicious death than a simple accident, Mei continues to search for answers. But pulling at these threads may just tear down the Turner empire.
Love At Second Sight by F.T. Lukens
When a teen has an unexpected vision about a future murder, he must juggle newfound interest from the supernatural community with trying to prevent the murder from happening in this new romantic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author F.T. Lukens.
Fifteen-year-old Cam Reynolds wants to spend his sophomore year flying under the radar. That shouldn’t be too hard, considering he’s a human going to school with kids who have paranormal powers, like his best friend and witch, Al, and his longtime werewolf crush, Mateo.
Then Cam has a psychic glimpse of the future in front of most of the student body, seeing a gruesomely murdered teen girl from the point of view of the killer. When Cam comes to, he knows two things: someone he goes to school with is a future murderer, and his life is about to change. No longer a mere human but a clairvoyant, one of the rarest of supernatural beings, Cam finds himself at the center of attention for the first time.
As the most powerful supernatural factions in the city court Cam and his gift, he’ll have to work with his friends, both old and new, to figure out who he can trust and who might be a werewolf in sheep’s clothing. Because the clock is ticking, and Cam and his friends must identify the girl in the vision, find her potential killer, and prevent the murder from happening. Or the next murder Cam sees might be his own.
A Campus on Fire by Patrick O'Dowd
Author Interview with Patrick O'Dowd
When a shocking death rocks the exclusive writing program at a prestigious campus, a student journalist, Tess Azar, sets out to discover the truth. Rumors abound of the writing program' s cultish atmosphere and its zealous members, who will stop at nothing to ensure the sanctity of their own secrets. As an extreme right-wing student group swells in numbers, Tess finds herself in the crosshairs, dangerously at the center of the growing chaos. Simmering with tension, this provocative novel portrays the nation' s current-charged political climate, highlighting the immovable structures of our society and the dangers of navigating a post-truth world.
The Midnight Secret by Karen Swan
Jayne Ferguson has always been a keeper of secrets, most especially her own . . .
If there’s one thing Jayne Ferguson has learnt in her life, it’s that every blessing comes with a curse. She married the most handsome man on the isle of St Kilda - but he’s a bully. She inherited her mother’s gift of second sight - but only ever forsees her fellow islanders’ deaths. She has learnt to keep to herself, treading in the shadows and shirking the highs for fear of the lows.
When a needless death strikes at the heart of her home, Jayne’s bad marriage becomes worse and she finds solace with an unlikely friend. Glimmers of happiness tantalise her, though there’s no possibility for anything more, especially once word comes of St Kilda’s evacuation.
But as the day draws near, tensions on the island rise. Secrets are being forced to the surface, passions and enmities erupting with equal violence. A man is killed, as Jayne knew he would be, and her closest friends Effie, Mhairi and Flora are each implicated.
On the mainland, the villagers scatter into new lives, hoping distance means refuge. But then Jayne has another of her dreams and she knows the past isn’t done with them yet.
The mystery of St Kilda's residents are all revealed in The Midnight Secret. The Fourth and final book in Karen Swan's sweeping, bestselling Wild Isles series, following on from The Last Summer, The Stolen Hours and The Lost Lover.
Hollow Bones by Erica Wright
An eerie Appalachian town. A fatal fire. Three women whose fates intertwine . . .
Wildlife technician Essa Montgomery worries that she'll always be "the serpent orphan" if she stays in Vintera, West Virginia. Her neighbors will never forget that her snake-handling mother and father were both killed by cottonmouths. A fire at her old church pulls her into an improbable investigation alongside hotshot reporter Merritt Callahan and into direct conflict with the new preacher, a man the town considers a hero for fighting the local opioid epidemic.
When the pastor offers Essa a devil's bargain, will she accept the offer to save her brother? This literary mystery takes its inspiration from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, using a modern setting to ask an age-old question about the limits of mercy.
Hardly a Gentleman by Eloisa James
New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James returns to the Accidental Brides series with a romance about a forced marriage between a feisty heroine and a Scottish laird... neither of whom have plans to marry, let alone fall in love.
Desperate after her Season comes to a spectacularly disastrous end, the Honorable Miss Clara Vetry jumps into a carriage hired to take a housekeeper to Scotland.
The laird of Castle CaerLaven has no interest in a wife, especially a love match—but when Caelan sees his new housekeeper, he changes his mind. Marriage to a delectable bookworm strikes him as a perfect arrangement.
To his surprise, Clara refuses his proposal once…and again…yet again.
When her true identity is revealed, and they’re forced to marry, Caelan realizes he has a far more crucial challenge.
He finally has Clara’s hand—but how will he ever win her heart?
Such a Good Mom by Julia Spiro
Bestselling author Julia Spiro's Such a Good Mom is a brilliant standalone mystery that's the perfect beach read. In the heat of summer, a murder on Martha's Vineyard rocks one new mom to the core, leaving her to search for answers.
With a healthy newborn baby, a devoted husband, a successful career, and a busy life on Martha’s Vineyard, Brynn Nelson should be the happiest she’s ever been. But Brynn is struggling. Her husband, Ross, grows more distant by the day, and the challenges and exhaustion of postpartum make Brynn feel like she’s slowly losing pieces of herself to motherhood. Pieces that she might never get back.
But it’s summer on the Vineyard, a beacon for wealthy visitors, and a place so beautiful that it seems immune to tragedy and crime. Except for locals, like Brynn, who know all too well that tragedy can strike at any point. And this time, it hits close to home when a friend of the family is found washed ashore. Dead. And Brynn’s already hectic life is turned upside down when Ross is arrested for the crime.
Left reeling with more questions than answers, Brynn’s only path forward is to find out who really killed Cecelia Buckley, even if it means it was her husband. She’s not sure who she’s able to trust anymore. And with the dizzying, endless cycle of sleepless nights, diapers, and bottles, Brynn’s not even sure she can trust herself. She’s not sure of anything anymore, but she won’t stop until she finds the truth.
Bestselling author Julia Spiro is known for writing characters readers instantly connect to. With Such a Good Mom, Spiro brings the real and layered Martha’s Vineyard to life through the eyes of a new mom trying to get her family out of the eye of the storm that is a murder investigation.
Carrying the Tiger: Living with Cancer, Dying With Grace, Finding Joy While Grieving
In the spirit of Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air and Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking comes Carrying the Tiger: Living with Cancer, Dying with Grace, Finding Joy While Grieving by Tony Stewart, a powerful story of love, loss, and recovery.
When Stewart’s wife, Lynn, receives a sudden and devastating diagnosis, their scramble begins to find effective treatment, navigate life-threatening setbacks, learn to live fully in the shadow of death, and, ultimately, to share the intimate grace of her final departure from this world. After Lynn’s death, with the help of friends old and new, Tony slowly climbs out of his shattering grief and, surprisingly, eases toward new love.
There is uncertainty, fear, and sorrow in his journey, but also tenderness and joy, along with a renewed perspective on what it means to live and love with one’s whole heart. Adapted from more than a decade of posts on CaringBridge.org that chronicled Tony’s odyssey, both at Lynn’s side and afterward, Carrying the Tiger is an honest, passionate, life-affirming tale about the full circle of life and death, one that offers a deeply intimate look at grief and its hopeful aftermath.
Broken Souls and Bones by LJ Andrews
Lyra Bien intended to live a quiet life to avoid the attention of the magic-obsessed king in the fortress of Stonegate. Until Roark Ashwood—the prince’s silent guard and rumored killer for the crown—invades her village and uncovers the truth behind the silver scars in her eyes. To save her best friend from death, she’s forced to reveal her abilities, and is immediately claimed by the crown as the next melder.
To be the King’s melder is to be revered and feared in equal measures, but above all it is a slow death sentence. Lyra is determined to find a way to free herself and her friends from bondage. But first she must get more information from the silent, brooding sentry who first took her captive: Roark.
As Lyra gets closer to Roark, she soon learns he’s nothing like she assumed—and in fact everything she needs. The more they work as allies, the harder it becomes to ignore the growing passion between them. After a sinister truth is revealed, Roark and Lyra must choose to stand against all they know, or accept their dark destiny.
Twelve Secrets by Robert Gold
Author Interview with Robert Gold
Praised as "twelve stars" (Lisa Jewel) and "one of a kind" (James Patterson), here is a twisty, pulse-racing thriller where each character is a suspect and the secret they hold will change everything, from Sunday Times bestselling author Robert Gold.
It’s twenty years since my teenage brother was murdered and my mother took her own life with a broken heart. But when the police knock at my door and tell me my brother’s killer has just been found murdered, my heart stops dead: the killer had letters from my mother written just days before she died.
My mother believed someone else was there that night. As the police search my home, my head races with a million questions. Did my mother really kill herself, or did someone get to her before she could find out the truth?
I pore over my mother’s letters late into the night until I discover a family secret that turns my blood to ice. Everything I thought I knew about the night my brother was murdered is a lie. As I get closer to the truth, another body drops. Someone in this close-knit town will stop at nothing to keep their secrets. Can I find them before another innocent life is taken?
To Light the Way Forward by Nancy Naigle
A novel of overcoming deep loss, taking risks, and learning that life—and love—often surprises you when you least expect it, from the USA Today bestselling author of The Shell Collector.
“Bringing to life characters you can’t help but fall in love with, Nancy Naigle goes straight to the heart with this story of tragedy turned to triumph. A poignant reminder to never give up hope.”—Sheila Roberts, author of The Best Life Book Club
Feeling adrift after the loss of her husband, Rosemary sets out to visit an old friend on Whelk’s Island, undeterred by the threat of a hurricane. Before the storm hits, she finds herself at Tug’s Diner where she quickly connects with the owner, Tug.
But the storm destroys the diner, compounding Tug’s grief from losing his love the previous year. The longer Rosemary stays, the more she sees Tug’s deep sadness and resolves to help him. Together with Tug and friends Amanda and Paul, they all pitch in to help the close-knit community recover and rebuild.
As Amanda and Paul reconnect after losing touch during the storm, their plans to take things slow seem increasingly impractical. While Rosemary and Tug help the young couple navigate their relationship, they also find themselves building a friendship that begins to restore them both. But can that friendship convince them that love is possible for anyone who’s willing to take a risk—even those who never hoped they’d find it again?
Becoming Ghost: Poems by Cathy Linh Che
The long-awaited sophomore poetry collection by award-winning writer Cathy Linh Che, on familial estrangement, the Vietnam War, and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.
The follow-up to her acclaimed poetry debut Split, Becoming Ghost documents Cathy Linh Che’s parents’ experiences as refugees who escaped the Vietnam War and then were cast as extras in Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now, placing them at the margins of their own story. The poetry collection uses persona, speculation, and the golden shovel form as a means of moving Vietnamese voices from the periphery to the center. The speaker’s disownment raises questions about the challenges of using parents as poetic subjects, telling familial stories to a broader public, and the meaning of forgiveness.
Serial Killer Games by Kate Posey
What would you do if you thought your coworker was getting away with murder—literally?
Dolores dela Cruz has been dying to spot one in the wild, and he fits the mold perfectly: strangler gloves, calculated charm, dashing good looks that give a leg up in any field . . . including fields of unmarked graves.
The new office temp is definitely a serial killer.
Jake Ripper finds a welcome distraction in his combative and enigmatic new coworker. He hasn’t come across anyone as interesting as Dolores in a long time. But when mere curiosity evolves into a darkly romantic flirtation, Jake can’t help but wonder if, finally, he’s found someone who really sees him, skeletons in the closet and all.
Until Dolores asks Jake’s help to dispose of a body . . .
A morbidly funny and emotionally resonant novel about the ways life—and love—can sneak up on us (no matter how much pepper spray we carry).
The Artist of Blackberry Grange by Paulette Kennedy
Author Interview with Paulette Kennedy
For a young caregiver in the Ozarks, an old house holds haunting memories in a ghostly novel about family secrets, sacrifice, and lost loves by the author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport.
In the summer of 1925, the winds of change are particularly chilling for a young woman whose life has suddenly become unbalanced.
Devastated by her mother’s death and a cruel, broken engagement, Sadie Halloran learns that her great-aunt Marguerite, a renowned artist now in the throes of dementia, needs a live-in companion. Grasping at newfound purpose, Sadie leaves her desolate Kansas City boardinghouse for Blackberry Grange, Marguerite’s once-grand mansion sitting precariously atop an Arkansas bluff. Though Marguerite is a fading shell of the vibrant woman Sadie remembers, Marguerite is feverishly compelled to paint eerie, hallucinatory portraits of old lovers―some cherished, some regretted, and some beastly. All of them haunting.
With each passing night, time itself seems to shift with the shadows at Blackberry Grange. As truth and delusion begin to blur, Sadie must uncover the secrets that hold Marguerite captive to her past before reality―and Marguerite’s life―slips away entirely.
The Best We Could Hope For by Nicola Kraus
Author Interview with Nicola Kraus
From a #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a powerful novel about family, the weight of secrets, the choices we make, and the repercussions of the decisions made for us.
When Bunny Linden abandons her three children with her older sister, Jayne, in 1972, she knows Jayne will be the perfect mother. The mother Bunny, a teen runaway, could never be.
As months turn into years without word, Jayne and her husband, Rodger, a rising journalism star, strive to give the children the opportunity to flourish and feel loved. When Jayne and Rodger finally have a child of their own, a seemingly stable home is built. But then, after nearly a decade, Bunny resurfaces and sets a chain of events in motion that detonates all their lives.
As adults, their children try to reassemble the pieces and solve the mystery that has always haunted them. Who were their parents? What really happened between them? And who is ultimately to blame for the destruction? But will the answers they seek set them free―or lead to something far more damaging than anyone imagined?
When Stars Align by Melissa de la Cruz
Author Interview with Melissa de la Cruz
Best friends Miranda Montana, Germaine St. Germaine-Chang, and Sicily Bell were the darlings of Hollywood who rose from teen success to in-demand idols of screaming fans and paparazzi. They rode the momentum like there was no tomorrow. But nothing lasts forever.
Now Miranda, the wild-child movie star, drifts from rehab to dead-end relationships as she tries for a comeback from a very public fall from grace. Germaine, the daughter of billionaire hotel moguls, has lost her purpose. And then there’s Sicily, the all-American pop star who had a record deal, sold-out concerts, and controlling parents who squeezed the very life out of her. After a decade, fate reconnects these three young women for a long-awaited confrontation with the secrets, betrayals, heartbreak, and family traumas of the past.
Settling old scores is just the beginning. It’s also time to repair the damage done and to hold fast to the most galvanizing success of their lives: their friendship.
