Aug 4

Aug 4 Books Publishing This Week

The first week of August arrives with a quiet confidence. Summer has reached its fullest expression, and everything around you seems touched by abundance. Gardens spill over with colorful blooms, farmers' market tables are heavy with tomatoes and peaches, and tree branches sway under leaves that have grown thick enough to cast generous patches of shade. The days are still long, but the light has changed ever so slightly. It is softer now, richer somehow, as though the sun has begun painting everything in warmer tones.

You notice these things because August invites you to pay attention.

There is a stillness beneath the activity of the season. Family vacations are winding down, neighborhood pools are filled with one last burst of laughter before school routines return, and conversations begin to include phrases like "before summer ends." No one says them with sadness exactly, but with a quiet appreciation for how fleeting even the longest season can be.

It feels like the perfect time to begin a new book.

Perhaps you've been saving this one for weeks, imagining it beside a lake or tucked into your carry-on for a trip that has already come and gone. Or maybe you found it on a recent bookstore visit, unable to resist the promise hidden inside its pages. Whatever brought it into your hands, you realize there is no reason to keep waiting. Some books seem made for this particular week, when summer is still generous enough to offer slow afternoons and golden evenings.

You gather everything you need before settling into your favorite reading spot. A pitcher of iced tea rests in the refrigerator, sweetened just enough to taste like summer itself. You slice a ripe peach, its juices dripping onto the cutting board before you carry both outside. The porch feels comfortably warm but not oppressive, and a gentle breeze keeps the leaves overhead in constant motion. Somewhere nearby, cicadas sing with the persistence that only August can inspire, their steady chorus blending with the distant laughter of children making the most of another carefree afternoon.

Before opening the book, you pause to take in the world around you. Bees disappear into towering sunflowers. Butterflies drift lazily over patches of black-eyed Susans. A hummingbird hovers for a brief moment before darting away almost too quickly to follow. The scent of basil, lavender, and warm earth mingles in the air, creating a fragrance that exists only during this particular stretch of summer. You wonder, not for the first time, why these ordinary moments feel so extraordinary when you stop long enough to notice them.

Then you open the cover.

There is always a small thrill in reading the first sentence of a new book. It asks nothing of you except curiosity. You haven't formed opinions about the characters yet. You don't know which scenes will make you laugh, which passages you'll underline, or which ending will leave you staring thoughtfully out the window. Every page is possibility waiting patiently to unfold.

The story begins slowly, and you are grateful for that. August is not a month for rushing. You read a chapter, then pause to sip your tea. You read another before setting the book in your lap to watch a pair of goldfinches land in the garden. The rhythm feels natural, almost instinctive. The book is no longer competing with the afternoon but becoming part of it.

As the pages turn, you begin to settle into the story with the same ease that you've settled into summer itself. The characters become familiar companions. Their conversations linger in your mind long after you've finished a chapter. You find yourself smiling at a clever line or rereading a particularly beautiful paragraph, not because you missed anything, but because you don't want to move on quite yet.

The afternoon slips by almost unnoticed. The sunlight shifts from bright white to a deeper gold, stretching long shadows across the yard. The breeze grows cooler, carrying with it the faint scent of someone's charcoal grill being lit for dinner. You glance up from your book and realize you've been reading for hours, though it feels as though only minutes have passed.

Eventually, you close the cover and tuck your bookmark carefully between the pages. The story has only just begun, and somehow that feels fitting. The first week of August is a beginning of its own—not the beginning of summer, but the beginning of appreciating it more deeply. You know the calendar will continue turning, as it always does, but there is still so much season left to enjoy.

You carry the book back inside with every intention of returning to it tomorrow. There will be more warm mornings, more lingering evenings, more opportunities to sit beneath the trees with something cold to drink and another chapter waiting to be discovered. And years from now, when you think back on this particular book, you may not remember the exact day you started it. But you'll remember the feeling—the warmth of the air, the sound of the cicadas, the sweetness of a perfectly ripe peach, and the quiet contentment of beginning a story while summer was still gloriously in bloom.

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Books Publishing August 2 - 8

Blackthorn's Botanical Shadow Work by Amy Blackthorn

Our “Shadow” consists of all of the unpleasant, even traumatic experiences that we encounter in our lives. It is where we store the pain of things that happen to us and how they subconsciously affect our behavior. Lack of understanding or integration of the Shadow can look like toxic positivity (love and light syndrome), as well as cause unregulated drinking, gambling, drug use, or other vices. Blackthorn’s Botanical Shadow Work offers a deep look into the way we interact with plants and how they can help us release our trauma, fears, and personal stress.

With Blackthorn’s Botanical Shadow Work, readers journey with Amy Blackthorn—herbalist, aromatherapist, and witch—to face their fears, wishes, and desires, and find harmony with themselves. Amy teaches ways to cultivate a daily relationship with plant spirits through the use of aromatherapy, meditation, journaling, and other practices. She also helps us to center ourselves and our magical practice so that we can be of service to others.

Throughout this book, there will be prompts, exercises, and encouragement for doing the hard work of confronting the Shadow and realizing the power that it can offer for personal growth. Blackthorn’s Botanical Shadow Work provides a foundation for connecting our spiritual development, therapy, and magic or witchcraft.

A Cauldron of Spells by Eileen Holland

Clear and easy to follow, A Cauldron of Spells explains how to prepare and cast spells—eighty-seven spells in all—including what materials are needed and which incantations will ensure the best results. Tailored to the needs of solitary witches, Holland suggests alternatives for hard-to-find ingredients, as well as directions about where to find specific ingredients crucial to a spell’s success.

The book offers spells for every need, including love, money, wishes, uncrossing, protection, and problem solving. A wide variety of magick methods and techniques are used in the spells:

Candle magick
Knot magick
Footprint magick
Charms
Tea spells and potions
Poppets

Holland includes various types of spells, including smudging, invocation, incantation, and visualization. Also included is an index of spells to make it easy to find the spell you need. She also offers blessings and ways to use incense in rituals, as well as a section that shows how to create a talisman suited to the witch’s astrological sign. A Cauldron of Spells offers everything a witch needs to practice the Craft in the splendor of solitude.

This book was previously published under the title Spells for the Solitary Witch.

Tarot: The Open Labyrinth—40th Anniversary Edition by Rachel Pollack

A tarot reading lies open before us, all of its images laid out on the table. Yet at the same time, they form a labyrinth, not simply a puzzle to be decoded but also a complex pathway deep into ourselves. In Tarot: The Open Labyrinth, Rachel Pollack presents interpretations and commentaries on a collection of readings.

The approach is exhaustive yet specific, going steadily deeper into the person’s concerns in a context of light and dark, the Magician and the High Priestess. Through a recognition of this context, the subject and the reader open up their lives. In her classic Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, Rachel Pollack described how we can form meditation patterns—tarot mandalas—to help us go beyond the reading itself. In this book, she gives examples of these mandalas and describes how people involved use them and their experiences.

First published in 1986 by the Aquarian Press and long out of print, Tarot: The Open Labyrinth is for readers who wish to take their reading to the next level by learning from the master. Rachel Pollack writes that this book is intended to tell us “how the Tarot can help us answer specific questions, act as a tool for psychological analysis, and tell us how to overcome problems.”

Styled by the Stars by Alyssa Polinsky

Drawing on her twenty years of experience in the fashion industry, astrologist Alyssa Polinsky helps readers unlock their personal style by interpreting their birth charts through this insightful guide that merges the cosmic world of astrology with fashion.

By exploring the power of their signs, readers will discover how to curate a wardrobe that aligns with their cosmic energy and unique self-expression. Through humorous, engaging, and practical advice, Styled by the Stars gives readers the confidence to express themselves through fashion with a little help from the stars. Polinsky also encourages a sustainable approach to fashion, offering readers guidance on how to shop at thrift and vintage markets to build a wardrobe that reflects both their personal style and eco-friendly values.

Our Ancestors Want Us to Be Mushrooms by Madison Murphy Barney

The more we start to live like mushrooms, author Madison Murphy Barney argues, the more healthy, just, and abundant our lives will be. Unlike other mushroom-focused books, Our Ancestors Want Us to Be Mushrooms weaves the guiding attributes of mushrooms and ancestral wisdom into an inspiring metaphor that calls us back into the right relationship with each other and with our planet.

The book is cleverly divided into eight traits of mushrooms from which humans can seek guidance:

1. Humility
2. Beauty and delight
3. Creativity and unique gifts
4. Living in cycles and decomposition
5. Protection
6. Healing and nourishment
7. Flexibility and adaptability
8. Mystery and room for magic

Barney draws on her Indigenous roots and guides the reader on a journey to become more human through acting like mushrooms. Written with warmth, spirit, and whimsy, Our Ancestors Want Us to Be Mushrooms enchants the reader into a more engaged life with the world and themselves by embodying the innate qualities of the wondrous mycelial world.

Something Like Desire by Marie Hoy-Kenny

Something like Desire is a hilarious, romantic story of family, loyalty, and finding love in the most unlikely of places.

Lexi Callen’s world is turned upside down when her mother announces she’s leaving her father because she’s having an affair. With her sister’s wedding just weeks away, Lexi vows to put an end to the fling before it tears the family apart.

But her plan takes an unexpected turn when she crosses paths with Zach, the son of her mother’s lover, who seems equally determined to break up the relationship. What begins as a blame game and clashing opinions quickly shifts into something more complicated. The more time Lexi spends with Zach, the harder it is to deny the magnetism between them.

As the wedding date looms closer, Lexi is forced to confront more than just her mother’s scandal. Questions about her own future, and her long-term boyfriend, Jayden, begin to surface. Caught between loyalty, desire, and the life she thought she wanted, Lexi must decide how much she’s willing to risk in order to follow her heart.

The Unknown by Riley Sager

In 1926, five women disappeared from a remote island in Vermont. Now, one hundred years later, it’s happening again.

Struggling actress Marin Keane is shocked when she lands a role in a major motion picture about the unsolved mystery of New Avalon, an island on sprawling Lake Faraday in Vermont. She’s even more surprised when she learns that the role requires a weeklong research trip to that very spot.

Because New Avalon isn’t your ordinary island. A century ago, it was a commune for spiritual mediums—until they all vanished in 1926. The only trace of them was five dresses hanging from the branches of an old oak tree in the middle of the island, one for each missing woman. Some locals say they simply left. Others think they were murdered. But the prevailing opinion, thanks to a diary left behind by one of the vanished, a young woman named Daisy Rue, is that a séance gone wrong conjured something supernatural that took them all one by one.

Not long after arriving, Marin and her castmates, including legendary actress Violet Wright and white-hot director Ronan Peters, begin to realize all is not right with New Avalon. They hear strange noises in the night and notice mysterious symbols left behind by the island's previous occupants. And after a sudden health emergency leaves Marin, Ronan, and the other actors stranded on the island, the disappearances begin again.

Is it the work of someone trying to derail the movie? Or is the island’s alleged supernatural past catching up with the present? As fear and suspicion mount, Marin turns to Daisy’s diary, hoping it holds the key to figuring out what really happened to the women of New Avalon—and how to keep the island’s terrible history from repeating itself.

Clean Slate by Brianna Labuskes

A crime scene cleaner is on the trail of a serial killer in a breathtaking novel of psychological suspense by USA Today bestselling author Brianna Labuskes.

Death pays well for Olive Hunt, a crime scene cleaner who channels her childhood traumas into erasing the suffering of others. After nearly ten years, she’s seen it all. Nothing rattles her anymore.

Until now.

Two back-to-back suicides. A seedy motel. An upscale Atlanta hotel. No connection―except that Olive discovers the same strange item at each scene. Then a third body drops. Olive knows what the police refuse to see: These aren’t suicides. They’re murders staged to perfection.

Then the roses arrive. A vase of bloodred blooms on her doorstep. An anonymous note: Thank you.

She’s found him. A serial killer who’s been leaving breadcrumbs only she can see. A killer who’s been cleaning up his work―knowing she’ll clean up after him. A killer who wants her to follow.

And follow she must. No matter how terrifying the trail becomes.

Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty

On a bustling road in Sydney, Australia, lies a nondescript storefront known simply as the Time Travel Agency. Inside, you’ll be welcomed by the smell of fresh-brewed coffee, a selection of baked goods…and the question, Where in time do you wish to go?

The guidelines are simple: you can go whenever you wish into the past, and there’s no fear of altering the present. Have tea with Jane Austen, scream at a Beatles concert, witness the Olympics in ancient Greece. Perhaps a more personal trip? Visit your long-lost grandmother, recapture the heady days of your youth, return to the idyllic time when your teen was a babbling baby—or watch yourself make the one decision that changed everything.

Is it a hoax? And if it’s real, what’s the catch?

When single mother Anna is offered a job at the agency, she glimpses the possibility of happiness. Meanwhile, Teddy’s a customer hoping to untangle his recently imploded marriage. And Jade, who has a deeply buried secret, despises the agency for offering false hope.

In Jaclyn Moriarty’s incandescent novel, Anna, Teddy, and Jade leap headlong into time, hurtling on a crash course toward one another. At turns entertaining and illuminating, Time Travel for Beginners explores the moments, big and small, that shape our destiny.

Jeff O'Lantern by Charlie Greenwald

You all know Jack O'Lantern, with his wild eyes and crooked teeth. He's the best on the block at keeping the trick-or-treaters on Irving Street from taking more than one piece of Halloween candy. But have you met his little brother, Jeff?

Jeff O'Lantern has kind eyes and a friendly smile, and he's a little shy. Unlike his big brother, he's not very good at scaring away overeager trick-or-treaters. Even his boo sounds sweet rather than spooky. But he's going to keep trying to live up to the O'Lantern name and make his brother proud. Join Jeff as he embarks on his pumpkin hero's journey to save the candy bowl, help out a new friend, and uncover his true talents along the way.

Time to Burn by Ellery Lloyd

TIME TO BURN by Ellery Lloyd is a gripping, high-concept thriller set in a near future where only the ultra-rich can afford time travel—sending tourists back to experience the Blitz in 1941 London. But when a group returns bloodied and one passenger vanishes, a filmmaker uncovering the story realizes the past has been manipulated—and that the danger is far from over. This is a twisty, suspenseful mystery that asks: what happens when the wealthy turn history into a playground?

Breathing Under Water by Jacqueline Friedland

A Zibby Owens Most Anticipated Book of Summer 2026

The current is threatening to pull them under.

Berry thought she had it figured out—juggling her vice-principal role while raising her sixteen-year-old autistic son, Leo. But when a promotion opportunity collides with her family's deepest needs, she must confront whether she's been fighting the wrong battles all along.

McKenna is drowning. Between caring for her grandmother with dementia, losing her swimming scholarship, and facing homelessness, the college student's carefully constructed world is crumbling. Her only lifeline? Teaching swim lessons to children with autism—including Leo.

As these two women's paths converge in the most unexpected way, they discover that sometimes the people who need saving the most are the ones who end up saving you.

A deeply moving exploration of motherhood, sacrifice, and the extraordinary connections that emerge when we're brave enough to let others see our struggles.

Pink Crime: Fighting Against the Criminalization of Motherhood, Pregnancy, and Queer Identity

When your identity is the crime, innocence is no defense

“Beety . . . fills important gaps in our conversation around the criminal justice system and innocence.” —Jen Marlowe, author of I Am Troy Davis

A woman miscarries—and is charged with murder. A new mother tests positive for a drug her hospital administered—and loses custody of her newborn. Four women are convicted of horrific crimes against children they never touched, based on junk science and homophobia—and spend nearly twenty years in prison before being exonerated. A queer teenager takes a photo of a child’s diaper rash at work—and is sentenced to 126 years. These cases are not aberrations. They are symptoms of a system that punishes women and queer people not for what they have done, but for who they are.

In the United States, nearly three-quarters of all wrongly convicted women were convicted of crimes that never occurred at all. Valena Beety, co-founder of the Indiana Innocence Project and award-winning legal scholar cited by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, reveals how ordinary tragedies—a child’s sudden death, a husband who dies in his sleep—are transformed by prosecutors into murders that never happened. These “no crime” convictions disproportionately target women and queer people, whose identities are recast as evidence of guilt through bias, junk science, and entrenched stereotypes.

Drawing on devastating real-life cases, Beety exposes how prosecutorial overreach, flawed forensic science, and cultural panic converge—and how fetal personhood laws, the fall of Roe v. Wade, and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation have dramatically expanded the reach of criminal law. What emerges is a chilling portrait of a legal system that increasingly criminalizes pregnancy outcomes, motherhood, and queer identity itself.

When Lemons Give You Life by Anna Johnston

From the author of the beloved international bestseller The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife comes a heart-stirring novel about family, second chances, and the lengths we go for those we love, following a woman fighting to hold onto life and her older brother who's rediscovering reasons to embrace it.

Retired Michelin-star chef Griff Barlow has lost his appetite. He’s done with grief, guilt and the beige slop they dare call food at Sunny Glen Aged Care Facility, where he now resides.

Six decades of life have given him all the lemons he can handle, so he breaks into the nursing home kitchen to bake himself one last tart. It’s supposed to be his final meal but the act of cooking stirs a dormant joy. Soon, he’s regularly sneaking in after dark, serving up flavor and comfort to fellow residents, who, in turn, begin to come alive with each bite of Griff's delicious concoctions. Yet behind the apron is a lie so big it could destroy the one thing Griff has left to protect.

Lisa, Griff’s younger sister and sole visitor, is navigating a midlife ADHD diagnosis, the spark of a new romance, and unexpected news that may change life as she knows it. Despite their fractured sibling relationship, she continues to show up, though hope of a reconciliation between the two is long gone, buried in the silence between them.

But the truth has a way of boiling over, and when secrets, soufflés, and second chances collide, Griff and Lisa may discover a recipe for forgiveness.

Heartfelt and inspiring, When Lemons Give You Life is a deeply human novel about love, forgiveness, redemption, and rediscovering joy when life has lost its flavor.

Fruit Fly by Josh Silver

Go gay. Go sad. Go dark.

A washed-up author will stop at nothing to claw her way back to relevancy—even if it means appropriating a young gay man’s tragic story.

Mallory Maddox is buried under seven years of writer’s block. With her status as a literary sensation fizzling, she’ll do anything she can to resurrect her career. Inspiration needs to strike—and fast.

Enter Leo. He’s a struggling addict sleeping under bridges and trading sex for survival. He’s vulnerable. He’s enigmatic. He’s exactly what Mallory has been looking for.

Mallory needs Leo if she wants another bestseller. The world needs Leo’s story right now, and Mallory believes she deserves to tell it. Really, it’s her story—she’s the one who wrote it, after all.

But as secrets threaten to unravel more than just her career, Mallory must decide how far she will go to pen the perfect story.

A razor-sharp satirical thriller, Fruit Fly will appeal to fans of R. F. Kuang’s Yellowface and Yomi Adegoke’s The List.

(Mostly) Human Resources by Grace Viall

Working in human resources was not what Alexys had in mind when she joined Entity, the private company that categorizes and manages the world’s cryptids. But after her dad was killed on the job as a Warden in the Appalachian Mountains, she was filled with noble ideas of carrying on his legacy . . . from the safety of a desk. Alexys dreams of climbing the corporate ladder while managing the Appalachian Wardens and sparring with Nic, the frustrating (and annoyingly attractive) Director of Research and Cataloging.

When one of Alexys’s new Wardens goes missing after inquiring about a mysterious and highly dangerous monster, her chances of promotion disappear along with him. Determined to save her career—and to shield the Warden’s family from the trauma she experienced after losing her father on the job—she marches off into the monster-infested wilderness to find him herself.

Meanwhile, Nic, with ambitions of becoming the youngest Entity employee to discover a new monster, follows Alexys on her hunt. But the work nemeses are about to discover why the Appalachian Mountains are the last place you want to find yourself after dark. Among mountains older than bones, the jackalopes and ghouls are the least of their worries . . .

Killer Art by Jon St. Denis

When art professor Vika Chen discovers the strangled body of Professor McGuire in a campus art studio, she becomes the prime suspect in a murder connected to an exhibition exposing AI-generated art.

Since local law enforcement fails to find any optional leads, Vika and her partner, journalism professor Sam Worthing, take the investigation into their own hands. Vika, who until recently worked as a curator at MoMA, and Sam, a former crime reporter for the New York Times, find themselves uniquely suited for the job.

Much to the chagrin of the police chief, the pair’s investigation pinpoints multiple suspects who might have felt threatened by the exhibition. But the stakes become deadly when someone tries to run Vika off the road.

As more bodies pile up, Vika and Sam uncover a collage of secrets that someone would kill to keep buried.

A Taste for Murder by Matt Baker

For murder detective Joe Mottram, a summer visit to his in-laws' idyllic beachside restaurant on the beautiful Italian island of Capri is meant to offer refuge. After the death of his wife Sofia in a hit-and-run in London, Joe has taken a sabbatical, hoping to heal and reconnect with his teenage daughter, Angelica.

But then a British businesswoman is found dead at the foot of a notorious cliff, and his in-laws' plans to teach Joe how to cook and get him and Angelica talking again have to be abandoned. A reluctant Joe is forced to swap his recipe books for a detective's notebook once more, as he's drawn deeper into the case.

Joe must form a partnership with a young local police inspector, Lara Sarrancino, who is desperate to prove herself and resents his involvement. As the two detectives butt heads, the investigation flounders, until a second body turns up, and they realize the killer is still at large on the tiny island. Unfortunately for Joe, the evidence trail appears to lead back uncomfortably close to home…

Death on the Books by Victoria Gilbert

When a stranger falls over dead in the Taylorsford Public Library, clutching a crumpled piece of paper inscribed only with the words hen and sapphire, Library Director Amy Muir must once again investigate. She soon learns that the man is the personal assistant to Warren Sanderson, an art collector and dealer who just so happens to be visiting Kurt Kendrick, the godfather of Amy’s twins.

When the autopsy reveals that the library patron was poisoned, suspicion falls on those who knew him—mainly Sanderson, his granddaughter Heather, and Kurt. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, Amy digs into the contentious relationships between Kurt and the Sandersons. But as it turns out, suspects abound, and when Amy’s best friend’s boyfriend is implicated, the case becomes even more complicated.

Amy’s research ties the dead man’s note to a lost treasure of the Romanov empire. Then another person falls victim. With the bodies piling up, Amy knows better than anyone that killers often keep killing until they’re caught, and she’ll stop at nothing to get to the bottom of this tangled mystery.

The Only Way Out Is Through by Tara Weinstein

Winner of the Bakwin Award selected by Tiya Miles, Tara Weinstein tells the riveting story of one woman confronting her history on a journey of growth, exploration, and reclaiming identity. In the town of Vaughan, everyone knows the story of Bria Singer: abducted at age five, and miraculously back ten years later, returning to find a broken family transformed by her disappearance. Now twenty and living in New York City, Bria must figure out who she is and where she belongs after spending her childhood in the wilderness, cut off from the world. Using journal entries, newspaper clippings, and connections with other survivors, Bria pieces together her own story in this thrilling and suspenseful novel.

Autumn at the Cat Cafe by Kathleen Fuller

From USA TODAY bestselling author Kathleen Fuller comes a cozy, kisses-only romance about fresh starts, fall leaves, and finding love right next door, perfect for fans of Gilmore Girls and Sarah Adams.

Via Dalton has sworn off men to focus on the two things she loves most: her quirky cat café, Pawsitive Vibes, and the charming town of Pecan Corner, Ohio. But her peaceful world is shaken when Earl Brewster, the owner of the beloved Second Chapter Books next door, passes away. Via is determined to buy the shop and preserve Earl’s legacy, but her plans hit a snag in the form of a tall, handsome, and completely unexpected heir.

Leo Brewster’s life is thriving in LA, and the last thing he needs is an inheritance in the middle-of-nowhere, Ohio. But the alternative–letting his estranged mother inherit–has him packing his bags to receive the inheritance, quickly sell it off to the highest bidder, and hightail it back to LA. What he didn’t count on was the list of stipulations in the will that has him staying in the small town for a month. Oh, and the determined, sunny café owner next door who refuses to let him destroy the town’s heart without a fight.

Desperate to convince Leo the bookstore is vital to her community, Via challenges Leo to complete her Autumn Bucket List. As they navigate corn mazes, pumpkin patches, and fall festivals, Leo begins to see the magic in Pecan Corner–and in Via. Despite her vow to stay single and his plan to leave, the attraction between them simmers like hot cider.

Can a season of small-town charm convince a city boy to stay, or will Via lose both the bookstore and her heart?

Grab a warm drink and curl up with this delightful grumpy/sunshine, opposites-attract story of unexpected love and small-town charm.

The Boy and His Higher Self by Ricardo Santa Cruz

And have you always been here right by my side?

I have always been with you, living inside.

Have you ever listened to the little voice inside your head? What does it say to you? The Boy and His Higher Self is the story of a boy who discovers and learns to trust his higher self, a presence that has always been with him. Dedicated to the inner child and higher self within young children and adults alike, this book offers guidance and tools to help children overcome feelings of insecurity and sadness and gain self-confidence and positivity.

With bold and vivid illustrations, Ricardo Santa Cruz’s series fosters ongoing discussions between parents and children about the importance of nurturing and preserving their authentic selves. By reconnecting with your higher self, you, too, can live out your dreams!

My First Day of School by Ricardo Santa Cruz

I’m afraid to be myself and don’t know if I can.

Relax and remember to be yourself.
There's no need to try to be someone else.

My First Day of School, the second book in a series dedicated to the inner child and higher self, tells the story of a boy on his first day of school. Nervous about making new friends and being accepted by his peers, he confides his insecurities in his higher self. With insight and guidance, his higher self shares with him that having the courage to be your authentic self inspires others to do the same and create a positive environment. Above all, Ricardo Santa Cruz emphasizes the importance of being authentic and true to oneself, highlighting that genuine connections stem from the heart.

Milton Makes A Move by Jonathan Graziano

From Jonathan Graziano, the creator of the viral “Bones or No Bones” TikTok videos and the instant #1 New York Times bestselling Noodle and the No Bones Day, comes a charming and heartfelt picture book following Milton the pug, Jonathan’s newly adopted dog, as he makes a brave move to his forever home!

Milton is a curious little pug who loves adventure—especially when it involves snacks, stinky smells, and playing with his dog friends. He’s heard that some dogs go off to live with forever families… but that kind of adventure feels a little too big for Milton.

So when Milton finds out he’s moving to a new home of his own, he packs his tiny suitcase (stuffed toy included) and does his best to be brave. He's surprised to find that his new human friend, Jonathan, seems nervous too! But as Milton settles into his new home, he and Jonathan will learn that being brave means giving new things, and new friends, a chance.

Ten Seconds by Robert Gold

A pulse-racing novel with jaw-dropping twists that will have you constantly wondering what happens next—perfect for fans of The Housemaid and Nicole Trope.

After a tense birthday celebration in Haddley, journalist Ben Harper watches his boss, Madeline, get into the car that has come to collect her. He walks home, never imagining that by the next morning, Madeline will be missing.

To find Madeline, Ben will have to return to the now infamous murder case that made her journalism career over a decade ago. A case which, Ben quickly discovers, was never as simple as it seemed. But time is of the essence, and soon it’s not just Madeline’s life on the line …

Murder at University Park by Cheryl Miller Dellasega

For fans of My Dark Vanessa and The Secret History, a gripping campus thriller about a determined young professor who challenges a corrupt academic system, confronts a predator in power, and refuses to stay silent—even when her quest turns deadly.

A brilliant young professor. A powerful advisor with everything to lose. A university campus hiding deadly secrets.

It’s 1998, and Dr. Lacey Redd is on the verge of tenure—and under the thumb of her department chair, the arrogant and celebrated Dr. Geoffrey Hart. When Lacey begins to suspect Hart of falsifying his research, she quietly teams up with a tech-savvy colleague to uncover the truth. But before they can break the case, her partner turns up dead in the campus library.

As Lacey digs deeper, she uncovers something even darker: Hart has been preying on female graduate students for years. When he attacks her at a department party, Lacey fights back—leaving him injured and exposed. A new department head steps in, and with Hart out of the picture, it seems justice has finally been served.

But someone on campus is still watching. And they’ve decided Lacey knows too much.

A Spectacular Inheritance: What I Kept and What I Left Behind by Margaret Eastman Smith

A Spectacular Inheritance is a riveting account of one woman’s experience coming of age in the world of Moral Re-Armament (previously known as the Oxford Group), the evangelical conflict resolution organization that spawned both Alcoholics Anonymous and Up With People. Margaret Eastman Smith grew up entirely in the movement, worked for it until she was thirty-five, and later became a college professor of international peacemaking. Amid the vivid memories of the unusual life she shared with the community and her evolving view of it, she winds her own story of finding herself and values that she could rely on, even as she steps away.

The movement was a contributor to Franco-German reconciliation after World War II, but has also been excoriated by some, including actress Glenn Close in The Hollywood Reporter and Oprah Winfrey's documentary The Me You Can’t See. In Margaret’s telling, the book is a reflection on the search for self, on forgiveness and the meaning of love.

Killing Sadie by Rachel Peterson

Perfect for fans of How to Survive Your Murder and Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets, this young adult thriller unspools the truth behind a tragic murder through multiple unreliable narrators who all have secrets to keep.

Here’s what we do know: there was another infamous barn party at the McClain family farm last night, and things went horribly wrong. By the end of the night, there were two dead bodies in the old barn: seventeen-year-old Sadie Cooper and her killer, Mason Vreeland. The murder was heartbreakingly witnessed by Sadie’s twin sister, Jayne, and Sadie died in her arms. Mason was killed by Sadie’s boyfriend, Ben, in an attempt to save Sadie.

Aside from figuring out Mason’s motive, it should be an open and shut case.

But it’s not.

The story unfolds just after the murders, and Jayne, Ben, and Sadie’s best friend, Liz, are telling the cops what transpired at the party and the events leading up to it. But little details don’t match. And those little details start to add up to big discrepancies. But who’s lying, and why?

The shocking truth is revealed in the third act, when the POV shifts to victim Sadie herself, in the days leading up to the party. Witness exactly what happened—and see if you can piece it all together. Because poor Sadie totally missed what was right in front of her.

Virgin Islands Noir

On the heels of Haiti Noir, Trinidad Noir, Kingston Noir, and San Juan Noir, the Akashic Noir Series dives even deeper into foreboding, luminous Caribbean literature.

Toulouse Noir, Edited by: Charles Henri Lavielle

Toulouse joins Paris and Marseille as the Akashic Noir Series continues its adventures through the nether regions of Gaul

Survival Show by Juno Dawson

American Idol meets The Hunger Games in this “chilling, satirical dystopian adventure” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) about a teen betting her life that her singing talent can make her a star from the celebrated author of This Book Is Gay, Juno Dawson.

The world just seems to take and take from Taryn Beck, but there’s one thing it’ll never have: her voice. Only when she’s singing does Taryn feel like she can escape her reality—free from the aftermath of the War, free from the Scottish refugee camps where she and her family now live, and free from the responsibility of making ends meet for the sake of her sick brother.

Taryn’s voice is her one ticket out, and that’s why she enters to be a contestant on the world’s most watched television program: Starmaker, where kids from the New Peace Global Alliance compete for the chance to join an all-singing, all-dancing pop group. Rise to the top, and a life of luxury, stardom, and money awaits.

There’s only one small catch. The lowest ranking face a televised public execution. Starmaker thanks their participants for their noble sacrifice to Project Population.

Taryn’s about to sing for her life.

Tangled Webs by Callie Coles

For fans of Broken Country and The Heir Apparent, the first book in Callie Coles’ Spinning Silks trilogy—a sweeping love story about a woman trapped by a dangerous past, and the man who may offer a chance at hope and healing, in the lush Suffolk countryside.

To the outside world, Sage Deverill has it all. In truth, her marriage is a gilded cage.

When Sage flees from her marriage at a crumbling Panamanian estate, she takes her young son to the only place that has ever felt like home: her grandparents’ estate in Newmarket, the beating heart of the racing world in the British countryside. Surrounded by ivy-clad walls, the kindness of her family and the thunder of hooves on the heath, Sage reconnects with the place, people and creatures she loves most.

Riding beneath the wide Suffolk skies, Sage encounters Rafe Dunbarton—an ambitious, intriguing racehorse trainer with a gentle soul. What begins as friendship soon becomes an irresistible pull between two people who never expected to find each other.

But just as Sage rediscovers her freedom, her past returns in a tangle of destruction and lies and she is forced to decide how much she is willing to risk for her future . . .

Lost and Found by Tarah DeWitt

A stunning novel of romance and redemption set in the Spunes, OR world, filled with heartbreak and hope from "master of emotion" (Rachel Lynn Solomon) USA Today bestselling author Tarah DeWitt.

Bea always wanted to be a mom. But she never expected she’d have to lose her best friend to do it. Armed with nothing but her best friend’s eggs and a bucket list to complete, Bea’s world is a sea of changes.

When she needs a place to stay, her longtime friend Silas steps in to help. A firefighter grappling with the aftermath of an accident, Silas has his own challenges to work through that have left him cautious and vulnerable.

At first, they expect nothing. But as these two former sunshines knit together in a love that has been unfulfilled until now, a new beginning comes out of the ashes of the past—one that will lead to a love that can withstand all the slings and arrows, joys and triumphs, that life can throw.

New York After Dark

There’s no place quite like New York at night. The buildings illuminate with bright lights, and the streets and sidewalks become electric with activity as New Yorkers are unleashed into the night. New York After Dark captures this magic through a series of captivating photographs from photographers Sanmi Krueger, Declan McWhinney, and Cyril Mouty. Featuring a foreword by New Yorker and Co-Founder of BonBon Selim Adira, New York After Dark captures the everyday moments of this most photogenic city in a unique and compelling way. Whether you’re a lover of photography, a New Yorker, or someone who simply admires the beauty of New York at night, New York After Dark will leave you with a newfound appreciation for the city after the sun goes down.

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