Dec 16

Dec 16 Books Publishing This Week

The evening at the end of December feels hushed and reflective, as if the year itself has slowed to take stock before moving on. Outside, darkness settles early, wrapping the world in cold blue shadows. Even if there’s no snow, the air carries that unmistakable winter stillness—the kind that softens sound and sharpens thought. Lights glow warmly in windows nearby, small pockets of life against the long night, and you feel drawn inward, toward quiet and meaning.

You move through your evening slowly. The bustle of the holidays has passed, decorations slightly askew now, their sparkle gentler, less urgent. Maybe there’s a tree still lit in the corner, or just the lingering scent of pine or candle smoke in the air. You make yourself something warm to drink—tea, cocoa, maybe a glass of wine—and let the steam fog your glasses or warm your hands. This isn’t a night for productivity. It’s a night for pause.

You settle into your favorite place, where the light is soft and forgiving. A blanket is pulled across your lap, familiar and heavy, and the house around you feels settled, at rest. The clock ticks somewhere in the background, but it feels less like a reminder and more like a companion. Soon, it will mark the end of a year. Not yet—but soon.

The book waits for you. You’ve chosen it carefully, or perhaps instinctively, knowing you wanted something new to carry you forward. There’s something symbolic about starting a book at the end of December—a small act of hope, of continuity, of trust that stories don’t end just because calendars do. You pick it up, feel the weight of it in your hands, the crispness of unopened pages.

Before you begin, you pause. You always do on nights like this. Your thoughts flick backward through the year—moments that surprised you, moments that stretched you, moments that quieted you. The joy and the grief, the mundane and the monumental. Some things still feel unresolved, still tender. Others feel complete, gently set down. You inhale deeply, then open the book.

The first page meets you with possibility. The words are steady, grounding, almost generous. You read slowly, letting yourself ease into the rhythm, into a new voice, a new beginning. The outside world fades just enough. The past year loosens its hold, and the future stops knocking so insistently at the door.

You sip your drink, noticing how warmth gathers in your chest. The story begins to take shape—characters stepping forward, a world forming sentence by sentence. It feels comforting to enter something unfinished, to trust that meaning will reveal itself in time. There’s no pressure to get ahead, no need to know how it ends.

Outside, fireworks might crack in the distance, or maybe the night is quiet, save for wind along the eaves. Either way, you stay where you are. This moment feels important, even if it looks ordinary. A book in your hands. A year behind you. A night that exists solely to bridge the space between what was and what will be.

As you read, time softens. You don’t check it. You don’t need to. The pages turn easily, and the story begins threading itself through you, settling somewhere deep. You know already this book will be with you into whatever comes next—January mornings, winter afternoons, the slow unfurling of a new chapter in your life.

Eventually, you mark your place and close the book, resting it in your lap. You sit for a moment longer, listening to the quiet, feeling the weight of the year close gently behind you. There will be resolutions, intentions, plans. But tonight isn’t for that.

Tonight is for beginnings that ask nothing of you yet. For stories just opening. For a final evening in December spent exactly where you are—warm, reflective, and ready.

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Books Publishing December 14 - January 3

Love in Plane Sight by Lauren Connolly

With her brother’s grumpy best friend—and her longtime nemesis—as Beth’s flight instructor, her pilot lessons could be a plane disaster or their first-class ticket to forever.

Mayday. Mayday. Engine failure.

When flying with George Bunsen, the last thing Beth Lundberg wants is to be horny in the cockpit. But when her first ride-along dives toward disaster, the perpetually stoic George is forced to execute a skillful emergency landing, and Beth is horrified to find herself with an adrenaline-fueled crush on the pilot. She’s even more shocked when her brother’s best friend offers her discounted flight lessons—possibly out of guilt for almost killing them.

And despite George’s annoying habit of departing any room the moment Beth enters, she really wants to accept. No matter that it’s an egregiously expensive hobby, or that her waitressing wages go right toward her mother’s medical bills, or that she’s already in debt up to her eyebrows. Flying is Beth’s dream, and she could use her private license to earn real money.

The more time they spend navigating the sky, the more the turbulence between George and Beth dissipates. But Beth has seen the burning wreckage that comes from mixing business with pleasure—plus, she’s been keeping a secret that, once revealed, will send all her relationships into a tailspin. Can she really take a risk on romance when her pilot career isn’t even off the ground?

Happy Habits by Tal Ben-Shahar

Cultivate lasting change with simple habits, from New York Times bestselling author Tal Ben-Shahar.

Do you struggle to make real change because you’re starting too big without building a foundation first—get a new job, lose twenty pounds, learn a new language? Maybe the tools at your disposal seem inadequate, the prospect of change overwhelms you, and you feel stuck.

In Happy Habits, happiness expert Tal Ben-Shahar provides accessible and easy-to-implement tools, and an easy-to-follow three step process, that can help you realize your goals, aspirations, and dreams.

He starts with simple intervention techniques to reset your mood in as little time as possible–what he calls Happiness Boosters in the form of MVIs–Minimum Viable Interventions, which include:
Taking three deep breaths
Writing down five things for which you are grateful
Reading a quote slowly and deliberately
Vigorously climbing stairs for 45 seconds

From there, discover how to improve wellbeing–spiritual, physical, intellectual, relational, and emotional–and build a stronger base within yourself for committing to change, increasing your willpower, and finding joy in the journey.

The final step in Ben-Shahar’s guide will help you learn how to create the daily rituals that will help you turn goals into habits, and intentions into reality, using the 3 Rs of change:
Reminders
Repetitions
Rituals

With concrete examples, practical, direct advice, and an easy-to-follow action plan, Ben-Shahar shows you that while cultivating lasting change takes motivation, it does not have to be a frustrating experience that is doomed to failure: you’re just starting without the foundation you need for real change.

Asylum Murders by Michael G. Colburn

Michael G. Colburn’s Lady Black Mystery series is back with its second twisty installment, “Asylum Murders.” In the gaslit streets of 1890s Melbourne, Lady Edith “Edie” Black has reinvented herself. Once a notorious London thief, she now poses as a widowed aristocrat while secretly establishing herself as a private investigator.

When Parliament's ceremonial mace disappears during a night of debauchery involving high-ranking officials, Edie is hired to recover it discreetly. Meanwhile, Edie's friend, a novice nun assigned to the infamous Kew Asylum, witnesses disturbing disappearances among the patients. When she's framed for murder, Edie must infiltrate the asylum and find the true murderer to save her.

Caste in the Stars by Leylah Attar

She did everything right—until her life fell apart.
The last place Priya Solanki wants to be is back at the funeral home her parents have run for decades—a place tied to a caste legacy the world says is long gone, but that her family carried from India to Canada and never let go of. Her traditional parents call it fate—proof that her path was written in the stars, just like the generations before her. But to Priya, it’s a life she never chose, and one she’s spent years trying to outrun. Her plan is simple: regroup, reset, and finally break the cycle.

Then Ethan Knight reappears.
Once the reckless, motorcycle-riding boy next door, he’s now a full-blown Hollywood star—older, incredibly handsome, and impossible to avoid. Adored by millions and followed everywhere by flashing cameras, he’s renting out the funeral home to prepare for a role—and flipping every piece of Priya’s plan upside down.

And finally, the stars align.
Trapped in close quarters with the boy she once loved in silence, Priya can’t escape the heat, the history, or the ache she’s buried for years. But falling for Ethan doesn’t just mean risking her heart; it means stepping into a world that was never built for someone like her—and daring to believe she belongs in it anyway.

But even if she takes the risk, what happens when Ethan leaves? Because, inevitably, he will.

Loving him wouldn’t just destroy her—it would destroy everything she’s trying to rebuild.

The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey

“We’ll make a list. A list of all the people and things we see that are suspicious. And then… we’ll investigate them.”

Twelve-year-old Miv is panicking. Life has been complicated since her mom got sick, and now her dad is talking about wanting to move their family away from the town Miv has lived in her whole life—because of the murders. Young women are dying, everyone is afraid, and no one knows who the culprit might be.

But as far as Miv is concerned, leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn't an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv's mum stopped talking. Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all?

So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things on their street. People they know. People they don't. But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighborhood, within their families—and between each other—than they ever thought possible. What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?

In Your Dreams by Sarah Adams

A homecoming to Rome, Kentucky, sparks a new romance—and lots of drama—between two old family friends, from the New York Times bestselling author of When in Rome, Practice Makes Perfect, and Beg, Borrow, or Steal.

Madison Walker left Rome, Kentucky, determined to make it in the culinary world. But after years of chasing success in New York, all she has to show for it is her shattered confidence and a desperate need for a fresh start. Coming home isn’t part of the plan—until an unexpected job offer lands in her lap: the head chef position at a new farm-to-table restaurant in her hometown. The only catch? It comes from James Huxley, owner of Huxley Farm, her brother’s best friend.

James has always played it safe, keeping his head down and running the family business. But when Madison’s happiness is on the line, he’s willing to take up his estranged brother’s offer to launch a restaurant. James has loved her quietly for years, knowing she’s never seen him as more than an annoyance, but now that she’s back, he’s determined to change that.

Madison and James are tasked with launching the dreamy restaurant in record time, but keeping things strictly professional soon becomes impossible, and the town can’t help but meddle in their relationship. As opening night looms closer, Madison’s fears threaten to hold her back.

When an unexpected disaster collides with a long-simmering sibling feud, both Madison and James will have to face their biggest insecurities—and decide if love is worth the risk or if some dreams are safer left untouched.

Cassie Linden Finds Her Sweet Spot by Linda Avellar

Cassie Linden worries about every word she can’t remember, terrified of the early-onset Alzheimer’s that stole her mother and sent Cassie fleeing the wreckage of her family. Since then, Cassie has constructed a carefully calibrated life—a modest but satisfying career in New York City’s legal department and a teenage son she dotes on. But she didn’t see the break-up of her marriage coming.

Now her ex is remarrying, her son has been suspended from college, her father has developed dementia and Cassie is having troubling memory lapses of her own. She and her dad have never seen eye to eye and after her mother died, Cassie rarely visited. But with her sister on the West Coast, Cassie has no choice but to step in. Cassie soon realizes her dad can’t manage his large Connecticut property and beloved bees anymore. She hires a beekeeper to help while she convinces her father to sell to a developer who’s putting up a luxury project next door. She doesn’t love the idea of her family home being plowed under for McMansions but can’t see another way to pay for the assisted living her dad needs.

Beekeeper Glenn Marsden ardently opposes the housing project on this last open space in town and is disturbed by rumors that the developer is after the Linden’s five acres too. Ever since his wife walked out eight years ago leaving him to raise their young daughter he hasn’t had much to say to women. But something unexpected has sparked with Cassie and he’s starting to believe he might finally have met someone he can trust.

Cassie knows she needs to come clean with Glenn about her plan to sell to the developer but fears it will ruin their blossoming relationship. Then there’s the appointment she forgot and those pesky words she can’t recall. Her sister is after her to get tested for the genetic mutation that guarantees early-onset. But does Cassie really want to know? And will the answer sink her newfound chance at happiness?

Murder by Muffin by Rosie A. Point. Puzzles by Charles Timmerman

A cozy mystery story combined with themed word search puzzles creates an interactive and charming whodunit experience in this fun new format that invites you to solve the case as you uncover clues.

Life at Cranberry Creek is settling down for Abby Jones. Her bookstore business is booming the drama around her opening event is finally starting to fade, and she’s even started to make friends with some of the locals, including her Main Street neighbors at the local bakery. But when the bakery owner Rose is accused of poisoning a restaurant critic with her famous blueberry muffins, Abby knows there’s more to this case than meets the eye—and she’s determined to clear her friend’s name or die trying!

The Water Lies by Amy Meyerson

Internationally bestselling author Amy Meyerson takes readers on a harrowing journey where two mothers―one of a woman who drowned and the other of a toddler who might know what happened to her―are the only ones searching for the truth.

Heavily pregnant with her second child, Tessa Irons has enough on her mind without her toddler throwing tantrums at the local coffee shop. The boy is inconsolable, shouting “Gigi!” to a woman Tessa’s never seen before―and never will again. The next morning, the woman’s body is dredged up from the canal outside the Ironses’ posh Venice Beach home, and Tessa’s gut tells her it’s no coincidence.

Barb Geller refuses to believe that her daughter’s death was just some drunken accident. She heads to California for answers, where she crosses paths with Tessa. Together they hunt for the truth, certain they’ll find a connection between their children.

But the police don’t believe them. Tessa’s husband dismisses her worries as pregnancy jitters, and even though people are always watching along the canals, no one saw a thing. Tessa and Barb only have each other, their intuition, and the creeping sense of danger that grows with every shocking revelation.

Behind These Four Walls by Yasmin Angoe

From the author of Not What She Seems, Yasmin Angoe’s thriller explores revenge, morality, corruption, and wealth as a woman sets out to uncover the truth behind her friend’s disappearance and expose the powerful family behind it.

Isla Thorne had a rough start in life. Orphaned young, she spent her formative years in a group home where she met her best friend, Eden Galloway. At sixteen, they decide to run away to LA…but Eden never makes it.

It’s been ten years since Eden vanished. And Isla’s determined to find her.

She begins at the last place Eden visited: the Corrigan mansion in Virginia. Eden claimed to have unfinished business there. Posing as an aspiring journalist, Isla insinuates herself into the wealthy family’s home and begins searching for the truth.

The more she digs, the more Isla discovers Eden isn’t who she thought she was. Was she even a victim, or did Eden plan this all along? Desperate for answers and to keep her identity hidden, Isla finds an ally in one of the Corrigan sons. But as she wades deeper into this power-hungry family’s secrets and lies, she finds herself in the crosshairs of a bloodline that’s more lethal than loyal.

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