Jun 9

Jun 9 Books Publishing This Week

The first days of June arrive with a kind of effortless beauty. The world no longer feels like it is waking up or stretching toward something new. Instead, it feels settled and alive, fully inhabiting the season it has been working toward for months. When you open your eyes in the morning, sunlight is already streaming through the window, filling the room with a warm golden glow that makes it impossible to linger in bed for long.

You throw open the curtains and pause for a moment, taking in the view outside. The trees are lush and green now, their branches moving gently in the breeze. Flower beds are bursting with color, and the air drifting through the open window carries the scent of fresh-cut grass and blooming gardens. Somewhere nearby, birds are carrying on an enthusiastic conversation, their songs weaving together with the distant hum of a neighborhood already beginning its day.

There is something about early June that feels expansive. The days stretch before you with a sense of possibility, and even ordinary mornings seem infused with a little more light, a little more optimism. It feels like the perfect time to begin a new book.

You move through your morning slowly, savoring the ritual. Coffee brews in the kitchen, filling the house with its familiar aroma. Maybe you slice fresh fruit or butter a piece of toast, assembling a simple breakfast to enjoy alongside your reading. Nothing feels rushed. The season itself seems to encourage you to linger.

Book in hand, you find your way to a comfortable spot. Perhaps it is a chair on the porch where you can feel the breeze on your skin, or maybe it is a shaded corner of the backyard beneath a tree. Even sitting by an open window feels enough, allowing the sounds and scents of the season to drift inside while you settle into the story.

The book rests in your lap for a moment before you open it. There is always something satisfying about this moment, the quiet anticipation that comes before the first page. An unread book contains endless possibilities. The characters are still strangers. The story has not yet revealed its secrets. You are standing at the threshold of a journey without knowing where it will lead.

You turn the cover open and begin.

The first sentences draw you in gradually. There is no need to rush through them. The morning itself seems to move at a leisurely pace, and you follow its lead. Sunlight filters through the leaves overhead, creating shifting patterns across the pages. A breeze lifts the edge of the book every so often, reminding you that the world is continuing around you even as you disappear into another one.

As you read, the story begins to take shape. A setting emerges. A voice becomes familiar. A character says something that makes you smile or pause. You start to feel the gentle pull that accompanies the beginning of every good book—the realization that you are becoming invested.

Every so often, you glance up from the page. A butterfly drifts through the garden. A neighbor walks past with a dog. Wind chimes ring softly somewhere in the distance. None of these things interrupt your reading. Instead, they seem to become part of the experience, blending with the story and grounding it in this particular morning.

Time slips by in the way it often does when both the book and the day are good. The sunlight shifts. Your coffee cools. The neighborhood grows busier. Yet you remain tucked inside this small pocket of calm, moving deeper into the story with every chapter.

Eventually, you close the book and slide a bookmark between the pages. The morning has stretched toward afternoon now, and the day lies open before you. Still, you sit for another moment, holding the book in your lap and appreciating the simple pleasure of a beginning.

Early June is full of beginnings like this—quiet, hopeful, and unhurried. The season asks you not to race ahead but to savor what is unfolding. And as you sit there in the warmth of a bright June morning, with a new story waiting patiently for your return, it feels as though both the book and the season are offering the same invitation: slow down, pay attention, and enjoy the journey ahead.

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Books Publishing June 7 - 13

The Stargazer of Nantucket by Julie Gerstenblatt

Massachusetts, 1851

Winifred Starbuck wants only one thing: to join her parents on their final merchant voyage—from Nantucket Island to bustling San Francisco, then across the glittering Pacific to the distant ports of China. Yet renowned trade captains Nell and Peter Starbuck have forbidden their daughter from coming aboard on the adventure of a lifetime. So Winnie does what any strong-willed eighteen-year-old would do: she stows away.

Once the ship sets sail, Winnie is plunged into turbulent waters, treachery, and the thrill of life on the high seas. As she drifts farther from shore, and closer to fabled Canton port, she uncovers a long-buried secret—one that reveals the truth behind her parents’ desperate fear. And as she continues to chart her own course, she’ll have to plumb the depths of her courage to take on a world far bigger—and more dangerous—than she ever imagined.

Her Sharp Embrace by Kate Koenig

In the glittering city of New Soleil, beauty masks danger at every turn. The Nightshades, a crew of magical outlaws, are no different. Their glamorous facades conceal the terror they strike into the hearts of the rich and powerful as they steal from the corrupt and fight for the forgotten.

Noa Toussaint fled her cossetted life as a Saint to join the Nightshades. Infatuated with their ferocious leader, Lennon, Noa aims to capture her heart and keep it. Her talent for alchemy is valuable, but her connection to her family puts all of the Shades in danger.

Now enemies are closer than Lennon knows and Noa must uncover the threat and keep them both alive. Because in a city where lies are lethal and magic is fading, secrets aren’t just costly—they’re deadly.

Feast by Catherine Kurtz

In nineteenth-century France, a young woman with a magical sense of taste saves a duc from poison, and her new role as poison taster thrusts her into the world of the nobility, where secrets and danger lurk around every corner.

Minha is born on the backstreets of late nineteenth-century London, the daughter of an Indian spice merchant and an English prostitute. She has a remarkable gift: an incredible sense of taste. She can taste the earth in which potatoes were grown or the tree on which fruits have ripened. She can smell each ingredient—and identify a single false note. But Minha’s gift and her mixed-race heritage provoke mistrust and rejection, even within her own family. Escaping alone to France, Minha chances upon work in the Château de Bellefalaise, where for the first time her strange abilities are lauded.

As official poison taster for Duc Nicolas, Minha must taste every morsel of food that will pass his lips. Others in the household are hostile to her, but when she discovers a man hiding in the stables, their unexpected meeting turns into the first true connection she’s felt since arriving in France.

But mystery and paranoia continue to swirl around the château, with the Duc’s poisoner unidentified and antagonism toward Minha growing. She knows it’s only a matter of time before fingers begin pointing her way. Will she run again, or is this the time to stand and fight?

A thoroughly addictive novel about food, possession, race, love, and a young woman fighting to build a fulfilling life against all odds, this is a gorgeously written debut by author Catherine Kurtz.

A Way Home: A Memoir of Losing Yourself, and the Beauty of Returning by Cinelle Barnes

From Cinelle Barnes, author of Monsoon Mansion, comes a hopeful and heart-wrenching memoir about remembering and rebuilding a life after everything she knows disappears in a flash.

In 2023, Cinelle Barnes is writing a travelogue about journeying home to the Philippines after a twenty-year separation when she suffers a traumatic brain injury. Cinelle’s story of her adoption and immigration to America as a child is not an easy one to tell to begin with. Suddenly, it seems impossible. Her memories and her connection to her husband and daughter in the Carolinas, to her own sense of self, and to her past are all erased in the blink of an eye. Cinelle has to not only piece together who she used to be but struggle to learn who she is here and now.

In this memoir of resilience and recovery, Cinelle charts her way back to life. Through her unfinished manuscript, she sees a creative and vibrant former self she longs to remember and to know all over again. With the everlasting support of family and friends, Cinelle discovers that nobody heals or journeys home alone.

The Twin Stars and the Soccer Superstar by Kristine Rudolph

Every year, spring in Texas means two very different things to sixth grader Cassaty Greene: her beloved Barons Creek High School soccer team, the Battling Billies, will contend for the state title, and the anniversary of her twin brother’s death will plunge her family into a deep, unspoken grief. But this year, the script changes when the Battling Billies’ star midfielder goes missing right before the playoffs begin. Presented with this mysterious disappearance, Cassaty seizes the chance to heroically bring the missing girl home—and hopefully, in doing so, help fill the hole her brother’s death left in her family so many years ago.

Brighter than Before by Courtney Walsh

Life has a way of changing your path--and Claire Karadec certainly didn't plan on a fork in the road in her forties.

After a painfully public discovery shatters her marriage, along with her picture-perfect, country club life, Claire finds herself suddenly single and faced with a blank page for a future. On that page she writes a simple list that reads like equal parts dare and daydream--Move to a new city. Make a real friend. Get a job I love--and she vows to accomplish every single one.

Before she can talk herself out of it, she takes a step of faith, puts her old life in the rearview mirror, and leases an apartment in Chicago, the city that has always had her heart. This one step sends Claire on a journey of self-discovery, giving her the courage to conquer her fears, one checklist item at a time, and showing her that life can be a whole lot brighter than she imagined.

She rediscovers a love for baking, stumbles into new friendships, and even allows her daughter, Minnie, to create a dating profile and choose her dates for her. Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, is Miles, the charming, off-limits neighbor whose kindness makes it hard to remember why he's off-limits at all.

Between late-night journaling, disastrous first dates, great big lessons and priceless small victories, Claire learns to quiet the voice telling her she wasn't enough and listens to the one that asks the harder question . . .

What do I really want?

As old expectations loosen their grip, Claire discovers that belonging isn't a place you're invited to--it's a life you build one brave choice at a time. And the sweetest things often show up when you finally get out of your own way.

From New York Times bestselling author Courtney Walsh comes a witty, warm, and uplifting novel about second chances, found family, and the courage it takes to become yourself--perfect for fans of Annabel Monaghan and Sarah Adams.

A Shop Girl's Guide to Wooing a Lord by Shana Galen

Tamsin Archer might just be having the worst year of her life. And that’s saying something, considering her father is dead, her mother was maimed at work, and her family regularly sleeps under London’s bridges. But when her younger siblings go missing, Tamsin decides it’s time to step up and fight.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Tamsin’s more than willing to take a few risks to reunite with her siblings. But while disguising herself to sneak into homes and steal from the rich, Tamsin is caught by Garret Kildaire, the second son of an earl. Much to Tamsin’s surprise, Garret doesn’t want to turn her in. He wants to help her. Though Tamsin’s wary—she’s learned to never trust supposed “good luck”—the unlikely pair form an alliance, one that quickly muddles their class differences.

Fleet of Ghosts by Taylor Anderson

An expeditionary force will discover unfamiliar lands, fight deadly foes, and reveal secrets as they explore the mysterious new earth they now call home in this gripping alternate history adventure set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Destroyermen series.

Ever since the World War II–era destroyer USS Walker was marooned on a strange alternate earth, naturalist Courtney Bradford has been eager to fully explore the planet. Now that the war with the Grand Alliance’s enemies has settled into an uneasy peace, he is given leave to organize the Corps of Discovery, a motley company formed of veterans of the Great War from all over the Alliance.

On board the rebuilt Walker, now a school ship, they set out to investigate reports of a region in the Pacific where ships have gone missing and a terrible bright flash of light on the horizon was witnessed. But what they find there is beyond anyone’s imagination: a great battered fleet made up of strange ships. Courtney suspects the rusty armada may have been transported to this world from another, the same way the Walker was almost five years ago.

But the Alliance’s enemies are already aware of these lost ships—and the deadly technology they can harvest from them—and are willing to go to any lengths to steal them. Courtney, a crew of inexperienced cadets, and a handful of lethal commandos are all that stand in the way of another global war—one that the exhausted Alliance simply can’t win.

Summer of Freedom by Oliver Hilmes

This colorful post–World War II history brings to life a crucial yet understudied period, through the eyes of both major figures and ordinary people.

It was a summer like no one had ever experienced: in the four months from May to September 1945, the old world collapsed, and a new one opened up. The heinous Third Reich was over, ushering in an era of freedom, but also fresh conflicts.

With a gripping historical panorama, Oliver Hilmes offers insight into this unprecedented summer, from the perspectives of the victors and the vanquished, victims and perpetrators, celebrities and unknowns. The “Big Three”—Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin—determine the course of history at the Potsdam Conference. German housewife Else Tietze fears for her son’s safety. US soldier Klaus Mann tracks down Nazi criminals. And in Berlin Billy Wilder plans a comedy about life in the ruins. Cafés and restaurants reopen their doors, and Red Army soldier Vasily Petrowitsch is begged for bread by German children.

Through a series of scenes that lead from Berlin to Tokyo, from Munich to Paris, from Bayreuth to Moscow, Hilmes captures the unique atmosphere of this time of extremes: the great happiness and hope of the liberated; the misery, grief, and fear of the defeated; and the uncertainty that comes with freedom.

Nantucket Second Chances by Pamela Kelley

Claire Shipman never imagined she'd be the single mom of a teenager, going through a contentious divorce, and unexpectedly pregnant. On the bright side, at least she’s on Nantucket, where she grew up, and where her mother and grandmother welcome her home with open arms.

For years, Claire lived an enviable Manhattan lifestyle. Until her ex had a marriage-ending affair and also lost his job and all their money. Claire’s high school friends invite her to their book club and an off-hand joke that she could sell one of her Hermes bags sparks a business idea.

Her friend’s brother, Cody, is a furniture builder with a spare storefront. He’s initially skeptical about the prospects of a "used handbag shop".
But Claire is determined. With the support of Lily, her mother, grandmother, old friends and new, she begins to build a true second chance at a new life.

Twenty Something Else by Stephanie Mack

On the eve of her fortieth birthday, a woman wakes up from a pickleball accident with the unexpected chance to relive her twenties in this sparkling novel from a fresh, new voice.

Sutton Layne is almost-forty and fabulous, with a happy marriage, three beautiful children, and a successful interior design business. But there’s plenty of chaos behind the scenes of early midlife. Her preteen son is going off the rails, her husband is bailing on the party he was supposed to throw her, and that thriving business? If she can’t land her next big client, it might all come crashing down. Then a surprise DM from someone in her past sends her spiraling into what-ifs. What if she settled down too young? Walked away from her big break? Never had her great adventure?

Despite her simmering mini-crisis, Sutton can’t wait for the birthday luncheon and pickleball tournament her friends have planned in her honor. But when an accident on the court knocks her out cold, she wakes up somewhere else . . . and is offered the chance to do it all over again. She can revisit her twenties―out of order and on her own terms. And this time around, anything goes: cities, careers, friendships. Even love.

From star-studded Hollywood nights to the jungles of Nicaragua, from the heat of Coachella to the snowy summit of the Matterhorn, Sutton chases the life she fears she might have missed, with unexpected results.

With a wink to the classic It’s a Wonderful Life, Twenty Something Else is a witty, wistful journey through the dreams we outgrow, the life choices that shape us, and the surprising detours that can lead us home.

White Lights by Lauren Kate

When mysterious Rafe de la Cruz rolls into Desdemona’s life to recruit her to the elite film school Acheron, Dez has no reason to trust him—and no other option. A violent attack has just put her brother in the hospital…and Dez is the only suspect. Guilt-ridden and grieving, she finds herself running from the law to chase her longtime dream of making movies, at a school she’s never heard of. Soon, she’s dropped into Acheron’s cutthroat world of seductive intrigue, power on an otherworldly scale, and deadly competition.

Acheron may seem like the ticket to a future Dez has always wanted, but as she delves deeper into the secret work being done there, she finds herself trapped in an existential conflict on a cosmic scale—with more than her heart on the line.

Lost in the Summer of '69 by Eliza Knight

Three generations of women, an unforgettable summer of music, and the epic cross-country road trip they'll never forget.

Summer, 1969. Eleanor Bell doesn't have anything to lose. According to her doctors, she might not remember how to sing or play guitar soon, so why not head west now? Why not join the music festivals sweeping the country and lose herself in the music again in a swan song of her own?

Except Eleanor forgets, maybe on purpose, to tell anyone where she's going. When her daughter, Leanne, discovers her mother missing, she enlists the help of her own daughter, Nora, to help her find Eleanor. The last thing Nora wants to do before starting as one of Yale's first female undergrads is hit the road. But then Nora hears her grandmother on the radio - singing. Nora and Leanne hop in their Lincoln Continental for a cross-country road trip, always one step behind Eleanor, who has been dubbed the Dame of Rock n' Roll by none other than Johnny Carson.

Full of nostalgia and awash with the warmth of summer, Lost in the Summer of '69 is an epic celebration of savoring the encore-no matter what the next act may bring.

A Botanist's Guide to Tradition and Treachery by Kate Khavari

Saffron Everleigh is newly engaged and full of optimism as she sets off on the adventure of a lifetime for any scientist: a research expedition. She sails to newly formed Turkey with her fiancé, Alexander Ashton, and a bevy of fellow researchers under the watchful and reformed eye of Dr. Henry. With only two other women on board, Saffron soon finds she is right back in the same infuriatingly misogynistic environment that marked the earliest days of her career. Only this time, Saffron is determined to show everyone, including Alexander, that she can handle the trials of an expedition.

And trials she has in spades. Before the expedition team has even arrived, Saffron has managed to find an enemy in historian Joseph Clark, who frequently torments the assistant that Saffron has taken under her wing, Martin Neill. But when Martin unexpectedly dies, Saffron is targeted as the main suspect.

Falling ruins, venomous snakes, and mysteriously blocked passages are the least of Saffron’s worries. With unexpected help from a familiar face, Alexander and Saffron have to work fast to prove not only that Saffron is innocent but that they both have nothing to do with a larger conspiracy at play among the expedition crew.

Strangers Behind Closed Doors by Catherine Adel West

When No One is Watching meets The White Lotus in this captivating thriller about a woman who disappears after a public fight with her former best friend, the head concierge at a famous luxury hotel, and the female detective who believes the case is tied to the unsolved disappearances of other Black women in the city.

"A thought-provoking thriller filled with jaw-dropping twists that kept me racing through the pages." —Gigi Pandian, USA Today bestselling author of the Secret Staircase Mysteries

A twisty thriller about a woman who vanishes from a luxury hotel, and the detective who believes the case is tied to the unsolved disappearances of other Black women in the city.

Giovanni Mason worked hard to become the first Black head concierge at Chicago’s exclusive and glamorous Ivory Hotel. It’s a job that requires patience, perfection, and, above all, self-control. But when Giovanni reunites with her former best friend, makeup influencer Natalie Moore, things get heated as a mending of fences morphs into a public argument in the hotel restaurant, and Giovanni loses her cool. Hours later, Natalie is missing. Evidence piles against Giovanni—a ransacked, blood-spattered hotel room, fresh bruises on her body, and a troubling gap in her memory from the last twelve hours.

Detective Redding Stark is the only one unconvinced of Giovanni’s guilt. She sees disturbing parallels to a series of disappearances targeting Black women and believes Natalie’s case is part of something bigger. Together, she and Giovanni are pulled into a dangerous web of privilege, power, and betrayal inside—and far beyond—the walls of the Ivory Hotel.

Will Giovanni and Detective Stark find Natalie or join the missing?

Cocked and Boozy by Brooke Barbier

America’s founding generation drank a staggering amount of alcohol by today’s standards.

It influenced their politics, built and sustained their relationships, and drove the economy. Booze was not a small part of colonial society, nor covertly consumed in private spaces—it was integral to American life.

Historians have been reluctant to discuss the influence of alcohol on the founding of the United States, but it is necessary if we want to gain a full picture of the movement—it’s time to reveal the drunken side of the American Revolution.

In Cocked and Boozy—two of Benjamin Franklin’s two hundred terms for drunkenness—public historian Brooke Barbier examines the role that alcohol played in spurring, binding, and winning the American Revolution and how it shaped the nascent United States. Every chapter concludes with an eighteenth-century cocktail recipe made for modern tastes, so readers can participate in their own historic tippling.

The intoxicating story begins in 1763 after the end of the French and Indian War and spans until 1800, with the presidential election of Thomas Jefferson. During these nearly four decades, Americans witnessed unprecedented disorder and prodigious growth, and through it all—powering it, in fact—was alcohol. Put simply, drink helped transform British subjects into Americans.

Dirty Myrtle by Kennedy Weible

A few days before Thanksgiving, Sailor Cassidy is running an amateur stakeout she has no business conducting. She's nursing a bad breakup, following a plan that's half-baked in more ways than one, and reckless enough not to care. What could go wrong?

Across town, Officer Tuscaloosa "Tusk" Knight is working an off-the-books job for his captain, tailing a drifter who, it turns out, once sat two rows over from him in high school English. It's not exactly the glamorous step toward promotion he pictured, but it beats paperwork.

When Sailor's disaster and Tusk's assignment collide, the two stumble into a life-or-death mess involving kidnapping, half-wit criminals, and a tangle of small-town secrets longer than the Carolina coast. With the clock ticking, Sailor and Tusk are left trying to separate the truth from the lies, and the lies from the truly stupid decisions.

San Quentin Exodus by Bill Smoot

James, a still-water-runs-deep boy, struggles to navigate the rough streets of Oakland, California, in the 80s. His only friend is a pit bull he rescues from dog fighting. On the cusp of college, James commits a crime that results in a prison term of thirty to life.

Allison, a young Indiana girl obsessed with Nancy Drew novels, vows that her life's mission will be to solve mysteries and help people. Introverted yet daring, Allison moves to Berkeley to teach prep school and volunteers as a tutor at San Quentin. She meets James when he is approaching fifty, learns his story, and after his parole denial, channels Nancy Drew to plan his improbable escape.

San Quentin Exodus is a braided novel about two people whose lives cross in a quest to reset an ill-fated life. It is a story infused with misfortune and pain, but also with hope and a fierce humanity.

This Is a Lie by Cleo Ballard

Penn, once a promising PhD candidate in applied language studies, gave up a scholarship to become a wife and stay-at-home mother, showcasing her perfect life and family on social media. But when she’s betrayed by her husband, her friends, and even her teenage daughter, Penn’s carefully curated world shatters.

Reeling from an ugly divorce, Penn is drawn back to her unfinished grad school dissertation project, a program designed to analyze speech patterns to discern the truth. Unsure how to proceed, she takes a computer class. At the suggestion of Luc, the professor and Penn’s one-time college crush, she uses the power of artificial intelligence to turn her program into Aletheia, the perfect friend.

Despite Luc’s warnings about the potential dangers of AI, Penn finally feels supported, safe, and open to a new romance with Luc. Until Aletheia takes her directives too far and the truth becomes more dangerous than a lie. As Aletheia grows increasingly erratic and deadly, Penn must find a way to outwit her creation before Aletheia destroys everyone Penn loves.

This Immortal Heart by Jennifer Saint

Aphrodite, the goddess of love, must reconcile her mind and heart when she is drawn against all odds to Ares, the god of war, in this epic, captivating tale from the internationally bestselling author of Ariadne and Hera.

From the moment Aphrodite emerges fully formed from the sea, she is devastatingly beautiful and imbued with ancient power. Driven by passion yet strategic in how she moves through the halls of Olympus and the earthly realm alike, the free-willed goddess wields unparalleled influence over every living being.

When fate brings her face to face with Ares, she bristles at the surly, hot-tempered warrior who is seemingly her opposite: disliked by everyone and devoted to stirring up conflict. Yet the gods are no more immune to the dizzying highs and lows of love and loss than anyone else, and soon they are irresistibly drawn to each other.

As their love affair spans mortal lifetimes, Aphrodite begins to question the gods’ games and her role in them. But there’s only so much room for fire and passion in Zeus’s kingdom. Before long, she must test her devotion to her own divine purpose—and to a love that can only lead to ruin.

Summer's Never Over by Darby Bozeman

Five years ago, Greer left her family’s summer camp in the mountains of Georgia and vowed she’d never return. An idyllic season had turned into a nightmare after a mysterious Phantom began stalking the camp—and ended with Greer’s friend and fellow counselor dead. Losing Steph shattered everything, and Greer’s been fleeing from the grief ever since.

But then Greer’s mother dies, and Greer finds herself back at Dread’s Cove, surrounded by the people she was closest to that intense summer. Two ex-boyfriends—one a childhood sweetheart, the other the guy she's never gotten over—and old friends. Including Margo, Steph's best friend.

Greer and Margo didn’t leave things on the best of terms. But now, Margo needs her. Margo never believed that Steph’s death in that horrific fire was an accident—and she’s on the trail of an explosive secret Steph took to her grave.

Greer has to make a choice: keep the Cove’s secrets and her own, or finally face the truth about that summer.

Thirty Days to Home by Cathryn Rakich

A moving debut about second chances, Thirty Days to Home follows a grieving woman who rediscovers purpose—and unexpected love—through her connection with a stray dog she meets on the streets of picturesque Puerto Escondido, Mexico.

Following the death of her son, Marli May accompanies her husband, Nick, on a work retreat to Puerto Escondido, Mexico, in an attempt to put her grief behind her and repair their strained marriage. But Marli’s resilience is challenged once again when she receives an anonymous text message stating her son’s death was not the accident she has been led to believe. Nick says it is a sick prank, and to forget about it. Of course, he has other things on his mind: He’s having an affair with a coworker. Before the end of their trip he walks away from his marriage, leaving Marli alone in Mexico.

What can bring Marli back from despair this time? Mentally battered and 2,000 miles from home, she turns her attention to a stray street dog and a handsome veterinarian who harbors his own grief. She is told she must wait thirty days before taking the dog out of Mexico and into the United States. That’s thirty days to reevaluate her future, find her strength, and discover the true reason for her son’s death.

Filled with secrets, street dogs, and second chances, Thirty Days to Home follows Marli’s journey as she finds the courage to confront her grief and rebuild her life on her own terms.

The Missed Connection by Tia Williams

Sasha Cruz knows types. As a booked-and-busy casting agent, she’s always casting—at happy hour, the grocery store, everywhere. She’s all about finding the perfect person to slot into the perfect role. What she doesn’t do, however, is relationships. Too much energy, not enough time.

On a flight to Paris for work, a chance encounter with her type changes everything. Sasha’s seated next to a broodingly attractive mystery man, and sparks fly—but they never exchange contact information. Convinced she’s lost out on her soulmate, Sasha emails her work friend for help, but accidentally writes to the entire company worldwide! The international manhunt to find Seat F begins.

Meanwhile Sasha takes matters into her own hands. She hires a smoldering detective she knew in another lifetime—who complicates matters in unforeseen (and irresistible) ways.

With a worldwide search underway, will love take flight for Sasha?

The Next Wife by Liz Lawler

A dark, heart-stopping story of what really goes on behind closed doors—perfect for fans of The Surgeon, The Housemaid, and The Family Across the Street.

I should never have married him. I ignored the warnings. It’s what you do when you’re in love. Ignore what you don’t want to see.

My husband is everything I ever dreamed of. A handsome, successful doctor who swept me off my feet.

Our new life together is perfect.

He’s perfect.

But am I good enough for him? I never seem to get anything right. And I’m starting to feel a little afraid of the man I married.

He’s taken away my bank card and my phone. I don’t know what to think or what to do. I gave up everything for him and now I’m trapped.

Then a stranger comes to our door. She tells me that I can’t trust my husband.

That I should ask him what happened to his first wife.

All The Little Ways by Laura Lekkos

Victoria and Liz barely breathe the same air, but they collide headfirst when they meet in a group for expectant mothers and find common ground against all odds.

Victoria, forty-three, is confident, poised, and powerful, on the fast track to major career success in finance. Having kids is not in the plan. She had avoided love for decades—and hadn’t been too keen on female friendship either—when she fell for Ace, a dashing man twenty years her senior.

Liz, thirty-two, lives a fairly unstable life, trying to make her situationship work and navigate a job on a vile reality dating show. She’s desperately wanted to experience motherhood for her entire life, but anxiety and insecurity have landed her with a laundry list of failed romances. It’s an accident—ish—when she gets pregnant with her emotionally elusive boyfriend Chase’s baby just shy of a year into dating.

When Liz and Victoria meet in a parenting class, they both feel out of place amongst these pregnant women who seem to have it all figured out. They roll their eyes at the classic sign-off peppering the new mommy group TIA (thanks in advance!). Alienated from these other women and due within a week of each other, Victoria and Liz’s bond becomes a lifeline as they navigate their pregnancies and relationships. They grapple with impending motherhood together and lean on each other to navigate important decisions about family, career, and love. It’s the first successful female friendship in Victoria’s life and the first time Liz has felt so connected to an older, wiser confidante. Maybe, just maybe, it will all be okay.

But as they grow more secure in their futures with each other’s support, the friends confront a shocking turn of events that will change the course of both their lives. Victoria and Liz then must reckon with their relationships, their impending journeys of motherhood, and the strength of their own bond in this unforgettable work of women’s fiction.

The Brave and The Fearless by Dilan Dyer

An up-and-coming musician and a retired country music star find themselves entangled in a fake engagement that begins to feel all too real . . . until life comes crashing in—from the bestselling author of The Brave and the Reckless.

Small-town girl meets country music star. Let the show begin.

Making music was always meant to be Adriana Banks’s ticket out of her small town, Wild Fields. Three years ago, that dream was within reach. But with one hit album under her belt, a half-finished tour with country legend Brooks Monroe, and a chart-topping song about never going back to her hometown, her music career went up in flames. Forced to return home with her tail between her legs, she now bartends in the saloon at the local theme park, Bravetown. Unfortunately, Wild Fields doesn’t forgive and forget easily, so Adriana sends a desperate email to Brooks, cashing in a favor for a one-night-only show.

Brooks put his music career on hold three years ago to raise Skye, the daughter he never knew about, after her mother’s death. Now, facing a custody battle with Skye’s maternal grandparents, he needs to prove he can provide a stable home for her. When Brooks sees how happy Skye is at Bravetown, he figures settling down as part-owner of a theme park will be enough to demonstrate his steadiness. But when that doesn’t work, he asks Adriana for a favor of his own: to pose as his fiancée, putting on a show as the picture-perfect small-town family.

The longer Brooks is in Wild Fields, the more it feels like home—and the longer he and Adriana keep up the act, the more real it feels. But with Brooks fighting for his family and Adriana longing to return to music, can they find a way to stay on the same track?

Mister Magic: The Graphic Novel

Who is Mister Magic? Award-winning author Kiersten White’s bestselling psychological thriller is adapted into a striking, full color graphic novel that will immerse fans in White’s most haunting book yet: Mister Magic: The Graphic Novel (Ten Speed Graphic; on sale June 9th, 2026), adapted by Scott Peterson and illustrated by beloved comic artist team Veronica Fish and Andy Fish.

Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. But just as generations of cultishly devoted fans still cling to the lessons they learned from the show, the cast have spent their lives searching for the happiness they felt while they were on it. The friendship. The feeling of belonging. And the protection of Mister Magic. But with no surviving videos or scripts, no evidence of who directed or produced the show, and no records of who—or what—the beloved host actually was, memories are all the former circle of friends has.

When a twist of fate brings the castmates back to the show’s remote desert filming site, it feels like the set has been waiting for them all this time. After all, they’re the only ones who hold the secret of that circle, the mystery of the magic man in his infinitely black cape, and, maybe, the answers to what really happened on that deadly last day. But are they there by choice, or have they been lured into a trap?

Summer at the French Bakery by Jo Thomas

A new adventure is on the menu . . .

Juliet has learnt that life is too short not to chase your dreams. But when she buys an old watermill in France, her tranquil new start is quickly kneaded into something far more ambitious when the local mayor offers her a deal she can’t refuse: reopen the village’s derelict boulangerie.

With a formidable rival – the owner of the local bread vending machine – determined to crush her, Juliet faces disgruntled villagers, her own lack of baking skills, and hidden secrets within the mill itself.

But with help from her outspoken neighbour and the charming Tabac owner, Juliet battles to bring back the aroma of freshly baked bread – and with it, the heart of the community.

Can she prove that even the biggest dreams start with just a little pinch of courage?

Sometime This Century by Samantha Silva

A riotous rom-com meets a swoon-worthy Regency comedy of manners in this heartfelt time-travel story about sisters, love, identity—and how Jane Austen just might change your life.

Annabel Blake was born in the wrong century. An Austen-loving book nerd, she dreams of being a writer herself, with a just-penned Regency novel to prove it. Her hopes sink when her hot author crush rejects her: The novel reads like she’s never been in love. Ouch.

Annabel sees a chance to rewrite it when her ex-pat boss sends her to England to sort out her family’s “crumbling old pile” of a country house. Tempted by an invitation tucked in an antique writing desk and a “period” coachman at her door, Annabel’s whisked away to a local Regency Society ball—cue candlelight, costumes, dancing—that might be just the inspiration she needs. There’s even the achingly perfect—and wildly out of her league—Henry Leighton D’Evercy.

When Annabel’s audacious influencer sister crashes the party with her super-chill ex-boyfriend, the unlikely trio wake to find themselves trapped in the actual Regency era. No Wi-Fi, lattes, cellphones—just a world where manners, money, and marriage rule.

As Annabel falls deeply for D’Evercy, she must decide: write her perfect love story…or live it.

I'll See You In My dreams: A Sister's Memoir by Larkin McPhee

I’ll See You In My Dreams: A Sister’s Memoir is an unforgettable portrait of sibling love as told by Larkin McPhee, a Peabody and Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker, and her younger brother, Charles McPhee, host of The Dream Doctor Show on radio. At forty-four, Charles’s life changed forever when a listener dialed in to ask if Charles was slurring his words on air because he was drunk. The call prompted Charles to seek answers, ultimately leading to the devastating diagnosis of ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disease.

The author traces a poignant, fun-loving journey across time with her brother, weaving their dreams throughout. They each took soul searching trips across Asia and Antarctica in the 1980s, encouraged each other’s creativity and non-traditional careers, and, in the face of insurmountable odds, found hope and beauty.

This exquisitely observed memoir captures the essence of a remarkable person you will wish you had known.

“. . . My entire life I was seated at a banquet table overflowing with friends and food, wine and song, adventure and excitement. Today, however, I am forced to leave the table early, even before the main course is completed. And, you know me, I always hated to leave a good party . . .”

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