Mar 31

Mar 31 18 Books Publishing This Week

The morning at the edge of March and the beginning of April feels like a quiet threshold. You wake to light that seems softer and brighter all at once—no longer filtered through the gray restraint of winter, but not yet fully golden with spring’s confidence. It spills gently across your room, pooling on the floor, climbing the wall, lingering in corners that felt dim just weeks ago.

You lie still for a moment, aware of the shift. The air through the cracked window feels cool but alive. There’s a faint scent of damp soil, of something waking up beneath the surface. The calendar has turned, but the change feels less like a declaration and more like a soft unfolding.

You move into the kitchen and prepare your morning drink slowly. Coffee brewing, tea steeping—whatever it is, the ritual feels grounding. You wrap your hands around the mug and notice how you don’t need the warmth in quite the same way anymore. It’s comfort now, not necessity.

The book you’ve been meaning to start rests on the table. You’ve waited for this morning without fully realizing you were waiting. There’s something about a seasonal cusp that makes beginnings feel especially right. Not January’s urgent reset. Not March’s unpredictable stirring. But this—this gentle turning toward something new.

You carry your mug and the book to your favorite spot near the window. Outside, the trees are still mostly bare, but there are hints—tiny buds dotting branches, the faintest wash of green at their tips. The sky is pale blue, brushed with soft clouds that move quickly but without menace.

You settle into your chair, crossing your legs beneath you, and open the book.

The spine yields with a soft crack. The pages are crisp. The first sentence greets you with calm assurance. You begin to read.

There’s something about this in-between morning that makes the words feel particularly alive. You’re aware of the birdsong outside—clearer and more frequent now. A breeze moves through the branches. Somewhere, you hear the distant hum of someone beginning yard work for the first time in months.

You turn another page.

The story begins to take shape in measured strokes. No rush. No sudden revelation. Just the steady introduction of a world you’re stepping into. You find yourself reading more slowly than usual, savoring the cadence of each paragraph.

The light shifts subtly across the room. It’s warmer now, catching on the edge of the page, illuminating the margins. You pause for a sip of your drink, noticing how the air brushing against your skin feels different from even a week ago. Less like survival. More like renewal.

You read on.

The characters begin to feel tangible. A setting sharpens in your imagination. You’re aware of the quiet joy that comes with starting something new without pressure. This isn’t about reinvention. It’s about alignment.

Outside, a cloud passes, softening the light. Then the sun returns. That feels fitting, you think. The transition from March to April is rarely dramatic. It’s a negotiation between seasons, a slow agreement to move forward.

You close the book briefly, just to look outside. The sky is clearer now. A small bird hops along the fence. The world feels in motion—not hurried, but assured.

When you return to the page, you feel settled. The story is beginning to anchor itself in you. You don’t know yet where it’s going, but that’s part of the pleasure.

Eventually, you mark your place and close the book for now. The morning has fully arrived. The day stretches ahead, open and lightly colored with possibility.

You sit for a moment longer, holding the book in your lap.

March has ended quietly. April has begun gently.

And you have stepped into something new, exactly as the world around you is doing the same.

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Books Publishing March 29 - April 4

Ted Bell's Warmonger by Ryan Steck

Lord Alexander Hawke, the sixth-richest man in England, gentleman spy, and one of the thriller genre’s most well-liked heroes is back in TED BELL’S WARMONGER. Hawke is used to going after big game, but his pursuit of a mysterious figure code-named Warmonger brings him up against his most deadly foe Vladimir Putin. After Ted Bell’s death in 2023, his estate hand-selected Ryan Steck, known as editor of the beloved The Real Book Spy, to carry on the mantle of the New York Times bestselling series.

Hold Me Like a Grudge by Celine Ong

When a fierce rivalry between two professional wrestlers grows increasingly heated, neither man can fight the attraction burning between them, in this dazzling debut romance.

From dramatic character gimmicks to death-defying stunts, everything in the world of professional wrestling is an act. Asher Ross's hatred for Caleb Knight, however, is not. When Asher gets drafted to Global Elite Wrestling’s main roster, playing the role of Caleb’s worst enemy—the face to his heel—should be easy. Stripping him of his World Championship title should be even easier. But as the two men trade barbs and blows across arenas, they’re each surprised to find their chemistry is so sizzling, it can’t just be for the cameras.

Through training sessions, rehearsals, and injuries, Caleb’s icy demeanor melts away, and Asher begins to see the real man behind the cruel persona GEW has molded Caleb into. An unlikely truce evolves into feelings neither want to deny, but the company won’t let them be seen as anything other than bitter rivals, both in and out of the ring.

As Asher and Caleb grapple with what they truly want in an industry with a history of denying queerness, their forbidden romance comes crashing down on them, and both men are forced to decide if their relationship is real enough to last, and just how much they’re willing to fight for it.

The Bridge Back to You by Riss M. Neilson

Exes discover they’ve both inherited the restaurant they love in this sparkling, emotional new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of A Love Like the Sun.

Olivia owes everything to Celia's Place. It’s where she learned how to be a great chef. It’s also where she first fell in love. But at nineteen, Olivia had a wanderlust she couldn’t deny. And Carmello, whose mother owned the restaurant, couldn’t leave Celia's Place behind any more than he could force Olivia to stay.

Now, ten years later, Olivia is a successful personal chef. Her job allows her to travel the world, and she has never stayed in the same place for too long. When Carmello learns that his mother left shares of her beloved restaurant to both him and Olivia, he plans to buy her portion of the shares back quickly and painlessly.

That is until Olivia shows up at the restaurant, ready to help run it. Carmello sees an opportunity: drive Olivia away from his restaurant so that she will want to sign over her shares. But Olivia sees things a bit differently. She finally has the chance to stay in one place and build a home after years on the move, and perhaps now is the right time to explore whether that home can be with the one who got away.

Soon enough, sparks begin to fly, but can Olivia and Carmello avoid the mistakes of the past?

A Crime Through Time by Amelia Blackwell

The gripping debut from Amelia Blackwell, A Crime Through Time is the start of a quirky series where Jane Austen, time travel and crime collide.

Pemberley, 1799. When Miss Georgiana Darcy attempts to escape an unwanted marriage proposal, she isn’t expecting to end up quite so far from home. But after encountering a mysterious object in the nearby woods, she finds herself transported almost two hundred years into the future.

Saltram, 1995. At a grand country house where a film crew are busy shooting the latest Jane Austen adaptation, a terrible crime has been committed. And Miss Darcy – newly arrived, impeccably dressed and thoroughly confused – is the only witness.

It soon becomes clear that, somehow, Georgiana was meant to solve this riddle. With the help of a distractingly handsome Irishman named Quinn and a border collie named Watson, she sets out to stop the killer before they can strike again. But meanwhile, trouble is brewing back at Pemberley and time, it seems, is not on her side . . .

Winter of My Spring by Fartumo Kusow

Set in the Lower Shabeele region of Somalia, Winter of My Spring is a story of what happens to Rada and her friends Mika and Sara after they are kidnapped by Al-Shabaab and forced to become child brides. For months, the girls live in fear and endure the harshest of conditions among their extremist kidnappers—but after Rada and Mika see Sara die as a suicide bomber, they know they must escape.

After running away from their captors, Rada and Mika manage to return home, only to find themselves rejected by their community because they’ve “known a man’s bed” and are therefore, according to their customs, considered ruined and broken women.

Winter of My Spring explores what happens to kidnapped girls during their captivity and after they survive the violence and abuse of their abductors. Like the protagonist in Call Her Freedom, by Tara Dorabji, Rada and Mika are forced to navigate a world that denies them autonomy, yet they find resilience and hope in the process of healing and self-discovery.

The Curse of Hester Gardens by Tamika Thompson

Nona McKinley raised three boys in the Hester Gardens section of Medford, Michigan, an impoverished community divided by those who follow their faith in God and those who turn to crime to survive. With her drug dealer husband behind bars and her eldest son shot to death at eighteen, Nona has devoted herself to ensuring her other children escape their brother’s fate.

Her second son Marcus is on the right path. He's a valedictorian heading to an Ivy League school. He can get out.

But then, strange things start happening to Nona and other residents: mysterious footsteps are heard when she’s alone, people have phantom encounters in the streets, unattended appliances go off at all hours. Even more concerning is the state of Nona’s living sons. Her youngest, Lance, is hanging around with a bad crowd, and Marcus becomes moody and secretive. Sometimes he even seems to act like a different person entirely.

Nona has her secrets too. Her affair with the married church pastor has been weighing on her conscience, but that’s not the only guilt haunting her. She fears that someone—or something— is seeking revenge for an act she made in a moment of weakness to protect her family. And now everyone in Hester Gardens must pay the price . . .

A Widow's Charm by Caitlyn Paxson

In this witty fantasy romance, a widow blackmails her rakish necromancer neighbor to bring her husband back to life and save her home—only to find herself falling for him instead.

"Witty, whimsical, and deeply kind, A Widow's Charm is beyond charming—it's wholly enchanting."—Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of The Everlasting

Lady Hildegarde Croft is accustomed to changes in position. After all, she rose from maidservant to lady of the manor when she married Lord Thorgoode Croft. But when he drops dead quite unexpectedly, the plans that would have protected her and the people of Croftholde from her malevolent brother-in-law die along with him. What's a widow to do?

Fortunately, potential salvation arrives in the form of Lord Erol Elmwood, who is fleeing the consequences of using his forbidden Charm to raise the dead and save his own life. Now he's injured, destitute, and miserable, stuck hiding out at the neighboring estate.

For Hilde, blackmailing Lord Elmwood to resurrect Thorgoode seems like the perfect solution. For Elmwood, beautiful Lady Croft seems like the ideal distraction from his troubles. The problem is, all she wants from him is the horrifying power he knows he can never use again.

Ship of Dreams by Donna Jones Alward

From the author of the internationally bestselling novel, WHEN THE WORLD FELL SILENT, comes a breathtaking tale of secrets, betrayal, and the enduring power of friendship.

Aboard the Titanic, where opulence knows no bounds and the horizon seems limitless, two women fight for the futures they dream of, fraught with secrets that could change everything.

Hannah Martin is clinging to the hope that six days on this grand ship will heal the wounds in her marriage to Charles. Beneath her poised exterior lies a desperation to mend what was shattered and conceal a secret that could upend their lives forever.

Louisa Phillips, spirited and uncompromising, is escaping her family’s insistence on a passionless marriage. But this daring step could also sever the deepest bond in her life.

As the ‘unsinkable' ship strikes the iceberg, amidst the chaos and icy waters, lives are changed forever. In the face of impending doom, what dreams will Hannah and Lou decide are worth saving, and at what cost?

This evocative historical fiction will stay with you long after you've turned the last page. Perfect for fans of Kate Quinn, this is a poignant tale of love, choice, and survival against the odds.

Family Lies by Karen Rose

The fourth nerve-shattering installment of the San Diego Case Files from New York Times bestselling author Karen Rose sees Kit McKittrick’s sister caught in a maelstrom of deadly family secrets.

As an infant, Kit McKittrick’s foster sister Akiko was abandoned at a firehouse. Now 32, Akiko has received an unsettling phone call from a woman who says that she knew her birth mother but refuses to divulge any details except in person. Akiko is nervous but also thrilled at the prospect of finally learning about her blood relations.

Kit has a bad feeling about this and insists on accompanying Akiko to meet the woman. Sure enough, as they stand on Mary Sherman’s doorstep, shots are fired and Kit is hit...and inside the house is a corpse: Mary Sherman herself.

Although she’s on medical leave and forbidden to work the case, Kit cannot rest. With police psychologist Sam Reeves, she undertakes a covert investigation into the mysterious Mary Sherman. Was she Akiko’s birth mother? Why did she reach out after all these years? And who had a motive to kill her?

As more bodies pile up, Kit starts to put together the pieces of the frightening puzzle that is Akiko’s birth family, and she’ll come to wonder whether some secrets should stay buried after all.

A Spell for Saints and Sinners by Emily Carpenter

Like a gender-flipped You but dripping with Southern Gothic atmosphere, a young psychic on the verge of losing everything becomes obsessed with a wealthy, beautiful heiress in this clever, darkly atmospheric novel of psychological suspense set amid the lush, moss-draped beauty of Savannah.

In front of an elegantly shabby townhouse on a Savannah side street sits a hand-painted sign: Miss Edie, Psychic. Ingrid White inherited the house and business from her beloved grandmother, a local celebrity in town. But unless Ingrid can find a way to pay for crushing property taxes and mounting repairs, she’s going to lose them both.

Ingrid has faith in the homespun witchcraft Edie passed down to her, yet hope and clients are dwindling. . . . Until Sailor Loeffler’s bachelorette party changes everything. Sailor is local royalty—part of the vast “Savannah Sauce” empire, beautiful and wealthy beyond imagining—and Ingrid’s reading is so accurate that she becomes the bride-to-be’s confidante. To keep that access and all the privileges it brings, Ingrid relies more and more on hexes and dark spells—using the baneful magic Edie always warned her against.

As Ingrid works even riskier spells, she is drawn further into the Loefflers’ inner circle and the obstacles in her path melt away. But is it witchcraft or other, more earthbound forces? Ingrid can feel the lines blurring even as her powers seem to grow, until she must confront the truth about just how far some people, including herself, will go to keep the life they’ve always wanted . . .

Still Life by Malin Persson Giolito

These 10 sharp yet deeply human stories show how people from all walks of life can end up on the wrong side of the law, regardless of their intentions.

A compelling portrait of modern Sweden that speaks to universal questions about crime and morality, from the internationally bestselling author of Quicksand.

A police officer fresh out of the academy becomes acutely aware of the deadly consequences of prejudice and how biases color our actions, leading us to justify faulty choices. A teenager has lost her voice and resorts to violence to get heard, even against those she loves. A university student breaks a law on a night of youthful revelry, which soon has fatal consequences that plunge those involved into an abyss of remorse. A mother commits the very same crime her son is being prosecuted for, in order to protect him. A man extends a helping hand in defiance of state restrictions, keeping a refugee safe from the harsh Swedish winter and deportation.

With her unique and prominent voice in Swedish literature, Malin Persson Giolito sheds light on the lives of people at all levels of the society through these ten thought-provoking and emotionally charged stories. She delivers a poignant portrayal of societal failure, vividly illustrating that actions driven by good intentions may still be considered criminal in the eyes of the law, underscoring that the legal system doesn’t always shield those who need protection the most.

A Killing Breath by Faye Snowden

From the world of Raven Burns. The third book in the award-winning Killing series by Faye Snowden, following A Killing Fire and A Killing Rain.
Raven Burns owes her life to the kind souls who looked after her while her father, unbeknownst to them, sowed a path of blood and bodies from California to Louisiana as one of the most notorious serial killers ever known, Floyd “Fire” Burns. When Raven was a girl, Floyd brutally murdered one of those kind souls, Miss Ruth Jefferson, when the woman made the fatal decision to open the door to him on a pitch-black 4th of July night.
As Raven learned of her father’s crimes, she vowed to do everything in her power to put men like him away. Decades later Raven’s hunt for a serial killer terrorizing the town leads her right back to that 4th of July night, and a memory that will make her question how much Floyd’s evil has settled in her bones.

Songs Of Seasons by Michael Otis

Mitchell, a lonely teen with bipolar disorder, falls headlong for Summer, a social butterfly whose appetite for glamour eclipses any interest in Mitchell’s inner world. His devotion is absolute; hers is transactional. When Summer departs for Queen’s University, Mitchell’s desperation leads him to strike a Faustian pact. The terms? His soul for musical superstardom. The loophole? If he can compose the most authentic love song ever, the devil will give back his soul. What follows is a dizzying ascent: Mitchell becomes the voice of a generation. Summer returns, but she’s more attracted to the spotlight than to being with Mitchell. When his mental health challenges resurface; he seeks a sense of peace in a Tibetan monastery. Along the way, Autumn, from the record label, awakens his heart. Has Mitchell learned enough about love to write the song that will free his soul from the devil’s grip?

The Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula

When a Victorian fossil hunter discovers a baby pterodactyl, she vows to protect him, with the help of a fellow scholar—her former fiancé—in this enchanting and transporting historical fantasy.

Mary Anning wants to be a geomagician—a paleontologist who uses fossils to wield magic—but since the Geomagical Society of London refuses to admit women, she’s stuck selling her discoveries to tourists instead. Then an ancient egg hatches in her hands, revealing a lovable baby pterodactyl that Mary names Ajax, and she knows that this is a scientific find that could make her career—if she’s strategic.

But when Mary contacts the Society about her discovery, they demand to take possession of Ajax. Their emissary is none other than Henry Stanton, a distinguished (and infuriatingly handsome) scholar . . . and the man who once broke Mary’s heart. She knows she can’t trust her fellow scholars, who want to discredit her and claim Ajax for their own, but Henry insists he believes in the brilliant Mary and only wants to help her obtain the respect she deserves.

Now Mary has a new mystery to solve that’s buried deeper than any dinosaur skeleton: She must uncover the secrets behind the Society and the truth about Henry. As her conscience begins to chafe against her ambition, Mary must decide what lengths she’s willing to go to finally belong—and what her heart really wants.

Whispers of Ink and Starlight by Garrett Curbow

A spellbinding tale of forbidden love and the power of words, where a girl must choose between the life written for her and the future she dares to imagine.

In a small Georgia town, Nelle’s life has been carefully scripted by her creator and captor, the reclusive author Wallace Quill. Born from ink and imagination, every breath she takes is dictated by his pen. But on a star-studded Fourth of July night, she meets James―a young man with dreams as vivid as the fireworks above them―and suddenly, the unwritten becomes possible.

As Nelle and James fall deeply in love, they embark on a breathtaking journey across Europe, each new experience a defiant stroke against the words that bind her. But freedom has a price. With every mile they travel, the ink in Nelle’s veins threatens to rewrite their story. In a world where every moment could be her last, Nelle and James must fight to write their own happily ever after―before the final page turns.

In the Great Quiet by Laura Vogt

A pioneer unwaveringly endures the Oklahoma frontier in an epic adventure about a woman haunted by secrets and searching for home.

A cannon booms at high noon, and the race begins in the Oklahoma land rush of 1893.

Amid the crowd is Minnie Hoopes. Tenacious and fiercely independent, she is determined to endure the brutal frontier and create a life of her own. Guarding her solitude, she distances herself from bordering homesteaders and finds peace under the starry nights of the vast frontier. But this is outlaw country, and Minnie soon has the blood of two gunfighters on her hands. After a renegade outlaw named Stot discovers her secrets, she forms an unlikely friendship with him. With each passing season, Minnie’s past grows more haunting and threatens the future she has risked everything to build. Minnie raced into the Wild West alone, but her grandest journey in the frontier wilderness is one she never saw coming.

Based on the true story of the author’s great-great-grandparents, this sweeping and transportive survival story explores a woman’s connection with the land, her reconciliation with the past, and her elemental search for home against all odds.

New Moon Life Design by Yesbelt Fernandez

New Moon Life Design offers the tools for manifesting the life you want by using the phases of the moon alongside astrology and tarot. The yearlong process begins with setting well-rounded intentions based on divine timing, when the present month is connected to the previous and future months, forming a “spiral” that helps the practitioner remain centered on their goals.

Yours Always by Corinne Sullivan

Talia Danvers is an engineer for a high-end dating app who hasn’t managed to code her own love life. Then she reconnects with Townsend Fuller: the one who got away.

Or, more accurately, the one who left her for someone else. But Townsend swears he’s a changed man, and Talia wants to believe him. Even if he is the prime suspect in the disappearance of Amanda Reade, the same woman who broke them up in the first place.

In cases like these, it’s always the boyfriend. That’s what Amanda’s sister Kaitlyn thinks. So does Talia’s colleague Meera Ratnam—and she’ll risk everything to convince Talia that she’s making a deadly mistake.

Then Talia starts receiving menacing texts from Amanda. Suddenly, no one knows what to believe. Is Townsend guilty? Is Amanda alive? Or is someone playing games?

Featuring unreliable narrators and written with acid wit and creeping unease, Yours Always is a mind-bending tale of dangerous love.

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