Showing posts with label Nekesa Afia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nekesa Afia. Show all posts

Monday, September 29, 2025

Tuesday Tomorrow

E Is for Edward by Gregory Hischak
Published by: Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A sweeping, gorgeously produced celebration of beloved American writer, artist, and illustrator Edward Gorey on his 100th birthday. Issued by the Edward Gorey Charitable Trust and produced in creative partnership with The Edward Gorey House.

For more than seven decades, Edward Gorey's work has delighted fans of all ages and inspired artists across multiple disciplines. His collection of self-authored books, which comprises more than 100 volumes including The Gashlycrumb Tinies and The Doubtful Guest, remains a profoundly radical and uncompromised body of work. Viewed either separately or in their entirety, these works represent one of the most unique voices in American arts and letters.

E Is for Edward celebrates Edward Gorey as author, illustrator, humorist, playwright, printmaker, fabric artist, and stage designer, showcasing the vast array of material he created between 1953 and his death in 2000. Curated by Gregory Hischak, Director of The Edward Gorey House, the book is organized by major themes and topics that characterize Gorey's work including hapless children, mutant menageries, the murder mystery, the ballet, sartorial elegance, stylized decor, and the many recurring motifs and latent symbolism that underlie these subjects. In addition, Hischak offers a look into the pages of the dozens of rarely-viewed notebooks kept by Gorey throughout his lifetime.

Illustrated with hundreds of original pieces of art and archival material, E Is for Edward is a must-have for every fan and the most comprehensive, in-depth exploration of Gorey's art in more than a decade."

Must have!

Rocky Horror by Mick Rock
Published by: HarperPop
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Step behind the curtain of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with photographer Mick Rock in this one-of-a-kind slipcased collection of rarely seen photographs and behind-the-scenes anecdotes.

Known as "the man who shot the seventies," Mick Rock had exclusive access to the set during the original filming of the now-iconic 1975 movie - and now, in honor of its 50th anniversary, his personal archive is wide open.

This stunning volume captures the raw, behind-the-scenes magic of a film that would go on to become a cultural phenomenon. From candid moments with Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Richard O'Brien to intimate shots of the cast between takes, every page offers a glimpse into the bold, bizarre, and beautiful world of Rocky Horror as it was being brought to life.

Featuring a foreword by creator Richard O'Brien and hundreds of rare photographs, this stunning gift book is a visual love letter to the wild energy, fearless creativity, and sheer chaos that turned a low-budget musical into a beloved masterpiece. Alongside these vivid behind-the-scenes snapshots and anecdotes, readers also gain VIP access to interviews with members of the original cast and crew, as well as famous performers and creatives who are among the film's most fervent fans, including Joan Jett, Billy Corgan, Courtney Love, Juliette Lewis, Jinkx Monsoon, Duff McKagan, Anna Sui, Karen O, Trixie Mattel, Peaches, Norman Reedus, Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark), and many, many more.

Whether you're a devoted fan or just discovering the Time Warp, Mick Rock’s Rocky Horror is dripping with the glam, grit, and rebellious spirit that made the movie a revolution in platform heels. Don't just shiver with antici-pation; dive into this timeless tribute and celebrate the global phenomenon that continues to resonate with audiences, generation after generation."

Teenage me is freaking out about this book. Adult me is freaking out for some many different reasons, mainly my love of Mick Rock, most famous for photographing David Bowie.  

After Midnight by Daphne du Maurier
Published by: Scribner
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From Daphne du Maurier, "a writer of fearless originality" (The Guardian), comes a collection of her thirteen most mesmerizing tales - including iconic stories such as "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now" - with an introduction by Stephen King.

Daphne du Maurier is best known for Rebecca, "one of the most influential novels of the 20th century" (Sarah Waters) and basis for Alfred Hitchcock's iconic film adaptation. More than thirty-five years after her death, du Maurier is celebrated for her gothic genius and stunning psychological insight by authors such as Ottessa Moshfegh, Maggie O'Farrell, Lucy Foley, Gillian Flynn, Jennifer Egan, and countless others, including Stephen King and Joe Hill.

After Midnight brings together some of du Maurier's darkest, most haunting stories, ranging from sophisticated literary thriller to twisted love story. Alongside classics such as "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now," - both of which inspired unforgettable films - are gems such as "Monte Verità," a masterpiece about obsession, mysticism, and tragic love, and "The Alibi," a chilling tale of an ordinary man's descent into lies, manipulation, and sinister fantasies that edge dangerously close to reality. In "The Blue Lenses," a woman recovering from eye surgery finds she now perceives those around her as having animal heads corresponding to their true natures. "Not After Midnight" follows a schoolteacher on holiday in Crete who finds a foreboding message from the chalet's previous occupant who drowned while swimming at night. In "The Breakthrough," a scientist conducts experiments to harness the power of death, blurring the line between genius and madness.

Each story in this collection exemplifies du Maurier's exquisite writing and singular insight into human frailty, jealousy, and the macabre. She "makes worlds in which people and even houses are mysterious and mutable; haunted rooms in which disembodied spirits dance at absolute liberty" (Olivia Laing, author of Crudo). Daphne du Maurier is mistress of the sleight of hand and slow-burning menace, often imitated and rarely surpassed.

Stories include:
-"The Blue Lenses"
-"Don't Look Now"
-"The Alibi"
-"The Apple Tree"
-"The Birds"
-"Monte Verita"
-"The Pool"
-"The Doll"
-"Ganymede"
-"Leading Lady"
-"Not After Midnight"
-"Split Second"
-"The Breakthrough""

What's interesting about this collection is that it includes the "Don't Look Now" which is rarely included in short story collections because of it's length and "The Doll" which was recently rediscovered and I don't know if it's been available stateside until now.

The Wax Child by Olga Ravn
Published by: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 176 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In seventeenth-century Denmark, Christenze Kruckow, an unmarried noblewoman, is accused of witchcraft. She and several other women are rumored to be possessed by the Devil, who has come to them in the form of a tall headless man who gives them dark powers: they can steal people's happiness, they have performed unchristian acts, and they can cause pestilence or death. They are all in danger of the stake.

The Wax Child, narrated by a wax doll created by Christenze Kruckow, is an unsettling horror story about brutality and power, nature and witchcraft, set in the fragile communities of premodern Europe.

Deeply researched and steeped in visceral, atmospheric detail, The Wax Child is based on a series of real witchcraft trials that took place in Northern Jutland in the seventeenth century. Full of lush storytelling and alarmingly rich imagination, Olga Ravn also weaves in quotes from original sources such as letters, magical spells and manuals, court documents, and Scandinavian grimoires."

I've only started to recently become obsessed with witch trails in Europe and this seems like a good book to continue this new obsession. 

The Witch of Willow Sound by Vanessa F. Penney
Published by: ECW Press
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For readers of Our Wives Under the Sea and The Once and Future Witches comes a feminist gothic tale with a tough-as-nails female protagonist who must find her elderly aunt, long suspected of being a witch.

A spooky, atmospheric, and fast-paced feminist tale about women called witches and the parts of our history we'd rather forget.

Madeline is missing. Ordered to find her, Madeline's estranged niece, Fade, must return to the lonely forest of Willow Sound, Nova Scotia. There, Fade discovers her aunt's once-cozy cottage empty and rotting. The ominous smell of something burnt hangs in the air.

In her search for answers, Fade clashes with the people of Grand Tea, a nearby village struggling under the shadow of a massive, looming rock that could tip and crush them all at any time. For generations, they've invented bizarre lore about Madeline, calling her a witch and blaming her for their misfortunes. They've had more misfortunes than ever lately. And a hurricane is coming.

Inspired by real East Coast traditions and witch lore, The Witch of Willow Sound is a modern gothic tale that explores family lost and found and throws firelight on dark truths about what societies do with the people, and the past, they don't want."

So this is what I should have been doing that one time I went to Nova Scotia... Looking into their traditions and witch lore instead of being bored and binging miniseries in a tiny upstairs room on an old VHS player. 

America's Most Gothic by Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes
Published by: Citadel
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the Bram Stoker nominated author team who penned A Haunted History of Invisible Women, the first book of its kind to investigate gothic tropes that define American lore. Here is the hidden, dark history of what frightens us - and why.

The Gothic. Brooding, atmospheric, chilling, and not always the outpouring of a feverish imagination. Reality can be even stranger as borne out in this lush and ghostly look at real people who lived - and died - amidst the trappings of the Gothic.

Fog clinging to an isolated mansion. A dangerous patriarch or an overbearing matron. Locked doors and forbidden rooms. Whispers of murder and madness. And a woman shadowed by omnipresent threats. You've guessed it. You've stumbled into a Gothic tale, and it will haunt you like a ghost.

We often think of the enduring tropes of the Gothic in terms of fiction and film - breath-catching escapes that tap into our fears, anxieties, forbidden desires, and unsettling dreams. But what if some of these chilly vibes are rooted in the experiences of real and tragic people who danced a macabre waltz with love and death? That's why we're here. Take the case of teenage Mercy Brown, victim - or was it predator? - of Rhode Island's vampire hysteria of the 1890s. Marguerite de la Roque, a French noblewoman condemned for "sexual crimes" to Canada's long-lost Isle of Demons. What happened to her and the barren landscape itself is the stuff of legend. And "Mad Lucy" Ludwell, the decidedly peculiar eighteenth-century high-society hauteur driven mad in the Virginia estate she prowls to this day. President Helen Peabody's spirit still stringently watches over her Women's College, now part of Ohio's Miami University. Ghosts of workers lost in horrific conditions while building the Hoosac Tunnel warn of imminent danger. Settle in. There are more.

Welcome to the phantom ships, haunted academic halls, menacing landscapes, and family curses of America's Most Gothic - a tour of true spectral sightings and disordered minds. But beware: it's sure to get under your skin. The haunted - and haunting - figures herein want it that way."

New life goal, live a life that will become a Gothic trope.

The First Thousand Trees by Premee Mohamed
Published by: ECW Press
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 136 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Henryk Mandrusiak, finding nothing left for him in his community following his best friend Reid's departure, travels through the devastated land in search of a new place to call home.

After making a grievous mistake that ended in death, Henryk Mandrusiak feels increasingly ostracized within his own community, and after the passing on of his parents and the departure of his best friend, Reid, there is little left to tie him to the place he calls home. Henryk does something he never expected: he sets out into the harsh wilds alone, in search of far-flung family. He finds his uncle's village, but making a life for himself in this unfriendly new place - rougher and more impoverished than the campus where he grew up - isn't easy. Henryk strives to carve out a place of his own but learns that some corners of his broken world are darker than he could have imagined.

This stunning novella concludes the story Mohamed started in The Annual Migration of Clouds and continued in We Speak Through the Mountain, bleaker than ever but still in search of a spark of hope in the climate apocalypse."

I am obsessed with the work of Premee Mohamed. 

The Moss by Lisa Lueddecke
Published by: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A girl returns to her hometown and the sinister bogland surrounding it in search of her missing sister in this harrowing, atmospheric young adult horror perfect for fans of Shea Ernshaw and The Haunting of Hill House.

I know how to find her. Don't follow me. I mean it. It will break Dad if you do. I love you, Em.

P.S. Stay away from the Sedge Man. He won't stop, like a hunter, until there's nothing left of you.


A year after her sister Eve's sudden disappearance, Emma returns to the small town of Scarrow in northern Maine. The police have no leads, the neighbors spread rumors about her father's involvement, and the vast bogland known as the Moss lies in wait beside the house like a hungry beast.

Darkly familiar shadows and specters fill her dreams and the quiet spaces between her thoughts. Something is following her, pulling her to the Moss, and it's growing stronger by the day. Could it be what called to her sister? Or even to their mother, when Emma was only a child?

Haunted by the ghosts of the past, Emma knows she is the only one who can uncover the truth and save her sister…unless she gets lost herself."

Nope. I'm staying away from the moss and the Sedge Man. 

Ghost of a Chance by Katherine Garbera
Published by: Afterglow Books by Harlequin
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It's a cozy, spicy, spooky season treat in this opposites-attract romance between a mystery writer who pretends to talk to ghosts and the one-night stand who might actually be haunted...

Kirsty Henson is an expert at one thing: faking it. A mystery writer with a hit series, she knows her success relies on pretending she can talk to ghosts. It's all fun and games until a steamy casual encounter sends Jasper Cotton careening into her life.

Jasper is haunted...literally. His college roommate's spirit is trapped in an old physics book - and has a weird obsession with Judge Judy. Desperate for a solution, Jasper turns to Kirsty for help. But when they investigate, neither can deny the supernatural or romantic sparks!

Between a ghost who won't quit, Kirsty's big secret and a mystery tied to Jasper's past, they're in for more than otherworldly flirtation. With a little help from beyond, Kirsty and Jasper are about to discover the only thing stronger than life or death might just be love.

From showing up to glowing up, the characters in Afterglow Books are on the path to leading their best lives and finding sizzling romance along the way."

I think worse than being haunted is being haunted by a ghost obsessed with Judge Judy. The horror!

The Underachiever's Guide to Love and Saving the World by Sloane Brooks
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Hating Game meets Legends and Lattes in this captivating and hilarious fantasy rom-com with a twist about two enemies who must work together to return to their reality.

Courtney's only goal in life is to have no goals. A reformed overachiever, she's content with her dead-end job and simple existence. And her "feud" with her neighbor Bryce brings her immense joy. Everything is perfect.

Until Courtney and Bryce are pulled through a portal and flung into a fantasy world where they are met by a prophecy-obsessed sage who claims one of them must be the Chosen One destined to save them all from an unknown Evil One. Neither of them wants the job but also refuse to let the other have the glory. Unfortunately, in their efforts to save the world, they unleash more chaos by accidentally freeing a dragon, summoning an undead army, and almost poisoning their mentor with peanut butter.

To return to their world, Courtney and Bryce - a snarky underachiever and a grumpy hermit - must charm and endear themselves to the people of this fantasy world (or each other) to be able to use magic. With time running out and the threat of the Evil One looming, they must work together to become worthy heroes if they ever want to make it home again. Or else be doomed to eternity in a universe without running water - and with each other - forever."

There's something about this cover that just speaks to me. They feel relatable yet interesting.

Silver and Lead by Seanan McGuire
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Seanan McGuire's New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-nominated October Daye series continues as Toby Daye is thrust once again into danger... and this time she has more than ever to protect.

Something is rotten in Faerie. In the aftermath of Titania's reality-warping enchantment, things are returning to what passes for normal in the Kingdom in the Mists - until it's discovered that the royal vaults have been looted, and several powerful magical artifacts are missing. None are things that can be safely left unsecured, and some have the potential to do almost as much damage as Titania did, and having them in the wrong hands could prove just as disastrous.

At least the theft means that Sir October "Toby" Daye, Knight errant and Hero of the Realm, finally has an excuse to get out of the house. Sure, she's eight and a half months pregnant, but that doesn't mean she can't take care of herself. But with the sea witch offering to stand godmother to Toby's child, maybe there are greater dangers ahead for Toby and her family than it appears....

Old enemies will resurface, new enemies will disguise themselves as friends, and Queen Windermere must try to keep her Hero on the case without getting herself gutted by the increasingly irritated local King of Cats. Sometimes, what's been lost can be the most dangerous threat of all."

I like that usually in a series when the lead gets pregnant that's the death knell. Here it's just a fact of life and a heist is a good excuse to leave her house and get out of her confinement. 

The Sleepless by Jen Williams
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Godkiller meets Powerless in this epic gods-and-monsters romantic fantasy from British Fantasy Award-winning author Jen Williams. 

Welcome to a world where gods and monsters roam the earth...

Elver is the guardian of the wild and dangerous monster forest. Saved from the brink of death by a god, her skin will poison anyone she touches.

Artair is on a mission - one that takes him face-to-face with Elver at her most ruthless. But her defenses are useless when she discovers he's the only human impervious to her deadly gift. For Artair isn't human: he's one of the Sleepless, cursed to share his body with an evil spirit.

Lucian inhabits their body while Artair sleeps, and he is hell-bent on manipulating Elver for his dark purposes. But Elver is harbouring secrets too, and she has her own reasons for feigning an alliance with these two souls.

Caught in the crossfire of gods, monsters, and a dangerous magic they can barely understand, it is only a matter of time before the paths the three of them choose to take will set alight the very foundations of their world.

With a love triangle like you've never seen it, incredible world-building, brilliant writing, and a dangerous quest, The Sleepless will have you spellbound."

It is handy though when I love triangle only involves two bodies...

How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps by Andrew Rowe
Published by: S and S/Saga Press
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The LitRPG bestseller releasing in a stunning new deluxe hardcover edition, now with a new Afterword.

For thousands of years, there has been a cycle: a Demon King rises and conquers, and a Hero is reborn a hundred years later to defeat him. Each time, civilizations are ground to dust beneath the Demon King's hordes, but humanity has remained secure in the belief that a Hero of legend will always save them. There's just one slight problem. It's only been twenty-three years since the Demon King's latest rise, and this time, he's already conquered more than half the world. If humanity simply waits for the Hero's return, there may be no world left for him to save.

And so, Yui Shaw sets out with an ambitious plan. A ten-step plan.

She'll find a way to obtain the Hero's legendary sword. She'll earn obscure classes, gain levels, and increase her skills. She'll travel to the meticulously-crafted dungeons that seem designed for one specific Hero to complete. And, if she's truly (un)fortunate, she might even find a fairy."

I mean, giving evil a hundred year head start does seem a little unfair. 

Witch and the Wolves by Kaylee Archer
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Caught between spells and savage beasts, Cordelia Levine must unravel the secrets of her dual heritage - half witch, half werewolf - and face her desire for the one creature who holds her future in his hands.

Cordelia Levine, a twenty-three-year-old witch hidden in the human world, leads a quiet life in London with her aunt, managing an apothecary for the supernatural. But her life is upended when a brooding and handsome werewolf, Bishop Danvers, kidnaps her on her estranged father's orders - the Alpha of the Albion Pack.

It is at Trevelyan, her father's estate, that Cordelia learns she comes from a long line of witches with secondary werewolf traits - a powerful and unique bloodline that must be protected from foreign packs.

Not everyone in the pack is happy about Cordelia's arrival, and as danger closes in, she wonders if the man who ripped her from her life could be the one to save it."

Oh, it's like Buffy fanfic where Oz and Willow had a kid! 

A Ghost Hunter's Guide to Solving a Murder by F.H. Petford
Published by: Hodder and Stoughton
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Meet Alma Timperley. She can:
- Run a hotel
- Solve a mystery
- Talk to ghosts...?

December, 1914: After the death of her aunt, Alma Timperley is surprised when she suddenly finds herself the heiress to the Timperley Spiritualist Hotel in a pretty coastal town in Cornwall.

But not everything is as it seems... the hotel offers guests a very special service: the chance to communicate with the dead.

When the body of one of the hotel's maids is found, it is considered a tragic wartime accident. But the more Alma and the local police try to fathom what happened, the more they begin to realise this is much more than just a death - there might be a German spy in Falmouth.

With the stakes higher than ever, Alma must grapple with her own extraordinary secret if she is going to have more than a ghost of a chance of solving the mystery.

Being able to talk with the dead is one thing; solving their murder is positively ghoulish..."

Why is it people who talk to ghosts and hotels go so well together?

Murder at Somerset House by Andrea Penrose
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Beyond the gilded ballrooms and salons of Regency London lurks a sinister web of intrigue and deception, and when a murder occurs within the scientific community, Lord Wrexford and Charlotte are the perfect pair to unravel it in USA Today bestselling author Andrea Penrose's latest masterfully plotted mystery for readers of Charles Dodd, C.S. Harris, and Deanna Raybourn.

A welcome interlude of calm has descended on Wrexford and Charlotte, though with three lively young boys in their care and an unconventional circle of friends and allies, quiet rarely lasts long. And sure enough, in the dead of night, an old acquaintance appears and asks for help. His brother-in-law has been accused of murdering a fellow member of the prestigious Royal Society at their London headquarters, Somerset House.

Wrexford agrees to investigate, and with a little unexpected help from their young charges, discovers that what seemed a simple case may be part of a darker, more dangerous plot, where science, money, and politics collide. A mysterious new technical innovation threatens to ignite a crisis throughout Europe, with frightening consequences for London's financial world.

There is also personal upheaval for Wrexford and Charlotte, when a shocking secret from the past brings a profound change to their family, testing the bonds of loyalty and trust as never before..."

Oh, I'm here for whatever mystery Wrexford and Charlotte have to face, but I'm on the edge of my seat to know what the shocking secret from the past is! Andrea Penrose never fails to deliver!

Miss Morton and the Missing Heir by Catherine Lloyd
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Society in England is most unforgiving of a reversal of fortune, as Miss Caroline Morton, left penniless after her father's suspicious death, knows all too well. Once a lady, now a lady's companion, she is still enmeshed in the settling of the earl's estate - and soon murder as well - in this "charming cross between a Regency romance and a well-constructed detective story" (Kirkus Reviews) for fans of Victoria Thompson, C.S. Harris, and Deanna Raybourn.

Distraught over her younger sister Susan's decision to leave for America and weary of shepherding her employer Mrs. Frogerton's daughter in her relentless pursuit of marrying a peer, Caroline is dealt another blow when her family solicitors indicate they may have found the lost heir to the Morton earldom.

Possible heir Thomas, his mother Mrs. Scutton, and her widowed daughter Mary all descend on Mrs. Frogerton's home on Half Moon Street. The air inside the house is soon thick with family tension and the near palpable presence of avarice. But things go from tense to tragic following the appearance of Mary's dead husband - very much alive and recently released from debtors' prison. Unseen by Caroline and Mrs. Frogerton, a fight breaks out upstairs, leaving Mary fatally stabbed and her mother wounded.

The manhunt is on for Mary's husband, led by Inspector Ross. But both Caroline and Mrs. Frogerton begin to suspect that all is not as it seems. The Scuttons have brought more than trouble into the home - they may be harboring secrets that could put Caroline and Mrs. Frogerton's very lives at risk..."

A murderous missing heir!?! 

As Long as You're Mine by Nekesa Afia
Published by: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 299 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Beneath the glitter of 1930s Hollywood, dangerous secrets connect two generations of women in this atmospheric dual-timeline mystery about identity, sacrifice, and survival.

Professional ballerina Thea Ross's world shatters when her screen-legend father commits suicide, leaving behind a shocking confession to a decades-old murder. Determined to uncover the truth, Thea teams up with a relentless journalist, following a trail of clues that leads her back to the glittering yet treacherous world of 1930s Hollywood.

There, she discovers the story of Lorelei Davies, a struggling actress willing to endure anything for her family's sake. As Thea peels back the layers of Lorelei's life - her dreams, fears, and dangerous secrets - the connection between Lorelei's past and Thea's present challenges everything she believes about her family history. But as she untangles all the lies, she comes to know herself more truly than ever before.

As Thea navigates the glamorous facade of Old Hollywood, she must decide whether uncovering the truth about her father is worth sacrificing the life she planned - and whether some secrets are better left buried in Hollywood's golden age."

Oh no, exhume those ghosts! I have a shovel. Are we going to Hollywood Forever Cemetery?

The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Killing Stones marks the eagerly awaited return of Ann Cleeves' beloved detective Jimmy Perez from the Shetland series, and a gripping new investigation with a stunning new setting.

It's been several years since Detective Jimmy Perez left Shetland. He has settled into his new home in Orkney, the group of islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, with his partner Willow Reeve and their growing family. One stormy winter night, his oldest and closest friend, Archie Stout, goes missing. Ever the detective, Perez catches a boat to the island of Westray, where Archie worked as a farmer and lived with his wife and children.

But when he arrives he finds a shocking scene: Archie's body, on an archaeological dig site and an ancient Westray story stone with precise spirals carved into it beside him, the clear murder weapon. The artifact, taken from a nearby museum, seems to suggest a premediated murder.

But Perez is so close to the case that he struggles to maintain an objective distance from the potential suspects. He finds it difficult to question Archie's wife, whom he's known for years. Rumors swirl about the dead man's relationship with a young woman new to the island, an artist. With each new lead, the case becomes more twisted and Perez wonders if he will ever find out what happened in his friend's final days."

I smell a spinoff from Shetland! Orkney anyone? 

The Librarians by Sherry Thomas
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Murder disrupts four quirky librarians' lives when they try to hide among books to keep their secrets.

Sometimes a workplace isn't just a workplace but a place of safety, understanding, and acceptance. And sometimes murder threatens the sanctity of that beloved refuge....

In the leafy suburbs of Austin, Texas, a small branch library welcomes the public every day of the week. But the patrons who love the helpful, unobtrusive staff and leave rave reviews on Yelp don't always realize that their librarians are human, too.

Hazel flees halfway across the world for what she hopes will be a new beginning. Jonathan, a six-foot-four former college football player, has never fit in anywhere else. Astrid tries to forget her heartbreak by immersing herself in work, but the man who ghosted her six months ago is back, promising trouble. And Sophie, who has the most to lose, maintains a careful and respectful distance from her coworkers, but soon that won't be enough anymore.

When two patrons turn up dead after the library's inaugural murder mystery–themed game night, the librarians' quiet routines come crashing down. Something sinister has stirred, something that threatens every single one of them. And the only way the librarians can save the library - and themselves - is to let go of their secrets, trust one another, and band together....

All in a day's work."

If you have deadly secrets maybe don't hold an event that is murderous in intent? 

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman
Published by: Pamela Dorman Books
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The unmissable new mystery in the Thursday Murder Club series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Richard Osman.

Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan?

It's been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favorite criminal.

But when Elizabeth meets Nick, a wedding guest asking for her help, she finds the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. And when Nick disappears without a trace, his cagey business partner becomes the gang's next stop. It seems the duo have something valuable - something worth killing for.

Joyce's daughter, Joanna, jumps into the fray to help the gang as they seek answers: Has someone kidnapped Nick? And what's this uncrackable code they keep hearing about? Plunged back into action once more, can the four friends solve the puzzle and a murder in time?"

The fox kit on the cover has be transfixed. Sure way to make me buy a book, even if I'm not already a fan, put a fox on it. 

In the Time of Five Pumpkins by Alexander McCall Smith
Published by: Pantheon
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this newest installment of Alexander McCall Smith's beloved No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Mma Ramotswe takes on a number of perplexing situations, and while she tries to maintain her usual impartiality, it's difficult when one of the cases involves someone so close to her heart.

Mma Ramotswe can sense the rain long before it comes. It's been a long, dry summer, but the first downpour of the season tends to bring with it new growth. In this case, it also brings a new client, who suspects his wife of having an affair. Mma Ramotswe is on the case, and she decides to bring Charlie along. But as they look further into the matter, they begin to suspect their client may not have been entirely truthful in explaining his predicament.

Meanwhile, Mr. J.L.B.'s Matekoni has struck up a new friendship with a man named Mr. Mogorosi, a prominent figure in the motor trade business. Mma Ramotswe is concerned that Mr. Mogorosi may have ulterior motives for his attentions. When the two go on a fishing trip in waters teeming with dangerous crocodiles, she begins to worry for Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's safety.

And though Mma Ramotswe has never quite perfected Mma Potokwane's delicious fruit cake recipe, she can always rely on her old friend for a steaming cup of red bush tea, some wise counsel, and a generous slice of cake. As welcome storms roll in to the little city of Gaborone, the pumpkins in Mma Potokwane's garden flourish, as do her keen insights. These will prove invaluable to Mma Ramotswe as she navigates these sensitive matters with her usual good humor and compassion."

The pumpkins have sure been flourishing with the rains here this year. 

The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes by Chanel Cleeton
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A mysterious book with a legacy spanning from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day unites three women - and their secrets - in this unforgettable novel from New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton.

London, 2024: American expat Margo Reynolds is renowned for her talent at sourcing rare antiques for her clients, but she's never had a request quite like this one. She's been hired to find a mysterious book published over a century ago. With a single copy left in existence, it has a storied past shrouded in secrecy - and her client isn't the only person determined to procure it at any cost.

Havana, 1966: Librarian Pilar Castillo has devoted her life to books, and in the chaotic days following her husband's unjust imprisonment by Fidel Castro, reading is her only source of solace. So when a neighbor fleeing Cuba asks her to return a valuable book to its rightful owner, Pilar will risk everything to protect the literary work entrusted to her care. It's a dangerous mission that reveals to her the power of one book to change a life.

Boston, 1900: For Cuban school teacher and aspiring author Eva Fuentes, traveling from Havana to Harvard to study for the summer is the opportunity of a lifetime. It's a whirlwind adventure that leaves her little time to write, but a moonlit encounter with an enigmatic stranger changes everything. The story that pours out of her is one of forbidden love, secrets, and lies...and though Eva cannot yet see it, the book will be a danger and salvation for the lives it touches."

A book can totally change a life.

Soul Searching by Lyla Sage
Published by: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Home is where the heart is - and this one is haunted.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Rebel Blue Ranch series returns with a brand-new story, featuring a small-town upholsterer in need of a fresh start, a photographer whose life has come to a screeching halt...and the supernatural forces that bring them together.

Collins Cartwright does not want to go home. Sweetwater Peak, Wyoming, was supposed to be in her rearview mirror, but when she finds out a developer is trying to buy her parents' antiques shop out from under them, she doesn't have a choice - at least, that's what she tells her family. They don't need to know she's lost her job and is out of money. Or that the ghosts who have always been her companions have recently gone silent.

But just because she's returned home doesn't mean she has to stay with her parents or crash on her twin sister's couch. Lucky for her, the new-to-town upholsterer has a room for rent above his store. Unluckily, it is absolutely crawling with more ghosts who are freezing her out. And Collins hates being ignored.

Brady Cooper is absolutely and totally fine. Seriously, there's no secret reason why he decided to uproot his life and suddenly move to Sweetwater Peak. He just needed a change of pace. At least that's what he tells himself. And everyone else.

When he agrees to let the elusive Collins Cartwright stay in his spare room, he doesn't know that she's absolutely bonkers - constantly talking to herself and having conversations with no one - or that she looked like that. But as they begin to get closer, the lines between them start to blur, leaving both of them - and the ghosts who have been pushing them together - wondering whether their temporary arrangement could be something more permanent."

Wait, are the ghosts playing matchmaker?

Kitty St. Clair's Last Dance by Kate Robb
Published by: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When a young woman is bequeathed a shuttered dance hall, she begins to dream of its heyday - and learns to see her present-day entanglements in a new light.

Jules is stunned when eccentric and glamorous retiree Kitty St. Clair passes away and leaves her a dilapidated dance hall in their quaint lakeside community.

That is until Reeve, a charming, successful developer, returns to town, looking for the new owner of the dance hall, intent on turning it into luxury vacation condos. Suddenly Jules has a way to make her lifelong dream of going to medical school a reality. But selling the dance hall will only add to the steadily rising real estate prices, making it harder for the residents of her tiny vacation town to live there, not to mention Reeve also happens to be the man who Jules shared a magical night with two summers ago - and never heard from again.

Reeve wants a second chance with Jules and is determined to earn back her trust. But can she let herself fall for him again? Does he want her, or a guaranteed sale?

Jules wishes she could talk to Kitty, who always seemed to have the best advice, so she turns to the diary she left her. But as Jules falls asleep reading, she wakes up in the world of the diary, fifty years ago, accompanying a young Kitty to the dance hall in all its glory. Her dream visits to Kitty's past begin to parallel the questions plaguing her in her own world. Will Kitty's past hold the keys to unlocking Jules's future?"

Of COURSE they hold the key!

It's Different This Time by Joss Richard
Published by: Dell
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 332 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this sweeping, second-chance romance, a twist of fate forces two former roommates back into their beloved New York City brownstone where they must confront the events that led to their estrangement - and the unresolved feelings lingering between them.

Reeling from the cancellation of her hit TV show, June Wood has nothing left to lose when a mysterious email lures her back to the New York City brownstone she once called home before she moved to Los Angeles. Thanks to a clause in the former owner's will, she and her old roommate, Adam Harper, now own the multimillion-dollar property - or at least they will in a month, once all the paperwork is signed.

Four weeks, then June can return to her life in LA and forget about New York City and everything she left behind. Sure, the fact that June and Adam are estranged and haven't even spoken in five years, and that their friendship didn't exactly end on good terms might complicate matters, but this is an opportunity of a lifetime.

As the autumn leaves fall around them, through shared meals and late-night conversations, old wounds and long-buried sparks resurface, and it becomes strikingly clear: June and Adam have unfinished business. Confronted with the consequences of their choices years before, they must now navigate the minefield of their past the best way they know how: together. Second chances are always a risk, but maybe, if they get it right and are finally honest with each other and with themselves, it could be different this time."

There's something about the cover that is so nostalgic to me that I just want to enter the pages of this book and never leave. 

All the Way Around the Sun by Xixi Tian
Published by: Quill Tree Books
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the acclaimed author of This Place Is Still Beautiful comes an evocative, achingly romantic road-trip story about grief, diasporic identities, and the deep-buried secrets that haunt us, perfect for fans of Past Lives and The Farewell.

Stella Chen's life ground to a halt when her brother unexpectedly passed away a year ago. Raised together by their grandmother for years in the Chinese countryside before rejoining their parents in the United States, his absence destroys the connective tissue in her family. With another jarring move her senior year, from rural Illinois to unfamiliar surroundings in San Diego, she is left alone and adrift in her family's suffocating silence and the void of unanswered questions her brother left behind.

So when Stella's parents force her to join her estranged childhood friend Alan Zhao for a college tour all over California, Stella dreads it. Alan is a reminder of everything Stella wishes she could be - popular, gregarious, unburdened - and a reminder of how lost she is.

As this road trip takes Stella and Alan down beautiful coastlines and through fraught family dynamics, Stella can't help but feel the spark of why she and Alan were once so close. Before long, they find themselves pulled into each other's orbits, forcing unspoken feelings and long-hidden truths into the light."

A cover I would literally hang on my wall the art is so gorgeous. 

Dinner at the Night Library by Hika Harada
Published by: Hanover Square Press
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Night Library is no ordinary library.

Within it are found the rarest and most unusual collections - the books of deceased famous writers:

the books they wrote;
the books that inspired them;
the books they loved.

All Otaha Higuchi wants to do is work with books. However, the exhausting nature of her work at a chain bookstore, combined with her paltry salary and irritating manager quickly bring reality crashing down around her. She is on the verge of quitting when she receives a message from somebody anonymous, inviting her to apply for a job at '"The Night Library." The hours are from seven o'clock to midnight. The library exclusively stores books by deceased authors, and none of them can be checked out - instead, they're put on public display to be revered and celebrated by the library's visitors, making it akin to a book museum.

There, Otoha meets the other staff, a group of likeminded literary misfits, including a legendary chef who prepares incredible meals for the library's employees at the end of each day. Night after night, she bonds with her colleagues over meals in the café, each of which are inspired by the literature on the shelves.

But as strange occurrences start happening around the library that may bring the threat of its closure, Otaha and her friends fear that the peace they have found there will forever be lost to them. Will their faith in the value of books strong enough to save it? And what will remain if it isn't?"

So library is kind of a misnomer...

Holly by Adalyn Grace
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From #1 New York Times bestselling author Adalyn Grace comes a mysterious and magical holiday novella set in the romantic, Gothic-infused world of Belladonna - printed in a festive colored ink, with gorgeous interior illustrations by LotusBubble!

Something strange is happening at Wisteria Gardens, the manor that Blythe and Aris call home. All they want is a peaceful holiday season with their family, but a group of restless spirits is determined to threaten their festivities. With a new mystery to solve, Signa, Death, Blythe, and Fate must uncover what happened to Wisteria's ghostly inhabitants and help the spirits move on...before it's too late."

Holiday novella! YAS!

Secrets of the Purple Pearl by Kate McKinnon
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The greatest adventures start with secrets.

The Porch Sisters are in trouble.

It's summertime in Antiquarium, and everyone has flocked to the majestic lakeside Purple Pearl Hotel, including the Krenetics Research Association, a nefarious group of mad scientists. They haven't given up on resurrecting their fearsome leader, Talon Sharktūth, and now they're hot on the trail of the legendary Purple Pearl, a source of power that is rumored to be lost at the bottom of Lake Kagloopy.

But Gertrude, Eugenia, and Dee-Dee are on to them, plus their mentor, Millicent Quibb, has a plan! Is it a good plan? Hard to say! But it does involve finding a mysterious creature called a Shrimpmaid, boiling the lake (and everything inside it), and retrieving the pearl before the KRA gets its evil hands on it!

While Millicent and the gang work together to prevent the second coming of Talon Sharktūth, the sisters discover more secrets than they bargained for - including where they came from and who they truly are...

This is one mad-science summer vacation they'll never forget!"

This really fills the void left by the conclusion of A Series of Unfortunate Events. But with Kate McKinnon's unique sense of humor. She does love how crinoline sounds. 

The Nanny's Handbook to Magic and Managing Difficult Dukes by Amy Rose Bennett
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Mary Poppins meets Bridgerton in a feel-good blend of cozy fantasy magic, historical romance, humor, and Victorian era charm, as a recent graduate of the Parasol Academy for Exceptional Nannies and Governesses finds her supernatural abilities are little help when it comes to falling for the shy, mysterious inventor who happens to be her employer...

For readers of Heather Fawcett, Allison Saft, Katherine Arden, Freya Marske, and Olivia Atwater's Regency Faerie Tales series.

Emmeline Chase, 25-year-old widow and new alumna, may be more high-spirited than the Academy would like. Few graduates, however, could turn a mismanaged teleportation onto a duke's rooftop into an offer of employment. But Emmeline's circumstances, along with her desperation to support her bankrupt, incarcerated father, have made her dauntless. Which seems the primary qualification to work for expert horologist Xavier Mason, Duke of St. Lawrence, and manage his three rambunctious wards. Yet Emmeline soon discovers that the nobleman's heart-melting voice and captivating mind present an entirely different sort of trouble. She cannot risk losing her license by fraternizing with her employer...

Xavier's wards have sent two nannies packing in a month thanks to frogs, firecrackers, and general mayhem. In addition, Xavier's professional reputation is on the line. He's already considered odd, with his talking raven companion and his fascination with timekeeping instead of pleasure-chasing with his peers. Charming, vivacious Emmeline seems intrigued with his quirks - but Xavier must have absolute peace to design London's "King of Clocks" for Westminster Palace before the competition closes. Emmeline can no doubt restore order. As long as he doesn't fall under her spell...

Yet, with a possible saboteur in their midst, and the attraction flaring between them threatening to become a deliciously disastrous distraction, a touch of magic may be required..."

This is the kind of cozy comfort read we all dream of. Nostalgic and magical.

The Shocking Experiments of Miss Mary Bennet by Melinda Taub
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"An utterly fantastical and undeniably queer melding of Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein that recasts Mary Bennet as an insatiable scientist, one who creates a monster in an attempt to save herself from spinsterdom. Awkward, plain, and overlooked, Mary Bennet has long been out of favor not only with her own family but with generations of readers of Pride and Prejudice. But what was this peculiar girl really doing while her sisters were falling in love?

As, one by one, Mary's sisters get married, she hatches a plan. If the world won't give this fierce, lonely girl a place, she'll carve one out herself. In a desperate bid to avoid becoming a burden on her family or, worse, married to a controlling man, Mary does what any bright, intrepid girl would do. She takes to the attic and teaches herself to reanimate the dead. If finding acceptance requires a husband, she'll get one...even if she has to make him herself.

However, Mary's genius and determination aren't enough to control the malevolent force that she unwittingly unleashes. Soon, her attempts to rein in the destruction wreaked by her creations leads her to forge a perhaps unlikely friendship with another brilliant young woman unlike any she's ever known. As that friendship blossoms into something passionate and all-consuming, Mary begins to realize that she may have to choose between the acceptance she's always fought for and true happiness."

Oh my, a monstrous new take on Regency Magic! 

Pocket Portraits: Jane Austen by Janet Lewis Saidi
Published by: Adams Media
Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Take a trip back in time to the Regency-era life of Jane Austen, one of literature's most beloved novelists, with this captivating exploration of her works and the timeless themes of romance, family, and society.

Pocket Portraits: Jane Austen takes you through the moments of Jane Austen's life - some well-known and some which may be unexpected. These are the moments that shaped her six published novels, which draw deeply on themes of family, agency, philosophy, and love. From excerpts of her swoon-worthy tales like Pride and Prejudice and Emma to insight into Austen's social commentary and why her works still leave their mark on contemporary pop culture, this book paints a vivid portrait of the complicated woman behind the quill.

This beautifully curated book is both an inspiring biography and a celebration of literary brilliance. Whether you're a longtime admirer of Austen or just beginning your literary adventure, Pocket Portraits: Jane Austen will leave you fascinated, inspired, and longing for more."

Damn, I'm always longing for more Austen. Time for another re-read. 

Monday, July 29, 2024

Tuesday Tomorrow

The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Get ready for a new series that brings readers deeper into the lush, romantic, and puzzle-filled world of the #1 bestselling Inheritance Games series (over 3 million copies sold!), set a year after we last saw Avery and the Hawthornes.

Seven tickets. An island of dreams. The chance of a lifetime.

Welcome to the Grandest Game, an annual competition run by billionaire Avery Grambs and the four infamous Hawthorne brothers, whose family fortune she inherited. Designed to give anyone a shot at fame and fortune, this year's game requires one of seven golden tickets to enter. With millions on the line, those seven players will do whatever it takes to win.

Some of the players are in it for the money. Some for power. Some for reasons all their own. Every single one of them has secrets. Amidst it all is Grayson Hawthorne, tasked with a vital role in this year's game. But as tensions rise and the mind-bending challenges push the players to their limits - physically, mentally, and emotionally - it soon becomes clear that not everyone is playing by the rules.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Lynn Barnes delivers a brand-new series in the world of The Inheritance Games, where fan-favorite and new characters collide in a game you'll never forget.

Do you have what it takes to play?"

I have somehow become addicted to this Hawthorne Universe (HU?) and can not wait for this book.

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor and Park and Attachments comes Slow Dance - a bright, beaming power ballad of a novel about a love so true it refuses to be forgotten.

Back in high school, everybody thought Shiloh and Cary would end up together...everybody but Shiloh and Cary.

They were just friends. Best friends. Allies. They spent entire summers sitting on Shiloh's porch steps, dreaming about the future. They were both going to get out of north Omaha - Shiloh would go to go to college and become an actress, and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friendship would never change.

Well, Shiloh did go to college, and Cary did join the Navy. And yet, somehow, everything changed.

Now Shiloh's thirty-three, and it's been fourteen years since she talked to Cary. She's been married and divorced. She has two kids. And she's back living in the same house she grew up in. Her life is nothing like she planned.

When she's invited to an old friend's wedding, all Shiloh can think about is whether Cary will be there - and whether she hopes he will be. Would Cary even want to talk to her? After everything?

The answer is yes. And yes. And yes.

Slow Dance is the story of two kids who fell in love before they knew enough about love to recognize it. Two friends who lost everything. Two adults who just feel lost.

It's the story of Shiloh and Cary, who everyone thought would end up together, trying to find their way back to the start."

And hopefully, maybe, ending up together.

Look in the Mirror by Catherine Steadman
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of Something in the Water comes "an utter white-knuckle ride that took me into a heart of darkness" (Lucy Foley, author of The Paris Apartment).

Nina, still grieving from the loss of her father, discovers that she has inherited property in the British Virgin Islands - a vacation home she had no idea existed, until now. The house is extraordinary: state-of-the-art, all glass and marble. How did her sensible father come into enough money for this? Why did he keep it from her? And what else was he hiding?

Maria, once an ambitious medical student, is a nanny for the super-rich. The money's better, and so are the destinations where her work takes her. Just one more gig, and she'll be set. Finally, she'll be secure. But when her wards never show, Maria begins to make herself at home, spending her days luxuriating by the pool and in the sauna. There's just one rule: Don't go in the basement. That room is off-limits. But her curiosity might just get the better of her. And soon, she'll wish her only worry was not getting paid."

Dood, with the super rich, NEVER go where it's off-limits.

Return to Wyldcliffe Heights by Carol Goodman
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Jane Eyre meets The Thirteenth Tale in this new modern gothic mystery from two-time Mary Higgins Clark Award-winner Carol Goodman, about a reclusive writer who is desperate to rewrite the past.

Losing yourself inside of a book can be dangerous. Not everyone finds their way out.

Agnes Corey, a junior editor at a small independent publisher, has been hired by enigmatic author Veronica St. Clair to transcribe the sequel to her 1993 hit phenomenon, The Secret of Wyldcliffe Heights. St. Clair has been a recluse since the publication of the Jane Eyre-esque book, which coincided with a terrible fire that blinded and scarred her. Arriving in the Hudson Valley at St. Clair's crumbling estate, which was once a psychiatric hospital for "wayward women," Agnes is eager to ensure St. Clair's devoted fans will get the sequel they've been anticipating for the past thirty years.

As St. Clair dictates, Agnes realizes there are clues in the story that reveal the true - and terrifying - events three decades ago that inspired the original novel. The line between fact and fiction becomes increasingly blurred, and Agnes discovers terrible secrets about an unresolved murder from long ago, which have startling connections to her own life. As St. Clair's twisting tale infiltrates Agnes's psyche, Agnes begins to question her own sanity - and safety. In order to save herself, Agnes must uncover what really happened to St. Clair, and in doing so, set free the stories of all the women victimized by Wyldcliffe Heights."

I don't know... never finding your way out of a book sounds nice right about now.

The Most by Jessica Anthony
Published by: Little Brown and Company
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 144 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From "one of our most thrilling and singular innovators on the page" (Laura Van Den Berg), a tightly wound, consuming tale about a 1950s American housewife who decides to get into the pool in her family's apartment complex one morning and won't come out.

It is an unseasonably warm Sunday in November 1957. Katheen, a college tennis champion turned Delaware housewife, decides not to join her flagrantly handsome life insurance salesman husband, Virgil, or their two young boys, at church. Instead, she takes a dip in the kidney-shaped swimming pool of their apartment complex. And then she won't come out.

A riveting, single-sitting read set over the course of eight hours, The Most breaches the shimmering surface of a seemingly idyllic mid-century marriage, immersing us in the unspoken truth beneath. As Sputnik 2 orbits the earth carrying Laika, the doomed Soviet dog, Kathleen and Virgil hurtle towards each other until they arrive at a reckoning that will either shatter their marriage, or transform it, at last, into something real."

There's something so nostalgic about this book.

Murder at the White Palace by Allison Montclair
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In post-WWII London, the matchmakers of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau are involved in yet another murder.

In the immediate post-war days of London, two unlikely partners have undertaken an even more unlikely, if necessary, business venture - The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. The two partners are Miss Iris Sparks, a woman with a dangerous - and never discussed - past in British intelligence and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, a genteel war widow with a young son entangled in a complicated aristocratic family. Looking to throw a New Year's Eve soiree for their clients, Sparks and Bainbridge scout an empty building - only to find a body contained in the walls. What they initially assume is a victim of the recent Blitz is uncovered instead to be a murder victim - stabbed several times.

To make matters worse, the owner of the building is Sparks' beau, Archie Spelling, who has ties to a variety of enterprises on the right and wrong sides of the law, and the main investigator for the police is her ex-fiancée. Gwen, too, is dealing with her own complicated love life, as she tentatively steps back into the dating pool for the first time since her husband's death. Murder is not something they want to add to their plates, but the murderer may be closer to home than is comfortable, and they must do all they can to protect their clients, their business and themselves."

Love, marriage, and murder!

A Lethal Lady by Nekesa Afia
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Louise Lloyd's time away in Paris is everything she was hoping it would be until a shocking murder turns her entire world upside down.

Louise Lloyd is finally living the quiet life she'd longed for, working in a parfumerie by day and spending time with her new friends every night at the Aquarius club in Paris. When a desperate mother asks for help locating her artist daughter, Louise initially refuses to keep her hard-won but fragile peace intact. But the woman comes with a letter of introduction from an old friend in Harlem, and Louise realizes she has no choice but to do what she can to find the missing young woman.

The woman's daughter, Iris Wright, is part of an elite social circle. Louise soon finds herself drawn into a world of privilege and ice-cold ambition - a young group of artists who will do anything to get ahead - but would they murder one of their own? With the help of some friends from home, Louise must untangle a web of lies, jealousy, and betrayal to find out what really happened to Iris while fighting to keep her new life from crashing down around her."

Ah, the duplicitous lives of starving and striving artists!

Into the Goblin Market by Vikki Vansickle and Jensine Eckwall
Published by: Tundra Books (NY)
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 48 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A picture book ode to Christina Rossetti's classic poem and a clever homage to familiar fairy-tale villains, this story about two sisters will enthrall readers with its beautifully detailed art and enchanting writing.

Millie loves her quiet life on the farm, but Mina longs for adventure.

When the Goblin Market comes to town, Millie knows it's a bad idea. They've been told stories their whole lives about the dangers of the Goblin Market. But Mina just can't resist...

When Mina doesn't come back, it's Millie's turn to brave the market to bring her home. She will use all her smarts and all her courage to try to outwit the goblins and save her sister...but will it be enough?

This gorgeous and intriguing tribute to both "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti and classic fairy-tale villains is also a story about the bond between sisters and a celebration of courage, intelligence and resilience."

Two things I love coming together to form a third!

Our Wicked Histories by Amy Goldsmith
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A teen girl's attempt to make amends with her former friend group takes a sinister turn during a weekend getaway at an ancestral Irish estate in this atmospheric, literary horror from the author of Those We Drown.

There's something in the lake at Wren Hall. At least, that's what the locals say. Not that Meg cares much about the rumors. When she's asked to spend Halloween weekend at the Ireland retreat of the wealthy Wren twins, she recognizes the invitation for exactly what it is: her last, and only, chance to save her spot at Greyscott's, the exclusive British art school she attended on scholarship until last summer. Clever, beautiful, and talented, the twins are the pride of Greyscott's, and kindhearted Lottie Wren was once Meg's closest friend. But not anymore.

None of Meg's old friend group have talked to her since she left school - and they especially don't talk about the incident that resulted in her suspension. Now, Meg is willing to do whatever it takes to earn their forgiveness.

But Wren Hall turns out to be far from the idyllic country manor Meg was expecting. The house is damp and drafty, the mirrors are all covered, and the weed-choked lake is at the center of legends that haunt the property to this day - a tainted legacy the estate seems unable to shake.

The truth is, people aren't the only ones who keep secrets. Places can keep them too - and Wren Hall is drowning in them. When the past bleeds into the present and ancient sins rise to the surface, Meg must ask herself how well she really knows her one-time best friends...or whether any of them will survive the weekend."

Sometimes the secrets of places are far more dangerous than the secrets of people.

Castle of the Cursed by Romina Garber
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A delicious and dark Gothic romance from bestselling author Romina Garber!

THE HOUSE IS ALWAYS HUNGRY...

After a mysterious attack claims the lives of her parents, all Estela has left is her determination to solve the case. Suffering from survivor's guilt so intense that she might be losing her grip on reality, she accepts an invitation to live overseas with an estranged aunt at their ancestral Spanish castle, la Sombra.

Beneath its Gothic façade, la Sombra harbors a trove of family secrets, and Estela begins to suspect her parents' deaths may be linked to their past. Her investigation takes a supernatural turn when she crosses paths with a silver-eyed boy only she can see. Estela worries Sebastián is a hallucination, but he claims he's been trapped in the castle. They grudgingly team up to find answers and as their investigation ignites, so does a romance, mistrust twined with every caress.

As the mysteries pile up, it feels to Estela like everyone in the tiny town of Oscuro is lying and that whoever was behind the attack has followed her to Spain. The deeper she ventures into la Sombra's secrets, the more certain she becomes that the suspect she's chasing has already found her...and they're closer than she ever realized."

I'm all about spooky Spanish castles.

The Mirror of the Beasts by Alexandra Bracken
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"#1 New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Bracken is back with the electrifying sequel to Silver in the Bone, in which fresh betrayal ignites ancient magic to wake the dead, and a cursed girl with no magic of her own must put the past to rest.

With the dream of Avalon in ruins, Tamsin and her friends are all that stands in the way of Lord Death's plans to unleash the horrors of Anwnn on the world of the living. As the Wild Hunt carves a bloody path across continents, Tamsin is mustering allies, tracking down powerful artifacts, and traversing into new otherlands in search of a way to stop him.

Legend tells of a "Mirror of Beasts," powerful enough to trap even Lord Death in its accursed glass, but the mirror is not all that it seems. Tamsin must confront her own darkest secrets if she hopes to tap the mirror's strength to defeat her enemies.

Arthurian legend bleeds into contemporary action, and scars of the past are torn open anew by a starcrossed love that refuses to go quietly. This riveting conclusion to the Silver in the Bone duology will hold you in its thrall until the very last page."

Oh my, I'm such a sucker for anything Arthurian! 

It Came from the Trees by Ally Russell
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The legend of Bigfoot gets a bone-chilling update in this scary story about a young girl and her scout troop who are willing to brave the woods to find her missing friend when no one else will. Perfect for fans of Daka Hermon and Claribel A. Ortega!

The wilderness is in Jenna's blood. Her Pap was the first Black park ranger at Sturbridge Reservation, and she practically knows the Owlet Survival Handbook by heart. But she's never encountered a creature like the one that took her best friend Reese. Her parents don't believe her; the police are worthless, following the wrong leads; and the media isn't connecting the dots between Reese's disappearance and a string of other attacks. Determined to save her friend, Jenna joins a new local scout troop, and ventures back into the woods.

When the troop stumbles across suspicious signs: huge human-like footprints near the camp, scratch marks on trees, and ominous sounds from the woods, Jenna worries that whatever took Reese is back to take her too. Can she trust her new scout leader? And will her new friend Norrie - who makes her laugh and reminds her so much of Reese - believe her?

After the unthinkable happens, the scouts, armed with their wits and toiletries, band together to fight the monster and survive the night."

A cryptid caper!

Brothersong by T.J. Klune
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Brothersong is the fourth and final book in the Green Creek Series, the beloved fantasy romance sensation by New York Times bestselling author T.J. Klune, about love, loyalty, betrayal, and family.

The Bennett family has a secret: They're not just a family, they're a pack. Brothersong is Carter Bennett's story.

In the ruins of Caswell, Maine, Carter Bennett learned the truth of what had been right in front of him the entire time. And then it - he - was gone. Desperate for answers, Carter takes to the road, leaving family and the safety of his pack behind, all in the name of a man he only knows as a feral wolf. But therein lies the danger: wolves are pack animals, and the longer Carter is on his own, the more his mind slips toward the endless void of Omega insanity. But he pushes on, following the trail left by Gavin.

Gavin, the son of Robert Livingstone. The half-brother of Gordo Livingstone.

What Carter finds will change the course of the wolves forever. Because Gavin's history with the Bennett pack goes back further than anyone knows, a secret kept hidden by Carter's father, Thomas Bennett. And with this knowledge comes a price: the sins of the fathers now rest upon the shoulders of their sons."

Get ready for a final trip to Green Creek!

The X-Files: Perihelion by Claudia Gray
Published by: Hyperion Avenue
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Truth Is Out There...But So Are Lies.

#1 New York Times best-selling author Claudia Gray extends the story of The X-Files beyond its eleventh season into thrilling new territory!

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are still reeling from the death of their son William as they struggle to find purpose away from the X-Files. Though their current relationship is tenuous, they hope to seize their second chance to be a family, despite the many questions surrounding Scully's pregnancy.

Then the FBI asks for their help on a case that hits all too close to home: a serial killer in the Washington, DC area who targets pregnant women. The killer appears to possess a mysterious, uncanny power over electricity, which is enough for the Bureau to re-open the X-Files - if Mulder and Scully are willing.

They cautiously agree, concerned about the safety of their own unborn child yet committed to finding justice for the killer's victims. But their return to the FBI sparks the interest of a shadowy cabal, the heirs to the now-dead Syndicate, and Mulder and Scully soon discover that what at first seems to be just another X-File is connected to a worldwide threat on an unprecedented scale...one with their own future at its heart."

If there's anyone I'd trust to continue The X-Files it's Claudia Gray. Heck, maybe if she'd been working on them longer we wouldn't have Scully pregnant. Again.

Maria by Michelle Moran
Published by: Dell
Publication Date: July 30th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Maria von Trapp. You know the name and the iconic songs, but do you know her real story? This dramatic novel, based on the woman glamorized in The Sound of Music, brings Maria to life as never before.

In the 1950s, Oscar Hammerstein is asked to write the lyrics to a musical based on the life of a woman named Maria von Trapp. He's intrigued to learn that she was once a novice who hoped to live quietly as an Austrian nun before her abbey sent her away to teach a widowed baron's sickly child. What should have been a ten-month assignment, however, unexpectedly turned into a marriage proposal. And when the family was forced to flee their home to escape the Nazis, it was Maria who instructed them on how to survive using nothing but the power of their voices.

It's an inspirational story, to be sure, and as half of the famous Rodgers and Hammerstein duo, Hammerstein knows it has big Broadway potential. Yet much of Maria's life will have to be reinvented for the stage, and with the horrors of war still fresh in people's minds, Hammerstein can't let audiences see just how close the von Trapps came to losing their lives.

But when Maria sees the script that is supposedly based on her life, she becomes so incensed that she sets off to confront Hammerstein in person. Told that he's busy, she is asked to express her concerns to his secretary, Fran, instead. The pair strike up an unlikely friendship as Maria tells Fran about her life, contradicting much of what will eventually appear in The Sound of Music.

A tale of love, loss, and the difficult choices that we are often forced to make, Maria is a powerful reminder that the truth is usually more complicated - and certainly more compelling - than the stories immortalized by Hollywood."

While I've never been a fan of The Sound of Music due to an unfortunate incident of Chickenpox I am a big fan of Michelle Moran and can't wait to learn more about Maria von Trapp!

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