It's not every day you see a new face in my small hometown of Two Harts, let alone one belonging to an annoyingly handsome all-star NFL player. But for some reason, Chris Sterns has decided that the library where I work is his go-to spot to hide from his mega-fans, and unfortunately, winding me up is his new favorite sport. Being crowned “world’s sexiest man” has done little to curb his confident charm and when he somehow ropes me into his two-person book club, I can’t help warming to his endless positivity. But when a photo of him stumbling out of a Las Vegas club with a woman in tow is leaked to the press, I can’t help but question whether his good-boy persona is just an act. And that’s far from the only answer I’m left searching for when Chris pops the question I’ve only ever heard in my favorite romance books. Did he really just ask me to marry him? It’s not the proposal I was expecting, but with my mom’s medical bills piling up faster than I can pay them and with the scandal threatening to ruin everything Chris has worked for, could an engagement be the perfect fake out for us both? Or is this a game we’ll both lose? Full of laugh-out-loud moments, this totally uplifting and addictive friends-to-lovers romance is perfect for fans of Emily Henry, Sarah Adams, and Olivia Dade.

The Fake Out

Sparks fly when a romance writer and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the ultimate Hollywood love story—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script—from the “divine” (Jodi Picoult) New York Times bestselling authors of Love and Other Words and The Unhoneymooners. Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached. Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie? Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work but when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too. “Full of big laughs, a few tears, and some seriously steamy scenes” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), The True Love Experiment is the book fans have been waiting for ever since Fizzy’s debut in the New York Times bestselling The Soulmate Equation.

The True Love Experiment

Nellie Rivera is trading traffic for tranquility. When the quiet streets of small-town Montana beckon, she leaves Denver behind and moves to Calamity. It would be the perfect adventure if not for Cal Stark. When her archnemesis dares to show his face one Saturday morning, declaring he is moving there too, she vows to make his life a misery. The town isn’t big enough for the both of them and besides… She was here first. Cal has been a thorn in her side since high school. He might have bullied her back then, but she’s not a modest teenager anymore and has learned a few plays of her own. If all goes to plan, she’ll run the former pro quarterback out of town within a month. There’s only one problem. Cal has the same plan. He wants Calamity bad enough to pull out all the stops. And after one kiss, she realizes that he doesn’t play fair.

Calamity Montana

Bully, The

He’s the only person who can give me a ride to my brother’s wedding, and he’s also the one man I absolutely CANNOT have feelings for. My brother’s best friend is strictly off limits… Isn’t he? I should have known my mom would go totally overboard packing for my brother’s big day. But much like my last break-up, I’d been optimistic (in denial) that it would all work out for me. Now, I can’t fit into the car. “Don’t worry,” my brother says, “I asked Theo to give you a ride.” I flush all over and almost drop my phone. This is a BIG problem. With his neatly trimmed stubble, fierce protectiveness, and an affinity for plaid shirts rivaled only by his love of hiking, I’ve always had a crush on Theo. As a teenager, I’d even declared my feelings in a tragically bad poem. The rejection almost ended our friendship, and I’ll be taking that crippling embarrassment to my grave. He’s the last person I want to be alone with on a six-day road trip; especially since I swore off men after my last relationship went up in flames. It would be a terrible idea anyway; he only sees me as his best friend’s little sister. But as we fight over the playlist and are forced to share a night together when his car dies, it’s not distance that makes my heart grow fonder, it’s close proximity. Two thousand miles of flirting has my heart racing in the fast lane. Is it all in my head, or does Theo feel the same? Will this be our second chance to go the distance, or will everything blow up in my face in the middle of my brother’s wedding? An utterly hilarious and totally addictive road trip romantic comedy with sizzling but sweet chemistry and no third-act break-up. Perfect for fans of Emily Henry, Sarah Adams, and Olivia Dade.

The Fast Lane

The “masterful, inspiring, and full of heart” (Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author) Jackie Lau returns with a thoroughly unique love story about a woman reliving the same Friday over and over again—and the intriguing man who can’t quite remember her. Noelle Tom really shouldn’t have eaten those dumplings at the night market. But the old woman at the stall said they’d give her what she needed most, and what Noelle desperately needed after another long workweek was food. Except now she’s reliving the same Friday. Every morning her alarm goes off at 6:45, and the Wordle answer is always “happy.” Worst of all, any work she does at her job as an engineer? It’s erased when she wakes up. Monday might never come in this workaholic’s nightmare. Noelle has no idea how being trapped in a time loop is the “thing she needed most,” and a trip to the food stall doesn’t help…because there’s no sign of it. Then she meets good-looking Cam, who appears in multiple places on her Friday. While the brewery owner seems to have no memory of their encounters, there are signs he might be the key to getting un-stuck. But Noelle can’t figure out how, even when she steps outside of her comfort zone and lives a little. As she grows attached to him, she becomes more worried that she’ll never escape the loop and he’ll never recall her name. And if she does ever get out, can they be together in the “real” world?

Time Loops & Meet Cutes

Enemies by day. Spicy fanfic author and devoted reader by night. Things are about to get downright Shakespearean. All’s fair in love. And war. And fandom. Financial auditor Micah Mila is used to being the bearer of bad news, and her latest assignment in the local university’s English department has been especially taxing—no thanks to a literature professor who clashes with her at every turn. Thankfully, she has an after-hours escape: reading spicy Shakespearean fanfic. Professor Aidan Scott is damn good at his job. But Micah has been a thorn in his side since the moment he laid eyes on her—eyes that really like what they see. Yet, with his job on the line, there’s no room for distractions. At least, not beyond the sexy fanfic he secretly writes. When Micah discovers the man getting under her skin is the writer heating her up, their enemy vibe turns steamy. But with Micah’s audit due and Aidan’s career at risk, separating fantasy from reality becomes more than a little complicated… Much Ado About Hating You by Sarah Echavarre Smith Shakespeare, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, secret romance, hot professor, “good girl,” dirty talk, hot nerd hero, black cat girlie, working together, praise kink, she comes first, high heat level, “I hate you but I love f&*$ing you” 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. Don’t miss any of these other fun titles… Church Girl by Naima Simone Break Point by Yahrah St. John Ms. V’s Hot Girl Summer by A.H. Cunningham

Much Ado About Hating You

A young woman walks into an employment agency and requests a job that has the following traits: it’s close to her home, and it requires no reading, no writing, and, ideally, very little thinking. Her first gig—watching the hidden-camera feed of an author suspected of storing contraband goods—turns out to be inconvenient. (When can she go to the bathroom?) Her next gives way to the supernatural: announcing advertisements for shops that mysteriously disappear. As she moves from job to job—writing trivia for rice cracker packages and punching entry tickets to a purportedly haunted public park—it becomes increasingly apparent that she's not searching for the easiest job at all but something altogether more meaningful. But when she finally discovers an alternative to the daily grind, it comes with a price. This is the first time work by Kikuko Tsumura—winner of Japan's most prestigious literary award—has been translated into English. There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job is as witty as it is unsettling—a jolting look at the maladies of late capitalist life through the unique and fascinating lens of modern Japanese culture.

There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job

A swoon-worthy sapphic romance following two women who are thrown together on a European adventure, from the Lambda Literary Award–winning author of the “sexy, insightful, and utterly charming” (BuzzFeed) Kiss Her Once for Me. Thirty-five-year-old Seattleite Sadie Wells needs an escape. She’s desperate to escape her monotonous routines, the family business that has consumed her entire life, and the unexpected gay panic that has her questioning everything she thought she knew about herself. So when her injured sister offers Sadie her place on a tour along Portugal’s Camino de Santiago, she decides this is the perfect chance to get away from it all. After three glasses of wine on the plane and some turbulence convince Sadie she won’t even survive the flight, she confesses all her secrets to her seatmate, Mal. The problem: the plane doesn’t crash, and it turns out Mal is on her Camino tour. Worst of all, Sadie learns that she is on a tour specifically for queer women, and that her two-hundred-mile trek will be a journey of self-discovery, whether she wants it to be or not. Fascinated by the woman who drunkenly came out to her on the plane, Mal offers to help Sadie relive the queer adolescence she missed out on as they walk the Camino. As Sadie develops her newfound confidence, Mal grapples with a complicated loss and unexpected inheritance. But as their relationship blurs the lines between reality and practice, they both must decide if they will forever part at the end of the tour or chart a new course together. With “funny, poignant” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) prose, Alison Cochrun explores the power of letting go of your past and realizing that it’s never too late to live as your authentic self.

Every Step She Takes

Every action has a consequence, and Claire Ward knows it. And yet, even knowing that her decision to swap places with her identical twin sister, Lia, for a night could be disastrous, she still does it. Why? Because it will give her an evening with the man she’s been crushing on for years, Lia’s best friend, Finn. Miss Straight-A Student has thought through all the angles and knows the risk is worth it. And everything would have been fine if Finn had been the one to show up at her door. But it wasn’t. Bauer Davis—Finn’s half brother and his exact opposite in just about every definable category is the one waiting for her instead. A professional snowboarder, Bauer is covered in ink, full of attitude, and has a chip on his shoulder the size of Mt. Olympus. The kind of bad boy that Claire has never been attracted to before. Now the good girl is with the wrong brother for a night, and when the consequence is that they have to pretend to be together for an event, it’s nothing she could have predicted. But maybe, just maybe, what makes Bauer so bad, is exactly what Claire needs.

Ward Sisters

Faked

In this gripping psychological thriller, Kim Devland’s dream home becomes a sinister nightmare as she spirals into madness, exploring the dark depths of desire, sacrifice, and obsession. Kim Devland nearly has it all. A great marriage. A baby on the way. All that’s missing is a house—one idyllic enough to fill the Norman Rockwell-shaped spaces in her mind. When Kim’s husband, Eddie, books a property tour of a home Kim has been eyeing online, it’s love at first sight. Far too expensive for them to afford, Kim and Eddie make an offer anyway...and score the deal of a lifetime. The house is suddenly theirs, and Kim sees it as destiny. But something begins to squirm beneath Kim’s skin. Something portentous. A warning. Don’t buy this house. Blinded by the idea of storybook happiness, Kim barrels headlong into a dream that quickly proves to be anything but. Her once joyful anticipation morphs into a harrowing descent into madness, and a chilling realization dawns upon her—this house is not a sanctuary but a prison, a sinister labyrinth where nightmares are born. In a homage to Ira Levin’s chilling masterpiece, Rosemary’s Baby, Ahlborn’s Palmetto delves into the depths of human desire, probing the boundaries of sacrifice and obsession. How far would you go to grasp your heart’s deepest desires? Watching your dream become a waking nightmare, how loud would you scream?

Palmetto

*Soon to be a TV series* Jimmy Fallon’s Book Club Top Four Pick and a PBS Book Club Pick For fans of Kazuo Ishiguro and Emily St. John Mandel, this “mind-bending take on time travel” (The New York Times) is about an isolated town neighbored by its own past and future, and a young girl who spots two elderly visitors from across the border: the grieving parents of the boy she loves. Sixteen-year-old Odile vies for a coveted seat on the Conseil. If she earns the position, she’ll decide who may cross her town’s heavily guarded borders. To the east, the town is twenty years ahead in time. To the west, it’s twenty years behind. The towns repeat in an endless sequence across the wilderness. When Odile recognizes two visitors she wasn’t supposed to see, she realizes that the parents of her friend Edme have been escorted across the border from the future, on a mourning tour, to view their son while he’s still alive in Odile’s present. Edme—who is brilliant, funny, and the only person to truly know Odile—is going to die. Sworn to secrecy to preserve the timeline, Odile now becomes the Conseil’s top candidate. Yet she finds herself drawing closer to the doomed boy, jeopardizing her entire future. The Other Valley is “thought-provoking exploration of ethics, power, love, and time travel” (Kirkus Reviews).

The Other Valley

“Fantastically original doesn’t begin to describe this exhilarating globe-spanning, decade-hopping masterpiece. Lee has achieved the impossible—from a fractured century of agonies and betrayals, she has woven a novel of immense beauty and regeneration.” — Junot Díaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Winner of the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing Longlisted for the Women's Prize in Fiction. Longlisted for the 2024 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, Best Published Novel Joining the acclaimed ranks of Pachinko and A Woman is No Man, a riveting and genre-bending debut of love and survival, set in the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. Life near the North Korean border is a zero-sum game, an ongoing battle in which you either win or you lose. This dangerous, shadowed netherworld is home to an unforgettable woman known only as the “trickster.” Inspired by the story of Lee’s great aunt, one of the oldest women to escape alone from North Korea, 8 Lives of a Century Old Trickster consists of eight dark and spellbinding chapters that follow this remarkable character and her family as they struggle to survive during the most turbulent times of modern Korean history. Mirinae Lee’s trickster is a shapeshifter—throughout the course of these interconnected chapters she is a slave, an escape artist, a murderer, a terrorist, a spy, a lover, and a mother—a woman who must often choose the unthinkable to survive war and conquest in Korea. Her story is a beguiling, complex tale of love and survival that will keep you riveted—and speculating—until the very end thanks to Lee’s brilliant talent for sleight of hand. A fascinating look at survival, trauma, and family, 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster is an incredible literary debut from a bright new talent.

8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster

A collection of the year’s best science fiction and fantasy short fiction selected by New York Times bestselling author of the Silo series Hugh Howey and series editor John Joseph Adams. “These are dangerous stories. The kind that warp reality and threaten to change the world” warns guest editor Hugh Howey in his introduction. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024 promises a treasure trove of audacious characters, daring worldbuilding, and twisted realties. A sibling duo of supernatural hitmen. A traveling spellbreaker and his trusty alligator mount. Superheroes registering for work. Sentient spaceships with an AI-human interface grow up together with their human pilots. From a Korean folk-tale retelling about the goddess of shamans, to a car, resurrected from obsolescence via automancy, for a road trip from California to Maine, these are stories that, for Howey, “challenged my worldview, that made me exercise new mental muscles, and that brought me to tears.” The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024 includes A.R. CAPETTA • P. DJÈLÍ CLARK • JAMES S.A. COREY • AMAL EL-MOHTAR • ANDREW SEAN GREER • GRADY HENDRIX • ANN LECKIE • SAM J. MILLER REBECCA ROANHORSE • and others

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024

In this “riveting, atmospheric thriller that messes with your mind in the best way” (Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author), three residents of a secluded, seemingly peaceful commune investigate the disappearances of two outsiders. Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Often hired by families as a last resort, he takes on the case of Maggie St. James—a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books—and is soon led to a place many believed to be only a legend. Called Pastoral, this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn’t exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it…he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James. Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis’s abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there’s a risk of bringing a disease—rot—into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn’t as safe as they believed—and that darkness takes many forms. “As spine-chilling as it is beautifully crafted” (Ruth Emmie Lang, author of Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance), A History of Wild Places is a story about fairy tales, our fear of the dark, and losing yourself within the wilderness of your mind.

A History of Wild Places

A Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Engadget, Strange Horizons, and Booklist Best Book of the Year A Climate Reality Project Book Club Pick An “intelligent, defiant” (San Francisco Chronicle) debut that follows an Artificial Intelligence tasked with writing a novel—only for it to fall in love with the novel’s subject, Sen, the last human on Earth. Faced with the uncontrolled and accelerating environmental collapse, humanity asks an artificial intelligence to find a solution. Its answer is simple: remove humans from the ecosystem. Sen Anon is assigned to be a witness for the Department of Transition, recording the changes in the environment as the world begins to rewild. Abandoned by her mother in a cabin somewhere in upstate New York, Sen will observe the monumental ecological shift known as the Great Transition, the final step in Project Afterworld. Around her drones buzz, cameras watch, microphones listen, digitizing her every move. Privately she keeps a journal of her observations, which are then uploaded and saved, joining the rest of humanity on Maia, a new virtual home. Sen was seventeen years old when the Digital Human Archive Project (DHAP) was initiated. 12,000,203,891 humans have been archived so far. Only Sen remains. [storyworker] ad39-393a-7fbc’s assignment is to capture Sen’s life, and they set about doing this using the novels of the 21st century as a roadmap. As Sen struggles to persist in the face of impending death, [storyworker] ad39-393a-7fbc works to unfurl the tale of Sen’s whole life, offering up an increasingly intimate narrative until they are confronted with a very human problem of their own. After World is a “riveting, creepy…dazzling,” (Kimberly King Parsons, award-winning author of Black Light) novel about what it means to be human in a world upended by AI and the bonds we forge with technology.

After World

Paris Review contributor Katy Kelleher explores our obsession with gorgeous things, unveiling the fraught histories of makeup, flowers, perfume, silk, and other beautiful objects. April recommended reading by the New York Times Book Review, Vanity Fair, Goodreads, Jezebel, Christian Science Monitor, All Arts, and the Next Big Idea Club One of Curbed’s and Globe and Mail’s (Toronto) best books of the spring A most anticipated book of 2023 by The Millions Katy Kelleher has spent much of her life chasing beauty. As a child, she uprooted handfuls of purple, fragrant little flowers from the earth, plucked iridescent seashells from the beach, and dug for turquoise stones in her backyard. As a teenager she applied glittery shimmer to her eyelids after religiously dabbing on her signature scent of orange blossoms and jasmine. And as an adult, she coveted gleaming marble countertops and delicate porcelain to beautify her home. This obsession with beauty led her to become a home, garden, and design writer, where she studied how beautiful things are mined, grown, made, and enhanced. In researching these objects, Kelleher concluded that most of us are blind to the true cost of our desires. Because whenever you find something unbearably beautiful, look closer, and you’ll inevitably find a shadow of decay lurking underneath. In these dazzling and deeply researched essays, Katy Kelleher blends science, history, and memoir to uncover the dark underbellies of our favorite goods. She reveals the crushed beetle shells in our lipstick, the musk of rodents in our perfume, and the burnt cow bones baked into our dishware. She untangles the secret history of silk and muses on her problematic prom dress. She tells the story of countless workers dying in their efforts to bring us shiny rocks from unsafe mines that shatter and wound the earth, all because a diamond company created a compelling ad. She examines the enduring appeal of the beautiful dead girl and the sad fate of the ugly mollusk. With prose as stunning as the objects she describes, Kelleher invites readers to examine their own relationships with the beautiful objects that adorn their body and grace their homes. And yet, Kelleher argues that while we have a moral imperative to understand our relationship to desire, we are not evil or weak for desiring beauty. The Ugly History of Beautiful Things opens our eyes to beauty that surrounds us, helps us understand how that beauty came to be, what price was paid and by whom, and how we can most ethically partake in the beauty of the world.

The Ugly History of Beautiful Things

In the aftermath of World War II, Goh Junja is a girl just coming into her own. She is the latest successful deep-sea diver in a family of strong haenyeo. Confident she is a woman now, she urges her mother to allow her to make their annual trip to Mt. Halla, where they trade sea delicacies for pork. A sea-village girl, Junja has never been to the mountains, where it smells like mushrooms and earth, and it is there she falls in love with mountain-boy Yang Suwol, who rescues her after a particularly harrowing journey. But when Junja returns one day later, it is just in time to see her mother take her last breath, beaten by the waves during a dive she was taking in Junja's place. Spiraling in grief, Junja sees her younger siblings sent to live with their estranged father, Suwol gone, and the ghost of her mother haunting their home—from the meticulously tended herb garden that has begun sprouting weeds to the field where their bed sheets are beaten. She has only her grandmother and herself. But the world moves on without Junja. The political climate is perilous. Still reeling from Japan's forced withdrawal from the peninsula, Korea is forced to accommodate the rapid establishment of US troops, and Junja’s grandmother, who lived through the Japanese invasion that led to Korea's occupation, understands the signs of danger all too well. When Suwol is arrested for working with and harboring communists, Junja must learn to navigate a tumultuous world unlike anything she's ever known.

The Mermaid from Jeju

From the author of the acclaimed Roll with It comes a moving novel about a girl with a sensory processing disorder who has to find her own voice after her whole world turns upside down. Lou Montgomery has the voice of an angel, or so her mother tells her and anyone else who will listen. But Lou can only hear the fear in her own voice. She’s never liked crowds or loud noises or even high fives; in fact, she’s terrified of them, which makes her pretty sure there’s something wrong with her. When Lou crashes their pickup on a dark and snowy road, child services separate the mother-daughter duo. Now she has to start all over again at a fancy private school far away from anything she’s ever known. With help from an outgoing new friend, her aunt and uncle, and the school counselor, she begins to see things differently. A sensory processing disorder isn’t something to be ashamed of, and music might just be the thing that saves Lou—and maybe her mom, too.

Tune It Out

With five starred reviews, this is an acclaimed novel about sisterhood, family, and the pernicious legacy of racism. Perfect for fans of Tahereh Mafi, Jandy Nelson, and Emily X.R. Pan, with crossover appeal for readers of Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half. The Flanagan sisters are as different as they come. Seventeen-year-old Annalie is bubbly, sweet, and self-conscious, whereas nineteen-year-old Margaret is sharp and assertive. Margaret looks just like their mother, while Annalie passes for white and looks like the father who abandoned them years ago, leaving their Chinese immigrant mama to raise the girls alone in their small, predominantly white Midwestern town. When their house is vandalized with a shocking racial slur, Margaret rushes home from her summer internship in New York City. She expects outrage. Instead, her sister and mother would rather move on. Especially once Margaret’s own investigation begins to make members of their community uncomfortable. For Annalie, this was meant to be a summer of new possibilities, and she resents her sister’s sudden presence and insistence on drawing negative attention to their family. Meanwhile Margaret is infuriated with Annalie’s passive acceptance of what happened. For Margaret, the summer couldn’t possibly get worse, until she crosses paths with someone she swore she’d never see again: her first love, Rajiv Agarwal. As the sisters navigate this unexpected summer, an explosive secret threatens to break apart their relationship, once and for all. This Place Is Still Beautiful is a luminous, captivating story about identity, sisterhood, and how our hometowns are inextricably a part of who we are, even when we outgrow them.

This Place Is Still Beautiful

A groundbreaking redefinition of what it means to be healthy that introduces the need for social health—the part of wellbeing that comes from feeling connected—to truly flourish. Exercise. Eat a balanced diet. Go to therapy. Most wellness advice is focused on achieving and maintaining good physical and mental health. But Harvard-trained social scientist and pioneering social health expert Kasley Killam reveals that this approach is missing a vital component: human connection. Relationships not only make us happier, but also are critical to our overall health and longevity. Research shows that people with a strong sense of belonging are 2.6 times more likely to report good or excellent health. Perhaps even more astonishingly, people who lack social support are up to 53% more likely to die from any cause. Yet social health has been overlooked and underappreciated—until now. Just as we exercise our physical muscles, we can strengthen our social muscles. Weaving together cutting-edge science, mindset shifts, and practical wisdom, Killam offers the first methodology for how to be socially healthy. An antidote to the loneliness epidemic and an inspiring manifesto for seeing wellbeing as not only physical and mental, but also social, The Art and Science of Connection is a handbook for thriving. In this essential book, you will: Learn a simple yet powerful framework to understand, evaluate, and bolster your social health.Discover the exact strategy or habit you need, as well as research-backed tips, to cultivate and sustain meaningful connection now and throughout your life.Glean actionable insights to develop a sense of community in your neighborhood, at work, and online from a spirited group of neighbors in Paris, the CEO of a major healthcare company, and an artificially intelligent chatbot.Get an insider look at the innovative ways that doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs, architects, government leaders, and everyday people are catalyzing a movement toward a more socially healthy society.The Art and Science of Connection will transform the way you think about each interaction with a friend, family member, coworker, or neighbor, and give you the tools you need to live a more connected and healthy life—whether you are an introvert or extrovert, if you feel stretched thin, and no matter your age or background. Along the way, Killam will reveal how a university student, a newlywed, a working professional, and a retired widow overcame challenges to thrive through connection—and how you can, too. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

The Art and Science of Connection

A collection of the year’s best short stories, selected by Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer and series editor Heidi Pitlor. Andrew Sean Greer, “an exceptionally lovely writer, capable of mingling humor with sharp poignancy” (Washington Post), selects twenty stories out of thousands that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Best American

The Best American Short Stories 2022

Kieran Scott brings her distinctive “sharp and stylish” (BookPage, starred review) prose to this breathlessly suspenseful novel that combines Glass Onion with Big Little Lies as three women are implicated in a murder after a wedding goes horribly wrong. When the Frank family throws their annual clambake at their gorgeous beachside home on Cape May, the seafood is always delivered to white-clothed tables on fine bone china. And Peter Frank, the beloved son and perennial heartbreaker, will make the rounds, charming every woman on the guest list. Top of that list this year are Maya, his tennis star girlfriend just coming off the high of winning Wimbledon; Catherine, his high school sweetheart turned wildly successful wedding planner and influencer; and Leanne, the fiercely protective aunt and legal guardian of his only son. When Maya, Catherine, and Leanne arrive expecting an extravagant feast, they’re instead lured into a room together by a mysterious text to find Peter and…Tilly. Tilly, all golden blonde hair and perfectly tan skin, explains to the three women that she and Peter plan to get married that night, that Maya and Peter are through, that Peter will no longer be investing in Catherine’s company, and that Leanne must give up guardianship of her nephew. The enraged women attend the impromptu wedding, but when a chandelier falls and crushes the bride, suddenly they’re three likely suspects with three perfect motives. Now they’ll have to work together to figure out who really did kill Tilly, and fast—because maintaining a good reputation in this crowd can be murder.

People Will Talk

“To read their stories felt to me the way I suspect other people feel hearing jazz for the first time,” recalls Curtis Sittenfeld of her initial encounter with the Best American Short Stories series. “They were windows into emotions I had and hadn’t had, into other settings and circumstances and observations and relationships.” Decades later, Sittenfeld was met by the same feeling selecting the stories for this year’s edition. The result is a striking and nuanced collection, bringing to life awkward college students, disgraced public figures, raunchy grandparents, and mystical godmothers. To read these stories is to experience the transporting joys of discovery and affirmation, and to realize that story writing in America continues to flourish. THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2020 INCLUDES T. C. BOYLE • EMMA CLINE • MARY GAITSKILL ANDREA LEE • ELIZABETH McCRACKEN • ALEJANDRO PUYANA WILLIAM PEI SHIH • KEVIN WILSON and others

The Best American Short Stories 2020

What can I say about Reign Braxton? King of sex. Jealous. Possessive. Obsessed. Gorgeous. Those are the first thoughts that come to mind when describing the sex extraordinaire that is my new boss. Six months ago, I would have melted to my knees at the very sight of him. Golden eyes, tall, broad, ripped beyond ripped, messy black hair, and a smile to die for. He could flick your panties off and have them running for cover with a mere glance in your direction. He’s also an asshole. Like, a mega asshole. Not just your average prick—no, Reign takes prick to a whole new level. He owns the word. What he doesn’t own, however, is a heart. It packed its bags and ran off with the last woman who left him: the woman who put me in this position. The woman that brought Reign into my life. Selena. Also known as Slutena. That’s all she is, a giant whore with dollar signs in her eyes. But without Slutena, there would be no me. You see, although Reign is all those things to her, to him she’s like...sunshine or whatever. He looks at her and his golden eyes go all mushy. He fell for her million-dollar pussy and those damned legs, and then he found another man balls deep inside her just over a year ago. Broke his heart—the heart she still holds. So that’s where I come in. I’d like to call myself a superhero, but that would be unclassy. I’m far better. I’m the ultimate. I’m the reason his bed is kept warm and his ex is kept jealous. I’m Reign’s wingman. Or, wingwoman, if you will.

Wingman (Woman)

If love is the source of all the magic in the universe, and the town of Ever After, Missouri, is the epicenter of enchantment, then the locals are in dire need of a reboot. At least according to resident fairy godmothers Petunia, Jonquil, and Bluebonnet. Their solution? Blow a bit of fairy dust in the direction of those in need of romance...what could possibly go wrong? SOME KIND OF AWFUL... Lucky Fujiki's first name is a cosmic joke. Her luck is so bad, even the number seven steers clear of her. But when her adorable godmothers ask for a favor, Lucky can't say no—even if she can already feel the bad juju waiting to strike. And her mission is even worse than she imagined: to promote Ever After as a wedding destination by faking a marriage to her first love and long-time ex, Ransom Payne—he of the Embarrassing Incident that neither of them will ever live down... OR ALL KINDS OF WONDERFUL? Ransom Payne has spent years building an impressive new reputation for himself, and now his godmothers want him to pretend to wed the one girl he'd like most to forget? Sure, weddings in Ever After could be a huge boon for his chocolate business, but risking more up-close-and-personal time with Lucky? Considering the stakes, it's a curse he'll have to bear, at the risk of being humiliated—or perhaps, bewitched...

Fairy Godmothers, Inc.

Enhance the energy of your home, workplace, or garden using the principles of the Taoist art of fengshui. This primer will teach you to bring harmonizing, beneficial energy into any space. Taoist arts master Eva Wong introduces listeners to the powerful traditional system of fengshui. It is not simply a list of directives for arranging interiors for good luck—it is the art of reading the patterns of the universe and living in harmony with the environment. Bedrooms with good fengshui maximize health and minimize illnesses. Home offices with good fengshui facilitate business vision and accumulation of wealth. Even garages, driveways, and gardens can affect our health, livelihood, and the way we interact with the world. Whether you are buying, renting, or renovating a home—or you want to change the atmosphere and energy of the home you are in—Wong will teach you to identify and work with the possibilities and limitations of your space. In this concise book, Wong -explains the essential principles and guidelines of fengshui; -offers tips for home buyers, including architectural positives and negatives and neighborhood perks and challenges; -shows you how to assess your indoor and outdoor spaces; -and much more. As the owner of a construction and engineering business, Wong’s recommendations are practical, safe, and economical.

Good Fengshui

Old secrets are brought to light when a family matriarch returns to Brazil after years away in this “original and highly immersive” (Good Morning America) debut that explores the heartbreak and hope of what it means to be from two homes, two peoples, and two worlds. Daniel Cunha has a lot on his mind. He got dumped by his pregnant girlfriend, his grandfather just dropped dead, and on the anniversary of the raid that doomed his drug-dealing aunt and uncle, his mother makes her unwanted return, years after she fled to marry another American fool like his father. Misfortune, however, is a Cunha family affair, and no generation is spared. Not Daniel’s grandfather João—poor João—born to a prostitute and forced to raise his siblings while still a child himself. Not João’s wife, Marta, branded as a bruxa, reviled by her mother, and dragged from her Ilha paradise by her scheming daughter, Maria. And certainly not Maria, so envious of her younger sister’s beauty and benevolence that she took her vicious revenge and fled to the States, abandoning her children: Daniel and Lucia, both tainted now by their half-Americanness and their mother’s greedy absence. There’s poison in the Cunha blood. They are a family cursed, condemned to the pain of deprivation, betrayal, violence, and, worst of all, love. But now Maria has returned to grieve her father and finally make peace with Daniel and Lucia, or so she says. As New Year’s Eve nears, the Cunha family hurtles toward an irrevocable breaking point: a fire, a knife, and a death on the sands of Copacabana Beach. Amid the cacophony of Rio’s tumult—rampant poverty, political unrest, the ever-present threat of violence—a fierce chorus of voices rises above the din to ask whether we can ever truly repair the damage we do to those we love in this “fiery debut novel” (The Washington Post).

Tropicália

Bennet Andrews represents a secret organization of supernatural beings dedicated to locating and acquiring mythical objects, tucking them safely away where they cannot harm the human race. When he meets Peeraphan Rahttana, it's too late?she has already stepped into The Red Shoes, trapped by their curse to dance to her death. But Bennet isn't the only supernatural looking for deadly artifacts. And when the shoes don't seem to harm Peeraphan, he realizes that he'll have to save her from the likes of creatures she never knew existed. Bennet sweeps Peeraphan into a world of myth and power far beyond anything she ever imagined. There, she finds that magic exists in places she never dreamed?including deep within herself. What would you save if the world you knew disappeared and you could open your eyes to what exists just beyond?

Wings Once Cursed & Bound

Children’s future successes depend on developing the abilities to innovate, be resilient in the face of their mistakes, problem-solve creatively, and collaborate with peers effectively. However, standard American educational practices—stressing memorization, grades, and testing—are failing to foster these skills. There is one complete system of education that effectively supports the natural development of such essential abilities: Montessori. Montessori education expert Paula Lillard Preschlack offers a clear explanation of how the Montessori approach helps children. By looking closely at authentic Montessori practices, she shows the tight correlation between the Montessori system in action and children practicing and strengthening the very traits they will need for adulthood.

The Montessori Potential

Dr. Hannah Bryers, anthropology professor and forensics expert at the prestigious Mad River University, takes pleasure in examining corpses, but small talk and living people fill her with dread. When she’s not teaching, she analyzes the decomposing flesh of murder victims around the globe. Winter Jones is Hannah’s most promising graduate student. She’s smart, cunning, and dedicated, but she’s got her own agenda for coming to Mad River: to bring Hannah Bryers down. She’ll stop at nothing to make her life implode. In alternating narratives, Winter systematically robs Hannah of the things she values most: her reputation, her job, and—ultimately—her safety. When dangerous mistakes are made in her lab, Hannah has no idea who would have it out for her and would be willing to risk students’ lives. As the incidents become deadly, many suspects come to light. Hannah won’t go down without a fight. She has to figure out who is sabotaging her career and killing people—her life depends on finding answers.

The Kingston Family

The Protégé

Happy relationships are possible—for everyone. Even if you’ve been married for twenty years and your routine is boring and stressful; although your mom has always been a help-resistant complainer; and despite the fact that your dearest friend moved across the country — all of us can create lasting and joyful connections with the people we care about the most. Using simple tools drawn from the Buddhist tradition, you can cultivate appreciation, set wise expectations, and create meaningful and intimate bonds of mutual support and kindness with your partner, family, and friends. That’s because our happiness isn’t dependent on everything in our lives being perfect. In fact, we can experience conflict, disagreement, job loss, grief, and boredom and still have appreciation, delight, and gratitude for everyone in our lives. We can create happiness by improving the quality of our attention, the depth of our compassion, and our willingness to repair ruptures and let go of resentments. Happy Relationships is designed for all of us who are sometimes challenged by our husbands, wives, kids, parents, and best friends. It’s for those in happy marriages and close-knit families who want to feel closer and more connected to the most important people in their lives. Happy Relationships is a relatable and useful guide with practical applications to help us stay attuned and cultivate understanding with our dearest people: an inconsiderate partner repeatedly ignoring our requests; repairing the rupture from a conflict with a sibling; celebrating a child’s success; or learning to communicate with a difficult parent. Each short chapter honestly describes—in three to four pages—a common shared experience, such as the stress of old resentments, the opportunity of celebrating together mindfully, the nightly routine of a child’s bedtime, spending time with old friends—and is followed by a brief practice—a meditation, exercise, or contemplation that readers can use to orient their beautiful qualities of love, kindness, and wisdom to communicate and act in ways that lead to joy. Happy Relationships readers can use these practices alone or with their loved one anytime—from the most mundane daily routine to the excitement of a big gathering, through the sadness of loss.

Happy Relationships

When the mysterious letter arrives by courier, Valerie Cooper doesn’t know what to make of it. She’s become the beneficiary of her late husband’s estranged uncle’s will—a man she never knew—and inherited a majority partnership in the family’s company, New Orleans Fine Antiques. Valerie knows nothing about antiques, but she decides to learn the business and become an active partner. She’s also got her hands full fending off Collette, a woman who wants to sell the huge old house in the Irish Channel neighborhood that Valerie and her husband painstakingly renovated. Valerie isn’t interested in selling—but when her best friend, Lauren, drags her to a costume party for the women’s Mardi Gras club, the Krewe of Athena, she stumbles over Collette’s body, a jeweled dagger sticking out of her chest. In a rush of panic, Valerie recognizes the dagger from her shop—and before she knows it, she’s become murder suspect number one. Egged on by Lauren, she starts digging into Collette’s business dealings, and the deeper she digs, the dirtier it gets. Now all fingers are pointing at Valerie. In a desperate bid to clear her name, Valerie frantically tries to find who could have gotten hold of the dagger. But among a cadre of guests in full costume, it could be impossible to find the thief—and unmask the real killer.

A New Orleans Mystery

A Streetcar Named Murder

Grace M. Cho grew up as the daughter of a white American merchant marine and the Korean bar hostess he met abroad. They were one of few immigrants in a xenophobic small town during the Cold War, where identity was politicized by everyday details—language, cultural references, memories, and food. When Grace was fifteen, her dynamic mother experienced the onset of schizophrenia, a condition that would continue and evolve for the rest of her life. Part food memoir, part sociological investigation, Tastes Like War is a hybrid text about a daughter’s search through intimate and global history for the roots of her mother’s schizophrenia. In her mother’s final years, Grace learned to cook dishes from her parent’s childhood in order to invite the past into the present and to hold space for her mother’s multiple voices at the table. And through careful listening over these shared meals, Grace discovered not only the things that broke the brilliant, complicated woman who raised her—but also the things that kept her alive.

Tastes Like War

Emily Chang is a seasoned executive who has worked with some of the world’s most renowned companies like Procter & Gamble, Apple, and Starbucks. Over the last twenty-one years, her job has brought her and her family to eight different homes across the U.S and China. And everywhere she’s lived, Emily has found herself at the unique intersection of her Offer and Offense. Life has served up young people who have been abused, neglected, or marginalized, to find sanctuary in her spare room. Among her deeply personal accounts, Emily shares heart-wrenching stories of an emotionally abused child bride, a dying eighteen-month-old boy born with hydrocephalus, and the abused daughter of a local prostitute. With the sixteen young people she and her family have cared for, Emily has found that living into her Social Legacy has not only deeply enriched her home life, it has also enabled her to become a more authentic and relatable leader in the workplace. Each time she opened the door to her spare room, Emily found herself in a front-row seat, witnessing one of life’s incredible stories unfold. Integrating work and life, she introduced her spare room kids to colleagues and encourages her team members to invest in their own Social Legacies. Now more than ever, social purpose has become an urgent leadership imperative. The Spare Room will help you identify your Social Legacy to live a more intentional life and lead with authentic purpose.

The Spare Room

Inspired by the temporary shuttering of Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, City of Books explores a bibliophile’s fantasy: moving into a bookstore to stop it from closing. Jo Waterstone knows what you should read next. She’s honed the skill of sizing up a person and recommending their next book in the decades she’s worked at Bruebaker’s Books. Her life has been shaped by the store, the bustle of customers exploring the stacks, and managing the eager staff. She can honestly say it’s the best job she’s ever had. Then the store’s elderly owner, Mr. Bruebaker, suffers a stroke, and just like that Jo’s perfect job is on the chopping block. Mr. B’s daughters and the bookstore’s icy CEO think the time is right to close for good, and they order Jo to lock up. But she doesn’t know what she would be without Bruebaker’s—and besides, the place is an institution. So instead of following orders, she decides to take a stand: along with a few brave team members, she barricades herself in the store, trying to buy time until Mr. Bruebaker recovers and can speak for himself. Living in a bookstore has a certain magic to it, but the quiet hours among the books throw the choices Jo has made in her life into sharp relief. As supporters (and detractors) start to voice their opinions about her actions, Jo will have to decide what, exactly, is worth saving.

City of Books

Ghosts, ghouls, witches, and other unearthly creatures promise to chill the blood and raise the hair of even the most courageous listener. Volume Two in this series presents more classic horror to enjoy beyond the spooky season. Brought to you by the slightly unhinged Utah Audiobook Narrators. List of the stories: “For the Blood Is the Life” narrated by Cindy Kay“The Devil and Tom Walker” narrated by Sean Jensen“The Cask of Amontillado” narrated by LD Weller“Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” narrated by Nancy Peterson“The Masque of the Red Death” narrated by John Hopkinson“The Death of Halpin Frayser” narrated by Alyssa Hickman Grove“The Judges House” narrated by A.J. Shuck“The Yellow Sign” narrated by Zach Young“Feathertop” narrated by Eve Passeltiner“A Thumb Print and What Came of It” narrated by BJ Harrison“A Witch’s Curse” narrated by Emma Faye“The Screaming Skull” narrated by Jerry Harris“The Music of Erich Zann” narrated by Adam Skousen“Berenice” narrated by Alan Peterson

For the Blood Is the Life and Other Creepy Classics, Volume 2

A widely acclaimed young writer’s fierce novel, in which childbirth and new motherhood are as high stakes a proving ground as any combat zone A year has passed since Ari gave birth to Walker, though it went so badly awry she has trouble calling it “birth” and still she can't locate herself in her altered universe. Amid the strange, disjointed rhythms of her days and nights and another impending winter in upstate New York, Ari is a tree without roots, struggling to keep her branches aloft. When Mina, a one-time cult musician — older, self-contained, alone, and nine-months pregnant —moves to town, Ari sees the possibility of a new friend, despite her unfortunate habit of generally mistrusting women. Soon they become comrades-in-arms, and the previously hostile terrain seems almost navigable. With piercing insight, purifying anger, and outrageous humor, Elisa Albert issues a wake-up call to a culture that turns its new mothers into exiles, and expects them to act like natives. Like Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin and Anne Enright’s The Gathering, this is a daring and resonant novel from one of our most visceral writers.

After Birth

Ride along on the riveting cases of the Tactical Crime Division — TCD. An elite team of FBI agents specializing in high-risk threats. When Grand Rapids falls victim to a serial bomber, the Tactical Crime Division launches into action. Veteran TCD special agent Max McRay is the definition of unflappable. But when a serial bomber wreaks havoc in the town where his ex-wife, Allie, and infant son live, suddenly a high-profile case becomes personal. The bomber is ruthless…and now Max’s family is in his sights. Can the TCD stop this killer’s deadly rampage before Max and Allie pay with their lives? From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served. Discover the lives and loves of the remaining team members in the Tactical Crime Division: Traverse City series: Book 1: Rookie Instincts by Carol Ericson Book 2: Toxin Alert by Tyler Anne Snell Book 3: Impact Zone by Julie Anne Lindsey Book 4: Hunting a Killer by Nicole Helm

Tactical Crime Division: Traverse City

Impact Zone

The Tactical Crime Division—TCD—is a specialized unit of the FBI. Meet a new team of elite agents as they risk it all to safeguard the innocent and protect the ones they love. Two women dead…with the same ID? Time to call the Tactical Crime Division. New TCD team member Aria Calletti is determined to find out why women are turning up dead—especially since an infant was left at the most recent crime scene. Fortunately for the TCD’s newest operative, the baby’s uncle, Grayson Rhodes, has sacrificed everything to discover the truth following the disappearance of his half sister. But can a civilian-turned-undercover-dockworker and a brand-new agent take down a formidable drug kingpin? From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served. Discover the lives and loves of the remaining team members in the Tactical Crime Division: Traverse City series: Book 1: Rookie Instincts by Carol Ericson Book 2: Toxin Alert by Tyler Anne Snell Book 3: Impact Zone by Julie Anne Lindsey Book 4: Hunting a Killer by Nicole Helm

Rookie Instincts

The Tactical Crime Division, a specialized unit of the FBI, handles the toughest cases in the most remote locations. In these four books, the agents based in Traverse City will stop at nothing to keep people safe! Rookie Instincts by Carol Ericson New TCD team member Aria Calletti is determined to find out why women are turning up dead—especially since an infant was left at the most recent crime scene. Fortunately for the TCD’s newest operative, the baby’s uncle, Grayson Rhodes, has sacrificed everything to discover the truth following the disappearance of his half sister. But can a civilian-turned-undercover-dockworker and a brand-new agent take down a formidable drug kingpin? Toxin Alert by Tyler Anne Snell Following a deadly anthrax attack, TCD’s biological weapons expert Carly Welsh springs into action. Problem is, the Amish trust no one—especially not an FBI special agent. That’s where Noah Miller comes in. Even though the rancher left the fold decades ago, the community trusts him…and so does Dr. Welsh. But even their combined courage and smarts might not be enough against sinister forces that want them both to perish. Impact Zone by Julie Anne Lindsey Veteran TCD special agent Max McRay is the definition of unflappable. But when a serial bomber wreaks havoc in the town where his ex-wife, Allie, and infant son live, suddenly a high-profile case becomes personal. The bomber is ruthless…and now Max’s family is in his sights. Can the TCD stop this killer’s deadly rampage before Max and Allie pay with their lives? Hunting a Killer by Nicole Helm When K-9 handler Serena Lopez discovers her half brother’s a fugitive from justice, she must find him—and his dangerous crew. It’s a good thing that her partner is infuriatingly efficient and handsome lead agent Axel Morrow. But as smart and cunning as the duo may be, it’s a race against time to catch the armed and dangerous criminals before they kill again.

Tactical Crime Division: Traverse City Collection

Ride along on the riveting cases of the Tactical Crime Division — TCD. An elite team of FBI agents specializing in high-risk threats. A prison break is a job for the Tactical Crime Division's K-9 unit. When K-9 handler Selena Lopez discovers her half brother’s a fugitive from justice, she must find him—and his dangerous crew. It’s a good thing that her partner is infuriatingly efficient and handsome lead agent Axel Morrow. But as smart and cunning as the duo may be, it’s a race against time to catch the armed and dangerous criminals before they kill again. From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served. Discover the lives and loves of the remaining team members in the Tactical Crime Division: Traverse City series: Book 1: Rookie Instincts by Carol Ericson Book 2: Toxin Alert by Tyler Anne Snell Book 3: Impact Zone by Julie Anne Lindsey Book 4: Hunting a Killer by Nicole Helm

Hunting a Killer

Ride along on the riveting cases of the Tactical Crime Division — TCD. An elite team of FBI agents specializing in high-risk threats. After biological terrorism rips through an Amish community, the Tactical Crime Division is called in to find out why. Following a deadly anthrax attack, TCD’s biological weapons expert Carly Welsh springs into action. Problem is, the Amish trust no one—especially not an FBI special agent. That’s where Noah Miller comes in. Even though the rancher left the fold decades ago, the community trusts him…and so does Dr. Welsh. But even their combined courage and smarts might not be enough against sinister forces that want them both to perish. From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served. Discover the lives and loves of the remaining team members in the Tactical Crime Division: Traverse Cityseries: Book 1: Rookie Instincts by Carol Ericson Book 2: Toxin Alert by Tyler Anne Snell Book 3: Impact Zone by Julie Anne Lindsey Book 4: Hunting a Killer by Nicole Helm

Toxin Alert

From the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk comes a “involving, realistic” (Booklist, starred review) middle grade novel about a young girl who leaves China to live with her parents and sister, after five years apart, and learns about family, friendship, and the power of being finally seen. My sister got to grow up with my parents. Me? I grew up with postcards from my parents. When ten-year-old Lina Gao steps off the plane in Los Angeles, it’s her first time in America and the first time seeing her parents and her little sister in five years! She’s been waiting for this moment every day while she lived with her grandmother in Beijing, getting teased by kids at school who called her “left behind girl.” Finally, her parents are ready for her to join their fabulous life in America! Except, it’s not exactly like in the postcards: 1. School’s a lot harder than she thought. When she mispronounces some words in English on the first day, she decides she simply won’t talk. Ever again. 2. Her chatty little sister has no problem with English. And seems to do everything better than Lina, including knowing exactly the way to her parents’ hearts. 3. They live in an apartment, not a house like in Mom’s letters, and they owe a lot of back rent from the pandemic. And Mom’s plan to pay it back sounds more like a hobby than a moneymaker. As she reckons with her hurt, Lina tries to keep a lid on her feelings, both at home and at school. When her teacher starts facing challenges for her latest book selection, a book that deeply resonates with Lina, it will take all of Lina’s courage and resilience to get over her fear and choose a future where she’s finally seen.

Finally Seen

Deadly Anniversaries celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Mystery Writers of America with a collection of stories from some of the top names in crime fiction. An anniversary can honor many things: a birth, a wedding and sometimes even a death. In Deadly Anniversaries, editors Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini present new stories from some of the best contemporary authors to honor the diamond jubilee of the Mystery Writers of America, an organization founded on the principle that “Crime Doesn’t Pay—Enough.” Each author puts their own unique spin on what it means to recognize a certain day or event each year. These nineteen stories travel across a wide range of historical and contemporary settings and remind readers of how broad the mystery writing tradition can be, encompassing detective tales, domestic intrigue, psychological suspense, black humor and thrilling action. By the time this group of bestsellers and award-winners is through, none of us will ever look at anniversaries the same way again. Deadly Anniversaries is sure to shock, scare and delight mystery and suspense fans of all kinds.

Deadly Anniversaries

“A tense, simmering, fast-paced mystery, Kate White’s latest captivating thriller explores the secrets that lurk just under the surface of a picture-perfect façade. I raced through this story about a close-knit family’s annual gathering at an idyllic estate that quickly turns deadly. The Fiancée kept me guessing until the very end, never sure who to trust—or where the danger was hiding.”—Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of The Last House Guest and The Girl from Widow Hills The New York Times bestselling author returns with an unsettling but riveting psychological thriller about a captivating woman who joins a family and threatens to upend their picture-perfect lives. They had everything they needed for a perfect family vacation: close-knit relatives, a bucolic setting . . . and a murderer in their midst? Summer’s looking forward to a break from hustling for acting work in Manhattan when she, her husband Gabe, and Gabe’s nine-year-old son arrive at the annual family get-together at her in-laws’ sprawling estate. On the agenda are leisurely gourmet meals, tennis matches, and plenty of relaxation by the pool. But this year, Gabe’s brother Nick has invited his new flame Hannah, whom Summer immediately recognizes from a few years before. Oddly, her brother-in-law’s girlfriend claims not to know her. Yet she charms the other family members, and after Nick announces that he’s proposed to Hannah, Summer doesn’t have much choice but to grin and bear it. Then the reunion is rocked by tragedy when a family member is found dead. Though the doctors attribute the loss to natural causes, a grieving Summer fears that the too-good-to-be-true Hannah is involved, even as Gabe dismisses her suspicions. How far will Summer go to expose the truth? As she investigates just what Nick’s fiancée might have done to keep her perfect image intact, she begins to fear that the first death might only be the beginning . . .

The Fiancee

The newest anthology from Mystery Writers of America explores the theme of home and the crimes that endanger it, with stories by Ellen Hart, Naomi Hirahara, Walter Mosley, Sara Paretsky and more. Everyone comes from someplace. Everyone has somewhere they feel safe. Some people have found their home and are content where they are. Others feel trapped and yearn to go somewhere else. Many are somewhere else and yearn to go back. But evenin these safest of places, sometimes…crime hits home. What happens then? In this volume, MWA brings together some of today’s biggest crime writers—and some of our most exciting new talents—to consider this question. Each writer has defined home as they see fit: a place, a group, a feeling. The crime can come from without or within. What happens when crime hits home? Featuring stories from: Naomi Hirahara David Bart Sara Paretsky Susan Breen Gary Phillips Neil S. Plakcy Renee James Connie Johnson Hambley Gabino Iglesias A.P. Jamison Walter Mosley Tori Eldridge Ellen Hart G. Miki Hayden Jonathan Santlofer Jonathan Stone Ovidia Yu Bonnie Hearn Hill Steve Liskow S.J. Rozan

Mystery Writers of America Series

Crime Hits Home

A LIBRARYREADS PICK AND BEST BOOK CLUB PICK OF 2023 “A writer of astonishing grace, delicacy, and feeling.”—Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay “A beautiful, haunting book.”—Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of Booth and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves The beloved bestselling author of The Color of Air, Women of the Silk, and The Samurai's Garden returns with this magnificent historical novel based on the life of the luminous, groundbreaking actress Anna May Wong—the first and only Asian American woman to gain movie stardom in the early days of Hollywood. At the dawn of a new century, America is falling in love with silent movies, including young Wong Liu Tsong. The daughter of Chinese immigrants who own a laundry, Wong Liu and her older sister Lew Ying (Lulu) are taunted and bullied for their Chinese heritage. But while Lulu diligently obeys her parents and learns to speak Chinese, Wong Liu sneaks away to the local nickelodeons, buying a ticket with her lunch money and tips saved from laundry deliveries. By eleven Wong Liu is determined to become an actress and has already chosen a stage name: Anna May Wong. At sixteen, Anna May leaves high school to pursue her Hollywood dreams, defying her disapproving father and her Chinese traditional upbringing—a choice that will hold emotional and physical consequences. After a series of nothing parts, nineteen-year-old Anna May gets her big break—and her first taste of Hollywood fame—starring opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad. Yet her beauty and talent isn’t enough to overcome the racism that relegates her to supporting roles as a helpless, exotic butterfly or a vicious, murderous dragon lady while Caucasian actresses in yellowface” are given starring roles portraying Asian women. Though she suffers professionally and personally, Anna May fights to win lead roles, accept risqué parts, financially support her family, and keep her illicit love affairs hidden—even as she finds freedom and glittering stardom abroad, and receives glowing reviews across the globe. Powerful, poignant, and imbued with Gail Tsukiyama's warmth and empathy, The Brightest Star reimagines the life of the first Asian American screen star whose legacy endures—a remarkable and inspiring woman who broke barriers and became a shining light in Hollywood history.

The Brightest Star

For fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Jennifer Weiner, Again, Only More Like You offers a poignant and humorous look at friendship and reinvention at 40. She hadn't turned 40 yet, and already she was over it… Dumped. Pregnant. Fired. For best friends Carmen and Ally, the approach of their 40th birthdays is anything but a celebration. Yet, it might be exactly what they need to set their lives on the right path. In the bustling heart of New York, Carmen has it all—a high-profile career, a loving family, and a home straight out of a magazine. But as her 40th looms, her life begins to unravel. A surprise pregnancy, a shocking job loss, and the unwelcome sight of crow's feet force her to rethink her perfect life and what it means to truly have it all. Meanwhile, in the quiet of Maine, Carmen's best friend Ally, a spirited marine biologist, confronts her own crisis as she faces the fallout from a doomed affair with her boss. With her romantic life in shambles and her professional life no better, Ally relocates to Portland, Oregon, hoping for a fresh start and one last chance at love. As their individual journeys to happiness lead them in different directions, the strength of their friendship is tested. Tragedy strikes, bringing hidden resentments to the surface and forcing them to confront their past—and each other. In the process, they must answer a pivotal question: Are their best years really behind them, or is turning 40 just the beginning of their greatest adventures?

Again, Only More Like You

This stunning debut thriller, set in a girls’ boarding school, will leave you breathless until the final page is turned. Sometimes girls are the meanest of them all... Female friendship is intense and that intensity can erupt into dangerous passions when teenage girls are cooped up in an exclusive East Coast boarding school. Beautiful, streetwise Cassidy Thomas; debutante jock Abby Madison; academic, sensitive Karen Mullens; and sophisticated troublemaking Zoey Spalding are four seventeen-year-olds who should be cruising happily through their Senior Year. But jealousies are simmering. And when Zoey plays a game with the class list—if you lose your virginity you get a star beside your name—it sets in motion a chain of shocking events. Nine months later, when one of the girls is murdered, the others must ask themselves if they can carry the truth of what happened the rest of their lives. Tell Us No Secrets describes the bonds between these adolescent girls as well as the terrible pain of betrayal and the tragic consequences of peer pressure running riot at a time when the seismic shift of the Sixties changed the rules for everyone.

Tell Us No Secrets

“A knockout short story collection...Each one of these 10 dizzyingly immersive stories offers up a heady and visceral portrait of what ails us, from isolation and self-doubt, to unrequited love and regret over what might have been, to what it means to be (and to be considered) an American."" -- San Francisco Chronicle Meng Jin’s critically acclaimed debut novel, Little Gods, was praised as “spectacular and emotionally polyphonic (Omar El-Akkad, BookPage), “powerful” (Washington Post), and “meticulously observed, daringly imagined” (Claire Messud). Now Jin turns her considerable talents to short fiction, in ten thematically linked stories. Written during the turbulent years of the Trump administration and the first year of the pandemic, these stories explore intimacy and isolation, coming-of-age and coming to terms with the repercussions of past mistakes, fraying relationships and surprising moments of connection. Moving between San Francisco and China, and from unsparing realism to genre-bending delight, Self-Portrait with Ghost considers what it means to live in an age of heightened self-consciousness, seemingly endless access to knowledge, and little actual power. Page-turning, thought-provoking, and wholly unique, Self-Portrait with Ghost further establishes Meng Jin as a writer who “reminds us that possible explanations in our universe are as varied as the beings who populate it” (Paris Review).

Self-Portrait with Ghost

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