May 2018 list by Donalee Jacobs
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Adjustment Day
by Chuck Palahniuk
People pass the word only to those they trust most: Adjustment Day is coming. They've been reading a mysterious blue-black book and memorizing its directives. They are ready for the reckoning. In this ingeniously comic work, Chuck Palahniuk does what he does best: skewer the absurdities in our society. Smug, geriatric politicians hatch a nasty fate for the burgeoning population of young males; working-class men dream of burying the elites; and professors propound theories that offer students only the bleakest future. When it arrives, Adjustment Day inaugurates the new, disunited states.
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By Invitation Only
by Dorothea Benton Frank
By Invitation Only is a tale of two families, one struggling to do well, one well to do, uniting through one young couple—the privileged daughter of Chicago's crème de la crème and the son of hard -working Southern peach farmers. Funny, sharp, and deeply empathetic this novel depicts two different worlds filled with a delightful cast of characters who all have something to hide and a lot to learn. A difference in legal opinions, a headlong dive from grace, and an abrupt twist will reveal the truth of who they are and demonstrate, when it truly counts, what kind of grit they have. Are they living the life they want, what regrets do they hold, and how would they remake their lives if they were given the invitation to do so?
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The Cast
by Danielle Steel
Kait Whittier built her magazine column into a hugely respected read followed by fans across the country. She loves her work and adores her grown children. But after two marriages, she prefers to avoid the complications and uncertainties of love. Then, after a chance meeting with Zack Winter, a television producer, everything changes. Inspired by the true story of her own indomitable grandmother, Kait creates the storyline for a TV series. And when she shares her work with Zack, he decides to make it his next big-budget project. But in the midst of this charmed year, she is forced to confront the greatest challenge a mother could ever know. The strength of women--across generations and among friends, colleagues, and family--takes center stage in this irresistible novel, as all-too-real people find the courage to persevere in life's drama of heartbreak and joy.
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The Crossing
by Jason Mott
From the highly acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Returned comes a high-concept dystopian novel that imagines a world at war and two siblings who are forced on the run, challenged to do whatever it takes to protect themselves and each other.
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Death Doesn't Bargain
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
In the second title from Sherrilyn Kenyon's Deadman's Cross series, deadmen tell their tales, and every soul is damned or redeemed by the final choices they make. The Deadmen are back... But so are the demons who have broken free of their eternal prison and are bent on mankind's destruction. The worst of the lot is Vine, determined to claim their lives for taking hers. To defeat evil, it sometimes takes an even worse evil, and Cameron is willing to do whatever she must to make this right. If Vine thought she had her hands full before, she hasn't seen anything nearly as powerful as Cameron's resolve.
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The Designs of Lord Randolph Cavanaugh
by Stephanie Laurens
Stephanie Laurens returns with a new series, the Cavanaughs, that captures the simmering desires and intrigues of early Victorians as only she can. Rand arrives at Throgmorton Hall to discover the invention on which he's staked his reputation has exploded, the inventor is not who he expected and a fiercely intelligent woman now holds the key to his future success. But unflinching courage in the face of dismaying hurdles is a trait they share, and Rand and Felicia are forced to act together against ruthless foes to protect everything they hold dear.
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The Forgotten Road
by Richard Paul Evans
The second novel in the New York Times bestselling trilogy from Richard Paul Evans about a man on an inspirational pilgrimage across Route 66 to find his way back to himself. Chicago celebrity and motivational speaker Charles James is supposed to be dead. Everyone believes he was killed in a fiery plane crash. But thanks to a remarkable twist of fate he's very much alive and well, and ready for a second chance at life. But will he use this opportunity to right some wrongs from his old life and start over the right way this time?
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Gale Force
by Owen Laukkanen
In the high-stakes world of deep-sea salvage, an ocean disaster can mean a huge payoff—if you can survive the chase. For McKenna Rhodes a freak maritime accident has made her the captain of the salvage boat Gale Force, but it's also made her cautious, sticking closer to the Alaska coastline. She and her crew are just scraping by, when the freighter Pacific Lion, out of Yokohama, founders two hundred miles out in a storm. This job is their last chance—but there is even more at stake than they know. Unlisted on any manifest, the Lion's crew includes a man on the run carrying fifty million dollars in stolen Yakuza bearer bonds. Another salvage ship, far bigger and more powerful than Gale Force, is racing to the rendezvous as well. If McKenna can't find a way to prevail, everything she loves—the ship, her way of life, maybe even her life itself—will be lost.
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The Judge Hunter
by Christopher Buckley
London, 1664. Twenty years after the English revolution, the monarchy has been restored and Charles II sits on the throne. The men who conspired to kill his father are either dead or disappeared. Baltasar "Balty" St. Michel is twenty-four and has no skills and no employment. He gets by on handouts from his brother-in-law Samuel Pepys, an officer in the king's navy. Fed up with his needy relative, Pepys offers Balty a job in the New World. He is to track down two missing judges who were responsible for the execution of the last king, Charles I. Helped by a man named Huncks, an agent of the Crown with a mysterious past, Balty travels colonial America in search of the missing judges. Christopher Buckley's enchanting new novel spins adventure, comedy, political intrigue, and romance against a historical backdrop with real-life characters like Charles II, John Winthrop, and Peter Stuyvesant.
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Love and Ruin
by Paula McLain
In 1937, twenty-eight-year-old Martha Gellhorn travels alone to Madrid to report on the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War and becomes drawn to the stories of ordinary people caught in the devastating conflict. It's the adventure she's been looking for and her chance to prove herself a worthy journalist in a field dominated by men. But she also finds herself unexpectedly-and uncontrollably-falling in love with Ernest Hemingway, a man on his way to becoming a legend. In the shadow of the impending Second World War, and set against the turbulent backdrops of Madrid and Cuba, Martha and Ernest's relationship and their professional careers ignite. But when Ernest publishes the biggest literary success of his career, For Whom the Bell Tolls, they are no longer equals, and Martha must make a choice.
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The Mars Room
by Rachel Kushner
It's 2003 and Romy Hall is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women's Correctional Facility, deep in California's Central Valley. Outside is the world from which she has been severed: the San Francisco of her youth and her young son, Jackson. Inside is a new reality: thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive; the bluffing and pageantry and casual acts of violence by guards and prisoners alike; and the deadpan absurdities of institutional living, which Kushner evokes with great humor and precision. Stunning and unsentimental, The Mars Room is audacious and tragic, propulsive and yet beautifully refined.
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Missing Isaac
by Valerie Fraser Luesse
When Pete McLean's close friend Isaac, who is African American, goes missing in 1960s Alabama, Pete's efforts to find him lead him into parts of their small town he has never seen before, and to a girl who will change his life.
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The Other Lady Vanishes
by Amanda Quick
New York Times bestselling author Amanda Quick returns to the exclusive seaside community of Burning Cove, where more than one person with a dark past has gone to reinvent themselves. But some secrets are just too deadly to stay hidden, and some pasts can never stay buried.
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Our Kind of Cruelty
by Araminta Hall
Mike Hayes fought his way out of a brutal childhood and into a quiet, if lonely life, before he met Verity Metcalf. V taught him about love, and in return, Mike has dedicated his life to making her happy. He's found the perfect home, the perfect job, he's sculpted himself into the physical ideal V has always wanted. He knows they'll be blissfully happy together. It doesn't matter that she hasn't been returning his emails or phone calls. It doesn't matter that she says she's marrying Angus. It's all just part of the secret game they used to play. If Mike watches V closely, he'll see the signs. If he keeps track of her every move he'll know just when to come to her rescue...
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The Outsider
by Stephen King
An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. An eleven-year-old boy's violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City's most popular citizens. As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King's propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense.
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Probable Claws
by Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown return with this twenty-seventh book in their Mrs. Murphy series. "Harry" Haristeen and her friends and animal companions pursue the threads of a mystery dating back to Virginia's post-Revolutionary past, while their 18th century predecessors continue to struggle with the challenges of the fledgling country. Harry's new friendship with Marvella Lawson, doyenne of the Richmond art establishment, will lead her back to her own artistic and academic interests, providing both personal pleasure and creative fulfillment-and new clues to current crimes!
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Send Down the Rain
by Charles Martin
Allie is still recovering from the loss of her family's beloved waterfront restaurant on Florida's Gulf Coast when she loses her second husband to a terrifying highway accident. Devastated and losing hope, she shudders to contemplate the future--until a cherished person from her past returns. Joseph has been adrift for many years,wounded in both body and spirit and unable to come to terms with the trauma of his Vietnam War experiences. He returns to his own hometown--and witness the accident that launches a bittersweet reunion with his childhood sweetheart, Allie. When Joseph offers to help Allie rebuild her restaurant, it seems the flame may reignite--until a 45-year-old secret from the past begins to emerge, threatening to destroy all hope for their second chance at love.
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Shattered Mirror
by Iris Johansen
Fan-favorite Eve Duncan is embroiled in a deadly game of intrigue after receiving a skull and instructions for its reconstruction, a project that reveals the story of a beautiful woman whose identical twin's life is in danger.
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A Shout in the Ruins
by Kevin Powers
Spanning over one hundred years, from the antebellum era to the 1980's, A Shout in the Ruins examines the fates of a diverse cast of characters connected to Beauvais Plantation in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Years later the questions remain: How do we live in a world built on the suffering of others? And can love exist in a place where for 400 years violence has been the strongest form of intimacy?Written with the same emotional intensity, harrowing realism, and poetic precision that made The Yellow Birds one of the most celebrated novels of the past decade.
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Star of the North
by D. B. John
in 1988, a Korean American teenager is kidnapped from a South Korean beach by North Korean operatives. Twenty-two years later, her twin sister, Jenna, is still searching for her, and ends up on the radar of the CIA. When evidence that her sister may still be alive in North Korea comes to light, Jenna will do anything possible to rescue her—including undertaking a daring mission into the heart of the regime. Her story is masterfully braided together with two other narrative threads. In one, a North Korean peasant woman finds a forbidden international aid balloon and uses the valuables inside to launch a dangerously lucrative black-market business. In the other, a high-ranking North Korean official discovers, to his horror, that he may be descended from a traitor, a fact that could mean his death if it is revealed. As the novel progresses, these narrative strands converge and connect in surprising ways.
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Tin Man
by Sarah Winman
This is almost a love story. But it's not as simple as that. Ellis and Michael are twelve-year-old boys when they first become friends, and for a long time it is just the two of them, cycling the streets of Oxford, teaching themselves how to swim, discovering poetry, and dodging the fists of overbearing fathers. And then one day this closest of friendships grows into something more. But then we fast-forward a decade or so, to find that Ellis is married to Annie, and Michael is nowhere in sight. Which leads to the question: What happened in the years between? With beautiful prose and characters that are so real they jump off the page, Tin Man is a love letter to human kindness and friendship, and to loss and living.
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Then She Was Gone
by Lisa Jewell
Struggling to put her life back together a decade after her beloved teen daughter's disappearance, a divorced woman bonds with a charming single father whose young child eerily resembles the woman's own lost daughter and who compels a wrenching search for answers. By the best-selling author of The Third Wife.
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Twisted Prey
by John Sandford
Federal marshal Lucas Davenport confronts an old nemesis in U.S. senator Taryn Grant, a rich psychopath who he has resolved to bring to justice for her role in three murders that he cannot prove, a situation that is further complicated by her new position on the Senate intelligence committee. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the Virgil Flowers series.
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Two Steps Forward
by Graeme Simsion
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Rosie Project comes a story of taking chances and learning to love again as two people, one mourning her husband and the other recovering from divorce, cross paths on the centuries-old Camino pilgrimage from France to Spain.
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Warlight
by Michael Ondaatje
In 1945, just after World War II, fourteen-year-old Nathaniel and his older sister Rachel stay behind in London when their parents move to Singapore, leaving them in the care of a mysterious figure named The Moth. They suspect he might be a criminal, and they grow both more convinced and less concerned as they come to know his eccentric crew of friends: men and women joined by a shared history of unspecified service during the war, all of whom seem determined to protect, and educate Rachel and Nathaniel. But are they really what and who they claim to be? And what does it mean when the siblings' mother returns after months of silence without their father, explaining nothing, excusing nothing? A dozen years later, Nathaniel begins to uncover all that he didn't know and understand in that time.
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