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updated: 4/4/2024 *Note: for the monthly Table of Contents to work you need to click the "view online" button.*
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Clete by James Lee Burke – 6/11/24
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All the Colors of the Dark
by Chris Whitaker
From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that spans decades.
"Impeccably crafted, deeply emotional, entirely shattering. I was captivated from page one." ―Bonnie Garmus, New York Times bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry
1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.
When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.
Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.
A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.
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Bear
by Julia Phillips
Trapped on a remote Washington island with their dreams seemingly out of reach, two sisters clash when a mysterious bear arrives swimming in the channel, forcing them to confront their conflicting desires for escape and connection.
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The cautious traveller's guide to the Wastelands
by Sarah Brooks
For fans of Piranesi and The Midnight Library, a stunning historical fantasy novel set on a grand express train, about a group of passengers on a dangerous journey across a magical landscape
“Breathtaking…Abounding with mysteries and marvels.” —Samantha Shannon, New York Times bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree
It is said there is a price that every passenger must pay. A price beyond the cost of a ticket.
There is only one way to travel across the Wastelands: on the Trans-Siberian Express, a train as famous for its luxury as for its danger. The train is never short of passengers, eager to catch sight of Wastelands creatures more miraculous and terrifying than anything they could imagine. But on the train's last journey, something went horribly wrong, though no one seems to remember what exactly happened. Not even Zhang Weiwei, who has spent her life onboard and thought she knew all of the train’s secrets.
Now, the train is about to embark again, with a new set of passengers. Among them are Marya Petrovna, a grieving woman with a borrowed name; Henry Grey, a disgraced naturalist looking for redemption; and Elena, a beguiling stowaway with a powerful connection to the Wastelands itself. Weiwei knows she should report Elena, but she can’t help but be drawn to her. As the girls begin a forbidden friendship, there are warning signs that the rules of the Wastelands are changing and the train might once again be imperiled. Can the passengers trust each other, as the wildness outside threatens to consume them all?
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Clete
by James Lee Burke
After his car is ransacked at a local car wash, Private investigator Clete Purcel probes into a group of Mexican cartel thugs trafficking fentanyl into New Orleans the latest installment of the long-running series following A Private Cathedral.
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Flashback
by Iris Johansen
Twenty years after their mother was the second victim of the Bayside Stranger, two sisters disappear leaving Kendra Michaels to investigate the cold case in the eleventh novel of the series following More Than Meets the Eye
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The Glassmaker
by Tracy Chevalier
From the bestselling historical novelist, a rich, transporting story that follows a family of glassmakers from the height of Renaissance-era Italy to the present day.
It is 1486 and Venice is a wealthy, opulent center for trade. Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter in a family of glassblowers on Murano, the island revered for the craft. As a woman, she is not meant to work with glass—but she has the hands for it, the heart, and a vision. When her father dies, she teaches herself to make glass beads in secret, and her work supports the Rosso family fortunes.
Skipping like a stone through the centuries, in a Venice where time moves as slowly as molten glass, we follow Orsola and her family as they live through creative triumph and heartbreaking loss, from a plague devastating Venice to Continental soldiers stripping its palazzos bare, from the domination of Murano and its maestros to the transformation of the city of trade into a city of tourists. In every era, the Rosso women ensure that their work, and their bonds, endure.
Chevalier is a master of her own craft, and The Glassmaker is as inventive as it is spellbinding: a mesmerizing portrait of a woman, a family, and a city as everlasting as their glass.
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The housemaid is watching
by Freida McFadden
A twisting, pulse-pounding thriller from Freida McFadden, the New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid and The Coworker
"You must be our new neighbors!" Mrs. Lowell gushes and waves across the picket fence. I clutch my daughter's hand and smile back: but the second Mrs. Lowell sees my husband a strange expression crosses her face. In that moment I make a promise. We finally have a family home. My past is far, far behind us. And I'll do anything to keep it that way…
I used to clean other people's houses―now, I can't believe this home is actually mine. The charming kitchen, the quiet cul-de-sac, the huge yard where my kids can play. My husband and I saved for years to give our children the life they deserve.
Even though I'm wary of our new neighbor Mrs. Lowell, when she invites us over for dinner it's our chance to make friends. Her maid opens the door wearing a white apron, her hair in a tight bun. I know exactly what it's like to be in her shoes. But her cold stare gives me chills…
The Lowells' maid isn't the only strange thing on our street. I'm sure I see a shadowy figure watching us. My husband leaves the house late at night. And when I meet a woman who lives across the way, her words chill me to the bone: Be careful of your neighbors.
Did I make a terrible mistake moving my family here?
I thought I'd left my darkest secrets behind. But could this quiet suburban street be the most dangerous place of all?
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Husbands & lovers : a novel
by Beatriz Williams
wo women—separated by decades and continents, and united by an exotic family heirloom—reclaim secrets and lost loves in this sweeping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives.
New England, 2022. Three years ago, single mother Mallory Dunne received the telephone call every parent dreads—her ten-year-old son, Sam, had been airlifted from summer camp with acute poisoning from a toxic death cap mushroom, leaving him fighting for his life. Now, searching for the donor kidney that will give her son a chance for a normal life, Mallory’s forced to confront two harrowing secrets from her past: her mother’s adoption from an infamous Irish orphanage in 1952, and her own all-consuming summer romance fourteen years earlier with her childhood best friend, Monk Adams— one of the world’s most beloved singer-songwriters—a fairy tale cut short by a devastating betrayal.
Cairo, 1951. After suffering tragedy beyond comprehension in the war, Hungarian refugee Hannah Ainsworth has forged a respectable new life for herself—marriage to a wealthy British diplomat with a coveted posting in glamorous Cairo. But a fateful encounter with the enigmatic manager of a hotel bristling with spies leads to a passionate affair that will reawaken Hannah’s longing for everything she once lost. As revolution simmers in the Egyptian streets, a pregnant Hannah finds herself snared in a game of intrigue between two men . . . and an act of sacrifice that will echo down the generations.
Timeless and bittersweet, Husbands & Lovers takes readers on an unforgettable journey of heartbreak and redemption, from the revolutionary fires of midcentury Egypt to the moneyed beaches of contemporary New England. Acclaimed author Beatriz Williams has written a poignant and beautifully voiced novel of deeply human characters entangled by morally complex issues—of privilege, class, and the female experience—inside worlds brought shimmeringly to life.
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Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books
by Kirsten Miller
The provocative and hilarious summer read that will have book lovers cheering and everyone talking! Kirsten Miller, author of The Change, brings us a bracing, wildly entertaining satire about a small Southern town, a pitched battle over banned books, and a little lending library that changes everything.
Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read. To replace the “pornographic” books she’s challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she’s sure the town’s readers need.
What Lula doesn’t know is that a local troublemaker has stolen her wholesome books, removed their dust jackets, and restocked Lula’s library with banned books: literary classics, gay romances, Black history, witchy spell books, Judy Blume novels, and more. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean’s library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean’s enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town’s disgraced mayor.
That’s when all the townspeople who’ve been borrowing from Lula’s library begin to reveal themselves. That's when the showdown that’s been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town...and change it forever.
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Middle of the night : a novel
by Riley Sager
Returning to his childhood home 30 years after his friend Billy's disappearance, Ethan, plagued by strange occurrences, sets out to find out what really happened that night and, reunited with former friends and neighbors, finds his investigation leading him to a mysterious institute where clandestine research is performed.
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The Midnight Feast
by Lucy Foley
During the opening weekend of The Manor, a luxe coastal retreat built on top of old secrets, those in attendance all have an agenda but not everyone will survive.
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The next Mrs. Parrish : a novel
by Liv Constantine
Daphne and Amber Parrish are thrust back into each other’s lives upon the resurgence of a long-forgotten threat, forcing a vicious game of cat and mouse where everything is on the line, in this thrilling sequel to the million-copy-bestselling Reese’s Book Club pick The Last Mrs. Parrish. Amber Patterson Parrish has come a long way. Hard work and immaculate planning turned her from invisible wallflower to prominent socialite, though there have been bumps along the way. Less than a year after her husband Jackson’s tax-evasion scandal, Amber reigns supreme over the Bishops Harbor community. But with Jackson being released from prison, Amber’s free time—and money—is vanishing.
Meanwhile, Daphne Parrish left Bishops Harbor after her divorce from Jackson, swearing she would never go back. But when one of her daughters runs away from home, desperate to see her father, Daphne agrees to return for the summer for their daughters’ sake. Jackson swears he’s a changed man, but Daphne knows all too well that he can’t be trusted.
When a ghost from Amber’s past emerges looking for revenge, these three figures find unlikely allies in one another. But who is playing who? When all is said and done, they’ll have to fight tooth and nail for everything they have left in this zero-sum game.
With shocking turns and entertaining characters, The Next Mrs. Parrish will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about duplicity and betrayal.
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Not in love
by Ali Hazelwood
"Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down. Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons forpushing this deal through--and he's a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can't stop thinking about. The woman who's off-limits to him. Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution outthe lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business--one that plays for keeps"
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A Novel Love Story
by Ashley Poston
When her car breaks down traveling to her annual book club retreat, a superfan of romance novels finds herself stranded in the quaint, but fictional town of Eloraton, the site of her favorite series, looking for her own story.
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One of our kind : a novel
by Nicola Yoon
Moving their family to the planned Black utopia of Liberty, California, hope to find a community of like-minded people, Jasmyn, perplexed and frustrated by most residents' outlook, discovers a terrible secret about Liberty and its founders and must save her loved ones from embracing the Liberty way of life.
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Our Little Secret
by Lisa Jackson
Breaking off her brief affair with Gideon Ross, who threatens he'll never let her go, Brooke Harmon, after a year goes by, wants to believe it's all behind her but the fear hasn't disappeared—and she's right to be worried because Gideon is a man who keeps his word.
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The Rom-commers
by Katherine Center
The New York Times bestselling author Katherine Center's next laugh out loud, feel good rom-com about writing your own story.
She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?
Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies―good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates―The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!―it’s a break too big to pass up.
Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone―much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script―it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.
But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter―even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules―and comes true?
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Same As It Ever Was
by Claire Lombardo
The New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had (“wonderfully immersive…deliciously absorbing”—NPR) returns with another brilliantly observed family drama in which the enduring, hard-won affection of a long marriage faces imminent derailment from events both past and present.
Same As It Ever Was showcases the consummate style, signature wit, and profound emotional intelligence that made The Most Fun We Ever Had one of the most beloved novels of the past decade. Featuring a memorably messy family and the multifaceted marriage at its heart, Lombardo’s debut was dubbed “the literary love child of Jonathan Franzen and Anne Tyler” (The Guardian) and hailed as “ambitious and brilliantly written” (Washington Post). In this remarkable follow-up—another elegant and tumultuous story in the tradition of Elizabeth Strout, Ann Patchett, and Celeste Ng—Lombardo introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters, this time by way of her singularly complicated protagonist.
Julia Ames, after a youth marked by upheaval and emotional turbulence, has found herself on the placid plateau of mid-life. But Julia has never navigated the world with the equanimity of her current privileged class. Having nearly derailed herself several times, making desperate bids for the kind of connection that always felt inaccessible to her, she finally feels, at age fifty seven, that she has a firm handle on things.
She’s unprepared, though, for what comes next: a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, an impending separation from her spikey teenaged daughter, and a seductive resurgence of the past, all of which threaten to draw her back into the patterns that had previously kept her on a razor’s edge.
Same As It Ever Was traverses the rocky terrain of real life, —exploring new avenues of maternal ambivalence, intergenerational friendship, and the happenstantial cause-and-effect that governs us all. Delving even deeper into the nature of relationships—how they grow, change, and sometimes end—Lombardo proves herself a true and definitive cartographer of the human heart and asserts herself among the finest novelists of her generation.
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A Talent for Murder
by Peter Swanson
A newlywed becomes suspicious of her husband after finding a blood streak on the back of a shirt he wore to a conference and discovers a disturbing pattern of unsolved murders in all the cities he's visited. 100,000 first printing.
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Tangled Up in You
by Christina Lauren
A witty and deeply romantic modern reimagining of Disney's Tangled.
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The 24th Hour
by James Patterson
While celebrating Cindy's engagement at one of San Francisco's finest restaurants, a woman is assaulted and Lindsay, Claire and Yuki spring into action, but when the victim's story keeps changing, Lindsay must expose a high-society killer before the Women's Murder Club is short a bridesmaid…or two.
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Camino Ghosts
by John Grisham
Bay Books shop owner Bruce Cable is reunited again with best-selling author Mercer Mann to solve another murder on Camino Island, Florida in the third novel of the series following Camino Winds.
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The heist
by Jack B. Du Brul
Detective Isaac Bell investigates an attack on the Federal Reserve being led by a master thief and his assassin accomplice in 1914 Washington, D.C. in the fourteenth novel of the series following The Sea Wolves.
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Devil's Fortress
by Patrick Larkin
After saving the US from a Russian nuclear attack in the bestselling Weapons of Opportunity, Nick Flynn returns in what could be his most dangerous mission yet.
Former US Air Force officer Nick Flynn joined the clandestine Quartet Directorate to continue its long-standing mission: to act decisively against serious threats to the free world. And with the backing of Russia’s authoritarian president, no threat is more deadly than that of Pavel Voronin and his mercenary Raven Syndicate. Twice they have almost succeeded in bringing the United States to its knees, only to be stopped at the last moment by Flynn and his team of highly trained operatives.
But Flynn knows it’s only a matter of time before one of Voronin’s plans to cripple the US bears lethal fruit. And so, taking the Russian oligarch permanently off the board is now his number one priority. Operating undetected deep in hostile territory and fighting their way through Voronin’s extraordinarily tough defenses will require every ounce of skill, dedication, and daring that Flynn and his small force can muster. The slightest error could be fatal for all of them -- and, ultimately, for millions of Americans.
With the clock ticking, and dangers mounting on all sides, it’s up to Flynn and the others to finish Voronin before it’s too late. In this all-or-nothing battle, victory is the only acceptable outcome -- no matter how high the cost!
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Evergreen Christmas
by Janet Dailey
A newcomer to Noel, North Carolina, horse breeder Jordyn Banks decides to take on the reigning Christmas tree decorating champ, who happens to be the handsome single dad who lives next door with his adorable little girl.
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The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club
by Helen Simonson
A timeless comedy of manners—refreshing as a summer breeze and bracing as the British seaside—about a generation of young women facing the seismic changes brought on by war and dreaming of the boundless possibilities of their future, from the bestselling author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
It is the summer of 1919 and Constance Haverhill is without prospects. Now that all the men have returned from the front, she has been asked to give up her cottage and her job at the estate she helped run during the war. While she looks for a position as a bookkeeper or—horror—a governess, she’s sent as a lady’s companion to an old family friend who is convalescing at a seaside hotel. Despite having only weeks to find a permanent home, Constance is swept up in the social whirl of Hazelbourne-on-Sea after she rescues the local baronet’s daughter, Poppy Wirrall, from a social faux pas.
Poppy wears trousers, operates a taxi and delivery service to employ local women, and runs a ladies’ motorcycle club (to which she plans to add flying lessons). She and her friends enthusiastically welcome Constance into their circle. And then there is Harris, Poppy’s recalcitrant but handsome brother—a fighter pilot recently wounded in battle—who warms in Constance’s presence. But things are more complicated than they seem in this sunny pocket of English high society. As the country prepares to celebrate its hard-won peace, Constance and the women of the club are forced to confront the fact that the freedoms they gained during the war are being revoked.
Whip-smart and utterly transportive, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club is historical fiction of the highest order: an unforgettable coming-of-age story, a tender romance, and a portrait of a nation on the brink of change.
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I will ruin you : a novel
by Linwood Barclay
A teacher's act of heroism inadvertently makes him the target of a dangerous blackmailer who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
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Last house : or The age of oil
by Jessica Shattuck
Spanning multiple generations and nearly 80 years, this emotional tour de force follows one American family, during the radical movement of the 1968 against Big Oil, as they are forced to reckon with the consequences of resource that built their fortune and fueled their greatest tragedy.
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Lies and Weddings : a novel
by Kevin Kwan
A TIME MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • From the iconic internationally bestselling author of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy: A forbidden affair erupts volcanically amid a decadent tropical wedding in this outrageous comedy of manners from the iconic author of Crazy Rich Asians. Rufus Leung Gresham, future Earl of Greshambury and son of a former Hong Kong supermodel has a problem: the legendary Gresham Trust has been depleted by decades of profligate spending, and behind all the magazine covers and Instagram stories manors and yachts lies nothing more than a gargantuan mountain of debt. The only solution, put forth by Rufus’s scheming mother, is for Rufus to attend his sister’s wedding at a luxury eco-resort, a veritable who’s-who of sultans, barons, and oligarchs, and seduce a woman with money.
Should he marry Solène de Courcy, a French hotel heiress with honey blond tresses and a royal bloodline? Should he pursue Martha Dung, the tattooed venture capital genius who passes out billions like lollipops? Or should he follow his heart, betray his family, squander his legacy, and finally confess his love to the literal girl next door, the humble daughter of a doctor, Eden Tong? When a volcanic eruption burns through the nuptials and a hot mic exposes a secret tryst, the Gresham family plans—and their reputation—go up in flames.
Can the once-great dukedom rise from the ashes? Or will a secret tragedy, hidden for two decades, reveal a shocking twist?
In a globetrotting tale that takes us from the black sand beaches of Hawaii to the skies of Marrakech, from the glitzy bachelor pads of Los Angeles to the inner sanctums of England’s oldest family estates, Kevin Kwan unfurls a juicy, hilarious, sophisticated and thrillingly plotted story of love, money, murder, sex, and the lies we tell about them all.
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Mind games / : A Novel
by Nora Roberts
With the ability to see into minds and souls, Thea, who brought her parents' killer to justice years ago, discovers the inmate who shattered her childhood has the same ability when she can hear his twisted thoughts and witness his evil acts from miles away as he plots his revenge.
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One Perfect Couple
by Ruth Ware
Landing on a tropical paradise where they'll compete against four other couples to win a cash prize, Lyla and Nico, starring on the new reality TV show, One Perfect Couple, find themselves trapped on a storm-swept island where they all must band together for survival as a killer walks among them.
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The Paradise Problem
by Christina Lauren
When his 100-million-dollar inheritance comes with a catch—he must be happily married for five years, Liam Weston, the uptight heir of a grocery chain, turns to his secret not-so-ex-wife Anna Green, a feisty, foul-mouthed artist, to fake their relationship and convince his one-percenter parents they're in love.
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People in Glass Houses
by Jayne Castle
When the Tarnished Knight, a once-respected explorer whose career was destroyed by an Underworld disaster, is found, Molly Griffin heads to his location, confident she can help him regain control of his shattered senses since he is the key to finding her sister—a member of his vanished expedition team.
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Some Murders in Berlin
by Karen Robards
Trust is a luxury no one can afford.
September 1943: Berlin is the heart of darkness—and the last place Dr. Elin Lund wishes to be. An expert in psychological profiling, she’s been summoned from Copenhagen to investigate the gruesome murders of eight young women. Even in the midst of unspeakable evil, these killings stand apart. And with her homeland now under Nazi occupation and a young son to protect, Elin can’t refuse such a request.
Homicide Detective Kurt Schneider, head of the criminal police unit, is grudging in his welcome. The orders to find the killer come from the top, and to fail means death. The stakes are too high to risk any mistakes—or to trust a stranger. Yet the pair, trapped in an uneasy partnership, each has expertise the other needs. And Schneider, like Elin, is clearly guarding secrets of his own.
Racing to complete the investigation and return to her son, Elin feels the net tightening. Every sliver of evidence reveals a killer infinitely more dangerous, and more powerful, than anyone suspected. And in drawing closer to the terrifying truth, Elin has unwittingly made herself his new obsession…
This pulse-pounding, brilliantly twisting new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards is a gripping tale that will leave you questioning everything.
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Southern man
by Greg Iles
A man—and a town—are rocked by anarchy and tragedy, but he's unbowed in the fight to save those he loves.
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Summers at the Saint
by Mary Kay Andrews
The widowed owner of the St. Cecelia, a landmark hotel, Traci Eddings has one summer season to restore it to its former glory, but when a tragic death changes everything, she must put wrongs to right, put guilty parties in their place and maybe even find a new romance along the way.
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Think Twice
by Harlan Coben
When his former client, renowned basketball coach Greg Downing, who is deceased, has been placed at the scene of a double homicide, sports agent Myron Bolitar and Win, his longtime friend and colleague, search for answers, but the more they discover about Greg, the more dangerous their world becomes.
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With Each Tomorrow
by Tracie Peterson
Even in the midst of adversity, love and faith can flourish.
As the formation of Glacier National Park takes Eleanor Briggs and her conservationist father on a journey west to advocate for public lands, her heart carries the weight of a painful past. Since the death of her mother, she has spent her life traveling the country with her father and helping him with his work, but now he's considering settling down and writing a book--and she's not sure what that means for her future.
Carter Brunswick faces trials of his own when the Great Northern Railway's departure threatens his family's livelihood and the entire town of Kalispell. In the visiting conservationist's daughter, Ellie, he finds a spirited woman who challenges his convictions in ways he never anticipated, and his own dreams for the future begin to change.
When tensions over the railroad's departure boil over, Ellie and Carter are drawn together on a daring journey that tests the depths of their feelings and their faith in God.
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You Like It Darker
by Stephen King
Delving into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal, the legendary storyteller and expert in short fiction presents this exhilarating collection of 12 tales, many never-before-published, about fate, mortality, luck and the folds in reality where anything can happen.
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All We Were Promised : a novel
by Ashton Lattimore
A housemaid with a dangerous family secret conspires with a wealthy young abolitionist to help an enslaved girl escape, in volatile pre-Civil War Philadelphia.
Philadelphia, 1837. After Charlotte escaped from the crumbling White Oaks plantation down South, she’d expected freedom to feel different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. After all, Philadelphia is supposed to be the birthplace of American liberty. Instead, she’s locked away playing servant to her white-passing father, as they both attempt to hide their identities from slavecatchers who would destroy their new lives.
Longing to break away, Charlotte befriends Nell, a budding abolitionist from one of Philadelphia’s wealthiest Black families. Just as Charlotte starts to envision a future, a familiar face from her past reappears: Evie, her friend from White Oaks, has been brought to the city by the plantation mistress, and she’s desperate to escape. But as Charlotte and Nell conspire to rescue her, in a city engulfed by race riots and attacks on abolitionists, they soon discover that fighting for Evie’s freedom may cost them their own.
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In a Virginia courtroom in 1968, a reluctant white lawyer and a dedicated black attorney must bridge their differences to fight for a black man's life against racial prejudice and powerful forces seeking to undo civil rights progress.
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Two women who escaped an overly strict home with a foster mother on a farm are called back to their childhood home and into the orbit of their former guardian when human bones are discovered beneath the farmhouse. 300,000 first printing.
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Returning to Mirror Lake after inheriting her childhood home, Hazel discovers long-hidden secrets that may explain the mystery of her mother's disappearance, in the new novel from the New York Times best-selling author of All the Missing Girls.
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During the Spanish Golden Age, Luzia Cotado, gifted with magic, garners the attention of the disgraced secretary to Spain's king, plunging her into a world where the lines between magic, science and fraud blur—and where she must enlist the help of an embittered immortal familiar whose deadly secrets could destroy them both.
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After being dumped for her boyfriend's lifelong best friend, Petra, Daphne agrees to room with Petra's freshly heartbroken ex until she can figure things out, in the new novel from the New York Times best-selling author of Happy Place.
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In the latest thrilling entry of the bestselling Under Suspicion series by Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, television producer Laurie Moran investigates the unsolved murder of a beloved couple celebrating the college graduations of their successful twin sons.
The two identical brothers seemed perfect in every way—handsome, intelligent, popular—until a shocking summer night when one brother killed his parents in cold blood while the other brother had an iron-clad alibi. But which twin was where during the murders? And is it possible the two of them planned the perfect crime together?
Years later, the twins are long estranged, each of them claiming to be convinced that the other is responsible for the death of their parents. Married now with children of their own, they may finally be ready to clear one name at the expense of the other and turn to Laurie Moran and her team to reinvestigate their parents’ murder. But as the Under Suspicion crew gets closer to the truth, the danger that was assumed to be left in the past finds its way into the present.
Featuring chilling suspense, a cast of characters whom loyal readers have come to love, and a final jaw-dropping twist, It Had to Be You is not to be missed.
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With every person they date finding their soulmate the second they break up, Justin and Emma decide to date each other and break up to cancel each other's curse out, but their quick fling turns something more when their families get involved and they catch real feelings for each other.
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The owner of the Inn at Gloucester, a place open to anyone running from trouble or hiding from life, former Boston police detective Bill Robinson must defend his town, his chosen family and his home when a newcomer in town launches a series of attacks.
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While staying at Elm Creek Manor to finish her thesis, Summer, the youngest founding member of Elm Creek Quilts, instead researches the antique quilts on display for a fundraiser to renovate the headquarters of the Waterford Historical Society, discovering its troubled history of racism, economic injustice and political corruption, past and present.
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During World War II, Sophia Alexander, after her mother dies and her father is sent to a concentration camp, becomes increasingly involved in the resistance and while working with the convent nuns, the Sisters of Mercy where she risks everything to help those in need—no matter what the cost.
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The Paris Novel
by Ruth Reichl
Stella reached for an oyster, tipped her head, and tossed it back. It was cool and slippery, the flavor so briny it was like diving into the ocean. Oysters, she thought. Where have they been all my life?
When her estranged mother dies, Stella is left with an unusual inheritance: a one-way plane ticket and a note reading “Go to Paris.” Stella is hardly cut out for adventure; a traumatic childhood has kept her confined to the strict routines of her comfort zone. But when her boss encourages her to take time off, Stella resigns herself to honoring her mother’s last wishes.
Alone in a foreign city, Stella falls into old habits, living cautiously and frugally. Then she stumbles across a vintage store, where she tries on a fabulous Dior dress. The shopkeeper insists that this dress was meant for Stella and for the first time in her life Stella does something impulsive. She buys the dress—and embarks on an adventure.
Her first stop: the iconic brasserie Les Deux Magots, where Stella tastes her first oysters and then meets an octogenarian art collector who decides to take her under his wing. As Jules introduces Stella to a veritable who’s who of the Paris literary, art, and culinary worlds, she begins to understand what it might mean to live a larger life.
As weeks—and many decadent meals—go by, Stella ends up living as a “tumbleweed” at famed bookstore Shakespeare & Company, uncovers a hundred-year-old mystery in a Manet painting, and discovers a passion for food that may be connected to her past. A feast for the senses, this novel is a testament to living deliciously, taking chances, and finding your true home.
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Pay Dirt
by Sara Paretsky
While visiting Angela, one her protégées in Kansas, V.I. Warshawski, when Angela's roommate goes missing and V.I. finds her near death in a drug house, is pitched headlong into the country's opioid crisis and a local land-use battle with roots going back to the Civil War.
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"College exes break all the rules when they reunite years later in this enemies to lovers, second chance romance, the highly anticipated companion novel to the TikTok sensation The Cheat Sheet-from the New York Times bestselling author of Practice Makes Perfect. Nora Mackenzie's entire career lies in the hands of famous NFL tight end Derek Pender who also happens to be her extremely hot college ex-boyfriend. Nora didn't end things as gracefully as she could have back then, and now it's come back to haunther. Derek is her first client as an official full-time sports agent and he's holding a grudge. Derek has set his sights on a little friendly revenge. If Nora Mackenzie, the first girl to ever break his heart, wants to be his agent, oh he'll let her be his agent. The plan is simple: make Nora's life absolutely miserable. But if Derek knows anything about the woman he once loved-she won't quit easily. Instead of giving in, Nora starts a scheme of her own. But then a wild night in Vegas leads to Nora and Derek in bed the next morning married. With their rule book out the window, could this new relationship be the thing to save their careers or the thing to spark the romance of a lifetime?"
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An ICU nurse accidentally uncovers a patient’s frightening past in this chilling thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Local Woman Missing and Just the Nicest Couple.
Meghan Michaels is trying to find balance between being a single mom to a teenage daughter and working as a full time nurse. While on duty at the hospital one day, a patient named Caitlin arrives in a coma with a traumatic brain injury, having jumped from a bridge and plunging over twenty feet to the train tracks below.
But when a witness comes forward with shocking details about the fall, it calls everything they know into question. Was Caitlin pushed and if so, by whom and why?
Meghan has always tried to stay emotionally detached from her patients, but this time, she mistakenly lets herself get too close until she’s deeply entangled in Caitlin’s and her family’s lives. Only when it’s too late, does she realize that she and her daughter could be the next victims.
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A Short Walk Through a Wide World
by Douglas Westerbeke
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Life of Pi in this dazzlingly epic debut that charts the incredible, adventurous life of one woman as she journeys the globe trying to outrun a mysterious curse that will destroy her if she stops moving.
Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her backpack that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she starts to bleed to death.
When medical treatment only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realizes that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her lifelong journey on the run from her condition, which won’t allow her to stay anywhere for longer than a few days nor return to a place where she’s already been.
From the scorched dunes of the Calashino Sand Sea to the snow-packed peaks of the Himalayas; from a bottomless well in a Parisian courtyard, to the shelves of an infinite underground library, we follow Aubry as she learns what it takes to survive and ultimately, to truly live. But the longer Aubry wanders and the more desperate she is to share her life with others, the clearer it becomes that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s...
Fiercely independent and hopeful, yet full of longing, Aubry Tourvel is an unforgettable character fighting her way through a world of wonders to find a place she can call home. A spellbinding and inspiring story about discovering meaning in a life that seems otherwise impossible, A Short Walk Through a Wide World reminds us that it’s not the destination, but rather the journey—no matter how long it lasts—that makes us who we are.
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The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A haunting family drama and coming-of-age story reveals a dark corner of South Korean history through the eyes of a small community living in a reformatory center.
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When a renowned expert in infectious diseases disappears without a trace, Letty Davenport, with the world on high alert, calls in her father, Lucas, to locate him, and when their worst fears are confirmed, they must race against time to stop the virus he created from becoming the perfect weapon.
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Two feuding neighbors unite to resurrect a neglected city garden in this uplifting and quietly joyful novel by Sara Nisha Adams, author of the beloved The Reading List.
In a small pocket of London, between the houses of No.77 and No.79 Eastbourne Road, lies a neglected community garden. It was a beautiful thing once, a little oasis in a bustling city for neighbors by day and the local foxes at twilight. Now it’s overgrown and neglected, an empty patch of greenery lost to time.
Once a sanctuary, the garden’s gate is now firmly closed. And that’s exactly how Winston at No.79 likes it – anything to avoid Bernice, who has moved in next door with her young son. Their houses may share the garden, but they’re not exactly neighborly.
But then a mysterious parcel drops on Winston’s doormat. It contains no note, only a bundle of photographs of the garden in bloom many years ago—vibrant with flowers, filled with people from every corner of the community. Is someone trying to tell them something? The seed of an idea is planted…
Somewhere out there, a secret gardener made a decades-old promise to keep the community’s spirit alive. Now it’s time for The Twilight Garden to come out of hibernation.
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A novelist, Sara Medlar, and her friends use all their amateur sleuthing skills to solve a crime when a literal skeleton is discovered in a closet, in the fifth novel of the series following A Relative Murder.
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