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Sierra is a successful real estate agent living a comfortable life. But she has a secret so painful that she has erected emotional walls around her heart that block anyone from getting close. Then the dreams begin. In one, Sierra is running from the sound of dogs barking and men chasing her in the darkness; in another, she’s in a field, lashes coming down on her back; in many, she is a woman of faith named Dorothy, fighting for civil rights. Sierra tries to ignore the dreams and continue with life as usual—but the more she disregards them , the longer and deeper she sleeps, and soon the long nights begin to affect her work and sanity. Finally, she seeks the help she needs. The more she works to understand the nature of and reason for her dreams, the more freedom Sierra feels in her own life. Doors to relationships with other people open. She meets a client that could be the love of her life. And soon, she has a decision to make: she can be who she has always been, living in fear; or she can be Dorothy, allow the dreams to show her who she really is, reconnect with God, and fill the void in her spirit. -
From the author of The Art of Scandal comes a small town romance about the visibility of Black women’s voices in country music, for readers of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev. Every Thursday night, former country music heartthrob Luke Randall has to sing “Another Love Song.” God, he hates that song. But performing his lone hit at an interstate motel lounge is the only regular money he still has. Following another lackluster performance at the rock bottom of his career, Luke receives the opportunity of his dreams, opening for his childhood idol—90’s era Black country music star, JoJo Lane, who’s being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. But the concert is in Arcadia, Arkansas, the small hometown he swore he’d never see again. Going back means facing a painful past of abuse and neglect. It also means facing JoJo’s daughter, August Lane—the woman who wrote the lyrics he’s always claimed as his own. August also hates that song. But she hates Luke Randall even more. When he shows up ten years too late to apologize for his betrayal, she isn’t interested in making amends. Instead, she threatens to expose his lies unless he co-writes a new song with her and performs it at the concert, something she hopes will launch her out of her mother’s shadow and into a songwriting career of her own. Desperate to keep his secret, Luke agrees to put on the rogue performance, despite the risk of losing his shot at a new record deal. When Luke’s guitar reunites with August’s soulful alto, neither can deny that the passionate bond they formed as teenagers is still there. As the concert nears, August will have to choose between an overdue public reckoning with the boy who betrayed her, or trusting the man he’s become to write a different love song. -
Art historian Cate Adamson, still grieving the death of her brother and desperate to succeed, leaves her troubled parents in the Midwest to complete her doctorate in New York—only to find herself assigned to a misogynist advisor. She attempts to impress him until discovers a hidden painting, possibly a Baroque masterpiece, in the university basement — Risking her career, financial disaster, and further alienation from her family— she flees to Spain with the painting to consult art experts. Antonio, an impoverished duke, clings to the decaying legacy of the House of Olivares. When he meets Cate on the train to Seville, he joins her search, and together they uncover evidence in his five hundred-year old library to support the painting’s provenance including a document about the artist’s final years that will shock the titans of art history. But Cate vacillates about revealing the truth, fearful that it may destroy her career, her family’s expectations, and her future with Antonio. Written with vivid prose, rich references to seventeenth century Spanish art, compelling characters and a historical puzzle, Attribution is the story of one contemporary woman’s journey to understand the past—and unlock her future. -
At a boarding school in Pennsylvania, a deathbed request from the school’s dean brings three former students back to campus, where secrets and betrayals from the past are brought out into the open―secrets that could have a catastrophic effect on the dean’s eighteen-year-old son. Told in alternating points of view and time frames, Attachments is the story of best friends Stewart (“Goody”) Goodman, Sandy (“Pick”) Piccolo, and Laura Appleby, the girl they both love. The friends meet in 1972 at a boarding school in coal-country Pennsylvania where they encounter Henry Griffin, the school dean, whose genuine fatherly interest and deep human bond with them is so strong that when he has a severe stroke almost twenty years later, he uses what could be his last words ever to call out their names. Attachments is a puzzle―and the only one who knows how all the pieces fit is in a coma. In the process, longtime secrets are unearthed, revelations come out into the open, and Young Chip Griffin is about to learn something he may or may not be able to handle. -
This charming YA rom-com follows a strong-willed, ambitious teen as she teams up with her childhood frenemy to start a dating-advice column, perfect for fans of Emma Lord and Gloria Chao. Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things: 1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love. 2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition. When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her nonconformist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior. Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview. With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore. -
To Janie Margolis, “assistant contractor” sounds like the ideal job for a mom whose role raising kids has become routine—but her perfect plan starts to unravel when she and her husband, Wim, find themselves arguing about everything from money to masonry to man caves. Then the economy collapses, and it’s hard to surmount the reality ahead: they are about to sink their entire savings into rebuilding a new house they can’t afford while trying unsuccessfully to sell the one they already own. Will Janie back herself so far into a corner that she’ll find herself homeless before she finds herself a home? From crushes on contractors to frenzied shopping expeditions to the erection of a cupola that looks a little too phallic for her upscale new neighborhood—or really any neighborhood!—Janie navigates the pitfalls of building. Along the way, she deals with a con artist kitchen designer, a construction worker and architect who fight like schoolgirls, and a tile guy who turns her shower into a pornographic work of art, all while struggling to stay out of debt and keep her marriage going. In the end, she comes face to face with her flaws and learns that dreams can be achieved—but the only way to authentic happiness is through truth and acceptance. -
Army Wife: A Story of Love and Family in the Heart of the Army begins in the summer of 1969 when the author meets West Point Cadet Dick Cody. A schoolgirl crush and six years of dating turns into an enduring love story and over thirty years of marriage. Vicki is by Dick’s side every step of the way on his path from lieutenant to four-star general and Vice Chief of Staff of the Army. From the last days of the Vietnam War to the present-day war on terrorism, this memoir honors not just commitment between spouses but a commitment to military life. While the couple raise their two sons, Vicki learns to juggle everyday challenges with everything the Army throws at them: emotional ups and downs, long separations, and many moves. As she comes to embrace the uniqueness of her circumstances over more than three decades in an Army family, she finds joy, self-fulfillment, and pride and never loses sight of who she is as a woman. When their two sons enter the Army after September 11, 2001, Dick is in one of the top leadership positions in the Pentagon. It is all of their years of experiences and their love for each other, that gives them the strength to handle the stress and fear of their sons’ combat deployments. This is also a story about a father and his two sons who follow in his footsteps. -
Stacy Halloran has lived most of her life in 1950s-era housing development Arboria Park. But her beloved neighborhood may not survive much longer. Despite her parents’ entreaties to “stay in the yard where it’s safe,” the Park is where young Stacy roams in quest of “real life.” Through her wanderings, she learns about the area’s agricultural history; meets people from backgrounds different than her own; watches her siblings develop interracial and same-sex relationships; helps launch the local punk-rock scene; and finally, settles as a wife and mother. As the neighborhood declines (along with her relationship with her mother), Stacy considers moving on to rescue herself and her daughter. But then a massive highway project threatens the ever-resilient Park―and it’s Stacy’s task to rally family, friends, and neighbors to save it. -
Samantha―the fashionable wife of a successful businessman and doting mother of one―struggles to negotiate the spheres of intimacy between her husband and her family of origin. Samantha loves her husband, Richard, and she loves her sister, Elizabeth. But the two of them can barely exist in the same room, which has caused the entire family years of emotional distress. Yet it’s not until Samantha’s sister is diagnosed at age forty-three with lung cancer that her family and her marriage are tipped into full-blown crisis. A story of love, loss, forgiveness, learning to live with grief, and healing, Appearances will resonate with anyone who has ever experienced tension in their familial relationships―even as it serves as a poignant reminder that no amount of privilege can protect us from family conflicts, marital difficulty, or mortality. -
This bold, surprising picture book demonstrates the magic of everyday transformations (and introduces cause-and-effect) for the youngest readers. What happens when 1+1 equals . . . something other than 2? Apart, blue is blue and yellow is yellow . . . but together they make green. Bees and flowers together make honey. Soap and water become foam! With playful art and a simple, lyrical structure, this picture book is a delightful read-aloud and the perfect way to talk about all the wonderful ways that, so often, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. -
13 Going on 30 meets Younger in this irresistible, time-bending novel about a 40-year-old woman who swaps places with her 25-year-old self in 2008 San Francisco and discovers that the future—and the past—aren’t quite what she’d imagined. It’s 2008, and Annie Young is a hot mess. Navigating a quarter-life crisis while living it up in San Francisco, she’s juggling unemployment, heartbreak, and changing friendships, all while dreaming of a perfect “married with kids” future that now feels farther away than ever. But Annie’s life takes a wild turn when, with the help of her grandmother and a magical prayer, she wakes up in 2023 in the body of her older self. She is now Annie Hartman, a forty-year-old wife and stay-at-home mother. This is what she wanted—right? Meanwhile, forty-year-old Annie, who’s disenchanted with the realities of mid-life, gets the second chance she’s been wishing for when she wakes up in her twenty-five-year-old life and body in 2008. But can she truly embrace the fun of being young again once she’s face to face with the first love who broke her heart and the best friend she knows she’ll lose? Forced to confront her regrets and relive her twenties, knowing what she knows now, will she choose a different path? -
Timed perfectly to publish just as New York celebrates its 400th birthday, a riveting story of a spirited young mother who faces the unknowns of seventeenth-century New Amsterdam after fleeing the Old World in search of a better life. It’s 1630, and Anneke Jans has just arrived in the fledgling colony of New Netherland with her husband, Roelof, and their two young daughters to create a new life for herself and her family. One of very few women in the colony, Anneke quickly realizes that she will need to make her own rules if she is to survive. When Roelof dies, Anneke marries Everardus Bogardus, the flamboyant minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. With this marriage, Anneke joins the elites of the colony—but when the colony’s new director provokes war with the region’s American Indians and her new husband emerges as the head of the anti-war opposition, she also finds herself in the midst of political turmoil. As difficulties mount, she must rely more than ever on her quick wits to protect herself and her growing family. Based on real events, Anneke Jans in the New World tells the story of an ordinary woman who lived an extraordinary life. -
Meet Anna K! Every happy teenage girl is the same, while every unhappy teenage girl is miserable in her own special way... At seventeen, Anna K is at the top of Manhattan and Greenwich society (even if she prefers the company of her horses and dogs); she has the perfect (if perfectly boring) boyfriend, Alexander W.; and she has always made her Korean-American father proud (even if he can be a little controlling). Meanwhile, Anna's brother, Steven, and his girlfriend, Lolly, are trying to weather an sexting scandal; Lolly’s little sister, Kimmie, is struggling to recalibrate to normal life after an injury derails her ice dancing career; and Steven’s best friend, Dustin, is madly (and one-sidedly) in love with Kimmie. As her friends struggle with the pitfalls of ordinary teenage life, Anna always seems to be able to sail gracefully above it all. That is…until the night she meets Alexia “Count” Vronsky at Grand Central. A notorious playboy who has bounced around boarding schools and who lives for his own pleasure, Alexia is everything Anna is not. But he has never been in love until he meets Anna, and maybe she hasn’t, either. As Alexia and Anna are pulled irresistibly together, she has to decide how much of her life she is willing to let go for the chance to be with him. And when a shocking revelation threatens to shatter their relationship, she is forced to question if she has ever known herself at all. Dazzlingly opulent and emotionally riveting, Anna K: A Love Story is a brilliant reimagining of Leo Tolstoy's timeless love story, Anna Karenina―but above all, it is a novel about the dizzying, glorious, heart-stopping experience of first love and first heartbreak. -
The sequel to the national indie bestseller Anna K, set over the course of the next summer, as the characters deal with the fallout from Vronsky’s tragic death and Anna’s sex tape scandal. How the mighty have fallen. Anna K, once the golden girl of Greenwich, CT, and New York City, has been brought low by a scandalous sex tape and the tragic death of her first love, Alexia Vronsky. At the beginning of the summer, her father takes her to the other side of the world, to connect with his family in South Korea and teach his daughter about her roots. Is Anna in exile? Or could this be her chance to finally figure out who she really is? Back in the U.S., Anna’s brother, Stephen, and his girlfriend, Lolly, are falling even more deeply in love. But when Lolly learns about unexpected consequences from Stephen’s cheating the previous year, she has to consider how much she is willing to forgive. Lolly’s little sister, Kimmie, and her new boyfriend, Dustin, are thinking about having sex together for the first time. And Bea, Vronsky’s cousin, is having her own romantic and sexual awakening, though she hasn’t forgiven her ex-BFF, Anna, for her role in Vronsky’s death. Set over the course of a single, life-changing summer, Jenny Lee's Anna K Away is full of the risk, joy, heartbreak, and adventure that marks the three months between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next. -
The Dropout meets Inventing Anna in this cinematic and page-turning summer read! A ripped-from-the-headlines story set in the glossy offices of Silicon Valley startups and NYC new media, Anna Bright Is Hiding Something explores our fascination with female founders breaking barriers—and sometimes behaving badly in the process. Anna Bright is committing fraud. But nobody knows it yet. Not the board of her multibillion-dollar company, not her investors, not the public breathlessly anticipating the launch of BrightSpot, and not the media—including Jamie Roman, a hardworking journalist for BusinessBerry. But when Jamie does learn about Anna’s misconduct, she embarks on a bicoastal journey to expose the crimes and make a name for herself as a journalist. It’s not long before Anna learns what the reporter is up to, however—and she’ll do anything to stop Jamie. Especially now that BrightLife’s IPO is days away. -
New York Times bestselling author Xochitl Gonzalez delivers a mesmerizing novel about a first-generation Ivy League student who uncovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her suspicious death Who gets to leave a legacy? 1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn’t. By 1998 Anita’s name has been all but forgotten―certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by progeny of film producers, C-Suite executives, and international art-dealers, most of whom float through life knowing that their futures are secured, Raquel feels herself an outsider. Students of color, like Raquel, are the minority there, and the pressure to work twice as hard for the same opportunities is no secret. But when Raquel becomes romantically involved with a well-connected older art student, she finds herself unexpectedly rising up the social ranks. As she attempts to straddle both worlds, she stumbles upon Anita’s story, raising questions about the dynamics of her own relationship, which eerily mirrors that of the forgotten artist. Moving back and forth through time and told from the perspectives of both women, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is a propulsive, witty examination of power, love, and art, daring to ask who gets to be remembered and who is left behind in the rarefied world of the elite. -
Andrea Hoffman is an overeducated, underemployed, and unmotivated recent college graduate—until an unexpected robbery blasts her out of her funk and into a job in the finance world of early-1980s Chicago. At first, it seems like a bad fit. But the world of finance has its own weird charm, and she grows increasingly fascinated by the strange language of trading, the complexity of the stock market, and her colleagues, who navigate it all with a ruthless confidence. Even though she has two strikes against her—Jewish and female—Andrea’s quick wit and strong work ethic propel her into an actual sales job and her career takes off. But this is the Wall Street of the eighties, and along with making a lot more money, Andrea adopts a new, fast life of cocktails, cocaine, and casual sex. Drunk on her achievements, she gradually realizes that at some point, she’s going to have to decide what success really means to her.
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For fans of Robinne Lee’s The Idea of You, a debut contemporary romance about a celebrity and a single mother who push and pull against each other as they teeter between a carrying on a secret affair and living an authentic life. If Jake Laurent is the “human equivalent of Friday,” Kat Green is “Monday.” Nevertheless, the two shared a secret (if casual) affair during the pandemic, and now, almost exactly one year later, they’ve reunited in Copenhagen, the “city of fairy tales.” Only neither one of them is living a fairy tale. Jake is a young actor who’s cracking under the public pressure that comes with rising celebrity. Kat is a single mother at the top of her career who believes she’s holding it all together but is barely living. Each one is a simple escape for the other—until the security Kat has worked so hard to build for her tiny family comes under threat, and Jake has to decide if he can keep Kat a secret even if it’s at the expense of his own fame. And They Had a Great Fall is the story of two people who are going through the motions in life—until they finally look inside themselves to figure out what it takes to find a happily ever after. -
“Sharp, witty and perfectly paced, And Now She’s Gone is one hell of a read!” ―Wendy Walker, bestselling author of The Night Before Isabel Lincoln is gone. But is she missing? It’s up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray’s search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman’s secrets and the truth she’s hidden from her friends and family. Featuring two complicated women in a dangerous cat and mouse game, Rachel Howzell Hall's And Now She’s Gone explores the nature of secrets ― and how violence and fear can lead you to abandon everything in order to survive. -
Anarchy in High Heels is not a state of dress; it’s a state of mind. A San Francisco porno theater might be the last place you’d expect to plant the seed of a feminist troupe, but truth is stranger than fiction. In 1972, access to birth control and a burn-your-bra ethos were leading young women to repudiate their 1950s conservative upbringing and embrace a new liberation. Denise Larson was a timid twenty-four-year-old actress wannabe when, at an after-hours countercultural event, The People’s Nickelodeon, she accidentally created Les Nickelettes. This banding together of ¬¬like-minded women with an anything-goes spirit unlocked a deeply hidden female humor. For the first time, Denise allowed the suppressed satirical thoughts dancing through her head to come out in the open. Together with Les Nickelettes, which quickly became a brazen women’s lib troupe, she presented a series of feminist skits, stunts, and musical comedy plays. In 1980, The Bay Guardian described the group as “nutty, messy, flashy, trashy, and very funny.” With sisterhood providing the moxie, Denise took on leadership positions not common for women at the time: playwright, stage director, producer, and administrative/artistic director. But, in the end, the most important thing she learned was the power of female friendship. -
When Lidia, a blocked Latinx artist in her sixties, goes on a group tour of Namyan, a fictional Southeast Asian country reopened to the world after a long dictatorship, she gets much more than the vacation she thinks she’s signed on for. Against a backdrop of pagodas and enigmatic customs, she and the disparate crew of eighteen Americans on the tour encounter one adventure after another—experiences that challenge their assumptions about their host country’s placid surface of beautiful pagodas and wandering Buddhist monks. Along the way, Lidia finds companionship and sexual pleasure with Haynes, a Black man seeking adventure—even danger—in Namyan. On a nighttime excursion among mysterious ancient buildings, they watch the nighttime sky. Lidia remarks that the stars look upside down – a metaphor for Namyan as a foreign place and for her. She enjoys being with Haynes but is conflicted. The final chapter reveals a secret, the source of her conflict, and her steps towards a new freedom. An Upside-Down Sky’s cast of characters, including their Namyanese guide, mirrors America: straight, gay, gender-fluid, black, brown, white, progressive, conservative, artistic, repressed, old, young. Some of them accept Nanyam’s charming façade at face value, while others seek to understand the country’s brutal repression by the military and ongoing ethnic conflicts. And most, resistant as they might be to change, are transformed by their time there.
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National Treasure meets A Discovery of Witches . . . Introducing the Secret Society mystery series, and kick-ass red-headed heroine Sidney, a Black historian poised on the brink of discovering her true past . . . and her hidden witchy powers! “Poignant and entertaining, this one is loaded with intrigue – a feast for anyone, like myself, who loves action, history, secrets and conspiracies. A stellar read” New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry Thirty-year-old Black woman Sidney Taylor is a talented early American history professor, working in fast-paced Washington DC, with her eyes on promotion. She’s also currently persona non grata. Who knew that making an inconvenient historical discovery would see her stuck at her desk, shuffling paper? So when she receives an anonymous and very cryptic invitation to visit historic small-town Robbinsville, North Carolina and hunt for a missing archaeological treasure – with a million-dollar pay out at stake – it’s one she can’t refuse. Besides, her beloved grandmother lives in Robbinsville, and it’s been too long since she’s paid her a visit. Soon, Sidney’s on an exciting treasure hunt, following two-hundred-year-old clues that lead her ever closer to the artefact she’s searching for. But what is the artefact? And why is Sidney starting to feel like she’s at the heart of a terrifying conspiracy she doesn’t understand? The answer blows Sidney’s world apart, plunging her into a dark, glittering world of secret societies, ancient bloodlines, witches and magic, linked to an ages-old conspiracy that could destroy the very principles upon which America was founded. -
The Poet X meets A Very Large Expanse of Sea in a bold novel-in-verse starring a Persian American teen navigating his first crush, his family’s post-9/11 dynamics, andthe role of language in defining who we are. “A dazzling story with a whole lot of heart. Read it.” —Michael L. Printz Award winner Daniel Nayeri, author of Everything Sad Is Untrue Omid needs the right words to connect with his newly met grandfather and distant Iranian heritage, words to tell a special girl what she means to him and to show everyone that he truly belongs in Tucson, Arizona, the only home he’s ever known. Neither the school play’s Shakespearean English nor his parents’ Farsi seems up to the task, and it’s only when Omid delves into the rhymes and rhythms of rap music that he starts to find his voice. But even as he does so, an act of terrorism transforms familiar accents into new threats. Then a family member disappears, and it seems everyone but Omid knows why. When words fail altogether and violence takes their place, what will Omid do next? -
From bestselling and National Book Award–nominated author Tahereh Mafi comes a stunning novel about love and loneliness, navigating the hyphen of dual identity, and reclaiming your right to joy—even when you’re trapped in the amber of sorrow. It’s 2003, several months since the US officially declared war on Iraq, and the American political world has evolved. Tensions are high, hate crimes are on the rise, FBI agents are infiltrating local mosques, and the Muslim community is harassed and targeted more than ever. Shadi, who wears hijab, keeps her head down. She’s too busy drowning in her own troubles to find the time to deal with bigots. Shadi is named for joy, but she’s haunted by sorrow. Her brother is dead, her father is dying, her mother is falling apart, and her best friend has mysteriously dropped out of her life. And then, of course, there’s the small matter of her hear— It’s broken. Shadi tries to navigate her crumbling world by soldiering through, saying nothing. She devours her own pain, each day retreating farther and farther inside herself until finally, one day, everything changes. She explodes. An Emotion of Great Delight is a searing look into the world of a single Muslim family in the wake of 9/11. It’s about a child of immigrants forging a blurry identity, falling in love, and finding hope—in the midst of a modern war. -
A wannabe witch tries to break a curse on a clueless client in this laugh-out-loud debut, for fans of queer romantic fantasy by T. J. Klune and Tamsyn Muir. Mateo Borrero has 99 problems—and all of them hinge on his missing bruja mother and the demon she trapped inside his body. Mateo’s mother forbade him from ever using magic, but now that she’s gone, magic’s his only marketable skill, and he’d really like an exorcism—which costs money he doesn’t have. What’s the harm in making a quick buck by calling himself an Occult Specialist and chanting a few half-remembered spells in his crappy Spanish? Enter Topher, a naive nepo baby with a curse that keeps killing people around him. Most importantly, he’s rich and too clueless to clock that Mateo—and his (absolutely-not-the-assistant) astral-projecting best friend Ophelia—have never actually had a client before. Lifting Topher’s bad luck curse should be simple, but as luck would have it, nothing is simple, and Topher–who Mateo sort of, kind of likes–might be at the center of a deadly magical conspiracy. To make matters worse, the more magic Mateo does, the stronger the demon inside him grows and the more he wants to eat people. But would caving to the urges of an ancient evil really be that bad if it helps him get a payday? Legends and Lattes meets A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer in this hilarious and charming queer romantic fantasy readers won’t want to miss. -
An Address in Amsterdam is about an eighteen year old Jewish girl, Rachel Klein, who is too busy falling in love to take the Nazis seriously when they invade in May 1940. Her own father thinks it will all blow over. But when her Gentile boyfriend must go underground because of his anti-Nazi activism, Rachel begins to change. She ultimately becomes a courier for the underground, delivering messages, news sheets and false papers. She’s not only in peril of her life, but must keep her activities secret from everyone. After many months of clandestine activities during intensifying raids, Rachel goes into hiding along with her parents, moving from an elegant canal house to a dank basement, where much is revealed.
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Though twenty-one-year-old Karla Most manages to bag Saxton Perry, a virtual prince thirty years her senior, she has no idea how to live happily ever after, with or without him. Karla cannot get past her anger at having been deceived by her single, now-dead mother, Mutti, who―supposedly a “Holocaust victim,” complete with tattooed numbers―was in fact a German Christian who got into the United States by falsifying her background. So what does that make her daughter? Before she can answer that question, Karla must track down the actual story of her own existence. -
In 1999, Juliet Cutler leaves the United States to teach at the first school for Maasai girls in East Africa. Captivated by the stories of young Maasai women determined to get an education in the midst of a culture caught between the past and the future, she seeks to empower and support her students as they struggled to define their own fates.
Behind their shy smiles and timid facades, these Maasai girls are much stronger than they appear. For them, adolescence requires navigating a risky world of forced marriages, rape, and genital cutting, all in the midst of a culture grappling with globalization. In the face of these challenges, these young women believe education offers hope, and so, against all odds, they set off alone—traveling hundreds of miles and even forsaking their families—simply to go to school. Twenty years of involvement with this school and its students reveal to Cutler the important impacts of education across time, as well as the challenges inherent in tackling issues of human rights and extreme poverty across vastly different cultures. Nevertheless, through her experiences, Cutler builds lifelong friendships and learns the importance of empowering local communities to solve their own problems. -
An atmospheric and dramatic novel set in mid-century Montana by the acclaimed author of Six Days of the Condor. “Grady’s style is loose, colorful, challenging and fun. I sometimes thought of Orwell’s novel 1984, sometimes of the Dylan song ‘Desolation Row.'”—Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post For the teenaged Luc, his days are preoccupied with the daily dramas of high school. President John F. Kennedy’s assassination seems a world away. But the winds of history find their way to his small Montana town as marijuana clouds rise in the hallways and the notices of neighborhood young men “Killed in Action” in Vietnam keep arriving at an increasing rate. Acclaimed novelist James Grady’s American Sky brings to life the world of a young man who is caught in the nexus of vast social change. From blue-collar life in the heartland to Kent State and the Civil Rights movement, American Sky is a sweeping narrative that builds to a crime that threatens to tear Luc’s world apart. Previously compared to Larry McMurtry, George Orwell, Harper Lee, and Bob Dylan, James Grady explores Bruce Springsteen’s generation and has crafted an action-filled and timeless story destined to become a classic. -
Richard and Michael are celebrating their three years of sobriety by moving in to Michael’s bungalow in Manhattan Beach, California. While Michael is at work, Richard impulsively makes a phone call to his ten year old daughter who is in the custody of her mom’s parents in Oregon. Richard knows he should have discussed this with Michael but they did talk about connecting with Brady when the time was right. They just hadn’t identified when that time would be. Richard, on this day, at this hour, with boxes of his belongings in chaos around him, decided now was the right time. In making this phone call he starts the juggernaut of family law that threatens to destroy all that is good in his life. Things get worse as the couple learns that both Brady and her grandparents, who have been her parents for five years since her mother’s death, are fundamentalist Christians. Both parties lawyer up only to find that the lawyers have their own agendas that supersede the needs of this family. Events move smoothly in court for Richard and Michael until the possibility of Brady’s witnessing a questionable sexual situation is suggested and magnified by the grandparents’ attorney. Brady is whisked back to Oregon and the men have to decide how much they are willing to endure to get her back. -
A critical, unflinching cultural history and fierce beacon of hope for a better future, America Redux is a necessary and galvanizing read. What are the stories we tell ourselves about America? How do they shape our sense of history, cloud our perceptions, inspire us? America Redux explores the themes that create our shared sense of American identity and interrogates the myths we’ve been telling ourselves for centuries. With iconic American catchphrases as chapter titles, these twenty-one visual stories illuminate the astonishing, unexpected, sometimes darker sides of history that reverberate in our society to this very day—from the role of celebrity in immigration policy to the influence of one small group of white women on education to the effects of “progress” on housing and the environment, to the inspiring force of collective action and mutual aid across decades and among diverse groups. Fully illustrated with collaged archival photographs, maps, documents, graphic elements, and handwritten text, this book is a dazzling, immersive experience that jumps around in time and will make you view history in a whole different light. -
Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this exhilarating debut middle grade fantasy, the first in a trilogy filled with #blackgirlmagic. Perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor. Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. Not even when the police told her otherwise, or when she got in trouble for standing up to bullies who said he was gone for good. So when she finds a ticking briefcase in his closet, containing a nomination for a summer tryout at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain the secretive organization holds the key to locating Quinton—if only she can wrap her head around the idea of magicians, fairies, aliens, and other supernatural creatures all being real. Now she must compete for a spot against kids who’ve known about magic their whole lives. No matter how hard she tries, Amari can’t seem to escape their intense doubt and scrutiny—especially once her supernaturally enhanced talent is deemed “illegal.” With an evil magician threatening the supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she’s an enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t stick it out and pass the tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton. -
Sequel to the New York Times bestseller Amari and the Night Brothers! Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this magical second book in the New York Times and Indie bestselling Supernatural Investigations trilogy—perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor. After finding her brother and saving the entire supernatural world, Amari Peters is convinced her first full summer as a Junior Agent will be a breeze. But between the fearsome new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton’s curse steadily worsening, Amari’s plate is full. So when the secretive League of Magicians offers her a chance to stand up for magiciankind as its new leader, she declines. She’s got enough to worry about! But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League. This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will become the Night Brothers’ successor and determine the future of magiciankind. The Great Game is both mysterious and deadly, but among the winner’s magical rewards is Quinton’s last hope—so how can Amari refuse? -
He almost let her go. Her past could tear them apart. But a love like theirs is worth fighting for… Phoenix Walker will never be the same. Nine months after a heroic act leaves him forever changed, he refuses to hurt Orchid Paige ever again. Orchid is ready to forgive. Convincing her guy she still loves him, no matter his injuries, she works to rebuild their intimacy. But their move to her family’s ancestral country unveils China’s superstitions against people with disabilities. Worse, their friend’s life has been upended by those prejudices. Will Phoenix and Orchid find a way to beat the odds and turn discrimination into acceptance? Always Orchid is the riveting third book in the Goodbye, Orchid contemporary fiction series, and can be read as a standalone. If you like relatable characters, surprising twists, and stories that pull on your emotions, then you’ll love award-winning author Carol Van Den Hende’s journey to unconditional acceptance. -
Alphonse isn’t a hobo with a heart of gold, but in twenty years of riding the rails, he’s earned a reputation as a kindhearted soul always ready to help. When he helped the Sadlers, a young couple seeking a better life in small-town 1950s Indiana, he never meant to stay. But stay he did, keeping a close eye on the Sadlers and their two young sons—and an even closer eye on the town’s new priest, Father Brennon. On the surface, Brennon seemed perfect for the job, but Alphonse had crossed paths with Brennon in the railyard jungle and knew better. Brennon didn’t recognize the old hobo, but Alphonse never forgot Brennon or his crimes. The summer the Sadler’s son, Francis, turns 13, the death of a prominent member of the congregation is blamed on decades of accumulated pigeon droppings in the church’s bell tower. Brennon assigns Francis the thankless task of cleaning and maintaining the tower, work that often continues into the night. When Alphonse’s worst fears are confirmed, he discovers that Francis has blocked out the terrible details of Brennon’s abuse. Alphonse must find a way to protect Francis while revealing the truth to the Sadler family, ultimately driving Brennon to leave town in shame. -
“[A]n emotional roller coaster of a finale that will leave readers exhilarated.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review) A MOST ANTICIPATED READ BY PASTE • THE NERD DAILY • BOOKBUB • TODAY.COM • & MORE! From the international bestselling author of You Had Me at Hola and A Lot Like Adiós comes a steamy love story of a divorced schoolteacher who discovers that her perfect no-strings fling is anything but… No strings After Ava Rodriguez’s now-ex-husband declares he wants to “follow his dreams”—which no longer include her—she’s left questioning everything she thought she wanted. So when a handsome hotelier flirts with her, Ava vows to stop overthinking and embrace the opportunity for an epic one-night-stand. No feelings Roman Vázquez’s sole focus is the empire he built from the ground up. He lives and dies by his schedule, but the gorgeous stranger grimacing into her cocktail inspires him to change his plans for the evening. At first, it’s easy for Roman to agree to Ava’s rules: no strings, no feelings. But one night isn’t enough, and the more they meet, the more he wants. No falling in love Roman is the perfect fling, until Ava sees him at her cousin’s engagement party—as the groom’s best man, no less! Maintaining her boundaries becomes a lot more complicated as she tries to hide their relationship from her family, but Roman isn’t content being her dirty little secret. With her future uncertain and her family pressuring her from all sides, Ava will have to decide if love is worth the risk—again. “This ultra-steamy, feel-good, and funny romance is filled with a large and lovable cast of characters and emotional family dynamics and is lovingly rooted in Latine culture… [A] sensational final installment” —LIBRARY JOURNAL (starred review)
